Organizations Books

Dr. Carver's seminal work on nonprofit board governance updated to cover all the Sarbane-Oxley stuff. For those who care enough to study the very best.

Carver describes how to avoid common Board mistakes and actually create the Board in a leadership role. It seems so obvious now that I read it... but I had to read it to realize what the problems were with my previous and current Board experience.

This book is tailored to answer questions about every size of Board, so read it! It's a bit dense in its language, but useful to all of us.

I am currently a newly appointed Board chairperson for a non-profit Christian school and we have been using John Carver's Policy Governance model for the last year. While we still have a long way to go to incorporate it completely into the fabric of our board processes, we have made great strides toward it in only a year. This book is excellent in helping us get there. I have also read several of John Carver's guides and although they are somewhat small for the money you have to pay for them, they also contain very good information. We hope to study these principles as part of our on-going board training during this board fiscal year.

Not the most engrossing read, but for anyone serving on a board, it is a great resource.

As a younger person wanting to move into fundrasing into the future this book gave me the encouragement that I needed to stick with it! Its not a how to do book its a I can book!

This is a great book for fundraisers of all levels. It is more like a self-help book than a fundraising book. I agree with all who said this is not a how-to book, but a go-for-it book. Highly recommended.

As a young person looking towards moving actively into fundrasing, I appreciated this book alot. It gave me the encouragement I needed to stick it out, and understand that its not as easy as it looks, but I can do it. This isn't a how-to-book, its more of a "You can do it!" book.

This book offers the best advise I've ever seen on Fund Raising! It is not a technical how -to- do-it book, but goes into the underlying assumptions and attitudes that are necessary to become a successful fund raiser. It gets you excited about fund raising and makes you want to run out and get started!

When I read this book, I felt that I had been missing the obvious for a long time. The authors provide an explanation about why most of the changes in organizations don't work, whether they are Theory E or Theory O, and how you can combine the two for meaningful and effective results. Their work is based on lots of experience and for me they finally explained what the problem is--and what to do about it. As a change agent, this book gave me great new thinking with which to practice my craft.

Mike Beer has been for some time now clarifying the issues involved in Corporate Cultures, Human Capital, and Organizational Change. In this recent book Dr. Beer has done what SHOULD have been done decades ago: Linking several fields by providing useful Framework. This book synthesizes fields "apparently" diverse such as: Organizational Design with People & Team Profiling with Organizational Profiling and Human Dynamics. It is a precise, concise, extremely effective, and much needed book.

Human factor and business
Michael Beer and Nitin Nohria's have present a framework toward as an integrative theory of change. Theory E has as its purpose the creation of economic value, often expressed as shareholder value. Its focus is on formal strong hierarchy structure and systems. It is driven from the top down with extensive help from consultants and financial incentives. There's know room the creative managers. You must agreed to the objects (make and keep the shareholders happiest man in town no matter what) that the top commands and demands.

Theory O has as its purpose the development of the organization's human capability to implement strategy and to learn from actions taken about the effectiveness of changes made. Its focus is on the development of a high-commitment culture. Its means consist of high involvement, and consultants and incentives are relied on far less to drive change. Change is emergent, less planned and programmatic. Here there's know place for silos but teamwork and personal development.

Resolving the Tension between Theory E and O
It is vary tempting if you find a business model that can boots the business finance, there's a big chance that you will follow that lead. But this can turn out on the short run well for the business and especially for the shareholders. But on the long run this have a great deal of stress on the employers by taken the human factor out of the workspace, and make the workplace a money machine. The authors argue strategies that works only on behave of the shareholders will not survive in the long run. To solve this problem one must look further than the shareholders and deeper than the business objectives (theory O). There must be a cultural transformation. Everyone must work for the same goal and not draining the gaol for the sake of the CEO. To make the cultural transformation, there will be more benefits to the organization in the long run. Finally this will create a win-win situation for the organization employees and the shareholders.

Even in the change literature are changing. In breaking the code of change the authors have may very well suggest that the old change agents like Weick, Pettigrew, Bennis, Argyris have lost contact whit the reality, they don't have the vision, the energy.
They are not change agents but organization development that help curtain organization to function within the circumstances under the economic situation of that particular moment. At the end of the book Beer and Nohria conclude that these agents didn't succeed to break the code of change.

The interesting thing is when you look at the company's the authors consider that make the loop from good to great, you will be surprise if you think that the good to great company's are IBM, Microsoft, Enron, Shell, well not anymore if you're, if you're looking for the company's that embodied the leadership that make the loop from good to great. Don't look for the company's that appear on the front page, or the company's that make the news. But look around the corner. My advise study this book, search for the human factor, and make your notes and act according to your vision. You may be surprise how in the smallest things you can be the one that turns things around from good to great. Good study material for organization consultants, HRM and MBA's.

I have just finished reading this book and have been rewarded, as a "change" practitioner, this book adds real value in bringing the streams of change together. It is rare when I read a book on the subject and find it rewarding, enhancing what I do at the coal face. No, quick fix recipes but a thoughtful, well constructed set of ideas that do justice to this complex subject. I would reccomend this book to those who want to get beyond "listmania" and into some real thinking of what is involved in the dynamics of change.

Bob Harris and Cal Clemons combined four decades of experience running successful AMCs to create a publication that has been billed by some as a bible for analyzing, revamping, revitalizing and growing an Association Management company. In Building an Association Management Company, they share their secrets on everything from getting started, to business and marketing plans, to soliciting and serving clients, to what the future holds.

I have read Building an Association Management Company from cover to cover. It is a great resource for my company and staff.

This book is a great resource for an association management company. I've used it a lot for a quick reference.

You are a big part of our success. Your book was fantastic and extremely helpful.

I've had the benefit and pleasure of being taught both individually and in team forum by Dave and Arky Ciancutti from the Learning Center in San Anselmo. Arky's book is a great compliment to the in-person sessions and an excellent standalone pice of work. Sound, practical advice on how to develop and sustain personal and business relationships. I won't go as far as to say this changed my life -- but that's not far from the truth. This is a very readable book, with checklists, advice, key points all presented very clearly. Read cover to cover or use as a reference when your technique needs brushing up. Arky clearly explains why things happen and why we do what we do. Armed with those data we're much better prepared to make a change for the better.

This book is a must read. A completely differant perspective on leaderahip.

It's refreshing to see an alternative to all the books on Machiavellian politics, intrigue and all the derivatives. Here is an approach to leadership that will give an organization a competitive advantage AND provide a healthy culture and work environment. I hope this book is the opening to new ways of doing business.

Built on Trust needs to be read by CEOs and managers of all types. After graduating with my MBA I worked for two different companies over a three year span and I found both organizations completely lacking basic managerial capabilities and functionality. Being a young, ambitious guy I knew I was "wet behind the ears" but my managers were deplorable at best. The result was a downward spiral in productivity and results at both companies.

The key principles of the book are closure, commitment, respect, responsibility, communication and speedy resolution. I won't go into depth about the principles but most people don't understand, including myself before I read this, how each contributes to an organization's overall success and "social capital."

What the authors are trying to do is get companies to apply their "Trust Model" and the result is, in their minds and mine, that an organization will end up with a competitive advantage over their competitor.

I found the book to be quite similar in many regards to Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs at times since one of the goals is to help employees in attaining "self actualization" where their aspirations and sense of contribution occur.

The models' goals, to list a few, include (1) increasing group intelligence through communication (2) increasing creativity (3) making people feel passionate about work (4) creating synergies and (5) getting everyone focused on a common goal.

SENIOR MANAGERS OR ASPIRING MANAGERS! BUY THIS BOOK! This book, along with Peter Drucker's The Essential Drucker, are where I would start to create a better managed, more efficient business.

It is my belief that just about everyone has a passionate desire to contribute. We have a hunger to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, especially when that something reflects and amplifies our inherent values. That is what this book is about. Creating the organization that everyone loves to work for and that the best talent flocks to. If anyone wants some other good business books just e-mail me.

This book is practical and easy to understand. It touches base on every aspect of the business no matter how big or small. It awesome for reference, since it's detailed and organized. I always go back to it. And the tips are great!

This book was helpful, more so than others I've read. I would reccomened buying it. This book has a lot of useful information. The charts and timelines are very nice also.

I purchased this book several years ago and I still refer to it whenever I am planning a special event. Freedman & Feldman provide a guide that literally lays the groundwork for conducting a successful special event (I hope that is not a Kent Dove title). Every subject from selecting the right event to post-event evaluation is covered in this resource.

Great pains are taken to illustrate the areas discussed and tips abound throught the book. I found the samples of event materials particularly useful in gaining an understanding of some of the principles that are illustrated.

The Business of Special Events is a must have edition to your library. A great resource for volunteers, chairpersons, staff and Board. I completly agree with George R. Reis, Editor, Fundraising Management when he says "When other writers discuss special events, they often quote Harry Freedman. This book is the final word on the subject."

Collaboratively written by professional non-profit organization fundraiser Harry A. Freedman and Florida-based journalist Karen Feldman, The Business Of Special Events: Fundraising Strategies For Changing Times is a step-by-step guidebook that effectively instructs the reader in every step of organizing a successful fundraising effort in today's technological era. Individual chapters specifically address how to create a balanced budget; secure corporate sponsorship; maintain accurate records; get serviceable publicity; provide food, beverages, and entertainment at fundraising gatherings; and more. A wealth of practical tips, tricks, and techniques make The Business Of Special Events a top-notch and highly recommended resource.

An interesting format of letters back between friends about service on a board. I believe it's best read after other more structured infomation on the roles and functions of a board, then round out your perspective and understanding with this fine work. Very short, an easy read.

Called to Serve is recommended reading by all YMCA staff who work with policy making volunteers. It is designed as "letters to a friend" and covers the why, how and what in working with volunteers/boards in a conversational way. It is not overwhelming, nor does it get into a lot of governance issues. It leads you to understand the meaning and purpose of volunteerism and many, many lessons as to roles of volunteers, meeting development, strategic planning, effective committees, etc. I highly recommend it!

Truly an enjoyable, profitable read with many treasures for the one seeking advice on non-profit or volunteer boards.

This is packaged in letter form of author writing advice to a friend about such board memberhsip and leadership.

Just a few of the many gleans one will get: "the board does have obligations in the short term, but the future, with certain expectations, comes first"; "desigining an agenda by following the lines of a bell curve"; "one of the great time wasters for any group is the routine of giving progress reports when there's been no progress"; and the wonderful story of the postmaster who would not be bothered out of a meeting until he heard it was to receive thanks.

One reading this wants to be on any board that Max is on. Also, to invoke some of his wisdom tenderly yet passionately given in this work. Buy one for yourself and all members on your board. It will bring more joy to the member and more service to the organization.

De Pree's latest addition to his leadership books such as best-selling Leadership is an Art, Leadership Jazz, and Leading without Power, has turned his vast experience with non-profit boards into a helpful volume about creating an effective volunteer board. The book covers generalities like the expectations of board and staff, as well as specifics like how to construct an agenda. De Pree gets as specific as stating, "The chairperson should not permit anyone to read to the board." Amen to that! The book can be read quickly, referenced easily, and would help create basic principles and expectations for the board. Anyone working with a volunteer board would do well to provide a copy for each board member.

This book was very informative. It was helpful in the understanding of the vast size of the non-profit sector job types. It also gave many helpful ideas on how to get into non-profit job fields from the private sector.

This is a remarkably comprehensive and well-written book. It not only covers everything you need to know as a newcomer to the nonprofit sector -- the different types of nonprofits, their "personalities," their business models, their developmental stages, the issues they address -- but also how to identify the right positions and to best present yourself to a new and quite different audience. Gassner Otting provides informed analysis about cutting edge developments in the nonprofit sector, such as venture philanthropy, social enterprises, and socially-responsible businesses.

The tone is pitch perfect. There's no breathless fluff, no Dr. Phil, no "What Color is Your Parachute?" Gassner Otting knows her audience and treats them like the experienced professionals they are. The content is consistently meaty and extremely well-organized, and her observations are uniformly astute and insightful, never facile or cliched. Consider the following example:

"Nonprofits in transition tend to be three to seven years past their start-up mode. They are often on their second or even third executive director, and they have begun adding senior staff positions, like operations, finance, or administration directors.... Great opportunities exist for corporate career changes in these organizations, as long as you don't try to transition the organization too quickly."

And this:

"Founders can be enormously exciting to work for, especially when they are in their element... However, founder types in nonprofits in transition, at a steady and stable point, or in decline can be phenomenally destructive. As in the for-profit sector, the nonprofit sector recognizes 'founder's syndrome,' even if the founder doesn't. No founder wants to stay past their prime, but most simply don't see that it has passed. In fact, staff and board are often complicit in founder's syndrome, continuing to remain supportive in public even if they have begun snickering in private."

I was particularly impressed with the way Gassner Otting extracts patterns and grouped information in ways that are consistently useful to the reader. Examples include her descriptions of the types of nonprofits (including their personalities), nonprofit trends, nonprofit myths and stereotypes about private-sector expatriates, organizational life cycles, and analysis of job titles and org. charts. Her taxonomies and commentary are comprehensive and richly informative. Also, she provides a number of useful profiles of successful career changers, which, contrary to usual practice, don't sound like they were written for People magazine.

Her advice about job search strategies, networking, informational interviewing, and resumes and cover letters is far above average, with much more sophisticated examples of well-written communications. This is entirely appropriate for her intended audience of job seekers who already have successful careers behind them. She provides excellent advice about how to translate private-sector experience into the language of nonprofits. Her appendix of resources is both comprehensive and selective, including jobs boards by interest area, executive search firms servicing the nonprofit sector, and educational resources by state and online.

As Gassner Otting states, "even in the best of circumstances, job searches are long, arduous, and often lonely processes." I cannot imagine that any successful person thinking about transitioning into the nonprofit world would not benefit enormously from this truly outstanding and definitive text on the subject.

Laura Gassner Otting's new book is a terrific resource for people of all ages who are interested in moving into work in the non-profit sector. She demystifies the process, gives useful hints and fills the reader with tools, energy and hope. Her writing combines energetic idealism with practical ideas for moving forward. Anyone interested in jobs in the non-profit sector would be well-served by this book!

This book is uncanny in its accuracy and surgical in its analysis of the issues those looking to change from the business world to the non-profit world will encounter. It seems at times that the author was there as I discovered the language, disposition, motivational, resource and work-style differences I have encountered in my own effort to transition to non-profit work.

Firstly, it demystifies the non-profit world by categorizing and organizing it for the reader, explaining the many and non-obvious differences between family foundations, advocacy and service groups, founder-led, executive director-guided and board driven organizations. Nowhere is the modern non-profit sector better explained.

Secondly, it is fantastically useful to help business people understand how they and their business accomplishments will be viewed in the non-profit world. Included is advice on the small presentation "tweaks" can turn a hard-nosed business `achievement' into a `contribution' interesting to the non-profit ear. The reader is treated like an interested and intelligent being while being taught these basics. While consistent themes run throughout the book, you are not bludgeoned with the constant repetition characteristic of so many career books. A vast majority of the many examples and war stories are told positively and with clear lessons.

Worth keeping as a reference or passing on to the next one you meet facing the change, I am surprised that Amazon has the book available for resale, but encouraged that resale prices are so close to the new price.....this book is a bargain at twice the price.

This is a superbly executed book on the famous Chartres cathedral, a gothic masterpiece which sits some 50 miles to the south west of Paris. Its reputation and geographic proximity to Paris assure its place as a frequent "day trip" for visitors and tourists to Paris who wish to see one of the apogees of gothic development. If you have the opportunity to visit Chartres, you most certainly will find Miller's text right in Chartres' own bookstore, as the book is truly a work worthy to be sold "on site." That fact alone speaks to the quality of this volume.

Miller's text provides a short introduction to the gothic movement, as well as the background of Chartres cathedral itself. But the focus on this book is the stained glass found in the cathedral, with a window-by-window detail of the glass, its date, and the allusions each window makes to the outside world. As such, this makes the book a valuable reference work, because one can follow the story from window to window in a way that would be difficult on-site without many days of time to do so (and using binoculars to help out!). The choice of focusing on the stained glass, rather than other features present in gothic cathedrals is justified: Chartres has some of the oldest and most-intact original stained glass of any cathedral in France, and is perhaps the single item among many others for which the structure is famous. Chartres is what is called a "dark cathedral," meaning that the available light inside the edifice is relatively low, making the interior a difficult place to see the architectural elements. But in such a setting, the stained glass takes on a "glowing" characteristic that is visually dramatic. To have a book so carefully lay out the windows for review is quite an achievement.

This is a paperback book done on large-size paper, but the covers and individual pages are of extremely high quality, durable, and glossy finish. The photographic reproductions are first-rate, and the graphic artwork used to present the material is also professionally developed. One flip through the volume and you'll be glad you added it to your library.

No one in the world (and I state that with full confidence) knows more about Chartres Cathedral than Malcolm Miller. What more needs to be said?

No visit to Chartres is complete without taking the tour of the Cathedral's walking encyclopedia Malcolm Miller. Miller's books are fantastic and give a tremendous insight into the history of Chartres and its Cathedral.

Malcolm Miller is the foremost English authority on the cathedral of Chartres. He divides his time between the town of Chartres, where he personally conducts tours, and the rest of the world where he lectures and makes films and videos of the subject. He opens his tours and lectures by commenting that the cathedral is like a library--and we don't just say, "We're going to go to the library today and read all the books". Each tour or lecture consists of a general introduction and focuses on a small part of the stained glass and statuary. The core of the book is a review of the iconography of a selection of the windows and sculpture. In this manner, you learn how to "read the books" in the cathedral, and gain an understanding of the world that produced them. Once you have toured Chartres, either in person or through that other medieval miracle, printing, you will want to return again and again.

It's a shame Columbia University Press, like most university presses, charges so much for its books. But don't let that dissuade you here. This is a brilliant and important book.

In this book, Professor Woods looks at the Catholic Church in America during the first 20 years of the twentieth century, which roughly coincide with the pontificate of St. Pius X. The book gives you an idea of what it was like to be a Catholic before the deluge of dissent and disaster that afflicted us in the '60s. That in itself is something worth doing.

But Woods does much more here. He shows that the pictures people often paint of the pre-conciliar Church are not accurate. It was not opposed to all new ideas, etc. Catholics engaged with the culture, but unlike today they did not permit themselves to be overwhelmed by it. They even said that America needed to be converted to Catholicism - and other forbidden statements no one will ever hear from an American bishop today.

Now bear in mind, this is a demanding book. If you've read Professor Woods' delightful Politically Incorrect Guide to American History and are expecting something similar, think again. This is a serious scholarly work, as its many endorsements in respected historical journals attest.

At the same time, it is intended not only for academics but also for the educated general public. It shows us a Catholic Church in America in which Catholics actually spoke and acted like Catholics - shocking! Professor Woods is to be commended for this brilliant study.

This precisely written, well researched book compares and contrasts Catholic and Progressive intellectual thought during the early 1900's. On some issues, such as organized labor, Catholics and Progressives reached similar conclusions. On others, such as education, they could not have been further apart. On all issues, a great fundamental difference applied: does man exist to serve man, or to serve God? So, although both sides might settle on similar remedies for social problems, their underlying principles were so different that conflict was inevitable. Progressives viewed dogma of any kind as a social nuisance or something to be dispensed with entirely. Catholics naturally held dogma to be fundamental to a well-ordered society. Progressives (generally) viewed man as a servant of the state; Catholics viewed society as the servant of man. Progressives were primarily concerned with the advancement of the state; Catholics with the salvation of the soul. Woods does a thoroughly excellent job of articulating these and other philosophical differences. In doing so, he gives us a remarkably clear picture of that time in America, as well as allowing us to judge how things have progressed--or regressed--on issues like education over this last century.

I have just finished reading THE CHURCH CONFRONTS MODERNITY - Catholic Intellectuals & the Progressive Era by Thomas E. Woods Jr., taking the time to highlight in detail this excellent work for future reference in the fight for the heart and soul of the Church being waged by Catholics who know their faith, as opposed to those who are having it subtly stolen from them. Before I was even a third of the way through the book I had gone through a highlighter, which gives an indication of the importance of what Dr. Woods is saying to what is left of the Catholic world, post the ambiguities of Vatican II, in particular, post the efforts of those who would destroy the Church from within.

To be technically correct, in THE CHURCH CONFRONTS MODERNITY, hereafter referred to as CCM, Woods not only tells it like it is, but how it used to be, and, if the Church is going to survive as a viable institution in serving as the world's repository of Perfect Truth, Who is a Someone, not a something for salvations sake, which is the only reason for the Church's existence, how it must be again. Woods is right to persuasively insist that looking back to how Catholic giants in America confronted the modernists in the progressive era in combating the work of the devil is our only hope of escaping the modern catacombs in order to convert the world to the one true faith, per Christ's admonition to His disciples in the last paragraph of the Gospel of Matthew. THE problem, as Woods so clearly points out, is that "how it used to be," in reference to the Church in America, was orders-of-magnitude better than "how it is now" with the prospects for "how it will be" no better, if the lessons from the past are not learned.

The focus for Woods is on the Catholic intellectual critique of modernity during the period immediately before and after the turn of the twentieth century where defenders of the faith were plentiful because they understood what it meant to be Catholic in more than name only. This is to be contrasted with an institutional Catholic Church today that, for all practical purposes, is unrecognizable as Catholic, as a direct result of the dissenters being given carte blanche to destroy it from within with impunity. Woods is talking about a Progressive Era where Catholics knew their faith well enough to use what good they could find in Progressivism for the greater Glory of God, in particular, the Church that He founded upon the Rock that is Peter. Catholics at the beginning of the twentieth century understood that discipline is one of the highest, if not the highest forms of love, which is something parents must come immediately to grips with; else, they cease to be responsible parents. Similarly, the Church under Pius IX, Leo XIII, and Saint Pius X, understood this seminal Catholic Truth, which is a Someone, not a something. This was directly reflected in orthodox catechesis which helped formed the consciences of a generation of Catholic leaders like Thomas Shields, William Kirby, and Edward Pace, who fought the good fight against the likes of James Dewey, and other representatives of Pragmatism as it played out in ethics, education, and nationalism. These were not the unencumbered autonomous consciences of Kant but rather those of an economic and political philosophy rooted in the natural law as articulated by Catholic giants like Thomas Aquinas, consciences which were informed in accord with the infallible teaching Magisterium of Holy Mother Church on faith and morals, consciences which understood that faith and reason are married, not divorced, with faith enabling a reason, which, in turn, reinforced faith.

Woods in The Church Confronts Modernity describes how decidedly nonpluralistic Catholicism responded to the modernist assault on faith and reason, and, moreover, must continue to respond, to an increasingly hostile pluralistic intellectual environment. Catholicism insisted on the uniqueness of the Church and the need for making value judgments based on what it considered a sound philosophy of humanity.

Woods recognizes that the reason Catholics no longer know their faith is that the prime catechetical tool for teaching it to them, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, has been watered down such that many of the immutable truths of the faith are no longer a part of that sacred liturgy. Woods concurs in his Epilogue that Lex credendi, lex orandi, is more than just a pithy phrase. It is a foundational axiom for survival of the faith.

I highly recommend THE CHURCH CONFRONTS MODERNITY- Catholic Intellectuals & the Progressive Era, by Thomas E. Woods Jr. as a necessary addition to any Catholic library. - Gary L. Morella

Woods' book is an amazing display of erudition and insight in less than 200 pages. For too long, postconciliar Catholics have been led to believe that the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church in America was intellectually barren, reactively hostile to new ideas, and fully deserving of being labelled a "ghetto." Some scholars, such as historian James Hitchcock, had previously revealed problems with that view. But Woods has gone even further in exploring our not-so-distant past. He has systematically and thoroughly examined the American Catholic response to "Progressivism" and philosophical pragmatism in the early 20th Century and found that the response was cogent, coherent, intellectually sound, and orthodox. Not all Progressivist ideas were bad, and some of its "forms" could readily be assimilated, but the essential "matter" was rejected. The Catholic intellectuals of the time (to include the Jesuits at the magazine America) could tell the difference.

After reading this, one may feel that if the Church as a whole had taken a similar approach during the Second Vatican Council, and not simply kowtowed to modernity so much, the Church would not be in such a mess as it is now.

Put simply, this book is gracefully written, thoroughly researched, sober, and balanced--reminiscent of the great Catholic historian Christopher Dawson. Any American Catholic, seeing the disarray of a Church mired in scandal, dissent, and heterodoxy, and interested in the "old days" should pick this book up and read it. If he does, he may find himself asking at the end: "What happened to make it all go so wrong?"