Organizations Books

Dennis Dunklee's book, "You Sound Taller on the Telephone" tells the story of principal Grant Sterling's daily adventures through his career of principal through several schools. The story reads much like novel rather than a textbook for a graduate-level educational administration course (thanks, Dr. Allison!). This feature makes the book a particularly fun read--even for non-educators. The stories range from the predictable to the outlandish. What does a principal do, for example, when a gypsy curses a pregnant teacher's unborn baby? Reflective questions close each chapter.
Readers witness Sterling's "situational leadership" method in which he changes his behavior to address many management issues similarly to an actor. Sterling uses behaviors as tools. When resolution of a problem calls for anger, reserve, playfulness or assertiveness, Sterling exhibits the behavior in order to facilitate the problem at hand. Since he's acting out these behaviors people tend to believe him. The composite of these behaviors create an aggregate impression, purposefully controlled to get a desired result. In a profession where seemingly irrational actions have to be interpreted and resolved, Grant Sterling adapts himself to the situation through common sense, situational management and smart guessing.

I bought this book because I needed it for my education administration class. I thought it would be another boring book that I would read because I had to. I was pleasantly surprised as I started reading it. The book takes you through a story of a principal and all of the incidents he had to go through. I read the entire book in three days. The story captured my interest. I was reading it for pleasure, not because I had to. I looked forward to reading it every one of those three days. I enjoyed it very much!!!!

This story of Grant Sterling, a fictitious (?) public school principal, reads like a novel as it tells the so-strange-they-must-be-true anecdotes of Sterling's work life. By developing this funny, caring, and slightly imperfect character to follow through his career as principal in several different schools, the author creates an engaging case study of leadership in action. Readers may not agree with what Sterling does--but he will make them think, react, and probably both laugh and cry! Prospective school leaders will get a glimpse at the challenges they will face, parents will gain insight into why principals do what they do, and others interested in education and leadership will be entertained-- as well as stimulated to think. And ALL readers will wish, with some wistful nostalgia, that THEY would have been lucky enough to have had a principal like Grant Sterling!

Not being a teacher or principal, I didn't expect to particularly enjoy this book, but I was delighted to find it funny, touching, and just plain enjoyable! Sterling is a wise and yet humanly flawed main character, who shows us what a challenge it is to meet the day to day rigors of a job most of us take for granted.

I never knew the job of pricipal included so many "hats". Sterling's adventures can both teach and entertain any reader....even those who just want to read this book for fun, and not just as a textbook ( lucky students ). This book should be sold in popular bookstores, not just at the University !!! Super book.

This is a wonderful book from an individual who has real depth of experience with a wide range of organizations. The stories and examples will help the reader understand -- and use -- the valuable advice offered in this very readable book. It serves as a quick introduction to the entire field of fundraising. I especially commend Chapter 4 ("How Much Do You Want") and Chapter 5 ("Why Your Organization"). I've been involved in nonprofit fundraising for 30 years, and I was inspired to rededicate myself to this work.

Stephen Hitchcock, author of Open Immediately: Straight Talk about Direct Mail Fundraising and co-author, with Mal Warwick, of Ten Steps to Fundraising Success.

I love this book because it's all about the donor's perspective. So many fundraising books lecture from the viewpoint of what we want the donor to do for us, but this book shows quite simply what they want us to do, to make them more comfortable and so, to give more. But I also love it because it's written by someone who not only knows his donors and knows fundraising, he also knows how to get it across in a warm, accessible style with no padding but with lots of passion. Harvey's a great writer and this is an easy, enjoyable read full of useful insights, so I'd recommend it to anyone.

Ken Burnett

An industry classic is born, I think. This book is unlike any other. It stuffs decades of "in the trenches" fundraising know-how into 100 chatty pages you can read in under an hour.

Harvey McKinnon's career as a fundraiser began in the 1970s, and he's been asking for money ever since. His firm, with offices in Vancouver and Toronto, has an international client list, ranging from Amnesty International Canada to the American Institute for Cancer Research to Australia's ActionAid; with special depth in health care and environmental defense. I mention all this because (1) Harvey knows a ton of people, many of whom contributed stories to this book; (2) his personal experience is top shelf; and (3) his eponymous firm is extraordinarily successful. Why does he have such a great client list? There's just one reason: he knows how to raise money. And what he knows he shares in this book. Harvey's your gracious, amusing, enthralling host. But he's not alone. You'll meets lots of other fundraisers and hear their tales of triumph and misstep. Answering donors' questions well, especially the unspoken but predictable ones, is a secret -- maybe THE secret -- to success in fundraising.

This book, I expect, will prove both comforting for fundraising veterans and empowering for people new to the field. It takes a vast profession and reduces it to 11 key questions you repeatedly need to answer.

An amazing gem of a book. I've been fundraising for social change projects for nearly forty years, and Harvey outlines every key lesson I've learned, and a wealth of lessons I hadn't thought of. If you want to get involved in your community and help make change, at some point you're going to have to raise money, whether from bake sales, monthly pledges, or major donors. You want to know what makes people respond, but you want to proceed with integrity, not some hit and run sales job. Harvey teaches you how. I wish I had this book twenty years ago, but I'm glad I have it now. In fact, I'm in the middle of fundraising for a major voter engagement project, and found it enormously helpful to overcome my own fears and hesitations as I picked up the phone to call people and ask if they could help. Essential for anyone who ever raises money for a worthy cause.

Paul Loeb, author of Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time and The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear

So you've been a director for 20 years and you think you've read it all. Think again. As he opens "21st Century Board," Ralph Ward sets the stage for adventure. "In editing a national magazine for the past six years, I've had a ringside seat for the wildest era of corporate governance change since the New Deal," Ward begins...and proceeds to bring the era to life in 350+ comprehensive pages. It's all here--the issues, the players, the research, the war stories, the trends--from Archer Daniels Midland to Westinghouse--in a tome so comprehensive that any reader is guaranteed to find something new (even this reviewer, who has spent nearly two decades covering the governance scene). But beyond information, this book offers unbiased, well-reasoned, and fair-minded opinions on the most important governance controversies of our day. Readers joining Ward will soon find that their companion is no mere ticket-holder, but a narrative ringmaster who can put even the "wildest" things in their proper place.

Ralph Ward grabs the reader from page one with a Barbarians at the Gate style tale of the board revolution at General Motors. For the first six chapters I kept wondering if I could somehow buy into the movie rights. By chapter 7, however, he is shifting gears into a history of boards of directors and their function. The likelihood of a movie faded but the book never looses its lively pace through 60 informative chapters with headings like "How to Launch a Board Revolt," "Q: Why is Board Education like Sex Education," and "Take Me to Your Lead Director."

Ward tells the familiar tale, chronicled by Berle and Means and updated by Mark Roe, of how owners were usurped by managers. The recent era of corporate raiders and rubber stamp boards is fading into history as shareholders and their board representatives gain an equal footing with CEOs. Ward draws on his years of experience as editor of The Corporate Board to inform the reader of current trends and to speculate on the future.

For example, Ward tells us that new boards are looking for skills in telecommunications and technology, marketing, international markets, finance, restructuring, entrepreneurial skills, and service industries, as well as for demographic diversity. Ward devotes several chapters to describing the work of audit, compensation, and nominating committees. He also looks examines emerging committees in corporate governance and compliance as well as more specialized committees. He sees the likelihood that small board secretariats will strengthen the board's hand in working with management by helping them dig through the data.

Looking at the chair/CEO controversy, Ward concludes that in most cases the independent outside chair "would not have enough muscle yet to make a difference." "This does not mean we should give up on the idea of a separate chair, but rather that supporters may have been too early with the idea for it yet to be effective." Ward sees lead directors as a "fallback" position that is likely to take hold sooner but on a less formal basis.

Most readers will find that Ward takes a balanced and reasoned approach to SEC regulations, director liability, stakeholder influence, and the dozens of other issues which he covers in brief but informative discussions. Perhaps most controversial is his contention is that we may soon be seriously considering proposals for federal the chartering of corporations. Ward breezes through past proposals by James Madison, William Jennings Bryan, T. Roosevelt, Wilson, Taft, William O. Douglas, Ralph Nader, and more recent efforts. He points out that "the very Congress that gained power in 1994 by proclaiming a return of power to the states passed the Private Securities Litigation and Reform Act of 1995" which preempts state powers in shareholder suits and adds federal disclosure requirements.

Ward argues that several federal laws have defused the radical call for federal chartering while bringing us closer to a de facto federal system. "While federal chartering waves of the past century were stirred by politicians, jurists, and consumer advocates, a renewed effort would likely be led by shareholders." "If federal corporate certification could supersede state lawsuits, coordinate often contradictory federal regulations, and set clear standards for board behavior, it might well draw new fans from the business sector." I find his arguements compelling. If shareholders and businesses united around such a proposal now, we might avoid populist based demands, with confusing stakeholder provisions for constituent based boards, which are likely to resurface in an economic downturn.

http://www.corpgov.net

...

How to Build Better Boards

"The Family Circus", Bil Keane's winsome cartoon strip, focuses on the daily ups and downs of life in the often chaotic home of a young family.

Regular readers of the strip have learned that in addition to mother, father, four young children, and three pets, there are two other residents in the household who make regular, if furtive, appearances. Whenever the mother finds a broken dish, a piece missing from a birthday cake, or muddy footprints tracked through the house, we know that the ghostly characters "Ida Know" and "Not Me" are lurking nearby. All the mother has to do whenever she finds something broken, missing, or in disarray is confront her youngsters with the question, "Who is responsible for this?" to elicit the collective response, "Ida Know!" or "Not Me!"

These two troublemakers have apparently expanded their families and sent their children off to inhabit the most senior executive offices of many of the world's best known corporations. Their names are on the tongues of virtually every executive who has had to explain why his or her corporation has collapsed. Listen to the CEOs of Enron, Polaroid, Global Crossing, Warnaco, or Arthur Andersen, for example. The top executives of each of these companies have assured us that they themselves had nothing to do with the collapse of their companies, putting the blame squarely on "Ida Know" and "Not Me" in virtually every case.

Exasperated shareholders wonder whom ultimately to hold responsible for the collapse of these companies and their investments. Ever so slowly, the glare of the lights is shifting to the boards of directors, as questions are raised about board accountability and responsibility. The boards of these companies all seemed to have been napping as they waited for their options to vest.

For all the time, energy, and resources organizations put into training executives, it appears that they put considerably less into training directors and helping them to understand their responsibilities. Type the words "board of directors" or "corporate governance" into the search engine at Amazon.com and you will see a fraction of the number of books that you would find had you typed the word "leadership."

Among the books that stand out are two by Ralph D. Ward: The 21st Century Corporate Board and its follow-up, Improving Corporate Boards. Ward, the editor of Corporate Board magazine, has filled the pair with well-written and insightful case studies, along with specific recommendations for changes in practices and procedures. Together they make an excellent handbook both for companies and for individual directors. In fact, "required reading" is the term that best describes them.

The 21st Century Corporate Board focuses on the turbulent era of the early 1990s, which saw a series of sackings of CEOs at corporate giants GM, Kodak, IBM, and American Express, among others. The frenzied era of hostile takeovers and leverage buyouts in the 1980s was still fresh in the minds of corporate boards. If a CEO failed to keep his company's stock price high enough to ward off potential raiders, boards were not hesitant to send CEOs packing.

Ward divides the book into two sections - an examination of how things got so bad as boards grew increasingly somnolent, and then a prescriptive section, with specific recommendations for changes. Among his most powerful suggestions is that the board have its own office and staff within the organization. Typically most boards rely on assistance from the CEO's or corporate counsel's office. The board needs more independence and autonomy, especially as the prospect of increased government oversight grows.

His more recent book, Improving Corporate Boards, provides more detailed and specific recommendations for improving each branch of a board's function. The audit committee of Enron's board might have spared themselves and the rest of the company more than a little trouble had they read Ward's pithy chapter entitled, "Smarter Audit Committees." Two suggestions seem especially on point: "Make sure the company is looking at the real numbers" and "Learn where right and wrong really are for the company's financials."

Polaroid CEO Gary DiCamillo managed to work the stock price of his company consistently down over his six-year tenure: from a high of ... per share to its recent value of pennies following the company's bankruptcy. Amazingly, near the end of DiCamillo's initial three-year contract, with the stock price at half of what it had been when he first took over as CEO, Polaroid's board paid him a ... cash bonus, extended his contract, and affirmed their support for him. DiCamillo banked the bonus and bankrupted the company. He is still CEO. We can only surmise what might have happened had Polaroid's board members read through Ward's two books and then acted on even a small number of Ward's sound suggestions. As it is, the board has no doubt provided Ward with an unfortunate but instructive case study for a future edition of either of these two solid handbooks. ...

Now that the capitalist/communist divide in eastern Europe has fallen, perhaps the greatest remaining human barrier is between those who have served as directors of public corporations and those who have not. From the inside, boards look like groups of honest, smart, hard-working earnest people trying to do a very difficult job with inadequate tools. From the outside, people automatically use words like "entrenched," "greedy," "co-opted" and "lazy." When the stock is going up, no one thinks of the board. When it goes down, everyone is disgruntled and everyone blames the board. Ralph Ward has bridged that gap with a book that brings the outsider into the boardroom, to see real day-to-day board operations. At the same time the book will show the insider the view from the stands. The author is neither a cheerleader for nor an enemy of boards. He shows how a board can add real value to a public company, but he does not hesitate to criticize bad practice. Any board member can use this book to improve their board. Any investor can use it to understand boards, and to encourage improvement. On top of that, it's actually fun to read.

As I read through this book, I highlighted the pages that were of most interest to me. Now, I have ~50 ways that I personally will try to change the world. I was so impressed with this book, I ordered 12 copies to give to friends! Hopefully, they will highlight the pages that are most pressing for them and begin to take action. My only stipulation when giving the books away was that if they didn't plan to read the book and get active, they must pass the book on to someone else.

This is a lovely book - a great book to keep on your coffee table or bedside, open it up and read a few pages. It offers insightful information and effective strategies for making a positive impact in/on the world. It's perfect for those who are overwhelmed and feel paralyzed to make any type of dent ..........

This book changed my life. Such simple suggestions that are easy to achieve, but add them up and suddenly you are living a different kind of life and thinking in a different way. If everyone on planet earth read this book and followed just one suggestion what a wonderful world it would be.

This is a book that is useful in the best way. You help the world a little and you become more aware of what you can do to help. It's a great book.

An interesting overview of the 60's commune phenomenon. I was part of a Christian community in the 70's to early 80's. I like the appendix which lists several hundred of the known communes here in America. There is a resurgence of the phenomenon in that many folks from the era who are retiring now are going back to commune life. This is the second book of what will be a trilogy when it is finished. The first covers communes from 1900 till the 60's, the last book will cover the commune movement from the late 70's to the present.

This was required reading for a graduate course in American history.

The 1960's was a time of radical change in American history. Timothy Miller's book is a look into the controversial subject of the effect the hippies had on American society and its values. Since post World War II American society had seen so many changes in just a few decades. "Hippiedom" was another new change the nation had to deal with in the late 1960's and early 1970's.

The "Hippiedom" movement in the 1960's became known as the counterculture. This movement was composed of teenagers and persons in their early twenties who chose to separate themselves from the traditional American lifestyle. Hippies were usually young, white and came from the upper middle class. The hippie culture's basic beliefs were in peace, racial harmony, and equality. Their culture condoned smoking marijuana, engaging in liberated sex, and living communally they felt that as long as no one was hurting anyone else or themselves it was okay.

The main characteristic of the hippies was dope, and the majority of the hippies used it. Dope was one of the main elements that separated the counterculture from the mainstream. Hippies looked upon dope as good, and approved the use of any drug that was perceived as being able to expand consciousness. Drugs that made people "dumb" were bad (25). The main elements of hip ethics of dope looked something like this:

Use it positively. Use it sanely. Know what you're doing. Avoid bad drugs. Avoid misuse of (good) dope. Don't use dope to hurt others. Assert your freedom to make your own decisions
about dope. And have a good trip (27).

Hippies believed that dope was about fun, revolution and was good for their body and soul. They lived by the creed: "If it feels good, then do it so long as it doesn't hurt anyone else." (29) Dope was believed to be useful in many different ways. One specific use of dope was to heighten intimacy and interpersonal interaction.

In the counterculture movement dope and sex were often intertwined. Hippies believed that people should be free to express their sexuality as they chose and use dope to boost the sexual experience. Hippies had extensive reasoning as to why they should enjoy sex. They used the same credo for sex as they did for dope.

Homosexuality and nudity developed a consciousness within the Hippiedom as well and became part of the new sexuality. It was not long before the consequences of this life-style forced the counterculture to deal with issues such as social diseases, birth control and abortion. These new obstacles did not deter them from participating in orgies and organized free sex which they believed was harmless, helped break down social barriers, created community spirit and was beneficial to one's private sex life (65).

While dope and sex were major elements of the counterculture movement in the late 1960's and early 1970's the movement was not complete without rock and roll. Rock and roll was believed to have been a major influence on the feelings and beliefs of the counterculture. It became a way of life and a means of communication. The lyrics reflected the counterculture's values and in turn helped shape them (78). Rock and roll festivals and concerts were considered sacramental gatherings by the counterculture. They provided opportunities for massive indulgence in dope, nudity, sex, rock and community. Woodstock was one such example of a sacramental gathering to hippies.

Rock and roll and dope played a major role in developing communal living arrangements within the hippie countercultural movement. Those who lived in the communes believed they were rejecting mainstream society. The communes were usually located in the country so that the communards could "get back to the basics", by living off the land."

Hippies created their own "love" generation (104). Although the counter-culture movement attempted to stay free of the mainstream, they were not immune to opposition from the traditional society. Conventional society was opposed to dope, sex, rock and roll and hippies' sense of community. Hippies believed love was the only answer to major problems afflicting the world (105). As a result of their beliefs on love, they had some political implications.

Hippies believed in disinvolvement and felt that voting was useless and politics were not a concern of "free" people. This resulted in hippies "dropping out" as they fell out of the mainstream society and into a New Age (110). Despite "dropping out" they had to keep one
foot in the mainstream door because they had to work. While hippies worked by necessity they believed money was meaningless and just a necessary evil. They considered play to be much more important in their value system. In order to stay true to their beliefs they would only play games, such as Frisbee, that did not require score keeping, competition and rules. If people did not incorporate play into their day, hippies believed they were missing out.

By all accounts hippies did their own thing and believed they were starting something new with the "sexual" revolution, the drugs and the rock and roll. However, while they were "loving" everyone and "getting back to the basics" they were just repeating history; but their movement is probably the most substantial remnant of hip culture we have (136). They did not look at the past to see how wrong they were. For example, they were iconoclasts. However, iconoclasm is another classic American virtue. They were different in that new issues were under attack. They chose to confront rationality, technocracy, and materialism (126).

The hippies' idea of living in the country in their communes was also not a new idea. The establishment of thousands of communes in rural areas was a replay of the agrarian ideal not
to mention a communal vision - which was well established in the nineteenth century. Sexual freedom was another case in point. For years there have been groups who deviate from the norm when it comes to patterns of heterosexuality, monogamy, marriage and wearing clothes (127).

In the counterculture movement women were referred to as "chicks" or if they were in a relationship they were "old ladies" (16). Women withdrew from the "sexual" revolution
because it involved male predominance. "Free" sexuality, like any other kind, "carries with it an
unwarranted domination by the man, of the woman, which injures both," a hip southern female wrote.

Another woman was more blunt: ''The talk of love is profuse but the quality of
relationships is otherwise ...The idea of sexual liberation for the woman means she is not so much free to f*** as to get f***ed over ...Our mothers could get a home and security, a prostitute money, but a hippie woman is bereft of all that "(67).

The question will forever remain as to whether the hippies had a lasting effect on American society and its values. They certainly attracted public awareness during their time with the popularization of recreational drugs and the new attitudes toward sex. They believed with all their heart, at the time that they were making a huge impact on the world. Although after their "heyday" it is questionable if what they thought they were working towards was ever accomplished.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, counter-culture history.

If you've ever lived on a commune or if you're interested in studying intentional communities from roughly 1967 to 1975, this book is a page turner.

Having lived through the '60s era and having participated in the communal scene, I often find myself irritated by inaccurate reporting by authors who only seem interested in sensationalism (such as Robert Houriet's *Getting Back Together*, 1971), but Timothy Miller does his homework carefully, and I don't find such inaccuracies or biases in his work.

*The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond* is not a glib dismissal of a blip on the screen of American community. Miller makes it clear that this is an ongoing phenomenon. Many of these communities still exist (such as The Farm in Tennessee) even though many have gone through countless evolutions and restructuring.

Miller compares land and food arrangements, architecture, parenting, and social interaction of diverse communities across this country along with their philosophies, ideologies and spiritual perspectives. He doesn't unrealistically romanticize and neither does he condemn. He just tells it like it is--and was. And he bakes it into a cake.

The book illustrates the profound effect that these communities have had on our society. It doesn't pretend to include in-depth personal reminiscences or ideological transformations (such as those chronicled in Peter Coyote's excellent *Sleeping Where I Fall*), but it brings all elements together in an informative Big Picture of what was, what is, and what may follow from this movement. While the communes of the American past were primarily arks, says Miller, those of the 60s were lighthouses. I agree. This is one good read. I recommend it. pamhan99@aol.com

I grew up in a Jesus Freak commune, the Highway Missionaries, one of five communes I've lived in my life. The first commune I was born into, Jesus People Milwaukee, is actually mentioned (though not by name) as the precursor of Jesus People USA, JePUSA, in this book. So I came into this book with a high degree of interest, hoping to see something familiar, and learn new insights into myself, and how we were.

I was not disappointed. This is a top-notch book, well-written, scrupulously researched, sociological and anthropological, a wealth of information. Miller's primary purpose is to look at 60's communes in general, of which he says the Jesus People were perhaps the largest single contingent, but still a minority overall. The book not only mentions many different groups, giving a brief blurb on them, but ties them together in genuine scholarly treatment, so that we learn how the different aspects of various groups fit in an overall framework.

Miller's treatment of daily life in community and children from communes was very on-target, as was his look at the eventual dissolution of the communal movement, and what happened to the millions involved in it afterward. This is not an easy topic, as there was a wide variety of communes: Jesus People, environmental, anarchist, LSD, Sufi, Jewish , Hindu, Krishna, and middle-class communes, to name a few. Yet he is able to combine all these diverse elements into an overall thesis, while still treating each type unique. He makes a strong point that many communes are not covered in his treatment, and of the 1000's that existed in this time period, many don't even have any written record any longer.

I think I'd bring up only one minor flaw- his discussion of us, Jesus People Milwaukee, was not entirely correct, as we were neither fundamentalist (but more in line in thinking with Sojourners), nor reaching out to youth, but a Discipleship Training School for young adults.

It is true, as Miller says, most of us in the communes were unaware of what was going on in other communes. It seemed to be just a spontaneous move all around the nation, and to those within the Jesus Movement, a spontaneous move of the Holy Spirit. It was something that had a huge impact on our lives, as Miller describes, and something that continues to highly impact the culture today.

The book is well organized into questions for different stakeholders of the business and different situations a leader may face. The questions and the intended purpose of the questions are well explained. The book would be very useful for someone starting in a new leadership role or someone who has been in a role for a while and wants to recharge the energy of the role. The questions casue the leader and respondents to reflect and explore new possibilities. Excellent tool for business and other institutional leaders.

If someone had handed this book to me the day before my first leadership role, I would have been better at my job.

If I had read this book before the big crisis in my organization, I would have handled things differently, and been more effective.

If I had put to the test the questions that Chris Clarke-Epstein writes about, I would have been more satisfied with my work as a leader...and stayed with it.

This book is extremely readable, and yet challenging. It made me look at leadership not as a mantle to wear, but rather as a process of becoming. The act of questioning - in reality of questing - for what you, your organization, your employees, and your customers want, need, and desire is laid out with specific things to ask, and how to answer them.

78 Important Questions does not come with an answer section like a 10th Grade textbook. This is the kind of book where you have to find your own answers. Good thing the leader of the journey intersperses advice, stories, and encouragement in between queries.

I don't think this is a book for the feint of heart. If you're the kind of leader who basks in the status quo, then stay away. If however, you're not afraid of some work, of some personal soul-searching, and if you embrace change as a way to stay alive in business, then you need these 78 Important Questions.

Leaders struggle today with the volume and complexity of human relationships as well as the aspects of their jobs that don't directly involve people. Increasing demands challenge us with continual complications, too many choices, speed of change and action, and the sense of being caught in a whirlwind that defies the concept of life-work balance. We're expected to have all the answers, preferably before anyone else thinks about asking the questions.

Combine this gerbil-in-a-cage metaphor with the uncomfortable fact that most leaders haven't learned enough about leadership, and you have a dangerous combination. What is leadership? How is it different from being a manager? How can leaders keep their finger on the pulse of what's happening, inspire others to high achievement, guide their team members through difficult decisions, and still have time to actually finish a cup of coffee while it's still warm?

The solution is disarmingly simple: Ask questions. Listen to the answers. Ask some more questions. Give good answers to questions asked by others.

Easier said than done. There's an art to effective move-us-forward questions and answers. The secrets are in Chris Clarke-Epstein's book. She provides us with 78 valuable questions, but doesn't stop there. In addition to gaining a fine list of questions , we benefit from an explanation of the importance of the question, how to ask it well, and what might be accomplished through the questioning technique. The style is friendly, conversational, and supportive, seasoned with short stories or vignettes that illustrate the many helpful suggestions and observations offered by the author.

The book's chapters are organized to categorize the questions and the commentary surrounding them. The first category, presented after a few pages of positioning, addresses questions leaders need to ask themselves. Chapter 2 presents questions leaders need to ask customers. The third and fourth chapters explore questions to be asked of employees-lots of creative stuff here.

In Chapter 5, we ponder questions to be asked in special situations: new employees, coaching and mentoring, newly promoted leaders, and crisis. Questions leaders need to answer are followed by answers for special situations. What a handbook! You can read this book straight through as I did, or use it for reference (as I will). The last chapter talks about delivering tough answers, sometimes a difficult proposition for leaders. More questions are suggested in the appendix and a website has been established to continue the question-building process. An index facilitates reference. The Suggested Reading list is a bonus.

The book is peppered with quotes about questions and answers that reinforce the points and/or give the reader something more to think about. At the end of each chapter are questions and worksheets for the reader, encouraging some deeper thinking and reflection. Overall, a worthwhile book for leaders-and aspiring leaders-to read, absorb, and keep handy.

Not until I read Chris Clarke-Epstein's book did I realize how important it is for leaders to ask good questions. I great resource for how to build relationships and develop leadership skills. A quick read, a must read, for all leaders who want to be more effective.

As an academic aspirant, I read this book with diligence and thoroughness. Twice. Donald Kennedy has an impressive academic achievement as an environmental scientist, along with institutional leadership experience as former President of Stanford University. In this book-inspired by a conviction of the need for academic aspirants to know the true workings of the academia- various duties of members of the academia are elaborated and modern day issues facing the universities are dissected. However, after reading the book twice, as excited as I was with the book, there were some deficiencies.

Traditionally, the roles of a professor in a university have been to teach and to research, with different emphasis on the two roles, in different universities. With this as an accepted view, Kennedy further breaks down the roles of the academic into mentoring, institutional service, publishing, as symbols of truthfulness and perhaps, closest to his heart, as agents of change.

In the 303 pages, Kennedy warns the current and the future members of the need to balance academic duty with academic freedom. With no implicit arguments, he stressed the need to re-focus on undergraduate teaching, a central role of universities. The members of the academia are not only teachers but also mentors and influential role models of the students in institutions of higher learning.

He also questions the current style and intensity of producing Phd students, the majority of whom make up the future professoriate. Kennedy exposes truths about the over-production of PhD students; the subsequent failure of many to break into the academia; the lack of teaching training for those who eventually become young professors.

What is personally the most exciting discussion was without doubt the one on research, research misconduct and the pursuit of truth. Kennedy carefully elaborates examples of the difficulty of research with appropriate stories of fictional but realistic characters. However, as a student of social sciences, I was nonetheless disappointed that many of the examples were in the field of sciences and there was no significant discussion of the field of social sciences or humanities. Added to that, there were hardly any examples of Kennedy's own experiences in research. Perhaps, the author thought that any personal experiences were materials insufficient to demonstrate the arguments or that he was uncomfortable in using his own experiences as examples. Either way, I felt that lessons of his own research experiences would have been very enlightening.

However, this short book has powerful insights and lessons for the future members of the academia, not excepting me. Somehow, after reading this book, I understand the fallacy of the ivory tower. Much of the universities' world, as a scholarly enterprise, lofty in their pursuit of truths and free of political man-handling, has changed into an institution under public scrutiny and subjected to public accountability. This book has inspired me to write a piece for a scholarship application. Despite the challenges to be faced by hopeful academics, the resolve is still strong in me to become one and that is, I believe, the essence of this book-the academia, despite its pitfalls, will always be sustained in its important mission of education and discovery, by future members, themselves the product of that mission.

I've read this great work for many times. In Taiwan, there are too much fascinating heritage from US education and some unethical stuff, too. Although it seems to be a little unorganized, that's the ways of conducting academic research and nature of science. After all, Dr. Kennedy did write something insightful and helpful and, somewhat practical. Read it and know the academic community. I would say: "salvation lies within." I would like to see more revisory supplements and concurrent issues like Dr. Kennedy's works.

An outstanding antidote to misinformed university bashing. All new assistant professors should read this book. It gives excellent advice and insights into the inner workings of the university.

Great book. Not only should all assistant professors read it, but it should be required reading for all new doctoral students no matter what discipline. It illuminates the way universities actually work and details common pitfalls into which people entering the profession (academe and the professoriate)can fall. In addition, the reader is given an insider's look into one of the major research universities in the world (Stanford). It has the bonus of being extremely well written and a pleasure to read. Again, great book.

This is a fascinating CD which takes the listener into deep relaxed states in no time at all. I find that by listenibg to this CD I feel more energised and focussed! The only downside is that you have to wait a number of weeks here for it to be posted, but its worth the wait!

First, I think I'll mention Richard Bandler's name so as to give credence to my comments. On second thought, no, I won't either.

Having settled that, I can tell you that Nick really knows how to weave a trance that will keep you spellbound as you begin an inner adventure that will take you places you've never even dreamed of ... and yet ... will bring you safely home again. To your own, true self.

Nick is a master of both indirect and direct hypnotic suggestion, yet even as he gives you direct instructions, you still know ... at the same time ... that the direct suggestions in here are just to set you free.

Free from fear. Free from compulsion. Free from pain.

I've listened to the CD twice so far and I'm here to tell you that after the first listening, only, I discovered I had recovered my old sense of confidence.

And now. Now that I have that sense of confidence instilled deep within me ... never to be wrested away again, I can only wonder what I might decide to do with ... and because of ... it.

If you, like me, don't easily experience deep trance ... I'd suggest you give this CD a listen. It's well worth your time!

This is a wonderful CD from Nick Kemp who studied with Richard Bandler the creator of NLP.The CD takes the listener on a magical ride into deep relaxation and altered states and produces a great sense of well being. The music is fantastic and the intricate use of hypnosis makes this an important product for students of NLP and hypnosis.

Nick Kemp has achieved something quite remarkable with this CD. By mixing skilfully crafted music, and in language that everyone can follow, he carefully guides the listener through many of the concepts of meditation. But more than this the CD gives anyone the chance to experience some of the altered states of consciousness that meditation promises. The music may remind you at times of "Revolver", while the opening tamboura-like drone, and tabla, point to the source, Nada Brahma - Sound Is God. Truth seekers and sceptics alike will find flashes of insight here that might lead to further exploration, which I guess is what Nick Kemp has set out to encourage. Highly recommended.

Beautiful images in this book -- and I am particularly fond of the plain-faced blue Australian Cattle Dog that accompanies the girl on her day. My only regret is he didn't show up more... (you can see why I bought this book.) Bought it as a gift for my niece, and I'm positive this one's going to be a long time keeper. Really lovely book. (Just needs more Cattle Dog!)

This is a beautifully illustrated version of the 19th century hymn "All Things Bright and Beautiful." The illustrations follow a country girl as she explores the world around her. The illustrations propel the text's message to the next level, powerfully demonstrating the beauty of God's creation. It's worth pausing at every page-spread to admire the pictures for a few extra seconds, and it doesn't detract from the reading of the story at all.

Each 2-page spread has 2 lines from the hymn, and a 2-page illustration spread surrounding the words. The text is a nice large size. In the back two pages, the hymn is printed if you'd want to play it or sing it with your children.

I'd highly recommend this book to anyone with young children that they want to teach of God from their earlist days.

All creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all... This is a great hymn, one of my favorites (especially the arrangement by John Rutter). Reading (singing!) this book to my children has given them an appreciation for the beauty in God's world. The illustrations are the kind that a child is drawn into - the kind they can gaze at and imagine themselves in the scene.
A carefree country girl goes on a ramble as the hymn unfolds. My children (me too!) want to kick off their shoes and share in the child's absorption of the beauty around her.
Great way to children-ize a hymn.

This is an easy review - the book is simply great! If parents are willing to sit down with their children and read, especially starting before they are two years old, this book will help to spark the imagination of practically any child. The song couldn't make a better subject for a book. The story should help form the foundation for a strong moral and religious background. The illustrations are beautifully done and our twenty-two month old picks out things that we hadn't even noticed. I recommend the book to all parents and encourage them to read it nightly, taking the time to discuss what they see in the pictures. I sincerely hope the author has more projects in the works!

"America's Secular Challenge" is a must read for everyone. It clearly and concisely demonstrates how "secular humanism" is destroying us from within. It isn't so much that secularism as a personal choice is bad, but rather the pervasive and relentless drive by secularists to impose their views on everyone else through their manipulation of our courts, public discourse, and the imposition of their PC views. Political correctness is, after all, nothing but the curtailment of freedom of speech.
We must fight this with as much vigor as we fought the nazis and we are fighting the islamists; this is destruction from within.
The book demonstrates the insidious nature of this movement, and provides us with the facts we need to fight it. And it is a one-night read!

Mr. London presents an organized, precisely targeted, and lively warning about the rise of radical secularism and militant atheism. I am going to buy several copies and start handing them out.

Could extremist secularism be doing as much damage as extremist religions? "America's Secular Challenge: The Rise of a New National Religion" is an examination of secularism and its impact on America. Herbert London, president of the Hudson institute, lays out his argument against something that the country so often ignores in the idea of tolerance and political correctness. "America's Secular Challenge" is a top pick for anyone who thinks political correctness may be going too far.

This is a book you are going to think about for a long, long time. You are going to recommend it to all your friends. It highlights the essential tool we must utilize to defeat radical Islam and their terrorist methods-a return to our traditional values. London's brilliance is that he creates his air tight case in 97 very accessible pages. This one or two night read will arouse in you many years of thought.

Most people in the United States appear to have no idea what secular humanism is, even though they are surrounded by it every day. It is the only religion for many people, but they often cannot even recognize it as a belief system. This book is short and easy to read, but it conveys very important information. It ought to be assigned to high school classes to give the students a better understanding of modern culture.