Organizations Books

This remarkably scholarly book by Colson combines both his profound knowledge of Christian ideals with a well-versed political understanding garnered from his years in the problematic Nixon administration. Colson's own experience in government and his rather unlikely conversion to Christianity gives the book credence even to those who may not fully agree with his arguments. Colson judiciously inserts historical fact amidst modern day arguments, and my husband said of the book, "Every time I think, `I'd like to hear that backed up' he provides exactly that in the very next paragraph."

Colson's wide range of sources make him a pleasure to read. He cites works ranging from Cicero to Nietzsche, C.S. Lewis to Augustine. He quotes from Supreme Court decisions and references the Bible. Each chapter is heavy with both footnotes and endnotes, and Colson also provides a list "For Further Reading." This is a great read, perfect for academics and the casual reader alike.

Although not strictly a scholarly work, Colson draws enormous breadth and integrity of expertise into this epochal exposition of the relationship of church to state.

I must confess that it took me 20 years to pick up this book, and that only on a whim. I had no desire to read Colson, having little belief in the value of celebrity or notoriety in lending value to a man's words. Though not a hater of things American, I am not starry-eyed about American mentality, especially when it comes to politics, and rather turned off by the way Americans (and others) confuse the domains of religion and politics, not just on the political right but at all points of the political spectrum. That Colson had been a special advisor to Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal had pretty well put him off my radar.

I could not have been more wrong about him.

This book is the first I have read in which a comprehensive exposition of an appropriate relationship of church to state is laid out. Colson cannot be accused of confusing the two domains, yet he is clear about the valuable relationship between personal, and collective, faith, and public domain politics. A man highly qualified to speak about both, and his education in the school of hard knocks has paid off in spades. Though some reviewers appear to regard the book as a vilification of the religious and political right this is quite unfair -- Colson is balanced in both domains and his writing reveals little pandering to partisan interests. He could equally address a Republican Convention, or a Democrat one, or stand aside and offer telling criticism of both parties. The same balance is evident in his theological writing. I am reminded of the angel leading an army whom Joshua met and asked, "Are you with us or with our enemies?" The angel replied "Neither. I am for the Lord".

As for the book itself, it has an engaging style. The chapters are short, mostly in the form of parables. The first is an account of a fictional American president whose religious zealotry leads the world to the brink of war, a cautionary tale. Other chapters are straight retelling or dramatizations of the lives of men and women who held in their hands the keys to major world events of the 20th Century, retelling in gripping form the rise of the Third Reich, the behavior of the Church in Germany, the weak response of Chamberlaine, slippery dealings in the hallowed halls of American government, murder, redemption and forgiveness in the Phillipines and Northern Ireland, and much more.

The weakest point is a short digression into science and cosmology early in the book, a subject Colson would probably to best to leave untouched in his writing. It's the only blemish I can find on what is otherwise a masterwork.

Although written to the current state of the world 20 years ago, prior to the Fall of the Soviet Union, the Tienamen Square massacre and the First Gulf War, and the rise of globalized Jihadism in its current form, the book is strikingly current and insightful. Perhaps it is because the context of his writing is merely context---he does not write for it, but he draws on that background to write timeless wisdom.

I highly recommend the book not only to Christians but to anyone interested in answers to the unsolvable political and religious conundrums in the world. Although Colson offers few answers beyond Christ, it is perhaps enough to note that the answers he does offer are rock solid, and his book is more of an arrow in a direction than an 'X' marking the spot where treasure is buried.

When reading this book back in 1989, one had to assume Colson was thinking of Pat Robertson's run for the White House when he wrote this book. Eleven years later the American people elected a born-again Christian as President in George W Bush. Some of the things Colson warned about have now come to pass.

Although the events of 9/11 were out of the President's control and demanded action, there is little doubt that his Faith has shaped his view of world events.

"Kingdoms in Conflict" is a warning that God's Kingdom is not of this world and it cannot be forged through politics or war. Man's kingdoms and God's Kingdom are in conflict.

Colson's time in the Nixon White House and his born-again experience has allowed him to see the dangers of using politics to advance a religious belief. This book is more relevant today than it was in 1989.

Like Colson's other books, Kingdoms in Conflict challenges you to think deeply about what and why you believe.

The title focuses on the precarious balance Christians experience between heavy involvement and no involvement in politics. Colson's thesis seems to be that Christians need to maintain a balance - being in the world while not being of the world and Christians must be a light to the world and salt of the earth.

Colson uses the examples of Christian involvement (and lack of) in resisting Hitler, Marcos, and other brutal figures in history to illustrate the importance of Christians being involved in the political process without being consumed by the power that goes with politics.

Read and be encouraged to be rightly involved in politics while remembering that ultimately we are citizens of another kingdom to come that will last forever!

Colson takes a topic that has been discussed by Christians ever since the disciples questioned Jesus about it when He was in Galilee with them, i.e., the role of God's kingdom and that of man's. Colson contends that the kingdom of God is within a person. It is not an external means of control exercised by political power. In the Epilogue he cites Winston Churchill's last words, "there is no hope." But Colson counters that statement by explaining that spiritual things are not based on the circumstances of this present world.
On the other side of the coin, however, Colson presents specific examples throughout history where Christian have actively been involved in politics and government because of their belief in the eternal, unseen kingdom of God within. Having an awareness of things eternal, while contributing in this life is the balance he is seeking to describe.

This Handbook is a valuable, broad scope look at public and private sector systems currently engaged in change iniatitives around the world. Relatively free of jargon and untried theories, these field-tested case studies will appeal to a wide spectrum of readers from organization leaders and HR professionals to business school students. I came away with some important new ideas for my work and avoided a few pitfalls after reading the book.

Through the many cases presented, Barbara and Billie were able to present to the reader how the different Large Group Methods actually can be applied, and, specially, how they form part of a larger roadmap for systemic change. Interesting also how all cases have a reflections session, which is very usefull in giving actual or to-be practitioners concrete tips for implementation.
The combination of cases with theory about the methods and innovative ideas (for example, on the use of Technologies and Graphic facilitation)resulted in a superior learning experience and complements very well their first book ("Large Group Interventions: Engaging the Whole System for Rapid Change").
Last but not least, I was happy to note how there was a shift in attention from method to challenges that organizations or communities are facing - so a focus on impact and change. A book worth reading for those that are facing or will face large scale changes.

Trust Alban and Bunker to use their social science prowess and rich professional experiences to create an eminently pragmatic handbook for leaders of systems change. To their credit, the entire construction of the book also employs the very principles espoused by the contributors: inclusion of stakeholders, engagement of multiple perspectives, search for common ground, transparency, and appreciation for diversity. After soliciting cases from around the world, the authors organized them into helpful categories of interventions around "six challenges for the 21st century" and added their views on the issues created by those challenges. These chapter inputs are perfect executive summaries for clients who are mired in these dilemmas daily and are looking for solutions and they will help introduce the large group engagement methods the consultant is offering. Also invaluable is the authors' matrix of each case that delineates the organizational sector, the situation addressed, and the methods used--truly makes the text handy.

Although the book stands on its own merits for the sophisticated organization consultant, reading their previous Large Group Interventions (Jossey Bass, 1997) would give the appropriate context for the creative adaptations of the original methods that their latest book so well describes. The Handbook has not only added new methods (Appreciative Inquiry Summit, World Café and AmericaSpeaks) but, more importantly, it describes combinations of traditional methods along with new twists which are thoroughly described. Appropriately, there is a greater reliance on engagement principles for a change process instead of previously prescribed recipes for events in their prior book.

The consultant contributors have been generous with details, for the most part, so that seasoned organization development consultants will feel comfortable employing these tested methods of engagement. On the other hand, there also could also be a warning sticker that reads: "Don't Try This Alone in your Ballroom!" because much of the success comes with years of experience working with diverse groups and learning what doesn't work. Partnering with such experts is the wisest way to dive into whole system change.

As a trainer of large group principles, I particularly appreciated the enhancement tools this handbook describes--Polarity Mapping (B. Johnson), Gestalt therapy, coaching theory, using professional actors for storytelling, graphic facilitation and more. I look forward to the 2017 iteration Bunker and Alban offer to keep us on our toes!


Elizabeth K. Olson
Preferred Futures, Inc.

In the complex, interconnected, global environment that most organizations work in daily, it is no longer possible for a few people "at the top" of the organization to have all the knowledge, expertise, and perspective needed for its success. At NovaLearning, we have used large group methods with colleges and universities for about fifteen years. I have constantly seen how institutions become better -- more focused, more strategic, but also more humane -- as they incorporate ideas and insight from across the system into their operation. When Bunker and Alban's earlier book was published, I was delighted because it captured well the range of large group approaches that had developed by 1996. This new handbook goes much further.

These are substantive case studies exceptionally well framed by Bunker and Alban's insight and experience. The diverse case study authors are generous in sharing at a level of specificity that makes real learning from their experiences possible. Each chapter is organized around the presenting challenge, the context and methodology (and why chosen), a detailed description of what actually happened, and perhaps most importantly, a set of reflections and insights that give the reader the chance to share in the authors' learning. I also found valuable the examples of how the innovative use of communication technologies can provide new opportunities as well as sometimes create unexpected limitations. I strongly recommend The Handbook of Large Group Methods to consultants who use or want to use large group methods. Individual chapters will also be important and provocative for corporate, academic, social, and political leaders and change agents.

I agree with the reviewer who notes that something may be missing (other slices of large group imagination and so on) but what I see in this book is a 5 star original updating the first original work. I am also impressed by the manner in which the author-editors have engaged a total of 49 collaborators.

Despite its size this is an easy to read and appreciate book, and in my own limited experience within this literature, stands in a class by itself.

Key Point: Must recognize and engage ALL stakeholders, including those that may be "external" to "the system" but are either inputs or outputs or victims, etc.

Key Point: This literature has developed from the 1960's focus on the social psychology of organizations, to the social psychology of networks.

Key Point: Many Small Groups = a Large System (susceptible to whole systems methods) = Future Search and Shaping.

Key Point: Real time strategic change is now known as whole-scale change (I am reminded of Kirkpatrick Sale's seminal work, Human Scale

Five methods for planning the future:
+ Search Conference
+ Future Search
+ Whole-Scale Change
+ ICAA Strategic Planning Process
+ Appreciative Inquiry

This book was published before Jim Rough's pioneering work at the Center for Wise Democracy or Tom Atlee's Co-Intelligence Institute. See:
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All

Large Group Methods (LGM) is very ably presented by the authors and collaborators as being ideal for working with diverse groups that have different cultures, structures, and priorities. I am reminded that we live in a world dominated by pyramidal organizations that still believe in top-down elite "command and control," and this book is therefore a revolutionary handbook for enabling bottom-up sense-making and localized social resilience.

Key point: whereas the first book focused on methods, this book focuses on challenges, the challenges rather than the methods are driving the practices.

Here are my fly-leaf notes. Some books I read to learn in depth, others I read to learn what I do not know and persuade myself the authors are essential future consultants. This is such a book. In my lifetime I cannot learn what these 49 collaborators articulate so capably.

WIDELY-DISPERSED ORGANIZATIONS
+ Defining and holding the vision
+ Tolerance for Ambiguity
+ Relationship-building

WHOLE-SYSTEM ENGAGEMENT WITH COLLABORATIVE TECHNOLOGY
+ 10% technology, 90% human interaction
+ Higher quality goals and strategies result
+ Faster decision making
+ Rapid global stakeholder alignment
+ Enhanced organizational readiness for implementation
+ New model for governance as well as participation

ORGANIZATIONS IN CRISIS
+ Focus
+ Timeline
+ Openness
+ Involvement
+ Preferences stimulate engagement
+ Seek coherence
- Directional
- Relational
- Task
- Contextual

POLARIZED AND POLITICIZED ENVIRONMENTS
+ LSG methods are more respectful of differences
+ Trust & Transformation
+ Multiple competing interests accomodated
+ Clearing the air
+ Working with tensions
+ Seven Principles
- Focus on common ground
- Rationalize conflict
- Manage conflict
- Expand individuals' view of the situation (beyond egotistic)
- Acknowledge history of group conflict and feelings
- Manage public airing of differences
- Reduce hierarchy as much as possible

COMMUNITIES WITH DIVERSE INTEREST GROUPS
+ Different from organizations, less structured, more ambiguous
+ Need sponsorship and sustainability of effort
+ Need representative planning groups from across the community
+ Skilled facilitators are essential
+ Conclude by recognizing, recording, and tracking commitments

WORKING CROSS-CULTURALLY
+ Be aware of what you do not know
+ Relationship-oriented, NOT "USA Work Before Pleasure"
+ Respect desire to maintain distance and privacy
+ Pace of decisions can be very slow
+ Respect desire to be part of a collective voice instead of an individual on the spot
+ Four Worlds
- North = intellect
- South = feeling
- East = intuition
- West = pragmatic
+ Conversations are for:
- Relationships
- Possibilities
- Action

EMBEDDING NEW PATTERNS
+ Patience
+ Respect self-organizing tendencies
+ Keep it simple

The resource section contains three additional contributions. The middle one, on graphics, captured my attention.

GRAPHICS:
+ Engage participants
+ Focus and ground energy of group
+ Provide space where participants feel heard
+ Bridge cultures
+ Surface unheard voices
+ Provide summative and integrative function
+ Provide continuity and enhance sustainability

I have personally witnessed the effectiveness of graphics at Nexus for Change and Bioneers. It is a hugely impressive technique for eliciting, capturing, and visualizing the disparate contribution of many individual minds. Those who are able to execute this function are gifted.

My eye was also caught by Covision's fast feedback cycle (bottom to top):
+ Ambivalence
+ Awareness
+ Understanding
+ MUTUAL Understanding
+ Alignment
+ Buy In
+ Commitment

The book ends with a reading list (part of what persuaded me it is better to engage these talents than try to replicate their knowledge), short bios of the very impressive collection of 49 collaborators, and a first-class index.

This is an important book. See also:
The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today's Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems
The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter
How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Updated Edition
The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World
One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

I am limited to ten links. See also Group Genius, Five Minds, Smart Mobs, Wisdom of the Crowds, Wealth of Networks, Revolutionary Wealth, Infinite Wealth, Wealth of Knowledge, Army of Davids, etc.

Exceptional insights from the former vice-president of the World Bank. It presents a succinct and thoughtful perspective on the challenges we are facing...and...how we can solve them. ..and along the way highlights the need for different thinking and a different education for our young people if they are to solve these problems of the 21st century.

J.F. Rischard does a fabulous job of compiling his knowledge into a great introduction of twenty global issues that the world is currently facing. As the subtitle indicates, these issues are steadily becoming problems that we, as a global community, must reckon with. Rischard says that they must be solved in the coming twenty years.

Most of the twenty problems are not surprises, but some are. The author spends time mentioning that his list is not all-inclusive, and that certainly other issues could have been added (or taken off). But his list is all-encompassing and includes the following classifications and then the actual problems:

Sharing our planet: Issues involving the global commons
1. Global warming
2. Biodiversity and ecosystem losses
3. Fisheries depletion
4. Deforestation
5. Water deficits
6. Maritime safety and pollution

Sharing our humanity: Issues requiring a global commitment
7. Massive step-up in the fight against poverty
8. Peacekeeping, conflict prevention, combating terrorism
9. Education for all
10. Global infectious diseases
11. Digital Divide
12. Natural disaster prevention and mitigation

Sharing our rulebook: Issues needing a global regulatory approach
13. Reinventing taxation for the 21st century
14. Biotechnology rules
15. Global financial architecture
16. Illegal drugs
17. Trade, investment, and competition rules
18. Intellectual property rights
19. E-commerce rules
20. International labor and migration rules

Yes, this list is QUITE long and extensive! But Rischard does a wonderful job of giving a brief (3-5 pages) introduction on each issue. If you are looking for a more in depth study of these issues, then you should look elsewhere. But note that the footnotes are great places to look for sources on these issues!

In the end, the purpose of the book is to present a brief summary of these problems, then propose a method for world leaders to use in solving the issues. The author's method is a good one, and he does a nice job explaining it simple terms with "pretty" pictures, charts, and graphs. My only complaint is that -- although the method is somewhat sound -- the book left me wondering what I could do (an average American citizen) to help solve these problems. I would have liked a chapter on what types of careers -- or even small daily tasks -- can be pursued to help fight these issues on a grander scale.

This book is recommended to any individual interested in economics, finance, environment, health, etc. on the global scale.

I bought this book as a requirement for a conference and I expected it to be another boring political/economical book that was going to make me yawn, but truly, after finishing the first chapter I was hooked onto it. The writer's style makes this book very interesting and I enjoyed it very much.

Edit of 21 Dec 07 to aadd comment and links.

Comment: This is still the best strategic overview and a book I would recommend all. See the others below.

Having read perhaps 20 of the best books on global issues and environmental sustainability, water scarcity, ocean problems, etc, over the past few years (most reviewed here on Amazon) I was prepared for a superficial summary, political posturing, and unrealistic claims. Not this book--this book is one of the finest, most intelligent, most easily understood programs for action I have ever seen. The book as a whole, and the 20 problem statements specifically, are concise, illustrated, and sensible.

The author breaks the 20 issues into 3 groups. Group one (sharing our planet) includes global warming; biodiversity and ecosystem losses, fisheries depletion, deforestation, water deficits, and maritime safety and pollution. Group two (sharing our humanity) includes massive step-up in the fight against poverty, peacekeeping-conflict prevention-combatting terrorism, education for all, global infectuous diseases, digital divide, and natural disaster prevention and mitigation. Group three (sharing our rule book) includes reinventing taxation for the 21st century, biotechnology rules, global financial architecture, illegal drugs, trade-investment-competition rules, intellectual property rights, e-commerce rules, and international labor and migration rules.

The author's core concept for dealing with these complex issues intelligently, while recognizing that "world government" is not an option, lies with his appreciation of the Internet and how global issues networks could be created that would be a vertical complement to the existing horizontal elements of each national government.

The footnotes and index are professional, but vastly more important, the author's vision is combined with practicality. This is a "doable-do" and this book is therefore my number one reading recommendation for any citizen buying just one book of the 360+ that I have recommended within Amazon. Superb.

See also, with reviews:
The Future of Life
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
Green Chemistry and the Ten Commandments of Sustainability, 2nd ed
Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications
Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution

This book is a very solid, creative and refreshing proposal for new ways to look at Global problems. He modestly proposes real solutions and processes. These ideas seem equally applicable at the regional and local level where institutional change can be slow but problems need a response without years of debates and institutional resistance.

I have always been inspired by Tom. Never have I read a better, more helpful and concise book. It is a joy to read and you will definitely benefit both personally and professionally from the tips that he shares. If you ever get to see a presentation by Tom in person, RUN (don't walk) to your seat in the lecture hall. His tips are practical, entertaining and based in science and experience. Thank you Tom for your contributions to our profession.

generally, it's a well taught and expounded book that very few books explain so very clearly in detail. as someone involved in raising money and promoting our non-profit, social work I am tremenously blessed and have my mind renewed and informed with fresh perspectives.

The material in this book is as invaluable as the style in which it is written. I found this book incredibly motivating, informative, stimulating, and fun to read. Thanks Tom! I feel utterly refreshed and excited to write now, instead of dreading it.

I could not put Tom's book down and read it in a night. There are some many great tips and insights -- I will not write another thing without this book at my side!

This book is easy to read, makes you laugh, teaches you how to write better and helps you raise more money. It just doesn't get any better any this. If you write anything to donors or prospective donors you should stop and read this first. You won't regret it.

I was always thought that Myers-Briggs was the queen of personality theories, until I read this book. After reading this book, I was able to work much more efficiently with one of my co-workers (with whom I previously felt like I was always spinning wheels and getting no where in terms of accomplishing work tasks). This book also offered specific tips that improved my communication with my roommates. I've always been intrigued by personality theories, but this is the first system that I was able to seamlessly implement in my life, with positive outcomes. Unlike a lot of personality theories, you don't have to give everyone a 20-page questionnaire and then scratch your head trying to figure out how these newly found "insights" might inform your interaction. No, it's much less awkward and much more useful than that. It gives you simple, specific cues to look for to assess the person's preferred mode of functioning, along with specific tips to improve your interaction. (Don't get me wrong, I still think that Myers-Briggs is good, but this book is so much better, that even if you dislike Myers-Briggs or personality tests in general, I'd recommend giving this book a try.)

It is obvious that Dr. Seagal has worked extremely hard to confirm her research since 1979. Her style of writing is clear, concise and void of jargon. I found the content easy to absorb, understand and apply. Just the heightend awarness of how diverse we are has made a significant difference in how I work and related to people. I can see some real possibilities for applying in a business context.

the first time that I have found an approach which looks at humans holistically and systemically. It is not a group of personality characteristics describing superficial behaviours, but a way of understanding and recognising internal processes particular to various human dynamics. It therefore goes much deeper than any other personality assessment technique I have seen and because of this can not be reduced to a paper and pencil test. However, the gift this approach brings is that it can be taught to everyday people and can provide access to better relationships and a greater understanding of how to release our judgement of others. A truly life changing book.

If you have found most personality tests insignificant, unhelpful, or unrevealing, then perhaps this book is for you. Human Dynamics goes into much more depth and provides a greater understanding of human communication and actions than any simple personality test. While people can be placed into certain "dynamics," these dynamics are not nearly as restraining or stereotypical as personality tests tend to be. Rather than explaining one's personality, dynamics explain how groups of people tend to process information, not necessarily how aggressive, passive, or "likeable" they are. This book helped me in terms of personal discovery, and has also helped me understand why it always seemed that so many people "just never seemed to think like me."

Models to describe human personality are presented. Each model has it unique characteristics, its strengths and weaknesses. Each model will respond most effectively to certain modes of communications. This understanding of the different models presented will help a manager, a teacher, a student or just about anybody to understand themselves and people around them better. This will enable better communication of ideas and thoughts. Students will learn better and managers will be able to communicate more effectively with individuals. The models can be taken up to an organizational level. The applications of this book are far and wide. It is also simply and clearly written.

This book is a gold-mine of practical information about the application of Policy Governance®. Boards will find a wealth of wisdom from former issues of Board Leadership, as well as a number of articles published in industry-specific journals that were not previously easy to find, now all in one convenient, easy-to-use package. Articles are short, easy-to-read, and of practical "hands-on" value. The FAQ section permits the reader to zoom in on particular areas of interest. As a consultant in Policy Governance® , I find the book to be a very user-friendly reference. For boards using the model, it is an invaluable resource. This is a book that can be read cover to cover, or can be "dipped into" to address specific issues facing a board at any given point in time. A must for your board's reference and on-going development.

While there are more and more books available on making boards effective, no other author seems to bring together anything more than miscellaneous ideas. John Carver, on the other hand, lays out a full system for board clarity and accountability.

I read his "Boards That Make a Difference", and was thrilled to see someone finally offer a way to make sense of boards. As a consultant, I've become an avid advocate of his Policy Governance model, which when used, virtually assures elevated governance.

With this new book, Carver continues to impress. Rather than a conceptual text, this collection of over 100 articles addresses nearly every conceivable structural issue boards face, as well as the myths surrounding Policy Governance.

To have all of this relevant information in one place is an incredible gift, another great addition to Carver's contributions to the nonprofit world, and any others interested in making boardroom activity meaningful and productive.

John Carver On Board Leadership is a collection of articles that demonstrate the Policy Governance (R) model in board leadership, as written by its creator, John Carver, a man who has over twenty years of experience working with a variety of corporation boards. Addressing how to use the model of governance to improve communication and overall effectiveness, the role of committees, means for resolving disagreements, and much, much more, John Carver On Board Leadership is a solidly written, reader accessible, and effectively useful title recommended for anyone charged with the often difficult and complicated task of coordinating or leading a governing board.

WOW! This compendium of more than 100 of John Carver's articles would be useful enough if it only collected these important articles on Policy Governance into one volume. This publication goes several steps further - by starting with a Frequently Asked Questions Guide, the reader is directed to his or her most urgent concerns. These FAQs appear throughout the book along with pull-out quotes that focus the reader's attention on key issues in the section. Both these features make the book easy to navigate and consequently, a richer resource.

It's great to have these articles combined into one resource since many have been previously published in hard to access journals. This will be a great resource for those new to Policy Governance as well as to experienced practitioners.

If you have read John Carver's books and watched his videotaped lectures, you have just begun to scratch the surface. In addition to "Boards That Make A Difference," "Reinventing Your Board," and "A New Vision of Board Leadership," Carver has produced an amazing array of short pieces designed for those who want to use Policy Governance. This book, "On Board Leadership," is a convenient compendium of these articles. It's well organized with a reliable index, an understandable table of contents and a list of "frequently asked questions" with references to the articles.

What this means is that my frequent trips to the file cabinet to riffle though my file of Carver's occasional writings are a thing of the past. From now on, I'll grab "On Board Leadership" and turn right to the article I need. If, for example, I am struggling with the concept of "cost," the index sends me to page 96 where I read that a board can only do so much. So the board must satisfy itself that by giving up end X in order to accomplish end Y, it is doing what its "owners" would want. The only tool I now lack is a "Carver Concordance."

Wide ranging discussions well organized. Just what every Policy Governance advocate can use. The book belongs in every association executive's library.

Gary Davis
Executive Director
Illinois Community College Trustees Association
401 E. Capitol Avenue, Suite 200
Springfield, IL 62701

This book provides a useful look into leadership theory primarily as it relates to transformational leadership. A key responsibility of any leader looking to improve their career longevity is to understand how to embrace change management as a key success metric. In my book Leadership Matters...The CEO Survival Manual: WHAT IT TAKES TO REACH THE C-SUITE AND STAY THERE I spend a great deal of time addressing leadership as it relates to change, innovation and performance. I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in deepening their understanding of leading change.

In a world of quick fix leadership books touting the latest fad du jour, the Sashkin's have provided a series of leadership lessons that work. Unlike other fad books they have grounded this approach in both theory and thorough research. More important, they have done this in a direct, easy to understand style and structure that lends itself to action. If you want to
know the current leadership fads so you can hold your own at a cocktail party, this book is not for you. If you want to lead in a dynamic environment and build a culture that thrives on change, this is the book for you.

Dr. Brad Lafferty
Synergy Inc. Washington DC

I am a doctoral student organizational leadership and have thus read many books on leadership as well as current academic literature, so I know the difference between a fadish popular leadership book and one that is well grounded and sound. This is the latter. Yet, it is still very accesible to non-academics. I assigned this book for an undergraduate class on leadership and the students absolutely loved it. The authors have not broken any new theoretical ground with this book. Sashkin and Sashkin are great synthesizers; they have taken the best of current transformational leadership theory and have combined it into a workable and cohesive approach to leadership that is grounded in the current leadership literature and is easy to read (not an easy task). This book only slightly works as an overview of leadership studies in general. They leave out in depth discussions of too many other current important leadership ideas. Instead they focus primarily on the transformational leadership approaches, and support it well with many theoretical strands. For a comprehensive and more systemative overview of leadership theory, try Peter Northouse: "Leadership Theory and Practice" or Gary Yukl: "Organizational Leadership." For a good one-stop approach and synthesis of TL, get this. While not groundbreaking, it is practical and useful for leaders and thus I recommend it.

This book is great! Feedback from my Advanced Leadership Studies graduate students at the Johns Hopkins University was unanimous. The mostly MBA students felt it was easy to read and understand, without a lot of jargon. The text presents a sound research base, yet many students described it as a good "how-to" book that includes clear methods for putting leadership concepts into practice in the workplace. Students gained helpful strategies for becoming and helping others become transformational leaders.

This book presents an excellent synthesis of the major theories that have defined the framework within which leadership is currently explored and practiced. Furthermore, it offers a clear and well defined stream of logic that will provide readers the opportunity to identify and implement some changes in their lives that could make a difference in the way they lead and follow. The crisp and concise presentation, the smooth flow, and the nice balance of theory and practice embedded within its content makes this book a valuable resource for students, researchers, consultants, and managers alike - as well as anyone else who would like to enhance and broaden their views on leaders and leadership.

Leading at a Higher Level is an excellent book that really "puts it all together" related to leadership and Blanchard's principles. I highly recommend it for a comprehensive book about leadership. I am using the book with our management/administrative team. Each person is reading the book and then facilitating the discussion of one chapter. The website resources are an added bonus. I am very excited about the individual and team development possibilities. Thank you!

Dramatic changes have altered the workplace over the course of the past 25 years, but many executives stick to outdated scripts even as corporate directions shift. Fortunately, The One Minute Manager guru Ken Blanchard offers insightful coaching exercises that give leaders new ways to proceed. Using straightforward language, Blanchard provides templates, examples and guidelines for employee education, performance reviews and promotions. The reader may become impatient with the repetition of key points and with Blanchard's slightly jarring habit of referring to himself in the third person, but despite these minor annoyances, this book is an excellent primer about modern leadership roles. In fact, Blanchard says that it "pulls together the thinking from the Ken Blanchard Companies for the past 25 years." We recommend this leadership overview to managers, board members, team leaders and every employee in a cubicle who aspires to reach higher levels.

I've been reading Dr. Ken Blanchard since The One Minute Manager came out. Perhaps you have been, too. While I haven't read all of his collaborations, I've usually read the books where the title seemed relevant to my interests.

More than once, I've wondered how I should fit all the pieces of his views on leadership into one finished jigsaw puzzle. Clearly, the views are humanistic, idealistic and inspiring. But how do we combine them all? My confusion was eliminated by reading Leading at a Higher Level which does an excellent job of integrating three decades worth of writing into one coherent set of ideas and directions for implementation.

If you tried to boil down this book into one idea, it's that of having the right target . . . what Dr. Blanchard and his partners and associates call the triple bottom line -- being the provider of choice for customers, the employer of choice for employees, and the investment of choice for investors. I'm not inclined to quibble, but in the rest of the book it's clear that other stakeholders are supposed to be considered (people who use the offerings, partners, the community, suppliers, and those affected by the company). I wonder if the triple bottom line doesn't need to be expanded to have more bottom lines.

Here's how the book is organized:

I. Set Your Sights on the Right Target and Vision

1. Measuring leadership performance -- the HPO SCORES model which is:

a. Shared information and open communications
b. Compelling vision
c. Ongoing learning
d. Relentless focus on customer results
e. Energizing systems and structures (ways of getting things done that fit with the vision)
f. Shared power and high involvement

As you can see, this is a highly participative concept of leadership where everyone has a role.

2. The Power of Vision

II. Treat Your Customers Right (Raving Fans created by Gung Ho people)

III. Treat Your People Right (Direct, Coach, Support, or Delegate depending on how prepared your people are for the task, and use one minute praisings and redirections and apologies)

IV. Have the Right Kind of Leadership (Servant leadership and diagnosing your own leadership perspective and style)

The bulk of the book is focused on the third topic, treat your people right, which is Dr. Blanchard's key operating philosophy.

The most interesting aspect of the book for me, however, was Dr. Blanchard's occasional revision of his philosophy. For instance, I could never understand why Dr. Johnson and he emphasized one-minute reprimands as much as one-minute praisings in The One Minute Manager. Dr. Blanchard makes a long-needed shift in that view to point out that one-minute redirections and one-minute apologies are needed much more often than one-minute reprimands.

Who will gain the most from this book? Someone who wants to see a process spelled out that can be used for being a humanistic leader and who hasn't read many books on the subject. If you've already read everything that's ever been written and feel comfortable with how Dr. Blanchard's many books fit together in application, you probably won't gain much additional knowledge from this book. But if you would like a friendly review of books you've enjoyed, you'll find the reading to be a pleasant experience. I enjoyed learning more about Dr. Blanchard's various colleagues.

If you haven't read anything by Ken Blanchard, just buy and read this book. It tells you everything you need to know about the other books. You could then expand your appreciation selectively by reading the fables that go with those books where you want to have a deeper understanding . . . by adding a story to go with the leadership lessons.

Be the leader you would like to have! That's the advice of Norman Schwarzkopf. I'm sure he would approve of this book.

Management expert Ken Blanchard has spent more than 25 years helping individuals and organizations become and stay great. Known for his co-authorship of The One Minute Manager, for the first time Blanchard combines his collective wisdom to show managers and leaders zero in on the right target and vision.

Blanchard argues that in high performing organizations everyone's energy is focused on three issues:

1. Being the provider of choice. To keep your customers, you must go beyond satisfying them, you have to turn them into raving fans.
2. Being the employer of choice. Workers seek opportunities where they feel their contributions are valued and rewarded.
3. Being the investment of choice. Money flows to organizations that provide viability, visibility and performance over time.

To achieve these goals, Blanchard argues, your organization must become a HPO - a high performing organization. The author employs the acronym SCORES to illustrate the six elements found in every HPO:

1. Shared Information and Communication.
2. Compelling Vision.
3. Ongoing Learning.
4. Relentless Focus on Customer Results.
5. Energizing Systems and Structures.
6. Shared Power and High Involvement.

In an HPO, Blanchard writes, every thing starts and ends with the customer. Each organization member is passionate about developing sophisticated knowledge of customers and sharing the information throughout the organization. This is accomplished three ways:

1. Decide. If you want raving fans, you do not announce it. You plan for it.
2. Discover. After you decide, it's critical to ask your customers' for suggestions to improve their experience with your organization.
3. Deliver + 1 per cent. Excite your people to deliver this experience, plus.

Enablement is the key to beating your competition day-after day. Allowing your people to pit their brains and allowing them to use their knowledge, experience and motivation is critical. To guide this transition to an enablement culture, leaders must use three keys:

1. Share Information.
2. Declare the Boundaries
3. Replace old Hierarchies with Self-Directed Individuals and Teams.

This requires a special leader: the servant leader. Leadership has two parts: vision and implementation. They need to find out what their people need to be successful and they make a difference in the lives of their people and in the process, their organization.

Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One Minute Manager, and his colleagues at The Ken Blanchard Companies have spent more than 25 years helping good leaders and organizations become great and stay great. In this book, they describe how leaders can empower people and unleash their incredible potential. This book must be required reading for everyone who wants to become a better leader.

A better definition of leadership, according to the author, is the capacity to influence others by unleashing the power and potential of people and organizations for the greater good. Leadership should not be done purely for personal gain or goal accomplishment: It should have a much higher purpose than that. Leadership can be defined as the process of achieving worthwhile results while acting with respect, care and fairness for the well-being of all involved. When that occurs, self-serving leadership is not possible. It's only when you realize that it's not about you that you begin to lead at a higher level.

Being a successful leader is not only about leading your organization, but your customers as well. According to the author, to keep your customers, you can't be content just to satisfy them; you have to create raving fans. Raving fans are customers who are so excited about the way you treat them that they want to tell everyone about you. A good example of how this works is Domo Gas, a full-service gasoline chain in Western Canada, cofounded by Sheldon Bowles. Back in the 1970s, when everybody was going to self-service gasoline stations, Bowles knew that if people had a choice, they would never go to a gas station. But people have to get gas, and they want to get in and out as quickly as possible. The customer service vision that Bowles and his co-founders imagined was an Indianapolis 500 pit stop. They dressed all their attendants in red jumpsuits. When a customer drove into one of Bowles' stations, two or three people ran out of the hut and raced toward the car. As quickly as possible, they looked under the hood, cleaned the windshield and pumped the gas (p. 42).

A successful leader must also have a workable vision, and be able to clearly communicate and share this vision with his organization. When Louis Gerstner Jr. took the helm of IBM in 1993-- amid turmoil and instability as the company's annual net losses reached a record $8 billion -- he was quoted as saying, "The last thing IBM needs is a vision." In an article in The New York Times two years later, Gerstner conceded that IBM had lost the war for the desktop operating system, acknowledging that the acquisition of Lotus signified that the company had failed to plan properly for its future. He admitted that he and his management team now "spent a lot of time thinking ahead." Once Gerstner understood the importance of vision, an incredible turnaround occurred. In 1995, delivering the keynote address at the computer industry trade show, Gerstner articulated IBM's new vision -- that network computing would drive the next phase of industry growth and would be the company's overarching strategy. That year, IBM began a series of acquisitions that positioned it to become the fastest-growing company in its segment, with growth at more than 20 percent per year. This extraordinary turnaround demonstrated that the most important thing IBM needed was a vision (p. 24-25).

Leaders must also know how to lead their workforce. Giving people too much or too little direction has a negative impact on people's development. Situational leadership is based on the belief that people can and want to develop, and there is no best leadership style to encourage that development. You should tailor leadership style to the situation. This is pretty much common sense. But leaders should also train their people in self leadership. For example, Bandag Manufacturing experienced the value of self leadership after a major equipment breakdown. Rather than laying off the affected work force, the company opted to train them in leadership. The company began holding their managers accountable and asking them to demonstrate their leadership capabilities. They were asking managers for direction and support and urging them to clarify goals and expectations. Suddenly, managers were studying up on rusty skills and working harder. When the plant's ramp-up time was compared to the company's other eight plants that had experienced similar breakdowns in the past, the California plant reached pre-breakdown production levels faster than any in history. The determining factor in the plant's successful rebound was primarily the proactive behavior of the workers, who were fully engaged and armed with the skill of self leadership (p. 104-105).

Leaders must also encourage team work, and be part of the team themselves. Teams provide a sense of worth, connection and meaning to the people involved in them. A study of 12,000 male Swedish workers over a 14-year period revealed that workers who felt isolated and had little influence over their jobs were 162 percent more likely to have a fatal heart attack than were those who had a lot of influence in decisions at work and who worked in teams. Data like this -- combined with the fact that teams can be far more productive than individuals functioning alone --provide a compelling argument for creating high involvement workplaces. Furthermore, according to a 2003 Gallup study, "actively disengaged" people -- workers who are fundamentally disconnected from their jobs -- are costing the U.S. economy between $292 billion and $355 billion a year. The Gallup survey found that 24.7 million workers (17 percent) are actively disengaged. These workers are absent from work 3.5 more days a year than other workers, or 86.5 million days in all. Statistics show an even less engaged work force worldwide.

When people lead at a higher level, they make the world a better place because their goals are focused on the greater good. Making the world a better place requires a special kind of leader: a servant leader. Robert Greenleaf first coined the term "servant leadership" in 1970 and published widely on the concept. Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela are examples of servant leaders. Servant leaders feel their role is to help people achieve their goals. They try to find out what their people need to be successful. They want to make a difference in the lives of their people and, in the process, impact the organization (p. 249).

Research shows that effective leaders have a clear, teachable leadership point of view and are willing to teach it to others, particularly the people they work with. If you can teach people your leadership point of view, they will not only have the benefit of understanding where you're coming from, but they'll also be clear on what you expect from them and what they can expect from you. They may also begin to solidify their own thinking about leadership so that they can teach others too. Some say that learning, teaching and leading should be inherent parts of everyone's job description.

The world needs more leaders who are leading at a higher level. Perhaps the day will come when self-serving leaders are history, and leaders serving others are the rule, not the exception.

I enjoyed reading Rae Lindsay's book. I really like her writing style. It was a light read and anyone interested in lefties should read this book!!

I enjoyed reading Rae Lindsay's book. I really like her writing style. It was a light read and anyone interested in lefties should read this book!!

It's about time someone wrote a great book for us lefties! WOW! This book is so fun to read and is so informative that I would recommend it to anyone. Yes, even right-handers! You can't imagine how much cool and interesting stuff is packed into this book.

I really liked LEFT IS RIGHT because it provided excellent information for lefties, ranging from humorous anecdotes and helpful history to easily understood explanations for why people are left-handed...and lists and lists of famous lefties. Right on! for this special book for lefties.

Left-handers know they have it tough in the world, but for all those non-believing right-handers, this is the book you need to read. It is a thorough examination of left-handedness, including word origins, derivations of "left is evil" myths, famous left-handers, relevant anatomy, historical and cultural concessions to right-handers, and even a list of retail stores who cater to southpaws. Very well-done all the way around.

This truth about how to learn still stands, while so many notions have drifted away and died. As someone who adores children and has mentored many, I've observed again and again the demonstration of Papert's points. And because he's such an odd duck -- having expertise in both technology and learning/development -- the book can offer practical examples of how this understanding can be actually applied. I'm so grateful that people are still seeing the value of this landmark book.

Mindstorms is not just about the programming language called Logo. It is about Turtle Graphics and it's application to education. The author explains Turtle Graphics which is combination of programming and geometry. He then puts Turtle Graphics to use explaining how to do draw complicated shapes with it. Finally the author explains the theory behind his insights which is built on the contributions of Piaget a important researcher into the way children understand the world. I greatly enjoyed this book. Papert explains how to combine the process of programming with the process of learning. He shows how to make what is cerebral into a concrete process that children can understand.

This is a book that anyone interested in present-day education of children everywhere should find time to read. For a few weeks, in the summer of 2001, I introduced teenagers in the W. E. B. DuBois Scholars' Program, held on the campus of Princeton University, to the Logo computer programming language invented by the author of this book, MIT professor, Seymour Papert. A leader in the DuBois program sought me out to congratulate me and quoted the students as having repeated over and over that they were ecstatic about what they were learning in my class and that it alone was worth their live-in participation. Indeed, I saw the glow in their eyes and a strong desire to be explorers with Turtle Graphics. Ditto for when I joined fellow volunteers from the MIT Alumni Club of New York City to employ Lego to guide the learning of robotics at Hunter College Elementary School for gifted students in upper Manhattan.

There is something engaging about the constructivist learning philosophy advocated in Professor Papert's books, beginning with the first edition of this book, [1980]. The open secret was that these students directed their collaboration with the computer in their own journey to discover knowledge and this book explains the confluence of ideas from science, mathematics and modeling that brings about this immersion. When a child can learn, in one week, how recursion works in mathematics, a topic normally taught in graduate courses in computer science, someone has donated a gift!

The challenge to teachers looking for traditional instructions for students in this setting is that this approach is relatively rule-agnostic and that makes some people feel uncomfortable. There is a chapter titled "Instructionism versus Constructionism" in a book, The Children's Machine, Papert's follow-up progress report on learning, after more than three million computers had been employed in American elementary schools, thirteen years after the ideas in Mindstorms were first published. For more adventurous K-12 students, opportunities to use legions of turtles, acting simultaneously, to model and simulate complex, dynamic systems like traffic jams are provided within a related language, StarLogo, and the results are startling and sometimes paradoxical.

At the risk of being immodest, I volunteer that one of my sons started his education in an atmosphere implementing Papert's ideas -- MIT's Tech Child Care Center -- in 1977 and went on to graduate from Stanford University in 1996. This environment galvanizes and sustains the curiosity, creativity and imagination of children - preach it to all who would listen!

This book provides an introduction to Papert's thinking concerning the learning and teaching of math. Prior to developing the LOGO language described in this book, Papert worked closely with Piaget in Switzerland for 5 years. While in Switzerland, Papert observed many of Piaget's experiments with children and the development of their understanding of mathematical concepts. Following Piaget, Papert believed that the math learning that the child comes to know best and that stays with the child always comes from experience and cognition, not from explicit teaching or rote practice. He noted, however, that there were certain mathematical concepts that children should come to know, but that they wouldn't ordinarily learn from experience alone because they might not come across these ideas in ordinary life. This is why he invented the programming language LOGO--a toy that children could play with, experiment with, manipulate, and through doing so, gradually come to call their own the mathematical concepts needed for their games.

To make LOGO attractive to kids, he included a "turtle" as the central figure of the language. The turtle carried a pen that could be used to trace the turtle's movement through the play area or on a computer screen. The challenge was for kids to write programs in LOGO that would instruct the turtle how to move and when to use the pen so that it would draw shapes in the forms that they wanted. When the turtle didn't make the shapes they wanted, they were instructed to "be the turtle," in order to understand the turtle's perspective, and to figure out how they needed to adjust their programs. According to Papert, even kids who showed no interest in math in the regular classroom began showing dramatic improvements in their math skills when given a chance to play with the turtle. Unfortunately, when turtle math was first introduced, many teachers tried teaching a turtle math class the same way they taught regular math class, with lectures and assignments. In doing so, they lost the playful aspects of the program, and kids didn't relate to it as well as they might have if the teachers had followed Papert's guidelines.

When turtle math was first invented, Papert's team created a small robot turtle that kids could play with and program. In the years that followed, the programmable turtle eventually developed into the Lego Mindstorms programmable brick, which doesn't quite sound as cute and fuzzy, but actually allows even more creative play than the turtle, since kids can choose what kinds of forms the robot should take. One of the more fascinating aspects of this book is the historical documentation it provides of Papert's thinking at the time, and his reasoning behind LOGO and turtle math. When an idea for a revolution in teaching methodology goes from just an idea, to a system that is being used for teaching engineering and science in classrooms around that world, and is even being sold successfully in regular commercial channels as a toy, it's worth getting to know better, as can be done through reading this book. Teachers in classrooms using Lego or other robots could benefit greatly from reading this classic book detailing the early history behind programmable robots and the way Papert envisioned them being used for learning.

This is the best book I have ever read on how to assist people to learn for themselves. Papert began his work by collaborating with Jean Piaget, and then applied those perspectives in a self-programming language designed to help children learn math and physics.

Papert explains Piaget's work and provides case studies of how the programming language, LOGO, can help. He provides a wonderful contrasting explanation of the weaknesses of how math and physics are usually taught in schools.

I learned quite a few things from this that I did not know before. People are very good at developing theories about why things work the way they do. I knew that these theories are almost always wrong. What I did not realize is that if you give the person a way to test their theory, the person will keep devising new theories until they hit on one that works. What is usually missing in education is the means to allow that testing to occur.

An especially imaginative part of this book were the discussions of how to create theory testing solutions that are much simpler and easier to apply than any school problem you ever saw in these subjects. Papert works from a very fundamental and deep understanding of math and physics to reach the heart of the most useful thought processes for applying these subjects. It is thrilling to read about what you have known for many years, and to suddenly see it in a totally different and improved perspective.

Another benefit I got from this book were plenty of ideas for how to help my teenage daughter with her math. She is very verbal, and Papert points out that math seldom teaches a vocabulary for talking about math. As a result, she memorizes a lot and gets dissociated from the subject. I got a lot of ideas for how to encourage her to personalize the concepts and problems by moving her own body. From that I realized that I often solve the same kinds of problems by recalling physical situations I have been in. But I have failed to help her make that connection because I was unaware of it on a conscious level.

If you want to improve as a learner, help others learn better and faster, or simply want to understand more about different ways to think, this is a great book. I hope that all teachers get a chance to read and apply it.

Enjoy learning more!