Teams Books

Once again, Jim hits the bulls-eye with an easy to read, user friendly book about Leadership. My favorite books on this topic are dog-eared and have colored tabs throughout. This is one of those bookes! When combined with the Leader's Digest Practical Application Planner its easy to create a personal development plan theat translates ideas in Action. A great Coaching tool!

This book is a great guide with useful strategies to lead yourself and your team more effectively. The way it's laid out, it's easy to read and has great anecdotes and quotes. It also has real life facts and proven strategies to help take your team or your business to the next level. Very enjoyable!

This was the second book of Jim Clemmer's I have read. Following my usual very bad habit, I circled particularly useful and inspiring passages in pencil and turned the corner of the page down for future reference. I've just finished it and virtually every page has its corner turned down. There's a lot of BS out there written about leadership. Jim's book is as far from that as you can get. It is wise, practical, inspiring, enjoyable, illuminating, and you can dip in and out of it easily as it's written in digestible 'bites'. One of the best books I have ever read on leadership (possibly THE best book - can't think of a better one off the top of my head at the moment) - and I have to read a lot of them. I've co-written one myself, but I'd recommend Jim's over mine - It's much better!

The emotional role of leadership became clearer to me after reading Jim's book. He doesn't glorify the power of the position, but rather that "people respond to this leadership because they can clearly see the principles from which it flows." I learned techniques that help me be a purveyor of hope with my team, even though I don't sit in the chair at the top.

Like the Reader's Digest that my father always had around when I was younger, The Leader's Digest is full of powerful ideas packed in bite-size chunks. Jim's book, however, weaves those bites into a meal. Without going the route of the popular business fable, Jim's style makes for easy reading as he sprinkles appropriate quotes around contemporary research presented in a non-academic fashion. Where else can you read "The Anti-Serenity Prayer" coupled with The Serenity Prayer?

Like his prior book "Growing The Distance", Jim Clemmer's "Leader's Digest" is a sampler of high impact ideas. Each chapter (or article) is attractively packaged as a brief essay within apt anecdotes and quotations.

In marketing there is a saying that you sell the sizzle, not the steak. Jim Clemmer sells the rich, savory steak surrounded by the sizzle.

Some of Clemmer's ideas are classic Business School. Some are recognizable from the pop-psych realm. All are uniquely restated in forms that make them quickly and easily accessible to even the beginning leader. And motivationally rejuvenating to the old pros.

You don't read this author's books: you visit and revisit them like wise old friends.

Terry Pluto has written an excellent book and as an Indians fan for 70 years I can easily relate to his personal story and to the history given of the Cleveland Indians. It is an excellent history for the most part, written as only a sports writer can, though he contradicts a couple other writers a few times. I espeically like the emphasis on the heroes of my childhood, Lou Boudreau, Bob Feller, Larry Doby and others on the famous 1948 team. I disagree with his contention that the l948 championship team was not one of the greatest championship teams ever and this is disproved in the detailed book An Epic Season by David Kaiser. Also for a really complete history of the Indians before and leading to 1948, Franklin Lewis wrote a book titled Clevland Indians published in 1949. Sadly, I don't know if that one can still be found or not, even through Amazon. It is more a history. Nonetheless, Our Tribe: A Baseball Memoir is a very good read and brings back the agony of the countless opportunities that former owners of the Indians let get by them. And the new owners may be doing that again today. :( As a personal story it is superb.

Absolutely wonderful weaving of an at times diffcult father-son relationship (congrats for telling it like it was!) and the history of the Cleveland Indians. Never gets bogged down in year-to-year stats and his way of comparing Shoeless Joe and Manny Ramirez's careers was brilliant. The stories about Manny are priceless.

Like all his other sports books, Terry Pluto is easily the best sportswriter on the planet.

This is a superb book because it goes beyond being a great sports book. Terry Pluto's weaving of his relationship with his father into his lifetime love of the Cleveland Indians makes it a book that readers will think about long after they've finished reading it. It's not necessary to be a Tribe fan to enjoy this book. I'd even go as far to say that a reader need not be a baseball fan to feel empathy and self-reflection on his or her parent-child relationship, regardless of whether the person is the parent or the child. I've also read the author's "Loose Balls", a wonderful look back at the American Basketball Association, and recommend that to those who remember the ABA (go Oakland Oaks!) and to those who weren't around to enjoy those years.

This is a fantastic book for any Indians fan who grew up watching games at the old Stadium. It's for all of us who grew up rooting for a sad team who had never won anything before and was never likely to do so in the future. It helps us to remember those days when the important thing wasn't how good the team was or if they had a chance at the Series, but rather spending time with our fathers watching the game. Maybe, just maybe, this book will help us to remember what is really important once again.

This book is as much a story about a son and his relationship with his father as it is about baseball, and tells each of those stories wonderfully. For basball fans it is an entertaining history of the Cleveland Indians and is full of colorful players, managers, and even owners. From the perspective of this one baseball team, the reader has a ring side seat on how much our country, society, and professional sports have changed and grown over the last 75 plus years. Just from the standpoint of the baseball Terry Puto is as good as Ken Burns or George Will.

But the story within the story is really about the author and his father. That relationship is one that is full of joy and sadness, wonderful memories and yet regrets. The author comes to better understand and appreciate his father after a stroke makes it impossible to talk to his father. In a cruel irony, when the time came that the author was ready and wanted to share stories and talk to his father, he was not able to.
All fathers and sons should read this book.

A final comment on Terry Pluto's writing style. I have read three of Mr Pluto's books and appreciate the way he writes in a clean, no non-sense style and yet fills his books with so much detail and color.

I have been following automobile racing since 1961 and followed sports car and formula 1 closely in the 60's and 70's with great interest. This is the finest book on sports car racing I have ever read. It's both filled with incredible data as well as anecdotes. If you have any interested in racing buy this book. You will not be disappointed.

This is truly an excellent book. I have an extensive collection of books devoted to motor racing (300+) and I would easily rank this in the top 10. I couldn't put it down. John Horsman was lucky enough to be intimately involved in the development and racing of the two most significant endurance race cars of the 60s and 70s: the Ford GT40 and the Porsche 917. He obviously kept copious and detailed notes during that period and he makes excellent use of them in writing this book. The story is packed with hundreds of tiny details and anecdotes that only a person who was there and lived it can provide. He creates an atmosphere where you feel you are actually there, looking over his shoulder and watching all that is going on. This is exactly what I'm looking for in each racing book I buy; unlike the majority of them, this one actually delivers.
There is another plus associated with this book: it almost free of any errors. It clearly had both an editor and a proof-reader. So many other recent books about motorsports appear to have had neither, and thus end up laced with errors: factual, grammar and typos. This book is refreshingly free of them.
If you only buy one motor racing book this year, this should be the one.

This book highlights the technicalities of racing sportscars at the highest level. Whilst the book focuses on the development of the various cars the author worked with (GT40/Mirage/Porsche 917), it also touches on the various drivers employed by his teams during his career (Rodriguez, Vern Shupan, Derek Bell).

This book provides some fascinating insights into the author's perspective of the Porsche 917 era, particulalry in regards to the rivalry between the Gulf team and Porsche Salzburg/Martini.

A great read, particularly if read in conjunction with Vic Elford's book, which details the Porsche Salzburg side of things.

Highly recommended for those who enjoyed the epic sportscar era.

This is a great book for anyone who grew up on the movie Le Mans (still the best racing movie ever made) and dreamed of racing at night down the Mulsanne straight! The author not only was a part of history, but is a surprisingly engaging writer as well.

Far too many "Three Star" or "Four Star" books are given a "Five Star" rating, but John Horsman's, Racing in the Rain, truly deserves five stars because it is one of less than a handful of automotive racing books that is absolutely first class in informing the reader, and doing it elegantly, of both how and why some racing cars win and others just compete. I put it along side Laurence Pomeroy's, The Grand Prix Car, and Karl Ludvigson's, Mercedes-Benz Racing Cars, as the best of the genre.
Horsman has the direct personal experience and engineering expertise to know and understand what went on in the sportscar racing world from the late 1950s through the early 1980s, a period that coincides with the golden age of prototype sportscar racing. In this era, Aston-Martin, Ford, Porsche, and Mirage battled with Ferrari, Matra, Alfa Romeo, Renault-Alpine, and other marques in endurance competitions that tested designers, teams, drivers and cars. Rule fixing or "performance balancing" was not part of the racing scene then: it was a tough, honest, win-or-lose world, and John Horsman had an insider's view of it all, and, happily for us, provides a clear, well-written, and, most importantly, an informative account of what went on and why.
One learns, for example, exactly how much bhp and at what rpm a Ford engine produced and what its design weaknesses were and what measures were taken to turn an essentially production-car engine into a race-winning proposition, or what the drag and frontal areas of Mirage racing cars were and, thus, what speeds down the Mulsanne straight might expected, etc., and consequently why some cars won, others came close, or still others failed entirely. In particular, he writes with an unusually clear-sighted eye when discussing Porsche, recognizing the firm's real engineering and production strengths, but not in an awe-struck way (as so many do) for he is able to see how, occasionally, blindness and arrogance on the part of Porsche people led to potential victories slipping away. I also appreciated the hard information Horsman provides on myth-shrouded or obscure topics such as the reason why the Weslake-Ford V-12 failed to be used in Mirage cars.
From an engineer, like Horsman, one expects accurate and detailed information on the cars he worked on or of those against which he competed, but he is also good in capturing the essence of the personalities he encountered during a quarter century's involvement in racing at the highest level. Compassion and feeling are shown where deserved, good drivers are respected and the risks that all assumed are not overlooked, while the occasional fools and knaves of the racing car world are given what they deserve.
If you have even the slightest interest in sportscar racing, you should get this book immediately, but even if your motoring interests lie outside this area of the automotive performance world, you will still enjoy reading it -though be warned, it will make other car books seem thin, pale and dull.

Very good book, the meditation exercises were helpful. I enjoyed this book
very much,it is a great tool in discovering your guides as well as building a friendship with them.
I would highly recommend this book, if your searching for your Spirit Guide.

This is a must have for all Pagans. It is clear and in layman's terms a great way to contact the other side and to learn to work in harmony with them to achieve your goals.

This is definitely a must-have for those who wish to contact their spirit allies. I haven't done all of the exercises in the book, but I've read through it and can't wait to actually try them all out. His personal stories in the book relate to the stories and really go to show that our spirit allies are real - they're just waiting for us to contact them.

He offers self-protection "rituals", which is a definite must-do before any spirit communication takes place and different exercises for preparing to contact our spirit allies and actually speaking with them. He also wrote in exercises for casting a magick circle and more. Although it isn't aimed at one religion, it seems more witchcraft-influenced.

If you're interested in how to contact your spirit allies, get this book.

When embarking on a study of anything metaphysical, spiritual or esoteric, please read this book FIRST. Christopher Penczak lays the groundwork that you can build on to understand the concepts of all of the genres I listed. It is easy to read and understand, full of valuable information, great exercises, and lists (angels, fetish animals etc). It is a book that you will refer back to, and probably even read twice, as there is so much information in it. This is a great basic book to read to get a well informed overview of all things "Spiritual". For those who have been around the esoterical block a few times, read it! There is so much information in it that you may still learn something new! This is a MUST READ!

great information on all topics, this book is the kind of book to read once and then go back and really live it and expereince it...awesome book

What makes a project successful or doomed - loved or hated? Those are the questions "Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior" hopes to answer, looking critically at the archetypes of people and engineers that people constantly fall into, whether they know they are or not. Not afraid to take a humorous look at it all, it's a comprehensive guide that offers an example of what is a good and bad behavior coming from team members in management of a project. "Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior" is highly recommended to anyone in charge of a group project and for community library business collections.

How can you keep from getting sick by infection? You need to build up immunity. There are two ways to do this. One is by surviving an earlier bout with the disease, and the other is by getting vaccinated.

Reading this book will "vaccinate" you against the negative project behaviors it describes, so that they can be recognized and dealt with before they cause project failures. Learning from the failures of others is a lot faster and cheaper than learning "the hard way" (by taking part in failed projects yourself). Get everyone on your team a copy, so that the cries of alarm cannot fail to be heard.

I have been a fan of Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister for some time, their insights into the right way to manage information technology (IT) projects could be entitled, "The Way It Should Be Done." In this book, they are joined by their colleagues in the Atlantic Systems Guild to describe 86 project patterns, some of which you would enjoy being used to describe how you do things and others that you would avoid if you could. The descriptions are generally short, less than three pages and include a figure for emphasis.

Unless you have been blessed to a level that no one to my knowledge has ever been or you have never worked, then there will be patterns in this book that will cause your head to nod in agreement. Using colorful language on occasion and consistent blunt talk, the authors tell it straight, providing advice that pulls the façade off of some of the common notions of what makes a project work. Some of the titles of the patterns are:

Project slut
Rattle Yer Dags
One Throat to Choke
The Too Quiet Office
Everyone Wears Clothes for a Reason
What Smell?
Sanctity of the Half-Baked Idea
Seelenverwandtschaft
The authors are big advocates of creatively goofing off, arguing forcefully that the most productive teams are those that do things together that are anything but work related. Eating together, attending a movie, playing together in a band and a regular poker night are suggested ways to build cohesion and a sense of respect between the members of the development team. They also insist that some of these things should be done on company time.

The group is also strongly opposed to strict rigidity of any form, believing that a bit of chaos, animated discussion with disagreement and respectful truth telling are all signs of an efficient and productive team. In the "Miss Manners" pattern, they point out that extreme civility is misdirected and results in deep mediocrity. Everyone is subject to generating the occasional error or bad idea and if it is accepted rather than rejected for fear of hurting feelings, everyone suffers.

This past year, I authored a new major and minor program in Management Information Systems (MIS) for the college where I teach. Two of the upper level classes in the program involve the study of the proper ways to manage IT projects. This book will be used as a supplementary text when I teach those courses.

Published in the online Journal of Object Technology reprinted with permission

With "Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior," The Atlantic Systems Guild team of DeMarco, Lister et al has done it again - a book about projects, project work and software development that is both useful and readable. I highly recommend this book.

Many books that relate to technical or managerial subjects are difficult to read - a lot of stuff you don't care about, and the occasional nugget. "Adrenaline Junkies" is a book of nuggets. Each chapter is a nugget or "pattern," including a phrase, a picture, a sentence and a couple of pages of descriptive text. One of my favorites, "News Improvement," refers to the tendency of bad news to be "improved" as it makes its way up the organizational chain. Another, "The Overtime Predictor," talks about how fear can drive people to overtime.

Not everyone will care about every pattern, but the book is organized in such a way that the reader has control over what to miss. Some patterns validated my own experiences. Some provided new insights. A couple I didn't get. My recommendation: read through the book, paying special attention to the patterns you care about. Skip some of the descriptive text if the pattern doesn't resonate with you, but first make sure you understand it. (Hint: the last paragraph of each pattern usually has a brief summary.) Then, when you're done, take a few minutes and go through all the patterns again to refresh your mind. That way, when you encounter these situations in real life, you'll remember the pattern. Even if that's all you can remember, you'll be able to refer back to the book for advice.

God, what a great read! Serious topics, but plenty of humor to take the edge off. As usual, this team of folks have got it right. For everyone in the software development arena, this is a must read!

All american girl is the storyr of the golden oldies of the Womens National soccer team! It shows how some 10+ ordinary girls came together to make a HUGE difference in the history of sports! Best book ever!!!!!!

This book will give you the facts and inside scoop of the wonderful ladies. Some of the stories the team tells are hilaroius. It's not the best book I've read but it's great for young girls to see how they got to the highest level.

This book is fantastic. It gives an inside look at each player to pass through the National team program for an extended period of time. Includes player interviews and a sort of "rap"sheet for each player, like their most embaressing soccer moment, their favorite number, and other interesting facts. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in learning more about the Womens National team. Don't Miss it!!

If u don't have this book, u must buy it because i never liked soccer untill my friend bought me it. I was hooked. I read it 5 times that is how good it was. Please buy the book. If u don't, you are missing out....... BIG time.

If you are a fan of any player on the US womens team and wonder what they do in there life (Yes they do have a life out side of soccer)this is the book for you. Your brothers picking on you saing girls cant play sports. Will now you can prove him wrong. Hand him this book tell him to read the first page, it will make him think twice before he makes fun of womens soccer again. This book has each player tell about there life in and out of soccer. They tell of all the interesting hobbies they have and some of am even rat on there team mates. If you buy this book and dont enjoy reading it you are not a true womens soccer fan.

Sit back and relax with this read because W. A. Heisler exhibits a truely remarkable understanding of what Christmas is all about. His storytelling will fill your heart with the love and peace we all need to feel. I'd recommend this to all those who are looking to get away from the hustle and bustle that Christmas has become.

Wow, what a journey An American Christmas will take you on. From the first story "The Tradition" it touched my heart and I could not put it down. This book is an emotional, heartwarming and inspritational read. So enjoyable. I have actually read it twice. I have given it for gifts and encourage everyone to read it. You will truly feel the power of the words.

I liked this book a lot. My favorite stories are "Stille Nacht" (set during World War II) and "These Four Walls".

The author has a good sense of humor and it's most evident in "These Four Walls" (the story about the kids and the 'witch').

There's also some suspense in "Stille Nacht" and "The Long Road Home." (That surprised me even though I read and liked a few of the author's uncollected suspense stories.)

Three of the stories have spiritual elements. I normally wouldn't enjoy stories like that (outside of the horror genre), because I'm an atheist. It takes talent to make an ornery guy like me appreciate a sentimental and spiritual Christmas-themed story.

I'm looking forward to a book of Heisler's suspense and horror tales.

W. A. Heisler does a magnificent job with these five spiritually uplifting and inspiring Christmas stories that will touch and warm your heart. Heisler is able to quickly pull you into each story and connect you personally with each character. His ease and humor keeps your interest. A great holiday gift idea for someone you love.

What a great way to spend your christmas vacation! The Christmas memories shared in the short stories of this book offers such a variety of characters each with a feel good theme that offers an uplifting solution to the commercial driven christmas it puts the focus on the real meaning of christmas and the importance of the memories we make during the holdays. I laughed, cried and really enjoyed An American Christmas.

"Blue Ice" is not only a story about "Michigan Hockey" its a story about how college hockey has evolved to become a mainstream player development system for the National Hockey League, evidence the vast number of former NCAA Division l College Hockey players currently on NHL rosters. Neither is "Blue Ice" a book of hockey statistics; rather its pages uniquely reveal the metamorphosis of NCAA College Hockey, from its cocoon, to the exciting on-ice beautiful spectacle it has become."

An easy read, that's about much more then just the game of hockey. This book delves into the tradition and character of Michigan and it's hockey program. Blue Ice is a must read for anyone interested in Michigan athletics, is familiar with the Ann Arbor hockey community, or just loves the game of hockey.

Blue ice is an impressive book that will be enjoyed by anyone interested in collegiate-level athletics, particularly ice hockey. Bacon is a gifted writer with the ability to interweave historical facts and objective (always informative and often funny) stories that keep the reader entertained. It is a great buy for folks that love factually based stories.

A must-read for hockey lovers! Whether you like Michigan Hockey or any other team, this book is for you. Bacon makes this history story of the Wolverine skaters extremely fun and joyous reading. If you are a Michigan fan, you'd enjoy reading all the details and stories; if you (so wrongly) chose another team to cheer -- you'll become curious as to its own history.
I especially loved the parts of the book (which I consider as "Hockey chanting for Idiots") detailing the rich content and background behind some of what you hear in Yost Ice arena. After reading it, watching the games was so much more fun!

The idea is simple. Write an engaging story recounting the coming of age of a first class collegiate hockey program and spice it with behind the scene details, locker room interviews and humorous anecdotes. The execution is outstanding. Blue Ice takes the reader on a very enjoyable trip looking at the beginnings of college hockey at the University of Michigan, from playing outdoors on the frozen Huron River, to the recent trips that Wolverine skaters have made to the Frozen Four championships. The bonus for readers is getting a sports version of "Connections," with the athletic stories enveloped and intertwined in the history of the time, showing how seemingly unrelated events can influence each other. Easy and entertaining to read, delightful to give as a gift, when it was over, we wanted a sequel.

This book is a 'must' for the die-hard fan of America's Team... the Dallas Cowboys!

One of the greatest Cowboys history books I have read. Amazing pictures and very informative. Lots of information that even a die-hard Cowboy fan doesn't know. A very entertaining read.

I purchased 3 books from Amazon.com yesterday. Luckily, I met Norm at a remote today for which he graciously and personally signed all 3 copies.

1 book is going to my younger brother who is in Iraq fighting for Our Country - He'll love his signed copy.

1 is for my father-in-law... I know this lifelong Cowboy fan will love to relive the memories of this team through the pages of Norms book.

Of course I will love my copy here in N. Texas - Thanks Norm!!!

This is such a great book. Whether you are a Cowboys fan or not, it's a great conversation starter. Was this team the greatest ever?

The book is a great behind the scenes view...the photographs are amazing, the supporting story line riveting.

What a team...what a book!

I've never seen my husband with anything other than magazines, and when I surprised him with this beautiful hardcover, he couldn't hardly put it down :) He carried it to every room with him durning his chill time for a week straight, except the bathroom~he put it on the dresser right outside the door :) His eye's turn into big glossy child eyes when he's reflecting on old football times with this unbelievably vibrant photo history.
Every page is full of eye catching photo's with defining subtexts. If you love Dallas Cowboys, Sports Center, Sports Illistrated, and some Magazines then you'll LOVE this find. Recommend for the average to over the top Dallas Cowboy's fan !!

I'm burned out on business books at the moment, but Smith's book is different -- non-intuitive insights, distinctions that help you resolve complexity into useful patterns, ways of seeing and acting differently. And then there's the author's mischievous sense of fun. Who else quotes Woody Allen, Marvin Gaye, and David Foster Wallace (twice!) in a business book?

Divide Or Conquer: How Great Teams Turn Conflict Into Strength by Diana McLain Smith opened my eyes as to why business and personal relationships can start out so strong and then seemingly self-destruct for "no reason". Once you understand the structure and pattern of this event, you can start to take steps to correct it.

Contents:
Part 1 - Understanding Relationships: The Life and Death of a Relationship; The Anatomy of a Relationship; The Key to Resilience
Part 2 - Transforming Relationships: Disrupting Patterns of Interaction; Reframe How You See Each Other; Revise What You "Know" to Be True
Part 3 - Making Change Practical: Focus the Change Effort; Choose the Right Strategy; Motivate Change
Part 4 - Relational Sensibilities: Sensibilities for a Change;
Appendices: Appendix A - A Thinking Person's Guide to Behavioral Repertoires; Appendix B - The Ladder of Reflection
Acknowledgments; Notes; Bibliography; Illustration Credits; Index

The problem makes sense once you have it pointed out to you... It's a circular pattern of "how X acts, how Y frames things, how Y acts, how X frames things." The author uses John Scully and Steve Jobs as a prime example of this. When they both met each other and started out, they unconsciously chose to see only the parts of their personalities that they were focused on bringing into the partnership. Scully had the professionalism that Jobs needed and wanted, while Jobs had the enthusiasm that Scully admired. But as time went on, these same traits started to be perceived differently. Scully was acting as the coach and mentor, making exceptions for Jobs' failures. Jobs saw Scully as an indulgent father figure who was to pleased. Jobs then acted like the spoiled child, begging forgiveness to get back in Scully's good graces, but never making permanent changes. Scully was framing Jobs as the prince/king of Apple, and felt he had to maintain discipline. Over a relatively short period of time, this cycle led to Scully's failure and ouster from Apple as Jobs consolidated power and left Scully out of the loop.

Using a more down-to-earth scenario, she then takes you through this same type of spiral and shows how the simple act of stepping back, acknowledging there are other forces at play, and then asking how the other person is really feeling can bring the spiral to an abrupt halt. Once both parties understand the loop they've gotten themselves into, as well as the false assumptions they're making, then they can both choose to approach the relationship from a point of reality instead of assumptions.

Granted, this isn't an easy "do this, this, and this" process, and both sides have to be willing to open up and be vulnerable. But if you're dealing with a number of poisoned relationships at your job, Divide Or Conquer could be the first step to regaining control.

There are a plethora of books in the broad space of interpersonal learning and development. I am always wondering which ones I can recommend to friends and clients. But now Diana McLain Smith's is clearly top of my list. It pulls together in a new way all the best recent thinking in the fields of interpersonal behaviour, organisational learning, productive communications, and individual leadership. And it does so by providing it all with a distinctive and original focus - that of the importance of relationships. Ms Smith demonstrates convincingly that all the other approaches to improving our interactions with each other are incomplete (at best!) without the focus on what builds and sustains healthy relationships. This is also a fun and practical book. Highly recommended!

I dropped this book into my carry-on last week, and proceeded to read the entire thing over a day and a half. Smith has done a masterful job of making complex relationship dynamics and the impact they have on business decisions and management clear. In each chapter you get absorbed in the story of the working relationships at the center of the (real life) vignette, yet can track the points she is making and where you are in her framework via box diagrams along the way. Oh, and found myself laughing out loud periodically, prompting quizzical looks from other passengers in business class.

Immediately useful - a must for anyone's shelf.

When I first got this book on hand, there was only one review in the Amazon.com. And when I finished the book, and wanting to write my comment on it, it already goes to nine (reviews)! And this is only one month's time. And I must say the responds to this book haven't surprised me. It deserves a full-hall stand-up applause.

I have heard about Smith's name for quite a while, mainly from the field of organizational learning, which her mentors Chris Argyris and Donald Schön are both big names in that field. Since I am a big fans to Argyris and Schön's work, and since I live from quite a remoted place (another side of the globe), the easiest and the most accessable way to know about these masters' work is through their writings. However, Argyris and Schön's work is never easy to penetrate, frustrated but not deterred by the difficulty, I started to cash after their disciples' work, which includes Roger Schwarz, Peter Block and etc, all are very good works indeed. Nevertheless, no one previous work is quite like Smith's new book.

Though there were so many writings written on Argyrian intervention. The sad thing, however, is, there's a group of very VERY good consultants in Action Design (google it, please), which by now they are the one whom most live-up to Arygris and Schön's spirit, they rarely write. Maybe because the work is so embedded in actions, and maybe they knew clearly that it is never easy to convey the practice, on paper.

And at one time, I stumbled on Diana's "A Reflection on Donald Schön" (after the death of Donald Schön), it was such a poetic piece, and indeed very beautifully written. And at that time, I am waiting for her work, really on her own, to get published. I didn't know when, I even didn't know if she had such plan, but that was really my wish, to see her work appears in this planet. And after reading Divide Or Conquer, I must say this is far better than I could imagine.

Interestingly, this book is one of my slowest reads. I read, I stop, I contemplate (on how the scene happened), I hold my breath, and I sigh, occasionally. Every word tells, is what I can say. If Action Science is such a tacit knowledge, such that practitioners know more than they can tell, then I think Smith has stretched the limit of `telling' to a new dimension. I guess, and could only guess, that her strategy to use a lot of narratives is a key to convey the message through the media, which usually would drained away by other ways of informing (like, writing in a third-person stance). Smith has put all the gems in those stories, and make it highly readable, and with a lot of funs and humors.

The whole book is nearly jargon-free, and Smith particularly picked Steve Jobs and John Sculley's story to set the stage, which she immediately showed her sophisticated ability to narrate, to analysis, and to pin to the heart that not many of us willing to and have enough practice to discuss: how key relationship turns bad, really bad.

Though the whole book is full of dialogues and stories, it still maintains a balance to give a very useful and actionable structure for serious practitioners to follow, and try out the similar intervention. I vow to follow and to practice on this structure. And I must say, it's not quite like Argyris, or I would say, it's beyond Argyris.

I once read Bob Putnam's (of Action Design) commented on the possible breakdown of applying action science, and he said, when it deals with the `relationship structure,' it is not quite useful to continue to use that knowledge. But I was hanging out there, until I read Divide Or Conquer, I start to know what relationship structure really means, and how to get out that kind of mug. It's definitely 30 years of practice in one shot. I bet this is not quite possible for one whom didn't gone through David Kantor, Donald Schön, Chris Argyris, and of course, Bruce Patten and Roger Fisher (all are the best practitioners in their own field), one couldn't possibly wrote a book like this.

I doubt that if this book could change the world, as our world is now in such a deep trouble. Nevertheless, I am quite sure, and have high hope that, this book could definitely transform a lot of relationships, and makes our live more appreciative and meaningful, including mine, hopefully.