Janet's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 24 Jan 2025 18:55:22 -0800 60 Janet's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Five People You Meet in Heaven]]> 3431
Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: "Why was I here?"]]> 196 Mitch Albom 0786868716 Janet 4 spirituality 4.01 2003 The Five People You Meet in Heaven
author: Mitch Albom
name: Janet
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: spirituality
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk]]> 769016 Recently revised and updated with fresh insights and suggestions, How to Talk so Kids Will Listen & Listen so Kids Will Talk is full of practical, innovative ways to solve common problems and build foundations for lasting relationships.]]> 286 Adele Faber 0380811960 Janet 5 children
It teaches a way to talk that names emotions, and acknowledges the emotions that often a child cannot articulate.

For example, instead of saying "You shouldn't be mad at your brother, he's only three!" you say "I can see that it makes you angry when he messes up your things. But yelling is not allowed in our house." or, "He's too young to understand how special those are to you, so how can we keep your things safe?"

You let your child know you are paying attention to how they feel, before you focus on solving the problem and it seems to release a pressure valve for them and for you.

The second thing they emphasize is to make correcting behavior about the behavior, and not about the child. Instead of "Get your homework! You always forget things!" you just say, "Homework needs to go to school with you."

There techniques eliminate the blaming and other behaviors we learned as children and replace them with more helpful ways to dialogue and focus on solving the problem versus seeking to blame. One of the best communication books I've ever read.]]> 4.26 1980 How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk
author: Adele Faber
name: Janet
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1980
rating: 5
read at: 1994/01/01
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: children
review:
A friend, a previous yeller, recommended this book. I found it very helpful, especially since we just had our second child who had colic and the 6 year old and I were no longer communicating well.

It teaches a way to talk that names emotions, and acknowledges the emotions that often a child cannot articulate.

For example, instead of saying "You shouldn't be mad at your brother, he's only three!" you say "I can see that it makes you angry when he messes up your things. But yelling is not allowed in our house." or, "He's too young to understand how special those are to you, so how can we keep your things safe?"

You let your child know you are paying attention to how they feel, before you focus on solving the problem and it seems to release a pressure valve for them and for you.

The second thing they emphasize is to make correcting behavior about the behavior, and not about the child. Instead of "Get your homework! You always forget things!" you just say, "Homework needs to go to school with you."

There techniques eliminate the blaming and other behaviors we learned as children and replace them with more helpful ways to dialogue and focus on solving the problem versus seeking to blame. One of the best communication books I've ever read.
]]> <![CDATA[Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play]]> 1610361
On the other hand, salespeople fear they won't make the sale. If they "lose" too many sales, they won't make quota, and they won't personally succeed. In their quest to "close the deal," even some of the world's largest, quota-crazed organizations have, at times, developed a reputation for salespeople who are illusive, ignorant, and arrogant.

Buyers don't trust sellers. Therefore, sellers have to guess and often guess wrong. Buyers prove themselves right and create higher hurdles. And so it goes, with neither client nor consultant achieving success.

Helping Clients Succeed is fundamental to the success of any businesss. This program teaches you to become totally client-focused, break down the barriers of dysfunctional business development, and find rewarding, productive business relationships. With honesty, clarity, and authenticity, Mahan Khalsa cuts through the nonsense and focuses on getting results and helping clients succeed.]]> 0 Mahan Khalsa 1929494599 Janet 5 business-management 5.00 1999 Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play
author: Mahan Khalsa
name: Janet
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 1997/01/01
date added: 2024/07/10
shelves: business-management
review:
I took a course from Mahan Khalsa on Consultative Selling, and the CDS describe the process of how to ask effective questions, and recognize serious buyers of services. Outstanding course, CDs can't do the course justice...but all great material on understanding the process of influecing a buyer.
]]> <![CDATA[Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play: The Demise of Dysfunctional Selling and the Advent of Helping Clients Succeed]]> 176697 242 Mahan Khalsa 1883219507 Janet 4 sales
The book is not nearly as comprehensive as the course. The course, last I knew, was taught as part of Franklin Covey's on site special courses.

I really liked his ideas about trying to make presentations in person (because people don't really read proposals). There are some great tips on how to ask the right questions to find out what a potential client is really thinking and then map the solution to what the client really needs.]]> 4.16 1999 Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play: The Demise of Dysfunctional Selling and the Advent of Helping Clients Succeed
author: Mahan Khalsa
name: Janet
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 1998/01/01
date added: 2024/07/10
shelves: sales
review:
I attended Mahan Khalsa's consultative sales course as my first formal introduction to selling. Learning to formalize a process of questions, based on inquiring what the client was really looking for, mirrored my project management and systems analysis days. So, the process and mapping it to my former work experiences was one that worked well for me.

The book is not nearly as comprehensive as the course. The course, last I knew, was taught as part of Franklin Covey's on site special courses.

I really liked his ideas about trying to make presentations in person (because people don't really read proposals). There are some great tips on how to ask the right questions to find out what a potential client is really thinking and then map the solution to what the client really needs.
]]> The Firm (The Firm, #1) 452235
For a young lawyer on the make, it was an offer Mitch McDeere couldn’t a position at a law firm where the bucks, billable hours, and benefits are over the top. It’s a dream job for an up-and-comer—if he can overlook the uneasy feeling he gets at the office. Then an FBI investigation into the firm’s connections to the Mafia plunges the straight and narrow attorney into a nightmare of terror and intrigue.With no choice but to pit his wits, ethics, and legal skills against the firm’s deadly secrets—if he hopes to stay alive…]]> 501 John Grisham 044021145X Janet 3 fiction 4.26 1991 The Firm (The Firm, #1)
author: John Grisham
name: Janet
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1991
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/04/25
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Writings of Florence Scovel Shinn (Includes The Shinn Biography): The Game of Life/ Your Word Is Your Wand/ The Power of the Spoken Word/ The Secret Door to Success]]> 198911 355 Florence Scovel Shinn 0875166105 Janet 4 life, children 4.45 1988 The Writings of Florence Scovel Shinn (Includes The Shinn Biography): The Game of Life/ Your Word Is Your Wand/ The Power of the Spoken Word/ The Secret Door to Success
author: Florence Scovel Shinn
name: Janet
average rating: 4.45
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/08/05
shelves: life, children
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Clients for Life: How Great Professionals Develop Breakthrough Relationships]]> 366410 272 Jagdish N. Sheth 0684870290 Janet 5 sales 3.79 2000 Clients for Life: How Great Professionals Develop Breakthrough Relationships
author: Jagdish N. Sheth
name: Janet
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 1998/01/01
date added: 2016/05/11
shelves: sales
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wahls Protocol : How I Beat Progressive MS Using Paleo Principles and Functional Medicine]]> 18079667 An integrative approach to healing chronic autoimmune conditions by a doctor, researcher, and sufferer of progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) whose TEDx talk is already a web sensation

Like many physicians, Dr. Terry Wahls focused on treating her patients� ailments with drugs or surgical procedures—until she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2000. Within three years, her back and stomach muscles had weakened to the point where she needed a tilt-recline wheelchair. Conventional medical treatments were failing her, and she feared that she would be bedridden for the rest of her life.

Dr. Wahls began studying the latest research on autoimmune disease and brain biology, and decided to get her vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and essential fatty acids from the food she ate rather than pills and supplements. Dr. Wahl’s adopted the nutrient-rich paleo diet, gradually refining and integrating it into a regimen of neuromuscular stimulation. First, she walked slowly, then steadily, and then she biked eighteen miles in a single day. In November 2011, Dr. Wahls shared her remarkable recovery in a TEDx talk that immediately went viral. Now, in The Wahls Protocol, she shares the details of the protocol that allowed her to reverse many of her symptoms, get back to her life, and embark on a new mission: to share the Wahls Protocol with others suffering from the ravages of multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune conditions.
]]> 432 Terry Wahls 1583335218 Janet 5 nutrition
It's the best book on nutrition I've read. She advocates going grain, egg and dairy free. Adding 6 - 9 cups of vegetables and fruit a day. Along with organic meats, poultry, seafood, wild game, organ meats, fermented foods, bone broth, seaweed and algae.

Unlike other authors, she gives specific amounts of foods AND used this same protocol to heal her autoimmune MS symptoms.

As a person who healed her genetic caused stroke via exercise and nutrition, via a 5 year journey of talking to medical and health professionals, and reading books like Dr. Wahl's,,

This is the best nutrition book I've ever found and highly recommend the book and protocol to anyone trying to give their body the best food fuel. ]]> 4.19 2014 The Wahls Protocol : How I Beat Progressive MS Using Paleo Principles and Functional Medicine
author: Terry Wahls
name: Janet
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2015/07/20
shelves: nutrition
review:
Dr. Wahl's lays out a protocol for eating to stay healthy, with the reasons "why".

It's the best book on nutrition I've read. She advocates going grain, egg and dairy free. Adding 6 - 9 cups of vegetables and fruit a day. Along with organic meats, poultry, seafood, wild game, organ meats, fermented foods, bone broth, seaweed and algae.

Unlike other authors, she gives specific amounts of foods AND used this same protocol to heal her autoimmune MS symptoms.

As a person who healed her genetic caused stroke via exercise and nutrition, via a 5 year journey of talking to medical and health professionals, and reading books like Dr. Wahl's,,

This is the best nutrition book I've ever found and highly recommend the book and protocol to anyone trying to give their body the best food fuel.
]]> <![CDATA[The Magic of Dialogue: Transforming Conflict into Cooperation]]> 233411 Successful managers have always known how to make decisions and mobilize coworkers. But as our businesses continue to expand, conversations and discussions just aren't enough to bring people and their different agendas together anymore. Dialogue, when properly practiced, will align people with a shared vision, and help them realize their full potential as individuals and as a team. Drawing on decades of research and using real life examples, The Magic of Dialogue outlines specific strategies for maneuvering in a wide range of situations and teaches managers, leaders, business people, and other professionals how to succeed in the new global economy, where more players participate in decision-making than ever before.]]> 240 Daniel Yankelovich 0684865661 Janet 4 business-communication Re-reading. 3.64 1999 The Magic of Dialogue: Transforming Conflict into Cooperation
author: Daniel Yankelovich
name: Janet
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2015/07/20
date added: 2015/07/20
shelves: business-communication
review:
Re-reading.
]]> <![CDATA[Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose]]> 52354 Love, Joy, Authenticity, and Soul:

Building Winning Businesses in the

New Age of Transcendence

� Why today’s most humane companies are blowing away the S&P 500 averages

� Increasing “share of heart�: delivering the emotional, experiential, and social value your stakeholders are demanding

� 30 powerful case studies, including CarMax®, Timberland�, Jordan’s Furniture, Trader Joe’s, Wegmans, and Toyota�

Today’s best companies get it. From Costco® to Commerce Bank, Wegmans to Whole Foods®: they’re becoming the ultimate value creators. They’re generating every form of value that matters: emotional, experiential, social, and financial. And they’re doing it for all their stakeholders. Not because it’s “politically correct�: because it’s the only path to long-term competitive advantage.

These are the Firms of Endearment. Companies people love doing business with. Love partnering with. Love working for. Love investing in. Companies for whom “loyalty� isn’t just real: it’s palpable, and driving unbeatable advantages in everything from marketing to recruitment.

You need to become one of those companies. This book will show you how. You’ll find specific, practical guidance on transforming every relationship you have: with customers, associates, partners, investors, and society. If you want to be great–truly great–this is your blueprint.

We’re entering an Age of Transcendence, as people increasingly search for higher meaning in their lives, not just more possessions. This is transforming the marketplace, the workplace, the very soul of capitalism. Increasingly, today’s most successful companies are bringing love, joy, authenticity, empathy, and soulfulness into their businesses: they are delivering emotional, experiential, and social value—not just profits.

Firms of Endearment illuminates this, the most fundamental transformation in capitalism since Adam Smith. It’s not about “corporate social responsibility�: it’s about building companies that can sustain success in a radically new era. It’s about great companies like IDEO and IKEA®, Commerce Bank and Costco®, Wegmans and Whole Foods®: how they earn the powerful loyalty and affection that enables truly breathtaking performance.

This book is about gaining “share of heart,� not just share of wallet. It’s about aligning stakeholders� interests, not just juggling them. It’s about building companies that leave the world a better place. Most of all, it’s about why you must do all this, or risk being left in the dust... and how to get there from wherever you are now.

Foreword xv

Prologue A Whole New World xxi

Chapter 1 It’s Not Share of Wallet Anymore; It’s Share of Heart 1

Chapter 2 New Age, New Rules, New Capitalism 23

Chapter 3 The Chaotic Interregnum 49

Chapter 4 Employees—The Decline and Fall of Human Resources 65

Chapter 5 Customers—The Power of Love 97

Chapter 6 Investors—Reaping What FoEs Sow 125

Chapter 7 Partners—Elegant Harmonies 145

Chapter 8 Society—The Ultimate Stakeholder 171

Chapter 9 Culture—The Secret Ingredient 197

Chapter 10 Lessons Learned 235

Chapter 11 Crossing Over to the Other Side 253

Acknowledgments 273

]]> 284 Raj Sisodia 0131873725 Janet 4 business-strategy 3.93 2003 Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose
author: Raj Sisodia
name: Janet
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2015/07/20
date added: 2015/07/20
shelves: business-strategy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tao Te Ching: A New English Version]]> 439655
Stephen Mitchell's bestselling version has been widely acclaimed as a gift to contemporary culture.]]> 128 Lao Tzu 0060955430 Janet 5 4.44 -350 Tao Te Ching: A New English Version
author: Lao Tzu
name: Janet
average rating: 4.44
book published: -350
rating: 5
read at: 1999/01/01
date added: 2015/07/19
shelves:
review:

]]> Power of the Spoken Word 647353 0 Florence Scovel Shinn 0852430892 Janet 5 4.40 1945 Power of the Spoken Word
author: Florence Scovel Shinn
name: Janet
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1945
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2014/05/23
shelves:
review:

]]> Jonathan Livingston Seagull 71728
Jonathan Livingston Seagull is no ordinary bird. He believes it is every gull's right to fly, to reach the ultimate freedom of challenge and discovery, finding his greatest reward in teaching younger gulls the joy of flight and the power of dreams. The special 20th anniversary release of this spiritual classic!]]> 112 Richard Bach 0743278909 Janet 5 life, spirituality
Flight is indeed the metaphor that makes the story soar. Ultimately this is a fable about the importance of seeking a higher purpose in life, even if your flock, tribe, or neighborhood finds your ambition threatening. (At one point our beloved gull is even banished from his flock.) By not compromising his higher vision, Jonathan gets the ultimate payoff: transcendence. Ultimately, he learns the meaning of love and kindness.

I read this book when I was a teenager, it set the stage for a life of searching for a higher purpose and today, almost 40 years later, my life is heaven on earth.

In Abraham Lincoln's words...

"All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind." Abraham Lincoln

And M. Scott Peck's words...

"Abandon the urge to simplify everything, to look for formulas and easy answers, and to begin to think multidimensionally, to glory in the mystery and paradoxes of life, not to be dismayed by the multitude of causes and consequences that are inherent in each experience -- to appreciate the fact that life is complex." M. Scott Peck ]]> 3.87 1970 Jonathan Livingston Seagull
author: Richard Bach
name: Janet
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1970
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2013/12/20
shelves: life, spirituality
review:
"Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight--how to get from shore to food and back again," writes author Richard Bach in this allegory about a unique bird named Jonathan Livingston Seagull. "For most gulls it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight."

Flight is indeed the metaphor that makes the story soar. Ultimately this is a fable about the importance of seeking a higher purpose in life, even if your flock, tribe, or neighborhood finds your ambition threatening. (At one point our beloved gull is even banished from his flock.) By not compromising his higher vision, Jonathan gets the ultimate payoff: transcendence. Ultimately, he learns the meaning of love and kindness.

I read this book when I was a teenager, it set the stage for a life of searching for a higher purpose and today, almost 40 years later, my life is heaven on earth.

In Abraham Lincoln's words...

"All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind." Abraham Lincoln

And M. Scott Peck's words...

"Abandon the urge to simplify everything, to look for formulas and easy answers, and to begin to think multidimensionally, to glory in the mystery and paradoxes of life, not to be dismayed by the multitude of causes and consequences that are inherent in each experience -- to appreciate the fact that life is complex." M. Scott Peck
]]> The Leadership Challenge 1246 496 James M. Kouzes 0787968331 Janet 4 leadership
As with all personal change processes to become a better leader, finding ways to hold one's self accountable, inquire to others about changes they see, etc. should be a part of any personal change process. So, the book is great, adding personal processes to help one change is critical.

The practices:

Practice: Challenge the process
Commitments: (1) Search for opportunities and (2) Experiment and take risks

Practice: Inspire a shared vision
Commitments: (3) Envision the future and (4) Enlist others

Practice: Enable others to act
Commitments: (5) Foster collaboration and (6) Strengthen others

Practice: Model the way to the desired objectives
Commitments: (7) Set the example and (8) Plan small wins

Practice: Encourage the heart of everyone involved
Commitments: (9) Recognize individual contribution and (10) Celebrate accomplishments]]> 4.11 1987 The Leadership Challenge
author: James M. Kouzes
name: Janet
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at: 2004/01/01
date added: 2013/05/01
shelves: leadership
review:
This is a great common sense book although difficult practice book about the best leadership practices that all managers/leaders/parents/ etc. could benefit from practicing. The payoff is life long relationships and long term business and life results.

As with all personal change processes to become a better leader, finding ways to hold one's self accountable, inquire to others about changes they see, etc. should be a part of any personal change process. So, the book is great, adding personal processes to help one change is critical.

The practices:

Practice: Challenge the process
Commitments: (1) Search for opportunities and (2) Experiment and take risks

Practice: Inspire a shared vision
Commitments: (3) Envision the future and (4) Enlist others

Practice: Enable others to act
Commitments: (5) Foster collaboration and (6) Strengthen others

Practice: Model the way to the desired objectives
Commitments: (7) Set the example and (8) Plan small wins

Practice: Encourage the heart of everyone involved
Commitments: (9) Recognize individual contribution and (10) Celebrate accomplishments
]]> A Simpler Way 2022632 135 Margaret J. Wheatley 1881052958 Janet 4 business-future-possibilities
Wheatley is on the bleeding edge of thought leaders about what could be, I suspect it will take us decades due to the sociological changes that will need to take place for these ideals to breath in many places. Wheatley does not run a company and advises. I find, like many OD practitioners, there is a gap of understanding about the sociological realities of change since people in the 20th century were taught to build systems and now we are all learning to allow knowledge workers to build their own approaches.

Her ideals, for me, are thought provoking and do allow me to explore beliefs and see if they fit for the future.

Here's a sample of wheatleys's take on the importance of relationships.




The book itself is more like poetry, so I don't recommend it for non-fiction readers.

The book is based around the following ideas: everything is in a constant process of discovery and creating; life uses mess to get to well-ordered solutions, it doesn't seem to share our desires for efficiency or neatness, it uses redundancy, fuzziness, dense webs of relationships, and unending trails and errors to find what works; life is intent on finding what works, not what's "right"; life creates more possibilities as it engages with opportunities; life is attracted to order; life organizes around identity; everything participates in the creation and evolution of its neighbors.

The book "The Wisdom of Crowds" discovered to take advantage of the wisdom of a crowd, a certain framework needed to be in place to make the reality possible. Wheatley, idealistic that she is, does not yet recognize that piece of the puzzle. I appreciate her idealism and thoughts, just find on the implementation level, we have a generation to go.

Here is the quote from this book:

"In their work on human cognition, Maturana and Varela explain that, at any moment, what we see is most influenced by who we have decided to be. Our eyes do not simply pick up information from an outside world and relay it to our brains. Information relayed from the outside through the eye accounts for only 20 percent of what we use to create a perception. At least 80 percent of the information that the brain works with is information already in the brain.

We each create our own worlds by what we choose to notice, creating a world of distinctions that makes sense to us. We then "see" the world through this self we have created. Information from the external world is a minor influence. We connect who we are with selected amounts of new information to enact our particular version of reality.

Because information from the outside plays such a small role in our perceptions, Maturana and Varela note something quite important for our activities with one another. We can never direct a living system. We can only disturb it. As external agents we provide only small impulses of information. We can nudge, titillate, or provoke one another into some new ways of seeing. But we can never give anyone an instruction and expect him or her to follow it precisely. We can never assume that anyone else sees the world as we do.

]]> 3.94 1996 A Simpler Way
author: Margaret J. Wheatley
name: Janet
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 1999/01/01
date added: 2013/04/13
shelves: business-future-possibilities
review:
I was introduced to Margaret Wheatley through this book as a part of a graduate course on Leadership and Organizational behavior, taught by a former priest turned organizational development HR specialist. The course was life changing in how I viewed business, systems,teams, etc. It led, along with many concurrent life changes, started me on a course of discovery on how to truly create a company that was a place where it was truly win-win-win.

Wheatley is on the bleeding edge of thought leaders about what could be, I suspect it will take us decades due to the sociological changes that will need to take place for these ideals to breath in many places. Wheatley does not run a company and advises. I find, like many OD practitioners, there is a gap of understanding about the sociological realities of change since people in the 20th century were taught to build systems and now we are all learning to allow knowledge workers to build their own approaches.

Her ideals, for me, are thought provoking and do allow me to explore beliefs and see if they fit for the future.

Here's a sample of wheatleys's take on the importance of relationships.




The book itself is more like poetry, so I don't recommend it for non-fiction readers.

The book is based around the following ideas: everything is in a constant process of discovery and creating; life uses mess to get to well-ordered solutions, it doesn't seem to share our desires for efficiency or neatness, it uses redundancy, fuzziness, dense webs of relationships, and unending trails and errors to find what works; life is intent on finding what works, not what's "right"; life creates more possibilities as it engages with opportunities; life is attracted to order; life organizes around identity; everything participates in the creation and evolution of its neighbors.

The book "The Wisdom of Crowds" discovered to take advantage of the wisdom of a crowd, a certain framework needed to be in place to make the reality possible. Wheatley, idealistic that she is, does not yet recognize that piece of the puzzle. I appreciate her idealism and thoughts, just find on the implementation level, we have a generation to go.

Here is the quote from this book:

"In their work on human cognition, Maturana and Varela explain that, at any moment, what we see is most influenced by who we have decided to be. Our eyes do not simply pick up information from an outside world and relay it to our brains. Information relayed from the outside through the eye accounts for only 20 percent of what we use to create a perception. At least 80 percent of the information that the brain works with is information already in the brain.

We each create our own worlds by what we choose to notice, creating a world of distinctions that makes sense to us. We then "see" the world through this self we have created. Information from the external world is a minor influence. We connect who we are with selected amounts of new information to enact our particular version of reality.

Because information from the outside plays such a small role in our perceptions, Maturana and Varela note something quite important for our activities with one another. We can never direct a living system. We can only disturb it. As external agents we provide only small impulses of information. We can nudge, titillate, or provoke one another into some new ways of seeing. But we can never give anyone an instruction and expect him or her to follow it precisely. We can never assume that anyone else sees the world as we do.


]]> The Prophet (A Borzoi Book) 394424
The Prophet is a collection of poetic essays that are philosophical, spiritual, and, above all, inspirational. Gibran’s musings are divided into twenty-eight chapters covering such sprawling topics as love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, housing, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death.

Each essay reveals deep insights into the impulses of the human heart and mind. The Chicago Post said of The Prophet: “Cadenced and vibrant with feeling, the words of Kahlil Gibran bring to one’s ears the majestic rhythm of Ecclesiastes . . . If there is a man or woman who can read this book without a quiet acceptance of a great man’s philosophy and a singing in the heart as of music born within, that man or woman is indeed dead to life and truth.�

With twelve full-page drawings by Gibran, this beautiful work makes an incredible gift for anyone seeking enlightenment and inspiration.]]> 130 Kahlil Gibran 0394404289 Janet 0 spirituality 4.25 1923 The Prophet (A Borzoi Book)
author: Kahlil Gibran
name: Janet
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1923
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/04/10
shelves: spirituality
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Simplify Your Life With Kids: 100 Ways to Make Family Life Easier and More Fun]]> 114990 384 Elaine St. James 0740706640 Janet 4 children, life 3.54 1997 Simplify Your Life With Kids: 100 Ways to Make Family Life Easier and More Fun
author: Elaine St. James
name: Janet
average rating: 3.54
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 1996/01/01
date added: 2013/04/06
shelves: children, life
review:
How to do less, and enjoy more. Worth the investment.
]]> <![CDATA[Conscious Living: Finding Joy in the Real World]]> 1143972 278 Gay Hendricks 0062514873 Janet 5
Gay's example, stories and journey were an inspiration to me on multiple levels. Meeting Gay personally and seeing that he lived his life as stated in the books were also life changing and affirming. His book, like my reading of earlier in my life, "The Road Less Traveled" provided another dimension of how to see what choices I was making, consciously and unconsciously.

In the book, Gay takes us from a great personal and historic introduction through the five required lessons followed by the inner shifts and outer moves that create a conscious life. The second half of the book deals with conscious solutions to some of the most crucial areas of real world life. After having experienced the Conscioius Loving course in Ojai, CA, I was ready for the next stage of learning that he shared in the book.]]> 4.19 2000 Conscious Living: Finding Joy in the Real World
author: Gay Hendricks
name: Janet
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2001/01/01
date added: 2013/04/06
shelves: life, books-worth-reading-twice
review:
I found Gay Hendricks at a Business and Consciousness conference in about 2000/1, in a day long seminar.

Gay's example, stories and journey were an inspiration to me on multiple levels. Meeting Gay personally and seeing that he lived his life as stated in the books were also life changing and affirming. His book, like my reading of earlier in my life, "The Road Less Traveled" provided another dimension of how to see what choices I was making, consciously and unconsciously.

In the book, Gay takes us from a great personal and historic introduction through the five required lessons followed by the inner shifts and outer moves that create a conscious life. The second half of the book deals with conscious solutions to some of the most crucial areas of real world life. After having experienced the Conscioius Loving course in Ojai, CA, I was ready for the next stage of learning that he shared in the book.
]]> <![CDATA[The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams]]> 773038
Filled with timeless wisdom and practical steps you can apply right away, this pocketbook edition of Chopra’s classic bestselling book makes it easy for you to read and refer to again and again. Carry it with you in your purse or your pocket, and in less than one hour, learn the seven powerful principles that can easily be applied to create success in all areas of your life.]]> 115 Deepak Chopra 1878424114 Janet 4 spirituality, life
Chopra explains that most people spend the majority of their energy connvincing or persuading others of their point of view. He asks the reader to understand that what they are feeling is not someone else's fault, instead one should take responsibility for one's own thoughts and actions.

Throughout the book he slows down and explain how he is using many of the words as we usually give them different meaning. Then there are a few times that he uses an Indian words instead of making up new ones. Many say he is based in Ancient Vedic concepts. The concepts are too simple to give the titles any meaning however provided here for my own reminder:

1. The Law of Pure
The source of all creation is pure consciousness...
2. The Law of Giving
The universe operates through dynamic exchange...
3. The Law of "Karma" or Cause and Effect
Every action generates a force of energy that returns to us in like kind...
4. The Law of Least Effort
Nature's intelligence functions with effortless ease...

5. The Law of Intention and Desire
Inherent in every intention and desire is the mechanics for its fulfillment...
6. The law of Detachment
In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty...
7. The law of "Dharma" or Purpose in life
Everyone has a purpose in life...

Something that I try to keep with me is this portion of the book: "The operational software of your soul is karma, memory & desire". The chapter goes on to explain that everything is energy and information. Your attention to something energizes it, your intention transforms it. Therein lies the key, intent is desire without attachment to a particular outcome. A great quote from the book reads "The past is history, the future is a mystery, and this moment is a gift... that is why this moment is called the 'present'." So we must learn to accept the present and intend the future, for the future is created now in the present.

I have my intentions on my office door and try each day to keep centered on them, and not lose focus to the challenge of the day.

]]> 4.16 1994 The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams
author: Deepak Chopra
name: Janet
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at: 1996/01/01
date added: 2013/04/06
shelves: spirituality, life
review:
In "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success", by Deepak Chopra, Chopra describes the fundamental principles of the universe and how we as part of the universe can be successful. Concepts in the book I have learned elsewhere in more "scientific" or American texts, and the usefulness of the concepts for me are in how simply they are presented. Wayne Dyer's book on the Power of Intention is another book that speaks in great detail to what Chopra just lists.

Chopra explains that most people spend the majority of their energy connvincing or persuading others of their point of view. He asks the reader to understand that what they are feeling is not someone else's fault, instead one should take responsibility for one's own thoughts and actions.

Throughout the book he slows down and explain how he is using many of the words as we usually give them different meaning. Then there are a few times that he uses an Indian words instead of making up new ones. Many say he is based in Ancient Vedic concepts. The concepts are too simple to give the titles any meaning however provided here for my own reminder:

1. The Law of Pure
The source of all creation is pure consciousness...
2. The Law of Giving
The universe operates through dynamic exchange...
3. The Law of "Karma" or Cause and Effect
Every action generates a force of energy that returns to us in like kind...
4. The Law of Least Effort
Nature's intelligence functions with effortless ease...

5. The Law of Intention and Desire
Inherent in every intention and desire is the mechanics for its fulfillment...
6. The law of Detachment
In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty...
7. The law of "Dharma" or Purpose in life
Everyone has a purpose in life...

Something that I try to keep with me is this portion of the book: "The operational software of your soul is karma, memory & desire". The chapter goes on to explain that everything is energy and information. Your attention to something energizes it, your intention transforms it. Therein lies the key, intent is desire without attachment to a particular outcome. A great quote from the book reads "The past is history, the future is a mystery, and this moment is a gift... that is why this moment is called the 'present'." So we must learn to accept the present and intend the future, for the future is created now in the present.

I have my intentions on my office door and try each day to keep centered on them, and not lose focus to the challenge of the day.


]]> <![CDATA[Agape Love: A Tradition Found in Eight World Religions]]> 356225 112 John Marks Templeton 1890151297 Janet 5 spirituality, life
Templeton argues that agape love expresses a unity of purpose that is common to all people. It holds within it the opportunity to transcend differences of religious beliefs and to live in joy and peace. Agape involves feeling and expressing pure, unlimited love for every human being, with no exception.

The author recognizes that all religions are not the same. And it is also not his goal to convert persons from one religion to another. "Rather, the purpose is to point toward the possibilities and responsibilities of love. It is to awaken people to the realization that despite the differences, all religions share some very important, fundamental principles and goals, the highest of which is the realization of agape love -- unconditional, unlimited, pure love" (5).

The eight religious traditions explored are Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Native American Spirituality. The author concludes with these words: "The option to grow in agape is open to everyone on earth. It is an invitation to true happiness for you and others. May it become our aspiration, our expression of God's love radiating through us" (111).]]> 4.06 1999 Agape Love: A Tradition Found in Eight World Religions
author: John Marks Templeton
name: Janet
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 1999/01/01
date added: 2013/04/06
shelves: spirituality, life
review:
In terms of the book, Sir John Templeton (a successful business man of investment fame) argues that agape love is not exclusive to any one religion, but it is an underlying principle in all major world religions. By agape love, he means love that is unlimited, pure, and unconditional as well as altruistic.

Templeton argues that agape love expresses a unity of purpose that is common to all people. It holds within it the opportunity to transcend differences of religious beliefs and to live in joy and peace. Agape involves feeling and expressing pure, unlimited love for every human being, with no exception.

The author recognizes that all religions are not the same. And it is also not his goal to convert persons from one religion to another. "Rather, the purpose is to point toward the possibilities and responsibilities of love. It is to awaken people to the realization that despite the differences, all religions share some very important, fundamental principles and goals, the highest of which is the realization of agape love -- unconditional, unlimited, pure love" (5).

The eight religious traditions explored are Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Native American Spirituality. The author concludes with these words: "The option to grow in agape is open to everyone on earth. It is an invitation to true happiness for you and others. May it become our aspiration, our expression of God's love radiating through us" (111).
]]> <![CDATA[My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey]]> 142292 181 Jill Bolte Taylor 1430300612 Janet 4 health, inspiration 3.87 2006 My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey
author: Jill Bolte Taylor
name: Janet
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2008/09/01
date added: 2013/04/06
shelves: health, inspiration
review:
Jill Bolte Taylor is a brain scientist who at the age of 37 had a massive left brain stroke, and not only recovered fully after 8 years of intense therapy, but she also was able to share the gifts that came from with the unexpected. Her story is inspiring and refreshing, and is one of how to find the gifts in a health crisis so that one can fully live their life, versus feeling sorry for themself. As a person who had a similar life changing event, seeing Jill's video on YouTube was what I needed to go onto the next level of healing and therapy. For me, it was again affirmation of that famous quote I read somewhere - It's not what happens to us in life, it's what we do with what happens that makes all the difference.
]]> <![CDATA[The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything]]> 1678666 Over two million copies sold.

Stephen M. R. Covey shows how trust—and the speed at which it is established with clients, employees, and all stakeholders—is the single most critical component of a successful leader and organization.

Stephen M. R. Covey, widely known as one of the world’s leading authorities on trust, asserts that it is “the most overlooked, misunderstood, underutilized asset to enable performance. Its impact, for good or bad, is dramatic and pervasive. It’s something you can’t escape.� Thankfully, it’s is also the thing that can dramatically improve your personal and professional success.

Why trust? The simple, often overlooked fact is this: work gets done with and through people. The Speed of Trust offers an unprecedented and eminently practical look at exactly how trust functions in every transaction and every relationship—from the most personal to the broadest, most indirect interaction. It specifically demonstrates how to establish trust intentionally so that you and your organization can forego the time-killing, bureaucratic check-and-balance processes that is so often deployed in lieu of actual trust.

This 2018 updated edition includes an insightful afterword by the author which explores ten key reasons why trust is more relevant now than ever before—including how trust is the new currency of our world today.]]> 354 Stephen M.R. Covey 1416549005 Janet 3 business-management, life
The book is needlessly long and I didn't need to be sold on the value of trust (which is why the book is so long), hence, why the 3 star rating. Long sections of the book are very general and boring and I kept thinking how the book could have been netted down. I recommend the book, recommend skimming the boring examples and felt that along with the Economics of Trust, all that a reader needs on the important subject of trust.

The practical advice Trust includes five waves of trust (self trust based on the principle of credibility, relationship trust based on the principle of proper behavior, organizational trust based on the principle of alignment, market trust based on the principle of reputation, and societal trust based on the principle of contribution). Most of the book is taken up with examining those five waves and their underlying principles.

He makes the point that trust is comprised of two basic elements: essentially character and competency.

The core of the book is in the 13 behaviors that have been shown research wise to establish trust (talk straight, demonstrate respect, create transparency, right wrongs, show loyalty, get better, confront reality, clarify expectations, practice accountability, listen first, keep commitments, and extend trust). He applies the concept of emotional bank accounts from his father's book to explain that a deposit for one person may be a withdrawal for another.

Each section of the book comes with ways to check on your performance and to create plans for improvement.
]]> 4.06 The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything
author: Stephen M.R. Covey
name: Janet
average rating: 4.06
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2008/01/01
date added: 2012/07/24
shelves: business-management, life
review:
Stephen M.R. Covey, the son, was head of training for his father's company.

The book is needlessly long and I didn't need to be sold on the value of trust (which is why the book is so long), hence, why the 3 star rating. Long sections of the book are very general and boring and I kept thinking how the book could have been netted down. I recommend the book, recommend skimming the boring examples and felt that along with the Economics of Trust, all that a reader needs on the important subject of trust.

The practical advice Trust includes five waves of trust (self trust based on the principle of credibility, relationship trust based on the principle of proper behavior, organizational trust based on the principle of alignment, market trust based on the principle of reputation, and societal trust based on the principle of contribution). Most of the book is taken up with examining those five waves and their underlying principles.

He makes the point that trust is comprised of two basic elements: essentially character and competency.

The core of the book is in the 13 behaviors that have been shown research wise to establish trust (talk straight, demonstrate respect, create transparency, right wrongs, show loyalty, get better, confront reality, clarify expectations, practice accountability, listen first, keep commitments, and extend trust). He applies the concept of emotional bank accounts from his father's book to explain that a deposit for one person may be a withdrawal for another.

Each section of the book comes with ways to check on your performance and to create plans for improvement.

]]> <![CDATA[Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward]]> 9641795
“Cloud is a wise, experienced, and compassionate guide through [life’s] turbulent passages.� —Bob Buford, bestelling author of Halftime and Finishing Well ; founder of the Leadership Network

Henry Cloud, the bestselling author of Integrity and The One-Life Solution , offers this mindset-altering method for proactively correcting the bad and the broken in our businesses and our lives. Cloud challenges readers to achieve the personal and professional growth they both desire and deserve—and gives crucial insight on how to make those tough decisions that are standing in the way of a more successful business and, ultimately, a better life.]]> 238 Henry Cloud 0061777129 Janet 5 4.25 2011 Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward
author: Henry Cloud
name: Janet
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2011/12/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[You're Stronger Than You Think: Tapping into the Secrets of Emotionally Resilient People]]> 369737 288 Peter A. Ubel 0071464808 Janet 4 life 3.52 2006 You're Stronger Than You Think: Tapping into the Secrets of Emotionally Resilient People
author: Peter A. Ubel
name: Janet
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/12/11
shelves: life
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times]]> 1252
Only ten days before Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office in 1861, the Confederate States of America seceded from the Union taking all Federal agencies, forts, and arsenals within their territory. To make matters worse, Lincoln, who was elected by a minority of the popular vote, was viewed by his own advisors as nothing more than a gawky, second-rate country lawyer with no leadership experience.
What Lincoln did to become our most honored and revered president is history, how he can help you to run your organization is not.
Lincoln On Leadership is the first book to examine Abraham Lincoln's diverse leadership abilities and how they can be applied to today's complex world. You'll discover why you should:
* Seize the initiative and never relinquish it
* Wage only one war at a time
* Encourage risk-taking while providing job security
* Avoid issuing orders and instead - request, imply, or make suggestions
* Once in a while, let things slip, unbenowst-like...and much much more.]]> 193 Donald T. Phillips 0446394599 Janet 4 4.15 1993 Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times
author: Donald T. Phillips
name: Janet
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Win Friends & Influence People]]> 4865
Since its release in 1936, How to Win Friends and Influence People has sold more than 30 million copies. Dale Carnegie's first book is a timeless bestseller, packed with rock-solid advice that has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives.

As relevant as ever before, Dale Carnegie's principles endure, and will help you achieve your maximum potential in the complex and competitive modern age.

Learn the six ways to make people like you, the twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking, and the nine ways to change people without arousing resentment.]]> 288 Dale Carnegie Janet 4 management 4.22 1936 How to Win Friends & Influence People
author: Dale Carnegie
name: Janet
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1936
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves: management
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Conversations With God: An Uncommon Dialogue, Book 2]]> 15019 263 Neale Donald Walsch 1571740562 Janet 3 4.14 1996 Conversations With God: An Uncommon Dialogue, Book 2
author: Neale Donald Walsch
name: Janet
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Psycho-Cybernetics: A New Way to Get More Living Out of Life]]> 155981 Positive wisdom and helpful insights on how to be a successful person

Happiness and success are habits. So are failure and misery. But negative habits can be changed--and Psycho-Cybernetics shows you how!

This is your personal audio guide to the amazing power of Psycho-Cybernetics--a program based on one of the world s classic self-help books, a multimillion-copy bestseller proven effective by readers worldwide. Presenting positive attitude as a means for change, Maltz s teaching has the ring of common sense.
Psycho-Cybernetics-is the original text that defined the mind/body connection the concept that paved the way for most of today s personal empowerment programs. Turn crises into creative opportunities, dehypnotize yourself from false beliefs, and celebrate new freedom from fear and guilt.

Testimonials and stories are interspersed with advice from Maltz, as well as techniques for relaxation and visualization. Dr. Maxwell Maltz teaches you his techniques of emotional surgery --the path to a dynamic new self-image and self-esteem and to achieving the success and happiness you deserve!
]]> 288 Maxwell Maltz 0671700758 Janet 4 4.22 1960 Psycho-Cybernetics: A New Way to Get More Living Out of Life
author: Maxwell Maltz
name: Janet
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1960
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Divine Matrix: Bridging Time, Space, Miracles, And Belief]]> 90560 223 Gregg Braden 1401905706 Janet 2 spirituality 4.17 2006 The Divine Matrix: Bridging Time, Space, Miracles, And Belief
author: Gregg Braden
name: Janet
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves: spirituality
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Power of Intention: Learning to Co-Create Your World Your Way]]> 19793 Dr. Wayne W. Dyer has researched intention as a force in the universe that allows the act of creation to take place. This book explores intention—not as something you do—but as an energy you’re a part of. We’re all intended here through the invisible power of intention. This is the first book to look at intention as a field of energy that you can access to begin co-creating your life with the power of intention.

Part I deals with the principles of intention, offering true stories and examples on ways to make the connection. Dr. Dyer identifies the attributes of the all-creating universal mind of intention as creative, kind, loving, beautiful, expanding, endlessly abundant, and receptive, explaining the importance of emulating this source of creativity. In Part II, Dr. Dyer offers an intention guide with specific ways to apply the co-creating principles in daily life. Part III is an exhilarating description of Dr. Dyer’s vision of a world in harmony with the universal mind of intention.
]]> 272 Wayne W. Dyer 1401902162 Janet 4 spirituality 4.19 2004 The Power of Intention: Learning to Co-Create Your World Your Way
author: Wayne W. Dyer
name: Janet
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves: spirituality
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"]]> 845977 A Course in Miracles and her insights on the application of love in the search for inner peace.

Williamson reveals how we each can become a miracle worker by accepting God and by the expression of love in our daily lives. Whether psychic pain is in the area of relationships, career, or health, she shows us how love is a potent force, the key to inner peace, and how by practicing love we can make our own lives more fulfilling while creating a more peaceful and loving world for our children.]]> 300 Marianne Williamson 0060927488 Janet 4 spirituality 4.25 1992 A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"
author: Marianne Williamson
name: Janet
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves: spirituality
review:

]]> The Seat of the Soul 119760 256 Gary Zukav 0684865181 Janet 4 spirituality 4.02 1989 The Seat of the Soul
author: Gary Zukav
name: Janet
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves: spirituality
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself]]> 720298
Melody Beattie’s compassionate and insightful look into codependency—the concept of losing oneself in the name of helping another� has helped millions of readers understand that they are powerless to change anyone but themselves and that caring for the self is where healing begins.

Is someone else's problem your problem? If, like so many others, you've lost sight of your own life in the drama of tending to a loved one’s self-destructive behavior, you may be codependent--and you may find yourself in this book. With instructive life stories, personal reflections, exercises, and self-tests, Codependent No More helps you to break old patterns, maintain healthy boundaries, and say no to unhealthy relationships. It offers a clear and achievable path to freedom and a lifetime of healing, hope, and happiness.
This ground-breaking book is even more relevant today, as readers confront new, urgent challenges with greater self-awareness, than it was when it first entered the national conversation over 35 years ago.]]> 276 Melody Beattie 0894864025 Janet 4 life 4.12 1986 Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself
author: Melody Beattie
name: Janet
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1986
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves: life
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue, Book 1]]> 15015
I have heard the crying of your heart. I have seen the searching of your soul. I know how deeply you have desired the Truth. In pain have you called out for it, and in joy. Unendingly have you beseeched Me. Show Myself. Explain Myself. Reveal Myself.

I am doing so here, in terms so plain, you cannot misunderstand. In language so simple, you cannot be confused. In vocabulary so common, you cannot get lost in the verbiage.

So go ahead now. Ask Me anything. Anything. I will contrive to bring you the answer. The whole universe will I use to do this. So be on the lookout; this book is far from My only tool. You may ask a question, then put this book down. But watch.

Listen.

The words to the next song you hear. The information in the next article you read. The story line of the next movie you watch. The chance utterance of the next person you meet. Or the whisper of the next river, the next ocean, the next breeze that caresses your ear - all these devices are Mine; all these avenues are open to Me. I will speak to you if you will listen. I will come to you if you will invite Me. I will show you then that I have always been there.

All ways.]]> 223 Neale Donald Walsch 0399142789 Janet 3 4.20 1995 Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue, Book 1
author: Neale Donald Walsch
name: Janet
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1995
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> The Prophet 2547 The Prophet, is one of the most beloved classics of our time. Published in 1923, it has been translated into more than twenty languages, and the American editions alone have sold more than nine million copies.

The Prophet is a collection of poetic essays that are philosophical, spiritual, and, above all, inspirational. Gibran’s musings are divided into twenty-eight chapters covering such sprawling topics as love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, housing, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death.]]> 127 Kahlil Gibran 000100039X Janet 5 4.27 1923 The Prophet
author: Kahlil Gibran
name: Janet
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1923
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers]]> 97641
Dr. Lois Frankel reveals why some women roar ahead in their careers while others stagnate. She's spotted a unique set of behaviors--101 in all--that women learn in girlhood that sabotage them as adults. Now, in this groudbreaking guide, she helps you eliminate these unconscious mistakes that could be holding you back--and offers invaluable coaching tips you can easily incorporate into your social and business skills. If you recognize and change the behaviors that say "girl" not "woman", the results will pay off in carrer opportunites you never thought possible--and in an image that identifies you as someone with the power and know-how to occupy the corner office.]]> 288 Lois P. Frankel 0446693316 Janet 3 3.70 2004 Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers
author: Lois P. Frankel
name: Janet
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service]]> 56501 America is in the midst of a service crisis that has left a wake of disillusioned customers from coast to coast. Raving Fans includes startling new tips and innovative techniques that can help anyone create a revolution in any workplace--and turn their customers into raving, spending fans. "Your customers are only satisfied because their expectations are so low and because no one else is doing better. Just having satisfied customers isn't good enough anymore. If you really want a booming business, you have to create Raving Fans." This, in a nutshell, is the advice given to a new Area Manager on his first day--in an extraordinary business book that will help everyone, in every kind of organization or business, deliver stunning customer service and achieve miraculous bottom-line results.]]> 137 Ken Blanchard 0688123163 Janet 4 3.85 1992 Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service
author: Ken Blanchard
name: Janet
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> The Wisdom of Crowds 68143 306 James Surowiecki 0385721706 Janet 3 business-social-networking 3.82 2004 The Wisdom of Crowds
author: James Surowiecki
name: Janet
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves: business-social-networking
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive: Outsell, Outmanage, Outmotivate, and Outnegotiate Your Competition (Collins Business Essentials)]]> 147746 288 Harvey MacKay 006074281X Janet 4 business-management 3.93 1988 Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive: Outsell, Outmanage, Outmotivate, and Outnegotiate Your Competition (Collins Business Essentials)
author: Harvey MacKay
name: Janet
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves: business-management
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations]]> 48175
The Heart of Change is your guide to helping people think and feel differently in order to meet your shared goals. According to bestselling author and renowned leadership expert John Kotter and coauthor Dan Cohen, this focus on connecting with people’s emotions is what will spark the behavior change and actions that lead to success. The Heart of Change is the engaging and essential complement to John Kotter’s international bestseller Leading Change.

Building off of Kotter’s revolutionary eight-step process, this book vividly illustrates how large-scale business change can work. With real-life stories of people in organizations, the authors show how teams and individuals get motivated and activated to overcome obstacles to change—and produce spectacular results. Kotter and Cohen argue that change initiatives often fail because leaders rely too exclusively on data and analysis to get buy-in from their teams instead of creatively showing or doing something that appeals to their emotions and inspires them to spring into action. They call this the see-feel-change dynamic, and it is crucial for the success of any true organizational transformation.

Refreshingly clear and eminently practical, The Heart of Change is required reading for anyone facing change and looking to build their leadership skills.

Published by Harvard Business Review Press.]]> 190 John P. Kotter 1578512549 Janet 2 3.97 2002 The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations
author: John P. Kotter
name: Janet
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2002
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> The Leadership Challenge 1758199 351 James M. Kouzes 0787984914 Janet 4 business-management 4.01 1987 The Leadership Challenge
author: James M. Kouzes
name: Janet
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves: business-management
review:

]]> <![CDATA[First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently]]> 50937 271 Marcus Buckingham 0684852861 Janet 3 3.94 1998 First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently
author: Marcus Buckingham
name: Janet
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization]]> 255127
This revised edition of the bestselling classic is based on fifteen years of experience in putting Peter Senge’s ideas into practice. As Senge makes clear, in the long run the only sustainable competitive advantage is your organization’s ability to learn faster than the competition. The leadership stories demonstrate the many ways that the core ideas of the Fifth Discipline, many of which seemed radical when first published, have become deeply integrated into people’s ways of seeing the world and their managerial practices.

Senge describes how companies can rid themselves of the learning blocks that threaten their productivity and success by adopting the strategies of learning organizations, in which new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, collective aspiration is set free, and people are continually learning how to create the results they truly desire.

Mastering the disciplines Senge outlines in the book will:

� Reignite the spark of genuine learning driven by people focused on what truly matters to them
� Bridge teamwork into macrocreativity
� Free you of confining assumptions and mindsets
� Teach you to see the forest and the trees
� End the struggle between work and personal time

This updated edition contains more than one hundred pages of new material based on interviews with dozens of practitioners at companies such as BP, Unilever, Intel, Ford, HP, and Saudi Aramco and organizations such as Roca, Oxfam, and The World Bank.]]> 445 Peter M. Senge 0385517254 Janet 4 business-strategy 3.92 1990 The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization
author: Peter M. Senge
name: Janet
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves: business-strategy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors]]> 407999 Competitive Strategy has transformed the theory, practice, and teaching of business strategy throughout the world. Electrifying in its simplicity -- like all great breakthroughs -- Porter's analysis of industries captures the complexity of industry competition in five underlying forces. Porter introduces one of the most powerful competitive tools yet developed: his three generic strategies -- lowest cost, differentiation, and focus -- which bring structure to the task of strategic positioning. He shows how competitive advantage can be defined in terms of relative cost and relative prices, thus linking it directly to profitability, and presents a whole new perspective on how profit is created and divided. In the almost two decades since publication, Porter's framework for predicting competitor behavior has transformed the way in which companies look at their rivals and has given rise to the new discipline of competitor assessment.

More than a million managers in both large and small companies, investment analysts, consultants, students, and scholars throughout the world have internalized Porter's ideas and applied them to assess industries, understand competitors,, and choose competitive positions. The ideas in the book address the underlying fundamentals of competition in a way that is independent of the specifics of the ways companies go about competing.

Competitive Strategy has filled a void in management thinking. It provides an enduring foundation and grounding point on which all subsequent work can be built. By bringing a disciplined structure to the question of how firms achieve superior profitability, Porter's rich frameworks and deep insights comprise a sophisticated view of competition unsurpassed in the last quarter-century.

]]> 397 Michael E. Porter 0684841487 Janet 3 business-strategy 4.17 1980 Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors
author: Michael E. Porter
name: Janet
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1980
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves: business-strategy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams]]> 67825 245 Tom DeMarco 0932633439 Janet 3 4.11 1987 Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams
author: Tom DeMarco
name: Janet
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1987
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Influencer: The Power to Change Anything]]> 914211
- Identify a handful of high-leverage behaviors that lead to rapid and profound change.
- Apply strategies for changing both thoughts and actions.
- Marshall six sources of influence to make change inevitable.

Influencer takes you on a fascinating journey from San Francisco to Thailand where you'll see how seemingly “insignificant� people are making incredibly significant improvements in solving problems others would think impossible. You'll learn how savvy folks make change not only achievable and sustainable, but inevitable. You'll discover why some managers have increased productivity repeatedly and significantly-while others have failed miserably.]]> 288 Kerry Patterson 007148499X Janet 4 4.00 2007 Influencer: The Power to Change Anything
author: Kerry Patterson
name: Janet
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering]]> 13629 The added chapters contain (1) a crisp condensation of all the propositions asserted in the original book, including Brooks' central argument in The Mythical Man-Month: that large programming projects suffer management problems different from small ones due to the division of labor; that the conceptual integrity of the product is therefore critical; and that it is difficult but possible to achieve this unity; (2) Brooks' view of these propositions a generation later; (3) a reprint of his classic 1986 paper "No Silver Bullet"; and (4) today's thoughts on the 1986 assertion, "There will be no silver bullet within ten years."

]]> 322 Frederick P. Brooks Jr. 0201835959 Janet 4 business-software 4.00 1975 The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering
author: Frederick P. Brooks Jr.
name: Janet
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1975
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/09/17
shelves: business-software
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Celestine Prophecy: A Pocket Guide to the Nine Insights]]> 13104 68 James Redfield 0446912069 Janet 4 life 3.90 1993 The Celestine Prophecy: A Pocket Guide to the Nine Insights
author: James Redfield
name: Janet
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2011/03/09
shelves: life
review:

]]> 1st Things 1st 2334407 0 Stephen R. Covey 1883219264 Janet 4 life, business-basic 4.20 1996 1st Things 1st
author: Stephen R. Covey
name: Janet
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 1994/01/01
date added: 2010/06/16
shelves: life, business-basic
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Amazing Places to Take Your Kids: Hundreds of North American Adventures]]> 2116103 NA 320 Publications International 141271981X Janet 3 children 4.00 2007 Amazing Places to Take Your Kids: Hundreds of North American Adventures
author: Publications International
name: Janet
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2003/01/01
date added: 2010/05/07
shelves: children
review:
A good list of places to travel in the U.S. with kids. Got a number of ideas for places that we haven't yet visited.
]]> <![CDATA[Unleashing the Killer App: Digital Strategies for Market Dominance]]> 1868639 243 Larry Downes 087584801X Janet 4 business-strategy
The authors define a "killer application" as "a new good or service that establishes an entirely new category and, by being first, dominates it, returning several hundred percent on the initial investment." As they explain, the primary forces at work in spawning today's "killer apps" are both technological and economic in nature. "The technology we are concerned with is the transformation of information into digital form, where it can be manipulated by computers and transmitted by networks."

Since many technology service companies fall into the trap of trying to become a product company, the book helped me see how different the business models were and how trying to morph into a product company was not a great solution for challenges we were encountering. At the time, many technology service companies had gone this route and with the dot com bust, we were glad that we had largely stayed out of that world.

As it related to advising clients who were trying to develop killer applications, there were many key insights in the book. ]]> 3.47 1998 Unleashing the Killer App: Digital Strategies for Market Dominance
author: Larry Downes
name: Janet
average rating: 3.47
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 1998/01/01
date added: 2010/05/07
shelves: business-strategy
review:
I read this book due to being a part of a technology services company that had tied it's services to Microsoft.

The authors define a "killer application" as "a new good or service that establishes an entirely new category and, by being first, dominates it, returning several hundred percent on the initial investment." As they explain, the primary forces at work in spawning today's "killer apps" are both technological and economic in nature. "The technology we are concerned with is the transformation of information into digital form, where it can be manipulated by computers and transmitted by networks."

Since many technology service companies fall into the trap of trying to become a product company, the book helped me see how different the business models were and how trying to morph into a product company was not a great solution for challenges we were encountering. At the time, many technology service companies had gone this route and with the dot com bust, we were glad that we had largely stayed out of that world.

As it related to advising clients who were trying to develop killer applications, there were many key insights in the book.
]]> <![CDATA[Dynamics of Software Development]]> 1416996 184 Jim McCarthy 1556158238 Janet 5 project-management 3.88 1995 Dynamics of Software Development
author: Jim McCarthy
name: Janet
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at: 1997/01/01
date added: 2010/05/07
shelves: project-management
review:
Jim McCarty is a master at understanding software development and software teams.
]]> <![CDATA[Death March: The Complete Software Developer's Guide to Surviving 'Mission Impossible' Projects (Yourdon Computing Series)]]> 447995 240 Edward Yourdon 0130146595 Janet 4 project-management 3.68 1997 Death March: The Complete Software Developer's Guide to Surviving 'Mission Impossible' Projects (Yourdon Computing Series)
author: Edward Yourdon
name: Janet
average rating: 3.68
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2010/03/19
shelves: project-management
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level]]> 6391876 The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks, the New York Times bestselling author of Five Wishes, demonstrates how to eliminate the barriers to success by overcoming false fears and beliefs. Fans of Wayne Dyer, Eckhart Tolle, Marianne Williamson, and The Secret will find useful, effective tips for breaking down the walls to a better life in The Big Leap.]]> 224 Gay Hendricks 0061735345 Janet 0 life 3.91 2009 The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level
author: Gay Hendricks
name: Janet
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at: 2009/05/01
date added: 2009/05/18
shelves: life
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life]]> 85697 210 Rosamund Stone Zander 0142001104 Janet 5 3.90 2000 The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life
author: Rosamund Stone Zander
name: Janet
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2009/03/08
shelves: books-worth-reading-twice, leadership
review:

]]> <![CDATA[High-Impact Consulting: How Clients and Consultants Can Leverage Rapid Results into Long-Term Gains (Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series)]]> 1261241 234 Robert H. Schaffer 0787903418 Janet 4 4.40 1997 High-Impact Consulting: How Clients and Consultants Can Leverage Rapid Results into Long-Term Gains (Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series)
author: Robert H. Schaffer
name: Janet
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 1998/01/01
date added: 2009/02/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Quality Software Management: First-Order Measurement]]> 2272890 360 Gerald M. Weinberg 0932633242 Janet 4 4.44 1993 Quality Software Management: First-Order Measurement
author: Gerald M. Weinberg
name: Janet
average rating: 4.44
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 1997/01/01
date added: 2009/02/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Quality Software Management: Anticipating Change]]> 1878841 480 Gerald M. Weinberg 0932633323 Janet 4 4.49 1997 Quality Software Management: Anticipating Change
author: Gerald M. Weinberg
name: Janet
average rating: 4.49
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 1998/01/01
date added: 2009/02/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Quality Software Management, Vol. 3: Congruent Action]]> 1878772 328 Gerald M. Weinberg 0932633285 Janet 4 4.50 1994 Quality Software Management, Vol. 3: Congruent Action
author: Gerald M. Weinberg
name: Janet
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at: 1997/01/01
date added: 2009/02/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Quality Software Management: Systems Thinking]]> 714348 336 Gerald M. Weinberg 0932633226 Janet 4 4.29 1991 Quality Software Management: Systems Thinking
author: Gerald M. Weinberg
name: Janet
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1991
rating: 4
read at: 1997/01/01
date added: 2009/02/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Are Your Lights On?: How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is]]> 1044831
Part 1: What is The Problem?
1. A Problem
2. Peter Pigeonhole Prepared A Petition
3. What's Your Problem?

Part 2: What is The Problem?
4. Billy Brighteyes Bests The Bidders
5. Billy Bites His Tongue
6. Billy Back To The Bidders

Part 3: What is The Problem Really?
7. The Endless Chain
8. Missing The Misfit
9. Landing On The Level
10. Mind Your Meaning

Part 4: Whose Problem Is It?
11. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
12. The Campus That Was All Spaced Out
13. The Lights At The End Of The Tunnel

Part 5: Where Does It Come From?
14. Janet Jaworski Joggles A Jerk
15. Mister Matczyszyn Mends The Matter
16. Make-Works And Take-Credits
17. Examinations And Other Puzzles

Part 6: Do We Really Want To Solve It?
18. Tom Tireless Tinkers With Toys
19. Patience Plays Politics
20. A Priority Assignment]]> 176 Donald C. Gause 0932633161 Janet 4 3.94 1982 Are Your Lights On?: How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is
author: Donald C. Gause
name: Janet
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1982
rating: 4
read at: 2001/01/01
date added: 2009/02/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[An Introduction to General Systems Thinking (Silver Anniversary Edition)]]> 583766 Originally published in 1975 and reprinted more than twenty times over a quarter century -- and now available for the first time from Dorset House Publishing -- the text uses clear writing and basic algebraic principles to explore new approaches to projects, products, organizations, and virtually any kind of system.

Scientists, engineers, organization leaders, managers, doctors, students, and thinkers of all disciplines can use this book to dispel the mental fog that clouds problem-solving. As author Gerald M. Weinberg writes in the new preface to the Silver Anniversary Edition, "I haven’t changed my conviction that most people don’t think nearly as well as they could had they been taught some principles of thinking.�

Now an award-winning author of nearly forty books spanning the entire software development life cycle, Weinberg had already acquired extensive experience as a programmer, manager, university professor, and consultant when this book was originally published.

With helpful illustrations, numerous end-of-chapter exercises, and an appendix on a mathematical notation used in problem-solving, An Introduction to General Systems Thinking may be your most powerful tool in working with problems, systems, and solutions.]]> 320 Gerald M. Weinberg 0932633498 Janet 4 3.97 1975 An Introduction to General Systems Thinking (Silver Anniversary Edition)
author: Gerald M. Weinberg
name: Janet
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1975
rating: 4
read at: 1994/01/01
date added: 2009/02/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully]]> 566213
The Secrets of Consulting has been used in dozens of different fields. If you are a consultant, or ever use a consultant, this book is for you. The author draws on his 50+ years of consulting experience to share his secrets about the often irrational world of consulting. "This is a great book. Period! ...this advice is clearly applicable to more than just consulting; it is applicable to life in general." "The book is truly wonderful. A must have!" - Amazon reviews]]> 228 Gerald M. Weinberg 0932633013 Janet 4 3.94 1985 The Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully
author: Gerald M. Weinberg
name: Janet
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2009/02/22
shelves:
review:

]]> The Leadership Engine 206286 464 Noel M. Tichy 0887309313 Janet 4 leadership 3.81 1997 The Leadership Engine
author: Noel M. Tichy
name: Janet
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 1997/01/01
date added: 2009/02/21
shelves: leadership
review:

]]> <![CDATA[If Life Is a Game, These Are the Rules: Ten Rules for Being Human as Introduced in Chicken Soup for the Soul]]> 389101
We all know the In the game of life, why am I the only one who doesn't know how to play? But now, help is at hand, because this wonderful little book will teach you the rules so that you can conquer life's challenges and manage its unpredictable ups and downs.

For one of her workshops several years ago, Chérie Carter-Scott, a corporate trainer and consultant, composed a list of basic truths about life, which she named "The Ten Rules for Being Human." Right away, the Rules resonated with her clients, who photocopied and passed the list to friends and relatives. Within months, Chérie's Rules were in thousands of homes all over the country, and eventually, they were published in Chicken Soup for the Soul and have also appeared in Ann Landers' column. Although there's no formula to help you win the game of life, Chérie's Rules convey a universal wisdom that, once understood and embraced, can contribute to meaningful relationships with ourselves and others, at work and in the home.

In If Life Is a Game, These Are the Rules , Chérie shares that there are no mistakes in life, only lessons that are repeated. In thoughtful, inspirational essays illustrated with encouraging personal anecdotes, she includes the lessons that can be learned from each of the Rules and offers insights on self-esteem, respect, acceptance, forgiveness, ethics, compassion, humility, gratitude, and courage. Best of all, Chérie shows that wisdom lies inside each one of us and that by putting the Ten Rules for Being Human into action we can create a more fulfilling life.]]> 160 Cherie Carter-Scott 0767902386 Janet 4 children, life 3.89 1998 If Life Is a Game, These Are the Rules: Ten Rules for Being Human as Introduced in Chicken Soup for the Soul
author: Cherie Carter-Scott
name: Janet
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2009/02/21
shelves: children, life
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Power of A Single Thought: How to Initiate Major Life Changes from the Quiet of Your Mind]]> 556223
The authors have created an entirely new interpretation, written especially for the transformational reader who seeks practical ways to apply the book� life-changing wisdom to daily life. This new version is clearly written and gender friendly, free of the stilted and often sexist language of the original. In addition, experiential activities based on the concepts in the book bring to life its essential You have a great deal more power over the circumstances of your life than you may have been taught. Step by step, The Power of a Single Thought guides you to take charge of your life . . . one thought at a time.]]> 144 Gay Hendricks 1401907695 Janet 4 life, business-strategy 3.71 2006 The Power of A Single Thought: How to Initiate Major Life Changes from the Quiet of Your Mind
author: Gay Hendricks
name: Janet
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2009/02/21
shelves: life, business-strategy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Conscious Heart: Seven Soul-Choices That Create Your Relationship Destiny]]> 2893338
At the core of their new book are seven soul-commitments that change relationships from the inside out--basic shifts of attitude and intention that can transform everything from a couple's fundamental trust in one another to the petty details of day-to-day life. These soul commitments enable us to use conflict to illuminate the fears that keep us stuck and hidden from our true nature. They also work to enhance authenticity, equality and appreciation in every aspect of our partnership.

The Hendrickses outline these spiritual principles with eloquent clarity, and they also show them in action in numerous illuminating examples--including their own mid-life marital crisis and in dealing with the very material world of money. No other relationship book is at once so on-target practical and so large in its claims for the ultimate power of the conscious heart.]]> 320 Gay Hendricks 055309727X Janet 4 children, life 4.10 1997 The Conscious Heart: Seven Soul-Choices That Create Your Relationship Destiny
author: Gay Hendricks
name: Janet
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2009/02/21
shelves: children, life
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Biology Of Belief: Unleashing The Power Of Consciousness, Matter And Miracles]]> 90556 205 Bruce H. Lipton 0975991477 Janet 4 4.13 2005 The Biology Of Belief: Unleashing The Power Of Consciousness, Matter And Miracles
author: Bruce H. Lipton
name: Janet
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2009/01/01
date added: 2009/02/21
shelves: business-change, life, children
review:
We have a choice about our beliefs, and by being aware of what shaped us, we can choose to become something different. Powerful book, although the author's need to take credit for "discovering" this concept that many others write about, and do research on can get in the way a little bit of the content.
]]> The Last Lecture 2318271
When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave, 'Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams', wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because time is all you have and you may find one day that you have less than you think). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.

In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humour, inspiration, and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.]]> 206 Randy Pausch 1401323251 Janet 5 life 4.25 2008 The Last Lecture
author: Randy Pausch
name: Janet
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2009/02/21
shelves: life
review:
Randy serves as an example of how to live a life filled with passion, purpose and no regrets.
]]> <![CDATA[Overcoming The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators (J–B Lencioni Series)]]> 170485 156 Patrick Lencioni 0787976377 Janet 4 business-management 4.10 2002 Overcoming The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators (J–B Lencioni Series)
author: Patrick Lencioni
name: Janet
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2004/01/01
date added: 2009/02/21
shelves: business-management
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Software for Your Head: Core Protocols for Creating and Maintaining Shared Vision]]> 1648693
0201604566B09042001]]> 435 Jim McCarthy 0201604566 Janet 4 3.99 2001 Software for Your Head: Core Protocols for Creating and Maintaining Shared Vision
author: Jim McCarthy
name: Janet
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 1999/01/01
date added: 2009/02/21
shelves:
review:
Jim McCarthy started a company to teach how to develop shared vision and how to team. The book describes the "protocols" to reprogram ourselves and "merge" ladders of inference to be in alignment. I haven't attended the course, but am sure it is phenomenal. We are all wired to let our beliefs from the past get in the way of the present and McCarthy has an effective shortcut for teams to learn to overcome our human wiring.
]]> <![CDATA[Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules]]> 93892
This publication is definitely recommended and will become a classic in the field, just as the author's prior publication, "Code Complete" already is.]]> 672 Steve McConnell 1556159005 Janet 5 project-management 3.96 1996 Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules
author: Steve McConnell
name: Janet
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at: 1996/01/01
date added: 2009/02/21
shelves: project-management
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Say It For Women: Communicating with Confidence and Power Using the Language of Success]]> 211476 256 Phyllis Mindell 0735202222 Janet 4 business-communication 3.79 2018 How to Say It For Women: Communicating with Confidence and Power Using the Language of Success
author: Phyllis Mindell
name: Janet
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 1996/01/01
date added: 2009/02/21
shelves: business-communication
review:
Women communicate differently and it can come across as depowering. The book was helpful in learning how to express myself more effectively, particularly with male, C level audiences.
]]> A Language Of Reverence 2170705 140 Dean Grodzins 0970247974 Janet 5 life 4.60 2004 A Language Of Reverence
author: Dean Grodzins
name: Janet
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2005/01/01
date added: 2009/02/21
shelves: life
review:
This was a book many at our church were reading during a crisis of differences. It helped those who were atheists, humanists and those who were believers in God to learn to speak more respectfully about our differences.
]]> <![CDATA[Positive Pushing: How to Raise a Successful and Happy Child]]> 575996
What do kids really need to be successful and happy people? For parents, how they answer this question will determine how they will raise their children, what lessons their children will learn, what values they will adopt, and, ultimately, what kinds of adults they will become.

Taylor, an experienced doctor of psychology, gives parents clear and balanced instruction on how to encourage children just enough to produce a happy, successful, satisfied achiever. Pushed properly, Taylor believes, children will grow into adults ready to tackle life's many challenges. Using his three-pillared approach, Taylor focuses on self-esteem, ownership, and emotional mastery, and maintains that rather than being a means of control, pushing should be both a source of motivation and a catalyst for growth which can instill important values in children's lives. He teaches parents how to temper their own expectations to suit their children's emotional, intellectual, and physical development, and identifies common red flags that indicate when a child is being pushed too hard -- or not enough.

Whether a child's potential for achievement lies in academics, the arts, sports, or other areas, Dr. Taylor's insight and guidance will push parents, teachers, and coaches to nurture children into successful and happy adults.]]> 304 Jim Taylor 0786888504 Janet 5 children 3.84 2002 Positive Pushing: How to Raise a Successful and Happy Child
author: Jim Taylor
name: Janet
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 2003/01/01
date added: 2009/02/21
shelves: children
review:
This book helps to learn to articulate values expectations for children and "let go" so that they can become all that they can be. The principles worked well with my son.
]]> <![CDATA[Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness]]> 51373 In this breakthrough bestseller, you'll see scientific evidence that your anxiety, depression, anger, obsessiveness, or impulsiveness could be related to how specific structures in your brain work. You're not stuck with the brain you're born with. Here are just a few of neuropsychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen's surprising--and effective--"brain prescriptions" that can help heal your brain and change your life:
To Quell Anxiety and Panic:
¸Use simple breathing techniques to immediately calm inner turmoil
To Fight Depression:
¸Learn how to kill ANTs (automatic negative thoughts)
To Curb Anger:
¸Follow the Amen anti-anger diet and learn the nutrients that calm rage
To Conquer Impulsiveness and Learn to Focus:
¸Develop total focus with the "One-Page Miracle"
To Stop Obsessive Worrying:
¸Follow the "get unstuck" writing exercise and learn other problem-solving exercises]]> 337 Daniel G. Amen 0812929985 Janet 4 health, life 3.97 1998 Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness
author: Daniel G. Amen
name: Janet
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2008/10/01
date added: 2008/10/19
shelves: health, life
review:
This book is very enlightening about the details of the brain, and has practical advice on how to go about "changing it' through sound medical advice. As someone who had brain damage and has been consciously working to re-develop my whole brain function again, the book was helpful. It is also very helpful to people who suffer from ADD, anxiety, depression and other brain disorders and shares how the family dynamics can be changed by getting appropriate treatments.
]]> <![CDATA[Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life...]]> 4894
Two are mice named Sniff and Scurry. And two are "Littlepeople" � beings the size of mice who look and act a lot like people. Their names are Hem and Haw.

"Cheese" is a metaphor for what you want to have in life � whether it's a good job, a loving relationship, money, a possession, health, or spiritual peace of mind.

And the "Maze" is where you look for what you want � the organisation you work in or the family or community you live in.

In the story, the characters are faced with unexpected change. Eventually, one of them deals with it successfully, and writes what he has learned from his experience on the Maze walls.

When you come to see "The Handwriting on the Wall," you can discover for yourself how to deal with change, so that you can enjoy less stress and more success (however you define it) in your work and in your life.

Written for all ages, the story takes less than an hour to read, but its unique insights can last for a lifetime.]]> 98 Spencer Johnson 0091883768 Janet 3 business-change
For others, the book has the potential to be a useful resource in learning to cope with unexpected and unwelcome change, providing a way of externalizing the conflicting emotions caused by change and allowing one to step back and evaluate one’s life from the perspective of Sniff, Scurry, Hem, and Haw.

Plot synopsis, borrowed from elsewhere:


The book begins with a gathering of high school friends in Chicago after their high school reunion. They reflect back on the divergent paths their lives have taken and take note of the fact that they often don’t want to change when things change. One of them then uses the time to relate the parable of Who Moved My Cheese to the others.

The parable’s four principle characters are two mice named Sniff and Scurry and two littlepeople named Hem and Haw. The four of them live in a maze and spend their days scurrying about in the eternal pursuit of cheese, however each of the four has his own unique approach to this hunt. Sniff is extremely good at sniffing out cheese, while Scurry specializes in scurrying after newly discovered cheese. Hem and Haw are not so single-minded in their cheese pursuit, but rather spend more time philosophizing about the hunt.

One day the four stumble onto a piece of cheese so large that Hem and Haw declare that they shall never again need to search for cheese. They become accustomed to this constant source of cheese and push aside any thought of ever having to find another piece. The two mice, however, never stop exploring their surroundings and are constantly attuned to change in their environment. Meanwhile the supply of cheese is slowly dwindling and one day this chunk of cheese is finally exhausted and the four are left with nothing.

Sniff and Scurry are able to take this new development in stride and scamper off in search of a new cheese source. However, Hem and Haw are not able to cope with such an abrupt life-altering change and instead have to sit down and take stock of their new state of affairs. Haw eventually is able to overcome his fears and follow Sniff and Scurry’s lead of wandering off into the maze in search of new cheese, while Hem remains behind, laboring under the delusion that somehow, someway, his cheese will someday be replaced.

Haw is at first frightened by the change in affairs that has led him to wander the hallowed halls of the maze in search of new cheese. He eventually realizes, however, that he is enjoying the change of pace and that the hunt really isn’t so bad. Eventually Haw catches up with Sniff and Scurry and the new piece of cheese they had discovered.

The moral of the story is that each of us will experience change at some point in our lives, and we will all deal with it in different ways. Some of us will never let ourselves become satisfied with the status quo and instead will constantly be on the lookout for change in our environment so that we will have advanced warning of impending change.

Others will allow themselves to become blinded to the world around themselves while they focus on the gluttony of the familiar and comfortable. They will not notice the downward spiral of the source of their comfort until it is all gone and nothing remains.

Then some will reluctantly move on, driven by necessity, in search of something new, while others will remain behind in the fruitless hope that their comfort will somehow be restored. The ones who move on will have a chance to find a new source of comfort, while those that remain behind are doomed to failure.
By providing four easily-relatable characters, Johnson helps the reader to characterize his or her own reactions to change in terms of one of these characters and evaluate the long-term consequences of those actions. However, ultimately, the Hem’s of the world, paralyzed by fear and distracted by comfort, will never be able to gain the strength to break free and scamper down the maze in pursuit of new cheese.]]> 3.88 1999 Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life...
author: Spencer Johnson
name: Janet
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at: 2000/01/01
date added: 2008/06/08
shelves: business-change
review:
I found the book to be reinforcement of things I learned along my life's journey. At the time I read it, it did not influence my life in any dramatically. My life has been defined by tremendous change and adaptation, starting with my father's Army career that led us to move every 3 years, and being a first/second generation American. I never really had a "status quo" mindset, so my life journey has been more about how to relax and enjoy life versus always striving to be better and do more. On a career side, it reinforced for me as a business owner, the need to always search for new markets, changes in the economy, etc. and accept that change is inevitable.

For others, the book has the potential to be a useful resource in learning to cope with unexpected and unwelcome change, providing a way of externalizing the conflicting emotions caused by change and allowing one to step back and evaluate one’s life from the perspective of Sniff, Scurry, Hem, and Haw.

Plot synopsis, borrowed from elsewhere:


The book begins with a gathering of high school friends in Chicago after their high school reunion. They reflect back on the divergent paths their lives have taken and take note of the fact that they often don’t want to change when things change. One of them then uses the time to relate the parable of Who Moved My Cheese to the others.

The parable’s four principle characters are two mice named Sniff and Scurry and two littlepeople named Hem and Haw. The four of them live in a maze and spend their days scurrying about in the eternal pursuit of cheese, however each of the four has his own unique approach to this hunt. Sniff is extremely good at sniffing out cheese, while Scurry specializes in scurrying after newly discovered cheese. Hem and Haw are not so single-minded in their cheese pursuit, but rather spend more time philosophizing about the hunt.

One day the four stumble onto a piece of cheese so large that Hem and Haw declare that they shall never again need to search for cheese. They become accustomed to this constant source of cheese and push aside any thought of ever having to find another piece. The two mice, however, never stop exploring their surroundings and are constantly attuned to change in their environment. Meanwhile the supply of cheese is slowly dwindling and one day this chunk of cheese is finally exhausted and the four are left with nothing.

Sniff and Scurry are able to take this new development in stride and scamper off in search of a new cheese source. However, Hem and Haw are not able to cope with such an abrupt life-altering change and instead have to sit down and take stock of their new state of affairs. Haw eventually is able to overcome his fears and follow Sniff and Scurry’s lead of wandering off into the maze in search of new cheese, while Hem remains behind, laboring under the delusion that somehow, someway, his cheese will someday be replaced.

Haw is at first frightened by the change in affairs that has led him to wander the hallowed halls of the maze in search of new cheese. He eventually realizes, however, that he is enjoying the change of pace and that the hunt really isn’t so bad. Eventually Haw catches up with Sniff and Scurry and the new piece of cheese they had discovered.

The moral of the story is that each of us will experience change at some point in our lives, and we will all deal with it in different ways. Some of us will never let ourselves become satisfied with the status quo and instead will constantly be on the lookout for change in our environment so that we will have advanced warning of impending change.

Others will allow themselves to become blinded to the world around themselves while they focus on the gluttony of the familiar and comfortable. They will not notice the downward spiral of the source of their comfort until it is all gone and nothing remains.

Then some will reluctantly move on, driven by necessity, in search of something new, while others will remain behind in the fruitless hope that their comfort will somehow be restored. The ones who move on will have a chance to find a new source of comfort, while those that remain behind are doomed to failure.
By providing four easily-relatable characters, Johnson helps the reader to characterize his or her own reactions to change in terms of one of these characters and evaluate the long-term consequences of those actions. However, ultimately, the Hem’s of the world, paralyzed by fear and distracted by comfort, will never be able to gain the strength to break free and scamper down the maze in pursuit of new cheese.
]]> <![CDATA[Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box]]> 180463 192 The Arbinger Institute 1576751740 Janet 5 4.09 2000 Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box
author: The Arbinger Institute
name: Janet
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2002/01/01
date added: 2008/05/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Talking from 9 to 5: Women and Men at Work]]> 330609 368 Deborah Tannen 0380717832 Janet 5
I find authors who resonate with me, and tend to read anything they write thereafter. For instance, if an author, from my opinion, tends to stereotype, I cannot read them.

Tannen leveraged research and observations of male and female communication styles, from the earliest life stages to share how the different sexes communicate differently. Around this time, Men are from Mars book was around and was, for me, based on stereotypes that I did not identify with.

Tannen's book is more scientific and non-labeling of behaviors so resonated with me tremendously. As a result of reading the book, I was able to learn how to interpret messages from women as much as men. Since I am a strong thinker, women were actually more difficult for me to understand than men.

As an example - "Report" talk by men vs. "rapport" talk by women -- women talk "troubles talk" to build community, when men hear this, they are more than likely to feel that the problems need solving and will say what to do; this creates dissonance as the woman just wants to feel understood not "bossed" around, and the man can't understand why she's telling him problems if she doesn't want solutions.
This book takes those issues to work and through many examples from her own research and others in sociolinguistics, anthropology and sociology, Tannen makes the point that different communication styles are problematic only when people don't understand them, that there is no "better" way to talk than another. Tannen made a fascinating point about communication styles and conversation rituals. She writes that people think they can tell when someone is lying to them, but research shows that really, people are not good at discerning this.

In a similar way, we think we can tell if someone is confident and a good leader by the way they talk, but we can't. A woman, who raises the tone of her statements to sound like questions, who gives indirect orders and who seeks input before making decisions may often be assumed to be weaker than a man in a similar role, but her conversation rituals are not a true mark of who she is; they are the communication style that she was more likely than not socialized to use as a woman.

Likewise, men are assumed to want the floor and command, when sometimes they would rather not take it. Tannen gives evidence on how difficult it is for women to be heard in meetings, and provides anthropological studies that show that as far back as age 3, boys listen to boys and girls listen to girls at play, but boys do not listen to girls, and may ignore and insult them when they pipe up to direct activities. This book is not a polemic against men or masculine styles. Tannen finds that most communication styles are appropriate in many instances.

There is more than one way to get the job done, and sometimes, a masculine style is better than a feminine style, and sometimes the opposite is true, but she makes it very clear that a lack of that understanding can be detrimental to organizations because of erroneous assumptions made about people's abilities based on their conversational style.

One of her overriding points, born out by her research, is that women tend to talk to build community and do nont like to stand out for accomplishments or for failures in a group. They will engage in ritual talk that seeks inclusion so as to maintain good feeling among the group, not because they are insecure and need to feel that no one dislikes them. Men, on the other hand, tend to engage in one-up talk, are more sensitive to being one down, and will take the lead to avoid being bested. (When a woman who is trying to build community is "one-upped" by a man who takes her ritualistic talk and her willingness to put herself down to create harmony, she feels "betrayed" by his spurning of her communal talk to take the upper hand. Who is "right?" Neither, but their reactions to the same conversation may be very different and in some cases, harmful to the organization.)

The last chapter, "Who gets heard" is especially instructive, and the afterword is a great essay on the issue with justification for her methods and theories. I think this book would be perfect for anyone who reports to someone of the opposite gender or who is the boss of same. ]]> 3.82 1994 Talking from 9 to 5: Women and Men at Work
author: Deborah Tannen
name: Janet
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1994
rating: 5
read at: 1997/01/01
date added: 2008/04/06
shelves: business-communication, books-worth-reading-twice
review:
Deborah Tannen is a linguist and was affiliated with a university that my mother-in-law, a former librarian, worked at and brought to my attention. I am now reading her books as it relates to communication with my 13 year old daughter, to ensure that the negative dynamics that other mothers of daughters does not enter into our relationship.

I find authors who resonate with me, and tend to read anything they write thereafter. For instance, if an author, from my opinion, tends to stereotype, I cannot read them.

Tannen leveraged research and observations of male and female communication styles, from the earliest life stages to share how the different sexes communicate differently. Around this time, Men are from Mars book was around and was, for me, based on stereotypes that I did not identify with.

Tannen's book is more scientific and non-labeling of behaviors so resonated with me tremendously. As a result of reading the book, I was able to learn how to interpret messages from women as much as men. Since I am a strong thinker, women were actually more difficult for me to understand than men.

As an example - "Report" talk by men vs. "rapport" talk by women -- women talk "troubles talk" to build community, when men hear this, they are more than likely to feel that the problems need solving and will say what to do; this creates dissonance as the woman just wants to feel understood not "bossed" around, and the man can't understand why she's telling him problems if she doesn't want solutions.
This book takes those issues to work and through many examples from her own research and others in sociolinguistics, anthropology and sociology, Tannen makes the point that different communication styles are problematic only when people don't understand them, that there is no "better" way to talk than another. Tannen made a fascinating point about communication styles and conversation rituals. She writes that people think they can tell when someone is lying to them, but research shows that really, people are not good at discerning this.

In a similar way, we think we can tell if someone is confident and a good leader by the way they talk, but we can't. A woman, who raises the tone of her statements to sound like questions, who gives indirect orders and who seeks input before making decisions may often be assumed to be weaker than a man in a similar role, but her conversation rituals are not a true mark of who she is; they are the communication style that she was more likely than not socialized to use as a woman.

Likewise, men are assumed to want the floor and command, when sometimes they would rather not take it. Tannen gives evidence on how difficult it is for women to be heard in meetings, and provides anthropological studies that show that as far back as age 3, boys listen to boys and girls listen to girls at play, but boys do not listen to girls, and may ignore and insult them when they pipe up to direct activities. This book is not a polemic against men or masculine styles. Tannen finds that most communication styles are appropriate in many instances.

There is more than one way to get the job done, and sometimes, a masculine style is better than a feminine style, and sometimes the opposite is true, but she makes it very clear that a lack of that understanding can be detrimental to organizations because of erroneous assumptions made about people's abilities based on their conversational style.

One of her overriding points, born out by her research, is that women tend to talk to build community and do nont like to stand out for accomplishments or for failures in a group. They will engage in ritual talk that seeks inclusion so as to maintain good feeling among the group, not because they are insecure and need to feel that no one dislikes them. Men, on the other hand, tend to engage in one-up talk, are more sensitive to being one down, and will take the lead to avoid being bested. (When a woman who is trying to build community is "one-upped" by a man who takes her ritualistic talk and her willingness to put herself down to create harmony, she feels "betrayed" by his spurning of her communal talk to take the upper hand. Who is "right?" Neither, but their reactions to the same conversation may be very different and in some cases, harmful to the organization.)

The last chapter, "Who gets heard" is especially instructive, and the afterword is a great essay on the issue with justification for her methods and theories. I think this book would be perfect for anyone who reports to someone of the opposite gender or who is the boss of same.
]]> <![CDATA[I Only Say This Because I Love You: Talking to Your Parents, Partner, Sibs, and Kids When You're All Adults]]> 147224
Searching for signs of acceptance and belonging, we find signs of disapproval and rejection. Why do the seeds of family love so often yield a harvest of criticism and judgment? In I Only Say This Because I Love You, Tannen shows how important it is, in family talk, to learn to separate word meanings, or messages, from heart meanings, or metamessages —unstated but powerful meanings that come from the history of our relationships and the way things are said.

Presenting real conversations from people's lives, Tannen reveals what is actually going on in family talk, including how family conversations must balance the longing for connection with the desire for control, as we struggle to be close without giving up our freedom.

This eye-opening book explains why grown women so often feel criticized by their mothers; and why mothers feel they can't open their mouths around their grown daughters; why growing up male or female, or as an older or younger sibling, results in different experiences of family that persist throughout our lives; and much, much more. By helping us to understand and redefine family talk, Tannen provides the tools to improve relationships with family members of every age.]]> 368 Deborah Tannen 0345407520 Janet 0 to-read 3.93 2001 I Only Say This Because I Love You: Talking to Your Parents, Partner, Sibs, and Kids When You're All Adults
author: Deborah Tannen
name: Janet
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/04/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[You're Wearing That?: Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation]]> 147223 It was Tannen who first showed us that men and women speak different languages. Mothers and daughters speak the same language–but still often misunderstand each other, as they struggle to find the right balance between closeness and independence. Both mothers and daughters want to be seen for who they are, but tend to see the other as falling short of who she should be. Each overestimates the other’s power and underestimates her own.
Why do daughters complain that their mothers always criticize, while mothers feel hurt that their daughters shut them out? Why do mothers and daughters critique each other on the Big Three–hair, clothes, and weight–while longing for approval and understanding? And why do they scrutinize each other for reflections of themselves?
Deborah Tannen answers these and many other questions as she explains why a remark that would be harmless coming from anyone else can cause an explosion when it comes from your mother or your daughter. She examines every aspect of this complex dynamic, from the dark side that can shadow a woman throughout her life, to the new technologies like e-mail and instant messaging that are transforming mother-daughter communication. Most important, she helps mothers and daughters understand each other, the key to improving their relationship.
With groundbreaking insights, pitch-perfect dialogues, and deeply moving memories of her own mother, Tannen untangles the knots daughters and mothers can get tied up in. Readers will appreciate Tannen’s humor as they see themselves on every page and come away with real hope for breaking down barriers and opening new lines of communication. Eye-opening and heartfelt, You’re Wearing That? illuminates and enriches one of the most important relationships in our lives.

“Tannen analyzes and decodes scores of conversations between moms and daughters. These exchanges are so real they can make you squirm as you relive the last fraught conversation you had with your own mother or daughter. But Tannen doesn't just point out the pitfalls of the mother-daughter relationship, she also provides guidance for changing the conversations (or the way that we feel about the conversations) before they degenerate into what Tannen calls a mutually aggravating spiral, a "self-perpetuating cycle of escalating responses that become provocations." � The San Francisco Chronicle]]> 304 Deborah Tannen 081297266X Janet 0 to-read 3.54 2005 You're Wearing That?: Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation
author: Deborah Tannen
name: Janet
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/04/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson]]> 6900
Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you?

Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying of ALS - or motor neurone disease - Mitch visited Morrie in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final 'class': lessons in how to live.]]> 210 Mitch Albom Janet 5 life, biography 4.19 1997 Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson
author: Mitch Albom
name: Janet
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2001/01/01
date added: 2008/04/05
shelves: life, biography
review:

]]> The Firm 5358 Adaptation for younger readers.

Mitch McDeere is a young, intelligent and ambitious lawyer. When he gets a job with a top tax law firm in Memphis, he is delighted. But he quickly becomes suspicious after mysterious deaths, obsessive office security, and the Chicago mob figure into its operations. The situation only escalates when Mitch discovers that the firm is listening in on his phone calls and that the FBI want to speak to him. Money and power has a price � and it could be Mitch's life.

Adaptation Notes
This adaptation is a simplified text designed in association with world famous educational publishers, to provide a step-by-step approach to the joys of reading for pleasure. The series include original stories, contemporary titles based on today's best-selling media hits, and easily accessible versions of the literary classics from around the world. Each book has an introduction and extensive activity material. They are published at different levels for readers of all skill levels.

Series Editors: Andy Hopkins and Jocelyn Potter

Book Details:
- Difficulty: Level 5 - Upper Intermediate (2300 words)
- Category: Contemporary
- Dialect: British English]]> 76 Robin Waterfield 0582418275 Janet 0 fiction 4.06 1991 The Firm
author: Robin Waterfield
name: Janet
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/03/29
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Presumed Innocent (Kindle County Legal Thriller, #1)]]> 425029 Presumed Innocent brings to life our worst nightmare: that of an ordinary citizen facing conviction for the most terrible of all crimes. It's the stunning portrayal of one man's all-too-human, all-consuming fatal attraction for a passionate woman who is not his wife, and the story of how his obsession puts everything he loves and values on trial—including his own life. It's a book that lays bare a shocking world of betrayal and murder, as well as the hidden depths of the human heart. And it will hold you and haunt you ... long after you have reached its shattering conclusion.]]> 421 Scott Turow 0446350982 Janet 0 fiction 4.10 1987 Presumed Innocent (Kindle County Legal Thriller, #1)
author: Scott Turow
name: Janet
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/03/29
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity]]> 1633
* Apply the "do it, delegate it, defer it, drop it" rule to get your in-box to empty
* Reassess goals and stay focused in changing situations
* Plan projects as well as get them unstuck
* Overcome feelings of confusion, anxiety, and being overwhelmed
* Feel fine about what you're not doing

From core principles to proven tricks, Getting Things Done can transform the way you work, showing you how to pick up the pace without wearing yourself down.]]> 267 David Allen 0142000280 Janet 0 life 4.00 2001 Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
author: David Allen
name: Janet
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/03/29
shelves: life
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done]]> 1635 "Execution may very well be the best business book of the year, and one of the most useful to have come around in a long time. This smart and pithy book focuses on a simple though vexing challenge: How can the leaders of an organization exhort their people to deliver on the most important goals?....It's rare to find a book like this that blends smart practice with intelligent articulation of how to get things done. Do yourself a favor. Buy it." --The Boston Globe

"Making all of the moving parts of an organization function smoothly together is just plain hard work. By describing how he has done it, Mr. Bossidy has come up with a valuable and practical management guide that is must-reading for everyone who cares about business." --The New York Times

"If you want to be a CEO--or if you are a CEO and want to keep your job--read Execution and put its principles to work." --Michael Dell, chairman and CEO, Dell Computer Corp.

"A how-to book for the can-do boss....If even half the corporations in America pondered their suggestions, the economy would be in much better shape. Moreover, Bossidy and Charan boast an impressive enough track record that anyone who wants to stay sharp at the helm will welcome their assistance." --BusinessWeek

"Sound, practical advice on how to make things happen." --Ralph S. Larsen, chairman and CEO, Johnson & Johnson

"Here's the real deal.... This is no-nonsense stuff.... The leaders who sweat the small stuff, hire the right people, make the tough decisions and stick around to see that they're carried out are the real winners.... Forget the swarmy memoirs, cheesy parables, advice for idiots, and leadership secrets of despots and barbarians. Getting it done is, according to Bossidy and Charan, the only way to grow." --The Miami Herald

"Captures a lifetime of building winning formulas and puts them in a simple, practical context for executives at any level." --Ivan Seidenberg, president and CEO, Verizon

]]> 278 Larry Bossidy 0609610570 Janet 0 business-management 3.87 2006 Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
author: Larry Bossidy
name: Janet
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at: 2001/01/01
date added: 2008/03/29
shelves: business-management
review:

]]> Man’s Search for Meaning 4069 Man's Search for Meaning has become one of the most influential books in America; it continues to inspire us all to find significance in the very act of living.]]> 165 Viktor E. Frankl 080701429X Janet 0 life 4.39 1946 Man’s Search for Meaning
author: Viktor E. Frankl
name: Janet
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1946
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/03/29
shelves: life
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Encouraging the Heart: A Leader's Guide to Rewarding and Recognizing Others]]> 38105 224 James M. Kouzes 0787964638 Janet 3 3.84 1999 Encouraging the Heart: A Leader's Guide to Rewarding and Recognizing Others
author: James M. Kouzes
name: Janet
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2008/03/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[We Are Smarter Than Me: How to Unleash the Power of Crowds in Your Business]]> 1122581 156 Barry Libert 0132244799 Janet 4 business-social-networking
Drawing on their social networking ideas and research, authors Barry Libert and Jon Spector drew upon more than 4,000 people to help write a book on how to make money from the wisdom of crowds.

Writing a book is hard enough, but coordinating the contributions of thousands must be a massive effort. Surprisingly the resulting effort is readable and insightful. The primary and secondary authors argue adapting social network to your business will drive decision-making and greater profitability.

The book shares case studies on product development, manufacturing, marketing, customer service, finance and management. After completing it, I had greater insights into business functions that can best be supported by social networks and communities; moderating the process, balancing structure with independence.

Guidelines from the book:
1. Lead from the rear. The company is not the star of the show. Words and ideas should be allowed to flow unimpeded. When overzeolous managers interrupt and detail the conversation, valuable ideas are lost.
2.Know when to step in. Communities have built in sefl correcting capacities. Trouble makers get squelched or ignored.
3. Form a Club, a real community of like minded people
Creating a vibrant community is all about creating a a critical mass of good minds and spurring them to spark off one another. Odds of success improve when members share the same general outlook.
4. You can't hide so don't even try. When an error occurs, there is a natural inclination to hunker down and hope it will go away. Spin destroys the covenant. The company needs to fess up, explain how it happened and transgress no more.
5. Forget about perfection.
6. Stir things up.
7. Say thank you.
8. This is not a one night stand. Communities take time to develop. When the community is forming, companies need to experiment with contect and ways of inciting valuable discussion. ]]> 3.36 2007 We Are Smarter Than Me: How to Unleash the Power of Crowds in Your Business
author: Barry Libert
name: Janet
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2007/11/01
date added: 2008/03/29
shelves: business-social-networking
review:
A long term "smart" client who is gifted in sales and marketing was asking about social networking, blogs, etc. That led me to investigate it myself, as a technology company owner. This was my first book on the subject. Goodbooks.com is my first real experience with the concept. I belong to other sites, just not as actively.

Drawing on their social networking ideas and research, authors Barry Libert and Jon Spector drew upon more than 4,000 people to help write a book on how to make money from the wisdom of crowds.

Writing a book is hard enough, but coordinating the contributions of thousands must be a massive effort. Surprisingly the resulting effort is readable and insightful. The primary and secondary authors argue adapting social network to your business will drive decision-making and greater profitability.

The book shares case studies on product development, manufacturing, marketing, customer service, finance and management. After completing it, I had greater insights into business functions that can best be supported by social networks and communities; moderating the process, balancing structure with independence.

Guidelines from the book:
1. Lead from the rear. The company is not the star of the show. Words and ideas should be allowed to flow unimpeded. When overzeolous managers interrupt and detail the conversation, valuable ideas are lost.
2.Know when to step in. Communities have built in sefl correcting capacities. Trouble makers get squelched or ignored.
3. Form a Club, a real community of like minded people
Creating a vibrant community is all about creating a a critical mass of good minds and spurring them to spark off one another. Odds of success improve when members share the same general outlook.
4. You can't hide so don't even try. When an error occurs, there is a natural inclination to hunker down and hope it will go away. Spin destroys the covenant. The company needs to fess up, explain how it happened and transgress no more.
5. Forget about perfection.
6. Stir things up.
7. Say thank you.
8. This is not a one night stand. Communities take time to develop. When the community is forming, companies need to experiment with contect and ways of inciting valuable discussion.
]]> <![CDATA[Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change]]> 159614
As veteran business consultant William Bridges explains, transition is successful when employees have a purpose, a plan, and a part to play. This indispensable guide is now updated to reflect the challenges of today's ever-changing, always-on, and globally connected workplaces. Directed at managers on all rungs of the corporate ladder, this expanded edition of the classic bestseller provides practical, step-by-step strategies for minimizing disruptions and navigating uncertain times.]]> 144 William Bridges 0738208248 Janet 4
The book is very practical - both easy to read and to apply the key concepts. Divided into four parts, Bridges takes the reader through how to understand just what change is, how it affects us, and most importantly, how to lead change. The key concept of leading change in this book, whilst not new, is the best that I have seen it explained. That is, that leading a change process is a three step process - "getting people to let go", "managing the transition (between the old and the new)" and "launching the new beginning".

There is an article on Peter Drucker's non-profit website that summarizes Bridge's key concepts that is always worth reading again when embarking on any new adventure. I found the article on Drucker's site and then read Bridges whole book. The article covers the concepts well. -]]> 3.97 2003 Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change
author: William Bridges
name: Janet
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2000/01/01
date added: 2008/03/29
shelves: business-change, life, books-worth-reading-twice
review:
In Managing Transitions, William Bridges sets out to help managers and others who want to introduce change - be it a total organiaational restructure or simply trying to get people to do things differently.

The book is very practical - both easy to read and to apply the key concepts. Divided into four parts, Bridges takes the reader through how to understand just what change is, how it affects us, and most importantly, how to lead change. The key concept of leading change in this book, whilst not new, is the best that I have seen it explained. That is, that leading a change process is a three step process - "getting people to let go", "managing the transition (between the old and the new)" and "launching the new beginning".

There is an article on Peter Drucker's non-profit website that summarizes Bridge's key concepts that is always worth reading again when embarking on any new adventure. I found the article on Drucker's site and then read Bridges whole book. The article covers the concepts well. -
]]> <![CDATA[The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook: Tips, Tools, And Tested Methods For Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, And Coaches]]> 221981 546 Anne Davidson 0787964948 Janet 5 leadership
Central to this work is the Skilled Facilitator approach, a systematic, values-based approach to group facilitation; at its core is the idea that the way we act and the consequences we create begin with the way we think. Chapter one delineates the 10 key features of TSF approach. It is used to help groups and entire organizations address issues and make significant change, as well as in coaching, training, and conducting HRD/OD initiatives of all types.

This ambitious resource is bursting with 62 contributions clustered into seven parts:
1) Understanding the Skilled Facilitator Approach-main focus: summarizes the approach and describes its major principles and features (8 chapters)
2) Starting Out-main focus: using TSF in a variety of basic ways (12 chapters)
3) Deepening Your Practice-main focus: refining intervention and diagnosis skills, and increasing personal awareness (7 chapters)
4) Facing Challenges-main focus: dealing with the most difficult situations (5 chapters)
5) Seeking Your Path-main focus: integrating the TSF approach in practice and life (5 chapters)
6) Leading and Changing Organizations-main focus: creating major change in leadership and organizational functioning (15 chapters)
and
7) Integrating the Skilled Facilitator Approach in Your Worklife (and Non-Worklife)-main focus: shows how to integrate TSF with other approaches and roles (coach, trainer, consultant, leader, parent) (10 chapters)
]]> 4.19 2005 The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook: Tips, Tools, And Tested Methods For Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, And Coaches
author: Anne Davidson
name: Janet
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2007/01/01
date added: 2008/03/28
shelves: leadership
review:
I attended Roger Schwarz's Facilitative Leadership class in Durham and received the book at the end of the course. Roger's positive example is at the heart of the methods he teaches in overcoming our propensity to use "single loop learning" versus "doublt loop learning" (preferred method). I learn easily by books, however, this way of communicating requires rewiring our brains and still a year into the learning, I am still working on my own rewiring. I suspect that this learning curve is easily 5+ years, however, the professional and personal payoff is authentic, trust based relationships.

Central to this work is the Skilled Facilitator approach, a systematic, values-based approach to group facilitation; at its core is the idea that the way we act and the consequences we create begin with the way we think. Chapter one delineates the 10 key features of TSF approach. It is used to help groups and entire organizations address issues and make significant change, as well as in coaching, training, and conducting HRD/OD initiatives of all types.

This ambitious resource is bursting with 62 contributions clustered into seven parts:
1) Understanding the Skilled Facilitator Approach-main focus: summarizes the approach and describes its major principles and features (8 chapters)
2) Starting Out-main focus: using TSF in a variety of basic ways (12 chapters)
3) Deepening Your Practice-main focus: refining intervention and diagnosis skills, and increasing personal awareness (7 chapters)
4) Facing Challenges-main focus: dealing with the most difficult situations (5 chapters)
5) Seeking Your Path-main focus: integrating the TSF approach in practice and life (5 chapters)
6) Leading and Changing Organizations-main focus: creating major change in leadership and organizational functioning (15 chapters)
and
7) Integrating the Skilled Facilitator Approach in Your Worklife (and Non-Worklife)-main focus: shows how to integrate TSF with other approaches and roles (coach, trainer, consultant, leader, parent) (10 chapters)

]]> <![CDATA[Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace]]> 100469 224 Gordon MacKenzie 0670879835 Janet 5 leadership
The funny and serious stories, along with the author's serious attempt to do a presentation to senior Hallmark leaders on how organizations are really pear trees versus pyramids (which are tombs in Egypt) gave life to the more serious Organizational development books (like Rewiring the Corporate Brain) that explain quantum physic concepts that, for me, were more easily digested in the example of a pear tree as a living, breathing organism that produces fruit.

The book, for me, affirms principles in other books as solutions: Loyalty Effect, Economics of Trust, Inner Game of work, First things first, Appreciative Inquiry, Resonant Leadership. ]]> 4.04 1996 Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace
author: Gordon MacKenzie
name: Janet
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at: 2000/01/01
date added: 2008/03/28
shelves: leadership
review:
Two profound insights, insights every teacher and CEO should be required to repeat every day, are that our schools can lead to dissolving the creativity from children by stressing conformity , and that likewise, our corporations can suppress individual ideas and any attempts at diversity by institutionalizing practices that lead to distrust.

The funny and serious stories, along with the author's serious attempt to do a presentation to senior Hallmark leaders on how organizations are really pear trees versus pyramids (which are tombs in Egypt) gave life to the more serious Organizational development books (like Rewiring the Corporate Brain) that explain quantum physic concepts that, for me, were more easily digested in the example of a pear tree as a living, breathing organism that produces fruit.

The book, for me, affirms principles in other books as solutions: Loyalty Effect, Economics of Trust, Inner Game of work, First things first, Appreciative Inquiry, Resonant Leadership.
]]> <![CDATA[The Inner Game of Work: Focus, Learning, Pleasure, and Mobility in the Workplace]]> 285509
“If you feel like you’ve sunk to a new mental low on the job, this book has the potential to pump you up and help you to regain your ambition.”� Rocky Mountain News

No matter how long you’ve been doing it or how little you think there is to learn about it, your job can become an opportunity to sharpen skills, increase pleasure, and heighten awareness. And if your work environment has been turned on its ear by technology, reorganization, and rapidly accelerating change, The Inner Game of Work offers a way to steer a confident course while navigating your way toward personal and professional goals.

� Change a rote performance into a rewarding one
� Work in the mobility mode rather than the conformity mode
� Overcome fear of failure, change-resistance, boredom, and stagnation
� Find a coach or become a coach (and see why that makes a difference)

The Inner Game of Work challenges you to reexamine your fundamental motivations for starting work in the morning and your definitions of work throughout the day, changing the way you look at work forever.]]> 256 W. Timothy Gallwey 0375758178 Janet 4 coaching
Gallwey proposed that the ineffective, instructive dialogue between coach and pupil also existed within the head of the pupil. While playing, the pupil continuously gave himself instructions and comments: "that was really bad, hold your racket like this, do this, don't do that" etc. Gallwey called the coach inside the pupils head SELF-1. In Gallwey's words: SELF-1 is the collection of internalised voices from the outside world. To whom then did this internal coach speak? According to Gallwey it spoke to the person him or herself. He called this spoken-to self the SELF-2. The best learning took place when SELF-1 was turned off. How is this possible? Gallwey's answer: While SELF-1 is busy giving vague and (too) simple instructions, SELF-2 is doing something infinitely more complex and precise: computing the curve of the ball, instructing muscle groups, taking into account the wind speed, the speed of the ball, etc.

Gallwey concluded that SELF-1 was a from of interference that led to nothing else than an underutilization of the person's potential. In other words: Performance = Potential - Interference. In still other words: don't let SELF-1 distract you from your task and goal!

Gallwey formulated a different, more effective and more elegant way of coaching aimed at achieving three things: 1) Awareness: by letting SELF-2 do its work the pupil can focus on collecting information on the critical variables in the task (where is the ball landing? How fast is it going? How is it influenced by the wind? etc) which leads to a greater awareness of the task; 2) Choice: it is essential that the pupil determines what he or she wants to achieve. Without this choice there is no direction and focused attention is impossible; 3) Trust: trust yourself.

This goes for both the coach and the pupil. This refers to the confidence that SELF-2 will be capable of fulfilling the task.

The book is a little hard to follow at points, however, the wisdom is very important for any manager, coach or leader whose job it is to help others excel.
]]> 3.97 1999 The Inner Game of Work: Focus, Learning, Pleasure, and Mobility in the Workplace
author: W. Timothy Gallwey
name: Janet
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2000/01/01
date added: 2008/03/28
shelves: coaching
review:
The central idea in this book is that there is a better way of thinking about working and learning that comes down to giving more priority to our inner capacities and whishes and less to external expectations, norms and instructions. Learning to let go and trust is the greatest gifts that we can give to ourselves and each other.

Gallwey proposed that the ineffective, instructive dialogue between coach and pupil also existed within the head of the pupil. While playing, the pupil continuously gave himself instructions and comments: "that was really bad, hold your racket like this, do this, don't do that" etc. Gallwey called the coach inside the pupils head SELF-1. In Gallwey's words: SELF-1 is the collection of internalised voices from the outside world. To whom then did this internal coach speak? According to Gallwey it spoke to the person him or herself. He called this spoken-to self the SELF-2. The best learning took place when SELF-1 was turned off. How is this possible? Gallwey's answer: While SELF-1 is busy giving vague and (too) simple instructions, SELF-2 is doing something infinitely more complex and precise: computing the curve of the ball, instructing muscle groups, taking into account the wind speed, the speed of the ball, etc.

Gallwey concluded that SELF-1 was a from of interference that led to nothing else than an underutilization of the person's potential. In other words: Performance = Potential - Interference. In still other words: don't let SELF-1 distract you from your task and goal!

Gallwey formulated a different, more effective and more elegant way of coaching aimed at achieving three things: 1) Awareness: by letting SELF-2 do its work the pupil can focus on collecting information on the critical variables in the task (where is the ball landing? How fast is it going? How is it influenced by the wind? etc) which leads to a greater awareness of the task; 2) Choice: it is essential that the pupil determines what he or she wants to achieve. Without this choice there is no direction and focused attention is impossible; 3) Trust: trust yourself.

This goes for both the coach and the pupil. This refers to the confidence that SELF-2 will be capable of fulfilling the task.

The book is a little hard to follow at points, however, the wisdom is very important for any manager, coach or leader whose job it is to help others excel.

]]> <![CDATA[The Power of Nice: How to Negotiate So Everyone Wins-Especially You!]]> 882744 � Charles M. Cawley , Chief Executive Officer, MBNA America Bank, N.A. "In the field of negotiation Ron Shapiro has always been regarded as the quintessence of class and integrity. Predictably, he and Mark Jankowski have written a compelling book filled with anecdotes and insights. The Power of Nice is a fascinating and useful book that is a must read for anyone who wants to build long-term mutually profitable relationships."
� Herb Cohen , Author, You Can Negotiate Anything "This book taught me everything I ever wanted to know about negotiation-and I use it everyday."
� Kirby Puckett , Former All-Star Center Fielder and Executive Vice President, Minnesota Twins "Negotiation is not war. Negotiation is not a science. Negotiation is the commerce of information for ultimate gain."
� from The Power of Nice Though not a science, negotiating is an art, and in this eye-opening new book, a true master shares his secrets and strategies for success. Ron Shapiro is a corporate lawyer, teacher, and, in what is almost a contradiction in terms, one of today's most respected sports agents. He has worked with baseball's biggest Cal Ripken, Jr., Kirby Puckett, Brooks Robinson, Dennis Martinez, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, and many others. Rising to-and remaining at-the top of a competitive pool filled with smooth-talking, "sleazeball" sharks, he has succeeded by being, of all things, a nice guy. Now, along with his business partner, lawyer, lecturer, and negotiations expert, Mark Jankowski, Shapiro reveals how anyone who sits down to make a deal can get what they want by exercising the surprising "power of nice." Together, Shapiro and Jankowski have shared their negotiation insights with Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, universities, and government agencies. Though the name of the game in negotiating is to obtain desired results, how you get them is just as important. While many dealmakers play hardball by assuming a winner-take-all, scorched-earth attitude, they do so at the risk of alienating the party opposite them at the negotiating table, thereby losing out on future opportunities. This approach is, as Shapiro and Jankowski tell us, a major strike against effective negotiating, and can-and should-be avoided. By using a kinder, gentler approach that focuses on forming-and keeping-strong business connections, ultimate gain can still be "You can be 'a nice guy' and still get what you're after. In fact, you often get better results, achieve more of your goals, and build longer-term relationships with even greater returns." Drawing on their vast experience in win-win negotiating, as well as such essentials as managing tough situations, handling difficult negotiators, and unlocking deadlocks, the authors take you, step-by-step, through a systematic approach that, when repeated and mastered, will maximize results. Based on "the three Ps," it consists preparing better than the other side; probing so you know what they want and why; and proposing, ideally without going first and revealing too much, but still achieving what you want. Supported by invaluable "portable" negotiation summaries-so you can take the "power of nice" with you-this is must reading for anyone who has to make a deal, whether it's negotiating with a customer, setting a curfew with a teenager, or getting the last seat on an over-sold airplane.]]> 282 Ronald M. Shapiro 0471080721 Janet 4 business-negotiation
Thr is a book stresses a systematic approach to negotiations that's based on rationality, process, and decisive actions. The authors' emphasis on the need for systematic, behavior-based process is outstanding in theory and obviously difficult to learn how to practice. They underscore this point with a vivid example involving skydiving (pp. 63-66).

The core tenets of the philosophy are the "3 Ps and Big L" (overviewed in Ch. 4, with greater detail in Ch. 5-7):

* Prepare (Ch. 5)
* Probe (Ch. 6)
* Propose (Ch. 7)
* Listen

The 3 Ps represent the primary areas of the negotiating process; using good listening skills is an overarching principle that's essential throughout the process.

]]> 3.90 1998 The Power of Nice: How to Negotiate So Everyone Wins-Especially You!
author: Ronald M. Shapiro
name: Janet
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2000/01/01
date added: 2008/03/28
shelves: business-negotiation
review:
I heard Shapiro speak at a CEO Club function on the principles in his book, then shortly thereafter purchased the book. Shapiro was Cal Ripkin's agent and his example of how to look at Win-Win, versus a Win-Lose negotiating style got my attention in the seminar.

Thr is a book stresses a systematic approach to negotiations that's based on rationality, process, and decisive actions. The authors' emphasis on the need for systematic, behavior-based process is outstanding in theory and obviously difficult to learn how to practice. They underscore this point with a vivid example involving skydiving (pp. 63-66).

The core tenets of the philosophy are the "3 Ps and Big L" (overviewed in Ch. 4, with greater detail in Ch. 5-7):

* Prepare (Ch. 5)
* Probe (Ch. 6)
* Propose (Ch. 7)
* Listen

The 3 Ps represent the primary areas of the negotiating process; using good listening skills is an overarching principle that's essential throughout the process.


]]> The Fountainhead 2122
This modern classic is the story of intransigent young architect Howard Roark, whose integrity was as unyielding as granite...of Dominique Francon, the exquisitely beautiful woman who loved Roark passionately, but married his worst enemy...and of the fanatic denunciation unleashed by an enraged society against a great creator. As fresh today as it was then, Rand’s provocative novel presents one of the most challenging ideas in all of fiction—that man’s ego is the fountainhead of human progress...

“A writer of great power. She has a subtle and ingenious mind and the capacity of writing brilliantly, beautifully, bitterly...This is the only novel of ideas written by an American woman that I can recall.”—The New York Times]]> 704 Ayn Rand Janet 4 fiction
The book is a powerful example of what choosing to travel the road less traveled can lead to...being alone sometimes poor, but also a sense of completeness of being in harmony with one's stated values. Powerful food for thought about how far one can go in living their ideals.

Favorite quote from the book, page 678:
"Throughout the centuries,there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. The goals differed, but they all had this one thing in common: that this step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received - hatred"

"No creator was prompted by a desire to serve his brothers, for his brothers rejected the gift he offered and that gift destroyed the slothful routine of their lives. His truth was his only motive. His own truth and his own work to achieve it in his own way. A symphony, a book, an engine, a philosophy, an airplane or a building - that was his goal and his life. Not those who heard, read, operated, believed, flew of inhabited the thing he created. The creation, not the users. The creation, not the benefits others derived from it. The creation which gave form to his truth. He held his truth about all things and against all men.

His vision, his strength, his courage came from his own spirit. A man's spirit, however, is his self. That entity which is his consciousness. To think, to feel, to judge, to act are functions of the ego.

The creators were not selfless. It is the whole secret of their power - that is was self sufficient, self motivated, self generated. A first cause, a fount of energy, a life force, a Prime Mover. The creator served nothing and no one. He had lived for himself.

And only by living for himself was he able to achieve the things which are the glory of mankind. Such is the nature of achievement."

For me, like Atlas Shrugged, it was another book that helped me explore what I felt my own vision was and whether I had the courage to pursue it, as Roarke did.
]]> 3.87 1943 The Fountainhead
author: Ayn Rand
name: Janet
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1943
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2008/03/28
shelves: fiction
review:
Ayn Rand sets forth her philosophy of "objectivism." She shows it in this book, through one character named Peter Keating, an architect, who seemingly achieve greatness by copying others but somehow give the illusion of originality and creativity. In order to achieve "greatness," Keating was literally willing to sell anything, including his wife. Thus despite wealth and apparant achievement, his life was empty. Rand begins to formulate her values that altruism is an evil because a society which seeks to achieve this must do so at someone's expense and therefore leads to collectivism. In the person of Ellsworth Toohey, a flamboyant newspaper columnist, she shows how the power hungry manipulate the masses by setting a standard of mediocrity which fosters collectivism. The hero, Roarke has a passion for his work and is uncompromising in his creativity in accomplishing his professional goals. He does not compromise these goals despite enormous pressures to do so. Rand believed that there is only black and white in moral issues; there is no gray.

The book is a powerful example of what choosing to travel the road less traveled can lead to...being alone sometimes poor, but also a sense of completeness of being in harmony with one's stated values. Powerful food for thought about how far one can go in living their ideals.

Favorite quote from the book, page 678:
"Throughout the centuries,there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. The goals differed, but they all had this one thing in common: that this step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received - hatred"

"No creator was prompted by a desire to serve his brothers, for his brothers rejected the gift he offered and that gift destroyed the slothful routine of their lives. His truth was his only motive. His own truth and his own work to achieve it in his own way. A symphony, a book, an engine, a philosophy, an airplane or a building - that was his goal and his life. Not those who heard, read, operated, believed, flew of inhabited the thing he created. The creation, not the users. The creation, not the benefits others derived from it. The creation which gave form to his truth. He held his truth about all things and against all men.

His vision, his strength, his courage came from his own spirit. A man's spirit, however, is his self. That entity which is his consciousness. To think, to feel, to judge, to act are functions of the ego.

The creators were not selfless. It is the whole secret of their power - that is was self sufficient, self motivated, self generated. A first cause, a fount of energy, a life force, a Prime Mover. The creator served nothing and no one. He had lived for himself.

And only by living for himself was he able to achieve the things which are the glory of mankind. Such is the nature of achievement."

For me, like Atlas Shrugged, it was another book that helped me explore what I felt my own vision was and whether I had the courage to pursue it, as Roarke did.

]]> Atlas Shrugged 662 This is the story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world and did. Was he a destroyer or the greatest of liberators?

Why did he have to fight his battle, not against his enemies, but against those who needed him most, and his hardest battle against the woman he loved? What is the world’s motor � and the motive power of every man? You will know the answer to these questions when you discover the reason behind the baffling events that play havoc with the lives of the characters in this story.

Tremendous in its scope, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life � from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy � to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction � to the philosopher who becomes a pirate � to the composer who gives up his career on the night of his triumph � to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad � to the lowest track worker in her Terminal tunnels.

You must be prepared, when you read this novel, to check every premise at the root of your convictions.

This is a mystery story, not about the murder � and rebirth � of man’s spirit. It is a philosophical revolution, told in the form of an action thriller of violent events, a ruthlessly brilliant plot structure and an irresistible suspense. Do you say this is impossible? Well, that is the first of your premises to check.]]> 1168 Ayn Rand 0452011876 Janet 4 fiction
Atlas Shrugged is one of two major novels that outlines her entire philosophy while trying to show how it would be applied. As for the ideal itself, it is personified in the productive giants of (then) modern America. Dagny Taggart does railroads, Francisco D'Anconia does copper mines, Hank Rearden - steel. For centuries, men have asked what would happen if the working class went on strike; Miss Rand asks, what would happen if the men of industry went on strike.

What would happen if Atlas, a man whose shoulders held a world damning him a robber baron, shrugged?

For me, raised by a blue collar parent who saw the value of unions and the "little guy", it gave me the perspective of another side.

My takeaways were to realize that there are always multiple sides to a story and to dig a bit in my beliefs and paradigms before passing judgement. And after a liberal arts degree that explored several philosophers, it was another system of beliefs that got me exploring what, as a business person, were my own beliefs about the world we live in. ]]> 3.67 1957 Atlas Shrugged
author: Ayn Rand
name: Janet
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1957
rating: 4
read at: 1998/01/01
date added: 2008/03/28
shelves: fiction
review:
Ayn Rand's philosophy is known as objectivism. It is essentially having a objective reason and purpose for every action you commit.

Atlas Shrugged is one of two major novels that outlines her entire philosophy while trying to show how it would be applied. As for the ideal itself, it is personified in the productive giants of (then) modern America. Dagny Taggart does railroads, Francisco D'Anconia does copper mines, Hank Rearden - steel. For centuries, men have asked what would happen if the working class went on strike; Miss Rand asks, what would happen if the men of industry went on strike.

What would happen if Atlas, a man whose shoulders held a world damning him a robber baron, shrugged?

For me, raised by a blue collar parent who saw the value of unions and the "little guy", it gave me the perspective of another side.

My takeaways were to realize that there are always multiple sides to a story and to dig a bit in my beliefs and paradigms before passing judgement. And after a liberal arts degree that explored several philosophers, it was another system of beliefs that got me exploring what, as a business person, were my own beliefs about the world we live in.
]]> <![CDATA[Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within (The Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series)]]> 577859 236 Robert E. Quinn 0787902446 Janet 5
Stories, parables, myths: a language that transcends all 'cultures'. Ahhhhhhhhh, this is a refreshing, concise, simple and brilliant work! Simple yet far from easy.
There is nothing easy about this work.

To change what is "out there" I must look inward and face my own myths, dragons, fears, shadows and shortcomings. This is a in depth look at what Covey relates as the "circle of concern" and "circle of influence."

The only way to change the world is to change myself. 12 plus years into the journey with a coach who has helped me keep myself on the journey, I am likely on the 10th version of myself as a person, parent and leader and looking forward to what the 11th, 12th and 13th versions of myself bring.
]]> 4.09 1996 Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within (The Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series)
author: Robert E. Quinn
name: Janet
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at: 1996/01/01
date added: 2008/03/28
shelves: leadership, books-worth-reading-twice
review:
Great book on finding your voice as a leader, and also some key distinctions as one traverses the path of leadership. This book found its way to me from a client who I mentored and likewise mentored me via his brother's work in organizational development. The two way relationship stands despite the distance of several states and many children later.

Stories, parables, myths: a language that transcends all 'cultures'. Ahhhhhhhhh, this is a refreshing, concise, simple and brilliant work! Simple yet far from easy.
There is nothing easy about this work.

To change what is "out there" I must look inward and face my own myths, dragons, fears, shadows and shortcomings. This is a in depth look at what Covey relates as the "circle of concern" and "circle of influence."

The only way to change the world is to change myself. 12 plus years into the journey with a coach who has helped me keep myself on the journey, I am likely on the 10th version of myself as a person, parent and leader and looking forward to what the 11th, 12th and 13th versions of myself bring.

]]> <![CDATA[Inside the Tornado: Strategies for Developing, Leveraging, and Surviving Hypergrowth Markets (Collins Business Essentials)]]> 61336 272 Geoffrey A. Moore 0060745819 Janet 4 business-strategy
How could Intel, Microsoft and other high-tech giants seize so much revenue, so fast? What were their marketing secrets and how can you apply them if you are in a new technology business? These are good questions and the description of how the successful companies stayed ahead of their competitors is educational. The rules were simple and counter to the model established by Big Blue:
1. Just ship
2. Expand your distribution channels (and leave none unprotected)
3. Drive to the next lowest price point.

The value to me of the book was not the particular strategy as to what made these "tornados" as much as the business insight of breaking out of the pack and thinking outside the established model, i.e., what it takes to be a game changer in any field. Another book, Unleashing the Killer Apps, also drove home a similar point for me in how game changing strategies evolve.]]> 3.99 1995 Inside the Tornado: Strategies for Developing, Leveraging, and Surviving Hypergrowth Markets (Collins Business Essentials)
author: Geoffrey A. Moore
name: Janet
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 1999/01/01
date added: 2008/03/27
shelves: business-strategy
review:
This was an excellent book on marketing-business strategy for technology products.

How could Intel, Microsoft and other high-tech giants seize so much revenue, so fast? What were their marketing secrets and how can you apply them if you are in a new technology business? These are good questions and the description of how the successful companies stayed ahead of their competitors is educational. The rules were simple and counter to the model established by Big Blue:
1. Just ship
2. Expand your distribution channels (and leave none unprotected)
3. Drive to the next lowest price point.

The value to me of the book was not the particular strategy as to what made these "tornados" as much as the business insight of breaking out of the pack and thinking outside the established model, i.e., what it takes to be a game changer in any field. Another book, Unleashing the Killer Apps, also drove home a similar point for me in how game changing strategies evolve.
]]> <![CDATA[The Corporate Mystic: A Guidebook for Visionaries with Their Feet on the Ground]]> 979673
Today's creative business leaders already know the answer and it's not about cutting overhead downsizing or meeting next quarter's budget.Corporate
leaders of the twenty-first century will be spiritual leaders-- grounded in vision, integrity and intuition--and they will know how to nurture these
qualities in others.

Gay Hendricks and Kate Ludeman have been training top executives for more than twenty-five years.They have distilled the experience of the hundred wisest
businessmen and women they know into nuggets of just-in-time wisdom that take no more than a minute or two to read.You will

* The twelve qualities of twenty-first-century leaders

* How to make breakthrough decisions with intuitive ease

* The visionary's ability to think twenty years down the line

* How to spot and correct integrity problems in your organization

* How to create a mind-set of prosperity in yourself and your company

Drawing on insights and observations from legendary CEOs like Bob Galvin ofMotorola and Ed McCracken of Silicon Graphics, The Corporate Mystic also
offers spirited solutions to the day-in, day-out problems of business.You'll learn what these visionaries with their feet on the ground say

* Giving and receiving honest feedback

* Ending destructive turf battles

* High-firing people who drain your energy

* Handling big wins and big losses

* Protecting your creative think-time

* And much much more.

Whether you're a new hire or already division chief The Corporate Mystic is a book to nourish your soul and light your path to professional
success.]]> 240 Gay Hendricks 055337494X Janet 4 3.95 1996 The Corporate Mystic: A Guidebook for Visionaries with Their Feet on the Ground
author: Gay Hendricks
name: Janet
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2001/01/01
date added: 2008/03/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Lasting Value]]> 417817 352 Frederick F. Reichheld 1578516870 Janet 5
My role models in business were all either short term oriented or felt that the firm drove them to short term, quarterly results. This book turns that illogic on its ears.

One nugget that comes to life in the reading of this book is the idea that companies should target their customers with as much care as they choose their employees.

The book analytically demonstrates the cost benefit of building customer loyalty.

A significant quote from the book:

"While every loyalty leader's strategy is unique, all of them build on the following eight elements: Building a superior customer value proposition, finding the right customers, earning customer loyalty, finding the right employees, earning employee loyalty, gaining cost advantage through superior productivity, finding the right [capital sources], and earning [their] loyalty."




]]> 3.98 1996 The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Lasting Value
author: Frederick F. Reichheld
name: Janet
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at: 1996/01/01
date added: 2008/03/27
shelves: business-strategy, books-worth-reading-twice
review:
I read this book in a similar timeframe to the Economics of Trust, and First Things First. Looking back 10+ years, I can see the profound effect these books had me. All three of them validated many of my values & beliefs and gave me the courage to attempt to do the "right things right" as a leader and take the long term view versus the short term view in business as well as my personal life.

My role models in business were all either short term oriented or felt that the firm drove them to short term, quarterly results. This book turns that illogic on its ears.

One nugget that comes to life in the reading of this book is the idea that companies should target their customers with as much care as they choose their employees.

The book analytically demonstrates the cost benefit of building customer loyalty.

A significant quote from the book:

"While every loyalty leader's strategy is unique, all of them build on the following eight elements: Building a superior customer value proposition, finding the right customers, earning customer loyalty, finding the right employees, earning employee loyalty, gaining cost advantage through superior productivity, finding the right [capital sources], and earning [their] loyalty."





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