Book Description
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE SUCCESS!
You already know the Starbucks story. Since 1992, its stock has risen a staggering 5,000 percent! The genius of Starbucks success lies in its ability to create personalized customer experiences, stimulate business growth, generate profits, energize employees, and secure customer loyalty-all at the same time.
The Starbucks Experience contains a robust blend of home-brewed ingenuity and people-driven philosophies that have made Starbucks one of the world's “most admired” companies, according to Fortune magazine. With unique access to Starbucks personnel and resources, Joseph Michelli discovered that the success of Starbucks is driven by the people who work there-the “partners”-and the special experience they create for each customer. Michelli reveals how you can follow the Starbucks way to
- Reach out to entire communities
- Listen to individual workers and consumers
- Seize growth opportunities in every market
- Custom-design a truly satisfying experience that benefits everyone involved
Filled with real-life insider stories, eye-opening anecdotes, and solid step-by-step strategies, this fascinating book takes you deep inside one of the most talked-about companies in the world today.
For anyone who wants to learn from the best-and be the best-The Starbucks Experience is a rich, heady brew of unforgettable user-friendly ideas.
Customer Reviews:
"We are in the people business selling coffee.".......2007-10-22
In 1971, an idea formulated in Seattle, Washington to create European-styled coffee-houses has blossomed into a cultural (and ever increasingly) global phenomenon. Starbucks Coffee is one of our most respected and successful companies. Stores are found in thirty-seven countries, and five new stores open every day. Starbucks has thirty-five million customer visits per week, along with eighteen visits a month per customer. According to Mr. Howard Schultz, Chairman of the Board, "We are not in the coffee business serving people, we are in the people business serving coffee."
Dr. Joseph Michelli, an organizational psychologist, founder of Lessons for Success, and talk show host in Colorado, has written a book that concisely analyzes the unique customer and employee/partner-focus of Starbucks Corporation. He observed that there were two levels at Starbucks that distinguished them from other companies: 1) A very unique corporate culture, and 2) The values of that culture are passed down to their partners (employees are called "partners" at Starbucks).
Dr. Michelli has determined that five factors form the foundation to the success of Starbucks:
1. Make It Your Own: At Starbucks, partners are encouraged to welcome customers and learn their names.
2. Everything Matters: A consistent image and character are found in every store. "Retail is detail."
3. Surprised And Delighted: Partners go the extra mile to offer superior customer service.
4. Embrace Resistance: "When presented with negative feedback by a customer, recognize you may have an opportunity to actually strengthen that relationship."
5. Leave Your Mark: Environmental leadership, social responsibility, and health-care benefits for part-time partners.
During his eighteen months on this project, the author provided examples from Starbucks partners, managers, and customers. For me, two customer testimonies stood out:
One woman met her future husband at Starbucks. The staff from her local store attended the wedding, and donated coffee. When her husband died tragically a year later of cancer, the same staff members were at the funeral.
Another customer was having a bad day, and forgot her wallet when she went to pay for her coffee. The barista said, "Don't worry. You can pay me tomorrow."
Dr. Michelli does an excellent job to explain the secrets to the success of Starbucks, and how other companies can emulate their methods. He concisely summarizes key components, and provides significant quotes from a variety of sources. The next time that you visit your local Starbucks, you can impress one of the partners with the following: "Your busiest store is in Tokyo. You buy 4% of the world's coffee. Today, you opened five new stores."
All fluff no substance.......2007-10-05
This is a charming book and I've learned a lot about Starbucks by reading it. However, it was all fluff and no real substance and it came across as a PR piece for Starbucks.
If you're expecting a book that will give you some insight as to how to replicate the "Starbucks experience", you won't find that here. In truth, I read 1/2 to 3/4 of this book and gave up on it. After a while, it became tiresome to read anecdote after anecdote without any real substance behind it.
Highly Recommended Reading.......2007-10-03
Why has Starbuck's seen such phenomenal success and growth in a highly competitive niche? How have they becoming synonymous with coffee the way Kleenex is to tissue?
Michelli makes the case that it's partly consistent quality coffee, but much more so the whole "experience" consumers can expect at any Starbucks.
The author breaks down what makes up the Starbucks Experience into:
1) MAKE IT YOUR OWN
2) EVERYTHING MATTERS
3) SURPRISE AND DELIGHT
4) EMBRACE RESISTANCE
5) LEAVE YOUR MARK
He fills the book with stories that demonstrate the points made which makes it very readable. I did find the distinction between items 1-3 above a little vague and that many of the examples could easily have fit into one of the other categories he created.
I would be fascinated to hear more about how Starbuck's screens to get employees that give service well beyond the norm.
If your vocation involves any level of customer service this is for you and great to share with your friends, employees and business partners.
starbucks is special because it is personal.......2007-09-20
this book shows why starbucks is special. At first blush, it is so glowing in its praise that it seems like propaganda. But the sheer volume of anecdotes and the homely feel of many of them quickly sink in. One in particular sticks in my mind. A starbucks shop was hiring partners (employees) and decided to hire some local homeless people. The partners chipped in to buy them suitable clothes until they could earn enough to stand on their own. Now tell me, why can't other companies do this? good question.
Attention to Details.......2007-09-16
The Starbucks Experience provides an interesting insite as to keeping it simple and staying focused on details. From the fields to the customers, a total focus on details makes the Starbucks Experience a terrific guide on how to conduct business.
Book Description
Information and Solutions for Today's Telecommunications Systems
Regardless of your industry, you’ll find James Harry Green’s The Irwin Handbook of Telecommunications Management, Third Edition an authoritative how-to solutions manual for every telecommunications management question. Now comprehensively revised and updated, this classic resource provides hands-on techniques for understanding today's major technological changes -- and incorporating them into your organization's telecom strategy. Covering the entire spectrum of 21st century telecommunications, the Handbook makes it easy to locate, understand, and implement:
* Long-range planning, feasibility analysis, and forecasting
* The selection and management of telecom equipment and services, writing and evaluating responses to RFPs, managing long distance services, and more
* Management of a telecom facility -- including PBX and key telephone equipment, automatic call distributors, voice processing equipment, local area networks and Internets, wide area networks, convergence, and video and audio conferencing equipment
* Specific techniques for effective cost containment
* Telecommunications operations -- from fraud and disaster prevention to project management, quality control, security and more
Customer Reviews:
Catherine Harris - Great Book.......2004-09-13
The author does a great job at providing the information necessary for Teleocommunications Management. I'm a manager with SBC a large telco in St. Louis. The only item I see missing from this book as with other books is the importanace of the ability to manage management. As a telecom manager, I'm not very good at managing people or admitedly have much knowledge of telecom, but I'm great at managing my management which has allowed me to progress. This book needs to not only reflect the managerial concepts of technology, but of salesmanship and the real world scenerios I run into every day. I do however feel this is a great reference for general telecommunications information and would recommend people read it.
A great book of enterprise telecommunication system design.......2001-08-30
I think the book covers a complete discussion of every telecommunication facility development topic. The book starts from basic issues, such as selecting equipments and using them, to the cost analysis of develop the system. This makes the book comfortable for telco manager who never did business telecommunication system development before. I think this book is perfect for every telco manager. This book is, I think, also suitable for engineers and technicians to open and broaden the cost analysis of systems developed. I think the author is an expert in enterprise telecommunication system design and knows what he is doing.
As a courtesy, I attach the correct table of content...
Part 1: Principles of Telecommunications Management and Planning
Introduction to Telecommunications Management, The Telecommunications Act of 1996, Telecommunications Strategic Planning, Current and Long-Range Planning, Feasibility Analysis, Forecasting Telecommunications Services
Part 2: Selecting Telecommunications Services and Equipment
Developing Requirements and Specifications, Writing Requests for Proposals, Evaluating Responses to Requests for Proposals, Managing Long-Distance Services, Selecting Local Exchange Services, Managing Internet Services, Wiring Plans and Equipment Rooms
Part 3: Managing Telecommunications Facilities
Managing PBX and Key Telephone Equipment, Managing Automatic Call Distributors, Managing Voice Processing Equipment, Managing Local Area Networks and Internets, Managing Wide Area Networks, Managing Video and Audio Conferencing Equipment, Managing Convergence
Part 4: Telecommunications Cost Control
Controlling Telecommunications Costs, Benchmarking Telecommunications Results, Contracting and Outsourcing, Sizing and Optimizing Voice Circuits, Optimizing Data Network Bandwidth
Part 5: Operations Planning and Execution
Developing a Telecommunications Operations Plan, Disaster Prevention and Recovery, Cutover Planning and Management, Telecommunications Project Management, Resale of Telecommunications Services, Controlling Telecommunications Quality, Managing Telecommunications Security, Preventing Toll Fraud, Network Maintenance and Testing, Network Management Systems
Appendixes
Book Description
Offers board members a clear understanding of the concepts and principles that are at the very heart of John Carver's innovative Policy Governance model. Presents the guidelines needed to transform your board members into a unified group that consistently makes powerful contributions to its organization.
Customer Reviews:
Carver guides are very god for the non profit board.......2005-07-20
This is the secong not-for-profit organization that I have directed. I have used this guide and the subsequent Carver guides to help with organizing and direction setting. Volunteer board members always respond well to the material. It is easy to understand yet the Carver model is very comprehensive. I would recommend this to any organization that is engaged in charitable work.
Excellent overview of Carver's Policy Governance theory ........1998-10-30
This first in a 12-part series of general guides on Policy Governance is a great introduction to author John Carver's new approach to nonprofit board development. Basically, this approach clearly separates the roles of board and staff as they go about their separate but related jobs of organizational governance and management. Policy Governance clarifies these roles through policy development and permits the board---governing as a body---to control the management and direction of the organization in a global policy approach. This guide is a good start in grasping the concepts of the approach.
Book Description
Principles of Forecasting: A Handbook for Researchers and Practitioners summarizes knowledge from experts and from empirical studies. It provides guidelines that can be applied in fields such as economics, sociology, and psychology. It applies to problems such as those in finance (how much is this company worth?), marketing (will a new product be successful?), personnel (how can we identify the best job candidates?), and production (what level of inventories should be kept?).
The book is edited by Professor J. Scott Armstrong of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Contributions were written by 40 leading experts in forecasting, and the 30 chapters cover all types of forecasting methods. There are judgmental methods such as Delphi, role-playing, and intentions studies. Quantitative methods include econometric methods, expert systems, and extrapolation. Some methods, such as conjoint analysis, analogies, and rule-based forecasting, integrate quantitative and judgmental procedures. In each area, the authors identify what is known in the form of "if-then principles", and they summarize evidence on these principles.
The project, developed over a four-year period, represents the first book to summarize all that is known about forecasting and to present it so that it can be used by researchers and practitioners. To ensure that the principles are correct, the authors reviewed one another's papers. In addition, external reviews were provided by more than 120 experts, some of whom reviewed many of the papers. The book includes the first comprehensive forecasting dictionary.
Customer Reviews:
Don't let a bad forecast ruin your whole decision.......2001-12-15
The subtitle of this book, A Handbook for Researchers and Practitioners, too narrowly defines the audience for Armstrong's new reference. Principles of Forecasting is, in fact, an indispensable resource for managers and professionals of every ilk. Forecasting is an integral part of decisions that we make and that are made for us. To be good decision makers and citizens we owe it to ourselves and others both to make our forecasts explicit and to examine the quality of those forecasts. This book gives the guidance to ensure that best practices are followed and to judge forecast quality after the fact
Principles of Forecasting is not a book that you will find in airport bookstores. It is not a popular management title that dishes-up the latest buzzwords. On the contrary, this book will give you knowledge to examine critically the fashions and fads, as well as the received wisdom, of management. And yet, despite being a serious work, the book is a joy to read at length, or to browse. I suspect many decision makers will tend to do the latter.
The Forecasting Dictionary is part of Principles of Forecasting and is a good place to start some directed browsing. For example, experienced decision makers will often rely on their intuition, even for important decisions. Is that a good idea? The Forecasting Dictionary has an entry for "intuition" that tells us, "... it is difficult to find published studies in which intuition is superior to structured judgment". Highlighted terms, such as "structured judgment" in the preceding passage, indicate that there is a separate Dictionary entry for the term. By following the highlighted terms and the references to the body of the book which are included in Dictionary entries, one can quickly pick up a useful understanding of a topic. Some entries are very detailed.
Following the intuition entry to the entry on structured judgement, one finds "role playing" as an approach to imposing structure on a forecasting problem. Role-play forecasting for conflict situations happens to be an interest of mine. There is a chapter on role-playing in Principles of Forecasting that provides evidence that the outcomes of role-plays by students, and other non- representative role-players, provide accurate forecasts of decisions in real conflicts. This is counter-intuitive given that the conflicts examined involved generals, chief executives, directors, and union leaders among others. Moreover, unaided judgment tends to do poorly by comparison. This has important implications for strategy development - after all, what use is a strategy that fails to forecast accurately how other parties will behave?
I keep my copy of Principles of Forecasting handy, refer to it often, and learn something new every time I do so. How many books could one say that of? A precious few. Congratulations to the authors on a unique and valuable work well executed.
Guidelines for Developers, Researchers, and Practitioners.......2001-11-23
Principles of Forecasting is not a collection of articles describing basic forecasting methods. Instead, 40 authors have used a common format of identifying if-then principles and the support for those principles. Some other common formats of the chapters are: (1) limitations (2) implications for practitioners (3) implications for researchers.
The final chapter of this book contains 139 forecasting principles...
An example of a forecasting principle is: “13.25 Use multiple measures of accuracy”. A primary use for such principles would be as checklists for software developers, researchers, and practitioners to be sure that their work is complete to this level of detail. These are important general principles. Forecasters will need to use other references for the details of forecasting methods.
The Web site for this book is a very valuable resource for forecasters. Some of the resources are: (1) forecasting dictionary [Enter a forecasting term and the Web site returns a definition.] (2) links to forecasting software sites (3) links to forecasting books and reviews (3) links to bibliographies, abstracts, and (for subscribers) full text papers (4) links to conferences on forecasting (5) links to Web sites related to forecasting.
An Excellent Overview of Business Forecasting.......2001-07-05
Throughout my career, it seemed every five years or so, I briefly strayed from risk analysis into a closely related field, such as weather reporting or stock picking, just to see what others were doing. Most recently, I won a jackpot in return for the effort. I read J.Scott Armstrong's "Principles of Forecasting: A Handbook for Researchers and Practitioners."
Risk analysis has dealt more with subjects like natural and technological disasters. Business forecasting resembled risk analysis in several ways, but over the years, enterprise and capital markets accumulated much more extensive data. Social scientists studied the process of (and procedures for) forecasting with financial data intensively. Small wonder, as poor forecasting often led to costly disasters.
The authors wrote the Handbook in clear, coherent prose. It assembled 29 articles by 40 leading experts into an excellent book with 18 chapters. Armstrong, the editor (and clearly the instigator) created a hierarchical framework that described the relationships between different kinds of forecasting information, beginning with either judgmental or statistical sources. "Principles of Forecasting" illustrated this framework in an often repeated diagram.
The framework contributed to a coherent structure. Each chapter described one compartment within the framework. Each had an introduction that described the limitations and uses of a source of data used by forecasters. Each article also started with an abstract. Thus, a reader could quickly survey all of forecasting by skimming through the Handbook and reading either the article abstracts or the chapter introductions.
Instead of reading the text sequentially, the framework and the Handbook's structure also allowed finding a specific article (or a topic of interest within an article) quickly, yet staying oriented to the overall subject. Thus, "Principles of Forecasting" served a handy reference text. The organization and a competent index sped this application.
Many articles were excellent. None were less than very good. The articles concentrated on principles within subdomains of forecasting, which the Handbook emphasized by setting the principles apart in bullet format and bold text. The articles had a common format, which included two useful implication sections, separately for practitioners and for researchers. The articles also had overall summaries, and references to the literature. The authors edited each other's articles, which imposed both high quality and consistency on the Handbook. In addition, an extensive group of outside experts reviewed the articles. This huge effort showed in both dense information content and readability of the articles.
Similarly, the Handbook contained a separate and marvelous "Forecasting Dictionary" toward the end, which allowed quick reference to (and understanding of) separate ideas involved in competent forecasting. In another separate section toward the end of the Handbook, a "Forecasting Standards Checklist" gathered all of the principles from the separate articles and condensed them into a very useful guide.
"Principles of Forecasting" appeared comprehensive in its coverage. The authors wrote it as an explanation of a field, instead of a group of individual articles about related subjects. An introduction and a summary at the beginning and end of the book, also helped orient me to the overall subject of forecasting and to the need for principles. I thought that the Handbook reflected the consistent objective of a group of experts to interpret and explain forecasting. So, I will recommend it as a textbook for classroom use.
"Principles of Forecasting" is not for everyone. It is an expert text. However, for persons involved in (or hoping to become involved in) forecasting or its allied and subsidiary fields, such risk analysis or econometrics, it will prove indispensable.
Book Description
In Five Key Principles of Corporate Performance Management, Bob Paladino shares his decades of experience to provide proven, real-world implementation insights from globally recognized and award-winning organizations. You’ll discover what today’s Fortune 100 companies are doing right, and how to implement their enterprise techniques and strategies within your own organization to maximize success.
Customer Reviews:
Five Key Principles is meaningful and actionable.......2007-08-20
Mr. Paladino has incorporated CPM theory, practical application, professional experiences, and proven practices from a variety of top-notch organizations into one concise book. CPM novices and experts alike will find the content meaningful and actionable.
Excellent Practical Advice for Implementing CPM in Your Organization.......2007-08-20
Five Key Principles of Corporate Performance Management (CPM) is an excellent book for you if you are looking to improve business performance by installing CPM processes and tools or for refining your existing processes and tools. While so many books talk and remain at at a high level, and make no mistake the five key principles provide a strong model for implementing CPM, Bob Paladino provides real-life examples that show the model has been proven and tested. The examples also serve to help customize your implementation of the the five key principles for the unique challenges and strengths of your organization.
Five Key Principles of Corporate Performance Management builds and extends on the proven Kaplan/Norton Strategy Focused Organization methodology. If you are interested in vastly improving your corporate performance using proven methodology and information gathered from real-world implementations, I highly recommend this book.
Real-World Experience TrumpsTheory Every Time.......2007-08-12
So many of the business books available today are written by authors with little practical experience to back them up. It's very easy to come up with a theoretical approach to improving business performance. The problem is, most theories don't account for the realities of the business environment that only real-life, in-the-trenches experience teaches. Instead of selling an approach to performance management developed in an academic or theoretical environment, Bob Paladino has instead brought to this book real-world examples of how actual companies, by applying his five key principles, have achieved measurable and ongoing success. The book is straight-forward, and offers a broad-enough cross sampling of case studies that the reader is able to find commonality to which they can link their own efforts at performance management. Clearly not a one-size fits all approach, but rather practical advice from someone who's been there before, and succeeded at achieving measurable and lasting results.
A Collection of Fascinating Case Studies.......2007-08-08
Bob Paladino adeptly utilizes award winning companies to illustrate the implementation of the 5 Key Principles. The easy to follow exhibits and best practice sidebars included provide additional support and illustration to the cases.
Bob emphasizes the importance of a dedicated CPM office, as well as tips on dealing with corporate silos and cross functional cooperation to address the key concepts necessary to reach strategic goals.
This book is an outstanding reference and primer for both executives, consultants, and students to better understand the necessary practices to achieve process excellence and ultimately financial success.
Highly recommended .......2007-08-06
Whether you have been engaged directly in organizational performance management for years or are seeking an introduction to the topic, this book should be extremely valuable. It is clear that the author has many years of "hands on" and practical experience yet he also puts forth a comprehensive and excellent conceptual model of performance management.
The book is both stimulating and a fun read. While other books may go into a great amount of detail on particular aspects of performance management, the author stays at a level that holds the attention of the reader while providing ample real life examples to make the material understandable.
This is probably the first book to complete the circle of organizational performance management in such a comprehensive manner. What I found especially helpful was that the author taps into the knowledge from a variety of quality and performance management organizations.
Highly recommended.
Book Description
*Combines two favorite topics--drawing and creativity
*Enclosed spiral binding means it lies flat while artists work!
*Features countless inspirational drawings from the author and other famous artists, including R. Crumb and Maya Lin.
Every artist wants to be more creative, and this book demystifies that often confusing process. There are dozens of exercises to help readers more fully engage their artwork and unlock the power of the imagination. Artists will learn how to recycle old drawings into fresh ideas and discover new ways of working that free their creativity. Artists of all levels--working in every medium--will come away more confident and creative!!
Customer Reviews:
Get this book!.......2007-04-16
This is a great how-to-draw book, because it has a very smart strategy: finesse the negative self-criticism that keeps most of us from even beginning to do anything smacking of `art.'
When a six year old once asked her father, a college art instructor, what he did for a living, he said, "I teach people how to draw." Incredulous, she replied: "You mean they forget!?"
We all know why that is-- a censorious voice inside our heads keeps up a murderous barrage of intimidation: "You suck! You can't draw!" And we knuckle under.
Most books on how to draw just reinforce this anxiety. They aim to teach you how to draw realistically, which for most of us means there is just one way to get it right, and a thousand to screw it up. How to solve this problem? Cookie-cutter schematic diagrams are given for drawing everything from portraits to horses, but every time you draw one of those almond shapes for a head, then put in a cross on which to put facial features, you've become a robot and art, an assembly-line production. That's a far cry from the utter fearlessness we all had when armed only with crayons.
This book blows by all this tomfoolery because it cares little for cheap realism but much for real creativity. By not focusing on the "what" but the "how" this book lets you not only think like an artist, but become one. In its pages learning is doing as rules are jettisoned in favor of principles, suggestions and exercises that gently immerse you in the experience of drawing, so that before you know it, you're scribbling away as intently as any six-year old... or Van Gogh. Getting the terminally self-conscious to believe in themselves as artists is no mean achievement--it's damn hard to do as a matter of fact--but Bert Dodson does this beautifully. (Even more experienced artists will learn much from perusing this wise and thoughtful book.)
But don't misunderstand one thing. Dodson's emphasis on creativity isn't an injunction to just "do what you feel." Drawing books like that leave you hanging in the air with no chance for traction and forward-momentum. This book is not one of those. The format in Keys to Drawing with Imagination not only generates much artistic material to work with, but will channel your growing understanding, concentrating it, so that a genuine mastery emerges, confident enough to undertake its own experimentation and exploration. This book is designed to be like the Buddha's raft--once it carries you over the river, you leave it behind to go on your way. For, ultimately, making art is about being free.
I have only one small cavil to make about this superb drawing book. The title bites. With a subject as exciting as creative drawing, this title is like giving Marilyn Monroe a name like Norma Jean. It obviously hopes to cash in on the success of Mr. Dodson's earlier book, Keys to Drawing; I sense the money-grubbing hands of the publisher's bean-counters. My condolences to the author, a most witty and engaging man, who must be suffering grievously.
Teacher/Artist's view.......2007-03-30
Thank you, Bert Dodson, for Drawing With Imagination. It is a much needed elixir for both my creative and professional life. I've been an Art teacher for thirty years and I know from experience that you can teach almost anyone how to draw and paint well. Learning to use the tools is the easy part. What's hard is stimulating the imagination and the confidence to be creative.
Dodson's new book is a brimming reservoir of inspirational projects and ideas for the artist or teacher. Some of these exercises are so freeing, blocks to creativity seem to melt away leaving a fresh landscape of fertile ground. Using Bert's book as a basis for lessons my high school beginning students are stumbling onto originality and my advanced "Portfolio" students are discovering new directions for their work.
Every teacher and artist needs a copy of this book at their fingertips if only for an infusion of energy for your classroom and studio. I didn't realize till I got my copy, I've been waiting for this book for a long time.
This book could be a valuable resource for any enterprise that aims to create something new.......2007-03-30
As a sculptor by avocation I find Bert Dodson's book delightful in its exuberant enthronement of imagination. As a biologist by vocation I'm equally pleased at how much this book evokes the experience of the scientist. The scientist keeps a sharp eye out for mystery in nature, imagines plausible explanations, devises experiments to test his ideas, and emerges with insights. The artist, similarly, observes, experiments interprets and brings forth something new. For both, imagination is a powerful key to success in discovery.
I am particularly impressed by Dodson's use of metaphor as a potent artistic explanatory device. In many different situations he discusses and illustrates ways in which "metaphoric seeing" " - looking at something and seeing something else - "awakens our ability to bring our own interpretation to reality."
Bert Dodson- Genius!.......2007-03-27
Bert Dodson's new book on drawing from the imagination liberates drawing from its shackles and empowers all of us to make a strong visual statement in our own unique way. Thank you Mr. Dodson for expanding on your classic work, Keys to Drawing. You never stop inspiring us but most of all you make us believe in ourselves!
I loved this book.......2007-03-25
Keys to Drawing with Imagination is a wonderful book for someone who loves to draw but doesn't feel confident. This book helped me realize that my doodles have the potential for beginning my journey into my imagination. I like reading into the mind of Bert Dodson, the artist, which helps me understand what drives at least one person's creative vision.
Book Description
This is the first book that explains the business philosophy behind Toyota's success.
Customer Reviews:
Understanding the Concept.......2007-10-21
My employer has been implementing the Lean Concepts. I was a bit lost with alot of the terminology. Now that I have read most of the book, it has help me understand the terminology and I link it to the concept. I can't wait to finish reading it.
Great - Toyota Way Audio (CDs).......2007-10-18
We have purchased 22 Audio versions of the Toyota Way because our Employees love listening to these CDs.
Great classic.......2007-10-10
I am on my third reading of this book. It is a classic and greatly enjoyable as well as educational and informative. I think every manufacturing professional should read it. I also recommend the book Lean Six Sigma That Works: A Powerful Action Plan for Dramatically Improving Quality, Increasing Speed, And Reducing Waste
Excellent book on the Toyota Way and Lean Manufacturing!.......2007-09-07
Jeffrey Liker clearly knows what he writes about. The book is the result of more than a decade of study, on site visits and interviews with several Toyota key people. It describes 14 toyota principles, which go through the Toyota Philosophy, the Toyota Production System, the relationship with employeees, customers, suppliers and partners, and a focus on continuous improvement. No wonder Toyota is one of world top most admired companies!
Very interesting is also the Japanese management principles and mindset - slow but determined, patient, self-reflection, learning by actuall observation and doing, consensus seeking, and managing for the long term.
By coincidence, yesterday (6/Sep/2007) the news came up that Jim Press (American Toyota President)was hired by Chrysler - I can imagine why.
Good Book on Toyota and Lean.......2007-06-30
A good book on the Toyota Production System (TPS) and Lean manufacturing. Liker does a good job of explaining both. I especially liked his cautions about mis-using Lean principles and pitfalls to failure.
Like most business books, the important stuff could have been expressed in many fewer pages. Liker almost gushes about Toyota to the extent that it somethimes reads as a vanity or promotional publication by Toyota - this makes me wonder if it really presents a balanced perspective.
Overall, I recommend it to anyone interested in Toyota or Lean.
Book Description
An accessible guide to portfolio-enhancing asset management in bull or bear markets
Asset allocation is a crucial and continually popular topic among investors of all types. The Art of Asset Allocation is a practical, hands-on guide that shows finance professionals and individual investors how to achieve an asset balance designed to thrive in a wide range of financial market environments. David Darst, author of the highly acclaimed The Complete Bond Book, provides a comprehensive framework for using asset allocation principles in bull, bear, or non-trending markets. This complete asset allocation guide contains:
- Differences between tactical and strategic asset allocation--and the advantages of each
- Effective tools for determining asset allocation strategies
- Asset class descriptions and historical risk and return statistics for all major asset classes
- Rebalancing guidelines
- Investor behavior analysis
- Practical financial worksheets, charts, and other illustrative tools
- An annotated guide to traditional and Internet-based information sources
Customer Reviews:
Eminently readable and extremely useful and user friendly........2006-01-17
This is the premier primer on asset allocation. David Darst takes a truly complex issue facing every investor and breaks the whole into easily digestible parts. One finishes the book feeling confident and competent. The worksheets are illuminating, the charts are clear, the text is articulate, interesting and comforting. Anyone who is afraid of the daunting task of investing in this complex world of derivatives and ETFs and hedge funds will find this book a clear map of how to proceed in small steps to create a portfolio which is geared towards one's own risk parameters and return requirements.
Too little, too much.......2005-11-10
This is a good 50 page book concisely wrapped in 375 pages. The author obviously uses most of the material in lectures/workshops, as the graphics are powerpoint and each page seems to require a list of i), ii), iii), etc. Some material on asset classes is good but it takes a lot of plowing to find those gems. I agree the author seems more intent on coaxing you to use an advisor, like himself, and to try and time the market (oh if only we could.) For an average investor, as I consider myself, I think a book like "Asset Dedication" by Huxley and Burns makes far more sense and better reading.
For Those Who Care About Money..........2005-04-14
There are generally two audiences who read financial books and publications: Financial practioners and the rest of the population who is interested in money & investing. It is quite rare and, in my opinion, undesirable for a finance book to try to speak to both audiences simultaneously.
Darst works for a premier financial firm that specializes in helping those who are already rich get richer. It stands to reason then that his analysis, stemming from his professional expertise, would be at a high level from the gate.
I give this book 5 stars and reccomend that only financial practioners or investors who already possess a high level of understanding attempt to read it. The author states at the beginning of the book that investors with little capital (who are at the beginning of the wealth accumulation cycle) keep it simple. You do not need this book if you have less than $100,000 of investable assets. That is not to say that you shouldn't read it in preparation for future financial success. The asset allocation methods in this book are designed to grow/protect/diversify an already significant pool of funds.
For those who have prospered financially, consulting a financial advisor is really the only prudent course of action. But, like anything else in life - Chance favors the prepared mind.
Okay, but for the individual investor there are better books.......2004-12-06
This book reads a little too much like a textbook. If I was a financial advisor, I would probably see more value in it. I preferred William Bernstein's "Intelligent Asset Allocator" to this book. Bernstein talks more directly to the small investor.
Insightful!.......2004-03-01
Decades of research by scholars and financial practitioners have generally supported the reasonable counsel "don't put all your eggs in one basket." But it is one thing to advise investors to diversify, and another to show them how. Author David M. Darst outlines a systematic approach to parceling out your savings among different investment assets. There's a science to asset allocation, though its principles are not immediately apparent. Darst treats these precepts with admirable thoroughness in a book that is, mostly, accessible to an educated layperson. But brew some strong coffee. Readers lacking a business or finance background may find the theoretical discussion difficult and tedious, particularly given the deliberate style. However this 2003 book follows one of the most dramatic periods in stock market history, the 1990s, when even sophisticated market watchers wondered if the sound financial principles cited here still applied. The ensuing bear market made it clear that the laws of risk and return had not yet been repealed. In this atmosphere, We welcome this solid explanation of risk and return.
Book Description
Meeting a key need, this is the first comprehensive guide to implementing a schoolwide response to intervention (RTI) program. The book is geared to helping practitioners understand and respond to No Child Left Behind and to the new special education eligibility guidelines outlined in IDEIA 2004. Presented are the theoretical and empirical foundations of the approach and a clear, 10-step model for conducting RTI procedures with students experiencing learning difficulties. Special features include reproducible planning and implementation worksheets and more than two dozen overhead transparency masters for use in RTI training sessions, with lay-flat binding to facilitate photocopying. For optimal utility, RTI training materials are also available online as PowerPoint slides and PDFs (www.guilford.com/rti).
Customer Reviews:
Very Helpful.......2007-02-17
This book provides non-biased information on what R.T.I. is. I was able to take the information back to my staff so we can plan our R.T.I. model based on this book. It is easy to read and also provides useful websites.
A Thorough Explanation and Illustration. .......2006-08-26
Where I work, we are close to the point in which we will be implementing the Response to Intervention model for determining learning disabled and emotionally disturbed student eligibility. This necessitated my pouring over this book a few times in the last few weeks. I have to recommend it strongly as it would be difficult to imagine a more thorough work concerning this very new subject. Its historical discussion of special education and learning disabilities was excellent as was the authors' review of recent laws and legislation. The authors' description of the ineptitude of the discrepancy model is compelling even for those of us who never endured zoo staffings which were often its inevitable result. For those of us in the field, there are endless forms and figures on these pages which can be used as inspiration behind the forms accompanying our district's transition; although, RTI adoption clearly isn't just a matter of forms. The most exciting aspect is that it will give us an opportunity to develop a new aspect to one's game. Now, we'll utilize scientifically based interventions and be able to initiate them while recording the results. The authors even offer a template for a novel psychological report based upon Response to Intervention. Their creativity and thoroughness was a pleasant surprise.
However, I couldn't give the text five stars as the authors offer only unmitigated support for their subject. This is not good scholarship, nor is it good science. They make no attempt to explain the limitations which may be inherent to the enterprise. They also do not mention what many a practitioner (I hope) has realized since they first heard of it; which is that, contrary to expectations, it will balloon the size of special education because it will now be impossible to limit the number of children who will be eligible for learning disabled services. The slow learners who were once, and wrongfully, turned away will now be identified alongside the deficit students accommodated in the past. Without any mechanism with which to say no, school psychologists--that is those of us did what we were supposed to do for decades--will have to watch as the floodgates open and numbers swell to the point where special education becomes more normal than special. Perhaps I'm wrong, but my allowing for error is something with which the authors should partake.
Book Description
Research proves that employees will work harder and produce more when they feel appreciated, valued, and understood. Easier said than done?
Effective Coaching explains how you can:
Apply good coaching methods in the workplace;
Quickly establish the discipline you need in a cooperative, non-threatening atmosphere
Instinctively use effective problem solving strategies in every situation
You know your company needs its employees. Make sure they know that. Management strategies and techniques presented in Effective Coaching will help you dramatically improve employee performance, and maximize the measurable value received from each employee.
Customer Reviews:
A fine overview of the dynamics of interpersonal leadership........1999-04-03
After reading the book Effective Coaching, by Marshall J. Cook, I now have some helpful insights about the role of coaching. I initially wanted to see how closely the role of coach and mentor was, and decided to see if this could help make that distinction. As I soon discovered the many hats that coaches wear, I began to see that all the "hats" started to look very similar. Coaching and mentoring are similarly focused disciplines.
Coaching is not about control; it is empowerment, and leading by example. The role of coach is very dynamic. Many good intentions drive a coach to reach the learner, and depending on what situations are presented, the coach must be prepared and skilled to handle it. This book illustrates effective coaching techniques through the use of various scenarios.
The chapters are organized into sub groups of the different roles a coach can be. "As a coach, you must be problem solver, trainer, teacher, mentor and corrector." Some of the skills covered are good questioning, being a good listener, problem solving, addressing change, overcoming obstacles, and valuable communication strategies. Plus bonus principles for good coaching and good living. All chapters have smart management tips that incorporate these skills to help you avoid potential real-life roadblocks and to put you into the Coach's and learner's perspectives.
Throughout the book, the margins have helpful keys to the terms and the author has flavored each chapter with cases that relate to the chapter's theme. I enjoyed the voice the author used to express himself in each chapter. You find yourself quickly acknowledging the main points that are introduced. Each chapter concludes with a coach's checklist where all the pertinent points are restated. This is a book that I have underlined and highlighted for future reference.
Books:
- The Swaps & Financial Derivatives Library: Products, Pricing, Applications and Risk Management, 3rd Edition Revised (Boxed Set) (Wiley Finance)
- Tools and Tactics for the Master DayTrader: Battle-Tested Techniques for Day, Swing, and Position Traders
- Tools and Tactics for the Master DayTrader: Battle-Tested Techniques for Day, Swing, and Position Traders
- Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline and a Winning Attitude
- Trading Risk: Enhanced Profitability through Risk Control
- Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money and Investing (Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money & Investing)
- Way of the Turtle: The Secret Methods that Turned Ordinary People into Legendary Traders
- West Federal Taxation 2007: Corporations, Partnerships, Estates, and Trusts (with RIA Checkpoint and Turbo Tax Business CD-ROM)
- West Federal Taxation 2007: Corporations, Partnerships, Estates, and Trusts (with RIA Checkpoint and Turbo Tax Business CD-ROM)
- West Federal Taxation 2007: Corporations, Partnerships, Estates, and Trusts (with RIA Checkpoint and Turbo Tax Business CD-ROM)
Books Index
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Strategy & Competition
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