Lean Transformation: How to Change Your Business into a Lean Enterprise

Lean Transformation: How to Change Your Business into a Lean Enterprise
Average customer rating:

Pushing instead of pulling Lean

Setting the Scene for Lean

After 2 years, I refer to this most often

Excellent Book

Good Overview of the Lean Journey

Lean Transformation: How to Change Your Business into a Lean Enterprise
Bruce A. Henderson , and Jorge L. Larco
Manufacturer: Oaklea Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Organizational Change | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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The Lean Manufacturing Pocket Handbook

The Lean Pocket Guide

A Workbook for Assessing Your Lean Transformation

ASIN: 0964660121

Book Description

Known in manufacturing among those striving to maximize productivity and create pull-scheduling of production as "the yellow book," Lean Transformation: How to Change Your Business into a Lean Enterprise is used across the globe by companies as they switch to lean production and management by empowered teams. Touted by lean production experts everywhere as practical, down-to-earth, and easy to read, it warns of cultural issues that are almost certain to arise, and gives management step by step instructions as it explains clearly in terms anyone can understand such concepts as continuous flow, value stream mapping, kanban, kaizen, six sigma, just-in-time (JIT), techniques for converting to quick set-ups, and other pillars of the Toyota Production System. Indeed, Toyota may have been the first, but Toyota is not the only company that excels at lean manufacturing. Dell Computers provides another model of a successful lean enterprise as do Harley-Davidson and Pella Windows. Learn why initial improvements of 40 percent in direct labor productivity and a 50 percent reduction in the space required for manufacturing are routine when production and assembly are converted to continuous flow. Lean Transformation is chock full of real life examples of value stream mapping, how kanban can resolve material supply issues, how kaizen brainstorming can result in startling improvements overnight, how just-in-time (JIT) frees mountains of money tied up in work-in-progress, why six sigma quality needs to be built in and not inspected in, how bottlenecks can be eliminated, kanban snafus spotted before they happen, and how instilling a championship mentality in cross-functional teams can lead to increased productivity and continuous improvement that doesn't stop after the initial kaizen event.

It doesn't take a genius to know that the low cost producer that meets customers "want" dates 99% of the time yet carries only two days inventory has a tremendous competitive advantage. So put value stream mapping, just-in-time (JIT), six sigma, kanban, kaizen, continuous flow, empowered teams, and all the other techniques you'll learn about in Lean Transformation to work. Order a copy for everyone involved in your transformation into a lean enterprise.

Customer Reviews:

Pushing instead of pulling Lean.......2007-07-17

I think that everyone interested in Lean is already convinced that Lean adds value. Therefore I found it annoying that the book is pushing on or selling Lean. This book is good for managers needing good coverage of the arguments and issues in lean. Although the subtitle of the book is "How to Change Your Business Into a Lean Enterprise", this is not really a how-to manual - there is no explanation of how to map value streams, implement 5S, TPM, or implement any other of the Lean techniques. Rather the book is giving an overview perspective of the issues.

Setting the Scene for Lean.......2006-12-14

Extremely well written and easy to read, "Lean Transformation" does a great job of setting the scene for lean. It covers the issues and challenges you will face in moving to lean. As such it is a good primer or starter text for managers about the make the leap to lean. Although the subtitle of the book is "How to Change Your Business Into a Lean Enterprise", this is not really a how-to manual - there is no explanation of how to map value streams, run 5S events, or implement any of the techniques. Rather the book is giving an overview perspective of the issues. For more detail you will need to move to other books such as "The New Lean Pocket Guide", "The New Lean Toolbox", "Lean Production Simplified" etc. I recommend this for senior managers needing good coverage of the arguments and issues in lean. Senior managers should also read "The Toyota Way", and "Creating a Lean Culture".

After 2 years, I refer to this most often.......2006-04-03

I've noticed that I reach for this book in my Lean practice, more than any other. Coincidence or a great book? I think it's not coincidence. This is lean classic for the TOTAL ENTERPRISE.

Excellent Book.......2006-02-21

Solid book. Filled with quality info, no fluff. I wish every book was of this quality.

Good Overview of the Lean Journey.......2006-01-09

I have been a Lean Practitioner for over twenty years and have had the privilege of learning from some of the original teachers of Lean in the United States. I have reviewed other publications on implementing LEAN Systems and this book is one of the few that have any value to the reader. If you are a company owner or President, I would recommend you also read "The Toyota Way" (the most enjoyable to read), or "Leading the Lean Initiative" by John W. Davis. If you are a Lean Champion "Lean Production Simplified" is the BEST introduction to the Toyota Production System and to LEAN Tools that exists today. If you have any responsibility for leading or implementing LEAN in your organization, this would be required reading for everyone who will be part of your own transformation. Lean Production Simplified is an excellent investment of your time and money. Another good introduction to LEAN is "Running Today's Factory". The series of shopfloor guides by Productivity Press is also helpful for your first "baby steps". Beyond that, find a real lean "sensei". A great place to find one is at your state's "MEP" (Manufacturing Extension Partnership) Center.

Andy & Me: Crisis And Transformation On The Lean Journey

Average customer rating:

A quick read but not worth it.
Andy & Me
A Good Read about Lean - if a little light on detail
A Golden Nugget
Excellent

Andy & Me: Crisis And Transformation On The Lean Journey
Pascal Dennis
Manufacturer: Productivity Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

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Creating a Lean Culture: Tools to Sustain Lean Conversions
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Lean Thinking : Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, Revised and Updated

ASIN: 1563272989

Book Description

Based on the author's personal experience with Toyota senseis and with companies in the midst of great change, Andy & Me is a business novel set in a failing New Jersey auto plant focusing on the tribulations of Tom Pappas, the plant manager. The situations, characters and plant "politics" will ring true with many readers.

In a cool, readable style, Andy & Me follows Tom's relationship with Andy Saito, a reclusive, retired Toyota guru whom Tom persuades to help save his plant through the "teaching" of legendary Toyota Production System (TPS).

On this journey, the reader learns that TPS is more than just a collection of tools; it entails a new way of thinking and behaving. Though Tom finds success — both in his plant and in his personal life — he learns from Andy that successful improvement is "endless and eternal."

Customer Reviews:

A quick read but not worth it. .......2007-06-23

I had hoped this book would provide more detail on TPS, but it is very light on any detail and glosses over many points. After you have read The Goal and are use to its style of teaching manufacturing principles in the context of a novel, this book leaves you feeling really disappointed.

Andy & Me.......2007-01-20

YES read "Andy & Me" for a quick overview and high-level understanding of the LEAN process. The book will not tell you how to create the LEAN process but will give you a basic understanding to build on and insight into the questions you may need to ask for your particular situation.

A Good Read about Lean - if a little light on detail.......2006-12-03

As soon as I had finished this book, I reread it - to get the most out of the material presented. It is the best written lean business novel I have seen (though I also like "Who's Counting" by Jerry Solomon - available on Amazon.com). The book launches straight into the lean journey and presents the issues and challenges well. It is a good introductory read to help you get to grips with the ideas. My problem with it is that it doesn't go into any detail. There is no explanation of how the culture is changed to support involvement on problem solving; or how to do 5S, or kaizen; or how to map the value stream. But it provides a great overview and it is upbeat in tone - great for getting your energy up on the start of the lean journey, or to refresh your spirits when problems arise. Easy to read on the train or plane too. Recommended.

The author, Pascal Dennis, also wrote "Lean Production Simplified" a very clear plain English guide to lean principles and processes.

A Golden Nugget.......2006-07-24

I have read a few business improvement novels in the past few years, but this one blew me away. I picked it up and was halfway through the book before I was forced to put it down by some prior engagements. It had a wealth of information that someone eager to learn could consume and digest without trouble, as well as a story line that kept me interested and willing to keep flipping through pages. I highly recommend this literature to anyone interested in manufacturing, lean initiatives, or reading.

I wouldn't recommend this book to Amazon, because rather than buying the next book I'm probably just going to re-read this one.

Excellent.......2006-07-03

This is another "Business novel." The author does an effective job of communicating the philosophy of the Toyota Production System, and discussing organizational transition.

A Workbook for Assessing Your Lean Transformation

Average customer rating:

A Workbook for Assessing Your Lean Transformation
Jorge L. Larco , Bruce A. Henderson , and Elena Bortolan
Manufacturer: Oaklea Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Consulting | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Industrial Relations | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Lean Transformation: How to Change Your Business into a Lean Enterprise
Lean Enterprise Leader: How to Get Things Done Without Doing It All Yourself
Creating a Lean Culture: Tools to Sustain Lean Conversions
The Lean Manufacturing Pocket Handbook
The Toyota Way Fieldbook

ASIN: 0971731705

Book Description

"Lean" is a movement now going on among manufacturing businesses throughout the world because it leads to higher-quality products, greatly reduced manufacturing costs, and happier workers. This workbook is a supplement to the most popular book ever written on taking a company lean, called LEAN TRANSFORMATION: HOW TO CHANGE YOUR BUSINESS INTO A LEAN ENTERPRISE. It contains numerous full color photographs of fully lean operations and allows the reader to rate his or her factory and then plan the steps necessary to take the operation to the next level. The overall objective of the workbook is to help lean advocates and Six Sigma specialists accelerate their company's transformation into a fully lean enterprise. It is spiral bound to lay flat, and printed on sturdy, cover weight stock with the expectation it will receive daily use on the shop floor.

Navigating the Badlands: Thriving in the Decade of Radical Transformation

Average customer rating:

Navigating the Badlands
Highly Recommended!

Navigating the Badlands: Thriving in the Decade of Radical Transformation
Mary O'Hara-Devereaux
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Decision-Making & Problem Solving | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership

ASIN: 0787971383

Book Description

In this groundbreaking book, Mary O'Hara-Devereaux -- an internationally renowned business forecaster -- shows how organizations can hone their competitive edge during these uncertain times. Using the metaphor of traveling through the badlands of the American West, Navigating the Badlands offers the principles, tools, transformative strategies, and essential understanding executives and business leaders need if they are to weather the rugged, global business landscape of the future. Throughout the book O'Hara-Devereaux reveals how business leaders can seize the opportunity to create new value from successful alliances, reach global markets, and find top talent.

Download Description

Customer Reviews:

Navigating the Badlands.......2007-01-17

I have tracked the global environment for over twelve years and have learned much more about this environment by reading Mary O'Hara-Devereaux's book. In my opinion, it's a must read for educators and business professionals.

Highly Recommended!.......2005-04-11

Every few hundred years, the Western world takes itself apart and puts itself together again. Peter Drucker observed that this process of dissolution and reconstitution occurs so decisively that, afterward, people who live in the new world cannot even imagine the world of their parents or grandparents. Author Mary O'Hara-Devereaux believes that we are about three-quarters through a 75-year period of such disruptive innovation. She calls the transition "the Badlands." Like the barren Dakota Badlands of the Old West, they are a painful trial that makes or breaks people, and either way leaves them with a new sense of identity. The author identifies several distinct transitional pains for which she prescribes an equal number of palliatives. Her analyses and prescriptions can be thought provoking, though they are seldom trail blazing. While the book may be more smoke than fire, we find that smoke signals can be useful for the long-range vistas in the Badlands. (And, by the way, the author includes a chapter on China that seems almost as parenthetical as this sentence, though interesting enough. In reality, China looks like the pivot point of Badlands transitions, and how it comes through may affect how your neighborhood comes through, as well.)

Organization Development and Transformation: Managing Effective Change

Average customer rating:

Excellent & expedient service
Great Resource
A excellent collection of the classic readings.

Organization Development and Transformation: Managing Effective Change

Manufacturer: Irwin/McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Organizational Change | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0071112669

Book Description

Organization Development and Transformation is a paperback collection of 46 readings that focuses on how people function with and within organizations, and how to make the working relationship function best. This edition includes coverage of classic OD articles, coverage of topics such as self-directed teams, centers of excellence, and learning organizations

Customer Reviews:

Excellent & expedient service.......2006-07-13

The textbook was brand new and was wrapped in cellophane. Class began the following week, and the book arrived that week-end which gave me enough time to complete assignments in a timely fashion.

Great Resource.......2005-10-10

I used this book in my MBA program. This is a very good resource. It is researched based with many articles that are relatively short and to the point.

A excellent collection of the classic readings........2000-12-24

The editors of the book have included in a single volume the classics. The articles include those authored by Kurt Lewin, Chris Argyris, Edgar Schein, Gareth Jones, C.K. Prahalad & Jeffrey Pfeffer besides many others. The latest edition published in 2000 include 16 new readings. Useful resource material for students of organisational behaviour and organisational change. The strategies described in some of the readings could be usefully applied in a variety of work settings. HR practioners and those in human resources development will find some of the articles valuable in crafting policies and renewal of training strategies. To sum it, in the words of the editors, "The field of organisation development is fun and exciting. We hope this anthology will convey some of that sense of excitement." I have discovered that sense of excitement when I read the articles in the book. I will continue to refer to them from time to time.

The Change Monster: The Human Forces that Fuel or Foil Corporate Transformation and Change

Average customer rating:

The mental barriers as main obstacle!
Learn to manage the human element in the change process
Comforting
Good advice but plodding
The Textbook on Human Emotions

The Change Monster: The Human Forces that Fuel or Foil Corporate Transformation and Change
Jeanie Daniel Duck
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Statistics | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Hardball: Are You Playing to Play or Playing to Win

ASIN: 0609808818
Release Date: 2002-08-13

Amazon.com

Fear, curiosity, exhaustion, loyalty, paranoia, optimism, rage, and revelation--not quite the kind of emotions that are anticipated or discussed when leaders embark on organizational change, but exactly the kind to expect, says Jeanie Daniel Duck in her treatise on the human element of growth. The Change Monster examines how to effectively plan for, address, and manage the least predictable and perhaps the most important aspect of a successful transformation.

Duck's experience with change has been widespread and varied. During an early career running her own consulting practice and more recent years spent as a senior vice president with the prestigious Boston Consulting Group (BCG), she has guided companies all over the world through the mountains and minefields of mergers, reengineering ventures, and strategic transformation projects. In the process, she has developed and refined her understanding of the five phases of the Change Curve, her own map of the territory of change. The monster in hibernation is the first of those phases, Stagnation, and it's awoken by forceful impetus from on high, through either internally or externally initiated change. Duck discusses both the signs of stagnation and various methods for recognizing the problem--the questions that need to be asked, the analyses that need to be conducted, and the appetite for change that needs to be generated. During the Preparation stage, there are essential tasks for the leaders (achieving alignment and commitment on vision, strategy, and values) that will provoke behavioral-change requirements of all members of the organization, and Duck introduces a BCG tool used to help assess the change bias of any organization. For the Implementation and Determination stages, Duck shares tips on walking the talk, being on the alert for human dynamics that threaten to derail the initiative, and communicating effectively, and offers advice on testing one's assumptions as a leader and staying involved with the process of change at all levels--strategies designed to lead the organization through to the final stage of Fruition. Throughout, Duck refers to the largely positive change experience of a real company, Honeywell Micro Switch, and the less-effective actions of a fictional merger between two pharmaceutical firms.

Duck has also spent time as an artist and teacher, occupations reflected in her understanding of how people cope with both the reality of change and the manner in which it's brought about. Though targeted at the change-management drivers of the business world, The Change Monster is infused with a sense of the effects of change in all areas of life. A sensitive exploration of an often-difficult process. --S. Ketchum

Book Description

A Powerful Look at Corporate Change and Why Mergers, Reorganizations, and Transformations Succeed or Fail

“[One of the] best business books of 2001 . . . [a] useful and intelligent tool for coping with the inevitable metamorphoses of business (and life).” —Miami Herald

“Provocative imagery . . . useful questions for managers to ask themselves.” —Harvard Business Review

“The Change Monster not only talks intelligently about the social dynamics and emotions of people [in change efforts], it does so with wisdom, insight, and practicality.”—Daniel Leemon, executive vice president and chief strategy officer, Charles Schwab Corporation

“A practitioner’s primer on revitalization that puts you in the shoes of some who have failed and others who have succeeded. In doing so, Jeanie Daniel Duck graphically delivers her main message to management: Learn to master the emotions and obsessions of those who stand in the way of change, including your own, and once you do, you have your hands on a miraculous engine for change.” —Michael Useem, professor of management and director of the Center for Leadership and Change at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and author of The Leadership Moment and Leading Up

“Duck is an acute and empathetic observer of the changes erupting in the workplace from the convulsive nature of corporate evolution. . . . Jeanie Duck’s terrific book is a . . . useful and intelligent tool for coping with the inevitable metamorphoses of business (and life). Sensitive but tough, Duck’s compassionate wisdom is street smart without a trace of glibness.” —Miami Herald

Customer Reviews:

The mental barriers as main obstacle!.......2006-03-09

All of us know how difficult results to initiate and moreover to undertake a true renovation of settled mental maps and old paradigms. As a matter of fact most of Managements pretend to reorder their organizational environment without primarily, undertaking an inner transformation.

This is an admirable and conspicuous essay what offers relevant clues and clever indications to undertake this breathtaking but fundamental attitude mental state. The essence of a continuous transformation implies a vital renovation ` s impulse from within ourselves.

An indispensable consult text in your personal library.

Learn to manage the human element in the change process.......2006-02-28

Many organizations change. Most try and plan it. Many fail. Many mergers and acquisitions fail to deliver as expected. Why?
Author Jeanie Daniel Duck cites the human element-how changing the corporate environment makes people feel. The author presents a five-stage framework for dealing with change called the "change curve." This change curve is designed for understanding and managing the human element of the change process. The five-stage process is as follows:

· Stage 1: Stagnation. This is the time that the organization can be depressed or demoralized. There is a general slowness, difficulty in making decisions, and a general lack of motivation.
· Stage 2: Preparation. Leaders of the change must accomplish the aligning and energizing of management around the corporate strategy and vision; articulating and detailing the plan; and generating a healthy dissatisfaction with the ways things are allowing for a genuine appreciation for change to come from within the workforce
· Stage 3: Implementation. Here the leader's ability to manage the expectations, experience and energy of the company is critical to the success of the implementation. The author recommends four methods to start this phase: test and deploy, build behavior first, use attraction to convert, and plan replication.
· Stage 4: Determination. This phase, marked with conflicts, clashes, failures, and minor successes, is only as successful as the degree to which top management stays involved and focused.
· Stage 5: Fruition. This stage is when the change is in place. This is a time to reward employees for their hard work. The company needs to move forward to avoid re-entering a period of stagnation.

Comforting.......2003-09-26

The change monster made me aware of the stages of change in a company: Stagnation,
Preparation, Implementation, and Fruition. Ms Duck seems to be an excellent consultant from the stories I read. The book seems oriented towards Human Resources types as the title suggests. My background is Information Technology consulting, so I found I related too only a few of her stories. I would say her stories were interesting and demonstrated how companies move through change stages arriving at fruition. Ms Duck reminences on her experience and draws important conclusions and abstractions from her experiences. Some of her experiences seemed familar while a larger portion were not as concrete. I could see how large organizations profit from her holositic view of change.

I'm sure her wisdom should not dismissed. I've read Jack Welch's books and reflected on the quantifiable and scientific approach to change and can see objective change can appeal rationally; however, Ms Duck seems to have produced change through insight and dramatic effects a vast range of companies and types. She seems to have a gift for perception and insight into the inner dynamics of the people that make change happen in a company. Duck hand holds her clients through change stages and comforts them by imparting wisdom that allows her client to see a "better way". This "better way" seems to have dynamic impacts on the production of the company. Once the barriers are removed the company matures and reaches fruition.

Good advice but plodding.......2003-02-15

I disagree with some of the other reviewers who say that the book is a good read. I felt that I didn't know where the book was going a lot of the time. When all was said and done, I was glad to be finished (sometimes I really had to push myself to keep going), but I did learn a lot about change management.

The Textbook on Human Emotions.......2002-06-17

The human nature lies in the very base of any organization. That is why organizations, including business ones, tend to behave like humans. Along their lives they pass through different stages, like stagnation, understanding the necessity of change, the transformation and either back to the stagnation or upward to the new level of consciousness or efficiency. However, very few books on the market consider the transformation process from the "human" point of view. That is from the prospective of human emotions. Ms. Duck is to be sincerely thanked for the attempt to close the gap.

The book shows that the emotions do really matter in the process of changes, and can easily abrupt the transformation, as well as make it successful. Interestingly, many consultants yet fail to recognize this obvious fact and prefer to deal with charts rather then with people and their complicated behavior. The author points out that the process of changes is somewhat constant to any business structure in the modern world - another conventional truth, which is often forgotten by CEOs and business leaders.

Meanwhile, the book fails to show how particular managing techniques help to resolve emotional problems on each stage of transformation. The examples from "real life" are somewhat chaotic and case studies are not well organized around the central idea (if there is any?). It is not clear what is the point of each particular story, including the glimpses of the author's biography in the beginning of some chapters and the end of the book.

That is why I would consider the book "a textbook", rather than "a manual" which can give you a systemic view on transformation and a set tools to deal with the process. For these purposes a reader is kindly advised to address to "Creative Destruction", a book written by direct competitors of Jeanie Duck - two McKinsey consultants. The other point of concern is that the author overemphasizes the role of an external consultant. Such an approach depreciates the value of the expertise brought into the book and gives an impression that Ms. Duck's judgments are biased ("you tend to fail if you don't follow a consultant's advice", the book's bottomline).

Working on Yourself Doesn't Work: A Book About Instantaneous Transformation
Average customer rating:

Life really can be this simple. WOW!!!!!! YEN Florida

disappointing

Classic guide book to living in the moment

The Best Book I Know

Internal Light!

Working on Yourself Doesn't Work: A Book About Instantaneous Transformation
Shya Kane , and Ariel Kane
Manufacturer: ASK Productions, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1888043040

Amazon.com

Instant gratification junkies seeking self-awareness are bound to find the title of Ariel and Shya Kane's book extremely attractive. And seductive it is: who wouldn't like to discover enlightenment in a moment? The key, explain the Kanes, is getting to the moment: being fully present in the here and now without trying to manipulate or change what you see. According to the Kanes, "all problems are a projection towards the future of possible realities based on the past." Consequently, inhibitors to living life directly include the inability to let go of one's history--to forgive people and events from the past--as well as resistance to the circumstances of one's life, and repetitive, mechanical thoughts and behaviors. The essence of transformation is "a non-judgmental witnessing, viewing, or seeing of yourself and how you interact with your life," which stands in direct opposition to therapy's approach of working on one's history to bring about change. Here, awareness of a prejudice or pattern of behavior is--simply and immediately--enough to transform it.

Principles of awareness, self-realization, and enlightenment, of course, are nothing new, and the Kanes are careful to point this out. Some readers may wonder, then, why the Kanes refer to themselves as pioneers of a "revolutionary new technology," and whether Instantaneous Transformation(R) really requires a trademark. Nevertheless, Working on Yourself Doesn't Work is warm, anecdotal, and conversationally written, and includes general suggestions and pointers for the reader rather than rules to memorize. All in all, it is a gentle and potentially powerful invitation to enter a new and liberating state of mind. --Svenja Soldovieri

Book Description

Working On Yourself Doesn't Work reveals a revolutionary new approach that will allow you to reach a state of awareness and "centeredness" that in the past was rarely, if ever, achieved. This book contains the keys to transform your life. It is a radical departure from the concept of working on yourself to bring about change. There are no gimmicks to learn, no rules to live by, or preset paths to follow. The Kanes' Instantaneous Transformation technology is about a change of states, a shifting of realities -- which will produce a quantum shift in your life. By reading this book, you will discover-- How to remain centered in stressful or challenging circumstances, A more honest, true and natural way of being that will allow you to be increasingly effective and satisfied in all aspects of your life, How to have relationships that are more loving, exciting and supportive, How to dissolve mechanical habits that rob you of spontaneity, joy and creativity.

"The clarity and focus I have attained by being exposed to the Kanes and their way of seeing makes the difference between life and death when leading my men down a smoke-filled hallway, searching for people trapped by fire. I feel extremely fortunate to have met them."

Lieutenant Mike Donlon

New York City Fire Department."

"What the Kanes have to offer is so very simple and yet so very profound. In the garden of all the flowers for personal transformation, and I have sampled many, this is the Rose. With great love and respect, the Kanes offer keys to awareness like no one else I have ever met. Their work is truly remarkable." Johnnie M. Jackson, Jr.Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary

Olin Corporation

Customer Reviews:

Life really can be this simple. WOW!!!!!! YEN Florida.......2007-03-27

I am a professional female that has felt out of place since I was 13. I have seen therapists and searched for something to fix myself my whole life. I have read many self help books and done The Landmark Forum. In 1998 I landed in an AA room and was taught the 12 Steps of recovery. I read the BIG BOOK and thought the stories were exaggerated since I couldn't relate to them. I stopped drinking and took the suggested steps; taking a "fearless moral inventory" of myself by identifying my so called defects of character. As I grew in recovery, I was to take a daily inventory of myself which constantly reinforced that there was always something wrong with me that needed fixing. I now have 7 years of uninterrupted sobriety and recently I had the pleasure of reading the book "Working on Yourself Doesn't Work" and WOW!!! Did I get it...

See in AA we strive to live a day at a time but to be able to live a moment at a time was not something I had ever considered (I mean who can live in the moment there is so much to plan for?). It wasn't by doing the 12 steps that I learned I was living my life based on exaggerated truths made up as a child. These ideas ranged from "don't let anyone ever tell you what to do "to" don't ever depend on any man". These ideas never supported me in my life. They in fact have hindered every relationship I ever had whereby I never married or had children.
Now that I am aware of those ideas thru reading this book, I have never looked back or thought about them again. I have quit trying to work on myself. I have accepted my life and everything about it.

My life is so easy today. I have actually been able to save a relationship that I unconsciously have been sabotaging for the last 3 years. I saw clearly why I was afraid of success. Since I now have the insights, I choose not to go back to the past and judge myself or others for anything that happened. I also choose not to spend time in a place that doesn't exist yet. I can just concentrate on the fabulous moment and how it feels to be here right now. Talk about freedom from the bondage of self. My shackles have been taken off permanently. Thank you to Ariel and Shya for sharing their incredible experiences with the world and most importantly for the ease in which they do it.

disappointing.......2007-03-12

I orded this too quickly and should have looked closer at the inside, and the reviews. Its just another of many "God is who you want him to be, find your own way..nirvana, happy place yada yada written to sell, not to help books..I have to say that if God is who you want him to be?? then how could HE be God? Must be YOU thats God..anyway the book was disgustingly typical.

Classic guide book to living in the moment.......2007-03-09

There have been many insightful and helpful books written over time on the subject of living in the moment and only one that stands out for me as the best...and this book is it. It's the best in my opinion because the tools and ideas presented truly work in creating a life where lasting satisfaction and fulfillment can happen. It is definitely possible to live in the moment, day in day out, where the bumps on your life's road do not need to throw you off your path. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in living a life they dream of...it's possible for you because it's happened and continues to happen for me in my own life.

The Best Book I Know.......2006-11-15

The title of this book may seem enigmatic, but it is the foundation of having a wonderful life. The reader may wonder, If I don't work on myself, won't I become complacent? Not at all! The reason that working on yourself doesn't work, the Kanes explain, is that it presupposes that there is something wrong with you. But, as their second principle states, you can only be exactly as you are in any given moment. As long as you imagine you are messed up and in need of repair you resist the way that your life is showing up. This leads to the first principle: anything that you resist persists and grows stronger. If you want to see a behavior stick around, resistance - the adding of oppositional energy - will do the trick.

Although working on yourself doesn't work, there is much you can discover about your mechanical ways of operating that can improve the quality of your life. Through awareness - defined by the Kanes as the non-judgmental seeing of anything - your experience of living can shift without your having to do anything else. This is encompassed by the Kanes' third principle: anything you see exactly as it is will complete itself.

Does it sound all too simple? It is, and it works. This is why I recommend this book, more than any other, to the people in my life. After years of searching for well being - attending workshops, reading numerous books, and even staying on a farm to find a better way of living - Working on Yourself Doesn't Work is the only thing that I have found that does work. Read again and again, the book makes life easy, magical, and effortless.

Internal Light!.......2006-10-29

"Working on yourself doesn't work"- I have read this book over and over again for nearly two years. The interesting title initially got my attention, but ten minutes into reading it, I knew I had found a treasure!

There are many books out there that lift your spirits, but not often have I found something written with such clarity and wisdom. Beauty and simplicity shine through the core concept - Transformation. In reading this book I came to realize nothing produces happiness like the deep satisfication which comes from within: If I am true to myself, and not judging what I see, I can simply be me and be there for others. Powerful!I highly recommend anyone who is interesed in having a great life to read this book!

Sitting in the Fire: Large Group Transformation Using Conflict and Diversity

Average customer rating:

Good points, but not my culture
Very Powerful
Peacemakers, you need this guidebook on group process.

Sitting in the Fire: Large Group Transformation Using Conflict and Diversity
Arnold Mindell
Manufacturer: Lao Tse Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Violence in Society | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1887078002

Book Description

Using examples ranging from disputes in small organizations to large-scale conflicts in countries around the world, this volume offers practical methods for working with conflict, leadership crises, stagnation, abuse, terrorism, violence, and other social action issues. It brings an understanding of the psychology of conflict and the knowledge that many disputes can be traced back to inequalities of rank and power between parties, providing tools that will enable people to use conflict to build community.

Customer Reviews:

Good points, but not my culture.......2007-05-15

I borrowed this book from a friend, because it seemed, at a glance, that it might give some insight about how to find a constructive path through a conflictual situation, without rejecting that conflict.

I think the book delivers on this some. Indeed, some of the points in the final chapters were quite enticing to me.

Unfortuantely, the author and I have profoundly different personal cultures (for lack of a better word). In this book, Mr. Mindell sees the world mainly through power/oppression relationships and group distinctions (e.g. race, gender, sexual orientation, etc), and while I don't dispute that those exist, I don't see them as centrally as the author does. As a result, many of the ways he describes situations focus almost exclusively on (say) how members of one race group felt oppressed by those of another, or one gender by another or the like. I suspect that if you do see the world this way, you'll find this book has many good things to say to you. Since I don't, it didn't.

Aside from this, perhaps the biggest problem I, personally, found with this book is that it tends to tell me THAT things happened in various workshops rather than SHOWING me it happen, so there seemed little I could learn. In part, this may be an inevitable byproduct of the written medium, for I believe part of the author's fundamental approach is to react to the emotion of the moment. Without at least a video recording of an event, you're not going to be able to sense that moment, and what ends up on the written page is "dead" by comparision.

I did like the reminders that helping a group find they have shared interests, or moving people away from thinking towards feeling can be helpful. I also liked the notion of the various role playing activities that were mentioned in the book.

Very Powerful.......2003-07-02

We read this book as part of our readings in the LIOS program. The book grabbed by and kept me engaged all through it.
It is an earlier work, but I feel it is probably one of the most engaging books on group transformation that I have ever read. I'll be reading more of his work.

Peacemakers, you need this guidebook on group process........1998-12-18

Is your group breaking apart from internal conflict? You need to sit in the fire. Don't let them get away with playing the innocent victim of the wicked other side. Make them keep talking until they learn from each other. Power politics will just add to the spiral of violence, throw gas on the fire. But your sitting in the fire can facilitate bringing the community together.

The author says "... we want to insist on peaceful behavior: line up here, single file. ....." "But the world is not composed of docile little groups" "... engaging in heated conflict instead of running away from it is one of the best ways to resolve the divisiveness that prevails on every level of society - in personal relationships, business and the world."

Are you concerned about global trends? Do you want people to learn to share this earth? You need this book to guide you. Jump in and lead a deep democratic process. Be a midwife at the birth of our sustainable global community.

Book Description

The apparel and textile industries have always been at the mercy of rapidly changing styles and fickle customers who want the latest designs while they are still in fashion. The result for these businesses, often forced to forecast sales and order from suppliers with scant information about volatile demand, is a history of stock shortages, high inventories, and costly markdowns. But, as the authors explain in A Stitch in Time, technological advances in the 1980s paved the way for a new concept in retailing--lean retailing. Pioneered by companies like WAL-MART, lean retailing has reshaped the way that products are ordered, virtually eliminating delays from distribution center to sales rack by drawing on sales data captured electronically at the checkout counter. Armed with up-to-the-minute data about colors, sizes, styles, and geographic sales, apparel and textile companies now must be able to respond rapidly to real-time orders efficiently based on new approaches to distributing merchandise, forecasting, planning, organizing production, and managing supplier relations. A Stitch in Time shows that even in the face of burgeoning product proliferation, companies that successfully adapt to the world of lean retailing can reduce inventory risk, reduce costs, and increase profitability while improving their responsiveness to the ever-changing tastes of customers. Based on the success of these practices in the apparel industry, lean retailing practices are propagating through a growing number of consumer product industries. A richly detailed and resonant account, A Stitch in Time brilliantly captures both the history and future of the retail-apparel-textile channel and offers bold insights on the changes and challenges facing retailers and manufacturers in all segments of our rapidly changing economy.

Customer Reviews:

Very Informative.......2000-12-01

A Stitch In Time is a very good read.

While some academics tend to write books that are beyond the comprehension of mere mortals, this book is very readable, even to a layman like me who has no previous experience in the fashion/apparel/textiles business. The authors have explained techniques in manufacturing and theoretical concepts very clearly. Although it is obvious that much research has been done, the authors did not bore the reader with useless facts and figures just to prove the amount of research that has been done. Rather, significant findings were highlighted whenever appropriate, which made the book more interesting and comprehensible.

The authors believe that a new form of retailing, defined as lean retailing by the authors, will soon make its impact in the retail industry. Major retailers, like Wal-Mart, already practise this form of retailing. The theory of lean retailing propose that as there is an increase in product proliferation, and as customers demand quicker response times, retailers will "force" suppliers to replenish supplies at shorter intervals with smaller quantities. This will reduce inventory, cost and risk. While suppliers may choose to hold more inventories to satisfy lean retailers like Wal-Mart, it is a short-term solution. It is merely pushing the ineffectiveness of the system from retailers to apparel manufacturers. A better way is to re-look the industry from a channel angle, i.e. the whole chain of retailer-supplier-textile manufacturer. How can the channel be more effective as a whole? The authors believe information integration and co-operation is the key.

While the focus of the book has been on the fashion/apparel/textiles industry, I believe the concepts can also be applied to other industries. In fact, I believe the concepts were "borrowed" from more advanced industries like automobile manufacturing. Some of the concepts are similar to concepts in operations management like JIT, sales forecasting, etc.

I recommend this book to anyone in the retail business. This book will change your mindset of traditional retailing, whether you are in the fashion retail or not. I also recommend this book to people who are interested in exploiting IT for the exchanging of information between suppliers and retailers. I have learnt a lot from the book and I am sure many readers will agree with me.

Review of A Stitch in Time.......2000-01-04

This is an extremely lively and readable account of changes in the U.S. apparel industry. It challenges the prevailing assumption that the industry is doomed to move offshore in its entirety. The authors argue persuasively that there will be a continuing need for apparel production in the U.S. by firms that cooperate more closely with retailers, and meet the demand for timely production. In addition, the authors present a fascinating history of the industry and a wonderfully detailed discussion of its changing technology. This book is useful to those interested specifically in the apparel industry, but also as a case study of how new information technologies are reshaping U.S. industries more generally.

A welcome in-depth look at the effects of the IT revolution.......1999-10-29

The book goes beyond the hyped-up jargon of e-commerce and information technology and instead provides a nuts and bolts understanding of the actual impact of these trends on businesses, workers and the American economy. While it focuses on just one industry (one with which we can all identify, as consumers of clothing and customers of the Walmarts, J. Crews and Dillard's of the world), it gives a much broader understanding of the trends and forces that will eventually shape most industres, and affect who wins and loses in this emerging "IT" economy.

Book Description

The theory of public administration has long been based on the notions of hierarchy and authority. However, the way managers actually manage has increasingly become at odds with the theory. The growing gap between theory and practice poses enormous challenges for managers in determining how best to work -- and for American government in determining how best to hold public administrators accountable for effectively doing their jobs.

In the quest to improve the practice of public administration, Kettl explains, political scientists and other scholars have tried a number of approaches, including formal modeling, implementation studies, a public management perspective, and even institutional choice. This book offers a new framework for reconciling effective administration with the requirements of democratic government. Instead of thinking in terms of organizational structure and management, Kettl suggests, administrators and theorists need to focus on "governance,"or links between government and its broader environment -- political, social, and administrative. Government is the collection of institutions that act with authority and create formal obligations;governance is the set of processes and institutions, formal and informal, through which social action occurs. Linking government and governance, Kettl concludes, is the foundation for understanding the theory and practice of government in twenty-first century America -- for making public programs work better and for securing the values on which the American republic has been built.

Customer Reviews:

Go Team Bush.......2005-06-25

This is the guy who brought us the fawning page-turner, Team Bush. No research in here, no grounding in reality, mostly recycling of past work. He's written this book, what?, ten or twelve times over the past two decades. Enough already.

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