Book Description
Sales call reluctance is the "social disease of the sales profession." The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance offers practical, field-tested and well-researched technologies to diagnose and overcome career-limiting emotions that keep talented, capable people from earning what they are worth.
Customer Reviews:
The Psychology of sales call reluctance.......2007-05-07
This is the absolute most worthless book on sales call reluctance I have ever read.
Good Information BUT.......2007-04-11
This is a very good book but it has parts that are in-depth and one can look at in many different ways. You must be willing to read and put into use the information and learn methods to help yourself.
Ridiculous and Insulting.......2006-04-30
I gave this book one star because there is no option for zero stars.
This book is an insult to all sales professionals. The gist of the book is that call reluctance is some type of mental disorder and all salespeople who don't want to cold call have the disorder.
But what really made me want to burn this book is the authors' suggestion that the biggest symptom of this so-called disorder is when salespeople dress very well. Excuse me? I'm sorry but in sales, your appearance counts, and to state that dressing well indicates that a salesperson has a mental disorder is nonsense! Hopkins, Gitomer, and all the great sales authors who have a track record to prove that they walk their talk will tell you to wear great clothes and that your appearance matters.
I'd like to see one of the authors walk into an appointment dressed like a slob, and get the sale.
The sick part of it all is that many sales trainers have sold out and joined the cottage industry of teaching so-called sales reluctance 'cures.' Don't waste your money on this book unless you too want to sell out and preach this garbage and stab your fellow salespeople in the back.
You can sell and self-promote.......2006-03-24
The book is not for the faint-hearted. It is a quality, academic approach to the fears and reasons we have a relunctance to promote ourselves, our business, our product.
The Athena Tech is the best testing instrument around for diagnosing what is going on in our heads to set us up for failure in sales. I give this book to clients. It's great.
Jo Anna Couch
The Corporate Educator
Executive and Business Coach
Dallas, Texas
Has helped me.......2006-03-08
This book is an interesting look at the salesman's psyche. It gives you the opportunity to figure out which of their categories you fit in and a way to fix your weaknesses. I agree that we are naturally drawn to what comes easy for us. It is harder to work on the weaker areas in your personality.
My sales ratio has improved and I think this book has helped.
Amazon.com
There are more high-salaried women in the workforce today than ever before, yet most females remain seriously underpaid when compared to their male counterparts. Motivational speaker and financial journalist Barbara Stanny decided to find out why by identifying the differences between those who draw the big bucks and those who don't. In Secrets of Six-Figure Women she reveals what makes the leading edge tick, as well as how others can use the information to boost their own paychecks and self-esteem. "For far too many women, financial limits have become a fact of life. The thought of making more is like climbing Mount Everest, a colossal, if not impossible task," writes Stanny. "That's exactly how I used to feel." By examining scores of top moneymakers, along with dozens of those earning below their potentials, Stanny discovered what works and what doesn't. After analyzing the subsequent lessons (i.e., you actually can boost your income without selling out, the requisite traits to do so can be developed by virtually anyone, money really can't buy happiness), she proposes specific strategies for maximizing their impact (intend from the start to succeed, stretch yourself, manage any payoff with care). Stanny professes throughout that she desires to offer "insight, hope and guidance to any of you who aspire to earn more." With this surprisingly practical and ultimately inspirational guidebook, she delivers. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
Quietly and steadily, the number of women making six figures or more is increasing and continues to rise at a rate faster than for men. From entrepreneurs to corporate executives, from white-collar professionals to freelancers and part-timers, women are forging careers with considerable financial success.
In Secrets of Six-Figure Women, Barbara Stanny, journalist, motivational speaker,and financial educator, identifies the seven key strategies of female highearners: A Profit Motive, Audacity, Resilience, Encouragement, Self-Awareness, Non-attachment, and Financial Know-How.
Based on extensive research and hundreds of interviews, including more than 150 women whose annual earnings range from $100,000 to $7 million, Barbara Stanny turns each of the six-figure traits into a specific strategy for upping earnings. By rigorously fine-tuning them, readers can, step-by-step, climb the income ladder.
Customer Reviews:
You'll read this book over and over.......2007-08-26
In Secrets of Six-Figure Women, Stanny takes you through a process of recognizing why so many women underearn and what we can do to earn what we are worth. From dealing with our fears about stepping out of our comfort zone and challenging longstanding beliefs to helping readers learn to develop a profit motive, this book will help you position yourself to prosper mentally, emotionally and physically.
On a personal note - as a female business owner, whenever I'm tempted to undercharge for my services or allow fear to impact my decisions, I re-read "Secrets of Six Figure Women," to help me stay on the six figure track and remind myself that I'm worth it.
Cassandra Mack, host of The No More Drama Hour of Power and author of, "The Single Mom's Little Book of Wisdom: 42 Tidbits of Wisdom To Help You Survive, Succeed and Stay Strong."
Great advice for any career woman.......2007-06-05
Even if you're already at $100k+, this is a great book for general career advice, and even financial planning. Liked it so much I bought two for friends. Reminds you to be assertive and have confidence and to ask for things; don't get left behind. Good insight into past decision making, too; prevent future mistakes.
every woman should read this.......2007-04-12
It's going on my keeper shelf to be reread once a year.
Worth the read!.......2007-03-15
Great book for all women that want to or have crossed the six-figure line to read. It has alot of inspirational stories of women who had the very same fears, yet got through it.
Definitely a book for all women to have in their book arsenal.
the only page-turner of a self-help book I've ever read.......2007-01-21
This book is a genuinely fun read. I had trouble putting it down. Self-help books aren't supposed to page-turners, but this one is.
The point of the book is to outline the behaviors and thoughts that are common to all of the high-earning women who the author interviewed... But what makes it a fun read are all of the inspiring stories of high-earning women with diverse backgrounds and occupations. They are generally women who start off giving up their lives (and/or incomes) either for their loved ones, or for their charities, or for their boss, and then making various breakthroughs that made them start taking care of themselves first and foremost, while still caring for their friends and family as much as (if not more than) before, and of course making more money too. Their stories will leave you feeling optimistic about your own professional future, regardless of your field and rank. There are also stories about women who were always proud, positive-thinking, successful people, whose stories are equally as inspiring.
The "secrets" that the author outlines are so obviously essential to success, but so nebulous and elusive in our minds when we set personal goals, that it's invaluable that the author has pinpointed them, named them, described them, and turned them into strategies for success. And by showing the readers specific examples of how these behaviors were used in real people's lives, she gives the reader a concrete example to follow, to use as a starting point for the reader's own self-improvement.
(And a sidenote: This book is not just for women. The strategies the author outlines can be applied to anyone's life, male or female, and the stories are probably just as inspiring for a man as for a woman.)
Book Description
Every real estate agent knows that making serious money doesn't happen over night. But Make Millions Selling Real Estate details how agents can completely and forever change how they work, leap-frogging over more experienced agents to become true superstars -- shaving years off of the "pay-your-dues" period and reaping the fruits of their labors while still young enough to enjoy them.
Refreshingly simple and straightforward, this book does not rely on deep philosophy or theory, but instead gets right down to the nuts and bolts. Featuring eye-opening insights from top agents and brokers, Make Millions Selling Real Estate shows how the top earners do it, and reveals secrets and hard-won lessons it might otherwise take an entire career to learn -- and that many agents never learn at all!
Real estate is a tough business. Agents lacking the proper information and tools will quickly fall by the wayside. Make Millions Selling Real Estate can help keep veteran and rookie sellers on top of their game -- and ahead of the curve.
Customer Reviews:
Everyone wants to sell a product, very few sell real process!.......2007-07-04
This book is an excellent handbook in organizing your business and understanding how to measure its effectiveness. Some of the anecdotal moments are poorly written, yet the delineated processes and scripts are absolutely excellent (the guys a salesman...not a writer...). Out of all of the books that I have purchased or read regarding real estate, this would be my first choice to buy.
Make Millions Selling Real Estate.......2007-06-20
Make Millions Selling Real Estate" is truly an eye-opener and full of practical secrets that are so simple and yet so powerful. I enjoyed the
book greatly and it really inspired me to spring forth in my real estate career.
Jim understands the challenge of being a real estate agent and has included lots of secrets of how successful agent have made it in this career. It is even amazing seeing how the painless prospecting can work for you.
Highly recommended for new agent and those who need a fresh approach to real estate sales.
Best Real Estate Sales Books Made.......2007-06-04
Jim Remley's two books, "Make Millions Selling Real Estate" and "Real Estate Presentations that Make Millions" are two of the best books that I have read on Real Estate Sales in my 3 1/2 years in the business. I have read a ton of books. They are hands on, down to earth, and all meat, no fluff. These two books will soon become your profssional bibles. By the way his seminars are pretty cool too. - D. Farmer
Realistic and Useful Guide for Newbies or Old-Timers.......2007-03-09
I buy LOTS of books on real estate sales, but this is the BEST!
This book was written in a down-to-earth and interesting style an tells the in's-and-out's of surviving in a buyer's market.
It gives real-life examples of realor's experiences and really useful plans on how to farm an area and become actively involved and successful in making real estate sales.
A great book .......2007-01-12
I've read a lot of books on real estate sales, but this books is my favorite. Jim Remley offers comon sense ideas that are easy to implement and are being used by real agents. Everyone should read this book.
Book Description
Taking the same practical approach as Principles of Accounting I, this book teaches the second part of introductory accounting courses, including FASB requirements for the statement of cash flow. Covering specialized areas and aspects of business such as manufacturing costs, budgets, standard costs and financial ratios, the contents match those of the leading acocunting textbooks. Students in regular and special accounting prgrams and nonmajors will also appreciate the selection of fully solved problems.
Customer Reviews:
very clear and thorough.......2007-01-11
It was very clear and thorough. It is a pretty guide review for the Clep exam, but you will need to study Principles of Accounting II also for the Principles of Accounting CLEP.
Great "Nuts and Bolts" Book.......2005-11-23
If a company is going to buy assets to turn a profit, it has to first get capital from somewhere, right? And in the course of making sales and providing services, it needs to literally account for the use of that capital. Lerner and Cashin make readers comfortable working with major sources of capital in an easy to understand way.
Chapters 3 through 8 are the heart and soul of the book. They explore common stock issuance, subscriptions and treasury stock, retained earnings and bonds. By doing the "Solved Problems" and chapter-end exercises, I came to a much better understanding of accounting mechanics pertaining to capital concerns.
The book is also very valuable for those seeking to better understand manufacturing accounting, cost systems and budgets, as well as financial statement analysis.
Consistently clear, the authors do an excellent job in helping those interested in accounting better understand the subject matter. They helped me - I hope you benefit too!
Review principles of accounting II.......2005-09-14
The delivery was good. The condition of the book was good (new book). I would not hasate to buy another book in the future.
Book Description
* Presents the actual jobs and earnings of college graduates in 60 majors!
* The ONLY book based on a U.S. Census Bureau study of 150,000 college graduates.
This terrific handbook offers the most accurate and helpful information available for making decisions on a college major—or what to do with a degree you have. Readers learn which majors are the best investment, the job and salary prospects for specific majors, the employment growth rates for particular majors, and how many graduates go on to additional education.
The new second edition includes substantial new information, including the important steps to take before college to ensure future career success, the rising earnings premiums related to a college education, and the misinformation that exists about college costs and the belief that the "sticker price" of college is the final price. Each chapter describes the major and the courses it requires; discusses jobs that graduates actually obtain; and gives information on employers, tasks, and salaries.
Customer Reviews:
College Majors Handbook.......2007-10-01
This handbook has not yet been updated; however, its principles are still
pertinent. The author urges us to understand and know our abilities
artistically, intellectually, spatially, in language, ability to lead,
numerical, organization skills, science, pursuasiveness and socially.
The texts shows sample earnings by knowledge acquired. i.e.
high school, college and graduate school
The difference in earnings can be significant between high school and
graduate school. i.e. well over $1MM dollars in lifetime earnings
Men tend toward business and engineering careers; whereas, women major
in education and the social sciences. Applied mathematicians are
employed by private industry circa 69%; whereas, 9% are self-employed.
Physical therapists are employed by the private sector circa 38% and
11% are self-employed.
This work would be helpful in planning a career over a long term
time horizon. It is worth the price charged for the significant value
of the information contained therein.
Book Description
Inside the Minds: Building a Law Firm is an authoritative, insider's perspective on the essentials behind starting and evolving a successful and profitable law firm. Featuring Founding Partners representing some of the nation's leading boutique and highly-specialized firms, this book identifies both the benefits and risks of starting one's own firm, along with the factors one should consider before making this important decision. From the steps involved from the absolute beginning, including landing one's first wave of clients, building a strong client base, and networking with the right people, to tactics around establishing a solid growth plan and competing with larger firms, these authors articulate the finer points around building a law firm now, and what will hold true into the future. The different niches represented and the breadth of perspectives presented enable readers to get inside some of the great innovative minds of today, as experts explore in detail what it takes to turn one's vision into reality.
Customer Reviews:
Depends upon the reader's background.......2007-08-23
I read this book because a Wall Street Journal story referred to it as "the" source for quality of earnings analysis. I was somewhat disappointed with the quantity and quality of new information and analytical techniques, but that's not a knock on the book. I think it boils down to your background. If you're a CFO, Controller or seasoned accountant, there may not be alot of new information here for you. The book may be much better for financial analysts that don't have a strong accounting background but need to be able to determine earnings quality. I personally found Creative Cash Flow Reporting (Mulford & Comiskey) to be more useful. Nevertheless, I'm glad to have Quality of Earnings in my library.
Still worth reading.......2004-05-18
17 years later and many things have changed. The desire of investors to accurately gauge the stability of the companies in their portfolios remains the same. The incentive of management with stock options to hide the true nature of what the reality of what the company's earnings have been remains strong. Some of the techniques mentioned will be hard to use when companies employ SPEs to hide their true indebtedness and derivative positions mask the Value at Risk. However, many of the technique still have value. The analysis of receivables and inventories can provide insight into the immediate future of the company. The techniques that have lost their clear edge are the debt and write-off analysis. Write-offs are now required by GAAP (although the "big bath" write-offs are still "non-recurring") and SPEs or variable interest entities can obscure debt. It is fascinating in light of Enron, WorldCom, Qwest, Tyco, and Adelphia the stories of companies in the 70s and 80s that were attempting to do the same thing (though often without the fraud). How little man changes through the ages.
Middle Markets.......2004-05-07
Long overdue is a middle market with different rules than those by which the traditional markets must be rated in terms of earnings, and standards, to prevent the wholesale financial shennanigans that took place during the late 90's as VC's funded IPO's and oversold them to the institutional markets. There has always been a very healthy start up market in the U.S. that has yet to be tapped for its vitality, and its uncertainty, that can be just as legitimately traded as NASDAQ and the tradtional market. Defining a method of doing that, and setting it up will provide the U.S. with the vehicle to prevent putting excess pressure on accountants and marketers to whittle away expenses and beef up assets to present healthier stocks than they are to take advantage of the speculatators that most young companies draw. In fact, there should be an entrepreneurial wild mustang market similar to the gold rush vitality that Americans come by so naturally, but apart from the traditional markets that require greater control and stability. Organizing such a market would greatly benefit both the industry, the opportunities for investment, and the many personnel who make their living serving the investment industry and its affiliates. Making such an early trader market by taking advantage of the VC interest in early entrance but allow them to cut out early would help to grow the markets exponentially.
Excellent to learn financial analysis.......2002-09-20
This book is very effective in introducing people to critical financial statement analysis. It helps to have some accounting background though. The material in this book will reinforce a lot of the important financial/accounting concepts that all investors should at least understand before committing to an investment. The author makes the accounting concepts interesting and accessible for most people. In short, the book is a great way to learn/reinforce important financial analysis techniques.
Indespensible for fundamental analysis.......2002-09-18
I got a lot out of this book. It has helped me a lot in my personal schooling of fundamental analysis. It is easily understood and comprehended by most anybody of average intelligence and belongs on every investor/traders bookshelf. You can tell that Thornton L. O'Glove knows his stuff and I only wish that he was still doing his Quality Of Earnings Report. I have owned it for a little over a month as of this review and have read it three times now getting more and more out of it every time. I obviously love it.
Happy Trading,
David Taggart
Book Description
A comprehensive, accessible, and innovative approach to a potentially devastating problem.
When a firm's actual earnings fall significantly short of expectations, it's not just the company that suffers. Lenders, equity investors, accountants, auditors, and consultants can also take a hit from this "earnings surprise."
Financial Warnings is designed for one purpose—to make sure that such a shortfall never undermines your financial security. Clearly and systematically, this unique practical guide helps you:
- Understand the many causes of earnings surprises, including fraud, overstated revenues, undervalued liabilities, and many more
- Identify the early warning signals associated with particular earnings surprises, so you can take prompt corrective action
- Prevent earnings surprises from happening in the first place by improving the quality of earnings forecasts
Financial Warnings comes complete with a unique early warning system to put you on the alert for potential trouble, foolproof checklists to help you spot those "yellow flags," a convenient sustainable earnings worksheet to sharpen your earnings forecasts, and plenty of vivid case histories to show you how to anticipate and avoid earnings surprises—not just on paper, but in the real world.
A material difference between a corporation's expected and actual earnings, otherwise known as an earnings surprise, can spell big trouble for lenders and equity investors, to say nothing of the company in question. The failure to anticipate a negative result can threaten a lender's prospects for loan repayment, cause investors to absorb heavy losses, and trigger substantial losses on positions in equity securities.
Dedicated to the principle that "forewarned is forearmed," this book provides accountants and other users of financial statements with the resources needed to avoid these damaging financial discrepancies. Charles Mulford and Eugene Comiskey employ numerous case studies to examine and define these discrepancies and classify earnings surprises according to their major causes: changing economics, fraud, and aggressive application of GAAP. They then examine the results of a survey of bankers and develop a system for rating earnings surprise potential. This Earnings Reversal Score concisely categorizes cautionary signals, such as profitability, liquidity, and management-related early warnings, enabling accountants to recognize problems and take timely corrective measures.
Financial Warnings helps improve the quality of earnings forecasts as well. With the aid of a detailed worksheet and a pair of extended case studies, you'll learn how to locate material nonrecurring items—a major cause of earnings surprises—and determine a firm's sustainable earnings base more accurately. You'll discover how to pinpoint differences in the book and market values of assets and liabilities, which, if undetected, can also result in earnings surprises. In addition, you'll learn the early warning indicators of fraudulent financial reporting, as well as crucial information on the role and responsibility of auditors in detecting such fraud.
An important resource for accountants, executives, CFOs, and company auditors, Financial Warnings is an indispensable guide for investors and others who depend on the accuracy of earnings projections. Even if you have only a tentative understanding of basic accounting issues, this easily accessible presentation will help you develop the knowledge and skills you need to formulate more accurate earnings expectations and avoid the potential disasters caused by earnings surprises.
Customer Reviews:
An Invaluable Book that rings the bell loud and clear.......2004-09-23
Although this book looks outdated but I am sure it sounds loud and clear especially when we are so hot-headed about the Internet Age and Knowledge Management and in most cases have forgotten about what are the Warning Signs we have to watch for particularly when we are opting to invest in a new stock of the new age.The Author is a respected scholar in the field of Finance and I admire every book of his and has spent the money to have every book he has written but most of all, I feel this book is the best. Read it and you will have things to remember everyday.
Gem!.......2002-11-07
Impeccable, a must read for investors, bankers, corporate finance pros. Highly recommended.
Best financial book for your money........2002-04-18
The funny thing is that I have read over 20 books on financial analysis and investing, and I believe that every penny that I have spent on this book was well worth it. The price of the book scared me at first, but where all of the other books that I read fell short, Financial Warnings did not. I was very impressed with the detail to which the book describes each investment scenario. There is no shortage of financial warnings to look out for. In fact, I was shocked to learn of how many warnings lenders and investors should be aware of. Not only has this book taught me about what to avoid, but also about what to buy. Did you know that the CEO or CFO going through a divorce is a financial warning? Did you know that a company entering a new business is a financial warning? Did you know that beating earnings expectations by one penny every quarter is a financial warning when your competitor fell short of expectations? This is a must read. Reading Financial Warnings has changed my life. It is a must read.
Sans pareil!.......2002-01-28
The book is an excellent treatise which provides the readers a systematic framework for figuring out whether the books have been manipulated or if the accounting has been aggressive, through finding out non-recurring items in the income statement and balance sheet. I have tried other books but, they just do not compare with this treatise. The book uses a systematic step-by-step approach which introduces the reader to how to read the fine print. This book should be invaluable to finance and accounting professionals, and also to amateur investors, who would be willing to do a little research into the company books.
For those who not lucky enough to attend Dr. Mulford's class, this book should do a great job.
Listens to all the reviewers.......2000-03-30
To all the people who are skeptical. This book is excellent. I got an email pointing me to this direction and I am glad I did spend the money. It is money well spend.
It teachs you the non recuring items in the financial statements, capitalized assets, capitalized interest, Lifo liquidation etc.
If you find my review satisfying, let me know if you had another good book to read. I know another book, let's trade some info.
Book Description
Provides a comprehensive framework for achieving higher levels of corporate information disclosure and transparency
In order to decide whether or not a company is a good investment, analysts and investment professionals need to know as much as possible about the company's tangible and intangible assets, as well as a variety of critical performance measures. Written by an international team of experts, The Value Reporting Revolution clearly explains why corporations must move toward greater transparency and, more importantly, it provides a comprehensive framework for achieving that goal. Among other important lessons, readers learn how to identify the gaps between how corporate managers perceive their disclosure practices versus how the markets see them, as well as how to leverage their organizations' electronic communications technology and tools to ensure easy access to vital information and more meaningful data analysis.
Robert Eccles (Jupiter, FL) is President of Advisory Capital Partners, Inc. Robert H. Herz (New York, NY) is a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, US. David Phillips (London, UK) is a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, UK. Mary M. Keegan (London, UK) is head of Global Corporate Reporting at PricewaterhouseCoopers, UK.
Customer Reviews:
Good "second book" on accounting reform.......2002-08-01
If you want to learn about accounting scams, you probably need Mulford and Comiskey, The Financial Numbers Game. But for a broader view of the virtues and limits of accounting, Eccles and company have a lot to offer. You can skip or skim the somewhat overhyped stuff about the "ValueRevolution" itself (note that three of the authors come from PricewaterhouseCoopers, where they seem to be having some trouble with their space bar, or spacebar). Keep your best brain cells for chapters three through eight, where you get a look at the earnings obsession -- and just as useful, a suggestion of what investors really need and want. Note that one of the co-authors (Robert H. Herz) is the new head of the Financial Accounting Standards Board).
Fantastic ! A must read ! Breakthrough thinking !.......2002-03-29
I have purchased several books on amazon.com, but I must say that this is one of the best ones I have read so far ! This is exactly the sort of book management in companies worldwide should be reading ! I live and work in Tokyo, and I think the Japanese public companies here could learn so much from this book ! Corporate reporting here is very poor, especially in the banking sector(horrendous !), and investors do not take them seriously anymore. Public companies here should improve their corporate reporting and utilize the capital markets more, and the first thing they need to do is to regain the trust of their
shareholders. In other words, they should read this book cover to cover right away ! The people who worked on this book, like Mr. Matthew Wissell, who leads the Value Reporting practice in PricewaterhouseCoopers' New York office, should be highly commended for such a fine piece of work !
Fantastic ! A must read ! Breakthrough thinking !.......2002-03-29
I have purchased several books on amazon.com, but I must say that this is one of the best ones I have read so far ! This is exactly the sort of book management in companies worldwide should be reading ! I live and work in Tokyo, and I think the Japanese public companies here could learn so much from this book ! Corporate reporting here is very poor, especially in the banking sector(horrendous !), and investors do not take them seriously anymore. Public companies here should improve their corporate reporting and utilize the capital markets more, and the first thing they need to do is to regain the trust of their
shareholders. In other words, they should read this book cover to cover right away ! The people who worked on this book, like Mr. Matthew Wissell, who leads the Value Reporting practice in PricewaterhouseCoopers' New York office, should be highly commended for such a fine piece of work !
A Call to Arms.......2001-04-07
"ValueReporting" smoothly describes many broken financial reporting processes, including "whispering", a time-consuming process that CFOs play with analysts, where CFOs "whisper" their earnings expectations to the analyst, making the analysts appear intelligent. A great deal for the analyst cause they don't have to do any real analysis. If the CFO does not play this game, they risk the wrath of Wall Street.
The problem with this is that it is in violation of the spirit (if not the law) of the yet to be enforced SEC Fair Disclosure Act which states that Sally Q. Public gets to know material information the same time that John Q. Analyst does.
"ValueReporting" does offer a practical solution through XBRL technology. As a member of XBRL.org I strongly agree with the authors that if business reporting, both financial and non-financial, is standardized, Web technologies are in place to distribute this information uniformly to all investors and in a richer format than at present. With the gentle prodding of regulatory agencies like the SEC and FDIC, this will happen sooner rather than later. Let's hope that SEC Chairman Unger reads this book, and fast.
For me as a consultant and a technologist "who can spell XBRL", The ValueReporting Revolution was a call to arms to apply my knowledge to the inequities of financial reporting. Helping clients sell their wares over the Web is nice, but to level the financial playing field for small companies as well as large, for the small investor as well as the institutional, is ennobling. And forcing Wall Street analysts to actually work for a living, would be, well, just icing on the cake.
Pass Go & collect $200 for this short cut to the future.......2001-03-14
First I should explain that I'm not a neutral reviewer: I have known one of the authors of this book (Bob Eccles) ever since he woke some of us up with his HBR article "The Performance Measurement Manifesto" almost ten years ago, and I've also met another of the authors (David Phillips) in the last year. Coupled with that, some of the work of my company (Metapraxis) on Business Driver Diagrams is mentioned in Chapter 1. I mention these points up-front in the interests of transparency, which is a core theme of the book itself.
The book's thesis is that the investors of the future will reward companies for such transparency - in other words, those companies that understand, measure and publish information about leading indicators such as growth of market share as well as lagging indicators such as profit will be better rated than their competitors, other things being equal.
This is pretty controversial stuff. After all, if you're the CEO or CFO of a major global multinational that's just announced on-target quarterly earnings, but your (currently confidential) internal leading edge indicators say that your market share is starting to fall, how exactly are your investors going to react if you decide to be brave enough to tell them all about it?
There is clearly something of a problem here and I refer to it as the Paradox of the World's Bravest Customer. You don't know who that was? I think it was the guy who bought the world's first fax machine. Think about it.
So undoubtedly there'll be some short-term pain for the pioneers, but once the markets start to see that a core group of innovative firms has the courage to disclose this kind of information (whether good or bad) then it's obvious that this disclosure will reduce the risks involved in these investments. And as John Maynard Keynes pointed out in 1910:
"What would be a risky investment for an ignorant speculator may be exceptionally safe for the well-informed expert. The amount of risk to any investor practically depends, in fact, upon the degree of his ignorance respecting the circumstances and prospects of the investment he is considering." *
The book is all about the revolutionary implications that follow through from this 90-year old observation. Whether you agree with the thesis or not, it will change the way you think about corporate information, business management and investor relations. I recommend it highly to CEOs, CFOs, IR heads, financial analysts and auditors, business school students and indeed to anyone embarking on a career in these areas.
Robert Bittlestone: Managing Director, Metapraxis - London & New York
* JM Keynes: Hopes Betrayed 1883-1920 by Robert Skidelsky (Vol 1); Ch. 9 Economic Orthodoxies. Skidelsky is quoting in turn from the "Collected Writings of JMK": xv 46-47....
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- Monetary Theory and Policy, 2nd Edition
- Darsan
- The Age of the Economist
- The Art of the Dragonlance Saga
- Trading Chaos: Maximize Profits with Proven Technical Techniques
- Breaking Ranks II: Strategies for Leading High School Reform
- 7 Chart Patterns That Consistently Make Money
- Instituciones y nueva gestion publica en America Latina/ Institutions And New Public Formalities of
- The Econometric Modelling of Financial Time Series
- The Forest Carpet: New Zealand's Little-Noticed Forest Plants-Mosses, Lichens, Liverworts, Hornworts
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I'd Rather Have a Root Canal Than Do Cold Calling
Prospecting Your Way to Sales Success
Heat Up Your Cold Calls: How to Get Prospects to Listen, Respond, and Buy
Successful Cold Call Selling: Over 100 New Ideas, Scripts, and Examples from the Nation's Foremost Sales Trainer
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cold Calling (The Complete Idiot's Guide)
