Amazon.com
Updated Edition: Thomas L. Friedman is not so much a futurist, which he is sometimes called, as a presentist. His aim in The World Is Flat, as in his earlier, influential Lexus and the Olive Tree, is not to give you a speculative preview of the wonders that are sure to come in your lifetime, but rather to get you caught up on the wonders that are already here. The world isn't going to be flat, it is flat, which gives Friedman's breathless narrative much of its urgency, and which also saves it from the Epcot-style polyester sheen that futurists--the optimistic ones at least--are inevitably prey to.
What Friedman means by "flat" is "connected": the lowering of trade and political barriers and the exponential technical advances of the digital revolution that have made it possible to do business, or almost anything else, instantaneously with billions of other people across the planet. This in itself should not be news to anyone. But the news that Friedman has to deliver is that just when we stopped paying attention to these developments--when the dot-com bust turned interest away from the business and technology pages and when 9/11 and the Iraq War turned all eyes toward the Middle East--is when they actually began to accelerate. Globalization 3.0, as he calls it, is driven not by major corporations or giant trade organizations like the World Bank, but by individuals: desktop freelancers and innovative startups all over the world (but especially in India and China) who can compete--and win--not just for low-wage manufacturing and information labor but, increasingly, for the highest-end research and design work as well. (He doesn't forget the "mutant supply chains" like Al-Qaeda that let the small act big in more destructive ways.)
Friedman has embraced this flat world in his own work, continuing to report on his story after his book's release and releasing an unprecedented hardcover update of the book a year later with 100 pages of revised and expanded material. What's changed in a year? Some of the sections that opened eyes in the first edition--on China and India, for example, and the global supply chain--are largely unaltered. Instead, Friedman has more to say about what he now calls "uploading," the direct-from-the-bottom creation of culture, knowledge, and innovation through blogging, podcasts, and open-source software. And in response to the pleas of many of his readers about how to survive the new flat world, he makes specific recommendations about the technical and creative training he thinks will be required to compete in the "New Middle" class. As before, Friedman tells his story with the catchy slogans and globe-hopping anecdotes that readers of his earlier books and his New York Times columns know well, and he holds to a stern sort of optimism. He wants to tell you how exciting this new world is, but he also wants you to know you're going to be trampled if you don't keep up with it. A year later, one can sense his rising impatience that our popular culture, and our political leaders, are not helping us keep pace. --Tom Nissley
Where Were You When the World Went Flat?
Thomas L. Friedman's reporter's curiosity and his ability to recognize the patterns behind the most complex global developments have made him one of the most entertaining and authoritative sources for information about the wider world we live in, both as the foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times and as the author of landmark books like From Beirut to Jerusalem and The Lexus and the Olive Tree. They also make him an endlessly fascinating conversation partner, and we've now had the chance to talk to him about The World Is Flat twice. Read our original interview with him following the publication of the first edition of The World Is Flat to learn why there's almost no one from Washington, D.C., listed in the index of a book about the global economy, and what his one-plank platform for president would be. (Hint: his bumper stickers would say, "Can You Hear Me Now?")
And now you can listen to our second interview, in which he talks about the updates he's made in "The World Is Flat 2.0," including his response to parents who said to him, "Great, Mr. Friedman, I'm glad you told us the world is flat. Now what do I tell my kids?"
The Essential Tom Friedman
From Beirut to Jerusalem |
The Lexus and the Olive Tree |
Longitudes and Attitudes |
More on Globalization and Development
China, Inc. by Ted Fishman |
Three Billion New Capitalists by Clyde Prestowitz |
The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs |
Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz |
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli |
The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto |
Book Description
The World Is Flat is Thomas L. Friedman’s account of the great changes taking place in our time, as lightning-swift advances in technology and communications put people all over the globe in touch as never before—creating an explosion of wealth in India and China, and challenging the rest of us to run even faster just to stay in place. This updated and expanded edition features more than a hundred pages of fresh reporting and commentary, drawn from Friedman’s travels around the world and across the American heartland—from anyplace where the flattening of the world is being felt.
In The World Is Flat, Friedman at once shows “how and why globalization has now shifted into warp drive” (Robert Wright, Slate) and brilliantly demystifies the new flat world for readers, allowing them to make sense of the often bewildering scene unfolding before their eyes. With his inimitable ability to translate complex foreign policy and economic issues, he explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; how governments and societies can, and must, adapt; and why terrorists want to stand in the way. More than ever, The World Is Flat is an essential update on globalization, its successes and discontents, powerfully illuminated by one of our most respected journalists.
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The Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist gives a bold, timely, and surprising picture of the state of globalization in the twenty-first century
Customer Reviews:
The World is Flat.......2007-10-23
Had to return the book. I wanted the 3.0 version but only the 2.0 was available. Too bad!!!
An important look into the development of the world, for the common person.......2007-10-23
I am a common person. I am not a computer-geek, or a technology junkie, or even an avid reader of Times or other such publications of the world as we know it. I am too busy, and so this was a lovely book to help bring to my awareness the situation of our world's commerce, trade and technological developments as they are today.
Covering a wide range of subjects, from political to environmental, to health-care and education, our author provides a good, clear look into the world of outsourcing, "in-sourcing", technological advances, and the political arena in which everything comes together. He provides a mostly objective report on such subjects, so widly influencing the world.
For anyone interested in the future of our nation and of the world, business, trade, politics, or life in general, this is a great resource. Of course, it certainly is a lot of heavy reading, and the author tends to get wordy from time to time. But overall, this book is well researched and well written.
My main complaint is that he steps into the political side of things a bit more than I believe this book warrants. He gives his opinion on what certain individuals should do to solve the problems, and uses the book as a platform for his area of interest. I support his research and expertise on the subjects at hand, but do not feel that the "call to action" was either appropriately executed or even thorough enough given the subjects covered, for it to be a valid part of the book. Other than that, great job!
...and so is this book.......2007-10-10
Though it has become an immensely popular book, Friedman's work is fairly shallow and simplistic. It is important to remember that this is a world analysis written by a journalist, not by a political economist or any type of economist or political scientist. His views are oversimplified and his support relies heavily on anecdote, making his 600-pager about 400 pages too long. We read it for a poli sci class and proceeded to tear it apart intellectually.
Ranks up there with Common Sense, Uncle Toms Cabin, The Femine Mystique.......2007-10-10
One of the greatest books ever written. Everyone in America should read this book. Every teacher in America should read and teach Frieman's lessons. Every parent should read and help prepare their children for the world that is coming. Every student should read and begin to prepare for the world they are going to face. This is the most important book of our times, bar none.
Embracing Business Globalization's Irreversibility.......2007-10-10
This is easily the most relevant book written on the new realities of business globalization, its irreversibility, and the practical consequences to our future. Friedman does an excellent job describing the numerous factors that led up to our current global economy including the ongoing fall of communism, the advent of the personal computer, and the ubiquity of the Internet. His historical review and assessment is fascinating and it sets up the reader to understand the context for his theories and practical applications. Friedman delves into numerous industries, businesses, personalities, case studies, technologies, psychological factors, and sociological factors. Although he covers numerous business, technological, and economic concepts, his writing style is very engaging and entertaining, using many personal examples and narratives, thereby holding the reader's interest. Rather than bemoaning some of the common perceived negative consequences of a global economy (such as US auto workers losing jobs to overseas cheaper labor) Friedman helps the reader to understand business globalization's irreversibility. In so doing, he describes many personal, practical, and business strategies for thriving in this new environment. Friedman is realistic and compassionate concerning the changes and the challenges. He states, "the great challenge for our time will be to absorb these changes in ways that do not overwhelm people but also do not leave them behind. None of this will be easy. But this is our task. It is inevitable and unavoidable" (pp. 46-47). As Friedman unfolds his strategies, he gives the reader a broader, global perspective that is filled with hope and excitement. Whether as a CEO, a business student, or a brand new professional embarking upon a career, this book is insightful, practical, and essential reading.
Book Description
In just the last few years, traditional collaboration—in a meeting room, a conference call, even a convention center—has been superseded by collaborations on an astronomical scale.
Today, encyclopedias, jetliners, operating systems, mutual funds, and many other items are being created by teams numbering in the thousands or even millions. While some leaders fear the heaving growth of these massive online communities, Wikinomics proves this fear is folly. Smart firms can harness collective capability and genius to spur innovation, growth, and success.
A brilliant guide to one of the most profound changes of our time, Wikinomics challenges our most deeply-rooted assumptions about business and will prove indispensable to anyone who wants to understand competitiveness in the twenty-first century.
Based on a $9 million research project led by bestselling author Don Tapscott, Wikinomics shows how masses of people can participate in the economy like never before. They are creating TV news stories, sequencing the human genome, remixing their favorite music, designing software, finding a cure for disease, editing school texts, inventing new cosmetics, or even building motorcycles. You'll read about:
• Rob McEwen, the Goldcorp, Inc. CEO who used open source tactics and an online competition to save his company and breathe new life into an old-fashioned industry.
• Flickr, Second Life, YouTube, and other thriving online communities that transcend social networking to pioneer a new form of collaborative production.
• Mature companies like Procter & Gamble that cultivate nimble, trust-based relationships with external collaborators to form vibrant business ecosystems.
An important look into the future, Wikinomics will be your road map for doing business in the twenty-first century.
Customer Reviews:
The Mass Collaboration Gold Mine.......2007-10-19
This book hammers home a 21st century no-brainer. "It's all based on a principle the new generation of Web start-ups learned from the open source software community: There are always more smart people outside your enterprise boundaries than there are inside."
While it has mixed reviews ("made me feel alternately like Christopher Columbus and Grandpa Simpson"), it's an important addition to your organization's resource library.
Tapscot and Williams deliver fascinating case studies of companies that have opened up their internal secrets/data to the world so "mass collaboration" can help them solve big problems. Procter & Gamble did it and so did a failing Toronto-based gold-mining firm. In 2000, Goldcorp, Inc. ran a contest, the "Goldcorp Challenge," with $575,000 in prize money--and posted all of the mine's proprietary data on the web. The request: help us find more gold. The result: "More than 1,000 virtual prospectors from 50 countries got busy crunching the data."
Mass collaboration from the most unlikely sources and disciplines targeted new mother lodes on their 55,000-acre property. It worked: $100 invested in the company in 1993 was worth more than $3,000 in 2006.
There's a core value here (a biblical one) for faith-based organizations and churches: it's all kingdom work. It's time to open up and work together versus holding your ministry close to the vest. (It's not your ministry anyway!)
Read this book and then ask your team these questions: 1) What's our biggest challenge in the next 12 months? 2) Would mass collaboration help us solve it? 3) Do we operate as if the smartest people are INSIDE our organization or OUTSIDE our organization? Why?
Future Shock 2.0.......2007-10-14
Reading this 2006 book made me feel alternately like Christopher Columbus and Grandpa Simpson. Co-authors Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams define a near-term future of breathtaking wonder and innovation, yet I came away finding their best-case scenario hard to swallow.
"Wikinomics" describes existing business models in various industries, from which it extrapolates their ongoing development as part of a larger revolution of revolutionary openness, "on par with the Italian renaissance or the rise of Athenian democracy," the authors write. "Mass collaboration across borders, disciplines, and cultures is at once economical and enjoyable."
Like a lot of other posted reviewers here, I found "Wikinomics" too gushy and jargony, throwing up random-sounding words like "ideagoras" and "prosumers" as if their very existence connoted concreteness of often-fuzzy notions. The book's airy dismissal of copyright law and the protection of intellectual property rights as old thinking annoyed me immensely. And the notion of a future of non-hierarchal business enterprises strikes me as a terribly naive misreading of the most important aspect of the equation: the human element.
But give Tapscott and Williams points for presenting their case for futurism in a way that often feels quite compelling. They start with perhaps the best such example, by presenting the case of a Canadian mining company that, stymied in their search for gold, opened their records up to the outside world through online file sharing, soliciting ideas about where in their vast mine network they should dig for rich veins. The resulting influx of new thinking catapulted Goldcorp from a $100 million company to one worth $9 billion.
Tapscott and Williams take the success of Goldcorp and look for other industries where similar ideas have been practiced with similar results. With some, like this website, the fruits of innovation are immediate and obvious. With others, like old-guard conglomerate Procter & Gamble, success has been nearly as profound in more subtle ways.
The authors score some points, but also spout a lot of obvious Panglossian hyperbole. Wikipedia is as accurate as the Encyclopedia Britannica (better check that with John Seigenthaler). The youth-oriented website TakingITGlobal is like a new United Nations in embryonic form.
But their viewpoint has obvious value, too, and applicability in the world around us, even beyond the net world from which "Wikinomics" springs. Looking at the reinvention of BestBuy through its acquisition of Geek Squad, or how the workplace itself is changing shape to adapt to faster-moving, less-centralized structuring, is "Wikinomics" at its most challenging, and best reading.
I didn't put down this book convinced I saw the future, let alone a good future. But I did feel myself thinking differently about life and work than when I first picked "Wikinomics" up. Maybe that's the point.
Great Book to Read.......2007-10-02
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
As I refresh my professional career for the second decade of the 21st Century, I decided ro read this book, and I was not wrong. This is a most read book for everyone that's looking to stay relevant in the digital economy and the disrupting collaboration paradign. I highly recommeded.
Good, but not critical enough and scores high on the buzzword-meter.......2007-09-12
The book gives a quick tour of the new collaborative ways in which people aggregate and process information. It points out that collaboration can also be applied to produce new 'stuff', outside of software and even applying to manufacturing. It makes for interesting reading for people who a) know something about open source and want to know about its business implications and b) managers who don't know about open source/collaboration but would like to.
It is, imho, less interesting for those who want in-depth answers to the real thorny _business_ problems around open-source. I.e. How to make money at it, if you want to. It hints at important questions such as rewarding the community at large, not losing the family jewels as you open up, etc. Unfortunately, it never quite gets down to specific recommendations beyond "you have to find the right mix of proprietary vs. open source IP".
Not to criticize it overmuch. Wikinomics often jars your thinking with insightful nuggets. For example, it cites Goldcorp as the example of a mining company which opened up its secret prospection data to outsiders. Wikinomics, probably rightly, uses that as a counter-intuitive example of enlisting external help for a type of company that never shares that kind of data. Hmmm, why not share? If the prospection data applies to land on which only your company can operate, isn't that a pretty safe gamble? I don't know, really, but the point is that the anecdote makes you think of things differently. Same with IBM's success at getting a new OS (Linux)almost for free, while gathering goodwill from the community and genuinely collaborating. How far Big Blue's embarrassing anti-trust proceedings seem now...
Less helpful is Wikinomics' recurring use of cherry-picked anecdotes by sector, rather than a broad analysis of various businesses. First of all, it rarely compares its chosen 'smart companies' to their competitors. Yes, BMW is opening up. Does that make their cars any better? How is their stock doing? vs. Toyota? How is their reliability? How innovative are their cars?
Red Hat is a huge success story in Linux, but its dominance also highlights the relative failure of other Linux vendors. No explanation is given for that - network effects? first mover?
I would have welcomed some case studies of failures for big corporations in opening up. What caused those failures? What can be learned from them?
Google is also cited as a big example of openness. That is only partially true and could have served to highlight the necessary(?) split between proprietary information and public openness. Google opens up its APIs and the search is certainly free. I am a big fan myself. However, they have not chosen to release much code back to the community (cf. MapReduce) , mostly by sidestepping the GPL because they don't distribute their software. Their choice, and probably motivated by good business logic. Apple also walks a fine line between leveraging open source and keeping its business very much a secret.
This is just the kind of case studies Wikinomics could sink its teeth into, but it spends way too much time gushing over all the boundless possibilities of collaboration.
Conclusion: a good eye-opener but take it with a grain of salt. Note that my perspective is that of a developer interested in open source _and_ business profits.
An interesting read........2007-09-04
I liked this book, and it opened my eyes to many other "community-driven" technologies/companies. While I thought a lot of the ideas were very "common sense", it was well written, and had some great anecdotes. I recommend this book for anyone interested in social networking, building communities, etc.
Customer Reviews:
outrageous price.......2006-11-21
This is perhaps the most expensive book besides collectables. Judging from the size and amount of information, it probably worths $5 - but I had to buy it simply because the professor uses it as textbook.
Granted that this is a book for business management professionals or to-be's, but this does not mean the book should be this expensive. You'll know what I mean when you see the book. I think they they are taking advantage of that fact that most people buy this book get reimbursed - my self for one will get reimbursement from my company, but I resent the fact that I have to buy such an expensive book and waste my company's money only because I have to. This is robbery - it's not printing book, it's more like printing money.
Excellent book.......2006-08-01
This is a short and concise book . I used it in one of my graduate courses, and found it very helpful.
Essential Reading.......2006-02-25
I used a previous edition of Ms. Munter's book as a text in a graduate course in management communications. The latest edition adds some new subjects and is still one of the best books on the subject. If you could only have one book on this subject this would be a good choice. Even though this book covers a broad base of communication skills (strategy, written, verbal and non-verbal, typography, graphical and prepresentation skills), each subject is covered in considerable depth. This book should be on the office shelf of every manager who needs to communicate effectively.
Book Description
Do you want to get ahead in life?
Climb the ladder to personal success?
The secret, master networker Keith Ferrazzi claims, is in reaching out to other people. As Ferrazzi discovered early in life, what distinguishes highly successful people from everyone else is the way they use the power of relationships—so that everyone wins.
In Never Eat Alone, Ferrazzi lays out the specific steps—and inner mindset—he uses to reach out to connect with the thousands of colleagues, friends, and associates on his Rolodex, people he has helped and who have helped him.
The son of a small-town steelworker and a cleaning lady, Ferrazzi first used his remarkable ability to connect with others to pave the way to a scholarship at Yale, a Harvard MBA, and several top executive posts. Not yet out of his thirties, he developed a network of relationships that stretched from Washington’s corridors of power to Hollywood’s A-list, leading to him being named one of Crain’s 40 Under 40 and selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the Davos World Economic Forum.
Ferrazzi's form of connecting to the world around him is based on generosity, helping friends connect with other friends. Ferrazzi distinguishes genuine relationship-building from the crude, desperate glad-handling usually associated with “networking.” He then distills his system of reaching out to people into practical, proven principles. Among them:
Don’t keep score: It’s never simply about getting what you want. It’s about getting what you want and making sure that the people who are important to you get what they want, too.
“Ping” constantly: The Ins and Outs of reaching out to those in your circle of contacts all the time—not just when you need something.
Never eat alone: The dynamics of status are the same whether you’re working at a corporation or attending a society event— “invisibility” is a fate worse than failure.
In the course of the book, Ferrazzi outlines the timeless strategies shared by the world’s most connected individuals, from Katherine Graham to Bill Clinton, Vernon Jordan to the Dalai Lama.
Chock full of specific advice on handling rejection, getting past gatekeepers, becoming a “conference commando,” and more, Never Eat Alone is destined to take its place alongside How to Win Friends and Influence People as an inspirational classic.
Download Description
Do you want to get ahead in life?
Climb the ladder to personal success?
The secret, master networker Keith Ferrazzi claims, is in reaching out to other people. As Ferrazzi discovered early in life, what distinguishes highly successful people from everyone else is the way they use the power of relationships–so that everyone wins.
In Never Eat Alone, Ferrazzi lays out the specific steps–and inner mindset–he uses to reach out to connect with the thousands of colleagues, friends, and associates on his Rolodex, people he has helped and who have helped him.
The son of a small–town steelworker and a cleaning lady, Ferrazzi first used his remarkable ability to connect with others to pave the way to a scholarship at Yale, a Harvard MBA, and several top executive posts. Not yet out of his thirties, he developed a network of relationships that stretched from Washington’s corridors of power to Hollywood’s A–list, leading to him being named one of Crain’s 40 Under 40 and selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the Davos World Economic Forum.
Ferrazzi’s form of connecting to the world around him is based on generosity, helping friends connect with other friends. Ferrazzi distinguishes genuine relationship–building from the crude, desperate glad–handling usually associated with “networking.” He then distills his system of reaching out to people into practical, proven principles. Among them:
Don’t keep score: It’s never simply about getting what you want. It’s about getting what you want and making sure that the people who are important to you get what they want, too.
“Ping” constantly: The Ins and Outs of reaching out to those in your circle of contacts all the time–not just when you need something.
Never eat alone: The dynamics of status are the same whether you’re working at a corporation or attending a society event&mdash “invisibility” is a fate worse than failure.
In the course of the book, Ferrazzi outlines the timeless strategies shared by the world’s most connected individuals, from Katherine Graham to Bill Clinton, Vernon Jordan to the Dalai Lama.
Chock full of specific advice on handling rejection, getting past gatekeepers, becoming a “conference commando,” and more, Never Eat Alone is destined to take its place alongside How to Win Friends and Influence People as an inspirational classic.
Customer Reviews:
Never Eat Alone .......2007-10-20
Never Eat Alone is not your typical business manual. By following the author's strategies you will not only grow your business but will profit in your personal relationships as well. It is truly life altering. So many books are written on how to be successful and using people to gain that level of success. This book focuses on relationships and how building on those relationships, success will follow. Get your pen and paper out, this book has so many practical tips that you'll want to read them over and over. Katherine Burger RN,C CWS Supervisor Outpatient Services Ocala Regional Medical Center
Simple, but good advice.......2007-10-17
The advice presented in this book is quite simple and nothing is really new. Don't expect any advice based on the academic writing on social networks. Still I liked the style of writing and good practical examples. The key problem is naturally to implement the author's advice. He has for instance great advice on dinner parties, but the key difficulty is to get moving and doing it. In this regard, a book cannot really do much. Still, this book makes it as easy as possible.
Not impressed.......2007-10-15
This stuff put into practice would spread your network to thin and you wouldn't make real friends with anybody. I didn't gain anything from reading this book.
too basic.......2007-10-14
some good ideas but would expect a book like this to sell for $4.00 to $6.00. Here is the gist of the book: middle class childhood and was able to get into Yale where he met people, became friends and kept in touch with. Guess what, he was able to tap the network and help himself... wow who knew? So, if you are going to a City college you might no be meeting the "right" people. Seriously, for those with no clue about being social, this book may help them. Marketing can be learned... many of us (even experienced markeing people) at time can be a wall flower. Don't fret, just follow up and talk about things other than work.... kids, pets, sports, etc.
Be a better connector.......2007-10-14
Your don't have to be a super-connector like Ferrazzi to be a better connector in your own life. I took away some useful perspectives that I am starting to incorporate into my own routines. For instance, this book helped me recognize the potential value that lies hidden in my own Outlook address book.
I have begun to turn the regrets I felt for not keeping in touch into actions. "Never Eat Alone" is not only a great title for this book, but also a concept that helps to remind me of the simple opportunities available on a daily basis to better connect with the people around me.
Amazon.com
David Maister, Charles Green, and Robert Galford--consultants on professional-service management and customer-relation issues--believe nobody can become successful as a business guru until they first gain the confidence of their clients. In The Trusted Advisor, the authors effectively build their case through anecdote and illustration, then relay a solid series of relevant suggestions applicable to both would-be consultants and those already active in the field. Among their most potent suggestions is a practical, five-step development process that encourages outsiders to engage clients by focusing attention on the issues and individuals at hand; listening both to what they say and what they leave unsaid; framing the immediate problem from their perspective; envisioning with them how a solution might appear; and committing jointly to the actions and resources that will bring it about. Also particularly useful is the examination of trust-building during four phases of a client-advisor alliance: at the time the relationship is consummated; during the assignment; after the assignment; and when "cross-selling," or establishing affiliations with the customer's associates. Boosting its utility, the book is filled with concise, easily adopted tips like "return phone calls unbelievably fast" and "always tell the truth and not what the client wants to hear." --Howard Rothman
Book Description
In today's fast-paced networked economy, professionals must work harder than ever to maintain and improve their business skills and knowledge. But technical mastery of one's discipline is not enough, assert world-renowned professional advisors David H. Maister, Charles H. Green, and Robert M. Galford. The key to professional success, they argue, is the ability to earn the trust and confidence of clients. To demonstrate the paramount importance of trust, the authors use anecdotes, experiences, and examples -- successes and mistakes, their own and others' -- to great effect. The result is an immensely readable book that will be welcomed by the inexperienced advisor and the most seasoned expert alike.
Download Description
In order to survive, today's professionals must earn the trust of their clients--and re-earn it throughout their careers. This is a dynamic must-read for successfully negotiating relationships in today's bold new economy.
Customer Reviews:
Advice from experience........2007-10-11
The authors of The Trusted Advisor openly present their experiences, ideas and recommendations from years of living it with their clients. We can all learn and enhance our own behaviors with their help.
The most important work for any sales consultng or Advisor.......2007-10-10
I was taking a course in Critical Thinking a while back. The instructor and I started talking about a presentation I did to my team on being a "Trusted Advisor", he highly recommended the book. After reading Chapter One I knew that we were on the same page. The book dove deeply and well into the steps needed to arn the title and right to be a TRUSTED ADVISOR. If you care about your customer and you care about your relationship with them. BUY THIS BOOK...I have puchased copies for the rest of my team.
Good introduction on relationship management.......2007-09-16
Although I'm not yet finished with this book I like the structure and the comprehensive lists the authors provide.
Although relations and trust cannot be covered by lists it gives you a good tool to memorize the important issues.
A lot of the examples are backed by anecdotes so the readability of the book is good.
Excellent! .......2007-08-13
Thank you! This book will help my company greatly with our internal sales training program!
Excellent Book.......2007-07-19
A must read for anyone in the consulting profession that is responsible for sales. A great primer for those interested in transitioning from a mere practitioner to a relationship consultant (Trusted Advisor).
Book Description
The authors of the New York Times bestseller Crucial Conversations show you how to achieve personal, team, and organizational success by healing broken promises, resolving violated expectations, and influencing good behavior
Discover skills to resolve touchy, controversial, and complex issues at work and at home--now available in this follow-up to the internationally popular Crucial Conversations.
Behind the problems that routinely plague organizations and families, you'll find individuals who are either unwilling or unable to deal with failed promises. Others have broken rules, missed deadlines, failed to live up to commitments, or just plain behaved badly--and nobody steps up to the issue. Or they do, but do a lousy job and create a whole new set of problems. Accountability suffers and new problems spring up. New research demonstrates that these disappointments aren't just irritating, they're costly--sapping organizational performance by twenty to fifty percent and accounting for up to ninety percent of divorces.
Crucial Confrontations teaches skills drawn from 10,000 hours of real-life observations to increase confidence in facing issues like:
- An employee speaks to you in an insulting tone that crosses the line between sarcasm and insubordination. Now what?
- Your boss just committed you to a deadline you know you can't meet--and not-so-subtly hinted he doesn't want to hear complaints about it.
- Your son walks through the door sporting colorful new body art that raises your blood pressure by forty points. Speak now, pay later.
- An accountant wonders how to step up to a client who is violating the law. Can you spell unemployment?
- Family members fret over how to tell granddad that he should no longer drive his car. This is going to get ugly.
- A nurse worries about what to say to an abusive physician. She quickly remembers "how things work around here" and decides not to say anything.
Everyone knows how to run for cover, or if adequately provoked, step up to these confrontations in a way that causes a real ruckus. That we have down pat. Crucial Confrontations teaches you how to deal with violated expectations in a way that solves the problem at hand, and doesn't harm the relationship--and in fact, even strengthens it.
Crucial Confrontations borrows from twenty years of research involving two groups. More than 25,000 people helped the authors identify those who were most influential during crucial confrontations. They spent 10,000 hours watching these people, documented what they saw, and then trained and tested with more than 300,000 people. Second, they measured the impact of crucial confrontations improvements on organizational and team performance--the results were immediate and sustainable: twenty to fifty percent improvements in measurable performance.
Download Description
The authors of the New York Times bestseller Crucial Conversations show you how to achieve personal, team, and organizational success by healing broken promises, resolving violated expectations, and influencing bad behavior
Discover skills to resolve touchy, controversial, and complex issues at work and at home--now available in this follow-up to the internationally popular Crucial Conversations.
Behind the problems that routinely plague organizations and families, youll find individuals who are either unwilling or unable to deal with failed promises. Others have broken rules, missed deadlines, failed to live up to commitments, or just plain behaved badly--and nobody steps up to the issue. Or they do, but do a lousy job and create a whole new set of problems. Accountability suffers and new problems spring up. New research demonstrates that these disappointments aren't just irritating, they're costly--sapping organizational performance by...'
Customer Reviews:
IF You Could Buy Only One Book.......2007-09-24
I read this when it was first published and then bought it for each staff member as one of our required primers. I also gave one to each of my Board members. If there is one book I wish had existed 30 years ago, this is it.
A Relational Guide to Confrontation.......2007-08-24
In this example filled guide to crucial confrontations - those times when holding someone accountable is critical to what is important to you - the authors present a relational model for what to do as you become aware of a gap between your expectations and what has or is happening in the specific situation.
The concept approaches the crucial confrontation in `before', `during', and `after' steps; requiring you to spend some `before' time deciding `what' is the specific issue to be addressed and `if' you should enter into the crucial confrontation - what do you desire out of the relationship is a key question to help identify the real issue. Also in the `before' phase, you are asked to master your emotions by considering not only `your story', but also by considering the other person's context and thus `their story' - are they really doing this because they want to fail with you? Probably not - they just have an entirely different perspective (their story) on the situation!
The `during' step requires that you confront with safety and stay with the facts; assuring the other party that mutual respect and mutual purpose are present. The `after' step requires agreement on an action plan and follow-up. Along the way, there are tools to avoid getting side-tracked, with ample examples of situations that may arise and suggestions for dealing with them. The book is recommended for anyone interested in improving any of their many relationships, business or personal.
Crucial Confrontations.......2007-06-27
A must read for supervisors and managers. With outstanding proven approaches to knowing what you want from a conversaton, what the other wants, and watching out for the relationship. Found it useful at work as a reference book, plus a great read for personal relationship communications as well. Would suggest reading Crucial Conversations first to really get the full view.
Crucial Confrontations.......2007-05-08
Excellent book. Easy directions and explanations to implement the Crucial Confrontation Model.
this is IT!.......2007-05-07
exceeded my expectations...a must read for all those seeking practical strategies to lessen the 'drama' in face-to-face accountability discussions.
Customer Reviews:
Great reference/cheat sheet.......2007-07-26
I have used this book on all my performance reviews, it is so good, that I could not stop picking phrases from it, and my boss had to tell me to be "less verbose" in my self assessment!
Book for new managers.......2007-07-15
This book was recommended in one of my management classes. I was able view it during one of the class breaks. Immediately, I knew it will save me time and effort. Many useful phrases to help and prompt thoughts for reviewing team members.
A good guide .......2007-07-05
I purchased this guide for the supervisors on my team because it gives phrases to use when appraising employees. Its also gives phrases to use when writing awards or other evaulations of performance. The guide is organized into different areas-teamwork, communication skills, productivity, etc. which helps find helpful phrases to use. This guide is simple but elegant in its usefulness.
Who needs this? .......2007-06-12
If I sat on a toilet all day thinking of sycophantic half-sentences, this is probably what I'd come up with. I hate to think about what the brain-dead, incompetent boob who needs a book like this looks like.
It's management speak like this crap that inspired movies like Office Space and television shows such as The Office and Just Shoot Me. On that note, maybe I should give this book five stars.
One thing's for certain, anyone in your office who orders this book should be fired immediately.
Helpful Tool.......2007-05-16
Very helpful tool in writing performance reviews and avoiding redundancy when writing performance reviews.
Average customer rating:
- A review of the reviews...
- Used as a book club book and it was PERFECT for that!
- Little Black Book of Connections
- Excellent book
- Great Little Black Handbook of Connections
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Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships
Jeffrey Gitomer
Manufacturer: Bard Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Communications
| Skills
| Business & Investing
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| Books
General
| Business Life
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
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General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
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ASIN: 1885167660 |
Book Description
People in all kinds of jobs, in big and small companies career builders, sales people, and aspiring executives will love this edgy, practical, and fun book In the spirit, style, and format of the bestselling Little Red Book of Selling, the country's #1 sa
Customer Reviews:
A review of the reviews..........2007-10-13
I can't help but respond to some of the reviews about the Little Black Book of Connections. The people who wrote bad reviews all seem to point to the fact that the book contains clever ways to get you to the author's site and register. Isn't that the point ? The first step to making a connection ? Making the first contact ?
This book is so well written, I can't believe these people read the book and that's all they can say is, "He's trying to get my information so he can sell me."
People who don't like being "sold" to, will never be able to sell. My advice to anyone considering buying this book...If you want some networking "gold" buy this book. If you don't want to be "sold" to, keep your hourly wage job and hope that Medicare and Social Security is still around when you retire broke.
Robin C Aletras
BlueWEB Media, Inc
www.bluewebmedia.com
Used as a book club book and it was PERFECT for that!.......2007-10-01
Gitomer is such a fun writer, his style and examples make you smile and laugh out loud at times. He keeps your attention and gives you great calls to action to get you doing something with what you are reading. I have read many of his books and this is a great quick read to get you going in making relationships work better for you. After you read this one, go and get Richard Abraham's book MR. SHMOOZE- The Art and Science of Selling Through Relationships to take it another level. A great investment in your personal library.
Little Black Book of Connections.......2007-09-13
This book is nothing short of a Survival Guide for people wanting to get re-employed, or improve from being underemployed. This is the guide to Networking and making connections. Don't wait, "click" now and get started to improving your life.
Excellent book.......2007-09-11
Excellent book on networking. One of the very few that will talk about giving before receiving; more than a networking book it's a book that'll teach you to build long lasting friendships. These will eventually help you move ahead in life.
Great Little Black Handbook of Connections.......2007-09-05
Jeffrey Gitomer is a professional at life. He provided many great insights into connecting and networking through a collection of lists of his own "proverbs" and altruisms. I doubt anyone can read this all at once; but the book is great when you read a few lists until you find something that really strikes you, and then practice it for a few weeks before going back to this great reference work. Very good!
Amazon.com
Susan Scott believes that interpersonal difficulties--at work and at home--are a direct result of our inability to communicate well. Fierce Conversations is based on principles from her international consulting practice, in which she teaches executives how to conduct such exchanges more dynamically and ultimately more effectively, thereby improving the relationships they enjoy with their various dialogue partners "one conversation at a time." Using identifiable anecdotes from her experience to inspire and inform, along with a series of practical exercises designed to impart the requisite skills, Scott walks readers through the individual steps she's developed to build better associations through more robust and honest discourses. Addressing all aspects of the process, from several methods for listening more attentively to specific ways she's fashioned to confront and resolve issues "that stand between you and success," Scott offers the type of concrete advice and confidence-building counsel that should help even the most reticent improve their communication skills dramatically. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
The Wall Street Journal bestseller, now with new material.
The master teacher of positive change through powerful communication, Susan Scott wants her readers to succeed. To do that, she explains, one must transform everyday conversations employing effective ways to get the message across. In this guide, which includes exercises and tools to take you step by step through the Seven Principles of Fierce Conversations, Scott teaches readers how to:
€ Overcome barriers to meaningful communication
€ Expand and enrich conversations with colleagues, friends, and family
€ Increase clarity and improve understanding
€ Handle strong emotions-on both sides of the table
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding.......2007-08-24
Extremely useful in both personal and professional life. I've attended many classes & seminars in the last 30 years but still learned a host of valuable info. Highly recommended.
Very Engaging .......2007-08-14
I settled in for an average book with and interesting title about communication. What I recieved was an invitation to look in my life and my business for fierce conversations. As a trainer and a business coach communication is my my tool.Fierce Conversations gave me tools that work,ways to assess my progress and stories that assist me in seeing what would be possible in my business and in my life if I had authentic, direct conversations with people.If you have to pick one communication book this year, it's this one!
An Insightful and Very Informative Approach to Communicating.......2007-08-08
Fierce Conversations provides an opportunity for the reader to gain information while participating in a self-discovery process. It takes the idea of communicating thoughts and ideas to a new level and challenges us to think before speaking by considering the ramifications of what others will hear. We are reminded that any "single conversation can change the trajectory of a business, a career, a marriage or a life." This is an awesome statement and the author proved her point repeatedly through examples.
I am determined to address my most challenging "Mineral Rights conversation (you'll have to read the book to know what I mean) in the very near future. I will also recommend my writers' group members review this book as an example of quality writing that captures the audience, propels them to action, and encourages completion of task.
Transformational .......2007-05-19
Susan Scott has a way of getting to the heart of the communciations problem. People say what they think you want to hear, and they are rarely authentic because they are afraid to be. They are even afraid to be honest with themselves. An excellent read.
Connect Better.......2007-05-12
It is rare that I read a book cover to cover. I read lots of books; however, I find most books contain little or nothing new. Susan's book is different.
In my line of work, I am only as successful as my ability to connect with others. Having an arsenal of powerful questions and a strong framework for presenting are key to my success. Susan's book contains the best tools I have found to connect deeply with others.
Average customer rating:
- Great tool book for counselors, group facilitators and group therapists
- Awesome book for group leaders
- Games for all kinds of reasons
- A must for social skills
- even more great techniques
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104 Activities That Build: Self-Esteem, Teamwork, Communication, Anger Management, Self-Discovery, Coping Skills
Alanna Jones
Manufacturer: Rec Room Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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General
| Education
| Nonfiction
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Pedagogy
| Education
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Lesson Planning
| Education
| Professional & Technical
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Social Psychology & Interactions
| Psychology & Counseling
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Anger Management
| Stress
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| Health, Mind & Body
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General
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ASIN: 0966234138 |
Customer Reviews:
Great tool book for counselors, group facilitators and group therapists.......2007-10-19
I found the activities in the book helpful in working with adolescents, families and adults in the busy outpatient clinic where I practice. The suggestions are helpful for starting new groups, for teambuilding, learning and practicing communication skills, relationship skills or as a change of pace in an already established group.
Awesome book for group leaders.......2007-10-03
This book is great, it has provided me with some awesome ideas that truly engage the kids I work with. It is truly amazing how some of these activities are meaningful to kids at 8 and at 17....I love this book and highly recomend it to anyone who wants to do positive activities with kids.
Games for all kinds of reasons.......2007-09-25
This games in this book are great for introductory activities, building a positive and socially interactive classroom environment, binding a group "community", easing into collaborative or cooperative learning activities, and engaging ways to take a break from more serious classroom pursuits.
A must for social skills.......2007-08-23
This book is so fun ad has a great range of activities and skills. This would be a great tool to use with any group, I use it to help with social skills training and my class has really enjoyed it. I don't know if they realize that they are learning, but they are!
even more great techniques.......2007-01-16
Once again, a great technique book to have up a therapists' sleeve.
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