Economic-Life Books

When I first read JTS several years ago, I thought, "Hey, this is an easy read and it has a good message. A simple concept, not a magic pill by any means." And that was that. What has amazed me since then is the fact that Rafael's message has stood the test of time. Whenever I pick it up and scan through it (2-3 times a year), something new seems to always jump out at me. I think that's because his principles have integrity....they stay true. It's "me" that changes and because of that, this simple little book has something new to say to me each time I open its pages. I imagine I will continue to have new teachable moments as long as I continue to grow professionally. As such, JTS and its "dormido virus" will always be by my side. By the way, these words don't come easy for me....I'm a natural skeptic!

"Journey To Success" is superb tool for learning about the dynamics of one's career life cycle and how we all could eventually fall prey to the latent immobilizing "career virus" in all of us. In this easy to read, entertaining book, Colón covers a serious topic along the lines of "The One Minute Manager", and offers no-nonsense, invaluable tips on how to manage one's career and personal life. This is an excellent guide book to be referred to again and again to boost one's personal and career life!

What a fun and uplifting approach to giving people a recipe for career renewal. Keeping yourself fresh and inspired in your career is important. Colon's "Journey to Success" offers practical steps to analyze your current situation -- in other words, to figure out which phase you may be experiencing the dormido virus. His model was particuarly effective and concise. I believe this book should be in every human resource office in all organizations - private, public, non-profit, academia, etc.

No matter where you are in your career--whether at the top of your game or ready to take a loooong nap--Rafael Colon's book offers strategies to maximize success, unstick yourself when you feel stymied, and move foward with zest. By better understanding the professional lifecycle, you will come away with specific steps that move you to the next and more fulfilling level--alive, well and productive.

The indominable optimism and generousity of spirit that Rafael exudes in person shine through in this practical guide to self-empowerment. Both inspiring and easy to read, this handbook offers tips to help you take charge of your life's direction both personally and professionally. If you need a pick-me-up, pick THIS up!

Phil goes out of his way to take us through the mistakes of his early behavior patterns and then on to how he changed from his "coffin" -risk free comfortable environment to a fulfilling lifestyle of meaningful beliefs. He wraps it all up with his succes formula for a balanced lifestyle that opens each of us to "Kiss Yourself Hello!" Phil, Thanks for your easy and quick read book. When's the next book going to be available?

An open, honest account of one man's journey to his true self. Written with humor and framed by lessons from the world's greatest thinkers. This book challenged me to delve within and think about not only my life's purpose, but better yet my life's passion! Thanks Phil!

My wife and I each recently read Parker's book. We live high pressured lives and constantly feel part of the rat race. Parker's book opened our eyes to the lives we want. It helped us re-define our success without being afraid of leaving traditional definitions of success behind. Parker's book helped change our lives for the better and it can do the same for you.

Kiss Yourself Hello! is NOT another "how to" opus. This is a "how to live your life fully" roadmap. The great news is that I won't have to learn these lessons the hard way. Phil Parker blazes a trail through the landmines of life - and WINS! We can too.

If you are stuck in life, and think you are all washed up, then Phil Parker's book is the stick of dynamite you need to blast away your complacency. Living a life of quiet desperation, just to pay your bills? Parker says, "get a life." Parker, who openly admits he was downsized, fired, and discarded by corporate America, steps up to the plate and delivers a compelling message: "it's time to live your life your way." Parker's incredible honesty is evident when he discusses the bad choices he made in his career and the consequences he experienced. A bad marriage, mounting debts, unfulfilling jobs, and growing fear, added to his misery. Was Parker another middle-aged man coming to terms with the fact that he blew his chances? Was failure really an option? Like all good books, Parker describes how the power of soul searching and making new and better decisions, transformed his life. From the depths of his unhappiness, and with nothing to lose, Parker decided to become an author and speaker. The transformation from corporate burnout and dropout, to energetic and attractive speaker and author, provides the reader with an important message: if you are in alignment with your passion, you can truly enjoy your life. The money will follow. For all round pegs in square holes, this is your book. Phil's honest and compelling message is to "get round and get around" soon, to taking the risks you need to take, to live your life with passion. It's a giant Alka-Seltzer pill for what ails your career, and along with it, a prescription for a happier and more fulfilled personal life.

After reading the first few pages of TLC, I had to put it down for a moment. The authors had described the last three years of my life almost perfectly. I didn't put it down again for two hours. I'm a highly compensated information worker who "has it all" by most people's standards, but still feels unfulfilled. TLC showed me how to examine my talents and skills and use them more effectively to achieve what I really want from my life. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I read this book in preparation for a life & career strategic planning course and ability testing when I was 43 years old. I had been laid off from a good job, had been temping & part-timing it for a couple years, and was just undecided about what I should do next. I had plenty of ideas, and many of them sounded good -- at the moment -- but I was just so unsure about which was the right path, which would be fulfulling for me, and on what factors I should base my decisions. Well, this book was a key to my recovery! I soaked it up like a sponge, as it addressed many of the issues I was grappling with and helped me get back on the road to a fulfilling life. It's great at helping you determine what's important and identifying the values which guide key life decisions. I heartily recommend this book for anyone at a crossroads, in transition, or just unsure about how to make their next career move and provide the right balance in their life. This book is one of the best career and overall life-planning books on the market! Enjoy!

Unlike other career guidance books that force the reader into existing job titles, this book offers wonderful insights and process to guide you to developing and designing your own customized career/job. TLC looks at the whole person, and factors in the need for personal and professional balance to get more out of life. Kudos to the authors for writing a book that instilled the courage to break-away and do what I love, leading a life I look forward to each day.

I found this book well thought out as it first identifies and then helps the reader integrate all the pieces to the puzzle in creating a career and life vision. I have used this in a adult college course and all the students found the book both very helpful in understanding themselves and practical in working on the life/career pieces for themselves

I bought The Lemming Conspiracy because I liked the title. And I'm glad I did. No book has hit a greater nerve with me. I don't know how many times I have gone to work thinking that my real calling lay elsewhere. And after reading this book I was amazed at how all pervasive this feeling is: it got me thinking about how much happier we would all be if society had a different system for career placement. This book is a tremendously effective motivational tool. I am not a big fan of so called self help literature, they all come on so gung ho and hokey, as if they had all been written by Richard Simmons on Mescaline. The Lemming Conspiracy is an engaging and intelligent read, it does not talk down to you, and it is written with a passion that jumps from the page. I cannot reccommend this book highly enough.

At last a practical way to review and analyse the culture of an organisation and track its development.

What are organisations for? This book enables the reader to understand the root causes of current imbalances in the world economy/ecology and know what they can do (within their reach) to make a difference.

A synthesis of the works of Stephen Covey, Jim Collins and other great corporate alchemists.

In his visionary and hopeful book, Global Mind Change, The Promise of the 21st Century (1990), futurist Willis Harman observed that we are in the midst of the greatest social shift since the Middle Ages, a change in the actual belief structure of Western society. As the dominant institution in society, Willis felt business had an obligation and the potential to lead this shift. In Creative Work: The Constructive Role of Business in a Transforming Society (1990), he provided some benchmarks of new paradigm business and examples of a handful of leading companies.

Richard Barrett is clearly an inspired central figure in empowering the business world to take its place as an evolutionary and transformational force. Through his consulting practice, speaking engagements and now his powerful new book, Liberating the Corporate Soul, Richard presents the business world a gift of immense proportions providing a clear understanding of how to liberate the untapped creative brilliance, deep compassion and universal love that has been trapped within the prisons of old paradigm business models.

He challenges business leaders to "create strategic goals that call for quantum increases in performance that promote transformational thinking." "These improvements are achieved", he says, "only by taking a systems approach-a shift in basic assumptions that create a new way of being and doing - evolution". "Not doing things differently, but doing different things." Not shifting things around a table but creating a new table. "When individuals are asked to participate in transformational thinking they tap into their intuition and creativity. This type of thinking can only be maintained in corporate cultures that are built around trust, employee involvement and openness."

He cites the research of Collins and Porras whose book, Built to Last, proves that "contrary to business school doctrine, maximizing shareholder wealth and profits are not the dominant driving forces in most long lasting successful companies. Throughout the history of most visionary companies a core ideology existed that transcended purely economic considerations."

Quoting mystic poet Kahil Gibran, who said "work is love made visible", he goes on to say that "the challenge for companies in the twenty-first century is to create a work environment that encourages personal fulfillment-taking care of employees' physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs....to live out their passions and provide them with opportunities for service". According to a 1995 Newsweek article, 58% of Americans feel the need to experience spiritual growth. "What better place", Richard asks, "than through your work?

Building on the work of humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow, he finds that "most companies are stuck in the lower levels of consciousness he has identified as survival, relationship or self-esteem consciousness."

Barrett has developed the Balanced Need Scorecard and other powerful laser-like measuring tools to help organizations determine if the values they espouse are being embraced and lived. In the end, he believes "companies either operate from the fears of the ego or the love of the soul". Richard defines evolutionary leaders as "people who hold a vision and courageously pursue that vision in such a way that it resonates with the souls of people".

As the editor of an online publication that explores new paradigms in business and other disciplines, I would not risk entering the 21st century without reading, digesting and implementing the ideas contained in Liberating the Corporate Soul. Those companies that do will have a strategic advantage over those that don't. More importantly, it is unlikely that corporations will survive without creating transformational cultures that nurture and liberate.

New Book Provides Road Map and Tools For Building Visionary, Values-Based Businesses

(Washington, D.C. - December 1, 1998) You don't have to look far these days to witness the growing trend in business to nurture the corporate "soul." Once muttered in hushed tones of self-conscious reserve, soft-sounding words like "values" and "meaning" and "spirituality" are becoming as bold and common in the corporate lexicon as hard-nosed phrases like "bottom-line" and "return on investment." Until recently, though, the two vocabularies have struggled to come together in any cohesive, systematic process for guiding the strategies and actions of corporate America.

In a new book entitled Liberating the Corporate Soul (Butterworth-Heinemann publishers), author and business consultant, Richard Barrett, bridges that gap with an approach to organizational planning that will warm the hearts of human resources, corporate affairs and financial people alike.

The book begins with a review of Barrett's central thesis that "who you are and what you stand for are becoming just as important as what you sell." Next, Barrett describes his Corporate Transformation ToolsSM which is a set of measurement instruments for "auditing" individual and organizational values. Finally, the book provides a framework for using those tools to build a visionary, values-based organization.

Barrett's model is based partly on the landmark work of Abraham Maslow who defined the human "hierarchy of needs" on four main levels - security, relationship, self-esteem, and self-actualization. "Maslow himself concluded, however, that self-actualized individuals were actually motivated by higher states of consciousness, including spiritual needs," says Barrett. "But he never fully delineated what those states were."

Liberating the Corporate Soul expands on Maslow's work with a detailed explanation of Barrett's Seven Levels of Organizational Consciousness (survival, relationship, self-esteem, transformation, organization, community, and society) and Seven Levels of Leadership Consciousness (authoritarian, paternalist, manager, facilitator, collaborator, partner/servant, wisdom/visionary). According to Barrett, one level isn't necessarily superior to another. "All are relevant. It's really more a question of balance," he says. "However, it is at the higher levels of consciousness that organizations are meeting spiritual needs that focus more on the common good than individual self-interest."

The book's message and methodology are receiving acclaim from noted business leaders and authors throughout the world. Martin Rutte, co-author of the popular Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work calls Barrett's book "the bold, practical blueprint we need for moving business to the next evolutionary level. Sweeping, brilliant, a sense of the grandeur of the new paradigm of business." Marcello Palazzi, Co-Founder and Chair of the Progessio Foundation in The Netherlands says that "Liberating the Corporate Soul achieves the impossible: it integrates the intangibles of ethics, vision, and consciousness into a tangible measurement system."

Barrett began his search for a mechanism that would align an organization's actions and decisions with individual and social values when he was employed at the World Bank. In the early 1990s, he set out on a personal mission to move values to the top of the bank's business agenda. Through a series of determined steps - including the formation of the "Spiritual Unfoldment Society" at the bank - he managed to fulfill his mission and simultaneously formulate his values-based organizational development system.

Today, Barrett is head of his own consulting firm, Richard Barrett and Associates, LLC, and he is using his values-based system in working with organizations throughout the world. He is quick to point out that all of the organizations with which he works have values. The question is whether those values resonate internally with employees searching for deeper meaning in their work lives, as well as externally with a society increasingly favoring businesses that exhibit advanced levels of social consciousness.

The book cites revealing data from several research studies to support Barrett's claim of shifting trends in employee and social attitudes. The Cone/Roper Marketing Trends Report shows that 76% of consumers in 1997 said they would switch to brands associated with a good cause if price and quality were equal. That figure is up from 66% in 1993. On the employee front, a study conducted by Students for Responsible Business with 2,100 students at 50 graduate business programs found that 50% said they would accept a lower salary to work for a "very socially responsible" company. Perhaps more revealing, 43% claimed they would not work for a company that was not socially responsible.

Data like that is not being lost on some of the country's leading business figures. In his book, Barrett quotes Levi Strauss CEO, Robert Haas, as stating "In the next century, a company will stand or fall on its values."

None of the enthusiasm for this growing trend is much of a surprise to Barrett. "People naturally feel better about themselves and their companies when they see a clear sense of values, vision and compassion driving management decisions and actions," he says. And there's good news in that for the people watching the bottom line, because those positive feelings will translate into greater loyalty, stronger performance, and higher profits. It's a win-win outcome all the way around."

Liberating the Corporate Soul is now on sale at major bookstores across the country.

"This book has been such a journey. I started out with two ideas. The first idea was that organizational transformation must look and feel a lot like personal transformation. The second idea was that the values held by successful companies must be similar to the values held by successful individuals. These two ideas led me on a journey of discovery that gladdened my heart...This book...provides a road map and tools for those who want to travel the same path" (from the Foreward).

In this context, Richard Barrett, in Chapter 11, shows a comprehensive framework for building a visionary organization. Here, he defines a visionary organization as a long-living, successful organization that cares about its employees, its customers, the local community, the environment, and a society at large. According to him, visionary organizations take social responsibility very seriously, and they display six important characteristics:

1. They have strong, positive, values-driven cultures.

2. They make a lasting commitment to learning and self-renewal.

3. They are continually adapting themselves based on feedback from internal and external environments.

4. They make strategic alliances with internal and external partners, customers, and suppliers.

5. They are willing to take risk and experiment.

6. They have a balanced values-based approach to measuring performance that includes such factors as corporate survival (financial results), corporate fitness (efficiency, productivity, and quality), collaboration with suppliers and customers, continuous learning and self-development (corporate evolution), organizational cohesion and employee fulfillment (corporate culture), and corporate contribution to the local community and society.

Hence, he develops a three-phase process for building a visionary organization: (1) preparation, (2) implementation, and (3) maintaining an evolutionary culture.

Finally, during the process of building a visionary organization, he writes that "the critical factors in successful transformations are (a) the management team's commitment to modeling the new values and behaviors; (b) integrating the new values into the structural incentives of the human resource processes of the organization; (c) building psychological ownership by involving employees in defining the missiom, vision, and values and the Balanced Needs Scorecard objectives and targets; (d) helping employees to think like owners; and (e) assigning responsibilities and developing structural mechanisms to support innovation, learning, and cultural renewal."

Highly recommended.

So many people that are unhappy in their current jobs look outside at what appears to be the greener pastures. A large percentage eventually succumbs to the illusion of "it's better over there" and change jobs, only to find that there really is little difference. Many of the others remain at their job, happy in the security and stability, yet inwardly unhappy and resentful. The authors make a powerful case for another option, instead of looking over the fence, scan your current pasture with an idea of applying the proper fertilizer and periodic watering. In other words conduct a detailed examination of your current company and your passions and see if there is compatibility between your passions and what the company needs.
Options are that some job description needs to be changed, a current job needs to be done differently, a new one created or a job developed where there is no detailed description. The positions of the authors make an enormous amount of sense for employees and employers. The cost of losing a productive employee is enormous, so it makes economic sense for employers to be reasonably flexible in allowing employees to expand their horizons. Changing jobs is a traumatic experience that should be carefully thought out and often fails to generate an improvement in your emotional, psychological and professional well being. Therefore, if you can find or create something better where you are at, then by all means you should do so.
A self-help book that makes sense, contains nothing that generated the "what a crock" reaction when I read it, and has a lot of sound, practical advice, it should be read by everyone who is unhappy in their current job.

If you're frustrated with your career or if you've been hopping from company to company looking for the perfect job, this book is a must-read. Most jobs, authors Joe Frodsham and Bill Gargiulo believe - perhaps overoptimistically - already offer the possibility of satisfying work. Frodsham and Gargiulo provide a step-by-step guide to finding the things you truly love to do - your "passions." Once you understand these deep personal needs, then you can retool your job to meet them. The authors caution against switching organizations except as a last resort. We recommend this book to perennial job-seekers. If you absorb its information and do the internal work it advises, perhaps you, too, can attain "career wealth" right where you are. Hint: "career wealth" is not the same thing as earning a lot of money, just a lot of satisfaction.

"Make it Work" is a rare find. A book that gets right to the principles and practices that will transform your career and your life.

This is a must read if you want to be successful in your organization! "Make it Work" cuts through the jargon and lies, and really enables you to apply principles for success. It's unleashed my heart and career, and I am forever grateful for it.

I picked it up and I couldn't put it down. It's got the right tools and advice for a person that career minded. It also made me realize that I can get the brio that I want out of my career, just where I am. This is a great read!

As a long time veteran of music lessons, I can attest to the importance of the instructor on the outcome of the lessons - for both the student and the teacher. Having had two so-so, "bored with the whole concept, but gotta pay the bills somehow" teachers, and one excellent, inspiring "be the best you can be and have fun doing it" teacher, I would wholeheartedly recommend this book as an excellent guide on becoming the latter.

Not all kids are prodigies, and not all students want to go on to win State competitions and have prestigious careers as soloists. Some do, of course, but some just want to be able to play well around the campfire or at their cousin's wedding, and have fun doing it. Some take up an instrument later in life because they are recovering from an injury and playing an instrument can improve their dexterity, or simply because they want to finally experience the joy of making music now that the kids are out from under foot, and they finally have the time. Ms. Blanchard offers a great collection of fun and creative ways to help every type of student, from the prodigy to the part-timer, meet their own particular goals, as well as excellent tips on setting up a teaching studio to be profitable and successful.

Ms. Blanchard demonstrates an intuitiveness in this book that reflects her years of teaching, and draws upon that experience to provide useful guidelines for the music instructor to follow to help achieve the best results for each student. Students come in all ages, skill levels and attitudes, and have widely variable family backgrounds, social and financial situations and personal goals. This book provides thought-provoking questions that instructors can ask themselves to help assess how each particular student can best reach their goals, and provides insightful ideas on how to make the learning process an enjoyable and positive experience for everyone - including the student, their family, and the instructor too!

The impact a great teacher can have on a student is undeniable. A great teacher can inspire, encourage, and motivate students to embrace life-changing principles which will affect not just their music but every aspect of their life. I would encourage all music teachers hoping to become that great teacher, to take advantage of this excellent collection of insights to become more effective at enriching their students' (and their own) music and lives.

Bonnie Blanchard's book "Making Music, Enriching Lives" is a joyful, fun and inspiring read, imbued with the author's enthusiasm and humor. The book is pleasantly personal, filled with many stories and examples, which go straight to the heart of teaching. The numerous suggestions offered are practical, rather than mechanical. For example, the book does not cover the physics of tone (the air hits here at this angle, etc), rather it offers ways to help students find and instill in themselves the motivation and desire to practice tone. I read the book, cover to cover, over a long weekend (away from my teaching studio) and was reenergized upon my return - this book is its own "mini-teaching spa/retreat"!

The book is unique, specifically because of its focus on the "human" side of teaching - drawing attention to students' varied abilities, personalities and learning styles. Ms. Blanchard presents many suggestions to help build and nurture the student/teacher relationship, as well as the teacher/parent relationship - both primary factors for student success. In addition, it not only encourages us to challenge and raise the bar for our students' playing skills, but to do the same for our own teaching skills.

Ms. Blanchard reiterates the importance of teaching the "whole" musician, rather than "a piece of music". She offers helpful suggestions for incorporating fundamentals and musicality within each lesson and provides many pointers to help students build their problem-solving and independent learning skills. The author includes a valuable list of suggestions to help students become creative and critical thinkers.

The sections discussing the varied learning styles of boys vs. girls, as well as the section specifically addressing the characteristics of adult learners are extremely informative and helpful. The author places important emphasis upon the learning process and the skills acquired and enhanced throughout, rather than placing the most important emphasis on what the author defines as "outcome goals" (winning the audition, something in control of the judges, not the student). Also unique is the Ms. Blanchard's "Music for Life Notebook System", which ultimately provides students with a personalized reference of all they have learned.

Overall, the book was a refreshing look at many aspects of teaching, offering a myriad of ways to lead each student to their fullest musical potential, through a balance of hard work and fun! One of the most memorable lines in the book is Ms. Blanchard's statement that, "Many musicians decide to become music teachers because the love music. A better reason would be because they love helping people". I believe this not only best sums up what teaching should be, but also the overall nature of the book - "Making Music and Enriching Lives" helps teachers, help their students develop skills to experience joy, confidence and success, in music and many other areas of their lives.

"Making Music and Enriching Lives" offers something for everyone - new teachers, experienced teachers, burnt-out teachers, teachers relocating or teachers of any instrument. The title is well suited to the book, as it will "enrich" the teaching of those who read it and in turn "enrich" the lesson experience of their students. I highly recommend this book to all teachers - keep it in your library, as you will undoubtedly refer to it often. If possible, for the first read, find a quiet spot, curl up with a good cup of tea and be inspired!

One of the best books on pedagogy I've read. Bonnie's work is positively brimming with ideas -- I found it difficult to get through the book in a timely manner; I was too busy trying to incorporate the ideas from my previous reading.

Bonnie's style is very conversational, making the book a fun and light read despite the heavy amount of content. She strives to make the work useful and full of examples from every instrument, making this the most comprehensive work on pedagogy I've come across. The helpful sections on methods of bill collection and marketing as a private teacher were sorely needed and filled in a lot of gaps in my conservatory education.

As a voice teacher of many years, it was a joy to read this inspirational book, with wonderful advice for all teachers (not even in the music field). It shows you're never too old to learn new motivational tricks and ways to be more organized as well. Hats off to Ms. Blanchard!!
Margaret Russell
Essen Germany

A number of people sent me the Amazon link for this book and indicated that it was the best book they'd read in this subject area. Mine arrived yesterday and I can't put it down. It really is excellent. I do think that the characterological makeup of pianists and string players is different than that of flute players (the book is written by a flute teacher and freelancer in Washington state), but nevertheless, the book is full of ideas and helpful recommendations, and is not to be missed.

Over the years, Marketing has continued to become a more and more elusive and mysterious profession. Seemeingly relegated to the biggest and most cash rich of the Fortune 500, when asked what Marketing is, most of us would point out multi-million dollar advertising campaigns, powerful tag lines and logos, or high paid spokespeople and sports sponsorships.

Fragasso gets our heads out of the sky and makes us realize that we are all Marketers. Whether you are a Lawyer looking for new clients, a restaurant owner looking to fill your tables, or a college grad looking for your first job - this book is a must read.

The book is a quick and easy read - it can be read in one sitting or in quick easily digestable chunks. Fragasso walks readers through 52 easy ways to become a Marketer of "Brand You". The steps are quick to read, easy to understand, and most importantly - easy to implement right away.

A definitely worth while read.

Marketing For Rainmakers is a great book for both experienced and novice marketers alike.

For one who has been in the marketing business for years, the book helps you approach known techniques from a different perspective. And for those new to marketing, Phil uses a formula in each chapter to make the book easy to understand, digest and most importantly- implement. He first introduces a concept, then illustrates the concept and how it relates to marketing, and finally gives real life examples of how you can implement the concept introduced immediately into your business.

I liked the format of the book, which is divided into 52 short chapters, full of colorful examples of the author's points delivered in a straight forward, yet humorous style. My recommendation would be to read the book through once to get a general overview to being a Rainmaker marketer. But then, keep the book at your desk and focus on implementing a concept in a chapter each week (book is conveniently has 52 chapters or 52 Rules of Engagement).

Phil's book will help you see that there are marketing lessons to be learned all around you that can be applied to your specific industry. The book will help you get in the frame of mind to look at things in ways that your competition traditionally hasn't, and then act with this new-found insight and perspective. And while reading this book, you'll not only get educated, you'll also be entertained.

I've read my share of business and marketing books, and this one is a great, fast read. So much more entertaining than the usual dry business books cluttering everyone's office shelves. The concepts within are mostly common sense, but unfortunately they are often not so common in the workplace. He reminds us of them with a lot of humor and great real world examples. I think if a marketing exec actually followed the rules outlined in this book, his or her department and company would be a really great place in which to work.

I liked this book. It didn't set my world on fire. But it was a quick and easy read. And it seemed to cover how a rainmaker should think and act while trying to bring in the business. It had the following 7 chapters:

1. Make rain while the sun shines
2. Be brand-focused [1-8]
3. Be strategic [9-16]
4. Be tactical [17-27]
5. Be customer-focused [28-36]
6. Be competitive [37-43]
7. Be hardwired [44-52]

Like another book I read and reviewed today, this book felt like it was a compilation of blog entries. 52 to be exact. Some people might like a book written that way. But I like a book a lot better if it is built with 7 to 12 solid chapters that are not split up too much. Accordingly, this book wasn't anything special to me.

The other thing about this book that dropped it from a 5-star rating was it was so common-sensical. Rainmakers are marketers. And marketers if they are any good devise a sound marketing plan and then they follow it. If they do this, then they are brand-focused, strategic, tactical, competitive, and hardwired. And in writing the marketing plan they had to be customer-focused or they would not have been able to create a plan that was worth more than 2 cents.

Don't expect this book to be a rainmaker's guide to marketing tools and techniques - it's not. But if you already know what tools and techniques work in your industry, then this book can probably help you devise a pretty good marketing plan using those tools and techniques. 4 stars!

My book is covered with little sticky tabs and yellow highlights highlighting some great how-to: 'storyboard' your marketing plan, incorporate knowledge-added marketing, build a sales playbook, stick your marketing message, and more. So many marketing books are fluff. Fragasso's is practical, actionable, and easy to read. Funny, too! As someone who inhales marketing books, this is one of the best I've seen in a while.

I purchased this book after hearing it mentioned by Joyce Meyer in one of her conferences on finances. We were ready to start taking charge of our financial situation and this book has helped immensely. Follow the suggestions in the book and it will give you inspiration and guidance in gaining control over debt in this topsy-turvy economical world.

I really think this book has a wonderful amount of useful information, and am excited to put it to use in my life. I'm just starting to read it.

Great book if you really want to see how God blesses those who give. The bible says that when you give, God blesses you and gives you more. Those who do not believe in tithing should read this book. You will see how God blesses those who are faithfully to him.

This book was read through in two sittings. The first read was to get a feel for what the author had to say about financial planning. The second was to see if the Biblical foundations were really there. I couldn't have been more impressed. This book is solid and sound on both fronts. Anyone looking for a nuts-and-bolts approach to getting their financial act together need not look elsewhere. This book has all you need to identify your area(s) of concern and get the information required to get your boat afloat and the wind in your sails. God's message to those willing to listen is ever-present and sound. You cannot come away from reading this book without realizing that the author is truly dedicated to helping his fellow man -- through sound financial direction with an eye focused on God's message Christians everywhere.

How many of us have looked to some miracle to cure our financial ills? I suggest that we need a book like this to help us understand our financial success now, to change into a stronger financial person.

The authors use excellent illustrations and real life stories to help us see ourselves, with the intention to change.

I highly encourage you to read this book, but more importantly, to apply this book.

As a poker player and a businessman I have for years realized the close correlation between the skills needed to succeed in both arenas. Krause and Carter do an outstanding and insightful job of making these correlations quite clear for the reader and their use of keywords to assist the reader in digesting and recalling these skills is very useful.

This book touches on a number of topics that are considered by some to be taboo in business today. I would like to thank them for being so open and blunt about these topics. Even if one's character does not allow them to use all of these tactics in pursuing their successes at least they should be informed enough to recognize when some of the more questionable tactics are being employed against them.

Success in business and poker require an understanding of the game, an ability to react quickly to uncertain situations, and be prepared to take calculated risks knowing when the reward justifies such risk taking. The authors do an outstanding job at pointing out to the reader how to recognize these opportunities, determine the risk/reward payoff, and identify which tactics and strategies can be employed to achieve optimum results.

Krause and Carter have successfully defined the game in business today and given readers the foundation for success. All that is needed is the strength of heart to understand yourself, your opponents, and which tactic suits you for the attainment of your goals. This book is not about a quick fix or even a big one time score it is about making the changes that can positively impact you over the long haul. Just like poker, success is not measured by your performance on a particular night or during a specific tournament, it is measured by your long running results from the time you began playing the game until you ultimately stop.

Read this book, apply what suits your own character and player type, then go out there and get in the game with confidence in knowing that you are equipped with the tools of success!!

Hundreds of people play 'no limit' poker, but few realize its strategies can be used to get ahead in business and life. NO LIMIT explores connections between poker and business, showing how Texas Hold 'em, the most popular version of the game, holds many keys to business success. Any game players who know Texas Hold 'em well and are interested in business concepts, as well as business libraries, will find here a fine opportunity for success and strategic planning.

It was a good read. Very clever of you guys to center it around the national phenomenon of poker playing. I happen to be the worst poker player ever to attempt the game - I used to be pretty good at bridge tho' - but my son plays, my nephews play, my brother-in-law plays, etc. Even in JAX there are several thriving poker rooms with more opening all the time. I can see why college professors would refer to and use the book since a large portion of their audience probably plays poker.

The book was easy to read and kept my attention. I like the use of acronyms to help with retention. I guess that's why we use them so much in our field. I also enjoyed the off-hand buried references from the OZ books. I guess the chapters on The Land of Oz and Getting to Know You were two of my favorites - probably because I do a lot of that intuitively. I think I am a mutated Wizard. I truly lack the "keen desire to dominate and wield power" (more about that later), but a lot of the rest of it sounds like me.

I am not sure if these next paragraphs have more to do with my X chromosome, my ENFP Myers-Briggs, or my somewhat limited spiritual gifts of mercy, service and encouragement; but this wouldn't be an honest and complete review without this part.

I am not personally motivated by winning. I think this is probably an X chromosome thing, but please never quote me by name on that - I'll get drummed out of my gender. What motivates me is service and gratitude. What keeps me going is believing that I have made a difference. If someone actually thanks me - that's the gravy. That's one reason why I loved working for you so much - you were always so good about thanking. The reason I blame it on the X is that my son, who is also ENFP, cares deeply about winning. He is in law school now, and even though he has a highly defined sense of justice, etc., at the core of it he just wants to WIN. He loves to compete in his areas of highest confidence, like moot court and trial team competitions. I really believe that a high percentage of women in the work force are motivated more like me than they are by WINNING. They probably would never admit it though. The ones who try hard to compete and make winning central tend to be the least happy and the most bitter. I think we take losing more personally than the Y crowd. We internalize it (I'm a bad person) and it makes us miserable. I think the book was important for me to read because, even though I'm not energized by the winning thing, I need to understand the people around me. I have always worked and I will be working for some time still. I need to understand other people's motivation and behavior in order to survive.

On the ENFP front, I am not big on planning and life-time commitments (the P) and I lead with my gut A LOT (the F). Parts of the book made me tired and a little depressed because they depend on characteristics I don't possess. I guess I could do it (like anything else) if I were willing to pay the price, but I'm not. The good news is that the book affirms that my highly developed intuition (the N) will probably keep me in the game even if I don't win much which I don't really care about anyway. I learned some things I can keep though - things where the value of the hand comes up positive for me - and I'm going to work on those.

On the "mercy and encouragement" side, the parts about manipulation, subterfuge, intentional disruption - that all creeps me out. Setting somebody up to fail is not something I would consciously do, even though I probably have done subconsciously. My least favorite parts were the ones about exploiting character flaws and the D-I-S-C-A-R-D. That said, I am a realist and I do believe in the doctrine of Total Depravity, so I have rather low expectations of the human race (including me). It is important for me to be reminded that there are people out there who would do me harm in order to advance and it's good to study exactly how they might do it. I do like to be safe and understanding where the threats are and what I need to do to parry the blows is great information.

Summary: Good read - clever, smart, entertaining, thorough. Imparts a lot of information in relatively few pages. Is designed for take-away action. I recommend it for everyone who has to interact with other humans (grin). Even if you wouldn't plan to use the offensive strategies and tactics, the defensive possibilities are invaluable. I plan to order it for my son. He grew up in an X household and I think it will feed his Y soul.

Once you pick up No Limit and start turning the pages, it will not be easy to put down. This book is extremely easy to read and more importantly, apply. Krause and Carter's clever use of acronyms and overall structure make the content very easy to pick up and maintain. After reading this book, I've been able to increase my level of performance at work through applying the No Limit strategies.

Poker, business, and life require a strategic decision making approach that positions you for the best possible chance for success. This book will help you enhance, transport and modify your Friday night poker methodology into your professional & personal relationships creating a competitive advantage over your competitors.

Everyone wants to be a winner but not all possess and nurture the skills necessary to win. This book is not about a one time, quick fix for success or the bluff that gets you the promotion or project you've had your eye on. It is about applying the skills addressed by Donald Krause and Jeff Carter to your everyday life in order to know yourself, know and understand the players in the game you play and increase your odds. It is about striving to be the winner, cultivating the attributes of greatness from within, and learning from failure-yours and those of others- to not just win the big pot but all those little ones that make us get up everyday and pursue our aspirations.

As an owner of my own design business I cannot express, both the business and personal benefits of this book. It will make you more profitable, more fufilled, less stressed and all around ahead of where you were before....

Dr. Cloud has an impeccable ability to communicate to the reader in a straight forward, no bull kind of manner .... perfect for the multi-tasker, busy professional.

A must read!

Interior Design Professional

Henry Cloud once again gives a fine exposition on how to live your life without inherent conflicts.

In an age when self-help, self-improvement books line shelves and racks of every bookstore, it's difficult to find a book that stands out. This one does. Author Henry Cloud offers a perspective that applies to many situations I have observed, many I have been a party to.

How often have you watched interactions slide into disaster because someone, a boss, a spouse, a sibling, failed to define limits and then stick to those limits? How often have people crossed your personal limits without knowing they were? Could the disaster have been eliminated before it destroyed a relationship? Can you actually improve your life by clearly setting limits in your relationships? Those are the sticky wickets Dr. Henry Cloud tackles in "The One-Life Solution."

For me, the whole book was a thought-provoking review - of people and situations I have observed, of situations in my own life I could have prevented or handled more effectively. I thought of friends who won't set limits for their children - and what a disagreeable experience it is to be around those children. I thought of times I allowed people to go beyond my personal boundaries because I was trying too hard to please. I thought of the times when work was routinely a 24-hour-a-day ordeal, and how I could have managed the demands placed on me more effectively. I decided what I would do in the future to avoid or mitigate such situations.

Author Cloud will show you how to set limits effectively and actually improve situations that may now be causing you significant discomfort. He focuses primarily on work relationships, but the problems and solutions he presents fit many human interactions.

You'll find this book especially helpful if you're hiring friends or relatives, so don't miss the tips found in the Appendix. They're pure gold.

I highly recommend this book - for bosses, employees, spouses, lovers, friends, and parents, that is for everyone. If we take his advice, openly declare our boundaries, listen and observe the boundaries of others, our relationships will improve - for everyone involved.

The author does a good job of defining the grey area
of boundaries. Dividing lines are needed to live a
good life- one undisturbed by constant interruptions.

A boundary provides structure so that work and other
issues do not invade our spare time without escape.
People need to gain control in order to relax, plan
and catch up with an ever growing schedule.

The author asks the question " Which areas of your life
do you control? " . If work or play takes up 100% of the
time, then realistic boundaries aren't being set.
These problems are encountered by young people. For
instance, friends may occupy an inordinate amount of
time leaving no opportunity to complete studies or
household duties. Resultingly, people need to develop
and implement rules to ensure that important
activities are scheduled/completed in every event.

At some point, people need to be assertive when their
valuable space or time is being taken up without
a compelling rationale. The volume is excellent for
any individual who seeks to plan to enjoy a more
wholesome and pro-active lifestyle.

Dr. Cloud has an amazing ability to articulate extraordinary complex psychological principals in a manner that any person can comprehend. This book gives the reader a blueprint of what is possible should he/she choose to take ownership of their life. The section that I love the most was "Follow the Misery and Make a Rule." Dr. Cloud does an excellent job in describing how despite all of the modern "advances" that technology has brought us (i.e., email, pda's, blackberry, cell phones, etc.) we, as a society, have become more "disconnected" from our loved ones due to the increasing demands placed upon us. The importance of creating structure and deciding where, when and with whom we will spend our energy and time is clearly evident as these can be a source of energy or a major distraction to accomplishing our goals. As I finished reading this book I felt a sense of empowerment, hope, excitement, and sheer joy for I read on it's pages exactly the tools which I have needed to assist me in completing the tedious process of completing my doctoral dissertation. I have already begun implementing the tools that I have learned from this book and they have made an amazing difference! This book can help anyone learn how to have balance in their work, home and family life. Dr. Cloud has done a stellar job and I recommend this book to anyone who desires to grow or who is in the growth process. Thank you Dr. Cloud! CD, MS