Economic-Life Reviews

A Peacock in the Land of Penguins: A Tale of Diversity and Discovery

Published in Paperback by Berrett-Koehler Publishers (1995-01)

Authors: Barbara Hateley and Warren H. Schmidt

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Accurately depicts the perspectives of the 'diverse'.

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1998-02-13

I couldn't believe such a complex issue was presented in such a simple manner. I think it should be required reading for all of Corporate America as diversity goes way beyond black and white. How about women, Christians, non-Christians, degreed, non-degreed, conservatives, liberals, moderates, etc? The list is endless. Excellent reading!

Diversity Without Defensiveness

Helpful Votes: 10 out of 10 total.
Review Date: 2000-09-01

I finally got around to reading this bestseller and now understand why it's sold so many copies. The beauty of this little book is that it gets at important diversity issues that are often emotionally "loaded" for people, but without making people defensive. I find that many people have set up psychological fences around their attitudes toward race, gender and ethnicity. They've been admonished often enough on these topics that they find it hard to listen anymore. By presenting a charming fable about a peacock and penguins, Hately and Schmidt avoid those fences and get directly and powerfully at the essence of the experience of being different--and about the ways that people respond to differences. This second edition contains the 111-page fable from the first edition, plus 15 additional pages of guidance and resources on how to deal with differences. Even with the additional material, it is a very quick read. Reading carefully, it only took me about 45 minutes to read the fable, and another 10 or 15 minutes to get through the new material. This book would be a perfect pre-work assignment for a workshop on diversity.

The best 15 minutes you�ll spend in redevelopment this year!

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 1997-01-02

BJ's lively parable is a charming instructor, a souvenir of a memorable exploration of "fitting in" and a companion showing that we are not only NOT ALONE in the world, but that the very things about us that make us feel most alone make us also MOST VALUABLE.

Perry the Peacock's imaginatively illustrated and delightful story suits children of all ages and adults connected with organizations of any kind-business, non-profit, social services, etc.

Fifteen pages of identifiers, resources and strategies make this second edition a book you will buy by the dozen rather than loan out.

--Buy the second edition!

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 1997-01-03

Already printed in 10 languages and two editions since its debut in January of 1995, this book is essential reading for anyone feeling stuck in a job, a club, an organization, a church or any systematized group. (It's also a valuable guide for people who prefer the security of being stuck and feel pommeled by the wild beating of feathers around them.)

But, get the second edition, so you can take advantage of the 15 pages of identifiers, tools and processes that will take you from figuring out where you are to figuring out how to get where you want to go.

If you ARE a corporation or lodge or church or school, read the SECOND EDITION only if you're willing to be "dislodged" as appropriate!

Press BACK <<-- to return to search results listing both editions, or click on the author's name for complete listing.

Peak performance principles for high achievers

Published in Paperback by Berkley (1986-11-15)

Author: John R. Noe

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Dr. D. James Kennedy's Endorsement

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-30

So many Christians are going through life settling for mediocre, settling for second best, and choosing the path of least resistance. Not Dr. John R. Noe, author of this old (1984) and new (2006) book . . . . He reminds us that the first mountain we need to conquer is that of ourselves and that God wants us to accomplish great things for His glory.

Dr. D. James Kennedy, Ph.D.
Senior Minister
Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church

Without a doubt, this book is a winner!!!

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 1998-12-05

If you are looking to make some positive changes in your life, changes that will touch others in a positive way, this is the book to read and re-read often. I can't say enough good things about it. I rate it as a life changing book!

I carry it around with me everyehere I go!

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 1998-08-30

Dare to confront your fears. Learn from devastating failures and climb the road of high achievers. This book is a must for anyone who seriously wants to make an impact in this world. I cant emphasize this point enough. BUY THIS BOOK!

Little Book Packs a Big Punch

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 1998-04-25

This little book, by a little known author, imparts more useful information in about 100 pages than most other big name success writers can convey in 500 pages. The book reads much easier than most success literature not only because of its crisp style, but also because of the setting the author uses to impart some genuinely useful wisdom. The author uses the story of his successful ascent of the Matterhorn as a jumping off point. Each stage of his quest provides a lesson of general applicability. Without being preachy, the author also talks about some of the spiritual components of achievement. If you're easily annoyed by spiritual references, you might be turned off and miss out on a real gem! For everyone else, this is one of the most useful and inspiring success manuals around.

Peak Performers

Published in Paperback by Harper Paperbacks (1987-05-01)

Author: Charles Garfield

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I Want To Be A Peak Performer, too!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-13

Every industry has people who climb to the top. These successful professionals fill the top ten percent and reap all the rewards and glory why others just occupy the middle and the bottom. What is it that makes these folks successful where others are not. And beyond that top ten percent, what is it that makes the even more rare performer achieve the top one percent.

Dr. Charles Garfield's research of what makes "the new heroes of American Business" is a book that makes you think about success. We all want success, but it does not happen by accident. Garfield tells us that peak performers are not born, they are made. This is encouraging to all of us who want to accomplish more within our careers.

If you are interested in success....read this book.

How to become a Peak Performer

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-07

I bought this book along with Dr. Garfield's first book Peak Performance after I read him in the Wall Street Journal. Since I was just starting a sales career at the time, I was eager to learn any trick or techniques that would help me.

I found it fascinating to learn of the toll booth attendant who was high energy and classified by Garfield as a "Peak Performer." Here was a guy having a ball and preparing for a career and then tells Dr. Garfield that he will share his secrets if Dr. Garfield takes him out to dinner at a place called Ernies, one of the highest of the high class restaurants in the Bay area and $100 a plate (this was in 1985!)

Dr. Garfield offers many similiar examples of "Peak Performers" in various fields of endeavor; athletes, business people, science and more.

I highly recommend Peak Performers to anyone who wants to be the best they can be.

8 steps to success

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2000-04-07

I can not really articulate the logic and a reassurance this book gave me, with direction, honesty and fierce tactics, Peak Performers paves the road for success. If you are stuck in a job or career that is not right for you than this is the book for you.

Six Steps to being a Peak Performer

Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2003-04-06

The book that outlines six aspects of peak performance: 1. A mission that motivates you 2. Real results in real time 3. Self management through self-mastery 4. Be a team builder and member 5. Course Correction and last, 6. Change management. He defines each one well and provides techniques such as visualization which aid in achieving each dimension of being a peak performer. The writing is very straightforward and logical, and avoids the hyperbole and slickness of many other self-improvement books, that are long on rah-rah advice but short on actual how-to steps for each critical dimension.

The Performance Appraisal Question and Answer Book

Published in Hardcover by AMACOM (2002-06-18)

Author: Richard C. Grote

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A book for new and old managers alike

Helpful Votes: 10 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2002-10-22

Mr. Grote tells it like it is, and I loved his approach in this book. It's presented in a question & answer format where he presents a question that is just about everyone's mind who conducts performance appraisals for employees, and he answers it with a short answer then a longer and more detailed answer. The best line is when he says, "Supervisors put up with too much [stuff]otherwise writes very well and straightforward, and strongly pushed the responsibility for improvement back to the employee, not the manager. Thank you for liberating me! He spends a good deal of the book on performance planning as well, an often underutilized tool to set an employee up for success.

Questions, Answers, and a Great Deal More

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-01

Although this book was first published in 2002, I only recently read it and, as my rating correctly indicates, I think it is an outstanding piece of work. Performance measurement is one of the most important and yet least understood business subjects and it is certain to become even more important during the next several years as organizations become more "virtual" and many of those involved with them become "free agents" or are at least more independent. Also, on average, people now make 7-9 job changes during a career. The average for those in my generation is half of that, if not less. Grote wrote this book primarily for managers who are responsible for measuring the performance of others.

A relatively recent and (in my opinion) promising trend is that, increasingly, one of the metrics used for evaluating the performance of a manager is how well she or he measures the performance of others. That is the subject for another book which Grote, perhaps, will one day write.

Given the substance of the material in this book and how Grote wishes to organize and then present it, the Q&A format seems eminently appropriate. He adds a clever variation: The inclusion of "Tell Me More" comments after his initial response to each core question. I greatly appreciate the personal, conversational tone which Grote establishes and then sustain in each of his three books, the other two being Discipline Without Punishment and Forced Ranking. He comes about as close as a business thinker/writer can to seeming to interact directly with his reader.

Obviously, this book will be of primary interest and value to supervisors but I also highly recommend it to those who are supervised. Now more than ever before, it is imperative to make crystal clear what expectations are and how performance relative to those expectations is measured, especially during interviews of candidates and then, once hired, during their orientation...which few organizations do well. (That is another book awaiting someone to produce it.) As Grote would be among the first to point out, the results of countless research studies which examine employee satisfaction concur that feeling appreciated, believing in the value of the work done, and having one's performance evaluated fairly and consistently are among the attributes which participants in the research studies considered to be most important. Also revealing is the fact that, depending upon which results are consulted, compensation was ranked anywhere from #9 and #14 in importance.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Grote's other two as well as Michael Ray's The Highest Goal and The Oz Principle co-authored by Craig Hickman, Tom Smith, and Roger Connors; also Mark Samuel's Creating the Accountable Organization and The Power Of Personal Accountability, co-authored with Sophie Chiche.

I use this system. I never want to go back.

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-09

I work for a dept. with a state government and Grote's comprehensive performance management system was implemented several years ago. It works! Takes the indecision, inconsistency, and the bias/subjectivity out of perform. mgt. It is systematic. This text is excellent & thorough. Addresses in practical ways MANY of the problems that mgrs. run into when doing performance evals. (your ratings are defensible when you have a difficult employee). I found that it was easy to read and to apply. It gives you knowledge & confidence. I have "highlighted" throughout this book and refer to it often. It is my Performance Eval. "bible". We also use Grote's Discipline Without Punishment (DWOP) system also. I recommend his book of the same title also. Excellent system. Definitely not "wimpy"! Takes the indecision, inconsistency, and the bias/subjectivity out of office discipline. It is systematic and defensible also.

a no-nonsense approach to performance appraisals

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2004-09-13

I found the book very easy to follow, and the principles and concepts were down-to-earth. The author gives a no-nonsense approach in performance appraisals, using common-sense and throws out all the other HR mumbo-jumbo. He also lays out a good argument for tying the PA to the company's objectives and missions, ideas on employee motivation (forget the "employee of the month" ideas), how to deal with difficult reviewees (those who just don't understand how their performance is bad), and the best way to handle performance planning meetings at the beginning of the year and the importance of these.

Personal Leadership : Taking Control of Your Work Life

Published in Hardcover by Elsewhere Press (MI) (2001-01-01)

Author: John Baldoni

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An Excellent Guide to Improving Your Personal and Professional Life

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-05-18

"Leadership is an active, living process. It is rooted in character, forged by experience, and communicated by example." Those are the opening sentences of this book--and they capture this author's message perfectly.

Books on leadership are plentiful, but Baldoni makes his leadership message personal. He's chosen a great title, of course, and the book itself is an easy read. All of the vital points concerning leadership are here. But to me the second half of the book is the most interesting section, as the author gives examples of outstanding leaders from all walks of life. These real-life stories bring to life the concepts we've heard about so often.

One other thing I like about Personal Leadership: the author includes an "Action Planner" at the end of every chapter. The questions he asks (for which the reader has to supply the answers) provide an excellent opportunity for a self-evaluation of one's personal journey along the leadership path.

A Fast Read and Great Guidlines

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-22

I found this book to be practical and chock full of useful stories that bring home leadership points in the book. Personal Leadership is an excellent book for front line supervisors. It provides many useful frameworks for things leaders may already know but don't have a way to be systematic about. It also brings out issues new leaders may not have even considered but are important to their success. As a trainer in leadership I have seen many books on leadership but few that I feel would be as useful as this one in helping new leaders hit the deck running.

Down-to-earth wisdom

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2001-08-03

Despite how common the word is in business lexicon, `leadership' can be perceived and defined in many ways - from an executive title to behavior that influences others. What's not in question is that many of us aspire to become leaders, and aren't sure where to start.

In Personal Leadership: Taking Control of Your Work Life, author John Baldoni cuts through the intellectual theory of leadership, and shares with readers the inspirational essays, stimulating questions and practical tips that can help anyone cultivate valuable skills on his or her journey towards leadership. His blending of down-to-earth wisdom and powerful anecdotes (all presented in bite-sized pieces) make for an easy-to-read book that's a good addition to the reference libraries of businesses large and small.

Rather than falling into the traditional trap of citing only corporate executives as leaders, Baldoni provides examples from the spectrum of life - including Swiss watchmakers, educators, film directors and U.S. presidents - allowing readers to notice the leadership skills within, rather than see leadership as simply a title assigned by a corporation to a select few. Each chapter of Baldoni's book also includes exercises and action planners that transition concepts into action, which is the foundation of any successful personal-development practice. (As Baldoni writes, "Leadership begins with the individual!")

The "stories from the front lines" make a lasting impression, serving as windows into the world of leadership that showcase the challenges and triumphs, and the required mindset and mettle. Curiously, all but one of the featured leaders is based in the Detroit, Michigan-area, making one wonder if there's something extra-special in the water supply out there, or if Baldoni's reach extended only so far. This is not to diminish the information that he generously offers in the book, but an element that stands out as unusual in a book that otherwise features a nice depth. Some prospective or actual readers of Baldoni's book might see this as credibility-busting, but that would be a self-limiting mistake.

Any current or aspiring leader - regardless of organizational title - will find gems of new information or poignant reminders in this book, and will return to its pages for inspiration and fine-tuning.

Bottom line: Personal Leadership is recommended reading.

Practical, Engaging, and Inspiring

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2001-05-11

My first response was, "Not another book about leadership!" But I was surprised to discover a very special book with an amazing amount of practical and inspiring information packed into 219 pages. His framework of insights for leaders is coupled with a selection of leadership profiles of real-life leaders.

Most leadership books stay at 30,000 feet. Baldoni brings us down to ground level. He tells us what we actually have to do to be effective leaders at work, at home, or any other place. He hones in on the values, beliefs, and personality that are found in effective leaders, making a distinction between constructive leaders and destructive leaders.

The stories about leaders provide a wonderful variety of types of leadership and kinds of organizations. In the profiles a CEO of a Fortune 100 business, two startup entrepreneurs, a school principal, a college coach, and a military commander, we see the same basic principles applied over and over again. It is a pleasure to have the nuts and bolts of day-to-day leadership and real-life examples together in one easy to read book.

Adding to the book's appeal is the way Baldoni has embedded the process of reflection into the book. He explains it as an essential leadership skill and then he demonstrates the skill by asking the reader reflective questions at the end of each short chapter. These questions had me thinking about what the chapter meant to me and what I could learn about leadership.

The author's engaging writing style is not often seen in management texts. The mix of advice and stories is done with humor and flows easily from topic to topic and chapter to chapter. I recommend this book highly.

Plundered Promise: Capitalism, Politics, and the Fate of the Federal Lands

Published in Hardcover by Island Press (2001-03-01)

Author: Richard Behan

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Corporations and corrupt government degrade Federal Lands

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2002-05-20

Mr. Behan's main theme in PLUNDERED PROMISE is how political and economic overshoot has led to the increasing plunder of public lands for private profit. His deeper look at how the growth of corporations, hyperconsumerism, and centralized oligarchical government has led to the plundering and degradation of US Federal lands frames our present Bush administration problems and he directs the reader to authors such as Cobb-Daly, Kemmis, Prugh, Yaffee, etc. for workable, practical solutions.

After a synoptic opening chapter, there are chapters on the first century of public land management, the rise of corporate capitalism at the start of the 20th century, the rise of professional management and 'sustained yield' at mid-century and finally, "The Economics and Politics of License: Corruption and Predatation, 1976 to the Present.

Behan's development of the concept of economic and political overshoot and how it effected public lands is of key importance to environmentalists. The history of the development of governmental subsidization of private use of public lands and the momentum of the growth economy in degrading forests, overgrazing grasslands, overfishing the commons, etc. is crucial. Revoking corporate charters and devolving government out of Washington to local 'neighbourhoods' are revolutionary tactics advocated to get the philistines out of the temple.

Good as Korten, Greider and Klein. Well worth your while.

Intriguing insights to our governmental operations

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2002-05-06

Behan explains in fascinating detail many of the quirks -- mostly intentional -- that make our government behave today the way it does. The convoluted process that got George Bush elected is only a glimpse of the deep issues. He explains how it is virtually impossible, and has been since our foundation, to say we have rule by majority in our government. This is all explored from a foundation of federal land policy, but applies equally to the rest of our governmental operations. It was eye opening, and angering, to learn how we got where we are.

Plundered Promise: A 21st Century Forest Policy Primer

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-10

This book is worthwhile reading for anyone who proclaims a political opinion, or perhaps simply draws a breath. It is not an unbiased book, and you are unlikely to agree with every argument. I don't, but, after teaching forest policy and economics to university students for 25 years, I regret not having had the advantage of this book as a text. It would ideally complement a standard text in an undergraduate policy course, and it would serve well as core reading in a graduate seminar, supplemented by books on related topics. Several good choices, in fact, are cited in "Plundered Promise."

Behan is an engaging, provocative writer so his description of the evolution of land use policy in the United States is entertaining as well as instructive. He makes clear the process by which we have moved from the capitalistic ideal of individual private property ownership of all lands to one of reserving some lands to be held in common, and provides a logical defense for why we did it. The rationale, he notes, for maintaining such a "public good" has grown stronger with time. These public lands are a collective national treasure like no other in the world.

Behan then makes the case that we are hell-bent to squander this "promise" of the book's title. The great evil in this story is our unwitting, and presumably unwilling collaboration with modern (huge) corporations in a senseless, wasteful social party of conspicuous consumption. Modern corporations, many with global reach and stunning political and financial command, attempt to create demand for their massive and efficient production by devising market strategies to convince us to over consume; to acquire material goods as a measure of our social success and prosperity. The below-cost, ready access these giants have to our public lands treasure in order to supply their raw material needs, and for air, land and water sinks, requires consumers (all of us) to bear costs disproportionate to gains from such enterprise.

How have we been duped into this distorted market? Behan provides a fascinating and fresh perspective on the way America's founders contrived a unique constitional government that precludes majoritarian democracy. Political, legal and economic power has been concentrated among elites in Washington, D.C. Along the way, he notes, corporations were legally granted unique constitutional privileges. This argument deserves careful consideration. It is not the stuff of high school civics courses, or an uncritical recitation of the wisdom of free enterprise. It ties together the facts and the thesis of the book, and because it challenges the standard assumptions most Americans hold about their individual rights, prerogatives and powers, this argument alone makes the book required reading.

The way out of the jam, according to Behan, is for citizens to moderate their consumptive behavior, to resist the importuning of corporate advertisers, to pursue legal redress of corporate license, and to seize control of the political process at the local level. He offers specific examples of local or community level politics in practice, with attendant successes in resolving land use issues while protecting public land values. This resolution, while appropriate for many issues, and promising as an idealistic framework, seems less reassuring when one considers the complexities of international politics and global environmental issues. What can we do for a national energy policy, for example, wherein the real costs of our consumptive behavior, at whatever level, must be assessed globally and then allocated equitably among all of us? What can we do locally about issues that transcend national boundaries?

One optimistic notion that Behan suggests as a partial solution seems practical, and likely to work, and that is the power of Internet communication. This could facilitate the formation of "communities of interest" to address problems in ways that transcend normal geographical limits. Much needs to be done, and too much has been done badly, but the necessary dialogue has begun. Richard Behan's book, "Plundered Promise," is an essential component of that dialogue.

A book for many

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2001-10-31

A lot of people might find Behan's book illuminating. Among them: anyone whose job moved overseas to a cheaper labor force; anyone who has looked from the window of a commercial airplane flying from Seattle to Los Angeles and marveled at the size of clearcuts on public forestland. Anyone who has wondered why the treasury doesn't receive fair value for the minerals extracted from publicly owned land, for the grazing rights, for the timber and for the water resource. Beyond the public land issues Behan addresses, the book is is an informative read for anyone who has wondered why there is no public agenda in the United States -- and, instead, a plethora of interest groups and PACs that shape the direction of legislation. As an aside, the book is a civics lesson for all of us who wonder why we find ourselves voting against the least-unappealing candidate in a two-way race instead of choosing enthusiastically from among outstanding candidates. Forestry professionals should read it in hopes of renewing the passion, optimism and zeal with which they began their careers. Behan is a scholar, and the work is carefully written and the cases he makes are well-documented. Yet there's sparkle in the prose. Even so the book isn't an easy read. The facts he presents are depressing, and the hopeful recommendations Behan makes at the end seem ever so far from being adopted. Or even considered in my lifetime.

Positively Outrageous Service: How to Delight and Astound Your Customers and Win Them for Life

Published in Paperback by Kaplan Business (2004-09-01)

Author: T. Scott Gross

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Yes! Great for every day and it works

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-28

I have changed the way I manage my store and have seen immediate results! A great buy! I would recommend anyone in a service industry read this book.

Outrageously fantastic reading

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-25

Anyone in business should read this book. Not only is it full of suggestions and helps, but it really justifies the customer service all entreprenuers desire of their employees. It wouldn't be bad for some of the employees to also read it.

Microbranding to improve your marketing and customer service

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-03

Are you a manager of a service oriented small business? Then this book is for you. Positively Outrageous Service does a fantastic job of pointing out several things:

1) Word of Mouth is still the best marketing tool around for small businesses.
2) By exceeding expectations and surprising your customers you will create that buzz which make you stand out, get noticed and create raving fans.
3) Your employees are your most effective marketing tool and - like it or not - are your brand representatives.
4) Customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction are connected.
5) Empowering and motivating your employees is the best way to insure the superior level of customer service that will allow the small business to compete with big business.

The author gives great examples of how different small service businesses have used incredible customer service to succeed and compete without huge marketing budgets.

Being a personal branding specialist, what I enjoyed most about this book was how the author presented his solution in terms of microbranding. In an nutshell, every employee (or rather, the sum of their actions) is a microbrand. Align those microbrands with your company's brand (by empowering and motivating employees to provide "outrageous service") and you have a recipe for incredible service, marketing and success.

A great, informative and enjoyable read - I highly recommend it.

Insightful!

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-07-25

This folksy compilation of stories about people and companies who deliver "Positively Outrageous Service" (POS) has the right mix to prove that people love great service and the companies that deliver it. The stories may meander, but author T. Scott Gross is so popular because he knows how to weave humor, personal anecdotes and actual business stories into a cohesive argument that almost all business is personal and local. This form of bottom-up business advice places great importance upon the front-line employees who represent your business. Gross explains that front-line workers can make or break your brand and your sales, no matter what size your business is. He provides good business lessons, so don't let the light reading mislead you. We recommend this book to managers of any business in the service sector who want to give their employees the power and motivation to deliver great service.

The Practical Coach: Management Skills for Everyday Life

Published in Paperback by Prentice Hall (2000-12-15)

Author: Paula J. Caproni

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Well researched and practical

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2002-07-02

A really well rounded book about the many dimensions of management....of particular interest is the chapter on understanding and building trust.

Real help for real issues

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2001-02-22

Dr. Caproni hits the nail on the head with this very practical book based on real knowledge (not just supposition). Developing the best in the people in our organizations (easy to want, and hard to do) will help leaders do more with less -- fewer people, less unnecessary change, less "blow it up and start again". Those are the hidden costs that will eat our lunch in competitive environments. I'm glad for the help this book offers.

Management development gurus take note

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2001-01-16

The book is first rate in its relevance, freshness of approach, organization and presentation. The combination of exercises, self-assessment tools, current research and statistics, and realistic perspective on the diverse, global, technology-driven workplace makes the book an extremely valuable tool. No fluff or fill here. This book is packed with information and useful tools for managers, executives, consultants,educators, and trainers. This one has legs, folks. Buy it, read it, and use it.

For the past six years, I have used Caproni's materials and ideas in executive and professional education programs with groups of managers from throughout the globe. They really respond to the way she organizes material, presents important ideas, and brings together critical management knowledge from several domains that are usually treated separately.

21st Century Reality Rules

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2001-01-04

I loved the fact that Ms. Caproni utilized a decididly non north american white male perspective. From the delightful family picture on the back cover to the diverse source material she really understands how the changing landscape of our world, both personal and workplace impacts the skills needed to manage. As an experienced consultant,fronline workplace warrior, digerati and MOM, I can tell her advice is obviously imformed by experience and her critical mind. Read it just to impress your friends with my (and I predicte soon to be the worlds) favorite new word Bricolage. Sould be required reading for all first time managers as well as anyone who aspires to work, live and love well. The practical free and credible assessments are worth the price of the book.

Prairie Kitchen Sampler

Published in Hardcover by Prairie Winds Pr (1988-12)

Author: E. Mae Fritz

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My Favorite Cookbook / Memoir

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-11

It's always nice to run across a book that warms you to the cockles of your heart. I simply love this book for its coziness and return to it whenever in need of a pick-me-up. Miss Fritz is the type of person I would be proud to call "friend." I admire her resourcefulness, her cheery attitude, her devotion to home and family, all those values of the past that more of us should try to cultivate. The life of a prairie farmwife was hard but rewarding. Little common things brought great joy and this book will do the same for you. Plus the recipes are pretty good too.

Wonderful stories and great recipes

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-28

This is an enchanting cookbook, full of stories from the author's mother about cooking in the 20, 30's and 40's. The recipes are easy to follow. Every one that I have tried has been delicious, family-pleasing, "real" food not gourmet stuff. This would be a great bridal gift. My girls will get their own copy when they leave home. A must for the collector!

A must-have addition to every kitchen!

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 1999-01-02

A cookbook that actually reads like a story. Readers are taken back in time with the author and her mother as they share stories from the Nebraska prairie days. Packed full of recipes you'll have to try! This book paints vivid pictures of what life was once like...cooking on large, corncob stoves, stoking the fire to keep just the right consistency for making a cake. We have it easy with today's kitchen technology! This book would make a great bridal shower gift or just one to add to your kitchen shelf...

I love this book!

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2004-04-16

One of my favorite "reading" cookbooks which also contains tasty recipes. Some of the recipes remind me of the ones my grandma used to make, and were lost after her death, so finding this cookbook has brought back happy memories. One of my favorite recipes in the books is for dumplings. The best I've ever made and eaten.

Reading the book also gives me a deeper understanding of farm life and how people survived in the midwest. My husband grew up on a family ranch so this is a plus.

Protect Your Estate: Definitive Strategies for Estate and Wealth Planning from the Leading Experts

Published in Paperback by McGraw-Hill (1999-12-08)

Authors: Robert A. Esperti and Renno L. Peterson

List price: $18.95

New price: $3.84
Used price: $0.67

Average review score:

Protect Your Estate - by Esperti, et al

Helpful Votes: 16 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 2001-08-09

I bought the previous edition of this book several years ago and learned so much from its straight forward, well-organized and clear presentation (I am neither an accountant nor a tax person) that co-workers and family members began quizzing me on matters of estate planning. This book allowed me to answer many questions and also enabled me to have a very intelligent conversation with a professional estate planner. I consider the book such a valuable resource that I just purchased the updated edition.

Detailed overview in layman's terms

Helpful Votes: 18 out of 19 total.
Review Date: 2001-02-01

Outstanding book to educate yourself on estate planning. This book will prepare you for the planning process so you can understand what your estate planning attorney is talking about and what he or she is trying to accomplish for you. It also very clearly outlines the fallacies inherent in trying to conduct estate planning without competent legal counsel. The authors tell you know how to find competent advice and how to arrange conduct free consultation interviews with any prospective estate planning specialists. If you are even thinking about estate planning, GET THIS BOOK!

A nice book on estate planning that made me feel like I was reading an online blog.

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-26

This book was better than most I've read on estate planning. Its objective was to familiarize the reader with the estate planning process. I'm not sure it really covered "the process." But I think it educates the reader well enough to be an educated consumer when consulting an estate planning attorney for help in estate tax planning matters.

As I read I got the feeling the authors were anti-probate and pro- living trusts. And there were certain things included in the book that made it sound like a promotional piece for the authors' own law practices and organizations. I would have liked it better if the book had not come across as a promotional piece.

The authors say to treat this book as a survey of what estate planning can be. When reading this book (7 years after it was written) I got the feeling the content could have been a bunch of blog entries the authors have posted online that they conveniently strung together to make a book. There are 42 chapters and 4 "entries" in the appendix. And the book is only 330 pages long.

I was looking for a Glossary of Terms, but failed to find one. The book would have been better with one. And I would have liked the book better if Appendix D about the history of estate planning had been moved to the front.

Chapter 1: What is estate planning? I felt this chapter was lousy. It was wordy and vague and not really accurate. Estate planning is really "estate tax planning." It is not financial planning or "wealth strategies planning" as the authors suggest. Nor is estate planning to be confused with "disability planning." As a result, I'm not sure why Chapter 4 was included.

Chapter 8: Probate. I enjoyed reading about estate administration in this chapter. But I think the authors did the reader a disservice by equating the probate process to estate administration. Other problems I had with this chapter include the statement made that executors work for the probate court or probate judge. This simply is not true! Executors work for the estate (a separate legal entity). And the statement that probate is complicated is not accurate as stated. In some cases it can be. But in most it is NOT.

Chapter 9: The federal estate tax. Here the authors repeatedly referred to the estate tax as a death tax. The estate tax has nothing to do with death. It only has to do with wealth transfers. If a poor person dies, then no estate tax is due. If the estate tax were really a death tax, then a tax would be due when a poor person dies.

Chapter 10: The unified system. I had a problem with the material the authors chose to talk about here. Why was it necessary to discuss the way things used to be? As far as I am concerned the book would have been much better if the authors had stuck to the present and explained how things are now. The presentation of the material would have been much more straighforward and easy to understand. 4 stars!

Good Stuff!

Helpful Votes: 22 out of 23 total.
Review Date: 2001-07-16

I am an estate planning attorney, not affiliated with any of the author's companies, and I think this book is a "must read" for anyone who is serious about planning his/her estate.

By the way, estate planning is for everone, not merely the "wealthy." The cost (in time and fees) to have a customed designed and implemented estate plan will probably be the best investment you will ever make to protect and preserve your wealth for your loved ones.

Economic-Life Books