Economic-Life Books

A very enjoyable book that will give you a new perspective on creating a future that will be both rewarding and successful. The author uses personal experiences to relate the principles he has laid out, many times in hilarious fashion. If you want some insight into the culture that is plaguing corporations and individuals today, and how to avoid it, plus be thouroghly entertained, then I recommend this book.

Joe Estey, through his special gift with words and real-life experiences - his and others - somehow connects with that little voice inside each of us. That connection creates a shift in how you see yourself, how you think about your circumstances, and how you feel about your purpose in life.

The Tapestry Principles
1. We'll all look at the same future, but won't see the same future. For some, the future will be a fence; for others, a frontier.
2. Change is a natural human condition; resisting it, and unnatural response.
3. Success is simple: do what you love to do to help others get what they need.

These are the first three of nine Tapestry Principles that are found on the introduction page of Joe Estey's first book, The Tomorrow Tapestry. In this book, you will learn about successful mobility, which the author contends is the only thing that counts in the 21st Century.

This 220 plus page paperback book is laid out in five sections. The first is the title section and constitutes Chapter 1. Chapters 2 through 16 explore The Fabric of Change. The Pattern of Our Purpose is addressed in Chapters 17 through 28. Chapters 29 through 34 deal with The Artists is Our Lives. The Final Thread: Passion is the subject of his final chapter. Estey focuses on several of his Tapestry Principles in each of these sections. He does this using a refreshing and insightful mixture of historical fact, anecdotes, and quotations logically melded to support his principles. The theme throughout is "The future belongs to those who prepare for it!" - Ralph Waldo Emerson. Why should we be interested in the future? Because, as Charles Kettering pointed out, "that is were I am going to spend the rest of my life."

In Chapter 7, Estey notes that life is about choices and we either get to make choices or are forced to do so. What is the difference? - your attitude to change and choices it presents. A positive outlook, working with what you have rather than decrying the lack of some resource, and persistence are key elements in achieving success (changing). Another central theme that comes through in many of his anecdotes is found in the third principle, we best serve our own interests by striving to meet the needs of others. In the end, it is your attitude that makes the difference between life and death. How many people do you know who are dead in spirit because of their inability or unwillingness to accept, even embrace, change? Read Joe Estey's The Tomorrow Tapestry. You will be changed, and you will like it.

Written by an expert on corporate management and self-actualization, Top 10 Traits Of Silicon Valley Dynamos by Joan Clout-Kruse is a collection of turbo-charged stories about the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and professionals who survived the cutthroat corporate world and achieved a dream to be rightfully proud of. Filled with activities to improve oneself and build confidence, Top 10 Traits Of Silicon Valley Dynamos is an insightful, useful, business "self-help" book, as well as an engaging journal of entrepreneurial success. An energetic and inspiring business book for the Fast World of the twenty-first century!

Author Joan Clout-Kruse captures the hearts of her readers with this compilation of extraordinary stories. You don't have to live in the Silicon Valley to understand the struggles and hardships these contributors endured to fulfill their dreams and goals. These people are not Silicon Valley millionaires, they are people just like you and I. The only difference is they decided what they wanted in life and they went after it! The book is designed to help the reader achieve goals and overcome common barriers. There are excercises and plans to follow, the chapters are short and easy to read. I think everyone should become a "Silicon Valley Dynamo" and the way to get started is to read this book!

I found this book very refreshing. It is simple enough that it can sink in deeply and easily. The 10 traits are a great help to encourage and motivate. This book reminds of some of our other best simple classics.

This is a book about passion; the transforming effect of passion indulging, passion affirming, and passion compelling, work (called Occupational Intimacy in the book), which draws individuals (and thus the organization collectively) into performance, growth and learning. Throughout the book, the authors are clearly trying to convey the value of passion in the workplace, not only as an individual benefit, but as an organizational performance benefit... "Organizations that tap into their employee's deepest sense of personal purpose and values will harvest a wealth of passion focused on reaching mutual goals." Although, I would not describe this book as an easy read - the writing is dense and the material comprehensive - by reading this book your will gain an appreciation for these benefits and for some of the steps necessary to invoke passion in your work and/or your workplace.

Dennis DeWilde, author of "The Performance Connection"

They say work is the hardest way to earn money. Michael Kroth and Patricia Boverie have zeroed in what we need to easy up the hard. "Transforming Work" for me hit the core of what is needed in all aspects of life --passion. This is not just a business book, I found myself connecting the dots with the rest of my life. While TW is a bit pricy try, living a life with unconnected dots.

Tom Payne
Author
A Company of One: The Power of Independence in the Workplace

This book is one of a series on New Perspectives in Organizational Learning, Performance, and Change. The series is designed to showcase current theory and practice in human resources and organizational development. While there are practitioners on the editorial board, this looks like more of an academic series. I'd describe this publication as one for professionals, but a volume that individuals can benefit from, as well.

The focus of this book is passionate work. This concept will be difficult for many readers, since passion is emotion and emotion and work are usually considered incongruent. The authors point out, early in the book, that "Passion is at the root of creative genius, personal transformation, and notable events. Passion is emotional energy; it stimulates life and energizes individuals to work toward goals. ...New products, new ideas, creative ways to deliver services, inventions, an scientific discoveries are produced because someone or some organization is passionate." OK. Passion seems to be consistent with what we're striving to accomplish in employment organizations today.

How might we approach this? The authors explain that they've done some research that connects learning with passion. Put the concepts together and you get meaningfulness, and there are a lot of people looking for opportunities to feel a greater sense of meaning in what they do. Readers will be guided through an interesting study into passion, what it is, how it fits, and what to do with it. Individuals will gain, but trainers and organizational development professionals will find it most thought-provoking and stimulating.

The book is organized into eight chapters: Introduction to Passion and Work, The Foundations of Passionate Work, Passion Transformation Process and Cycle, Occupational Intimacy, The Discovering Process, The Designing Process, The Developing Process, and Transforming Work---the five keys to achieving trust, commitment, and passion in the workplace. An index will help you find your way back to those things you want to work with again. A number of exercises are included to stimulate your thinking and help you gain some sense of measurement in the emergence of passion in your personal and corporate life.

The book may seem a bit pricey for only a couple hundred pages, but there is a lot packed into those pages. The book is set mostly in 11 point type, so find a nice quiet place with good light to absorb all the authors have to share.

I always considered myself a trustworthy person but untill I read Linda Stroh's insightful book, I never thought to question just how I measured up.
It was a good lesson to check up on oneself as well as wondering about the other guy all the time. Her thoughtful progression and list of characteristics of "good guys" was interesting and helpful. I found her actual examples reassuring to know that others have experienced the same betrayals at times that I had.
Her husband's assessment that if you feel you can introduce the person to your family hit the mark.
I enjoyed the book and I know that Dr. Stroh is one of the "good guys". Jacqueline McGuire, Lowville, N.Y.

Trust Rules helped me to explore the relationships that I have everyday, both business and private. While this actually might be looked upon as a reference book, it's not. It has a dramatic arc that starts with "How and why do you trust the people you do at work?" It then moves with advice on to how to handle those people at work and the reasons why. All of this, coming from interviews with 300 different CEO's in very different walks of life.
Building upon knowledge learned in previous chapters, Dr. Stroh then moves you on into your own interpersonal relationships. Is there any difference between the trust you have for work peers versus your own friends or family, for example? Can you trust too much? Finally, and very gently, Dr. Stroh leads you into a self-examination of yourself. Worksheets help you figure out just how "good a guy" you are to other people. How much do you trust a person right-off the bat? And in the end, where does this leave you as a human being.
Insightful, thought-provoking yet entertaining, I don't know why it has taken so long for an author to write on a subject like this. I recommend it as one of those "Course Level 101" books on the basics we all need for human life skills.

Dr. Stroh has written a book that makes us all think about the most important relationships in our lives.

It becomes clear that trust is a foundational basis for all of our interactions, and Stroh helps to evolve the concept of trust from an enigmatic 'subjective' concept to something that we can measure and make conscious decisions on whom to trust (and whom to not trust... and the results might be suprising to each reader). It is clear that each of our lives can be improved by taking a methodical approach to trust in the workplace and, most importantly, in our personal lives -- something that is too frequently lacking. Stroh provides wonderful case studies from business leaders and people from diverse backgrounds as points of reference on how trust decisions can improve our relationships. Most importantly, she provides a framework to help us all improve the 'trust' decisions in our own lives.

I loved this book and I loved the thoughful and academic approach to trust in our lives.

This is an excellent, thoughtful and well-written book. Even more important, the author is absolutely right about the impact of high technology on our lives. The approach he proposes for simplifying your life is, unlike those proposed by others, reasonable, practical and achievable. I highly recommend the book --- as well as the less practical but far more humorous look at high technology and society as provided in the paperback, GONE AWRY: A virtual tour through high tech hell.

Regardless of who you are - a casual user of today's technology, old, young, or in between, a corporate citizen or a manager - it is easy to become enthralled by today's "toys", which turn into "tools" and unless handled carefully, change into "weapons" that threaten to control us.

At one point in time or another, we've each fallen victim to the seductiveness of "always on" technology. Believing the myth of "I'll only check e-mail for 5 minutes" or "I'll check my voice mail - it will probably only take a second" has lead many of us to the almost unconscious, unnoticeable state of "always on duty". How did it happen? How can we revert back?

"Turn It Off" helps - a great deal! It is practical, the approach is definitely instructive, and the reader is given much to think about when analyzing their personal and professional circumstances. Approaching our time off with as much care as we devote to our business reminds us to cherish it as the valued and valuable commodity it is.

The author has done an admirable job of positioning the trends that we all must respond to as managers, employees and most importantly, people. We live and work in tumultuous times... "Turn It Off" captures our dilemma - and our opportunity to regain control - most effectively.

We used to be able to disconnect from the office. Our home lives and our work lives were separate. We had a life, as today's expression goes. In a world of e-mail, voicemail, pagers, cell phones, and personal digital assistants, it's increasingly hard to have a life. At least a life outside of work.

All these technological marvels are wonderful, except that they keep us so tethered to our work. We can no longer easily separate the workplace from the rest of our lives. With these connections, every place is the workplace. Result: burnout, severely reduced family and personal time, and shallow relationships with friends and family. We've been trapped in a world that expects instant response 24 hours a day, 7 days a week . . . if we allow it. And most of us do. But we don't have to!

Gil Gordon, an expert in telecommuting and virtual offices, shows us how to regain our freedom, privacy, space . . . to get a life. The book is organized into nine chapters, starting with How Did We Become So Attached to Our Offices. Get ready-in chapter 2, you'll learn How to Find Out if You've Gone over the Line. The balance of the book is page after page of techniques, based on Gordon's three zones of life management. Chapter 6 is critical: How to Approach, Inform, and Get Support from Your Boss, Clients, or Co-Workers. I bet you'll take notes on this chapter! Don't think you can do it all? Chapter 9 covers What to Do if You Just Can't "Turn It Off."

An important point: Gordon doesn't tell you exactly what to do. He just shows you the path. It's up to the reader to determine how far to go, when, and why. Turn It Off gives you the blueprint, the skeleton design, the concept. It's up to you to use it in the way that will be best for you and your life. No, you can't borrow my copy-I've marked it up-lots of fill-in worksheets. And I want to keep this book.

Turn It Off came at a perfect time in my life. I had reached that point where I really wanted to break free of the bonds of total connection. While my desire was there, I needed just a little bit of moral support and perhaps something to call my feeling. Turn it off! Yes! I read the book. I paid attention. I followed Gordon's suggestions to re-think my life. I made some major changes that feel wonderful already! Now I have to discipline myself to stick with it. I think I'll put Turn It Off in my tickler file for three months from now as a reminder to check my progress. Thanks, Gil Gordon--I now have a life again!

Love all that Jeanne Bice does. She is inspirational and humous at the same time.

I just received and thumbed through my contributor's copy as well. What a great collection of stories, articles and tidbits. Anyone who likes Christmas at all will definitely want to have this book. Thanks Jeanne and HCI.

Rick Dungey, "the Christmas Tree guy"

When my contributor copy arrived this week, I flipped through the pages just to see how my story, Up Front, looked. But then I spent the next hour browsing. It's such great fun and will be the perfect holiday bedside book. The photos alone will guarantee you'll have visions of sugarplums dance in your head, not to mention rum balls, fudge and even incredible gingered brussels sprouts. And if you start reading the slice-of-life stories at Thanksgiving, you'll have a tale a night to take you through to the New Year. Just picture Chicken Soup for the Soul coupled with Real Simple, and you'll understand the Ultimate Christmas concept. I'm ordering copies for everybody on my list. This is a present that will be cherished Christmas after Christmas.

The Ultimate MBA: Meaningful Biblical Analogies For Business is a Christian guidebook to bringing integrity worthy of faithful believers and harmonizing it with the business need to turn a profit. Chapters address the importance of doing the right thing, leadership for the common good, applying one's experience, taking chances when needed, staying focused, and much more. The Ultimate MBA draws upon the wisdom of the Bible to illustrate the power of positive, compassionate, and upstanding policies, and describes in plain terms the importance of building lasting institutions upon values. Highly recommended for anyone seeking to balance seemingly opposing business and conscience goals.

The Ultimate MBA is clearly a timely book for the times. With corporate scandal and wide-spread greed abounding, this book brings some very sage advice laced with ethical/moral guidance. It is thought provoking and runs the gambit from the author's youthful experiences as a field laborer to top corporate executive as his remarkable career progressed. There is plenty to learn from the book: it should be required reading for all business degree candidates. As the author states, "[t]here need to be major reforms in how we run America's corporations and in the purposed they serve." The country needs to get on with it. And, this book is a very good start in leading the way to changes in the business minset.

Having worked in the business world for over 30 years and read a corresponding number of business books, I can honestly say that "The Ultimate MBA" was the first to get me to think this deeply. In the end, all of us are simply human beings and the number of times which we pause to reflect upon our moral obligations are limited in our fast-paced business world. Moreau finds a happy balance in conveying his practical experience and high degree of morality. I think this book should be read by all business people who want to leave behind more than just debits and credits.

As a citizen who is concerned about the health of the environment, I was enlightened by the essays in the first section of this book. The authors leave little room for doubt that the Earth can sustain a finite population, and for a finite length of time. Without any of the hysterical rhetoric which so often characterizes the political debate on this topic, these scholars demonstrate the fact that our existence on this, the eastern shore of Eden, is ephemeral. As a student of economics, I was impressed by the lucid exploration of free-enterprise, steady-states, and market forces in the third section. This section is home to some of the best essays in the book: T. H. Tietenberg's exposition of free-market solutions to the pollution problem as well as Ken Townsend's expert discussion of the ecological problems facing the nations of the former communist world are as important as they are timely. But, the most important respect in which I was struck by this book was as a human being. It is in the second section that Daly and Townsend--with the help of such friends as C. S. Lewis and E. F. Schumacher--address the important issue of morality. Are humans obligated to preserve something off this planet for future generations? How much consumption should we engage in? Does our economic system promote an ungodly destruction of the world in which we live. The reader should not come to this volume without a willingness to challenge his own deeply held notions about the state of the environment or the economy's role in creating that state. Neither should a reader open this book if he is searching for easy solutions to our environmental problems. Those readers with the courage to think, however, will not be dissatisfied.

Edit of 21 Dec 07 to add links to more recent books that build on this.

This is one of three books that I bought for review with the intent of selecting one for broad pro-bono distribution. Although I chose "For the Common Good" and I recommend "Ecological Economics" as the one book to buy if you buy only one (see my reviews of those books at their own pages), this book is a treasure chest of original and current thinking that should certainly be in your hands if you can afford all three books. As another reviewer has noted, it finally re-publishes some of the hard to get original thinkers from the steady-state economics era of the 1970's. However, it does so with an ample leavening of 1990's authorship, and hence could reasonably be regarded as a first-class "readings" complement to the text book ("Ecological Economics").

There is a chart on page 20 of this book that is quite extraordinary. Titled "The ends-means spectrum", it brilliantly runs down from the top: Religion and Ethics as guidelines to ultimate and intermediate ends of humanity; to the middle Political Economy as a means of managing the factors of production to specific political ends; to the bottom: Technics and Physics as the "ultimate" foundation or "ground truth" of flow-entropy-matter-energy that must constrain political and religious ends.

This book, in which Kenneth N. Townsend is the second contributing editor-author, blends practical, political, economic, and theological writings, over several decades, in a most pleasing manner. E. F. Schumacher's "Buddhist Economics" jumped out at me, reminding me that our predominantly Protestant corporate capitalist ethos is very far removed from the realities that guide and repress billions around the Earth, all of whom have fewer options than we do. With that thought in mind, I strongly recommend William Greider's "The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy" as a very current complement to any of the books that Dr. Daly has helped bring into the marketplace of ideas.

See also, with reviews:
The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism: How the Financial System Underminded Social Ideals, Damaged Trust in the Markets, Robbed Investors of Trillions - and What to Do About It
Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution
Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage

For the advanced student of the discipline of ecological economics this essay-collection provides a handfull of the most influential classics of the field, of which many has been hard to come by for years. The essays by Garrett Hardin, Herman Daly, Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen and Paul and Anne Ehrlich are among the most frequently cited essays of the field - and for good reasons.

Short chapters, easy to read. Great for waiting rooms, lobbies, bed & breakfasts, etc. Wide variety of inspirational stories for any taste.

This collection of essays is written some who are household names, such as Wayne Dyer and Anthony Robbins and others who are not as well-known. But they all have one thing in common-- they want us to focus on the abundance that is available in our lives. Some have stories about overcoming hardships while others are less personal. However, it is books like this that give an opportunity to reexamine how we think about our lives and change them for the better. I especially enjoyed the essay by Donald Wimmer because he is brutally frank about the mistakes he's made and uses them as examples of how we can remake our lives so they are fuller and more enjoyable.

This book offers so much with about 50 co-author sharing their story I found a lot of wisdom and insights that I had never thought about. Its a quick read and many of the stories are sure to touch your heart.

This book is a very unique and brilliant approach to the business world using poetry. It's an invaluable tool to teach choices about life in corporate America. I loved the book!

Corporate poetry is an excellent tool for use with groups in the workplace or for one's own development. The insights are mind-expanding and the choices challenging. Quite a thought-provoking work that is easily read. Will be enjoyed by most everyone. Great gift idea!

What a unique concept! The author's combination of prose and poetry to examine the value system of corporate America inspired self-reflection. This book is a great tool for any person, man or woman, trying to survive in corporate America today. I loved it!