Economic-indicators Books

In theory and in summary, author Lynne C. Levesque's book sounds wonderful. Today's changing business environment pressures everyone to come up with creative ideas, but not everyone is creative, or so goes common thinking. Levesque argues that everyone is creative, or can be, but that there are different types of creativity. Working from a base in Jungian psychology, and writing somewhat stiffly, Levesque explains eight major types of creativity. She has clearly studied creativity thoroughly. She provides historic examples, quotations and countless tools - including an analysis of creative personality strengths based on the Myers-Brig Type Indicator - to support her thesis that minds work in different ways. Unfortunately, she gives little evidence that people become more creative when they follow her suggestions, and that's the rub. Her specific suggestions sound great, but idealistic: how many organizations have the resources to assemble teams with complementary creativity styles? As a result, we recommend this book to two groups of readers who may have the knowledge to get the most from it: those who welcome the theoretical discussion as well as the practical suggestions, and those who are devoted to fostering creativity.

Lynne's model of the 8 Talents of creative expression is a wonderful resource for creative individuals and innovative companies. Using the MBTI type criteria, she clearly describes each type in terms of creative strengths and weaknesses with helpful resolutions for collaboration. This book is a real breakthrough in the field of creativity. I highly recommend it to everyone!

I am an experience MBA, and I was skeptical about another venture into exploring my own creativity.

It turns out Lynne Levesque's book Breakthrough Creativity was definitely a breakthrough in my perceptions. Creativity is not just for artists and advertising. I never really saw my engineering and project management work as "creative," but Levesque's book helped me recognize how confined one's perspective can be. I always sought creativity through sailing or sports. I didn't appreciate how it can play a role in everything I do.

This fresh outlook that we are all creative, with individually different creative talents, was a simple but important revelation. It was interesting to discover how much we limit our own creative endeavors. Levesque's metaphors analyzing creativity are imaginative and instructive, and her recommendations were very practical. Her recommendations are clearly grounded on her own business experience.

Levesque links creativity with resilience and a sense of possibility, a very powerful concept in today's troubled world.

I highly recommend reading this breakthrough book.

What is important to understand at the outset is that Levesque skillfully combines in this book some of the most important ideas developed by Carl Jung in correlation with concepts developed by Katherine Briggs and Isabel Myers for what is now known as "The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®)" personality inventory. According to Levesque, "The more you learn about this instrument and Jung's theory behind it, the more you'll see its applicability to an understanding of creativity." There are so many excellent books on the (sometimes elusive) subject of creativity and this is one of the best. Levesque asserts (and I agree) that almost anyone can think much more creatively. That is to say, almost anyone can develop the skills by which to activate and then nourish certain talents which Levesque rigorously examines in this book, one which is intended "to bridge the gap between your knowledge of yourself as creative and those workplace demands and expectations to produce new and different results. [This book] will help you to travel from the land of confusion to a continent of clarification and the security of knowing how you are creative and what you must do if you are to produce even more creative results.

The basis of the book is the belief that [italics] everyone is creative. Everyone is not alike in his or her creativity because [italics] there is no one best way to be creative. You may not have developed your creativity to the same degree as others, but it's there. Everyone has the potential to be creative at work." Levesque defines creativity as [in italics] "the ability to consistently produce different and valuable results." She devotes a chapter to each of eight dominant personality types: Adventurer, Navigator, Explorer, Visionary, Pilot, Inventor, Harmonizer, and Poet. In Part 3, "Managing Yourself and Others to Enhance Creativity", she shifts her attention first to strategies to achieve effective collaboration and then to a "personal action plan" which her reader must develop inorder to achieve what Maslow characterizes as "self-actualization."

Please allow a brief digression. One of my favorite tactics (gimmicks?) when conducting a brainstorming/problem-solving session with executives was inspired by one of DeBono's books, Six Thinking Hats. I ask participants to wear a Dr. Seuss hat of one of various colors, each of which symbolizes a specific personality with appropriate values. (For example, those who wear a black hat must "remain in character" by being cynical, skeptical, negative, etc. and attack others' comments and suggestions. Every 10-15 minutes, participants exchange hats and must assume a new "personality" appropriate to the color of hat worn. You get the idea.

A similar session could be conducted with each participant designated as being one of the eight "creative talents" discussed by Levesque. Even those who insist they are not -- and can never be -- creative will soon realize the value of taking a hard look at a given subject from variety of different perspectives. They may not generate any dazzling new ideas but, as Levesque insists correctly, they CAN broaden and deepen their awareness of what is possible.

Many advocate thinking "outside the box." According to Levesque, creativity is not just "thinking" out of the box. It's feeling, doing, and being out of the box. She asserts not only that almost anyone can THINK much more creatively but also that anyone can BE much more creative, wherever that may be. One of the most important components of "breakthrough creativity" is the realization that creativity is not just a "thinking" phenomenon. It can also be manifested in being a nurturing team leader, connecting differently with associates, strengthening relationships with clients, etc. Levesque's identification and exploration of this component sets her apart from DeBono, Von Oech, and others whose work I also admire.

Briefly, I want to comment on the word "breakthrough" and state that I share Levesque's high regard for Adams's Conceptual Blockbusting. What Levesque correctly points out is that there are certain barriers (or "blocks") which anyone must break through (or "bust") inorder to think more creatively. Almost all human limits are self-imposed. The first barrier to break through, therefore, is the belief "I'm not creative." (Von Oech has this in mind when, in A Whack on the Side of the Head, he discusses ten "locks" such as "The Right Answer" and "That's Not Logical.") Barriers, blocks, or locks...whatever you wish to call them...all are self-limiting only to the extent they are permitted to be.

Obviously, I think very highly of this book. As noted earlier, Levesque brilliantly integrates several important ideas developed by Carl Jung with concepts developed by Katherine Briggs and Isabel Myers for the "The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®)" personality inventory but she does not stop there. Recall her definition of creativity as [in italics] "the ability to consistently produce different and valuable results." Brooking, Davenport, Fitz-enz, Goleman, and countless others have expanded and enriched our understanding of "human capital." With this book, Levesque makes her own unique and substantial contribution to a collaborative exploration of unfulfilled humanity.

In Breakthrough Creativity, Levesque opens the reader's eyes to the individual talents that he or she possesses. Learning about your orientation to the world, how you process and analyze infomation, and how, exactly, you are creative is the first step in taking advantage of your innate talents.

Levesque reveals that you DO have creative talents, and she guides you through a series of steps to learn about what those talents are, and how you can implement a game plan to improve upon those talents.

This book is great for anyone who wants to learn how to improve upon themselves. It is also the perfect tool to learn about how to interact with friends, family and co-workers who have different creative talents.

By reading the book, I have become empowered to capitalize upon my strengths. More importantly, I am learning how to overcome barriers and explore how I must adjust my behavior to be fully creative. In addition, I have used it to learn about how well I know people who are close to me, and how to revise my attitude and have a higher level of respect toward people who have very different talents than me.

This book is eye-opening and refreshing. I give it the highest recommendation!

Bottom line: this is a very good book on the business benefits and high-level "how to" of enterprise performance management (EPM).

While the authors refer to this domain as `performance management,' it's not to be confused with the annual Human Resources review process, but rather all of the people, process, and technology involved in sustainably executing your strategy: including monitoring, analyzing, and planning the key drivers of value for your business.

This book is not too technical nor too theoretical. It has the right balance of business perspective, systems enablement, and process maturity to give a good overview of the promise of EPM and strategy execution. It makes liberal use of case studies, examples and stories to illustrate points and give more depth to the insights.

Some highlights:

* Fact-based, data-driven decision making (p.12)
* Strategic, Operational, and Tactical Decisions (p28)
* The Foundation for Decisions: information & trust (p32)
* Competitive Benchmarking (p16)
* The `right' metrics (p49, 69)
* Line of Sight visibility (p.93)
* Accountability Mapping (p 226) and also how difficult it is to visualize and map metric relationships (p. 69)
* A very good "uber" model for determining where to focus your efforts (p.254)

They also follow-up the book with more information on their companion website at http://www.cultureofperformance.com

All in all, a very good read and certainly belongs on the bookshelf of any EPM manager and any CIO and CFO....hopefully dog-eared and well-worn.

In my opinion, "Drive Business Performance" is more practical and clear about Performance Management than anything I have seen from Kaplan-Norton. (It is actually more readable, too.)

Levend Beriker, Managing Partner
Alta Bering Management Technology Consultants Ltd
Vancouver, BC

At first I was skeptical, but then by the time I finished it, I had something I could actually use. The book goes where few management books dare to go - to actually talk about how to change a business culture. Wow!

There are precise examples of how change is made, with company stories, that allow for organizations to understand that change is possible. This book is now on my must reads list, and I will give it to every executive I work with.

I'd put this book before the Kaplan Balanced Scorecard books and even before Competing on Analytics. The style is concise, the case studies are relevant and the roadmap guidance to changing an organization is approachable.

"Drive Business Performance: Enabling a Culture of Intelligent Execution" by Bruno Aziza and Joey Fitts represents much more than a demystification of performance management terminology. The book is neither a re-telling of the benefits of performance management, nor a veiled attempt to shape a business case for PerformancePoint. Instead, the authors introduce novel ideas backed by case study research, culminating in a pervasive and flexible model for business transformation within the scope of performance improvement.

The Culture of Performance (CoP) Model presented by the authors bridges a gap between the establishment of a performance measurement framework (e.g., Balanced Scorecard, TQM, Lean, etc.), and the tools and methods brought to bear in executing performance measurement (read: Business Intelligence). CoP is a comprehensive model for evolving organisations into the strategy-focused enterprises that Drs. Kaplan and Norton envisioned years earlier. To be certain, we all stand on the shoulders of giants.

That the authors chose to include "culture" in the name of their model cannot be understated: it directly addresses organisation-wide cultural transformation as it relates to the adoption of performance management (through the model's six phases). The authors demonstrate, with compelling evidence, that a company is more likely to achieve its desired outcomes when all its members adopt a performance-oriented mindset. Here, case studies on Expedia, Energizer and The Veterans' Health Administration (U.S.) each strike a chord on the sometimes painful transformation to a culture of performance. Aziza and Fitts make these findings practical, encouraging incubation through scored questionnaires, supporting capability models (MAP) and guiding principles. The final chapter of the book provides an excellent summary that aligns said scores to an entry point into the CoP model; this provides a reasonable indication of where an organisation may begin to improve business performance.

This excellent book warrants careful review and consideration-- it represents fresh and illuminating thinking from two of the most prominent figures in the field of performance management. For executives, directors and managers looking to improve business performance (as well as consultants specialising in performance management) consider this book essential reading.

With a foreword by none other than Drs Kaplan and Norton you can be sure that software is not central to this book's message. Drive Business Performance is part of Wiley's Microsoft Executive Leadership Series, however the only time "Microsoft" is mentioned is when referencing quotes from Steve Ballmer or Chris Liddell. The intended audience is a business one not technical, although technical people would do well to get their hands on a copy nonetheless.

Fitts and Aziza provide a comprehensive look at what Performance Management (PM) is and just how successful organisations can be when they succeed in creating a "Culture of Intelligent Execution". Central to the book's philosophy are what the authors have dubbed the "Six Stages of Performance Management Value". Targeted lists of questions at the end of each section enable readers to assess their organisation's current PM capabilities.

For mine the book's greatest strength are the anecdotes and quotes peppered throughout to underscore each topic. It is obvious the authors went to a great deal of effort to interview high-ranking members of companies who spearheaded some very successful PM implementations. The information gathered in these interviews coupled with well-chosen quotes from the likes of Winston Churchill, Henry Ford and many others serve as evidence to support Fitts and Aziza's Six Stages and the culture of performance management in general.

PM is not just something that can be thrown together in a few weeks by a couple of interns, it is an organisation-wide paradigm shift that takes time, effort and dedication to bear fruit. As recounted many times within the book, the rewards to organisations who implement an effective PM initiative can be very substantial.

This is a great book to hand to anyone who is considering implementing any form of PM. It details plenty of good "See! They did it, why can't we?" case studies as well as providing practical guidance describing how to do it within your own organisation. Highly recommended reading.

Recieved item on time, right when we were told it would arrive. Book in very good condition.

This is terrific if you have any desire to learn the personality types around you.
Take a break from guessing... give yourself a tool.

Not a big book, but large on the value that it brings to the workplace. Highly recommended and well worth its cost.

This is a small book that goes to the point, It have a section for each type of personality that have a small description of it, the way that they solve problems, their style of leadership, their creative expression, how do they work on teams, how the have to deal with stress, how they learn, and tips for personal growth. Also in the later chapters, this book have two pages that describes the team roles that each personality prefers.

I am a certified instructor for Myers-Briggs and have read many of these books about type. This one has it all! It's easy to use as a reference and practical. I reccommend it to anyone who uses Myers-Briggs at work.

In "LifeTypes," Hirsh & Kummerow provide a well laid-out and thoroughly readable introduction to psychological temperaments and personality types, based on the popular Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The book is divided into two main sections.

The first part teaches the reader about the basic Jungian preferences-- extraversion/introversion, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling and judging/perceiving. Each is explained in terms of general characteristics as well as specifics on how they influence communication, work, relationships, careers and more. The explanations are straightforward, but more than adequate to help readers determine their preferences, and thus their four-letter personality type.

Part two offers detailed descriptions of the 16 different personality types. Each is described in terms of their typical directions in life, followed by learning styles, work choices (including settings, organizing style and typical occupations), leadership style, leisure time choices, relationship style and finally a section outlining some potential "trouble spots" and places each type might get "stuck."

Final thoughts: Recommended (9 out of 10 possible bookmarks). Whereas it lacks the depth of research and insight offered by experts like David Keirsey ("Please Understand Me"), it is also far easier to read, and thus makes an excellent beginning book for those interested in personality types.

Thanks for reading!

--Peter

I found this book an eye-opener - it helped me understand the results of the Myers Briggs assessment and to understand how differently different people approach life. I have been reassessing my interactions with family, friends and colleagues ever since. It is written in an easy style, positive and helpful. I soon went looking for more on type theory and I am very glad I read this first, rather than Keirsey's more arrogant work.

Sandra Krebs Hirsh and Jean Kummerow have written an excellent introduction to personality type which not only helps the reader identify his or her own personality type, but provides detailed descriptions of each type including organizing style, preferred occupations and work settings.

This book describes the ways in which people most naturally relate to each other and the world. It is based on the Myers-Briggs dimensions and is the most useful, easiest to read, and clearest description of these preferences I've ever seen. Even if you are not at all familiar with the Myers-Briggs, you will learn an enourmous amount about yourself and everyone you come into contact with in this very readable book. It will also be simple to figure out how to use this information to make it easier to relate effectively at home and at work. I'm a psychologist and this may be the most useful book I've ever found.

I loved this book. It was one of the first I ever read on typology and Myers-Briggs. The writing style is easy without being condescending. The descriptions of the different types were really useful. I totally recognized myself. Best of all, there was no judgement of readers for being who they are. The book showed me how to embrace my weaknesses as well as my strengths. Highly reccommended.

This book is great. It tells you exactly what the various economic series are, and how they are constructed - down to the fine gory details. I suspect this is the best such reference book available. If the author could produce an updated 3rd edition I would buy it immediately.

The Handbook of Key Economic Indicators clearly stands head and shoulders above competing texts in its depth. The first thing I like about this book is that it provides detailed information on important data series and is an invaluable resource to those tracking the nearly daily release of non-financial data. In addition to providing the necessary methodological background for each indicator, the work explains how to interpret each indicator and specifically suggests what to look for when analyzing data reports. I also found that the explanations of the numerous potential sources of monthly volatility are extremely useful- the explanations are clear indications of the author's extensive experience with the data. I was glad to see the Handbook isn't just a rehash of the first edition--it is very current and includes important new sections on the 1996 Boskin Report, the 1998 revisions to CPI (including the impact on inflation growth rates), and the switch in real GDP to a chained dollar basis and how one works with the new data. What I like about this book is that it not only covers the basics in news release interpretation that market analysts want but also that it is an excellent reference for researchers who need a thorough understanding of the major non-financial economic indicators. What sets this work apart is that it has the depth and coverage of methodologies and special topics that similar texts do not have. For the analyst or researcher working with these complicated and often misunderstood data series, I would highly recommend this book!

This work is highly technical. It provides the genesis and sources for all the leading U.S. economic indicators. A dweeb's delight - however it lacks meaningful illustrations. A few charts were provided, but - like the dismal science, the actual text, tables, and raw data are dull, drab, and unimaginative. For my money, a far more "user-friendly" overview is necessary. This book needs some meaningful graphs, colorful illustrations, and an anectode or two. It could have been made far simpler, and easier to understand. As is, the book has only limited value - especially to the investing public. It's a shame the author went to all that work compiling a bunch of data, but, like most dweeb economists, he doesn't effectively communicate.

R. Mark Rogers has written a comprehensive, thorough overview of the key U.S. economic indicators. His book would be particularly useful for analysts new to the business, or to seasoned analysts who need to know more about the nitty gritty behind the numbers. Rogers' handbook is filled with more technical information that some people will ever need, and some will find the level of detail intimidating and somewhat cumbersome. However, the compilation of all this information in one source is extremely valuable, and is particularly useful for those who want a deeper understanding of what the economic data say. The level of technical sophistication is what sets this book apart from others. For those who want to understand more about U.S. economic data than the sound bytes on the news or the quotes in the paper provide, this is the book to read.

I agree with the previous reviewer's writeup of this book. It is full of very useful information.

I bought my copy when it came out almost ten years ago, and I am dismayed to find that the authors have not been encouraged to create several more-current editions during all these years.

Bob Hall and Mary Lee Kerr have done an exceptional job compiling useful information in this volume. The book includes the topics of air- and water quality, use and abuse of energy - including automobiles, toxic and hazardous waste, chemicals and other factors that affect us in our homes and workplaces, and governmental policies in place to help clean up our act. It also includes information and statistics on state parks and forest, fishing and hunting, water-front activities, and other leisure-time topics.

The information is laid out in an easy-to-read format with maps, charts, and statistics in each section. Every subject has a separate scale by which the states are ranked as well as an over-all ranking. Another section listing the best and worst environmental aspects of each state is also included. If you are wanting one or two quick facts about the environmental health of a certain state, these maps and ranking charts are a terrific way to find them. Quick and painless.

A list of indicators is given for each topic (i.e. air sickness lists 18 indicators and sources), as well. These "indicators" are the different types of pollution/problems that exist and their sources. In addition to the maps, charts, statistics, and rankings, is a very informative narrative further explaining the research findings. For those of you wanting a little more information, you'll find it here.

This book is a good resource for anyone, whether you're looking for the healthiest place to live or curious about the environmental health of your current home. I'd recommend it to anyone concerned about the air they breath or the water they drink. Be warned, however, the truth can sometimes be painful (and frightening). Perhaps more of us need to be aware of these statistics.

The authors have done a great service by putting this book out. My only wish is that there were a more current index. Well, Bob Hall and Mary Lee Kerr, when can we expect it?

I have spent a good part of my life studying books on global statistics. This is truly one of the best. There is virtually no other book that takes a global look at world economics and goes back hundreds of years into the past. You might want to check by profile for some of my Listmania lists on the world future if this subject interests you.

In the last few years I have been searching books offering a general overview of the past, and I have realized that many books entitled "History of ...whatever" only provide information about the West, the rest of the world being almost ignored.

Maddison's on world economy is different, is truly global. It offers historical statistics of the last two thousand years and is to be read together with "The world economy. A millennial perspective" (a combined edition of both volumes is to be published on December 2007). In my opinion this is masterful work that can be savored by the professional historian and educated layperson alike, so my rate is between 5 (content) and 4 (pleasure, sometimes falling to 3, sometimes raising to 5). I highly recommend the two volumes.

Other works whose scope is as amazingly global as Maddison's and which I would suggest to read (hoping that will be of use for those looking for a broad framework to understand ourselves) are the following: 1. Agrarian cultures: "Pre-industrial societies" by Patricia Crone; 2. Government: "The History of Government" by S.E. Finer; 3. Ideas: "Ideas, a History from Fire to Freud", by Peter Watson; 4. Religion: "The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach" by Moojan Momen; and 5. War: "War in Human Civilization" by Azar Gat.

Mr. Nelson wrote this book many years ago. It is still useful today in teaching the practicing economist or investment analyst what statistics are useful in predicting economic dynamics. His belief in using statistics that are not subject to revisions was a revelation to me as should be to anyone who uses historical economic data for forecasting in real time.

This is a great little book. It explains the basics of economics in terms of the monthly and quarterly government numbers. It teaches you what numbers are really real and what numbers are bogus.

Steve Woods
FloatAnalysis.com

Key performance indicators (KPIs)are measurements of how well you are meeting goals or objectives that have been identified as success factors for strategic and tactical initiatives. There are two ways KPIs are used: (1) to determine to what extent critical success factors are being met if your approach is strategy->critical success factor->KPI, or (2) as to quantify goals if you are using the Goal-Question-Metric framework. In either case, identifying the right things to measure and how much (or little) of whatever it is you're measuring is an indicator that you're meeting your targets is the difficult part.

This book has three parts: (1) an introduction to KPIs, and an 8-step approach to developing them, (2) exercises for working through the 8 steps, and (3) a facilitator guide. The third part of the book is a welcome addition because any process that is going to produce KPIs (strategic planning, process improvement or new initiatives) is generally a collaborative effort with stakeholders who may or may not see the big picture. This is especially the case when you're trying to develop and get consensus on what key performance indicators are valid in a cross-functional or enterprise-wide effort.

The eight steps themselves are straightforward and are provided within the context of a framework of Initiate/Build/Implement/Review.

INITIATE consists of three steps: (1) align the KPI development with any other activities that are affected by the specific initiative, (2) set the purpose for the stakeholders who will be involved in KPI development, (3) obtain consensus on how the KPIs will be developed, which is where Parts 2 and 3 of this book show their value). BUILD is comprised of steps 4 identify critical success factors, or in the case of the Goal-Question-Metric approach, identify the questions, and 5, select the KPIs or questions. IMPLEMENT is performed in steps 6, which is the development of reporting and review frameworks, and 8, using the KPIs as an enabler for performance improvement; i.e., refine them as needed. REVIEW is a single step, 8, which is a continuous monitoring and refinement of KPIs, as well as monitoring to ensure that they are still valid.

This is an excellent resource to support group planning and decision making. It's well-written and clearly presented. I especially like the inclusion of Parts 2 and 3, both of which will allow you to use this book as a meaningful tool instead of a "how to" guide. Highly recommended.

Key Performance Indicators Manual: A Practical Guide for the Best Practice Development, Implementation and Use of Kpis
by Ausindustries

PLEASE can anybody at Amazon tell me why does take that long to obtain a copy of this book? Its now almost 5 or 6 month and I have not yet recieved this book, I need that book, can anybody speed up the process?

Many thanks in advance.

Straightforward, practical and a must-read for anyone needing to manage ahead of the business curve, not behind it.

The pressure to achieve MROI (marketing return on investment) is tremendous, especially in tough times. But how do even the most skilled and trained marketers proactively manage their businesses if they don't know what metrics actually matter?

Lynn's ebook explains the critical difference between leading and lag indicators - a critical issue for managing any business profitably. By the time most managers know their businesses are in trouble, it's too late. So what are the metrics that matter for your business? This ebook discusses ways (and provides worksheets) to peel back the cause and effect variables driving any business in order to uncover the most critical metrics managers need to monitor. Clearly and concisely written, this is an invaluable resource for managing any size business in any industry.
-Kathy Klotz-Guest MA, MBA, MLA - Marketing and Levity Expert

This ebook should be saved on every marketer's desktop!

If you are in marketing you are probably getting more pressure to demonstrate an ROI, to measure effectiveness and provide market insight. This is a hot topic. A Google search on "Marketing ROI" comes up with nearly 3 million results. Yet, most marketing people are not schooled in analytics. Well, Lynn Hunsaker's ebook will get you up to speed fast and become a handy reference.

This is not a book, book. It is an ebook that lets you go directly to the topics you are interested in at the moment, then it deal with the topic clearly and succinctly. And, it is not just talk, it has worksheet you can being using immediately. Need to get deeper into the details? Go to the Glossary, the Appendix or Resource sections.