Enterprise Books

My children just loved the book. I have had it read to them numerous times and now my 3rd grader tries to read it to the youngest one. He is getting pretty good at it. Any book that can keep their interest is highly recommended.

I got several copies of this delightful story at Christmas for my Grandchildren. As soon as they each opened theirs, they begged me to read it to them. All five sat around the Christmas tree while I read. They were enchanted and had a good time talking about the environment and about friendship. They enjoyed sharing their thoughts with each other.

The Holidays are over and my Granchildren have returned to their own homes. They still talk about Paul as their number one bedtime story. Ms.Hogan has created a Childhood treasure. Someday they will be reading it to their own children.

What a great book! I really enjoyed reading it and it is sure to be a favorite of my grandchildren. This book invokes many feelings and is as informative as it is entertaining. Teaching the importance of values, family and friends and touching on some important environmental issues. I hope Ms. Hogan continues to write books of this calibur. "Two thumbs up" Ms. Hogan.

Sincerely,


Lynda Foy Knapp

PAUL PONDEROSA IS NOW MY GRANDSON HUNTER'S FAVORITE BOOK. I READ IT TO HIM THREE NIGHTS IN A ROW AND AS MANY TIMES DURING THE DAY AS HE THOUGHT ABOUT IT DURING HIS RECENT VISIT. NOW HE CALLS ME EVERY NIGHT TO READ IT TO HIM OVER THE PHONE. IF I TRY TO SKIP A PAGE OR TWO HE CALLS ME ON IT (SMART KID). I HAVE JUST ORDERED A COPY FOR HIS PARENTS AND THE PARENTS OF MY OTHER 12 GRANDCHILDREN.

I APPRECIATE THE LESSONS PAUL ESPOUSES REGARDING THE VALUE OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND FRIENDSHIP.

This is a sweet story of Paul Ponderosa and his mother, living in a forest that is being encroached upon by men with chainsaws. Paul and his forest friends work together to keep their woods safe. Many messages in this book bring out concerns about friendships, sharing and taking responsibility - good lessons for all young people, told in a suspenseful way.

I read this years ago and passed it onto my mom, sister,3 brothers, 2 aunts and one of my uncle's were reading it right before "KATRINA". As we can guess it perished with a few other good reads. This book had me wanting go knock on the author's door and hug/kiss her. I'm a native of New Orleans and moved to Atlanta Nov/2003, this book is worth me buying again and again. I feel so connected to it. You will feel like you are sitting in the house with these people, while reading it. I even let some co-workers, from other cities read it, and they felt like they were there through every word. This book is riveting and the sequel, Sweeter Than Candy is a great follow up. I just wished she would have written some more. She is one of best writers ever. GOOD READ...GOOD READ...GOOD READ...GOOD READ!!!

I own all three of Ms. Jacksons books. This book is awesome. All three were good however this is my favorite of them all. The story is moving and real. I feel as if I know the characters, they are so alive. I live in New Orleans and Ms. Jackson captured the soul of its roots, heritage, and the way "Neworleanians" think. I am looking for the 4th book that was supposed to be released "HOT BOILED CRAWFISH, CORN, AND POTATOS"
I am eargarly anticipating this release!

I really enjoyed the story of Peggy and Clint. I thought it seemed so realistic. Their lives were so different but they still managed to keep their love strong. Though there was a difference in age, I still love the chemistry between them. Peggy was very mature for her age and I think that is what impressed Clint the most. Thumbs up to Rhodesia for this great novel based in my hometown New Orleans.

Ms. Jackson has realy outdone herself with this effort. Growing up in the New Orleans metro area (Mandeville), it seemed as though I was reading the story of my life. This book touches on many aspects of the disticnt class systems that exist in Louisiana. These are many things that I experience there. I love New Orleans; good and bad. This book cuts no corners in presenting the full story for readers not only to enjoy but also to learn from. It was both sad and delightful at the same time. Most of all, the book brings up all the elements that make Louisiana and New Orleans in particular, so special.

Thank you Ms. Jackson for this story and resulting reflection.

I really enjoyed the book. It reflects on the lives of my people in which I am always eager to read about. This particular book however takes place in one of the cities I have yet to visit and is also a part of my heritage as well. I believed the story was very easy to read, follow, and very, very realistic. For instance; the stereotypes that we, as African-Americans place on ourselves. It just goes to show you that, unfortunately, prejudices even exist in our own culture and will continue to do so until we will come to realize and understand that we are all the same and are sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. Just think of all of the people and experiences we alienate ourselves from because of prejudgment on the basis of outside appearances. I also loved the main characters; Peggy and Clinton. I can somehow relate to their trials and tribulations and also, their triumphs. One thing that I really loved about them is that they finally confessed to each other about their insecurites about their differences and are learning to deal with them together. Now, if only they would stop letting outside influences come between them, they should be alright. I am looking forward to the 3rd book; please write it soon. I believe you are very talented and I'll try not to sound condescending, but I am proud that someone of my generation, gender, and most importantly, my ethnic group can project the experiences of our people truthfully and also write in a way which will attempt to challenge our fears, stereotypes, and prejudices.(I've also read "Sweeter Than Candy" as well.)

Thank You

Helen Marlin

I'm an avid reader of family business books, and I recently re-read Perpetuating the Family Business by John Ward and found myself tabbing numerous pages that contained insightful and important ideas that just about every family business can put into practice.

Ward begins by laying out his conceptual foundation for familes, which contain his "Four P's" - 1. Policies before the need; 2. sense of Purpose; 3. Process; and 4. Parenting. Understanding and practicing the four P's should provide families in business with a decent start in the right direction toward developing a sustainable and successful family and business.

The heart of the book contains Ward's "50 Lessons" for family businesses, broken down into three sections: lessons for owner-manager businesses; lessons for sibling partnerships; and lessons for cousin collaborations. At the end of each section he briefly applies the lessons to the story of two media families: the Och-Sulzberger family (of the NY Times) and the Binghams (the Southern US media family) for illustrative purposes. Below I've set out a few of my favourite lessons from the book.

Lesson 2: Irrevocable Retirement.
Ward highlights the importance of family businesses establishing mandatory retirement policies for executives. As he states: "While a mandatory retirement date addresses the delicate issue of the leader letting go, it does much more than that. The value of a mandatory retirement policy is that it creates the opportunity for more changes in leadership in the later stages of the business." Family member executives in family businesses often have a hard time 'letting go' of the enterprise, creating all kinds of problems for the next generation of family (and non-family) executives who's professional and personal development is often retarded as a result. Also, mandatory retirement will force family executives to find a 'life beyond the business' - perhaps turning towards a leadership or mentorship role in the family or community - that will continue to provide them meaning in their lives.

Lesson 4: Principle of Merit.
Ward argues that families should put in place policies that focus on competence and earned privilege and discourage paternalism. Merit should impact many areas of family business decision making, including what roles family members should play in management of the business; determining compensation; selecting successors; who serves on the board; etc.

Lesson 5: Attract Most Competent Family Members.
As Ward observes, family businesses often fail to attract the best family members into the business because the most competent family members often have opportunities elsewhere. He states that failing to adopt the Principle of Merit (Lesson 4) will result in the business attracting the least competent family members while those who are the most competent search for opportunities outside the business where their competence will be recognized and rewarded.

Lesson 10: Understated Wealth.
One of the most complicated issues for larger family businesses is how to deal with the privileges and responsibilities of wealth. Ward doesn't suggest that families pretend to live in poverty, but suggests that living beneath one's means is a good route to take. He warns that families who do not practice this concept can run into the situation where the salaries of family members in the business can escalate rapidly and compromise the business.

Lesson 12: Graceful Pruning.
The idea of discouraging family shareholders from exiting the business is one that many families often follow - especially once ownership has left the founding generation. Family members often ask questions such as: Why should my kids be able to sell their shares and walk away from the business I've built? or, Why should my nephews be able to force my children to buy their shares and put them and the business in a problematic financial situation? Ward argues that mandating that shareholders wishing to exit do so at a discount to their real value is a bad policy for family businesses to adopt. According to Ward, families should make it as easier for individuals to sell their shares (even offering a premium to their value) as doing so will allow unhappy family members or those not engaged by the business to leave freely, resulting the family being owned by family members who genuinely want to be owners.

Lesson 16: Selective Family Employment.
According to Ward, it is better for families to set policies that create higher standards of entry for family members wishing to join the business. Doing so will encourage the most competent family members to join the business and will preserve upward mobility for able non-family employees. Increasing the amount of outside work experience and education over generations should result in increasingly selective policies.

Lesson 25: Legacy of Values.
In my opinion, the concept of a shared set of values is probably the biggest factor contributing to the sustained success of select family businesses. Ward states that the business should serve as an example of the family's values, and also that the business can contribute to the values of the family.

Lesson 28: Spirit of Enterprise.
Families that consider themselves as being "in the business of business" are more likely to be successful over the long-run than families that are strongly tied to the specific business that the founder created. While attachment to the original business is common, and selling the business or re-orienting it in new business areas might be troubling for those who built the business, they should see their success not as creating a business that does a particular thing, but creating a family that shares their love of enterprise.

Lesson 45: One Family.
This is probably one of the hardest lessons for many families to adopt. Many families that extend to a sibling partnership and beyond tend to adopt practices and policies that view the family as 'factions' or 'branches' - e.g. allowing each branch to nominate it's own director. Ward argues that families should avoid this state of mind and the practices that go along with it. Instead, he suggests that families should view themselves as 'one family' regardless of which branch individuals originate from. Adopting the 'branch' theory results in too many family members on the board, promotes tension and rivalry, and allows family feuds to continue. A family that adopts a one family approach should be comfortable with one family representative on the board of directors, knowing that the individual will represent the interests of the family and will not be motivated by self-interest.

In summary, I think Ward's book presents many interesting lessons and can serve as a very good resource for new ideas for families seeking to improve the governance, communication, and ownership of their family and business.

By 'clear' I mean relatively easy to read, this is not a textbook. Dr. Ward says himself that it is the most personal book that he's ever written, and I would say that it is his best. Because it is insightful.
One example: of the Five Insights and Four P's, one is 'Policies before the need'. This is something that I've been begging business families to do: establish a policy manual with rules for this and that occasion. Just because your family business is relatively small and simple today does not mean that you can delay.
A problem with other books on the subject is that they are written with a certain kind of family business in mind. This one, however, mentions the first three stages of family business evolution, and lists the 50 lessons under one stage or the other. Most helpful!
Appendix C: A Family Business Checklist made me stop and say "Hey, this question isn't for my business yet." but that only means that if the question and its answer is not appropriate for your business yet, it is still beneficial to start planning and educating. In other words, what is not needed by one generation is essential to the next.
Families in business: listen to this wise man, communicate, and educate.

It is simply the best book about Family Businesses that I read. Besides that, it is one of the few books in this field that has a conceptual structure.
It will be helpful to all people interested in the perpetuation of family businesses.

Well written and researched, "Perpetuating the Family Business" is a "must read" for anyone interested in passing their own business on to the next generation. John Ward is not only experienced, but insightful regarding the dynamics that make or break families and family businesses.

In a short book, John Ward offers many key findings & synthesized concepts (often surprising, even counter-intuitive) without wasting readers' time but with true-life examples enlivening his conclusions. His research & concisely presented insights match the multi-generational history of our multi-$B family holding company. This work should be on best sellers lists, not only because it is the "Built To Last" for private business, but also because it includes management principles that could be used in public companies seeking to endure.
C.U.

This is the best field guide on pigeons and doves that you can quite possibly buy. Any illustration that Eustace Barnes does is simply, amazing to be quite frank with you. The information is accurate, the range maps are well done and I wish that more guides would follow this format.

An excellent reference to the Pigeons and Doves of the world. The color drawings and maps are unbelievable. I was able to identify a lot of birds after reading this book that I could not earlier. I give it two thumbs up.

I am an avid bird man. Love birds from foreign countries, and Pigeons and Doves are a special affection of mine. This book is detailed and complete. A great asset to my collection of bird books.
any one needing a great reference book on Pigeons and Doves would surely buy this book.

"Pigeons and Doves" is the modern book on this family. There are important ups and downs to this book, as with any large monographic work.

The artwork is very good, even by bird book standards. Quality is consistent enough between the two illustrators. Eustace Barnes' illustrations range from mediocre in color and form to very good. Those of John Cox range from very good to excellent. The plates as a whole reach slightly above field guide caliber, and do not achieve the degree of detail seen in some monographic works. However, the detailed attention Cox pays to the scalation of the small legs and feet on his subjects is particularly impressive. Color of the plates does not show the richness seen on more impressively printed works. Plate layout is mostly very good, with a marked exception being that of plate 50, in which the Yellow-vented Green Pigeon, Treron seimundi, has the end of its beak cut off by the outer page edge. Still, the 76 plates alone are likely worth the publisher's price.

The content of the book is really something else. Considering the number of species needing coverage (both "recently" extinct and extant - over 300), quite a bit of information is given, sometimes with dilution so better-known species don't fill up half the book, and sometimes with holes due to lack of knowledge on certain species. Range maps are blobs on small images, and as already mentioned in another review, the sense in the size of some of the islands depicted makes no sense. This is especially true in the cases where a given species inhabits certain portions of small islands, yet the whole islands are shaded and occupy the space of a dot on an ocean map.

The citations included are helpful, but can be misleading. There is at least one mismatch in reference year between the text citation and the bibliography. At least one text-cited reference is simply absent from the bibliography. There are other editorial mistakes; some are unimportant, such as missing periods. Others are critical, such as the blunt cutoff in the "final" sentence of the "Status and Distribution" account for the extinct Bonin Wood Pigeon, Columba versicolor: "Haha-jima [island] further south was not ornithologically explored until after the arrival of alien mammals, but it is likely that C. versicolor [end account]" - what is really hypothesized about the fate of the Bonin Wood Pigeon in lieu of alien mammals, the casual reader may never know thanks to this lousy editorial error.

The book's construct is good save for the actual binding, which is weak for the thickness and weight of the contents inside the boards. The binding should have been woven, but instead is rather crudely glued. The size of the book is larger than field guide format, but for the quality of artwork and the amount of information per species, it should have been bigger, even if that would have meant upping the publisher's price.

This book will give Oxford a run for its money should the "Bird Families of the World" series ever produce a volume on the Columbidae. I think of "Pigeons and Doves" as the first major book in English on the family as a whole since Goodwin's last edition of his book back in 1983. Despite the errors, this book is well worth its space on the shelf of any quality bird book fan.

This is an excellent book, giving full details on all the pigeon and doves species of the world. Excellent color plates also make the reader very familiar with the different types. I'd recommend this read to the budding aviculturist, old bird breeders, orinthologists, and even the average bird watcher.

Abrams adds an important element of rigor that is sorely lacking among most valuation professionals.

As a Finance major MBA, this book is recommended. This is an effective tool kit to value firms.

As a Finance MBA, this book is recommended. Why? First of all, this is a practical book that would show us how to assess and forecast the business and cash flow. Furthermore, step-by-step approach is helpful in understanding valuation of privately held firms.

Jay Abrams' book is intended primarily for the professional business appraiser, although other financial professionals such as financial analysts, investment bankers, and venture capitalists may well find the book useful.

The business valuation topics covered include (not an exhaustive list): mathematical derivation of cash flow; appplication of regression analysis; theoretical and empirical superiority of arithmetic mean; adjusting for levels of control and marketability; empirical tests of Abrams' valuation theories; valuing startups; and measuring and apportioning dilution in ESOPs.

For each topic covered, the author presents a scholarly summary of past research, new empirical research of his own, and his conclusions. He discusses opposing viewpoints and in at least one chapter allows another author to present a rebuttal of Abrams' approach.

He emphasizes regression analysis of empirical data and quantitative analysis. Near the end he puts all the pieces of the puzzle together to present a comprehensive, unified approach to valuation that can be empirically tested and whose principles work for the valuation of billion dollar firms or small businesses.

Despite the quantitative nature of the book, mathematically challenged readers without recent or extensive mathematical training should not hesitate to buy the book, as long as they are familiar with basic business valuation concepts. The book contains relatively simple and clear explanations of quantitative methods such as regression analysis; and the author has taken pains to include step-by-step procedures for performing regression analysis using Excel and Lotus. Indeed, one of the strengths of the book is that it makes quantitative techniques available to the appraiser who could not, without the author's help, understand the underlying mathematics or utilize the quantitative techniques with confidence and comprehension.

Overall the book is an important, well researched contribution to an in-depth understanding of important business valuation issues.

This text is an excellent addition to the business valuation literature. The author explores a wide variety of approaches with new methods that are easy to follow. A tremendous amount of work went into the preparation of this book and it is very well written. There is a chapter on startup companies that is especially interesting to me.

If you are at all interested in the income method for valuing businesses, I would strongly encourage you to buy this book. In a review on the back cover of the text, Shannon Pratt strongly recommends the book because the author presents "a scholarly summary of past research, new empirical research of his own, and his conclusions".

My only criticism and surprise is the lack of use of Monte Carlo simulation in these models, which is surprising to me considering how statistically focused the author is and how easy simulation is to learn and employ. Also, the use of real options for valuing startups is extremely important but the author does acknowledge this subject is beyond the scope of his book. Extremely well done and the author should be proud of producing work of this caliber. I'm looking forward to future editions and other books by Jay B. Abrams.

This book is similar to the -chichen soup- series type of short stories of the GREAT PEOPLE of todays.

It is inspiring and have great insight.

The only problem is putting too much people into a volume, there is some -depth- missing. It feels some sort of too-narrow and too-thin-spread. You wont get the depth of a biography, not even close, but then you get a lot of great people's short stories of their lives.

Most of the current greats are included, each with their short interesting quotes.

Overall, this is a greatbook especially for some short battery charging type of reading. One can read a few pages now and then and still enjoying it.

What do a bunch of computer geeks, housewives, washer woman, book retailer and others have in common? They and the rest of the group profiled in this anthology are the movers and shakers who changed how we do business and developed new industries that will shape the future.

Radicals & Visionairies gives you a brief look into the lives of seventy entreprenuers who changed the face of American business. Some of them have become house hold names (Walt Disney,Clarence Birdseye, Henry Ford) while others may not be as well known but their achievements live on. The individuals examined represent a diverse group of people coming from every social, economic and ethnic class. A few could be called egocentric, free wheeling and downright crazy. All of them were able to overcome obstacles in their lives and bring to America a new and diverse economy.

Unlike other profiles which go from "rags to riches", Thaddeus Wawro focuses on what innovation or new invention that the person developed which had a great impact on business. You see that these mavericks refused to follow the conventional business pack and moved out on their own.

This book also deals with what makes success. Each person doesn't have a "set formula" which says this will lead you to success. All of those profiled came to success in a different way. Their stories are enjoyable, informative and inspirational. These radicals should jump start you in thinking about entering the entrepreneur path.

Truly an intriguing book. The stories of these entrepreneurs are both revealing and inspirational. The author's in-depth research uncovers fascinating, little-known facts about such modern business geniuses as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Ted Turner, Sam Walton and many more.

Moving, inspiring, stirring and exciting, the short biographies are readable, short and sweet. I picked up the book thinking that I'd read a few stories a night and was totally floored after reading the first few. The stories were ordered alphabetically which in itself brought a randomness to the sequence.

This is an anthology of 70 micro-biographies, each of which includes some insightful comments and occasionally a little-known fact or two about the subject. Many of the selections are predictable: Michael Dell, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, William Hewlett & David Packard, Ray Kroc, Steve Jobs, Akio Morita, Ted Turner, Sam Walton, and Thomas Watson Jr. What surprised and pleased me is that Wawro also discusses several other "radicals & visionaries" which I did not expect to be included: Desi Arnaz & Lucille Ball, Clarence Birdseye, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, Berry Gordy, Hugh Hefner, Jim Henson, John Johnson, George Lucas, David Ogilvy, Ron Popeil, Martha Stewart, and Oprah Winfrey.

This book is great fun to read...as well as informative. Wawro does indeed cover a wide as well as diverse range of entrepreneurs who helped to revolutionize the 20th century. My only complaint is the Wawro, who obviously completed a great deal of research inorder to write this book, did not include an annotated bibliography for readers who wish to learn more about the 70 subjects discussed. Perhaps it was impractical to do so. This is nonetheless a commendable achievement which I recommend highly.

I really enjoyed this book for a lot of reasons. First, it is a book about the practical aspects of running an ever-changing, always evolving business. Ed fills the pages with his own insights and his take on the advice of business gurus, almost always positive. Next, the book is an intriguing commentary on the history of Gensler, a world class architecture firm.

Well worth it if you are a fan of business books, a must if you are interested in the business of architecture.

Excellent book that provides long term strategies for building a great business. The author uses real life experiences that helps you develop business strategies that work for your organization and that you can implement today. It's a must read for all of our partners and has become a roadmap for our company.

Evaluate your business, look at your life and be bewildered by the complexities of both - then read this book and everything is a lot clearer. I hope this book makes it into today's classrooms. A must read for all students of business (and life).

The author takes a journey through his experience as a team-member, and ultimately leader of what would become the largest architecture and design firm in the world.
Great lessons on transparency and effective methods for dealing with the 'soft' issues which ultimately help support the foundation of true long-cycle-oriented organizations.
Great take-aways for implementation elsewhere.

Whether you are from the building design industry or not, this is a wonderful addition to your library. "Reach Higher" illuminates some of the most important business principles of the day. It is well written and certain to inspire entrepreneurs of all ages and from most industries.

if you are new to business process improvement this book is helpful. it gives a short but to the point descriptions of the previous concepts in this area. and also it does a good job of explaining business process modeling and design. however, the author repeats the same ideas over and over, even same figures. The whole idea could have been explained in 30-40 pages. CD and software (eval. copy) is supports the topic and the content.
3.5 stars would be more precise..

Great book, with excellent practical applicability. Does not get lost in unneccesary theory but focusses on real life applications. Some BP notations are being replaced by more contemporary BPMN developed by BPMI.org. However this book still has its usefulness.

focused, complete and ready to use

related titles, Anupindi et al. (1999) Managing Business Process Flows; Keen & McDonald (2000) The eProcess Edge; Dutton (1999) Society on the Line

Omar El Sawy has succeeded in making Business Process Reengineering concepts and implementation accessible to every business person and student.

Many BPR books tend to bog the reader down with jargon, but El Sawy's book clearly explains BPR concepts, issues, and implementation steps. Implementation is the operative word here: the objective is to get the reader to jump into modeling processes and then optimize/reengineer those processes. The software included in the package is essential for helping one get their arms around a BPR project by "doing". The first part of the book examines the BPR raison d'etre. Concepts and issues are laid out in a very readable fashion. The second section uses the included Holosofx Workflow.BPR software to provide a hands-on experience, from scoping the project through modeling, analyzing, and redesigning a business process. The steps required to create a process model in Workflow.BPR are very well illustrated and presented such that a person unfamiliar with the tool can get functional right away. The final two chapters deal with reengineering supply chains and integration options (e.g. workflow engines, XML) respectively.

Interspersed throughout the book are case studies that further illustrate how BPR projects have been conducted in the real world. Especially interesting for me was the RosettaNet case study, where an industry consortium redesigned the entire process flow for the IT industry.

I highly recommend this book for both novices as well as business professionals. eBusienss is enabling huge changes in how business is conducted, but without a clear methodology for understanding and reengineering processes, much of what could be gained may go unrealized.

As a participant in the world of BPR, I found this book to be very effective in delivering groundbreaking knowledge and concepts of this science. It is presented in a very readable fashion, tailored to both the Business Professionals at all levels, as well as students.

This book does a great job educating the reader on what an e-Business process is and what the concepts entailed are. It also presents a very powerful methodology for redesigning processes to achieve optimization. This is all achieved by presenting unique case studies, and using state-of-the-art process modeling software from Holosofx. Dr. El Sawy teaches you how to use the software in modeling a process, analyzing it, and redesigning it for optimal performance.

I strongly recommend this book to any one who believes in Business Process Management and Business Process Reengineering.

Tom Wilson's premise: Employee incentives are just as important to corporations as they are to employees. Why? Because a company that aligns its own achievement with that of its employees is well on its way to success. Wilson uses a wide range of case studies to bolster his common- sense advice, including reminders that your employee rewards plan should be simple to understand, geared toward the kind of people you want to attract and should frequently vary. Even the most experienced manager can stand to learn a thing or two from Wilson's keen analysis of Amazon.com, Southwest Airlines, Saturn, and a host of other successful businesses. We from getAbstract think that you owe it to yourself - and to your employees - to read this well-crafted book.

In the modern economy, organizations that compete for the best people must learn to design reward systems that drive performance. The author argues that in today's marketplace, more and more companies are seeing employee benefits not as an expense, but as a tool for achieving particular goals. The author further explains that with loyalty gone, workers need a reward system that works, or they will leave the company.

Author Thomas Wilson explored many different reward systems from different firms. As he reviewed the most successful firms, he started to notice similarities. The author noticed that regardless of the individual goals of each organization's reward program, they all shared these 10 key factors:

· Reward systems play a crucial role in performance.
· Measures give rewards relevance, rewards give measures meaning.
· Alignment with the company's philosophies and values, along with consistency are essential.
· How people are paid is often more important than how much they are paid.
· Build programs with a vision, improving them over time.
· The value of the reward, including psychological value, should exceed its cost.
· Recognize that the program does not become real for workers until the first payment.
· Translate measures into action guidelines for employees.
· Make rewards more meaningful by combing financial with non-financial rewards.
· Use rewards as strategic management systems used to support the strategy, goals, and values of a company.

Tom Wilson's new book is even better than his last, which I found to be one of the best reward systems books written. Rewards that Drive High Performance is a rich and easy reading collection of case studies from some of the country's leading organizations, including Amazon.com, Starbucks, Genzyme and many others. It is a book that I, as a manager, found to be very practical -- a compensation "text" for line managers because it shows what works and why, not just theory.

I really liked the way the cases were grouped, because it shows that reward systems need to be defined differently for different applications and company cultures. Best practices are useful to study, but Wilson's book goes beyond this to show how and why the best companies do what they do and align their reward systems with their business objectives.

It's refreshing to see a book from a leading consultant not geared to "provide just enough" to entice the reader to want to know more -- this book truly tells the whole story, and does it in a way that proves to be a compelling read.

This book provides insights into some of the most talked about companies in America. It helped me understand their situation, and how they developed an effective reward system. It also gave me specific tools, and hundreds of ideas. It is clear, well written, and well presented. Thanks.

"This book provides a series of stories that offer a window into today's organizations. While the focus is on the reward systems that these organizations devised and implemented, the true picture goes much deeper. Each story reflects an organization that was facing a need to change the way it coducted its business and developed a process to support and reinforce change. So, the reward systems are manifestations of a new set of values and practices within organizations...The case studies in this book were developed with representatives of these organizations. They are true, real-life descriptions of what goes on inside these companies...While this book can be read from front to back, it was not written to be read in a traditional manner. It may be useful to take a non-linear approach, jumping from one section to another...This book is not intended to represent the best practices of the best companies, although it often does. It is a book about reality. It may not include the design for the perfect reward system, but it should give you ideas and approaches that will change the way you think about, develop, and manage rewards (pp.1-7)."

In this context, Thomas B. Wilson focuses on:

* How does an organization such as Amazon.com instill or retain the entrepreneurial spirit that it had when it was small?

* how companies such as DuPont, Coca-Cola, and Cisco Systems seek to create a bridge between the requirements for success and each individual.

* how companies retain a customer focus so that people collaborate and strive to perform better.

* how companies such as DuPont, Cumming Engine, and K/P Corporation encouraged people to collaborate and provided a share of the benefit if improvements could be achieved.

* how companies retain their critical talents.

* how companies such as Allied Signal, and Harvard University Health Services have integrated a variety of quality management processes into their organizations.

* how companies have changed their reward systems to support new business strategies.

Finally, he writes that "to aid you in developing your own approach to change, I have summarized the 10 key factors that seem to most accurately determine what makes reward systems successful. While this list summarizes common characteristics, the true significance is in applying these principles to your own situation and to learn from the direct application of experience."

1. Reward systems play a crucial role in performance.

2. Measures give rewards relevance; rewards give measures meaning.

3. Alignment and consistency are essential.

4. How people are paid is often more important than how much they are paid.

5. Build programs with a vision, and then improve them over time.

6. The value of the reward should exceed the cost.

7. The program begins after the first payouts.

8. Translate measures into action.

9. Make rewards meaningful.

10. Take a strategic, systemic, and holistic approach.

Highly recommended.

This is a great book to prepare you for the pharmacy technician certification exam. It has enough information to prepare you without overwhelming you too much data. I studied this book for 4 weeks and passed with flying colors in December 2008.

This book was the single thing i studied and i passed with flying colors. I studied about 2 weeks in advance. The test was so close to the book, and i felt like it prepared me! Thanks for the great book, i would suggest it to anyone wanting to become certified.

I took the test once! This book helped me a lot! Get this book and keep practicing. The only problem you need to get some extra help for new drugs on the market or new generics now available.

I took the March 2006 PTCE and began studying for it in November 2005. Over that time I aquired many different books (as I suggest you do if you already haven't) to study for the test (Check out the rates of passing on ptcb.org).

When used with a multitude of other books it will obviously take a lot more time to get through all of the books in entirity.

this book in particular is a bire more of a review over many things you may already know. So I wouldn't necessarily reccomend this as the first book you begin study with.

I found this to be very informative and helpful. Every chapter is like a review and it is followed by a series of quizzes.

But if this is one of the books you are using to study (keep in mind studying for more than 20 minutes at a time is considered cramming and you absorb less of what you read) you may just possibly want to begin studying sooner than I had.

This, is no small book. You need a very fair amount of time to properly read through then review all you should have learned by books end.

I've been in pharmacy for 10 years; CPhT for 7. This was the only book I needed.
Highly recommend!!!