Lead

Hundreds of books are published each year that claim to have the answers to effective leadership. Seldom do we get to see that leader in action. Mac's book on leadership, Positioned for Promotion, is a written text of the leadership life Mac has lived. His ideas, insights and direction outlined in this book, if followed, will bring the same level of excellence Mac has enjoyed in his own life. Read it, study it and live it!

I give pastor Mac a 10 for this exceptoional book on true promotion. No matter where you may be right now from a cashier to a CEO this book should be a part of your library. He teaches you how to maximize every moment of your life to reach the fulfillment that we all desire. I reccomend it highly!

This is a great broad reference into all aspects of direct mail advertising. I have had great success in direct mail advertising for years, and when I came across this book it was very refreshing to see a text that covered many of the successful points and techniques I was already applying. The wonderful thing is I learned a whole basket of new ideas I had never even thought of by reading this book. Bly creates a very informative text here which covers many facets of direct mail advertising. A truly valuable resource for anyone in business. It will unlock a lot of doors for you, and help you easily achieve results when you venture into direct mail advertising. Definitely a good investment.

Although I've been working in direct mail for nearly seven years, I got some great ideas from this book. But it will also provide an excellent overview of direct mail for anyone who's new to the field. This book covers everything you'll need to know: planning your campaign, choosing your offer(s), renting mailing lists, copywriting, design, testing and more. Even if you've never done a single direct mailing, this book--loaded with practical tips and proven advice--will help you hit the ground running.

If your objective is lead generation, I would also recommend another Bob Bly book--The Lead Generation Handbook. There's a fair amount of overlap between the two books, though, so if you only need to know about direct mail as it pertains to lead generation, definitely go with The Lead Generation Handbook.

It's a pleasure reading a book that uses everyday language and minimizes the use of trendy buzz-words. The seven chapters are divided logically and go from the general to the specific. This allows the reader to capture the essence of the message without reading long passages before getting to a point. The reader can visualize his own job shop and pick and choose which solutions are pertinent.

Mr. Bozzone's experience and knowledge are evident throughout the book. His viewpoint brings a dimension and a dynamic quality which allows the reader to benefit from the many "real-life" examples peppered throughout the pages. The many models and illustrations help the reader understand the concepts and operational strategies that improve job shop performance.

From a training perspective, Speed to Market provides a sound basis for developing programs that would help people at all levels to understand the intricacies of managing a job shop. The book is an excellent tool for constructing a curriculum that would benefit experienced managers who need to re-think their current situation, as well as people who are new to the job shop environment.

It is clear that owner-operators and managers of job shops would be well served by having their people understand and use the concepts and information presented in this book.

Speed to Market is a "must-read". Speed to Market is an "easy read". Speed to Market should be on your bookshelf! Speed to Market should be on your bookshelf!

Review by Richard B. Mroczek Infoactive Training Group, Montreal, Canada

Speed to Market by Vincent Bozzone is one of those books that is dumbfounding in its practicality. It makes you wonder why more how-to books aren't written this way.

Speed to Market is a refreshing and unique book on "how to cut lead time and increase profits in job shops and custom manufacturing environments." Not only is this one of the few books available on this heretofore ignored topic, it is written as a step-by-step manual for designing and running a profitable job shop, incorporating detailed structure and process elements as they relate to the bottom-line. Actual client studies help make this book even more pragmatic.

Once you read this book, you realize that Vince Bozzone really is a rare expert in job shops and process improvement design.

Review by Kathy Molloy for the Designer's Forum, AMOD Newsletter

This LeadWell special report on Strategy takes an incisive look at both the components and results of effective business strategies, helping readers both understand and apply its lessons.

Though it is comprised of just 14 pages, the Strategy report is filled with distinctions, examples, techniques, and nuggets of wisdom. It is also well- designed, colorful, and easy to navigate.

I found this special report to be a solid action guide and not a whiffy theoretical article. Novices looking for a primer will find this document to be a quick read and a good way to accelerate your learning curve. The customer who will get the most out of this Strategy report is the executive or manager who has been charged with developing or updating some strategic aspect of the company's operations, products, or services. The LeadWell Special Report on Strategy will lead you to ask important questions and provide you with a framework that you can adapt to your specific challenges.

When executives first begin to formulate strategies, the potential benefits are appealing. Soon after beginning the work, the executives often find themselves confused and frustrated. What is really needed?

A lot of this confusion and frustration can be avoided if the strategy thinking is kept simple and focused. One of the strengths of this paper is to do just that. The whole process is boiled down into five parts (Purpose, Choices, Decisions, Priorities, and Action). I particularly liked the emphasis on purpose and priorities. In my experience, my people beginning to develop strategies miss those points. Purpose is defined as your way to get an edge in providing for customers. For example, Southwest Airlines gets and keeps passengers coming back by providing pleasant discount travel. Priorities are what has to be done first in order to create and sustain the advantage. For Southwest, hiring and developing employees who make the travel pleasant are top priorities.

Most people who begin developing strategies could benefit from reading a lot of books on the subject. As busy executives, they will never get around to doing this. Mr. Blohowiak's paper obviates much of that need for further reading. By putting the key ideas into a short paper, anyone can have time to learn and apply what they need to know.

When I began the paper, I was a little concerned about how readers would get a sense of what the key strategy issues are. I was delighted to find excellent questions that provide that perspective. Answer these questions and you will have made great strides in understanding what you business needs to do.

The paper is also helped by a series of excellent diagrams that simplify and explain what the prose has covered.

Although experienced strategists won't find much new here, anyone who is developing their first strategy would be well advised to start with this paper.

Donald Mitchell, co-author of The 2,000 Percent Solution, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage.

Mr Gelb has a tendency to put out some pretty simplistic stuff. This, I think, is one of his more solid efforts. There's plenty of good examples, more apparent thought and depth in this than I think he's offered in most of his other works.
I finished reading the book many years back and still consider that it was one of the more enjoyable and educational that I'd read on the topic of thinking.

This book is based on the assumption that the thinking and communication skills of leadership, can, and must, be learned. And that leadership begins with personal growth. Just as Covey and Edgar Schein point out-we must understand and change ourselves, then truly know the culture of our people to accomplish change-because it is not the organization that gets changed-it's the people. In order for a leader to lead change, the author suggest a new way of thinking--more open to all possibilities-called Synvergent thinking-the synergetic integration of convergent and divergent thinking. Gelb in a very simplistic manner walks you through mind-mapping techniques, which integrates convergent and divergent thinking. I am sold on his technique-it brings out the positives of brainstorming, even if only brainstorming with yourself-but the end result is a visual product-that clearly identifies what you the leader want your people to understand-decrease the fog quickly-opening up opportunity for dialogue. A must buy for leaders, followers, parents, teachers, etc.

I talk to parents of lead poisoned children everyday as Manager of the Lead Advisory Service Australia and I have only received extremely positive comments from other parents about this book. Some doctors would argue that the book gives false hope to parents because the book details very positive outcomes for children with heavy metal poisoning when they undergo chelation treatment. Interestingly, one of the book's authors, Dr Strauts, apparently does not carry out chelation therapy on children any more - according to one of the parents from Australia who contacted his office in Canada. Also, unfortunately, I was never able to obtain a copy of the protocol for chelation treatment that is mentioned in the book - this would have been useful.
However, despite all the above, I would highly recommend this book and wish someone would write a follow-up, seven years on, outlining similar success stories that are happening today.

Turning Lead Into Gold was a book I couldn't put down! It opened my eyes to lead and other metals that are harmful to us all. Nancy goes into great detail about the harmful effects of toxic metals and what you can do to prevent it. She also goes into how to treat lead poisoning. I bought this book because my son has an elevated lead level but I am recommended it to everyone I know! Because of all the facts in this book about metal poisoning I am getting my whole family tested.

Len Chetkin's inspirational book is spiritual, realistic, and just plain illuminating! He uses examples from his own life from giving up his place in the checkout line of a supermarket, to trusting a retailer with his last $100, to his attempts at reaching a true meditative state. By using instances from the ordinary to the ethereal, we as readers are able to witness this man's self-realization and his quest to find the happiness that we all attain. I found myself nodding vigorously while reading this book and thinking: yes, I know this......now I must remember these stimulating thoughts and put them into practice in my daily life. And it's working already! I found myself checking my irritation with a person walking slowly down the street thwarting my hasty step. I even began stopping myself from thinking and saying negative thoughts and instead concentrating on the positive. This is the profound point of Chetkin's book: we control our thoughts and our thoughts control our happiness. I am very pleased to have come across this book and will continue dogearing pages and underlining passages until hopefully one day I am able to realize myself, my actions, and my thoughts as reflectively and progressively as he does.

This is an excellent quick guide for thorough, systematic interpretations of ECGs. It's set up by the author to be easily used quickly if, say, you can't remember the criteria for one finding such as IVCD, LAHB, LVH. It is also easily used to guide you through a complete interpretation of a 12-lead from Rate/Rhythm onward. Inside both covers are little "quick guides" which lead you to the appropriate page in the booklet. I like the drawings which demonstrate key points.

It fits well in my shirt pocket even with my other stuff (about the size of a thin Sanford Guide) and I never go to work without it.

This book is the only one I have found that taught me the entire method of analyzing an EKG from start to finish. I have numerous EKG books and have never learned as much from them as I did with this interactive book. Excellent!!!!

Her book is written for an age that has little material as well designed. It is insightful, interesting, and intelligently simple for children. I will buy for all my grandchildren.