Leader

I have worked as a jail chaplain for almost twenty years and this book has been both an inspiration and a clarifier. Not only is it important for me to set clear boundaries in the work place with inmates, but because of the nature of the work on my personal life, I've needed to set countless boundaries in my relationship with people who don't understand my love and concern for the incarcerated. I have asked all of my volunteers to read the book also because we've used it as a teaching tool for inmates, most of whom have never learned how to set boundaries. We have found it most helpful in dealing with battered and abused women, as well as those needing anger management. Because the text is filled with biblical principles, I believe it is in line with what God chooses for us, but allows us to make the choice for ourselves. Personally, I also have children and grandchildren and I'm using the guidelines to create a place of harmony in my home. Thank you, Drs. Cloud and Townsend for giving us a user friendly guide to boundaries and the happiness they give.

I found Boundaries to be extremely helpful to me and my family. The authors point to Biblical references for boundary development & enforcement. The authors also illustrate real-life examples of people who have boundary issues and give practical advice on how to resolve conflicts in all relationships...parent-child, spouse-spouse, friend-friend, etc. I firmly believe that this book is vital for people who desire to have Godly, healthy relationships. When my children are mature enough to read & understand this book, I will definitely encourage them to read it. I believe that it will be helpful for my children as they prepare for adulthood and also as they begin searching for a mate. I highly recommend this book for everyone who is in the midst of relationship trials & tribulations.

Perhaps the most helpful part of this book, in my opinion, is its expose of the many myths that well-meaning Christian believers have about the setting of boundaries. These include the implicit belief that good Christians are doormats who have no boundaries. Too many Christians mistakenly think that to set boundaries is to hurt someone, to be selfish or, in the case of leader-following relationships, to be nonsubmissive. When done correctly, and with the right spirit, it is nothing of this sort.

I would recommend this book to anyone that is looking for practical, down-to-earth ideas covering various phases or chronological events (accepting a new position, hiring, firing, counseling, etc.) in the leadership continuum. This is not fluff, theory or high-level stuff, but practical chapters, well-arranged, that can, in a 15-20 minute read (per chapter), provide you with a number of things you can implement immediately. Lots of common sense, checklists, to-dos, techniques ideas, etc. I have used many, and shared them with members of my staff. I have recommended this book to many and will continue to do so. More than worth the price of the book and the time to read.

If you are a seasoned, leadership professional, you will find some good reminders, fresh ideas, and things you can use. If you are new to leadership, just got promoted, or aspiring to management, you have got to have this book. It will get you started quickly, and moving and thinking in the right direction. It is in my office 24X7 and I make it a point to reread every few months at least parts. I wish I would have had this book 20 years ago.

If you are looking for common sense and practical advice for managers to use on the job, this book will be of benefit to you. Perry Smith has put together a series of narratives on timely topics from today's business world. The topics include integrity, ethics, getting the most from your people, how to hire and fire etc. all of which are useful to those who work with and/or manage people. The book also has a number of brief checklists which are tailored for specific situations and high stress events. Gen. Smith has provided a reading list at the end of Rules & Tools for Leaders for those who would like to read additional material on leadership. The author has a broad background, having been career military, an academic, a popular speaker at business conferences, and a consultant to corporations and non-profits. This broad point of view is beneficial, as he is able to provide situations that challenge leaders based on his personal experience. In addition, several of the organizations he has worked with are at the top tier of the business world, including Microsoft and the Harvard Business School. If you are seeking solid ideas that you can use immediately, this book is worth your time.

Smith has trained executives in the military and large corporations and through it all has developed a strong knowledge of how to run a business from top to bottom. The book not only goes over the most important aspects of running a business, but also provides best practices type information for each area.
Because each chapter is self-contained it does not depend on you reading prior chapters to understand the current one. So, if you need to jump to the area on hiring and firing then you can do so and understand the chapter. By the same token, if you don't need a chapter then you can just skip it (but I wouldn't advise you to do that because you never know when you may suddenly need it). I liked the thoroughness and depth of coverage of the book. In a world where too many books are nebulous and vague in their advice it is nice to find one that gives practical and useful advice.
Another high point of the book is the checklists. The use of the checklist frees you from having to remember all the steps in a process or all the little problems that can emerge if something is missed.
The book is filled with practical advice and is sure to broaden your knowledge of management and provide you with more tools to manage your business. From any level of management up to the top executives, this is a very useful book and a nice concise summary of the dozen or so separate books from my management courses in college.

It's so sad to see such potential squandered for the sake of word count. If the authors had spent as much time on the accuracy of their writing as they do on the accuracy of the temperature and weight of their ingredients, this would have been perhaps one of the greatest bread books ever written. However, the combination of gross omissions, editorial blunders, and what I believe to be bad recipes is truly disappointing.

Just a short taste of the mistakes I encountered:
- time tables were inconsistent. One place in the recipe instructs allowing 2 hours for mixing the poolish, while another says it will take 24 hours.
- a chapter on straight dough breads gives an alternative time table for mixing, kneading, and baking. It says that all the recipes in this chapter can be used with this method. However, there are no recipes at all in the chapter it mentions.
- too much salt. I followed the instructions precisely, and didn't think a thing of adding a full tablespoon to the mix as suggested. The bread came out flat and so salty that it was inedible. I reduced the amount of salt by 1/2 and my loaves were much better.

Please, don't waste your money on this book.

I came across this book in a public library and could not put it down once I started to read it, almost page by page. This is more than a book of recipes - recipes are really not that difficult to find - it is also about the passion of life, which has, without ourselves noticing, quickly but quietly turned into an obsession for quick tempo,profiteering, without a genuine understanding and appreciation of inner qualities. His attention paid to finding the best oven, organic wheats and slow fermention methods all related to bringing back the kind of breads which does not just look good, but which are genuinely good for health. And, for him, as a baker and owner of the shops, this is not just about a way to profiteer, but more to using human techniques and knowledge to turn the simplest and cheapest produce on earth into the best everyday food for the most people, even the not-so-wealthy ones. This is not just about the breads, but about the passion for life, substantial, earthly and without unnecessary sophistication. (the recipes are not that simple though.) This book is thus a sharing of the baker with the readers about his ways of looking at life as a baker, and letting us know also the passions of other bakers, and the persistent efforts putting into the soil by the organic farmers. In short, a book not just to function in the kitchen, but also one whose inspirations and thoughts you can share with the rest of the family.

I wrote one review after I read the whole book. But now, after owning other very famous books of bread and after gaining much experience now as a homebaker who bakes bread every other day, I must say this book is a must for the serious ones. Comparing the explanations of the ingredients and techniques, as well as that of the recipes of how to make complicated starters and sourdough with other books, this one is indeed the most detailed and easiest to follow. And, like other reviewers said, they make really high-quality breads which far excel those available in the market. Of course, like any skills which aim at excellence, the Bread Alone methods take a bit of time and patience to master.

The authors -- with Spencer Stuart (www.spencerstuart.com) -- had access to some distinguished (Lou Gerstner; Andy Grove, Bill Gates) and some not so distinguished (Bernie Ebbers, Ken Lay) CEOs, and they used Gallup to conduct series of interviews and polls trying to get some insights as to what makes some CEOs successful. What the authors produce are a series of capsules (2-4 pages for each CEO) which are descriptive of the CEOs and companies but have very little analysis.

It is in failing to use the resources at their disposal and access to some remarkable people to draw significant insights, that makes for the biggest shortfall of the book. One may just as well read a description of the CEOs or the companies in a business magazine or the Wall Street Journal.

There are no unique insights to be gained from this book. Yes, some of the CEOs provide some discussion points based on their experience, but much of the space is devoted to their company's specific problems at a particular time (thus leaders of questionable integrity, such as Ebbers and Lay were included).

What in my opinion the authors should have done is go above the specific company experience and focus on the qualities of these interesting individuals and show what has allowed them to have such significant impact on the business world and out society.

Unfortunately such insights are absent from the book. What a pity!

James Citrin and Thomas Neff compile a set of business anecdotes from the results of their exhaustive surveying, hoping to convey the important lessons of 50 of America's top business leaders. Each leader profile has interesting personal details, a leadership "philosophy" to lead off the profile, and examples to help detail how the profile has made them successful.

What's particularly telling is that all the Leaders are chosen based upon the authors model of what a good business leader is -- that is, they "load" the deck by having asked who is first to come to mind when specific categorical questions are asked, such as "commitment to diversity". (They included the questions used in the initial survey, which was used to narrow the field to 50 Leaders.) Note, however, that leadership in management has been defined as how well they are able to get people to willingly adopt, follow and achieve their vision, and these questions ask nothing of that.

Also, it's weighed by company financial statements and "fame" of Leaders. Smaller companies with great Leaders will not get mentioned. For example, there is a small company in Los Angeles, that, in 2000, earned $500,000.00 per employee, by putting customers first, employees second and ownership last. Insisting that continued education was paramount to the success of the company, he sent a young manager to his alma mater, CalTech, for post-graduate work. He was always heard saying: "Customers first! Change is good! Have fun!" and his employees followed suite and found ingenious ways to improve quality, save money and enjoy work -- and they did it because they loved the president. That's LEADERSHIP.

The real surprise among smaller surprises is that an astonishing number of Leaders did not stay at their jobs for long (although, an equally astonishing number have been at the same company virtually all of their career). This suggests that loyalty is not a Leadership trait. (Note also that most of the companies had been wildly successful, long before the Leader arrived.) Another surprise is that very few of the Leaders earned advanced degrees, some earning honorary degrees (perhaps for charitable contributions to the school?). The richest man in the world, Bill Gates, didn't graduate from college??? Just shows how having a spectacular product will make you look like a great leader (Disney! Mobil! Campbell's Soup!) Why, even disgraced Enron CEO Ken Ley is among the Great.

What wasn't a surprise is that most Leaders attributed their success to a customer-based, quality-driven philosophy. That is, what quality professionals have known all along (and said much more succinctly by Eli Goldratt): the key to making money now and in the future is to make customers happy now and in the future (and making employees and suppliers happy now and in the future). Read Dr. Deming's 14 Points, and you'll see that every Leadership trait described in this book is accounted for in Deming's quality philosophies.

"Write what you want to read" was advice given to the authors, but was it sage advice? The book, 430 pages long, reads like a 50 section fluff piece on people that may not have given them the time of day, but not for being raised to the stature of 50 Best. The first three chapters, which outline the surveying and the structure of the book only show how eager the authors are to make nice with the big boys. They should've discarded the advice, and taken some from the Leaders: "write what your CUSTOMERS want to read".

Last comment: the Lesson Learned, supposedly a synopsis of what can be gleaned from the Leaders profiles, sums it up with Six Core Principles, strangely without mentioning the most frequently mentioned Leadership mantra "Please your customer". With that glaring omission, I can't see how the authors learned any Lessons from the Top.

There are many good books on business out there, but few combine the experiences of so many leading executives on the subject. Lessons From the Top includes interviews with 50 of the most respected leaders from America's top businesses. Especially attractive are the interviews with the execs that didn't author a book themselves.

That being said, the book has a number of problems: First, a very significant amount of the book is devoted to explaining how the authors chose the people that they chose, and explaining why they were the right people to be writing this book. What should have been a brief introduction and perhaps an appendix, became the first and last sections of the book and unfortunately, unless you are a statistician, these areas are quite boring. Second, the authors lost the individual voices of the people that they interviewed. Perhaps for consistency or brevity, they paraphrased so much and only introduced quotations as small parts of larger paragraphs that you really aren't able to tell the voice of the various people apart.

Also of note is that this book includes sections on Enron's Ken Lay and WorldCom's Bernie Ebbers -- perhaps not exactly the model to emulate -- but hindsight is 20/20 ...

All in all, Lessons From the Top is an well written book, rewarding for those just starting in business or those simply looking for a new opinion. Also, the authors have included (within the sections about the executive) names of various people (and the books that they wrote) who influenced the executive, so you may find other books to explore when you are done.

John Maxwell's book, "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" was a very helpful book. Logistically the book was very easy to read and understand. The chapters are not too long or drawn out. Maxwell makes his point and shares an anecdote or two with the reader regarding the idea of chapter. The leadership concepts discussed in this book don't seem all that groundbreaking, but they are so vital to being a good leader and they are explained very clearly throughout this book. He clearly points out and gives names to all the little reasons that you ever liked, respected, or listened to someone, but couldn't quite figure out why.
Maxwell weaves in personal stories that make his point and stories from celebrities like Sonny Bono, Princess Diana, and some of our most famous presidents. So the flow of the book and the voice that Maxwell uses actually follows his own chapter on the law of connection. As your reading the book you feel that Maxwell is actually just sitting there talking to you. He interrupts his own discussion on leadership to tell you a story. It is very casual and you never stop to count the pages until the end of the chapter. You just read right through. The book is not written in a instruction manual fashion, even the most passive follower in the world could read this book and know what kind of leader they would be looking for.
I think you learn a lot about leadership and just interesting general history from this book. Many of Maxwell's stories are much more than just there to prove his point. He tells the whole story instead of just what he needs to say to prove himself. I thought the fact that Maxwell has a religious background gave a comforting validity to what he was writing especially after he explained early in this book that leaders of volunteer organizations have no leverage over people. The people are there because they want to be there. After thinking about that statement, I agreed that it is very much true and that could be the best example of leadership. All in all, I thought that this was a very good book and there is much more to learn from it than just how to become a good leader.

There are many books written every year on leadership, and they all tend to have the same weakness: They focus on just part of the problem. THE 21 IRREFUTABLE LAWS OF LEADERSHIP is a valuable exception because it looks at leadership in both companies and nonprofits at the same time, drawing on appropriate lessons from both. What I particularly liked was how he provided examples of how to overcome bad sistuations as well as how to grow faster from good ones. This clearly is the most encyclopedic approach to the subject of leadership that I have had the pleasure to read. The lessons seemed right to me based on my many years of studying what makes the most successful leaders have the best results. For anyone who is a leader or aspires to be one, THE 21 IRREFUTABLE LAWS OF LEADERSHIP will be very valuable. Then you can expand your reading to get more detail in the areas where you need the most help. If you follow the principles of this book, you will avoid most of the problems that stall progress in organizations. Good luck to you!

Most business books I read tend to break down into academic jargon or resemble a memo you might get in advance of a board meeting - interesting, perhaps, but difficult to relax with. The 21 Irrefutable Laws stands out as a great overview of leadership dynamics in an organization, and ring so true. I found myself nodding my head over and over as I read it. Highly recommended for those starting a business (or thinking of), leading initiatives, or wanting to understand organizational dynamics. Loved the emphasis on character and leading by example.

I knew the author when we studied at Northwestern University together during the summer of 1995. Even then, while training as an actor, it was obvious he had a future as a leader.

Reading the book impressed me with how far he has come as a person. I recognize (and miss) his "voice," and therefore I can safely say he is speaking from his heart.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to tap into the pulse of a person with a destiny. If you have a passion about anything, you will relate to it. If you've ever had to influence others, it will hit home, too.

Nick Tarant will run for senate one day. And after you read his book, you'll probably vote for him.

I just got finished reading a negative review of Young Leader and have to say it is completely different than my own opinion. First of all, the book is great and it had very little to say about that as much as the person who wrote the book.

But I guess since it's an autobiography that's fair. So I'm going to say that I disagree wholeheartedly with the bad impression of Nick Tarant that seems to have been maliciously placed here. The whole notion is ridiculous.

Read the chapter where he talks about helping the dance team to fight the administration and community when they were trying to censor them. Read the part where he talks about fighting for the New York State Tuition Assistance Program even though he doesn't personally receive funding from it. Not to mention the fact that the whole book is written as knowledge to be passed down to other leaders...

I was in Congress when Nick was vice president and the president and any student, staff or professor who knew him knew that he cared more about Ithaca College and the people there than anyone. Furthermore, the fact that he spent time and energy to write down what he learned is proof of a guy who cares.

Young Leader is a great book with a great hook. If you're into government and leadership skills, it's worth picking up.

At last, a book that puts college students in a positive light and proves that there are more than drugs and drinking going on at campus.

Nick Tarant's story is an interesting tale of leadership-done-right. While skewed towards the east coast audience, his advice can be applied to any student involved with government or frat/sororities.

Apparently the author was heavily involved with extra-curricular activites during his college years, and he has reflected on them with great detail and careful analysis. The stories include many of his comrades and their escapades, and are specific to the Ithaca College campus near Cornell University. His tongue-in-cheek humor helps tell each one, and they all aid in emphasizing whatever point he is trying to make.

It is interesting to see what Tarant chose to include in the ten chapters. Obviously these are some prime cuts of management theory and organizational growth. For a student audience, these are definitely the key issues to touch upon. Everything from speaking to a large crowd, to the complexity of executing a "vision," is included. At points his definitions are a bit cut-and-dry and somewhat abstract, but all in all they are well formulated ideas. Particularly encouraging is his philosophy on diversity, which is often a poorly addressed topic in books of this nature.

Remarkably well done, and easy to follow. Definitely a good read!

In The Bible Jesus Read, the main focus of the book is to attempt to show the great value of books such as Job, Deuteronomy, Ecclesiastes, the prophets, etc., books which are largely overlooked or misunderstood by modern Christians. Yancey tries to establish the importance of each book by explaining that Jesus Himself spent time in these books. Yancey also explains what he believes are the best mindsets to understand the purpose of the Psalms, Proverbs, and other previously mentioned books, so that we can better understand our God. For example, I found his summary of the Psalms particularly helpful as he explained how the Psalms were not purposed for doctrines and decrees, but they reveal the joy, anguish, worry in human authors who were pursuing the heart of God. (He does not deny that they are God-inspired works; some Psalms are prophetic whether the authors realized it at the time or not) I did find some minor faults in Yancey's book: he lightly ridiculed unnammed ministers who misunderstood a prophecy of the ten horns in the book of Daniel, and made it sound as though we shouldn't take Bible prophecy seriously, because we can't truly understand it. I don't think he found the true worth of the prophecies of the Bible. He also presented a very "Prince of Egypty-type Moses", with a speculative and somewhat inaccurate scenario. If you overlook some of these occasional wishy-washy accounts, and focus on understanding the purpose of the Old Testament books, you can come away from "The Bible Jesus Read" with new insight and interest in books that you previously found complicated, boring, or confusing. I give thanks for a new outlook on the Psalms, Job, and Ecclesiastes.

The author did put the aim of this book explicitly clear. He would like us to not to neglect the Old Testament, as most of us had focused only on the New Testament, if we really read the Bible at all. Afterall, the Old Testatment was what Jesus read and quote. In this respect, I doubt whether his objective can be served because I really think those who had read the Old Testament at least twice could appreciate the insights that he presented in this book. The fact that he had focused only on Job, Deuteronomy, Psalm, Ecclesiastes and the books of the prophets as a whole made it an ordinary Bible commentary instead of the other Yancey works with clear central themes. Nevertheless, this book is still up to the average but still outstanding Yancey standard, perhaps except the part on Deuteronomy, which some other reviewrs shared the same not so positive opinion with me. Anyway, I would strongly recommend it to all Christians, preferably to those who had read the Old Testament at least once.

As usual in all my reviews, I would like to copy and paste some messages for your reference. Hope they would help you to better understand the goodness of the book.

""Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." We usually interpret that commandment in a narrow sense of prohibiting swearing," said Webber, who then proceed to expand its meaning to never live as though God does not exist. Or, stated positively, Always live in awareness of God's existence. ...Any key to living in such awareness must be found in the Old Testament. pg 29

The Old Testament gives clues into the kind of history God is writing. Exodus identifies by name the two Hebrew midwives who helped save Moses'life, but it does not bother to record the name of the Pharaoh rulng Egypt. First Kings grants a total of eight verses to King Omri, even though secular historians regard him as one of Israel's most powerful kings. In his own history, God does not seem impressed by size or power or wealth. Fiath is what he wants, and the heroes who emerge are heros of faith, not strength or wealth. pg 32

At root, Job faced a crisis of faith, not of suffering. ...At such times we focus too easily on circumstances - illness, our looks, poverty, bad luck as the enemy. We pray for God to change those circumstances.....When tragedy strikes, we too will be trapped in a limited point of view. Like Job, we will be tempted to blame God and see him as the enemy....Job convinces me that God cares more about our faith than our pleasure. pg 63

Many psalms convey this spirit of "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief," a way of talking oneself into faith when emotions are wavering....For the Hebrew poets, God represented a reality more solid than their own whipsaw emotions or the checkered history of their people. They wrestled with God over every facet of their lives, and in the end it was the very act of wrestling that proved their faith. pg 123

Ecclesiastes insists that the stones we trip over are good things in themselves: "He has made everything beautiful in its time." Yet by assuming a burden we were not mean to carry, we turn nudity into pornography, wine into alcoholism, food into gluttony, and human diversity into racism and prejudice. Despair descends as we abuse God's good gifts; they seem no longer gifts, and no longer good. pg 159

I am so ashamed of myself because before reading this book I had been quite proud of having read many spiritual books and the whole Bible four times. However, I still failed to realize that the title of the book simply meant the Old Testament, and that I was very ignorant of the Old Testament.

Back to the book itself. The author had expressed that he would like modern christians to re-balance their interest between the Old and the New Testaments, when most of us had certainly put our time on the later one, if we had read it at all. Afterall, Jesus did read and always quote from it. In this respect, I doubt whether his objective can be served because I really think those who had read the Old Testament twice could appreciate the insights that the author had observed and the majority had neglected. The fact that the author had focused only on Job, Deuteronomy, Psalm, Ecclesiastes and the books of the prophets as a whole made it an ordinary Bible commentary instead of the other Yancey works with clear central themes. Nevertheless, this book is still up to the average but still outstanding Yancey standard, perhaps except the part on Deuteronomy, which some other reviewrs shared the same not so positive opinion with me. Anyway, I would strongly recommend this book to all Christians, preferably if one had read the relevant books in the Old Testament at least once.

As usual in all my reviews, I would like to copy and paste some messages for your reference. Hope they would help you to better understand the goodness of the book.

""Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." We usually interpret that commandment in a narrow sense of prohibiting swearing," said Webber, who then proceed to expand its meaning to never live as though God does not exist. Or, stated positively, Always live in awareness of God's existence. ...Any key to living in such awareness must be found in the Old Testament. pg 29

The Old Testament gives clues into the kind of history God is writing. Exodus identifies by name the two Hebrew midwives who helped save Moses'life, but it does not bother to record the name of the Pharaoh rulng Egypt. First Kings grants a total of eight verses to King Omri, even though secular historians regard him as one of Israel's most powerful kings. In his own history, God does not seem impressed by size or power or wealth. Fiath is what he wants, and the heroes who emerge are heros of faith, not strength or wealth. pg 32

At root, Job faced a crisis of faith, not of suffering. ...At such times we focus too easily on circumstances - illness, our looks, poverty, bad luck as the enemy. We pray for God to change those circumstances.....When tragedy strikes, we too will be trapped in a limited point of view. Like Job, we will be tempted to blame God and see him as the enemy.... I hesitate to write this because it is a hard truth, one I do not want to acknowledge: Job convinces me that God cares more about our faith than our pleasure.....In a message to Ezekiel God includes Job in a list of three giants of righteousness. The other two mentioned, Noah and Daniel, learned faith in the midst of a massive flood and a den of lions. pg 63/64

God did not condemn Job's doubt and despair, only his ignorance. pg 70

Bear it up; keep smiling; suffering makes you strong, say some spirtual advisors - but not the psalmists. They do not rationalize anger away or give abstract advice about pain; rather, they express emotions vividly and loudly, directing their feelings primarily at God. pg 122

Many psalms convey this spirit of "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief," a way of talking oneself into faith when emotions are wavering....For the Hebrew poets, God represented a reality more solid than their own whipsaw emotions or the checkered history of their people. They wrestled with God over every facet of their lives, and in the end it was the very act of wrestling that proved their faith. pg 123

The only wisdom we can hope to acquire is the wisdom of humility. Humility is endless. T.S. Eliot pg 154

Ecclesiastes insists that the stones we trip over are good things in themselves: "He has made everything beautiful in its time." Yet by assuming a burden we were not mean to carry, we turn nudity into pornography, wine into alcoholism, food into gluttony, and human diversity into racism and prejudice. Despair descends as we abuse God's good gifts; they seem no longer gifts, and no longer good. pg 159

Unless we acknowledge our limits and subject ourselves to God's rule, unless we trust the Giver of all good gifts, we will end up in a state of despair. Ecclesiastes calls us to accept our status as creatures under the dominion of the Creator, something few of us do without a struggle. pg 160

Why read the prophets? There is one compelling reason: to get to know God. The prophets are the Bible's most forceful revelation of God's personality. pg 180

Morris is worthless and so is his uncreative, lame book.

In Power Plays, Dick Morris's expertise as a political strategist shines through. The man who had/has a passion and, in my opinion, a polished panache for making the pursuit of power seem like play, here, so neatly and so effectively, classifies and categorizes some of the world's greatest leaders into one magnificently logical and orderly collated collection. He brilliantly and deftly reaches back into some of the most intriguing moments in political history and makes us scratch our head and say, "So that's what happened!" My favorite chapters are the ones about Churchill (fortunately for us, he gains prominence in two). While reading about him is always uplifting and inspiring, it is even more so in the wake of September 11th.
Fan or not of Mr. Morris (And I am!) this book has something for everyone. I must admit that I thought that the book might be a bit heavy duty for the average Joe Schmoe (like me!) but it wasn't. It was thoroughly delightful and cozy - like a really wise (REALLY WISE!) grandfather revealing - and reveling in - history, both past and present, with all the clarity and detail as if he had been there himself. This book can go from the corridors of Congress, to the college campus to the beach bungalow and all the little tidbits gleaned from between the pages can be used just as easily by those who have the power, those who want the power and those who, for now, anyway, find power in having that just-right, juicy, little historical morsel to pepper into the cocktail hour conversation. Just as Mr. Morris came to realize that Ronald Reagan and Charles De Gaulle must wait for their moment to shine, I truly hope that this book affords Mr. Morris his well-deserved moment to shine!

Morris' latest book, Power Plays, is byfar his best in recent years. There is a noticable switch from his past books,to a new and exciting style that combines historical and political analysis. Each chapter attacks a unique topic and evaluates the issue from both a successful and an unsuccessful angle.
My favorite chapter was the last one that discusses a leader's ability to mobilize a nation in times of crisis, the parallels to today are obvious and it is interesting to read the conclusions that Morris makes. Like Morris, I question whether or not Bush will be able to keep his focus throughout this war on terroism and "an essentially unknowable enemy".
Power Plays is the perfect mix between history and politics, and Morris carefully leads you through some of the most important lessons in history and their political implications. It's a great read with valuable lessons to be learned.

I read Tichy's ideas for the first time in a Harvard Business Review exhibit which he wrote to be inserted in an interview with Jacques Nassar, former CEO of Ford Motor in an issue from 1997/1998. That exhibit was so illuminating I went just right then to get a copy of the whole book in the library. I should've stayed with the exhibit in the magazine...

The CORE of the ideas of Mr. Tichy is superb. Really. Building a model (a triangle which is not, for one of the corners includes "emotional, energy and edge" and there's is not the sligthest reference in the book why these are bundle together) where he included values, ideas and the emotional side to introduce the discipline of the storytelling in the organization is a premier work intended to give a method to build those stories (World Bank, 3M, Ford and many other companies with a long tradition of strategic planning are working on this line, prefering it over conventional bullet lists, formats and charts but back in 1997, when Tichy's work arrived it was a weird idea).

BUT that's all! If you expect to learn here how to buid the "teachable point of view" (this is how Tichy christened his baby) forget it. At least an useful one. Many water has gone under the bridges since 1997 and there're many subsequent authors with better techniques to teach you to do so. Nevertheless, Tichy's work is a nice model to keep in mind when you build and use the strategic stories. But as a framework... and I've got that in the little excerpt of the exhibit in HBS.

Last, but not the least... the examples. And this REALLY bothered me. Rather than present the teoric foundations for his ideas, in order to let you to figure out how he get there and then let the reader to develop his own path (like Collins&Porras, Tichy's nemesis, did in "Built to last"), Tichy gives an harangue of two or three lines with his ideas and then throw at you a 3-pages example so tailored-made for the concept you wonder if he's not explaining a coyuntural practice in some organization which he happened to hear about or maybe witness now and then rather than give you some new insights about leadership. And that organization, 70% alongisde 250 pages or so, is GE, 20% is AliedSignal's Larry Bossidy (a GE insider) and the 10% are ocassional references to Ameritech or well-konwn leaders so suitable for the day-to-day environment of XXI century business like Martin Luther King and Winston Churchill. Of course you can learn from any leader, that's what metaphors are for, but it's risky at least to compare the deployment of some set of values and ideas in a company with somebody who broadcast alive in the middle of some war. HOW the leaders deploy their messages (not the build of the message, but the media and the selection criteria they used) is a major absence in this book. And when it comes to learn about diagnostics and measures for the performance of his idea, Tichy olimpically come down from the bronco saying "I think the value market is the best measure to keep track of the performance of the company in the long term". And thats's it: one line and a half and keep going repeated like a mantra (I wonder what does Tichy thinks about some market values like Enron' And by the way, Ken Lay wrote in the back of the book a very nice appraisal of this leadership method to succeed in the market...) Which means if you're CEO in a private held company, a non-profit organization, a multillateral banking institution like IMF, a public company far away from the S&P or Dow Jones or the local chamber of commerce, you can implement these ideas but for measures go to the nearest church.

Noel Tichy was director at mythical Crotonville GE Human Developing Center. And the book become for moments a "Thanks my sweet lord psalms choir" to Jack Welch. Who is, no doubt, the best known business leader worldwide today. And Tichy used his previous book (Control your destiny) about the great man to quote himself a lot of times as authoritative source. But with the teorics of the book, it is at least arrogant to place such an emphasis in this company. I mean, if "winning companies" are the ones who win today, tomorrow and the next day by the inheritance and labor of its present leaders, how Tichy knew it would be the case back in 1997? Jeffrey Immelt hasn't been appointed to the office and you simply can't know, even today, 5 years after the book, if Welch revolution will survive him. Tichy made an example of his method and of a "winning company" out of Coca Cola under Goizueta reign, and you can go to ask about all this revolution to his succesors, Doug specially. Welch might well become a sort of Tom Watson, the head of the company Tichy's beat to death every single opportunity he has to the point you wonder if they fired or offended him in some moment: if he couldn't illustrate some point in the book with some real practice, then he explain it by default showing HOW IBM didn't do this or that and ergo fell down... and GE sure has, no doubt, somewhere around the world, even if he can't prove that, but the wonderful market value of the company is enough proof. And by the way.... if you read "Straight from the gut" by Welch himself, you learn many of Tichy' affirmations about his practices are, to be candorous, descontextualized or mistaken.

In short, a very, very good idea with a very, very bad excution in a very, worse package.

The book "The Leadership Engine" by Noel Tichy, discusses how to build dynamic leaders at every level within an organization. The book focuses on fundamentals of winning organizations and the characteristics of these leaders giving insight into some of the greatest leaders stories. Noel Tichy has researched companies like General Electric, Ameritech, PepsiCo, Intel and Focus Hope.

The book is concise in its contents and is good for intellectual reading. Author has made his best attempt to present conceptually his thoughts about leadership engine by proving the facts that "winning organizations are teaching organizations". Senior leaders take direct responsibility for developing and teaching other leaders. Those leaders have great "teachable point of view" as composed by ideas, values and E3 (Emotion, Energy and Edge). Each of these leaders has their own style of teaching and the technique may vary based on the needs of the organization. Great leaders use stories to teach and communicate their ideas.

The term "Engine" as used by author, illustrates the dynamic potential of the winning organization to teach the leaders and develop future leaders. Noel says, "Many management theories don't buy the argument that leadership engine is the key factor in determining an organization's success. They assert that a winning culture, or efficient work processes, or any number of other ancillary attributes are the sine qua nons for success". But he believes that leadership takes precedence over everything else and one reason leadership take precedence is that leaders are the people who decide what needs to be done and are the one's who make things happen. To accept the fact as represented by author, the research should also include mid sized organizations and opinions of middle layered managers.

The ultimate test of success for an organization is not weather it can win today but whether it can keep winning tomorrow and the day after. The key ability of winning organization and winning leaders is creating leaders. One of the greatest quotes in the book was "Every person in a key position has to see himself or herself as a mini-CEO. They have to conceptualize what has to be done in the same way the CEO has. Then it cascades."

The subtitle suggests the book's objective: To explain "How Winning Companies Build Leaders at Every Level." According to the authors, there are certain "fundamentals" common to winning organizations: "First, leaders with a proven track record of success take direct responsibility for the development of other leaders. Second, leaders who develop other leaders have teachable points of view in the specific areas of ideas, values, and something I call E-cubed -- emotional energy and edge....Third, leaders embody their teachable points of view in living stories....Finally, because winning leaders invest considerable time developing other leaders, they have well-defined methodologies and coaching and teaching techniques." Together, these "fundamentals" create the central metaphor in the book: a machine.

As a "machine", an organization consists of separate but interdependent parts; requires lubrication and fuel as well as constant maintenance; and functions best when utilized to serve the specific purposes for which it has been designed.Almost half of The Leadership Engine consists of a "Handbook for Leaders Developing Leaders." In it, the authors provide a cohesive and comprehensive answer to the question "How to create a Leadership Engine?" One useful approach to the "Handbook" is to think of it as a "super" hardware store and you have an empty toolbox. Examine everything available. Select only what is most appropriate for your own organization. Then work with others to assemble the "machine" your organization needs. In doing so, you and they are providing leadership. Your shared obligation is to involve as many others as possible, helping them to become leaders also. If help is needed along the way, it is reassuring to know that the authors have created the equivalent of an operator's manual to help ensure maximum performance of your organization's "leadership engine." Whenever it's time for a "tune-up", you will have the guidance you need.

This is a superb piece of work.

This is an outstanding analysis of the leadership program at West Point, in all its glory and without ignoring a few insightfully addressed shortcomings. The author has the advantage of having been on both sides of the program as a cadet himself, and later as an officer instructor at the academy. Well thought out and well written, this book belongs on the bookshelf of every military officer and business executive.

One of the central characters of this book is MAJ Rob Olson. He is the TAC officer for the company that Mr. Roggero follows through a year at West Point. After the events of this book, MAJ Olson was promoted early, went to the Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. He then went to Hawaii to serve with the 25th Infantry Division (Light).

I worked for MAJ Olson when he assumed duties as the Operations Officer at 2-11 Field Artillery, 25 ID(L), Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. About two months after he assumed this duty position, he was killed in a tragic helicopter accident which also killed six others and wounded scores more.

He had told me about this book, in passing, soon before his death and, after his death, I got and read the book. It is a wonderful tribute to him and his leadership style. He believed in empowering his subordinates and letting leaders grow by doing. I think it is great that his children, when they are older, will be able to read this book and see what a great officer their father was.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what a leader really is.

This book takes the reader on a tour of West Point over the course of one year. It starts on Reception day and ends at Graduation. The author introduces you to a handfull of cadets and follows them through their expieriences of the year. A great book, I reccommend it to any one interested in the United States Military Academy of today.