Strategy

Ever since reading Mark Sanborn's book "UPGRADE!: Proven Strategies for Dramatically Increasing Personal and Professional Success," I have been enamored with the word, "upgrade."
UPGRADE! What a positive word! I have used the term weakness, area for improvement, do differently etc., but what a powerful, positive way to look at buffing up your skills, attitude, behaviors and performance.
Mark does a superb job giving lots of tips and techniques to
inspire you to reach new levels of success. In this book, he:
Confirms things you already know
Challenges you to continue doing those things you have done, but for some reason or another, you have stopped doing
Reframes issues so you may see things from a different
perspective
Provides great insight into things you never even dreamed of!
For example, I have always considered writing a journal, logbook, diary or some way of chronicling my adventures. I never like what I write, so I stop writing.
Mark says "Many of the most successful and creative people I know keep a journal. While some may record the events of each day, the majority are jotting down their insights, reflections and information. More powerful than just keeping a journal, I've found, is periodically reviewing one's journal to reinforce the important things one has experienced and learned."
The Upgrade? I now keep a journal of important things that I have experienced and learned. For me, it's very focused. It's full of bullets and pictures rather than stream-of-consciousness. It's meaningful in hindsight as well as in the writing.

This book offers the healthy perspective for the new millenium. Practical to-do's for achieving a more fulfilling life in all arenas - professional, personal and family. Mark challenges us all to denounce apathy and raise our awareness to understand that the possibilities for an enjoyable and fulfilling life are limited only by our attitudes.

Everyone needs to "Upgrade" and Mark Sanborn has given us the time tested ways that the best get even better. Easy to read and inspiring, we read it to the last page.

What a great look at our nations wars from the political perspective. Pearlman's writing style and personality pull you in and give you the impression that you are getting a look behind the scenes of American history. This is an important piece of work for those that want to understand the why of many wartime decisions.

From my review of this work published in the Naval War College Review, Spring 2000:

Warmaking-the pursuit of political objectives by military means- ineluctably involves trade-offs not only in determining appropriate goals but also in determining the means by which they may be best pursued. While recent military action in Kosovo highlights the truth of this statement, the struggle to achieve a coherent military policy is not simply a contemporary problem for this nation. In this work, Michael D. Pearlman, a historian and associate professor at the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College, traces this problem from the pre-Revolutionary colonial wars through to the present, providing a comprehensive survey not only of America's wars but of the continual push and pull between the practitioners of military art and the politicians who direct them. In doing so, Pearlman demonstrates the difficulties faced by a pluralistic democracy in obtaining a consensus on either the most effective means for fighting a war or on justifiable ends of the wars being fought. While pursuing an explanation of the sources of these difficulties, he also illuminates a warmaking goal that is perhaps peculiar to America-that of fighting in order to banish doubts that a democracy can win its wars.

The timeliness of this work can not be overlooked. It sheds light on the recent debates on the use of force in Kosovo, as well as on the general discussion about the effectiveness of the application of military power in the pursuit of limited political goals, by opening up new avenues of understanding into the formation and execution of military policy. Written in a highly readable style that eschews both political science jargon and "military-speak," this work is a valuable addition to the bookshelf of anyone interested in seeing how strategy has been determined in the actual rather than the abstract/theoretical world. It is essential reading for those who would understand the why of military strategy as well as the what.

This is a splendid and original book. It examines the faultline between military strategy and political considerations. It is an engagingly written product of a superb and fairminded thinker and thorough researcher. No matter how much you have read about military history, you are guaranteed to learn many new things. I have two faults with it - both major, but localized: first, in his analysis of WWII, he does not discuss the allocation of resources enough. Joel Davidson showed how we ended the war with a larger Navy and a smaller Army than we should have had, largely because of FDR's Navy bias, Adm. King's aggressiveness and Gen. Marshall's willingness to back down, even when he was right. I would have liked to see Mr. Pearlman direct his considerable talents to this subject. The second failing is somewhat perplexing: the author's willingness to accept the argument of a handful of JFK partisans that JFK wanted to abandon South Vietnam after the 1964 election. The only sources for this canard are a handful of intensely loyal Kennedy insiders who made these claims only after the war had become unpopular. If there were any truth to these claims, they would have surfaced when these same people were in counsels of war with the reluctant hawk, Lyndon Johnson. I'm not saying that these people are liars exactly, but that they so wanted JFK to have done the popular thing, that they created these conversations in their subconscious and came to believe them as gospel. Recent studies suggest that JFK ordered the coup against Diem because Diem was talking to Ho Che Minh; surely JFK would have let that continue if he planned to pull out. At any rate, once he had had the CIA depose Diem and completely disrupt the established government of an ally, there was no way he could bail out. Forget getting Bobby elected, there were too many people committed to Vietnam and who were privy to the coup to let JFK pull such a stunt without facing an impeachment. Despite these two shortcomings, this is one of the best works of military history that I have ever read.

This book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in creating websites with great business value. As a server-side applications developer, I've been mainly concerned with exploiting the web as a technological medium. This book opened my eyes to the web as an information medium, strategically used to improve a company's bottom line. It truly delivers on its claim -- [serving as] "a bridge from technical understanding to business savvy".

The book is extremely well-organized and has tons of practical knowledge and insight. Furthermore, all the principles are illustrated using easy to follow, real life examples. Excellent throughout -- highly recommended!

Building effective business systems and web applications requires an understanding of not only technology, but also the organization and the processes in which it will be implemented.

Nick Flor, a Professor of Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon's Graduate School of Industrial Administration, argues that to create high-value business web sites requires business as well as technical knowledge. He draws a distinction between a mere web site, which he says, exchanges information and a business web site, which exchanges value - it generates significant revenues and/or drastically pares expenses.

He says three skills are required is proposed for systematically molding the Web to the specific requirements of the specific business.

1.General Business Knowledge.
2.An ability to analyze and diagnose business activities.
3.An ability to design Web treatments to address those activities.

To equip Web entrepreneurs and consultants with these requisite skills, Flor organizes his book into four sections:

1.Web Business 101 - This section covers the first business skill - the big picture. This general business primer includes a discussion of Return on Investment, Net Present Value, Payback, Internal Rate of Return, production, distribution and the effects of competition.
2.Web Business Engineering - Using the knowledge acquired in the first section, the book proposes a methodology that links technical knowledge with business specific knowledge.
3.Case Studies Putting Offline Activities Online
4.Case Studies Applying Web Business Engineering to Online Activities

Stick with the book until you reach the case studies. They add value to the first two sections.

This well-written book sheds important light on web development. By focusing on the author's definition of "value", managers and development teams will avoid aping successful online companies, building instead, systems that address what companies should be doing online based on their offline activities.

Until reading this book I thought I had a good understanding of what it took to design the underlying strategy and processes supporting commercial web sites. After reading this book I clearly saw how wrong I was.

The approach set forth in this incredible book is straightforward and focused solely on business imperatives. I suspect that the author and publisher realized that the title would attract IT professionals and consultants, which accounts for the inclusion of business 101. I almost skipped over this part and am glad I didn't. Even here what I thought I knew about business turned out to be superficial. The education you will receive in Business 101 goes well beyond the basics and I recommend that everyone read this regardless of whether you are an IT professional or have a business background. You might just discover that you've been misapplying common techniques such as NPV, IRR and ROI, or using the results in erroneous ways. In other words, the section titled "Business 101" is much, much more.

I loved the author's approach to value chain analysis, which is straightforward and based on a simple, but effective, notational language. Here, like in every other chapter, I learned techniques that will serve me well in general consulting assignments outside of web business engineering.

The web business engineering methodology itself is one of the leanest, most effective processes that I've ever encountered. I can only describe it as elegant. It's a blueprint for success when success is measured by how well a system is aligned to business strategy and goals. If you follow the method and resist the temptation to take shortcuts you will be rewarded with a system that meets all of your requirements and objectives whatever they may be - and you'll know exactly what the value of that system is to your organization.

A few observations about this book: (1) Give yourself plenty of time to read through this book and work through each example. It took me four times as long as it would for a book of approximate page count and topic complexity. If you're unwilling to make this commitment, perhaps you should pass this book up. (2) I fully agree with the author and a previous reviewer that web systems projects should be managed by business instead of IT. (3) If you're an IT professional get this book and read it from cover to cover - even if you never work on a web project you'll receive an incredible education in business factors and requirements analysis that will serve you well on *any* project. As a fellow IT professional I will assure you that this book will change your outlook.

This book is among the best I've read on any topic or subject and should be required reading for anyone who is assigned to a web project. It's also, in my opinion, one of the most important books published in the past few years.

This book is *the best* book out there for guys in the area of sexual purity. Not too descriptive (which only defeats the purpose) yet real and plain and straight to them. I saw it and got it for my brothers. It's amazing.

Who Moved the Goalpost?

In this candid and frank discussion on Male Sexuality, Bob Gresh tackles
popular belief and grapples taboos head-on. In 'Who Moved the Goalpost',
Gresh formulates seven winning strategies in the sexual integrity game
plan:

Strategy
#1: Maintain Your Brain
Strategy #2: Avoid Sexual Triggers
Strategy #3: Adjust Your Stance
Strategy #4: Guard Your Future'. and Hers
Strategy #5a: Receive the Fathers Love
Strategy #5b: Run with the Spirit
Strategy #6: Choosing the Right Teammates
Strategy #7: Develop Your Dad

Gresh reveals the beauty of sex in marriage and illustrates the prize of waiting.
This riveting book absorbs the reader tackling thorny topics head-on.
Effective strategies combat popular myths that are indoctrinated by
the media, public schools and even the church. Thumbs up to Bob Gresh
and co-author Dannah Gresh for an enlightening and inspiring book.

I thought your book was really good. With all the stuff that the media is shooting at us, and just being a guy it can be hard to avoid sexual temptations. Your book really helped becuase it seems like no one ever talks about it, and it therefore is hard to avoid the temptations becuase you don't know how and your book just helped give ways to avoid the temptations.

The book is a must read for anyone serious about strategy in Latin America, or anyone
interested in the Hispanic segment of the U.S. market. The authors have a deep understanding of Latin culture and business and are able to explain clearly and objectively the risks involved in Latin America, while at the same time presenting an unbiased picture of the unlimited opportunities in the region. They also provide the reader a road map for avoiding common mistakes when doing business in the region and present some innovative tools to develop sound strategies in the market. The book's content definitely lives up to its title. Winning Strategies for the New Latin Markets is a clear, thorough, and convincing state-of-the-art volume that will prove indispensable to executives, business students, and others interested in the Latin American and U.S. Hispanic markets.

Eugenio Sevilla-Sacasa

This timely book is a must for anyone contemplating investing or trading in Latin America. It offers the most complete insight of the region's business/economic climate. Moreover, it serves as an excellent guide to avoid the many stumbling blocks often encountered by many U.S. businessmen in formulating a business case or strategy. The chapter on 'Reaching the New Latin Consumers' is most instructive. Here the authors' thorough analysis on identifying and reaching the consumer is vital to any business case. Too often U.S. companies fail to fully understand the Latin consumer in terms of demand and purchasing power. The Mexican and Brazilian case studies presented are outstanding. Again this gem of a book is indispensable to anyone interested or planning to go after the 600 million population south of the border.

For anyone interested in business in Latin America, this book is an instant classic--a seminal strategy book, in the mold of Porter, Ohmae, Hamel, and Prahalad. It's original and innovative conceptual framework, comprehensive statistical data, and rich and insightful cases will prove invaluable to executives, consultants, professors and students. Although the Latin American region is currently experiencing a "rough patch", scores of firms continue to implement winning strategies and reap huge benefits. Robles, Simon, and Haar illustrate these strategies with tremendous insight and depth of analysis.As Latin America recovers economically and growth takes off, as it eventually will, this book will serve as an indispensable road map for companies doing business (or considering business) in the region.

This book really tells you what is necessary to start and have an international career! Fantastic!

If working in another country is in your career plans, you will find a treasure chest of valuable and important information in this book. Author Nancy Mueller is a recognized global career expert. It's obvious as you read these pages that this woman knows what she's talking about. What a resource to have for your international experience.

Some Americans who work in other countries do so by choice; others are assigned to overseas posts by their employers. This book works well for both situations, though it begins with lots of advice for people who are driving their own career choices. The introduction and the first couple of chapters are designed for people who are making this exciting decision on their own. The big question about how to find work abroad is fully explored to help you make educated decisions. Those first two chapters are Get Started---Focus and Get the Facts---Research.

Chapter 3 advises Get Connected---Network! Lots of dos and don'ts here, supplemented by an appendix listing the American Chamber of Commerce offices in other countries. Chapter 4: Get Support---Ask. Chapter 5---Prepare. See the pattern? Chapter by chapter, this book helps you get your act together for the idiosyncrasies of global work and life. You'll learn how to prepare your resume for international job-seeking, how to conduct interviews, how to follow-up, and even warnings about what kinds of mistakes to avoid.

Chapter 7 will help you navigate through the jungle of visas, work permits, and an international work contract. You'll learn about compensation, how to get ready for the move, and how to prepare for culture shock. Chapter 8, Acculturate, will give you a good lesson in etiquette, social customs, and even a set of social profiles country-by-country about some of the places you're most likely to go. Wherever you go, you'll probably come back . . . and that's not as easy as you might think. Chapter 9 will guide you through the readjustment. This is a good chapter to read during your decision-making process. Anticipating the return, is this really something you want to do?

Yes, at this point in the book, you'll still have questions. That's why you'll be delighted to see that chapter 10 starts with Frequently Asked Questions. You'll find all kinds of tips in this chapter that will deepen your understanding of the adventure that lies before you.

Extra value is provided by the appendices and index. You'll get a good reading list, internet resources, and even a list of foreign embassies in Washington, D.C.

If you're considering working abroad, read this book . . . with a highlighter handy!

It's rare to find a book so thoroughly researched and so intelligently written that also offers such practical wisdom. Mueller's Work Worldwide is exceptionally informative, thorough, and useful. I doubt that I'll be looking for work abroad; I bought the book as a reference work on international relations. But, for someone contemplating a career in another country--any other country--I can't imagine a more helpful book. Check it out, see if you have a question that she hasn't anticipated. I doubt it.

1.000 words could be not enough to praise this book. Bert Hall produced a long needed work that will remain a foundation-stone in military technology of the black powder era.

It didn't take long for me to be pleasantly surprised at the high level of scholarship and clearly presented facts, the sort of writing all too often lacking from this area of history. As the author notes, many technology historians, military historians, and arms and armor writers propagate continuing myths and assumptions that can't be supported when the facts are examined closely. Here, Hall does the topic justice and it is clear he did his homework. The chapter discussing the technology of gunpowder was especially interesting, and supports his case for the reasons firearms developed as they did. I recommend a trip to the Metropolitan Museum in New York to have a look at their firearms, where many aspects of his discussion will further illuminate the items on display.

Best treatment of weapons and Renaissance-era warfare !!

GM Uhlmann is certainly an acknowledged specialist in the French defense. I for one decided to buy this book to deal with problematic variations as black (i.e., Tarrasch variation and KIA) I found more than I could possibly hope to find in the book. For one, this is not just an insuferable encyclopedic treatise bound to be outdated the minute you buy it. It isn't a pedantic presentation of lines with no logical sense but a concise and fun explanation of IDEAS commonly used in the French. GM Uhlmann promises in his book to show you what's typical and how to find your way out from unknown situations over the board and gives you an arsenal of weapons to enrich your French defense.

The book's format is simple: Anotated games by Uhlmann full of comments, variations, ideas, and opinions. I found it interesting to see that GM Uhlmann shows a remarkable objectivity when mistakes by him appear on the games. With utmost professionalism he warns about his mistakes, suggests an alternative approach, and implicitly tells you how to fine tune the opening. I have applied many of the ideas presented on this book and can say that I feel more confident each time I play the French. GM Uhlmann makes you fall in love with the French by exposing the ideas behind each variation and how to thrive when facing unknown situations.

I must forewarn anyone reading this review that the book is very specific in the variations covered: Tarrasch closed and open (with an isolated queen pawn), Winnawer, Advance, KIA and exchange. Do not expect to see the classical variation among the lines covered or any other non-fashionable lines. GM Uhlmann has worked the above repertoire of the French defense and since those lines are his specialty you will learn them thoroughly with him.

In regards to negative aspects of the book I can say that I would like to see a more thorough discussion about the pawn structures that result commonly and how to play the resulting endings. This is of course very subjective and it is just my opinion on how to deal with the study of chess openings. In spite of that, I believe that discussing pawn structures resulting in the French would make the book just perfect. However, I am giving the book 5 stars because it delivers what it promises to the reader.

This one by Uhlmann has the special something that separates art from the mundane. It brims with love and care about his French Defence, yet it is objective too. He does not smirk at white's various lines, such as the King's Indian Attack. He treats chess with respect, and he does not make ridiculous claims, ala Watson, that the French will give black an edge in every line. This book is a keeper, and I don't even play the french!

What's great about this book is that it is based on 60 complete games, not just variations with an evaluation of +- or =. Uhlmann does a great job anotating the games as well as telling the reader the ideas behind the lines he chooses. Of course he does not go into all of the main lines for Black, it is a reperetoire book after all, but his choice of lines are the best for those who really want to put up a fight with the French. All of his games in this book are nice struggles against some of the best ever. Uhlmann is a true advocate of the French and only played this defense against e4. What better person than he to write a book on the French!

If you could own only one reperetoire book on the French, this should be it!

This is an excellent guide. I would not have finished the game without it. It gives detailed instructions on what to do. It made the game alot less frustrating and alot more fun!

This book was the most helpful guide I have ever had. I couldn't put it down. I just wanted to keep on going. It got me through the whole game in just over an hour, not even. If you are just dying to get through your game, you better buy this book. I garantee you'll get your moneys worth.

This is a great book for The X-Files: The Game. It has everything you'll need to know about the game plus funny messages, a section that explains the little things you don't understand, a picture gallery, an interview with the director of the game, and a quick walkthrough for agents on the run.The only thing I didn't like about it was the small nit I found that made me have to hesitate to go on with the game. I would greatly recommend this book.

I found this book to be very helpful in the daily struggles of Positive vs. negative. Nice to be able to find positive input after dealing with the negative people all day. Thanks for the relief.

This book was given to me by a friend, and I've found it to be very helpful as I juggle work and family demands! Its format lets you focus on one or more tips per day, with great suggestions on how to reduce stress in this ever-changing environment. This would be a great gift idea for anyone living with today's challenges!

What a motivator!! Great book that is full of common sense motivators that we all need from time to time. When I feel myself falling back into old habits I pick the book up and read a few pages and can feel the motivation return and I am ready to face any and all tasks be it at the office or at home. I recommend this book to everyone that needs to be motivated toward any task or to manage their time efficiently. It even gets me back on track with my exercise program! And best of all the book is small enough to fit in my briefcase or purse so I can have it with me all of the time (I travel quite a bit).

Very well written, I am so happy I found it!