Strategy

If I could choose one book to recommend for those pursuing a speaking career it would be Going for Gold! A Complete Marketing Strategy for Speakers by Susan Sweeney, Cathleen Fillmore. This book is filled with practical suggestions whether you are just starting out or already an established speaker.

Fillmore and Sweeney outline 10 key steps needed to turn your speaking into gold. Developing a promotional kit, working with bureaus, forming strategic alliances, and determining your fee structure are just a few of the topics covered. The second part of Going for Gold! A Complete Marketing Strategy for Speakers focuses on speakers using the Internet to meet their goals.

The auuthors are Canadian and there are many Canadian resources normally lacking in most books on this topic. The strategies and many of the resources presented are viable for all speakers, but for those pursuing the Canadian market this book is a must buy.

Carmen Leal, author of WriterSpeaker.com

This is the perfect book for those just beginning or already into their business as a speaker. Even those not in the speaking business can benefit from this book. This book gets into what companies look for in a speakers, what you should charge and how to be a great speaker. The second half is an excellent source for marketing online. Shows you what to do and what not do. A must have for speakers and non speakers alike!

This is a thoughtful, energetic companion to college. College is a huge investment. I absolutely recommend this to students, would-be students, and parents of students, to ensure they get their money's worth.

This book is a must read for any college student or college bound high school student. The book contains strategies and suggestions for success while in schoool that will lead to success in the world of work. The information presented will help students prioratize the activities and events of their college and university years that will ultimatly lead to higher grades, a more enriched experience in the University, and career success. Many researchers have documented a relationship between happiness on the "job" and happiness and contentment in life

Much of the information is what we assume all good parents will share with their children. However, my experience as a college professor and mentor to many students is that this information is not being passed on effectively. Even the best parents could not come up with all of these "pointers". Dr. Scheele shares her experiences with students she has encountered in her position in the career center of a large University.

This bok would make a great gift to the graduating senior or to any young adult looking for some common sense quidance to help launch them into the world of work. It will be on my list of "gifts for the graduate"

Allen Martin, Ph.D., Coordinator, Consumer Affairs, California State University, Northridge

Geoffrey Parker's study of Philip II is a landmark. In this penetrating analysis, Parker has successfully distilled and tied together four decades of modern scholarship on strategy, decision making, and organization theory with an original evaluation of Philip of Spain's motivations, priorities, and execution. Gone are the nationalistic generalizations and the structural excuses. Structural and institutional factors get coverage, but the real story is in the man at the top, who had to make the decisions, good and bad.

Parker starts with a discussion on the strategic culture surrounding Philip, to include his "strategic inheritence" from his father, Charles V, the massive information network over which Philip presided (and the irresistable temptation to micro-manage), and the 'messianic imperialism' context that was of Philip's own making.

Messianic imperialism is the backbone for the rest of the book, which deals with the formation and the execution of grand strategy. Parker clearly evaluates Philip's strategy v. the Dutch and the English. For reasons that he explained early in his preface, the Mediterranean theater gets shorter coverage, but it is clear that the Med. concerns were never far from Philip's mind. The French Huguenots also don't get as detailed treatment as they could have gotten, but Parker's summation of the results of Philip's policy towards France is still satisfying.

Parker makes many allusions to strategic and policy issues of the recent past, and it is clear that Philip's problems were not all the different in scope, if not in scale, than those faced by political and military leaders today. Philip's inability to discipline himself to focus on one event to see it through to completion, his inabiltiy to keep himself from micromanaging decisions from over 600 miles away, and his inability to see past his divine mission to perceive reality will all strike familiar chords.

Bottom line: Great history, great interpretation, great analysis. It has got to be a classic in the field.

Some people still insist military tactics apply to business. Once I took a public relations course, and our textbook was Clausewitz's treaty on war. If you want to avoid mistakes, to design a sound and practical strategy for whatever your business, then read Geoffrey Parker. In this book, Philip II is judged through the lenses of planning, and most importantly, of results and achievements. Why did Philip failed in his great enterprise? To make decisions is not only a matter of information -Philip was well informed of affairs- but of judgement, passion, and careful coordination with those who execute decisions.

This is a collection of about 20 or so essay-format descriptions by different authors of great raids, including Drake's Cadiz expedition, John Paul Jones' hijinks off the British coast, the U-Boat raid into Scapa Flow, the botched invasions of Dieppe (1942) and Tehran (1980) and Israeli commando attacks on Egypt in the early 1970s. Inevitably, different authors, while adding immense color and depth to the stories, do tend to break the continuity, so this is a book best read in 30 page slabs. The descriptions of Wingate's first Chindit raid in Burma and Stephen Tanner's revealing account of the German commando raids and other intrigues which kept Hungary in the Axis camp are the standouts. Overall, an excellent compilation of military history and an excellent piece of collective writing.

(The numerical rating above is a default setting within Amazon's format. This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings.)

Daring actions by small units have always excited the imagination, not least because they affirm that individual initiative and courage count for something in the impersonal forces of war.

Here is a fine collection of accounts of some of those raids, from Elizabethan times to the present, beautifully written and (generally) well researched. Stephen Tanner's essays on Custer and Skorzeny particularly stand out as lively, reliable history writing. Less praiseworthy are the efforts of the conspiracy theorist who always seems to find American perfidy in every Allied reverse. With photos, bibliography, and an excellent index.

The book is compulsory reading for everybody with an interest in groupware technologies. It covers most aspects of modern groupware systems and successfully addresses all important technical, organizational and commercial issues. The depth and the details are exceptional, the informative and extensive approach is thoroughly convincing and highly recommendable. Although the book is taking a slightly more commercial view, it seems Coleman does for the late nineties what Ronald Baecker did for the early nineties with his landmark collection "Groupware and CSCW".

This is one of the few practical and knowledgable books about groupware and collaboration that doesn't loose the reader in details about the technology. It gives readers a top notch education about all these group applications that are supposed to help us be more productive. Since so many of them are showing up in Netscape, Microsoft and other main-line business applications, it's great to have an easy-to-use and really right-on tool. My only complaint is that the book is so big, over 600 pages. There's just a lot of information in there, but the chapters are very well organized and focused. I highly recommend the book

This book is a great handbook for people working to analyze the research they have compiled or for people preparing to do a report from a compilation of data. It helps with every step along the way. It gives 9 basic methods of research, so there is a good chance that your needs will be met. This book outlines how to go about starting, collecting your data/research, and how to compile it into a report. It is extremely helpful and its information is easily accessible for those without any formal training in research and evaluation. The only problem with this book is in its very nature. As a handbook, it covers only the bare bones of research and evaluation--and in the preface the authors suggest that you supplement your reading of this book with "standard texts or qualified consultants" in this area.

This handbook is one of the most authoritative references I have found on research and evaluation methods. It is designed for the education or behavioral science researcher, but students of any type of social science research will find much to offer here. It contains some of the best bibliographic references on the subject of research to be found anywhere. If you are a graduate student or seasoned researcher, you will find something of value in this book. I have literally worn the cover off of my second edition copy. The third edition is even better than the first or second. It is on my reference shelf, within easy reach, and I recommend it to my students in classes in research methods. I cannot recommend it too highly.

Having read and used fund raising books and materials for over twenty (20) years, I am very impressed with this book. It is excellent, very thorough, and covers all major areas for an organization's fund raising program. I highly recommend that every non profit organization own a copy and use as a reference guide on a regular basis. Its truly solid and complete.

The following describes the Second Edition of Fundraising Basics: A Complete Guide published in April 2001 by Aspen Publishers, Inc. in Gaithersburg, MD

"The second edition of this best-selling book provides new and updated information that every beginning fund raiser or board member needs. Case studies and real-life examples provide practical guidance and an overview of the field while giving board members and development staff, managers, and directors a platform from which to operate their fund raising programs. This primer remains a "must-have" for anyone entering the fund raising arena or studying for the CFRE exam.

The new edition updates and strenghens: 1) Giving trends; 2) Computer hardware and software available in the fund raising field; 3) Cost estimates and workflow timetables; 4) Use of the Internet in fund raising; 5) Relationships between associations and their foundations regarding fund raising; and 6) New and successful case studies that relate fund raising theory to practice.

Practical advice and valuable insights from two savvy pros with more than 45 years of combined fund-raising experience."

I have used what I learned from this book over and over again in 20+ years of consulting with systems implementations. I have recommended it to every friend I have had who was consternated by what they were facing in corporate structure. I really enjoyed that it was a non-judgemental exploration of culture which gave me real world insights into where I really didn't have a grasp on what was happening around me. It made sense!

This book spells out the rules to the games men play at work, and provides straight forward guidelines women can follow to be successful in a male dominated cultures. The book goes on to show how women can leverage our unique set of strengths to be successful. After reading this title I felt really confident about being able to be successful in corporate life without immitating a man. If every working women read this book, the world would change for the better in a very short period of time. I hope it gets back in to print soon. I've been recommending it to all my friends!

I am a business minor and this book has helped me greatly. It has served as a terrific resource to me.

Great book for anyone interested in hedging or finance. It helped me a great deal.

This book serves a great companion to Dr. Hazler's book about Breaking The Cycle of Violence. Alone, or with the other book, Helping in the Hallways is a valuable tool for educators, school administration and counselors.

This book, written by Ohio University education professor Richard Hazler, discusses school measures that have successfully warded off violence.