economics-times

The journey through economic times does not begin with the begining of recorded history, but in the late middle ages. JKG then fastforwards over the next 8 pages to WW1. For the first half of half of the rest of the book JKG indecisevly meanders between a left leaning history, mostly of the US, and his own personal experiances in government jobs and at various shools. By the second half of the book he has apparently made up his mind it is to be a story about the underpriveleged and thier holier than thou defenders, most notably JKG himself, against the evil ambitions of the comfortable class. An example on page 174 of a conspiracy of the comfortable class to keep the poor down with a tax cut rather than increased social spending consisted in part of the members of the State Department having a "Galbraith Early Warning System" to warn other members of the comfortable class cabal of the times when JKG was returning from India to save the country from the tax cut. On page 191 appaernetly he feels it was the "perverse genius" of Richard Nixon to make Americans distrust government through such actions as Watergate. The writing is unclear and confusing throughout the entire book. For example, Does JKG really beleive that Watergate was a plot by Nixon to get Joe Sixpack to distrust government, Or does JKG just have extreme difficulty string a few words together into a coherent whole. I still do not know.

When I began reading this I tried to think of a more pathetic attempt at a book on economics that I read in my life. After many remembrances of the many economic books that I have read I was able to think of one in which I only made it through a few chapters. In it some author I do not recall the name of used long term technical analysis to predict a global depression in the late 1980s through the 1990s. Several more chapters into the Galbraith book I changed my mind, this was worse than the book by the false profit of doom.

While I feel that most economics books are woefully lacking in statistics this has to be the worse of the lot. In the rare event that there is a statistic it is more of an inept and incomplete attempt to convince the reader of something than provide actual information.

On the positive side, in my exhaustive search throughout this entire tome (it is not really all that long-it just feals that way) I was able to find a singlr quasi interesting albeit incomplete sentence on income distribution on page 134.

With writing like this how does Harvard do so well in the rankings?

"On page 191 appaernetly he feels it was the "perverse genius" of Richard Nixon to make Americans distrust government through such actions as Watergate." Stacy Redding ..........actually i have heard several peaople atribute watergate to being a plot "to make Americans distrust government." ...And it was also one of the most influencual impacts of water gate... And if you put this scenerio into a propper historical context it dosnt cmopletely not make sense.

"For example, Does JKG really beleive that Watergate was a plot by Nixon to get Joe Sixpack to distrust government" stacy redding

Actually several authors have also held this view

After the first world war the old world order begin to collapse.The great powers were no longer real great powers and then a new world order begin to form.This book gives you a realistic point of view about the whole economic events after WW1 till the end of communism.Reading this book also teaches the close contact between economy and the future of earth by showing us the collapsing empires,ideas and utopias because of economy.

Moses is the mediator of the covenant between Israel and Yahweh. This is the first point lost when we try to think of Moses in terms of his management skills. Furthermore, Moses as a covenant head corresponds to Jesus as covenant head of a better covenant. Jesus intimates this sort of thing in Luke 24:27 where, "beginning with Moses" he told the disciples how all of the OT scriptures point to him.

The story of Moses is preparing us for Jesus, the One mediator who performs the true exodus (freeing his people from sin and death -- a power-set that is far more sinister than the Pharaoh!). The story of Moses is a part of the larger story of redemption; it is the story of God working out his salvation-will in the world in preparation for Jesus. To think about Moses in terms of management leadership lessons is to do harm to the real story that is taking place -- the freeing of humanity from the death-sin existence initiated by our first covenant head, Adam (by the way, Paul in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15 calls Jesus the last Adam!).

Just as Moses took the people through water (the Red sea) and into the desert, so Jesus passes through the water of baptism on his way to be tempted by Satan in the wilderness (Matt 4). Just as Moses and Israel were 40 years in the desert, so Jesus was 40 days in the desert. Where Israel failed in their desert wilderness, Jesus succeeded (he overcame the temptations of the Devil). Jesus is the faithful Israel, and does what Moses and the people of God under the Cloud could not do. Moses himself was not permitted to enter the Promised Land because of his sin, whereas Jesus has entered the very presence of Yahweh because of his life of perfection (one might say that Jesus is the better Moses).

When we talk this way, we get closer to the idea of Moses than a book on "Moses as CEO" or "Moses as Model Leader." The real story of Moses suffers when its retelling is management focused.

I should mention, Moses did things that would discredit any leader of our day. He had Israel destroy the Midanites and take the women captive (see Numbers 31:1-18). Worse, modernly speaking, he had Israel [do away with] all the women captives that the men of Israel slept with. Not only that, he had Israel [do away with] all the male children of these killed women (yikes!) -- see Numbers 31:17. Now, obviously there is something theological going on here that transcends leadership-management models. If Moses is the greatest Manager of all time, then what should we do with managers who order the slaughter of used women and their children?

Obviously when we look at Moses as a management example, we risk skewing what is really happening in ancient Israel. Moses does not fit the model of a moral leader as we would define it (cf. Numbers 31 again), and so this book is a distraction to the real story of the Bible.

If one wants leadership lessons, that's fine, but don't use Moses out of context to do it. If one wants lesson on Moses, that's fine too, but don't use modern management categories as an interpretive grid. Let's leave Moses to the history of redemption and try to understand him on his own terms (standing as he is on the cosmic stage of salvation history). I don't think I am venturing too far when I say that Moses himself would have been perplexed by the modern mind that thinks of him in the small category of "Management."

As you read Baron's book, keep this critique in mind. Take away his good leadership advise, but be careful about taking away his understanding of Moses.

How could someone who took 40 years to make an 11 day journey possibly be the greatest manager of all time?

It is encouraging to those of us who have not been managers until late in life. I for one am not a manager yet. This book is an encouragement that God will use us to do great things if we only say yes. Moses is a man who stuggled deeply with the issues of the second chance. He finally said yes to Gods leadership and reluctently became a model for us to follow thousands of years later. Buy the book. Study the book. Learn the lessons.

bob bly has written a lot of great books. this is not one of them. i have bought and read most of his books. this one is not up to bob's usual quality.

i have learned a lot of useful things from his other books, but not this one. the little content that had potential did not tell me how to actually use his advice. much of it was unusable by normal people and almost seemed like padding to a magazine article to stretch it to a book.

this book stated the obvious things to do but did not tell how to do them. any time management 101 book would tell more than this book.

some of his advice is similar to the simple-minded simplicity books that would have you using the same towel all week to save laundry. obviously bobs stuff works for bob but we are not bob -- we are us and he should tell us stuff that works for us.

bob works hard and is very successful. but i do NOT want to work hard -- i want to work smart. i just want to know how to get the most out of the time i do work because i plan to have some BALANCE to my life and some fun too not just use every minute to make money.

if bob had just explained all of his lists and how he uses them then the book might have been worthwhile. as it is, it seemed like he ground out another book to make money. the quality of the content was just not up to his earlier books.

if you want to use your time more efficiently then read get control of your time and your life by alan lakein.

bob has some 5star books this one is barely one star.

Robert W. Bly's helpful, amusing and slim volume is jam-packed with wisdom and plenty of tips to help you organize, manage your time better, cure procrastination and increase your productivity. While some of his advice is plain old common-sense information that you've probably already heard, it may well bear repeating. Just one look around your office may show you how many people have heard some of this counsel before but are still hopelessly disorganized time wasters. Bly includes pertinent data from surveys of leaders and working stiffs who feel overwhelmed by information, too many demands on their time and the constant struggle to fit 25 hours of work and real life into a 24-hour day. He also sprinkles witty and instructive quotes throughout the book, which we at getAbstract.com recommend to anyone who'd like to have a little extra time left over (and that's everyone).

This cheerful and snappy little book offers a host of helpful suggestions for using your time and talents. You will appreciate Alan Axelrod and Jim Holtje's humor, practicality, and common sense. Their advice - which applies to people at all organizational levels - ranges from planning timely and productive meetings to using the telephone wisely. They also discuss voice-mail etiquette, the best way to start your day, travel tips, and how to improve your reading speed and skills. You will benefit from the suggestions for managing your personal time, too. Supervisors can use this book to help their employees manage time more skillfully. The book is short and to the point, and happily devoid of verbosity. We at getAbstract.com recommend it as a text that will help you save time, calm frustrations, increase efficiency, multiply successes, impress others, and please yourself.

This book is a good source of information to making more time in your day. I t does not touch on somethings i would have expected in a time management guide. It does not show your how to plan ahead for the next day or the next week. I feel that planning a head is a great deal of what time managemnt is about. I feel that this book could work for those people who do not plan far in advance but it has not done much in my planning part of time management.

Koch's first book was a keeper however I was disappointed in the sequel. Book either repeated much from the 80/20 Principle or was seemingly a restatement of the obvious. I would take a pass.

Author Richard Koch contends that individual initiative is responsible for most progress, given that 20% of entrepreneurs or innovators are responsible for 80% of results and new ideas. Koch focuses on how to be a successful entrepreneur by working with a small team of supporters. He discusses the importance of good ideas, great colleagues, a powerful value proposition, good partners and, of course, ample capital. He suggests a trend toward a new breed of corporations based on individualism, though Bill Gates and Warren Buffett alone do not necessarily make a trend. While Koch writes in a breezy, engaging style, the 80/20 mantra becomes generalized and repetitious. It's a popular expression, but does it always apply? The other chapters are more solid, though they restate known entrepreneurial principles and techniques, dressed in 80/20 lingo. As such, we suggest, they may be a good introduction for the new entrepreneur, if not for the rugged individual who has already mastered the percentages.

I purchased this book for my dental practice and found that it was a waste of time and effort. The reading was dull and uninformative. I had the feeling that this author was not in tune with the times. The information was stale, and boring. My financial director found a better book that has controlled our delinquent accounts receivable,entitled COLLECT YOUR MONEY. Now this book is worth its weight in gold.

Author Leonard Sklar knows his stuff. From his background in collecting, managing collectors, as well as leading seminars on the subject, he shares a wealth of knowledge on the business of collections. As well as 'what to do', Leonard is right on in covering the areas 'you shouldn't go', or more particularly, waste your time. The chapter on training & motivating collectors is well worth the purchase price of the entire book.

As a first time sales manager, I was immediately drawn to the title of the book. After reading it, I was disappointed that the published date was simply the most recent edition date. The core of the book was written decades ago.

As a result, other than some very general good advice about a manager's job being to coach and develop sales talent, the book is not useful. To give you an example, it goes into detail about keeping index cards and how a real go-getter salesperson will always be seen in a phone booth contacting clients!

I will research the original publication date of business books more carefully next time.

i had read this book 6 years ago when i was an mba student taking a class on sales management. i consult now for a large consumer group company in the gulf for their marketing and sales group. i thus decided to re-acquaint myself with the book and im glad i did. the ideas and suggestions in the book were helpful in promoting ideas to the first time sales managers. i suggested that the company read the book to get a general idea of the complexities of promoting sales people to management positions. especially on the part of sales force appraisals, the objective is for the field manager to help each sales rep achieve objectives and you cant do it in the office. the field is where its at as the book firmly states. i just wish that there was a newer edition with the advent of technology.

I picked up this book hoping to understand the intricacies of time management.. a new approach. That thought was quickly shot down in the introduction - see that.. I'm so pressed for time I didn't even read it. :)

I did flip through the chapters and was drawn to a few paragraphs.

What a disapointment. The idea that time can pass quickly or slowly determined by the circumstances you face, whether it's enjoyable or not, is about as much as I got out of this book.

The basic premise is that we should approach our daily lives in the present moment. Plan only for what is immediate and in front of you at that moment, give your all to that moment. Don't worry about the past and what you could or should have done at some other time.

Great. But then he goes on to say we should have no thoughts of some "idealized future" and no lists or plans for the day.. allow inspiration to drive your work.

Inspiration is only a starting point for something you want to achieve. After that it is necessary to have a plan. How can you run a business or even go about family duties.. washing clothes.. going grocery shopping and picking up the kids from the grandparents, driven only by inspiration?

That's madness.. you need some sort of logical timetable to work with.

And as for an "idealized future" isn't that like having a vision
of where you want to be in life? You absolutely must know where you want to go in life, what you want to do, and must maintain a positive vision or you will get to nowhereland on the express tracks.

Of course.. the actual steps to acheiving the vision are made in the present, by the actions you do today but I didn't get that he meant it that way.

I'm new to this time management thing. Looking for ways to stem my own procrastinating ways, the stutter stepping on the journey to an "idealized future" but this book just confused me.

The Invisible Clock: A Practical Revolution In Finding Time For Everyone And Everything by George Lawrence-Ell (Founder and Director, Human Intelligence Research Institute) is a straightforward, "reader friendly" guide to wisely budgeting one's time in order to best make time for everything one wants to do. Questioning basic assumptions about clock time and offering practical models and techniques for making the most of limited time, The Invisible Clock is a first-rate book and enthusiastically recommended reading -- especially for busy students, overworked parents, and stressed-out businessmen!

As one who attended one of Oncken, Jr's seminars, and found that his instruction had a major positive impact on the effectiveness of management at all levels, this brief piece isn't even a good "Reader's Digest" version. Also, Covey's comentary shows that he never gained the original Oncken message. Oncken's message, properly put into action, was the essence of affective empowerment.

Please refund my seven bucks for this useless pamphlet.

William Oncken Jr. was chairman of the William Oncken Corporation until his death in 1988; Donald L. Wass was president of the William Oncken Corporation Company of Texas when the article first appeared. He now heads the Dallas-Fort Worth region of The Executive Committee (TEC), an international organization for presidents and CEOs. This Harvard Business Review Classic article was originally published in the November-December 1974 issue. This On-Point version was reissued in November-December 1999 and contains a retrospective commentary from Stephen R. Covey, author of 'The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People' (1989).

The authors explore the meaning of management time as it relates to the interaction between managers and their bosses, their peers, and their subordinates. According to the authors most managers spend much more time dealing with subordinates' problems than they realize. Hence, the authors use the monkey-on-the-shoulder metaphor to examine how subordinate-imposed time comes into being and what the superior can do about it. "Get control over timing and content of what you do" is appropriate advice for managing time. First, the manager should enlarge his/her discretionary time by eliminating subordinate-imposed time. Second, the manager should use a portion of this newfound discretionary time to see to it that each subordinate actually has the initiative and applies it. Third, the manager should use another portion of the increased discretionary time to get and keep control of the timing and content of both boss-imposed and system-imposed time. All these steps will increase the manager's leverage and enable the value of each hour spent in managing management time. Stephen R. Covey comments: "Its vivid message is even more important and relevant now than it was 25 years ago. I've heard from executives time and time again that they're trapped in an endless cycle of dealing with other people's monkeys, yet they're reluctant to help those people take their own initiative. As a result, they're often too busy to spend the time they need on the real gorillas in their organization."

This truly great article still remains a powerful wake-up call for managers who need to delegate effectively. It should be read by everybody interested in management, and particularly people moving into management. It explains how you can avoid becoming snowed under by others' work and delegate effectively. The authors use simple US-English. Highly recommended!

Here is what you need to know from this book: to grow quickly you have to have a great team that has experience growing quickly! Honestly, that is the main and only point. Don't waste your time or money on this one.

This is an exceptional book! It covers the impact of fast growth on every single corporate function (even internal auditing, of all things), as well as budgeting, control systems, management, and (of course) cash flow. Am using it now as a guideline for running a small business.