2 comments about Over 50 Killer Ideas for Delivering Successful Projects (Project Management Audio Library).

1. Reviewed by William E. Cooper for Reader Views (1/07)
   
   If you or your organization works projects, regardless of size or scope, this set of 2 CD's is for you. Richard Morreale, who has an extensive history of project development and management, including such noteworthy projects as helping put a man on the moon, has much to say and much to offer. He takes the listener through a project from start to finish, providing the details necessary to properly complete it. His work is both easy to understand and follow. His considerable examples are thorough and diverse, providing everyone in project management with examples unique to their circumstances.
   
   As one who has worked projects involving complex Six Sigma methodologies, and extensive government projects as a police chief, I wish I'd had Mr. Morreale's work before I started. It would have reduced the research time before starting, the development time, and the completion schedule. This approach would have been appropriate for preparing and writing my own book, "Leading Beyond Tradition." For anyone involved in project management I recommend this work, "Over 50 Killer Ideas for Delivering Successful Projects (Audio CD)."



2. Killer is an overstatement; good to great is a better way to describe the 51 ideas in this book. While all of the ideas will certainly increase the chances that your projects will be on time and on budget, in my mind, none reach the level of killer. In general, the term killer application is used to describe an application that alone justifies the purchase of the computer to run it on. The first generally acknowledged "killer app" was the electronic spreadsheet, so useful that people bought the computer just to run the app.
   In general, the ideas are in the area of common sense; the tragedy is that more managers don't have the courage or intelligence to execute them. For the most part, they are a recognition that people are not like machines with an accelerator peddle, in other words pushing harder and maintaining the fuel supply will not make them go faster. People require incentive, appreciation, a solid sense of direction, the ability to adapt within parameters and regular breaks from the grudge of routine. Morreale recognizes all of this and gives voice to the right ways that people can be managed to success.
   Some of the ideas listed are:
   
   *) Foster a team atmosphere
   *) Lighten up
   *) Know your outcome before you start
   *) Produce a detailed requirements document
   *) Identify acceptance criteria
   *) Base all your plans on deliverable products
   *) Set a tight but achievable schedule
   *) Add value to weekly achievement meetings
   *) Protect the project team from non-project distractions
   
   The great managers recognize the necessity for planning with people in mind and clearly Morreale is a great manager. His track record of success is expressed in a set of ideas that can turn all but the worst "death march" project into a joyous triumph.

1 comments about Doing What Matters: How to Get Results That Make a Difference - The Revolutionary Old-Fashioned Approach.

1. I usually find business books very boring. If it's written by a business leader, these books tend to be a bit self-congradulatory, and don't really explain how to do something. If written by an academic, these tend to be very Aristotelian--that is, categorize well, but don't don't explain the pressures involved when something needs to get done. If written by a business author, tends to be hyped.
   
   When I tried the audio here, I was truly surprised. I learned a lot. The author explains his business management concepts very well. These are practical and theoritical. I have to admit I haven't tried too many business audios, but have read many business books. This is probably the best business course I've ever had from a business leader.

5 comments about The Little Book That Beats the Market.

1. This little book is a complete gem. It gets it's message across in a clear and humorous manner, never dull. It is a quick and fun read, and also presents a solid investment strategy. He proposes an investing "magic formula" based on two factors: return on captal and earnings yield. Of course, you can measure these factors in different ways. This is a solid value investing strategy, and it's presented with convincing evidence of success.
   
   The measures chosen in the book are the following :
   
   For Return on Capital : EBIT/(Net Working Capital + Net Fixed Assets)
   
   This is chosen over the more commonly used ratios of return on equity (ROE) or return on assets (ROA). EBIT allows them to view and compare the operating earnings of different companies without the distortion s arising from differences in tax rates and debt levels. For each company, it was then possible to compare actual earnings from operations (EBIT) to the cost of the assets used to produce those earnings (tangible capital employed).
   
   Net Working Capital + Net Fixed Assets was used in place of total assets or equity because Net working capital has to fund it's receivables and inventory (excess cash not needed to conduct the business was excluded from the calculation) but does not have to lay out money for it's payables, as these are affectively an interest-free loan (short-term interest-bearing debt was excluded form current liabilities for this calculation). In addition to working capital requirements, a company must also fund the purchase of fixed assets necessary to conduct it's business, such as real estate, plant, and equipment. The depricated net cost of these fixed assets was then added to the net working capital requirements already calculated to arrive at an estimate for tangible capital employed.
   
   For Earnings Yield : EBIT / Enterprise Value
   
   Measured by calculating the ratio of pre-tax operating earnings (EBIT) to enterprise value (market value of equity* + net interest-bearing debt). This was used rather than the more common P/E or E/P for several reasons. The basic idea is to figure out how much a business earns relative to the purchase price of the business. Enterprise value used instead of merely the price of equity because enterprise value takes intoaccount both the price paid for an equity stake in a buisness as well as the debt financing used by a copay to help generate operating earnings.
   
   Near the end of the book, he promotes giving back some of what you have earned - something that greats like Warren Buffett practice. He's a good man, who has written a good book. He also says that if you are very comfortable with your choices, that five to seven stocks near the top of the screen are good enough to invest in - you don't need to choose 30 stocks as the magic formula espouses. He has built a nice screening site specifically tailored to the formula - magicformulainvesting.com
   
   With other general screening tools and sites, you can use ROA minimum at 25%. From that result, screen for lowest P/E ratios. Eliminate all utility and financial stocks. Eliminate all foreign companies from the list. Remove all stocks with less than P/E of 5 (indicates the previous year being unusual in some way.)
   
   This one can be read in a day or two easily (I read it twice in three days). It's a good one to add to your collection at home, or just check it out from the local library, which is what I did. I love books that have high value / time read ratio - and this was one of those books.



2. The Little Book That Beats The Market is a great starting point for those interested in value investing. It's especially relevant for beginners. Greenblatt clearly and simply explains what makes a stock a good value investment, and the core theory of "buying great companies at low prices" is a simple definition of value investment. For beginners, following the strategy outlined in the book should offer excellent investment returns.
   
   For more experienced investors, the "Magic Formula" makes a great initial screen. Using the "Magic Formula" results, you have a list of promising investments to research. In fact, there are websites like [...] that attempt to do just that.
   
   A short, fun, and profitable read for beginners or experienced investors, I highly recommend this book.



3. As someone who is not in the real savy in business and has little to no financial advisory background- this book is right up your alley if you just don't understand the complexity of the stock market but are still interested in investing.
   
   My brother is a financial analyst for a fortune 500 company and could not get me to understand the stock market and mutual funds etc- for the life of him! He read this book and then forced me to read it as well. I am glad I did because it was easy to follow and made me excited about investing my money into avenues that will provide much higher yields that 5 to 8% a year.
   
   The author wrote this book for his middle school children to help them understand investing in the adult world so to speak- Well he did a phenomenal job and published it for the rest of us-
   
   A good pick for beginner investors or people who would like to invest their money in stocks and funds with little background in the field. This would also be a good "starter" book for someone who wants to get into the stock market.



4. Very insightful, and excellently written. Despite the name this is not another shallow book, full of cliches and nothings. In a really entertaining fashion Greenblatt explains in very simple easy to understand illustrations, what stocks are, how they are traded and the basic principles of the stock market and market fluctuations. He then builds on these principles to teach the fundementals of wealth building that most successful investors utilize. Alot of basic principles that somehow a lot of smart investors forget. Great reading for the experienced, and novice alike! This book should really be required reading in high school and/or college.



5. I read every chapter of this book while at Borders except the last one, so I cannot vouch for the effectiveness of the "Magic Formula" website that seems to generate so much controversy. I can, however, clarify a glaring misconception in what Goldblatt wrote in his book.
   
   Contrary to what many of the reviewers wrote (especially the negative reviewers), Goldblatt was not insisting that people focus only on Return on Assets and P/E ratio. Goldblatt was also not insisting on a definition of "capital" (within his concept of "return on capital")that leads to an over-emphasis on services over manufacturing. He illustrated perfectly his two pieces of investment data in the following ways:
   
   First, Return on Capital can be best interpreted as a return on invested capital. If it costs $1 million to build a retail store and that store, within a year, generates $2 million, then the ROC is 100%.
   
   Second, his other measure is really a profit-yield per share. You get this measure by taking the amount of profit generated by a firm, dividing it by the number of shares outstanding, and then dividing that by the share price times 100. So, if a company has a $1 million profit and it's selling a million shares for $10 a share, then the profit-yield per share is 10%.
   
   These two concepts seem to form the core of value investing in that they discipline a person to invest in the market as if they were buying a business or a partnership share in the business. The relevant question in any such investment is always "how much will my partnership share make?"
   All other factors are just risk management.
   
   The trick is finding data to generate these statistics. I don't know how well Goldblatt's website does that.

2 comments about The Little Book That Makes You Rich.

1. I am sure there are some people who can time the market and deal in and out of stocks frequently. I am just not one of them. I found the author's website interesting because it allows you to see how he rates stocks that you are following and how he has rated them in the past. The recommended (A) and discouraged (F) stocks are almost the exact opposite of Value investing stocks from Magic formula (Little Book that Beat the Market).
   Navallier's book is interesting in getting an idea about how the market is reacting almost independent of the value of the underlying company. His grades on stocks seem to change frequently. While I cannot argue with his success, his methods are too unpredictable for me.



2. Louis puts his success formula to paper to help the average investor. He explains the eight factors he uses to effectively beat the market on a consistent basis.
   
   Unlike value investing where one might have to wait months or years for a stock to be valued properly as being a steal, Louis' growth investing finds stocks that are making money now and recognized as such.
   
   He provides a free stock and portfolio grader to give your portfolio an instant checkup and tells you how you can make money without taking on investing as a second job.
   
   Although he doesn't give you any screeners for the stocks he picks, he does give you sources for good stocks which you can then decide if you want to add by using his screener (imagine that!).
   
   Overall a great resource for the retail investor.

No comments about A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing.

2 comments about Public Speaking Success - Increase Your Speaking Power with these Effective Techniques (Audio Success Suite).

1. I was so interested in the title of a CD program, PUBLIC
   SPEAKING SUCCESS, that I made it a point to both get and
   listen to it as quickly as I could.
   
   The fact that it featured four top speakers was an added
   attraction . . . Nido Qubein, Ron White, Brian Tracy, and
   Chris Widener, each had much to say about their
   respective topics, and their comments would be of value
   to virtually any speaker:
   
   Qubein in "How to Communicate Like a Pro" noted:
   * Communication doesn't take place until you have the complete
   attention of your audience.
   
   * The first thing I do is get an audience into the act.
   
   * Always find out what turns on your audience and let your dialogue
   focus on that interest.
   
   * Ask questions to involve the listener.
   
   White in "Speeches from Memory" commented:
   * I use the entire stage as my podium. This adds energy to my
   presentation.
   
   * When you can give a speech without notes, your credibility is
   going to go up.
   
   Tracy (rapidly becoming one of my favorites) in "Communication--The
   Master Skill to Powerful Relationships" said:
   * When you have small children, you speak to them at their level.
   
   * The more the person is talking about themselves, the more
   they'll like you.
   
   * Treat the members of your family like you treat your best customers.
   
   * Men are 95% more likely to interrupt a woman than a woman is
   to interrupt a man.
   
   * If you can paraphrase what the person said, that's real listening.
   
   Lastly, Widener in "Communication Skills to Influence and Persuade"
   observed:
   
   * When you master your skills, you're going to have better relationships.
   
   * The problem with being a good speaker is that you still need
   to get better.



2. I listen to a lot of CDs for motivation and to enhance my learning. This CD was definitely below standard. I listened to the first half an hour which was a very boring promotional for the set--I kept thinking, I already BOUGHT it, you don't have to convince me this is a great product, you already have my money! I stuck it out for another 15 minutes after that and gave up. I don't know if I am even going to bother finish listening to it.

2 comments about The Wealth Builder's Blueprint.

1. The Wealth Builder's Blueprint is a terrific product, jam-packed with wealth creation tips, tactics and strategies from Donald Trump and his wealth creation team. If you're a Trump fan -- or if you like the television show "The Apprentice" -- you'll love this product. Trump's DVD lays out his tips on how to be successful, set the standard, never give up and create wealth. It's classic Trump: bold, pithy and entertaining. Dolf de Roos (real estate), Jeff Burrows (entrepreneurs), Les Hewitt and Dr. Stephanie Burns are also terrific on their CDs in this product. This would make a great gift for any Trump fan; it's well worth checking out.



2. This CD set is by far the best compilation of material amassed of how a business man should see the world. I was skeptical at the high price of admit ion and thought that maybe it would be another one of Trumps name dropping "I've done this," like his books. WOW I WAS DEAD WRONG. Trump assembled a group of the best specialist and had them speak on what they know best. Your end result is a masterpiece of knowledge on all subjects that are life changing and mindset changing. All I can say is that I was not disappointed at any moment and would have gladly paid 3x the price of admit ion! The information in this CD set is truly powerful, and a must have for anyone that wants to strengthen there business character.
   
   Only Con I have is that I wish I had found this CD set when it first came out a few years ago!

3 comments about Real Estate Goldmine: How to get Rich Investing in Pre-Foreclosures (Audio Business Course).

1. If you like real estate -- and want to make money in real estate -- who better to listen to than Donald Trump and Gary Eldred? Everyone knows what Trump has done in real estate -- there are a billion good reasons to hear what he has to say. Eldred has written over 20 books on real estate, and I took two of his real estate courses at Trump University [...] -- all were great. Anyway, this audio business course was really good and very entertaining. If you want to learn about making big $$$ pre-foreclosure properties, this is a great place to start. Check it out.



2. This is interesting and some what informative but not worth 49,39,29 or even $19.99. If you have a friend you can borrow it from or can find someone to buy it from for $10 it might be worth it. The program is extremely vague and is given with the detail of a free pamphlet someone left on your car windshield. Get any book from the library on real estate and it will give you more information than this program. Donald Trump is great but there are no trade secretes in here. Save your money.



3. I thought this information presented in a well thought out, precise manner. Becasue of this purchase, I intend to purchase other products form this source.

1 comments about "Buy & Hold 7 Steps to a Real Estate Fortune"- New 2007.

1. You should have this in your library if you are a real estate investor. Great tips throughout this cd. I am a firm believer of the "buy and hold" strategy

2 comments about Bubble-Proof Real Estate Investing (Audio Business Course).

1. This is well worth the $49 I spent on it. Gary Eldred, Dolf de Roos and Donald Trump are all masters of real estate -- they've all make millions (in Trump's case, billions). They know what they're talking about, obviously.
   
   There's a TON of great information on this audio CD. Plus, the website support -- 12 months of access to ask questions, get resources, etc. - is terrific.
   
   But best of all: Trump, De Roos and Eldred are all really entertaining presenters.... they keep you interested!



2. The only thing holding me back from giving it 5 stars is that Donald Trump's input was limited to maybe one or two minutes of the begining, yet his name is all over the product.
   
   I've read and own several of Gary Eldred's and Dolf De Roos's books and they both live up to the same level of quality that they've offered in their books. Dolf de Roos tends to be more of a motivating and convincing presence. He does a great job of making an argument for real estate, but for most of us shelling out the price of this course, do we really need convincing? It was nice to hear his take on it anyway. He proves his understanding of other investments and highlights key differences between the stock market for example and real estate. Although yes, you can buy stocks on margin it's not as powerful as the leveraging that a bank gives you. Also he's critical of the definition of a bubble burst in real estate (3%) vs. the stock market (40%) in one year. He doesn't think it's fair to refer to that 3% as a bursting vs. the 40% as a "minor correction".
   
   Gary eldred probably offered the most useful and new information of all three of them. He does a great job of giving the listener point after point after point of things to do, watch out for and prepare for. His advice is invaluable.
   
   Curtis Oaks also offers good advice but it could probably be compared to meat and potatoes. It gets the job done in a solid way but doesn't really excite you. He talks about the velocity of money, and tying up the property, two great ideas, although the second one might not apply to people outside of a hot market.
   
   Although the interviewer is taking the role of someone who doesn't know anything, he clearly knows a lot about real estate and does an excellent job of directing the focus of interviews and going into detail where necessary.