No comments about No-Compromise Leadership: A Higher Standard of Leadership, Thinking and Behavior.

2 comments about The Perfect Search.

1. Management guru Jim Collins urges leaders to "get the right people in the right seats" on the company bus, but he doesn't tell you how to do it. This book does.
   
   "The most important decision you will be asked to make as a board member for a not-for-profit organization is the selection of the chief executive officer," writes Tommy Thomas in his new and remarkably helpful book. Likening the CEO search committee process to walking through a field laced with land mines, Thomas acts as trail guide for board members on this strategic journey.
   
   He knows where the land mines are. Thomas and his colleagues at People Management International (executive search, executive coaching, and organizational effectiveness and assessment) have collectively interviewed more than 600,000 people!
   
   With more than two million nonprofit organizations in the U.S., the authors (Tommy Thomas, with Nick Isbister and Robert C. Andringa) estimate that there are more than 60,000 active CEO searches every year! So how do you compete to hire the right CEO for your organization, when your current CEO retires, leaves, dies or is terminated?
   
   Thomas leaves no search stone unturned. Why do people make such poor hiring decisions? What are the factors that influence the quality of the pool of candidates? Who should check references? What about background investigations? How do you handle internal candidates? How and where should you interview candidates, including the final candidate? Should you use a search firm? His chapter on forming a transition committee (to welcome the new CEO while honoring the former CEO) plows new ground. Bob Andringa adds critical insights on the board's role in the CEO's annual evaluation.
   
   Gratefully, this is not a PR puff piece for People Management. It's a well-written, highly readable and step-by-step reasoned walk through the most important decision a board will make. It's must reading for both board members and every person who reports to the CEO--and it's a great resource in the Board Bucket, one of 20 chapters in my book, Mastering The Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-profit



2. Hiring a new Chief Executive is risky business at best. What's the best way to get started? What about internal candidates? Should we look at them first? What about one of our donors who has expressed interest in giving the majority of his time to leading our organization? Wouldn't it be nice to have someone serve who doesn't need a salary!
   
   What about the search committee? How do we go about selecting the members? Do we go after men and women who have retired and can give more time or should be ask some of the busy working executives on our Board to serve on the search committee?
   
   What about the internal candidate? My experience is that this can be a potentially sticky situation, particularly if that person does not get the job. The authors offer a lot of insight and suggestions on how to work with internal candidates.
   
   The chapters on how to get the most our of an interview with a candidate and how to check references are rich with ideas that I haven't given much thought to. I particularly like the part on Beware of the Smile Factor. It is very easy to get caught up in how well a candidate interviews and what a great personality the person has and miss the point of the interview "How well can this person do the job that we are interviewing them for?".
   
   If you have ever faced the daunting job of assembling a search committee and conducting a search for the Chief Executive's position of a nonprofit organization you will want to read The Perfect Search. Tommy Thomas and his co-authors Drs. Robert Andringa and Nick Isbister have done a great job of writing a primer on how to conduct such a search. They provide time tested answers to these and many other questions that you might have about selecting the Chief Executive for a nonprofit organization.
   
   I recommend this book to anyone who is serving on a nonprofit Chief Executive search, particularly if you are not using outside counsel. You will not be disappointed.

3 comments about How to Raise Millionaire Children.

1. Dr Jordan spent five years interviewing over 3,200 millionaires about how they parent. This book distills all of that research into digestable pearls of wisdom that would inspire any parent.
   
   I was really surprised to learn that millionaires actually do quite a few things differently than the rest of us.
   
   As a father of three (all of my kids are under the age of five) I'm happy I found this book early enough to apply these secrets of raising millionaire children.
   
   If you want to raise well-rounded, responsible adults with a better than average shot at achieving financial independence, you must buy this book.



2. This book is full of practical, concerte ideas that are easy to implement. It's not the typical "you can do it" without examples of "HOW to do it". The books listed as recommendations for further reading is excellent.



3. I find a few interesting points in this book. But overall in my opinion it is not as insightful as I had expected it to be. Descriptions of methods are short and not expounded upon as I would have liked. Although I am only about half way through this book, I will be glad to move on to the next one.

No comments about CCH Accounting for Derivatives and Hedging.

1 comments about Project Planning and Scheduling (Project Management Essential Library.) (Project Management Essential Library.).

1. This book gave details of project planning and scheduling in a beneficial way that aided my studies.

3 comments about Intra-Day Trading Tactics Course Book With DVD (Trade Secrets Course Books).

1. The text has not been edited well, some statement are rather confusing.
   
   Typos add to the confusion.



2. The contents of the book are good. There is lot to be desired in the DVD.
   The videographer is terrible. When the author is talking of a particular bar with his Laser pointed on it, the camera is on a wide angle showing a little chart and the auther. He should have shown a larger image of the chart so that we know what bar the author is talking about.



3. It was supposed to be in my home on 22 March and I haven't received yet.

5 comments about The Essential Buffett: Timeless Principles for the New Economy.

1. Robert Hagstorm re-states the great principles included in his outstanding book "The Warren Buffet Way", adding references to the new economy just in the last chapter with a few recommendations.

   I am a true believer in the doctrine taught in the three books by Hagstorm, and they opened a whole new field to me. But his first book remains the best. I put it in practice with excellent personal results so far.




2. Before I read the Essential Buffet I knew very little about Warren Buffett. I knew he was one of, if not the richest man in the world. I knew he made his fortune from the stock market, but that was basically all.
   I began the book with the hope of learning what set him apart from the thousands of other investors that don't even come close to his successes.
   The book begins with a general summery of what is to come. Then it gets into the details. You learn how his childhood shaped his decision making. Then it talks about his greatest influences Graham and Fischer. Then it talks about how he selects stocks.
   All of the skills you learn not only teach you why he was successful but also how you can be. The author uses simple analagies to explain complex ideas, which makes it an easier read.
   I recomend the book to those who are interested in the stock market, owning or managing a business or just in economics in general.



3. Hagstrom's The Essential Buffett is key to understanding successful investing strategies. However this very helpful book is not just about why Buffett makes his choices, but, how Buffett's thought process in deciding to pick a stock has come to be. Besides the genius of Buffett, the reader learns about stock market guru's Ben Graham, Philip Fisher and Berkshire Hathaway's vice-Chairman Charlie Munger. Hagstrom's examples of the companies Buffett has been with like: Net Jet, See's, Coca-Cola, Citigroup... teaches young investors Buffett's investment ideaology. Because Hagstrom uses assumptions and multiple mathematical examples to prove HIS own application of Buffett's investing style to tech stocks, The Essential Buffett is not a five star book.



4. Hagstrom has presented Buffett's philosophy that is understandable and correct. I intend to learn from Buffett's principles and to use them to my advantage, to make my billions.



5. Instead of calling this book "The Essential Buffett", Hagstrom should have called it "The Rehashed Buffett". I have read both of the author's previous books about Buffett, and they stand well on their own. This book, though, is just a cash grab. It is "essentially" just highlights from the other two books recycled into this "new" book.

   If you haven't read the first two books should you read this one? I don't know... but if you have read the first two, don't bother with this patch job.

3 comments about Organization Design, Levels of Work and Human Capability: Executive Guide.

1. The sheer magnitude of this book is immense. A sizeable volume with many authors, carefully crafted together through skilful editing and design.
   
   The book undertakes a large task in bringing the frameworks originally developed by Elliott Jaques and Wilfred Brown into the present. Over the decades since their original publications the body of knowledge has widened and many of the ways that we look at companies and organizations has changed.
   
   Unfortunately the speed of change and the needs of academics and consultants to position themselves has led to a "flavour of the month" in publishing. Not unlike the tabloids, where the most important thing is to sell todays issue.
   
   This book brings forward what has very much been a silent and unglamorous movement. Not a word about glitzy strategies or dramatic success stories. It is all about building sound organizational structures and manning them with the right people.
   
   The authors of this anthology are academics, consultants and people from the real world of companies and organizations. The book contains a substantial body of knowledge and experience. No single author could bring together all this.
   
   The book reminds me of the Edison quote "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls, and looks like work". A lot of the organizational stuff that we read in papers, magazines and books is "flash in the pan" and contains the lure of the quick fix. This book is about the resilient way to long term organizational success, and that is a big job.
   
   If you want to live on the hope for a quick fix, then read all the other books. If you truly want to embark on the journey of building a viable and successful organization, then read this book and set it as your starting point.



2. Every three to five years a groundbreaking book is published. This inspiring book is one of them. I have been working with teams and organisations during the last 25 years, enabling them to realize there purpose. During this period I experimented with different models and approaches, each having an added value. Nevertheless I still had the feeling that something was missing.
   
   This book builds on the work of Elliot Jaques and is for me one of the missing pieces in how to (re)build trust. It recognises that people and organisations are complex. Understanding how people at different levels deal with this complexity is one of the keys to create effective organisations. This book presents a set of concepts and a model that predict what will and what will not be effective in organisations regarding leadership, systems, staffing and structures. Rather than a set of prefabricated solutions it is a tool that helps understand how you can increase the performance and well-being in an organisation.
   
   I found the book an extremely valuable add for excecutives and everyone who is responsible for organising work. It gave me new insights on how to structure an organisation, how to match and challenge the capabilities of employees, how to provide the appropriate recognition and above all how to develop a value system to make contributions in broader society. The approach takes you beyond the current dominant 'competency' approach and the numerous examples helped me understand how to design, implement and sustain positive changes in an organisation.
   Jan De Visch - Managing Partner Bridges for Choice (Belgium)



3. At last, a superb book that not only explains the comprehensive view of organizations that was the lifetime work of Elliott Jaques, but also provides the larger context of his work alongside practical examples of how it can be applied to improve organizational life. Ken Shepard has done a magnificent job of bringing together managers, academics, practitioners and consultants who have hands-on experience of Jaques's work. The chapters provide a feast for the reader interested in improving the performance of organizations by allowing members to realize their individual capabilities while working creatively and harmoniously with each other.
   
   As an academic/consultant myself, my early career seemed filled with mysteries as I tried to understand organizational life. After reading much of the literature, and finding nuggets of truth here and there, I felt that the pieces didn't fit together. By good fortune, I was a member of the School of Social Sciences at Brunel University when Jaques was Head of the School, but I initially dismissed his theories as just too implausible. However, on closer examination, followed by teaching a course, Behaviour in Organisations, with him, it dawned on me that here was a comprehensive theory that brought together and made sense of my experiences in organizations outside the university.
   
   I now teach Jaques's ideas about organizational structure and functioning to my students at the London School of Economics, and use them in my consultancy work. Several years ago I loaned my copy of Requisite Organization to a retired chairman of one of the UK's largest companies, who on returning it to me commented "If I had had this book earlier, the last 25 years of my company life would have been completely different."
   
   This new book should light fires in organizations all around the world, exposing serious dysfunction, but also showing how it can be cured. A landmark achievement in the social sciences: a theory that not only explains and predicts, but also shows how improvements can be made.

4 comments about All About DRIPs and DSPs.

1. Dividend reinvestment planning is the dirty little secret your broker and mutual fund salespeople don't want you to know about. Why? Because DRIPpers pay all the commissions to themselves.
   To date few books about DRIPs have gone much beyond the mechanics of starting a plan and listing a number of companies that offer DRIPs. Most books describe a "one size fits all" approach to DRIPping. Yet anyone who DRIPs will tell you it is more complex than that.
   All About DRIPs and DSPs breaks the mold. It could be seen as the first text book and artistic approach to dividend reinvestment planning. There is the usual material about how to begin a plan but it also begins to consider individual approaches to the process. Although individuals are responsible for choosing their own investments Mr. Fisher helps the reader develop the skills to make wise choices. He teaches an investor how to research companies through simplified analysis, looking at management and reading an annual report. He sifts these to find what is important and does it with humour. I particularly noted the sections on how to read between the lines when management speaks or how Harley Davidson has the kind of brand loyalty that causes people to tatoo the company logo to their bodies.
   There are also sections on portfolio planning with DRIPs, how bonds can be DRIPped and lists of DRIP offering companies with outstanding historical performances.
   DRIPs are for take charge individuals, with only small amounts of money to invest, who are tired of paying exhorbitant fees for questionable service. This book has provided me other strategies to consider than my own and broadened my approach. All About DRIPs and DSPs is for the self motivated individuals who wants to invest effectively and successfully.
   This is the kind of book DRIPpers have been waiting for.



2. A very readable primer for beginner as well as experienced investor. This book is sure to give a good case of heartburn to "financial planners" and "life retirement consultants" who make their living on portfolio maintenance charges. Chapter by chapter, George Fisher uncomplicates the world of dividend reinvestment and direct stock purchase plans, and shows the reader that it's just not as hard as it seems to become one's own self-reliant investor. Section "Best Of The Best" which profiles 16 top companies is alone worth the price of the book.



3. This book succeeds with its target audience on so many levels. It's written in a non-pretentious manner and covers all the bases very well. Due to the nature of this type of investing anyone can pick it up and be in the stock market in no time.

   How much more timely could this book be? With the gut-wrenching gyrations in the stock market right now, the prudent, dollar-cost-averaging investor's style deserves a comprehensive illustration. This book provides that.

   The company capsules are an excellent bonus. You don't see anything like that in the typical investing book.




4. This is a very good book about buying stocks directly from the company. In this market why pay broker fees. A bunch of drunken monkeys throwing darts at the Wall Street Journal can do just as well at picking good stock as a broker and there's no fees. This is a great nuts and bolts book on buying drips. This is a good book for the beginning investor.

5 comments about How to Sell Your Business: And Get the Best Price for It.

1. Whether you're well-versed or not in the how-to of selling a business, everyone should find value and great expertise in this book. The author presents facts and anecdotes to take you through the process in a way that keeps you interested and inspired. If you are looking to sell your business, I would think this book is an invaluable tool. But even if you're not -- if you're someone like me, who is interested in the subject but has little practical experience -- this was a refreshing and enlightening read. I highly recommend it.



2. This book is a plethora of information: Determining when it's time to sell, the role of an intermediary in selling a business, preparing a business and its people for sale, and most importantly--determining what the business is worth. The book also covers offers, negotiations, the closing and Lessons Learned. If you are the least bit analytic, by all means, consult this. There's good food for thought before you make a move to sell.



3. This book was easy to understand and read. Not over your head on how things should be done.



4. Many small business owners have the skills necessary to successfully build a business, but deciding to sell takes them into unfamiliar territory.
   
   This book clearly and concisely explains the considerations and steps that take place at each stage of a business sale negotiation and close. It does not focus very much on actual valuation methods, instead explaining the nuts and bolts of the sale announcement, due diligence, negotiation, and closing processes.
   
   Although the author, at times, uses the book as a commercial for his consulting business, this is not entirely a bad thing. Any small business owner contemplating a sale would do well to have someone with this experience in their corner.



5. This is an Excellent, well written Book for anyone who is looking to sell there Business. The author provides some great tips and uses great examples. Wether you have a small to large business this book covers that range and more.
   I got three books and downloaded one, and this one is book gives the best advice and provides a great walkthrough. It shows you how to prepare a memorandum, deal with other companies, and what to watch out for.
   Good Stuff, Highly Recommended!