Contented Cows Give Better Milk

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Contented Cows Give Better MilkContented Cows Give Better Milk
by Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden

Here we have another cute title designed to grab our attention in order to deliver a “simple as dirt” concept: A person’s degree of satisfaction with their work situation is entirely and directly related to their output. If this concept is so simple, why aren’t more leaders taking advantage of it? Business bookshelves and boardrooms are cluttered with the all too predictable and easy prescriptions for empowerment, restructuring, and the like. Consultants are readily available to assist you in this all important undertaking. It really comes down to a personal decision. You either act or you don’t.

This book provides you with inspiring examples of companies that have made the decision to act … and a few that haven’t.

Learn just what it is that permits one organization to achieve unprecedented levels of success over a substantial period of time while a nearly identical competitor is going down the tube. How, for example, could Southwest Airlines achieve 23 consecutive years of record revenues and profits while TWA, Continental, Pan Am, Eastern, Braniff and others all around them were hemorrhaging red ink?

It’s no accident that the organizations consistently identified as winners also happen to be some of the best places on earth to work. This occurs not as an afterthought, but as a vital, premeditated element of business strategy.

It’s a message that would doubtless be echoed by generations of dairy farmers. Contented cows give better milk!

(This book review was originally published in 2001 as one of the Top 10 Books – Edition 7.)

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

The Customer Revolution

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The Customer RevolutionThe Customer Revolution
by Patricia B. Seybold

For most companies, the issue of customers in charge is just coming onto the radar screen. For many, it was over before they had an inkling. Patricia Seybold, author of the influential, best-selling Customers.com, makes it plain in her most recent offering, that this can be either your biggest problem or your greatest opportunity.

Thanks to the Internet and mobile wireless devices, both business and consumer customers are demanding that you change your pricing structure, distribution channels, and the way you design and deliver products and services. Your business must be transformed so that it is completely customer-centric, or you will be out of business.

You can fight it if you want but you’re better off, says the author, to practice “sweet surrender,” just as the music industry has started to come to terms with Napster. Many try to characterize the changes taking place as the New Economy, the Internet Economy, or the information, knowledge, or bio-economy. However, simply put, what we now have is a customer economy, and it’s going to result in changes that you would not have thought possible even a few short years ago.

Seybold has been on a worldwide quest to find companies in North America, Europe, and Asia that are developing the state-of-the-art practices that will help them win in the new area of the customer economy. They’re profiled and analyzed in case studies ranging from small businesses to multinational giants and range from manufacturers to retailers, and service firms. What she provides is not only a brilliant analysis but also a practical program for how you can make the customer revolution a profitable one. The companies that thrive in the customer revolution will be those that measure and monitor what matters to customers, in near real time!

(This book review was originally published in 2001 as one of the Top 10 Books – Edition 7.)

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

The 108 Skills of Natural Born Leaders

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The 108 Skills of Natural Born LeadersThe 108 Skills of Natural Born Leaders
by Warren Blank

The myth of “born leaders” has been with us for decades. However, that myth misses an important fact: the qualities great leaders display are waiting in all of us to be discovered, developed, and magnified. No one is actually born a leader. Anyone can become one. All you need is to master the specific set of skills people commonly associate with so-called “natural born” leaders.

Included in this book is a self-assessment inventory which you can use to ascertain which skills are most in need of improvement. You must know where you are before you can determine where you need to go.

Warren Blank’s work identifies the 108 specific traits that typically cause others to see people as natural born leaders. The self-assessment inventory allows you to match up to that common portrait. The book then provides strategies and methods for developing your strengths and improving on your weaknesses.

With examples ranging from Franklin D. Roosevelt to G.E.’s Jack Welch, this book illustrates that leadership qualities fall into three basic categories: Foundational Skills (such as self-awareness), Direction Skills (including the ability to set a course and develop others as leaders), and Willing Follower Skills (such as the ability to influence others and create a motivating environment). The ongoing theme is the simple fact that everything you need to become a leader is right inside of you. This book will help you let your own “natural” skills blossom.

(This book review was originally published in 2001 as one of the Top 10 Books – Edition 7.)

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success

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The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business SuccessThe 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success
by Brian Tracy

I’ll be short with this one. For more than 30 years, Brian Tracy has been teaching the world about business success via his best-selling books and audio tapes. This book is the bottom-line, cut-to-the-chase, keep-it-simple success guide. Here is a set of principles or “universal laws” that lie behind the success of business people in every kind of enterprise, large and small. These are natural laws, and they work everywhere and for everyone, virtually without exception. Every year, thousands of companies underperform or even fail, and millions of individuals underachieve, frustrated by thwarted ambition and dreams—all because they either attempted to violate or did not know these universal laws. However, ignorance of the law is no excuse!

Tracy breaks the 100 laws into eight major categories: life, success, business, leadership, money, selling, negotiating, and time management. He not only identifies and defines each, he also:

  • Reveals its foundation, whether in science, nature, philosophy, or common sense;
  • Provides real-life examples that show how it functions in the world; and
  • Shows how to apply it to your life and work through specific questions and practical steps and exercises that anyone can use—sometimes in just minutes—to begin the journey toward greater success.

Brian Tracy has done it again, and you’ll want to take advantage of it a.s.a.p.

(This book review was originally published in 2001 as one of the Top 10 Books – Edition 7.)

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Topgrading

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TopgradingTopgrading: How Leading Companies Win by Hiring, Coaching, and Keeping the Best People
by Bradford D. Smart, Ph.D.

THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED. Those predisposed to protect “dead wood” will take issue with the basic underlying philosophy of this book. Those who, way down deep, would sooner see an organization die than nudge a hopelessly incompetent person out of a job, should not read this book. This person is probably not an A player, will not become an A player, will not want to hire A players, will not want to coach people to become A players, has difficulty retaining A players, and does not belong in a premier, topgraded organization. Topgrading is for A players and all those aspiring to be A players.

The author defines topgrading as the practice of filling every position in the organization with an A player, at the appropriate compensation level. A player is defined as the top 10% of talent available at all salary levels—best of class. He believes that great companies are made, not born. The secret is hiring the right people—the “A” players. This is, of course, easier said than done. Statistically, half of all employment situations result in a mis-hire: the wrong person for the wrong job. And with the cost of a mis-hire at 24 times salary, the financial drain can be staggering.

This 400+ page book is a compilation of insights and advice based on more than 4,000 career case studies … first-hand, exhaustive interviews of successful managers’ entire careers. The tools and strategies offered here come from 27 years of working with dozens of organizations, many premier in their industries.

Discover a silver-bullet assessment technique, the Chronological In-Depth Structured (CIDS) interview. CIDS can boost your hiring success rate from 50% to 90% or better. It’s not perfect but close enough that it permitted entire companies to topgrade in one year, replacing players with almost all A players and a few Bs. If you attempt to topgrade and your batting average in replacing C players is only .500, you will fail. CIDS is not just desirable, but necessary in assuring that you replace Cs with As.

I could go on and on describing the useful contents of Topgrading, but I fear you’d break a leg racing to the bookstore. Walk slow. Read fast. You need this one.

(This book review was originally published in 2001 as one of the Top 10 Books – Edition 7.)

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Lean and Meaningful

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Lean and MeaningfulLean & Meaningful: A New Culture for Corporate America
by Roger E. Herman and Joyce L. Gioia

The dynamic duo strikes again! Herman and Gioia join forces here to describe the next generation of corporate culture in America. Demographic and economic shifts are changing the face of corporate America and enlightened organizations are learning that they must reduce the “fat” and provide meaningful employment to their workers.

The corporation of the future will look dramatically different than today’s concept—structurally and conceptually. We’ve known for quite some time now that “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.” Obviously, that simply won’t cut it today. Have you developed a strategy to prepare your organization for the “new look”? If not, start bench-marking today within these pages.

A wide range of trends is explored, explained, and illustrated with examples of what more than 200 companies, both large and small, and governmental agencies, city and state, are already doing.

If you’re ready to prepare your organization for future success, this book will give you insights, ideas, resources, and action plans to help you make a meaningful difference.

(This book review was originally published in 2001 as one of the Top 10 Books – Edition 7.)

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Workforce Stability

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Workforce StabilityWorkforce Stability, Your Competitive Edge
by Roger E. Herman and Joyce L. Gioia

He’s back … Roger E. Herman. This is the third book we’ve reviewed by this highly respected Certified Management Consultant. The reason, of course, is quite obvious. He writes great books that we think deserve your attention. He has his thumb on the pulse of what’s happening in the area of attracting and retaining the best possible workforce available today.

In this book, Roger joins forces with another very highly respected CMC, Joyce L. Gioia, and the Fellows of the Workforce Stability Institute—a not-for-profit education and research organization. Here is your opportunity to capitalize on the knowledge, experience, and research of some of the most respected consultants and authors in the field of human resources.

It would take far too much time and space to detail the useful content of this offering. However, to provide you with a flavor of its diverse information, let me share a few subject areas … Our Changing Workforce, the Strategic Staffing Process, Selection Tools and Their Applications, Recruiting the Best, Performance-Based Interviews, Computer-Aided Job Analysis and Selection, Orientation and Bonding, Career Development as a Retention and Succession Planning Tool, Training for Retention, Inspiring Front-Line Workers, Internal Marketing, and Recognition for Performance and Retention. If you can say you don’t have a challenge or a concern in one of these areas or you wouldn’t be interested in some terrific guidelines and strategies in these areas, you should consider penning your own best seller. Until then, add this one to your bookshelf.

(This book review was originally published in 2001 as one of the Top 10 Books – Edition 7.)

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Keeping Good People

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Keeping Good PeopleKeeping Good People: Strategies for Solving the #1 Problem Facing Business Today
by Roger E. Herman

Sounds like a pretty simple title, doesn’t it? So’s the book. It’s a very easy read as it’s written in conversational style by the recognized visionary author Roger Herman. He originally published this book in 1990, and it was featured by two book clubs and published in four languages. It has truly become a classic in the field. With 100 pages added to the original, this volume is the first major expansion and update of the popular guide.

Herman’s table of contents reads better than many books I’ve seen on the subject of employee retention. You’ll have a hard time putting this book down. Learn what good employees are looking for today and why they decide to leave an organization.

Choose from 195 strategies divided into five key areas including: environmental strategies, relationship strategies, support strategies, growth strategies, and compensation strategies. Understand why employee turnover is high today and will be higher in the future. Discover the five principal reasons workers leave their jobs. Take a sneak peek at the corporation of the future and learn the key aspects of behavior styles and leadership styles. This masterpiece is a very valuable tool for individual learning or group training.

(This book review was originally published in 2001 as one of the Top 10 Books – Edition 7.)

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Eat That Frog!

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Eat That Frog!Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
by Brian Tracy

It’s been said for many years that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long. It’s also been said, “If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first.” Your “frog” is your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to put off. This analogy is just one of many concepts targeted by best-selling author Brian Tracy in his latest book, Eat That Frog.

You probably know him as one of America’s leading authorities on the development of human potential and personal effectiveness. We’ve previously reviewed his best-selling books Maximum Achievement and The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success. You may be a proud owner of his best-selling audiocassette program The Psychology of Achievement.

Now he shares the very best ideas and insights on time management in this very fast read, rich in practical advice in the form of 21 logical, immediately applicable steps. Each chapter provides specific exercises you can use to implement Tracy’s advice immediately to see the results for yourself.

(This book review was originally published in 2001 as one of the Top 10 Books – Edition 7.)

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

It’s Not the Big That Eat the Small … It’s the Fast That Eat the Slow

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It’s Not the Big That Eat the Small … It’s the Fast That Eat the Slow: How to Use Speed as a Competitive Tool in Business
by Jason Jennings and Laurence Haughton

Why is AOL the most profitable new media company in the world, swallowing up one company after another and adding millions of new subscribers, while Prodigy and CompuServe are mere memories?

How did Hotmail vault from being a cool idea to being worth more than $400 million in the eyes of Microsoft in 24 months?

What transformed Charles Schwab from a company with four brokers trading stocks around a single table into the world’s largest financial services firm? 

Breakthrough consultants Jason Jennings and Laurence Haughton reveal how the planet’s most successful companies surged to the forefront of their industries and always managed to stay one step ahead of the competition.

This war chest contains all the secrets and tactics used by the fastest business people to achieve great success in their chosen fields—at dizzying speed.

In this engaging and informative guide, you will learn how to:

  • Think FAST by anticipating and spotting trends
  • Make FAST decisions by applying rules and reassessing strategies
  • Get to market FAST by exploiting your advantages and institutionalizing innovation
  • Stay FAST by remaining flexible and keeping close to the customer.

Jennings and Haughton traveled the globe and penetrated the world’s fastest companies to witness the methods used by quick, dominant leaders in business ranging from retail sales to fast food, from financial services to communications. If you want to think quicker and faster all the information you need is here. You’ll find lessons from the speediest international business and companies on how to become faster than anyone else in today’s ever-changing business world.

(This book review was originally published in 2001 as one of the Top 10 Books – Edition 6.)

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.