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Susan's Picks > Book Reviews
Book Reviews
It can be difficult to find just the right book to enhance your learning and help you grow. These books may provide you with the knowledge or skills that will help advance you to the next level.
 Discover, engage, and empower the leader in you by sharing in the wisdom of the world's top leaders. The Classroom CEO introduces seven principles of leadership you can use to power up your professional and personal growth, leading to renewed purpose and joy in life and teaching. Through stories, tips, and Power Up exercises, you will discover the seven skills that form the foundation of success experienced by leaders in every field of endeavor, including business, government, athletics, and the arts.
Learn to * define your PURPOSE to unleash your energy * perfect your PERFORMANCE to promote your brand * implement MOTIVATION techniques to inspire your students and yourself * use GRACE to manage your thoughts and your reactions * provide great SERVICE to build your relationships * embrace FLEXIBILITY to increase your tolerance for change * practice ETHICS to enhance and maintain your credibility.
Debbie is an award-winning educator and a respected leadership facilitator and coach. She has twice received an Outstanding Educator Award from The Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program, is a past recipient of an Ashland Oil Golden Apple Achiever Award, and is a National Board Certified Teacher of English Language Arts. She is described by her corporate and health care clients as “enthusiastic, knowledgeable, informative, dynamic, energetic and an excellent leader and motivator who is always positive and creates a safe environment for interaction.”
“This book magnificently presents the merits of and ways to exercise leadership in education that results in the development of essential soft skills. The beauty of this leadership model is that it is done with an emphasis on performance and accountability, a result sometimes elusive in education. The Classroom CEO offers energy and stimulation to a much needed dialogue. I would have loved this book 40 years ago when I started teaching!” - Lee Gardenswartz, Ph.D., co-author of Emotional Intelligence for Managing Results in a Diverse World
“The Classroom CEO is a practical guide for educators as they strive to become effective teachers and leaders in their schools. The format is well suited as a book study or as a group professional development with numerous opportunities for self reflection and group sharing. It’s a practical how-to power up guide for teacher professionalism.” - Susan K. Cook, Ed.D., Director, Center for Educator Excellence, Northern Kentucky University
“Boy, do I wish I had owned this book as a first year teacher! Determining my purpose as an educator would have made for more focused learning experiences for my students and me. And focusing on soft skills and customer satisfaction would definitely have made my life much simpler and pleasurable. This book conveys the importance of having a positive outlook and appropriate communication and people skills that boost success in all areas of life.” - Melissa Ferrell, Education Consultant
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Work Smart, Not Hard! Organizational Tips and Tools That Will Change Your Life!
by Jane Schulte
 WORK SMART, Not Hard! In this book, you will learn to: Accept change as a positive and upwardly mobile step rather than a frightening experience you shy away from! Delegate and take multi-tasking to a new level! Never be late for a deadline or forget a task again! Happily take on projects and assignments rather than shudder every time your manager walks in the door! Effectively and clearly communicate avoiding unnecessary work and misunderstandings. Organize your work in a way that makes you feel that you only have one thing to do! Become stress-free and never be overwhelmed again!
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BOLD Leadership: A Holistic Approach to Business Success
by Jane Schulte
 This is a true business success story demonstrating a holistic approach to business leadership. By incorporating your heart, mind and spirit, the holistic approach provides a win/win for everyone - you, your employees, your clients, customers and vendors. It is a tried and true formula that produces amazing results. Do you want to be a leader that others naturally follow? Success is attainable for anyone who truly wants it. This book shows the way!
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The 80/20 Principle: The Secret of Achieving More with Less
by Richard Koch
 (Reviewed by Lisa Hughes)
If you want to be your best and make the most of your life; if you have much more work than hours in your day; if you wonder where you will get the time and energy to achieve your goals and realize your purpose in life, then this book is a must-read. Richard Koch asserts the 80/20 Principle as a revolution. He teaches with authority. He offers background, proof, and examples of 80/20 Analysis and 80/20 Thinking. Simply, clearly, and effectively, Koch provides concrete examples of the 80/20 Principle at work in various areas of life including business strategy, personal happiness, moneymaking, creativity, and relationships. The book is organized so that you can easily get the 20 percent of information that is most valuable for you. Read the chapters in any order. Read a few pages or the entire volume. When you are ready, read this book to discover which vital few efforts will lead you to the significant many results that refresh you, replenish your time, and recharge your life.
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 Hailed by reviewers as “an inspiring read for both established and novice leaders,” and “the most brilliant analysis I’ve seen of the economic meltdown of 2008,” this book offers a solution to what it calls a “learning disorder now threatening humanity’s future.”
The disorder is the lag between our mind-changing skills and our world-changing skills. Our world-changing skills are reflected in our technology, like the digital storm now sweeping global commerce. Quicksilver shows why rapidly balancing mind-changing skills with our quicksilver world is the first order of business for every leader today. And that means leaders of nations, organizations large and small, and private lives.
Still, changing minds—our own and others’—is the hardest thing we ever attempt. How can we succeed? Quicksilver offers a proven set of practices for which CEOs and their leadership teams have paid Dr. O’Brien millions of dollars over the last three decades to teach them.
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 (Reviewer: Lisa Hughes)
This book presents three important concepts that speak to the heart of being successful— mission-focused and productive—in the social service arena.
The first concept is to recruit and keep only those people who “get” who you are and what you do, who identify with your mission and are eager—even driven-- to work with you to accomplish it. The second concept is lucidity, to know and be able to articulate your strengths that make you singularly qualified to realize your special mission along with the ability to reject anything that competes with or distracts you from your mission, your reasons for being. The third concept is about the wherewithal to produce results, your measures of success.
A key point: the three concepts are interdependent and must be structured to feed and support each other for the duration of your social service venture. The authors describe each concept with practical examples.
Learn more at Amazon.com.
 Looking for solid information for improving your daily business meetings? Moving Meetings is the quick-read book that provides agenda improving ideas, facilitation process tips, and communication "Transition" language that gets a meeting on-track and helps keep meetings on-time. Jana Kemp says: "Get into the meeting to get something done, then end the meeting. Because, if the meeting is not helping you get something done, then get yourself out of having to attend the meeting."
Learn more at Amazon.com
Learn more by visiting author Jana Kemp's web site.
 People around the world are learning the power of the word "no," as witnessed by the Chinese, Dutch, Turkish, Arabic, and Polish translations of Jana Kemp's book NO! How One Simple Word Can Transform Your Life. Based on her years of time management workshop delivery, this book grew out of the discovery that people are increasingly having a hard time saying "no" – even to the things that threaten their time, their resources, and, in some cases, their lives. In this book, you'll:
- Discover the Power of NO Model for decision making
- Create your own Policy of No
- Help your children establish their policy of no statements
- Find phrases for saying "no" that feel good to you and help you maintain the very relationships that are most important to you
And, Training-modules.com has a module that can be used to teach this great material! Learn more by visiting author Jana Kemp's site.
Learn more at Amazon.com.
 "Buildings without people don't matter," say co-authors Ken Baker and Jana Kemp. They merge their building and human resource expertise to present six productivity variables that they suggest can only come together for greatest productivity when all the right people are at the discussion table for new-construction and building remodels. The six productivity variables illuminated throughout the book and specific building examples are:
- Healthy Buildings and Healthy People
- Safety and Security
- Comfort and Control
- Community
- Rewards
- Creativity and Morale
Building Community in Buildings is a terrific read and reference book for company owners, managers, architects and human resource professionals. Learn more by visiting author Jana Kemp's site (www.JanaKemp.com )
Learn more at Amazon.com
 (Reviewer: Lisa Hughes)
Support, encourage, and inspire. This book helps to reconcile those of us who understand what we must do to "be the change that we would see in this world"—M. Gandhi, and taking responsibility for being and bringing positive change: healing, reconciliation, renewal. The book presents much inspiration and many quotations from a variety of sources, ages and traditions.
They remind us that the prophets, martyrs, mentors, scientists, and leaders who by their work and example changed the world did so because they listened and attended to life and followed its wisdom. Their examples continue to motivate us. We draw strength from them.
We are called to a greater good, a purpose outside ourselves and to serve others. In thinking and living this call we cause surprising and wonderful things to happen. The more we do the stronger we become.
Often when life presents situations where we could step up, take responsibility, use our gifts, talents, skills, we do not. In our weakness we do not serve, we do not take responsibility; we act as if we do not believe, we ignore that which we could do. The book examines these kinds of situations, their causes, and undercurrents, begs the question then shows us how to triumph. It also reminds us that small steps count; whatever we do to help another person, whenever and wherever we can, counts.
Learn more at Amazon.com
 How many moments of your life do you spend communicating with people: one-on-one or in committees, project teams, boards, commissions, councils, task teams, and other work groups? What would it mean to you if you could make those moments more efficient, more enjoyable, and more effective?
Collaborative Listening is designed to develop your ability to focus your work with others to achieve common goals, to get feedback, to cooperate through conflict, to identify common interests, to define problems, to seek and to implement solutions for mutual benefit and enhanced productivity.
This book is for work groups, teams, team leaders, managers, facilitators, trainers and consultants--anyone who works with people and needs to
- listen to people and/or
- to teach and encourage people to listen to each other
Learn more about Lisa and the book.
 Recently picked up by Stanford University Press, this book's premise is that command-and-control and come-to-consensus decision making approaches are equal: they each have a time and a place. In addition, Jana Kemp introduces the ChoiceMarks tool for expanding conversations in order to reach best-possible decisions with groups focused on reaching consensus. The five ChoiceMarks each have strengths and limitations during a conversation. The Choicemarks are:
- Extreme Excitement
- Engaged Enthusiasm
- Neutral
- Boxed-in
- Anti-Survival
Moving Out of the Box is a good addition to meeting leadership and decision-making libraries. Learn more by visiting author Jana Kemp's site (www.JanaKemp.com).
 (Reviewer: Brenny Rabine, Improviser and Trainer, Now a member of Koppett+Co)
In Training to Imagine, Kat Koppett reveals an insider's "How-To" look at improv principals and techniques to improve business performance. Her anecdotes and stories welcome newcomers backstage, into the world of improv theatre, where "talent" can be taught. By showing us how to exercise our improv "muscles," she inspires us to move beyond what seems intuitive to a whole new awareness of ourselves as performers. Useful to managers and trainers, Training to Imagine offers step-by-step activities to develop:
- Active Listening
- A "Yes, And…" Attitude
- Creativity and Spontaneity
- Team Building
- Communication
As a trainer, I loved Kat's reference section even! After reading about dozens and dozens of inspiring improv exercises, I could build my training sessions by scanning through Kat's easy-to-use charts. There, Kat identified activities that developed certain skill sets, and I easily fit them into my design. Her voice is lively and appealing throughout Training to Imagine. I felt I knew her well enough to call for advice when I needed it.
 Prepared Not Paranoid presents ideas for living every day more safely and without becoming paranoid. Based on the co-authors more than three decades of law enforcement experience, this book includes:
- A Feel Safe Survey so you can discover your sense of safety and how to become safer
- Chapters about family, school, workplace safety and more
- Discussions about weapons and what you can choose to pursue
- Checklists for your car, home, and personal-space safety
Prepared Not Paranoid is a good, upbeat read for keeping ourselves in control during these bad-news filled times. Learn more by visiting author Jana Kemp's site.
 (Reviewer: Kristin Lindeen)
Flipping the Switch is the perfect companion for QBQ!, another book by John Miller. If you like life-changing content in a quick-to-read, easy-to-digest format, you'll enjoy this "next step" book. In his first book, QBQ! The Question Behind the Question, Miller explained that instead of whining, "Why does everything bad happen to me?" you should take responsibility and ask yourself, "What can I do to improve my situation?" That's the QBQ, and asking it stops you from blaming and complaining, and empowers you to find your own solutions. In Flipping the Switch, Miller takes personal accountability up a notch, and teaches you how to improve your relationships at home and at work by adopting the five "Advantage Principles: learning, ownership, creativity, service and trust." This follow-up book divides the examples into the five advantage principles to demonstrate how each principle works.
Flipping the Switch helped me to get out of a cycle of complaining, pushing me to ask "What can I do about this situation?" rather than "Why is this situation so annoying?" When I catch myself asking poor questions, I remember the QBQ, or the Question Behind the Question. Rather than saying "Why is my boss preventing me from succeeding?" I ask, "What can I accomplish right here, right now?" Whenever you feel down or frustrated, grab this book and get instantly energized, ready to tackle anything that comes your way in both work and personal lives.
Flipping the Switch is a collection of humorous and meaningful stories that have significant impact. The stories help me relate to similar situations in my own life in which I can choose to take accountability or I can choose to complain and point fingers. It is a wonderful resource in the pursuit toward personal accountability! Miller fills each page with enthusiasm and a belief that personal accountability is the key to success. He believes in posing questions that don't blame but resolve; questions that focus on action and the moment....because the moment is all we have.
 This is a book for business leaders who want to become a powerful and relevant leader for the challenges of 2009 and beyond. The book is built around two business leaders, George and Dave, and tells the story, chapter by chapter, of how the different behaviors and communications of the ego-driven George,and the spirited Dave impact the performance of their respective teams. This is a practical, hands-on book that can be read quickly and applied easily.
In Who's in the Driver's Seat?, Sandy introduces the idea that spirit is an untapped and quantifiable financial asset existing in all organizations. It is the competitive edge of the organization. When leaders have the skills to apply the spirit of their teams to the business goals, they create Spirited Economics™. Read Sandy's book to discover:
- The 7 ego behaviors that switch teams off; and the 7 spirited behaviors that switch others on.
- The 7 ego language styles that hamper success; and the 7 spirited language styles that get team members pulling in the same direction.
- How to use spirit as an asset – reducing operational costs, increasing profit and enhancing revenue.
QBQ! by John G. Miller
 (Reviewer: Diane Fru, QBQ! Distributor, RDF Management)
QBQ! is a quick and easy read. This life-skills book is suitable for ordinary and extra-ordinary people, professionals, non-professionals—basically people of all ages. Unlike many other books on the market today that are trendy, this book is a "timeless" treasure with a practical, common sense approach.
In most corporations, personal accountability is one of the top 10 core competencies, and QBQ!, together with its support tools (licensing agreement, training program, posters, etc.), provides the foundational pieces for organizations to create the culture of "personal accountability" – which cannot be mandated. Organizations need to embrace the notion of "flying the plane differently" (Stacey's story, page 28), and provide the environment for employees to translate this concept into their daily work life.
From a personal viewpoint, QBQ! helps individuals deal with change in their life and eliminate victim thinking that holds people back from being their best. QBQ! provides the "how to" steps to have a peaceful and successful life.
Key themes that support both corporate as well as personal success include "How do I let go of that which I cannot control?", and "I can only change me." This little book has helped me tremendously both as a business person/consultant in my work, and as an individual. Others I have shared this book with have told me it has "changed their life." Changing habits usually doesn't happen quickly, but QBQ can. Spend one hour with this book and save hours of needless aggravation and wasted time on handling things the wrong way.
 Sharmen Lane's The Seven Secrets to Create Your Fate is a short, simple, and powerful personal growth and self improvement book. It gives you the tools and step-by-step instructions to take action and get what you want, NOW! It's clear, concise, and to the point, so you can quit talking and start doing to get everything you desire. The Seven Secrets to Create Your Fate gives you the power to get off the sofa and onto the set of life!
"I read your book, then read it again and followed the steps. It was that easy and literally my life started to change for the better... Once I found happiness I started to find happy people... ...I can honestly tell you life began when I read your book. How can I ever thank you?!?"
- Alan Oberlander, Author & Entrepreneur
You can learn more by visiting SharSpeaks LLC.
 Split Second Selling shows you how to increase your sales. Based on over 26 years of experience, Drew Stevens provides a simple and easy to use formula to get you from the starting line to the finish line. Drew has condensed the myriad of selling concepts and ideas into a simple and easy to remember formula known as PRACTICE™. Just like athletes and musicians that practice you too, must PRACTICE!
Split Second Selling shows you how to:
- Quickly reach decision makers
- Understand how to get around objections
- Close sales quicker
- Communicate more effectively with the decision makers
- Develop a strategic plan that provides repeat sales.
You can learn more by visiting Drew Stevens Consulting.
 Forget what you have learned about leadership. You do not have to be charismatic. You must find a way to communicate effectively whether or not you are charismatic. You do not have to treat everyone equally. You must be positive and fair while recognizing and rewarding others based on performance. You do not have to always create harmony. You must know when and how to create conflict. Leadership Redefined moves past the hype about leadership and focuses on what matters the most: the core skills required for success in cubicleland. Common sense and piles of research tell us that successful leadership is about nailing the basics.
To that end, Leadership Redefined identifies the three underlying rules of leadership from which all other rules and tactics flow. These rules are used to illuminate several key aspects of successful daily leadership.
All this and more is served up in a fast, lively and practical style by noted leadership expert, Dr. Todd Dewett. His huge personality and professional work have resulted in quotes in many major media outlets including the New York Times, BusinessWeek, CNN, Chicago Tribune, MSNBC, the Christian Science Monitor.
"This book is funny, full of ideas, and so dang true about the day to day life in cubicleland. I love how it's not for top executives per say but for the mid level managers/leaders who make so many important day to day decisions."
"The analysis of several concepts would seem so easy, but like Dewett says, we still mess them up every day. This book has helped me realize how to handle so many situations already today at work. It's a great feeling to be able to think about real names and situations where his rules apply!"
"I love it, and I think I'm going to read it again - after I let one of my MBA buddies borrow it of course!"
"I would suggest it to all business folks living in cubicleland!"
- Betsy Kreig, MBA
You can learn more by visiting www.drdewett.com.
 In Yes You Can! Everything You Need from A to Z to Influence Others to Take Action, Stacey Hanke reminds us that without effectively communicating our message, we inhibit our maximum potential to:
- Increase sales and profits.
- Cultivate long-term relationships.
- Prevent misunderstandings.
In fact, physical actions we all do unconsciously (that undermine our effectiveness and professional image) can get in the way of our potential.
Yes You Can explains the positive actions you can take to increase your impact and value to your peers, customers, and business associates. Stacey gives you immediate and practical tools to influence your listeners to take action on what you have to say and build stronger relationships. The face-to-face situations addressed throughout the book are the meetings you hold, the presentations you give to groups, the face-to-face hallway conversations you have, the conference calls, and any others when you are asking people to take action.
 Remarkable Leadership: Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One Skill at a Time by Kevin Eikenberry is a book written for all leaders, regardless of their tenure and experience. Actually, this isn't quite right. It is written for leaders who want to continue to improve, continue to advance, and continue to make a greater contribution as a leader.
If this defines you, this book will help you on your path towards remarkable success as a leader. This book outlines a framework and a mechanism for both learning new things and applying current knowledge in a thoughtful and practical way. It provides a guide through the most important leadership competencies, offers a proven method for learning leadership skills, and shows approaches for applying these skills in today's multitasking and overloaded world of work. The book explores real-world concerns such as focus, limited time, incremental improvement, and how we learn.
Specifically, the book offers a number of features that make it a "workshop in a book" as it was described by one reviewer. These features include:
- A self assessment at the start of each chapter to help you see where you stand on that competency. This assessment helps you read in a more effective and focused manner.
- Now Steps. Throughout each chapter there are sets of Now Steps - specific things that you can do to apply the ideas contained immediately in your work as a leader.
- Bonus Bytes. Readers are offered over 50 additional practical resources called Bonus Bytes - accessed from a special website with keywords provided in the book.
You can learn more about the book, and download excerpts and a sample chapter at http://RemarkableLeadershipBook.com.
 This is a practical, hands-on approach to building effective communications and reducing conflict across the generations. The book is full of case studies and practical experiences with recommendations for minimizing the gap across generations.
 The Intersection of Joy and Money, was named the most life-changing book of the year. The Intersection of Joy and Money helps you bring personal power to your relationship with money by taking five paths of self-discovery and self-actualization.
Path one consists of self-referencing and conscious choice. Path two is responsibility and reality. The third path is goals and strategies. Path four focuses on congruent action. And the fifth path is reassessment. By following the five paths and implementing the tools included in this workbook, money fantasies such as time is money and debt is bad are transformed into money truths. Use this workbook to create and enjoy your personal wealth. May you find more joy!
"I gave a copy of ‘The Intersection of Joy and Money' to my 19-year-old son for Christmas. It is difficult to get him to read anything unless it is related to cars. He ended up taking Mackey's book and the Dictionary with him to Europe. He said he'd be back in a year and that these are the two books he needs to ‘get smart.'" - Terri Bonar-Stewart
"Mackey is a great voice. The Intersection of Joy and Money is a true workbook that I have used…and that I have given to my clients to use…to become clear on the choices and patterns we have around money."
- Audrey Godwin, CPA & Founder, The Godwin Group
"I personally have been on a prosperity mission ever since reading Mackey's book. I've begun to explore where my old beliefs and patterns originated, and now I am creating healthier habits."
- Rosie Merkt, Reflexologist
'Mackey's book aligns with the greater wisdom of the world and what we teach in our Tantra Heart Yoga classes. Key concepts that involve living in the present moment, self responsibility, becoming aware of your energy body and creating dynamic power."
- Antoinette Asimus, Co-owner, Tantra Heart
You can learn more by visiting CultivatingProsperity.com.
 Kate Nelson and Stacy Aaron provide a tactical, step-by-step guide in changing organizations, implementing projects, and sustaining new ways. Human beings naturally resist change in any form, but when resistance begins eating into a company's performance and bottom line, managers and leaders find themselves floundering. This acclaimed pocket guide, The Change Management Pocket Guide: Tools for Managing Change, - an Amazon top-seller - gives the first ever tactical how-to on managing change.
Nelson and Aaron, whose deep consulting experience includes multinational Fortune 500 clients, have organized their spiral-bound guide into three clear sections: Plan Tools, Do Tools, and Sustain Tools. By using these tools and the many checklists, how-tos, and tips, organizational change becomes actions, not aspirations. (If you like this top-seller on Amazon, be sure to check out Nelson's and Aaron's book, The Eight Constants of Change.)
"Finally! A resource about HOW to manage change!...The tools are easy to use, thorough, and - most importantly - very effective. The Change Management Pocket Guide is an invaluable resource for anyone trying to drive change."
- L. Kennedy Jr., CFO, Health Carousel
"A great resource for anyone serious about change in a corporate environment... I highly recommend this guide."
- E. Barkley, performance consultant, Ed Barkley & Associates
"...the tools and tips in this book have become an important part of my approach...If you manage people and teams, if motivating and influencing others are critical to your success, then I suggest you buy one for your pocket - and for the pockets of everyone on your team!"
- S. Callihan, Amazon customer, Cincinnati, Ohio
 Kate Nelson and Stacy Aaron do it again (The Change Management Pocket Guide: Tools for Managing Change) by bringing simplicity and order to a complex topic: organizational change. While change is not easy, this straightforward and fun read makes learning about change a breeze.
The Eight Constants of Change outlines the fundamental truths about changing organizations and guiding leaders in achieving their manageable goals. Internationally known change agents Aaron and Nelson include tips on how to work with the eight constants, mitigate their impact, and use them to your advantage. By employing these eight constants of change, you'll immediately begin to see improvement in employee morale, efficiency, and your bottom line. Armed with the eight constants of change, leaders will more effectively and efficiently drive change and win.
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