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Leading Change

5 stars (Great Business Manual!) - This book is a great business manual for executives at all levels. Another book I really enjoyed to read was "The Wal-Mart Way". It was very insightful and had many good ideas for bulding a strong company. 5 stars (Solid Principles for Growth) - I was a little concerned when I started reading this title, wondering if it would apply to churches as well as corporations. I was not disappointed. Kotter's ideas here are valid for any organization that is in the change process. The author's eight steps are nuggets of truth that will help pastors as well as CEOs. I recommend this book highly for pastors of growing, changing congregations. 5 stars (Packed with Knowledge!) - The picture on the cover of John P. Kotter's book tells it all: a group of penguins are shuffling their feet nervously on an icy precipice, while one brave bird leaps for the water below. The question is, which penguin are you? In too many organizations, executives shy away from the precipice, while someone lower down in the pecking order jumps in to test the landing conditions. Kotter says managers and leaders are quite different. A manager, he explains, is trained to think in a linear, one-two-three, risk-limiting way. Transformational change, however, can only be attained when true leaders push forward on several fronts at once - eight of them to be exact. Every successful change initiative begins with a coalition of leaders who create a sense of urgency. Kotter's book stems from a 1995 Harvard Business Review article titled, " Leading Change : Why Transformation Efforts Fail." It will probably sound hauntingly familiar to managers who have watched change initiatives begin in the front courtyard with a marching band and end a few months later, ushered out the back door like a diner who can't pay the tab. If you want to know why your last change initiative fizzled, we say read this book. Better yet, study it to ensure that your next leap of faith is a flying succe...
Harvard Business School Press :: Structural Adjustment :: Strategic planning :: Organizational change :: Organization Development :: Leadership In Business :: Leadership :: Industrial organizatio :: Leading Change

 

Lean Thinking - Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation- Revised and Updated

5 stars (Start eliminating waste!) - Buy this book, and pull up a stool! Thanks to Lean Thinking, I'm shedding waste right now. Wow! It's explosive! 4 stars (Impression of "Lean Thinking" as a Business Tool) - I found the book to be quite informative, applicable to any business, and a "must have" in our company library and in any company laying claim to being a "learning organization." 2 stars (Basic Basic Basic) - This book offered very little new information other than the basics that any of us who have ever done process improvement already know. Although the authors mention how Lean works in non-manufacturing environments, their examples are almost purely manufacturing. Not a bad read for a college student, but a waste of time for practitioners. Totally an introduction. ...
Free Press :: Business & Economics & General :: Value added :: Strategic Planning :: Organizational effectiveness :: Organization Development :: Management - General :: Ind :: Lean Thinking - Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation- Revised and Updated

 

Developing Management Skills 6th Edition

5 stars (Excelent) - I'm stduying this book in the MBA program, i think it is in one word excelent. Since I'm reading it i feel i can see myself in a mirror and at the same time i have found in the book the necesary guide in order to design my personal management skill improve program. It is a must at your personal library 5 stars (Extremely Useful and Practical Guide to Effective Management) - This book has been widely adopted and is now in its sixth edition because it has proven to be a valuable and effective text for people who want to think about what skills go into being an effective manager, how to develop them, and what are the practical means of application. The book is divided into four parts: Part 1 - Personal Skills Part 2 - Interpersonal Skills Part 3 - Group Skills Part 4 - Specific Communication Skills Part 1 starts with developing self-awareness, then discusses managing personal stress, and concludes with approaches to solving problems analytically and creatively. Part 2 starts with coaching, counseling, and supportive communication, then discusses gaining power and influence, motivating others, and concludes with managing conflict. Part 3 starts with empowering and delegating, then building effective teams and teamwork, and concludes with leading positive change. Part 4 is a series of helpful supplements and appendices on making oral and written presentations, conducting interviews, and an extremely useful section on conducting meetings based upon material by John Tropman from the University of Michigan. I had Prof. Tropman for my required class on Organizational Behavior and it was a highlight in my program. He covered some of this material in that class and it makes wonderful sense. He often says that you can use this material to cover as little as you do now, but in half the time. What I particularly like is that each chapter opens with one or more assessments to help the student / reader think in a personal way about his or her thoughts, beli...
Prentice Hall :: Business & Economics & Systems & Planning :: Strategic Planning :: Management Science :: Leadership :: Entrepreneurship :: Business&Economics :: Business & Econom :: Developing Management Skills (6th Edition)

 

Strategic Human Resource Management with InfoTrac

Strategic Human Resource Management (with InfoTrac) ...
South-Western College Pub :: Business & Economics & Human Resources & Personnel Management :: Strategic planning :: Organizational effectiveness :: Labor productivity :: Human capital :: Hu :: Strategic Human Resource Management (with InfoTrac)

 

Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations- A Practical Guide and Workbook- 2nd Edition

Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide and Workbook, 2nd Edition...
John Wiley - Sons Inc :: Business & Economics & Finance :: Business & Economics-Strategic Planning :: Business & Economics-Nonprofit Organizations & Charities :: Jude Kaye :: Michael :: Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations- A Practical Guide and Workbook- 2nd Edition

 

The Business of Software- What Every Manager- Programmer- and Entrepreneur Must Know to Thrive and S

5 stars (Truly the book that every software entrepreneur should read) - In many ways this is the book I had been trying to find for years. There are many good books on starting up companies, and high-tech companies in particular but not much good literature specifically about the software industry as a whole. This books focuses on software as a business and how the industry really works. I am managing a start-up software business and the information in this book is invaluable as it really changed my thinking about what the company is, how it operates, and what it takes to become a success. If you come from a technical background, and starting or thinking of starting a business, then this book is a must-read. 5 stars (A Great Read) - This review is also available on my blog: DLS Thoughts . I just finished reading "The Business of Software" from Michael Cusumano. Overall a well written book on the fundamentals of the software industry. The book focuses essentially on the analysis of the business model for a software company. There isn't really anything striking new in Cusumano's analysis of software companies' business model, but the author does a good job in outlining the choices offered to software companies and how their business model will have to mature as companies and technologies mature. Essentially, there are 3 choices for a software company: * A pure product play (Some would argue that with the advance of open source and the broad adoption that it has been getting lately, that pure plays are getting much more difficult). * A mix of products and services. * A pure service play. I found very interesting Cusumano's analysis of a typical enterprise software company revenue over the course of a five year business lifecycle. For every 1 dollar of product license fees, $2.15 dollars can be derived from services and maintenance. That's more than 70% of the cumulated company revenue. In many cases, services on sold products end up being a life insurance aga...
Free Press :: Strategic Planning :: Industries - Computer Industry :: Business & Economics & Finance :: Business & Economics-Strategic Planning :: Business & Economics-Indu :: The Business of Software- What Every Manager- Programmer- and Entrepreneur Must Know to Thrive and S

 

Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations- A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining O

4 stars (Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement, 3) - This is a great strategic planning text book for government employees. If you are an executive officer in your organization this can bridge the corporate theory and application of strategic planning with how public organizations operate. 5 stars (finance organization) - I ordered this book for finance staff vp's at the request of the Exec VP. They have rated it highly 4 stars (Wonderful Strategic Planning Tool) - I found this text to be a useful tool in understanding the strategic planning process. It was especially helpful due towards the public/nonprofit focus. ...
Jossey-Bass :: Political Science-Public Affairs & Administration :: Business & Economics & Finance :: Business & Economics-Strategic Planning :: Business & Economics-Nonpr :: Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations- A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining O

 

Serious Play- How the World-s Best Companies Simulate to Innovate

4 stars (Readable User-Friendly Book on Innovation) - I am enjoying this book. I like the title "Serious Play", but I dislike the sub-title "How the World's Best Companies Simulate to Innovate". Companies don't innovate people do is my thought. I think the author could have taken this concept one step further. That is tie in the concepts of how innovation relates to chaos theory and fractals and larger concepts. The author's ideas are not that new to me because I am a project manager in a software engineering environment where prototyping and iterations is the name of the game. We have at most 3 months to make a difference, to deliver and then we are swept into the ocean of change. You have a small window of opportunity before both the game and the players change. I think that the world may be on the verge of moving so fast that we begin to see things like the wiki, open source culture in that it takes all of us innovating collectively in serious play. Long term I wonder if you are not free, workable and now, you are not in the game. Some concepts for me are: 1) Importance of being able to improvise in the moment 2) Prototyping both reveals the underlying power cutural structures and changes them. 3) Human beings are relationship morphing entities. 4) the importance of shared collaboration space that invite clever interactions between people. 5) Treating prototypes as conversation pieces 6) Watch for the underlying feeling of geniune fun 7) The importance of the challenge or obstacles to the game 8) We shape our models, our models shape us 9) "In order to have actionable meaning, the fuzzy mental models ... must be externalized in representations in ways... that can be grasped" 10) Prototypes force individuals to confront the tyranny of tradeoffs (i.e. difficult decisions) 11) "All models are attempt to manage the complexity by making it simpler and more accessible" While the text is very readable I had trouble pulling out the underlying structure of the b...
Harvard Business School Press :: Technology :: Technological Innovations :: Strategic Planning :: Simulation methods :: Nanotechnology :: Models and model making :: Management :: Decision Making & :: Serious Play- How the World-s Best Companies Simulate to Innovate

 

Book of Five Rings - The Classic Guide to Strategy

4 stars (Book of 5 rings) - The Book of Five Rings is indeed a great book to read. It has many functional applications that we can use even to this date. 4 stars (Musashi really understood strategy) - I read this book via download, translated by Victor Harris, but they can't be that different! It is roughly organized, appears to be random thoughts, and uses some figures of speech that can be difficult to understand, but is a masterpiece in it's own class. It's amazing how many people and entire cultures have moulded their philosophy of combat and even business around these precepts. This is a short, easily read book that moves along pretty quickly. It cuts to the chase almost immediately though, and doesn't back off. Well worth the meager price. 5 stars (great book ) - This is a great book for the swordsman,samurai enthusiast,or anyone who wants insite into the spiritual history of japan.It contains helpful advice for anyone looking to better their life and overcome fear. ...
Gramercy :: Self-Help & General :: Sale Books :: Swordplay :: Strategic Planning :: Sale Books - Adult :: Personal Growth - Success :: Military art and science :: Military Scie :: Book of Five Rings - The Classic Guide to Strategy