Posted by Elena del Valle on October 12, 2012
The Power of Focus book cover
Photos: Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen
Ten years ago Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt combined their ideas and experiences about finding success in The Power of Focus. Their work, according to promotional materials, has influenced as many 750,000 people around the world.
“True success in life is based on results, not theories. Specific focused action is a lot more important than words,” said Hewitt. In relation to the audience for the book, he responded by email that “this would include business owners, entrepreneurs, managers, salespeople and anyone interested in their own professional and personal growth. Anyone who feels overwhelmed, scattered, always too much to do and never enough time or those who feel guilty because work seems to consume them and family time suffers. The book provides practical solutions for all of these issues.”
The Power of Focus How to hit your business, personal and financial targets with confidence and certainty tenth anniversary edition (Health Communications, Inc., $14.95), a 356-page book published last year, is divided into twelve sections. The three authors offer strategies, techniques and anecdotes they believe based on their experiences will lead readers to success. At the end of each section they included recommended action steps. They are convinced that people who adopt new habits are likely to see a difference in their results. They also included five case studies of successful business people who relied on their strategies on their way to the top.
Jack Canfield, co-author, The Power of Focus
“The Power of Focus 10th Anniversary edition is a highly recommended read for those who believe their lives matter, have determination to succeed and have the drive to do whatever it takes to achieve their personal and professional goals. This is a time in our history when clarity, planning and wisdom is necessary to survive,” said Canfield by email in response to the question of who would benefit from reading the book. “This book gives readers these tools to manifest and achieve their biggest goals, sharpening their skills to take on today’s challenges. If your life matters you will read this book and put it to work for you!”
Mark Victor Hansen, co-author, The Power of Focus
Canfield and Hansen are known as the creators of the Chicken Soup for the Soul. Hewitt is a Focus Coach.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on October 5, 2012
Rewired book cover
Photo: Camille Preston, Ph.D.
The availability of affordable portable electronics that allow workers to take their office, in part, with them wherever they go has revolutionized business and brought many benefits to companies of all sizes in most parts of the developed world. One of the side effects of electronic connectivity is that it has blurred the lines between personal and work time, and led many people to work outside what were formerly regular office hours.
Because tablets, smartphones, and laptops allow users access twenty-four hours a day year round many people are able to conduct business, respond to queries and urgent issues on the go, while traveling or commuting. It also means they do so past the time they are in their office. Often workers tap their smartphone keyboards, surf the internet, text, Tweet or update their Facebook wall while they speak with a colleague or client, have a phone conversation, attend meetings or conferences, shop and are at dinner with family and friends.
Camille Preston, Ph.D. (see Listen to podcast interview with Camille Preston, Ph.D., CEO, AIM Leadership, about rewiring for results) dedicates her working hours to assisting clients to fine turn their leadership skills. Based on her experience with clients and colleagues and research she has read she believes overuse of technology is stressing people out, producing a near addiction to the connectivity, and, in some cases, causing damage to their bodies and quality of life.
In Rewired How to Work Smarter, Live Better, and Be Purposefully Productive in an Overwired World (AIM Leadership, $12.99), she addresses these concerns and offers ideas for readers who want to seek a healthy balance between their personal and professional lives. She suggests ways for readers to improve important cognitive skills, take advantage of technology without letting it overwhelm them, and deliver results.
The 87-page softcover book published in 2011 is divided into five parts: Overwired, Unwiring, Rewiring for Wellness, Success, and Closing Thoughts. Preston, chief executive officer, AIM Leadership, is a psychologist and leadership coach.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on September 21, 2012
The Innovator’s Way book cover
Photos: The MIT Press
Many entrepreneurs may believe innovation, the adoption of change, leads to success. Data do not support that belief: The success rate for innovation initiatives is an unexpectedly low 4 percent, according to Business Week (2005).
Peter J. Denning and Robert Dunham, authors of The Innovator’s Way Essential Practices for Successful Innovation (The MIT Press,$29.95), 434-page hardcover book published in 2010, believe innovation is a personal skill that can be developed and expanded. They are of the opinion that there are innovation regularities that recur and make it possible to learn and practice the skills that foster innovation. They make a distinction between innovation and invention and clarify that invention doesn’t have to preclude innovation.
Denning and Dunham noticed two notable exceptions to the low innovation rate. They are individuals who are “serial innovators” with a higher than 50 percent success rate; and “collaboration networks” made up of volunteer groups with limited managerial oversight such as the internet, the World Wide Web and Linux.
The authors define eight personal practices they believe successful innovators share: sensing, envisioning, offering, adopting, sustaining, executing, leading, and embodying. Weakness in any of these, according to the authors, may lead to lack of innovation.
Peter Denning, co-author, The Innovator’s Way
In their book, divided into 16 chapters and four appendices, they outline the eight practices, how readers may apply them at an individual and group level. Their goal in writing the book is to present to readers an explanation of the way that they can develop a sensibility to innovation and learn the skills it requires through practice.
Robert Dunham, co-author, The Innovator’s Way
At the time the book was published, Denning was Distinguished Professor, chair, Computer Science Department, and director, Cebrowski Institute for Information Innovation and Superiority, Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Dunham founded the Institute for Generative Leadership, and Enterprise Performance, a consulting company.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on September 14, 2012
The State of Nonprofit America book cover
In The State of Nonprofit America Second Edition edited by Lester Salamon (Brookings Institution Press, $36.95 ), a 708-page softcover book, numerous researchers, analysts and academics examine the state of our country’s nonprofits. To make the publication of the book a reality Salamon partnered with the Aspen Institute’s Nonprofit Sector and Philanthropy Program.
Twenty-nine contributors (in the order in which they appear in the book) wrote the 19 chapters spread out into three main sections: Overview, Major Fields, and Major Challenges. They are: Bradford H. Gray, Mark Schlesinger, Donald M. Stewart, Pearl Rock Kane, Lisa Scruggs, Steven Rathgeb Smith, Stefan Toepler, Margaret J. Wyszomirski, Avis C. Vidal, Carmen Sirianni, Stephanie Sofer, Abby Stoddard, Mark Chaves, Elizabeth T. Boris, Mathew Maronick, Alan J. Abramson, Rachel McCarthy, Leslie Lenkowsky, Eleanor Brown, David Martin, Dennis R. Young, Mary Clark Grinsfelder, Kirsten A. Gronbjerg, Kevin P. Kearns, Atul Dighe, Marla Cornelius, Patrick Corvington, and Pascale Joassart-Marcelli.
Lester Salamon, editor, The State of Nonprofit America
“The greatest achievement of the second edition of The State of Nonprofit America is to identify four impulses that are shaping the future of America’s nonprofit sector and to assess the future options that face the sector as a consequence,” said Salamon by email.
Although there doesn’t seem to be an official finite number for nonprofits, in part because many are unincorporated and data is scarce, the editor estimates in the book that by the late 2000s there were nearly 2 million organizations divided into four subgroups: service and expressive; social welfare and lobbying; foundations and funders; and religious congregations.
Nonprofits, Salamon states at the beginning of the book, continue to struggle in an environment that emphasizes profits; and the forces of volunteerism, professionalism, civic activism, and commercialism shape the country’s nonprofit sector. Many of the organizations respond with resilience, creativity and resolve; and although most nonprofits are constantly squeezed between their organizational identity and their need to survive the nonprofit sector is robust, according to him. He argues that broader understanding and support are necessary in order to preserve the unique characteristics that make up the individual nonprofit organizations and allow them to thrive in the coming years.
Contrary to what many may believe, relatively few nonprofits represent the needs of minorities or the poor, according to Joassart-Marcelli, assistant professor in the Department of Geography, San Diego State University, and author of the final chapter. He indicates that a disproportionate number of nonprofits serve middle and high income individuals and communities with education, arts, culture, recreation and health amenities.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on September 7, 2012
Competency-Based Interviews, Revised Edition book cover
Many times in academic and business situations success hinges on test taking, interview taking and other skills that have little to do with the eventual employment, appointment or other opportunity a candidate applies for in a given situation. Why are some people selected and others with similar credentials rejected? Robin Kessler, a human resources consultant, believes that recognizing change and being able to adapt to it before others do increases the probability of succeeding.
In Competency-Based Interviews, Revised Edition: How to Master the Tough Interview Style Used by the Fortune 500s (Career Press, $14.99), a 223-page softcover book published this year, she discusses her ideas about behavioral interviews targeting relevant competencies.
The author strives to provide prospective interviewees an edge in an interview by helping them understand how human resources professionals approach interviewing and hiring, and anticipating what an interviewer may seek; recognizing the changes in interviewing that are being implemented at sophisticated organizations; pointing out to the decision makers how the interviewees competencies match their needs; and developing a plan to drive top performance during interviews.
In the 16-chapter book, she stresses the importance of thinking strategically. Three first steps she points out are to discover what it takes to win, doing the things required to win and being aware that what it takes to win may change. At the end of each chapter she summarizes the essence of the chapter in a question and answer format.
Kessler, president, The Interview Coach, a Texas based career consulting and human resources company, has 20 years of experience. She is author of Competency-Based Performance Reviews and co-author of Competency-Based Resumes.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on September 1, 2012
I’ll Have What She’s Having book cover
Photo: The MIT Press
In what ways does social learning shape human behavior? In other words, does what a friend or acquaintance think or say affect what someone does? If the well known scene of the movie When Harry Met Sally where Sally, while having lunch with Harry at a deli, fakes an orgasm in a loud way audible to her neighbors prompting one of the patrons of the deli to order “what she is having” from the waiter is to be believed social behavior is clearly impacted by the behavior of others.
Alex Bentley, Mark Earls and Michael J. O’Brien believe that social learning affect social behavior in a variety of ways, expending from an individual outward to a community and population. In I’ll Have What She’s Having Mapping Social Behavior (The MIT Press, $22.95), a book with an an academic tone published last year, they describe their ideas about social learning and its impact on society. They believe that many people are lazy, relying on others to think and store knowledge.
The book, they say in the Preface, is meant to provide a human behavior map to readers. According to the authors, people are “beset with emotions and cognitive biases, and much of the time we avoid thinking altogether” instead of the calculating and rational beings some like to believe they are. The social nature of evolution and behavior affects culture, especially among masses of people in modern times, they say.
Social learning drives the spread of culture and human behavior and diffuses innovations, according to the authors. To understand the learning patterns they identified three models: diffusion, cascades and undirected copying. The 146-page hardcover book is divided into seven chapters: Out of the Trees; Rules of the Game; Copying Brain, Social Mind; Social Learning en Masse; Cascades; When in Doubt, Copy; and Mapping Collective behavior.
Bentley is professor of anthropology and archeology at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom. Earls is a London-based author and marketing consultant. O’Brien, dean, College of Arts and Science, professor of anthropology and director of the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Missouri.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on August 24, 2012
The Power of Communication book cover
Photo Helio Fred Garcia: Newman Communications
To be successful leaders must posses outstanding communication skills. That is the firm belief of Helio Fred Garcia, executive director, Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership. To master the skill of effective communication a leader must reach his or her audience where they are, he says.
In The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively (FT Press, $26), published this year, he explains his thinking. He relies in part for his theories on Warfighting, the Marine Corps strategy doctrine military manual.
Communication has power that must be harnessed to keep it from backfiring, he says at the beginning of the book. At the same time, he believes that many of the principles necessary to lead armed forces are applicable to the discipline of public communication.
His goal in writing the book was to convert the Warfighting ideas into guidelines leaders can rely on for effective communication; share best practices lessons he has learned over his extensive years as a leadership consultant; and outline prominent case studies of communication failures and successes. Among the failures he cites Tony Hayward’s ineffectual handling of the 2010 BP Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster and spill. He closes, in Chapter 10, with Nine Principles of Effective Leadership Communication.
Helio Fred Garcia, author, The Power of Communication
“Age by itself is not necessarily an issue, but generational temperament is. One of the core principles (Principle No. 2) is that if we are to move people, we need to meet them where they are. That includes knowing what they care about, knowing how they prefer to be engaged, and even knowing what their capacity is for engagement,” Garcia said by email in response to a question about the possible role of age or generation on the principles he proposes.
“One of the key drivers of engagement is attention span, and we’re finding that generations that have grown up with technology and television tend to have a shorter attention span than prior generations. So leaders need to adapt to be able to reach them. The generation that is growing up with social media is a multi-tasking generation. So leaders have a particular challenge engaging them. For example, in the book I point to research showing that there’s no such thing as multi-tasking. There’s only serial micro-tasking. But two tasks aren’t done simultaneously: when someone is doing one thing, he or she is not doing the other thing. But folks toggle in and out of each activity very quickly. That’s why distracted driving is such a problem. And also why leaders need to adapt their engagement strategy to deal with those who would otherwise be inclined to be easily distracted.”
In response to a question about the applicability of the concepts in his book to diverse audiences he responded: “Per the prior question, the key to moving people is meeting them where they are. I do a lot of work with religious groups, with students and clients in other cultures, in other countries, and and in other languages. The principles don’t change, but what is necessary to connect given cultural, linguistic, emotional, or spiritual concerns does.
I have taught these principles on five continents and in dozens of countries, and I have found that the principles work. But how they are executed is culturally varied. When I work with religious leaders (wherever I may be) I focus on authenticity and living our values. When I work with corporate leaders I focus on what works. When I work with academics I focus on what research shows.
But even within these groups there are further cultural issues. For example, when I’m teaching government leaders in China I don’t prescribe. I don’t say ‘Here’s what you should do if you want to accomplish X…’ Rather, I say, ‘Here’s what we know works in the United States. It would be inappropriate for me to presume that it works here, but if you find it useful I would be very gratified…’ That usually has people smiling and nodding their heads.
I find that audiences whose first language is not English have embraced the book. For example, last week I heard from students in an MBA program in Santiago, Chile, who are reading the book. They were assigned to do a class presentation on it, and they reached out to me for materials. Is sent them some slides, and a video introduction I recorded in Spanish. And I’ll be speaking about the book next month in Lima at the International Public Relations Association’s Latin American Congress and Global Conference. I will be doing introductions in both Spanish and Portuguese.”
The 295-page hardcover book is divided into ten chapters and three main parts: Leadership and Communication: Connecting with Audiences; Strategy and Communication: Planning and Execution (one chapter long); and Building Skills: Getting Good at Communicating Well.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on August 17, 2012
Networked book cover
Photo:The MIT Press
Lee Rainie, director, Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project and Barry Wellman, S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, University of Toronto believe digital communications via social media and smart phones, contrary to what others fear, are expanding learning opportunities, problem solving, decision making and personal relationships.
In Networked The New Social Operating System (The MIT Press, $29.95), published this year, they discuss the triple revolution they are convinced is transforming society in North America, sometimes for the better. The revolution the describe involves social networking, the internet and mobile digital devices.
At the beginning of the book, they illustrate what they see as the power of the revolution with the case of a couple who suffered from serious medical issues and thanks to their network of friends and acquaintances who knew them from professional and personal relationships asked for and received emotional and financial support. The authors believe people are now functioning within “networked individualism” that connects them to others in their circle of contacts in a novel way made possible by the triple revolution.
The 358-page hardcover book is divided into three sections: The Triple Revolution, How Networked Individualism Works, and How to Operate in a Networked World, Now and in the Future; and eleven chapters. In the final chapter, they discuss the future of networked individualism and their belief that social networks will play greater roles in people’s activities as well as the four areas they anticipate will be the source for issues relating to networked individualism in the future: internet, legislative, norms of social behavior within the network and technological commerce and related issues such as devices and apps.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on August 3, 2012
Customers First book cover
Photos: Newman Communications
What drives your customers? How do you create a brand that attracts loyal, profitable customers to your business? The correct answers to these questions could ensure the success of a company.
Bolivar J. “BJ” Bueno, founder and managing partner, The Cult Branding Company believes that most businesses struggle because they are not clear on the identity of their target customer; that they can’t rely on market research and focus groups for the answers because 90 percent of consumer behavior is unconscious; and that customers today are empowered, skeptical and educated consumers.
In Customers First: Dominate Your Market by Winning Them Over Where It Counts the Most (McGraw-Hill Professional, $26), his newly published 218-page hardcover book, he examines the strategic competitive advantage he believes comes from a complete, comprehensive understanding of a brand’s best customers. The book is divided into twelve chapters and four main parts, Introduction: Things Have Changed; Modeling Defined; Building Your Brand Model; and Deploying Your Model.
Bolivar J. Bueno, author, Customers First
Bueno says in the first chapter that there is no longer business as usual and that newcomers have to create a new normal. Customer awareness and loyalty, he explains in the next chapter, is what creates and expands a brand. Developing a great Brand Model, he says later in the book, requires time and adherence to that model. The author believes that effective predictions of consumer behavior helps make companies and their products or services dominant in the market.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on July 13, 2012
Cubans book cover
Photos: Facts About Cuban Exiles
Six women and twenty-five men contributed forty essays to Cubans: An Epic Journey (Reedy Press, $27.92), a 782-page softcover book with a 16-page photo section about their impressions of the South Florida Cuban exile experience from the 1950s until today published with the support of Facts About Cuban Exiles (FACE) with the sponsorship of John S. and James L. Knight, The Armando Codina Family, First Bank of Miami, Carlos Migoya, and Riteway Properties.
In the Introduction, the authors say that Cubans in the United States represent 3.5 percent of the Hispanic American population or approximately 1.8 million people. They explain that the largest concentration of Cubans (55 percent) lives in Greater Miami, Florida and describe the Miami community as having established a “parallel mainstream” where they “can sustain a refined culture – creating and preserving its own music, food, literature, theater, cinema, radio and television.”
Sam Verdeja and Guillermo Martinez, editors, Cubans
The work was edited by Sam Verdeja, a magazine publisher, and Guillermo Martinez, a print and broadcast journalist. In addition to Verdeja and Martinez, Cesar Pizarro, a newspaper executive, Howard Kleinberg a newspaper editor, Louise O’ Brien, a business executive, Leonardo Rodriguez, a university professor and Francisco Rodriguez, a broadcast commentator participated in the project. Other contributors include Jose Cancela, Eloy Cepero, Raul Chao, Juan Clark, Olga Connor, Carlos Curbelo, Rogelio de la Torre, Sonia Frias, Jose Garrigo, Armando Gonzalez, Jose Irastorza, Federico Justiniani, Aida Levitan, Roly Martin, Rene Murai, Olga Nodarse, Marcos Antonio Ramos, Alejandro Rios, Raul Rodriguez, Rene Rodriguez, Silvia Unzueta, Enrique Viciana, Alberto Vilar, and Eduardo Zayas-Bazan.
The book is divided into 39 chapters in two major sections, The History in the first 16 chapters and The Exile Experience in the remaining chapters, as well as an Epilogue and five appendices. The second section of the book is subdivided into Business and Finance; Arts, Entertainment, and Religion; Media and Advertising; Professionals; and Political, Civic and Social Life.
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