Reviews (2)

Megachurch Movement Gains Stature--Maybe
Chapter 3 on religion (mostly megachurches) is worth the price of the book. The authors call it the third side of their triangle, and perhaps the best "example of how to appeal to anxious Americans in this era of change."A sidebar, "Selling Coffee and God," describes a Vienna, Va., in-church Starbucks.
A Contemporary, Inspirational and Thought-provoking Book that Everyone Should Read

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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Case studies    5. Development - Business Development    6. Leadership    7. Leadership In Business    8. Organizational change    9. Political Process - General    10. Political Process - Leadership    11. U.S. - Contemporary Politics    12. United States    13. Business & Economics / Development & Growth   

Reviews (9)

Help is on the way!
As a reading coach and future administrator, I found this book extremely helpful. The activities that are included for each of the 5 dysfunctions are very useful and vary from touchy-feely to down-to-business. I've already used some of them on a particularly dysfunctional team and the team is starting to evolve. This is a great tool!

How to get the most from a team
Having read Lenconi's first book, a parable titled "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team", I was curious about this follow up title.I believe this book is better than the original title because it provides practical solutions.Lenconi recommends disclosure of a childhood vulnerability that you overcame as a starting point for building trust.Overcoming self interest by keeping common goals visible to the team is also recommended.I highly recommend this book along with Optimal Thinking: How To Be Your Best Self (to teach teams how to consistently maximize situations) and Winning (to teach leaders how to put principles into practice).

A Review by Dirk Davis
Lencioni begins the discussion concerning overcoming the five dysfunctions of a team by asking two questions that should be asked BEFORE any team building effort:
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Development - Business Development    5. Management    6. Management - General    7. Management - Teams    8. Organization Development    9. Teams in the workplace    10. Business & Economics / Management    11. Management & management techniques   

Editorial Review

Five years ago, Jim Collins asked the question, "Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?" In Read more

Features

• Unabridged

Reviews (482)

Superb!
This is the best book I have read in regards to successful business.If you work in the corporate world, this is a must read.It is based on five years of research, and the author doesn't try to prove anything other than that which the facts prove.I am reading it for the fourth time now and draw more from it each time.Again, a must read.

Good to Great review from Steven Vornea
Every single person needs to read this book and just buy it! This book can be a life changer for people.
One of the best business books out there
Jim Collins puts forward one of the great concepts in business...and in life...that getting the right people in the right situations is the best staple of great leadership.Collins' message can be applied to any situation (business, sports, education, etc.).He has an engaging writing style and uses a wide variety of companies to illustrate his central theme of leadership as leading to great success.Collins also illustrates the great importance of a humble leader, one who gives of him/herself for the betterment of the system as a whole.This was a fascinating read, and you will close the book with a great deal of insight into how you run both your professional and personal life.A terrific, terrific read.In fact, I have gone back and begun to read Built to Last, which is actually the prequel to Good to Great.I honestly could not recommend this book more than I do. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Business/Professional    2. Business & Economics    3. Business Organization    4. Business/Economics    5. Corporate & Business History - Strategies    6. Development - Business Development    7. Executive Management    8. Leadership    9. Management - General    10. Organizational change    11. Strategic planning    12. Unabridged Audio - Business/Professional    13. Business & Economics / Management   

Reviews (41)

Effect of The Distribution of Advocacy Scores
By definition, the net promoter score is the percentage of respondents falling into the 9-10 range minus the percentage falling into the 0-6 range.Consequently, very different distributions of advocacy scores can yield the same net promoter score; for example, all of the response distributions shown below yield net promoter scores of 40.
Good book.. Very interesting
Good book. I think it is important that the author comments that the ultimate question could be different depending on the industry or product/service. Worth the read!

An Easy Read With Great Content
I read the original Harvard Business Review article, and thought I understood the concept.However, reading the book was inspiring, and I applied the concepts to our business immediately.The NPS methodology is so simple, but so powerful.The original aim of the method is to evaluate customer satisfaction, but I also recently applied it to reference checking for a job candidate.By asking if the reference would recommend that their best friend go to work for this candidate, I was able to build a surprisingly helpful picture of the leadership qualities of the individual under consideration.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Consumer satisfaction    5. Corporate Finance    6. Customer Service    7. Customer loyalty    8. Customer relations    9. Development - Business Development    10. Employee Training And Development    11. Management - General    12. Management & management techniques   

Reviews (4)

Book Review
Good overview on what you need to consider before you start your own business.

It's... OK.
The presentation of this book is excellent; It holds the reader's interest quite well. However, despite a recent "update", it shows it's age when the author regularly goes off on dot-com tangents, bringing the internet up in contexts that I believe the last few years have proven are not viable. Good grief, ppl. This isn't freaking 1997! We need a business text, not the wet dreams of a bunch of computer geeks turned businessmen! Anyways, if you are looking for a text with a lot of depth, look elsewhere. This book is to business textbooks what Quickbooks(c)(R)(TM) is to accounting software. In short, don't waste your money, unless you need it for a class. If so, be happy. If your prof teaches out of this, your tests will be very easy.

Very Good book for small businesses
It is good and it has a lot of tips to be succesfull in your business. It is easy to read and understand and it has many web sites addreses. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Management - General    5. Business & Economics / Small Business    6. Business & Management   

Reviews (11)

Amazing
This book provides answers to unanswered questions and goes into subjects not covered in Fashion School. ;) I would sugest this book to any on in the fashion industry or still in school.It will help you grasp a better understanding of the when, why, and how things are done.

This is a great book for someone starting out
This book is ideal for someone coming into the industry with little to no knowledge. It provides a lot of tips to help one avoid re-inventing the wheel.

The Fashion Designer Survival Guide
my friend, for whose birthday i purchased this book, is delighted and learning so much needed info. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Career/Job    4. Careers - General    5. Careers - Other Specific Fields    6. Entrepreneurship    7. Fashion    8. Fashion designers    9. Fashion merchandising    10. Management    11. New Business Enterprises    12. Business & Economics / General    13. Fashion & beauty industries    14. Fashion design    15. Small businesses & self-employed   

Reviews (123)

Best business book (of many) I've read for startups!
I'm a bit of a business book junkie, and this one is my favorite so far.It's up there on top with 7 Habits and Guerrilla Marketing.I've recommended it to several friends and family members since reading it cover to cover like a novel this weekend.If there was ONE single book I'd recommend to any startup business entrepreneur, it would be this one.
Inspirational, funny and smart
What a great read this book is! It can be read just for the fun of understanding Kawasaki's personality, his open approach to business, or it can be read as a primer of how to really start that business. Obviously the man's words are well field-tested and there are many practical suggestions that really cut to the bone and make you stop and rethink a strategy.
Practical advice from the master
It's very apparent from all the other reviews that this is an excellent book, both in style and substance. I have to agree.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business/Economics    3. Entrepreneurship    4. Investments & Securities - General    5. New Business Enterprises    6. Small Business Management    7. Small Business/Entrepreneurship    8. Business & Economics / Small Business   

Reviews (204)

Gerber has another winner!
Heard a great CD program, THE E-MYTH REVISITED: WHY MOST
In Defense
About the Hupalo's reveiw...
Gerber Knows His Stuff
I'm an engineer.I had the E-myth stuck in my head.I KNEW how to run a business, therefore I could run a successful business.
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Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Business/Economics    3. Entrepreneurship    4. Management    5. Management - General    6. Small Business - General    7. Small Business Management    8. Small Business/Entrepreneurship    9. Small business    10. Success in business    11. Business & Economics / General    12. Small businesses & self-employed   

Reviews (4)

Product Marketing Professionals - BUY THIS BOOK!
The PDMA Handbook is one of those rare and valuable books that characterizes a "body of knowledge" for a professional discipline. It was produced by the preeminent industry organization for New Product Development (NPD) professionals, the PDMA .... This text describes current, best practices in NPD and includes contributions from knowledge leaders in academia, consulting, and industry practice. If you are a CEO, COO, CTO, Marketing Manager, Product Manager, Product Planner, Engineering Manager, Project Manager, Program Manager, or any other professional involved in new product development (especially for technically complex products like hardware and software) you really need this book. This book should have been read when it was published!
This book seem to be written by persons who really know what NPD (or NPI) really is. All those described mistakes possible to be done is made by me during last five years...this is a good book. Wonderful!
I purchased the PDMA Handbook on the strength of a review and have been very glad I did so.After quoting a few passage to my staff they began to borrow it, and now the Handbook has made the rounds of the office.It isworn and dog-eared, and quoted from on a daily basis.Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Development - Business Development    5. Engineering - Industrial    6. Handbooks, manuals, etc    7. Management    8. New products    9. Product management    10. Quality Control    11. United States    12. Business & Economics / Development & Growth    13. Research & development management   

Editorial Review

Sometime during the last 30 years, the service economy emerged as the dominant engine of economic activity. At first, critics who were uncomfortable with the intangible nature of services bemoaned the decline of the goods-based economy, which, thanks to many factors, had increasingly become commoditized. Successful companies, such as Nordstrom, Starbucks, Saturn, and IBM, discovered that the best way to differentiate one product from another--clothes, food, cars, computers--was to add service.Read more

Reviews (32)

How to Sell the Sizzle
Authors B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore look at the ways that corporations create engaging experiences for their customers to boost sales. They amass examples that confirm the developing trend toward an "Experience Economy." Their premise is that the post-industrial economy has evolved beyond delivering commodities and services, and is now poised to deliver "experiences." These experiences can include everything from a meal at a theme restaurant to a Disneyland vacation. The premise is interesting, but before you hit the trend button, realize that this is not the first time marketers have courted customers with powerful retail experiences. However, it may be the first time sellers have used virtual reality and Hollywood-style animated props. This intellectually interesting book dares to be far out and to pursue the concept of engaging customers to its extremes. We recommend this book to business owners or marketers more as a theoretical introduction to the "Experience Economy" than as a marketing manual. If you feel intrigued and engaged, that's the point. For more information, please refer to Disney World.

Curtain-Call Economics
Wow!I was so fascinated with this insightful book that I coined the above phrase.Curtain-call economics is the thrust of this book.How would your customer describe his experience with your company?How entertaining, how engaging, how educational and how beautiful was his experience?This book is chock-full of real-life examples of how to capitalize in this new arena comprising our economy.First there arose an industrial era, then a service era, now, an experiential era.With all types of services abounding and ubiquitous, your differentiation will be in providing the superior experience.This book categorically and metaphorically allies you with the absolute fundamentals for positioning your establishment for success.So, in keeping with one of the teachings of this book on building suspense, I will just say that there is an era immediately following this 'experience' economy that is delineated with much delight at the conclusion of the book.

More Exciting Than it Sounds
With a title like "The Experience Economy" and a tagline that reads "Work is Theatre and Every Business a Stage," one would think this would be an exciting and daring book on innovative business strategies. Daring it most certainly is; the metaphor comparing work to theatre is adventurous and eye-opening. But it is also overdrawn, and is rooted too much in theory and not so much in practical example. A particular disappointment was that the book did not really address how online businesses can create experiences for their clients; it is geared primarily towards offline busineses. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Customer services    5. Development - Business Development    6. Diversification in industry    7. Entrepreneurship    8. Marketing - Product Management    9. Product Management    10. Business strategy    11. Sales & marketing   

Reviews (4)

A good "door" to be opened by those interested for Innovation
A collection of reviews in Innovation Strategies/Policies/Theories/Practices some of them related with case studies in big companies.
state of the art on innovation
I'm searching for new ways to develop an entrepreneurial area at the university, and this book gave us more tools and knowledge to center in creativity rather than business plan the entrepreneurial curricula.
A Good Introduction to Innovation
While by no means a great book, this collection of articles on innovation from the Harvard Business Review is a good introduction to the art of innovation, as it is written in a simple but effective style. The articles also address the topic of innovation in a variety of ways, thus ensuring that almost everyone will find something useful that is written in a style conducive to their preferences.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Development - Business Development    5. Entrepreneurship    6. Organizational change    7. Organizational effectiveness    8. Structural Adjustment    9. Technological innovations    10. Project management   

Reviews (18)

Interesting perspective on business
Having owned a manufacturing business for 15 years, I was always focused on growth. Recently sold the business, and now looking for next venture/opportunity.
Big bright stories about small great companies
Some companies intentionally stay small so that they can be the best at what they do. In the world of globalization, these companies oppose the trend toward unbridled growth. They want to be strong, local and contained. Magazine writer and author Bo Burlingham provides profiles, or "field reports," covering 14 "small giants" - companies whose hands-on leaders kept them small, involved in their communities and focused on quality. Burlingham sometimes takes you up close and personal with his characters, so you read about their divorces, kids, personal finances and how long they worked in the stock room, as well as about the history of their companies. This magazine-style level of personal detail makes it clear that his mission isn't to teach you how to run a small giant, but to explore the nature of locally rooted, passionately led, deliberately small companies. We find that the author's focus on unique privately held companies is very valuable for the leaders of small businesses, especially those who are deciding just how big they want their companies to become.

There Are No Formulas for Greatness But Many Paths
Bo Burlingham, the best reporter on small business working today,has provided us a valuable insight by looking deeply at what makes some small companies great -- and telling us why this is important.I first read this book in February and decided it was worth a second read so I put it on that stack of select books. I recently completed a careful second read.I found it to be a much better book than I anticipated.Most business books can be skimmed and the usually obvious 'lessons' cataloged quickly but "Small Giants" needs to be read carefully.The lessons readers take away will vary according to their interests and point of view.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business Ethics    4. Business Organization    5. Business/Economics    6. Close corporations    7. Leadership    8. Management    9. Management - General    10. Private companies    11. Small Business - General    12. Small business    13. United States    14. Business & Economics / Small Business   

Reviews (11)

Almost Perfect
Everything written is a bullseye with the exception of glaring ignorance regarding Six Sigma - what it is and isn't.What is written relative to Lean here should be taken verbatim as applying to Six Sigma also - there is no difference.Similarly, the written characterizations of Six Sigma should be ignored.To quote Senji Nihwa, Taiichi Ohno's lieutenant at Toyota for decades, in a good-natured ribbing, "You Americans, always trying to categorize things.Call it Lean, call it Six Sigma, it makes no difference to us...it's all the same."And so it is.
Thumbs up!
Thumbs up, but I'd recommend you attend his workshops over the book if the opportunity presents itself.
Highly Recomended for anyone interested in Product Development
For anyone interested in the next stage of Product Development -- this is a must read.The Toyota system encorporates what I felt has been missing in the product development process for so long.It takes into account the chaos that exists during development and actually encourages it instead of covering it up.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Development - Business Development    5. Economics - General    6. History Of Specific Companies    7. New Product Development    8. Production & Operations Management   

Editorial Review

Imagine running into the ultimate management mentor late one night on an otherwise deserted commuter train, and walking away from the strange encounter with an encapsulated guide to success in the corporate world. That's exactly what screenwriter and business coach Patrick Lencioni has done in Read more

Reviews (51)

Excellent quick read - for those of us born to be leaders! :)
This was a great fable. It was a quick read, with complex concepts boiled down to such SIMPLE terms. 5 temptations! In the right order. I really enjoyed them. It was not however too simple for serious business leaders to read and think about. Great read!

Hotshot CEO learns effective leadership principles from nutty janitor
Hotshot CEO learns effective leadership principles from nutty janitor
This book was a good one but.
His book on building teams was better and more realistic than this one. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Chief executive officers    5. Didactic fiction    6. Entrepreneurship    7. Fables    8. Fiction    9. Leadership    10. Popular American Fiction    11. Small Business - General    12. Special Subjects In Literature    13. Business & Economics / Small Business    14. Management & management techniques   

Reviews (8)

Wast of time and money
This book is a wast of time and money. Basically you get the forms but no way to change them to suit your business. The CD is is Adobe and you are unable to do aany modification to the form, just print as is. Also, the Adobe reader included on the CD is corupted, and you have to get it elsware if you need it.
Must-have for anyone preparing for a career in food service
The Encyclopedia of Restaurant Training is a no-nonsense, thorough resource covering the necessary training for all positions in the food service industry, from professional chef to maitre d to bartender and much more. Written in clear, easy-to-understand terms and charts spelling out explicit training instructions, and illustrated with some diagrams (such as a picture of how to properly set a formal table), The Encyclopedia of Restaurant Training spares no effort to be as understandable as possible. No background knowledge in any trade is needed to grasp explicit instructions ranging from a step-by-step breakdown of the hostess job to the proper order of service for a luncheon handout to how one can go about creating a memorable presentation to food service employees, and much more. A CD-ROM accompanies this absolute must-have for anyone preparing for a career in food service, or charged with the responsibility of training food service recruits.
A Complete package for the Food Service Industry
As a long-time user of The Restaurant Managers Handbook by Douglas R. Brown, I have found The Encyclopedia of Restaurant Forms and it's CD Rom to be the most complete and comprehensive selection of forms and ideas for every day and every situation that can or will arise in the food service business. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business & Economics / Hospitality, Travel & Tourism    3. Business & Economics / Management    4. Business & Economics / Reference    5. Business / Economics / Finance    6. Business/Economics    7. Industries - Hospitality, Travel & Tourism    8. Restaurant management    9. Small Business - General    10. Management    11. Reference    12. Restaurants   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (137)

Power-packed toilet reading
QBQ is a quick read but is loaded with powerful thoughts to challenge you to grow in your work, home and social life.Essentially QBQ is about personal accountability.The author, John Miller, has built an entire personal development system around the idea that we should focus on what we can do to improve performance at work or relationships with our kids, not on what others should be doing to improve or accomplish any given objective.The concept is incredibly simple and is presented that way in QBQ.Nevertheless, it is very foreign to many of us in post-modern America.
Simple, practical - and deep. This is Miller's QBQ!
Each employee at our manufacturing consulting firm receives a copy of QBQ! to read.We have a short dialogue and its contents are referenced daily. Every time I listen to Miller's "book on tape" CD or re-read QBQ!, something new hits home.I have shared these books as gifts with employees and friends and with my family as well. From my wife to each of the four children ages 22 to 14. It makes a difference at all levels and now Flipping the Switch, Miller's new book, is also wonderful and being read by all!
QBQ! works
I love this book and have read it many times.I keep it on my desk for reference and take it with me on my train commute every month or so to refresh my memory.I'm looking forward to having our managers and supervisors read it and see if it will impact them like it did me.I work in government and all our agencies throughout the State are in the process of a slow and painful transition through major change.Low morale, confusion, complaining, poor communication and fingerpointing run rampant. I know that QBQ! will help our office deal with the transition and our challenges in a more positive way. As author John Miller says, "It's all about personal accountability, it's as simple as that!" ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business Life - General    4. Business/Economics    5. Choice (Psychology)    6. Decision making    7. General    8. Personal Growth - Success    9. Problem solving    10. Responsibility    11. Business & Economics / Development & Growth   

Reviews (5)

Motivate Young Employees
I was often puzzled by employees in their early 20s.They brought different values, expectations and skills to the workplace.My job was to