The Pre-Foreclosure Property Investor's Kit: How to Make Money Buying Distressed Real Estate -- Before the Public Auction

The Pre-Foreclosure Property Investor's Kit: How to Make Money Buying Distressed Real Estate -- Before the Public Auction
Average customer rating:

Great Information! The best investment book I have read to date.

Very Good Resource

Ok content, misleading promise......

Excellant with lots of meat.

This book is a winner!

The Pre-Foreclosure Property Investor's Kit: How to Make Money Buying Distressed Real Estate -- Before the Public Auction
Thomas Lucier
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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How to Make Money With Real Estate Options: Low-Cost, Low-Risk, High-Profit Strategies for Controlling Undervalued Property....Without the Burdens of Ownership!

Find It, Fix It, Flip It!: Make Millions in Real Estate--One House at a Time

The No-Nonsense Real Estate Investor's Kit: How You Can Double Your Income By Investing in Real Estate on a Part-Time Basis

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ASIN: 0471692794

Book Description

Pre-foreclosure real estate is one of the hottest investment opportunities on the market. The Pre-Foreclosure Property Investors Kit offers step-by-step instruction and no-nonsense advice on how to find great deals, estimate fair market value, negotiate with sellers, sell your property on your own, and win big in real estate. Youll learn how to get the best deals on foreclosure properties before they go to auction and utilize simple ready-made worksheets, checklists, forms, and agreements that make getting started easy. Even people of modest means can get into pre-foreclosure investing—all it takes is a little hard work, persistence, and the tools youll find in this handy guide.

Customer Reviews:

Great Information! The best investment book I have read to date. .......2007-09-28

This book is simple, straight forward, and realistic. The author does a great job. The book is full of excellent strategies and advice.

Very Good Resource .......2007-09-24

This book provides excellent insight for buying pre-foreclosures. It is well-written, easy to understand, and insightful. The only problem is that it does not give relevant economic information to investors to navigate the real estate bubble. However, I do not fault the author for that since they are really two seperate topics. To fill this gap I would also recommend Cashing in on the Real Estate Bubble. This book focuses on the economic aspect of teh bubble and presents a survey of the best methods to make money from the real estate mess.

If you want to buy pre-foreclosures, I would recommend both books - this one for instructions on how to handle foreclosures and the other (Cashing in on the Real Estate Bubble) as an economic resource. Together, I feel they have given me a huge edge.

Ok content, misleading promise.............2007-09-16

The content of the book is solid and practical. However, don't believe the author's statement in the book that he will answer questions sent to him directly via email. I sent repeated emails to Mr. Lucier requesting clarification of a couple scenarios from the book and have had no responses.

Excellant with lots of meat........2007-08-26

This book will not do the job for you rather it will make you think. Granted the author is a little odd but, the information is true to fact. You start to think when you read this book and then the inspiration comes. This book is only a stepping block to great things. I apply this and a lot of other information and I make a great living. I hope people do not like this book so, I can eliminate the competition. LOL

This book is a winner!.......2007-07-16

I am a retired real estate broker in Nevada and an associate broker in Utah. This book is full of details on exactly how to go about purchasing pre-forclosure properties. Author includes websites to research for additional information, form to be used in your quest to find pre-foreclosure properties and his personal email address if you get really stuck. I would recommend this book to anyone who is really interested in improving their income.

Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement, 3rd Edition

Average customer rating:

Good Book but a bit dry
Textbook Review
dry reading material
Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement, 3
A college textbook that has crossed over into the nonprofit world as a treatise for "non-students" on strategic planning.

Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement, 3rd Edition
John M. Bryson
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Creating and Implementing Your Strategic Plan: A Workbook for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, 2nd Edition
Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations, Second Edition
Applied Strategic Planning: How to Develop a Plan That Really Works
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Simplified Strategic Planning: A No-Nonsense Guide for Busy People Who Want Results Fast!

ASIN: 0787967556

Book Description

Features the Strategy Change Cycle—a proven planning process used by a large number of organizations
Offers detailed guidance on implementing the planning process and includes specific tools and techniques to make the process work in any organization
Introduces new material on creating public value, stakeholder analysis, strategy mapping, balanced scorecards, collaboration, and more
Includes information about the organizational designs that will encourage strategic thought and action throughout the entire organization
Contains a wealth of updated examples and cases

Download Description

When it was first published more than sixteen years ago, John Bryson's Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations introduced a new and thoughtful strategic planning model. Since then it has become the standard reference in the field. In this completely revised third edition, Bryson updates his perennial bestseller to help todays leaders enhance organizational effectiveness. This new edition: Features the Strategy Change Cyclea proven planning process used by a large number of organizations Offers detailed guidance on implementing the planning process and includes specific tools and techniques to make the process work in any organization Introduces new material on creating public value, stakeholder analysis, strategy mapping, balanced scorecards, collaboration, and more Includes information about the organizational designs that will encourage strategic thought and action throughout the entire organization Contains a wealth of updated examples and cases

Customer Reviews:

Good Book but a bit dry.......2007-10-02

This is a dry but business-like book that presents all the essentials of strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations. The book is well organized with concepts well explained. The book provides comprehensive coverage of the practical planning techniques and processes for those working for the common good. The author correctly highlights the critical importance of the link between strategic planning and leadership. John Bryson presents a useful planning process called "the Strategy Change cycle" which is a handy model successfully used in some public and nonprofit organizations.

This is a thoughtful, useful and helpful reference and guide book for those working in government, social workers or managers in non-governmental organizations. After reading the book, you will be clear about the differences between strategic planning process in the private sector and in the public and not-for-profit organizations. You will also learn how to reduce the costs of providing services whilst improving the quality of those services.

The book is well illustrated with insightful examples which will help practitioners learn about successful strategy formulation and implementation.

Textbook Review.......2007-09-04

I was pleased with the receipt of the textbook in a very timely manner. It was received within 4 business days. Also, no shipping fee, thanks for the savings.

dry reading material.......2007-01-08

This book, although required for the course I was enrolled in, was overall a waste of money. The reading material was very dry, making it a pain to follow. I learned more by showing up for class, taking good notes and involving myself in the group discussions, than what I learned from attempting to ingest the contents of this book.

Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement, 3.......2006-11-03

Excellent public sector response to what we normally see as a business model for strategic planning. Very practical and easy to follow for all managers in the public service, non-profit organizations and non-governmental organizations doing charitable work for the common good.

A college textbook that has crossed over into the nonprofit world as a treatise for "non-students" on strategic planning........2006-09-05

I certainly liked this book a lot, but I didn't love it. Ergo, it gets a 4 star rating. If you want a detailed account regarding strategic planning, then read this book. It is well documented and clearly organized. Unfortunately it is boring!

The author is a college professor whose expertise is strategic planning in the nonprofit and government sectors. It certainly is normal to see a college professor take a subject and break it down into tiny parts and then build a textbook around describing how the tiny parts all fit together. In the case of this book, the author has broken the subject of strategic planning into tiny parts and called the combination of the tiny parts the Strategic Change Cycle ("SCC"). To see his nice diagram of the SCC turn to page 33 of the text.

After letting the reader see what the SCC is, the author then takes the rest of the book to explain the diagram and how all of its parts fit together. There are three sections to the book:

1. Understanding SCC
2. Key steps to using SCC
3. Managing the SCC process

Each chapter has a summary at its end. Someone who wants to get through the book as quickly as possible will start by reading each chapter's summary and then go back and skim through each of the chapters. Much of the content is common sense, so it shouldn't take all that long to read. However, there will be sections where you will probably want to slow down and digest in depth some of the material.

Leaders must be effective strategists if nonprofits are to be successful. And leaders use strategic planning and its set of concepts, procedures and tools in order to make their nonprofits successful.

In its simplest form strategic planning is all about knowing where you stand and knowing where you want to be. Then you "strategically plan" how you are going to get to where you want to be. What action steps are you going to take to move from point A to point B? This book will help you understand that process if you are having trouble with it right now.

The Halo Effect: ... and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers

Average customer rating:

Excellent reminder
Remarkable
No Easy Answers Here
Long overdue - and well worth the wait!
What REALLY Works..umm..well, sort of..!

The Halo Effect: ... and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers
Phil Rosenzweig
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
The Strategy Paradox: Why committing to success leads to failure (and what to do about it)
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning

ASIN: 0743291255

Book Description

Much of our business thinking is shaped by delusions -- errors of logic and flawed judgments that distort our understanding of the real reasons for a company's performance. In a brilliant and unconventional book, Phil Rosenzweig unmasks the delusions that are commonly found in the corporate world. These delusions affect the business press and academic research, as well as many bestselling books that promise to reveal the secrets of success or the path to greatness. Such books claim to be based on rigorous thinking, but operate mainly at the level of storytelling. They provide comfort and inspiration, but deceive managers about the true nature of business success.

The most pervasive delusion is the Halo Effect. When a company's sales and profits are up, people often conclude that it has a brilliant strategy, a visionary leader, capable employees, and a superb corporate culture. When performance falters, they conclude that the strategy was wrong, the leader became arrogant, the people were complacent, and the culture was stagnant. In fact, little may have changed -- company performance creates a Halo that shapes the way we perceive strategy, leadership, people, culture, and more.

Drawing on examples from leading companies including Cisco Systems, IBM, Nokia, and ABB, Rosenzweig shows how the Halo Effect is widespread, undermining the usefulness of business bestsellers from In Search of Excellence to Built to Last and Good to Great.

Rosenzweig identifies nine popular business delusions. Among them:

The Delusion of Absolute Performance: Company performance is relative to competition, not absolute, which is why following a formula can never guarantee results. Success comes from doing things better than rivals, which means that managers have to take risks.

The Delusion of Rigorous Research: Many bestselling authors praise themselves for the vast amount of data they have gathered, but forget that if the data aren't valid, it doesn't matter how much was gathered or how sophisticated the research methods appear to be. They trick the reader by substituting sizzle for substance.

The Delusion of Single Explanations: Many studies show that a particular factor, such as corporate culture or social responsibility or customer focus, leads to improved performance. But since many of these factors are highly correlated, the effect of each one is usually less than suggested.

In what promises to be a landmark book, The Halo Effect replaces mistaken thinking with a sharper understanding of what drives business success and failure. The Halo Effect is a guide for the thinking manager, a way to detect errors in business research and to reach a clearer understanding of what drives business success and failure.

Skeptical, brilliant, iconoclastic, and mercifully free of business jargon, Rosenzweig's book is nevertheless dead serious, making his arguments about important issues in an unsparing and direct way that will appeal to a broad business audience. For managers who want to separate fact from fiction in the world of business, The Halo Effect is essential reading -- witty, often funny, and sharply argued, it's an antidote to so much of the conventional thinking that clutters business bookshelves.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent reminder.......2007-09-25

This book was an excellent reminder to me of why the business guru type books have never set well with me. Practicle advice and how to think for yourself and take what you read with a grain of salt.

Remarkable.......2007-09-21

Achieves the remarkable feat of commenting in a deep way on business research methodology while avoiding equations and graphs, and while being compellingly readable. In addition to the many interesting methodological critiques in the book, the author points out the (non-obvious) fact there is no formula for business success, because business is competitive. Of course we know that business is competitive, but business authors (and authors of the "you too can be successful" genre generally) intentionally forget that not everyone can be successful because of the competitive nature of economic life. The book is so readable that I was sorry when it was over--an emotion I have in the past experienced only with good novels and histories. Congratulations to the author for a fine, stimulating work.

No Easy Answers Here.......2007-09-06

If you want guided solutions to performance excellence, or are looking for the keys to business success, do not "Search Inside" - or, for that matter, look in any other popular business book or management works, according to Dr. Rosenzweig! In this well argued challenge to popular business press answers on performance excellence, the author promises to help managers think for themselves, rather than accept the numerous and often conflicting claims made by both academics and management gurus alike. Following the theme of the book's title, Professor Rosenzweig argues that the halo effect and/or eight other fatal flaws that find their way into the research reduce most business books to `stories books' that provide coherent explanations of complex events and appeal to our need for fairytale like outcomes.

Interestingly, the author is not necessarily arguing that the offerings are wrong; in fact he believes many of them are good basic principles. Rather, he argues they often are not substantiated by sound research, and when offered as the solution, they lead not to useful insights, but they divert our attention, cause us to lose focus on the details of running our businesses better than the competition, or they let us confuse actions and outcomes. In short, if they do not help us think, they are dangerous. There are no five (or eight or whatever number) keys to sustaining excellent performance. Even the two critical success factors offered by the author - strategic choice, and execution - are fraught with risk and uncertainty. To quote from the book, "The answer to the question, What really work? is simple: Nothing really works, at least not all the time." This book is highly recommended for managers in all business or social sectors. Dennis DeWilde, author of The Performance Connection

Long overdue - and well worth the wait!.......2007-08-27

Do not worry about what the Nine Delusions are that the author uses to develop his thesis - they largely overlap and interlock and as you read the book will be seen as a powerful continuum. Why you should read this book is because bottom dollar like me you will have read one of the prior highly successful tomes that is one of the key targets for his thesis.

Whether it is "In search of excellence", "Built to Last" or "Good to great", by the end of this book you will I reckon have a more questioning attitude to such works (if not 100% cycnical) because this book challenges many preconceptions and makes you think and look afresh at how one will ever achieve success in business management.

The theme is not just "cutting tall poppies" down to size, but more basically that nothing is as simple or easy as many have claimed in writing such books. His chapter on why "strategy" and "execution" are actually so hard to do well, is alone worth the price of the book for me.

The core argument of the "delusions" being based on too much retropsective story telling is bought full circle by the three examples at the end of companies and business leaders who have in the authors opinion sought to face reality and do not underestimate the uncertainty that faces everyone.

A highly recommended book since it makes its points thoroughly and cogently and as such comes over as thoughtful and provoking of fresh views - as such it is a welcome change from too many of the best selling tirade type books that have come to represent both business but also political and history bestsellers recently. Definitely a book that is long overdue and one hopes will be successful plus lead to more realism in such future writing.

What REALLY Works..umm..well, sort of..! .......2007-08-25

Is there a secret sauce for corporate success?

The Halo Effect is a cognitive bias whereby the perception of a particular trait (for example, of an individual) is influenced by a general impression (of that individual). This effect was first postulated by Edward L. Thorndike, an American psychologist who conducted research into how World War I soldiers were appraised by their superiors. He found high cross-correlation between all positive and all negative traits - in plainspeak, that means that soldiers who were found to be good on one or two traits were rated as good on all other traits as well, while those who were seen to be bad on one or two traits were rated poorly on all other traits as well.

Lest we think that this is an affliction confined to senior World War I army officers, it isn't. Pretty much all human beings suffer from this bias - apparently it is a mechanism used by the human brain to manage the complexity of the world. This, for example, is why celebrity endorsement of products works, even when it is fairly apparent that the celebrity has no credentials - or credibility - to endorse those products.

Most of us also seem to intuitively realize the existence of this effect - for example, this is why people go to extraordinary lengths to put on their best behavior in the presence of somebody in authority.

Now, a book called The Halo Effect ... and the Eight Other Business Delusions that Deceive Managers, published in February 2007 by Free Press, sets out show how this effect may color our perceptions of company performance. At first glance, this is the book the business world was waiting for, and didn't know it. It's a good, down-to-earth look at the various studies, scholarly and otherwise, that have claimed over the years to uncover the secret sauce that drives great companies. This is a book full of solid horse sense - the most refreshing book in years in a genre notorious for pompous claims and buzzphrases.

It dedicates itself to debunking simplistic "theories" that purport to answer the core question of what really determines corporate performance. The core argument of the Halo Effect is that when a company performs well, we shower high ratings on every one of it's management traits such as leadership, culture, strategy, execution, et al. When the company performs poorly, we promptly buckle over to the other extreme, demonizing the very same leadership, culture, etc.*!

Along the way, it unveils eight other "delusions" that frequently afflict attempts to answer this question. In buttressing its arguments, the book quotes from authorities as varied as George Bernard Shaw and the legendary Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman. Personally, perhaps the best takeaway from this book was the exhortation that one should not select a sample for study based on the dependent variable - for example, if you want to study if a new technque for teaching mathematics to children works, you should study how kids who were taught using that technique fared, but you should also look at children who weren't taught that technique! **

The book comes with cast-iron credentials - the author is Prof. Phil Rozenzweig, who is a PhD from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and has taught at Harvard Business School and IMD, Switzerland. His candor is incredibly refreshing, and the fact that most of the "authorities" on this subject that he takes on are people of his own - business school professors - shows admirable boldness.

One criticism that may be leveled at the book is that is sometimes too quick to assume that the data used by various studies were "contaminated" by halos; it seems to me that this is too facile, and perhaps unfair, a conclusion. We should probably credit the authors of those studies, the references they consulted, and the subjects they interviewed with a greater degree of discretion and diligence than that. Another thing I found myself wishing the author would refrain from is the extent to which he bases evidence for the delusions on news reports in the business press, such as BusinessWeek, Fortune and The Wall Street Journal. These are written by reporters under stifling deadlines, often under pressure to sensationalize the mundane - a fact that does not escape most discerning readers. There can be a smattering of these, but the author would probably have done better to focus his considerable energies on well-funded studies done over a long period of time, with purport of scholarly rigor, and papers and books*** based on such studies. The readers of such reports, papers and books are typically asked to suspend common sense and prior experience, and submit to scholarly authority derived from apparent academic rigor, and it is these for which the greatest disapprobation should be reserved.

So, what does work, according to the author? Well, he concludes, somewhat disappointingly, that it's the right strategic choice, and good execution!

But this is not to take away from the otherwise excellent content of the book. It's job is not to give us formulas. It's purport is to caution us that business performance is far more complex, and far less amenable to simplistic analysis than we tend to think, and it achieves that goal with admirable panache!
________________________________________________________________
* I have referred to this "binary" thinking as the Extreme Tendency elsewhere, albeit in a somewhat different context - that of foreseeing the prospects of emerging technologies!

** Later in the book Rozenzweig shows that even observing this precept doesn't help much in uncovering what drives corporate success, but it's a very important principle to keep in mind nonetheless.

*** That, without openly claiming anything of the kind, actually intend to expand the fame of their authors as management Gurus, not to say anything of their pockets!

Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step for Government and Nonprofit Agencies

Average customer rating:

Great discussion of what is really a side topic to Balanced Scorecards
Church Ministry Aid
A book for the 21st century
Clear, informative and highly implementable advice
Good & Practical Book on Balanced Scorecard

Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step for Government and Nonprofit Agencies
Paul R. Niven
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action
Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step: Maximizing Performance and Maintaining Results
Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes
The Balanced Scorecard for Public-Sector Organizations
Alignment: Using the Balanced Scorecard to Create Corporate Synergies

ASIN: 0471423289

Book Description

The Balanced Scorecard is the leading methodology for implementing performance management systems and improving efficiency. Focusing directly on the public and not-for-profit sectors, this book helps these organizations overcome the unique challenges they face when implementing a Balanced Scorecard.

Guides government and nonprofit organizations through the implementation of a performance management system using the Balanced Scorecard.
Authors bring a wealth of implementation knowledge and experience to this book, leading to hands-on, practical guidance and tips to that ensure success.
Identifies and tackles head-on the serious obstacles unique to the world of government and nonprofits in implementing the balanced scorecard methodology.
Includes action plans to walk the reader through specific implementation challenges.

Customer Reviews:

Great discussion of what is really a side topic to Balanced Scorecards.......2006-11-10

Balanced Scorecards make lots of sense for the For-Profit world for which they were originally developed. What makes this book so good is that they have concentrated on what makes Non-Profits different and how to conceptualize how the BC works in that arena. The book is well written and easy to understand. It is a must for all non-profit execs.

Church Ministry Aid.......2006-11-10

Very helpful approach in developing a measuring tool for monitoring ministry growth and tracking to Vision.

A book for the 21st century.......2003-09-20

Niven is one of the best authors on BSC. If this administration and communications tool has been hailed as one the best new concepts in the business world, in nonprofit and government administration it can have even more impact. It is a great general introduction, but even seasoned experts will find enlightenment and a great very updated bibliography. Works very well as a textbook for nonprofit management with HBS cases.

Clear, informative and highly implementable advice.......2003-08-24

Although the Balanced Scorecard has taken over performance mangagement thinking in business, its linkages and adaptability to public and non-profit organizations has remained extremely challenging. I currently am resposible for leading planning and strategy development for a large social services provider in Canada. Being a strong proponent of Balanced Scorecard theory, I anxiously waited two months for Paul Niven's latest book to hit the shelves in hope that I could adapt the balanced scorecard approach to evaluate our organization's strategy. Long story short >> Balanced Scorecard for Government and Nonprofit Agencies was an incredible investment, and we are now on the way to better measuring and reporting on our organization's progress with the help of this book's advice, tips and proecess design steps.

Paul Niven's writing style provides a clear and informative description of the balanced scorecard approach to performance planning and measurement - and presents easy-to-follow steps for designing and implementing performance systems to monitor and evaluate the impact of nonprofit and public sector programs. I highly recommend this easy-to-read book to anyone interested in understanding how the world's leading approach to performance measurement and management can be successfully incorporated into your organization.

Good & Practical Book on Balanced Scorecard.......2003-07-07

I've read most of the literature on the Balanced Scorecard and the previous books by Norton & Kaplan and Paul Niven himself. Being a Management Consultant of 15 years, I worked with numerous for-profit and not-for-profit organizations and have the usual skepticism towards theory books. This latest book on Balanced Scorecard was easy-to-read with numerous examples from Balanced Scorecard implementations in public sector. I found the step-by-step approach to be practical and quite down-to-earth with numerous take aways for a reader interested in BSC or a performance management practitioner, like myself. The book rightly touches upon the challenges in the scorecard implementations, and offers valuable advice. If you haven't read any previous books on this subject, you can read this book alone for a good idea on what the Balanced Scorecard is all about, and how you go about its implementation.

Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations (J-B Carver Board Governance Series)

Average customer rating:

Very Helpful
Idealistic
A must-have for not-for-profits!
Essential for public boards seeking to lead strategically
Accessible, Codified Common Sense

Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations (J-B Carver Board Governance Series)
John Carver
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

CarverGuide, Your Roles and Responsibilities as a Board Member (J-B Carver Board Governance Series)
CarverGuide, Basic Principles of Policy Governance (J-B Carver Board Governance Series)
Reinventing Your Board (J-B Carver Board Governance Series)
Reinventing Your Board: A Step-by-Step Guide to Implementing Policy Governance (J-B Carver Board Governance Series)
Boards That Make a Difference (J-B Carver Board Governance Series)

ASIN: 0787908118

Book Description

"This book should be in the library of everyone who serves--or aspires to serve--on the governing board of any organization, large or small, nonprofit or corporate. Better than any other available resource, it tells what the roles of board members are and what they must and shouldn't do. An indispensable guidebook to leadership excellence."
--George Weber, secretary general, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva

"John Carver's Boards That Make a Difference was required reading for board members of the Calgary Philharmonic Society. It provided a clear and concise road map with which we carried out significant governance restructuring of the society."
James M. Stanford, president & CEO,, Petro-Canada, and past chairman of the Calgary Philharmonic Society, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

John Carver's groundbreaking Policy Governance model has influenced the way public and nonprofit boards operate around the world. Now, as widespread experience with the model continues to grow, Carver enriches his definitive exposition with updated policy samples, a new chapter on the process of policy development, and additional resources for various types of boards. He debunks the entrenched beliefs about board roles and functions that hamper dedicated board members. With creative insight and commonsense practicality, Carver presents a bold new approach to board job design, board-staff relationships, the chief executive role, performance monitoring, and virtually every aspect of the board-management relationship. In their stead, he offers a board model designed to produce policies that make a difference, missions that are clearly articulated, standards that are ethical and prudent, meetings, officers, and committees that work; and leadership that supports the fulfillment of long-term goals.

Customer Reviews:

Very Helpful.......2003-04-01

The world is full of experts at what is wrong with the things that we do. Dr. Carver has a rock-solid, well thought out suggestion concerning how to do it right. One reviewer complained that Dr. Carver's suggestions are not realistic. Right is not often realistic, but right is always right. It's far better to start with an ideal and compromise from that point than to capitulate from the outset. Boards that Make a Difference is well worth reading.

Idealistic.......1999-06-27

The carver style of governance is a tad idealistic and perhaps overly optimistic. I have read everything Dr Carver has written concerning this field and enjoy this material at an academic level. But when it comes to operationalizing this model in boardrooms I've seen it fail time and time again. Not to say that the model is flawed because in fact the model is normative and conceptually complete. However it doesn't capture that element of reality from which, in my experience, the model requires - practicality and real-world application. Dr Carver's notion that Boards can do without Finance and Audit Committees is very naive. Most consultants from the chartered accountant genre are saying the complete opposite. In fact most government policy initiatives are moving toward more control of financial affairs of organizations for boards from charts of accounts to fiscal policy. So I don't think the elimination of Finance and Audit Committees is realistic nor is it a terribly bright suggestion. I guess my only crticism is that the carver model is far to idealistic and philosophical for a practical application in the form Dr Carver suggests. Sorry but a hybrid model of traditional Board governance and the carver model may work given the commitment required from directors to follow-though on everything suggested in that system of governance,

A must-have for not-for-profits!.......1999-03-29

This book was the core piece of a radical change in our board room. It led us down the path we knew we wanted to go but didn't know how to get there. His model for board room organization could revolutionize boards of companies in transition, like those of the rural electric program in America. It's a road map for where you already know in your heart that you want to go.

Essential for public boards seeking to lead strategically.......1999-01-27

After 5 years on a local Board of Education I finally found a book that describes everything I know is wrong with board management practices in schools and nonprofit organizations. But that is the easy part. Carver offers sound alternatives to current practices that put the responsibility and the capability for strategic leadership right where it belongs--on the board.

I winced as I read Carver's description of reactive boards trapped in the "approval syndrome" in which boards rely on staff to bring issues and recommendations to them for approval. This pervasive practice not only takes board members out of the driver's seat, but it confuses the lines of accountability between the board and the CEO for the organization.

Carver offers a framework for changing all that by forcing the board to rethink all of its policy with an eye toward board-determined policies that operate at the highest level possible. In Carver's approach only four types of policies need to be set by the board: 1) "Ends" policies (board expectations), 2) Executive Limitations (the "don'ts" for the organization), 3) Board process policies and 4) Board-CEO relationship policies. *Everything* you need to be involved in can be fit into one of these four categories.

Want to learn how to stop working at the staff level and how to help your organization find a true sense of direction? Carver's book offers practical and straightforward ways of getting there.

Accessible, Codified Common Sense.......1999-01-24

Mr. Carver presents a very readable way of looking at how governing boards should work. His theories are logical and his arguments pursuasive. He offers board members an intellectual framework to consider how their organizations are running. The book is prescriptive, but not preachy. I was very surprised to find it sensible after hearing so much hype from "converts" to his method.

Average customer rating:

Poorly written, almost impossible to read
One of the best books around
Mikesell continues to lull people to sleep... has he learned?

Fiscal Administration
John Mikesell
Manufacturer: Wadsworth Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Public Finance | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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The Politics of Public Budgeting: Getting And Spending, Borrowing And Balancing
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Public Personnel Administration: Problems and Prospects (4th Edition)

ASIN: 0495007404

Book Description

Ever wonder how federal finance really works? FISCAL ADMINISTRATION shows you how public budgets operate and lets you crunch the numbers yourself. And with the latest data from the US federal budget, including its breakdown, you can see for yourself how policymakers allocate money. Plus, each chapter includes stories for discussion from the private sector as well as from public finance. Run the numbers and debate the financial policies with FISCAL ADMINISTRATION.

Customer Reviews:

Poorly written, almost impossible to read.......2007-09-04

This book is written so poorly I can barely get through it. Mikesell goes on and on with run-on sentences, excessive details that get in the way of the concepts, and very poor organization of the concepts. He shifts styles, meanders off topic, and fails to get to the point. He also uses very few graphs or illustrations. Instead, he includes large tables of numerical data (rather than a chart, like a pie, line, or bar graph, that would bring out the important message).

Even though it's in the 7th edition, it reads like a rough first draft. It needs major revision. In order to get through it, I skim for the ideas and skip a lot of the text. When I try to "read" it (i.e. every word), I get so bogged down, I can't move forward and I don't retain much. Mikesell obscures the main concepts in a haze of excess words, unhelpful information, and pervasive use of the passive voice.

Unfortunately, I have to use this book for my graduate Public Financial Management course. If you have the choice, find something better.

One of the best books around.......2007-08-14

Although big (and pricey) this book contains very good illustrations and explanations of financial and budgeting concepts and principles. A must have for serious students in graduate programs.

Mikesell continues to lull people to sleep... has he learned?.......2006-05-27

Public Budgeting Systems by Robert D. Lee, Philip G. Joyce, and Ronald Wayne Johnson is written more clearly... if you have a choice, buy this book. The problem with Mikesell is that he has to write 200 pages (six chapters) to explain the concept of revenues in the budget process. Too many trees were wasted in the development of this book. Lee, Joyce, and Johnson can do this in 40 pages.

The greater majority of my Public Budgeting Systems class at George Mason University feels that the Mikesell book is written in a manner to lull oneself to sleep... the benefit is that one could read the book rather than using drugs to induce sleep.

However, if you are required to purchase the Mikesell book, you should go to the Amazon UK web site and complete your transaction there... you can save yourself about 70 to 80 dollars.

School Finance: Achieving High Standards with Equity and Efficiency (3rd Edition)

Average customer rating:

School Finance: Achieving High Standards with Equity and Efficiency (3rd Edition)
Richard A. King , Austin D. Swanson , and Scott R. Sweetland
Manufacturer: Allyn & Bacon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 020535498X

Book Description

School Finance: Achieving High Standards with Equity and Efficiency explores traditional economic and political models and contemporary issues within the current social, political and economic context. It enables readers to see the political and judicial forces at work in shaping school finance policy. It also provides the reader with tools drawn from economics to analyze the impacts of those policies in terms of equity, adequacy, efficiency, and liberty. Readers examine the financial implications of systemic reform, including centralized goal setting and accountability via standards, curricula and testing; decentralized reforms via school-site decision making; and family choice of schooling through charter schools and vouchers for low-income families. School finance experts, political analysts, school administrators.

Public Budgeting Systems, Seventh Edition

Average customer rating:

Good Textbook

Public Budgeting Systems, Seventh Edition
Robert D. Lee
Manufacturer: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Public Finance | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Hospital Administration | Administration & Policy | Medicine | Subjects | Books

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Memos to the Governor: An Introduction to State Budgeting

ASIN: 0763731293

Book Description

This edition emphasizes methods by which financial decisions are reached within a system, as well as ways in which different types of information are used in budgetary decision-making.

Customer Reviews:

Good Textbook.......2007-03-08

The book explains the topic in a clear manner. It creates understanding of the budgeting system even for non-finance people.

School Business Administration: A Planning Approach (8th Edition)

Average customer rating:

School Business Administration: A planning Approach
Solid Book for School Business Students

School Business Administration: A Planning Approach (8th Edition)
John R Ray , Walter G. Hack , and I. Carl Candoli
Manufacturer: Allyn & Bacon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0205414141

Book Description

This book develops a rationale for how school business administration functions and describes that function in current practice. This book contends that the function of school business administration is to contribute to instructional effectiveness by assisting key decision-makers in using financial resources in order to maximize the achievement of educational goals. It views school business administration as a collaborative enterprise and takes a positive, proactive approach to the contemporary problems and issues facing education today. Throughout, the book describes and applies new management concepts to school business administration and continually links concepts to practice using “real world” examples. Anyone with an interest in school business administration or the economics of education.

Customer Reviews:

School Business Administration: A planning Approach.......2007-02-28

I have never read so many simple concepts written in such a convoluted and verbose style. The authors seem more intent on showing off than on communicating effectively.

Solid Book for School Business Students.......2006-03-09

I am using this book for an independent study in school business. Coupled with other material, this books provides a basic understanding of how schools operate financially.
The book is directed towards school business managers, but the material is written in a format that is easily accessible to other potential school leaders like me.

Average customer rating:

One of my favorite campaign textbooks

Strategic Planning for Public Relations
Ronald D. Smith
Manufacturer: Lawrence Erlbaum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0805852395

Book Description

This innovative text offers a new way of understanding public relations and other types of strategic communication. Following the pragmatic, in-depth approach of the first edition, this text presents a step-by-step unfolding of the planning process most often used in public relations practice. Drawing from his experience in professional practice and in the classroom, author Ronald D. Smith walks readers through the critical steps for the formative research, strategic and tactical planning, and plan evaluation phases of the process.

Complete with clear explanations, relevant examples, and practical exercises, this text identifies and discusses the various decision points and options in the development of a communication program. Both classic public relations situations and current, timely events are presented in cases and examples throughout. This second edition offers new examples and updates on research, and provides new discussions on critical topics, including stereotyping and statistics.

As a classroom text or a resource for professional practice, this volume provides a model that can be adapted to fit specific circumstances and used to improve effectiveness and creativity in communication planning. It serves as an accessible and understandable guide to field-tested procedures, offering practical insights that apply to public relations campaigns and case studies coursework.

Customer Reviews:

One of my favorite campaign textbooks.......2006-01-04

It is a comprehensive textbook with a nice blend of theory and practice. Right now, it's one of my favorites. I find the sections on strategy and evaluation weak, but the parts on formative research and tactics are really good. I use it for my campaigns class along with "Strategic Public Relations Management" by Weintraub Austin and Pinkleton. I recommend it as an appopriate textbook for an undergraduate PR campaigns class, but I don't think it can stand alone.

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