The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't

The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't
Average customer rating:

Great time reading and laughing

Great book

Stating The Unspoken

I love this book!

Accurate Potrayal of Many Work Environments

The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't
Robert I. Sutton
Manufacturer: Business Plus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0446526568

Book Description

The No Asshole Rule is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Business Week bestseller. It won a Quill Award for the top business book of 2007, and was recently chosen as one of audible.com's top picks as well.

Customer Reviews:

Great time reading and laughing.......2007-10-02

Lot of truths mentioned in the book... Wish there were more, especially when it comes to government entities... Just have to be diligent about "practicing" the tips and tricks provided.

Great book.......2007-09-28

This is a great book that has a good level of scholarly support but written in an easy-to-read style that should appeal to most audiences.

Stating The Unspoken.......2007-09-23

Everybody knows the abuse-of-power types that this book outlines. Too often companies/cultures put the onus on victims to adapt, and get-along. What that approach does is allow managers to NOT do their jobs - and that is to confront dysfunctional behaviors clearly and directly.

Dr. Sutton takes a no holds barred approach to defining culture up front. Letting the community know what is and is not acceptable behavior. I wish that he would create a study of companies that are this direct in dealing with behavioral problems, bring the concept along further with specifics of what works and what doesn't.

The "avoidance approach" clearly is not a true solution, but as he states in the book if management will not address the organization's asses, and you want to keep your job, it is the best option sometimes.

A few times in my life I've worked in environments where the assholes have kissed upward so much that they are well connected. And poorly skilled career bureaucrats looking to keep their position, single these emotionally inept people out as stars to be heralded - because heralding a well connected asshole makes you an ally. In each of those situations, I've watched the best people move on, managerial incompetence thrive, motivation deteriorate, and a fairyland scenario of pretending flourish. What a sad state of affairs that leads to.

Bringing the difficult concept of an actual asshole present in the mix, naming what is unspoken, is an essential element in this work. Further development of the idea, refinement of behavioral understanding could only continue to develop greater awareness of truly sly assholes that are skilled to be non-confrontational to those above them and non-approachable to those below.

A meeting with such people present vs. absent is like day and night. Personally experiencing this, I saw groups transformed from demotivated-lackluster-lifeless chair slugs to excited-active-contributors. Such culturally (negatively) controlling individuals cost an organization far more than can ever be measured.

The book is worth the read if only for the stories. But, the principles, the validation, are the real meat and potatoes. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, and if you can't gift it directly, then throw a few copies into envelopes and drop them in your managements' mailboxes. It's about time the pretending to be nice facade gives way to true comprehension of what civility is, and the complete disregard for it will not be tolerated.

I love this book!.......2007-09-22

I urge everyone to read this book, whether they're in an office environment, or just dealing with day-to-day situations. I've bought three copies so far to give to co-workers and family, and I may need more!
The minute you open the book, you will SO recognize what is described!

Accurate Potrayal of Many Work Environments.......2007-07-22

I commend Bob Sutton for publishing this book. It is apparent many jobs expect you to tolerate a coworker or superior whose behavior is off the chart yet protected and sometimes endorsed by management. The cost to a business is high and Bob did a great job of quantifying it. I highly recommend this book if you work in a toxic environment. Bob outlines some great strategies for succeeding in such an environment and discusses how to create policies to prevent one person's inflated ego from sinking the ship.

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

Average customer rating:

Seek not stardom, just starfishdom
Peter NYC
Useful introduction, but there's more ...
Starfish is a mind-game
Elusive Nodes

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
Ori Brafman , and Rod Beckstrom
Manufacturer: Portfolio Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1591841437

Book Description

Understanding the amazing force that links some of today's most successful companies

If you cut off a spider's leg, it's crippled; if you cut off its head, it dies. But if you cut off a starfish's leg it grows a new one, and the old leg can grow into an entirely new starfish.

What's the hidden power behind the success of Wikipedia, craigslist, and Skype? What do eBay and General Electric have in common with the abolitionist and women's rights movements? What fundamental choice put General Motors and Toyota on vastly different paths? How could winning a Supreme Court case be the biggest mistake MGM could have made?

After five years of ground-breaking research, Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom share some unexpected answers, gripping stories, and a tapestry of unlikely connections. The Starfish and the Spider argues that organizations fall into two categories: traditional “spiders,” which have a rigid hierarchy and top-down leadership, and revolutionary “starfish,” which rely on the power of peer relationships.

The Starfish and the Spider explores what happens when starfish take on spiders (such as the music industry vs. Napster, Kazaa, and the P2P services that followed). It reveals how established companies and institutions, from IBM to Intuit to the US government, are also learning how to incorporate starfish principles to achieve success. The book explores:
* How the Apaches fended off the powerful Spanish army for 200 years
* The power of a simple circle
* The importance of catalysts who have an uncanny ability to bring people together
* How the Internet has become a breeding ground for leaderless organizations
* How Alcoholics Anonymous has reached untold millions with only a shared ideology and without a leader

The Starfish and the Spider is the rare book that will change how you understand the world around you. BACKCOVER: Advance praise for The Starfish and the Spider
“The Starfish and the Spider is a compelling and important book.”
—Pierre Omidyar, CEO, Omidyar Network and Founder and Chairman, eBay Inc.

“The Starfish and the Spider, like Blink, The Tipping Point, and The Wisdom of Crowds before it, showed me a provocative new way to look at the world and at business. It's also fun to read!”
—Robin Wolaner, founder, Parenting Magazine and author, Naked in the Boardroom

“A fantastic read. Constantly weaving stories and connections. You'll never see the world the same way again.”
—Nicholas J. Nicholas Jr., former Co-CEO, Time Warner

“A must-read. Starfish are changing the face of business and society. This page-turner is provocative and compelling.”

—David Martin, CEO, Young Presidents' Organization
“The Starfish and the Spider provides a powerful prism for understanding the patterns and potential of self-organizing systems.”
—Steve Jurvetson, Partner, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
“The Starfish and the Spider lifts the lid on a massive revolution in the making, a revolution certain to reshape every organization on the planet from bridge clubs to global governments. Brafman and Beckstrom elegantly describe what is afoot and offer a wealth of insights that will be invaluable to anyone starting something new—or rescuing something old—amidst this vast shift.”
—Paul Saffo, Director, Institute for the Future

“The Starfish and the Spider is great reading. [It has] not only stimulated my thinking, but as a result of the reading, I proposed ten action points for my own organization."
—Professor Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum

Customer Reviews:

Seek not stardom, just starfishdom.......2007-09-06

Whether or not you care about leaderless, borderless and/or decentralized organizations, labeled as starfish organizations, they probably affect your life in some way or another whether you have downloaded music or avoided it, dealt with PETA, looked up something in Wikipedia, had actions of al-Qaeda affect your life in some way like stricter restrictions at the airports, etc. In that sense, you might as well get to know something about them to make better use of them or be prepared to deal with them effectively when you have to. If you read this book, you will likely not just want to know or know more about them, but get involved to see what they're all about or get more involved.

Written from both an overview and hands-on approach, this book is not only useful as a reference but also as a manual on the issue. The book identified the qualities of starfish organizations and what makes them effective, how anyone and everyone could start, sustain and/or get involved in these organizations, the types of people key to such organizations and how to combat them if you're on the other side. The book also warns about the constant change involved with maintaining starfish organizations and how to deal with them. Guidelines are offered and useful real life examples illustrate them to bring to life what otherwise be just concepts.

I had two small criticisms about the book, but nothing major enough to deter it from getting the five star rating I felt it deserved. First was that a few more real life examples of starfish organizations and/or their actions could have been chosen to illustrate some of the points made. There were plenty of diverse examples, but so many more abound as I read and thought about traits and qualities of starfish organizations that if mentioned, readers would realize even more influence starfish organizations have had in their lives. Second was that it did not address how government could use this book to decentralize since decentralization could be so powerful but yet government is the epitomy of centralization. I work for government, and felt government badly needed this, but had to think it through myself to come up with uses for attracting colleagues to my Starfish and Spider for Lunch (and Learn) voluntary book review session. When I did, though, not only was I excited at the possibilities, but also at the challenge to try to convince senior management of this, although that will take time. I will contact the authors to address this issue in a follow-up companion, perhaps, as they are the experts on this, but if nothing else, my ability to customize an application to government should tell you something about the book's effectiveness as a manual.

Overall, for the excellent writing style, clarity, impact and general application to the masses, five starfish!

Peter NYC.......2007-09-06

This book is great. A must read for those interested in being flexible and evolving. Has important applications across multiple work environments.

Useful introduction, but there's more ... .......2007-08-29

It took me some time to warm to this book. Nothing much happens in the initial 80 pages. The first chapter develops two fairly tortuous case studies - the vicissitudes of fortune in the recording industry in the last decade and the struggle of the Apaches against the Spanish invaders - to introduce the theme of the book. Then follows a discussion of the morphology of decentralised organisations (in terms of power distribution, funding, etc). Chapter 3 illustrates these formal characteristics with a series of examples, ranging from Skype over Wikipedia to Burning Man. There is honestly not a lot of meat to chew on in these first chapters and some patience is required from the reader.

It becomes more interesting in Chapter 4 where Brafman and Beckstrom discuss operational principles behind decentralised organisations (the need for pre-existing networks as a substrate, the role of catalysts and champions to activate leaderless organisation, "circles" as their chief co-ordination mechanism, and "ideology" as the glue holding everything more or less together). The role of the catalyst as a "servant leader" (term, however, not used by the authors) is further elaborated in the fifth chapter.

In chapter 6, the discussion turns to the question "What do you do, as an incumbent, when you are under fire from a starfish?" It transpires that there is not an awful lot to be done: you can try to morph them into a spider by activating internal cancer cells (greed and competition), you can try to dissolve or change the glue, the ideology that keeps the structure together or you can join them and become decentralised too (then it's starfish against starfish).

Brafman and Beckstrom maintain that it is not always necessary to go all the way and radically decentralise. There is such thing as a "hybrid" organisation (Chapter 7), which mixes principles of centralisation and decentralisation. Here the discussion suddenly gets denser and this is a part of the book that warrants repeated reading. A distinction is made between centralised organisations that give customers a voice (eBay with its peer-to-peer feedback is an example), those that put their customers to work (IBM developing open source applications) and those that decentralise parts of their internal structure. Towards the end of the chapter, however, the discussion peters out. "Appreciative Enquiry" is invoked as an approach to bring a whiff of decentralisation into companies who want to hang on to their centralised bureaucracies. It's a dangerous example that may tempt people into crass opportunism (that is, however, bound to backfire on them).

Finally, the authors hypothesise that in a given ecosystem there is no static equilibrium in terms of right mix of centralised/decentralised characteristics ("right" in terms of securing survival and the ability to extract economic rent). The "sweet spot" changes as a function of time, sometimes dramatically so. The desire for anonymity and the free flow of information are forces that push towards the decentralisation end, whilst the desire for security and accountability pull the system back to a more centralised mode of operation.

The book closes with a short epilogue that lists 10 simple guiding principles to make the most out of decentralised organisations or to defend yourself from their attacks.

On the whole, I enjoyed this book. It provides an intelligent and accessible discussion of a complex issue. With respect to the latter, the authors do a laudable job in keeping thing simple, but sometimes it's over the top. Particularly in the first halve of the book, their penchant for telling anecdotes and stories makes them err on the side of the trivial (a discussion on Wikipedia starts with "we all remember doing school reports in the sixth grade. Back then, research meant going to the library and hoping the that the Encyclopaedia Brittanica wasn't checked out ... and so on, and so on.) I was irked more than once by the patronising and befuddling prose of Brafman & Beckstrom. Admittedly, sometimes they hit it right. The title of the book, for example, is a very strong and aptly chosen metaphor for decentralised and centralised organisations, respectively.

Also I believe this book does not exhaust the potential of this fascinating subject matter. I think the discussion would have gained significantly in clarity and power if only a number of well known systems science principles (such as Ashby's Law of Requisity Variety, see Introduction to Cybernetics (University Paperbacks)) had been invoked to give the whole discussion a rock solid footing. I also missed a solid link to the burgeoning literature on the P2P movement. It is clear that the issue of property rights in central in making leaderless organisations work (Brafman discusses this as a way to sabotage starfish only) and people like Lawrence Lessig ("Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity) and Yochai Benkler ("The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom") have a lot to say about these issues.

A small point, but a fairly irritating one, is the use of the word "ideology" in the book. The authors ostensibly use this to refer to any set of beliefs that underpin a decentralised organisation. From my point of view, the word "ideology" refers to a more elaborate and closed system of abstract thought (and as such has a pejorative tinge to it). Many starfish (also amongst those mentioned in the book) thrive on a much more vague and fluid set of beliefs, norms and values. It's worthwhile to be more nuanced about this.

Morally speaking, the book leaves the reader in suspension. From an internal point of view, leaderless organisations are unquestionably superior - morally and aesthetically - to centralised organisations, not only because of their structural simplicity and elegance, but also because they rely so openly on trust (in my opinion THE key word in the book), on the belief that man is fundamentally good and ultimately because they are capable of drawing the best from people and providing them with truthfulness, meaning and purpose in their life. Problem is that not only Alcoholics Anonymous operates as a decentralised organisation, but Al Qaeda does too. So starfish can server all kinds of purposes, some more constructive than others. It all depends which side you're on.

Starfish is a mind-game.......2007-08-07

Have you wondered why decentralized organizations are growing like wildfire? Starfish and Spider will tell you why. I work in a starfish organization and it is not for the faint-hearted or the one focused on structure and procedure.

This book is an excellent story about centralized, decentralized and hybrid organizations. If you want to kill a spider, cut off its head. You cannot cut off the head of a starfish as it does not have one. If cut off the leg of an starfish, it will grow another.......starfish. This shows how decentralized organizations have always been around and take after the way that our brain's function. Once thought to operate in a hierarchy, latest research shows the opposite. Brafman and Beckstrom are great storytellers and weave the Internet with Al Qadea

This book gives examples of the characteristics of decentralized organizations such as flexibility, shared power and ambiguity and how the Internet has spawned a new generation of decentralized organizations. It is a fascinating book.

Some principles of decentralized organizations;
1. when attacked, they become even more open and decentralized.
2. it is easy to mistake starfish for spiders.
3. an open system doesn't have central intelligence, the intelligence is spread throughout the system.
4. open systems can easily mutate.
5. the decentralized organization sneaks up on you.
6. as industries become decentralized, overall profits decrease.

They stand on 5 legs;
1. Circles
2. the Catalyst
3. Ideology
4. the pre-existing network
5. the Champion

If you want to learn more about community, trust and openness in the 21st century, this is a must read. If you are interested in how organizations like Al Qaeda can thrive with many in the world looking for them, read this book.

Elusive Nodes.......2007-07-31

This book offers an excellent discussion of the extremely elusive concept of networked type of organizations which social scientists refer to as organizations where decision making power is distributed and whose structure is flat. Such an organization consists of semi-autonomous nodes or cells linked and given cohesion by one or more factors such as kinship, mutual experiences, ethnic culture, or common ideology. In the 21st Century the Global Telecommunications Network (sic) serves as an enabler to networked type of organizations. The book, "Networks and Netwars" (Rand 2001, Amazon.com) provides a formal explanation of networked type of organizations, but will leave many folks still wondering about the anatomy of a networked type of organization.

The book quit effectively uses examples and the analogy of a starfish to both demonstrate and explain how networked type of organizations actually work in practice. This is very important and helpful because such organizations are becoming increasingly more common, but are very difficult for persons used to hierarchical organizations to understand. The book explains for example how the command and control system for al Qaeda cannot be knocked out because it does not exist. More ominously the book notes that as the U.S. increasingly centralizes its efforts against al Qaeda the harder it will be to cope with terrorist operations and threats.

There are now several first rate books available now on networked type of organizations, but this one is probably the best because of the clarity with which it explains what networked type of organizations are and how they really work. It is a shame that the U.S. Intelligence and National Security Communities appear unable to come to grips with geographically dispersed cell of one or more individuals using distributed decision making, and linked by such tenuous ties as personal relationships and shared ideology. This book offers some suggestions for dealing with networked type of organizations, but one is left with the impression that nobody is listening.

Creating A Lean Culture: Tools To Sustain Lean Conversions

Average customer rating:

Great reference on real lean
Book has quite an impact on new lean leaders
Clearly shows you why something so simple is so hard to do
New Lean Leader's Review
Managing in a Lean Organisation

Creating A Lean Culture: Tools To Sustain Lean Conversions
David Mann
Manufacturer: Productivity Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1563273225

Book Description

Lean production has been proven unbeatable in organizing production operations, yet the majority of attempts to implement lean end in disappointing results. The critical factor so often overlooked is that lean implementation requires day-to-day, hour-by-hour management practices and skills that leaders in conventional batch-and-queue environments are neither familiar nor comfortable with.

Creating a Lean Culture helps lean leaders succeed in their personal batch-to-lean transformation. It provides a practical guide to implementing the missing links needed to sustain a lean implementation. Mann provides critical guidance on developing and using the key elements of a lean management system, including: leader standard work, visual controls, daily accountability processes, maintaining a process focus, managing key HR issues, and much more. In addition, a questionnaire is included to help assess current management practices and monitor progress.

Highlights: Distinguishes the much-discussed, abstract concept of "lean culture" from the concrete, implementable practices of lean management. Describes and illustrates 4 key principles of lean management: leader standard work; visual controls; daily accountability process, and discipline. Shows how visual controls bring process focus to life, tie in lean's requirement for highly disciplined execution, and make leaders' new jobs far easier to explain, model and evaluate. Moves beyond models and theories of lean management to show how to implement the daily practices that are the key to implementing and sustaining a lean transformation. Lots of case examples, figures and photographs.

Customer Reviews:

Great reference on real lean.......2007-10-05

This book fills an essential gap between Liker's Toyota Way and the many books on Lean Tools.

We intentionally didn't begin our lean transformation in our large service orgnization until we had this book because we saw the folly in trying to implement a bunch of lean tools without the necessary management system.

We have visited some Tier 1 Toyota suppliers and Kaizen really means continuous improvement not a succession of week-long projects that many big-time consultants and organizations focus on.

This book is our defacto lean transformation handbook and I am glad to see that it has become a standard reference for at least two MBA programs in the area.

Book has quite an impact on new lean leaders.......2007-06-19

This is a fantastic book, one of the small number of "core" lean books that I recommend to people. I've used the book with many healthcare clients who are new to lean. They have loved the book so much that they have read it three times, learning something new each time, and learning something different at each stage of their lean learning journey. The most frequent comment I hear is that the book means one thing to them before they start but it means even more to them after they have "struggled" with a lean environment on their own, revisiting the book and its concepts helps immensely.

Mann's book helps make concrete the vague notion of a "lean culture" and spells out steps leaders can take to start moving in that direction. The book doesn't promise quick fixes, nor should it, but it puts you on the right path to developing your people, your leaders, and your problem solving skills. Kudos to David Mann for a very practical, actionable guide for lean leaders or those of us who strive to become lean leaders.

Clearly shows you why something so simple is so hard to do.......2007-04-11

I've been doing Lean since 2000 (Six Sigma earlier, 1997) and have been applying general Toyota methods with what I'd consider a very good amount of success. The problem has been, how do you convey the necessity of the Toyota Lean method as a complete "business system" as opposed to JIT and "tools" thinking for busy, batch-thinking individuals? This book fills the gaping void.

Pro:
-Straight forward principles, complete and thorough
-Appear to be true to the Toyota principles as I have seen demonstrated by ex-Toyota executives/leaders turned consultants
-Drives to the heart of lean as a business system, with many elements that I've personally tried or seen work well
-A Shingo Prize winner... impressive
-Avoids excessive Japanese terminology (not an issue for me, but sometimes an issue for others)

Con:
-I think that the power of IT applications is somewhat understated, and pitfalls of using or attempting to use IT-related systems not well described. Would like to see a better description of pitfalls and issues more specifically. Until then, think of IT as you would if you were automating a process... it had better be high volume and well understood/mature.

Bottom Line: I think this a must-have text, and it is excellently written and laid out... plus it's to the point reinforced with numerous short case study examples. I'd recommend pairing this book with "The Toyota Way" (read that first to pave the way for this book). Also consider "The Toyota Way Fieldbook" as the ideal 3rd text to study. A word of caution, these books require a whole new way of thinking and commitment.

New Lean Leader's Review.......2007-04-01

Good easy to follow book. Interesting sections of different leader's responsibilities and the amount of time they should spend on standard work relative to their position. Also, intersting ideas on how to collect and follow up on worker's improvement ideas.

Managing in a Lean Organisation.......2007-03-08

There are many books on the principles of lean, how to map value streams, 5S and so on. I am not aware of any other books devoted to how managers should behave in the lean environment. This book concentrates on the management "process" and recommends a number of key behaviours for lean leaders:
1) Leader standard work - i.e. standard tasks, notably walking the work area and reviewing performance on the "gemba", as a regular activity;
2) Visual controls - linking cell and value stream visual management with strategy;
3) Daily accountability meetings.

It is fairly straightforward to understand, and it is a short book (less than 200 pages) but it makes its points well and its clear focus highlights the importance of these simple activities and behaviours for managers to reinforce and sustain the lean philosophy. I particularly like the chapter on people and participation. The book could have an easier style but overall I recommend it for all managers moving towards lean. Without managers displaying the lean culture in their actions, the transformation will not hold.

Organizational Culture and Leadership (The Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series)

Average customer rating:

How to get leadership in proper alignment with organizational development
Organizational Culture and Leadership
Great Service
Really a lesson about organization culture
An educational experience

Organizational Culture and Leadership (The Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series)
Edgar H. Schein
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture: Based on the Competing Values Framework (The Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series)
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ASIN: 0787975974

Book Description

In this third edition of his classic book, Edgar Schein shows how to transform the abstract concept of culture into a practical tool that managers and students can use to understand the dynamics of organizations and change. Organizational pioneer Schein updates his influential understanding of culture--what it is, how it is created, how it evolves, and how it can be changed. Focusing on today's business realities, Schein draws on a wide range of contemporary research to redefine culture, offers new information on the topic of occupational cultures, and demonstrates the crucial role leaders play in successfully applying the principles of culture to achieve organizational goals. He also tackles the complex question of how an existing culture can be changed--one of the toughest challenges of leadership. The result is a vital resource for understanding and practicing organizational effectiveness.

Customer Reviews:

How to get leadership in proper alignment with organizational development .......2007-07-11

I first read Organizational Culture and Leadership more than a decade ago and recently re-read it after reading Organizational Development, edited by Joan V. Gallos and to which Edgar H. Schein provided the Foreword ("Observations on the State of Organization Development") and to which he contributed two articles, "Facilitate Process Interventions: Task Processes in Groups" and "So How Can You Assess Your Corporate Culture?" As Schein notes in the Foreword, the core of organization development (OD) has a number of elements that include "a concern with process, a focus on change, and an implicit as well as explicit concern for organizational effectiveness." I know of no one who has made more and more valuable contributions to the field of OD than has Schein. He is OD's pre-eminent knowledge leader.

He organizes the material in Organizational Culture and Leadership within three Parts:

Organizational Culture and Leadership Defined

Excerpt: "When one brings culture to the level of an organization and even down to groups within the organization, one can see clearly how culture is created, embedded, evolved, and ultimately manipulated, and, at the same time, how culture constrains, stabilizes, and provides structure and meaning to the group members. These dynamic processes of culture creation and management are the essence of leadership and make one realize that leadership and culture are two sides of the same coin...Leadership [must possess the ability and willingness] to step outside the culture that created the leader and start evolutionary change processes that are more adaptive. This ability to perceive the limitations of one's own culture and to evolve the culture adaptively is the essence and ultimate challenge of leadership." (Page 2)

Comment: I am again reminded of James O'Toole's apt characterization of a common barrier to change, "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." This is precisely what Jack Welch encountered after he Reginald Jones selected him to be the next CEO of GE. Jones urged him to "blow up" the organization. Schein's point is that although a culture may define leadership, there are situations in which a CEO must re-define the terms and conditions of the leadership needed if the culture itself is to be transformed, as was GE's and as was IBM's after Lou Gerstner became its CEO.

The Dimensions of Culture

Excerpt: "If culture consists of shared basic assumptions, we still need to specify: assumptions about what? The concept of organizational or occupational cultures reflects the ultimate problems that every group faces: dealing with its external environment...Culture is pervasive and ultimately embraces everything that a group is concerned about and must deal with. Beyond these external and internal problems, cultural assumptions reflect deeper issues about the nature of truth, time, space, human nature, and human relationships." (Page 85)

Comment: Here again, Schein stresses the importance of determining with meticulous care what a given culture's shared assumptions are, and then subjecting each to rigorous scrutiny. One of several reasons why so many organizations struggle (with mixed results) to deal with their external environment is the fact that their perspective is limited, if not myopic. Whatever organizational development these organizations achieve is by nature internal only and therefore self-limiting. Henry Chesbrough has much of value to say about open business business models, those that "create value by leveraging many more ideas, due to their inclusion of a variety of external concepts. Open models can also enable greater value capture, by using a key asset, resource, or position not only in the company's own business model but also in other companies businesses."

The Leadership Role in Culture Building, Embedding, and Evolving

Excerpt: "To fully understand the relationship of leadership to culture, we also have to take a developmental view of organizational growth. [Schein covers] the role of leadership in beginning the formation of an organizational culture in Chapter Twelve...[He then describes in Chapter Fifteen] ten different mechanisms or processes that cause cultures to change, and [points out] the role that leaders can and should play in using these processes to skew cultural evolution to their purposes. All of these are natural processes that should be distinguished from what [he calls] managed change, the process by which leaders set out to solve specific organizational problems that may or may not involve cultural elements." (Pages 223-224)

Comment: In the aforementioned Foreword to Organizational Development, Schein suggests that process "is as important as content, and sometimes more important." When identifying and then discussing ten culture change mechanisms in Chapter Fifteen, the focus is indeed on process and Schein notes that the role of the leader in "managing" culture differs at different stages of organizational evolution. For example, during an organization's Founding and Early Growth stage, the main cultural thrust comes from the founders and their assumptions. Hence the appropriateness of incremental change through general and specific evolution, insight, and promotion of "hybrids" within the given culture. Midlife and Maturity/Decline require different culture change mechanisms. Obviously, each stage also has different leadership requirements.

I provide these brief excerpts as well as comments of my own to assist those who read this review to gain at least a sense of the nature and extent of Schein's coverage of an admittedly complicated, indeed formidable challenge: how to get leadership in proper alignment with organizational development to achieve and then sustain an appropriate environment by taking into full account elements that include "a concern with process, a focus on change, and an implicit as well as explicit concern for organizational effectiveness."

What Edgar H. Schein offers is a brilliant achievement.

Organizational Culture and Leadership.......2007-03-19

A must read for every serious manager. If I had a better understanding of culture when I started my career, some 35 years ago, it would have made a significnt difference in my assumptions about the careers of the people I had responsible for.

Great Service.......2006-08-15

I am very pleased with the service provided by Amazon.com. The book arrived in excellent condition, very well packed, and shipped promptly. Great communication and shipping updates. Definitely recommend and will use again!

Really a lesson about organization culture.......2006-08-13

For every manager who wants to improve his organization it's a mast

An educational experience.......2006-02-20

For novices to org. culture, this book takes you on a thorough journey into the corners of what constitutes an organization's culture. My favorite take-away is that Schein made an abstract concept much more concrete. He creates a nice framework to view org. culture, gives examples continuously and provides many nuggets of knowledge. Plenty of useful references are given as well.
Perhaps because of my specific research, I unfortunately found myself with sporadic tabs through the book to catch the aforementioned nuggets. My unfulfilled hope was to find a more meaningful figure in which to place all the various interactions and cultural process (but perhaps that's for us other researchers to do). More up-to-date examples would also be useful.
In the end, a great read and even better reference book (but you'll have to do the organizing).

Organizational Behaviour: Understanding and Managing Life at Work (6th Edition)

Average customer rating:

Fast Service
Long winded but not unbearably so
Ironically, this books needs some ORGANIZATION

Organizational Behaviour: Understanding and Managing Life at Work (6th Edition)
Gary Johns , and Alan M. Saks
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0131270494

Book Description

This readable, research-based book contains a somewhat psychological approach that is balanced by engaging business and management features. Clearly presented theory is backed up by real-world cases, discussion questions, and experiential exercises. Comprehensive coverage includes organizational behaviour and management; personality and learning; perception, attribution, and judgment of others; values, attitudes, and work behaviour; theories of work motivation; motivation in practice; groups and teamwork; social influence, socialization, and culture; leadership; communication; decision making; power, politics, and ethics; conflict and stress; organizational structure; environment, strategy, and technology; organizational change, development, and innovation. For organizations' individuals who want to be successful and happy in the workplace.

Customer Reviews:

Fast Service.......2007-09-17

Book was delivered in a timely manner and in promised condition. I would order from this source again.

Long winded but not unbearably so.......2003-04-10

This book was used as part of a Business Management program I'm doing and because of the length of chapters we did not get to cover much of the book. I think that the chapters could have been shortened a great deal and more emphasis placed on important issues. The book itself (quality) is extremely poor. Every student in the class found that despite its having a hard cover the pages were falling out and the binding didn't hold.

Ironically, this books needs some ORGANIZATION.......2002-09-14

Maybe, it is just me but I personally think that the book is poorly written and structured. I dislike the style that the author uses writing this book by constantly mentioning the names of scientists who developed some of the theories. This made it extremely difficult to follow due to the overflow of people's names. An example of my own "I wrote this review because John made an experient with Dave Smith that shows Amazon.com Customers will read it and not purchase the book. Dave Smith with Mark Davidson and Howard James conclude that reviews are good and reviews have become a part of good books". This sentence clearly did not have any great purpose, all it did was take up 'word counts'.

Other bad layouts include: Bad paragraph strucuturing (some paragraphs are so badly strucutured that it takes up the entire page), lack of highlights, bad definitions meant that you would actually have to look in the dictionary to get a better explaination. Another example of mine BAD: "Java is comprised of Legend 1422 and Cobra122, using H111 as a base running-engine symmetric to C1223". ALOT of useless nonsense, instead of simple saying "Java is a computer-friendly high level programming language....."

Book Description

The landmark study of cultural differences across 70 nations, Cultures and Organizations helps readers look at how they think—and how they fail to think—as members of groups. Based on decades of painstaking field research, this new edition features the latest scientific results published in Geert Hofstede’s scholarly work Culture’s Consequences, Second Edition. Original in thought and profoundly important, Cultures and Organizations offers vital knowledge and insight on issues that will shape the future of cultures and nations in a globalized world.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful framework for thinking about cultural differences.......2007-09-20

A must-read for anyone interested in the subject area.

The new and revised content also relate Hofstede's original groundbreaking research to the more recent work of other renowned scholars in the field (such as Ronald Inglehart of the Univ of Michigan and the World Values Survery). These links make his work even more compelling and make you start to think that we may be inching closer to a more universally agreed upon framework for thinking about cultural differences.

A must have resource for highly effective multicultural / multinational leadership..........2007-05-29

As a combat tested USAF E3 AWACS command pilot (over 1900+ hours of total flight experience), this book is a potent resource for anyone seeking to gain insights on how best to manage a multicultural / multinational workspace.

Excellent insights while entertaining to read.......2007-05-24

Having just survived a merger of two companies, I was searching to find the right words to explain the differences in cultures I was experiencing. Although this book focuses on national cultures, I found the explanations of the dimensions of culture and how they manifest themselves in different behaviors appropriate for corporate situations. The last few chapters deal explicitly with corporate culture, but I found these chapters less insightful than the others. The book is very well written and organized, with tables summarizing key concepts and entertaining anecdotes to illustrate the points. Because I've traveled internationally for business, I was familiar with other works on culture, but none were as helpful as this book. I now have the vocabulary to articulate the differences I see.

Monumental Book Well Worth the Read.......2007-03-06

The father and son team of Geert and Geert Jan Hofstede have done a remarkable job breaking down the (measurable) elements of the world's cultures, usingt the somewhat antiquated IBM studies combined with more recent (less comprehensive) studies. The end result is that nations can be evaulauted on the basis of criteria such as "uncertainty avoidance," "individualism" and "power distance from superiors."

The work is enlightening and helpful to anyone who works internationally. It is also useful to break down one's own nation (for example, some Americans lean toward the British way of thinking while others are more German-like). The same criteria that divide nations also divide families within a society.

Businessmen, missionaries, pastors, counselors, journalists, and social scientists should devour these materials!

This should be required reading for anyone planning to live overseas or anyone who deals with internationals. In short, this book is relevant to our modern "shrinking" world and quite well done.

Like most significant works, this volume has its weak points.

Although the authors claim to espouse a "values neutral" position (which I have always argued is an impossible and illogical position), their Dutch/Swedish preferences ring out loudly and clearly (humanistic, environmnetalist, etc.). Although the authors do make a serious attempt to look at things from other perspectives, they simply cannot divorce themselves from their own cultural preferances. This is not bad -- they simply need to be above board and stop pretending to take the role of the neutral outsider (at least to better influence those of us who are American conservatives; we are big into distinguishing between fact and evaluation of fact; these evaluations are always done through a person's own personal gridwork).

The authors also have occasional trouble connecting a few dots. For example, on the bottom of p. 355, the Hofstedes are tactfully scolding the U.S. for its lack of foreign aid (again, showing their own bias), but on the top of p. 356 they add, "Looking back to half a century of development assistance, most observers agree that the effectiveness of much of the spending has been dismal." They then say those countries which did improve did so because of their cultural values, not foreign aid. But they seem incapable of concluding that good intentions (and even money) is not the most effective way to solve these problems. They just don't get it.

The same is true with contributions through governments to Tsunami relief. It should be expected that individualistic countries would be more prone to give as individuals, not as collective societies. Rather than look at total giving (or perecentage) OF A SOCIETY, they authors confuse a society with its government. Lots of missed "dot connections" in this work.

Despite the books weakspots, it is overwhelming strong and rich with fascinating content. It is a "mind opening" work -- well worth the read. You simply must read this one!

Pioneering work.......2006-04-24

This is a pioneering book, which provides a generalist approach to dealing with cross-cultural issues with many excellent examples. Hofstede was one of the first to bring the study of how culture affects human interaction in the field of business. The quantifying approach is very similar to what cultural anthropologists use. As with all pioneering works there is some criticism about conflict resolution as other reviewers have pointed out. Another central criticisms of this model has been that nation state and culture are always presumed to be the same. Local culture does not follow political boundaries. Globalization has also changed some of the observations initially made by Hofstede.

Some readers might be tempted to think of people in simple categories or stereotypes, which is precisely what Hofstede counsels that we should attempt to avoid. Cultures and organizations gives good insights on how "Groupthink" controls our lives and how we could improve interaction.

Hofstede's tools for understanding different national cultures are widely used by cross-cultural trainers all over the world and taught in many fields.

This is a good book for international managers and students of culture. HR-practitioners working in multicultural organizations might find this a bit theoretical but nonetheless useful for understanding underlying causes for human behaviour.

The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today's Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems

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The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today's Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems
A Book We All Must Have
Utterly Phenomenal: *The* Book for Living Life to the Fullest
Great Refrence to Systemes Chamge

The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today's Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems
Peggy Holman , Tom Devane , and Steven Cady
Manufacturer: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

The Handbook of Large Group Methods: Creating Systemic Change in Organizations and Communities (Jossey-Bass Business & Management)
Covert Processes at Work : Managing the Five Hidden Dimensions of Organizational Change
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Leading Change Toward Sustainability: A Change-Management Guide for Business, Government and Civil Society
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ASIN: 1576753794

Book Description

Originators and practitioners of such change methods as Future Search, Real Time Strategic Change, Gemba Kaizen, and Open Space Technology outline the distinctive aspects of their approaches, detail roles and responsibilities, share stories illustrating their use, and answer frequently asked questions. A comparative chart allows readers to evaluate the methods to find the one that seems best for them.

Customer Reviews:

The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today's Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems.......2007-09-06

A good support text for the change agent, consultant or practitioner. Over 60 different types of interventions with clear descrition for when and how to implement.
The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today's Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems

A Book We All Must Have.......2007-02-22

We have been waiting for that book for a long time. Peggy Holman's Change Handbook is now available in its second edition. Since its first edition in 1999, it has increased in volume and in significance. Holman and her co-authors describe 61 collaborative methods that can be applied for working with large groups in private corporations, the public sector and for the development of democratic institutions. The book provides more than a thesaurus and an encyclopedia of change - it contains probably more than 90% of the current world knowledge on whole systems change applications. Beside the well-known methods and frameworks such as Open Space Technology, Appreciative Inquiry, etc. there are a lot of new methods that I have never heard of. Unfortunately, there is no article on Worldwork and the Process Oriented Psychology Framework. Next Edition, please?

The Change Handbook is very well organized, methods are categorized and there are good hints for when to apply the different methodologies. It is a must for Change Practitioners. If you are keen on The Standard Reference, you need to buy The Change Handbook.

Utterly Phenomenal: *The* Book for Living Life to the Fullest.......2007-01-28

I could spend the rest of my life trying to learn, use, and share each of the methods in this book, and never finish. When it was first published in 1999, it was before its time. Now, in 2006, this is a book made for our times, when Burning Man is now Green Man, Al Gore is a rock star, and even the greediest Wall Street CEO is starting to realize the party is over and we have to get real, real fast.

I have been an admirer of Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS) and a champion of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), and have gradually learned about other "opens" that are coming to the fore: Open Spectrum, Open Access, Open Culture, Open Innovation, and of course George Soros' Open Society. From this book I now add Open Circle, to complement the Open Space concept I learned recently in Seattle's Town Hall while listening to Paul Hawken talk about the World Index for Social and Environmental Responsibility.

I have to confess that this book is over-whelming, and I can barely scratch the surface. This is more of a book where you should read one author, one segment, each night, and fall asleep thinking about how to implement that one small section, how to embrace someone else and engage them with that one method.

Having three teen-agers, all three of whom have completely rejected the prison/child care format and the rote learning objectives of the current school system (even as good as it is in Fairfax County) I will go so far as to say that this book, combined with serious games/games for change, is a complete one-to-one substitute for our current educational process.

Everything in here is what we *should* have learned in school, what we *should* be practicing in fulfilling our civic duty (what we *actually* do is described in "The Cheating Culture," "Confessional of an Economic Hit-Man," and "Rogue Nation").

I am moving quickly and heavily into the intersection of Collective Intelligence (see my reviews of "The Tao of Democracy," "Smart Mobs," "Wisdom of the Crowds," or my longer list; and Natural Capitalism with its "true cost" meme. See my reviews of Paul Hawken et al, "Ecology of Commerce" and "Natural Capitalism," of the varied books by Herman Daly, and soon, my reviews of "The Great Turning," the "Omnivore's Dilemma," and others. For a broader sense of the possibilities, check out "Earth Intelligence Network" online.

I still have the 1970's operating manual for spaceship earth someplace in my lower library. This book is the manual for spaceship earth for our children and those of us recommiting ourselves to the joy of learning and changing in our later years. It's not over until *we* decide its over.

Great Refrence to Systemes Chamge.......2007-01-11

The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today's Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems by Tom Devane, Steven Cady, and Peggy Holman (Berrett-Koehler Publishers) is the most comprehensive guide available to methods of organization and community change. It's designed for quick and easy access to information about high leverage change from today's foremost practitioners. This new edition is updated to describe more than 43 additional change methods and includes new chapters on selecting a method, mixing and matching methods, and responsibilities of the people involved, conditions for success, and more. This tremendously expanded second edition--400 pages longer, nearly twice the length of the first edition--will undoubtedly become the definitive resource in this rapidly expanding area.
This book offers practical insights and how to affect systems in positive ways to make them do the things we wish them to do and to mitigate the harm caused by some systems. Anyone who is interested in social change and personal change at any level will find the practical suggestions for intervention in this book to be positively enlightening.
In 1999, the first edition of The Change Handbook provided a snapshot of a nascent field that broke barriers by engaging "whole systems" of people from organizations and communities in creating their own future. In the last seven years, the field has exploded. In this completely revised and updated second edition, lead authors Peggy Holman, Tom Devane, and Steven Cady profile sixty-one change methods--up from eighteen in the first edition. Nineteen of these methods are explored in depth, with case studies, answers to frequently asked questions, and details on the roles and responsibilities of the people involved, conditions for success, and more. This tremendously expanded second edition--400 pages longer, nearly twice the length of the first edition--will undoubtedly become the definitive resource in this rapidly expanding area.
Simply put I can not find enough superlatives for the utility of this volume when it comes to explaining the practical steps necessary in systems change. The book is so comprehensive that many of the chapters could actually be books themselves. What is useful here is that one finds the boiled down essential information in one place. By offering potpourri of possible strategies group facilitators and therapists do not become overly committed to only a few strategies, but can find new ways to do old things better and with less effort and ways to evaluate old efforts that may have been well-intentioned but the intervention was misdirected. The book is a wonderful reference to the important evolving field of systems analysis and change. You overlook this volume at your peril.

Leading for Growth: How Umpqua Bank Got Cool and Created a Culture of Greatness

Average customer rating:

It's all about the Experience
Great Motivation
Anyone would benefit from this read
A useful take on leadership
Pick this one up

Leading for Growth: How Umpqua Bank Got Cool and Created a Culture of Greatness
Raymond P. Davis , and Alan Shrader
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Strategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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

ASIN: 0787986070

Book Description

How any business leader can create an atmosphere of competitiveness for exceptional growth

When Ray Davis took over the local 40-person South Umpqua Bank in 1994, many people in the industry poked fun at his insistence that employees answer the phone with a cheery "World's Greatest Bank." Eleven years, $7 billion in assets, and 128 branches (or " bank stores" in Umpqua lingo) later, the moniker seems quite apt. Other banks scratched their heads when Davis sent his tellers to Ritz-Carlton to learn customer service and were intrigued when he hired a cutting-edge design firm to completely re-think retail layout. Now, with a top design award under their belt, a name change (there never was a North Umpqua bank), and a completely new definition of the banking business, Umpqua has become the darling of the entrepreneurial press and a growth powerhouse. The New York Times calls Umpqua " Starbucks with tellers."

Ray Davis (Portland, OR), named by U.S. Banker as one of the 25 most influential people in the financial industry in 2005, is President and CEO of Umpqua Holdings Corporation. Alan Shrader (Moraga, CA) is an experienced writer and editor of business books.

Customer Reviews:

It's all about the Experience.......2007-09-16

Leading for Growth offers a tremendous insite into paying attention to the detials of the associates, the customers and the investors. A wonderful guide to taking the "ordinary" and turning into the extra-ordinary. Step by step instructions on how to be different and staying focused on creating an experience for the customers.

Great Motivation.......2007-07-23

An outstanding, upbeat read! It was full of ideas for keeping things fresh, stimulating and customer focused emphasizing a teamwork environment but with individual employee responsibility and accountability. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Anyone would benefit from this read.......2007-05-24

From the front lines to the corner office of virtually any kind of business, this practical and engaging read has something to offer!

It is written in an engaging style that pulls the reader through very quickly. The insight is unique and practical -- the bank's success speaks volumes for this "unreasonable" approach to managing and maintaining a thriving business.

A useful take on leadership.......2007-05-02

Leading for Growth is a quick read that reveals the leadership strategies that Ray Davis used to drive relentless growth at his company. Davis shows why many companies stagnate because they fail to realize what business they are really in! He details specific strategies all companies can use to create a thriving culture of growth in their organizations. And he offers leaders everywhere sage advice on building winning teams, leading change, and other critical requirements for growth. I found it very interesting and motivational. It shows that there are simple strategies every leader can use to propel growth. As Davis says, building a company "ain't rocket science."

Pick this one up.......2007-05-01

This is a highly recommended read to anyone who is the leader of an organization (not just bankers). Ray's positive enthusiasm really shines through and helps open the reader's eyes to new, innovative ways of growing a business.

You're in Charge--Now What?: The 8 Point Plan

Average customer rating:

Get a leg up on the competition
Czarnecki's "You're In Charge..What Now?" Better for non-CEOs
Very Helpful in Starting Off on the Right Foot
Good Guide
Written only for CEOs

You're in Charge--Now What?: The 8 Point Plan
Thomas J. Neff , and James M. Citrin
Manufacturer: Crown Business
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels
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Sink or Swim!: New Job. New Boss. 12 Weeks to Get It Right.

ASIN: 1400048656
Release Date: 2005-01-11

Book Description

Getting a new job or a big promotion is like building a house: You need to get the foundation right for both. With a job, the quick-drying cement is how well you do in your first hundred days, since they establish the foundation for long-term momentum and great performance.

Tom Neff and Jim Citrin are two of the world’s leading experts on leadership and career success. As key figures at Spencer Stuart (hailed by the Wall Street Journal as the number one brand name in executive search), they must understand the criteria for success when they recruit top executives for new leadership positions.

Through compelling, first-hand stories you will hear from people such as Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE, on how his career has been a series of successive first hundred days. Larry Summers, president of Harvard University, talks candidly about what he could have done differently in his early days to avoid dissipating goodwill among the diverse constituencies important for his future success. Gary Kusin of Kinko’s shares the specifics of the hundred-day action plan he crafted for himself before he started his new job. Paul Pressler of Gap Inc. shows how he developed a general strategic agenda that established fundamental principles and goals, waiting to prepare a more detailed strategic plan until later in his tenure.

Tom Neff and Jim Citrin’s actionable eight-point plan will be the foundation for your success—whether you are moving to a new organization or being promoted—showing how to:

• Prepare yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally from the time you accept until the time you begin
• Manage others’ expectations of you—bosses, colleagues, and subordinates
• Shape and build the team that will work with you
• Learn the lay of the land and find out how things “really work around here”
• Communicate your story effectively to people inside and outside the organization
• Avoid the top ten traps that confront every new leader, such as disrespecting your predecessor, misreading the true sources of power in the organization, or succumbing to the “savior syndrome”

When you start a new job you are in what AOL’s Jon Miller calls a “temporary state of incompetence,” faced with having to do the most when you know the least. But with the eight-point plan of You’re in Charge—Now What? you’ll understand and be able to take action on the patterns that will build your success.

Also available as an eBook

Customer Reviews:

Get a leg up on the competition.......2007-10-08

An executive how-to kit for the first 100 days suitable for both small and large businesses - a hard nut to crack. Thomas Neff and James Citrin offer a seven-step action plan for any new executive: do your homework, align expectations, build a management team, develop a strategy, explore and define the culture, find the source of power and set a vision for the company. Few other reviewers have claimed these to be `self-evident' and motherhood and pie, but the examples provided by the authors are well worth the time on their own. The book may not revolutionize your thinking, but it has certainly helped me identify a few underwater stones - experience is cheapest second hand, do not overlook this book.

Czarnecki's "You're In Charge..What Now?" Better for non-CEOs.......2007-06-17

When I saw the "Recommended for You" email, I thought Gerald Czarnecki had come out with a sequel. Instead, I find a not as elegant knock-off.

Czarnecki offers a much better, more digestible plan for those who are newly appointed in positions of management. His "Seven Essential Steps for Work Leader Success" are useful and proven techniques for those who need it the most: the everyday people in an organization who get the job done, not the Stanford-grad CEOs who have already spent years in management and academia learning the ropes. I have recommended his book to friends in just about every industry, from IT to the military. I, myself, found Czarnecki's book extremely useful as a new senior non-commissioned officer in dealing with people who became my subordinates overnight. Unfortunately, this book did not address that sort of issue.

This book isn't a terrible book by any means, and perhaps for a CEO or high-level manager it is something good. As I am neither, I didn't find it appealing. It's essentially the same information you can find elsewhere, and as a previous reviewer pointed out, the tips and techniques are more for those already in the boardroom. Go back to Czarnecki's original if you are a new manager, especially one who was promoted from within, or looking for a gift for the grad or newly promoted.
You're In Charge...What Now?

Very Helpful in Starting Off on the Right Foot.......2007-06-04

My executive coach recommended this book and she was right. It is very well organized with lots of examples on how to get started as the new leader in a large organization. Suitable for small but oriented towards large business of all types. Did not provide Government examples but was still very helpful. I read the book cover to cover and made lots of notes. Try to read at least 3 weeks before reporting. I am three weeks into a Government IT job with a staff of 650 and $100M in budget and all the signs are there that this book was helpful for accelerating my early take-off.

Good Guide.......2007-05-01

I bought You're in Charge... on Amazon.com. I am interested in the leadership process, how to approach new roles, some of the pitfalls, etc and thought this was a good book on the subject. I do believe that the best place to get leadership ideas and tips is from Michael Watkins' The First 90 days, but I think Thomas Neff and James Citrin provide aspiring leaders with a worthwhile book.

The best feature, although sometimes over done are the real life examples of CEO's who took the reigns, and what they did. Whether it was a turnaround situation, or continuing a legacy of success, there are some standard approaches that each of these leaders used. The premise of the book is that there are 8 steps to the new leadership process -

1. Prepare yourself before taking over
2. Align expectations (internally, externally)
3. Build a management team you can rely on
4. Build a strategy (Which includes just refining the old one)
5. Transform the culture to aling it with your expectations
6. Manage up and where influence lies (Board, boss, whoever has more power... and also manage those who have institutional influence.)
7. Communicate your vision, your steps in the process, strategy
8. Avoid common pitfalls.

Nothing really earth shattering here, but certainly good advice. The focus of the book are the steps every leader should take within the first 100 days of your tenure.

One of the more interesting parts of the book goes back to the CEO's and what they did. Since this was published in 2005, some of the CEO's haven't turned out to be the captains fo industry that they are potrayed to be (At least from a market perception perspective.). You read about Paul Pressler and Bob Nardelli and what they did in their first 100 days. Needless to say, as time passed, their reputations are somewhat tarnished now. There are others referenced as well that haven't been treated very kindly by the marketplace.

Anyhow, there is no harm in picking this up, although like I referenced before, I think there are other leadership books out there that I more worthwhile. You're in Charge tends to get a bit over done, but if you can overlook that, there are some worthwhile tips to pick up.

Written only for CEOs.......2007-01-09

If you are a brand new CEO and need to know how to run your organization, buy this book. If you are at any lower level, this book is not meant for you.

The authors state directly from the beginning that they focus more on CEOs than most other positions but the lessons learned are applicable to anyone. This is not true. The author focus too much on the role of a CEO. The examples and suggestions are unique to that role. In one section the book describes how to find your management blind spots such as research and development, marketing, etc. If you are a software development manager in a large firm, your knowledge of marketing or R&D will most likely do little for your career. Yet this book highlights that as areas you should improve.

Another example on how the book focuses too much on CEO is displayed in the how-to-work-with-your-boss chapter. They entire chapter discusses how you should interact with the board of directors! This is a complely different relationship than what 99.9% of workers engage in. The relationship you have with your boss is possibly the most important relationship in your career. To focus this chapter on working with the board makes it absolutely useless to anyone who is not an officer or anyone that does not work for a private firm.

The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player: Becoming the Kind of Person Every Team Wants

Average customer rating:

Great book to use to facilitate team discussion
How Effective of a team player are you?
The 17 Essential Qualities Of A Team Player
Misleading?
not so surprising

The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player: Becoming the Kind of Person Every Team Wants
John C. Maxwell
Manufacturer: Thomas Nelson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Workplace | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Decision-Making & Problem Solving | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Teams | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork: Embrace Them and Empower Your Team
The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
25 Ways to Win with People: How to Make Others Feel Like a Million Bucks
Attitude 101: What Every Leader Needs to Know

ASIN: 0785288813

Amazon.com

The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player is another in a long line of titles by John Maxwell aimed at helping people attain their personal and leadership potential in the workplace. The book is organized into short chapters, each devoted to one of the 17 qualities that Maxwell deems essential to a successful and harmonious workplace, qualities such as competence, discipline, adaptability, commitment, selflessness, and preparedness. Maxwell's prose reads like a series of sermons, peppered with inspirational stories and quotes from personalities as diverse as Vince Lombardi ("The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender") and Henry Ford ("Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success"). The book is for Maxwell fans and anyone looking for a sensible and formulaic approach to improving their lot, both at work and in life. --Harry C. Edwards

Book Description

Where can a person go to learn how to become a better team player? Your choices are definitely limited. John C. Maxwell takes the pain out of knowing what makes a team tick. If you want to have a better team, you have to develop better players. Great team players, like great teams, are formed from the inside out.

The qualities Maxwell teaches quickly take you to the heart of teamwork. Anybody can understand them and apply them -- whether at home, on the job, at church, or on the ball field. If you learn the 17 essential qualities of a team player, you can become the kind of person every team wants. If everyone on your team does it, there will be no holding you back.

Customer Reviews:

Great book to use to facilitate team discussion.......2007-02-19

I used the 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player as a book to use for team discussions affirming or confirming how the team would operate. The chapters are a quick read and the qualities described supporting a successful and harmonious workplace cover most required behaviors of a good team member.

While John Maxwell's material is mostly from non-profit experiences, the stories and quotes are relevant and applicable to corporate America just as much as in the non-profit settings. In some cases my team offered criticisms of the examples, but even in those cases the opportunity to have the team discuss and agree on the essential attributes of teamwork was a success I would not have achieved without the support of the book. I have not used the websites referred to in the book.

How Effective of a team player are you?.......2007-02-02

Oh this is a wonderful study. We are going through leadership training in our church and our homework lol is to read this book. It is very good material. My husband and I enjoy it so much we go back and reread the chapter we've done read.

The 17 Essential Qualities Of A Team Player .......2006-11-06

This book is very well written. It should be required reading in Organizational Behavior and other Management courses.

Misleading?.......2005-11-04

Many books and subjects taught should have a disclaimer stating that the information you are absorbing may not apply to the real world.

The only way I see the information in this book working is in a small company on its' way up. Im not saying that the information within is alltogether baseless, however, there are more than a few times while reading where I wondered what would be my fate if I had someone with a secretive agenda within my group of subordinates and I began to let down my guard just enough for them to knife me in the back? This book never suggests looking out for oneself. Dont get me wrong, trust is good, but you cannot allowed yourself to be disarmed by it.

Is the book worthy? ABSOLUTELY. All I am saying is that it should be taken with a grain of salt and not blindly adhered to.

not so surprising .......2005-04-26

nothing new , a lot of generalities, i am a bit deceived by the book ...

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