Posts Tagged ‘Business & Investing

02
Jul
08

When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Change

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When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Change

By Mohamed El-Erian

 

 

Product Description

 “El-Erian is a doer and a thinker and someone who understands the risks of rare events. [Never before, have] I seen such a combination. Read this book.”
—Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author The Black Swan

When Markets Collide is a timely alert to the fundamental changes taking place in today’s global economic and financial systems–and a call to action for investors who may fall victim to misinterpreting important signals. While some have tended to view asset class mispricings as mere “noise,” this compelling book shows why they are important signals of opportunities and risks that will shape the market for years to come. One of today’s most respected names in finance, Mohamed El-Erian puts recent events in their proper context, giving you the tools that can help you interpret the markets, benefit from global economic change, and navigate the risks.

The world economy is in the midst of a series of hand-offs. Global growth is now being heavily influenced by nations that previously had little or no systemic influence. Former debtor nations are building unforeseen wealth and, thus, enjoying unprecedented influence and facing unusual challenges. And new derivative products have changed the behavior of many market segments and players. Yet, despite all these changes, the system’s infrastructure is yet to be upgraded to reflect the realities of today’s and tomorrow’s world. El-Erian investigates the underlying drivers of global change to shed light on how you should:

  • Think about the new opportunities and risks
  • Construct an appropriately diversified and internationalized portfolio
  • Protect your portfolio against new sources of systemic risk
  • Best think about the impact of central banks and financial policies around the world

Offering up predictions of future developments, El-Erian directs his focus to help you capitalize on the new financial landscape, while limiting exposure to new risk configurations.

When Markets Collide is a unique collection of books for investors and policy makers around the world. In addition to providing a thorough analysis and clear perspective of recent events, it lays down a detailed map for navigating your way through an otherwise perplexing new economic landscape.

 

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #109 in Books
  • Published on: 2008-05-23
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 304 pages

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

“Mohamed A. El-Erian is one of the most gifted and successful risk management practitioners in the world. In this book he combines an academic’s insight into advanced risk analysis with a portfolio manager’s grasp of real world economics. This book is an essential read for those who wish to understand the modern world of investing.”
—Alan Greenspan

“This extraordinary book portrays the future with a powerful and trail-blazing illumination of the past.”
—Peter L. Bernstein, author Capital Ideas Evolving

“Brilliantly written, easy to understand—a forceful explanation of our changing global economy.”
—Bill Gross, Managing Director, Founder and CIO, PIMCO

“Mohamed El-Erian, with his deep grounding in economics and his profound knowledge of financial markets, has written a book that no one else could write.”
—Seth A. Klarman

 “Mohamed El-Erian’s book is an important, wise and insightful analysis….”
—Michael Spence, recipient of the Noble Prize in Economics (2001)
 

“I can think of no better guide to the terrifying yet exhilarating new world of global finance….”
—Niall Ferguson, William Ziegler Professor at Harvard Business School

“Mohamed El-Erian is a deep thinker of the global financial and economic scene.”
—Arminio Fraga, Founding Partner, Gavea Investimentos and Former President, Central Bank of Brazil

“Mohamed El-Erian is that rare creature: a skillful participant in financial markets who is also a brilliant analyst of them. He has written a book that is important and urgent.”
—Fareed Zakaria, editor, Newsweek International

“El-Erian, 49, specializes in spotting trends amid the blur and clanging noise of markets in motion. He steps back to consider the big picture and offer tips on how to allocate your assets in his new book, When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Change. El-Erian does offer something valuable for investors seeking to benefit from the global economic realignment: a road map. In a chapter on asset allocation, he provides an illustrative mix for a long-term U.S.-based investor.”
–Bloomberg News

 About the Author

Mohamed A. El-Erian is co-CEO and co-CIO of PIMCO, one of the largest investment management companies in the world. He formerly served as president and CEO of Harvard Management Company, the firm that manages the university’s $35 billion endowment. He spent 15 years at the International Money Fund, working on policy, capital market, and multilateral economics issues. El-Erian has been featured by Bloomberg, Forbes, Financial Times, Latin Finance, CNBC, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. In 2004, Fortune named him a member of its eight-person “Mutual Fund Dream Team.”

Customer Reviews

Volitile, yes. Immeasurable, no.
I would highly recommend this book as a single source for a variety of key trends that, until El-Erian, no author seemed to be able to put together. However, the broad forecasts of this book should be combined with practical measurement and forecasting methods such as those described in How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of “Intangibles” in Business by Douglas Hubbard.

El-Erian takes a Modern Portfolio Theory approach to virtually any investment portfolio and he gives specific proposals for how to balance your investments given the inevitable trends he sees. Hubbard’s quantitative methods applied to El-Erian’s vision of the future should make a powerful forecasting tool.

When Markets Collide is more focused and clear than books like Megatrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism, provides more practical instructions for the investor, and seems to lack some of the more embarrasing technical errors. I also like that the dynamics El-Erian sees are more persistent and will not be as quickly dated as many of the books that depend entirely on predictions for the next few years.

Timely Book on The Impact of Global Economic Change on Investing
If you find the present global economic situation to be confusing and filled with conflicting signals and noise, this excellent book by Mohamed El-Erian, the CEO of PIMCO and the former President of the Harvard Management Company where he managed Harvard’s $35 billion endowment, should be on your reading list.

El-Erian brings a unique perspective to the task of separating the signal from the noise in today’s volatile global markets. Having spent 15 years at the International Monetary Fund and the rest of his career in the trenches in emerging market research and investment at leading investment banks, he has a deep understanding of both the public policy side and the realities of global investing.

His premise could not be more timely: Global markets are undergoing profound changes and the present turmoil is neither the beginning nor the end of the transformation that is shaking up investors around the world. This bumpy process is nothing less than the collision of markets in which the markets of yesterday collide with those of tomorrow

The book offers analytical anchors for identifying the key elements of what, for some, have become key drivers in an unusually fluid environment. In addition to offering targeted, well written, explanations of some of the key sources of confusion and dislocation (U.S. national debt, new sovereign wealth funds and emerging, developing countries now funding the debt of the developed nations), El-Erian also provides some invaluable advice for personal investors.

Given his contention that most U.S. investors have not fully grasped the impact of the changes going on in global markets and the impact of higher commodity prices and shift to accelerating inflationary trends around the world, he provides a new sample asset allocation model for correcting some of the imbalances in most U.S. investors’ portfolios.

His asset allocation table on pg. 198 provides an illustrative neutral asset mix for long term investors that is well worth the cover price of this book and was featured recently in an excellent article and interview in Barron’s in the June 2, 2008 issue.

His writing style is fluid and command of the material impressive. Like most great authors and thinkers, he will have you challenging your present views and investment positions. This book is an outstanding companion to Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment by David Swensen on the personal investment front and The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World by Alan Greenspan on the public policy front.

In addition to raising the big issues, El-Erian provides a clear action plan for both investors and policy makers, a truly outstanding achievement in a field where leaders are too often focused on selling investment products rather than educating the investment public on the changes in global economic conditions.

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02
Jul
08

Short-Sale Pre-Foreclosure Investing: How to Buy “No-Equity” Properties Directly from the Bank — at Huge Discounts

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Short-Sale Pre-Foreclosure Investing: How to Buy “No-Equity” Properties Directly from the Bank — at Huge Discounts

By Dwan Bent-Twyford, Sharon Restrepo

 

Product Description

Due to the wave of refinancing and subprime lending in recent years, and the subsequent fall in home values, millions of properties are worth less than their mortgages. The only way for these properties to sell is through a “short sale,” in which the bank holding the mortgage agrees to sell the property at a loss — to a savvy investor. Banks will do this because they need to get “upside down” loans off their books and they do not want to be holding property that is in default.

Short sales are the hottest topic in today’s real estate investing market, yet most real estate agents and investors don’t know how they work or how to make money on them. This book will teach investors how to negotiate with banks to buy properties at big discounts, creating windfall profits for the investor. Readers will learn:

  • what 900f real estate agents and investors don’t know about: the short sale.
  • how to make huge profits from the banks’ misfortune.
  • how to help homeowners in foreclosure and get a killer deal yourself, at the same time.
  • how to buy properties for fifty cents on the dollar with no real estate license, using no money or credit.
  • how to “buy low” and “sell low” during the crashing foreclosure market.
  • how to stay on the cutting edge of the down market and how to get rich…now.

 

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #1663 in Books
  • Published on: 2008-06-30
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 240 pages

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover
“The ultimate book on short sales! Dwan and Sharon have made it easy for you to profit in today’s gold mine of foreclosure opportunities.”
—Robert Shemin, New York Times bestselling author of How Come That Idiot’s Rich and I’m Not?

“Having invented new real estate markets for over twenty years, I can strongly recommend Dwan and Sharon’s book. This dynamic duo invented the short-sale market—nobodyknows more!”
—Frank McKinney, international bestselling author and real estate “artist”

“As a national speaker and teacher for over twenty-five years, I’ve never met anyone who knows more about short sales than Dwan and Sharon. I’ve spoken to hundreds of their students who have earned tremendous profits. You could be their next success story!”
—Nick Sidoti, a.k.a. Dr. Cashflow

Make a fortune in pre-foreclosures with help from the queen of the short sale

Millions of distressed homeowners are in danger of foreclosure, but can’t sell their homes and walk away because their property is worth less than the mortgage. Banks don’t want to foreclose because the process is so expensive and time-consuming. The solution is a short sale—the process by which an investor buys the troubled property from the homeowner at a price far below the outstanding mortgage and the bank takes a write-off. Real estate investor Dwan Bent-Twyford and her students have made millions with short sales—while helping homeowners prevent foreclosure.

Finally, here’s a single resource that tells you everything you need to know to get into this high-profit game:

  • Find “underwater” properties and pre-foreclosures
  • Approach distressed homeowners facing foreclosure
  • Prepare an offer that helps you and the homeowner
  • Negotiate with banks and mortgage holders
  • Earn big profits through wholesaling, rehabbing, or renting

 

About the Author
Dwan Bent-Twyford, “The Queen of Short Sales,” is the country’s leading authority on buying pre-foreclosure properties directly from lenders. She also leads popular boot camps for real estate investors.

Sharon Restrepo is known as “Short Sale Sharon” and specializes in buying foreclosure and distressed properties. She is the coauthor of numerous real estate home study courses, offers training workshops, and is cofounder of several real estate companies.

Customer Reviews

Okay for beginners – Mostly fluff for anyone experienced
The book does a “decent” job discussing the “big picture” of short sales to someone that has little knowledge of the subject. However, someone looking for an investment strategy in short sales with exact steps layed out to follow and duplicate would be disappointed in this read. A lot is left for the reader to figure out on their own. For example, with respect to marketing for potential sellers, the idea of mailing postcards is discussed, which is good, however, there is little instruction/advice on how to put together an effective mailing list or what the postcard should even say. Also, there is little “real life” information regarding the exit strategies of short sales. The book discusses using an “assignment” as an exit strategy, however, most if not all lenders will not approve purchase contracts that have an assignable clause included. Therefore, this exit strategy is not effective. The book briefly discusses “subject to” transactions and fails to mention that when taking title to property “subject to” an existing mortgage staying in place, this is a direct violation of the “due on sale” clause, in which the original lender now has the right to call the loan due in full. In my opinion, this is another example of how the book lacks certain information that a reader should be told.

GREAT READ!!!
– My business partner and I took a short sale seminar from Dwan and Sharon a little over 5 years ago that literally changed our lives. We have closed hundreds of deals and made millions of dollars. Trust me, they know what they are talking about and have the right information you need. This is a must read if you are serious about becoming financially independant. Gary Prescott, Tampa, Fl.

informative
This book is a must read for anyone in this business or for anyone wanting to get in this lucrative business. With the market the way it is today, the timing of this release couldn’t be better. Their book guides you step by step to empower you to make your deals. I would highly recommended this book for both the experienced and especially for all beginners. I wish I could have read it when I first started. It would have saved me a lot of grief and money. 

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02
Jul
08

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

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The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

By Malcolm Gladwell

 

Product Description

“The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life,” writes Malcolm Gladwell, “is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do.” Although anyone familiar with the theory of memetics will recognize this concept, Gladwell’s The Tipping Point has quite a few interesting twists on the subject.For example, Paul Revere was able to galvanize the forces of resistance so effectively in part because he was what Gladwell calls a “Connector”: he knew just about everybody, particularly the revolutionary leaders in each of the towns that he rode through. But Revere “wasn’t just the man with the biggest Rolodex in colonial Boston,” he was also a “Maven” who gathered extensive information about the British. He knew what was going on and he knew exactly whom to tell. The phenomenon continues to this day–think of how often you’ve received information in an e-mail message that had been forwarded at least half a dozen times before reaching you.Gladwell develops these and other concepts (such as the “stickiness” of ideas or the effect of population size on information dispersal) through simple, clear explanations and entertainingly illustrative anecdotes, such as comparing the pedagogical methods of Sesame Street and Blue’s Clues, or explaining why it would be even easier to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with the actor Rod Steiger. Although some readers may find the transitional passages between chapters hold their hands a little too tightly, and Gladwell’s closing invocation of the possibilities of social engineering sketchy, even chilling, The Tipping Point is one of the most effective books on science for a general audience in ages. It seems inevitable that “tipping point,” like “future shock” or “chaos theory,” will soon become one of those ideas that everybody knows–or at least knows by name. –Ron Hogan

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #98 in Books
  • Published on: 2002-01-07
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 304 pages

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
“The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life,” writes Malcolm Gladwell, “is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do.” Although anyone familiar with the theory of memetics will recognize this concept, Gladwell’s The Tipping Point has quite a few interesting twists on the subject.

For example, Paul Revere was able to galvanize the forces of resistance so effectively in part because he was what Gladwell calls a “Connector”: he knew just about everybody, particularly the revolutionary leaders in each of the towns that he rode through. But Revere “wasn’t just the man with the biggest Rolodex in colonial Boston,” he was also a “Maven” who gathered extensive information about the British. He knew what was going on and he knew exactly whom to tell. The phenomenon continues to this day–think of how often you’ve received information in an e-mail message that had been forwarded at least half a dozen times before reaching you.

Gladwell develops these and other concepts (such as the “stickiness” of ideas or the effect of population size on information dispersal) through simple, clear explanations and entertainingly illustrative anecdotes, such as comparing the pedagogical methods of Sesame Street and Blue’s Clues, or explaining why it would be even easier to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with the actor Rod Steiger. Although some readers may find the transitional passages between chapters hold their hands a little too tightly, and Gladwell’s closing invocation of the possibilities of social engineering sketchy, even chilling, The Tipping Point is one of the most effective books on science for a general audience in ages. It seems inevitable that “tipping point,” like “future shock” or “chaos theory,” will soon become one of those ideas that everybody knows–or at least knows by name. –Ron Hogan

Customer Reviews

Great Information On The Theory of Tipping Points
The Tipping Point was a very, very, good book. The only thing that kept it from being perfect is that there’s really only a half-book’s worth of material here, so the author basically expanded what could have been written in 100 pages to a longer book format, just so we would think we’re getting our money’s worth. Very considerate, but probably not necessary.

The Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context.
There are few books that introduce a new idea that can be applied to multiple disciplines – The Tipping Point is a thought-provoking and well-written book in that category. This book contains more than an idea: it introduces a new way of understanding what often seems like major changes that appear to come from little or often unknown effort. It attempts to answer an obvious question: Why do some ideas, products, fads, and behaviors just seem to explode into popularity, while others– which may be equally worthy– just don’t? Malcolm Gladwell’s answer is that “epidemics” of popularity are the result of the operation of three agents: The Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. He delivers the evidence that backs up what he is saying, and he makes everything clear and entertaining. He uses concrete examples that really bring home his points, even the ones that at first just don’t “add up” because conventional thinking tells you the opposite must be true. As a whole, this book is one of those rare gems that make you truly THINK about the world around you in a whole new way. It has simple ideas about certain kinds of people and psychological truths that spread “epidemics” of change and trends that can be applied to many complex situations. It can give you insight that you never had before on baffling or “roadblocked” issues.

“THINK OF THEM AS EPIDEMICS”
This book asserts that the best way to understand popularity and social behavior, such as the rise in popularity of a book, teen behaviors, or word of mouth phenomena, is to model them as epidemics. The author suggests that ideas, behaviors, and the popularity of products spread like viruses, and that changes often occur quickly and unexpectedly. Small changes often result in larger changes and spread until a critical mass or “tipping point” is reached, thereby causing a larger more dramatic effect than might have been predicted.

Why is it that some people seem to have more power to influence mass thinking than others? The author says that word-of-mouth epidemics are stimulated by people with certain personality types: 1. sociable people who bring others together are called Connectors, 2. people who are adept at disseminating knowledge are called Mavens, and 3. people able to persuade are called Salesmen. Some people have more than one quality. This book brings to mind for me how frightening it is that we as humans are so easily manipulated by social dynamics and crowd mentality. The book will make you think about social dynamics, fads, and group behavior, and give you insight as to how these can be manipulated. Author of THE 3:00 PM SECRET: Live Slim and Strong, Live Your Dreams 
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02
Jul
08

Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny

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Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny
By Suze Orman

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #69 in Books
  • Published on: 2007-02-27
  • Released on: 2007-02-27
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 272 pages

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Money maven Suze Orman’s latest book, Women & Money addresses the complicated (and often dysfunctional) relationship women have with personal finance. Orman’s direct, non-condescending style is perfect for this subject matter–she begins with the premise that “Women can invest, save, and handle debt as well and skillfully as any man” and then tackles the important question–“So why don’t they?” Designed to educate and inspire, Women & Money also offers a “Save Yourself Plan,” a five-month program that “delivers genuine long-term financial security.” Want to know more? Watch a video message from Suze below, and take a gander at the first chapter of Women & Money–you’ll be “controlling your destiny” in no time. –Daphne Durham

An Exclusive Video Message from Suze Orman


Watch the video

 

Read the First Chapter of Women & Money

For Women Only

I never thought I’d write a book about money just for women. I never thought it was necessary. So then why am I doing just that in my eighth book? And why now? Let me explain. All my previous books were written with the belief that gender is not a factor on any level in mastering the nuts and bolts of smart financial management. Women can invest, save, and handle debt just as well and skillfully as any man. I still believe that–why would anyone think differently? So imagine my surprise when I learned that some of the people closest to me in my life were in the dark about their own finances. Clueless. Or, in some cases, willfully resisting doing what they knew needed to be done. I’m talking about smart, competent, accomplished women who present a face to the world that is pure confidence and capability. Do you mean to tell me that I, Suze Orman, who make my living solving the financial problems of total strangers, couldn’t spot the trouble brewing so close to home? I don’t think I’m blind; I just think that these women became very, very good at hiding their troubles from me.Why not? They had years of practice hiding them from themselves.

Read more from Chapter 1…

 

 

Customer Reviews

Great for the novice when it comes to finances!5
For women who have little or no working knowledge about how finances and investments should be ran, this book is an excellent place to start. It definietely takes the blinders off–especially since women can no longer go under their spouse’s credit rating should things happen that aren’t forseen. In my case it was a divorce, but this book gave me a wealth of info that I fully intend to apply.

For those of you going through a separation of some sort, this is a good book to start with. She doesn’t come out and mention death and/or divorce, but paints out scenarios that often leave women holding the bag and fending for themselves. There are a lot of preventative measures that can be taken also. The bottom line is that we no longer live in an age where women can rely on the spouse or significant other to provide–something has to be set aside just in case the unforseen occurs.

This book is a good investment. I strongly urge women to read it.

recycled information3
Suze Orman hammers home that women need a will, an irrevocable trust and a durable power of attorney. This is information that she discusses in each one of her books. In some of her books, she goes more in-depth but this book, I found the information more basic, just that in this book, she targets women. She talks about how to come up with a 12-month plan to get your finances in order but I found her overly confident in her belief that her methods are going to work in EVERY situation. Unlike her other fantastic books, The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke and the 9 Steps to Financial Freedom, I found most of the information in this book to be common sense financial advice. I understand, though that she needs to rehash this information because not everyone will read all of her books, however, she could have easily limited this information to a single chapter in one of her better books.

ok book3
This book is just ok. The advice in this book was a no brainer so nothing new to me. I have to say that the chapter on wills was helpful though.

02
Jul
08

Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

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Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
By Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

Product Description

 

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? How did the legalization of abortion affect the rate of violent crime?

These may not sound like typical questions for an econo-mist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much-heralded scholar who studies the riddles of everyday life—from cheating and crime to sports and child-rearing—and whose conclusions turn conventional wisdom on its head.

Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They usually begin with a mountain of data and a simple question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives—how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they explore the hidden side of . . . well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Klu Klux Klan.

What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a great deal of complexity and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and—if the right questions are asked—is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking.

Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.

 

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #102 in Books
  • Published on: 2006-10-02
  • Released on: 2006-10-17
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 336 pages

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Economics is not widely considered to be one of the sexier sciences. The annual Nobel Prize winner in that field never receives as much publicity as his or her compatriots in peace, literature, or physics. But if such slights are based on the notion that economics is dull, or that economists are concerned only with finance itself, Steven D. Levitt will change some minds. In Freakonomics (written with Stephen J. Dubner), Levitt argues that many apparent mysteries of everyday life don’t need to be so mysterious: they could be illuminated and made even more fascinating by asking the right questions and drawing connections. For example, Levitt traces the drop in violent crime rates to a drop in violent criminals and, digging further, to the Roe v. Wade decision that preempted the existence of some people who would be born to poverty and hardship. Elsewhere, by analyzing data gathered from inner-city Chicago drug-dealing gangs, Levitt outlines a corporate structure much like McDonald’s, where the top bosses make great money while scores of underlings make something below minimum wage. And in a section that may alarm or relieve worried parents, Levitt argues that parenting methods don’t really matter much and that a backyard swimming pool is much more dangerous than a gun. These enlightening chapters are separated by effusive passages from Dubner’s 2003 profile of Levitt in The New York Times Magazine, which led to the book being written. In a book filled with bold logic, such back-patting veers Freakonomics, however briefly, away from what Levitt actually has to say. Although maybe there’s a good economic reason for that too, and we’re just not getting it yet. –John Moe

Customer Reviews

Insight into how to extend any discipline into any sphere of life4
This book allows people to realise that stagnant sciences like economics in this case do not necessarily need to be boring / repetitive. Some really ‘out of the box’ explainations have been provided for some really important questions. Reads more like a story then a book on economics.

For Critical Readers Only2
I give this book a negative review mostly because of another reviewer’s title statement: “Smarter for having read it”; the book consistently criticizes experts in various media, and then proceeds to engender the deplorable “expert” mentality in casual readers, like us, who are really not good judges of what’s going on. There is so much at stake in their claims, which they hasten through, that to consider yourself more learned after the fact may be only the process of self-blinding. Dubner and Levitt aren’t necessarily wrong, but to read them without severe skepticism is to throw your mind into a vast pool of questionable correlations and grossly vague statistics, where some people may never escape their own illusory intelligence and sophistication.

Great book!5
Very good book. Full of insights and interesting topics. I liked it because it presents the facts with a brief opinion, but still lets you make up your own mind weather you believe it or not. I, personally, believed about half of what they said, but its still interesting to read through all the topics. It may all be true, but the facts they presented convinced me only sometimes.

  

 

 

02
Jul
08

The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 11th Edition

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The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 11th Edition
From Graduate Management Admission Council

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #93 in Books
  • Published on: 2005-09
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 832 pages

Customer Reviews

Great Service!5
Great service! Recieved the book faster than expected. Great communication and service!! Will buy from again.

Great book!5
This book is even better than I supposed. And it was delivered even earlier, that is nice 🙂

Could be Better4
For a more detailed review please refer to user Youssef J. Habbouche’s review. I’m only going to include what I he hasn’t.

I’m actually giving this book 3.5/5 stars. Reason is because as the official prep book by GMAC, I think the number of typos and errors are unacceptable. For example #20 of the Problem Solving section:

20. Of the five coordinates associated with points A, B, C, D, E on the number line above (diagram included in text), which has the greatest absolute value?

(A) A = -2
(B) B = -1
(C) C = 0
(D) D = 1
(E) E = 2
Quick glance at the options and you know there are 2 possible answers A and E. Answer according to text is A. There are other errors and typos like this scattered across the pages of this book. If you have a keen eye they shouldn’t be too hard to pick out. Although it can be quite frustrating since the last thing one needs while preping for a test like this is to start second guessing one’s ability.

Overall it’s a very good prep material especially because some of the questions in the book did show up on the actual test. If the errors and typos are a minor thing to you, this book is the way to go. Using other books as supplement might also help. Good luck!

02
Jul
08

The Answer: Grow Any Business, Achieve Financial Freedom, and Live an Extraordinary Life

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The Answer: Grow Any Business, Achieve Financial Freedom, and Live an Extraordinary Life
By John Assaraf, Murray Smith

Product Description

A key team member behind The Secret and his business partner offer the specific tools and mental strategies to help readers leap ahead in any career or business venture and achieve major financial success.

In this visionary work, New York Times bestselling author John Assaraf and business guru Murray Smith reinvent the business book for the twenty-first century. Two of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world, they combine forces to bring their special insights and techniques together in a revolutionary guide for success in the modern business environment.

Assaraf and Smith know how to minimize risk and maximize success, and The Answer provides a framework for sharing their wisdom, experience, and skills with the millions of people who want to accomplish their own dreams in life. Using cutting-edge research into brain science and quantum physics, they show how readers can actually rewire their brains for success and create the kind of extraordinary lives they want. By teaching readers how to attract and use newly discovered “uncommon” senses to achieve business success, the authors demonstrate the beliefs, habits, thoughts, and actions that they have used to build eighteen multimillion-dollar companies.

Any reader who follows this step-by-step process to build his or her career will experience an enormous life transformation and reach an exceptional level of living.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #183 in Books
  • Published on: 2008-05-20
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 320 pages

Editorial Reviews

Review
“This book is a masterpiece! I couldn’t stop reading it. It is by far the best book I have ever read on how to use the law of attraction and the latest breakthroughs in neuroscience to quantum leap the growth of any business. It is now required reading for all my staff and students.” –Jack Canfield, co-author of The Success Principles and co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series

“The Answer is absolutely a must read for anyone interested in a new and much higher level of prosperity. John and Murray have helped me more than triple my business income and they can do the same for you. I highly recommend it.”–Dharma Singh Khalsa, MD, America’s #1 Brain Longevity Specialist

“A brilliant formula for growing any business and living an extraordinary life – entrepreneurial wisdom embodied in a proactive, balanced approach to living. A must read!”–Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness

“Everyone wants the answers to life’s probing questions, particularly of business, financial freedom and how to make your life a masterpiece. My friends John and Murray have made their lives masterpieces and share from deep profound insight how you can make yours the same or even better.” — Mark Victor Hansen, co-creator, #1 New York Times bestselling series Chicken Soup for the Soul ®, co-author, Cracking the Millionaire Code and The One Minute Millionaire

“If you really want to attract and make things happen faster in your business and life, read The Answer now! John Assaraf and Murray Smith will put you on the road to riches as fast as anyone I know. Read it and give a copy to your best friend.” — Bob Proctor, of The Secret and author of You Were Born Rich

“This book does not hold anything back. It’s got it all. How to THINK like someone who should be wealthy and then how to back it up with killer growth strategies backed by step-by-step plans for super growth. A must read for any CEO serious about amassing a fortune.” — Chet Holmes, bestselling author of The Ultimate Sales Machine

“There are great books on the unlimited power of our minds to co-create the circumstances of our dreams. There are even more books on business development and the management of those dreams. What makes The Answer so remarkable is that finally both dimensions have been wonderfully explained and integrated into what is destined to be the ‘how to’ book of the century. Read and win!” — Ian Percy, author Infinite Possibilities – Make Your Life a Masterpiece.

“This book is the first AND ONLY one I’ve seen that teaches you how to harness all three of the laws of attraction; gestation AND action together, to make extraordinary things start happening in your business right away! John and Murray have packaged a lifetime of highly result-certain expertise into this content-rich book. If you business isn’t living up to your vision, this is the one book and philosophy of predictable, unstoppable growth that you need to read, learn…and do!” –Jay Abraham, Marketing Guru

“The Answer is inspiring. It motivates you to go after the grandest version of the greatest life and business you ever envisioned for yourself with the knowledge that it is absolutely possible. The Answer gives you the tools to change your life. This is one of the most exciting books I have ever read.”– Suzanne Somers

“The Answer is a pragmatic and easy to use formula for building a solid entrepreneurial business. Read it, and most importantly, take action upon it!”– James Arthur Ray, author of Harmonic Wealth®, The Secret of Attracting the Life You Want and The Science of Success

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1

Inside the Box: John’s Story

One Tuesday morning in May 2000, my son Keenan and I opened a cardboard box that had been sealed for five years, and what we found inside changed my life forever.

I had no idea this was going to happen; in fact, I didn’t know exactly what we were going to see when we opened that box. It had been five years, after all, and in those years we’d moved around quite a bit and seen a lot of change.

I began my career in business twenty years earlier, going to work as a real estate agent fresh out of high school. My dreams of professional basketball were long gone, and I had no idea what to do with my life. Real estate was the only thing I could think of that would keep me from working at a grocery store, and so, on June 20, 1980, this nineteen-year-old kid took his real estate exam and became a licensed Realtor. Within a few months, seminars and workshops on goal-setting were teaching me about some odd-sounding personal growth techniques they called visualization and affirmations.

I had been aware of the value of such practices, long before they had formal names. In my teens, I wanted more than anything to become a successful basketball star. In fact, I wanted to succeed in that career so badly that I constantly imagined myself winning championship games, sinking that winning shot as the clock ran out, running that movie in my head before I ever stepped onto the court. I literally went to sleep at night with a basketball next to me under the covers. And until I was injured, I was an impact player.

Now, however, winning on the court was no longer the issue. Now it was all about winning in business.

I started observing what the top achievers in my office were doing, watching them like a hawk, listening to them talk on the phone, even sitting in on meetings with them, just to hear exactly what they said and how they said it. I started reading voraciously, absorbing everything I could get my hands on that might give me clues as to how to become successful in my new career. I listened to audiotapes and attended live programs — and one of these was taught by a man whom I came to know as a friend, mentor, and business partner. His name is Bob Proctor.

In the early sixties, Bob had moved from his native Toronto to Chicago to work with a man named Earl Nightingale, who had launched the personal development industry a decade earlier. Nightingale’s famous audio recording The Strangest Secret was the first recording in history outside of popular music to sell a million copies. Earl Nightingale, in turn, had learned his philosophy from Napoleon Hill, the author of what is probably the most well-known book in all of success literature, Think and Grow Rich.

From Napoleon Hill to Earl Nightingale to Bob Proctor, one theme ran through all their teachings: The secret to our success lies in controlling our thoughts. The only limitations on our accomplishments, these teachers were telling me, are those we place upon ourselves by our own self-limiting thoughts. What they said made complete sense to me; I didn’t know how or why it worked, but to me the truth of it seemed selfevident.

Soon I was taking this business of writing down my goals very seriously. (In fact, I still have a copy of my carefully written-out goals from the summer of 1982.) I started writing affirmations and vivid word pictures of the kind of success I wanted to have, feeding my unconscious mind with new images of my goals, playing out new movies in my mind, movies of my triumphs as a serial entrepreneur.

That year, my first year in real estate, I earned about $30,000. Not bad for age twenty, I thought. My second year, my earnings totaled $150,000. This goal setting, visualizing, affirmation repeating thing was working!

After that second year, I decided to take some time off to take stock and expand my horizons. I gathered my earnings and set off to travel around the world. My trip ended up lasting more than a year, as I circled the globe learning about other cultures and worldviews and expanding my sense of what was possible. In late 1984, I returned to Toronto and went back to work at my real estate office…but it was clear I wouldn’t last there long. I was hungry to know more, to do more, and to be more.

A few years later, in late 1986, Walter Schneider and Frank Polzler, the two guys who owned the rights to the giant Realtor RE/MAX for eastern Canada, approached me with the news that the RE/MAX subfranchising rights for the state of Indiana had become available. (Today, Walter and Frank are the most successful subfranchisors in the world.) They knew I was itching to grow, and they had decided to offer me a partnership if I would move to Indiana to build the business there.

“John,” they said, “would you like to move to Indiana?”

I said, “Absolutely! How soon do I leave?” and then added, “Where’s that, again?” I hadn’t even heard the “Indiana” part. I’d just heard “Would you like to move?” and I knew they were offering me an opportunity I couldn’t possibly turn down.

My first week in Indiana, a reporter from the Indianapolis Business Journal came to ask about our plans. “In five years,” I told him, “we’ll be the biggest real estate company in Indiana — in fact, we will sell a billion dollars in real estate.”

He scribbled all this down and then offhandedly asked, “So, have you talked with — ” and he rattled off the names of the major owners of the largest real estate company in the area.

“Um, why?” I hedged.

He grinned. “I guess you probably already know this, but their firm has been here for about eighty years, and they control seventy percent of the real estate market in these parts.”

I had no idea. I’d never even heard of the guys he was talking about. I knew nothing about Indiana real estate — and in fact, I knew nothing about how to run my own business, let alone how to build it to generate such massive sales. Let alone how to do it in the face of dominant, well-entrenched competition.

The reporter laughed. It was pretty clear that I’d stuck my foot so far down my mouth I might never get it out. Sure enough, a few days later, there was my picture in the paper, along with a story on me with the headline, “A Billion in Sales Within Five Years.” I was the laughingstock of the town.

That is, until five years later — when my company generated $1.2 billion in sales for the year.

This visualization and affirmations thing was really working. It was still a mystery to me exactly why or how it worked, but who cared — it worked!

In 1995, I started making what my mentors had called vision boards, cutting out pictures that represented the goals and dreams I aspired to achieve and pasting them onto bulletin boards; the idea was to create everyday reminders of my life’s direction. I didn’t yet grasp the full power of this exercise, but that would soon change.

By that time, I had run that RE/MAX region for a decade, growing it to over seventy-five offices and one thousand salespeople. I had also grown restless again; it was time to search for new and larger opportunities. I hired and trained a replacement, packed up my possessions and put them in storage, left Indiana, and moved back to Canada.

Over the next few years my family and I moved around, while I looked for the next big opportunity. I invested in a few companies and consulted for a few more, while we kept moving and looking. In late 1998, a friend named Len McCurdy invited me to come down to San Francisco to look at something his son Kevin and Kevin’s friend Howard had developed.

“This program is amazing,” Len told me. “It lets you do a virtual tour of a car or hotel property on the Internet, without any downloads or plug-ins. You’ve got to see it.”

I admired Len and knew that working with him would provide me with an amazing opportunity to learn and grow. His last company had been worth a fortune before Len sold it to IBM. I flew to San Francisco and it didn’t take much imagination to appreciate that this online application Kevin and Howard had developed would have fantastic applications in real estate, car sales, hotel room advertising, all sorts of areas. Len invited me to join him as senior vice president of sales and marketing for the new company, a position I accepted without hesitation. And then he said something that took me by surprise:

“Hey, why don’t we take this thing public? And why not do it by this fall?”

He wanted to do an IPO — in nine months. Even in those heady dot-com-boom days, that was a pretty outrageous goal. But Len knew a lot about how to achieve extraordinary goals; he had read the same books and studied with some of the same people I had, and he knew that we are constrained only by the limitations we place upon our own thoughts.

I took a deep breath, and said, “Sure, let’s do it!” We moved from Vancouver to Los Angeles, and I spent the next year or so flying back and forth between L.A. and San Francisco. My colleagues and I launched our new company in the beginning of 1999; nine months later we placed a successful IPO on NASDAQ, followed by a merger of equals with another company that left our new venture with a market valuation of $2.5 billion.

This whirlwind adventure had three results. It offered me the most vivid proof of the power of our thoughts that I had ever seen. It left me with the financial wherewithal to retire. And it found me once again wanting to move on and search for new horizons. It wasn’t at all clear what those horizons would be, but there was absolutely no doubt as to where I wanted to live while I chased them: San Diego.

Living in San Diego had been a dream of mine for nearly twenty years. Way back in 1982, while traveling around the world, I had stopped over in San Diego and told myself, “Someday, when I can afford to live wherever I want, I’m going to live here.”

Now, in the beginning of 2000, my family and I rented a house on the bluffs of San Diego and started house hunting. By April we had closed on an amazing property and I sent for our stuff, which had been languishing in storage back in…

Customer Reviews

The answer is phenomenal!5
I just finished the book last week while on vacation and I strongly feel that the information that it provided will help me to grow my business and to get to the “next level”. John and Murray are inspirational in both their business and personal lives.

This book, like The Secret itself, requires action and commitment on the part of the reader to achieve the full benefits that is has to offer.

Great Information5
This book has a great deal of interesting information. I really enjoyed the chapter “The Universe Inside Your Brain.” I am also a student of the original Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill, however it sometimes frustrates me with how outdated some of the belief systems are. If you want a book that is fresh, full of interesting things about how your brain works, as well as easy to follow—I highly suggest you read this book.

Great book5
This book was worth both the money and time spent. I found it both thought provoking and practical. 

02
Jul
08

StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup’s Now, Discover Your Strengths

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StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup’s Now, Discover Your Strengths
By Tom Rath

Product Description

DO YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO WHAT YOU DO BEST EVERY DAY?

Chances are, you don’t. All too often, our natural talents go untapped. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths.

To help people uncover their talents, Gallup introduced the first version of its online assessment, StrengthsFinder, in the 2001 management book Now, Discover Your Strengths. The book spent more than five years on the bestseller lists and ignited a global conversation, while StrengthsFinder helped millions to discover their top five talents.

In its latest national bestseller, StrengthsFinder 2.0, Gallup unveils the new and improved version of its popular assessment, language of 34 themes, and much more (see below for details). While you can read this book in one sitting, you’ll use it as a reference for decades.

Loaded with hundreds of strategies for applying your strengths, this new book and accompanying website will change the way you look at yourself — and the world around you — forever.

AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY IN THE NEW & UPGRADED EDITION OF STRENGTHSFINDER 2.0
(using the unique access code included with each book)

* A new and upgraded edition of the StrengthsFinder assessment

* A personalized Strengths Discovery and Action-Planning Guide for applying your strengths in the next week, month, and year

* A more customized version of your top five theme report

* 50 Ideas for Action (10 strategies for building on each of your top five themes)

* The more user-friendly StrengthsFinder 2.0 companion website, with a strengths community area, library of downloadable discussion guides and activities, a strengths screensaver, and a program for creating display cards of your top five themes

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #42 in Books
  • Published on: 2007-02-01
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 192 pages

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher
STRENGTHS: THE NEXT GENERATION

Q&A with author Tom Rath

(From the Gallup Management Journal; interviewed by Jennifer Robison)

Last month, StrengthsFinder 2.0 hit the bookstores. Book browsers, no doubt, had many questions, and among them was probably “Didn’t I already read a book about this?”

Well, actually, yes. But the topic was worth revisiting for two reasons. In the six years since the release of Now, Discover Your Strengths, more than 2 million people have taken the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment, which means billions of people have not yet had the opportunity. The second reason is that Gallup researchers just haven’t been able to let the topic rest. Over the past decade, they’ve done more surveys, more interviews, and more studies; they’ve prodded and poked and analyzed. And they realized that there’s a lot more to understanding human talent than most people know. Those who are familiar with the StrengthsFinder assessment know that it is designed to uncover certain key talents — patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior that can be productively applied. These patterns are categorized into 34 broad themes — such as Achiever, Ideation, and Relator — and those themes indicate and predict one’s innate and unique talents. Those talents, when multiplied by the investment of time spent practicing, developing skills, and building knowledge, can become strengths. Some of this is just common sense; it seems intuitive that your performance will be better if you’re doing what you naturally do well. But some of it seems counterintuitive and runs directly against conventional wisdom: No amount of training will help you excel in your areas of weakness. You can’t do anything you want to do — or be anything you want to be — because you’re just not going to be good at everything. But if you work with your talents, you can be extraordinary. StrengthsFinder has resonated with the business community because there’s a direct link between talent development and performance. In this interview, Tom Rath, author of StrengthsFinder 2.0, discusses what Gallup scientists have learned since the publication of the first book, what more there is to discover about your talents, and why it’s bad to focus on your employees’ weaknesses, but simply cruel to ignore them completely.

GMJ: Why the new book?

Tom Rath: StrengthsFinder 2.0 is an effort to get the core message and language out to a much broader audience. We had no idea how well received the first strengths book would be by general readers — it was oriented more toward managers — or that the energy and excitement would continue to grow. More than two million people have taken the StrengthsFinder assessment, and each month, the number of people learning about their talents goes up. But readers keep asking us: “Now that I know about my strengths, what do I do next?” So we went back and surveyed hundreds of them and asked them how they apply their talents. Then we whittled their suggestions down to the ten best ideas for each theme. We also added more than five thousand Strengths Insights to version 2.0 that allow us to offer more individualized theme descriptions than we could before. So, instead of general descriptions of your top five talent themes, in 2.0, you get a talent profile so unique that you’re unlikely to share even a sentence with someone else. And as I said, the first book was really written for a business audience. People have had trouble retrofitting the theme descriptions if they are in non-management roles, but they’ve tried. This book helps readers apply strengths theory to any type of role and gives them ideas to help them apply their talents in their daily life.

GMJ: It’s been six years since the first book was published, and Gallup has done hundreds of thousands more interviews. Have you discovered anything new about talents and strengths? Have you altered your original premise?

Rath: No, but we’ve seen more and more evidence that demonstrates that focusing on your talents is important. We did a survey in 2004 that examined what happens when your manager ignores you, focuses on your strengths, or focuses on your weaknesses. We found that if your manager focuses on your strengths, your chances of being actively disengaged go down to one in one hundred. However, if your manager primarily focuses on your weaknesses, your chances of being actively disengaged are 22%, and if your manager ignores you, that percentage rises to 40%.

GMJ: Why such a high rate of disengagement among those who are ignored?

Rath: It basically mirrors the psychology of raising kids — being completely ignored is the worst possible psychological state. You would actually feel better if your manager went from ignoring you to focusing on what you do wrong all the time, because then at least she’s paying attention to you.

GMJ: Did your new research turn up anything that surprised you?

Rath: We’ve talked a lot about how strengths can help you be more of who you are, and you get more out of your best players, and all of that. But in the last ten years, we’ve also found that it’s a good strategy just to wipe out the extreme negativity in the workplace. I get this question almost every time I talk to a group: “What do I do about that one person who just drags everyone down every day?” My glib answer was to get rid of the person. I always thought there were some people who were just destined to be disengaged in their jobs because that was their personality, and no matter how hard managers tried, there wasn’t much they could do with some of those people. But the data from the last five years would suggest that much of that epidemic of disengagement is fixable. More than I ever would have guessed, it helps tremendously if a manager starts by focusing on someone’s strengths. You may not take someone who’s actively disengaged and make him into your most engaged employee, but it will help get him out of that mindset where he’s scaring off colleagues and customers.

GMJ: So is that the business case to be made for putting people in roles that play to their strengths? Rath: I think it’s the secondary business case. The main business case is that people have a lot more fun and get a lot more done if they’re able to spend time in areas where they have some natural talent. I think that’s a fundamental principle that hasn’t changed much at all. The one thing that we were clear about in StrengthsFinder 2.0 is that the American dream ideal that “You can be anything you want if you just try hard enough” is detrimental. This is especially true when people buy into it hook, line, and sinker. You may not be able to be anything you want to be, but you can be a lot more of who you already are. [Taking] StrengthsFinder is just a starting point; it’s step one of a hundred in figuring out the areas where you have the most potential for growth. GMJ: What is the most challenging aspect of your ongoing strengths research?

Rath: While hundreds of people in our organization continue to research this topic each year, our greatest challenge might be incorporating the new research while making the message even more succinct and applicable to a wider audience. So while we have hundreds of new case studies and meta-analyses about strengths — and about employee engagement and business outcomes — we tried to stay as close as we could to the basics.

GMJ: The Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment has always categorized talents into thirty-four themes. Have you ever considered adding or subtracting any, or refining them further?

Rath: Yes, we looked at that extensively as we started to review our plan for the updated version of the assessment. We found that so far, the thirty-four themes have done a good job of describing much of what we’ve learned since releasing the first version of the assessment. If enough people had made a case about a specific theme that didn’t exist, we were open to adding that theme. I think we probably will continue to investigate whether there are themes that emerge that we haven’t yet picked up on. But there wasn’t a real strong case for any additions at this time.

GMJ: What would you most like to accomplish with StrengthsFinder 2.0?

Rath: Our big goal and mission as a company is to help people do more of what they do well. We’ve topped two million completed StrengthsFinder assessments, and it’s not too hard to imagine that number getting to twenty million soon. An organization that exists to help people has a responsibility to get better and better. By reaching beyond our initial audience, we help people get the latest and greatest research. But we also hope it helps people live better lives.

From the Inside Flap
ABOUT STRENGTHSFINDER

In 1998, the Father of Strengths Psychology, Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D. (1924-2003), along with Tom Rath and a team of scientists at The Gallup Organization, created the online StrengthsFinder assessment. In 2001, they included the first edition of StrengthsFinder with the bestseller Now, Discover Your Strengths. In 2004, the assessment’s name was formally changed to “Clifton StrengthsFinder” in honor of its chief designer.

 

In 2007, building on the initial assessment and language from StrengthsFinder 1.0, Rath and Gallup scientists released a new edition of the assessment, program, and website, dubbed “StrengthsFinder 2.0.” Rooted in more than 40 years of research, this assessment has helped millions discover and develop their natural talents.

From the Back Cover
AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY IN THE NEW & UPGRADED EDITION OF STRENGTHSFINDER 2.0

(using the unique access code included with each book)

 

* A new and upgraded edition of the StrengthsFinder assessment

* A personalized Strengths Discovery and Action-Planning Guide for applying your strengths in the next week, month, and year

* A more customized version of your top five theme report

* 50 Ideas for Action (10 strategies for building on each of your top five themes)

* The more user-friendly StrengthsFinder 2.0 companion website, with a strengths community area, library of downloadable discussion guides and activities, a strengths screensaver, and a program for creating display cards of your top five themes

Customer Reviews

Read together with Now, Discover your strengths5
It is relly uncanny, how dead on this test is. Use this to better understand yourself and put your strengths to work. Don’t think you’ll get step-by-step answers on “what to do next”. But, if you are really interested in understanding yourself, and putting some effort forth to make changes for the better, then these are the books for you. I say books, because I read both the original “Now, Discover Your Strengths” and “Strengths Finder 2.0”. I’m glad I did – “Now, Discover..” provides more information on the subject.

Seeking A Much More Positive And Productive Environment? 5
Are you on the right track? Do you wonder about why you love doing certain things and dislike others? Do you wonder why you react in certain ways? Are you looking for a better way to make right decisions, enjoy peace of mind, and live in harmony with others. This may be the book for you.

“Strengths Finder 2.0” is an extension of “strengths” research begun more than forty years ago by the late `Father of Strengths Psychology,” Dr. Donald Clifton of the Gallup Organization. For over 40 years, Clifton researched the natural patterns of thought, feeling, and action of two million people in more than 25 countries. The goal was to begin a conversation about what’s right with people. The result is the Clifton “StrengthsFinder,” a tool that reveals a person’s top five themes of talent – one’s “Signature Themes.”

A “Strength” is the ability to provide consistent, near-perfect performance in a given activity. This ability is a powerful, productive combination of talent, skill, and knowledge. Talents are naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied. Unlike skills and knowledge, talents exist within you and cannot be acquired. We must first need to identify, affirm, and apply our unique mix of talents then apply them.

Clifton’s research highlights folly of the widely used “weakness prevention” model – to be successful, we must “fix” our weaknesses. This thinking is wrong. Building a life around one’s greatest natural abilities rather than trying to repair weaknesses is the path to success.

The book is organized around the use of the StrengthsFinder (provided with the purchase of the book) to identify, assess and affirm our Signature Themes (talents), and how to apply them for growth and life success. There are thirty four identified talents ranging from achiever, maximizer, ideation, individualization, and significance to woo. The StrengthsFinder assessment tool has been translated into more than 20 languages and is used by businesses, schools, and communities in more than 100 nations around the world to create strength-based families, communities, and workplaces.

The Signature Themes are unique to the individual. According to Gallup, the chance of finding someone with your Signature Themes, in the same order, is 1 in 33 million and the chance of finding someone with your top ten themes of talent is 1 in 3 trillion. Finding one’s themes and understanding their uniqueness should help one to gain a better appreciation of how special they are and how special the people around them are – deeper self-respect, deeper mutual respect. Studies indicate that people who do have an opportunity to focus on their strengths are three times more likely to have an excellent quality of life in general.

“StrengthsFinder 2.0” has been written to provide the reader with the latest discoveries and strategies for application, providing a much more in-depth analysis of one’s strengths. The book also provides 10 “Ideas for Action” for each of the themes. Each reader will get 50 specific actions – culled from thousands of best-of-practice” suggestions.

The entire focus of this book is application. If you want to improve your life and the lives of those around you, you must take action. The chances are, if you do, that you will find yourself in a much more positive and productive environment.

Not recommended2
Unless this is a corporate requirement, you shouldn’t buy. The book is only valuable in obtaining code necessary to take on-line questionnaire. The on-line information is much more complete than anything in the book. A better solution would be for Gallup to offer on-line registration (they may already, but it is not apparent on the WEB site)

02
Jul
08

Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs

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Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs
By Craig Stull, Phil Myers, David Meerman Scott

Product Description

Tuned In argues that the key to business success lies in understanding and connecting with what consumers and markets want most. Being tuned in to the needs of buyers, whether those needs are expressed outwardly or not, is the ultimate secret to creating and marketing products and services that people want to buy. For anyone who markets a product, service, or ideas in any business, industry, or organization, Tuned In delivers a simple six-step process for discovering real and deep insights into any market: finding unsolved problems, understanding buyer personas, quantifying impact, creating breakthrough experiences, articulating powerful ideas, and establishing sustainable connections. Tuned In shows readers how to stop guessing what consumers need and stop wasting time and money building, marketing, and selling solutions that the market doesn’t value. This insightful book shows readers how to connect with their market in order to create products and services that truly resonate with people.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #515 in Books
  • Published on: 2008-06-30
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 224 pages

Editorial Reviews

Review
This well-reasoned and useful guide argues that successful innovators can develop products that “resonate” by connecting deeply with consumers. This simple idea is delivered in a conversational tone and illustrated in well-structured chapters laying out a six-step “Tuned in Process” and examples that span borders and industries. From anecdotes about countryside hotels that sprouted up to provide respite for Japanese salarymen to Nalgene plastic bottles, which escaped the laboratory to achieve cult status and ultimately mass market consumer appeal, fascinating case studies abound. However, as appealing as the concept and the many examples are, the enthusiastic presentation begins to grate; the repeated invocation of the “Tuned in Process” may tire readers looking for more subtlety and fewer sound bites. Still, there is sufficient fodder for anyone who wants to shake the sleep out of an organization and renew a focus on creating the kind of value that customers are willing to pay for. (June)  (Publishers Weekly, April 7, 2008)

From the Inside Flap

Product and service sensations like the iPod, Starbucks, and FedEx were seemingly successful overnight. But it wasn’t luck, creativity, or clever marketing that led to their breakthroughs. Anyone can create hits that resonate if they stop guessing what people need and start spending their time building real and deep connections to what their buyers value most.

A proven strategy for dominating markets developed over fifteen years, Tuned In reveals the secrets that separate market leaders from followers and failures. It shows you how to stop wasting time and money trying to be innovative and start creating”resonators”— great products or services that peoplebuy because they solve the problems they have and make their lives better.

Using a simple six-step process, Tuned In teaches you how to discover real and meaningful insights into any market. You’ll learn how to identify unresolved problems, understand what buyers really want, create breakthrough experiences, and establish strong, sustainable connections to your market. Through dozens of real-life examples across a wide variety of industries, you’ll learn how leaders create products and services that resonate—and the traps many others fall into when they don’t.

Anyone can use Tuned In to replicate the model for success. It works for well-known companies like Ford, Apple, and GE, as well as those not-so-famous companies like GoPro and Zipcar. It works for realtors, doctors, ministers, and even rock stars. Tuned In teaches you how to transform your everyday activities into those that create the kind of culture that builds market leaders.

If you want to win in today’s marketplace, stop pushing products your buyers don’t want with expensive, meaningless advertising. Instead, read Tuned In and discover how to connect to what people really want, and—most importantly—how you can become an organization they trust.

Customer Reviews

A Marketing Book That’s Not Just For Marketers5
I’m not a marketing expert; I work with marketing, HR and IT departments, all of whom face the challenges of trying to persuade others in the company to a) trust them, b) adopt their recommendations, or c) consider a new approach, technology or big idea… in other words, internal marketing. Often, they describe this as an uphill battle or hitting a brick wall. Either way, this book lays out both a philosophy and a road map that could help. Lots of good examples – of large and small, well known and unknown companies.
How would I describe Tuned In? Clear. Uncluttered. Colloquial. Compelling.

Simple Yet Powerful Advice5
I would call this book “elegantly simple”. There’s nothing particularly astonishing about the message, but when you think about it, it’s powerful. I immediately started considering about how to revise my web site to deliver a more useful customer message.

There are many good examples. The Zip Car case study is especially strong, showcasing how innovative executives identified an opportunity that the auto rental giants missed because they were too stuck on incremental improvements. Other good examples include Millionaires’ Magician, Bill Me Later and Cincom.

This book will force you to think about the value you’re providing to your market and to question your assumptions. Those are good things.

Great, practical advice for entrepreneurs5
I have been working in and around startups most of my professional life.

This book provides some great practical advice on how to create the *right* product that will resonate in the market.

The style is easy to read without being overly simplified so as to be useless (which seems to be the case in many popular business books).

I’ve read parts of the book several times now as these issues continue to crop-up.

29
Jun
08

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t

By arpijikii 1 Comment
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: , , ,

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t
By Jim Collins

Product Description

 

The Challenge
Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning.

But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness?

The Study
For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great?

The Standards
Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world’s greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck.

The Comparisons
The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good?

Over five years, the team analyzed the histories of all twenty-eight companies in the study. After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness — why some companies make the leap and others don’t.

The Findings
The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include:

  • Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness.
  • The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence.
  • A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology.
  • The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap.

“Some of the key concepts discerned in the study,” comments Jim Collins, “fly in the face of our modern business culture and will, quite frankly, upset some people.”

Perhaps, but who can afford to ignore these findings?

 

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #56 in Books
  • Published on: 2001-10
  • Released on: 2001-10-16
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 300 pages

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com’s Best of 2001
Five years ago, Jim Collins asked the question, “Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?” In Good to Great Collins, the author of Built to Last, concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets. Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They finally settled on 11–including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo–and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success. Making the transition from good to great doesn’t require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner. Peppered with dozens of stories and examples from the great and not so great, the book offers a well-reasoned road map to excellence that any organization would do well to consider. Like Built to Last, Good to Great is one of those books that managers and CEOs will be reading and rereading for years to come. —Harry C. Edwards

Customer Reviews

A New Way to Look at Growing Your Business5
“Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t” by Jim Collins was a real eye opener for me.

In this book, Jim Collins, observes 28 companies over the span of 5 years. Over this period of time 11 of the companies make the leap from “Good to Great”. The findings in this book were truly eye opening and inspirational. I loved the chapter on Level 5 leadership. Collins starts the chapter using a quote by Harry S. Truman “You can accomplish anything in life, provided that you do not mind who gets the credit”. This is the essence of the book.

I also loved that in this book he speaks about how the executives that ignited the transformation for companies that went from good to great, did not figure out how to drive the bus, but how to get the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off) and then they figured out where to drive it.

Another book I really enjoyed reading about transformation is Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment. Any person who is looking to grow their business would greatly benefit from reading both these books.

Good to Great5
The condition of this book was excellent. I recieved it in a very timely manner. If you currently own or are looking to own your own business, this book is invaluable. The concepts are concrete, realistic, and attainable. I highly recommend this book.

A Book That Gets Down To Business5
If you are like me and struggle to keep a business running at a profitable level, then you need books like this one. In my opinion, “The Businessman’s Bible” is an alternative title for this great and informative text.

This book is gleaned from facts acquired through years of researching the ups and downs of thousands of companies, to learn what works and why, and what definitely should be avoided in the business world.

If you are in business or even contemplating going into business, then you must read this book.

Real Life Dramas – Volume One

Darren G. Burton

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