5 comments about Don't Shoot the Dog!: The New Art of Teaching and Training.

1. Fantastic. Reading this has helped me gain a bit of insight into relating better with our dog (and people too). For five years I have tried many things to aid in getting our dog to stop pulling while on leash. A Gentle Leader didn't work. A choke collar didn't work. I even resorted to using a Herm Sprenger prong collar, to no avail. After reading this, I realized I needed to "speak" a language my dog could understand. He pulls, I stop. He wants to walk, so he stops pulling. Our walks are quite lovely now, and I didn't need to buy an expensive training aid to accomplish that.



2. As a dog trainer this was one of the required reading materials when I first started at Guide Dogs for the Blind. I think it is a good idea to read many different kinds of training guides as I find myself using positive only training methods.
   
   -Julie the online dog trainer from www.webDogTrainer.com



3. I liked this book better than all the other learning theory books. Although she does teach the scientific jargon which is important to know, the author explains learning theory in terms/analagies that the layperson can easily understand.



4. "This book is about how to train anyone -- human or animal, young or old, oneself or others -- to do anything that can and should be done. How to get the cat off the kitchen table or your grandmother to stop nagging you. How to affect behavior in your pets, your kids, your boss, your friends. How to improve your tennis stroke, your golf game, your math skills, your memory. All by using the principles of training with reinforcement."
   
   That first paragraph from the foreword pretty much sums it up. The book is delightful to read. I'm not a behavioral scientist, but it seems like a reasonably thorough introduction to training through reinforcement and shaping. It has helped me better train our dogs, and clarified my understanding of what actually is going on in the training process.
   
   I really like her systematic approach to the material, with definitions and examples. She includes a little background -- the"Clever Hans" phenomenon, the contributions of B.F. Skinner, her own background with marine mammals, the traditional punitive approach to animal training. The book is not exclusively about training dogs; she doesn't address dominance (except as an explanation for the prevalence of punishment in society) or pack psychology. She does clearly explain reinforcers, aversives, markers and the importance of timing, stimulus control, methods ("recipes") vs. principles, variable schedules, behavior chains, successive approximation (shaping), etc. Particularly valuable for me are the rules of thumb about reinforcer size, the "Ten Laws of Shaping," the "Training Game," and the concept of backwards chaining.
   
   Perhaps controversially, the book advocates using operant conditioning to improve the behavior of one's fellow humans. This struck me as manipulative, but I think I'm starting to agree with Pryor. Operant conditioning ultimately is a tool for communicating. There are clearly occasions when it is a more effective and efficient way to communicate than discussion or argument.



5. Don't Shoot the Dog!: The New Art of Teaching and Training
   
   Best book I've ever read. Applications for life as well as dog training. Wish I had read it before I raised kids!

1 comments about The Art of the Turnaround: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Arts Organizations.

1. Michael Kaiser has a great reputation for being an arts administrator and for being an effective leader during troubling times. This book takes you through his process and philosophy for turning companies around. The points he makes and his ideas are very practical. I found myself writing down notes and ideas on how I could apply them to our own company. The meat of the book is his case studies, in which he takes you through five organizations he has worked for and what he did to turn the company around. This is the best book I have read on administration in the arts. Mainly because it isn't academic and gives you applicable ideas the moment you start reading.

4 comments about Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations.

1. As Raymond Fisman and Edward Miguel explain at the beginning of their book, there are two main currents of thinking among those who opine on the wisdom of foreign aid: the "poverty trap" view, which holds that aid must be injected to end a vicious cycle in which inability to save leads to disaster in lean years, and the view that more such aid is simply sending good money after bad, straight into the hands of corrupt officials to be funneled away or otherwise wasted. Fisman and Miguel aim to look at corruption and violence in developing countries to determine how prevalent such evils are, how they are caused, and how they can be prevented--and, therefore, what the best way, non-ideologically-speaking, of raising up poor nations might be.
   
   The funny thing about corruption is that it tends to exist out of sight--at least, out of sight of official statistics and public measurements. No one reports the bribes he takes on his income tax returns. So Fisman and Miguel have to come up with creative means of measuring corruption of various types, and this is the most fun part of their book. Economic Gangsters is completely accessible to the general reader, with virtually no economic jargon or concepts more difficult than "incentives matter," but it perfectly captures the exciting, puzzle-solving nature of this kind of academic research.
   
   Fisman and Miguel's biggest, and most important, suggestion is the basic one that foreign aid and other solutions to developing-nation poverty be studied and implemented in an evidence-based manner. Without experimental data it's very difficult to determine whether a particular program is actually effective or not (or cost-effective or not). Randomized trials, like those carried out for developing medicines, are rare in the field of poverty reduction. But sometimes they are carried out. For example, local democratic control of public works projects is often touted as an antidote to corruption and skimming of funds. But in Indonesia a test was conducted to compare road building under local control, the thread of a federal audit, and no corruption prevention. Local control did little better than the control group, while those projects that were audited involved significantly less stolen money.
   
   The authors adhere to their intention to remain non-ideological, and their interest is clearly in going where the evidence leads them. Unfortunately, large-scale economic experiments are often impossible and unethical, so some things can never be tested. But those interested in solutions that actually work should use what information they can. Economic Gangsters provides some of that information, and an interesting look at how to find it. It also tells some great stories about the incentives economic gangsters respond to, the strange circumstances that sometimes create these incentives, and how governments and other groups can play with them to aim for better outcomes.



2. Eight years ago, as I crossed the Uganda-Kenya border, I was sequestered in a shack, interrogated, threatened with prison, and ultimately required to pay a bribe by border guards. After that harrowing experience, I returned to my hotel and recounted the story to the first friendly face I saw: my sympathetic colleague Ted Miguel. Ted and his colleague Ray spent the succeeding years studying violence and corruption in poor countries; and this sweet book is the latest fruit of those labors.
   
   What can economics tell us about corruption and violence around the world? More, perhaps, than you'd expect. Ray and Ted use surprise changes in a dictator's health to measure the value of political connections in Indonesia, rainfall to capture the effect of recessions on violence in Africa, and tricks in the trade data to reveal smuggling. (That's not to mention the parking tickets - Chapter Four.) They present their clever research in surprisingly clear English, and they draw on the related research of other economists as well. They really know how to tell a story: I was captivated by the opening recounting of Kenyan author Ngugi's woes and delighted by the creative policy making of Antanas Mockus, mayor of Bogota.
   
   It's hard not to compare popular economics books today to Freakonomics: Gangsters has the advantages of Ted and Ray's witty, pleasant voice, more of a thematic focus, and none of the self-adulation that took away some Freakonomics' shine.
   
   Despite the focus on corruption and violence, ultimately the book is presenting a miscellany of work that is related but isn't (and perhaps cannot be) circumscribed into a larger theory. Occasionally I found myself wishing a central theory like you find in Malcolm Gladwell's books. But then again, those theories usually aren't convincing for exactly the reason that Ted and Ray don't have one: they are careful and big, broad theories are not. I really enjoyed the clear policy recommendation of Rapid Conflict Prevention Support in Chapter 6, and I look forward to more clear recommendations in the next book. Again, Ted and Ray are careful and tend not to recommend policies that don't have clear evidence to stand on. Not all scholars are comfortable laying out strong recommendations on limited evidence; two books by scholars who are more comfortable are The Bottom Billion and The End of Poverty. (As I recall, that's also the self-definition given by an economic hit man!) The main policy recommendation, ultimately, is more evidence-based policy making, particularly randomized trials of development programs (but with a healthy view of the realistic scope for these kinds of trials).
   
   This book won't just show you that economists can be clever (although it will show you that): It shows that economics, cleverly applied, can illuminate some of the most intractable development problems of our time. I strongly recommend it. And if you don't trust me, Publishers Weekly said that in this "surprisingly spry" read, "fascinating insights abound" [1]. Take it from both of us and learn something.
   
   [1] Publishers Weekly, 6 October 2008.



3. A few years back, economists Ray Fisman (Columbia University) and Edward Miguel (University of California, Berkeley) caught the attention of the global media and the United Nations with their study of diplomats' unpaid parking tickets. At the time, diplomatic immunity allowed representatives to the international body to park in violation of city traffic codes, racking up fines. Fisman and Miguel looked at the list of traffic violations for UN plates over several years. They found that diplomats from some nations such as Canada and Ireland behaved themselves, parking lawfully and paying any tickets, while others such as Kuwait and Chad exploited their power, sometimes in ostentatious ways. Why? The ticket behavior, the economists suggested, is a proxy indicator for the intersection of culture and corruption.
   
   Now, in their recently published book, Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations, Fisman and Miguel extend their corruption lens to the problems of conflict and development. They look for economic causes of conflict such as water scarcity or food crises to help explain everything from civil wars to witch trials. They ask whether more money or better governance is the key to economic growth for Africa, concluding that--although corruption and economic abuse is a key challenge to development--it won't really be possible to answer the big questions of the field until there is better quality, more scientific evaluation of the results of aid projects.
   
   Economic Gangsters is a pleasurable and fast read, written for a popular audience who may or may not know the context of the work. For development specialists familiar with the writings of Jeffrey Sachs, William Easterly, and Paul Collier, the broad contents of the book will be familiar. As other reviewers pointed out, there is also a certain sense in which discussions of warlords and blood diamonds brush up against diplomats' parking tickets or randomized sampling without connections between the topics ever being delineated. On the whole, however, Fisman and Miguel's presentation feels fresh and dynamic. Even seasoned development practitioners are likely finish with a few new ideas inspired by the book's creative approach to cross-pollinating approaches and examples.
   
   The book is available in print and in Amazon's Kindle e-reader format. The digital version suffers from occasional print type errors (for instance, writing budget as bud-get), but the charts and tables thankfully appear crisp and clear on the Kindle screen. I read in Kindle format and would be pleased to do so again.
   
   Economic Gangsters deserves to be widely read. The authors' tone is friendly and simple, approachable even. This is important, given the complexity and high stakes of the issues at hand. Indeed, the economics of conflict and corruption need to be more widely understood if donor countries' policy making is going to be improved. Yet, one finishes reading this book on the topics of war, poverty, suffering, crime, and interventionist failure feeling not overwhelmed, but rather empowered--equipped with intellectual tools for making the world better, little by little.



4. [Originally published at my blog, [...]
   
   I read this book recently. The authors (Ray Fisman and Ted Miguel) are development economists at big schools (Columbia and UC Berkeley; Ted's in the econ department, but I see him and his RAs all the time), and they've written this book to give laymen some insight into the research we (economists) do and how that research can be used to advance development around the world.
   
   Ray and Ted have structured their book around academic papers that they and their colleagues have written, omitting the tedious math and econometrics and adding explanations, stories and context to the questions at hand.
   
   Relative to an economic textbook, this book is much more accessible and intuitive; relative to other development books (Easterly's Elusive Quest for Growth, Scott's Seeing Like a State, and even Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hitman), this book is, uh, boring and overly didactic.
   
   Yeah, sorry.*
   
   Perhaps I am a jaded reader -- I've read about 2/3rds of the papers behind the book, and I've been "doing" development economics for 5-15 years (depending on who you ask) -- but the book only grabbed my interest a few times, e.g., the mayor of Bogota who used mimes to shame those breaking traffic laws. Put differently, I can think of better ways to spend your time.**
   
   For those of you interested in the contents, here's a preview, chapter by chapter:
   
   1) Economic development is impeded by corruption.
   2) You can measure a company's political importance by watching its stock price when the corrupt dictator (Suharto in Indonesia) gets sick.***
   3) You can detect corruption in the discrepancy between figures of the exporting country and importing country (e.g., Hong Kong to China). Distorted tariff and trade rules encourage corruption.
   4) Some cultures are more corrupt than others. Ray and Ted discuss their brilliant paper, which showed that diplomats to the UN in NYC obeyed parking laws in rough proportion to their corruption at home (and attitudes towards the US) -- despite having the same immunity from prosecution. (I'm guessing that this paper was their book proposal.)
   5) No water, no peace -- conflict rises when water supplies fall.**** Global warming will make this worse. Ray and Ted overlook an important problem in this chapter. They claim that the Rich world will not do too bad with climate change, but they forgot the adverse impact of a sick environment on quality of life.
   6) When people are starving, they look for ways to reduce the demand for food. One way to do this is by finding and killing "witches". One way to stop the massacre of old women and children accused of witchcraft is to provide insurance against such risks, i.e., drought relief.
   7) Countries can recover from war pretty quickly, but it's harder to recover from civil war or when ex-militants are left in unemployed groups. Vietnam succeeded; Iraq is failing.
   8) Randomized trials (one village gets a new program, another "control" village is left alone) are a good way to evaluate anti-poverty programs.*****
   
   Bottom Line: Anyone REALLY interested in development economics (but who is not an economist) should read this book. Everyone else should keep reading and debating at economics blogs :)
   
   -------------------------------------
   
   * And who am I, a lowly postdoc without a book to his name, to question the output of two superstar professors? Just me, folks...
   
   ** Listen to this great podcast [...], in which Richard Epstein discusses inequality and happiness.
   
   *** Read this paper [...] to really understand how a developing country moves from the "Natural State" to the "Open Access Order."
   
   **** Check out the updated Environment and Security Water Conflict Chronology" [...] from Peter Gleick's Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security (yes, that's the full name). It's pretty exhaustive, but it's also pretty inclusive (it includes incidents when one person is attacked, "perhaps" over water...)
   
   
   ***** I'm still amazed that a PhD student (Ben Olken) was given [...] to study corruption in Indonesian road building. Holy Cow! That's enough to fund 200 "normal" PhD research projects!

5 comments about Awaken the Giant Within : How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny!.

1. It's clear why Tony has become so successful. His theories are sound and his methodology is extremely effective. Those who never reached their goals either failed to apply his techniques or simpy gave up.
   
   Definitely worth your time and money!
   
   Finding Your Costa Rica : 5 Powerful Steps to Personal, Professional and Financial Success



2. I have not finished the book but so far I have liked what I have read. He is funny, personnable, and yet he has a meaning behind the words of the book. He writes so you understand just what he is saying just like you were talking to him face to face.



3. This CD was delivered to me in just one day via Amazon Prime Shipping (free shipping). I really like the CD and I listen to it in my car whenever I want to. I like how it summarizes all that Anthony Robbins talks about. I'm also reading a book called Unlimited Power from him, and he talks about some points that he makes in the book on this CD as well. This is a good inspirational CD and motivates you to take control of your life, realize your true worth, and guides you in the steps you should do to get there.



4. I've owned this book for at least ten years now; and despite all the fads and phases that the self-help world has gone through (and continues to go through), Tony Robbins's "Awaken the Giant Within" is the one book that I always finding myself going back to again and again.
   
   What appeals to me most about Tony's approach is that he is rooted in reality. So much self-help these days is new age cultism (or religious fundamentalism) re-packaged as "practical" guides to success. They are nothing of the sort, because they rely on FAITH--and not the faith of putting in your best and staying positive, but the religious sort of faith which says "blindfold me and I have faith that I'll SOMEHOW reach my destination." If you want to read about that kind of faith, go to the RELIGION section, please.
   
   Tony, on the other hand, gives you truly practical techniques that go right to the core of the matter and come from REAL LIFE--not some mysterious, esoteric "laws of the universe" communicated by some otherworldly intelligence.
   
   Being an American I know that, given the economic situation right now in my country, my fellow citizens need all the PRACTICAL advice they can get to stay successful or at least provide the basic needs for their families. Having false hope in "the Law of Attraction" or nonsense as "just think and it arrives", which is all the rage in self-help movements these days, is only making things WORSE. Just when Americans need to do much more REALISTIC planning take massive ACTION to turn our economy around, they are being encouraged to sit on a pillow and just think good thoughts. Please!
   
   So thank you, Tony, for ten years (and counting) of being my best coach and keeping me rooted in the real world. You help me "keep it real" and inspire me to truly awaken the giant within.



5. Being an author myself, I cannot agree more with Anthony about the magnificent force of Passion. Thank you Anthony for mastering this power in all of us and inspiring millions with it.

5 comments about Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage.

1. This is a great book! The information presented is very useful. I have also heard both authors speak at conferences. They have a great message and convey it clearly.



2. Excellent breakdown of the drivers for companies to go green. Also excellent analyses of strategies used by the corporate world to achieve their goals with green programs. Many examples of what worked and what didn't work.
   Great reading!



3. I have revisited this book a number of times since I read it last year. It is a good resouce in understanding the benefits and dangers of going green.



4. Esty and Winston seem to be a perfect duo to write this book. Together they have a very strong and complementing background, ranging from experiences in academics and government to green and strategy consulting. The result is a book that has the right balance of theory and practice. While many books on green business only focus on the bright side, Esty & Winston are more realistic. They admit that not every business policy leads to win-win situations and describe the main fallacies, therewith making their book more "complete". The book is very easy to grasp through clear structures, concise business maps and numerous examples of S&P 100 firms. Furthermore, the latter ensures that you'll remind the book's message every time you'll order a cup of coffee at Starbucks or a meal at McDonald's.
   
   The first 70% of the book is most interesting. After that, Esty and Winston start repeating concepts as well as business cases. Although the discussed cases are strong and helpful, Esty and Winston refer to the same companies over and over again, while forgetting about many other so called "WaveRiders". I'm wondering what the book would have been like if they had picked another set of front running firms to shed light on. They could probably fill a complete second book with it, so who knows..



5. Compiles good examples of how several companies have changed their ways of doing business so as to survive and lead in an environment where the customers, shareholders and authorities have ever growing awareness of environmental issues.

5 comments about Winning.

1. This item arrived quickly and in good condition. Jack Welch is a great leader, but some of his ability and ideas about leading cannot be conveyed on the written page.



2. Do you have the courage to "call it like it is"? So many businesses, and managers struggle with this concept. Often, it seems so much easier to simply gloss over the real issue, managers want to be "liked", have friends and staff that look up to them as leaders they like and that means often not saying what needs to be said, or doing what is difficult. Jack Welch gives it to the reader "like it is", and implores managers to use candor to get the change required to move businesses forward.
   
   Jack doesn't just push managers to use fear to motivate though, in fact, he rightfully points out the concept of 20/70/10. Every business will have 20% at the top, 70% in the middle and 10% at the bottom. GREAT leaders work with the middle 70%, get under their skin and motivate them to love the challenge of coming to work everyday, exhausting their positive output to push staff to be their BEST everyday, and to love doing it. But the bottom 10%, those who would rather text-message and surf the internet than actually work? What to do with them? If you have a candid organization, where dealing with true issues dominates the conversations, these bottom feeders know JUST WHERE THEY STAND, and they either get their act together, or the manager does them a favor by letting them go. It's not mean it's not nice, it's about winning, If you want to out-perform, you need the best players. Such a simple, hardened truth so many manager lose track of - yet Jack reminds us it is the core of performance.
   
   I highly recommend this book for all managers and leaders.



3. Written with candor and clarity, Winning is a must read for senior executives and middle managers. You learn how to create a winning culture, and an environment where those who do their best and are equipped for the job are rewarded. I especialy appreciated Jack's 20/70/10 rule, and his views on how to expand an organization while managing risk. Buy this book and read each and every page.



4. Jack Welch has done a great job in sharing his philosophies on how to be a business success. In particular, I found his insights on empowering the people around you to make yourself a better leader very inspiring. If it does nothing else, it outlines a very subtle message to keep your own ego in check if you want to reach the pinnacle of achievement that so many of us want. Also, from a strictly business aspect, his thoughts on acting with integrity are pretty much on point.
   
   The only thing I felt took away from this book was that if Jack lived his personal life completely the same way he does his business life, I can't help to think he would have been even more successful. Overall, I enjoyed perusing through the pages of Winning. Jim Fargiano, author of The Spoken Words of Spirit: Lessons From The Other Side



5. The overall content was good, but i wish they would have used an actor's voice because the recorded voice was distructing because he sounded like he had a cold.

5 comments about Lean Thinking : Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, Revised and Updated.

1. The book was truly eye-opening for me! Having spent more than enough time with management consultants and the "programs of the week," misguided Six Sigma projects, etc., I am very cautious about "new" programs. The simple, clear, transformational philosophy of the book was amazing to me. While the book does not outline the steps to take for making a Lean transformation, it should be required reading, before any venture into Lean management. Without an understanding of the philosophy behind Lean, many people mistakenly try to use it as a "tool" to cut costs, which will fail miserably. Lean - the new paradigm.



2. Lean is a specific management technique to make an organization more efficient (and a private sector company more profitable). This book is a well written introduction to the subject. The authors, James Womack and Daniel Jones, provide lots of examples to illustrate their basic points. Thus, this is a very useful introduction to the subject, for those of us who are not experts on this matter.
   
   To start at the beginning. . . . The enemy is "Muda," a Japanese word that means "waste," in all of its manifestations. Lean is an approach to reducing Muda. Pie in the sky? Toyota is one of the pioneers in this movement, and it is now the # 1 automaker in the world--so, maybe, we ought to pay some attention to the concept. As the authors note (Page 15): ". . .Muda is everywhere." And the antidote to muda is lean.
   
   The Introduction itself does a nice job of laying out the key concepts of Lean. Then, each part of the book builds on that foundation. Key points: (1) Value. Value is defined by the ultimate customer. The problem? Corporations and other organizations often think that they know best and do not really understand what the end user wishes as value. As the authors note (Page 19): "Lean thinking therefore must start with a conscious attempt to precisely define value in terms of specific products with specific capabilities offered at specific prices through as dialogue with specific customers." (2) The Value Stream. This is the actions needed to bring (Page 19) ". . .a specific product (whether a good or a service. . .) through the three critical management tasks of any business." (3) Flow. Outline the step-by-step process by which goods and services are delivered and identify muda, so that waste can be reduced/eliminated. (4) Pull. Develop a process such that customers pull the product from the source/supplier. (5) Perfection. Keep working on improving the product/output, by incremental changes leading to further reduction of muda.
   
   Examples abound. Think of the miserable experience these days of flying from place to another. Muda is everywhere (see the discussion on pages 32-35).
   
   Part I lays out the lean principles in much more detail (Value through Perfection, steps 1 through 5 already summarized). Part II explores lean in more detail (including comparing lean versus the German approach). And so on.
   
   Want to know about lean? This is a pretty good introduction, as far as I can tell, for a lay audience. I'm not an expert, but I think that I have learned quite a bit of value from reading this work.



3. I was fortunate enough to participate in the Pratt & Whitney lean transformation described in Lean Thinking.
   
   While it is not a "how to" book, it does a good job of describing the lean initiatives undertaken.
   
   This book is a classic "lean must read."



4. The only way to be competitive in the world marketplace is to be much more efficient. In other words "lean and mean." Efficient at engineering, efficient at manufacturing and efficient at meeting/exceeding customer expectations are all keys to becoming more competitive.
   
   This book and their Machine that Changed the World are good resources for manufacturing facilities more lean. And...lean thinking leads to more lean thinking.
   
   Using the Toyota system as a guide, Womack and Jones address how companies can eliminate waste and increase profits. They write:
   
   "Our earnest advice to lean firms today is simple: To hell with your competitors; compete against perfection by identifying all activities that are muda and eliminating them. This is absolute rather than a relative standard which can provide the essential North Star for any organization."
   
   Well written with many telling examples. Recommended!
   
   The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking



5. This book is a very good introduction to "lean manufacturing". I would say it is aimed at managers or other interested people in implementing lean manufacturing in their organizations. It is a perfect book to gain adepts for the lean cause, so if you are finding resistance in your organization to implement it, you could give out some copies of this book.
   
   This book is more a general reading book (basics & benefits, resistance you might encounter, etc.) than a deep study or detailed guide. If you need deeper knowledge of the different tools, more specific applications or more detail on how to apply them, you will require other literature.
   
   Another introduction to the subject is a novel called The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround, both books address the topic highlighting different key aspects of lean, so reading both gives you probably a broader perspective. The gold mine goes a little deeper into the subjects and its emphasis on key concepts is very appealing.

5 comments about Developing the Leader Within You.

1. This book makes you think the way we should each day. eye opener and enlightening.



2. The book was in great condition and arrived super fast. I would order from this seller again and again! The contents in the book are great!



3. John C. Maxwell's book, Developing the Leader Within You, will no doubt become a classic. Maxwell's approaches to leadership are easy to understand and put into daily practice. This book is the starting-gate for any person desiring to lead and is also essential for the well-seasoned leader because of the concrete principles.
   
   We hear so much about the dog-eat-dog world and it is refreshing to be reminded that we are called to become something greater. This book will alter your mindset, challenge your faith, and prod you to serve others while building a strong team.



4. This book was good for me, with my little experience in leadership. He keeps the concepts very easy to understand. He adds tons of examples and real life stories throughout the book. I enjoyed having examples, because it made the concepts he was discussing make more sense. I would recommend this to anyone in early leadership.



5. Great leadership book - very inspiring and takes one through how to closely develop inherent leadership skills. Also loved "Running with the Rhinos" in relation to this as well. Running with the Rhinos: Courageous Leadership for a Complex World

5 comments about The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea.

1. Upon completing this little book (that I couldn't put down) I immediately ordered 5 more copies. I knew that I had to share this message with family and friends. I continue to recommend The Go-Giver to family, friends, associates and and new acquaintances, many of which have already heard of it or even own a copy. It's a powerful message wrapped in a very human story. I truly enjoyed this book.



2. The Go-Giver is a great story loaded with fantastic business concepts and practical, easy-to-apply advice for business as well as personal relationships. Just what we need in today's world, when authenticity seems to be lacking. A success story we can all learn from and apply in our business relationships as well as in our personal lives. Can't say enough great things about the Go-Giver! Terrific!



3. If you are reading this review and/or considering buying this book, you have probably read your share of business and self-help books. The Go-Giver takes the essential components of all of the major books out there and distills them down into an easy to digest parable. After reading and implementing the principles of the Go-Giver, I have, in fact, received an increase in referrals and created deeper, more meaningful relationships with friends and colleagues. If you need a refresher on how and why to serve others better, pick up this book.



4. This little book holds the key to everything you have ever wanted to accomplish in your life. The Five Laws of Stratospheric Succes are simple yet, like a diamond, so replete with facets as to render the book new each time you read it. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever wanted to learn how to attract a mentor, or understand what it takes to create true significants in life. Learn to enjoy the coffee and the ability to find world changing opportuities where other just see an Italian resturant and a room full of pipe cleaners and modeling clay. Like a good meal and a fine cigar, this book will leave you satisfied, and looking forward to the next opportunity to enjoy the experience.



5. I enjoyed reading this book. Just enough substance and not a lot of "dragging on". If you follow a diet of positive reading, this is a good one for the collection, but not the only one.

5 comments about How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business.

1. 
   "I wrote this book to correct a myth that permeates many organizations today: that certain things can't be measured." Douglas Hubbard goes on to note that he has made a career out of measuring the sorts of things many thought were immeasurable. Intangibles, for example, "that appear to be completely intractable to be measured...in a way that is economically justified." Hubbard notes that there are several common misconceptions about intangibles. He offers what he characterizes as a "universal approach," Applied Information Economics (AIE), to measure an intangible, providing with that explanation some "interesting methods for particular problems."
   
   He duly recognizes that only what is most important (tangible or intangible) should be measured; also, that what is currently most important may not retain that importance; and, that information needs change, sometimes significantly and unexpectedly. That said, basic questions must constantly be asked and answered:
   
   1. What are our most important information needs? Why?
   
   2. How best to obtain and then verify that information?
   
   3. What will we then do with that information?
   
   4. How can we then measure (accurately, consistently, and sufficiently) the impact of actions taken based on that information?
   
   To his credit, Hubbard makes every effort to provide information, explanations, and recommendations that are (in his words) as "simple as can be"; nonetheless, some of the material may prove daunting, at least it did to me. I appreciate the inclusion of dozens of real-world examples that illustrate key points. Hubbard also makes effective use of other reader-friendly devices, such as checklists inserted throughout his narrative. In his own words, here is how he organizes his material:
   
   In Section One (Chapters 1-3), he "makes the case that everything is measurable and offers some examples that should inspire readers to attempt measurements even when it seems impossible."
   
   In Section Two (Chapters 4-7), he "begins to get into more specific substance about how to measure things - specifically uncertainty, risk - and the value of information."
   
   In Section Three (Chapters 8-10), he "deals with how to reduce uncertainty by various methods of observation including random sampling and controlled experiments."
   
   And then in Section Four (Chapters 11-14), Hubbard offers "an eclectic collection of interesting measurement solutions and case examples."
   
   Many readers will appreciate having the Appendix (Pages 269-278) which provides both the questions and answers for various calibration tests, including "Calibration Survey for Binary: B" that also includes percentages to indicate degree of confidence that the respondent is correct.
   
   Earlier, I suggested that this is by no means an "easy read." It isn't. Nor will this book respond directly to every executive's immediate needs and objectives. However, it will generously reward those who need assistance with finding and measuring the intangibles in business if they absorb and digest the material with appropriate care. To those about to begin reading this book, Douglas Hubbard offers this recommendation: Write down those things they believe are immeasurable or, at least they are not sure to how to measure. "After reading this book, my goal is that you are able to identify methods for measuring each and every one of them." I presume to add another recommendation: Highlights key passages and titles of checklists. By doing so, you will be able to facilitate, indeed expedite frequent review of key concepts and insights later.



2. A fantastic introduction into probabalistic way of thinking about what you know or think, and how you can develop this into usefull objective measurement frameworks for those things your previously thought were "intangible" or "unknowable"



3. One of the primary challenges with managing and governing IT effectively is that many of the questions that we need to answer are difficult to measure. What is the expected value of a new software project? What is the chance of success? How long will the project take? What architectural strategy is best? How effective is a development technique? What is our level of quality? How good is our production data? And so on.
   
   
   Although these questions are hard to answer, luckily this book provides some proven advice for easily taking measures that enable us to improve our decision making. To understand the value, and ease of, taking presumably difficult measures, in Chapter 2 Hubbard works through examples from past of great thinkers who didn't give up in the face of the "impossible". For example, around 200 BC Eratothenes estimated the circumference of the Earth by observing the lengths of shadows, Enrico Fermi estimated the power of the first atomic bomb by observing the distance that it blew confetti, and at the age of nine Emily Rosa (who became the youngest person to publish in a scientific journal at the age of 11) measured the ability (or more accurately lack there of) of people claiming to have the ability of therapeutic touch. Chapter 3 goes on to discuss the illusion of intangibles, motivating you to abandon the self-defeating belief that some things are just too hard to measure. Chapter 4 clarifies the measurement problem, focusing on uncertainty and risk, putting you in a better position to effectively reduce business risk through relatively simple measurement.
   
   
   Chapters 5 through 7 describe more of the fundamentals behind measurements and the value of improved information, and chapters 8 through 10 describe strategies for doing measurements. Being a firm believer in strategies which reflect human behavior, I was particularly interested in chapters 11 through 14 which cover the human issues around measurement, making a hard science soft again.
   
   
   If you're tasked with improving your internal metrics program, improving your governance strategy, or simply want to learn about strategies to find out what the heck is actually going on within your organization or industry then this book will prove to be a good idea. Hubbard uses straightforward, easy to understand examples throughout the book, thereby simplifying many complex ideas for the reader.



4. Measuring seeming intangibles can be a very tricky task, and Hubbard does a masterful job walking the reader through the process of moving from a position of limiting their applicability of measurement to a position where they can essentially quantify anything. This text is very well written and only basic math skills are needed to apply the content. In a few isolated instances, the author walks the reader through some calculations that require knowledge of statistics beyond basic math, and even limits his discussion to Microsoft Excel functions in at least one case where he feels the math might be a little too inaccessible to the reader, although even in this scenario the math is by no means very advanced. In this reviewer's opinion, this feat is rather incredible, because the resources typically available on this subject matter are typically saturated with statistics, and the method of problem solving the author presents should make most readers very comfortable regardless of background. While this book can help measure tangibles, the intent here is to guide the reader to a point where they can measure what are typically viewed as intangibles, such as risk, quality, performance, value, demand, etc. While the background of the author is technology, and much of the discussion can be applied to nonfunctional architectural qualities, the book demonstrates that there really is no limit to measuring traditional intangibles. As Hubbard indicates in his first chapter, "anything can be measured. If a thing can be observed in any way at all, it lends itself to some type of measurement method. No matter how 'fuzzy' the measurement is, it's still a measurement if it told you more than you knew before. And those very things most likely to be seen as immeasurable are, virtually always, solved by relatively simple measurement methods". The author is careful to point out that this work is not intended to cover every single subject matter, but "focus on measurements that are relevant - even critical - to major organizational decisions and yet don't seem to lend themselves to an obvious and practical measurement solution. The book addresses some common misconceptions about intangibles, describes a 'universal approach' to show how to go about measuring an 'intangible', and backs it up with some interesting methods for particular problems". The author explains that the key obstacle to overcome in this space is the very definition of measurement itself: "a set of observations that reduce uncertainty where the result is expressed as a quantity". Measurement does not need to be exact. In fact, it is often the case in many fields of work that exact measurement is not even possible, and in other cases the cost is too high or time is too short to arrive at exact measurements. Probability calibration is one of the tools presented in the early chapters of this book to prepare the reader for what follows. Essentially, the goal of this tool is to help the reader assign levels of confidence to numeric estimates of quantifiable items in order to help move to estimates of the seemingly immeasurable. Many practical examples are discussed throughout the book. Diagrams and sidebars are extremely well placed. Very well recommended.



5. I made this book a required read for my MBA Business Research Method class. It addresses some of the key falacies in thinking about the research for decision making. I have a more detailed review on [...].