Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



President of the Strategic Thinking Institute and author of the innovative and groundbreaking book Deep Dive: The Proven Method for Building Strategy, Focusing Your Resources, and Taking Smart Action, Rich Horwath, describes how a lack of strategic thinking can destroy a company or a professional career. Learn the three most critical elements of strategic thinking and how to turn them into simple and practical skills. Discover how to become a strategic thinking manager and how to avoid the mistakes made by managers who lack a strategic outlook.

Rich Horwath is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on Blog Talk Radio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, December 1, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

President of the Strategic Thinking Institute and author of the innovative and groundbreaking book Deep Dive: The Proven Method for Building Strategy, Focusing Your Resources, and Taking Smart Action, Rich Horwath, describes how a lack of strategic thinking can destroy a company or a professional career. You will learn:

* What strategic thinking means and why it's critical to business success

* How to add the skills of strategic thinking to your employees

* Why companies fall behind the competition and often go bankrupt

* Why strategic thinking organizations are leaders in any economy



Rich Horwath (photo left) is the author of the best-selling book on strategic thinking, Deep Dive: The Proven Method for Building Strategy, Focusing Your Resources, and Taking Smart Action, which has been described by the Director of Worldwide Operations for McDonalds as "...the most valuable book ever written on strategic thinking." He is a national television thought-leader on strategy, having appeared on NBC, WGN, FOX and the Chicago Tonight Show to discuss the strategic aspect of current issues.

He is the founder and president of the Strategic Thinking Institute, a former chief strategy officer, and professor of strategy at the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. He is the author of four books and more than fifty articles on strategic thinking and has been profiled in business publications around the world, including Investor's Business Daily. He was ranked the #1 speaker on strategy by the Society for Healthcare Strategy.

Rich Horwath blogs at Strategy Espresso.

My book review of Deep Dive: The Proven Method for Building Strategy, Focusing Your Resources, and Taking Smart Action by Rich Horwath.

Listen live on Tuesday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.



To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with President of the Strategic Thinking Institute and author of the innovative and groundbreaking book Deep Dive: The Proven Method for Building Strategy, Focusing Your Resources, and Taking Smart Action, Rich Horwath, as he describes how a lack of strategic thinking can destroy a company or a professional career. Learn the three most critical elements of strategic thinking and how to turn them into simple and practical skills. Discover how to become a strategic thinking manager and how to avoid the mistakes made by managers who lack a strategic outlook on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Deep Dive: The Proven Method for Building Strategy, Focusing Your Resources, and Taking Smart Action, Rich Horwath, management strategic thinking, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

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Deep Dive

The Proven Method for Building Strategy, Focusing Your Resources, and Taking Smart Action

By: Rich Horwath

Published: August 2009
Format: Hardcover, 214pp
ISBN-13: 9781929774821
ISBN-10: 1929774826
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group, LLC







"So, technically, all managers are strategists. The reality, however, is that all managers are not good strategists", writes President of the Strategic Thinking Institute Rich Horwath, in his innovative and groundbreaking book Deep Dive: The Proven Method for Building Strategy, Focusing Your Resources, and Taking Smart Action. The author describes the critical importance of strategic thinking within an organization, and describes how this essential skill can be learned and practiced at every level of the company.

Rich Horwath understands that companies are forced to achieve greater results with ever less amounts of resources. As a result, an organization where the executives fail to use these limited resources effectively, will fail to remain competitive. In a down economy, a company that lags behind its competitors may find itself out of business entirely. Because of the ability to think strategically is vital to the very survivability of a company. Rich Howarth emphasizes that strategic thinking is no longer an optional skill, or one for only members of top management. Instead, strategic thinking is an essential leadership and management skill necessary at all levels of an organization. The author describes in detail how to turn the theory of this crucial skill into an integral part of every company's thinking and management process.



Rich Horwath (photo left) uses a scuba diving analogy effectively to describe the different levels of strategic thinking skills that exist within an organization, as well as between its executives. A manager who is able to dive deeply and freely within a company and then resurface with pearls of insights will be very valuable executive. The author quotes extensive organizational research by both academics and industry people that concludes that strategic thinking is rarely seen in most companies. As Rich Horwath points out, the ability to teach and instill a strategic thinking mindset throughout the company will pay huge dividends. The result will be achieving that ever elusive goal of competitive advantage within the industry.

For me, the power of the book is how Rich Horwath blends effectively the theory of strategic thinking with practical, hands on skills training. The author describes why strategic thinking is is critical for an organization and all of its employees, and then demonstrates how these importance skills can be learned and applied to the business. The author takes the reader through the entire skills learning process, and punctuates each chapter with a valuable summary that restates the crucial points of each chapter. As a result, the book is a powerful teaching and learning tool for managers throughout a company. By developing the vital skills, every manager can become a proficient strategic thinker, pushing the company to the forefront of its industry.

I highly recommend the company performance boosting book Deep Dive: The Proven Method for Building Strategy, Focusing Your Resources, and Taking Smart Action by Rich Horwath, to anyone seeking to elevate their own level of strategic thinking skills. as well as those within the entire company. This definitive book will turn an average manager into an insightful leader, better able to manage scarce resources more effectively, and to turn the business into an industry leader.

Read the important and easy to apply book Deep Dive: The Proven Method for Building Strategy, Focusing Your Resources, and Taking Smart Action by Rich Horwath, and put the innovative concepts found within strategic thinking to work for your company. Learn how to discover and apply deeper insights into the business to all aspects of the organization. Instead of settling for mediocrity, turn your organization into a strategic thinking industry leader, in any economy.

Tags: Deep Dive: The Proven Method for Building Strategy, Focusing Your Resources, and Taking Smart Action, Rich Horwath, management strategic thinking, business book reviews.

READ MORE - Deep Dive by Rich Horwath - Book review

Clinical Psychologist and business ethics expert Robert Hoyk, PhD was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about his practical and must read book (co-authored with Paul Hersey) practical and eye opening book The Ethical Executive: Becoming Aware of the Root Causes of Unethical Behavior: 45 Psychological Traps that Every One of Us Falls Prey To.

Thanks to Robert Hoyk for discussing what causes ethical failure on the part of executives, and how to prevent ethical dilemmas from happening within a company.



What was the background to writing this book The Ethical Executive: Becoming Aware of the Root Causes of Unethical Behavior: 45 Psychological Traps that Every One of Us Falls Prey To?

Robert Hoyk, PhD: My father was someone who was very ethical. He went to seminary to become a minister but dropped out right before he graduated due to depression. He ended up in a large corporation.

My father’s depression deeply affected me and influenced me to study psychology. When I was getting my doctorate, I read an article that delineated how cult behavior could be explained by psychological principles.

I went on to develop a successful private practice, but along the way I built strong ties to the business world. Super salesman, Anthony Parinello became a friend. For CEO Ron Campbell, I wrote an advanced course on communication skills for Situational Leadership.

Later, when newspaper headlines were replete with corporate disasters, I thought about the article I had read in graduate school about cult behavior. I picked up a newspaper and declared out loud, “I bet I know why this is happening!” And The Ethical Executive was born.

How is this book different from other books on the topic of business ethics?

Robert Hoyk, PhD: Most books on business ethics do a good job with their primary task: given different situations, they tell us what is the right thing to do. The problem is, even if we know what the right behavior is we often don’t do it. Why does this happen? Often we become ensnared in psychological traps.

In our book, we describe forty-five traps that every one of us falls prey to. Some of these traps distort our perception of right and wrong—so we >actually believe our unethical behavior is right. The traps are psychological in nature, and if we’re not aware of them they are like illusions—webs of deception.

Sometimes a trap is so powerful or triggers such automatic behavior that we act on it without being aware that other options exist. At other times, we are aware of other choices but the trap overrides these potential actions.

Ethical behavior in business will improve when ethics is integrated with psychology. Ethics can continue its important task of telling us what we should be doing and psychology can help us stop our immoral behavior and motivate us to do the right thing.

The Ethical Executive, places a major focus on the root causes of unethical behavior—psychological dynamics. It inaugurates a new priority in the field that will lead to a clearer vista and fresh solutions.

When we hear of CEOs and other top executives being indicted for breaches of ethics and given long prison sentences, are those people primarily evil or are they very often just like everyone else?

Robert Hoyk, PhD: Probably, 85 to 95 percent of executives are just like everyone else. The vast majority of people care about ethics, but are vulnerable to the traps described in our book.

Do people who commit serious ethical mistakes consider themselves to be ethical people?

Robert Hoyk, PhD: Yes, most of them. In fact, people who rate themselves as above average on ethical behavior commit more ethical mistakes than those who rate themselves as average.



Robert Hoyk, PhD (photo left)

In the book you describe three main categories of ethical traps. What are these traps and why are they so dangerous for otherwise ethical people?

Robert Hoyk, PhD: The three main categories of traps are Primary, Defensive, and Personality.

Primary Traps cause people to behave unethically. These are the main traps that pull us in; the traps that provoke us or trick us into illegal or unethical transgression.

An example of a Primary Trap is Power. The more the powerholder uses his power, the more he attributes the successes of his employees to his own leadership (“My orders and influence caused the workers to perform effectively”); Over time, the more the powerholder attributes the success of his employees to his own leadership, the more he begins to devalue his employees. (“It was my success! Not theirs! They were just following orders.”)

Defensive Traps are in a very different category. Although some of them can at times be included with Primary Traps, these traps are basically attempts to find easy ways to reverse course after a transgression has already been committed.

For the most part, Defensive Traps are maneuvers that are reactions to two internal stimuli: guilt and shame. Guilt and especially shame are very painful emotions. They call into question the positive view we have of ourselves. Defensive Traps are insidious because they are often very successful at annihilating or at least minimizing our guilt and shame. They help us deny our transgressions, thus setting us up for repeated unethical behavior.

An example of a Defensive Trap is Advantageous Comparison. Advantageous Comparison allows the individual who has committed an unethical transgression to lessen his guilt by comparing what he has done to something worse. For instance, “Damaging some property is no big deal when you consider that others are beating people up.”
Personality Traps are various personality traits that can make us more vulnerable to wrongdoing. These traps are dangerous because we’re often not aware that we have one or more of these traits.

An example of a Personality Trap is Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). SDO is a trait that delineates one’s “preference for inequality among social groups.” It is the wish that the groups and organizations you belong to (business teams, corporation, social class, gender, ethnicity, country, and so on) be “superior” and “dominate.” SDO can be measured by a questionnaire that has been developed by Felicia Pratto and her colleagues at Stanford University.

Do people often believe paradoxically that their unethical behavior is really ethical and doing the right thing?

Robert Hoyk, PhD: To ascertain how frequently this happens, we would need to utilize research. But it does happen. Let’s look at Trap 20: Obligation.

Throughout history, justification has been used to sanction acts of evil. Torture and murder have been committed for the sake of protecting one’s family or honor, purifying the race, safeguarding a way of life, serving God, and so on. Obligation is a particular type of justification. The dictionary definition of “obligation” is fulfilling a promise or commitment. Unethical behavior is readily given a moral connotation with the use of obligation: “I needed to keep my commitment, to do what I promised. My word is who I am.”

Is the recession more likely to create more unethical behavior?

Robert Hoyk, PhD: Yes. Let’s look at Trap 7: Tyranny of Goals. We can be inspired by our goals to succeed, to climb the corporate ladder, to achieve status and recognition—but our goals can also drive us. Goals can become all important. We can move too fast, take short cuts, do anything to reach our goals.

And we’re more apt to cheat and lie when we’re striving for an important goal and we encounter major roadblocks that stand in the way of achieving that goal. (Roadblocks include recessions.)

How can business people avoid falling into the ethical traps outlined in the book?

Robert Hoyk, PhD: First, it’s paramount that executives have a firm knowledge of the different traps. Voyagers who know the location of quicksand navigate around it. When we clearly identify danger, we can prepare for it and avoid it.

Second, “the most important thing an executive can do is hire a psychologist to be part of their ethics and compliance team.” A psychologist can help executives contend with strong emotions. Many of the traps incite powerful emotions that in turn pull victims toward wrongdoing. Emotions can bring us all to our knees. The most common emotions stirred up by traps are: anger, sadness, distress, shame, fear and anxiety.

What is the future of ethics in business?

Robert Hoyk, PhD: From the ages of ten to eighteen I had one passion—magic. I performed for birthday parties, community functions, schools, colleges—I even performed one time at the Magic Castle, a private club for magicians in Hollywood.

One trick I used to do utilized a crystal ball. I would have someone select a playing card and then gaze into the crystal ball. At first they saw nothing. But after a little while, the playing card they had selected appeared and its image filled the crystal ball.

I no longer have my crystal ball to tell the future. But I would hope, in the future, that business ethics is integrated with psychology. Ethics can continue its important task of telling us what we should be doing and psychology can help us stop our immoral behavior and motivate us to do the right thing.

*****

My book review of The Ethical Executive: Becoming Aware of the Root Causes of Unethical Behavior: 45 Psychological Traps that Every One of Us Falls Prey To by Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey.



Robert Hoyk (photo left) is a Clinical Psychologist and has conducted research in several institutions. He has taught communication skills to executives, physicians, and couples. Robert lives in Laguna Beach, California with his wife, author, Julie Brickman.

Tags: The Ethical Executive: Becoming Aware of the Root Causes of Unethical Behavior: 45 Psychological Traps that Every One of Us Falls Prey To, Robert Hoyk, Paul Hersey, business ethics, business author interviews.

READ MORE - Robert Hoyk, PhD - The Ethical Executive - Author interview

The Ethical Executive

Becoming Aware of the Root Causes of Unethical Behavior: 45 Psychological Traps that Every One of Us Falls Prey To

By: Robert Hoyk, Paul Hersey

Published: October 2008
Format: Hardcover, 152 pp
ISBN-10: 0804759650
ISBN-13: 9780804759656
Publisher: Stanford University Press






"The vast majority of people care about ethics, but are vulnerable to the traps described in this book. Good intentions are not enough to combat these forty-five traps", write ethics and leadership experts Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey, in their practical and eye opening book The Ethical Executive: Becoming Aware of the Root Causes of Unethical Behavior: 45 Psychological Traps that Every One of Us Falls Prey To. The authors describe how ordinary people are capable of important errors in judgment that lead to serious breeches of ethical behavior.



Robert Hoyk (photo left) and Paul Hersey recognize that even people with a strong moral and ethical sense can fall victim to some very unethical activities in the course of doing their jobs. With the wrong situational dilemma placed before an ethical employee, there are very often powerful reasons for failing to do the right thing. The authors describe in detail how these ethical traps are created and how otherwise upright people can start down a very very wrong path. Unlike many books on business ethics, this fine book doesn't focus on ethical failure as being based on profit maximization, market pressure, or failure to comply with various laws and statutes. Instead, the authors believe the are the result of social and psychological influences.



Paul Hersey (photo left) and Robert Hoyk describe these forty-five ethical traps as falling into three major groups:

Primary Traps: The ethical failures are externally driven and involve the employee in taking action that would normally be outside of that person's ethical range. The employee often feels like there is little option but to follow the unethical path in these situations

Defensive Traps: These failures of ethics are usually attempts to reverse a previous ethical transgression. The action may have been the result of guilt or shame resulting from a personal issue or weakness.

Personality Traps: The ethical breeches result from deep seated personality issues that lead the employee to commit unethical actions. These ethical failures are all the result of internal issues.

For me, the power of the book is how Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey take a practical approach to understanding the various causes of the forty-five ethical traps. The authors also provide experimental results to verify how and why each ethical problem takes place. The three major categories of ethical dilemmas, help the reader to identify the cause and course of each ethical issue, before it happens. Through the identification of the potential problem a company and its employees are able to avoid being ensnared by one or more of the ethical traps. The authors also point out the critical insight that executives who commit unethical actions are not evil people, but are average everyday people who succumbed to the temptation of the ethical traps.

I highly recommend the timeless and thought provoking book The Ethical Executive: Becoming Aware of the Root Causes of Unethical Behavior: 45 Psychological Traps that Every One of Us Falls Prey To by Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey, to anyone seeking to understand why ethical failures occur, how to predict when and how they may arise, and how to prevent ethical dilemmas from happening in an organization. This understanding of the forces that create ethical issues will build mutual trust between employees and all of the stakeholders of the organization.

Read the essential book The Ethical Executive: Becoming Aware of the Root Causes of Unethical Behavior: 45 Psychological Traps that Every One of Us Falls Prey To by Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey, and discover the underlying social and psychological reasons why executives fall into ethical traps. Armed with that knowledge, you can foresee dangerous ethical situations in advance, and prevent them ever taking place. This book will help your company build a solid ethical foundation.

Tags: The Ethical Executive: Becoming Aware of the Root Causes of Unethical Behavior: 45 Psychological Traps that Every One of Us Falls Prey To, Robert Hoyk, Paul Hersey, business ethics, business book reviews.

READ MORE - The Ethical Executive by Robert Hoyk & Paul Hersey - Book review

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



Acclaimed loyalty experts and authors of the thought provoking and insightful book Why Loyalty Matters: The Groundbreaking Approach to Rediscovering Happiness, Meaning and Lasting Fulfillment in Your Life and Work, Timothy Keiningham and Lerzan Aksoy describe why loyalty is important in people's lives and for businesses. The authors share their groundbreaking research and multi-faceted study into the nature of loyalty. They describe what loyalty is and what it is not. They share the secrets of putting the power of loyalty to work in your personal and professional life.

Timothy Keiningham and Lerzan Aksoy are my internet radio show guests on Blog Business Success; hosted live on Blog Talk Radio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, November 24, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Acclaimed loyalty experts and authors of the thought provoking and insightful book Why Loyalty Matters: The Groundbreaking Approach to Rediscovering Happiness, Meaning and Lasting Fulfillment in Your Life and Work, Timothy Keiningham and Lerzan Aksoy describe why loyalty is important in people's lives and for businesses. You will learn:

* What loyalty really means and why it is important today

* How building loyalty will result in a more successful company

* Why engaged and happy employees are more loyal and more productive

* Why building a loyalty society makes the world a happier place for everyone



Lerzan Aksoy (photo left) Lerzan Aksoy is one of the world’s most highly acclaimed loyalty experts. Lerzan is associate professor at Fordham University in New York City.

Lerzan was recognized as the top young scientist of 2007 in Turkey by the Junior Chamber International (TOYP Award for Scientific Leadership). Lerzan and Tim are experienced book authors, having written and edited seven books in total. Tim’s and Lerzan’s prior book, Loyalty Myths, was ranked as the Number 4 best business book of 2006 by The Globe and Mail newspaper (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), one of the 30 best business books of 2006 by Soundview Executive Book Summaries, and was a 2007 finalist for the Berry-AMA Book Prize for Best Book in Marketing.

Lerzan Aksoy lives in the New York metropolitan area.



Timothy Keiningham (photo left) is global chief strategy officer at Ipsos Loyalty, one of the world’s largest market research firms. Tim was recognized as having contributed one of the top twenty scientific papers in the field of marketing over the past 25 years.

Their groundbreaking research on the importance of loyalty has received over a dozen prestigious scientific awards. For their research together, they have been awarded:

* Marketing Science Institute / H. Paul Root Award from the Journal of Marketing for the article judged to represent the most significant contribution to the advancement of the practice of marketing.

* Citations of Excellence “Top 50” Award (top 50 management papers of approximately 20,000 papers reviewed that year) from Emerald Management Reviews.

* Outstanding Paper Award (best paper) from the journal Managing Service Quality two years in a row (2007 and 2008).

My book review of Why Loyalty Matters: The Groundbreaking Approach to Rediscovering Happiness, Meaning and Lasting Fulfillment in Your Life and Work by Timothy Keiningham and Lerzan Aksoy.

Listen live on Tuesday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.



To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with acclaimed loyalty experts and authors of the thought provoking and insightful book Why Loyalty Matters: The Groundbreaking Approach to Rediscovering Happiness, Meaning and Lasting Fulfillment in Your Life and Work, Timothy Keiningham and Lerzan Aksoy as they describe why loyalty is important in people's lives and for businesses. The authors share their groundbreaking research and multi-faceted study into the nature of loyalty. They describe what loyalty is and what it is not. They share the secrets of putting the power of loyalty to work in your personal and professional life on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Why Loyalty Matters: The Groundbreaking Approach to Rediscovering Happiness, Meaning and Lasting Fulfillment in Your Life and Work, Lerzan Aksoy, Timothy Keiningham, business and employee productivity, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

READ MORE - Timothy Keiningham & Lerzan Aksoy: Why Loyalty Matters - Blog Business Success Radio

The Future That Brought Her Here

The Memoir of a Call to Awaken

By: Deborah Denicola

Published: June 1, 2009
Format: Paperback: 368 pages
ISBN-10: 0892541482
ISBN-13: 978-0892541485
Publisher: Ibis Press







"This is the story of a depressed skeptic's spiritual awakening", writes teacher and acclaimed poet Deborah Denicola, in her deeply moving personal account of her spiritual journey The Future That Brought Her Here: The Memoir of a Call to Awaken. The author describes her unforgettable quest for self discovery, and along the way shares her thoughts and insights into gnosticism, psychology, dreams, history, and science.

Deborah Denicola takes the reader on an epic voyage of enlightenment, as she attempts to make sense of her lie and the very meaning of her existence. The author consults with several esoteric teachers, and discusses her philosophical ideas with them, while learning ever more about her own soul voyage. Deborah Denicola writes in a non-sequential format that reflects her inner growth and increasing conviction that time and this world are an illusion. She travels both physically and psychologically to the American Southwest, Israel, and the South of France. As she journeys, and begins to recognize her own spiritual awakening, the places become familiar to her, as if her spirit had lived in those diverse places, at various different times. As the author develops a stronger sense of her soul's journey, she grows an ever greater awareness of her oneness with all people and the universe.



Deborah Denicola (photo left) blends her understanding of mainstream history with the often suppressed heretical teachings of gnosticism and mystery religions. She combines deftly the history of the Middle Ages with the stories of the Knights Templar, and the apocryphal gospels and legends of Mary Magdalen. Combining this gnostic understanding, with the Bible, cutting edge quantum physics and string theory, Deborah Denicola resolves the skepticism of her Western cultural heritage with a deeper understanding of the power of the mind and spirit. The author takes an individual journey to self fulfillment and personal understanding, but at the same time arrives at the realization that her journey is a universal one that includes all humanity. All people share the divine spark, and for Deborah Denicola, this mystical and divine connection is a powerful insight into her own humanity.

For me, the power of the book is how Deborah Denicola travels a demanding personal road from depression to her enlightenment. The author combines the history and artistic achievements of others, with her own marvelous poetry, as she puts into words and symbolic language her ever growing understanding of humanity. Her voyages travel across the globe, but her journey of self discovery is within her own soul and heart. She attempts to reconcile her skeptical, science based Western mind with the mysticism and gnostic teachings that reject this world as just an illusion. In keeping with those esoteric insights, she finds common ground with discoveries in modern quantum mechanics. The language may have been different, but the creation of one's own reality and soul journey remain the same.

I highly recommend the powerful and deeply spiritual book The Future That Brought Her Here: The Memoir of a Call to Awaken by Deborah Denicola, to anyone seeking self discovery in a world where fear and hatred have created an illusion of evil and a hostile reality. Through her studies, travels, discussions, and personal mystical experiences, the author describes another way of viewing the illusion of what we consider reality. She adopts the modern scientific and gnostic mantles of understanding, that time and reality don't exist as absolutes. Along the way to her own personal spiritual awakening, Deborah Denicola creates a liberating and empowering spiritual guide book.

Read the magical and mystical book The Future That Brought Her Here: The Memoir of a Call to Awaken by Deborah Denicola, and share her breathtaking journey to her personal understanding. Her voyages are of the body, the mind, and the spirit, and in the end conclude that all humanity are one and that the power of love and understanding is universal. This incredible message of hope is essential reading for the years ahead, as our civilization and all of humanity, move toward higher and deeper levels of existence and awakening.

Tags: The Future That Brought Her Here: The Memoir of a Call to Awaken, Deborah Denicola, personal understanding, philosophy book reviews.

READ MORE - The Future That Brought Her Here by Deborah Denicola - Book review

Ideas on the Nature of Science

By: David Cayley (Editor)

Publishing Date: October 9, 2009
Format: Paperback, 380 pages
ISBN-13: 9780864925442
Publisher: Goose Lane Editions















"Science has long been taken as the very definition of modernity", writes acclaimed broadcaster David Cayley in the introduction to this collection of his landmark interview series on the nature of science for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio program Ideas. The resulting interview transcripts were turned into the thought provoking and insightful book Ideas on the Nature of Science. In this essential discussion book are the ideas of many of the leading thinkers on the history, philosophy, and role of science in the modern world.

David Cayley is a brilliant interviewer who, through his incisive questions, draws out the most important and often controversial viewpoints from his guests. The thinkers in the interview series share their insights into how the very nature of science, and of scientific knowledge are not absolute. Instead, scientific ideas are as much products of society and politics as they are of the scientific method. While the concept that scientific facts and reason are almost fully integrated into the modern mind and contemporary society, this idea that science represents absolute truth is being called into question. Many of the interviews in the book consider the very objectivity of scientific facts, and place scientific findings squarely within the context of society itself.



David Cayley (photo left) understands that science cannot be removed from society and even from politics. He questions his guests deeply into this two edged sword, where on the one hand science may be capable of powerful results, but are those events dangerous to society as a whole. In the discussions, the idea emerges that much of what is supposed to be the scientific method has not been subjected to experimentation at all. Indeed, all of modern society forms the laboratory where those experiments are being conducted, often with little or no political or legal oversight. At the same time, science can be trumped by politics where the power of science is used as a political tool and results are employed as an appeal to authority.

For me, the power of the book is how editor David Cayley probes his guests, through his powerful questioning, to examine the fundamental nature of science and its role in history and modern society. Because the scientific community is becoming more disjointed, and less unified around what was thought to be a determined universal truth, these interviews are even more critical to society. No longer can any scientist claim the last word, but at the same time, that insight opens up scientific research to more discoveries. Since society as a whole recognizes science as one critical element of modern life, the opportunity for closer scrutiny is possible. The idea that science was separate from society, not part of the political process, no longer holds true. Because science is recognized as part of culture itself, misuse of science for dangerous ends can be prevented through public action.

I highly recommend this must read anthology of the world's leading thinkers on science Ideas on the Nature of Science edited by David Cayley. The ideas presented by the philosophers, historians, and practitioners of science will have a profound effect on how the reader views the role and nature of science in society. Indeed, the very myth of modernity, and of science as part of that concept, is called into serious question in several interviews.

Read the important and eye opening book Ideas on the Nature of Science edited by David Cayley, and you will reexamine your entire worldview on the role of science in society, and on the very nature and mythos of modernity itself. The book is a treasure trove of ideas and philosophy that will keep the reader thinking and researching the topics discussed, long after the book is read, and then reread several times.

Tags: Ideas on the Nature of Science, David Cayley, philosophy of science and society, science book reviews.

READ MORE - Ideas On The Nature Of Science by David Cayley - Book review

Why Loyalty Matters

The Groundbreaking Approach to Rediscovering Happiness, Meaning and Lasting Fulfillment in Your Life and Work

By: Timothy Keiningham, Lerzan Aksoy

Published: July 2009
Format: Hardcover, 245 pages
ISBN-13:9781932100099
ISBN-10:1933771720
Publisher: BenBella Books






"Loyalty is now out of fashion - an anachronism worthy of derision in today's rapidly changing environment", write acclaimed loyalty experts Timothy Keiningham and Lerzan Aksoy in their thought provoking and insightful book Why Loyalty Matters: The Groundbreaking Approach to Rediscovering Happiness, Meaning and Lasting Fulfillment in Your Life and Work. In a world where loyalty is often considered a character flaw, the authors provide a compelling case that personal and societal loyalty lead to a happier and healthier society, and to more successful businesses staffed by more productive employees.



Lerzan Aksoy (photo left) and Timothy Keiningham dispel the idea that loyalty is an outmoded concept. Instead they present a well documented approach to the subject of loyalty and its critical importance to the modern world. At the same time, they describe the dark side of loyalty that includes blind faith, obedience, and subservient behavior. They point out that these toxic aspects of loyalty have almost entirely displaced, in the public consciousness, the positive aspects of loyalty. The authors demonstrate that the current disloyal society is a selfish one that leads to unhappiness and a lack of fulfillment. For companies and for employees, this attitude leads to lower productivity, unhappy employees, lost customers, and less successful businesses.



Timothy Keiningham (photo left) and Lerzan Aksoy understand the importance of loyalty in all aspects of a person's life. Whether at work, with friends, the choice of neighbourhood, or the workplace, loyalty builds deep and lasting relationships that benefit everyone. On the other hand, a selfish me first type of life, according to the authors, is less happy and fulfilling for everyone. For corporations, a narrow vision of loyalty only to shareholders while ignoring customers, employees, and the general public, leads to a less productive company. The narrow view leads to short term illusory profits and share value increases, at the expense of long term viability and success. A loyal company, where all stakeholders recognize and practice loyalty to one another is a more productive and profitable organization that will endure.

For me, the power of the book is how Lerzan Aksoy and Timothy Keiningham take a practical as well as a philosophical approach to the concept of loyalty. It would have been easy for the authors to have written vague platitudes and to recite well worn homilies. Instead, they make a powerful holistic case for the importance of enlightened loyalty for all of society. In support of their thesis, they describe how loyalty is not only measurable, but is also critical to business success and societal sustainability. They dispel the myth of subservience that has overtaken loyalty, and replace it with a positive view of loyalty, and its benefit for everyone. In our unsettled times, loyalty will take on a new importance, and the authors show us how loyalty is fundamental to healing and rebuilding society.

I highly recommend the fascinating and important book Why Loyalty Matters: The Groundbreaking Approach to Rediscovering Happiness, Meaning and Lasting Fulfillment in Your Life and Work by Lerzan Aksoy and Timothy Keiningham, to anyone seeking a fresh approach to improving corporate productivity, employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and enhancing personal happiness. The authors challenge readers to make a personal commitment to loyalty in all aspects of their lives. At the same time, that example can leave a powerful impression on others of the critical importance of loyalty in the modern world.

Read the definitive guide to an important virtue Why Loyalty Matters: The Groundbreaking Approach to Rediscovering Happiness, Meaning and Lasting Fulfillment in Your Life and Work by Lerzan Aksoy and Timothy Keiningham, and put this brilliant concept to work in creating a more productive, happier, and more fulfilled world. There is no better time to practice loyalty as a culture than the present.

Tags: Why Loyalty Matters: The Groundbreaking Approach to Rediscovering Happiness, Meaning and Lasting Fulfillment in Your Life and Work, Lerzan Aksoy, Timothy Keiningham, business and employee productivity, business book reviews.

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Business owner and corporate communications expert E. Bruce Harrison of EnviroComm International, and author of the important and corporate policy changing book Corporate Greening 2. 0: Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about his book. He also shares his thoughts on corporate environmental strategy and communications.

Thanks to Bruce Harrison for his time and to Carol Corbett at Publishing Works, Inc. for arranging this interesting and informative interview on a very timely topic.


What was the background to writing the book Corporate Greening 2. 0: Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies?

E. Bruce Harrison: My purpose was to answer questions and clear up confusion that company managers have—especially when it comes to their business success and their stakeholder relationships—regarding the rising issue of climate change and carbon constraint.

Has thinking green come to the forefront of corporate thinking?

E. Bruce Harrison: It has risen in importance as a top management issue because of the attention given to global warming and carbon constraint.

How has the issue of carbon been been brought into the equation?

E. Bruce Harrison: For the first time in history, scientists, environmental activists and politicians have encouraged companies as well as the public to consider carbon dioxide emissions as a major contributor to global climate change.

How has political activism affected thinking on corporate greening?

E. Bruce Harrison: Political activism moves toward government requirements. Companies are motivated to think through the government endgame and to work with the politicians, or office holders, toward rational achievement of green goals.

Are investors placing more pressure on companies to become more green and to become more aware of sustainability?

E. Bruce Harrison: Investor groups, stimulated by green advocates, have introduced many dozens of stockholder resolutions pushing management toward climate change and sustainability positions. Investors in some companies are at the same time cautioning management about political commitments and costs that can hurt the viability of businesses.



E. Bruce Harrison (photo left)

How are environmentally aware executives making a difference?

E. Bruce Harrison: One general example is the involvement of executives in the political process, working with environmental groups and Congress on proposed climate change legislation. Within specific companies, a great many examples of top management commitment and actions are out there; I give details of 42 “benchmark” companies in my book.

Is the public expecting more sustainability from corporations, and are the companies better communicating that message?

E. Bruce Harrison: Yes to both questions, but here’s the problem: Sustainability has become such an overused word that it has lost a lot of precision and relevance. I talk about corporate sustainability and I define it as balancing three accountabilities—economic, social and political. A company has to do all three to stay viable. The book is largely about how corporate greening works into all three.

What is the next frontier for corporate greening?

E. Bruce Harrison: Let’s just consider the war on carbon as the new frontier. Company management must deal with the fact that carbon constraint will put greening into new contexts, linked in new ways to essential energy economics, and to new technologies, products, processes and markets. The big question, which I try to make very practical in the book, is how does the company deal with risk as well as opportunity as it steps onto this new and largely unexplored landscape?

What is next for Bruce Harrison?

E. Bruce Harrison: As an adjunct professor at the university level, I’m interested in what’s happening with crises in business. Every day there seems to be a new crisis. Social media seems to be changing public perception and raising management communication challenges. I’m thinking there may be a book in there—along with two other areas that I’m not ready to get into just yet.

Wayne, thanks for asking!

***********

My book review of Corporate Greening 2. 0: Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies by E. Bruce Harrison.



E. Bruce Harrison, (photo left) author of Corporate Greening 2. 0: Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies (2008) and Going Green: How to Communicate Your Company's Environmental Commitment (1993), has been called the pioneer of corporate greening.

Bruce has provided counsel on greening/sustainability matters to more than 50 Fortune 500 companies over the course of his career as vice president of Freeport-McMoran, CEO of his Washington-based consultancy, and founder/franchiser of EnviroComm International in the U.S. and Europe. He was the first executive director of the Arthur W. Page Society, comprising senior corporate communications executives, and has since 1998 worked as a team member creating Green Diesel Technology® products at Navistar International. Bruce assists companies in connecting with effective EnviroComm professional counselors.

Bruce is a frequent speaker on greening and sustainability. His lecture, "Factors Favoring Chief Communication Officers Involvement in Climate Change and Sustainability Issues", was recognized as the best paper presented by a practitioner at the 2008 Corporate Communication International conference at Wroxton College, England.

He was recognized by PRWeek in 2001 as one of the "Top 100 Most Influential PR People of the 20th Century" for his work with companies in environmental and social responsibility.

Tags: Corporate Greening 2. 0: Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies, E. Bruce Harrison, business environmental strategy, business author interviews.

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Corporate Greening 2. 0

Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies

By: E. Bruce Harrison

Published: September 2008
Format: Hardcover, 232pp
ISBN-13: 9781933002705
ISBN-10: 1933002700
Publisher: Publishing Works, Inc.



"Green is the comeback kid of American corporate sociopolitical issues", writes business owner and corporate communications expert E. Bruce Harrison in his important and corporate policy changing book Corporate Greening 2. 0: Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies. The author describes how companies can address the issues of carbon emissions, climate change, and sustainability through a corporate environmental strategy and communications plan.

E. Bruce Harrison has long been on the forefront of environmental issues, and their effect on corporations, and on society as a whole. He understands the pressing issue of carbon emission, and how green thinking within companies has become part of the issue of energy. He goes far beyond that basic corporate concern, and examines how shareholders, customers, and society in general view the company's long term sustainability. Without an environmental strategy, the author thinks many companies will lose profitability, decline, and even go out of business. Company management must think beyond short term profits, and examine the impact on the longer term sustainability concerns of society if the corporation expects to survive. Environmentally concerned investors and customers will cease to support unsustainable companies, that fail to create a green strategy, and to communicate it effectively to all stakeholders.



E. Bruce Harrison (photo left) recognizes that creating a green strategy is only part of the process toward building a sustainable company. The management of the corporation must act on that plan and also communicate their actions to stakeholders both inside and outside of the company. By developing a positive carbon program, and understanding the importance of global warming concerns, a corporation can build a strong level of trust from investors, customers, and the general public. Building a clear business case for sustainability places a company in a leadership role on environmental programs and issues. At the same time, communication within the organization must work both ways so that full workforce involvement and operational accountability remains both viable and positive. The corporate green strategy needs to take a holistic approach, that considers businesses, society and public opinion outside of the company as well, to build alliances and support.

For me, the power of the book is its practical approach. to the issue of corporate sustainability. within the larger societal context of carbon emissions and global climate change. E. Bruce Harrison looks both within the walls of the company, and outside of the organization, as critical to success of a green strategy. The author offers the powerful advice to corporate CEOs and CCOs to work with local communities, other trailblazing companies, and community organizations to find common cause and mutually beneficial programs. At the same time, the author advises corporate communicators to not get their talk ahead of their company's green actions, but instead to provide open and transparent discussions with all stakeholders. E. Bruce Harrison shares the wisdom of not dividing the environmental and carbon issues between potential winners and losers. Instead, he recommends a company understand that all businesses will be affected in one way or another, and to choose long term sustainability as a corporate mission.

I highly recommend the timely and corporate strategy building book Corporate Greening 2. 0: Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies by E. Bruce Harrison, to any business people who seek to create and act upon a sustainable environmental strategy for their company. With ever increasing public, investor, and government scrutiny of corporate environmental behavior, a viable and well communicated green action plan is critical for short and long term company profitability. Organizations that fail to consider the environment, will be seen as unsustainable and lose public and customer support, becoming less profitable and viable businesses.

Read the outstanding guide to creating a green corporate plan Corporate Greening 2. 0: Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies by E. Bruce Harrison, and discover how to develop an industry leading environmental strategy for your company. The very sustainability of your business and your profitability depend on it.

Tags: Corporate Greening 2. 0: Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies, E. Bruce Harrison, business environmental strategy, business book reviews.

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Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



Executive coaches and authors of the practical and innovative book Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life, Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber share a new approach to achieving goals and reaching success. Through asking a series of simple, yet provocative questions, the authors demonstrate how an understanding of one's motivations and goals can be realized. At the same time, the questions can help others refocus their goals, achieve success, and live more enriched lives. The authors move far beyond standard personality tests to help create a more purposeful and happier life.

Mick Ukleja and Robert Lorber are my internet radio show guests on Blog Business Success; hosted live on Blog Talk Radio.

The show airs live on Thursday, November 19, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Executive coaches and authors of the practical and innovative book Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life, Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber share a new approach to achieving goals and reaching success. You will learn:

* The four critical questions and how to apply them to your own life

* Why people feel trapped and stuck in their lives and careers

* How to take leadership of your own life and empower yourself

* How to use the self awareness to overcome anything that happens in life



Mick Ukleja (photo left) s the founder and president of LeadershipTraQ, a leadership-consulting firm based in California. He hosts LeadershipTraQ, an interview-format talk show in Southern California that profiles outstanding leaders. He helped found the Ukleja Center for Ethical Leadership at California State University, Long Beach, the second largest university in the state. He has worked with entrepreneurs and corporate executives of businesses and organizations ranging from Boeing to the Special Olympics.

Mick also serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Astronauts Memorial Foundation at the Kennedy Space Center, which oversees the Center for Space Education. He is a principal in Bonita Bay Group, one of the largest developers of master-planned communities in Southwest Florida. Dr. Ukleja holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy, a master's degree in Semitic languages, and a Ph.D. in theology.



Robert L. Lorber (photo left) is President of the Lorber Kamai Consulting Group formed in Orange County, California. The organization has developed and implemented productivity improvement systems for companies on five continents. Its client roster includes Kraft Foods, Teichert Inc., Occidental Petroleum, Gillette, American Express, Mattel, AlliedSignal, Raley's, VSP, Wells Fargo, Pillsbury, Pfizer, and many other medium-size and Fortune 500 companies. Robert is an internationally recognized expert and published author on executive coaching, performance management, teamwork, and strategy development.

He is the coauthor with Ken Blanchard of the New York Times and international bestseller Putting the One Minute Manager To Work. He coauthored Safety 24/7 with Gregory Anderson and Doing What Matters by Jim Kilts, former CEO of Gillette, and John Manfredi. Dr. Lorber received a master's degree in sociology and a Ph.D. in organizational psychology.

My book review of Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life by Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.



To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with executive coaches and authors of the practical and innovative book Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life, Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber as they share a new approach to achieving goals and reaching success. Through asking a series of simple, yet provocative questions, the authors demonstrate how an understanding of one's motivations and goals can be realized. At the same time, the questions can help others refocus their goals, achieve success, and live more enriched lives. The authors move far beyond standard personality tests to help create a more purposeful and happier life on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life, Mick Ukleja, Robert L. Lorber, personal empowerment, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

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Who Are You? What Do You Want?

Four Questions That Will Change Your Life

By: Mick Ukleja, Robert L. Lorber

Published: September 1, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 176 pages
ISBN: 9780399535437
Publisher: Penguin/Perigee







"On the journey to success and happiness in life, it's easy to become frustrated at the inevitable crossroads and detours", write best selling authors and leadership consultants Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber, in their practical and innovative book Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life. The authors offer a powerful new approach to achieving goals and reaching success through asking a four simple, yet revealing questions. The questions reveal motivations, passions, values, and one's own true purpose in life.



Mick Ukleja (photo left) and Robert L. Lorber understand that people often feel trapped or stuck in an unpleasant situation in their lives or careers. The authors define this feeling as a regression of the imagination where a person loses all sense of adventure in life, and sees no way of escaping the problem. The program outlined in the book empowers a person to take back control of their lives and their personal destiny. Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber share the necessary tools, so that even if something happens to a person or organization, no crisis will be wasted as an opportunity to create and implement positive change. As the authors suggest, becoming what they term as unstuck, is both freeing and liberating for any individual or company.



Robert L. Lorber (photo left) and Mick Ukleja help people become more empowered and to discover their own unique goals, passions, and motivations in life. The simple, yet very powerful and insightful questions outlined in the book, are the basis for generating a plan for personal examination and life planning.

The four questions are:

* Who are you and what do you want?
* Where are you and why are you there?
* What will you do and how will you do it?
* Who are your allies and how can they help?

The questions appear simple on the surface, but taken together they discover self awareness, understanding your current situation, creating a plan of action, and who can help in achieving that plan. That process is a very powerful one that can work for every individual and organization in self examination.

For me, the power of the book is in its empowering simplicity. Through the open and honest self examination provided by the four questions, a person can regain control over their own life and destiny. The questions help to set personal goals, that are in accordance with one's own personal desires and passions, and helps develop a plan for reaching those goals. Another strength of the book is how Robert L. Lorber and Mick Ukleja provide the questions as part of the book. The reader can utilize the self assessment format to create a personalized set of goals and a plan of action. The same system that works well for individuals can also be applied to taking an organization or business to the next level.

I highly recommend the empowering book Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life by Robert L. Lorber and Mick Ukleja, to anyone who feels stuck in their life, career, or their business. The four questions, as presented in the book, form a valuable guide to help get one's life and work back on track, while remaining the balance so crucial to life satisfaction and happiness.

Read the exciting and transformational book Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life by Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber, and learn how the four critical and life changing questions can help you take back control over your own life and career. Through an open an honest self assessment, anyone utilizing this book can achieve a happier and more satisfying life.

Tags: Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life, Mick Ukleja, Robert L. Lorber, personal empowerment, business book reviews.

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Jenny Morganthau, Executive Director of The Fresh Air Fund was kind enough to take the time to answer some questions about the organization, its mission, and some of its programs, She shares ideas about how people and businesses can participate in achieving the goals of this worthwhile organization.

Thanks as well to Sara Wilson of The Fresh Air Fund for arranging this wonderful interview.

What is the mission of The Fresh Air Fund?

Jenny Morgenthau: Our mission is to provide free summer experiences in the country to New York City children from disadvantaged communities. Each year, thousands of children visit volunteer host families in 13 states and Canada through the Friendly Town Program or attend one of five Fresh Air Fund camps.

Is the programs funded through donations?

Jenny Morgenthau: Yes, the success of our programs relies on the generosity of individuals and corporate sponsors. Seventy-five percent of our funding comes from individual donors, in fact. It costs The Fresh Air Fund $923.00 for a visit with a volunteer host family and $1,563.00 to send a child to Fresh Air camp.

How many children does The Fresh Air Fund help send to camp each year and how are these camps helping with the vision initiative?

Jenny Morgenthau: Three-thousand children attend our Fund camps and an additional 2,000 children participate in our off-season camping weekends. We work with OneSight, which so generously brings up its mobile “Vision Van,” to camp and screens the children for glasses. Many of the children don’t have access to free vision screenings, and if needed, free glasses.

How does The Fresh Air Vision Program and alliance with OneSight work and how many children in need receive assistance?

Jenny Morgenthau: All of the children at camp are screened. If a child needs glasses then OneSight provides them free of charge to the child.



How can individuals and families get involved in helping The Fresh Air Fund achieve its goals?

Jenny Morgenthau: Families can get involved by volunteering to host this summer, making a donation, volunteering in our New York City office, etc. Check out our Web site for more information on how to get involved.

Is there a role for the business community to play in supporting this worthwhile program?

Jenny Morgenthau: Businesses can also get involved; again the best thing to do is look at our Web site. Businesses make donations locally to support our Friendly Town hosting program, contribute to events, volunteer at events, and so on.

What is next for The Fresh Air Fund?

Jenny Morgenthau: We’re looking forward to a fun-filled summer 2010!

Tags: The Fresh Air Fund, OneSight, Jenny Morgenthau, non-profit organization interviews.

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Thanks to Jonathan Ortmans, head of GEW initiatives, at The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and co-founder of Global Entrepreneurship Week, for taking the time to answer a few questions about this tremendous worldwide inititive in support of entrepreneurship. He shares some insights into the importance of young entrepreneurs in the global economy, some of the people and organizations who support this cause, as well as how you can get involved with Global Entrepreneurship Week activities

What is the background to the Kauffman Foundation Global Entrepreneurship Week?

Jonathan Ortmans: Global Entrepreneurship Week was co-founded in 2008 by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in the United States and Make Your Mark, a business-led government-backed campaign in the United Kingdom. It was designed to harness the power of entrepreneurship in young people and prepare them to be innovators and business owners while increasing their networks their through local, national and global activities and events. Students, educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, employees, non-profit leaders, government officials and others participate in a host of activities that include virtual and face-to-face events, large-scale competitions and intimate networking gatherings.

What entrepreneurs does the Global Entrepreneurship Week honor?

Jonathan Ortmans: With the goal to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity, Global Entrepreneurship Week honors anyone interested in, getting started in, pursuing and/or promoting entrepreneurship. This year, Global Entrepreneurship Week will be celebrated by more than 3 million people and 8,800 organizations in 87 countries from Nov. 16-22.

In the United States alone, more than 1,000 partners – including top universities, non-profit organizations, successful entrepreneurs, government agencies and corporate sponsors – have signed up to support and initiate activities for Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009. During this week, there are an estimated 1,500 activities and events that will take place in the USA – and an estimated 25,000 across the world.

How important are young entrepreneurs to the growth of the global economy?

Jonathan Ortmans: Entrepreneurship is the key to economic recovery, and the next generation of innovators holds that key. Now more than ever, we need to unleash the creativity and ingenuity of our youth by engaging them in the vast possibilities of entrepreneurship. A number of the events throughout Global Entrepreneurship Week are dedicated solely to educating young people and helping mold their ideas and plans into successful ventures.

How does the Kauffman Foundation help young entrepreneurs succeed?

Jonathan Ortmans: The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation works to promote the power of entrepreneurship and innovation to grow economies and improve human welfare. The Kauffman Foundation, through its own research and other initiatives, aims to open young people's eyes to the possibility of entrepreneurship, promote entrepreneurship education, raise awareness of entrepreneurship-friendly policies and find alternative pathways for the commercialization of new knowledge and technologies. The Foundation also works to prepare students to be innovators, entrepreneurs and business leaders in the 21st century economy through initiatives designed to improve learning in math, engineering, science and technology.

Are there other notable people involved with Global Entrepreneurship Week as well?

Jonathan Ortmans: There are many notable people and organizations either involved with or who have shown support for Global Entrepreneurship Week. Some of the featured speakers and mentors are Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS Shoes; Stephen Hanson, founder of B.R. Guest Restaurants; rap music icon Snoop Dogg; Dana White, president of Ultimate Fighting Championship; and Dr. Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to jumpstart economic and social development in poor, poverty-stricken regions.

And recently, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued a public statement of support for Global Entrepreneurship Week, praising its efforts to create new opportunities and businesses, encourage youth to pursue fresh ideas and improve the global economy. Secretary Clinton joins an impressive list of world leaders and successful entrepreneurs who support the Week, including: Gen. Colin L. Powell; Charles, Prince of Wales; Yukio Hatoyama, Prime Minister of Japan; Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group; Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, Saudi Arabia; Gordon Brown, UK Prime Minister; Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France; John Atta Mills, President of Ghana; Mohammed VI, King of Morocco; and Princess Maxima, Netherlands.

Are there other organizations supporting Global Entrepreneurship Week as well?

Jonathan Ortmans: Organizations supporting Global Entrepreneurship Week include Global Sponsor NYSE Euronext; Global Partners Endeavor; Junior Achievement Worldwide (JA); Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO); DECA; the Prince’s Youth Business International; Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills; MIT Enterprise Forum; the European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs; and Youth Enterprise and Sustainability.

Visit the website for more information about Global Entrepreneurship Week activities.

Tags: Global Entrepreneurship Week, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Jonathan Ortmans, non-profit organization interviews.

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