Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



Organizational learning educator and consultant, Co-Founder of WorkLore, and author of the thought provoking and very candid book The Compromise Trap: How to Thrive at Work Without Selling Your Soul, Elizabeth Doty, describes healthy compromise as necessary to achieve meaningful personal and organizational goals. She points out, however, that if your job presses you to compromise your integrity, principles and values, that is unhealthy compromise. This unhappy situation can happen even under a liked and respected leader. Elizabeth Doty offers the alternative of redefining the game to maintain your principles to remain a positive force for goal accomplishment.

Elizabeth Doty is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, February 2, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Organizational learning educator and consultant, President of WorkLore, and author of the thought provoking and very candid book The Compromise Trap: How to Thrive at Work Without Selling Your Soul, Elizabeth Doty, describes healthy compromise as necessary to achieve meaningful personal and organizational goals. You will learn:

* How unhealthy compromise is a danger to one's personal core values

* How to recognize unhealthy compromise where it may arise

* How to change the rules of the game to better reflect personal integrity

* Learn six personal foundations to stay true to your inner convictions



Elizabeth Doty (photo left) is Co-founder of WorkLore.

Elizabeth brings a background in organizational learning, systems thinking, change, conflict, and collaboration, as well as hands-on experience in process improvement and operations management. She recently completed The Compromise Trap: How to Thrive at Work Without Selling Your Soul and, in 2006, supported William Ury with research for his book, The Power of a Positive No.

Elizabeth helps leaders and teams increase the alignment, integrity and engagement that allow them to generate extraordinary value.

My book review of The Compromise Trap: How to Thrive at Work Without Selling Your Soul by Elizabeth Doty.

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 organizational learning educator and consultant, Co-Founder of WorkLore, and author of the thought provoking and very candid book The Compromise Trap: How to Thrive at Work Without Selling Your Soul, Elizabeth Doty, as she describes healthy compromise as necessary to achieve meaningful personal and organizational goals. She points out, however, that if your job presses you to compromise your integrity, principles and values, that is unhealthy compromise. This unhappy situation can happen even under a liked and respected leader. Elizabeth Doty offers the alternative of redefining the game to maintain your principles to remain a positive force for goal accomplishment on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: The Compromise Trap: How to Thrive at Work Without Selling Your Soul, Elizabeth Doty, business ethics, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

READ MORE - Elizabeth Doty: The Compromise Trap - Blog Business Success Radio

The Compromise Trap

How to Thrive at Work Without Selling Your Soul

By: Elizabeth Doty

Published: November 2009
Format: Paperback, 312 Pages
ISBN-13: 9781576755761
ISBN-10: 1576755762
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers






"Unhealthy compromise so often comes with the option to avoid realizing that fact - to tune it out, rationalize it away, or change our standards. We don't have to see", writes President of WorkLore and leading consultant and educator in the field of organizational learning Elizabeth Doty, in her thought provoking and very candid book The Compromise Trap: How to Thrive at Work Without Selling Your Soul. The author invites business people to examine closely and honestly, the decisions they make, and if those choices compromise a person's core values and ethics.

Elizabeth Doty recognizes that some compromise is healthy and necessary for the advancement of the business, as well as for an individual's career. Not all compromise is good for the organization or for its stakeholders. This book describes bluntly how to recognize and avoid those small, incremental steps that lead to the selling of one's soul and ethical values. The author also shares strategies on how to avoid the many unethical traps awaiting to snare the unwary. Elizabeth Doty urges business people to use their peripheral vision to see the wider scope of the business, and what lies beyond one's own area of responsibility. Very often, unethical activity is demanded for carrying out an individual's responsibilities, in an unhealthy business culture. The author offers advice on how to change the game through redefining the rules while strengthening one's own personal convictions and integrity.



Elizabeth Doty (photo left) challenges the business person to look past what is thought to be reality, and to examine the true core of the business, its ideals, and the actions it takes. When a true and objective analysis of a company is undertaken, through the application of peripheral vision, not only are unethical compromise traps recognized, but opportunities for conducting business in a more authentic and principled manner can be discovered. Change for the good of all can replace the moral slippery slope of unhealthy compromise. Not only is integrity good for the organization, but is better for the mental and physical health of the employees as well. Moving beyond simply discussing ethics, Elizabeth Doty describes how these values affect not only the employees and the company, but also the wider community as well.

For me, the power of the book is how Elizabeth Doty combines the theory of moral and ethical behavior with practical, hands on advice for recognizing ethical traps and for creating a more integrity based organization. The book contains a series of case studies of ethical behavior gone wrong, and where changes were made that transformed organizational cultures from unhealthy compromise to strengthening their ethical standards. The author emphasizes the premise that when a person opens their eyes to what is happening around them, the true cost of unhealthy compromise can be seen clearly. At the same time, while examining the reality of the organization, hidden opportunities for positive change and ethical business practice that leads to both personal and organizational benefit can be recognized more fully. In the end, Elizabeth Doty helps the business person make choices that are in harmony with personal morality and integrity, and in avoiding the unhealthy compromises that slowly destroy a person's inner core values.

I highly recommend the insightful and must read book The Compromise Trap: How to Thrive at Work Without Selling Your Soul by Elizabeth Doty, to anyone seeking a more ethical approach to maintaining their own moral standards, and for avoiding the compromises that erode those valued inner principles. The six personal foundations, as presented by the author, will help you to remain true to those core values, without yielding them to unhealthy compromise.

Read the personal and business transformational book The Compromise Trap: How to Thrive at Work Without Selling Your Soul by Elizabeth Doty, and discover why it is not necessary to surrender your most cherished moral values to succeed in an organization. Instead, the author teaches how to become an agent for positive change that builds the ethical and moral values of the company, while remaining true to oneself.

Tags: The Compromise Trap: How to Thrive at Work Without Selling Your Soul, Elizabeth Doty, business ethics, business book reviews.

READ MORE - The Compromise Trap by Elizabeth Doty - Book review

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



Certified coach, owner of Clarity To Business and author of the valuable and very hands on book Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business, Christy Strauch, shares tools with creative people and small business owners to help them better understand the purpose their ideas and business serve in the world. The concepts will help to serve customers and clients better. At the same time, the techniques help a business person understand what their business itself is saying to them. Christy shows right brained people how they too can operate successful businesses, including understanding the numbers, and the formulation of an effective business plan.

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

The show airs live on Thursday, January 28, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Certified coach and author of the valuable and very hands on book Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business, Christy Strauch, shares tools with creative people and small business owners to help them better understand the purpose their ideas and business serve in the world. You will learn:

* Why creative, right brained people can operate successful businesses

* The importance of a business plan in developing a vision

* The critical need for clarity and accountability

* How to make marketing exciting and fun; and not a chore.



Christy Strauch (photo left) Christy Strauch, took a job in 1989 as a sales representative for a small IT company with $50,000 a year in sales. Christy had an MBA in finance and marketing from UCLA and a dream of making a difference in business. Fifteen years and 3 mergers later, Strauch was a partner, took the company public and sold it.

In 2005, with over 9 years experience working for nationally known companies such as IBM, Carnation International and Capitol Records, Christy decided that it was time to follow a lifetime calling to help small-business owners learn to prosper doing the work they love. Considered an expert in small business, Christy has been interviewed by the Los Angeles Times and the Scottsdale Daily Progress, among others.

Throughout her career, Christy has received numerous honors. She won several regional managers awards during her tenure with IBM, has been honored by the Arizona Small Business Association, received the advanced Toastmasters Silver designation and earned her Certified Professional Co-Active Coaching (CPCC) certificate from the Coach Training Institute and her Associate Certified Coach (ACC) certificate from the International Coach Federation.

In 2005, Christy formed Clarity To Business, a coaching and consulting practice. To date, she has worked with over 300 small-business owners, from artists to real estate agents, helping them to both do what they are passionate about and to make a profit.

Christy is the author of Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business. This user-friendly book shows people who are passionate about their work how to succeed in the business side of business. She is currently at work on You Hate to Market, and What To Do About It, which will be available Fall 2010.

My book review of Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business by Christy Strauch.

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 certified coach, owner of Clarity To Business and author of the valuable and very hands on book Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business, Christy Strauch, as she shares tools with creative people and small business owners to help them better understand the purpose their ideas and business serve in the world. The concepts will help to serve customers and clients better. At the same time, the techniques help a business person understand what their business itself is saying to them. Christy shows right brained people how they too can operate successful businesses, including understanding the numbers, and the formulation of an effective business plan on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business, Christy Strauch, visionary business planning, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

READ MORE - Christy Strauch: Passion, Plan, Profit - Blog Business Success Radio

Passion, Plan, Profit

12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business

By: Christy Strauch

Published: June 1, 2009
Format: Paperback: 304 pages
ISBN-10: 0984055703
ISBN-13: 978-0984055708
Publisher: The Printed Voice





"Many people fear, or even completely avoid, trying to make a living doing the things they do best - the work that calls to them from their heart", writes business coach and entrepreneur Christy Strauch in her valuable and very hands on book Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business. The author guide the aspiring entrepreneur through a step by step process, that can turn a creative passion into a profitable business, through clarity and accountability.

Christy Strauch understands the fears and concerns faced by every potential small business owner at the prospect of starting their own company. These fears are especially acute in creative, right brained thinkers who believe they lack the analytical skills and aptitude with numbers to succeed as entrepreneurs. For the author, having passion and love for your work are fundamental building blocks for developing a successful business, and these are the qualities that are foremost in creative people. To take the mystery out of such standard business concepts as business plans, a unique selling proposition, marketing, and customer service, Christy Strauch has created a powerful, easy to understand workbook style format to guide the entrepreneur through the entire process.



Christy Strauch (photo left) understands the reluctance that many creative people have in starting a business, including the necessity to charge a fee for their work. The author points out that what comes easily to one person may be very difficult, or close to impossible for another. As a result, the business person must not let their love of their work sabotage their need to make a living. Christy Strauch shows the small business owner how to find their clarity of purpose, and to develop a strong business plan, based on that clear vision. At the same time, the author removes the fear of numbers, and teaches the entrepreneur how to understand the language being spoken by those numbers. The numbers on the page all have a narrative and story to tell, and Christy Strauch shows the creative person how to read and understand their hidden message.

For me, the power of the book is how Christy Strauch turns what is a basic small business primer into a full course on entrepreneurship. The book is written as an interactive work book, complete with lessons and homework, that gently forces the creative individual to learn the essentials of business. In fact, the lessons are so complete, that they are valuable for any small business person to complete. The author writes in a language, and presents the concepts in a format, that is accessible and understandable for both right brained and left brained business people, creating a whole brained approach to business. While the main focus of the book is about business planning, understanding the numbers, and becoming a better marketer, the book also contains a critical message about maintaining a moral compass. For any business person, maintaining one's values and passion are very important, and are the essential guiding star for the company vision itself.

I highly recommend the practical and business transformational book Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business by Christy Strauch, to anyone who seeks to turn a passion into a successful company. This book describes how to clarify your vision and to utilize accountable business practices to make those dreams a reality. Christy Strauch emphasizes that business owners must follow their passion, as one can only b e truly happy and true themselves by doing what they love most.

Read the business demystifying book Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business by Christy Strauch, and discover how to turn your passion into the business of your dreams, while staying true to your creative spirit and maintaining your moral compass.

Tags: Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business, Christy Strauch, visionary business planning, business book reviews.

READ MORE - Passion, Plan, Profit by Christy Strauch - Book review

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



Leadership thinker, Founder and President of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates, and author of the brilliant and definitive book The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders, Ira Chaleff, describes how everyone is a follower some of the time. He removes the passive connotations of the role and shares ideas, insights and the tools needed for followers to partner with leaders. He shares guidance for leaders to encourage followers to be heard and to participate in the process. The result is increased support for leaders, reduced dissatisfaction and cynicism. Organizations will be strengthened through fewer mistakes, and better and more open and honest feedback.

Ira Chaleff is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, January 26, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Leadership thinker, Founder and President of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates, and author of the brilliant and definitive book The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders, Ira Chaleff, describes how everyone is a follower some of the time. You will learn:

* How the leader and follower dynamic has changed in the information age

* Why followers have more empowerment and responsibility to guide their leaders

* How to become a more courageous follower

* How to become a more courageous leader



Ira Chaleff (photo left) is a thought leader in the field of Followership and the founder and president of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates.

Ira was the catalyst for the first national conference in 2006 on Followership, hosted by the Kravis Leadership Institute of McKenna College and the Peter Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University.

Ira is co-editor of the Art of Followership: How Great Followers Create Great Leaders and Organizations, published in January, 2008 as part of the Warren Bennis Leadership Series by Jossey-Bass.

He has published and has been quoted in numerous articles on Followership and its emergence as a newly recognized field of study and practice.

He has conducted seminars and workshops on Followership for a wide range of audiences including NASA, The Brookings Institute, Ernst & Young, The Eastern Management Development Center for the Federal Government, The Federal Judicial Center, Georgetown University, The Graduate School of Public Accounting at the University of Wisconsin, and numerous other institutions, agencies and professional services firms.

In 2006, Ira went on a multi-city speaking tour of India, introducing the concepts of Courageous Followership to both privately-owned and government-owned companies.

The Courageous Follower has been incorporated into many curricula, including senior- and mid-level police officer training at virtually every level of the California Law Enforcement community. It was part of the syllabus for the first course on Followership taught (by Barbara Kellerman) at the John F.Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Ira is President of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates in Washington, DC.

He has been named one of the top 100 consultants by Executive Excellence Magazine.

Ira has conducted top-to-bottom organization assessments for diverse domestic and international organizations or their key divisions. Among these are the Credit Union National Association, The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency of the World Bank, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, National Public Radio, the Nuclear Energy Institute and others.

Ira designs and conducts leadership team development programs for organizations such as University Information Services at Georgetown University and Bio Regulatory Services at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of United States Department of Agriculture.

He offers individual executive coaching for senior- and mid-level managers at privately held and newly public hi-tech companies, law and lobbying firms, corporations, federal agencies and trade associations.

Ira conducts workload management coaching and training for managers and professionals at private sector firms that have included Kraft Foods, Capital One, AARP, Volvo, American Management Systems, Glaxo-SmithKline and BlackBoard Inc.
Political Leadership Facilitation

Ira has served as Executive Director of the non-partisan Congressional Management Foundation in Washington, D.C., providing management studies and organization development services to congressional offices.

He is now Chairman of the Board of The Congressional Management Foundation.

Ira co-authored the original handbook for newly elected members of Congress: Setting Course: A Congressional Management Guide, now in its eleventh edition.

Ira continues to facilitate strategic planning retreats for congressional offices to create stronger focus in the service of their constituents.

Ira has hosted delegations of legislators from other countries interested in studying the mechanisms through which the United States Legislative Branch has developed the capacity to balance the power of the Executive Branch. He has facilitated in-country retreats for this purpose for the Senate of Nigeria and conducted similar work for the parliament of Sierra Leone.

He has facilitated strategic planning efforts for international organizations such as the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Club of Madrid, both of which are dedicated to supporting the viability of emerging democracies.

My book review of The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders by Ira Chaleff.

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 leadership thinker, Founder and President of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates, and author of the brilliant and definitive book The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders, Ira Chaleff, as he describes how everyone is a follower some of the time. He removes the passive connotations of the role and shares ideas, insights and the tools needed for followers to partner with leaders. He shares guidance for leaders to encourage followers to be heard and to participate in the process. The result is increased support for leaders, reduced dissatisfaction and cynicism. Organizations will be strengthened through fewer mistakes, and better and more open and honest feedback on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders, Ira Chaleff, leaders, followers, personal empowerment, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

READ MORE - Ira Chaleff: The Courageous Follower - Blog Business Success Radio

The Courageous Follower, Third Edition

Standing Up to & for Our Leaders

By: Ira Chaleff

Published: November 2009
Format: Paperback, 264pp
ISBN-13: 9781605092737
ISBN-10: 1605092738
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers







"Most of us are leaders in some situations and followers in others. On one level we understand and fully accept this. You can't, by definition, have a world of only leaders", writes award winning leadership expert and President of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates, Ira Chaleff, in his brilliant and definitive book The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders. The author creates a book for followers who choose to support a leader, and how followers and leaders can develop a closer and more equitable relationship through the courage to give and accept support, ideas, cautionary advice, and honest feedback.

Ira Chaleff understands that the old command and control model of leadership is declining, and being replaced by a model based on more parity between leader and followers. The older model was based on a paternalistic approach that no longer works with today's more empowered employees and citizens. The author points out that the older authoritarian leader and follower model worked well in the industrial age, but is not suited for the modern information age. The days of the docile follower paradigm are over. Followers now must become more comfortable with their power and support powerful leaders and work to develop newer models based on shared responsibility. To answer this problem of creating a new dynamic, Ira Chaleff presents the concept of the courageous follower.



Ira Chaleff (photo left) recognizes that a courageous follower has new responsibilities along with the new found empowerment. At the same time, a new type of leader is emerging who accepts input and feedback from followers. While self aware leaders understand the new parity relationship, years of socialization to the traditional leader-follower model must be overcome. There has been little cultural support, within our culture, for this changing interpersonal dynamic. To address this challenge to the social programming process, Ira Chaleff posits his five dimensions of courageous followership. They include the courage to assume responsibility, the courage to serve, the courage to challenge, the courage to participate in transformation, and the courage to take moral action. Combined with the courage to speak to the hierarchy and the courage to listen to followers, on the part of leaders, the opportunity for leaders and followers to work together to achieve great things is immense.

For me, the power of the book is how Ira Chaleff presents a new and powerful leadership and followership dynamic that works to benefit both parts of the relationship. In place of the outmoded traditional command and obey system, where a leader's ideas, actions, and orders go unchallenged, followers are empowered to stand up for what is right, and what is in the best interests of the organization and of society. As the world evolves into a more egalitarian culture, leaders who are not listening or responsive to their followers will fail in reaching their goals. Followers are no longer docile, and the older mindset of being subordinate is no longer appropriate in the information age when ideas and creativity flow up from followers, as well as down from leaders. Very often, ideas and decisions are reached jointly, as leaders and followers create a parity and develop mutual trust and respect.

I highly recommend the insightful and visionary book The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders by Ira Chaleff, to anyone seeking a new approach to leadership and followership in the information age. The book provides a clear understanding of the new relationship and responsibilities shared by today's leaders and followers. Gone are the days of the docile follower. In the more egalitarian world of today and tomorrow, leaders must have the courage to listen to and accept honest feedback. Followers must have the courage to provide that guidance for their leaders.

Read the practical and must read book The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders by Ira Chaleff, and begin the journey toward a more equitable, open, and trusting relationship between leader and follower. This book is the essential road map for establishing courage in both followers and their leaders.

Tags: The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders, Ira Chaleff, leaders, followers, personal empowerment, business book reviews.

READ MORE - The Courageous Follower, Third Edition by Ira Chaleff - Book review

The Secret History of the American Empire

Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption

By: John Perkins

Published: June 5, 2007
Format: Paperback, 384 pages
ISBN 9781429560184
Publisher: Plume/Penguin Group








"We possess the knowledge, technology, and systems required to make this a stable, sustainable, equitable, and peaceful planet", writes self confessed economic hit man John Perkins, in his sweeping and visionary book The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption. In this important sequel to the seminal classic Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, the author takes the reader on a global tour of how the empire was built by what he calls the corporatocracy was built. More critically, John Perkins describes how and why corporations and the people of the world can work together to correcting past mistakes and creating a better world.

John Perkins knows how the corporatocracy operated in its empire building efforts. He was there and was part of the process. He saw first hand the destruction of the environment, corrupt governments and local elites, and the increased poverty of the populations of each country. The creation of international debt, according to John Perkins, widened the gap between rich and poor, impoverishing the country instead of enriching the people. Despite that background, the global business practices of corporations in the past, are not sustainable into the future. As resources face depletion, and become ever more expensive to extract, while local people have demanded a greater share of the bounty. John Perkins points out that corporations have been listening, and have become much more responsive to local populations. Along the way, the corporations discovered that becoming better corporate citizens was also good business.



John Perkins (photo left) shares stories of economic hit men like himself, of jackals who allegedly assassinated government and local leaders, and of plans made by the corporatocracy for continental and global dominance. At the same time, the author describes their failures and how their short sighted goals were not achievable as planned. In their way stood the power of determined local populations to regain control of their own resources, and their own self determination. John Perkins describes in detail how non-profit organizations, working with local and indigenous populations have defied corporate power, while helping to develop partnerships with companies, for the benefit of all concerned. In place of violence, cooperation and sharing have begun the process of lifting people out of poverty, while boosting the corporate bottom line.

For me, the power of the book is how John Perkins decides that the focus must be on the present and the future. What happened in the past is done, but doesn't have to continue in the same unsustainable manner. As resources dwindle, the need for better stewardship becomes critical for both the corporations and the host country. This need for more sustainable techniques and practices provides an opportunity for creativity on the part of non-profit organizations and for local people. Through gaining ownership of large voting blocks of shares, environmentally conscious people, who seek greater equality for people, have a voice in corporate management. The result has been more socially responsible corporate practice for the world's leading corporations. The book is one of hope for a better and more equitable future for everyone, and presents a framework for achieving equality, social justice, democracy, and sustainable business.

I highly recommend the important and world changing book The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption by John Perkins, to anyone seeking to become a force for change in the world. The author presents many ideas for building a more peaceful and equitable planet, where principles of social justice and democracy are available to everyone. At the same time, John Perkins demonstrates through case studies how to enhance and support ethical business practices in corporations that result in better treatment of people, and greater profits for the company.

Read the empowering and hope building book The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption by John Perkins, and discover how to build a better world for your children and grandchildren, where the principles of the American Revolution and the constitution become part of everyone's life and future. This book presents hope and a road map for achieving an improved life for all.

Tags: The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption, John Perkins, international finance, corruption, business book reviews.

READ MORE - The Secret History of the American Empire by John Perkins - Book review

Founder and CEO of the Reinvention Institute, Pamela Mitchell, author of the dynamic and empowering book The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about her book with us.

She shares ideas about how to become a career reinventor and why it's essential in today's rapidly changing and highly competitive employment market. With ever rising unemployment, Pamela Mitchell's ideas are crucial for your survival and ability to adapt and prosper in your career.

Thanks to Pamela Mitchell for her time and thoughtful responses.

What was the background to writing this book The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy?

Pamela Mitchell: Back in the early 90s when I was working on Wall Street, I found myself hating my career and desperate to make a switch. I went searching for a book that could help me, but the ones I found assumed you wanted to find a job within the same industry you’d been working in. None of them told you what to do if your goal was to get a job in a different field.

I didn’t know what I wanted to do next much less have a strategy for getting there. There were no 10 Laws of Reinvention to guide me, so I had to figure it out the hard way! Through much trial and error I did, and seven months after leaving Wall Street I landed a new position in the entertainment field.

For years afterward I served as an informal mentor for people looking to make a career switch. Invariably they’d come back with a success story resulting from the strategies I’d shared. After nine years in entertainment, tired of the travel, I decided it was time for yet another reinvention. I became a certified coach and launched The Reinvention Institute, a company specifically dedicated to providing the knowledge, tools, support and inspiration people need to change direction in their careers. It is the company I looked for when I left Wall Street! The book came about because our clients and students repeatedly asked for a comprehensive guide to what they’d learned in our classes, seminars and coaching.

In today's economy, with layoffs and the dream of a lifelong career no longer a reality, is it more important than ever to have a career survival skill set?

Pamela Mitchell: Absolutely. ExecuNet's 2009 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report states that executives expect to hold a single job for 5.6 years, but they only stay in that spot for 2.3 years. They also expect to work for the same company for 6.6 years, but in actuality they remain employed by that company for just 2.8 years. While some of this job changing may be voluntary, there’s a good percentage of it that’s not. You need to have your career reinvention skills honed so that when the ground shifts beneath your feet, you can land securely in your next position.



Pamela Mitchell (photo left)

Is the book's information useful for a Baby Boomer nearing retirement, a GenXer in mid-career, or a Millennial starting their own career path?

Pamela Mitchell: Knowing the Laws of Career Reinvention is critical for baby boomers who, though nearing retirement, may have a desire (or need) to remain active in the world of work. The 10 Laws give them the tools to stay in the game. Mid-careerists can use the 10 Laws to help them rapidly adapt to an ever-changing landscape of companies buffeted by rapid technological change. For Millennials who are just entering the workforce, the 10 Laws teach them how to build a portfolio of skills that will ensure they are best positioned for future opportunities.

How can a person become emotionally and mentally prepared for career change at any point in their life?

Pamela Mitchell: A person can stay ready for career change by continually developing new skills and regularly pursuing projects and activities outside their comfort zone. They should also make a Plan B strategy a permanent part of their career planning strategy, and update it at a minimum annually.

What often holds a person back from becoming a Reinventor?

Pamela Mitchell: We did a study back in 2006 that polled over 350 professionals, 65% of whom had successfully reinvented their careers at least once. The number one perceived barrier among successful Reinventors was lack of necessary skills/knowledge for their new career. Interestingly enough, 72% of them reported that the skills from their previous career were ‘extremely useful’ or ‘very useful’ in their new career. My experience has shown that oftentimes, the biggest barrier to becoming a successful Reinventor is something much more intangible, namely fear.

What is the first step a person should take toward getting the career of their dreams even in a bad economy?

Pamela Mitchell: Buy The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention! But seriously, the first thing a person should do, especially in a bad economy, is take an honest look at their lifestyle. If you use career reinvention as an excuse to purse a pie-in-the-sky dream at the expense of your basic needs, you’ve set yourself up for failure. Once you’ve taken stock of the components of your life (finances, family obligations, interests and passions), use them as a foundation for crafting a reinvention strategy that will deliver a workable intersection of all three.

What is next for Pamela Mitchell?

Pamela Mitchell: Continuing my mission to give people practical tools that will help them stay competitive and build a satisfying, productive and prosperous career, even in the most challenging marketplace.

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My book review of The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy by Pamela Mitchell.

Tags: The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy, Pamela Mitchell, career change management skills, business author interviews.

READ MORE - Pamela Mitchell: The 10 Laws Of Career Reinvention - Author interview

The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention

Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy

By: Pamela Mitchell

Published: December 31, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 272 pages
ISBN: 9780525951469
Publisher: Dutton Adult/Penguin











"There are no more "safe" industries. The ability to reinvent your career at any moment is the new - and only - form of job security", writes founder and CEO of the Reinvention Institute, Pamela Mitchell in her dynamic and empowering book The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy. The author provides the tools and creative thinking necessary to reinvent a career in today's rapidly changing economy.

Pamela Mitchell recognizes that the employment map is changing before our very eyes. No longer can a person expect to find a safe haven within a company, or even move to a similar position with with another firm. In fact, the author dismisses this traditional approach to career management as outdated, and even deadly to a person's career path, and describes a new way of thinking and acting in a highly competitive job market. To this end, Pamela Mitchell presents the reinvention mindset as an alternative to traditional career development ideas. The author stresses and clarifies the critical importance of being mentally, emotionally, and financially prepared to meet the challenges of a difficult and often treacherous labor market.



Pamela Mitchell (photo left) understands that changing careers can be a very traumatic experience as well as a severe culture shock. The author shares her own personal experiences, as well as those of other successful career reinventors, to help ease the transition from one career path to one that is entirely different. Pamela Mitchell shows the reader how to capitalize on current skills and to use them as a starting point for a complete career change. Along the way, she dispels a number of myths and misconceptions that surround career paths and employment stability. Career reinvention skills give the job seeker the adaptability and survival mindset to overcome any unemployment challenges successfully.

For me, the power of the book is how Pamela Mitchell combines the theory of career reinvention, with ten practical laws that provide the skills necessary, to survive and thrive in any economy. These lessons are enhanced through real world case studies and success stories. The author teaches her readers how to recognize and anticipate changes in the economy and the employment world. Larger societal trends and changes become the friend of the career reinventor, offering opportunity to change careers and increase levels of success, money, and a positive attitude. The book contains valuable worksheets that help the reader discover how to enhance their own reinvention skills. The ability to adapt to different and unexpected circumstances, combined with the right skills and mindset as described in the book, will keep anyone's career moving forward regardless of changes in its direction.

Read the essential career transformational book The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy by Pamela Mitchell, and rid yourself of the old myths that surround career planning and changes in the modern world of work. This is not a book for those who prefer traditional employment guides. Instead, this book is designed for the person who is willing to accept that change is part of everyone's working life, and that no career path is permanent any longer. Instead of platitudes, Pamela Mitchell offers advice that the job seeker can use effectively in any economy.

Read the life changing book The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy by Pamela Mitchell, and prepare today for the inevitable career change of tomorrow. This book will prevent a person being caught unaware of how to embrace the change and to adapt to the new world of employment successfully.

Tags: The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy, Pamela Mitchell, career change management skills, business book reviews.

READ MORE - The 10 Laws Of Career Reinvention by Pamela Mitchell - Book review

Silicon Valley technology entrepreneur and strategy consultant, and author of the valuable and highly practical guides in the Entrepreneur Journey series that include Entrepreneur Journeys (Vol. 1), Bootstrapping: Weapon Of Mass Reconstruction (Vol. 2), and Positioning: How To Test, Validate, and Bring Your Idea To Market (Vol. 3), Sramana Mitra, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions on her exciting new entrepreneurial project.

Sramana Mitra shares her vision for an entrepreneurial explosion, and its critical importance to the economy of today and that of tomorrow. She described her vision, as well as offering some practical ideas that you can do to help make this entrepreneurial resolution a successful reality.

Thanks to Sramana Mitra for her insightful and informative responses.

You made a very special New Year's Resolution. What was that resolution?

Sramana Mitra: Through the Entrepreneur Journeys project, I have come to conclude that the most vulnerable phase in an entrepreneur's life is the pre $1 million revenue stage. This is where numerous ventures fail. Once the $1 million revenue milestone is crossed, entrepreneurs find it easier to find additional customers, manage working capital, and access funding, whether it is credit or equity. Beyond that, depending on how large the market opportunity is, they can scale to their potential, with or without external investment.

Some will scale up to $10 million a year, some will scale to $50 million. And a small percentage of these venture may even scale to a billion dollars. Most importantly, however, the base of a million small ventures needs to be robust and sustainable. So, the synthesis of my mission is to build a scalable entrepreneurship education system that can support a trillion dollars of sustainable global GDP and 10 million jobs.

Why is that resolution so important in 2010?

Sramana Mitra: In America, we have 30 million people out of jobs. They need a turnaround strategy, and mine is entrepreneurship. Around the world, entrepreneurial energy is bubbling, as great nations like India, China, Brazil, Indonesia are starting to find their strides. This decade-from 2010-2020-will be a very special time for development economics, and my contribution to that will be through this resolution.

One of the points you make in your Entrepreneur Journeys series is how vulnerable a company is during the pre $1 million revenue stage. Why is a business so vulnerable to failure at that time?

Sramana Mitra: Because the business is not yet validated. The entrepreneurs do not know whether customers would really want what they have to offer, or if they do, they don't know what price they can get. It's an unstable, highly experimental phase which most entrepreneurs never get beyond.

My goal is to teach Silicon Valley best practices to a global community of entrepreneurs so that they avoid the common mistakes, and significantly improve their chances of success. Normally, only one in ten or twenty entrepreneurs succeed. The rest fail. Imagine how powerful an economic impact it would be if we could alter the mortality rate and make 10 out of 10 ventures succeed? That's where I am going with this.



Sramana Mitra (photo left)

How do you propose to reach one million entrepreneurs to reach that $1 million revenue stage?

Sramana Mitra: By getting them to adopt best practices, helping them avoid common mistakes. Mistakes in financing strategy, mistakes in positioning, mistakes in go to market strategy. People often think being an entrepreneur is about raising money asap. Wrong. Being a successful entrepreneur is about crafting a business that can have customers, revenues, and profits. My goal is to teach them the mechanics of this "crafting". I do this using the Entrepreneur Journeys book series where I have captured the tribal knowledge and wisdom of proven entrepreneurs who have freely and generously shared their learnings. I want entrepreneurs to learn the craft and become master craftsmen themselves.

How can your key concepts of bootstrapping, crisp positioning, and laser sharp focus help entrepreneurs achieve the $1 million dollar revenue level?

Sramana Mitra: Take the example of Greg Gianforte, CEO of RightNow, whose story I have told in the Bootstrapping, Weapon Of Mass Reconstruction book. Greg did not write a line of code until he called a hundred potential customers and asked whether they found his concept compelling. Not until he had a clear sense of what the customer pain point was, did he start building a product. This is an example of the kind of things savvy bootstrappers do.

Naive entrepreneurs build an entire product before speaking with a single customer or prospect. And this kind of early validation leads to your positioning. You figure out the value proposition of your product, and then gradually build out a full positioning and go to market strategy based on methodology I have discussed in the Positioning: How To Test Validate and Bring Your Idea To Market book. The books are all full of these nuggets, and I am thrilled that many entrepreneurs around the world are using them to develop themselves. It's the kind of common sense wisdom that I wish I had access to when I started out.

You are proposing a major entrepreneur education program. What does that program involve?

Sramana Mitra: For the moment, I am piloting an online roundtable program where entrepreneurs pitch me their ideas and I give them feedback. I have coached over 75 entrepreneurs in this mode already, and the program is very well received. It runs like an online reality show, where five entrepreneurs pitch and interact with me, while another 1000 can listen and learn. I am offering these as a free weekly program. And through this, I am learning firsthand what the entrepreneurs need, and will layer in additional educational and other kinds of offerings over time.

What resources have you already put into place to achieve your very ambitious goals?

Sramana Mitra: My blog, Sramana Mitra on Strategy, has freely accessible interviews with some 150 successful entrepreneurs in various domains. The Entrepreneur Journeys book series, including Entrepreneur Journeys (Vol. 1), Bootstrapping: Weapon Of Mass Reconstruction (Vol. 2), and Positioning: How To Test, Validate, and Bring Your Idea To Market (Vol. 3), conveys key concepts through the stories of dozens of successful entrepreneurs.

Vision India 2020, coming in February is a very interesting new book. Set in the year 2020, the book looks back on the building of 45 entrepreneurial ventures in India from start-up to $1 billion enterprise, all while pointing to the many business opportunities I see in India today. The Roundtables. I am working on a social media outreach right now.

You organize and run a very successful series of entrepreneur roundtables. How can an entrepreneur participate in these roundtable discussions?

Sramana Mitra: You can find more details and register here.

How can people get rid of the fear of becoming an entrepreneur and take that critical first step on the journey?

Sramana Mitra: By developing a personal philosophy. I have addressed this in the epilogue of my Bootstrapping book. I am a very big believer in philosophy. It is the cornerstone of a successful life, and not just a successful professional career.

How can other entrepreneurs and business people help you help other entrepreneurs succeed?

Sramana Mitra: There are a number of ways. I am working with many such people in various geographies who are helping me build relationships with entrepreneurship development organizations around the world-communities, universities, alumni networks-places where entrepreneurs normally go to find help and support. I am always in need of more hands to make this movement spread far and wide. I am always eager to collaborate with leaders who can take the movement further, adding to it their own creativity and enthusiasm. I plan to play the role of a facilitator, but this, I hope will become a global movement. What I am doing is to create a framework and a methodology that entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship development groups all over the world can use to become successful.

What is next for Sramana Mitra?

Sramana Mitra: LOL. Next? Execution. Execution. Execution.

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My book review of Entrepreneur Journeys: Bootstrapping, Weapon Of Mass Reconstruction by Sramana Mitra.

My book review of Entrepreneur Journeys Volume 3 - Positioning: How To Test, Validate, And Bring Your Idea To Market by Sramana Mitra.

Tags: Entrepreneur Journeys, Sramana Mitra, entrepreneurship, venture capitalists, Entrepreneurship Education System , business interviews.

READ MORE - Sramana Mitra: Entrepreneurship Education System - Interview

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



Small business and customer service expert, and co-author of the very practical customer service myth breaking book B-A-M!: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World, Barry Moltz shares why it's critical to deliver customer service in this self-service world. He also describes just how to do it. Learn how to bust commonly held myths about customer service and why they are money losers for business. Discover how to assess the value of a customer and when to fire money losing ones. At the same time, find out how to make customer service an integral part of your company's DNA and corporate culture.

Barry Moltz is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

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

Small business and customer service expert, and co-author of the very practical customer service myth breaking book B-A-M!: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World, Barry Moltz shares why it's critical to deliver customer service in this self-service world. He also describes just how to do it. You will learn:

* The most prevalent and damaging customer service myths

* Why customer service is promised but not always delivered

* How to measure the bottom line value of customer service

* How to deliver top quality customer service in a self service world



Barry Moltz (photo left) has founded and run small businesses with a great deal of success and failure for more than 15 years.

After successfully selling his last operating business, Barry has branched out into a number of entrepreneurship-related activities. He founded an angel investor group, an angel fund, and is a former advisory member of the board of the Angel Capital Education Foundation.

His first book,You Need to Be A Little Crazy: The Truth about Starting and Growing Your Business describes the ups and downs and emotional trials of running a business. It is in its fifth reprint and has been translated into Chinese, Russian, Korean and Thai. His second book, Bounce!: Failure, Resiliency, and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success, shows what it takes to comeback and develop true business confidence. It has been translated into Korean and German. His third book, B-A-M!: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World shows how customer service is the new marketing.

Barry is a nationally recognized expert on entrepreneurship who has given hundreds of presentations to audiences ranging from 20 to 20,000. He was appointed by the Illinois Governor in 2005 to serve as Chairman of the board of the Institute for Entrepreneurship Education (IIEE). As a member of the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, he also has taught entrepreneurship as an adjunct professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He has appeared on many TV and radio programs such as The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch and The Tavis Smiley Show.

Barry Moltz is also the host of Business Insanity on BlogTalkRadio.

My book review of B-A-M!: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World by Barry Moltz and Mary Jane Grinstead.

My book review of Bounce!: Failure, Resiliency, and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success by Barry Moltz.

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 small business and customer service expert, and co-author of the very practical customer service myth breaking book B-A-M!: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World, Barry Moltz as he shares why it's critical to deliver customer service in this self-service world. He also describes just how to do it. Learn how to bust commonly held myths about customer service and why they are money losers for business. Discover how to assess the value of a customer and when to fire money losing ones. At the same time, find out how to make customer service an integral part of your company's DNA and culture on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: B-A-M!: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World, Barry Moltz, Mary Jane Grinstead, customer service myths, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

READ MORE - Barry Moltz: B-A-M! Bust A Myth: Delivering Customer Service - Blog Business Success Radio

Veracity

By: Laura Bynum

Published: January 2010
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
ISBN-10: 1439123349
ISBN-13: 9781439123348
Publisher: Pocket Books








At age six, in the year 2012, Harper Adams was removed from her family, under the guise of protecting her from what was termed a global pandemic. As she grew, her psychic powers developed until she became what the government called a Sentient. Uneasy with her role as a Monitor of people's words and thoughts, she sought escape. To do so, she had her daughter Veracity placed in a new home. Free from concerns about her daughter's safety, Harper Adams makes the fateful decision to become free in word, thought, and action. Author Laura Bynum creates a frightening, yet eerily plausible distopian world, in her haunting and powerful debut novel Veracity.

Laura Bynum describes an America gone very wrong. Using the usual excuses of safety and security, the new totalitarian regime destroys the Constitution and Bill of Rights in their entirety. For what the government calls their own protection, people are implanted forcibly with a slate that monitors their speech, and punishes them for speaking forbidden Red List words. Laura Bynum understands that words are the basis for thought and ideas. Without the words to express concepts like democracy, freedom and liberty, those ideas will cease to exist. The book serves as a warning to anyone who accepts the twisting of word meanings and the silencing of dissent. When the words are gone, their meanings and ideas vanish along with them. For Laura Bynum, enforced silence is the ultimate slavery.



Laura Bynum (photo left) combines the warnings of George Orwell, expressed in his classic novel 1984 with the destruction and banning of books described in Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451. Those chilling novels echo through the pages of Laura Bynum's work. As with those classic works, freedom from tyranny depends upon the courageous actions of a few dedicated people. Once the choice is made to accept death over slavery, the protagonist Harper Adams is able to act for herself, her daughter, and for society as a whole. She utilizes her gifts as a Sentient against the control of the state and its powerful technology. The author presents the view that the human spirit and its deep need to be free are more powerful than any government, technology, or their enforcers.

Through a very chillingly realistic plot, and characters who are both complex and stereotypical, Laura Bynum creates a terrifying world that is all to easy to imagine. Drawing on current events, some disturbing trends, and the very human characteristic of fear, the author presents a believable scenario of how freedom can vanish. Through fear, media manipulation, and the silencing of any opposition or freedom of speech, a totalitarian government can arise to replace representative democracy. For Harper Adams, the choice between serving that tyranny or fighting for freedom is difficult, but necessary. When she makes the choice to be free and to oppose the government, the desire is to create a better world for her daughter.

I highly recommend the important and cautionary novel Veracity by Laura Bynum, to anyone who values freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and liberty in general. The author demonstrates clearly how the illusion of security is purchased at the cost of that freedom, and in the end, there is neither freedom nor security. The novel describes how the trade off of freedom for promised safety is always a losing one, that only continues until liberty is destroyed entirely.

Read the chilling distopian novel Veracity by Laura Bynum, and learn how the courage to defend, and fight for freedom, is always preferable to the alternative of tyranny.

Tags: Veracity, Laura Bynum, freedom and tyranny, fiction book reviews.

READ MORE - Veracity by Laura Bynum - Book review

B-A-M!

Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World

By: Barry Moltz, Mary Jane Grinstead

Published: September 29, 2009
Format: Paperback, 236 pages
ISBN-10: 1449007945
ISBN-13: 978-1449007942
Publisher: AuthorHouse






"In this increasingly transparent world where so many products and services are viewed by consumers as commodities, providing exceptional customer service becomes the only sustainable competitive advantage for creating customer loyalty", write small business and customer service experts Barry Moltz and Mary Jane Grinstead in their very practical customer service myth breaking book B-A-M!: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World. The authors turn conventional wisdom about customers and customer service upside down, as they describe how the internet and the modern self service economy have created more empowered customers willing to utilize their many available purchasing options.

Barry Moltz and Mary Jane Grinstead dispel many of the twenty most widely believed myths about customer service. The authors describe how these beliefs are not only false, but are perpetuated as fact by both the business and its customers. This belief system is based more on faith than on empirical data, as most people inside and outside of the business are unable to define what constitutes customer service. Indeed, the authors remove the entire concept of bad customer service from the discussion, and describe it more accurately as bad treatment of customers. By recognizing that bad treatment is in no way part of customer service, Mary Jane Grinstead and Barry Moltz are able to move beyond mythology and prescribe some real world solutions.



Barry Moltz (photo left) and Mary Jane Grinstead not only destroy the myths of customer service, they also put an end to the many excuses used to defend bad treatment or lack of any sort of customer service policy. The authors point out how bad treatment is rationalized rather than dealt with by creating a customer service manifesto. Along with recommending a workable customer service approach, the authors stress turning customer service into part of the company DNA. Instead of thinking about customer service, and often finding excuses for bad customer treatment, customer service should become as natural as breathing for the company, its employees, and its customers.

For me, the power of the book is how Mary Jane Grinstead and Barry Moltz combine theory of what is and is not good customer service, with practical, hands on techniques for turning customer service into core company culture. Along with busting the shop worn myths about customer service, the authors provide sound reasons as to why customer service often fails or falls short of expectations. They show the business person how to create an actionable customer service manifesto, and then to measure the results quantitatively. The book also contains a valuable appendix that forms a summary of the book's most important points, turning the book into a handy reusable reference source.

I highly recommend the customer service transformational book B-A-M!: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World by Barry Moltz and Mary Jane Grinstead, to anyone who is serious about understanding why customer service fails in a self service world, and wants to do something to change their own company approach to customer service. This book is a solid primer, and an advanced power tool, for turning customer service into an organizational mandate for success.

Read the indispensable book B-A-M!: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World by Barry Moltz and Mary Jane Grinstead, and rid yourself and your entire organization of the damaging myths that hurt both your company and your customers. Reading this book will provide your company with the ideas and skills necessary to treat your customers well, and to develop a powerful competitive edge over your competition.

Tags: B-A-M!: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World, Barry Moltz, Mary Jane Grinstead, customer service myths, business book reviews.

READ MORE - B-A-M! by Barry Moltz & Mary Jane Grinstead - Book review