Reading Club

Lead By Example by John Baldoni

2010-03-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

I have just finished reading this book. I found the book interesting and educative as it provides insights on many facets of leadership.

In summary, effective leadership depends upon the ability to inspire a team to peak performance.

Lead by Example offers managers at every level advice on developing the character traits, attitudes, strategies, and actions that win the respect of teams.

The source of power behind great leadership is great character, and successful leaders focus on always setting the right example for their teams, from crisis management and relationship-building, to accountability and self-assessment.

By following the author John Baldoni’s 50 key points, leaders can work on building these essential skills and creating a dynamic professional image that benefits the team, the company, and ultimately themselves.

This a book you need in your library.

Happy reading...

Book of the Month for April - submissions

2010-03-10T05:23:00.000-08:00

My sincere apologies for he long silence. I am back for the rest of the year.I hope you have been enjoying reading all the books i recommend on this site. Anyone wants to share with us any book you read in the past month or so?

Please feel free to share with us any book you think stands out. Anyway i have good news, starting from this month we are going to have a book of the month. So the ball is your court, please can we make submissions then we can review and see which book deserves the honour of being the Book for the month of April.

So here you go, i will be expecting your submissions and comments.

Remain blessed!!!

The Toyota Way

2010-02-14T14:19:00.001-08:00

Everyone in the auto industry is so familiar with Toyota’s dramatic business success and world-renowned quality that, as Liker points out, many consider the company to be “boring,” with its steadily growing sales, consistent profitability, huge cash reserves, operational efficiency (combined with constant innovation), and top quality, year after year.

Despite this reputation as the best manufacturer in the world, and despite the huge influence of the lean movement, most attempts to emulate and implement lean production have been fairly superficial, with less than stellar results over the long term.

Liker believes that Toyota’s consistent success is a direct result of its turning operational excellence into a strategic weapon, using such tools and quality improvement methods as just-in-time (JIT) and one-piece flow (that make up the Toyota Production System [TPS]).

Toyota's continued success at implementing these tools comes from its philosophy (The Toyota Way), which is based on an understanding of people and what motivates them. The Toyota Way describes the 14 principles that form the foundation of this uniquely successful management style.

Using profiles of a diverse group of organizations, from a variety of industries, it demonstrates how this model of success can be applied in any organization, to improve the quality, efficiency, and speed of any business process, including sales, product development, marketing, logistics, and management.

Grab a copy and enrich your mind.

To your Success!!!!

Trust Your Gut

2010-02-14T14:06:00.000-08:00

Intuition can be described as insight or instinct. There are two thoughts about where intuition comes from. The first is that intuition is a synthesis of prior knowledge — a blend of logic, experience, and subconscious information that is stored in the mind and recalled when needed. It is recognizing patterns or cues that inform us what to do.

The second school of thought is that intuition comes from a higher power, a divine intelligence, which guides, informs, and directs. Analysis and logic guide most people in decision-making. But what happens when these tools do not provide the answer?

Trust Your Gut is a guide for those who need to know how to access and use their intuition. The information overload experienced today can interfere with the ability to categorize, analyze, and decide, so turning to a “sixth sense” or “gut feeling” is, in many instances, the only alternative.

This book is a very good resource for business managers who experience many challenges in their day to day operations. It’s a must have book for all managers and everyone in a leadership position.

Enjoy this book!!!!!!

10 Steps to Successful strategic planning

2009-12-16T02:03:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since i posted on this blog. I have been travelling and seeing places in Zimbabwe. This year i decided to use my vacation to travel and see all the beautiful tourist attractions in the country. While on the move i had the previlige to read a very interesting book by Susan Berksdale and Teri Lund called 'The 10 Steps to Succcessful Strategic Planning.

The book is very interesting and thpought provoking. As i travelled around the country, seeing one of Africa's most beautiful scenery, i was spell bound by this book. I managed to scrible some notes which ia going to use as the summary to give you some insights into this great book. What I deduced is tha today's marketplace demands that employees and organizations have a clear understanding of their roles, the products and services that they offer, and the processes that they use to create and market those products and services. A strategic plan is crucial for predicting the marketplace and determining how to react to the future.

In 10 Steps to Successful Strategic Planning, Susan Barksdale and Teri Lund detail how the planning process unites organizational leadership and enhances communication of critical information. Following a strategic plan helps company leaders to ensure that products and services delivered to customers are consistent and of high quality, to promote better use of resources, and to resolve internal performance problems by clarifying expectations and standardizing performance.

Need i say more than this, grab this book and enjoy it. Wising you a merry Xmas and a happy new year.

The Attitude of Leadership

2009-12-02T01:13:00.000-08:00

When I read this book I was literally taken to a higher level in my thinking and approach to leadership. The Attitude of Leadership is not a bunch of academic theories or hot new leadership techniques, it a book of timeless principles that anyone can use to become a more effective leader.

Hardly abstract, these principles are based on the real experiences of successful, inspirational, and motivational business leaders who make tough but necessary decisions every single day.

The Attitude of Leadership holds up a mirror to let you see your own leadership skills; offers inspired advice from other leaders on what works and what doesn’t; and helps you improve your ability to positively influence others. Use it to develop your skills as a leader and discover a whole new world of professional and personal fulfillment.

This book will help you measure your own effectiveness as a leader and provide practical guidance on applying these principles in your professional and even personal lives. You definitely need this book in your personal library.

To grab a copy click here: Amazon books.

To your success

Internet Riches By Scott Fox

2009-11-21T14:23:00.000-08:00

In Internet Riches is a book authored by top e-business consultant Scott Fox. The book reveals the powerful but simple strategies that he and other entrepreneurs have used to start and build their million-dollar enterprises.

Packed with interviews, action plans, and an easy to follow overview of everything you need to know to design and market your e-business, this book gives you insight into the most promising e-business opportunities out there (including instant e-businesses that require almost NO start-up capital); powerful action plans for brainstorming new business ideas, plus guidelines on pre-testing them before investing a single cent; and inspiring examples of innovative companies that grew out of a single great idea. This is the most powerful guide ever to finding financial freedom online!

This is a must have book if you are serious about participating in the multi-billion e-business market. To buy a hard copy or instant download of this book check here: Amazon books.

To your Success!!!!!!

The Richest Man from Babylon by George S.Clason

2009-11-19T12:53:00.000-08:00

The Richest Man in Babylon is a book by George Samuel Clason which offers financial advice through a collection of parables set in ancient Babylon. Through their experiences in business and managing household finances, the characters in the parables learn simple lessons in financial wisdom and investing.

By basing these parables in ancient times, but involving situations that modern people can understand and identify with, the author presents these lessons as timeless wisdom that is as relevant today as it was yesterday.

You can buy this here: Amazon books. Happy reading!!!!!

Billy, Alfred and General Motors

2009-10-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

General Motors is arguably one of the biggest auto makers in the world. It is a fortune 500 listed company, which has defied all odds to become a great company it is today.

Billy Durant, the high-school dropout who founded General Motors, was the consummate salesman - brilliant, shrewd, and unflaggingly energetic.

Hailed as the most brilliant CEO of the 20th century, Alfred Sloan, GM's third president, was an educated intellectual and an expert in business, strategy, management, and all things organizational.

This odd couple built what is perhaps the most successful enterprise in U.S. history - one whose ascent created an industry that has come to symbolize the modern world.

Billy, Alfred, and General Motors, provides fascinating new insights into Durant and Sloan's conflicting, yet groundbreaking, definitions of what a corporation should be - definitions that have had an unprecedented socio-economic impact on the past century in the way companies deal with employees, investors, and government.

It also bears witness to the birth of the U.S. auto industry and, in doing so, brings a uniquely American historical period to life.

This book is a valuable collection you must have in your library.

Strategic Customer Service

2009-10-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

Good customer service is the lifeline of any company which seeks to establish meaningful relationships with its customers. Customer service has a tremendous effect on customers’ attitudes toward a company, repeat business and referrals are usually a result of good customer service.

In his Book Strategic Customer Service, John A. Goodman emphasizes the importance of treating customers well and having a clearly defined customer service offer. He emphasizes that Customer service should be the hallmark of every organisation if it wants to transform its fortunes.

He states that customer service culture should be imbibed from top management to the lower levels. Every staff member within the company must be well versed in how the company treats its customers.

Research has found out that service is a great differentiator for any serious business, as it is not easily replicated, service is a culture, its like the DNA of the company. If you are a manager or aspiring to run your own business, this book will open your mind and help you take your customer care initiatives to a new level.

Happy Reading!!!!!

Retail In Detail

2009-09-17T01:49:00.000-07:00

If you you have a passion for retail business, you will find Retail in Detail a book by Ronald Bond a very useful resource. Indeed success depends on the details, experienced retail entrepreneur Ronald L. Bond leaves no question unanswered when it comes to reaching your dream of starting and running your own retail business.

Ronald provides comprehensive, step-by-step instructions, from planning the launch of your business to running your new business. In this book you will learn to: Budget for startup and establish a financial plan, Select the ultimate location and develop your brand image, Select, price and market your product, Manage inventory to decrease expenses

Keep your business up-to-date and competitive in the electronic age, Meet legal and regulatory requirements and to manage your daily operations

The book clearly shows you the trial and error that comes with starting a retail business from scratch, Bond shares firsthand experiences, lessons learned, and informative anecdotes that have helped thousands of aspiring retail entrepreneurs just like you to succeed!

If you love retailing this book is a must have in your library. Rememeber you can get this book in either ebook or hardbook formats at: Amazon books.

"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" - 2 Corinthians 13:14

Igniting the third Factor

2009-09-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

Numerous studies have proven that coaching can increase performance much more than skill-focused on the job training. Most managers, never master the basic principles of successful coaching. Dr Peter Jensen in his book Igniting the Third Factor, describes five practices that characterize exceptional coaches and explains how each can be used in any leadership setting. He profiles five key factors which are fundamental in business coaching. All five factors have a common denominator: they are all grounded in a strong developmental bias, the goal is to inspire individuals to actively participate in their own development. Jensen calls this individual-driven development the Third Factor.

In Igniting the Third Factor, Jensen encourages leaders to ignite the Third Factor in their performers, employees, and workers through self-management, trust building, imagery, uncovering and working through blocks, and embracing adversity.

I am still reading this book, but what i have so far grasped is enough to set me on a new path towards imparting and bringing the best in all the people i interface with. I strongly believe if you take time to read this book, you will experience the same effect and you will never be the same person again.

This is a must have book in your library. Remember reading broadens your horizon.

Happy reading!!!!

How to Grow When Markets Dont

2009-09-07T04:39:00.001-07:00

Waal, it has been more than a month since a posted any book review on this site. I have been travelling and hardly had time to read any book. I am now back and postings with valuable reviews on business books will start flowing from today. I have just finished reading a very interesting and challenging book by Adrian Slywotzky, Richard Wise and Karl Weber. It’s a book called 'How to Grow When Markets Don't.

It’s a truly eye-opening business book, which shows how old-line companies are creating new profits through "demand innovation." This powerful approach focuses on recognizing the opportunities that surround a product instead of merely improving the product itself. Used in a variety of industries, demand innovation asks: Where do customers spend the most time and money in areas related to my product or service? How can I help them improve their operations, reduce their risk, or grow their own revenues? The answers lead to huge growth opportunities for both business-to-business and consumer markets.

This book is packed with many other thought-provoking success stories, insights on how to mine your company's hidden assets, and "moves for Monday morning" that can immediately improve your bottom line, HOW TO GROW WHEN MARKETS DON'T addresses today's economic challenges by providing powerful and practical strategies to generate new growth.

This book is a must have for all business managers. Buy this book today here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/homepage.html?ie=UTF8&tag=ebookclubb-20

Happy reading!!!!!!

How to Get Rich

2009-07-22T08:36:00.001-07:00

Today I am reviewing a book by a man i respect so much and idolize in the Real Estate business, Mr. Donald Trump. Donald Trump is the Chairman and CEO of the Trump Organisation, a US-based real-estate developer. Trump is also the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts, which operates numerous Casinos and hotels across the world.

‘How to get Rich" is a candidly written account of the daily events in the life of Trump. He discusses real estate, business leadership, his empire, the media, and "the art of the hair"!

How to Get Rich is far from an academic read, which makes it a fast paced conversational-like book. The author is one of the most well known faces in New York, particularly after the success of his reality TV program, where he made the term "You're Fired" famous. Trump is a proud man that is proud of his achievements and is quite happy to talk about them. This book will give you an overview on how he runs his vast empire, the people who help him run the Trump Organisation and his approach to managing businesses particularly edifice properties. I bet you will learn the ropes of dealing and closing deals effectively. Trump is a shrewd businessman who has demostrated high levels of business acumen. Its worthwhile reading this book.

Its a must have in your library. To your Sucesss!!!!

Made to Stick

2009-07-03T05:53:00.000-07:00

Made to Stick is a book that will transform the way you communicate ideas. It’s a fast-paced tour of success stories (and failures): the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who drank a glass of bacteria to prove a point about stomach ulcers; the charities who make use of the “Mother Teresa Effect”; the elementary-school teacher whose simulation actually prevented racial prejudice. Provocative, eye-opening, and often surprisingly funny, Made to Stick shows us how we can apply these rules to making our own messages stick.

Principle 1: Simplicity

How do we find the essential core of our ideas? A successful defense lawyer says, “If you argue ten points, even if each is a good point, when they get back to the jury room they won’t remember any.” To strip an idea down to its core, we must be masters of exclusion. We must relentlessly prioritize. Proverbs are the ideal. We must create ideas that are both simple and profound. The Golden Rule is the ultimate model of simplicity: a one-sentence statement so profound that an individual could spend a lifetime learning to follow it. Finding the core” means stripping an idea down to its most critical essence. To get to the core, we’ve got to weed out superfluous and tangential elements. But that’s the easy part. The hard part is weeding out ideas that may be really important but just aren’t the most important idea. The Army Commander’s Intent forces its officers to highlight the most important goal of an operation. The value of the Intent comes from its singularity. You can’t have five North Stars, you can’t have five “most important goals,” and you can’t have five Commander’s Intents. Finding the core is analogous to writing the Commander’s Intent – it’s about discarding a lot of great insights in order to let the most important insight shine.

Principle 2: Unexpectedness

How do we get our audience to pay attention to our ideas, and how do we maintain their interest when we need time to get the ideas across? We can use surprise – an emotion whose function is to increase alertness and cause focus – to grab people’s attention. And for our idea to endure, we must generate interest and curiosity. Nordstrom is a department store known for outstanding customer service. That extra service comes at a price: Nordstrom can be an expensive place to shop. Yet many people are willing to pay higher prices precisely because Nordstrom makes shopping so much more pleasant.

Principle 3: Concreteness

Jane Elliot, an elementary-school teacher in Iowa ,USA found herself trying to explain Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death to her classroom of third-graders. She aimed to make prejudice tangible to her students. At the start of class, she divided the students into two groups: brown-eyed kids and blue-eyed kids. The groups were separated. She made a shocking announcement that the brown-eyed kids were superior to blue-eyed kids. Elliot was shocked at how quickly the class was transformed. She watched those kids turn into nasty, vicious, discriminating third-graders. Even their performance on academic tasks changed. Elliot’s simulation made prejudice concrete – brutally concrete. It also had an enduring impact on the students’ lives. She turned prejudice into an experience. How do we make our ideas clear? We must explain our ideas in terms of human actions, in terms of sensory information. This is where so much business communication goes wrong. Mission statements, synergies, strategies, visions – they are often ambiguous to the point of being meaningless. Naturally sticky ideas are full of concrete images, because our brains are wired to remember concrete data. Speaking concretely is the only way to ensure that our idea will mean the same thing to everyone in our audience.

Principle 4: Credibility

How do we get people to believe our ideas? We’ve got to find a source of credibility to draw on. Sometimes the wellsprings are dry, Barry Marshall discovered in his quest to cure the ulcer. Drawing on external credibility didn’t work. The endorsement of his supervisors and his institution in Perth didn’t seem to be enough. Drawing on internal credibility didn’t work either – his careful marshalling of data and detail still didn’t help him clear the bar. In the end, what he did was draw on the audience’s credibility – he essentially “modelled” a testable credential by gulping a glass of bacteria. The implicit challenge was: See for yourself – if you drink this gunk, you’ll get an ulcer, just like I did. It’s not always obvious which wellspring of credibility we should draw from. What Marshall showed so brilliantly was perseverance – knowing when it was time to draw on a different well? Regardless of your level of “natural creativity,” this book will show you how a little focused effort can make almost any idea stickier, and a sticky idea is an idea that is more likely to make a difference. This is a must have book in your library.

Exective Warfare - By David D'Alessandro

2009-06-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading a very exciting book on leadership by David D'Alessandro. It's not enough anymore to be smart, hard-working, and able to show results – because nowadays everybody is smart, hard-working, and able to show results. What really sets you apart are the relationships you build with people of influence. These people can include your peers, your employees, your organization's directors, reporters, vendors, and regulators – as well as the people directly above you in the organizational hierarchy. In senior management, you no longer answer to just one boss. This book will tell you how to lead all your many bosses to the inevitable conclusion that you and you alone have what it takes to run the show. In his bestsellers “Brand Warfare” and “Career Warfare”, author David D'Alessandro offered sharp advice for building a brand and building a career. Now “Executive Warfare” is the advanced class for the truly ambitious. It will teach you what it takes to rise to the top – and to do the even harder thing, which is to survive there.There is now a hazy matrix of hundreds of bosses both inside and outside the office, any one of whom can stop you cold or give you a tremendous push forward.

Attitude, Risk, and Luck: To rise, you may have to broaden your horizons, and you may have to look for an employer who will allow you to broaden them. You’ll also need three things to make the most of the chances you are given: the right attitude, a willingness to take calculated risks, and dumb luck.

Attitude: It’s incredibly important to get your own head in the game if you intend to rise. If you are bossed around by your own greed, arrogance, or childish lack of discipline, you will give people reason to doubt you, and you will undermine yourself.

Risk: One of the most significant attitude adjustments you will have to make as you move into higher management is your attitude toward risks. Higher management is all about handling risks intelligently and in a calculated fashion.

Luck: There is no such thing in this world as a pure meritocracy. Nobody gets to the top without being lucky. Luck happens to the most deserving of people and some of the most undeserving.Not even the most powerful or ambitious person can force lighting to strike. But you can maneuver yourself into a position where it’s more likely you strike. Figure out how to stand tall in an open field as soon as you can.

Bosses: The first rule of your relationship with your boss is to understand that it’s a business transaction. Most of the time, they are merely the major obstacle standing between you and the prize. Love them or hate them, what you really want is to get beyond them. If you are willing to give the boss the truth, you’re probably going to engage in some spirited debate with your boss as part of the decision-making process. This leads to the second thing you need to do to be a valuable instrument: Understand that once the decision is made, even if you don’t agree with it and have argued against it, you must drop your opposition and execute it to the best of your abilities. It also is helpful to understand something beyond the immediate goal. Be eager to always want to know what your boss’ next move is going to be. The fourth thing you have to do is to assure the boss that you are both loyal and discreet. No matter how incompetent or unpleasant he may be, never tell stories about your boss. Never make the boss feel betrayed – unless, of course, you are ready to grab the boss’ job.

The new world is more analytical, more numbers-focused, more aggressive, more skeptical, and more unforgiving than ever before. You have to be effective in this world to make it to the top – but the real stand-out candidates will be the amateur psychologists, the humanists, and the humorists. If you want to rise, you have to demonstrate leadership to many different audiences. These include the people above and below you in the organizational hierarchy, the people who are competing with you for the next job and those resentful because they cannot compete for it, the outsiders and insiders and shareholders and donors and disinterested observers only looking for a juicy story to alleviate the tedium.

You will never convince all these different audiences to trust you if you don’t have a very strong sense of yourself and a good idea of what integrity is. But you also have to listen to all these bosses, think about them, and try to understand their agendas. In today’s world, you have to be alert to win.

This book is a must have in your library. To your sucess!!!!!

Jack Welch - Winning

2009-06-14T14:49:00.003-07:00

I have just finished reading a book authored none other than the don of leadership himself Mr Jack Welch formerly CEO of General Electric.Welch has written several books since he stepped down from the CEO position at GE. Most of his books have focused on leadership, management and CEOing one of the biggest and most complex corporations in the world. In Winning, Welch talks about his formula for successful management on all it’s aspects: hiring, firing, prioritization, mergers and acquisitions, dealing with change, work life balance, budgeting, six sigma, and dealing with a bad boss. I have sumarised the book in 7 key topics for easy reading.

Making Managers Lead

Welch had a seven-point program for management: (1) Develop a vision for the business; (2) Change the culture to achieve the vision; (3) Flatten the organization; (4) Eliminate bureaucracy; (5) Empower individuals; (6) Raise quality; and (7) Eliminate boundaries. The difference between a leader and a manager is likened to that of a general and an officer down the line. A leader’s job is to allocate resources available (people and money) rigorously in order to generate optimum results. The results, in turn, will be gained under the “management” of the “officers”. The role of a manager is not to spread resources out evenly (to Welch, this is bureaucracy) but to make dynamic choices.

Controlling Bureaucracy. Welch waged a war on bureaucracy. He removed layers upon layers of heads who were, according to him, harmful and whose roles where vague, who slowed decision-making, blurred responsibility, and created undoable jobs.

Sharing Information. Welch believed in the power of sharing information. He uses meetings and committees not as a form of control but as his most powerful management tool. The critical sessions are what he called Corporate Executive Council (CEC) which is attended by the company’s top executives and where he checks on progress, and exchanges ideas and information. The leaders in these sessions shared their lessons of successes and failures, transferred new ideas.

Pursuing Best Practices. The principle of “best practices” is also deeply rooted in Welch’s philosophy. Welch uses these regular meetings to share and publicize achievements of other groups and the methodology behind them. The decision to adopt these practices, however, is left to the individual businesses and their leaders.

Delegating Responsibility. Welch’s leadership theory depends heavily on the power of delegation. Welch, however, does not just relinquish all power to good people. He balances hands-off management – giving his business heads full autonomy and the power of decision – with hands-on leadership. He keeps his “direct reports” on their toes by the unpredictability of his interventions in sometimes, lesser matters.

Exceeding Commitments. Welch leads by having clearly setout goals for productivity, inventory turns, quality, working capital, customer satisfaction, and so on. These goals are treated as rock-solid commitments. As Welch believes in the survival of the fittest, the meetings become jungles where the combatant who comes out top in exceeding commitments wins.

Winning Hearts and Minds. Welch saw the liberation and empowerment of middle managers as the key to productivity gains. In order to win them over, Welch recipe was as follows: (1) Free managers to manage – and to rise; (2) Defeat bureaucracy and rigidity; (3) Generate and use new ideas; (4) Empower workers to flourish and grow. In addition, Welch believes leadership must be personal. Nobody at GE gets a formal letter from him – it comes in his own handwriting and rewards are always accompanied by frank, face-to-face evaluations. The rewards were tremendous as long as performance matched and exceeded expectations.

Knowing the People. Welch’s greatest pride is in his ability to find and nurture highly able managers. To Welch, these people must possess what he describes as “E to the fourth power” where the “E” stands for Energy, Energizing others, competitive Edge and Execution. A leader should really get to know the top people in the organization.

Looking to the Future. Toughness is an essential element in the leadership that Welch practices and admires. The demands include the stipulation that senior executives should strive to develop their own excellent replacements. The ultimate test of a leader is not what happens during his or her leadership – but what follows after he or she has departed. Welch’s ideas about his own successor, therefore, sounded much like a self-portrait. Among the characteristics are: Incredible energy, Ability to excite others, Ability to define a vision, Finding change fun and not paralyzing, Feeling comfortable in Delhi or Denver, Ability to talk to all kinds of people.

To your Success

Key Lessons from Sam Walton's Made in America Part 2

2009-06-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

This is my final review of Sam Walton's biography 'Made in America'. It is my sincere hope you have learned something from this great American who dified odds to establish what is today the world's largest retail store chain emplying over 3 million people worldwide.

Learn From Books and Publiations

During a stint in the army, Sam was posted in Salt Lake City. He checked out every book on retailing in their library, and studied a nearby department store. He would read every retail publication he could find, and would later refer to himself as an "avid student of management theory

Learn from Your Workers

Walton learned from everyone in his stores, regardless of status."Great ideas come from everywhere if you just listen and look for them. You never know who’s going to have a great idea." He especially loved to talk to the truck drivers. According to Lee Scott, "For a long, long time, Sam would show up regularly in the drivers’ break room at 4 A.M. with a bunch of doughnuts and just sit there for a couple of hours talking to them." According to Sam, “It’s amazing to me how many ideas they always have for fine-tuning the system." He'd grill them, asking, ‘What are you seeing at the stores?’ ‘Have you been to that store lately?’ ‘How do the people act there?’ ‘Is it getting better?’ "…I’d still say that visiting the stores and listening to our folks was one of the most valuable uses of my time as an executive. But really, our best ideas usually do come from the folks in the stores. Period."

Innovate, Swim Upstream; Constantly Experiment With New Ideas

Many people are good at learning, but have a hard time applying what they learn. After Walton learned something new, he’d experiment with the best ideas in his own store. According to Walton, "I think my constant fiddling and meddling with the status quo may have been one of my biggest contributions to the later success of Wal-Mart. "A pattern emerges in Walton’s biography. First, grab ideas from anybody you can. Second, shake things up in your stores by innovating. Learn something else. Innovate. It became a lifelong obsession. According to Walton, "…after a lifetime of swimming upstream, I am convinced that one of the real secrets to Wal-mart’s phenomenal success has been that very tendency."

Learn from Your Mistakes

Not all of his ideas worked. The minnow buckets didn’t sell. People in Wisconsin didn’t go for his Moon Pies. But when he saw he was wrong, he admitted his mistake and went on to try something else. And he wanted his associates to be the same way. He’d get them together on Saturday mornings to share their success and admit their failures. That culture of candor produced a great environment to capture ideas. It helped that he had "very little capacity for embarrassment."

Travel Far and Wide for Great Ideas

He’d travel the world to get an idea. In his early career, he read an article about how two stores in Minnesota had gone to self-service, which nobody else was doing. Customers picked out their own stuff and checked out at the cash registers at the front of the store. So he rode the bus all night to visit the stores, liked what they were doing, and changed his store to self service. He was always out looking for new merchandise. Once he came back from New York with some unique sandals which some called flip-flops, or thongs. The clerk said, "No way will those things sell. They’ll just blister your toes." They sold like crazy. Before Walton, very few stores concentrated on buying low, selling cheap, and making their profit by selling such huge quantities. When Walton heard of a few discounters, he ran around the country from the East to California, studying the concept. Everywhere he went; he visited stores and scribbled ideas in his yellow legal pad. According to his brother Bud, "There’s not an individual in these whole United States who has been in more retail stores…than Sam Walton. Make that all over the world. He’s been in stores in Australia and South America, Europe and Asia and South Africa. His mind is just so inquisitive when it comes to this business. And there may not be anything he enjoys more than going into a competitor’s store trying to learn something from it."

For more inforamtion about Wal-mart visit walmartstores.com

Happy reading!!!

Key Lessons from Sam Walton's Made in America (Part 1)

2009-06-01T23:29:00.000-07:00

Build on Your Strengths

Sam Walton had strengths, which he developed tirelessly. He was a great leader and team builder. He set extremely high personal goals, which he accomplished with his team through his competitive spirit and intense drive. His entire life, much of that drive was focused on learning.

Learn by Doing

He learned a lot about hard work and sales from doing it in his early years. At ages 7 or 8 he sold magazine subscriptions. Later, he raised and sold rabbits and pigeons. From seventh grade through high school, he ran paper routes. In college, he added more routes and hired helpers, making some serious money. He needed it, since he was paying his own way. He did whatever it took to make ends meet, waiting tables in exchange for meals and life guarding on the side.

Besides learning hard work, he learned people skills. In college, he aspired to become the student body president. Here’s a trick he learned that he’d use the rest of his life:

I learned early on that one of the secrets to campus leadership was the simplest thing of all: speak to people coming down the sidewalk before they speak to you. I did that in college. I did it when I carried my papers. I would always look ahead and speak to the person coming toward me. If I knew them, I would call them by name, but even if I didn’t I would still speak to them. Before long, I probably knew more students than anybody in the university, and they recognized me and considered me their friend."

Get Formal Education

In his formal education, he majored in business at the University of Missouri.Later in life he’d take formal classes as needed. But the most striking thing to me about Sam was that he never stopped learning. In fact, he became a learning machine. Way before personal computers came along, he felt that Wal-Mart needed to move toward computerization.

"…I was curious. I made up my mind I was going to learn something about IBM computers. So I enrolled in an IBM school for retailers in Poughkeepsie, New York."

Learn From Mentors

Just out of college, he went to work for J.C. Penney, finding a mentor in Duncan Majors, his very successful store manager. He’d learn from Duncan at the store six days a week, then go to Duncan’s house on Sundays with his associates to play ping-pong, cards, and talk about retailing.

Learn From Books and Publications

During a stint in the army, he was posted in Salt Lake City. He checked out every book on retailing in their library, and studied a nearby department store. He would read every retail publication he could find, and would later refer to himself as an "avid student of management theory."

Learn from Company Training Classes

After the army, he bought a Ben Franklin variety store in Newport, Arkansas. The company put him through a two week training class, which taught him the basics of running a store. He would use their accounting system well into his Wal-mart years.

Learn from Your Competition

Once he started working at his first store, his unique spin on education came into play. He soon discovered that the store he’d just bought was "a real dog." His competition across the street had an excellent manager and was doing twice the business in sales. According to Walton,

"…I learned a lesson which has stuck with me all through the years: you can learn from everybody. I didn’t just learn from reading every retail publication I could get my hands on, I probably learned the most from studying what John Dunham was doing across the street."

So Walton became a student of his competitor, always hanging out across the street, checking out Dunham’s prices, how he displayed his merchandise, learning everything about why he was successful. According to associate Charlie Cate: "I remember him saying over and over again: go in and check our competition. Check everyone who is our competition. And don’t look for the bad. Look for the good. …everyone is doing something right."

He especially checked out Kmarts, which were far ahead of them in those early years. He was even so bold as to visit the headquarters of other retailers. He could get away with it, since they were small at the time and they didn’t consider him to be serious competition. "I probably visited more headquarters offices of more discounters than anybody else – ever."
Sam Walton is the greatest retailer of all time. These simple lessons made what Wa-Mart is today - the world's largest retailer. I will do a follow up post (part 2) next week.
Happy reading!!!!

Sam Walton - Made in America

2009-05-25T09:26:00.000-07:00

This is a very inspirational story of a great man and evolution of a great business. Sam Walton eloquently narrates his humble beginnings to greatness in a clear, concise manner. Mr. Sam tells one story after another about how he got started in retailing to his vision for the future of Wal-Mart. His stories are sprinkled with comments from his family, friends and Wal-Mart associates.

Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world and the second largest corporation in the world, with a 2005 income of over $11 billion. It’s the largest employer in both the United States and Mexico. Sam’s humility is manifested openly when he stated with pride that he invented very few of the ideas that made the store such a success, instead he borrowed the best ideas from every store he visited (and he visited a lot).

If you are merely interested in Sam's business philosophy, Chapter 17, is a must read. It's called, "Running a Successful Company: Ten Rules That Worked for Me." Sam shares his rules for building a business which include total commitment to the business, sharing the profits, exceeding customer expectations and swimming upstream, or as Sam explains "ignore the conventional wisdom." There are no startling revelations in this book. There are no in-depth explanations of strategic business and financial decisions that shaped the direction of Wal-Mart. There are also few, if any, in depth discussions about family relationships or the people that most influenced Sam throughout his lifetime.

The book is highly recommended for those who would like to understand the motivations behind the world’s most successful retail chain. I will be reviewing key lessons i learnet from this book in my next post. Happy reading!!!!

Blue Occean Strategy

2009-05-14T07:33:00.000-07:00

Blue Ocean Strategy is a business strategy book written by Professors W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne of INSEAD, a leading global business school, that promotes creating new market space or "Blue Ocean" rather than competing in an existing industry. It contains retrospective case studies of business success stories the authors claim were Blue Ocean Strategies. The book has sold more than a million copies in its first year of publication and is being published in 41 languages.

The concept

The metaphor of red and blue oceans describes the market universe. Red Oceans are all the industries in existence today—the known market space. In the red oceans, industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. Here companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of product or service demand. As the market space gets crowded, prospects for profits and growth are reduced.

Products become commodities or niche, and cutthroat competition turns the ocean bloody. Hence, the term red oceans. Blue oceans, in contrast, denote all the industries not in existence today—the unknown market space, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid. In blue oceans, competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be set. Blue Ocean is an analogy to describe the wider, deeper potential of market space that is not yet explored. The corner-stone of Blue Ocean Strategy is 'Value Innovation'. A blue ocean is created when a company achieves value innovation that creates value simultaneously for both the buyer and the company. The innovation (in product, service, or delivery) must raise and create value for the market, while simultaneously reducing or eliminating features or services that are less valued by the current or future market.

This is one of the best business books i have ever read on strategy. Happy reading!!!

Jack Staight from the Gut

2009-05-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

As CEO of General Electric for the past twenty years, Jack built its market cap by over $500 billion and established himself as the most admired business leader in the world. His championing of initiatives like Six Sigma quality, globalization, and e-business helped to define the modern corporation. At the same time, he's a gutsy boss who developed a differentiated philosophy and management style that observes no boundaries, sharing of ideas, an intense focus on people, and an informal, give-and-take style clearly alienates bureaucracy. The content of the book is easily described as the chronological journey through Jack Welch's life starting with a short discussion of his upbringing and education. After his PhD, he started with General Electric and rose through the ranks until being named CEO in 1981. After his appointment as CEO, the book starts to glow: the book bares all on how Jack Welch restructured GE around the concept of being number 1 or 2 in each market, how he proactively eliminated tens of thousands of jobs to make GE more competitive, how he focused on leadership development and learning, how he acquired and sold businesses.

Key business lessons from Jack Welch’s way of doing business:

☼ Integrity - Jack did not have two agendas. He only had only one way – the straightway. Setting a Tone - Jack always told our business leaders their personal intensity determined their organization’s intensity.

☼ Maximizing an Organization’s Intellect - Jack took everyone’s best ideas and transferred them to others.

☼ People First, Strategy second - Jack hired the right people in the right jobs. This was more important than developing a strategy.

☼ Informality - Jack knew bureaucracy strangles. Informality liberates.

☼ Self-Confidence - Jack knew there is a fine line between arrogance and self-confidence. Legitimate self-confidence is a winner. The true test of self-confidence is the courage to be open – to welcome change and new ideas regardless of their source. Self-confident people aren’t afraid to have their views challenged. They relish the intellectual combat that enriches ideas. They determine the ultimate openness of an organization and its ability to learn.

☼ Passion - Jack knew the number one characteristic all winners share, winners care more than anyone else. No detail is too small to sweat or too large to dream.

☼ Stretch - Jack believed in stretching oneself in order to reach for more than what is thought possible.

☼ Celebrations - Jack was a proponent of extramural activities. He knew business has to be fun.

This book is laced with refreshing interludes, such as "A Short Reflection on Golf," that capture Jack's competitiveness and the importance of friendship in his life. JACK: STRAIGHT FROM THE GUT is a classic business book and a deeply personal journey filled with passion and a sheer lust for life. This is a book you must have on your book shelf.

Jack Welch Author - Straight from the Gut

2009-05-11T09:17:00.000-07:00

Jack Welsh, former CEO of General Electric, presents a rare glimpse into how to build a successful organization in his book, "Straight from the Gut." His honesty and openness is refreshing and reaffirms that success is sometimes built from failure, but more often from calculated planning and the willingness to take risks.

Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Jack received his undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts and an MS and PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois. He began his career with the General Electric Company in 1960, and in 1981 became the Company’s 8th Chairman & CEO. During his 20+ year tenure as CEO, the Company’s market capitalization rose from $13 billion to $400 billion, while revenues grew from $27 billion to $125 billion and earnings grew tenfold to almost $14 billion. In 2000, he was named "Manager of the Century" by Fortune magazine.

When Jack Welsh was asked what business he was in, he simply replied “the people business.” The greatest resource for any company is their people. However, in today’s fast paced global workplace usually the people are the most under utilized resource. For those CEO’s, managers, business owners and even educators who wish to improve their outcomes, this book is a must read.

I will be reviewing his book "Straight from the Gut" in my next post. Get the book and enjoy the reading.

The 17 indesputable laws of Teamwork (Part 2)

2009-05-11T05:57:00.000-07:00

This is a continuation from my previous review on John Maxwell’s book. In my previous post, we ended on principle 8, so today we proceed and conclude this review with principle 9 to 17.

9. The Law of Countability

Teammates must be able to count on each other when it counts. Is your integrity unquestionable? Do you perform your work with excellence? Are you dedicated to the team’s success? Can people depend on you? Do your actions bring the team together or rip it apart?

10. The Law of the Price Tag

The team fails to reach its potential when it fails to pay the price. Sacrifice, time commitment, personal development, and unselfishness are part of the price we pay for team success.

11. The Law of the Scoreboard

The team can make adjustments when it knows where it stands. The scoreboard is essential to evaluating performance at any given time, and is vital to decision-making.

12. The Law of the Bench

Great teams have great depth. Any team that wants to excel must have good substitutes as well as starters. The key to making the most of the law of the bench is to continually improve the team.

13. The Law of Identity

Shared values define the team. The type of values you choose for the team will attract the type of members you need. Values give the team a unique identity to its members, potential recruits, clients, and the public. Values must be constantly stated and restated, practiced, and institutionalized.

14. The Law of Communication

Interaction fuels action. Effective teams have teammates who are constantly talking, and listening to each other. From leader to teammates, teammates to leader, and among teammates, there should be consistency, clarity and courtesy. People should be able to disagree openly but with respect. Between the team and the public, responsiveness and openness is key.

15. The Law of the Edge

The difference between two equally talented teams is leadership. A good leader can bring a team to success, provided values, work ethic and vision are in place. The Myth of the Head Table is the belief that on a team, one person is always in charge in every situation. Understand that in particular situations, maybe another person would be best suited for leading the team. The Myth of the Round Table is the belief that everyone is equal, which is not true. The person with greater skill, experience, and productivity in a given area is more important to the team in that area. Compensate where it is due.

16. The Law of High Morale

When you’re winning, nothing hurts. When a team has high morale, it can deal with whatever circumstances are thrown at it.

17. The Law of Dividends

Investing in the team compounds over time. Make the decision to build a team, and decide who among the team are worth developing. Gather the best team possible, pay the price to develop the team, do things together, delegate responsibility and authority, and give credit for success.

To your success!!!!

The 17 Indisputable Laws Of Teamwork (Part 1)

2009-05-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

As promised, today i am reviewing an interesting book by John C. Maxwell called ' The 17 Indisputable Laws ofTeamwork'. For the sake of clarity, i will break the 17 principles into two parts. I will start with the first eight principles in this article and finish off tomorrow with the other 9 principles.

I learnt that in order to achieve great things, you need a team. Building a winning team requires understanding of these principles. Whatever your goal or project, you need to add value and invest in your team so the end product benefits from more ideas, energy, resources, and perspectives.

1. The Law of Significance

People try to achieve great things by themselves mainly because of the size of their ego, their level of insecurity, or simple naiveté and temperament. One is too small a number to achieve greatness. Critical lesson for everyone who is in pursuit of excellence.

2.The Law of the Big Picture

The goal is more important than the role. Members must be willing to subordinate their roles and personal agendas to support the team vision. By seeing the big picture, effectively communicating the vision to the team, providing the needed resources, and hiring the right players, leaders can create a more unified team.

3. The Law of the Niche

All players have a place where they add the most value. Essentially, when the right team member is in the right place, everyone benefits. To be able to put people in their proper places and fully utilize their talents and maximize potential, you need to know your players and the team situation. Evaluate each person’s skills, discipline, strengths, emotions, and potential.

4. The Law of Mount Everest

As the challenge escalates, the need for teamwork elevates. Focus on the team and the dream should take care of itself. The type of challenge determines the type of team you require: A new challenge requires a creative team. An ever-changing challenge requires a

fast, flexible team. An Everest-sized challenge requires an experienced team. See who needs direction, support, coaching, or more responsibility. Add members, change leaders to suit the challenge of the moment, and remove ineffective members.

5. The Law of the Chain

The strength of the team is impacted by its weakest link. When a weak link remains on the team the stronger members identify the weak one, end up having to help him, come to resent him, become less effective, and ultimately question their leader’s ability.

6. The Law of the Catalyst

Winning teams have players who make things happen. These are the catalysts, or the get-it-done-and-then-some people who are naturally intuitive, communicative, passionate, talented, creative people who take the initiative, are responsible, generous, and influential.

7. The Law of the Compass

A team that embraces a vision becomes focused, energized, and confident. It knows where it’s headed and why it’s going there. A team should examine its Moral, Intuitive, Historical, Directional, Strategic, and Visionary Compasses. Does the business practice with

integrity? Do members stay? Does the team make positive use of anything contributed by previous teams in the organization? Does the strategy serve the vision? Is there a long-range vision to keep the team from being frustrated by short-range failures?

8. The Law of The Bad Apple

Rotten attitudes ruin a team. The first place to start is with your self. Do you think the team wouldn’t be able to get along without you? Do you secretly believe that recent team successes are attributable to your personal efforts, not the work of the whole team? Do you keep score when it comes to the praise and perks handed out to other team members? Do you have a hard time admitting you made a mistake? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you need to keep your attitude in check.

Happy reading!!

Dr. John C. Maxwell

2009-05-06T05:08:00.000-07:00

Dr John C Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author who has sold over 13 million books. His organizations have trained more than 2 million leaders worldwide. Dr. Maxwell is the founder of INJOY, Maximum Impact, ISS and EQUIP, an international leadership development organization working to help leaders. EQUIP is involved with leaders from more than 80 nations. Its mission is “to see effective Christian leaders fulfill the Great Commission in every nation.”

Every year Maxwell speaks to Fortune 500 companies, international government leaders, and organizations as diverse as the US Military Academy at West Point and The National Football League. A new York times, wall street Journal, Business Week best-selling author, Maxwell was one of the 25 authors and artists named to Amazon.com’s 10^th anniversary Hall of Fame. Three of his books, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Developing the Leader Within You, and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader have each sold over a million copies. Maxwell serves on the Board of Trustees at Indiana Wesley University and has a building named after him there, the Maxwell Center for Business and Leadership. I will be reviewing his leadership books which have greatly influenced my professional life.

Happy Reading

Business Books Review

2009-05-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

With a view to improving content on this blog, from henceforth, i will be focusing on business books review. I will be reviewing one of John C. Maxwell's books. For those who are not familiar with this author, John C. Maxwell is a renowned leadership guru. He is a pastor, businessman and accomplished author. He is considered one of the world's most destinguished leadership gurus.

Happy reading

King of Torts Review

2009-04-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

As promised today i will be reviewing one of John Grisham's legal thriller 'The King Of Torts'. Before delving into the book, for those not versed in law or the Grisham canon can verify that a tort is a wrongful act or injury that may lead to a civil action involving damages.

The Faust of this story is 31-year-old Jarrett Clay Carter II. Clay works as a public defender in Washington DC, who drives an old Honda with high mileage on it. Carter is getting restless with his job, and he is no longer sure that he wants to marry Rebecca Van Horn, daughter of a golf-playing, ruthless land developer. The only faintly ambiguous figure here is Rebecca: she drives an evil German sports car. At the start of the book Clay is assigned a peculiar case: a former addict escapes from a rehab center and winds up shooting a drug dealer. But the accused has no recollection of how or why the urge to kill came over him. Clay is approached by an evil fairy godfather named Max Pace who has a secret interest in the murder case. Max begins turning Clay's head with offers of instant success and prosperity if Clay agrees to form his own highly bankrolled new law firm.

It turns out, though on Page 69, that there is an ulterior motive behind Max's offer. It seems that the killer had been an unwitting guinea pig for a major drug company. The new drug was meant to cure addiction, but occasionally it makes somebody go haywire in lethal and hence lawsuit-generating ways. Clay is asked to help shield the drug company in ways that are, even by Faustian standards, a stretch. If only Clay had read the many other Grisham books that tell versions of this same story. In that case he might have recognized the sight of his honorable principles flying out the window. But Clay finds himself becoming rich and famous in record time. And nobody gets hurt, nobody but the injured and even mortally ill tort clients who might otherwise have extracted decent settlements from the big corporate clients that Clay is secretly representing. These plaintiffs might also fare better if thousands of their cases were not lumped together, the better to finance Clay's new 5-foot-10-inch blond bimbo and Caribbean villa.

No doubt about it: ''The King of Torts'' is a crusading morality tale, and one that might even help to right the wrongs it describes. Mr. Grisham's dynamic, no-nonsense storytelling has that effect, even if his last legal thriller, ''The Summons,'' was much more inventive and unpredictable than this one. Yet ''The King of Torts'' trades on a degree of voyeurism even while condemning the world of tort litigators for greed and corruption.

''The King of Torts'' is a classic thriller like all Grisham best selling novels. The novel will take you through the corridors of the legal system and leave you spell bound with the usual John Grisham charm. Grab your copy and enjoy this thriller from the master of legal suspense.

Happy reading!!!

Books you must have in your library (Part 1)

2009-04-27T01:42:00.000-07:00

I would like to share with you some of the greatest 'must read' books i have read. Over the weekend i visited my favourite bookshop to check if they had new titles from my favourites authors, i was disappointed to find nothing new, however, it was a blessing in disguise as i stumbled upon a very good book by one of my forgotten favourite author Frank Yerby called the 'Man from Dahomey'. I read this book more than four times when i was in high school, and read it again three times when i was in college. Its a great book, which i think everyone should read. Frank Yerby's writing style is similar to the great Nigerian Author Achinua Achebe whose pen prowess is out of this world.

The list of great books i am going to share with you cuts across different genres. I have personally benefited immensely from these literal works.These books have contributed significantly to my personal growth, and i believe you will also benefit immensely by reading any one of them.

Spiritual Life

1. Celebration of Discipline ‐ Richard Foster

2. Walking with Christ in the Details of Life ‐ Patrick Morely

Leadership

1. The Bible

2. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Leadership – Donald T. Phillips

3. Developing the Leader Within You ‐ John C. Maxwell

Marriage & Family

1. His Needs ‐ Her Needs ‐ Willard Harley

2. If Only He Knew ‐ Gary Smalley

Personal Growth

1. Today Matters – John C. Maxwell

2. Winning With People – John C. Maxwell

To get any of these life changing books, feel free to visit ebook.

Happy reading

My Favourite Author of all times - John Grisham

2009-04-23T05:07:00.000-07:00

John Grisham, the all-time best-selling author of the nineties, has written eighteen novels and one work of non-fiction. He is a prolific writer, who has produced several best selling novels across the world. Those who have read his works will attest his pen prowess. After abandoning a youthful dream of a professional baseball career, he settled down to study accounting and prepare for a career as a tax lawyer.

While in law school, his interest shifted from tax law to criminal law and litigation. After graduating from the University of Mississippi law school, he established a small private legal practice in Southaven Mississippi. He was elected the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1983. By his second term he held the vice chairmanship of the Apportionment and Elections Committee, as well as memberships on the Insurance, Judiciary A, and Military Affairs Committee.

In Mississippi, attorneys in private practice are sometimes called upon to appear as public defenders for indigent clients. In this way, Grisham received invaluable experience of the criminal justice system. Inspired by a case he observed in a Mississippi courthouse, Grisham decided to write a novel. For years, he arrived at his office at five o’clock in the morning, six days a week, to work on his first book, A Time To Kill. His manuscript was rejected by 28 publishers before he found an unknown publisher who was willing to print a short run. Without the benefit of a major publisher’s marketing apparatus, the novice author went directly to booksellers, encouraging them to stock his book. Although A Time to Kill sold a disappointing 5,000 copies, Grisham had already begun work on a second novel The Firm. At the same time, bored with the routine of the state capital and eager to spend more time with his family, he decided not to seek re-election to the state legislature. He closed his law practice and moved his family to Oxford, Mississippi, determined to concentrate on his writing.

At age 36, his career as a novelist bloomed when movie rights to The Firm were sold for a hefty price, even before the book had found a publisher. The Firm, has sold more than seven million copies and spent 47 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Grisham’s next offering, The Pelican Brief, sold six million copies. Within a few years, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and his subsequent effort, The Client, (1993) had all been made into successful films. His other novels include The Chamber (1994), The Rainmaker (1995),The Runaway Jury (1996) and The Partner (1997). Source: achievement.org

Next week i will be reviewing one of his best selling novels - King of Torts.

Happy Reading!!!!

Lessons learnt from 'Fortune Without Fear' a book by Barry Lenson

2009-04-22T01:41:00.000-07:00

As a passionate Real Estate investor, i have read a lot of books on this subject over the years. My role model is Donald Trump. Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American business magnate, socialite, television personality, and author. He is the chairman and CEO of the Trump Organization, a US based real-estate developer. Trump is also the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts, which operates numerous casinos and hotels across the world. I have been closely following his career over the years. Donald Trump is a smart real estate investor with a magic touch. His signature buildings are scattered all over the world. Key lessons i learned from this book are chronicled below:

People who succeed in real estate are brave, but not reckless. They have developed some very effective strategies for analyzing a problem and taking action:

First, they accept the reality that real estate investments are risky. In other words, they are realistic.

Second, they invest the time to understand the risks that surround what they want to achieve.

Third, they take considered actions, despite the risks that they have identified and analyzed. By understanding and minimizing risk, they reduce it to an acceptable level.

Fourth, they learn a lot from every risk they face. Then they apply their learning, and build success on success.

These key lessons form the backbone of this valuable book 'Fortune without Fear'. Please grab a copy and enjoy it.

Happy Reading

What I am currently Reading

2009-04-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

Its been a while......I have been travelling thus had limited time to write. During this time, i have been reading a great book on an area i am very passionate about Real Estate. I have just finished reading a book by Barry Lenson - Fortune without Fear. Its a great book for those who are passionate about investing in Real estate. I will share with you the key lessons i managed to draw from this book in the next post.

For a free copy of this great book in ebook format, feel free to contact me at farai@bluemoonzim.com.

To your success

My all time favourite book

2009-03-25T07:48:00.000-07:00

To Kill a Mockingbird is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful and has become a classic of modern American fiction. The novel is loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old.

The book's setting is a small town in Alabama, and the action behind Scout's tale is her father's determination, as a lawyer, liberal, and honest man, to defend a Negro accused of raping a white girl. What happens is, naturally, never seen directly by the narrator.

The story is centered on the defense of a black man accused of raping a white girl by a white man. Scout’s father becomes a defense attorney for a black man, Tom Robinson, who is falsely accused of raping white women. This has a big affect on Scout. During this trial she gets teased by friends because her father was helping this black man. Scout starts to see the racism that exist. During the trial Scout and her brother and close friend Dill witness the trial. Even though they are young they can see that Mr. Robinson is innocent. Even though Mr. Robinson’s innocence was clear even in the eyes of kids, Mr. Robinson was still found guilty. Later in an attempt to escape, Mr. Robinson was shot dead.

The book is a master piece of literature which has stood the test of time. It was reviewed on Oprah’s book club. Oprah mentioned it as one of her favorite piece of literature. I recommend people to read the book. I found it to be an interesting and powerful book. I feel the book does a great job in portraying the extreme prejudice that existed in the United States at that time. I feel this book makes a powerful statement on how justice can be altered through racism. The moral story contained in this book can still be found in our present day society.

Enjoy the book…

A Must Read Master piece from Sir Richard

2009-03-16T00:59:00.000-07:00

Sir Richard Branson is one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs and his company Virgin Group is one of the most recognized lifestyle brands, trusted and enjoyed by millions of people worldwide.

Following his successful autobiography, Losing My Virginity, Richard shares the inside track on some of his greatest achievements over forty years in business as well as the lessons he has learned from his setbacks. In Business Stripped Bare, he discusses why he took on one of the world’s biggest super brands, how he built Virgin Mobile USA into the fastest growing company in history to reach a billion dollars in revenue, faster than Microsoft, Google or Amazon.com, and how he managed built seven billion dollar companies from scratch in seven completely different sectors.

Richard tells the story behind the launch of Virgin America, his new airline in the USA, how Virgin Galactic is set to initiate a new era of space tourism from a spaceport deep in the Mojave desert, and what he has learned about business from a diverse group of leaders, including Nelson Mandela, Jack Welch, Herb Kelleher, Steve Jobs and the founders of Google. He also shares his thoughts on the changing face of the global economy and how businesses worldwide need to work together to tackle environmental challenges and invest in the future of our world.

Combining invaluable advice with remarkable and candid inside stories, Business Stripped Bare is a dynamic, inspirational and truly original guide to success in business and in life. Whether you are an executive, an entrepreneur or just starting out in the business world, Richard strips down business to show how you can succeed and make a difference.

If you enjoyed Sir Richard Branson’s other books, losing my virginity and Screw it, let’s do it, this book will leave you spell bound and will surely motivate you to think positively.

To your Success

The best book on wealth building strategies ever written

2009-03-12T06:37:00.001-07:00

Think & Grow Rich was Hill's way of putting down on paper the steps necessary to attain our goals. Think & Grow Rich is an excellent biography of famous men and women of achievement. Even to our modern mind it holds gems of wisdom that can be used by anyone to better their position in life. The book focuses mainly on building wealth but the system can be effectively employed for any goal. It was Carnegie's wish that the information be made available to the 'average person' At Carnegies request, he interviewed Theodore Roosevelt, William Wrigley, John Wanamaker, Wilbur Wright, John Rockefeller, F. W. Woolworth, Woodrow Wilson, Graham Bell, Thomas Edison and Edwin Barnes to name a few!

If you read this book with an open mind and use more 'up-to-date' techniques for influencing the subconscious mind it should still do for you what it has done for millions of people before us.

About the Author

Napoleon Hill wrote what is arguably the best book on wealth building strategies to date. His quest for knowledge started in his early twenties when he interviewed a very remarkable man named Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie had travelled to the United States from Scotland as the young son of a migrant worker. By the time he retired he was a legendary philanthropist, donating vast sums to create public libraries in the United States and the UK. He also made big investments in the future by giving fortunes to Universities.

For more information about Andrew Carnegie visit : www.carnegie.org

To your success

Why Listening To Audio Books Is Becoming So Popular

2009-03-11T04:25:00.000-07:00

Reading is one the best ways to learn and keep your mind working. For young children it helps to their build vocabulary and teach them spellings. Reading also encourages you to put your imagination to work by seeing and hearing the story in your own mind. As we get older, we still enjoy reading but seem to have less time for it. A great development several years ago that has grown to become more popular is the use of audio books. Audio books are a great way to read a book when you don't have the time to actually read.

Reading is a favorite pass time of many. Imagine a rainy or cold afternoon. What is better than cuddling up with a warm blanket and a good book? Now you can still do the same thing, but instead of you doing the reading, the book is read to you. These audio books are just as relaxing and you still get to use your imagination. Unlike TV where the story is told to you and the pictures are also there for you to see. Here, the story is told to you but you must use your imagination to see the characters and the events.

It would be great for children also. They would be using their imagination and would get to hear a story of their favorite characters. This is for sure better than watching a cartoon on TV. Also for children, and for adults, there are audio books for learning. Do you need a fun way for your child to learn more about history without making it seem like homework? Do your research on these books, there is such a variety I'm sure there is something you would like.

Audio books can be supplied on a cassette tape, a CD, MP3 which is similar to a CD, or you can play them off an iPod or from the internet. Just about anyplace you are, you will be able to listen to your book. There are several places in which to purchase or even rent a book. The internet is probably the best choice as they have large selections and you can also read book reviews prior to purchasing or renting a book. Your public library also has audio books for you.

The voices on the books can be from one narrator or from a couple different ones to portray each character. Some well known TV stars have even narrated some of these books.

Audio books can be from a variety of types. Fiction, Non Fiction, mystery, love stories, self help, western, or just about anything you would want. Since about 1995, mostly any book that has been published, is now also on audio tape or CD. There are also children books on audio that would be great for those long trips. I'm sure there is a book for everyone in your family. if you are interested in Audio Books on CD please visit: http://www.youraudiobooks.com

To your success

What are you reading Now?

2009-03-11T01:58:00.000-07:00

Lets hear what you are currently reading..Lets share our experiences and encourage each other to foster a culture of enriching our minds.

To your success

Good Audio Books Inspire and Educate

2009-03-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

As long as there has been recorded history, there has been books. That means that enjoying a good book has been a relaxing pass time by many people. However, with recent advances in technology, people no longer need to sit with a book sprawled out in front of them and concentrate on reading the text. Today, people can enjoy books virtually anywhere. How often do you see people reading a novel while jogging compared to seeing people jogging with headphones? There’s a good possibility that at least some of these people are enjoying listening to a good audio book while they are out doing their daily run.

With the advent of the Internet and portable mp3 players, the popularity of audio books has reached an all time high. Publishers now are even hiring celebrities to read their publications to increase audio book sales and reach.

One audio book enthusiast took it upon herself to examine the time difference between reading a book and listening to an audio book. She said that listening to an audio book takes about four hours, whereas reading a book takes her about 120 hours. This means that she could listen to about 30 books in the time it takes her to read just one book.

One of the biggest contributors to the popularity of audio books is the fact that one can take in a good book while doing just about anything. Never before could a person enjoy a book while washing the dishes driving or walking the dog. Now, people can enjoy the relaxing effects of a good story anytime, anyplace.

Not only are audio books good for time-restrained book lovers, but they are also a great tool to help teach your child to read. Now you find both text and audio versions of children’s books. While an audio book can never compare to a parent reading and guiding his or her child through the words and pictures, audio books often come with sound effects and fun voices that make the reading experience fun for both child and parent. Just like reading a good book, listening to a good audio book can inspire, educate and increase mental alertness.

To your success

Article Writing To Promote Your Business Or Product

2009-03-10T11:23:00.000-07:00

The World Wide Web is known as the information super highway. With a click of the mouse, a person can find the perfect dress for a formal occasion or health advice, to determine if professional medical care is needed as soon as possible. Basically, if the web surfer can think of a topic, a product to buy, or an item to sell, he/she can find it on the web, with a few carefully selected keyword searches.

The question is: where does all the information come from? Obviously, someone is writing articles for publication on the Internet. After all, the web is simply a means of disseminating information. The knowledge displayed has to come from someone. So, why does a person take time to write articles, and what is the compensation factor?

The main reason for writing articles is to inform the reader. The message is generally to educate the public, a marketing tool, or both. First, the altruistic reason is to give the reader valuable information or advice.

For example, a teacher may have web site articles to help students find educational material. Some schools may even have resources for parents and students to check grades, scheduled extra curricular activities, and academic dates.

An individual suffering from an illness may want to provide support and helpful information to others who feel sick and all alone. For example, the renowned Mayo Clinic has a medical site. Searchers can look up medications and find out information regarding the benefits and possible side effects. Also, an individual diagnosed with a chronic illness, such as diabetes, crohns, or heart disease, may want to locate a support group.

One of the most popular reasons people seek information on the Internet is interpersonal relationships. Cyber dating is on the rise. Entrepreneurs are essentially making big bucks by instituting a lonely-hearts club- a virtual matchmaking service. If an individual knows how to utilize a computer mouse, he/she can find the information and assistance for every aspect of life.

In addition to assistance, writing articles is also necessary to bring potential customers to an entrepreneur's site-an individual selling a product or service. For example, a newsworthy, or even entertaining, article attracts the reader. Enticed, the viewer may decide to explore the well-placed links to see what the writer is all about. Since the article is generally related to the product or service presented on the site, writing articles brings in potential clients or customers.

The more site viewers reading the article, the greater the opportunity to garner a sale, and build a returning customer base. Simultaneously, writing articles can become a lucrative business for the writer, and the end result often brings revenue to the client. Therefore, writing articles is a win-win situation. Internet marketing is a steadily growing business.

Today, corporate executives are trading in the sixteen-hour day job, for a chance to earn a substantial income with an Internet enterprise, and still be able to spend time with the family. From the comfort of a living room or home office, a growing number of forward-thinking individuals have actually managed to realize a 6-figure income.

Likewise, on the other end of the spectrum, the individual writing articles, used to promote and link back to the business, can also work from the comforts of home and make a decent living without ever walking out the front door. Thus, writing articles can result in great jobs for frustrated executives, stay-at-home moms, and people with limiting disabilities. Great!

The option to work from home is great for many single parents who do not want to be away from their kids, or who cannot afford a babysitter. Writing articles is also an excellent way to earn extra money in the evenings or on the weekends.

In a perfect world, writing articles can promote a passion and earn an income. For example, some sites will pay an individual to write about a subject he/she actually lives every day. A person with diabetes can write articles to help fellow diabetics, and earn money at the same time. While a site may sell products diabetics need, the articles are also available to inform and encourage.

Even if an entrepreneur does not have the time or ability to write articles compelling the reader to take action, articles are available for rewriting, reprinting, and redistribution. In addition, to give a site fresh and original material, writers-for-hire are available. A good key word search will provide a plethora of writers or ghostwriters, who are willing to sell the ownership of the written word, and the businessperson can claim authorship.

So, if an individual has an important message to share, a product to promote, or a service to sell, a valuable tool for increasing readers and web traffic is article writers.

To your success

Why I love reading

2009-02-26T10:16:00.000-08:00

To date i have read over a thousand books if my mind still serves me well. Over years i have come to the realisation that, without reading the mind can easily be docile. Among all the books i have read, there is one particular book which captivated me and changed the way i view business and management in general. The book was written by none other than Sir Richard Branson and it is called Screw it, Lets do it. In this book Richard Branson chronicles his school days and how he rose from being a college drop out to become an accomplished businessman. Reading this book i learnt four key lessons as follows:

1.) Be passionate about what you do

2). Find time to have fun

3). Always be innovative (Think outside the box)

4). Dont give up no matter the magnitude of your failure

I will be reviewing this book in my future posts.

Lets develop a culture of reading!!!!

To your success

Reading broadens the mind

2009-02-25T10:06:00.000-08:00

Thank you for finding time to visit this blog. The main aim of this blog is to encourage like minded people who are passionate about reading to share their thoughts and experiences with fellow readers. We will review and discuss books which are both compelling and motivating.

Each month we will have a book of the month which will then be reviewed by members of the blog. Subscribed members will receive free business ebooks each month.

wishing you success