Careers Books

This book has some good gems in terms of dealing with the challenges of being a CEO. It comes from a place of knowledge unlike several more academic business books.

I liked this book and recently finished another book that I think is also an excellent CEO primer and tool-kit for CEOs called, "Kiss Theory Good Bye" by Bob Prosen. It was published last year and offers some very actionable takeaways in each chapter as well.

As the back cover of this book says, go ahead, read those other books by high-profile celebrity CEOs to get motivated. Then read this book to see HOW it is done. I say, skip the celebrity CEO du jour books, and go straight to this 5-star book for "Level 5" people.

This is a clear, consise, and exceptionally well proofread and published book (not one error in this book - as opposed to Moore's Crossing the Chasm - a terrible proofreading job). C. Ray Johnson cuts to the chase as to just what and how an effective CEO does and conducts him/herself, and in so doing convinces the reader quickly that anyone has the capacity to do pursue the principles of CEO logic if they really have the will and desire.

Johnson's incredibly clear early chapters lay out the effective CEO melds business understanding with personal principles. From there he goes through each aspect of key business functions and uses his CEO Logic approach for the right direction in each. His chapter on turnaround management is great.

Another very important note, this book and Jim Collins' Good to Great compliment each other. Collins makes the key point early on that companies that go from good to great are rarely run by celebrity big-ego CEOs brought in from the outside, but are instead run by generally quiet, unassuming people who are nevertheless deeply rooted in their convictions and desire to be great and have a winning team working with them. This is what Collins refers to as a "Level 5" leader.

You can think of Johnson's book as a primer on how a Level 5 leader conducts business and takes on leadership. Buy both books! You'll be glad you did. And, while you are at it, leave the self-aggrandizing celcb CEO books on the shelf ;-)

The reason I read this book is that I wanted to learn to be an effective chief executive officer (CEO) and how CEOs think and make decisions, as I aspire to be one in the next two to three years.
CEO Logic provides a wide perspective about the challenges of being at the top of an organisation. C. Ray Johnson provides the knowledge of how to rise to the top of an organisation; how to think like a successful CEO, how to run an organisation successfully and how to turn a faltering organisation around from a loss making company, to a profitable entity, among other interesting topics.

CEO Logic explains what drives the actions of successful CEOs. It explains how to think clearly and perceive the fundamental management issues that influence business decisions and the habits of mind needed to achieve success in business.

The book gives an exposition of the foundations of business success, development of a business philosophy that works, and the strategic application of that philosophy in an organisation. CEO Logic teaches the operating disciplines required to establish and grow a business.

What I particularly liked in the book was the information on how a CEO can effect a turnaround. Ray Johnson provides, in chapter 10 of CEO Logic, ten steps of turning an organisation around. Based on the ten steps, those responsible for changing the fortunes of a company have an excellent blue print they can rely upon.

This is a great primer for a new CEO...someone in a small company moving into the role because of being a top producer or maybe by buying in but has never had any serious management experience. It is an easy read, and because of that, doesn't have a lot of depth. However, if the new CEO has what it takes to grow into the job, this book should spark an interest to acquire more knowledge.

A lot of times when a person starts out at an entry level job, he sees only his direct working environment but sometimes doesn't understand why certain departments or people have priorities over others. CEO Logic is a great reference for those who want to understand what goes on or should go on in the CEO's mind.

I highly recommend it to a new or young CEO to understand what their priorities should be and how to handle them accordingly. Some of the questions answered:

Why is it so imiportant to have and operate a company by a set of principles?

Why is it so important to have an open dialogue with workers and staff in a non-threatening environment?

Why is cash flow so important?

These and many other questions are posed to provoke the reader to think and most of the answers are used in real life examples of CEOs who have either made the mistake and corrected it or those who belong to the business obituaries page. The book is broken down into 4 parts with 19 Chapters:

Part 1: The Foundation
Ch1: Thinking Like a CEO
Ch2: Planning Strategy and Making Decisions
Part 2: Manageing Organizations and Execution Discipline
Ch3: Business Operations Plannning: Define the Risks Worth Taking
Ch4: People Management: Never Try to Teach a Pig to Think
Ch5: Career Management: Control Your Own Desitny
Ch6: Sales: Keep it Simple and Understand it Completely
Ch7: Numbers: Don't be Fooled by the "Accounting"
Part3: Cash, Crisis and Opportunity
Ch8: Banking: Master Their Rules
Ch9: Cash Management: Keep the Lifeblood Flowing
Ch10: Tough Times and Turnarounds: Match the Cure to the Illness
Ch11: Acquisitions: Don't Bujy it if You Can't Improve it
Part4: Character, Ethics, Communication and Wisdom
Ch12: Leadership: Nothing Mystical, Nothing Magical
Ch13: Secrets: Wit and Wisdom from the Trenches
Ch14: Final Thoughts: Simple Truths from Great Compelexities

The unsung hero of any corporate meeting is the minute-taker, quietly and diligently recording the decisions, big and small, that fuel the engines of business. Minute-taking is not simply the process of scribbling notes on a pad. A skilled minute-taker distills lengthy discussions down to their essential messages, and creates order and harmony from the often discordant process of reaching a consensus. Office communication consultant Joanna Gutmann carefully explains every aspect of the process, from setting up the meeting and distributing the agenda to taking notes and formatting the minutes. You will encounter quite a bit of redundancy if you read the book cover-to-cover, but we believe you will find it to be an indispensable reference if you are assigned to take the minutes.

Written by freelance training consultant and secretarial education expert Joanna Gutmann, Taking Minutes of Meetings is a no-nonsense, self-teaching tool instructing the reader in the theory and application of proper forms for taking minutes (records) of a meeting. Chapters cover tips for setting up a meeting, personal preparation recommendations, guidelines for taking notes and constructing minutes, how to record decisions and actions in such a manner that any reader will immediately understand what happened, and much more. Numerous examples and sample formats clearly show the note-taking forms that Gutmann recommends, in this one-of-a-kind quick-study tool that can swiftly transform any willing student into a skilled minute-taker.

This second edition of Gutmann's book is succinct and practical. However, American users beware! The spellings and, more important, the idioms and assumptions of this book are British. References are to British laws and practices. Money is in pounds.

Many people advocate life long learning and the process of reaching your full potential, but generally no one knows how to do that. This book is designed for individuals from middle school to retirement age and provides them with step by step assessments, worksheets and exercises to reach their potential.

This book is broken down in five subject topics, and fifteen chapters to provide an easy systematic approach to personal and professional development. The five subject matters are: Developing Your Potential in Emotional, Intellectual, Physical and Social realms with the fifth unit entitled Developing Your Action Plan.

This book has been wonderful in meeting the needs of four different educational and training areas. First as a personal self help book. Second as a textbook for a college level one-hour class entitled Professional Image Development offered through the Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. Third as an in-house book for career and personal growth seminars within private industry. And fourth, as a resource book, accessible to all employees, checked out from a Corporate Learning Center library.

The book does not have religious growth. The authors state that religious growth is outside the realm of the book. This makes the book perfect for the diverse workforce and student population.

The book does have a companion guide for instructors: Reaching Your Potential, an Instructor's Guide.

Dr. Phil illustrates complex comcepts in understandable terms. This book helped me see myself through the mirror of my past.

This workbook is especially useful to use alongside Self Matters. I find it helpful in my work with clients and they enjoy discussing the insights they get from it. Pamela D. Blair, Author The Next Fifty Years: A Guide for Women at Mid-Life And Beyond

Got a kid, then you understand the true meaning of the word pandemonium. I bought it for the wife hoping we could figure out how to clean up after "the kid" our 3 y/o son, and organize her accumilated junk(wife's a pack rat). Needless to say, she nor i read it through to the end, but the bit i read was an interesting approach. I still trip over tonka trucks & lego blocks, the insects need a treadmill and the newspaper pile is now a permanent corner structure. Maybe one day I'll finish the book....its a step in the right direction. Buy it.

The reviews for this book are so overwhelmingly positive, I figured it *must* be good. Bad assumption! I gleaned very little usable information from this book. The author uses far too much space defining terms, relating her own experiences, and trying to be cute.

Even worse, as another reviewer noted, the author's tone is a bit condescending. Despite her purported years of experience as a professional organizer, she doesn't seem to have a good handle on what causes people to develop clutter problems. Her extensive use of coined words is annoying. The material is poorly organized, jumping around at times. Also, the writing drags in places; it could have used a more thorough editing. Overall, the writing and material presented is of low quality.

For example, in a chapter on how to clear out sentimental clutter, the author's advice can be distilled into one largely unhelpful sentence, "Save only objects that evoke pleasant or poignant feelings; don't keep anything that makes you feel stressed or upset." Okay, that makes sense, but is that really going to do me any good? I could have used suggestions on how to mentally unhook objects from memories. Then the author goes on to introduce terms such as "clutterabilia" and "memorabiliac." (And she's just getting started! Watch out for "paperosis" and "redundabundance.") Is having a coined word going to solve anything?

In dealing with the fear of getting rid of something and then regretting it, the author admonishes, "If you do find yourself grieving over the loss of something that was never alive to begin with, you need more help than I can give you, and I urge you to seek counseling." At this point, I think she has dismissed most of her readers. She continues without compassion, "Your regrets are...a poor excuse for you to keep hanging onto clutter." Tough love?

Some people might find the author's tone helpful, but I was totally put off by it. I would recommend a thorough perusal of the excerpt available online before investing in this book. It should have been a giveaway to me that so many copies are available used. Maybe the sellers took the author's suggestion to only hold onto things that are useful.

Well organized. Strong on the HOW TO. I purchased an additional 10 books to give to friends and family. Easy read. Importand information for my senior clients as well. Thanks for asking.

Book arrived in a timely fashion and was in good condition.

Conquer your clutter. Stop being a slave to your stuff. Understand why it's so hard to get rid of things.

What would your life be like if you could accomplish these three things? How much happier would you be? How much more peaceful would your life be?

Author Harriet Schechter gives you a step-by-step solution in her book, Let Go of Clutter.

In the first chapter, Why Letting Go is So Hard to Do, Schechter explains why we may be biologically programmed to accumulate, why the fear of regret keeps us from discarding stuff, and how society encourages us to gather more and more.

Chapter 4, Purging Paper and Preventing Piles, is another favorite chapter. The author walks us through the method she uses with her clients to quickly sort and purge paper piles. She recommends a File Index, and shows you how to set it up for your household.

The last part of the book looks to the future and explains how to keep your home clean once you've decluttered it.

This book is filled with lots of fill-in-the-blank forms and step-by-step pathways to take you from clutter-filled to clutter-free.

If your clutter is taking over and you've reached the end of your rope with no idea where to start, check out Let Go of Clutter.

If you're an avid reader of Reader's Digest Condensed Books, you might like this collection. Otherwise, go to your library's self-help section and check out the real things for a better taste of each book before buying them. With 50 Self-Help Classics you're getting the author's take on each publication and so you have to remember that his opinion is prevelant throughout each chapter. Having studied some of these texts in grad school, I found some of his opinions (although valid) lacked depth and understanding. It's easy to tell which books are his favorites and which ones he added just to come up to a total of 50.

I bought this to listen to while commuting to work. I think it was a good choice and has been much more informative than listening to music or the radio. The content is good but the narration is mediocre with too many long pauses at inappropriate times. I tended to drift off the subject during his pregnant pauses.

I picked up this book by chance from a public library. Butler-Bowden did an excellent job of summarizing the works of some of my favorite famous authors. I enjoyed using it so much that I decided to get my own copy. Incidentally, it was not available in the main bookstores.

This is worth reading if you are into the classics of self help but its a little light on real content. Not sure what I expected but while it is okay I struggled a bit with it. On the plus side it has many classics I have never read but only heard of and that is good. It is an easy read in that it is small chapters and you can read one in your spare time and stay motivated. Worth the price of admission.

Tom Butler Bowdon, I mean just look at his book jacket photo, this guy has surely helped himself.

Like marijuana, this book is the gateway to personal development. Read the chapters, and find chapters about books you like, then read those books. He also gives you a mini book report with each chapter, which surprisingly has enough meat packed into the 6 or so pages per chapter.

Another great book is 50 success classics. I have that one on audio tape, because the letters confuse me.

It is informative and enjoyable. Not quite what I was looking for, nevertheless shares important insights for job seekers --in a fun to read way -- that definitely don't hurt to know.

This is another example of hearing "the same ole stuff." Can't some author get origional? This was so elementary and certainly not "NEW" information, as the title suggests.

This book has helped so many people! It's perfectly brilliant.

I think it's insane that reviewers are commenting on publisher's type-o's instead of commenting on how significant this book really is. Obviously, Ms. Duncan proofed her own book and after meeting Ms. Duncan at an event, I mentioned the reviews about the errors in the book. Ms. Duncan and her staff has tried desperately for years to demand that the book be reprinted. Some things unfortunately are out of one's hands, and I recognize this after years of being a journalist. Look at the NY Times! And every other book on your shelf! They all have errors!

Ms. Duncan has been instrumental in the salary increases, and gaining recognition for this truly unique role! I recommend this book to anyone in the role or considering it!

I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Duncan's book. I found it an easy read, packed with lots of excellent information.

As with the other reviewer I was extremely disappointed in the skills test in the back of the book. Missing questions, answers to questions that weren't printed.

I wonder if Ms. Duncan has read her own book? Did she review the skills test information in the back before it was published? If the fault lies with the publisher, I hope she got her money back. I also hope she'll do a re-print with the skill test corrected because I found it very helpful in identifying weak areas in my own skill set.

I've been an Executive Secretary/Assistant for the past ten years. Often a good assistant is taken for granted. I appreciated Ms. Duncan's affirmation that my job is more than a job, it's a career and that not just anyone can be a good assistant.

If you can get past all the problems with the skill test in the back of the book, I think you'll find the content extremely interesting, insightful, and motivating.

I just finished reading this book about the "new executive assistant". Of course it emphasizes attention to detail, checking your work, accuracy, etc. Upon completing the extensive skills test in the back of book, I was horrified to find the following blatant errors: 1. In the vocabulary section, the questions skip from #56 to #61, yet in the answer section, these questions do appear. 2. The proofreading section fails to point out periods that are missing at the end of two sentences. Here's the kicker: 3. When I went to check my answers for the spelling section, I discovered that there were only two answers out of 110 questions. To top, there were answers for #110 - 122, which didn't exist in the first place.

OK, can anyone find a proofreader at McGraw Hill to catch these types of errors? How can anyone take this book seriously? The other person who reviewed this book obviously did not read the whole thing. What a disappointment! I do recommend another book that I read. It's called The Valuable Office Professional by Michelle Burke. She is right on the money. There are some more in-depth self-evaluation tests, which go much further than vocabulary and grammar skills. I also got some information about her consulting service, which I am trying to convince management our company needs. That's my summary of this book. Good luck with your administrative careers no matter who you are or where you live!

My daughter enjoyed this book (age 7). She wants to be a vet when she grows up. Informational without being scary.

I bought this for my child who said she wanted to be a veterinarian. He was board to death with this bland, uninteresting book. Isn't there a good book out there for kids on this topic?

This is a perfect book for any animal lover and future vet , like me.I learned a lot from this book. Very good book for vets.

I had to do a 100 note card report on a ocupation that you want to be, and you had to have three different sources. I did about 75% of the note cards using just this book. It's a great book to read and to do reports. Highly recomended.

(...) I read this to my pets and they loved it. I think it was good because people were working with animals to help them, not to get alot of money. It should be great for people like you!! :)

Excellent book it showed me all I needed to write the perfect cover letter and it was incredibly easy to read and showed excellent examples of all different types of job seeking situations. I highly recommend this to anyone...from professionals to those seeking part-time employment, well done Mr. Yate!

I used this book when I was job searching during my senior year of college. I read it cover to cover, and followed the author's advice. I was highly successful in my job search, landing my dream job. I was even complimented several times on my "very creative" cover letter. You can't go wrong with this book!

I used this along with "Cover Letter Magic" and "The Very Quick Job Search," and I prefer those over this one. Though certainly an improvement over the old "Enclosed please find" style, the examples throughout the book are still a bit stiff, unnecessarily wordy, and dated. There's also not as much variety as in the other books.

On meail cover letters, he gives a bit of misinformation, which suggests he may not be as up-to-speed on email limitations as he could be. Specifically, he suggests using a signature-styled font in an email. (That only works if the recipient has the same font on their PC.)

I liked the examples of "Resurrection" letters (basically a thanks for the rejection), but their use is never explained in the book, so there's nothing to suggest this tactic is effective. (The only mention in the other books is in "Cover Letter Magic." They advise against them.) My guess is that this would have to be done selectively and carefully. What may be seen as persistence by the job seeker may be interpreted by the potential employer as either not being able to take a hint or a desperate need to have the last word.

It's an okay book, particularly if your personal style is somewhat formal and "old school," but it's not worthy of its title.

I think the letters in this book are just average, and they focus on me, me, me. There is nothing that helps the writer craft a letter to meet the needs of the employer. A good title, but this books misses the mark.

Lots and lots of cover letters,styles and information. Very helpful!