Careers Books

This book was pretty good. The first part validated what I pretty much figured out for myself the hard way. At least with the knowledge you get from this book that this type of behavior and attitude is universal among women everywhere and is "normal," you can deal with it more constructively or let it go more easily instead of dwelling on it. I did enjoy reading the first part of the book - probably 3/4 of the book was helpful because it validates what you know or can sense about what is going on around you, and that is empowering and reassuring. The guidance given in this book for dealing with other women is somewhat like remembering difficult algorithms though. And, unless you can convince every other woman you ever deal with to read the book and follow precisely the "rules" you have to follow in order to have perfect harmony among the women in your life, you still have to just use your gut instinct on how to deal with each particular woman or...well, you already know what will happen or you wouldn't be interested in reading this type of book! To be honest, I started reading the last part of the book (which directly relates to being in a supervisory position) and just couldn't read any more.

I have struggled my entire life in relationships with women. This book opened my eyes.

This book did have some useful information about the sociocultural reasons behind women's sabotage of one another in the workplace. Much of this information could also be applied outside the workplace. However, I would have liked to see something about how an atypical woman -- one who hasn't been overly socialized to the feminine role -- can deal with those women who are more typically acculturated. I am thankfully now self-employed, but I had problems with other women in past workplaces that I didn't understand. I often experienced them acting cold toward me or getting mad "for nothing." One thing I found really strange was being accused of "not caring about my job" because I chose to keep a level head instead of take it personally when the content of my work was criticized.

Now, to criticize the content of this book, I thought the authors cut inexcusable behavior way too much slack. Yes, there probably is an unwritten "power-dead-even" rule, but acting like a four-year-old and telling lies about someone to the boss, or having an "I'm not going to be your friend anymore!" type of attitude just because someone gets a promotion, is nothing more than immature. If I were managing employees, destructive gossip and bullying would definitely be grounds for discipline, if not termination. It's these kinds of conflicts that make me happy to be a freelance writer!

This is a thought-provoking book, and I recommend it for any woman, whether you work in an office or not. It says much about the conflicts that arise between us, the reasons behind them, and some solutions on how to handle them.

One of my favorite chapters was "Handling Conflicts With Style." I recently covered conflict styles in a college freshman seminar course, and I appreciated how they were expanded in this chapter. There are some interesting paragraphs on ow to handle sabotage and deliberate distractions, two things I have experienced firsthand and was poor at resonding to.

There are many wonderful suggestions in the chapter "How To Be An Effective Female Leader." Several aspects of leadership are discussed, and skills are suggested in detail, to balance the troubles many female leaders experience.

There are some parts of the book, however, that I do no agree with.

Although the Power Dead-Even Rule is absolutely true in every respect, it does little to solve the problem that I have with power-hungry, conrolling women in my work environment. Honestly, why should I care what gets a co-worker to turn against me? Of course, having some knowledge of the root of the problem is extremely beneficial at maintaining some sort of balance. At the end of the day, however, I am able to put my head on the pillow and fall asleep based simply on the advice I received from a dear friend:

It's not my business what other people think of me.

This may sound like foolish advice at first, but you know what? It's TRUE.

And the advice to use gossip as a tool is WAY off the mark. I have been able to maintain my position at my job for many years based on a principle that I believe deeply in - that gossip does NOTHING to improve anyone's character. You want to build trust among your coworkers? Don't gossip!! Find something else in common to discuss.

I'm a little irritated at the excuses given for indirect aggression - you know what? A person's personal issues should be worked out before or after work, there's no excuse for a bitch.

Downplaying your achievements is good to keep in mind. But ultimately, you really should be yourself, not a puppet. My point is, when you apply what you gain from this book, don't forget what you have learned before.

I have to say, I felt pretty disgusted with myself, having to pretend to be insecure and self-depreciating, just to get other women to like me. But by God it works.

I tested the techniques out on my very next female customer. I refused to accept her compliments, kept downplaying myself and my accomplishments, while praising her instead and pointing out all the ways in which I felt she was better.

Result: She LOVED me. We actually linked arms and skipped! No kidding! She convinced her husband to give me $500 on a job that wasn't worth half that much money.

Not only is this book helpful in avoiding petty jealousy, the evil eye, and female sabotage, applied to business situations it can be a real cash cow!!! $$$

Take those psychology books that advise you to "Project Self Confidence!" and "Toot Your Own Horn!" and throw them in the garbage. If you are not a man, that will not work for you.

This one tip alone will save your friendships: Don't you dare ever tell a woman good news. If you have good news tell a man. If you have bad news tell a woman.

If you're just bustin' to tell all the girls how your new boyfriend is rich, famous and hunky, DON'T, unless you a have your own personal security detail and somebody willing to start your car for you.

If they find out anyway, make your good fortune sound negative. Tell them he beats you and he slept with your sister. : P

I can sum the whole book up for you: Women can't stand to see another woman happy, especially if they're not. Better learn how to operate within the "Power Dead Even" Rule.

Our association distributed this book to participants at a training for new supervisors. They were very enthusiastic and their agency heads found The New Supervisor's Survival Manual equally useful. It offers practical advice and the case studies accurately reflect the situations new supervisors often face. In fact, one of our member agencies ordered additional copies to give to all supervisors, experienced as well as new. We highly recommend The New Supervisor's Survival Manual.

This book is full of techniques and good-to-know skill sets to make someone a better boss. The book is geared toward those that have just managed to make the shift from worker-bee to supervisor. The author submits that once someone is a supervisor they now must learn to help their staff grow and mature, learn to make their boss look good, and learn to train their staff to make them look good.
The author points out that it is a supervisor's job to know what his or her people are doing, how they do it, why they do what they do, their expectations, and how they can be better managed to improve their results. The author writes that by reading this book, if one has never been a boss, it can help one become a good boss. If one is a boss, it can make one a better boss. Some key learning points include:

· Learn how tog et a message across right the first time
· Learn what to do first, what do last, and what not to do at all.
· Discover what power really is and where it comes from
· Learn why the best decisions start with an action plan and how to develop an action plan.
· Master the skill of planning and running meetings such that their productivity generates employee's interests and motivates the employees to attend.

The author also offers the top 10 duties of a supervisor:

· Determine priorities.
· Schedule and distribute work.
· Coordinate the efforts of others.
· Observe and evaluate employees performance
· Give accurate and honest performance-based feedback.
· Coach and train employees.
· Handle administrative duties and relevant paperwork.
· Communicate clearly about policies, procedures, and processes.
· Look for ways to improve the way work gets done.

This book starts out with an overview of hiring and job trends for environmental careers divided by sector- private vs. public, and then broken down into subgroups. Then it provides descriptions of 19 different environmental career fields such as air quality, environmental justice, and conservation biology. Each of these chapters describe the major issues in the field and what professionals do to work on those issues. Each chapter also includes spotlights on specific careers- land use planner, lobbyist, environmental economist, etc. These spotlights give detailed descriptions of the job duties and qualifications, as well as salary range, job demand, and employment figures.

Except for the career spotlights, of which there were about 2 per chapter, the majority of this book was very basic and appropriate only for people with no experience in any sort of ecological or environmental career. It reads like an introductory undergraduate textbook, and as such, it's really only appropriate for undergrads or people in a completely different career who wish to learn more about environmental careers. There is very little here for people who hold degrees in any environmental or ecological field, are in grad school in this area and are considering career paths, or for people who are working in this field already and who want to make a lateral move to another environmental area. This is a good beginner's guide to environmental careers, but it won't help anyone who has a little experience under their belt.

In a global world struggling with ecological health issues, how can a budding businessperson select a career which will make a difference? By starting with The ECO Guide to Careers that Make a Difference: Environmental Work For A Sustainable World, which provides a starting point for identifying such positions. Professionals working in different industries provide insights, cover issues, and describe positive solutions being pursued. With its review of both major issues and major career opportunities, The ECO Guide To Careers That Make A Difference is not to be missed.

This collection of readings was so helpful to me, even as a graduate student. I used selections from this book when I constructed a class for teaching assistants. Topics covered include academic freedom and free speech, getting a job, the art of publishing, and discussion vs. lecture courses. Absolutely indispensable reading for the academic. Will be an invaluable reference throughout an academic career.

This is a book I wish someone had told me about when still a doctoral student -- it certainly would have helped a great deal over the years. Things obviously would have worked much better and my transition from Graduate School to the professoriate would have been much smoother. Every graduate student and every new assistant professor needs one on their shelves. Not only that: Graduate Faculty, please buy one for your teaching assistant, your doctoral student and every graduate student you advise. It will do them a world of good and they'll be ever grateful to you!

Taylor was beloved by Bolsheviks and fascists and capitalists alike. Lenin saw him as his guiding light. Taylor's comrade-in-arms Henry Ford was Hitler's hero. And we can thank Mr Taylor the many dull, witless jobs we have today. Ah, there's nothing like the taylorized workplace! Management, division and subdivision of labour, dumbing-down, rocketing stress...

I would like to give Mr Taylor, on the part of my workmates and me, the middle finger.

The principles of scientific management has been waiting on my bookself for me to pick it up and actually read it for quite a while. Taylors book has had such an impact on the modern management ideas that I simply had to read the original work.

Before reading the book, I had my opinion ready (which is not a good thing). The ideas must be stupid, I thought. However, when starting to read the book, I was taken by the situation described by Taylor and the thinking he had behind his theory. Much of it made sense, at the time and was not so stupid at all. I've thus read it in one sit (it's not very thick either). So what's it about?

Taylor's ideas were about studying the work and finding the best method for doing work and then training the workers in following this best method. Finding this best method is "the science" and management is very much responsible for finding and improving the work of the workers. So, this creates the separation of planning and execution, which is often mentioned when talking about Taylorism.

Why did he do this? Much of the reasoning, which is very visible in his dialog between worker and manager, is that workers are too stupid to improve their own work. They have no education and they wouln't be able to actually think about their work and improve it. This might have been a fact in his life. However, if this is still true today, personally I would doubt it.

Taylor considered workers stupid. He makes quotes like "A trained gorilla would probably be better in the job than these man" (not exact quote). These statements made me very uncomfortable and therefore I've long doubted about whether it should be a 3 or 4 star rating.

I've still decided on a 4 start rating. The book is a classic and very valid in his time. I recommend everybody to read it AND REALIZE THAT TODAYS WORLD IS NOT THE SAME. Thus take the good ideas (improving your work) but leave the ideas which were related to their time (strict separation planning and execution).

Worth reading.

I understand that some terms are well-known, but in 1998, to use the term "nigger in the woodpile" in quotes or not does not ride well with me. I have to read a handout from this book for a class. Had I bought the book, I would've returned it. But since I cannot return copies, I guess I'm stuck with it, but I will be complaining to my teacher about the use of this handout.

This book provides an incredible insight into the capitalist mindset and its (dehumanizing) treatment of employees, whereby employees are treated as objects which need to be squeezed to extract the most labor possible. If you've seen the documentary 'The Corporation,' you might remember that time trials are routinely used in sweatshops: the amount of time for doing every little action ("hammer the nail") is specified to a 1/1000th of a second. This book is the foundation of such management techniques.

The crucial motivation for this book comes from the realization that inefficiencies aren't just material (ie if we use less rubber in each boot, we can make more money) but inefficiencies also exist in personnel (ie this person could be working twice as fast and making us more money).

This book is fundamentally about distributed knowledge. Just as Wikipedia has become a centralized collection of knowledge which was previously distributed across thousands of people, Taylor's "planning committee" works in a similar way: it extracting and collects and studies the workers' knowledge of their own tasks. Upon finding the best (most efficient) methods for accomplishing each task, it redistributes that knowledge back to the workers creating a more efficient system.

An excellent and entertaining read. Highly recommended.

Taylor's ideas are commonly viewed as being antiquated because of the time and circumstances under which he worked. Not so! If you think TQM (including Deming, Juran, Shewart, and Taguchi) and Collaborative Management are the answer, you'll find the roots of of these and more in Taylor. It is true that Taylor applied his efforts mainly to work consisting of brute force - but that was the workplace world which existed then.

Before reading Taylor, you should first get up to speed on modern management/leadership concepts. Then, travel back to a time before machines replaced human labor. (If you are my age it should be easy!) Now read Taylor and use just a bit of imagination to visualize what he would be doing today. Then, and only then, can you begin to understand and appreciate what this man and a few other pioneers like him did.

Would his mindset change the way you do business? Then you'd better change because TQM and Collaborative Management are just Taylor on steroids. You can't understand management/leadership unless you understand Taylor. And you can't compete unless you understand both of these.

this is a great tool for someone wanting to or needing to learn to love themselves. it's easy to read but thought provoking.

I bought this deck two months ago. I am satisfied with them. They are quite accurate about my current state of mind. They help me get back on track :)

I got hooked on Sonia Choquette after reading her book "Your Heart's Desire: Instructions for Creating the Life You Really Want". I liked it so much that I ordered her "Ask Your Guides" card set and found them to be right on target time after time. I decided to try the "Trust Your Vibes" cards and I have to say that, although they are a different and slightly more complex way of looking at things, they are also very useful tools. Wonderful author... fantastic insights!

I've been using different set of tarot cards for years. Now these Oracle Cards are in my hands. They are very usefull and presise - buy them and use them for troubleshooting - the drawings are full of symbols.
Fun to use and think about.
Annette

I ordered 3 decks by Sonia Choquette. They're ALL 3 really lovely, beautifully executed - and together with her books, I find them so encouraging that I have decided to go for a bit of self-study.
Down to earth, practical, easy to read, yet very insightful !! I hope Sonia writes more for me to harvest in the coming years!! many thanks Sonia and many thanks amazon for having all her stuff there to find, and to read. It's great when you can peep inside the books, it makes for MUCH better sales I would think, so I'm definitely FOR a lot more authors and publishers being willing to share a few pages, helps make a choice easier.

This deck corresponds to the books of the same name. They are very helpful and useful in every day guidance. If anything it is great to have them when you need assurance that you are picking up something accurate. The illustration is not as pretty as Choquette's other two decks but the cards are very valuable.

A note about Sonia: She does intensive training with these three decks at a spa in Illinois for $4000 for a weekend. So if you have all three and want further study it will cost you. And psychic training with Sonia is at $3200 plus travel and lodging so be warned ... this is one very expensive soul teacher. If you do get a personal consultation with her, and you hear you are psychic, to do The Hoffman Process, Artist's Way, Mindful Loving, and that you are a sensitive psychic in need of training, should be doing readings for people, need to excercise to align your body with your higher intentions, shouldn't look for a knight on a white horse in love, how your last relationship was karmic past life, don't worry ... she tells everyone that.

Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting: The Astonishing Power of Feelings
The Excuse Me Your Life is Waiting Playbook
Dear God! What's Happening to Us?: Halting Eons of Manipulation

this book is extremly bad,,too mucho technich and encripted,,with stupid examples and long long lines,,saying nothing,, this book is so bad,,that I did not finish reading it,, is so boring,,if I could I would give 0 star to this book,,,I highly reccommend the book "the first time manager,,,"
that book is master and exceptional,,written in a very simple a open language,,this book is 100% excellent..

This book is geared more towards the executive manager, but it has some advice that is useful for any new employee. Some of it talked about the importance of first impressions, and what you need to achieve in order to earn credibility in a new position. It also wrote about the psychological effects of going from an individual contributor position to supervisory/management position. Overall, it hasn't been that helpful to me but I will keep it on my shelf for the future.

I read this book several years ago, and I have used the pragmatic advice over and over in my career. Chapter three has been particularly valuable because it has kept me focused upon the principle of making my boss look good!

Time after time, Mr. Betof and Mr. Harwood present the difficult choices and harsh realities of leadership and give you guidance as to what to do. I don't agree with everything they advise, but without question they warn you about what you will face when you are in charge and at least give you a practical plan to work from.

If you aspire to lead, I would recommend reading this book now and then watch leaders to observe how they deal with their challenges and decide what you think works. I applaud the authors' effort to outline a plan of action, but I trust that you will develop your own version for better or worse as you learn.

The great thing about this book is that it addresses the power and politics of the business world. I have seen quite a few promising but naive managers fail because they were blind-sided by coniving opponents. This book is useful to prepare good people to succeed and thereby make companies successful.

This was the first management book I read and I didn't realize how good it was until I read a couple of others. This book has the most thorough and practical advice of all the management books I've read.

No book is going to give you the magic bullet of management and this book seems to acknowledge that. If you enjoy being treated like an adult and aren't out looking for a "Snake Oil" magic management cure-all I would recommend this book (If you enjoyed "Who Moved My Cheese" might I recommend you stop reading this review and go look at "Frog and Toad Are Friends").

Also, while the title claims this book is focused on the "First 12 Months" of your new management position most of the methods and examples it gives aren't specific to that time period--although that is the best time to start.

The authors of this book seem to believe that the best individual performers should become managers - that is not something that I can agree with. It is full of pompous language (I do not want to see the word empowerment again in my whole life) instead of real-world advice. I simultaneously bought the book First-Time Manager and it is much better.

As an internal consultant and leadership coach, I have often shared this book with leaders and leadership teams (at all levels). The profiles in the book are engaging and the development exercises are pragmatic. They are relevant for both men and women. Zichy uses Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) as the book's primary frame of reference. The essence of MBTI theory boils down to basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and judgment. Perception involves all the ways of becoming aware of things, people, happenings, or ideas. Judgment involves all the ways of coming to conclusions about what has been perceived. If people differ systematically in what they perceive and in how they reach conclusions, then it is only reasonable for them to differ correspondingly in their interests, reactions, values, motivations, and skills. Zichy depicts 8 distinct leadership styles. As you journey through the book and read about the various leadership "neighborhoods", you will learn more about your own personal leadership style, optimal and least preferred working environment, approach to change, contributions to a team, decision-making style, potential blind spots, as well as, the strengths and differences of the other 7 styles.

This book is insightful and fun. It punctures the usual stereotypes about the difference between male and female leaders. It quickly showed me that it was okay to be competitive and task driven. After all, one in every three women is. I wish I had read it 20 years ago. The test is incisive and Zichy's advice is right on target - become comfortable with yourself, play to your strengths and appreciate what others bring to the table. I also loved reading about the women she profiles - about their backgrounds, ambitions and views on leadership. This book is a unique toolkit. There is something in it for everyone.

To achieve power and influence, people have to know who you are, what you stand for, and why they should promote you, do business with you, or even VOTE FOR YOU! The authors give great tips on creating a leadership role for women, but creating a strategic 'personal' publicity plan needs to be part of the package.Visibility is part of leadership and to really take charge of your future - you have to create a significant image in the workplace, in the community - or on the political scene.

To achieve power and influence, people have to know who you are, what you stand for, and why they should promote you, do business with you, or even VOTE FOR YOU! The authors give great tips on creating a leadership role for women, but creating a strategic 'personal' publicity plan needs to be part of the package.Visibility is part of leadership and to really take charge of your future - you have to create a significant image in the workplace, in the community - or on the political scene.

Do We Really Want Women to Have More Power? Reviewer: John Westergaard from New York, New York USA Hey, guys, this is a scary book. Zichy tries to tell us her power 'model' applies equally to men, but I'm skeptical. It's about how women can scheme to attain power. Sure, it's a must read for us guys but not to apply the Zichy program, although that's not a bad idea either. It's a must read because we need to protect our backsides. Know what's coming. Zichy puts out a lot of sneaky, tricky stuff like 'how to get along with your boss', how to create 'a more effective team' (read 'takeover coup'), how to steal business from guys by 'better client management', etc. She admits her own business went up 50% after applying the Zichy system. Well, who do you think she took the business away from if it wasn't guys? The book provides a toolkit with exercises and case studies of 38 successful women of which two are in Washington -- Christie Whitman and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison . You don't think this system works? She's also got president-in-due-course Hillary in there. 'Women and the Leadership Q' could be the most dangerous book around!!!

All I can say is don't bother to read this one. The concepts are so basic, and the author tends to drone on and on about his fabulous skills. Big disappointment.

This book is for people who want to get ahead. It gives you a precise, clear understanding of what motivates people. You'll know what makes you tick, how and why other people get you to do what they want (advertisers, politicians, co-workers) and what you can do to "get people to do what you want." The authors give you the tools to gain a lot more control in almost any business or personal situation.

I read this book hoping it would help me to better see and understand manipulative tricks people use at work so I could develop a better defense against them. What I found was an introductory guide to interrogation tactics clumsily wrapped around some ideas of how they might be used to your advantage at work. Most of the terse examples of real life applications are from Hartleys field experience in interrogation. All of the business examples are hypothetical. One notable exception pointed out how Adolf Hitler used some of these tactics to seize power. That could be adapted to dirty politicking at work, but other than that, they didn't illustrate very well how these ideas could work in a business environment.

The above examples should give you a pretty good idea of the tone of the book. I have to admit I'm still a little traumatized from reading it. Hartley refers to the person you want to get to do something as the "target" and unabashedly and consistently uses the words "manipulate" and "force" in regard to the "target". And the techniques - either pull them up a level in Maslows Triangle or push them down one (your choice) are all calculated, cold and intended to play head games. These tactics are probably not the best way to achieve a healthy workplace, but then I expected ideas like that from this book. I just didn't expect them to be that harsh.

I would have given this book two stars since I did learn more about tricks people play to get ahead at the expense of others, but the material was poorly organized and presented. The short part about body language in the middle of the book seemed to be just thrown in. It just didn't blend with the rest of the content. And then there's the conclusion. After spending the entire book talking about manipulating others, the authors wrap it up by stating that "the best application of this book may be to yourself." Huh?

What I found most interesting about this book is the insight it provides into human motivations and behaviors. This can be conscious manipulation -- as in why people buy things for which they have no use or even particular desire -- or less conscious influences -- why we enter into relationships and/or marry people who are totally wrong for us.

And of course, the ongoing question as to why people vote for the candidates they choose even when they would seem to voting against their own rational self interest.

An important point is that the process of understanding motivations and behaviors that the authors detail includes at least as much self-examination as it does evaluating anyone else. This can only be helpful to personal relationships.

Since How to Spot a Liar, I have avidly read each of Hartley's and Karinch's books, and continue to be pleased with the material included. It is dark, certainly (as the authors mention in the first two paragraphs of the book--don't say you weren't warned), and takes a decidedly biological, psychological, and evolutionary approach to humanity as a whole. This is not to say it does not allow for individuality; it is clear to the astute reader, through both subtleties and context clues, that the authors do believe each person has unique characteristics, and the reader is continually warned against using anything within the text as a rule that can be applied wholesale to the entirety of our race.

With that said, however, our hardware is the same, and thus our basic physiological function--thus, each person has the same basic "hardware". This book takes the reader step by step through the basics of understanding why it is we do what we do, and then, with that understanding, how to insert stimulus that will glean the desired reaction or result. It is not a "how to" guide in the traditional sense, such as a car manual. It is much more subtle and requires time and practice, and it is also a self-defense guide as well as an instruction manual (because people just might be using these tricks on you, whether they know it or not, whether they have terms for it or not). However, even just after reading the book, it immediately opens your eyes to the way people interact, the very nature of our drives, and even if you gain nothing else, that understanding and realization gives you a valuable tool in a world largely blinded by the veils of ritual, habit, and cultural norms.

The authors don't intend to give the impression that as soon as you close the cover you will instantly be an unrivaled manipulator, akin to the Jedi. Rather, they seek to give you an understanding of who we are, where we come from, the motives behind our actions (both psychological and biological), and thus come to a greater realization of what we can do to utilize this information, these motives and drives and habits, to get ahead in what is a very dog-eat-dog world.

The nature of that world is dark. However, even if you are morally opposed to manipulating others, I strongly recommend the book as a guide to yourself. The concepts apply to you as well, and though you might be above such tricks, others aren't--and you should have every defense you can get against them. Half of that is knowing the tricks in their repertoire, and half is knowing yourself. This book can help with both.

Jeff Gohlke