change Books

Once you get past the first few chapters about whether or not you're serious about changing your life, The Pathfinder takes you on an interpersonal journey that few books offer. I would recommend this book not only to anyone that is questioning or moving in the direction of a career change, but also to anyone that is looking to improve their personal goals.

The Pathfinder changed my career and my life. The activities in the book helped me navigate through my unconscious assumptions about my life, and connect my vision of my future with my career goals. Completed the exercises in the book -- particularly the life timeline -- led me to an epiphany about how I wanted to spend my life at work. Nick Lore is a master career coach, even in book form. The Pathfinder is a must read for anyone who wants to have it all at work and in life, but may be stuck in their current career.

When I first got this book years ago, what I learned helped me make a significant change in my life and career. Little did I know that, years later, I'd be back reading it again. Both times I had to really take myself in hand and actually do the work of seeing where my interests and skills overlapped, what I wanted now and what would help me achieve it. Both times what I learned in the process was a surprise to me, and gave me that "aha!" feeling to set me on a new path (first time) and renewed path (second time). Well worth it.

If you're not experiencing turbulence and dynamic change, you must not be paying attention. The tectonic plates of human endeavor are shifting. As Nick Lore notes in his seminal work, The Pathfinder, we're witnessing an unprecedented explosion of career options and the old ways - serendipity, tradition, dumb luck - of choosing or re-choosing which career might fit are no longer sufficient.

Eight years ago, I used The Pathfinder when it was clear to me that, after 10 wonderful years, I'd outgrown my career as a diplomat. The Pathfinder's engaging inquiries and exercises and Lore's delightfully engaging style, led me to identify the outlines of the private sector role that would challenge, enrich and fulfill me for most of the last decade.

But I'm a serial adventurer, and its out on the edges of dynamic change that I'm most at home. There are big waves building in the world of work and I'm ready for a new challenge. My second time through The Pathfinder - I'm three weeks in - I'm discovering even deeper insights and am designing a new list of commitments to suit who I've now become. With a steady guide like Nick Lore I'm ready to tow-in to the really big waves - the ones most fun to ride!

If you're ready for work you LOVE and you're prepared to confront yourself - strengths, proclivities and foibles - squarely and honestly; if you're willing to engage in a rigorous and engaging exploration, then there is no better route to professional fulfillment than The Pathfinder.

Recently I was between jobs and deciding what my next career step would be. A friend of mine had read the Pathfinder and recommended it as a great aid for helping me with my decision. Indeed it was!

I found the book to be extremely helpful. Nick does a great job laying out a practical, easy to relate to, process for self discovery and defining what's important to you in a career. Key was Nicks abililty to bring attention to and explain psychology of making a change. This was a straight forward look into the internal conversation people have with themselves about any change. Very Helpful! The notion of "yeahbuts" is so true and once understood liberating and helpful to make progress.

I got tremendous value from the Pathfinder. Nick is having a dialog with you and brings the coaching process to life. It's like you learning about yourself while you writing your next chapter in life. At times the assignments are tough....if you don't do them you won't get the same value from the process and you will end up making decisions by default. Which is probably why so many people are unhappy in their current jobs/career.

After the book, I enlisted the services of the RockPort Institure, the company Nick runs provides career coaching services. Part of the serviec invloves an in depth teting process that is truely revealing and critical in undertanding you and what type of career/role you are best suited for. If you have the interest, read the book than enlist the services of the Rockport institute. I've taken many tests and done all kinds of profiling over my career, this was by far the best!

I hope my feedback is helpful.

Good luck in pursuit of a new job/career....

In some parts a too religious perspective, but contains some ok exercises to help you identify your skills and wants, and gives your more insight into the complete picture of your ideal job. Book is mostly about job finding/applying/negotiating tips. Nice illustrations.

this book is a great tool to have when looking for a job. it helped me to feel confident at my interviews and to negotiate a great job that i KNEW i wanted.

The book was shipped in a timely manner, however it was in horrible condition. At some point it must have been dropped in the water and the whole book is a mess. Not happy with this. The book was advertised as in good condition.

The books and workbooks (I bought 2 of each) arrived in new condition, and timely (within 5 days). Excellent service.

This book is short, but it will support you in generating a lot of valuable information about your values and a career tailored to fit you. Expect to invest about 20 hours in the self exploration exercises in this book.

You get two products from doing this work:

(1) A baseline self-assessment that you can keep for life and update as it suits your needs.

(2) A compelling, pull-to vision of what you want from your career and life that will operate on you consciously and unconsciously to propel you towards getting exactly what you want.

I used a version of this book in 1992 to create a vision of the career and life that I wanted. Then I put everything away and didn't look at the work I had done for ten years.

In 2002, I looked at the exercises I had done in 1992. I got goosebumps! Without ever having looked at what I had written again, I had created what I had envisioned ten years previously. Amazing!

As an executive search consultant, I talk daily with people who are in the process of reflecting on their career choices. Because of my own positive experience, this is my favorite print resource, hands down, to share with people who want to generate more self-awareness about their values and a vision of what they want from their careers.

Great summmary and update on latest leadership styles and models. I liked the way they simplified terms and made the comparisons easy to understand.

I believe that this text & its review is a money-maker item, published for the sole purpose of gaining profits. It seems as if the author mainly copied and pasted old data to accomplish his goal of completing a book for monetary purposes. The valuable information provided could have been handled in the form of a 2-3 page article, providing that the author and company, did not intend to profit form this book. Any monies earned from this book should be used to stimulate the economy and/or as a donation to the students paying for it. I am not saying that Mr. Fullan is completely responsible or that some of his information is not credible, but why not use it as a paper-back to the Educatinal Leadership (2nd Ed.) book provided for schools.

Michael Fullan, the dean of the Ontario Institute of Studies in education, in this work addresses the common challenges facing business, nonprofit, and educational sectors. He presents an approach for varied settings to leaders to help them navigate the change process. Fullan integrates these five core competencies...
1- attending to a broader moral purpose,
2- keeping on top of the change process,
3- cultivating relationships
4- Sharing knowledge
5- Setting a vision and context for creating coherence
These 5 competencies are intended to empower leaders to deal with factors that are difficult and ever changing. These disciplines were well explained and were accompanied with real life illustrations from schools and businesses to validate and clarify each component. My absolute favorite part of the book came in the end of the book. Fullan explains, through Fontaine's The Tortoise and the Hare fable, how learning to be a great leader is much more like the tortoise than the hare. These disciplines are slower (long haul) lessons. The three identified were slow learning, learning in context, and comprehensive internal commitment from leadership. These are tortoise lessons because the better leaders will take time to assess/reassess current status, listen to input, win over resistant members, and learning what is the right thing for each work setting. The author even goes as far as to suggest a ten year " rule of thumb" to really build relationships, strive for coherence, cultivate one' own moral purpose. It is apparent that this process challenges one's own personal practices as well as those of the organization. Sometimes educational institutions can "jump on the band" wagon with new approaches instead of staying the course for what will bring sustained change and improvement for all levels of the organization.
Melba Hooker

Leading in a culture of Change was very helpful. It showed a great comparison between leadership in the business world and leadership in the world of education. There were many ideas to ponder and consider implementing.

Fullan's book is a good, straight to the point read. It is a very insightful, easy to follow guide on leadeship.

When Organizing Isn't Enough: SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life I never thought that organizing and getting rid of collected junk and treasures had some much to do with other matters. Once I read this book I was able to get right to work and finally had a clear understanding what needed to be kept and what didn't.

I read a lot of personal development books. There is more practical and useful advice in this book than in almost any book I have read. One area of advice I liked a lot is the Perfectionism Habit Breakers, a few of which are (1) Devise three approaches, minimim, moderate, & maximum, before jumping into anything, and opt for minimim or moderate whenever possible. This helps you to recognize there are more than two outcomes (disaster and perfection) (2) Rephrase the question "how much can I do?" to "how little can I do?" You are not cheating, you are preserving yourself for other tasks, likely ones which are more important and/or more enriching. (3) Stop doing other people's jobs. You can better use the time, and it develops them rather than sending the wrong signal. And, you can always provide coaching feedback later.

Very, very good book

Julie Morgenstern has hit another ball out of the park! This book revealed why certain areas of my life functioned well while others struggled. If there are parts of your life that you want to move forward but haven't been successful, you will find this book incredibly useful. Julie is very intuitive when it comes to helping the reader understand the emotional attachments we put on our "stuff." For me, her chapters on shedding bad habits gave me the tools to finally heave both emotional and physical clutter -- I finally understood how the old habits had value and how to change my behavior to be happier and more fulfilled. This is an excellent guide to making key transitions in life both personally and professionally.

As a business owner overwhelmed with thousand things "to do" each day, I find the new Julie Morgenstern's book WHEN ORGANIZING IS NOT ENOUGH very helpful and very easy to read and apprehend. It really changed my life, changed my perspective, helped me to pinpoint priorities and made me more productive. It is a great read!

Not one to like self-help books, I was VERY skeptical and am here to say this is a fantastic book. Getting ready for a move, I have been trying to clear out junk and it wasn't until I read this book that I could really begin to clean out the house. Morgenstern point is not to have a sterile, barren home or life but rather to free up your life by getting rid of the irrelevant with some pointed questions:

"How much space or time would you free up if you were to release the obsolete items?"
"How difficult would it be to let go of the obsolete items?"
"Is it invigorating to my life right now?"
"What practical value does this item provide?"

Morgenstern contends that we can't move productively into the future unless we SHED the stuff that is weighing us down and keeping us from making changes.
And this really cut to the core: "A perfectly arranged dresser drawer filled with clothes you haven't worn in years is still clutter."

Once Morgenstern finally convinces you, yes, even you, that you have a problem with junk in your life; she takes you step by step through her process of cleaning it out and letting it go. And she stresses this isn't about a one time clean up, it is about changing your thinking and thereby changing your life.
Reading this book can change your life!

Interesting and engaging writing that kept my attention.

Fred Krupp's environmental activism has given him an extraordinary view of what it takes for business and greens to collaborate for mutual success. His group, Environmental Defense, shook up McDonald's with a consumer revolt over plastic containers and 10 years later Krupp shook hands with McD's CEO on having done the right thing for both the environment and business. In 2007, he helped negotiate a reasonable path forward for a dirty coal power plant. C-suite executives, their sustainability people and communicators have no better guide through the current war on carbon than Krupp's book.

Overall, a very good discussion of technologies that, at some point, will help meet the world's energy needs. Unfortunately, too many environmental groups, like author Fred Krupp's Environmental Defense Fund, refuse to even consider nuclear power, a technology that is already available and widely used around the world to produce huge amounts of essentially greenhouse gas-free electricity. The book devotes about two pages to nuclear power near the end, but they read like a half-hearted afterthought. Nuclear is not 100% pristine and risk-free, but no energy source is, they all have pluses and minuses. Certainly let's pursue solar, wind and other renewables, but let's be realistic and explore all the options.

This book details the global crisis stemming from our energy usage and the related carbon emissions, and pushes cap and trade standards/policy as the optimal solution. Although the primary concern here is the environment, the economic & defense implications are also clear. Chapter by chapter, it delves into various alternative sources of cleaner energy by detailing accounts of multiple entrepreneurs and scientists in each field. The science gets a little technical for a layman at times, but I learned enough as I read to keep me going. Overall, I am much more informed for having read it, and hopeful that some of these new technologies will improve the future.

Earth: The Sequel: The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming, is an excellent book and should be read by all Americans. It gives a good overview of the different types of alternative energy sources. It is a valuable resource for all of us to better understand the issues surrounding energy and global warming.

Thank you for this book and the knowledge about what is actually being done about reinventing energy and kudos to environmentalists and scientists. We should impeach all of our senators and reps, not to mention Bush and CHaney and get some real, honest people in charge of our `world'.

A revealing and very well-written book on America's history of meddling in world affairs, full of historical revelation and insight. Avoid the audiobook version of this; I don't know the name of the person chosen to read the book but his absurdly strident intonation turns it into a joke.

So there are these men, were there isn't a lot written about them in history (There is a airport named after one of them) and anyway they kind set the pace for American foreign policy. Later on OGA's kind of get over zealous with the "First to fight people" help and then congress cuts their balls off, presto 9/11. That's a Karma Theory. Kind of ironic were Obama was born. Mirror anyone ?

If you believe Bush's pithy statement above, then you really need to buy & read this book. I remember growing up in the 70's, when the Iranian Islamic revolution happened, and hearing all the "Death to America, the Great Satan" chanting, and like most Americans wondering what they were so mad about.

Never in the so-called "mainstream media" did I ever hear about our overthrow of Mossedegh in Iran and (re)installation of the brutul Shah. Err, that's why they hate us! Recommended reading for all US history classes...

This is a very well written book that provides us with critically important history that all Americans need to know. These are sad chapters that document the attempt to establish an American Empire and make it clear that the concept of a "war on terror" leaves out all history prior to 9/11/01. The chapter on the overthrow by the CIA of the democratically elected President of Iran in 1953 is especially important. This illegal intervention was undertaken on behalf of the oil companies who were infuriated at President Mossadegh's attempt to nationalize the Iranian oil industry. This is essential information which puts a whole new perspective on our very troubled relationship with Iran. (It also further reinforces the idea that our illegal war and occupation of Iraq was undertaken to secure the vast prize of Iraq's oil reserves.) This book makes it crystal clear that all too often our foreign policy decisions have been made in the service of big business. This is an old recipe for continuing disaster- America can do better than blindly follow in the footsteps of the French and British Empires. This, tragically, has been our course of action in Vietnam and now in Iraq- the book has two excellent chapters that deal with these disastrous interventions.

Overthrow is a very well written book by Stephen Kinzer that covers slightly more than 100 years of history dealing with US involvement in overthrowing foreign governments. This is the history they don't teach you in schools. Beginning in Hawaii and covering such exotic locales as Cuba, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Iran, Iraq, Grenada, Guatamala, Chile, Honduras, Vietnam, Puerto Rico and Panama. Each chapter covers a different country and is a lively read. It is very interesting to see the different motives and different strategies used over the last 100+ years. And of course, it puts current events in much better perspective if you know the last 100 years of history behind them.

Also interesting is "All the Shah's Men" which is a more indepth look at the early 1950s coup in Iran, which the US led. This leads to the unfortunate 1979 revolt that brought Iran under Islamic rule and under which it remains today.

I highly recommend this book to anyone. It's a nice one to just pick up and read a chapter and think "I had no idea that was why [insert country] is like that today".

I enjoyed this more than any other book written on the subject! To me the author appeard to be very well studied on the subject with great insight of a more realistic view, but yet a very profound spiritual perspective. This book resonated with my own beliefs about 2012. It truly gives hope for a new and positive outcome instead of the doom/gloom in all other books I have read in the past. Good read for anyone wanting to explore the spritual effects of what 2012 is really about.

I read a friend's copy of this book and subsequently sent a copy to my son who is in law school. I found it enlightening and hopeful. I am an artist and a therapist and am familiar with many of the concepts of the various writings.

We live in a rapidly changing time. We all can value coming more from our hearts than our heads in our relationships with each other and with ourselves. The answer is in staying in alignment with Source and returning to this alignment as quickly as we can realize we have strayed away.

According to the Abraham work (Abraham-Hicks), briefly mentioned in this book, our emotions are key to knowing of our alignment with Source or the lack of it.

I am hopeful for what 2012 will bring, possibly the dawning of a new age - of kindness, love and consideration for all.

May you be at peace.

Carol Suter, Psy.D.

Tami Simon, Publisher at Sounds True has put together an inspired collection of thinkers related to 2012. I would love to be at a round-table discussion with this group of people related to the future of our planet.

It's a good book to imagine what might happen (or might not happen) on December 21, 2012. I believe this is one of the most serious books about the topic, and it is not a catastrophic one. Most of the essays are good enough and explain the situation from different points of view, except for Cornnie McLaurhlin's, who obviously knows nothing about the Maya topic. She only tries to tie her business and political theories and arguments with year 2012 without any logical bond to the 2012 prophesies. Her essay, although good, clearly belongs to a very different kind of book. The rest of the essays explain the Mayan Cosmo vision, prophesies and possible interpretations, among other cultural believes that converge in the happening of something really important to Humans on 2012. I do recommend this book.

This book is full of details and information that I found myself dragging through. It was, however, interesting and makes a person think about what could possibly be true about 2012. It was hard for me to get through it, though, because of all the details. They are, however, necessary to affirm what the author is telling us about the future and the year 2012. Even though it has a lot of facts to study, there is enough general comments about those facts, to not make the book become impossible to understand.

The fools who believe what they are fed on Daily Kos should waste their money on this drivel, too. The "revolution" they espouse, is simply to take money away from those who have been successful in life, through personally responsible effort, not looking for government to spoon feed their brains (the NEA and College Liberal "professors"), and self-direct their lives. The Looney Left simply blames everyone else for their short-comings, and envies those who have succeeded. Pure and simple espousal of class warfare, same ol'/same ol' that Marx tried to invigorate. Where socialism and communism have FAILED every place in the world that it's been attempted, the fools who follow this crap continue to look at some Liberal Utopia, and are ashamed to call themselves Socialists or Communists, but hide behind the "Progressive" or "Democrat" titles....the same as they wear masks when they make fools of themselves trying to disrupt private meetings and public gatherings. This book is trash for the trashiest people who believe such garbage.

This book is an interesting and informative look at how activism is changing. It identifies tactics which have been used effectively (such as the use of the internet for fundraising), as well as those which have lost their effectiveness over time (for example, street protests). It lays out very distinctly actions to take and provides examples along the way of both successes and failures.

I found it very interesting that Moulitsos holds up the Heritage Foundation as an organization that really gets it, and which other organizations, both conservative and progressive, model themselves after. I wonder if some of the other reviewers have actually read the book - only one of the negative reviews seems to actually address the content of Taking on the System.

Taking on the System is filled with stories of victories and failures, and highlights how technology in general (and not just the blogosphere) has changed the playing field. Not all of the examples are related to politics. The book is about getting around gatekeepers, which exist everywhere. I found it to be a very valuable, interesting, and inspirational read.

Unless you own a bird, buy a different book. This is just recycled Marxist agiprop. I can't see how even fellow travelors can get past page 8. Only because I am truly dedicated did I make it to chapter two. I deserve a medal.

Skimming the rest of this commisar's handbook, just to make sure I wasn't missing the good page, I have to say, "Save yourself the time and money and just reread the Communist Manifesto online."

Don't waste your time with this. Kos might have been relevant as a well-known blogger a few years ago, but now his site is dedicated to letting every like-minded liberal loon publish garbage for public consumption. As evidenced by the low approval ratings for Congress, the strategies in this text for "taking on the system" haven't done much of anything, and they haven't helped Obama gain a substantial lead over McCain despite this being a very winnable election for the so-called "progressive".

This seemed like an interesting book on how to play digital culture to the advantage of those seeking to make changes in the political, scientific or social landscape.

The book did have a few quirks the author may not have realized, such as talking about enforcing the status quo vs. being the little guy trying to make a point, then going on to say that global warming is "settled science" and that anyone who makes a legitimate point contrary to the scientific consensus is just a troublemaker. Does the author not realize how hypocritical this sounds? Arguing for the inclusion of the little guy's voice in discussions, and then acting like the authoritarian brute and trying to exclude the legitimate opinion of the "little guy" in the global warming debate.

Aside from a few foibles of that sort, the book was a pretty interesting read, drawing lots of specific examples from various newspapers, TV shows, liberal blogs, etc.

The book itself has a very liberal slant, so anyone who's a die-hard conservative may roll their eyes at some of the discussions. But, political points aside, it seems like a decent enough manual for trying to get one's point across in whatever field there are "gatekeepers" trying to suppress your point of view, etc.

While I'm not much into the political sphere, there seems to be a lot of politicking in science, and very similar tactics may be useful in effecting change in scientific circles.

The book's probably not for everyone, but it kept my attention and made some interesting points.