Radical changes are coming
348398
Under New Management offers radical ideas upending business as we know it today. David Burkus did a great job identifying problems in today's workplace. He did his research and offered several examples of companies that get it and are doing business a better way. This book can be eye opening for the old guard. I see this being the way successful future companies will operate.
I would encourage you to read this book and see how you can get your management team to change for the better.
4948796
At 19 pages, this is a bit short for the money. However, I got it with free with kindle unlimited. The premise of the book is that people can change things, but need to know how to go about it. Real change is going to take time, and plan regarding the long term effects. The author gives some great examples of this. We live in a "need it now" immediate society. Gone are the days of waiting for a newspaper or the 11pm news... everything is instant. We need to change out thinking to wrap our heads around deciding if the instant thing should take priority over a larger and more important long term thing.  Not a bad read.
2771940
This book discussing the changes that have occurred in our retirement planning is much needed as the awareness has not reached the general population. Education is the key so people can adjust their plans accordingly. I look forward to reading the expert opinions!
304537
Another book, similar to some others that I have reviewed, that articulately describes the challenges confronting us in the postmodern world, the ways that congregations need to be transformed, and the leadership skills that are necessary for the task.

Robinson argues that we need the following transformations: from worship as talk about God to worship as experience of God; from Christian education to Christian formation; from givers to receivers who give; from board culture to ministry culture; from community organization to faith-based ministry; from democracy to discernment; from budget as end to budget as means; from fellowship to hospitality; and from passive membership growth to active membership growth.

Robinson didn't say a whole lot that I thought was new and different from a number of other books I have been reading recently, but on the other hand the more I wrestle with the changing world and the more I read books like this, the greater clarity I achieve about the task that lies ahead, and my role in it.
301026
In difficult times, it's important to know that change is possible.
2194129
I can't believe this was written so long ago and yet it seems to look so much like the road we are on.  I am shocked!  I hope more people read it and see the path we could be on unless we make an effort to change it.
623686
Very early in the book Tracy hit me upside the head with her comment to the effect that if you're not changing, you deserve the consequences that follow.  A bit harsh, I thought.  But the point she was making in that most emphatic way was this: The world is changing.  Businesses are changing.  Jobs are changing.  And if we want to continue to have well-paying, meaningful jobs moving forward, we too need to change.  In short, we need a Forward Thinking Advantage.  And that is what the book is all about.  The initial slap in the face was not to condemn, but to wake us up to the new reality, and to prepare us to receive the excellent help laid out in the rest of the book.  Kudos to Tracy Darchini for this timely coaching.  It is not too late for any of us--so order the book NOW!
151436
Plan B 4.0 continues in a long line of great books that Lester Brown has put out.  It is his 4th edition of Plan B, and is a valuable update to this series.  It includes some new and alarming trends since 3.0, including a discussion of farmland deals which are poised to exacerbate the social crisis to follow the pending food shortages.  As with the previous editions, he begins by outlining in amazingly concise and stark terms the problems we will (and already do) face on our present course with regard to water, food, energy, and security and exactly why and how these have developed in different regions.  He then outlines the opportunities to change course and deploy smarter decisions, technologies, policies, and choices to avert these extremely serious problems which could soon grow to a scale which is unmanageable.

I have found that this book receives a good audience among people who are not typically aware of these issues and among people of various political leanings.  I strongly recommend it for anybody who is interested in understanding the defining problems of the 21st century.
787127
Tom Friedman has captured the dilemma facing the world today-the rapid pace of change and the lack of trust among us. There is hope but seems to be a paucity of leadership and individual will in too many places to solve this dilemma. He and I hope that will change
531834
I know that for some people to make a radical change in their life it takes nothing but will.  However. one can will something as much as possible and change will not happen.  This author advises that the only way to make a change in one's life is to change environment.  Separate yourself form surroundings and people that are not bringing positive changes in your life.  The advise is to invite people in one's life that will not offer transactional experiences, but rather transformational experiences, in another words a change.

I took a drastical step to change my life situation that has been a burden on me for the last 10 years.  It was not easy and it definitely involved some though choices.  But I took a leap of faith and I gave myself 15 months to see the change seep in.  I am hoping it changes everything: bring love and happiness in my personal relationships with a person I am emotionally attached to and cause that person to reciprocate the feelings.  I am also hoping to bring radical changes to my erratic professional life and that I can finally find the position and employer that will bring me back into a flow.

For anyone who does not know where to start from, this book can be a good guide.
2752757
I'm already seeing things change just from reading the book the first time.  I can't wait to work the plan and do the paperwork.
2022652
A Whole New Mind, by Daniel Pink, was a great look at the way business will be done in the near future. I recently spoke with a business owner who was concerned that a person they just interviewed did not want to work 40 hours a week inside his office. I challenged him to think of ways that this person could maybe work out of their home and maybe take on a few accounts at a time, instead of working for 1 hour a day on all of his accounts.  This is the future of our workforce.  People are not interested in sitting in cubical's and picturing themselves in a Dilbert Cartoon anymore.  It is the creative right-brain world that we are after now, these are the new managers and salesforce that the big boys are going after- the rest of us need to adjust now too!
766889
This is a real thought provoker. I think there is something in this book for everyone, right or left, conservative or liberal. This book is really a part two of the author's other book "Toxic Charity". This book picks up where that left off. That book documents where charities may not be the fix but the cause of poverty. Now the author answers what to do next.

He calls for an little introduction of capitalism to fix the problem. He lays out an argument in why and how that should be accomplished. That for sure alone would cause intense discussions by many. Then he dives even deeper. He reinvents the principle of example. People need to move back into the war zone which as become the inner city of so many of our cities. This power of getting involved in those communities first by living there then getting involved would change things. I personally am not so sure about that but it is an interesting thought.

The book has a lot of fascinating ideas. The author does lay it out in easy to understand terms. The book is very simple to go through. However there is a lack of empirical research to illustrate and prove his points.
2266270
This book will be hard to put down. There is a turn of events that are life changing happening at a page turning pace.
4273649
Race Against The Machine is a short but fascinating look at the fundamental role technology is playing in our current economic situation and the way we need to adapt to its future possible impact. I was slightly worried at the start that it was going to focus on statistics and economics but in fact it gets to the heart of the social changes and challenges we face as we enter the third industrial age.

This book echoes Kevin Kelley's What Technology Wants and Sex Time and Power by Leonard Shlain, both of which predict ever faster technology change and the prospect of a phase shift - the tipping point seen in nature when change speeds up beyond a certain speed. I believe we are headed towards such a phase shift and the changes we will see will be of a fundamental nature far beyond the current "more of the same" thinking that seems to prevail in many organisations.

Last night at a dinner party I spent most of my time sitting between a stay at home mother and a musician both of whom were very apprehensive about the Internet and technology. The mum saw it as eroding face to face communication and "forcing" her to do things she didn't want to. The musician was very negative about the Internet and preferred sticking to the vagaries of promoters and marketers than to embrace the possibilities of building his own audience on the social web. It is these people that Andrew and Erik are describing in their book. People caught out by the speed at which things are changing and feeling that they are being disenfranchised rather than enabled by what is happening to them.

Not only do we need to improve education as the authors suggest but we need to educate the educators. Many of those involved in education don't really understand the world that Andrew and Erik describe - and which the children they teach will inhabit. We also need to educate people already in the workforce - to help them adapt to the changes they will increasingly face. In fact this is the optimistic scenario that the authors manage to cling to throughout the book - that we will adapt to what is happening and work with technology rather that fight against it. We will use our increased capabilities to invent totally new products and markets and new ways for people to make and exchange money.

For a book that pulls no punches about the challenges we face it still left me optimistic - even excited - about what lies ahead.
420372
Great ideas for rebuilding the dying church.  Dr. Rev. Escobedo-Frank has been in the rebuilding trenches and offers many practical ideas for the church and congregation that is wiling to change.  A must read for those wanting to reverse the declining trends of Christian denominations.
3831614
The change from technocrats to psychic super beings puts a new wrinkle in the cosmic plot.  Bravo, and let's hope the next stage finally closes the loop.