Rock to the Top. What I learned about success from the world’s greatest rock stars. Dayna Steele. 2008. ISBN 9781934812068. From a completely different place comes this author She finds that artists who are successful concentrate on :

1. Passion
2. Confidence
3. Quality
4. Organization
5. Technology
6. Branding
7. Networking
8. Knowledge
9. Health

10. Appreciation

Sprinkle in lots of interview snippets with famous rock stars and you have a fast paced and compelling book. I read it in one sitting. What a lot of fun! A 2 hr plane ride book.

why new systems fail. theory and practise collide. phil simon. 2009. 9781438944241. From the back cover. More than three in five new systems fail. Many miss their deadlines. Others exceed their initial budgets, often by ghastly amounts. Even systems activated on time and under budget often fail to produce their expected results and almost immediately experience major problems. While the statistics are grim, there is at least some good news: This doesn’t have to be the case. Organizations often lack the necessary framework to minimize the chance of system failure at three key points: before, during, and after system implementations. The author has 20 years experience as a software consultant and believes presents such a framework with specific tools, tips, and questions from the perspective of a seasoned, independent consultant with more than a decade of related experience. The book examines in great detail the root causes of system failures. Case studies, examples, and lessons from actual system implementations are presented in a straightforward, and vry reada

ble manner.The book offers pragmatic advice for organizations both deploying new systems and maintaining existing ones.

Toyota Kata. Managing people for improvement, adaptiveness and superior results. Mike Rother. 2009. ISBN 9780071635233. From the back cover, this book provides new insight into the legendary automaker’s

management practices and offering practical guidance for leading and developing people in a way that makes the best use of their brainpower.Drawing on six years of research into Toyota’s employee-management routines,Toyota Kata examines and elucidates, for the first time, the company’s organizational routines–called kata–that power its success with continuous improvement and adaptation. The book also reaches beyond Toyota to explain human behavior in organizations and provide specific answers to questions such as:

• How can we make improvement and adaptation part of everyday work throughout the organization?
• How can we develop and utilize the capability of everyone in the organization to repeatedly work toward and achieve new levels of performance?
• How can we give an organization the power to handle dynamic, unpredictable situations and keep satisfying customers?

Mike Rother explains how to improve our prevailing management approach through the use of two kata:

• Improvement Kata–a repeating routine of establishing challenging target conditions, working step-by-step through obstacles, and always learning from the problems we encounter; and
• Coaching Kata: a pattern of teaching the improvement kata to employees at every level to ensure it motivates their ways of thinking and acting.

With clear detail, practical examples, and cohesive explanation from start to finish,Toyota Kata gives executives and managers at any level actionable routines of thought and behavior that produce superior results and sustained competitive advantage. I liked his approaches around improvement of process and coaching. as it seems very transferable.

The Road to Wisdom. Becoming . Dennis A. Butler. 2008. ISBN 9781607025207. By becoming aware, the author helps you unlocks the puzzle of yours and others behavior-who am I, and why do I behave the way I do-and provides definitive answers that will change how you understand yourself and others. You will see how “Perceptual World Views”-the shoulds, oughts, and musts you have for yourself and others-dominate your behavior. Through the authors change model, you will learn how to turn weaknesses into strengths and be the person you were meant to be in all facets of your life! (Book jacket.) Straight forward prose, with lots of tables and a lack of jargon. It is a real sit down at one time read. It helped me understand my sons’ behaviors more.

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