Business Book Summaries

Look at the most successful organizations in the world, and you find not just one leader – you’ll see many strong leaders working together to create their success. That doesn’t happen by accident. The most successful organizations possess leaders who are equipping others around them, whether that organization is a small business, large corporation, non-profit, or sports team. When a leader is dedicated to the equipping process, the level of performance within the whole organization rises dramatically.

Fred A. Manske Jr. said, “The greatest leader is willing to train people and develop them to the point that they eventually surpass him or her in knowledge and ability.” This volume, by Dr. John C. Maxwell, will help you to unlock the hidden abilities in your people by teaching you to equip them for excellence. “Success for leaders,” says Maxwell, “can be defined as the maximum utilization of those around them.” Maxwell should know. He is someone who has made equipping and developing others the primary focus of his life for over twenty years.

In this concise book, you will be equipped yourself: Not only will you learn why equipping others to lead is the most powerful method for success, but you will also learn how to identify potential leaders, equip them, and then take them to a whole new level once they’ve been released to lead. It’s a process that creates synergy in your organization for the long haul.

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The Big Idea
With more than three million copies sold, Dare to Discipline is “a book about children and those who love them.” Revised and expanded to address parenting in today’s modern context, The New Dare to Discipline is nevertheless based on timeless and proven principles.

This book shows parents how loving discipline works and discusses methods by which it can be accomplished. Says author Dr. James Dobson, “Children thrive best in an atmosphere of genuine love, undergirded by reasonable, consistent discipline.”

Why You Need This Book
This book will teach every parent how children should be raised and what children really need from their parents. This is a book about children and those who love them.

The Challenge
Much has been written about the dangers of harsh, oppressive, unloving discipline; these warnings are valid and should be heeded. Many well-meaning specialists have waved the banner of tolerance, but have offered no solution for defiance.

They have stressed the importance of parental understanding of the child. The term “discipline” is not limited to the context of confrontation. Children also need to be taught self-discipline and responsible behavior.

They need assistance in learning how to handle the challenges and obligations of living. They must learn the art of self-control. They should be equipped with the personal strength needed to meet the demands imposed on them by their schools, peer groups, and later adult responsibilities.

When properly applied, loving discipline works! It stimulates tender affection, made possible by mutual respect between a parent and a child.

It bridges the gap which otherwise separates family members who should love and trust each other. It encourages a child to respect other people and live as a responsible, constructive citizen.

In short, one must dare to discipline in an environment of unmitigated love.

Common Sense and Your Child
Here are the tenets of commonsense child rearing:

Developing respect for parents is the critical factor in child management. It is imperative that a child learns to respect his parents – not to satisfy their egos, but because his relationship with them provides the basis for his later attitude toward all other people.

If you want your child to accept your values when he reaches his teen years, then you must be worthy of his respect during his younger days. When a child can successfully defy his parents during his first fifteen years, laughing in their faces and stubbornly flouting their authority, he develops a natural contempt for them.

The best opportunity to communicate often occurs after a disciplinary event. Nothing brings a parent and child closer together than for the mother or father to win decisively after being defiantly challenged. Parents should not dread or shrink back from confrontations with their children.

Control without nagging (it is possible). Yelling and nagging at children can become a habit, and an ineffectual one at that! Have you ever screamed at your child, “This is the last time I’m telling you for the last time!”

Parents often use anger to get action instead of using action to get action. It is exhausting and it doesn’t work! Trying to control children by screaming is as utterly futile as trying to steer a car by honking the horn.

Don’t saturate the child with materialism. Pleasure occurs when an intense need is satisfied. If there is no need, there is no pleasure. If you never allow a child to want something, he never enjoys the pleasure of receiving it.

Show your child the thrill of temporary deprivation; it’s more fun and much less expensive.

Establish a balance between love and discipline. We come now to the foundational understanding on which the entire parent-child relationship rests. The “middle ground” of love and control must be sought if we are too produce healthy, responsible children.

The Miracle Tools
Rewards must be granted quickly. If the maximum effectiveness is to be obtained from a reward, it should be offered shortly after the desirable behavior has occurred. Parents often make the mistake of offering long-range rewards to children, but their successes are few.

Rewards need not be material in nature. Anything that is considered desirable to an individual can serve as reinforcement for his behavior. Children and adults of all ages seek constant satisfaction of their emotional needs, including the desire for love, social acceptance, and self-respect. Additionally, they hope to find excitement, intellectual stimulation, entertainment, and pleasure.

Almost any behavior that is learned through reinforcement can be eliminated if the reward is withheld long enough. It is an established fact that unreinforced behavior will eventually disappear. This process, called extinction by psychologists, can be very useful to parents and teachers who want to alter the behavior of children. Parents and teachers are also vulnerable to reinforcement. The point is simple: Parents should be aware of their own reactions to reinforcement and make certain they are in control of the learning situation.

Parents often reinforce undesirable behavior and weaken behavior they value. Parents must be careful about the behaviors they allow to succeed. They must exercise self-discipline and patience to ensure that the tools of reinforcement and extinction are being used to encourage responsible and mature behavior.

The Barriers to Learning

THE LATE BLOOMER
The self-image is amazingly simple to damage but exceedingly difficult to reconstruct. The emotional pressure is often unresolvable. There is no rationalization he can give parents and teachers to explain his perceived failure. His self-concept is often wounded by this tension, and his personality will probably reflect the experience well into adult life.

The solution for late bloomers is relatively simple: instead of scheduling the child’s entrance into the first grade according to his age, the optimal timetable should be determined by neurological, psychological, social and pediatric variables.

THE SLOW LEARNER
The “slow learner” is another youngster likely to have great trouble with academic discipline, resulting from his inability to learn as quickly as his peers. The slow learner is unlike the late bloomer in one major respect: time will not resolve his deficiency.

Since retention and summer school do not solve the problem of the slow learner, we are faced with the obvious question: What can be done for these children? Listed below are the steps that could tip the scales in favor of this vast number of youngsters:

Nearly every child can learn to read, but many children have difficulty if taught only in large groups.

The slow learned should be shielded from the devastation of failure. Remember that success breeds success.  If adults in his life show confidence in him, he will more likely have confidence in himself.

THE UNDERACHIEVER
The underachiever is a student who is unsuccessful in school despite his ability to do the work. In recent years, underachievers have attained a rather high profile, thanks to Bart Simpson’s self-proclaimed “UNDERACHIEVER, AND PROUD OF IT!”. Despite this dubious publicity, underachievers are less understood (and more numerous) than either slow learners or late bloomers.

The typical parent reacts one of three ways to their underachieving child:

The first reaction is treating the problem as though it resulted from sheer stubbornness.

The second approach is to offer the child a long-range bribe.

The third parental reaction is to say, “He’s got to learn responsibility sometime!”

Children and adolescents, like people of all ages, want to be responsible. The ones who fail in school are often the most miserable, but they lack the self-discipline to overcome their own inertia.

A Moment for Mom
Here are some simple suggestions designed to help moms answer that exasperated question:

Reserve some time for yourself. The first principle of mental health is to learn to accept the inevitable.

Don’t deal with big problems late at night. Fatigue does some strange things to human perception.

Try making a list. You leave a record of accomplishments by crossing tasks off the list as they are completed.

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“Outfluence is the strategic use of silence and the giving of your good will to another person.”

Influence is an ephemeral power that operates without any direct or apparent effort. It is usually associated with prestige, wealth, ability, power, or position. The term often connotes negative behavior; although, with the proper motivation, influence is used to create positive results. Bill and Melinda Gates, for example, use their wealth to affect education around the world. In an effort to reduce poverty, former President Clinton is using his prestige to effect a worldwide movement that encourages others to give to the less fortunate.

A lobbyist is an influencer. The general purpose of an influencer is to bring something in, to call attention to himself or to his client, to win an opportunity. The primary role of a lobbyist is to promote the interests of his client through education and thus persuade legislators and others to act in a manner favorable to the lobbyist’s client.

Recognizing that temptations exist to illegally influence government and private employees, activities of lobbyists are regulated by the government. Despite this governance, some lobbyists violate the law by giving extravagant gifts and outright cash payments to politicians and government officials.

In 2006, superstar lobbyist Jack Abramoff pled guilty tofraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy to bribe public officials in connection with his fundraising activities on behalf of the Republican Party. His were some of the larger transgressions that have afflicted both the Republican and Democratic parties. Businesspersons are equally guilty of influence peddling.

In 1973, Vice President of the United States Spiro Agnew pled guilty to accepting bribes while he was the Baltimore County Executive. Contractors were paying for special treatment from the county executive when it came time to award contracts. Businesses are in a race to attract and retain the best employees. Therefore, they seek to influence. A Google search uncovered 16,500 articles written about techniques that corporations and professional organizations are using to retain valued personnel. Law firms, for example, known for requiring their attorneys to work long hours in return for substantial salaries, are adjusting to a new generation of attorneys. The new generation values family time as well as the finer things in life that money can buy. Law firms are influencing talented lawyers to stay by offering in-house babysitting services and dry cleaning services; valets are available to run errands; and elaborate meals with the world’s finest wines are served, sometimes on silver platters.

How do you influence if you don’t have prestige, wealth, ability, or position? You turn to social influence.

Remember: Outfluence is the giving of your good will to another person in purposeful and sincere action that makes a person feel good about himself and about you and/or your business. An Outfluencer always looks outward, desiring to help another person first, secondarily thinking about the Outfluencer’s positive purpose.

Outfluence is often delivered silently. Its impact is enduring. It’s inexpensive, it’s natural, and it builds relationships. It identifies the social and business pretenders quickly, because insincerity is difficult to hide. Silent action focused on others is the key component to Outfluence.

BusinessSummaries.com is a business book summaries service.  Every week, it sends out to subscribers a 9- to 12-page summary of a best-selling business book chosen from among the hundreds of books printed out in the United States.  For more information, please go to http://www.bizsum.com.

The Big Idea
Barack Obama has brought the power of oration back to American politics. In speech after speech, Barack Obama has “fired up” millions of enthusiastic supporters with his inspiring vision, rousing rhetoric, and charismatic presence.

Creating Strong First Impressions – Image and Body Language
The strong first impression that Barack Obama makes reminds us that body movement and image speak a language to the audience as potent as anything said out loud.

Barack Obama is adept at establishing excellent first impressions. Good eye contact has also been valuable to Obama.

Effective Use of Body Language and Voice
In the delivery of his 2004 keynote address, Barack Obama demonstrated outstanding use of body language. In short, Obama created a very strong first impression.

Obama came across as authentic. Like Bill Clinton’s story, Ronald Reagan’s story, Harry Truman’s story…” This has helped him connect with audiences; his life story is viewed as a classic story and it has endeared Obama to millions of Americans.

Practices for Earning Trust and Confidence
Given Obama’s tremendous success, leaders have much to learn from the way he uses excellent communication practices to earn the trust and confidence of others.

Charisma helps leaders energize and motivate others.

Image and body language are also important for forming strong first impressions. Notable second impressions can reinforce strong first impressions.

Strong communicators remember the importance of props and staging in sending sub-messages that reinforce key themes. Obama’s success demonstrates many best practices with regard to winning hearts and minds.

Excellent communicators use details skillfully to demonstrate that they understand the experiences and perspectives of audience members. Empathy and action – these are things the audience seeks.

Driving Points Home
Leaders have much to garner and apply from Obama’s successes. Rhetorical questions help crystallize attention on key ideas.

When leveraging the “power of three,” skilled communicators underscore key points, building momentum or enhancing a sense of logic.

Conveying Vision
Leaders also have much to learn from the way Barack Obama conveys vision so effectively to audiences. Use of dynamic imagery represents another useful communication technique.

Finally, effective communicators often offer anecdotes, providing brief narration and short tales to breathe life into key themes. A speaker can inspire others to great achievements by employing words that resonate, including words that evoke shared values, patriotic values, and cherished principles.

Outstanding orators will build to a high point and end on that high, leaving listeners stirred, inspired, motivated, and focused on key themes.

This helps to keep those themes and ideas dominant in the minds of audience members.

BusinessSummaries.com is a business book summaries service.  Every week, it sends out to subscribers a 9- to 12-page summary of a best-selling business book chosen from among the hundreds of books printed out in the United States.  For more information, please go to http://www.bizsum.com

Miami, Florida, February 2, 2009—BusinessSummaries.com, one of the leading e-commerce sites for business book summaries, announces that Gal Borenstein, acclaimed author of the book What Really Counts for CEOs (published by Borenstein Executive University Press in 2009), is the Author of the Month for February 2009.

At the end of the day, every CEO has to be able to find out which marketing strategies and tactics are working for in his or her company. Yet, trapped by old-school marketing practices that don’t fit and perpetuate finger-pointing between sales and marketing departments, it can be hard to find out for sure which marketing practices are really effective. That’s unless a CEO is able to quickly discern What Really Counts.

It’s a brave new world for CEOs. The move from old-school print advertising to Web 2.0 social networks and the emergence of digital strategies has left many CEOs in the lurch. Far too often, many of them have no idea which part of their marketing works and which part doesn’t. And neither do many of them know what they should invest in to enhance their company’s long-term success. This confusion leads to quite a few CEOs spending more marketing budget dollars than necessary – and by doing so, squandering profit margins and resources that could be used elsewhere.

If the CEO does not understand which parts of the marketing effort are producing the best ROI, there is a strong likelihood that in seeking to increase efficiency, he or she will cut the very infrastructure required to maintain or restore the company’s vitality.

In What Really Counts for CEOs, Gal Borenstein, founder and CEO of the Washington, D.C. integrated marketing communications firm The Borenstein Group, seeks to teach CEOs to ask their marketing, sales and communication teams the right questions that will produce better answers, those which lead to meaningful metrics resulting in marketing outcomes that can be repeated and adjusted accordingly. In short, they will find out What Really Counts and make it work hard for their money.

This book will help CEOs uncover the key challenges they must face, and will give them the tools needed to treat marketing as a science.

The BusinessSummaries.com editorial staff interviewed Gal about his book and the story behind it. Key excerpts from the interview are posted on the BusinessSummaries website. The summary of What Really Counts for CEOs was released to BusinessSummaries.com’s subscribers on January 5, 2009.

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