Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: This book is for anyone who:

•  Ever lost a great employee to another company, and it wasn’t about money.
An unhappy employee will leave for a 5% pay increase; it takes a 20% increase to compel a satisfied employee to jump ship.

•  Struggles with when to be fair and when to be firm.
Most bosses would like to get results, but they don’t want to do so with a trail of disgruntled people in your wake.  They can learn the dos and don’ts of F2 Leadership.

•  Has made bad hires in the past.
A bad hire costs the company about 1 to 4 times that person’s annual salary.  They will find the 10 tips for not hiring squirrels to be your top dogs.

•  Doesn’t seem to get their messages across very well.
This book provides a step-by-step model to communicate more effectively, especially when engaging in difficult conversations.

•  Spends too much time at the office.
Bosses can get back 10 to 20 hours of your week, not by telling direct reports what to do, but by delegating effectively and making people accountable for results.

•  Has direct reports who are bored or frustrated.
Only 20% of people feel their employers utilize their strengths.  When people don’t feel a sense of achievement, they leave.

•  Wants to respond more effectively to change.
This book helps bosses better understand change, plan its direction, and overcome resistance to it.

•  Needs to know how to conduct more powerful and behavior-changing performance appraisals.
Bosses can learn ways to develop people so they offer more to the organization, feel empowered, and see opportunities for advancement.

•  Would like to conduct better meetings.
Bosses will discover how to make the best use of everyone’s time and put plans into action.

Q: What is the book about?
A: In my work with hundreds of first-time bosses, I found that no one had really prepared them for their new jobs.  In college some studied engineering, marketing, accounting, or some other job function.  Some even took a course or two in management, yet they still weren’t prepared for the responsibilities of having direct reports.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: For more than 30 years, I have helped executives in military organizations, small businesses, and Fortune 500 Companies define their direction and select the best people to put their strategies in motion. I have helped clients in the retail, financial services, food, medical, hospitality, manufacturing, and technology industries.  Some of my major clients include Tyson, Emerson Electric, Kraft Foods, Boeing Aircraft, Estee Lauder, and Merrill Lynch. Through thousands of hours of coaching with hundreds of corporate clients, I have observed what it takes to become the boss no one wants to leave.

I hold a Ph.D. in organizational systems, two Master of Arts degrees in both interpersonal communication and organization development, and a Bachelor of Science degree in communication. By combining my experience as an organizational consultant with my education in business, I offer my clients selection, coaching, and consulting solutions that are pragmatic in their approach and sound in their foundation.

A former university professor, I have served on the adjunct graduate faculty at Washington University and belong to The National Speakers Association, The National Association of Corporate Directors, and the Air Force Association. I hold numerous certifications, including Director of Professionalism, a designation given by the National Association of Corporate Directors.

In addition to being the author of The Magnetic Boss: How to Become the Leader No One Wants to Leave, which Washington University uses in its graduate curriculum, I have also served as a contributing editor of two editions of Small Group Communication: Theory and Practice, written peer-reviewed published articles, and authored numerous articles published in trade magazines.

Serious about humor, I draw from my original research of the Vietnam Prisoners of War to help others cope with change and adversity so they can emerge from setbacks more resilient and hardy. I continue to associate with the Robert E. Mitchell Prisoner of War Center, a Naval research facility that has studied the Vietnam Prisoners of War since their 1973 repatriation.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: This book is an amalgamation of what I observed—and in many cases, helped create—in Fortune 500 Companies, privately held firms, family-owned businesses, and military organizations. The advice I offer in this book goes beyond theory; it addressed practical, proven techniques to help companies develop a talent advantage. Bosses can use this book as a guide for what they must do to attract, develop, and retain the best and brightest in their industries.

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: People in internal and external service roles; owners of small businesses; supervisors of internal service-providing units.

Q: What is the book about?
A: How to reinvent, decorate, and animate customer experiences.  How to choose the right imaginative service strategy for your unit and your customers.  How to insure the sustainability of imaginative service.  How to turn satisfied or retained customers into devoted fans.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I have been a customer loyalty consultant for almost 30 years working with some of the best organizations in the world for service. (Ritz-Carlton Hotels, Cadillac, USAA, etc.) and have authored several best-selling books on customer loyalty.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: It has a gazillion practical ways to focus on creative value-unique experiences rather than on expensive value-added extras.  It has cover endorsements from people like best-selling author Seth Godin, the president of SW Airlines, as well as the retired president of Starbucks.  It will be Wiley’s lead business title for this spring.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Yes, we have hired the best book publicity firm in the U.S. (Goldberg, McDuffie) who made best-sellers out of First, Break all the Rules, Execution, Jack: Straight from the Gut and Call Me Ted.

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Leaders with responsibility for organizations, teams, tasks, and personal relationships. That includes executives, managers, and team leaders, as well as anyone interested in becoming more effective by improving their professional and personal relationships.

Q: What is the book about?
A: This is a guidebook to effective apology. The central conclusion of Effective Apology is that the willingness and ability to apologize are critical requirements of leaders today. The book supports this conclusion with over 75 examples of apology, both effective and ineffective, taken from the worlds of business, politics, sports, popular culture, and relationships. Leaders who believe that accountability, transparency, and humility are the hallmarks of modern leadership must understand the role apology plays in earning confidence, maintaining trust, and repairing mistakes.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: As a practicing business journalist for over 30 years, I’ve had the opportunity to study thousands of companies and their leaders. Many years ago I began to notice something interesting. Organizations and leaders that had a culture of apology and taking responsibility for their mistakes tend to be more successful than those which resist apologizing and deny responsibility.

I have also seen that personal relationships follow the same pattern. Marriages, friends, parent-child relationships all benefit when one or both parties know how to apologize. I have been successfully married for 34 years not because I haven’t made any mistakes, but because I have a certain capacity for taking responsibility for those mistakes and apologizing sooner rather than later.

This book brings together my professional and personal experiences to support my conclusion that apology is not free, but it’s less expensive than the alternatives of lying, denial, spinning, and stonewalling.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: Effective Apology is a practical, hands-on fieldbook on how to apologize. It offers practical suggestions, lists, suggested wording, and concrete advice on when to apologize and how to apologize in a variety of recognizable situations. Other books on apology tend to be philosophical or academic.

My book is hands-on. It shows you what to say and what not to say. It focuses on the role of apology in repairing relationships and further reconciliation. The book argues that there is but one test of effective apology: does the apology tend to repair the relationship that has been strained and support the eventual reconciliation of the parties.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: The book defines apology as the practice of extending yourself because you value the relationship more than you value the need to be right.

How do you know when you have apologized? Try this test.

Did you state in plain language what you did wrong? Did you accept responsibility for those errors without defensiveness or hedging? Did you express remorse (“I’m sorry”) in direct and personal terms? Did you offer appropriate restitution? Did you promise not to repeat the offense?

If your apology embraces each of these five components, you have offered a wholehearted apology. The book describes these five steps as the Five Rs: Recognition (“yes, I lost the cell phone you I borrowed from you.”), Responsibility (“I’m responsible. I was thoughtless with your property.”), Remorse (“I’m sorry.”), Restitution (“Of course, I’ll replace your phone.”), and Repetition (“I promise to be more careful in the future”).

Apology in a networked world is about giving up the desire to control the conversation. The willingness to apologize signals strength, character, and integrity—real leadership is impossible without it. Human progress occurs one apology at a time.

More information about the book is available www.effectiveapology.com

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Executives, emerging leaders, managers, business owners, and any professional who aspires to one day lead a company or work in a management role.

Q: What is the book about?
A: In today’s turbulent economy, more managers and executives than ever need to become leaders of employees – and that requires they know how to motivate and inspire a workforce like the most forward-thinking CEO.

“Motivating like a CEO” means connecting people with purpose and passion toward a common goal. This book addresses the necessity for leaders to discover purpose; communicate it to employees in a clear and powerful way; connect them to it in a shared sense of purpose; and help them fulfill their own, individual purposes.

Motivate Like a CEO will show you how to:
• Inspire people to embrace and share your vision
• Speak with energy and confidence in tough situations
• Turn challenges into opportunities
• Get your team engaged, in the loop, and tracking real results
• Make time in your schedule for sharing your message of motivation throughout your company

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: As the founder and CEO of Bates Communications, Inc., I’ve worked with top leaders and CEOs of companies from the Fortune 500 to startups on improving their communication skills. My team helps these leaders and emerging leaders deliver powerful speeches, successful sales presentations, impactful media interviews, and develop strategic communications plans. Over the years, we’ve noticed one factor that makes successful companies stand out from the rest – their leaders’ ability to motivate and inspire employees, customers, and stakeholders in any situation.

My first book, the bestselling Speak Like a CEO (McGraw Hill 2005), addressed the qualities leaders need to speak with impact and command attention. What evolved from that book was the need to address the motivational aspect of leadership communications. The companies that are going to succeed through these turbulent times are the ones whose leaders tell a genuine story, get people connected with a purpose and a vision, and inspire employees to discover their own passion. These are the companies that will achieve their strategic goals. Now, more than ever, I think this is essential for getting our economy back on track and rejuvenating our workforce.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: There are many books out there on motivation, and quite a few more on how to speak effectively, but this book ties in the two. I also wrote the book with executives and a business audience in mind, and interviewed dozens of successful CEOs and leaders who have found the “secret” to engaging their employees to achieve strategic goals.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: For me, one of the most exciting aspects of writing the book was being able to tell these unique, wonderful stories of CEOs and leaders who really “get it” – it being how to motivate and inspire. Some of the stories featured are those of the CEOs of Raytheon, Dow Chemical, and The North Face. One of the stories featured is that of a former executive of United Health who used the power of motivation and communicating a vision to get the entire company on board and “jazzed” about changing a long-standing operating procedure.

Lastly, I’m proud to announce that the book has been endorsed by many leading business authors (Marshall Goldsmith, Charles H. Green, Ken Blanchard) and CEOs themselves. Their thoughts can be found here: http://www.bates-communications.com/motivate/endorsements.php

More about the book can be found on my website: www.bates-communications.com/motivate/ or just by checking it out on amazon.com.

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Although the book is written for leaders and managers, Who’s in the Driver’s Seat? is a book for anyone who wants three easy steps they can apply, in any situation that will assist them to behave and communicate in ways that will always bring about a positive collaborative outcome.

Q: What is the book about?
A: Who’s in the Driver’s Seat?: Using Spirit to Lead Effectively, is a groundbreaking book that openly and honestly confronts the high operational cost of leadership ego. Dr. Gluckman provides some staggering statistics showing the degree to which leader ego is a measurable financial liability. She proposes that leadership spirit, on the other hand, is a quantifiable financial asset and competitive edge. Spirited Leaders display behavior and communication skills that build authenticity, unity, courage, collaboration and accountability.

The book is built around two leaders. George and Dave tell their stories, chapter by chapter, of how the different behaviors and language styles of the ego-driven George, and the spirited Dave, impact the performance of their respective teams. This is a practical, hands-on book that can be read quickly and applied easily.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: This practical, hands-on book is the culmination of many years of research and experience working with leaders around the globe. I have spent a large part of my life studying and working with great and not so great leaders in all industries. This has given me a deep understanding of the leadership traits and qualities that bring success and those that do not.

Originally, my expertise in leadership traits came from growing up in an apartheid South Africa led by arrogant, self-righteous, self-serving leaders. Their egos convinced them that being white made them superior and helped them to justify the shocking practice of apartheid.

When Nelson Mandela was released from prison and became president of South Africa, I worked with the leaders of the major organizations in South Africa who had to completely transform themselves and their organization to re-engage with millions of alienated employees.

Some leaders were able to reinvent themselves; others were not. This was when I discovered how the human spirit, when skillfully applied to business goals, will have a remarkable impact on the organization’s culture and economic performance.

I witnessed that the leaders who were able to energize the spirit of their employees were able to motivate them to move mountains. These leaders all possessed the same fundamental leadership traits which I describe in Who’s in the Driver’s Seat?

I am a sought after keynote speaker and talk show guest and have lectured for the Executive MBA Program at TWU and the University of Dallas, Graduate School of Management. I have published extensively in business journals and authored a chapter in Mission Possible.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: This book offers a model for significantly increasing the ROI delivered by leaders and their teams – from boardroom to backroom. The groundbreaking concept behind Who’s in the Driver’s Seat? is that every organization possesses a powerful energy and spirit but most leaders do not know how to tap into it and apply it to the business goals. This is the first and only leadership book that teaches a model of how to use corporate spirit as a quantifiable financial asset.

Who’s in the Driver’s Seat? is a practical, easy-to-read book that offers a step-by-step process for energizing and operationalizing organizational spirit. This model is known as Spirited Economics™.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Ego is not a bad thing. We all need ego as long as we recognize how it shows up for us, when it shows up for us and how to keep it in check.

Organizations are now giving serious attention to ego as an unnecessary expense that is drastically hurting their bottom line because leadership ego de-energizes employees.

There are approximately 22 million switched-off employees in the USA today, costing the economy up to $350 billion a year (Gallup, 2007). This book provides practical tools to replace ego with leadership behavior and communication that energizes the spirit of the people and creates a sustainable organization.

Visit my website http://www.sandygluckman.com to get a free download of a white paper on Spirited Economics™, browse my blogs or to buy my book.

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: The book speaks directly to business leaders who are facing the significant challenges brought on by the shifting landscape of failure in an increasingly transparent and global economy. Among some of the prime prospects are:

C-level Executives: At the highest levels of business, many chief executive officers, chief information officers, chief financial officers and company presidents are faced with opportunities for failure each day. Yet, there are few things more important to a company’s well-being than making confident choices – and creating rapid turnaround if an undesired outcome occurs. This book will give these tens of thousands of top corporate leaders an understanding of how they should be developing deeper levels of confidence for the good of their organizations, and to develop more rapid turnarounds from undesirable outcomes.

Entrepreneurs: In 2003, more than 500,000 new businesses opened their doors, and there are currently more than 23 million businesses in the United States, with a buying power of nearly $3 trillion. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, nearly 50 percent of those with employees will close their doors by Year Four. This book is an essential confidence handbook for entrepreneurs who routinely face opportunities for failure.

As U.S. business owners become more diverse – the number of black, Latino and Asian-American business owners more than doubled in the years between the 1997 and 2002 Census tabulations – understanding cultural differences is becoming more critical. The book takes a global look at failure and resiliency, providing a deeper and more inclusive understanding of cultural issues surrounding resiliency.

Business Educators: Overcoming failure is an essential topic in business.

Q: What is the book about?
A: Conventional business wisdom tells us that there is always something to learn from failure. Not true, says Barry Moltz. Sometimes it just stinks!

Failure that offers no real learning value becomes a big jolt to the basic business belief system. Both success and failure are simply outcomes in lifecycle of business where repetition is inevitable and overall process matters far more than any single event or outcome. Moltz demonstrates that developing the resiliency to “bounce” through these cycles determines who ultimately will succeed. Using real life business examples, he shows that with true business confidence, we can face our fears, let go of shame and failures, use all our choices, be better risk-takers, and define our own brand of success.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I have had spent 10 years in corporate America. I have had three businesses of my own. I sold my last business, but I also went out of business and was kicked out of my business.

I get sick and tired of people saying that failure is there is always something to learn from failure. We are continually reminded by those around us that failure is an important ingredient in the next success, possibly even a prerequisite. We tell ourselves that failure “happened to us” so that we could learn some important lesson that would later propel us to even more success.

Sometimes failure just sucks. There is absolutely nothing to learn.

When I lost my largest client because they were indicted by the SEC, what did I learn? That I wasn’t supposed to do business with criminals? I knew this. When my best employee left my company because her husband got a job in another state, what was I to learn? Not to hire people who are married?

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: Bounce! is about developing confidence, but not just any sort of confidence. It’s about developing the kind of true business confidence that prepares you for both failure and success.

But this is not a book about coming back from failure. Comeback books have been written many times before. The comeback is romanticized in society and totally overrated. In Bounce!, you’ll learn about accepting failure as a normal part of the process even when there isn’t something to learn from it. Failure that offers no real learning value jolts the business belief system.

In Bounce!, entrepreneur and business owner Barry Moltz explains that both success and failure are simply outcomes in the normal life cycle of business-a life cycle in which overall process matters far more than any single event or outcome.

Great businesses are those that develop the resiliency to bounce through these cycles to succeed over the long term. Using a blend of personal experience and firsthand interviews with business leaders, Moltz shares the practical tools and techniques that every business needs to survive the cycle of ups and downs. In Bounce!, you’ll learn the “building bands” for true business confidence, including:

• Using humility to “right size” your ego
• Making fear fly in formation
• Using choices to embrace failure when it happens
• The art of more effective risk-taking
• How process trumps outcome
• Setting patient goals to establish your own scorecard
• Creating your own brand of success

Bounce! lets you move forward from any event, situation, or outcome-good or bad-to the next place where a decision can be made based on the choices currently available to you. Bounce! allows us to be passionately excited and intensely enthusiastic about our business and our lives.

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Anyone who wants to actively take control of their life and define success in terms that mean something to them, and not let someone else determine their terms of success.

Q: What is the book about?
A: This book is part business autobiography and part motivational/inspirational. It shows how I succeeded in the world’s largest and most competitive market (as a one person consultancy) by defining the rules I live by. Then, by living life on my own terms, being truthful and candid, I became one of the most relied on and influential voices in marketing to the government. It demonstrates the many ways ideas can present themselves to you and how you can use these ideas to expand your business horizons.
Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I am the only person to write this as it is my journey. While the rules I have chosen are not necessarily new, my way of presenting them has been equated to Steve Covey’s habits being presented by Conan the Barbarian: easy to follow, no nonsense, with a heavy dose of attitude.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: Confidence, attitude, results and impact. The Amtower attitude (seen in my writing, ezine, and interviews), heard on my radio shows and in my speeches. The results achieved by me, my clients and those I have mentored over the years. The combined impact of each of these and the resulting confidence displayed in all aspects of my life.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Anyone interested in leading a successful, ethics-based life: those starting a career and those stuck in a rut in the middle of a career; those who manage and those who may want to manage; those ready for a career change and downsized who need to be reminded that they retain value.

www.EpiphanyBook.com

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: If you feel like the professional juggler, multitasking and wishing for three extra pairs of hands, a new brain or if you are plotting to order a couple of clones of yourself, this book is meant for you. Leading under Pressure summarizes the many challenges executives, professionals, entrepreneurs, and road-warriors face in the current fast-paced corporate craze, where exceptional expectations are the norm, but where there is little guidance in how to do it all, perfectly well, and at once.

Q: What is the book about?
A: Millions around the world are thinking, planning, and scheming about how to stretch a 24-hour day into an endless and productive workday. Many face the daily quandary of finding new ways to thrive in order to achieve higher goals, with increased competition, progressively limited resources, and the same manpower. Burnt-out, energy-depleted, or constantly stressed, many find themselves unable to take pleasure in their hard-earned position. Leading under Pressure describes the well being and stress continue to assist people identify their current situation. It addresses pressure points to help people lead more effectively in times of crisis and it addresses strategies to assist people maximize peak performance and productivity while maximizing health and well being.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: Many executives and entrepreneurs who visited me as a physician or coach were complaining of stress and burn-out when they were actually ill. They were already experiencing medical problems, depression, and anxiety triggered my incredible amounts of endless stress. Our health care system was not addressing this need. On the other end, as an executive coach, many were visiting me to help them produce at their max yet, unless they were in a healthy state, the business strategies would work half way. As a medical doctor, clinical researcher, board certified psychiatrist, MBA, lecturer, executive coach, and corporate consultant, I have an extensive toolbox to address and help improve these issues. My forte is a unique combination of knowledge, experience, and an intuitive deductive ability brought to the service of those in need. Additionally, having experienced the challenges and benefits of raising a great family while working in different settings including Corporate America and within my own business, this added insights leading to the creation of practical and effective strategies that work.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: Leading under Pressure is unique in that it integrates business concepts such as productivity and performance in the workplace with health concepts to maximize well-being on an individual and organizational basis. This integrative and comprehensive approach is unique, as leadership in business has been traditionally addressed as a business issue and wellness strategies have rarely been connected to high productivity from a standpoint of well-being. In general, the healthcare industry has only addressed productivity issues only as they relate to ill people struggling with getting their work done. Instead, Leading under Pressure not only addresses strategies for those who are not healthy and in the process of improving to those who are healthy and working on performing and producing at their next level.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Readers of Leading under Pressure have shared with me they have enjoyed reading the book more than once. They like “carrying it around” to re-read during their travels. This, they say, allows them to internalize the concepts and put them into practice with deeper understanding. The book provides for practical tips to continue to improve, making it a continuous effort rather than a one-time deal. Everyone who feels like she or he is doing more with less will find practical strategies to address issues on a personal, professional, and organizational level.

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer:
- Business Leaders (Manager to Executive Level)
- Human Resources Professionals
- Professional Leadership Coaches

Q: What is the book about?
A: Coaching has been shown to be an effective way to grow organizations, maximize resources and outputs, and build a vibrant, engaged workforce.

As a result, managers are increasingly being asked to be more coach-like in their leadership roles; yet most of them find themselves ill-equipped to provide coaching.

Unleashed! presents readers with a straight forward coaching model which is based the techniques used by professional executive coaches, and provides and effective means of incorporating high performance coaching into your organization’s culture.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I have extensive experience as both an internal HR professional and an external leadership coach. This has given me valuable insight into the practices of professional coaches, and how organizations can deploy these internally to develop a culture of high performance.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: Unlike so many coaching books on the market today, Unleashed! does not provide you with a step by step guide to “doing” coaching. Rather, it outlines the best processes and practices of professional executive coaches in a simple, straight forward model which can easily be implemented in your organization.

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: The intended audience is men and women who are interested in the future of America — making sure we stay a leader across industry sectors. Men and women leading organizations, corporations, law firms, medical institutions, institutions of higher learning, nonprofit organizations and involved in political parties.

Q: What is the book about?
A: Her Turn: Why It’s Time for Women to Lead in America makes the case that women have the numbers, talents, determination and willingness to lead and they are ready for the challenge. Her Turn delves into the dramatic changes that will result when women take the lead in business, politics, higher education, health care, and philanthropy, and how those changes will benefit generations to come, in America and around the world.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I have spent the last 10 years profiling women in business – the newspaper has profiled more than 3000 women in 9 states – and I understand the dynamics women face. I also am a woman in business and have 50+ years of experience to share.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: There are many books on women’s leadership – the how-to’s, the best practices and the what to do and not to dos. This book takes the next step as to why women’s leadership is critical to America at this time in our history. This is the first to make the case that women are the answer to our leadership across industry sectors and to keep ahead of the rest of the world.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: This book also provides a take action approach for women to understand the need for women to help women more than ever.