Cool Book Of The Day

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Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Every person with manager or supervisory responsibilities.

Q: What is the book about?
A: How we use our brains differently depending on the levels of stress and pressure and how that causes us to repeat mistakes that are easy to prevent.

The areas of application include: holding meetings, promoting employees, conducting hiring interviews, conducting performance reviews, and managing others.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I have developed this book over seven years working with clients like Goldman Sachs and large law firms where I observed this phenomena daily. I then taught this content to clients for more than three years before writing the book.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: I don’t know of any other book that covers this.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: It was named “Business Book of the Month” in March 2005 by Liber Publishing and in 2006 it was the only North American book to be a finalist for “Leadership Book of the Year” by the Swedish Cooperative Union.

For more information, visit: www.ClearDirection.com

Pitch reporters with our up-to-date media databases:

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Telecommuting – Managing Off-Site Staff for Small Business (c2001 Self-Counsel Press) is written primarily for small businesses, but the content could be used by businesses of any size – and even by individual managers/supervisors who are often the biggest barrier to embracing telecommuting. Why?

Trust.

While telecommuting is often linked closely to technology, the truth of the matter is that being “out of sight and out of mind” is the biggest challenge that employees face when they broach the issue and the biggest fear that managers have about offering this option to existing or new employees.

Q: What is the book about?
A: This book is a very practical, how-to guide to managing a telecommuting program – not focused on the technology, but on the management/administrative issues such as how to identify which positions/individuals are best suited for telecommuting, how to establish guidelines/selection processes, how to establish goals/objectives that are measurable and can overcome the common “trust issues” involved in telecommuting relationships, how to maintain open lines of communication, etc.

The irony is that many large, multi-national firms really practice “telecommuting” all of the time without thinking about it. So do smaller, regionalized firms. So do organizations like banks, franchises, etc. Any time you have a supervisor physically removed from the employees s/he manages you have the same situation that telecommuting involves – just within the “comfort zone” of a corporate setting. In my most recent “day job,” for instance, I rarely saw my VP during the course of a business week unless we happened to be in a meeting together – we were in different buildings, across a corporate campus but, for all he knew, I could just as likely have been in my own home!

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I wrote this book when a previous company I worked for was involved in a merger. I wasn’t able to relocate and was curious about other options that might be available to me. Having been a freelance writer for a number of years I wondered why I might not also be a “freelance corporate communication manager.” I was curious to know how prevalent the concept of telecommuting was.

Through my research I gathered a number of examples and learned a lot – specifically, at that time, that it was far more common for companies to allow *existing* employees to telecommute, but much *less* likely for companies to hire an unknown commodity like me! While recruiting telecommuters for sales/IT positions was more common, it really wasn’t a concept that had taken off – aside from those organizations with existing staff who, for some reason or other, wished to work from home.

As a manager I can understand the hesitancy – as a freelance writer I still consider it ironic that other types of organizations/positions haven’t capitalized on the ability to recruit and reap benefit from talent outside their geographic market area.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: This book is different from others on the market (and there really aren’t a lot of others on the market) primarily because of its practical focus. It’s really designed to address the managerial/supervisory issues/barriers to telecommuting and provide a framework/process for making it work to the benefit of both the organization and the telecommuters.

Specific criteria, checklists and agreements are included, as well as examples from companies that have and do offer telecommuting to their staff.
So how does a small-business owner make the leap? In the book, I offer a practical resource for implementing a program, including:
• Determining whether telecommuting is right for your company
• Training telemanagers and teleworkers
• Helping on-site staff to cope
• Communicating effectively
• Measuring the success of your program
• Taking care of the legal details

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Telecommuting is quickly becoming an expectation among today’s employees. The 24/7 culture is changing the way that employees and employers interact. It is changing the very nature of work. The reality of today’s world is harsh: employers need to reduce overhead; employees can’t afford to fill their tanks. Add to that the demand for work-life balance and it becomes clear that it’s time to embrace a new way of doing business.

The timing is great for this book – I was recently back in touch with my editors after receiving four unsolicited inquiries in two days about telecommuting. The rising gas prices, travel difficulties and general economic pressures are driving this interest I’m sure. Personally, I hope it takes off. I think many businesses – small *and* large are missing out on opportunities.

And, when you get right down to it, the “best practices” that are required for effective telemarketing programs are the exact same best practices required for effective management in any setting.

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Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Business people interested in Optimal Performance and Effective Self- and Team-Management Tools; anyone interested in replacing negative habits, such as procrastination, with optimal performance techniques; anyone interested in a practical form of Mindfulness that focuses your attention in the moment and connects your limited sense of identity with a larger, stronger, wiser Self

Q: What is the book about?
A: Awaken Your Strongest Self is about putting you, your higher, human brain, and best self in charge of your life. This four step process shows you how to catch the typical, default reactions of your small ego so you can act and speak in ways that are congruent with your human, leadership brain instead of the impulsive survival mechanisms of your lower brains and out-dated coping mechanisms.

It expands your limited identity to include more of your inner consicous and subconscious resources, more of your brain-cell power (right hemisphere of the brain and left working in harmony), and a stronger, connected Self. In stage 4, you are your strongest Self, empowered by a protective role, perspective and voice that guides your life toward superior productivity, goal achievement, and integration around your higher values.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: Having survived life-threatening experiences in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne and with a “terminal” cancer diagnosis at the age of 32, I know what it feels like to get a “wake-up call” to what really matters in life. Since then I’ve been studying and interviewing survivors about the qualities gained from a life-threatening wake-up call to discover how to gain similar powers without the risk.

As a psychologist and a trainer of psychologists, I have developed methods for rapid change and Peak/Optimal Performance [see reviews of The Now Habit at www.amazon.com]. I have worked with people who need to perform under pressure–such as passing the State Bar Exam on the tenth try; Med Boards on 6th try– and have a 95% success rate with such clients even though they’ve failed before and only work with me for 3 to 5 sessions.

Boardroom Reports voted me one of their “Top Ten Self-help Gurus.”

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: Other books advise and pressure your ego/consicous mind to try harder from its limited perspective and coping style. Awaken puts your higher, integrated Self and human brain in charge without the stress and overwhelm of struggling from a separated part of yourself. This book combines Peak Performance training and skills of athletes and musicians with the Martial Arts, Spiritual Practices, Neuro-Psyhology and Solution-Focused Therapies into a 4-step process that almost anyone can benefit from within 4 weeks.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Awaken Your Strongest Self will save readers years of psychotherapy bills and years of meditation because its practices lead to the results gained from therapy and meditation– to learn that you are more than your thoughts, emotions, and habits and that your higher Self and brain can be in charge of your actions and your life.

This book’s fourth step focuses on integrating all parts and all lower brains around your leadership goals and values, thus eliminating self-sabotage. Step four also uses an adapted version of the much researched NIH Stages of Habit Change to help readers avoid additonal failures and to deal with set-backs without losing the hard-won gains.

Pitch reporters with our up-to-date media databases:

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Senior managers and executives, human resources professionals, and anyone interested in understanding their financial personality

Q: What is the book about?
A: The book develops a new approach to analyzing the impact of financial decisions by executives and shows that all individuals have personal financial traits that express themselves through our financial decisions in characteristic ways. The expression of these traits reflects a Financial Signature® that each individual possesses. There are nine Financial Signatures and each of these will lead to a characteristic impact on financial performance reflected in the valuation outcome of an organization. By understanding our Financial Signature we can improve our financial performance and that of our organizations and align ourselves more closely with the valuation target of the organization we work within.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I have an extensive operating background at the CEO and Chairman level in both public and private companies so I have experience at the coal face on why people make or lose money. I have numerous publications in the area of leadership, human resources, management, strategy and technology and am a frequent speaker at industry conferences. I consult to CEOs, boards and senior executives on leadership and its impact on corporate financial performance and valuation. I am also the CEO and Founder of the Perth Leadership Institute, which works with senior executives to implement the Financial Signature concept at top US companies.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: The 3 Financial Styles of Very Successful Leaders delivers a unique approach which draws a direct link between behavior and the financial bottom line, something that other leadership books and models have thus far not been able to do. In fact, it opens up a new area of research within behavioral finance – a relatively new field of study which aims to explain the previously under-appreciated impact of behavior on financial decision-making. The book develops the concept of a Financial Signature possessed by all leaders and executives that drives the financial performance and outcome of the organization they lead. This book shows that the personal financial traits of leaders impact their organizations through predictable financial decisions and strategies. This issue is one that is being researched extensively by the Perth Leadership Institute and opens up a totally new perspective on leadership.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Our Financial Signature approach has practical consequences and implications in real life. Coupled with our leadership assessments it enables us to predict the valuation consequences for a company of their particular leader. Armed with this knowledge we can show how strategies can be modified to increase company valuation and performance against competitors. This is a new and unique service that is possessed by no other company in the financial analysis or leadership areas. In addition, the book has been published in both traditional and simplified Chinese, and recently received an award as ‘one of the best imported books in China in 2006’, alongside notable books such as The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson, The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman and The Toyota Way Field Book. For more information, visit www.perthleadership.org.