IEBM Dictionary of Business and Management

Book Description

The IEBM Dictionary of Business and Management is a quick reference source covering the full range of international business terms. Written in a clear and concise manner, this is an essential companion for students on business and management, MBA and professional courses. The dictionary also provides an invaluable reference source for managers and practitioners by providing an insight into the often bewildering terminology of the modern international business world. Over 7500 entries cover key business topics including: Accounting; Economics; Finance; General business; Human resource management; Industrial relations; International business; Management information systems; Manufacturing and operations management; Marketing; Organizational behaviour and Strategy. SAMPLE DEFINITONS AIDA model acronym for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action, considered to be the four behavioural stages consumers go through in response to sales promotions. base rate 1 rate of pay for a standard hour of work, before overtime or bonuses (see base pay); 2 in banking, the primary rate of interest on credit granted; 3 also in the UK, the interest rate set by the Bank of England. critical path analysis technique which combines planning and scheduling, listing all the individual activities involved in a process and how long they will take; important for highlighting those activities which are particularly crucial to success.

Average customer rating:

Great for Professionals in All Sectors

Practical, valuable, and a quick read

Solid, reasonable guidance for a career change

Fantastic

Insightful and Innovative Career Tips

Make the Right Career Move: 28 Critical Insights and Strategies to Land Your Dream Job
Rachelle J. Canter
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0470052368

Book Description

Praise for Make The Right Career Move

"Make the Right Career Move is a wonderful guide for the new age professional. This book will help you execute one of the most important decisions in your life and includes practical tips that you will use for the rest of your career."
—Marshall Goldsmith, bestselling author of The Leader of the Future and What Got You Here Won't Get You There

"This great new book will help thousands of businesspeople find not only a new job, but a satisfying career. This book is filled with practical tools and exercises that will help the reader identify what they really want from their career, write a winning resume, and, most important of all, position themselves for the job."
—Victoria Husted Medvec, Adeline Barry Davee Professor of Management and Organizations Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University Executive Director of the Center for Executive Women

"This is the book that all busy executives need—an indispensable guide to finding your ideal job and getting it—all in a short, action-oriented package. I highly recommend this book."
—Les Guliasi, Director, Governmental Relations, Pacific Gas & Electric Company

"I have been waiting for a comprehensive and relevant guide to careers that I can recommend to my clients, candidates, and colleagues. Make the Right Career Move provides an up-to-date approach to navigating careers in our ever-changing and challenging workplace."
—Eunice Azzani, Senior Client Partner, Korn/Ferry International

"In my many years working in the career field, here is the first book that guides attorneys and executives on making the right move to their next job, career, or board position. It's action-oriented, quick-to-read, and it's not bogged down with theory. It provides tested, practical tools to help readers get their dream job."
—Martha Fay Africa, Managing Director and cofounder, Major, Lindsey & Africa

Customer Reviews:

Great for Professionals in All Sectors.......2007-10-07

This is a great book for job-seekers making a career move in all sectors. While I have a non-profit background, this book proved to be a great resource to re-vamp my resume and strengthen my job search techniques.

The book was much more helpful than guides I have used that were geared specifically to those who work in private non-profits.

Practical, valuable, and a quick read.......2007-08-24

The author has distilled into this very accessible text a trove of practical advice about how to find and land a good job. "Make the Right Career Move" is like having a career counselor on your bookshelf. It serves both as a handbook about developing a job search strategy and as a reference guide about how to implement the plan. All job applicants would be well-advised to read the chapters on interviews (they are short) before every job interview. It will help them avoid making mistakes that would otherwise take them out of the running.

Solid, reasonable guidance for a career change.......2007-06-18

This book is a superb guide for making a career change. There are worksheets, guide lists for what to do (and what not to do), and the advice is solid and understandable.
Written in clear language, this book helped me enormously in a recent change. I found it especially helpful, as I am at the executive level, not at the bottom level. It provides web search assistance (where to look; what to look for), specific guidance on resume building, and even a glossary of words that are more direct and action-oriented than what I might have used otherwise.
No book is going to get a job for you; but this one helps you understand that a search well thought out is a search well done.

Fantastic.......2007-06-08

This book is a must read for anyone who is looking to find their calling. If you follow Shelley's steps, you'll be amazed what you learn about yourself. A whole new world will open up for you. Highly recommend it!!!

Insightful and Innovative Career Tips.......2007-05-15

I recently found myself forced to make a career change. There were a lot of things I didn't want to do -- one of which was read a 100+ page book about what to do next. I just wanted things to work out without having to make important, thoughtful, and introspective decisions. Thankfully, I lifted myself out of self-pity after a few days (read: weeks/months) and invested the time to read Dr. Canter's book.

In my unexpectedly unemployed state, I read "Make the Right Career Move" over three days while drinking coffee and eating cinnamon crunch bagels at Panera. The book was the perfect road map to get me back on track. The structure of the book is well laid out and begins with the intangile - teaching the reader about herself. Once the reader establishes a professional self-awareness, the book goes on to help the reader tackle tangible challenges like resume drafting, skill building, and interview preparation.

Since reading the book, I have received positive feedback on my (2-page) resume and have significantly improved my interview prowess. Although I have yet to find the perfect next job, Dr. Canter's book has helped me to recognize what "perfect job" means to me.

How to Make It in Hollywood: All the Right Moves

Average customer rating:

I recommend it
Buy this Book
Read it and loved it
More than just Hollywood
Great Advice for Any Market!

How to Make It in Hollywood: All the Right Moves
Linda Buzzell
Manufacturer: Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0060965967

Book Description

Renowned psychotherapist and career counselor Linda Buzzell is the expert in knowing how to create and develop a career in Hollywood. With this book, she shows you how to look at your personality, your strengths, your weaknesses, your special skills, and your talents in order to target your personal goals and maximize your career success. She then explains all the jobs in Hollywood and how to find them, get them, and advance through each stage in your career.

How To Make It in Hollywood includes everything you need to know about agents, managers, lawyers, the casting couch, chutzpah, schmoozing, networking, Godfather Calls, rhino skin, Power Rolodexes, handling rejection, constant unemployment, and keeping yourself on the track to your dreams when real life keeps telling you to give it all up and move back to Cincinnati!

Customer Reviews:

I recommend it.......2007-07-05

I bought this book for my cousin who wants to start out in the movie business. I bought this book for him so he can get a good idea who's who in the industry. The resources are a little out dated, but the valuable info is timeless.

Buy this Book.......2007-06-11

If you are serious about a career in the entertainment industry, this book is more valuable than a college education. I can honestly say that this book gives you all of the advice you need to be successful in almost any given field. More importantly it doesn't sugarcoat anything. If this business isn't right for you, you'll know by about 40 pages in. My one complaint, and it is a small one, is that some of the information is a little dated. Specifically the sections on CGI and the internet. As far as the rest of the fields go, the information still applies today. Buy this book. Read it cover to cover. Do what the author says, and you will have a career in Hollywood. I cannot recommend this enough.

Read it and loved it.......2005-12-29

Linda Buzzell gives an excellent account of how to make it in Hollywood. Any person reading this book can learn a lot if they choose to follow their dreams into moviemaking and acting. This book definitely was helpful in getting my last movie, The S.I.N., distributed. And, it will be helpful as I put together my new radio show, The Indie Film Hour, on World Talk Radio. Thanks Linda. www.vdefilms.com

More than just Hollywood.......2005-07-20

This book was required reading for an exploratory class I was taking on Entertainment Technology Careers. It proved to teach me a lot more than just that, it gives you insightful and helpful tips as well as the exercises within the chapters that assist you in finding out what it is that you really want to do and where your motivation comes from. I think it is an invaluable book for not only people seeking work in the entrainment field but for people who aren't really sure which way to go about it or which end they'd like to be in.

Great Advice for Any Market!.......2000-01-30

A great book for anyone in the entertainment industry, not just the film industry; covers in depth topics such as how to network and how to handle rejection, and how many attempts one can expect to make before securing a position in the industry. Also great advice on entertainment resume writing; I'm already looking forward to the next edition!

Game Plan for College Success: Helping Students Make the Right Moves Before and During College

Average customer rating:

Game Plan for College Success: Helping Students Make the Right Moves Before and During College
Grooters
Manufacturer: Thomson South-Western
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Guides | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This 60-minute videotape provides a winning strategy for students headed for college. The videotape and accompanying resource guide explore many processes.

How to Make the Right Career Moves (Vgm How to Series)

Average customer rating:

How to Make the Right Career Moves (Vgm How to Series)
Deborah P. Bloch
Manufacturer: VGM Career Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Make the Right Career Moves (Here's How)

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Make the Right Career Moves (Here's How)
Deborah Perlmutter Bloch
Manufacturer: NTC Learning Works
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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How Make Right Career Moves, 1990, Lib Kits

Average customer rating:

How Make Right Career Moves, 1990, Lib Kits

Manufacturer: NTC Publishing Group,U.S.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Book Description

Bill Lucas, a leading international expert on life-long learning, shows that while we have learned more about how the brain works in the last decade than we have ever known, only a fraction of this is grasped and applied by most people. Power Up Your Mind applies this practical knowledge for the first time and shows you how to learn. Drawing on research from a wide variety of subject areas, from neuroscience to psychology, from motivation theory to accelerated learning, from memory to diet, this book shows how everyone has the capacity to succeed and how most people use only a very small portion of their talents. For learning to be effective, an understanding of how the brain works is essential and unlike most of the recent thinking on the mind, Lucas connects an understanding of the brain with the reality of the workplace and translates what we know about the brain into useful insights for work. Much work-based training is a waste of time and money because the majority of people are neither emotionally ready nor practically inclined to apply their learning to the way they behave. Power Up Your Mind offers a new model of learning-READY, GO, STEADY-which will revolutionize the way you learn and perform.

Customer Reviews:

for a more effective performance at work.......2003-07-26

Are you leading an active working life in which information and the solving of problems play a central part? Do you often find yourself incapable of living up to your potential, that is not being able to concentrate, remember things or find creative solutions? Then you might want to consider this book.

IN-DEPTH INFORPATION ABOUT THE POSITIVE ASPECTS OF THIS BOOK.
It gives you basic information about how your brain works and how this relates to the problems you experience, giving suggestions of how to overcome them. Starting with getting ready to learn, passing reflecting on and using what you have learned it ends with how to make conscious learning a daily part of your life, including tips how to balance between work, personal life and your aspirations in general. Also, it deals with all types of learning as opposed to only memorising facts.
The most inspiring and indeed useful bit of this book was the part about ensuring a creative, productive and enjoyable environment at work, how to make sure that everybody gets the most out of the information offered and how to overcome problem-solving barriers. Other positive things where the questions and fill-in forms designed to make you think about and apply the new information, as well as summaries at the end of each chapter to check whether the most important stuff has come across. You will also find out ways to make a company more successful in regard to making the most out of its human resources (and making them happy along the way), what learning-type you are and interesting stuff about multiple intelligence, much of it illustrated with nice example-stories and quotations.

WHY ONLY 3 STARS, THEN?
I expected to be able to use my mind and memory more effectively after working my way through this book, but it simply doesn't help you to power up your mind, with the sole exception of helping you to become more creative. You don't learn techniques of how to remember things more effectively, nor do you learn how to become mentally fit and agile. True, it gives you some information on all of that, but it's more stuff to make you think and figure out your own approach (or buy another book) rather than hands-on things.

RECOMMENDABLE - If you want to understand yourself better as a learner and learn some ways to make working more enjoyable and effective, this book provides information about nearly every step to do so and gives you a basis to build upon when and if you should come across some hands-on mind and memory training.

NOT RECOMMENDABLE - If you're looking for ways to improve your memory or even your cognitive abilities, unless you're interested in the lay aspects of those parts of the learning-theory that have something to do with business life. This is really nothing for you if you're a student and looking for ways to improve your performance in school or at college.

CONCLUSION
YES for business people, NO for students and aspiring mind-acrobats.

Insightful!.......2002-09-18

In Power Up Your Mind, Bill Lucas attempts to teach readers how to learn. To accomplish this goal, he sets out to provide a blueprint to the workings of the human brain through easy-to-grasp descriptions and illustrations designed to explain how the brain ingests and processes information. What's lacking is a comprehensive review of the basic theories of learning that experts have deduced from the biological structures and mental functions that Lukas describes. Nevertheless, we from getAbstract recommend this book for its theoretical insights and practical advice about learning and memory.

Average customer rating:

Dependable and delicious

Years of tips & techniques brought to life!

Easy baking, delicious results!

Reading and Eating with Eileen

luvin' from the oven

Something Warm from the Oven: Baking Memories, Making Memories
Eileen Goudge
Manufacturer: William Morrow Cookbooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Desserts | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Goudge, Eileen | ( G ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Otherwise Engaged

Immediate Family

The Cake Book

Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook: The Best Recipes from Southampton's Favorite Bakery for Homestyle Cookies, Cakes, Pies, Muffins, and Breads

Baking: From My Home to Yours

ASIN: 0060740418
Release Date: 2005-10-04

Book Description

I love baking almost as much as I do writing. So what better way to bring the two together than this book of my favorite recipes?

Baking has often played a leading role in Eileen Goudge's best-selling novels. In Such Devoted Sisters, Annie becomes a chocolatier. In One Last Dance and Taste of Honey, Kitty sells her famous sticky buns at the Tea & Sympathy tearoom. The baked goods described so delectably in her novels inspired hundreds of fans to write to Eileen requesting the recipes, and the idea for Something Warm from the Oven was born.

Ever since she was a child, Eileen has been baking for family and friends. In her first cookbook, she presents a collection of 150 recipes for cakes, pies, tarts, cookies, puddings, breads, and more. Eileen believes that the process of baking should be just as enjoyable as devouring the results. All of her recipes are simple, honest, and uncomplicated, from easy mix-and-go muffins to more elaborate desserts like Red Velvet Cake with Mocha Frosting, just like her mother and grandmother used to make.

No matter what your weakness, you'll find plenty of recipes in Eileen's collection you won't be able to resist, from homey classics like Oatmeal Bread, Lemon Chiffon Pie, Birthday Banana Cake, and Blackberry-Rhubarb Cobbler to newer innovations such as Pumpkin Ricotta Cheesecake, Maple Cream Sandwich Cookies, Pesto Biscuits, and Kahlua Brownies.

It's time to relax and indulge. After all, who doesn't love something warm from the oven?

Customer Reviews:

Dependable and delicious.......2007-06-16

Eileen Goudge writes books. Good books. Fiction books. So when I found this cookbook on the "New Book" shelf of my library in 2005, I was a bit confused, but had the good sense to check it out. And have since bought my own copy.

I own far too many cookbooks, but this one is kept on the 'short shelf' of books I use regularly. Yesterday I made the Velvet Bundt Cake for my daughter's teacher as a gift. The recipe comes together easily and bakes into a fragrant cake with a beautiful texture. I've never actually gotten around to making the glaze for the cake - it's heavenly alone, but I'm sure glaze fans will enjoy it :)

The Chocolate Swirl Cake is also a family favorite. A vanilla cake batter is made, half is put in the bundt pan, and then chocolate syrup is stirred into the remaining half and poured over the vanilla. The cake bakes into a beautiful and delicious creation. Again, half the time I never get around to making the simple glaze, but I feel it doesn't suffer a bit. Guild the lily if you must... The swirl cake includes the steps to make your own chocolate syrup - it's fast and easy, and I recommend you make the homemade over store-bought if you have the time.

My favorite bread is the Alabama Light Bread - the texture of the finished bread is amazing, and a favorite to give to friends.

Other favorites from the book include: Tennessee Jam Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting; Cappuccino Cheesecake; Fudge Meltaways; Blackberry-Peach Pie; Jam Tart; Eggnog Bread; Gingerbread with Lemon Icing; Angel Biscuits; Oatmeal Bread (heaven!); Cinnamon Bread.

Years of tips & techniques brought to life!.......2006-03-13

Eileen Goudge's SOMETHING WARM FROM THE OVEN (0060740418, $24.95) represents the author's debut as a cookbook author - but she's no newcomer to publishing; she has eleven popular novels to her name. She discusses the sum of the techniques and tricks she's absorbed over the years, blending basic information with the best recipes from her personal collection and adding some inspiring stories from her family baking adventures. Pecan-Cranberry Pie, Raspberry Marzipan Cheesecake, and Cherry-Cream Cheese Bread are only a few of the delights in SOMETHING WARM FROM THE OVEN: BAKING MEMORIES, MAKING MEMORIES.

Easy baking, delicious results!.......2006-02-06

What a wonderful surprise. This is a cookbook for everyone. Not only are the recipes that I have tried easy to put together and delicious but above each recipe is a short memory from the author about her family. Her tips for better baking are very helpful. So far my family's favorite recipe is the Apple Crisp, page 198. It is so good warm and just as good cold the next morning. Thank you Eileen for sharing your family recipes and your lovely memories that go along with each one.

Reading and Eating with Eileen.......2006-01-08

AFTER SAMPLING THE MICROWAVE CRANBERRY PUDDING WITH BUTTER-BRANDY SAUCE(YUM) AT A BOOK SIGNING, AND THEN HAVING THE GOOD FORTUNE OF TRYING THE CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE TART AT THE NEW YORK CHOCOLATE SHOW, I WAS HOOKED. THIS LADY BAKES AS WELL AS SHE WRITES. BUY THIS BOOK AND SEE FOR YOURSELF.

luvin' from the oven.......2005-11-19

I have been a fan of Eileen Goudge's romance novels for some time. She's a prolific writer with fans from all walks of life , and from all around the world.
So. when I heard that she had written a cook book, I thought "just what we all need - another cook book!" But, was I ever surprised.
This book is about baking, and as I began to browse through the many recipes with titles such as Fudge Meltaways, Pecan Sandies, Nanny's Swedish Rye Bread, and Mom's Gingerbread with Lemon Icing, I was immediately transported back to my childhood, with warm remembrances of coming home after school, and inhaling those sweet smells from the oven that we all, as kids, coveted from our mother's and grandmother's kitchens. I have already tried about half a dozen of these truly delectible desserts and breads, and cannot wait to try many more. I mean, come on - Blue-Ribbon Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate - Creams Cheese Frosting! So what's another couple of hours at the gym!

Something Warm from the Oven : Baking Memories, Making Memories

Average customer rating:

Something Warm from the Oven : Baking Memories, Making Memories
Eileen Goudge
Manufacturer: Morrow Cookbooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

Financial mathematics is going through a period of intensive development, particularly in the area of stochastic analysis. This timely work presents a comprehensive, self-contained introduction to stochastic financial mathematics. It is based on lectures given at Moscow State University, "Stochastic Analysis in Finance", and comprises the basic methods and key results of the theory of derivative securities pricing in discrete financial markets.

The following elements: martingales, semimartingales, stochastic exponents, Itô's formula, Girsanov's theorem, and more, are used to characterize notions such as arbitrage and completeness of financial markets, fair price and hedging strategies for options, forward and futures pricing, and utility maximization. Limiting transition from a discrete to continuous model with derivation of the famous Black-Scholes formula is shown.

The book contains a wide spectrum of material and can serve as a bridge to continuous models. It is suitable as a text for graduate and advanced graduate students studying economics and/or financial mathematics.

Book Description

A realistic view of the ins and outs of ownership succession of a family-owned business, it guides the owner or prospective successor of a family-owned business through the complex and often frustrating succession process. The main emphasis is on the human element in ownership and management succession. The information provided is shaped by observation and practical insights and reinforced by results of research in the social, psychological and management sciences.

Customer Reviews:

One stop shopping.......2002-04-17

We ordered the book to answer ministerial-specific questions concerning housing allowance, medical reimbursement, income vs. social security taxation, gifts vs. salary, etc. This book addressed every single issue. In addition, it even included invaluable sample minutes that can be adopted by the church to set up a tax-deductible health or reimbursement plans. The Fringe Benefit Chart put all the information onto one easy-to-read page.

The book explained how to accurately fill out IRS tax forms with existing data. It is written as a workbook where you investigate one specific topic at a time, not a book that you would read cover-to-cover. The "big picture" is sometimes lost in the details.

I would have liked to see more "suggestions" or "tax hints" about how to set up a good compensation plan. I yearned for an appendix that would take a couple common situations and explain the "big picture" by specifing how the compensation could be designated, including what church actions (minutes) and accounting records would have to be kept to make all this legal.

I would highly recommend this book as a technical resource if you plan to do your own taxes.

Average customer rating:

Make Everyone an Effective Leader and Knowledge Worker!

Leadership Ensemble: Lessons in Collaborative Management from the World's Only Conductorless Orchestra
Harvey Seifter , and Peter Economy
Manufacturer: Times Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Workplace | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Decision-Making & Problem Solving | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Leadership | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Presents - Music Meets Business

Leaders Who Make a Difference: Essential Strategies for Meeting the Nonprofit Challenge (A Jossey Bass Title)

The Dance of Leadership: The Art of Leading in Business, Government, And Society

Management and the Arts, Third Edition

The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management

ASIN: 0805066926

Book Description

An exciting new model for streamlining organizational management and structure, from an organization known around the world for its innovative structure.

For nearly three decades the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has earned rave reviews as one of the premier touring musical ensembles in the world. Recently, it has also attracted the attention and admiration of the business world. As the only major orchestra without a conductor, Orpheus is a shining example of a new management style based on collaborative leadership.

Leadership Ensemble is designed to show business leaders in any industry how to re-create the successful "Orpheus Process" in their own companies by dismantling top-heavy hierarchies; developing flexible, responsive strategies and decision-making procedures; and unleashing employee creativity, responsibility, and productivity. The authors delineate the ten core principles of collaborative management, including shared and rotated leadership, passionate dedication to mission, clarity of roles within an organization, and learning to listen. Spiced with anecdotes and lessons from the life of Orpheus and case studies from the world of business, Leadership Ensemble is an entertaining, eminently practical guide to implementing changes essential to survival in today's speed-of-light business environment.

Customer Reviews:

Make Everyone an Effective Leader and Knowledge Worker!.......2001-11-21

In 1988, Dr. Peter Drucker wrote an influential article, "The Coming of the New Organization," in which he argued that companies would in the future become flatter organizationally to capture the potential of knowledge workers. One model, he opined, was the symphony orchestra where the conductor adds vision, but must evoke the best performance from her or his independent players.

Leadership Ensemble looks beyond Dr. Drucker's vision, to the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra's practices in operating without a conductor! The result is a "dynamic equilibrium" where everyone takes turns playing leadership roles and is encouraged to provide the kinds of ideas that only conductors normally propose. Interestingly, the Orpheus group is inspired to make great music . . . along the lines of what the collaboration of chamber groups has always done. If they thought that having a conductor would help, they would get a conductor. Instead, they seem to have harnessed many dimensions of the talents of all 27 musicians in the group. Their intent is to evolve further in this direction, so the book represents the group at a point in time, rather than at a destination.

The usual orchestra is run like a dukedom, with the conductor in charge. Few opinions are asked for and even fewer are brooked. In fact, independent surveys show that musicians in orchestras generally have very poor job satisfaction. The authors joke that "every dictator aspires to be a conductor" because a conductor's power is so absolute.

The best part of this book involves describing the way the orchestra operates to select a repertoire, decide how to perform a piece, determine who will play what parts, and handle differences of opinion. There are many other interesting sections about how the musicians have expanded their roles to get into more areas of management and recently (1998) were added to the board of trustees. The processes involved reminded me a lot of what jazz musicians do more informally, and improvisational actors do on the spur of the moment. The remarkable thing is that great planning is captured by the orchestra, without getting bogged down in spending too much time preparing. Their processes are very complex and effective, and depend on thoughtful and timely action by everyone involved. I would love to see a DVD version of this book that involved showing them at work in preparing pieces and handling other important tasks.

The key principles of their success are boiled down into 8 principles. These concepts are elaborated with a few examples from other organizations (mostly profit-making companies), five steps for implementation, and problems to look out for in implementation. Although this material is good, I would have preferred to have read more about Orpheus itself instead.

A key caution that I have about the advice here is that the organizations using these principles were either founded upon them, or have been using them extensively for a long time. I'm not sure that the transition from a more hierarchical organization will go rapidly and smoothly. If the purpose was to advise companies and nonprofits on how to make these changes, the authors would have done better to focus on organizations that were recently hierarchical and rapidly changed to something close to what Orpheus does.

If you are like me, you will be tempted to dismiss the example because it involves highly talented and motivated musicians who earn a good living. But the authors have brought into the book enough examples of nonprofessionals responding just as well that I was persuaded that this model probably can be taken much further than most companies are trying to do. Will CEOs be comfortable in this new role of encouraging the culture, and staying out of the way? I hope so!

Where can you let go and do less as a leader and allow others to lead more? Where do you need to do more as a leader for your organization to accomplish more?

Average customer rating:
Leadership Ensemble: Lessons in Collaborative Management from the World's Only Conductorless Orchestra
Harvey Seifter
Manufacturer: Times Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NKYRT2

Customer Reviews:

knee-slapping funny!.......2001-09-24

This book was hilarious! Finally, a book with great humor, wisdom and intelligence! The author seems to know what life is all about and gives the reader deeper meaning for his or her life. I learned a lot about: interpersonal and family dynamics,how to handle failure and laugh about it and, about our spiritual journey. The book was intellectually stimulating and just brutal on the old funny bone!

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