1999 Pennsylvania Business Directory: The Ultimate Sales and Credit Tool (Pennsylvania Business Directory, 1999)

Book Description

A directory of virtually every business in the state! In depth information on each business location. You can use our premier database to find new customers and grow your sales and profits. You can create your own direct mail campaigns. Our information is simply the best for telephone sales or research; we make millions of phone calls every year to verify our information. Our credit rating codes can help you evaluate probable credit worthiness for small trade accounts, qualify prospects, and manage financial risk. You can analyze your competition, plan your next sales and marketing campaign, or establish new sales territories.

Book Description

Yes, We're Open is designed to help small business owners avoid the many pitfalls in running a small business. Written to be an entertaining as well as an informative read, attorney William Manchee shares his experiences representing small business owners for over 25 years. Yes, We're Open focuses on the causes of small business failure and how to defend the troubled business while taking the necessary steps to turn it around.

Book Description

The quality movement has had numerous leaders, theories, and best practices that have revolutionized the way organizations operate. Often the myriad of information can be confusing, occasionally contradictory; to even the most experienced quality manager. Finally a guide of the most useful and noteworthy pieces of information on quality management has been collected in one convenient, easy-to-use guidebook. Quality's Greatest Hits: Classics from Leaders of Quality is a handy, user-friendly guide of the most notable theories, tools, and quotations from quality's biggest names.

This unique reference of quality principles, tools, and notable quotes belongs on the desk of every quality professional. While not intended to teach these quality fundamentals to the reader, the easily used, time-tested information found in this book makes this an ideal reference for anyone who has to make presentations, provide quality training, or serve as a mentor. Quality's Greatest Hits is a great refresher for the experienced quality manager, and a helpful guide for just beginning their quality career. The ideas collected include: management and general wisdom; improvement tools & techniques; probability and statistics; reliability and risk assessment; software; audit and inspection; quality guru's (Juran, Deming, Crosby); and more.

Customer Reviews:

An important book for the savvy manager.......2003-08-21

This is one of the more comprehensive collections of quality, reliability and managerial techniques and methodologies books that I ever encountered.
You should keep this book at your office, since it's such a good reference book.

amazing compilation of everything about quality.......2003-08-13

This is an amazing compilation of everything about quality. Bluvband has taken ideas, words, concepts and practices and put them together in a unique summary that lists all the information in carefully chosen categories and sections. It is difficult to describe the enormous depth and breadth of this book, not because of its size but because of the thoroughness of the coverage of topics. The book is spilt into six parts, each one covering a different topic - management, tools and techniques, probability and statistics, reliability and risk assessment, software, and audit and inspection. Each part is split into chapters, which include important factors, words of wisdom (both serious and witty) and techniques. The author also provides a complete list of references and an index with authors and subjects. This is not a book for those who want to learn quality, but it could be a resource for a quality methods instructor. It would also be valuable for the practitioners and managers of quality departments. It is a valuable reference tool and memory jogger for all aspects of quality control, quality management and quality assurance and possibly the most unique presentation of quality concepts ever compiled.

A great reminder of how clear really good management is!.......2003-08-13

This book is a great reminder for how clear and succinct good mangement can be! a great read and a great reference.

An important reference for the savvy manager.......2003-08-13

Quality by quotes.......2003-05-03

This book presents an impressive compendium of quotes from quality gurus. It is nicely organized but reinforces the concept that quality is mostly talked about - not something really tackled as an issue. Quality professionals need to trigger concrete actions with significant impact - not reiterate proverbial sayings. This book will not help them in this endeavour.

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Confessions Of An Unmanager: Ten Steps To Jump Start Company Performance By Getting Others To Accept Accountability
Debra Boggan , and Anna Versteeg
Manufacturer: Oaklea Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Teams | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Buried Alive! Digging Out of a Management Dumpster

Product Development for the Lean Enterprise: Why Toyota's System Is Four Times More Productive and How You Can Implement It

ASIN: 1892538148

Book Description

This book is chock full of information on how to increase productivity by getting the most out of cross functional and empowered teams. Confessions of an UnManager reveals a management and leadership system of effective leadership that led to an increase in profits of 50% at a Nortel plant by getting everyone at the plant to accept accountability for success or failure. Moreover, quality defects and customer complaints were cut dramatically.

Written in the form of a novel, the book shows how the old fashioned dictatorial style of management was successfully replaced with one that included a leadership style that broke down the barriers between management and employees, instilling esprit de corps and a sense of accountability that turned into a huge success for the business unit. Perhaps more than anything, it was team building and the new sense of accountability throughout the organization that led to big gains in productivity and an emphasis on customer service that paid off in dramatic sales increases. Empowered teams in each department proved so effective that cross functional teams were formed to cut through bureaucratic red tape and solve problems in record time. If you're interested in a management system that empowers workers, leads to huge gains in productivity, replaces an ineffective bureaucracy with cross-functional teams, as well as a management system that leads to customer service that delights customers, then this book is for you. Team building techniques and a style of management are made vivid and clear through entertaining, practical examples, and real-life anecdotes. Shown are both the triumphs and the difficulties associated with a major shift away from the traditional ways of viewing the roles of managers and staff, and toward team building, cross functional teams, empowered workers, and a sense of esprit de corps and accountability among all that led to big increases in productivity and profitability.

Book Description

Gambling and Speculation takes the long, historic perspective of its controversial subject. The book offers not only a better understanding of the recent "gambling craze," but also a fundamental inquiry into human nature and the structure of societies. The Brenners argue that the negative image of gamblers and of speculators stems from prejudice, whose roots are in the distant, forgotten past. Legal scholars have frequently confused gambling with speculation and the anti-gambling laws were, at times, erroneously interpreted as implying the prohibitions of contracts in futures and insurance markets. One consequence of all this confusion was that during this century both in the United States and England, the legislation and law on betting and gambling became ambiguous. The authors touch on this issue and make policy recommendations: to abolish restrictions on the industry, diminish the states' role in selling lotteries, and, at the same time, make legal distinctions capable of helping the tiny percentage of players who might be "addicted." The Brenners' recommendations on gambling are based on their conclusion that gamblers are neither "mentally ill" nor "criminals" and that gambling does not lead its practitioners to poverty. Rather, it is the other way around: some of the poor and the frustrated gamble. Looking at gambling in this way leads to questions about the nature of society: What do the fortunate do for those who are not? What is society's obligation to people who fall behind in the game of life? Answers to these questions require a discussion on the principles of equality, capitalism, the role of religious influence on society, topics that the Brenners have discussed in their previous studies, and they do so here too, putting gambling within its proper, historical context.

Customer Reviews:

The most important impartial history of gambling.......2006-07-27

It's hard to learn about gambling because different ideological camps define the subject differently and therefore talk past each other. People with moral objections to gambling usually ignore risk-taking in business and life, economists tend to focus on the probability and utility theory underlying a single bet rather than the broader social and economic context, and pro-gambling works often ignore basic mathematical and economic theory. This book is a rare exception in that it covers all kinds of risk taking without prejudice, and it is grounded in solid history and theory. This book defines the context in which gambling should be discussed, and presents a powerful opening statement.

Gambling and Speculation: A Theory, a History and a Future of Some Human Decisions. (book reviews): An article from: Southern Economic Journal

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Gambling and Speculation: A Theory, a History and a Future of Some Human Decisions. (book reviews): An article from: Southern Economic Journal
Roger Tutterow
Manufacturer: Southern Economic Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Southern Economic Journal, published by Southern Economic Association on October 1, 1993. The length of the article is 956 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Gambling and Speculation: A Theory, a History and a Future of Some Human Decisions. (book reviews)
Author: Roger Tutterow
Publication: Southern Economic Journal (Refereed)
Date: October 1, 1993
Publisher: Southern Economic Association
Volume: v60 Issue: n2 Page: p534(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Distance learning is the hottest trend in the training industry today. But rapidly changing technology and powerful new developments make it difficult for human resources professionals and trainers to stay current in the field. Now a single annual reference brings together "the best of the best" articles and information, summarizing the state of the distance learning field. This handy one-volume resource includes information on creating distance learning proposals and pilot programs; Internet-based training, videoconferencing, and other technologies; setting up and administering a program; career development for trainers, and more.

The 2000/2001 ASTD Distance Learning Yearbook: The Newest Trends and Technologies

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The 2000/2001 ASTD Distance Learning Yearbook: The Newest Trends and Technologies
Karen Mantyla
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Companies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OFZSTE

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Great Read!

Closing the Leadership Gap provides a road map women need

Obviously Hillary campaign propaganda

"Challenging Comfort"

Not Just for Women!

Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World
Marie C. Wilson
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Bargain Books | Stores | Books
Economics | Business & Investing | Bargain Books | Stores | Books
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The Difference ""Difference"" Makes: Women and Leadership

Enlightened Power: How Women are Transforming the Practice of Leadership

Women on Power: Leadership Redefined

The Female Advantage

Her Place at the Table: A Woman's Guide to Negotiating Five Key Challenges to Leadership Success

ASIN: B000LMPL6U

Amazon.com

Ms. Foundation President Marie Wilson is looking for some good women and men to become "post heroic" leaders. In Closing the Leadership Gap, Wilson focuses on the virtues of sharing power by skewering culture bound male leadership styles and celebrating the arguable premise that women use a similar "recipe" of leadership values such as inclusion and cooperation.

As co-founder of the White House project on women's leadership, Wilson is passionate in her belief that women's voices at the table offer an opportunity to shape policy around the marginalized issues of violence, education and healthcare. Making room for women at the top also gives men permission to bring their soft side to work." As she explains, "Both men and women must be in power to moderate the influence of masculinity in all of us." Such polemic does not prevent Wilson from making a persuasive case for role expansion rather than role reversal. Her practical approach to developing women as leaders is two pronged. First, individual women must confront four "Scarlett A's"(authority, ambition, ability, authenticity) that create barriers to leadership. Then, she describes the cultural and institutional changes that would involve men and women in sharing domestic leadership.

Her examples are fascinating and eclectic--including anecdotes about A-list leaders such as Hilary Clinton and Paramount Chair Sherry Lansing; research about hairstyles, husbands, and hemlines of female candidates; and tales from her election to the Des Moines City Council. Wilson puts on gender glasses to examine the "celluloid ceiling" in Hollywood. In all of her examples, the goal is nothing less than changing expectations of both sexes. Even those readers who may not agree that women share similar--even superior--leadership values, will applaud her goal: The opportunity for women and men to integrate the satisfactions of leadership and family life. --Barbara Mackoff

Book Description

Insightful and inspiring, Closing the Leadership Gap is a call to action for the increased presence of women in powerful leadership positions in our country. A leading women's advocate and cofounder of the White House Project, Marie C. Wilson argues that while our nation sits on a world spinning with crises from terrorism and weapons of mass destruction to a fragile economy and corporate greed, half of its natural resources—women—have not been tapped for their uniquely valuable contribution to solving these problems that only they can provide.

Rich with historical context and supported by a wealth of current data and innovative research, this book explains chapter by chapter the leadership gap between women and men and the deeply ingrained cultural factors that continue to create resistance to women at the top. It also explores the new insights and strategies women are using to leverage their power of authority, ambition, ability, and authenticity—have been denied women and how they are claiming these vital qualities for themselves. Written with passion and documented with lively behind-the-scenes stories from the trenches, Closing the Leadership Gap argues for women's leadership in all spheres and offers steps to get us there.

Customer Reviews:

Great Read!.......2006-07-10

This book was really intriguing and so informative. Marie C. Wilson writes in a relatable way and her stories and experiences bring the book to life. If everyone were to read Closing the Leadership Gap the world would be a better place!

Closing the Leadership Gap provides a road map women need.......2006-05-11

The most important sentences in Marie C. Wilson's Closing the Leadership Gap are these:

"Everyone knows at least one woman who should be urged to follow her dream, a woman who is utterly capable of being more than she is if only she were given encouragement. We need to find her and feed her ambition. Don't wait for the culture to change. Change it yourself by helping others to step forward."

Step up. Encourage others. It's just that easy.

Wilson draws on more than 30 years of experience as an advocate of women's issues to create a virtual road map for women who aspire to be leaders, no matter where they live, no matter what they do or who they are. She reveals where cultural obstacles are, why they exist and why we must not let them stand in our way.

In this, Wilson leads first by example. Founder and president of The White House Project and co-creator of Take Our Daughters to Work Day, she dives through layers of surveys and research to reveal deeply rooted cultural biases that keep women from bringing their unique contributions to the head table.

Wilson founded The White House Project in 1998 to address one of the biggest impediments to women's leadership - the lack of a real pipeline. Reports that President George W. Bush is encouraging his brother Jeb to run for the office in 2008 shine a bright spotlight on this phenomenon among men, who start running for office earlier in life and work their way to the top through connections and raw ambition, a quality often criticized in women. Wilson's recap of studies that show how women politicians fare in the media is nothing short of infuriating.

Now more than ever, we need the outrage driven by America's stubborn loyalty to the male leadership paradigm. We need it to overcome the inertia of a life that's not so bad, even though it's not so good, either.

And as Wilson does in this book, we need to encourage other women, to inspire other women to live their best and highest dreams.

Obviously Hillary campaign propaganda.......2006-05-05

Amazon.com praises this book: "Her examples are fascinating and eclectic--including anecdotes about A-list leaders such as Hillary Clinton and Paramount Chair Sherry Lansing." Yes. Very eclectic? A Clinton and Hollywood? Hardly.

This book is obviously getting renewed interest in order to help the Hillary project. Women long ago closed the leadership gap in most fields. And Condi Rice has closed it at the national administration level.

"Challenging Comfort" .......2004-12-11

Marie C. Wilson is absolutely correct in stating that women can and must help run the world. The book is well written and inspiring. However, the tone of the book directs Wilson's message toward women readers only. This can be extremely detrimental because it fails to speak to the leadership role that male readers play. Both women and men can together bring about change in the workplace but Wilson suggests that women, themselves, must be the only catalysts to bring about change. Although this is true and women must be a catalyst and strive for change, men also have a large part in recognizing the leadership traits of women to and altering the thoughts and perceptions of society. Change cannot be brought about if only one group is emotionally and physically invested, both genders must join together to change the world for the better.
The book also talks a lot about the nurturing traits of women. These traits of nurture, self-sacrifice and sensitivity are both valued by society and by women themselves. Wilson states that the qualities women bring do not match the traditional actions of a leader. This statement groups all women together and further stereotypes the roles and attributes of women. All women are different and hence their leadership characteristics are different. On the other hand, Wilson does a better job in diversifying the occupations and types of women involved in leadership positions. From the United States government and military positions to British parliament, Wilson shows the importance and benefits of female leadership all over the world.
The author also makes it a point to state that gender biases are products of television, Hollywood and advertising. One of the movies Wilson feels combats these biases is the movie Legally Blond starring Reese Witherspoon. I feel that this movie contradicts Wilson's message. In fact, the main character had many attributes that contributed to the biases and gender stereotypes of women. In the movie, Reese Witherspoon is overwhelmingly concerned over her hair, nails and clothing and entered law school not for herself but to gain admiration from her boyfriend. This movie is not sending the same message that Wilson is trying to get across in her book. In general, Wilson's book brings up many points that are overlooked by society. The book is an inspiration for women who, in the twenty first century, strive to become the next leaders of the world and challenge the "comforts" of business, politics and domestic life. This book should be read by everyone, men and women, who strive to be a leader and make a difference.

Not Just for Women! .......2004-10-26

This book lays out the issues in a compelling and clear way, and I hope will lead to a better future for men and women alike.

Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World.(Brief Article)(Book Review): An article from: State Legislatures

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Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World.(Brief Article)(Book Review): An article from: State Legislatures
Leah Oliver
Manufacturer: National Conference of State Legislatures
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from State Legislatures, published by National Conference of State Legislatures on July 1, 2004. The length of the article is 417 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
Author: Leah Oliver
Publication: State Legislatures (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2004
Publisher: National Conference of State Legislatures
Volume: 30 Issue: 7 Page: 4(1)

Article Type: Brief Article, Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World

Average customer rating:

Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World
Marie C. Wilson
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ6C4A

Customer Reviews:

Could benefit from a reduced page count and more stucture.......2004-06-23

I must admit that being in "the industry" is the main reason why I bought this book. I was also pleased to see that someone had finally put down on paper some of the issues which seem to plague the IT business. That said however it did take me two attempts to successfully complete the journey from cover to cover. There are numerous reasons for this.

While the authors break the chapters up, seemingly, according to topic they never seem to actually focus on the intended topic (and in a few cases, spread the "topic" over three or more chapters e.g. the "Lawyers" chapters). In my experience this resulted in a lack of closure on the completion of each chapter (i.e. I found it difficult to answer the question "what have I learned here"). The authors also tend to diverge quite a bit from the points they try to make by going into seemingly extensive discussions regarding the projects reviewed without actually adding any detail (the realtively short bibliography at the back of the book is further testament to this). This is most evident in one of the last chapters which covers 5 steps to follow in order to avoid the common pitfalls - I'm still not sure what the five steps are. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that the points they were trying to make were in bold, I might have missed them all together.

Being a technical person I also found the format too literary and lacking in detail (i.e. what hardware was used, what software was used - something which the authors themselves acknowledge as being important). I suspect that this may have something to do with the fact that the authors are trade journalists and do not necessarily have first hand experience of what goes into a software development project. I believe this conclusion is further supported by the authors obvious bias towards "business" (as opposed to "the supplier").

Most of the projects focused on were also of the "massive" variety (i.e. costing in the tens of millions of pounds and taking years to complete) which, I believe, made the analysis afforded them, a bit simplistic (in fairness they were mostly public sector projects which were probably easier to source documentation on).

From what I have said you might think that this book is not worth reading but this is not the case. It does indeed offer valuable insights into the industry if you are prepared to sift through a lot of fluff and pompous words (the first or second chapter is called "Pusillanimity"). I think the book could however be packaged into a more easily consumable format through the shedding of 200 pages and the distilling of its essence into standardised reviews/post mortems with a bulleted list of things to learn/avoid/watch out for

Avoiding the Crash.......2000-03-28

In this book, Tony Collins spells out the finer points of project failures. He deals with the nitty gritty of some of the most expensive computer blunders made, both in the public and private sectors, in language that is easily understood and not full of techno jargon. This book is a must for anyone, customer or developer, thinking on embarking on a computer project. Tony lists what he calls the 10 deadly sins, and explains how each sin has contributed to a particular disaster. He reveals inside information on projects like the Wessex Health Authority catastrophe which cost the taxpayer over £60m, and how the government went on to reward those responsible. Like Fred Brooks' Mythical Man Month, this book should be compulsory reading in every college and university that teaches any computer related subjects. As a third year Compute Science student at Durham University, it certainly opened my eyes.

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