Review: Filling the GlassLearn Motivational on motivational-info.com. Review: Filling the Glass article will help answer your questions on Motivational.We at motivational-info.com specialize in Motivational. Motivational at motivational-info.com provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
booksforbusiness@yahoo.com Filling the Glass: The Skeptic's Guide to Positive Thinking in Business by Barry Maher (Dearborn Trade Publishing, $19.95) Rating: $$$$$ Businesses often seem more concerned with the spin than with the reality, more concerned with what people think about the product than the product itself. Employees are constantly being told to be positive. 'Negative attitude' on an evaluation can kill a career. Positive thinking shaman crisscross the country, delivering keynotes and writing books. With cosmetically perfect smiles and televangelist hair, they explain that everything is, after all, wonderful. Let's all think happy thoughts. And the glass is-as we all know--half full not half empty. Reading the cover of Barry Maher's new book, Filling the Glass: The Skeptic's Guide to Positive Thinking in Business, you might expect more of the same. Maher is, after all, a prominent keynote speaker. And the cover blurbs are too good: 'inspiring,' 'uplifting,' 'packed with useful practical advice,' 'enlightening,' 'entertaining,' even 'laugh out loud funny.' Once you begin the book however, you'll suspect that Maher's teeth are less than perfect. He openly admits his hair is much too thin for televangelism. He says things like 'With all the money we spend on self improvement in this country, you'd think we'd all be darn close to perfect by now.' And, 'If you're absolutely, 100 percent positive, without the slightest trace of a doubt that you can do something, get a second opinion.' Filling the Glass is a business self-help book with an edge: Chicken Soup for the Skeptical Soul. It's a book for the rest of us-for those who understand the benefits of a positive attitude but deep down inside don't really believe that chanting affirmations will make our dreams come true. It's a book for those who suspect that when the boss enthuses, 'Jack has a positive attitude,' he really means, 'Jack kisses all the right posteriors and doesn't gripe about my stupidity.' Barry Maher doesn't seem at all concerned about who moved his cheese. He distrusts self-help books and business gurus. And when he holds them up to question, he holds himself up as well. Readers who loved Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun, Maher writes, will find that Maher is 'every bit as much an expert on seat-of-the-pants psychology as Attila was on rape, pillage and--I guess--twentieth century management technique.' To Maher, whether you call the glass half empty or half full, it's still only four ounces of water. The problem isn't whether it's half full or half empty, the problem is figuring out how to fill it up. Reality counts. To grow or change or improve a business, to motivate people for the long haul, you have to begin by dealing with that reality-rather than what you, the company, the CEO or the stockholders might wish were true. All the innovative--and even counter-intuitive--strategies, tactics and tips that Maher offers for improving businesses, business lives, and careers spring from that deceptively simple premise. Consider the technique he calls, Bragging about the Negatives. Are you having a problem explaining a price increase, for example? Try this: 'Are our rates expensive? Absolutely. Why do we charge so much? Because we can. Because our clients are willing to pay that much for the results we generate. Is the competition cheaper? Absolutely. But do you really think they would charge less if they could charge more? They charge less because that's what they can get for the results they generate.' No excuses, no convoluted explanations, no mealy-mouthing. Reality. If you ever want to promote an idea, a proposal or yourself, if you ever want to sell anything to anybody, the story of Clyde Thompson winning a job by bragging about his prison record is, by itself, worth the price of the book. Maher's unique perspective illuminates even the familiar in new and revealing ways. 'As far as this, I'm okay, you're okay stuff,' he writes, 'maybe you're not so okay. It's not like everybody is. The universe has produced Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer and Adolf Hitler. They weren't okay. And to be frank, I'm still not all that convinced about Attila the Hun . . . [When it comes to self esteem,] you know yourself a lot better than I do. If you don't think much of yourself, who am I to contradict you?' Oddly enough, the book's hardheaded skepticism ultimately makes it more inspirational--and more positive--not less. The ending is an emotional body blow. Filling the Glass is not perfect. Some strategies could use more amplification: two or three are worthy of books of their own. A few anecdotes seem to have been included more for their entertainment value than because they add much to the message. And occasionally, Filling the Glass yields to the self help temptation of promising more than it or any book or program can deliver. The over-promising is unnecessary, and Maher should know better. But, as he himself notes, 'Marketing has it's own truths which are often hidden from the heart.' No matter, Filling the Glass: The Skeptic's Guide to Positive Thinking in Business is a strong $$$$$: our highest recommendation. For once, the cover blurbs are right. And when Guerrilla Marketing author Jay Levinson writes that Filling the Glass should be 'required reading for any MBA program,' the proper response, even for those of us without televangelist hair, can only be 'Amen.' Books for Business Ratings $$$$$ A Must-Read, Invaluable $$$$ Well Worth the Investment $$$ Some Worthwhile Content $$ Invest Your Money Elsewhere $ Demand a Refund
|
Advice Home Business Technology Online Advertising Motivational Internet Marketing SEO Help Online Games Science Articles Happiness More Articles:1. The principle of higher self The principle of higher self copyright 2004-2005 song chengxiangI want to begin this lesson by a quote from Dr Wayne Dyer.He said this in his book 'Manifest Your Destiny'. 'Within you is a divine capacity to manifest and attractall that you need or desire.' --------Wayne DyerI am sure you will agree with me that we are not just this physical form or this body. There is something within us that is invisible and is eternal.Let me ask you a question. Are you a body with a soul or a soul with a bod… 2. Business Career, Executive, Life Coaching Article Mechanisms of the Mind (Achieving Success) Suppose that the human mind is nothing more than a bio-computer and that the function of this computer is to get its owner exactly what he says he wants.. The computer mind takes what you say very literally. So, if you say you cannot do something, the mind interprets that as a command and makes sure you cannot do it. If you say you are confused and don't know what you want, the mind makes sure you have that experience.That is why the harder we try to change, the very things we want to change per… 3. Ready, Aim...Aim...Aim Hard pulling the trigger isn't it? Due diligence is done. Research from A to Z: complete. It's time to fire. Wait. Let's just check a few more things. There's only one chance to get it right. Drop the hammer and FIRE! Talk with a small business owner and he has a hard time, sometimes, putting a plan in action. He fears failure. He loathes loss. We all do. But business is about being bold and forthright. It's about knowing you have the right product at the right time. It's about decisive action. … 4. The Self-Care Minder - Transition 'I don't know what I want (in my career / creative passion / relationships/ all of the above).''I know what I want to create next but I AM scared and I don't know how to do it so maybe this means I shouldn't do it.''I sense rumbling change brewing but I don't know what to do with this rumbling so I keep doing the same thing.''I've been in this not knowing fog for years... How do I know if I'm kidding myself? What if I never birth what's next?'Myself, I've been in a 'creative transition' for abou… |