New England Consulting Group: Global Business Practice - Interview

Gary Stibel, Founder and CEO of the New England Consulting Group, and his team were kind enough to take the time from their busy schedules to answer a few questions about the New England Consulting Group, about their Global Business Practice, and about the international management consulting industry.

Thanks to Gary Stibel, and to the team at the New England Consulting Group, for their time and for their interesting and informative responses to the questions. They are greatly appreciated.

What was the impetus for the New England Consulting Group to reorganize its Global Business Practice?

New England Consulting Group: NECG has always had global clients, but the formal organization only came recently as we have seen a surge in demand from our clients – many of which needed to recover from rushed globalization efforts which failed to deliver the stellar ROI and results they anticipated.

Have globalization and international expansion moved beyond the growth strategy level, and transformed into something entirely different?

New England Consulting Group: Globalization and international expansion are two different things at NECG. International expansion is not and should not be for everyone. It makes sense for certain businesses and not for others, depending on the costs, synergies, and potential upside. But globalization, on the other hand, is a strategic factor for everyone because of the changing nature of business, reach of communication, and location of resources. We offer clarification around these differences.

According to NECG Founder and CEO Gary Stibel, “We understand that doing business internationally is not the magic answer to guaranteed growth and, if done poorly, can be more complicated than constructive to our clients’ core businesses.”

The New England Consulting Group has created a three prong approach to optimizing the Global Business Practice. What are those three prongs and how do they benefit business clients?

New England Consulting Group: Very generally, NECG classifies clients into three buckets, each with its own set of objectives and unique approach.

1. Overseas clients that want to optimize their business in the U.S. market place (Penetration)

2. U.S.-based clients that are looking to grow beyond their current geographic footprint (Expansion)

3. Global clients that are pursuing best global category and brand practices (Optimization)

Many companies approach international business as a panacea. Does that mindset result in international business being conducted poorly, or even turning into a disaster for some companies?



Gary Stibel, Founder and CEO, New England Consulting Group (photo left)

New England Consulting Group: Yes, many companies do approach international expansion as a solution to their growth objectives. And many learn, the hard and expensive way, that it is not.

It tends to lead companies to spend money where they did not need to, and miss opportunities that may have had higher returns and strategic benefits. For example, Carrefour pulled out of select international markets in Southeast Asia because they were not performing as Carrefour had originally intended. They are focusing on their more profitable regions and redirecting their funds and efforts to Europe.

Many global operations leaders often see the impending fall before it turns into disaster, but after much money and time has been lost. NECG is hoping to reach them before that happens.

One of the areas were the New England Consulting Group has consulted is with clients in India, and with North American clients working in India. Is there a difference in the approach to these very different clients and their needs?

New England Consulting Group: Absolutely. International companies (clients in India) and Multinational Companies (North American clients working in an Indian branch) are distinctively different. The direction, leadership, priorities and strategy come from different places and perspectives. We find that there is a fine balance between how local and how global our approach has to be, depending on the type of client and the type of issue.

How much has demand for international consulting services grown in the past few years?

New England Consulting Group: It is impossible to answer that question with any precise numbers. Certainly, there is a growing demand in the BRIC markets, from local and foreign sources.

What are some of the new challenges that businesses face in the new global economy that require consultancy assistance?

One of the New England Consulting Group initiatives is the NECG 7-11 program. How does that work and how does it benefit domestic clients and businesses based around the world?

New England Consulting Group: NECG’s 7-11 program guarantees that any inquiry that comes in before 7:00PM will be responded to by 11:00AM EST the next day. We understand the complications time zones can pose, but we always get back to clients within a 12 to 16 hour time frame, no matter how far they are or how complicated their issue is.

What is next for the New England Consulting Group and the Global Business Practice?

New England Consulting Group: We recently developed several highly innovative tools for analyzing and predicting consumer behavior, and we are using them with great success. Stay tuned!

*************

The New England Consulting Group, a boutique management consulting firm based in Westport, CT, uses behavioral economics and a range of innovative marketing tools to examine and forecast consumer and business trends. We consult to a diverse range of industries (NECG’s partners’ experience adds up to more than 100 years in marketing the best-known brands), including consumer packaged goods, healthcare, retail, financial services, technology and e-commerce, among others. For more information about NECG, please visit www.necg.net.



Gary Stibel, Founder and CEO, New England Consulting Group (photo left)

Gary Stibel is the Founder & CEO of the New England Consulting Group, the premier marketing management consulting firm in the world. Gary is a prominent member of New England’s consumer packaged goods, health care, financial services, high tech, restaurant, hospitality, retail and private equity practices.
Gary’s career spans over thirty years of line management and management consulting for businesses that are marketing and sales driven for clients who are market and thought leaders.

Prior to founding the New England Consulting Group, he led the management consulting practice of Glendinning Associates (the largest marketing and sales management consulting firm in the world at the time), following multiple positions of increasing responsibility in marketing and sales management at Procter & Gamble.

Gary’s experience is focused on the development and implementation of corporate, division and brand strategies and plans. He has been equally successful consulting for small, entrepreneurial and large, sophisticated companies ranging from successful start-ups to transformational turnarounds and accelerated growth for the world’s largest corporations, in categories that are intensely competitive and extraordinarily complicated.

In recent years, Gary has consulted for over half of the world’s most admired companies, many legendary CEOs and almost all of the most valued brands on the planet. His knowledge base and analytic skills have helped countless companies and executives generate unprecedented growth and avoid costly errors.

Beyond consulting, Gary serves as a coach and mentor to many CEOs, CMOs and Boards. He is also the first choice for expert opinion on marketing and sales topics of the global business press. He is an avid game player, a voracious reader and an active volunteer. He sits on numerous boards – including local charitable, national professional, global corporate and start-up advisory boards.

He holds a BS in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Southern California, where he was a University Scholar, and an MBA in Marketing and Finance from Wharton, where he was a Chrysler Fellow. He graduated in the top 1% of his class from both schools.

Tags: New England Consulting Group, Gary Stibel, Global Business Practice, business interviews.

Robyn Tippins & Miranda Marquit: Community 101: How To Grow An Online Community - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



Community advocate Robyn Tippins and professional blogger and freelance writer Miranda Marquit, co-authors of the concise and information packed book Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community, share their authentic and meaningful methods for building a successful and sustainable online community. Through a combination of authenticity, and treating others with respect and empathy, a vibrant and engaged online community can be created and shared. The authors transfer the timeless techniques for building offline communities to building relationships online. They demonstrate why community building is important not only for the business person but for the entire organization, as well as engaging customers. The authors combine theory and ready to apply proven strategies for creating the effective online communities that benefit everyone.

Robyn Tippins and Miranda Marquit are my internet radio show guests on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Thursday, February 24, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Community advocate Robyn Tippins and professional blogger and freelance writer Miranda Marquit, co-authors of the concise and information packed book Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community, share their authentic and meaningful methods for building a successful and sustainable online community. You will learn:

* Why building an online community is important

* What an online community really means

* How to build and maintain a successful online community

* How to avoid the most common mistakes made by online community managers



Robyn Tippins (photo left) is a community advocate with over 10 years experience in the social media space. From her early days marketing her own small business using forums and email lists, to blogging, podcasting, vlogging and video game immersion, she’s often used social networking to engage and communicate. In her current role, Robyn oversees the community aspect of the external developers on the Yahoo! Developer Network.

Robyn has blogged for blog networks and corporations, podcasted for small and large businesses, worked closely with social networking sites, and advised Fortune 500 companies on social media and community. Her early podcasts featured some of the web’s most interesting and well-known Web 2.0 experts in fields such as VoIP, Technology, Open Source, Marketing, Social Networking, Video Games and Blogging.

She finds her greatest joys in moments away from her computer, spending time with her husband and four children, ages 4 to 11. She and her family reside in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California.



Miranda Marquit (photo left) is a professional blogger and freelance writer working from home. She has five years experience in the blogging and social media space, mainly providing content and support for corporate blogs. Miranda understands the importance of blogging and social media in online marketing and community building, and enjoys interacting and networking via the Internet.

In addition to professional blogging, Miranda is a freelance writer with a Journalism degree. Her work has appeared in national magazines and on news Web sites. She is also a columnist for her local newspaper. Miranda enjoys reading, music, travel, and the outdoors. Her favorite activities involve using her hobbies as a way to spend time with her husband and their six-year-old son. Miranda lives with her family in Logan, Utah.

My book review of Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community by Robyn Tippins and Miranda Marquit.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.



To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with community advocate Robyn Tippins and professional blogger and freelance writer Miranda Marquit, co-authors of the concise and information packed book Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community, as they share their authentic and meaningful methods for building a successful and sustainable online community. Through a combination of authenticity, and treating others with respect and empathy, a vibrant and engaged online community can be created and shared. The authors transfer the timeless techniques for building offline communities to building relationships online. They demonstrate why community building is important not only for the business person but for the entire organization, as well as engaging customers. The authors combine theory and ready to apply proven strategies for creating the effective online communities that benefit everyone on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community, Robyn Tippins, Miranda Marquit, building internet community, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Community 101 by Robyn Tippins & Miranda Marquit - Book review

Community 101

How to Grow an Online Community

By: Robyn Tippins, Miranda Marquit

Published: October 7, 2010
Format: Paperback, 100 pages
ISBN-10: 1600051529
ISBN-13: 978-1600051524
Publisher: Happy About









"It's difficult to believe, but a debate exists about whether or not online, or 'virtual' communities are 'real'", write community advocate Robyn Tippins, and professional blogger and freelance writer Miranda Marquit, in their concise and information packed book Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community. The authors describe not only what online communities are, but also what it really means to build community.



Robyn Tippins (photo left) and Miranda Marquit recognize the importance of building community, whether that community exists online or in the bricks and mortar world. The authors point out that many of the tried and true community building techniques from the offline world can be adapted effectively to the web. They also present the new rules of online building that are different from those utilized offline. A community is much more than a static website, but includes dynamic conversations with others. Through blogs, social media, and online forums, the landscape for community building has many new features. Understanding these visibility enhancing tools, that build relationships with potential community members, creates an opportunity for business growth. The authors caution the business person to look beyond this simple return on investment equation, and consider different measurements of success.



Miranda Marquit (photo left) and Robyn Tippins understand that one of the keys, to successful community building, is knowing that people like to feel as though they belong to something important. Through careful nurturing of an online community, the authors suggest that a business can create fans and supporters. They are more than customers. They feel they are part of the brand and the company. They form the community. The authors caution, however, that the members loyalty will begin with the community, and may not include the brand or company at first. Failing to listen to the fans, and create conversation with them, can also result in the community falling apart. To help build a fan filled community, the authors share valuable and practical advice for creating and maintaining a strong and healthy community. The authors emphasize five areas of successful community building:

* Use straight talk
* Use your community members for positive change
* Visibility
* Tweak
* Remember the Golden Rule

For me, the power of the book is how Robyn Tippins and Miranda Marquit combine the theory of successful online community building, with practical advice for creating and maintaining that community. The authors present a solid format for developing online communities through a combination of ideas from the offline world with the new rules of internet based communities. The book contains the nuts and bolts of establishing an online community presence, as well as demonstrating why that community is so critical to success. The authors share concepts that include being seen online, adding new community members, caring for those members, and for avoiding the pitfalls that can destroy an otherwise well run community.

Miranda Marquit and Robyn Tippins follow their own advice, and offer straight talk on the mistakes that are made regularly, by both novice and experienced community builders. The authors also provide a solid theoretical framework as to why community is important, and what community really means in an online context. The book contains some very helpful case studies that underline the message shared by the author in each chapter. For business people unsure about the role of social media in general, and for community building in particular, the authors provides handy tips for using social media the right way. At the same time, the authors point to what not to do with social media, including advice on not spreading spam or begging blatantly for links. Overall, the book delivers on its promise.

I highly recommend the useful and well organized book Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community by Robyn Tippins and Miranda Marquit,to anyone serious about building online community the right way. This book teaches both the first time and the long time online community manager how to build a vibrant community, filled with highly motivated fans.

Read the practical and meaningful book Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community by
Miranda Marquit and Robyn Tippins, and discover the power of online community for creating fans and evangelists. The authors show you how online community is not only the now of business, but also your company's future as well.

Tags: Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community, Robyn Tippins, Miranda Marquit, building internet community, business book reviews.

Alan Fine: You Already Know How To Be Great - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



Trainer, coach, consultant, President of InsideOut Development, and author of the insightful and very pragmatic book You Already Know How to Be Great: A Simple Way to Remove Interference and Unlock Your Greatest Potential, Alan Fine shares the tools for rapid improvement in any area of your life. Alan Fine points out that when we face a new challenge, we usually respond by seeking new information. He offers the insight that the biggest obstacle to performance isn't not knowing what to do. Instead, the problem is thinking too hard about what you already know. Instead of concerning our self with gathering external information, we must overcome our own internal obstacles instead. Alan Fine calls this the Inside-Out approach. He describes how to apply this principle effectively to your own internal roadblocks. Learn the three key factors to improving your personal performance. You already know how to be great.

Alan Fine is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, February 22, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Trainer, coach, consultant, President of InsideOut Development, and author of the insightful and very pragmatic book You Already Know How to Be Great: A Simple Way to Remove Interference and Unlock Your Greatest Potential, Alan Fine shares the tools for rapid improvement in any area of your life. You will learn:

* Why people really fail to achieve breakthroughs in performance levels

* Why overcoming internal obstacles solves external problems

* How to apply the Outside-In GROW process

* How to achieve real breakthroughs and solutions to any problems



Alan Fine (photo left) is an author, world-renowned performance coach to high-profile leaders and athletes, and Founder and President of InsideOut Development. He shows you and your organization how to achieve significantly higher levels of performance through revolutionary tools and practices.

In addition to being a popular trainer and speaker, Alan has spent the last 25 years as a mental performance/focus coach to top professional tennis players and golfers, musicians, and corporate executives.

Alan Fine's approach to breakthrough performance has been used for over two decades by some of the most well respected companies in the world, including IBM, P&G, Sprint, 3M, GAP, Honeywell, Oracle, Thompson, and many others.

My book review of You Already Know How to Be Great: A Simple Way to Remove Interference and Unlock Your Greatest Potential by Alan Fine.

Listen live on Tuesday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.



To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with trainer, coach, consultant, President of InsideOut Development, and author of the insightful and very pragmatic book You Already Know How to Be Great: A Simple Way to Remove Interference and Unlock Your Greatest Potential, Alan Fine, as he shares the tools for rapid improvement in any area of your life. Alan Fine points out that when we face a new challenge, we usually respond by seeking new information. He offers the insight that the biggest obstacle to performance isn't not knowing what to do. Instead, the problem is thinking too hard about what you already know. Instead of concerning our self with gathering external information, we must overcome our own internal obstacles instead. Alan Fine calls this the Inside-Out approach. He describes how to apply this principle effectively to your own internal roadblocks. Learn the three key factors to improving your personal performance. You already know how to be great on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: You Already Know How to Be Great: A Simple Way to Remove Interference and Unlock Your Greatest Potential, Alan Fine, personal leadership, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

You Already Know How To Be Great by Alan Fine - Book review

You Already Know How to Be Great

A Simple Way to Remove Interference and Unlock Your Greatest Potential

By: Alan Fine

Published: October 14, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
ISBN-10: 1591843553
ISBN-13: 978-1591843559
Publisher: Portfolio/Penguin












"The biggest obstacle in performance isn't not knowing what to do; it's not doing what we know", writes corporate trainer, executive coach, and founder and President of Inside-Out Development Alan Fine in his insightful and very pragmatic book You Already Know How to Be Great: A Simple Way to Remove Interference and Unlock Your Greatest Potential. The author describes how people, when faced with a challenge in business or in life, tend to make the mistake of looking to outside sources of knowledge and information to overcome the problem.

Alan Fine understands the desire to gain additional information and to acquire new knowledge. This is the usual approach that most people take to finding solutions to problems. The author points out, however, that this outside-in technique doesn't work. Alan Fine writes that the problem isn't about getting more information, but rather about executing already existing knowledge effectively. Alan Fine offers the encouraging idea that we already possess the ideas and knowledge needed for achieving a breakthrough improvement in our personal and business performance. For Alan Fine, the real issue is the internal barricade we create for ourselves. Only by overcoming these internal roadblocks, that sap our confidence and prevent us from using our existing knowledge effectively, can we really achieve that necessary boost in our performance levels.



Alan Fine (photo left) recognizes that most people, when faced with a problem, utilize the outer directed concept of seeking new information. In place of this method, the author proposes an effective and surprising alternative. Alan Fine writes that the true issue is internal to the person, and that adding more knowledge and information will not solve the problem. It may even make the problem an even more difficult challenge. In place of the inside-out technique, Alan Fine proposes his Outside-In approach based on the combining of knowledge with the three principles of Faith in our own ability, Fire and our own passion and commitment, and Focus of our concentration on the solution. The Outside-In approach is codified into the GROW process of Goal setting, Reality acknowledgment, Option identification, and Way Forward choices. While most people already utilize these concepts in their problem solving techniques, Alan Fine writes that they are not used effectively, undercutting the chances of an important performance breakthrough.

For me, the power of the book is how Alan Fine identifies the real internal barrier to achieving superior performance, and offers a practical and useful process for overcoming these self created roadblocks. The author provides an excellent theoretical framework for the concept that people create their own internal obstacles. To compensate, the usual strategy is to acquire more knowledge, but Alan Fine demonstrates clearly why this is a failed technique. The author offers an effective, and simply to apply practical alternative to the usual attempts at performance enhancement. He provides the useful and effective GROW process that transforms a person's thinking from seeking external solutions, to overcoming internal barriers to improvement instead.

Alan Fine combines the theoretical with the practical effectively, and in a manner that encourages the actual application of the Outside-In approach. The author goes far beyond the usual platitudes usually offered up in personal development books, and provides real analysis of the problem. With the internal issues identified clearly, the person is then able to apply the GROW formula effectively to achieve a very noticeable and quantifiable boost in their performance. A book that is both strong on analysis and pragmatic advice is rare, but this book delivers on that promise very well.

I highly recommend the truly helpful and transformational book You Already Know How to Be Great: A Simple Way to Remove Interference and Unlock Your Greatest Potential by Alan Fine, to anyone who feels they have exhausted the usual, shop worn solutions to meeting the challenges of business, community, and of life. This book offers a powerful and practical alternative approach, that while being counter-intuitive, is easy to apply and is results oriented.

Read the idea changing and performance breakthrough building book You Already Know How to Be Great: A Simple Way to Remove Interference and Unlock Your Greatest Potential by Alan Fine, and discover the importance of seeking to better execute your existing knowledge, than to chase ever more outside information. Instead of looking externally for solutions, this book will guide you toward overcoming your more performance stifling inner obstacles.

Tags: You Already Know How to Be Great: A Simple Way to Remove Interference and Unlock Your Greatest Potential, Alan Fine, personal leadership, business book reviews.

Neil Howe: Millennials In The Workplace - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



National speaker and the foremost expert on generations, co-founder of LifeCourse Associates, and author of the insightful and very practical book Millennials in the Workplace: Human Resource Strategies for a New Generation, Neil Howe, offers insights into the importance of the Millennial generation to the workplace. Neil shares cutting edge strategies to recruit, train and motivate today's incoming youth workforce. He describes the factors that have made this important generation such a powerful force for the future of business, government, and education. Neil Howe debunks popular myths that surround the Millennials, and why the media and some employers have it all wrong. Instead of being a liability, discover how today's young employees represent an asset and an opportunity for any employer.

Neil Howe is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Thursday, February 17, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

National speaker and the foremost expert on generations, co-founder of LifeCourse Associates, and author of the insightful and very practical book Millennials in the Workplace: Human Resource Strategies for a New Generation, Neil Howe, offers insights into the importance of the Millennial generation to the workplace. You will learn:

* Who forms the Millennial Generation and why they are important

* Why the Millennials are different from Baby Boomers and Generation X employees

* The seven core traits that define members of the Millennial generation

* Why adding Millennials to the workplace presents a powerful opportunity



Neil Howe (photo left) best-selling author and national speaker, is a renowned authority on generations in America. He gives readers and audiences powerful insights into who today’s generation are, what motivates them as consumers and workers, and how they will shape our national future. He is a great choice for any forward-looking organization that wants to grasp the big picture. Howe’s broadly cyclical perspective—oriented around familiar generational life stories—will put “the long term” into a stunning yet personal focus that will not soon be forgotten.

A historian, economist, and demographer, Howe is a founding partner of the consulting firm LifeCourse Associates. He is a marketing, personnel, and government affairs consultant to corporate and nonprofit clients, and has spoken and written extensively on the collective personalities of today’s generations—who they are, what motivates them, and how they will shape America’s future. He is also a recognized authority on global aging, long-term fiscal policy, and migration. His current titles include: senior advisor to the Concord Coalition and senior associate to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.

Howe has coauthored several books on generations with William Strauss, all best sellers widely used by businesses, colleges, government agencies, and political leaders of both parties. Their first book Generations (1991) is a history of America told as a sequence of generational biographies. Generations, said Newsweek, is “a provocative, erudite, and engaging analysis of the rhythms of American life.” Vice President Al Gore called it “the most simulating book on American history that I have ever read” and sent a copy to every member of Congress. Newt Gingrich called it “an intellectual tour de force.” Howe’s second book on generations, 13th Gen (1993) remains the best-selling nonfiction book ever written about Generation X. Of Howe and Strauss’s third book, The Fourth Turning (1997) Dan Yankelovich said, “Immensely stimulating…We will never be able to think about history in the same way.” The Boston Globe wrote, “If Howe and Strauss are right, they will take their place among the great American prophets.”

Howe and Strauss originally coined the term "Millennial Generation." Their fourth book, Millennials Rising (2000), has been widely quoted in the media for its insistence that today’s new crop of teens and kids are very different from Generation X, and, on the whole, doing much better than most adults think. “Forget Generation X-and Y, for that matter,” says The Washington Post, “The authors make short work of most media myths that shape our perceptions of kids these days.” LifeCourse Associates has since released several application books on Millennials—including a Recruiting Millennials Handbook for the United States Army (2001), Millennials Go To College (2003, 2007), Millennials and the Pop Culture (2005), Millennials and K-12 Schools (2008), and Millennials in the Workplace: Human Resource Strategies for a New Generation (2010). Neil Howe’s work with Millennials in colleges and in the military was recently featured by CBS’ 60 MINUTES.

Previously, with Peter G. Peterson, Howe coauthored On Borrowed Time (1989; reissued 2004), a pioneering call for budgetary reform. According to Harvard’s Martin Feldstein, former Chairman of the President’s Council on Economic Advisors, “This book should be read by everyone who wants to understand how government spending can be controlled."

Howe’s articles have appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, American Demographics, USA Weekend, and other national publications. He has drafted several Social Security reform plans and testified on entitlements many times before Congress. He has written extensively on budget policy and aging and on attitudes toward economic growth, social progress, and stewardship. He coedits the “Facing Facts” faxletter for the Concord Coalition and coauthors numerous studies for CSIS (including the Global Aging Initiative’s Aging Vulnerability Index and The Graying of the Middle Kingdom: The Economics and Demographics of Retirement Policy in China). In 2008, he co-authored The Graying of the Great Powers with Richard Jackson.

Howe grew up in California, received his B.A. at U.C. Berkeley, studied abroad in France and Germany, and later earned graduate degrees in economics (M.A., 1978) and history (M.Phil., 1979) from Yale University.

My book review of Millennials in the Workplace: Human Resource Strategies for a New Generation by Neil Howe with Reena Nadler.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.



To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with national speaker and the foremost expert on generations, co-founder of LifeCourse Associates, and author of the insightful and very practical book Millennials in the Workplace: Human Resource Strategies for a New Generation, Neil Howe, as he offers insights into the importance of the Millennial generation to the workplace. Neil shares cutting edge strategies to recruit, train and motivate today's incoming youth workforce. He describes the factors that have made this important generation such a powerful force for the future of business, government, and education. Neil Howe debunks popular myths that surround the Millennials, and why the media and some employers have it all wrong. Instead of being a liability, discover how today's young employees represent an asset and an opportunity for any employer on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Millennials in the Workplace: Human Resource Strategies for a New Generation, Neil Howe, Reena Nadler, personnel management, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Millennials in the Workplace by Neil Howe with Reena Nadler - Book review

Millennials in the Workplace

Human Resource Strategies for a New Generation

By: Neil Howe with Reena Nadler

Published: March 2010
Format: Paperback, 256 pages
ISBN-10: 0971260648
ISBN-13: 978-0971260641
Publisher: LifeCourse Associates







"As the Millennial Generation (born since 1982) graduates from schools and colleges and fills the ranks of the entry-level workforce, older Americans are beginning to take notice", write national speaker, renowned authority on generations in America and co-founder of Lifecourse Associates, Neil Howe, and Program Director at Lifecourse Associates Reena Nadler, in their insightful and very practical book Millennials in the Workplace: Human Resource Strategies for a New Generation. The authors identify who the the Millennials are, why their behavior and work style is often misunderstood, and how to transform these younger employees into an asset and opportunity for the organization



Neil Howe (photo left) and Reena Nadler present an alternative view of the Millennial generation from the confused opinions prevalent in the modern workplace. With most managers and employees belonging to the Baby Boom and Generation X cohorts, the arrival of the Millennials has shocked managers and co-workers alike. With older employees not understanding the Millennials, the usual management position has been one where the young workers are seen as both a challenge and even a liability. The authors describe how this attitude is not only misguided, but one that may miss out on a tremendous opportunity. While there are many myths that have grown up about Millennial employees, the authors point out that the core traits of the young employees offer a fresh perspective and some valuable strengths to enhance any company. This book dispels the myths, and demonstrates the critical importance of understanding the Millennial generation, and how their core skills and values represent the future of the organization.



Reena Nadler (photo left) and Neil Howe describe the seven core traits of the Millennial generation in a positive light. Unlike most media and employer opinion, where Millennial values are considered a problem, the authors share their research and experience that offers an entirely different portrait of a misunderstood generation. The seven core traits that define the Millennials are:

* Special
* Sheltered
* Confident
* Team Oriented
* Conventional
* Pressured
* Achieving

These are not traits, according to the authors, that are associated with the Silent, Baby Boom, or Generation X cohorts. They are the traits usually associated with the GI Generation that formed society in the postwar era. Generations, and their differences, are nothing new in business and community life. They have existed through the entire history of America. Generations are more than just phases of life. Different generations behave in very unique ways are the various stages of their lives. Generations may be shaped by history, but at the same time, they also create history through their actions. the Millennial generation promises to make an important mark upon history and organizations, just like all other generations before them.

For me, the power of the book is how Neil Howe and Reena Nadler not only describe the Millennial generation and its traits, but also apply that information to how they can excel in the workplace. The authors back up their practical advice for employers with a combination of theory and comprehensive generational research data. At the same time, the book contains an unprecedented in depth examination of the seven core traits of the Millennials against a backdrop of Neil Howe's groundbreaking generational research. This overall larger generational framework places the Millennial generation in the greater historical context, comparing them to the high achieving GI Generation. This larger generational perspective sets this book apart from other books that offer advice on workplace generational interaction.

I highly recommend the definitive and must read book Millennials in the Workplace: Human Resource Strategies for a New Generation by Neil Howe with Reena Nadler, to anyone serious about really understanding the potential and tremendous opportunity offered by the addition of Millennial generation employees to the workplace. Their skills and important generational traits provide a bright future for any organization that embraces these high achieving young employees.

Read the essential and important book Millennials in the Workplace: Human Resource Strategies for a New Generation by Neil Howe with Reena Nadler, and discover how to put the tremendous potential of the Millennial generation to work in your organization. These dynamic young employees offer an opportunity that will benefit any organization, and put them in the forefront of their industry for years to come.

Tags: Millennials in the Workplace: Human Resource Strategies for a New Generation, Neil Howe, Reena Nadler, personnel management, business book reviews.

Stephen Epstein, Chief Marketing Officer at Avistar Communications - Interview

Stephen Epstein, Chief Marketing Officer, of unified visual communications industry innovation company Avistar Communications Corporation, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about his company's groundbreaking study of visual communications trends the rapidly growing field of desktop videoconferencing.

Stephen Epstein describes the reasons for companies using videoconferencing and shared some of the advantages and disadvantages of the system. He also gazed into the crystal ball and shared some of his thoughts on the future of videoconferencing and of communications in general.

Thanks to Stephen Epstein for his time, and for his informative and comprehensive answers.

Thanks as well to Norman Birnbach of Birbach Communications, Inc., and his team, for their assistance in facilitating this interview.

What was the background to this groundbreaking study of visual communications trends?

Stephen Epstein: Each year, as part of our marketing efforts, we look at market conditions to help us focus our efforts. For the last two years, in the spirit of the social media age we live in, in which it is important to share perspective and insight, we've issued some of our insight regarding the more mainstream part of the visual communications market.

Briefly, how does videoconferencing fit in as a unified communications tool?

Stephen Epstein: Technology has given us a number of different ways to communicate – email, instant messaging (IM), and audio or phone and video. Many of those communication methods have been available as standalone services. Leading Unified Communications (UC) systems like Microsoft OCS and Lync and IBM Lotus Sametime integrate different communications services into one solution so that you can IM with someone you're talking to via videoconferencing without having to open a new window. The next step, we believe, is to integrate communications into key points of the business process, known as communications-embedded business processes or CEBP.

Is videoconferencing growing in prominence to the point of being everywhere?

Stephen Epstein: Absolutely. Videoconferencing has captured people's imaginations since AT&T unveiled the videophone at the 1964 World's Fair, and again a few years later on "Star Trek." But the technology wasn't there. It is now, and thanks to free consumer video chat services like Skype and FaceTime, videoconferencing is available everywhere.

Is interoperability becoming an issue for creating bridge standards to use different systems together?

Stephen Epstein: We see interoperability – the ability for technology to work across different systems, platforms, etc. – as being a big issue. The reason is partly due to the technology: closed systems have fewer issues and work better, and partly due to a business decision that bets that companies can sell more when customers are locked into one platform and can't buy a low-cost generic alternative. So current UC systems have been built as proprietary systems to limit connections to other systems. The problem is that people need to connect to people at other companies, who may be using a different platform.

To put this in context, imagine you're a Verizon customer and that the only way you can connect to an AT&T customer is to buy a separate phone and service plan and now you need to call a Comcast customer. The industry had addressed this before, and will again need to tackle the interoperability issue. The alternative – focusing customers to develop ways to bridge standards, media processing and signaling at their own cost – is unacceptable.

Is there a trend toward companies having to bridge standards at their own cost, or is that potential for added cost disappearing as a barrier to using visual solutions?

Stephen Epstein: Companies need to communicate. They need their employees to collaborate, even if they're in different locations, and that is more often the case these days. They need to develop relationships with customers and manage vender relationships. Right now, companies have to either figure out an acceptable compromise or determine a way to bridge the standards themselves. Ultimately, the UC developers will need to find a solution to the interoperability issue. However, because the Avistar C3™ solutions are interoperable, we're not finding that a barrier for customer adoption. Companies want videoconferencing solutions that can work across different systems.



Stephen Epstein (photo left)

Many business people think of videoconferencing from their own offices. Do you see an increase of mobile videoconferencing from anywhere?

Stephen Epstein: Absolutely, videoconferencing has moved from the conference room to the desktop, and from the desktop to the laptop and from the laptop to smartphones and tablets, thanks to the multitude of tablet devices hitting the market and the further roll-out of 4G networks. What we expect to see is the influence of consumer videoconferencing on businesses, as employees who use mobile videoconferencing in their personal lives push for the same capability at work. Videoconferencing has emerged as a must-have solution for business people at offices or on the go, as it provides smart, ubiquitous visual communications – anywhere, anytime, anyplace.

Is there a movement to thinner and less bulky hardware for videoconferencing?

Stephen Epstein: Absolutely. At the consumer level the just-announced iPad2 will be thinner and lighter and contain a front-facing camera for videoconference calls. At the business level, we’re seeing continued adoption of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), which entails delivering a thin client – which may be not much more than a screen and a keyboard with access to all the data and applications hosted on a remote server. This movement will continue to gain momentum as businesses work to control costs while delivering software tools that employees need to do their jobs effectively.

How are the trends in videoconferencing affecting corporate networks?

Stephen Epstein: The big issue is bandwidth management. As demand and usage surge, companies will face pressure to provide increased videoconferencing services. The challenge will be to how to accommodate the demand for videoconferencing while ensuring that critical business applications, that also require bandwidth, are not adversely affected in a battle of the bandwidth. Companies will need to select communications solutions that provide robust bandwidth management, call admission control, user policy support, threshold and utilization modeling, in addition to extensive report and forecasting capabilities.

What was the most surprising result arising from the study?

Stephen Epstein: The impact that consumer technology is playing on enterprise software is really surprising. It used to be that software was developed to serve businesses and then expanded into the consumer market. These days, the look-and-feel of consumer software serves as a template for business software. And, of course, while Avistar has been developing videoconference technology for 16 years, free consumer services have really moved the market forward in a short time.

What is the future of videoconferencing?

Stephen Epstein: Convergence will be seen with videoconferencing popping up as a function in non-traditional devices, such as smart whiteboards and a variety of new and innovative devices, so that people can communicate and collaborate regardless of device, location and/or network capacity. A lot of videoconference solutions are still based on a hardware model of traditional telephony. But the future will require all-software solutions because of their cost-efficiency and high quality. For example, Avistar’s all-software approach lowers procurement and deployment costs by as much as 200%.

What sort of visual solutions will businesses large and small be seeking this year?

Stephen Epstein: Businesses will feel pressure from their employees for the ability to conduct videoconferencing at work. But companies have different requirements from consumers. Smart businesses will evaluate business-class solutions that provide high quality video and audio – because that's what customers expect. They'll need bandwidth management tools and security that aren't available with the free services. And they need the ability to place ad-hoc multiparty calls and the ability to share documents on each employee’s computer screen.

What is next for Stephen Epstein and Avistar in 2011?

Stephen Epstein: There's a tremendous amount of interest in videoconferencing. I think as an industry, we've finally reached the tipping point, and that's very exciting. We're looking forward to working with our customers, technology partners like IBM, Tandberg (now part of Cisco), Polycom, Logitech and LifeSize, and resellers and distributors to continue to push videoconferencing forward. Once people get used to it, they really like videoconferencing, and see for themselves that it's a big improvement over audio phone calls. It's a great time to be in the industry.

**************

Stephen Epstein, Chief Marketing Officer, joined Avistar Communications Corporation in January 2008 and is responsible for the company’s marketing, product and account management functions. Prior to Avistar he was Vice President, Head of Product Management at Mantas, Inc., where he was responsible for global product strategy, managing product requirements, defining go to market plans and marketing strategy, while continually evaluating the financial services market in order to provide a clear and decisive direction for Mantas’ business.

Prior to joining Mantas, Stephen Epstein was Head of Product & Business Development at Bang Networks where he spearheaded product and business development efforts, focusing on delivering real-time information distribution products. Prior to that he held senior-level management and product development positions including Head of Global Foreign Exchange Sales Technology and Group CTO at Deutsche Bank.

Tags: Avistar Communications Corporation, Stephen Epstein, desktop videoconferencing, business interviews.

Al Weatherhead: The Power of Adversity - Author interview

Albert J. Weatherhead, chairman and CEO of Weatherchem, a private manufacturer of plastic closures for food, spice, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about his inspirational and deeply moving book The Power of Adversity: Tough Times Can Make You Stronger, Wiser, and Better.

Al Weatherhead describes how the serious and life changing, and even life threatening power of adversity can transform a person through the experience of dramatic personal growth.

Thanks to Al Weatherhead for his time, and for his fascinating and comprehensive responses to the questions. They are greatly appreciated.



What was the background to writing this book The Power of Adversity: Tough Times Can Make You Stronger, Wiser, and Better?

Al Weatherhead: I’ve had my share of major adversity. I have been a drunk. I’ve endured failed business ventures… failed marriages… and I’ve suffered the terrors of clinical depression, crippling arthritis and terrifying heart disease.

I had sunk as low as I thought one could go. Then things turned around for me. Today, for example, I am a recovered alcoholic. I’m deeply in love with my wife. I have conquered both my depression and my arthritis, and my body now shows no physical evidence of heart disease. In addition, I’ve been able to build a multi-million dollar manufacturing company that provided me with the means to be a major philanthropist, endowing hospitals, universities and charities which offer valuable help to thousands of people.

Why was I able to persevere over my adversity? This question tormented and fascinated me. What did I do in my life that I wasn’t doing when adversity was threatening to overwhelm me? How had I changed?

My introspection provided me with a sudden illumination. I came to understand the power of adversity and some of the lessons it can teach us, starting with the all important truth that we are not meant, in the grand scheme of life, to be happy and comfortable. Rather, we are meant to forge our characters on the anvil of adversity.

And so I formulated the premises of this book, which is that most of us experience monumental periods of adversity and it’s these devastating setbacks which propel us in our quest to become fully and creatively human. Sometimes we get stuck, so stuck, in fact, that only great pain will impel us to move. It’s then that the power of adversity is revealed. But to see it requires a new way of looking at the world, a radical shifting of perspective, which share with readers of my book.

What do you mean by adversity, and does it mean different things for different people?

Al Weatherhead: In my book I’m not talking about daily irritations such as traffic jams, computer glitches, and so on. We can usually shrug those off pretty well. I’m referring to tragic, life-changing adversity like cancer, divorce, and getting fired.

Such major adversity can drive any of us to contemplate the unthinkable: committing suicide quickly with a gun, a razor blade or an overdose of pills, or killing ourselves more slowly but just as effectively, by drowning our pain in booze, or obliterating it, along with our minds, with mood-altering addictive drugs.

Of course, a person’s sense of a particular adversity will depend on their circumstances and personalities. For some, a divorce is an adversity to be shrugged off. For others, separating from a spouse can be devastating. But whatever we our particular adversity, when we embrace our problems using my techniques we can empower ourselves to achieve unimagined success.

You recommend embracing adversity while most people would prefer to avoid it. Why is embracing adversity so important?

Al Weatherhead: Alcoholics Anonymous taught me that the easiest (and most useless) response for a drunk is the geographical cure: go somewhere else and hide. Temporarily the problems seem to diminish, but wherever you go, your problems always go with you. Such an escape is a delusion.

Geographical cures –like all forms of problem avoidance – only change the external circumstances of adversity, but the interior roads of negative motivation and emotion remain unexplored. That’s why our adversity would like nothing more than for us to try to avoid it. The more we do so, the stronger its negative influence becomes.

So resist the temptation to avoid your adversity. Instead, embrace it! Temper yourself on the anvil of your adversity using my techniques and you’ll move ever closer to mastering your troubles, and be that much more at peace.



Al Weatherhead (photo left)

You describe adversity as building walls to tear down. What do you mean by that?

Al Weatherhead: When you let adversity build walls around you, you have the safety of those walls. But you can’t see out. And nobody can see in. You may think you’re in a fortress. But you’re really in a prison enduring solitary confinement.

My illnesses gave me the wake-up calls I needed in this regard. Until I got sick with rheumatoid arthritis I thought I could conquer anything and everything. I didn’t need anybody, and booze would get me through. But getting sick the way I did – first with RA and then with heart disease – showed me that I needed help if I was going to make it, and I became willing to ask for it. This was something I had to learn how to do, and I’m glad I did, because it changed my life.

Tearing down the walls of adversity by reaching out to others isn’t the only way to progress. You can also escape adversity’s shadow by finding something – anything –you think you can do to tackle the problem you’re confronting. I present a methodology for doing this in my book.

Suffice to say that the adversity we perceive as an exterior problem is often really the symptom of a problem deep within ourselves. It is only by tearing down the walls of adversity that those deep-rooted issues will at long last be revealed, advancing us on our journey to master adversity.

The economy is going through a difficult period, yet you see opportunity where others see dismay. Why do you consider this time to be an opportunity?

Al Weatherhead: First and foremost, life is nothing but opportunities that may come to us disguised as adversity. Second, as with personal adversity, professional adversity is not a curse, but a gift. When we embrace professional adversity during touch economic times, we receive a tempering of our professional viability that can empower us to achieve unimagined success.

The tips I share in my book on how to be proactive concerning adversity can help any businessperson leverage adversity to reach new heights of professional success in a tough economy. For example, we’ve talked a little bit about tearing down the walls that adversity builds. One can apply that lesson in business by networking with colleagues or collaborating with employees.

If you’re looking for work, proactively reach out to others for help and your options will multiply. If you are a business owner and your business is currently suffering, walk around and talk to all your employees. Ask: How can we improve this place? What’s wrong here?

Tear down the walls and I guarantee you will get more valuable information in just a few hours than you could possibly act upon in a year!

When a businessperson uses my advice, he or she can seize myriad opportunities and become the master of adversity during tough economic times – as well as when financial prosperity once again returns, which I’m confident it will.

You see problem solving as a joy. That view is not shared by everyone. Why do you suggest looking at problem solving in a fresh and positive light?

Al Weatherhead: As I said above, life’s opportunities and adversities are two sides of the same coin, so we certainly can’t avoid problem solving. If that’s the case, why not make it a joy by looking at our problems in a fresh and positive light?

When I have a problem to solve, I don’t say, I have to do it. I say, I have it to do. This helps me take control of my adversity – and my life.

If you think that’s just semantics, please think again. Your adversity is real. It can’t be banished. But it can be transformed by your perspective!

As I explain in my book, this shifting of perspective allows ones to look at life, what happens to us and what we do in a profoundly different way, which is a primary step to mastering adversity.

As the Baby Boom enters to what is considered traditionally to be the retirement years, you suggest an alternative way of looking at life changes. Is traditional retirement the only option?

Al Weatherhead: Of course traditional retirement is not the only option! I believe age is a state of mind. What’s more, if you embrace practicing my approach to dealing with life’s trials and tribulations, you’ll discover a personal fountain of youth that will provide you with the physical, spiritual and emotional energy to experience the world with a child’s wonder and delight.

The number one factor to maintaining your youth is to develop a youthful perspective – by keeping a positive mindset. The mind, overwhelmed by fear, can be like a drop of mercury on a table, slithering and breaking into wildly evasive squirts and pieces. On the other hand, the mind when positively rooted in a deep passion for life, is more certain and powerful than the forces which rotate the earth.

You will go a long way toward overcoming your adversities that do so much to age you when you avail yourself of the power of positive thinking. I know this to be true because it is that same power that enabled me to control my alcoholism, beat arthritis and accomplish what was once considered impossible: total reversal of heart disease.

You see, staying young is all about choice. So choose to be young – or restore your youth – by thinking positively with the right imagery. Decide now to regain the healing optimism we all once had as infants learning to walk, when we took our first albeit wobbly but determined steps into our bright futures!

Many business people, after building a successful company, fail to have a succession plan. Why is this the case and what should they do about it?

Al Weatherhead: Succession planning is difficult to tackle because it forces you to confront your own mortality by changing your mindset to visualize the day when you will no longer be around.

Tension, conflict, fear, emotional hurt – all the hallmarks of adversity – will be with you every step of the way in succession planning. But like it or not, change is coming. Get moving right away to confront it. The sooner you begin to address the complexities of succession planning, the longer you’ll have to be around to help the transition go smoothly for your business.

How can new leaders be groomed the right way to make a seamless transition to a new generation of leaders for the company?

Al Weatherhead: Your business is a living, breathing, growing thing, and so should be your relationship with your new management team. You know best the heartbeat of your company, and if you hire executive talent who share the rhythms of that heartbeat, they will enthusiastically and successfully lead your company – if you allow them do so!

Give your new team free rein to explore (under your benevolent watchfulness) even the seemingly dumbest ideas. One of two things will happen. Either they will surprise and delight you by persuading you that their notions are sound, or your patience will be rewarded as your questioning and prodding guides them to realize for themselves that their proposed course of action is ill-advised.

Bottom line: let your new team have the time and space to take root; to let them realize their own great successes and small failures as they learn for themselves the practical business lessons that you once had to learn. It’s my bet that your new team will take far less time than you took to master those lessons!

What is the first step a person should take toward taking a more positive approach to adversity in these seemingly difficult times?

Al Weatherhead: The most important advice I can give is to take advantage of all the new opportunities presented in your personal unending stream – and infinite bounty – of adversity. Remember:

* Adversity is all powerful – either it creates misery or destroys it.
* Adversity will always hurt – it is up to us to transform that hurt into limitless freedom and positive transformation
* Adversity is the bridge that can carry us to our future – where we can live fully, bravely and meaningfully in the world.

Approach your adversity with enthusiasm and a “can-do” positve spirit and you’ll be buoyed along the river of life with its inevitable daily surprises – good and bad.

What is next for Al Weatherhead?

Al Weatherhead: At my age you would probably forgive me if I chose to spend my time reminiscing about the past... If I lost myself in happy, misty reveries of days spent with old and dear friends... But for me, that could never be. I relish the present moment and planning for the future!

Over 40 years ago I started my company with faith, trust, enthusiasm, energy – and one product for two customers. Today I still revel in going to work each day in the best plastics closure company in America!

On a typical day I may chat with a plant worker and feel the surge of human connection... engage in one of my philanthropic causes and experience the sweetness of knowing that I am making a positive difference in the world...swim laps in a pool, scudding through the water like a cloud through the blue sky as I meditate on the miracle and mantra of my breathing…and end each day talking with my wife, sharing all that has passed between us and anticipating all that is yet to come...

All these great old and new joys I owe to my blessed enemy, adversity. My life is not perfect. No life can be. Adversity still haunts and taunts me. But I will never let it suck me back into the shadows. Instead, I will continue to grow by taking advantage of all the new opportunities presented to me by my own, personal unending stream – and infinite bounty – of adversity.

***********************

My book review of The Power of Adversity: Tough Times Can Make You Stronger, Wiser, and Better by Al Weatherhead with Fred Feldman.

Albert J. Weatherhead is the author of The Power of Adversity: Tough Times Can Make You Stronger, Wiser, and Better and chairman and CEO of Weatherchem, a private manufacturer of plastic closures for food, spice, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products. Please visit www.powerofadversity.net or www.weatherchem.com for more information.

Tags: The Power of Adversity: Tough Times Can Make You Stronger, Wiser, and Better, Al Weatherhead, personal leadership, business author interviews.

The Power of Adversity by Al Weatherhead with Fred Feldman - Book review

The Power of Adversity

Tough Times Can Make You Stronger, Wiser, and Better

By: Al Weastherhead, Fred Feldman

Published: April 25, 2008
Format: Hardcover, 192 pages
ISBN-10: 1571745629
ISBN-13: 978-1571745620
Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing Company











"We face adversity every day. We spend most of our lives trying to bounce back from it", write chairman and CEO of Weatherchem and founder of the Weatherhead Foundation, Al Weatherhead, and consultant, prolific author, and creative thought leader Fred Feldman, in their inspirational and moving book The Power of Adversity: Tough Times Can Make You Stronger, Wiser, and Better. The authors describe how the serious and life changing, and even life threatening power of adversity can transform a person through the experience of dramatic personal growth.



Al Weatherhead (photo left) and Fred Feldman share Al Weatherhead's personal and spiritual journey through adversity ranging from being a troubled alcoholic, to tearfully burying his infant son, to experiencing marital breakdown, to serious disease and health challenges. Al Weatherhead has faced his own personal adversity, and learned through bitter experience both personal and professional, how strength can be drawn from even the most traumatic and heartbreaking events in one's life. Al Weatherhead turns the conventional wisdom that adversity is a curse, but is instead a gift, that presents the opportunity to learn, to grow as a person, and to change one's life for the better in many undreamed of ways.



Fred Feldman (photo left) and Al Weatherhead offer the counter-intuitive perspective of adversity as a part of life to be lived and embraced, and not to be avoided. Indeed, Al Weatherhead emphasizes that running away from challenges, no matter how painful they might be, is not the right approach to life. Avoidance only increases the pain over time, and powerful and life changing opportunity for personal growth is missed. Instead of taking the attitude that adversity consists of events being done to a person, Al Weatherhead offers another alternative interpretation. The worst blows that life can send a person's way are special gifts that provide the inner strength to master life. A person who avoids adversity misses the chance to build this internal power to overcome obstacles and arrive on the other side, both stronger and a better human being. The pain of the suffering passes, but the strength to overcome and endure remains.

For me, the power of the book is how Al Weatherhead and Fred Feldman express their profound ideas with both compassion and insight. They also combine successfully their empowering philosophy for mastering life, with practical techniques for harnessing the gift of adversity in one's own life. This fusion of Al Weatherhead's personal experience, told in a deeply moving way, with the strategies for meeting adversity and gleaning its lessons is valuable for any reader. The core value of the book, that life can best be mastered through the challenges of adversity, instill inner strength and resolve, along with the creativity to find meaningful and lasting solutions. Instead of thinking "why me", the book challenges the reader to think in terms of "why not me". Instead of avoidance, the gift of adversity enriches a person's life.

I highly recommend the deeply profound and empowering book The Power of Adversity: Tough Times Can Make You Stronger, Wiser, and Better by Al Weatherhead and Fred Feldman, to anyone who feels troubled and unable to cope with the adversity in their life. This wonderful book will change a person's perspective on obstacles from one of fear to one of acceptance of their hidden gifts.

Read the inner strength building book The Power of Adversity: Tough Times Can Make You Stronger, Wiser, and Better by Al Weatherhead and Fred Feldman, and discover that when the moment feels the most dark, and when the troubles feel their most insurmountable, the most critical insights into life are found. This insightful book will transform your life in ways you never imagined possible.

Tags: The Power of Adversity: Tough Times Can Make You Stronger, Wiser, and Better, Al Weatherhead, Fred Feldman, personal leadership, business book reviews.