Retirement Heist by Ellen E. Schultz - Book review

Retirement Heist

How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers

By: Ellen E. Schultz

Published: September 15, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
ISBN-10: 1591843332
ISBN-13: 978-1591843337
Publisher: Portfolio/Penguin











"no one disputes that there's a retirement crisis, but the crisis was no demographic accident. It was manufactured by an alliance of two groups: top executives and their facilitators in the retirement industry - benefits consultants, insurance companies, and banks - all of whom played a huge and hidden role in the death spiral of American pensions and benefits", writes investigative journalist for The Wall Street Journal, Ellen E. Schultz, in her provocative and eye opening book Retirement Heist: How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers . The author describes how a little over a decade ago, companies had more than enough funds in their company pension funds to pay two generations of retirees, regardless of their life expectancy, and today those pensions have largely disappeared.

Ellen Schultz provides evidence that through loophole exploitation, regulation that was ambiguous, and changes in accounting rules, companies transformed the pension funds into cash cows, tax shelters, and even profit centers. Not only have fully funded pensions for retired workers disappeared, but have been replaced by unfunded pension liabilities for retired executives, creating a real pension crisis for the companies. The author painstakingly compiles research data that demonstrates how employers drastically overstated their worker pension liabilities, lobbied for taxpayer bailouts, and secretly cut pension benefits while keeping employees and shareholders in the dark as to the activity.



Ellen E. Schultz (photo left) points out that while pensions for rank and file employees was being cut and even eliminated, enormous and unfunded executive pension funds were being created that far exceed the liability expected for the worker pension funds. The author names names, and the companies represent some of America's best known corporations. For Ellen Schultz, this full scale looting of pension funds is not an isolated incident, or even restricted to the largest corporations. Small companies, non-profit organizations, and professional sports leagues have also destroyed their employee pension funds.

Ellen Schultz describes some of the abuses of pension funds as:

* siphoning billions of dollars to pay for downsizing and merger deals
* Overstating employee funds to defend cuts while boosting executive pensions
* Hiding executive pension liability that often exceeds regular pensions
* Purchasing life insurance policies on workers with the company as beneficiary
* Excluding low paid workers from 401(k) plans to benefit higher paid executives

For me, the power of the book is how Ellen Schultz pieces together the story of the wholesale looting of fully funded company pensions, while expanding the overall pension liability through unfunded executive pensions. The author pulls no punches, and names names, as she describes how the looting of pensions has taken place and continues to be done at the expense of workers. These actions were not done by the companies acting alone, but with the active support of other companies, and also through complicit politicians through intensive lobbying activities. In the end, the events demonstrate a complete breakdown of ethical behavior, on the part of business leaders, that harms not only the retirees and the current workforce, but the very companies themselves.

I highly recommend the important and must read book Retirement Heist: How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers by Ellen E. Schultz, to anyone concerned with the looting of company pensions from workers, combined with the rise of huge unfunded pensions for the very same executives involved in the worker pension demise. This book will shock and upset many people, but may serve as a wake up call for discovering the decline of ethics in business, and how those same bad ethics are destroying company pensions and the organizations themselves.

Tags: Retirement Heist: How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers, Ellen E. Schultz, business ethics, business book reviews

Connected Services by Paul Golding - Book review

Connected Services

A Guide to the Internet Technologies Shaping the Future of Mobile Services and Operators

by: Paul Golding

Published: October 25, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 350 pages
ISBN-10: 0470974559
ISBN-13: 978-0470974551
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.









"Any digital service that brings people together in a meaningful way - to engage, transact,share, and so on - is a 'connected service'. This includes digital communications in telcos and on the Web", writes widely respected and unassuming product specialist in mobile and Web, and CEO of Wireless Wanders, Paul Golding, in his pioneering and visionary book Connected Services: A Guide to the Internet Technologies Shaping the Future of Mobile Services and Operators. The author describes the current and emerging technologies that form the foundation of the the latest connected services, and offers insights into how the latest technology will apply to mobile applications in fresh and innovative ways.

Paul Golding understands that the point where telcos and the internet meet is a leading source of innovation and connections between people and within technology. The author explains how these connected services based technologies work, from the inside out, and why they are important both now and in the future. Paul Golding examines the new technologies of including the Web itself and mobile 2.0 technology. The author offers ideas about open source, mash-ups, the advent of cloud computing, augmented reality, and Web 3.0. Through these in depth considerations of the technology, and their tremendous potential, the author demonstrates how these technologies can be applied in meaningful ways within and between connected services.



Paul Golding (photo left) recognizes he importance of enabling technologies as a building block for managers to develop meaningful and useful applications. The author discusses the critical and ongoing technological change that is enveloping the communications world,including the massive increase in Smartphone usage, and the growth of Web 2.0 and its ongoing evolution into Web 3.0. At the same time, Paul Golding addresses the promise and challenges presented by the ever increasing entwining of mobile networks and the internet, as they converge into one vast communications and information system. The author shares his thoughts on the latest and fastest growing software paradigms, and considers how internet based start ups really work. As a telco CEO, Paul Golding examines how telcos can adapt to these rapid internet and mobile convergences, and develop methods for achieving better and more efficient services.

For me, the power of the book is how Paul Golding examines the the overall landscape of the internet, emerging software paradigms, the evolving web, mobile technology, and the telcos as they converge into one overall communication and information system. Using the inner workings of Twitter technology as a model, the author demonstrates how the technology works in an approachable format. Paul Golding provides insights into how the various technologies work under the hood, as well as how the various systems mesh together in a holistic model.

I highly recommend the essential and idea filled book Connected Services: A Guide to the Internet Technologies Shaping the Future of Mobile Services and Operators by Paul Golding, to anyone in any internet, telco, business, policy making, or technology related field who seeks a clearer understanding of the rapidly changing technologies affecting the overall information and communications landscape. This book explains in detail how the underlying technologies, that drive connected services, really work in a format that is understandable and applicable for anyone with a basic knowledge of technology.

Tags: Connected Services: A Guide to the Internet Technologies Shaping the Future of Mobile Services and Operators, Paul Golding, internet and telco applications, technology book reviews.

Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don't Work by Dan Roam - Book review

Blah Blah Blah

What To Do When Words Don't Work

By: Dan Roam

Published: November 1, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 368 pages
ISBN-10: 1591844592
ISBN-13: 978-1591844594
Publisher: Portfolio/Penguin









"We think that thinking means stringing words together in meaningful ways. We think that talking is the best way to share an idea. We think that speaking well is the cornerstone of intelligence. We're only half right", writes blogger, management consultant and best selling author Dan Roam, in his empowering and transformational book Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don't Work. The author describes how the spoken word is misused and abused in everyday conversation and business communication, and provides an alternative form of vivid thinking through pictures to express ideas clearly.

Dan Roam understands that verbal communication results in misunderstanding, unnecessary complexity, and even boredom for the listener. Instead of clarity and ideas being shared and understood by everyone, the result is all too often one where words mislead or confuse rather than clarify the concept. The author calls this lack of understanding blah blah blah, as that is all that the speaker offers to the listener. To counter this loss of communication and clarity, Dan Roam proposes what he calls vivid thinking where pictures accompany the words, to illustrate the ideas more clearly. For the author, the more words that are used, the lower the level of understanding that results for the listener.



Dan Roam (photo left) provides compelling evidence that an infusion of pictures and drawings add interest to a presentation that reduces boredom, removes complexity, and lowers the possibility of misunderstanding. Dan Roam describes, and of course illustrates with simple and easy to comprehend drawings, how combining visual aids with words increases understanding dramatically. The failure to communicate effectively, and the resulting blah blah blah can be repaired effectively with the use of drawings to bring about vivid thinking.

To describe how ideas become more clear, through vivid thinking, Dan Roam shares the following steps:

* The Vivid F-O-R-E-S-T: The six essentials of vivid ideas
* F is for Form: Vivid ideas have shape
* O is for Only the Essentials: Vivid ideas fit in a nutshell
* R is for Recognizable: Vivid ideas look familiar
* E is for Evolving: Vivid ideas are complete but not over done
* S is for Span Differences: Vivid ideas include their opposite
* T is for Targeted: Vivid ideas matter to me

For me, the power of the book is how Dan Roam demonstrates clearly how ideas require both visual and verbal explanation and communication techniques for effectiveness. The author provides compelling evidence that people talk so much that the amount of thinking is actually lowered for both the speaker and the audience. Words are simply not powerful enough to convey ideas effectively for everyone in all situations. Even though words are the standard thinking tool, they are only able to perform half of the job of effective communications.

Dan Roam provides the powerful solution of combining words with easily understood pictures, creating a fresh clarity, that overcomes that sense of blah blah blah. Instead of obscuring and even hiding the true meaning of the words, pictures bring out the ideas in a form that everyone can understand with ease. When words fail the speaker, vivid thinking is the ideal solution to prevent misunderstanding on the part of everyone involved in the process.

I highly recommend the refreshing and engaging book Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don't Work by Dan Roam, to anyone seeking a straight talking and profusely illustrated guide to giving more effective and better understood presentations. Instead of experiencing the blah blah blah factor, your ideas will be well received and welcomed by your listeners.

Tags: Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don't Work, Dan Roam, effective communication strategy, business book reviews

Tom Rieger: Breaking The Fear Barrier - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



Senior Practice Expert for Gallup and author of the groundbreaking and research based book Breaking the Fear Barrier: How Fear Destroys Companies from the Inside Out, and What to Do About It, Tom Rieger, describes how fear can destroy an otherwise well managed company. Tom provides research from a huge global study conducted by research leader Gallup into how fear creates bureaucratic barriers that stifle success and end employee engagement. Tom Rieger points out the real costs of these barriers and how they can lead to an organizational malaise or even destruction. He offers insights into the traits displayed by the fear driven companies and how each of these ways of behaving can be overcome. Discover how to be a courageous person how helps to build a courageous company and provides a new type of leadership.

Tom Rieger is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Thursday, November 3, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Senior Practice Expert for Gallup and author of the groundbreaking and research based book Breaking the Fear Barrier: How Fear Destroys Companies from the Inside Out, and What to Do About It, Tom Rieger, describes how fear can destroy an otherwise well managed company. You will learn:

* Why fear is such a destructive force in any organization

* What a fear barrier filled company looks like

* How to overcome the bureaucratic barriers in fear based companies

* How to build a courageous company and be a courageous leader



From the boardrooms of America to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, Tom Rieger (photo left) has studied how fear of loss and missed expectations can lead to instability and incredibly harmful behavior. Tom Rieger pioneered the study and science of organizational barriers and is an expert in applying behavioral economic principles to help understand how large complex systems self-destruct. Through this work, he has become a recognized leader in developing methods and frameworks to identify and remove barriers to success for societies and companies.

He regularly consults for a variety of organizations across multiple industries and sectors. In 1994, Tom Rieger joined Gallup, where he is the leader and chief architect of Gallup's worldwide consulting efforts regarding barriers. He is also an expert in international research and polling methods as well as in developing and applying statistical models to a variety of complex organizational issues.

Prior to joining Gallup, Tom Rieger designed and ran a global customer measurement program for a Fortune 100 company and worked with predictive models for new brands and strategies. He received a Master of Science degree in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business in 1986 and currently resides in Southern California.

My book review of Breaking the Fear Barrier: How Fear Destroys Companies from the Inside Out, and What to Do About It by Tom Rieger.

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 Senior Practice Expert for Gallup and author of the groundbreaking and research based book Breaking the Fear Barrier: How Fear Destroys Companies from the Inside Out, and What to Do About It, Tom Rieger, as he describes how fear can destroy an otherwise well managed company. Tom provides research from a huge global study conducted by research leader Gallup into how fear creates bureaucratic barriers that stifle success and end employee engagement. Tom Rieger points out the real costs of these barriers and how they can lead to an organizational malaise or even destruction. He offers insights into the traits displayed by the fear driven companies and how each of these ways of behaving can be overcome. Discover how to be a courageous person how helps to build a courageous company and provides a new type of leadership on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Breaking the Fear Barrier: How Fear Destroys Companies from the Inside Out, and What to Do About It, Tom Rieger, company culture building strategy, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Breaking The Fear Barrier by Tom Rieger - Book review

Breaking the Fear Barrier

How Fear Destroys Companies from the Inside Out, and What to Do About It

By: Tom Rieger

Published: August 23, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 220 pages
ISBN-10: 1595620540
ISBN-13: 978-1595620545
Publisher: Gallup Press












"It was if were hearing the same story again and again. The language may have been different, but the basic lesson was the same: Fear destroys companies. More specifically, fear leads companies to destroy themselves", writes Senior Practice Expert for Gallup, Tom Rieger, in his groundbreaking and research based book Breaking the Fear Barrier: How Fear Destroys Companies from the Inside Out, and What to Do About It. The author describes how fear can destroy a company in any industry, and offers ideas for overcoming that fear to become a courageous organization.

Tom Rieger provides the extensive global research conduced by Gallup that examined and identified the fear barrier facing many companies. When that fear barrier is reached, companies become stuck, in the terms utilized by Gallup. Regardless of the business or the industry, and despite operating through what are usually considered best management practices, the stuck companies had some unknown obstacle in their way. The research uncovered that barrier as being fear. This sense of fear, within the companies, created their own barriers to success and led to stifling bureaucracies that limited outlooks and options, while ending employee engagement as a positive force. The Gallup research was conclusive. Fear destroys otherwise well managed companies.



Tom Rieger (photo left) understands the dangers of fear to an organization but recognizes that fear need not be a debilitating state for a company. Fear creates barriers, and one of the responses to that buildup of fear is an ever expanding bureaucracy. The bureaucratic model is slow to respond and works against employee engagement, resulting in an alienation from the organization, its goals, and its customers. The end result is a company in demise and even destruction. The bureaucratic responses are as follows:

* Parochialism where only one worldview is acceptable
* Territorialism where micromanagement and control become the norm
* Empire building where control over people and resources is enforced

To counter these bureaucratic responses to fear, Tom Rieger identifies strategies to break through the fear barrier and the bureaucratic model. In the place of fear, a sense of courage and true leadership are encouraged and supported to achieve organizational success. Without that courage, the fear based company will self destruct at great cost to all stakeholders.

For me, the power of the book is how Tom Rieger combines cutting edge global research with an insightful diagnosis of how fear creates barriers to success within companies. The author describes the fear factors that create massive and destructive bureaucratic barriers. Not only do these barriers stifle success and employee engagement, but work toward the actual destruction of the company. Tom Rieger provides the practical and barrier breaking strategies that have worked to overcome the fear factors at work in other successful companies. The author offers recommendations for creating a new type of courageous company, and a new type of courage based leadership.

I highly recommend the insightful and solution oriented book Breaking the Fear Barrier: How Fear Destroys Companies from the Inside Out, and What to Do About It by Tom Rieger, to anyone seeking real world proven and research based solutions to overcoming the organizational paralysis that results from fear. This book will provide the critical strategies for overcoming the fear barrier and revitalizing your company for success.

Tags: Breaking the Fear Barrier: How Fear Destroys Companies from the Inside Out, and What to Do About It, Tom Rieger, company culture building strategy, business book reviews

Barbara Henricks: Changes In The Publishing Industry - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



Book publicist, public relations professional, and President and CEO of Cave Henricks Communications, Barbara Henricks describes the massive changes that are taking place in the publishing industry. Barbara offers insights into how the transformation in publishing industry is affecting the publishers, authors, retailers, publicists, and the reading public. Barbara Henricks provides ideas for promoting books, working with publicists, and shares some great author success stories along with some cautionary tales of how authors can sabotage their own book and career. Barbara presents ideas for authors to leverage the power of social media for marketing their book and for building their platform. Barbara also points out why it's important for authors to combine the power of social media, the internet, and traditional media to achieve a higher profile, more publicity, and more book sales.

Barbara Henricks is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, November 1, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Book publicist and President and CEO of Cave Henricks Communications, Barbara Henricks describes the massive changes that are taking place in the publishing industry. You will learn:

* What challenges face the publishing industry today

* How to utilize and integrated social media and mainstream media strategy

* How to create a platform for success

* How to avoid the most common mistakes made by authors



Barbara Henricks (photo left) has always been in love with books. Growing up in Hammond, Indiana, she was introduced to books and words by her father, a heroic man who “read to me all the time,” she fondly recalls. “It was our ritual to go to the library every Sunday after church to check out our weekly reading.” She couldn’t know it at the time, but that exercise deeply imprinted her love for books that continues even today. Over the past two decades, she has enjoyed a successful career promoting books, and the writers who pen them. Along the way, she has had the privilege of meeting Presidents and Kings, corporate moguls and many of the world’s best minds.

After graduating from Indiana University with a Theater/Radio and TV degree, Barbara went to work at WJOB, a talk radio station in Hammond. During her tenure there, she learned and experienced practically every aspect of the station, from reporting on the street to noon anchor, to eventually hosting her own morning talk show. After leaving Hammond, she joined a radio station in Columbia, South Carolina as a State Reporter. She would eventually land at NBC Radio Network in Washington, D.C., where she produced and edited the news.

That role would lead her to a life-changing decision, one that would forever alter her career path. And, by the way, a decision her dad would be very proud of.

As producer, she was required to pore over all of the PR pitches for books that were submitted to the network. That experience made her wonder to herself if there might be a way that she could somehow make a living working with books. Acting on that hunch, and realizing she was growing weary of the news business, she applied for and became a publicist at Workman Publishing, a smaller publisher in New York City known for their innovative packaging, design and promotion with bestsellers like What to Expect When You’re Expecting and The Preppie Handbook. There, she “got to see the publishing process from start to finish,” she says with the unbridled joy that one feels when they are finally doing exactly what they were made to do. “It was a lot of work but an amazing learning experience.”

Her success there and in her next stop at Houghton Mifflin Company would bring her to the attention of Lynn Goldberg, CEO of Goldberg McDuffie Communications, a 25-year-old public relations firm for books and authors. During her 10 years at GMC, Barbara launched the company’s business book division with Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman’s business classic, First Break All the Rules. She would follow that blockbuster with other hits for Jack Bogle, Jack Welch, Larry Bossidy, Arthur Levitt, Maria Bartiromo and many others. Bestseller after bestseller rolled out of the business division she oversaw, and she was having the time of her life doing it.



And, she is still in love with books. After a successful run as VP and PR Director at Goldberg McDuffie, she would launch her own PR firm, Cave Henricks Communications. While the name and address of the organization has changed, the successes continue, with 11 bestsellers since the company’s launch in 2006.

She doesn’t take all this success for granted. “I feel lucky,” she admits. “I get to do something I love to do every single day.”

Barbara lives in Austin, Texas with her three children, Kate, Corey and Brady and her husband, glass artist Michael McDougal.

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 book publicist, public relations professional, and President and CEO of Cave Henricks Communications, Barbara Henricks, as she describes the massive changes that are taking place in the publishing industry. Barbara offers insights into how the transformation in publishing industry is affecting the publishers, authors, retailers, publicists, and the reading public. Barbara Henricks provides ideas for promoting books, working with publicists, and shares some great author success stories along with some cautionary tales of how authors can sabotage their own book and career. Barbara presents ideas for authors to leverage the power of social media for marketing their book and for building their platform. Barbara also points out why it's important for authors to combine the power of social media, the internet, and traditional media to achieve a higher profile, more publicity, and more book sales on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Changes In The Publishing Industry, Barbara Henricks, Cave Henricks Communications, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

From Bedlam to Boardroom by Colleen Aylward - Book review

From Bedlam to Boardroom

How to get a derailed executive career back on track!

By: Colleen Aylward

Published: March 13, 2011
Format: Paperback, 178 pages
ISBN-10: 1456597558
ISBN-13: 978-1456597559
Publisher: CreateSpace








"Employers are hiring people who can solve their company's specific problems quickly - those who have solved those exact problems several times before in different companies and have proof of it", writes executive hiring consultant Colleen Aylward in her no nonsense and very hands on book From Bedlam to Boardroom: How to get a derailed executive career back on track!. The author describes the changes that have taken place in how executives are hired in today's rapidly changing corporate landscape, and shares the strategies and techniques for landing a job despite the current economic conditions.

Colleen Aylward recognizes that all companies face numerous problems and challenges that demand immediate solutions. Those obstacles facing business today are seeking people who can provide the experience and ability to solve those very problems. The author offers advice for establishing oneself as an expert in those corporate challenge areas. The author also demonstrates how the old tactics for landing executive positions no longer work in today's employment market. Colleen Aylward emphasizes that professional recruiters don't find jobs for people, but instead find people for jobs. The author shares the concept of the employment seeker creating a market advantage for themselves.



Colleen Aylward (photo left) understands that the traditional employment seeking tactics, that worked so effectively in the past, are no longer useful in today's hiring environment. The author guides the employment seeker past the now outdated strategies, and through the techniques that are critical to understand and apply to obtain an executive position now. Colleen Aylward presents the modern way to connect with employment opportunities that supersede the previously accepted networking methods. The author also provides strategies for becoming a sought after niche expert who can demonstrate superior results in solving the most critical problems facing corporations today. Colleen Aylward also offers the tools for establishing a strong online presence, and how to utilize that high internet profile, to get a resume read first and a job offer very soon afterwards.

For me, the power of the book is how Colleen Aylward combines the concept of being known for expertise with the practical tools for achieving widespread recognition. The author demonstrates clearly, along with numerous graphics and internet screen captures, how to highlight expertise with credibility and a high profile. The author moves far beyond the standard executive employment seeking techniques and provides the tactics for receiving notice on Google, LinkedIn and other social media. Colleen Aylward shows the reader how to make connections online that result in employment opportunities and job offers. With the rule of the hiring world changed completely, this book is the up to the minute guide needed to ensure that the employment seeker understands and utilizes the most leading edge methods available.

I highly recommend the results oriented and essential employment hunting book From Bedlam to Boardroom: How to get a derailed executive career back on track! by Colleen Aylward, to anyone, whether they are employed at the moment or not, who is serious about finding the right executive position in today's highly competitive hiring market. This book will teach you the newest and most valuable concepts for landing that job you want, while establishing yourself as an expert in your niche area.

Tags: From Bedlam to Boardroom: How to get a derailed executive career back on track!, Colleen Aylward, executive employment seeking strategy, business book reviews

Innovation in Wind Turbine Design by Peter Jamieson - Book review

Innovation in Wind Turbine Design

By: Peter Jamieson

Published: October 18, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 326 pages
ISBN-10: 0470699817
ISBN-13: 978-0470699812
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.














"This book is about innovation in wind turbine design - more specifically about the evaluation of innovation - assessing whether a new concept or system will lead to improved design enhancing performance or reducing cost", writes Principal Engineer, Special Projects Department, Garrad Hassan & Partners Ltd., Edinburgh, Scotland, Peter Jamieson, in his groundbreaking and innovation focused book Innovation in Wind Turbine Design . The author describes the innovations in wind turbine engineering development, and also provides unique insights into the innovative process within the alternative energy field.

Peter Jamieson approaches innovation in wind turbines from an engineering perspective, including design fundamentals, design choice and selection, and the evaluation of the resulting innovative systems. Through an ongoing reference to a state of the art wind turbine design system, the author provides a control base line for the design principles and design evaluation. Along with the innovation process and evaluation, Peter Jamieson describes the engineering principles and design challenges presented within the context of current and proposed advances in wind turbine technology. The book approaches design innovation during the preliminary stages of development, along with the engineering principles crucial to transforming ideas to workable technology for the marketplace.

Peter Jamieson recognizes that any engineering design innovations in wind energy generation technology must face a rigorous evaluation process. Along with using an established system as a base line model, the new model must face a side by side evaluation as a test of quality of design. The new system mus provide some real technological advantage over existing systems, provide the expected power generation performance, and provide a measurable economic impact.

Peter Jamieson provides engineers, turbine designers, students, consultants, industry leaders, and policy makers with the appropriate engineering principles involved in the design innovation process. The various chapters in the book cover the following engineering design factors:

* Rotor aerodynamic theory
* Rotor Aerodynamic Design
* Rotor Structural Interactions
* Upscaling of wind turbine systems
* Drive train design
* Offshore wind turbines
* Technology evaluation
* Various design themes

For me, the power of the book is how Peter Jamieson combines a technical engineering design outline with an overview of a real world innovation and the fundamentals of the design process in action. The book contains the mathematical formulas required for calculating the technological and engineering aspects of the design. These technical chapters are valuable for engineers and designers; as well as students of wind turbine design. For business leaders and policy makers, the book is a complete case study of a real world innovation problem being examined and a solution sought through innovation. The book provides a framework for analysis and evaluation of design solutions utilizing the rigors of the engineering perspective.

I highly recommend the landmark and rigorous book Innovation in Wind Turbine Design by Peter Jamieson, to anyone in engineering, studying in engineering schools, wind turbine design, innovation and evaluation, business leadership, and policy making seeking a strong, engineering principles based book on design and innovation. This book, while containing some advanced mathematics, is also approachable as a guide to developing wind turbine innovations, and for evaluating the resulting designs from an economic and market perspective as well.

Tags: Innovation in Wind Turbine Design, Peter Jamieson, engineering innovation applications, science book reviews.

Grasp The Solution by Chris Griffiths with Melina Costi - Book review

Grasp The Solution

By: Chris Griffiths, Melina Costi

Published: October 19, 2011
Format: Paperback, 290 pages
ISBN-10: 1905493762
ISBN-13: 978-1905493760
Publisher: Proactive Press












"Success is no longer a matter of what we know but how we think", writes CEO of ThinkBuzan, Chris Griffiths, along with Melina Costi, in the provocative and revolutionary book Grasp The Solution. The authors not only describe the critical importance of moving beyond knowledge toward fully embracing creative thinking, but also provides the tools and techniques necessary to transform leaders and their organizations into finders of truly innovative solutions.

Chris Griffiths recognizes that the older ways of solving problems and seeking innovations are no longer effective or sufficient in today's rapidly evolving marketplace. Organizations and leaders who continue to utilize the usual patterns of thought will be left behind in the face of more creative competitors. To meet this crucial challenge to the very relevance of the company, Chris Griffiths introduces a powerful system for not only dispelling the bad habits that have thwarted creativity in many organizations, but also replacing it with a fresh and powerful new way of thinking. The author provides a strategic and real world proven approach to creative thinking, that meets the new business challenges head on, and finds innovative solutions that overcome those most difficult obstacles.



Chris Griffiths and Melina Costi demonstrate that creativity is not simply the latest buzzword bandied about in corporate boardrooms, but is instead, a critical strategy for innovation and competitiveness. The authors present a comprehensive process for integrating creative thinking into every aspect of an organization through the GRASP The Solution (GTS) system. The concept provides the tools for generating better ideas in both quantitative and qualitative terms. With this abundance of ideas in hand, the system helps sort the best ideas and innovations into useful and executable solutions to real problems. The GTS system changes the way people actually think about problems, transforming the older modes of problem solving, into a radically different approach that gets real results.

For me, the power of the book is how Chris Griffiths and Melina Costi combine the theory and concept of creativity with the hands on strategy of the GRASP The Solution (GTS) system. One of the key insights that the book provides is that everyone is capable of previously undreamed of levels of creativity. With this transformational concept in mind, everyone within the company, regardless of their official title or job description, becomes an idea creator and innovator.

The GRASP The Solution (GTS) system is presented in an easy to understand and implement format, practically and pragmatically, to ensure its incorporation into any company culture and organizational DNA. To further enhance and enrich the understanding of the concepts and techniques, the book contains an abundance of illustrative graphics to guide the reader along the creative thinking journey.

I highly recommend the breakthrough generating book Grasp The Solution by Chris Griffiths with Melina Costi, to anyone seeking a refreshing and very workable system for generating creativity within even the most moribund organization. This book will unleash fresh thinking and ideas that will push your company far ahead of the competition.

Tags: Grasp The Solution, Chris Griffiths, Melina Costi, creative thinking strategy, business book reviews

Arid Zone Geomorphology: Third Edition edited by David S. G. Thomas - Book review

Arid Zone Geomorphology

Process, Form and Change in Drylands, Third Edition

Edited by: David S. G. Thomas

Published: May 3, 2011
Format: Paperback, 648 pages
ISBN-10: 0470519096
ISBN-13: 978-0470519097
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell












"For much of history and for many human races, arid environments have been areas to avoid, though for those that have been, and continue to be, resourceful and able to adapt, arid regions have proved to be environments that can effectively and successfully utilized", writes Professor of Geography, Head of the School of Geography and the Environment, and Professorial Fellow of Hertford College, University of Oxford, David S. G. Thomas, in the completely revised and updated edition of his comprehensive reference book Arid Zone Geomorphology: Process, Form and Change in Drylands. David Thomas provides a well selected, yet very balanced introduction to the concepts of landforms and the geomorphological process that have shaped and continue to transform the arid regions of the world.

David S. G. Thomas presents an anthology, featuring leading experts in the subject area, that offers a complete overview of the developments and changes taking place in the field. Arid zone studies are a relatively new area of geographical and earth sciences study, and this anthology of scientific essays describes the newest approaches and advances in this fascinating and important field. The collection brings both students and specialists up to date in the latest developments in the field, complete with the appropriate research data for each topic under consideration. For students, policy analysts, and the general public, the book is both approachable and science based, providing a balanced and clear overview of the book.



David S. G. Thomas (photo left) recognizes the importance of the arid regions of the earth to humans and for indigenous fauna and flora, as a place to live and work, and also as fragile areas vulnerable to climatic influences and change. The dry regions of the planet have evolved through complex processes that continue to have an impact on these important areas, and this book provides insights into those past and ongoing processes and events.

David S. G. divides the book into five overall sections to ensure understanding on the part of the student and other readers of the book:

* Large-scale controls and variability in drylands
* Surface processes and characteristics
* The work of water
* The work of the wind
* Living with dryland geomorphology

For me, the power of the book, is how David S. G. Thomas presents a comprehensive compendium overview of the geomorphological processes that created and continue to sculpt and affect the world's dryland areas. The book features well written and clear essays by leading authorities in the field, and each article adds depth to the reader's understanding of the subject. The book is well formatted into five overall sections that guide study and learning about this important field. The editor has included many case studies that illustrate the natural and human created processes at work in the planets drylands. The numerous photographs and graphics enrich the understanding of the subject matter and help the student or professional visualize the processes as they work, and their resulting aftermath.

I highly recommend the landmark and important book Arid Zone Geomorphology: Process, Form and Change in Drylands by David S. G. Thomas, to any students, specialists in the field, policy makers, business leaders, and anyone interested in this critical and fascinating field. This book will guide both students and professionals in many disciplines and professionals toward a deeper and richer understanding of the importance of arid regions, and the processes at work in these amazing areas of our planet.

Tags: Arid Zone Geomorphology: Process, Form and Change in Drylands, David S. G. Thomas, earth and environment, science book reviews.