Organizational Strategies for the Overwhelmed by JoAnn R. Corley - Book review

Organizational Strategies for the Overwhelmed

How to manage your time, space, & priorities to work smart, get results, & be happy

By: JoAnn R. Corley

Published: November 6, 2011
Format: Paperback, 152 pages
ISBN-10: 1466481412
ISBN-13: 978-1466481411
Publisher: CreateSpace





"Overwhelm is the emotional response that is triggered when your brain gets a signal that too much is going on for you to reasonably process and thereby threatens the desire and possibility of getting things done in a way that you think you should", writes speaker and coach JoAnn R. Corley, in her very practical and results oriented book Organizational Strategies for the Overwhelmed: How to manage your time, space, & priorities to work smart, get results, & be happy. The author describes how being overwhelmed, in the face of layoffs and the remaining people being asked to do more, is the new normal. As a result, JoAnn Corley shares ideas and strategies for regaining control over time, space and work priorities.

JoAnn Corley understands that employees are under tremendous stress in the workplace. People feel overwhelmed, and the author points out that the deeper emotion is one of fear. To counter this sense of fear that leads to being overwhelmed and unable to cope with the demands of the job, JoAnn Corley offers a two pronged approach to overcome the feeling of being overwhelmed and no longer in control. The first part of the remedy is to manage yourself and your own reactions to the day's events. The author calls this managing yourself on the inside. The second part of the remedy is manage what is happening outside that can be controlled by the individual. The approach presented by the author is one that works from the inside out.



JoAnn R. Corley (photo left) recognizes that simply providing another book on time management or organization is insufficient to overcome that sense of being overwhelmed at work. In this new normal of the over-demanding workplace, the JoAnn Corley emphasizes the need to work smarter than ever before. As a result, the author shares the strategies, tools, and tips to achieve greater results in less time.

To facilitate these various techniques and strategies, JoAnn Corley offers her overall philosophy for empowering the individual. The philosophy includes the following points:

* Stay grounded in reality and focus on what you can influence and control
* Approach everything in small bites to keep it simple
* Find a way to improve your performance by 1% per day
* Don't get hung up on tools, technology, and tips

For me, the power of the book is how JoAnn Corley goes beyond the standard time management books, to add the critical elements, that are missing from those books. Instead of the usual focus on the tips, techniques, and tricks, the author precedes them with an understanding of decision making and choices. JoAnn Corley goes a step beyond other books as well, and makes herself available through seminars and coaching. There is also a consideration of the importance of social media for adding value and interaction with the readers.

JoAnn Corley includes a series of very valuable tips for better managing time and organizing office and desk space. These concepts, however, are always presented within the context of making decisions, proper choices, and personal empowerment. Each chapter is a hands on group of ideas that can be applied readily, and right away to help achieve that 1% daily improvement, and to remove that sense of being overwhelmed by events.

I highly recommend the transformational and idea filled book Organizational Strategies for the Overwhelmed: How to manage your time, space, & priorities to work smart, get results, & be happy by JoAnn R. Corley, to anyone seeking a refreshing and holistic approach to removing that sense of being overwhelmed in the workplace. This book will change your perspective and empower you to get more done, and achieve greater results, than ever before.

Tags: Organizational Strategies for the Overwhelmed: How to manage your time, space, & priorities to work smart, get results, & be happy, JoAnn R. Corley, personal development, business book reviews

The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz - Book review

The Pumpkin Plan

A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field

By: Mike Michalowicz

Published: July 5, 2012
Format: Hardcover: 240 pages
ISBN-10: 1591844886
ISBN-13: 978-1591844884
Publisher: Portfolio/Penguin












"To grow a successful business your company must be irresistibly magnetic. The average lose or are left to rot. It's the most unique - the best - who win", writes successful entrepreneur Mike Michalowicz, in his innovative and inspirational book The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field. The author describes a blueprint for building an extremely successful business by utilizing the growth formula of a successful pumpkin farm.

Mike Michalowicz recognizes the similarities between operating a successful pumpkin farm, and establishing a hugely successful company, regardless of the industry. As with the growing of giant pumpkins, the necessity for the business person is not to do more. The challenge is really to do things better than anyone else. For Mike Michalowicz, the key insight into understanding the pumpkin plan approach to business in understanding that only the outstanding, giant pumpkins attract attention and huge crowds. Ordinary pumpkins are not even noticed; and are forgotten almost immediately. The author offers the idea that giant pumpkins become the stuff of legend; and any company that strives to become a giant pumpkin will become a legend as well.



Mike Michalowicz (photo left) provides the sobering wake up call that if a company is merely ordinary, it won't simply stay in that rut, but will decline and disappear. To counter this grim outlook, the author shares the power and the deceptive simplicity, that hides deeply profound wisdom, of the pumpkin plan. Instead of thinking of the organization as needing more hard work, Mike Michalowicz invites business people to think of their company as a giant pumpkin.

To grow giant pumpkins that people notice and transform into folklore, the author provides the following seven basic steps to pumpkin and business growing success. Those seven steps to pumpkin and business growing success are:

* Plant promising seeds
* Water, water, water
* Routinely remove all damaged and diseased pumpkins
* Weed fully and completely, leaving not one weed to grow
* Identify and keep only the fastest growing pumpkins, and remove the rest
* Focus all attention on the selected giant pumpkin, and nurture it completely
* Watch it grow, and this will happen so rapidly it can be seen happening

For me, the power of the book is how Mike Michalowicz combines a very straight forward plan of action with the practical techniques for successful execution. The entire concept of the pumpkin plan is based on timeless wisdom, as expressed through the analogy of establishing an outstanding business to growing giant pumpkins. The process is so universal that it can be applied readily to any company, in any industry, and at any stage of its growth curve.

The author shares real world examples of legendary pumpkin style companies, with good humor and examples of the plan in action. Each chapter of the book establishes one more step in the seven part process, and each chapter ends with actionable techniques for furthering the plan in any company. The author even provides industry specific concepts to target the pumpkin plan even more precisely for success.

I highly recommend the very practical and engaging book The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field by Mike Michalwicz, to any business leaders, executives, or entrepreneurs who are seeking an easily understood action plan for building an outstanding, memorable, and magnetic company. Whether your field is giant pumpkins or any other industry, this book will transform your business from the ordinary to the legendary.

Tags: The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field, Mike Michalowicz, strategic planning and execution, business book reviews

Howard Adamsky: Employment Rage - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



Recruiter, consultant, public speaker, and author of the no nonsense and results oriented book Employment Rage: What You've Lost and How to Get it Back., Howard Adamsky describes the new realities of seeking employment in today's challenging economy. Howard Adamsky shares the tools and ideas that work in the real world of finding a job. Howard goes beyond the usual advice about dealing with job loss, and offers pragmatic advice in a heart felt manner. Howard Adamsky has been on both the hiring and job loss sides of the table, and understands from personal experience, about the shock of job loss. Howard offers practical advice and proven solutions to finding a new or better job. He presents 1he real inside information on resumes, headhunters, interviews, and networking including the power of social media.

Howard Adamsky is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Thursday, July 26, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Recruiter, consultant, public speaker, and author of the no nonsense and results oriented book Employment Rage: What You've Lost and How to Get it Back., Howard Adamsky describes the new realities of seeking employment in today's challenging economy. You will learn:

* How to understand and cope with the loss of a job

* How the realities of the employment market have changed

* Why new strategies for finding a job are important to learn and utilize

* How to use unconventional means, including social media, to find a job



Howard Adamsky (photo left) as been recruiting since 1985 and is an industry expert on making great hires. As a consultant, writer and public speaker, he works with organizations to support their efforts in building great companies.

Mr. Adamsky is a politically incorrect, atypical thinker who solves problems and gets results. His work has made an enormous difference with his clients as he supercharges the talent acquisition process and hires smart, motivated employees. He is a regular contributor to ERE Media, a Certified Internet Recruiter and a Certified Diversity Recruiter.

He is also a clarinet player who is not terribly good but would love a reconditioned Selmer Series 9. As a fan of Art Garfunkel ad Frankie Valli his taste in music is eclectic. Mr Adamsky, who can be found walking the streets of Brooklyn when time allows is most delighted when he is on Franklin Avenue; anywhere between President Street and Park Place!

My book review of Employment Rage: What You've Lost and How to Get it Back by Howard Adamsky.

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 recruiter, consultant, public speaker, and author of the no nonsense and results oriented book Employment Rage: What You've Lost and How to Get it Back., Howard Adamsky, as he describes the new realities of seeking employment in today's challenging economy. Howard Adamsky shares the tools and ideas that work in the real world of finding a job. Howard goes beyond the usual advice about dealing with job loss, and offers pragmatic advice in a heart felt manner. Howard Adamsky has been on both the hiring and job loss sides of the table, and understands from personal experience, about the shock of job loss. Howard offers practical advice and proven solutions to finding a new or better job. He presents 1he real inside information on resumes, headhunters, interviews, and networking including the power of social media on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Employment Rage: What You've Lost and How to Get it Back, Howard Adamsky, job hunting strategies, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

The Reluctant Matchmaker By Shobhan Bantwal - Fiction book review

The Reluctant Matchmaker

By: Shobhan Bantwal

Published: June 26, 2012
Format: Paperback, 352 pages
ISBN-10: 0758258852
ISBN-13: 978-0758258854
Publisher: Kensington Publishing














Petite Meena Shenoy is hired by the very tall Prajay Nayak, to write an advertisement for him to find a bride. His desired spouse would be tall, to complement his own great height. Meena finds herself attracted to Prajay, and attempts to get past the height requirement, to become the bride herself, in the fascinating and culturally intriguing novel The Reluctant Matchmaker, by best selling author Shobhan Bantwal.

Shobhan Bantwal weaves a story that combines the fundamental, underlying currents of tension, within modern Indian-American culture and society. The author provides key insights into understanding the most challenging issues facing second generation Indian-Americans, as they attempt to bridge the chasm between traditional and Western culture. As with all of her books, Shobhan Bantwal handles that divide with tenderness, and with sympathy for her characters, as they grow to accept their lives exist in both worlds. The author doesn't hesitate to challenge the traditions and mores that hold back women, whether in India, or in America.



Shobhan Bantwal (photo left) presents a window on the concept of traditional arranged marriages, and how that concept needs a complete reassessment in today's secular and individualistic world. The author challenges the role that religions play in the lives of Indian-Americans. Shobhan Bantwal addresses the issues of Hinduism and Islam, and their continued and often divisive factors in Desi culture. Placed within a new, and very different and seemingly alien culture, the immigrants feel trapped between two often clashing worlds. The concepts of marriage, the finding of a spouse, and the role of women, are treated very differently within the two societies.

The author creates a symbolic duality, that is at the heart of the conflict within the hearts of members of the Indian-American community. The petite and worldly successful Meena is contrasted with the large, and more traditional Prajay. The two characters differences in physical size is a metaphor for their different levels of integration into the Western society. Differences in caste, and different world views, are made less important, as the concerns about physical size and stature become less of a barrier to romance as well.

Shobhan Bantwal creates a remarkable tableau of the constant friction, disorientation, and often puzzling cultural challenges faced by her characters. Placing her characters within the modern, Westernized social world, the author presents thought provoking commentary through her memorable and strong characters. In the end, the power of love, understanding and acceptance triumph over the formerly considered impossible obstacles. The author offers the insight that tradition has a place in the modern world, but must be flexible and adaptable to societal change. In a sense, that need to accept that change is inevitable is a universal human need and characteristic.

I highly recommend the engaging and entertaining novel The Reluctant Matchmaker, by Shobhan Bantwal, to anyone seeking a very human and life affirming novel that addresses real social and cultural issues facing immigrants in general, and the Indian-American community in particular. Not only does this book provide a wonderful love story, but offers key insights into the very universality of that very human emotion for all people.

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

For more information: about The Reluctant Matchmaker and Shobhan Bantwal’s other books, visit http://www.shobhanbantwal.com or The Reluctant Matchmaker on Amazon.com to get your copy today.

The full virtual tour schedule is available at: http://bookpromotionservices.com/2012/06/03/reluctant-matchmaker-tour

Book Trailer URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki0O3nefkuk

Tags: The Reluctant Matchmaker, Shobhan Bantwal, Indian-American culture, fiction book reviews

Alan Uke: Buying America Back - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



San Diego businessman, entrepreneur, community leader, and author of the visionary and empowering book Buying America Back: A Real-Deal Blueprint for Restoring American Prosperity, Alan Uke, describes how stronger Country of Origin labeling will result in more American manufacturing, more jobs, and a revitalized economy. Alan Uke provides evidence that a Made in America label will be chosen by American consumers when they make their buying decisions. The revised and enhanced labeling of products will show customers all of the countries involved in the manufacture of an imported product. Many of those countries have weak environmental protection, terrible working conditions, and are guilty of human rights violations. Alan Uke points out that consumers will flex their collective buying. muscle, avoid the imported products after reading the label, and select the American made option. That buying power will in turn convince manufacturing companies to return to America from abroad. Learn how better and more comprehensive labeling will strengthen and rebuild the American economy.

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

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

San Diego businessman, entrepreneur, community leader, and author of the visionary and empowering book Buying America Back: A Real-Deal Blueprint for Restoring American Prosperity, Alan Uke, describes how stronger Country of Origin labeling will result in more American manufacturing, more jobs, and a revitalized economy. You will learn:

* How American manufacturing can be restored as an industry

* How Product of Origin Labeling provides the secret to consumer buying decisions

* Why consumers have the buying power to change the economy

* How labeling will revitalize the American economy and create more jobs



Alan Uke (photo left) (pronounced UK) is a San Diego businessman, entrepreneur, and community leader. He has provided hundreds of jobs and revenues for the San Diego area for over 40 years and is the architect of the successful federal Automobile Smog Index.

He started his company, Underwater Kinetics, 41 years ago while attending the University of California at San Diego. Uke holds over 40 patents and exports his SCUBA diving, industrial lighting, and protective case products to over 60 countries.

He is recipient of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Consumer Products from Entrepreneur Institute, 2004 Patriot of the Year by the Desert Pacific Council of Boy Scouts of America, and the Doctor Lutz Award for lifetime service to the senior community.

Past experiences range from Fundraising Chair for the Boy Scouts of America to Vice-Chair of St. Vincent De Paul Village to President of the San Diego Taxpayers Educational Foundation/North Council on Aging through board member of San Diego County Area on Aging Advisory Council.
He is also a member of the World President's Organization (WPO) where he served on numerous top-level delegations in Washington and represented the voice of American business to our nation's leadership.

He is also Founder Emeritus/Founding Board President of the San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum which acquired the USS Midway in June 2004.

My book review of Buying America Back: A Real-Deal Blueprint for Restoring American Prosperity by Alan Uke.

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 San Diego businessman, entrepreneur, community leader, and author of the visionary and empowering book Buying America Back: A Real-Deal Blueprint for Restoring American Prosperity, Alan Uke, as he describes how stronger Country of Origin labeling will result in more American manufacturing, more jobs, and a revitalized economy. Alan Uke provides evidence that a Made in America label will be chosen by American consumers when they make their buying decisions. The revised and enhanced labeling of products will show customers all of the countries involved in the manufacture of an imported product. Many of those countries have weak environmental protection, terrible working conditions, and are guilty of human rights violations.

Alan Uke points out that consumers will flex their collective buying. muscle, avoid the imported products after reading the label, and select the American made option. That buying power will in turn convince manufacturing companies to return to America from abroad. Learn how better and more comprehensive labeling will strengthen and rebuild the American economy on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Buying America Back, Alan Uke, country of origin labeling, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Buying America Back by Alan Uke - Book review

Buying America Back

A Real-Deal Blueprint for Restoring American Prosperity

By: Alan Uke

Published: April 10, 2012
Format: Paperback, 192 pages
ISBN-10: 1590792300
ISBN-13: 978-1590792308
Publisher: SelectBooks











"The primary purpose of this book is to start an essential consumer movement - a movement that will stimulate a new way of thinking about what we buy", writes San Diego businessman, entrepreneur, and community leader, Alan Uke, in his visionary and empowering book Buying America Back: A Real-Deal Blueprint for Restoring American Prosperity. The author describes how jobs will be created and the economy rebuilt through a consumer led demand for better Country of Origin labels.

Alan Uke understands the importance of domestic manufacturing jobs to the restoration of a healthy economy. As the owner of a manufacturing company himself, the author puts his money where his mouth is, and retains his employees in the United States. He rejects the concept of off-shoring jobs as being better for his company, for his customers, or for the economy as a whole. Alan Uke is committed to the principle of honest and transparent product labeling as the means to regain competitive advantage. At the same time, more open product labeling would ensure that customers had full disclosure of all of the countries involved in the manufacturing process.



Alan Uke (photo left) is convinced that with better information, consumers would avoid products that originated in countries with repressive governments, low environmental standards, a record of human rights abuses, and substandard working conditions. The author believes firmly in the power of the consumer, who forms over seventy percent of the American economy, to force real change on the part of companies. Alan Uke recognizes that even with the alleged lower prices for consumers, that those numbers carry a substantial human and environmental cost as well.

Alan Uke brings his personal experience in causing labeling changes to the national economic level. His vast experience in facilitating real and meaningful labeling change is being scaled up to include all companies, comprising every industry in America. The author provides evidence that consumers want to buy American made goods, but lack the information and guidance to transform a desire for change into positive results. The author offers the idea of a proposed bill that require more transparent country of origin information, and appear on the packaging and everywhere the product is offered for sale.

For me, the power of the book is how Alan Uke combines a positive, consumer based approach to revitalizing the American economy through a reasonable and understandable labeling requirement. With customers able to discern the product origin, form the informational label, they will be able to choose to reject products from outside of the United States. With this change in hand, Alan Uke shares compelling evidence that consumers will indeed demand American manufactured goods over imported products.

This market based approach will result in manufacturers transforming their processes to domestic locations. The immediate increase in employment will add income to the economy, increasing overall demand. That enhanced aggregate demand will, in turn, create more new jobs in other industries. An additional benefit of this book is the comprehensive section of trade statistics for each American trading partner, as well as a synopsis of each of those countries and its environmental and human rights record.

I highly recommend the transformational and economy building book Buying America Back: A Real-Deal Blueprint for Restoring American Prosperity by Alan Uke, to anyone seeking a fresh approach to restoring and rebuilding the American economy. This book will inform and inspire consumers to flex their financial muscle to demand and create real change in the economy.

Tags: Buying America Back, Alan Uke, country of origin labeling, business book reviews

Lead By Greatness by David Lapin - Book review

Lead By Greatness

How Character Can Power Your Success

By: David Lapin

Published: February 3, 2012
Format: Paperback, 360 pages
ISBN-10: 0983467706
ISBN-13: 978-0983467700
Publisher: Avoda Books













"Greatness is not a skill set, but a way of being that expresses a person's sense of destiny and purpose. When great people lead with a sense of destiny and purpose, they become great leaders", writes rabbi, business strategist, and CEO of Lapin Consulting International, Inc., David Lapin, in his insightful and inspirational book Lead By Greatness: How Character Can Power Your Success. The author describes how exceptional leaders establish and live by their authenticity, core beliefs, and values.

David Lapin understands that leadership requires exceptional skills to establish a vision, inspire others to greatness, spark creativity, and build successful organizations. The author provides evidence, uncovered through his experience and research, that a leader's stature and reputation, are more important indicators of inspiration, than job titles or status. To transcend the ordinary level of leadership and attain greatness, David Lapin posits that the leader must develop a higher purpose, and a sense of overarching destiny. Instead of considering of the leader as what they are, David Lapin takes the bold step of considering a leader as why they are.



David Lapin (photo left) recognizes that becoming a leader who demonstrates greatness of character requires unlocking what he calls your "Spiritual Fingerprint" and your "Personal Purpose". The author shares how these two crucial characteristics will turn the key to open wide the company's corporate soul. That organizational soul includes a blending of spirit, culture, personality, and core values. These principles are the true uniqueness of the firm, and are not duplicated anywhere else. They form the basis of the organizations most fundamental competitive advantage.

To unlock the leadership traits, seen through the lens of the Spiritual Fingerprint and the Personal Purpose, the leader must establish higher purpose and a sense of destiny. With that transcendence in place, the leader can develop and enrich the following key traits:

* Authenticity
* Destiny
* Mastery
* Humility
* Vulnerability
* Generosity
* Awareness
* Wisdom

For me, the power of the book is how David Lapin combines a powerful message of the inspirational dynamic of the human spirit, with proven techniques for enhancing leadership skills. The author makes the transformational insight of connecting greatness of character, with business achievement, and the organizational profitability. David Lapin offers a unique perspective on leadership through his experience as both a spiritual teacher and as an effective executive.

David Lapin demonstrates clearly the critical importance of values, ethics, and a sense of spiritual purpose to leadership, the inspiring of others, and to the success of the organization. At a time when values and principles are lacking or treated with disdain in many companies, David Lapin offers an alternative and a better way. Not only is the spiritual path more personally rewarding, but is a more effective business plan as well. The author provides the key insight that the values driven team and organization has within them an unbeatable competitive advantage.

I highly recommend the transformational and passionate book Lead By Greatness: How Character Can Power Your Success by David Lapin, to anyone seeking to be more than simply a leader, but one who wants to unlock their inner spiritual sense of greatness in themselves and others. This deeply profound book will change you forever, and alter your entire perception of leadership, greatness, and of the need for a sense of a higher purpose.

Tags: Lead By Greatness: How Character Can Power Your Success, David Lapin, values based leadership, business book reviews

Competency-Based Interviews: Revised Edition by Robin Kessler - Book review

Competency-Based Interviews, Revised Edition

How to Master the Tough Interview Style Used by the Fortune 500s

By: Robin Kessler

Published: June 22, 2012
Format: Paperback, 224 pages
ISBN-10: 1601632215
ISBN-13: 978-1601632210
Publisher: Career Press












"Competency-based interviews are highly structured and use behavioral questions to help the interviewer assess candidates based on critical competencies identified for the position", writes human resources professional, consultant, career coach, and president of The Interview Coach, Robin Kessler, in the completely revised and updated edition of her very hands on and results oriented book Competency-Based Interviews, Revised Edition: How to Master the Tough Interview Style Used by the Fortune 500s. the author describes the various types of competency-based interviewing techniques, how to understand and prepare for them, and for growing as a competency-based employee.

Robin Kessler recognizes that leading companies are utilizing various competency-based interviewing techniques to discover and hire the best employees for their organizations. The author points out that progressive firms are moving toward the competency-based interview approach at a rapid pace. While some traditional employers continue to use standard interviewing practices, Robin Kessler provides evidence that competency-based interviewing is becoming the new standard format. The author presents the idea that since past behavior is the best indicator of future performance, the competency-based interview was devised to capture those recurring behaviors.



Robin Kessler (photo left) understands that the competencies being sought, and expected to be demonstrated in the interview process, are the key characteristics that will make a person a success on the job. The author shares the insight that sophisticated companies prefer working with competencies as they provide an effective framework for hiring, managing, evaluating, and improving their employees. Each firm will have what the author calls core competencies that apply to all areas of the organization.

The competency-based interview, writes Robin Kessler, was devised to target and identify these relevant competencies. To guide the applicant through the different types and formats of the competency based interview, the author provides the following principles:

* Understanding competency-based interviewing systems
* Identifying key competencies
* Knowing what interviewers are trained to look for
* Proving competencies with examples
* Presenting yourself as a strong candidate
* Considering other important interviewing tips
* Understanding how a competency interview flows
* Developing global competencies for the future
* Using competency-based resumes to get interviews

For me, the power of the book is how Robin Kessler combines a comprehensive guide to competency-based interview techniques, and their various iterations, with case studies and real world examples of the concepts in action. The book is very well formatted, and the ideas flow naturally, creating a sense of a process unfolding. The various chapters contain numerous examples of questions that will appear during a competency-based interview. The author shares the foundation to navigating those types of interviews successfully, regardless of the way the questions are formulated by the interviewer.

The author also includes an important section on performing well on the job, building career competencies, and career management. The book is enhanced by the valuable appendix sections on a list of core competencies, competencies for case studies, and illegal interview questions. The author also sprinkles some lighthearted comics throughout the book to provide depth to the ideas.

I highly recommend the practical and engaging book Competency-Based Interviews, Revised Edition: How to Master the Tough Interview Style Used by the Fortune 500s by Robin Kessler, to anyone seeking employment and accepting interviews in today's challenging employment environment. This book could provide the edge you need to land that great job in a sophisticated organization.

Tags: Competency-Based Interviews, Revised Edition: How to Master the Tough Interview Style Used by the Fortune 500s, Robin Kessler, interviewing techniques, business book reviews

Vicky Oliver: Bad Bosses & Crazy Coworkers - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



Speaker, career coach, workplace issues and etiquette expert, and author of the engaging and solution packed book Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots: 201 Smart Ways to Handle the Toughest People Issues, Vicky Oliver, describes the problem bosses, coworkers, and employees who seem to inhabit and haunt every workplace. Vicky Oliver shares her insights into how to identify, diagnose, and disarm even the worst office problem people. Vicky offers advice for handling with effective diplomacy the various types of problem bosses; and for keeping your job at the same time. Vicky provides ideas for working with even the most challenging coworkers and colleagues, and for making being on the job less painful. Vicky presents concepts for identifying if even you are the problem and how to correct your own problem creating shortcomings. Learn how to create a more transparent workplace that avoids creating the conditions that develop problem people in the first place. Discover how to survive and thrive in your new and improved workplace, with the improvement from the problem people.

Vicky Oliver is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Thursday, July 19, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Speaker, career coach, workplace issues and etiquette expert, and author of the engaging and solution packed book Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots: 201 Smart Ways to Handle the Toughest People Issues, Vicky Oliver, describes the problem bosses, coworkers, and employees who seem to inhabit and haunt every workplace. You will learn:

* How to identify the different types of workplace problem people

* How to confront and work with a bad boss, without getting fired

* How to handle a difficult coworker or colleague

* How to identify problems within yourself and correct them



Vicky Oliver (photo left) writes books that give people the confidence they need to succeed on the job hunt as well as on the vital quest for prospects. She also gives seminars on job-hunting, networking, and the art of branding yourself. Today her first book, 301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions, is available in the U.S., England, France, Australia, Canada, Japan, and Turkey. Her second book is called Power Sales Words, How to Write It, Say It, And Sell It with Sizzle. (All Sourcebooks)

Vicky has been featured on the front page of the New York Times 'Job Market' section and on over 100 local and national radio programs. She was designated in-house job-hunting expert at the Shomex Diversity Fair at Madison Square Garden. Her articles have appeared in Adweek magazine and on Crain's New York Business website; and she was interviewed for Esquire magazine's 'Answer Fella' column.

In 2007, Vicky hosted a Business Etiquette Dinner for 142 graduating seniors of Brown University. She also presented an Effective Interviewing seminar to 200 sophomores, juniors, and seniors up at the Brown campus during Career Week.

Vicky was recently elected President of the Brown University Club in New York. Vicky is also a newly minted Vice President of her class at Brown and a member of the Brown Alumni Association Board of Governors.

Vicky believes that job-hunting can be a lonely endeavor and encourages job seekers to contact her via email for advice on their searches. She is in constant touch with over 5,000 recent candidates in all different professions and in all different walks of life: the employed, the unemployed, entrepreneurs, freelancers, retirees, college graduates, and people returning to the job market.

A Brown University graduate with a degree in English Honors and a double major in Political Science, Vicky lives in Manhattan, where she has dedicated herself to helping others turn around their careers and their lives.

My book review of Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots: 201 Smart Ways to Handle the Toughest People Issues by Vicky Oliver.

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Let's talk with speaker, career coach, workplace issues and etiquette expert, and author of the engaging and solution packed book Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots: 201 Smart Ways to Handle the Toughest People Issues, Vicky Oliver, as she describes the problem bosses, coworkers, and employees who seem to inhabit and haunt every workplace. Vicky Oliver shares her insights into how to identify, diagnose, and disarm even the worst office problem people. Vicky offers advice for handling with effective diplomacy the various types of problem bosses; and for keeping your job at the same time.

Vicky provides ideas for working with even the most challenging coworkers and colleagues, and for making being on the job less painful. Vicky presents concepts for identifying if even you are the problem and how to correct your own problem creating shortcomings. Learn how to create a more transparent workplace that avoids creating the conditions that develop problem people in the first place. Discover how to survive and thrive in your new and improved workplace, with the improvement from the problem people on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots: 201 Smart Ways to Handle the Toughest People Issues, Vicky Oliver, personnel management, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots by Vicky Oliver - Book review

Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots

201 Smart Ways to Handle the Toughest People Issues

By: Vicky Oliver

Published: September 1, 2008
Format: Paperback: 512 pages
ISBN-10: 1402212534
ISBN-13: 978-1402212536
Publisher: Sourcebooks











"Contrary to popular perception, life at the office needn't be an inferno of despair, drudgery, and mayhem five days a week", writes speaker and career counselor, Vicky Oliver, in her engaging and solution packed book Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots: 201 Smart Ways to Handle the Toughest People Issues. The author describes the most frequently encountered and suffered problem bosses, coworkers, and employees; and shares proven techniques to disarm and even improve their behavior.

Vicky Oliver recognizes that almost every workplace contains the people who she refers to as the Problem. These difficult and often destructive people not only make the workplace environment a difficult experience for other employees, but also lower overall office productivity through their actions. Vicky Oliver shares her techniques for identifying the core personality issue for each of the various problem people. With the underlying problem understood, the author provides her proven techniques for disarming and neutralizing even the worst and most deadly problem individuals in any office. Vicky Oliver demonstrates that troubled employees no longer need to suffer in silence, but can be empowered to improve the office for the benefit of all.



Vicky Oliver (photo left) understands that suffering from terrible bosses, incorrigible coworkers, and unworkable employees result in a loss of performance and productivity in the workplace. The tragedy is that one or two problem people have a serious impact on the work performance of other employees as well. Fortunately, Vicky Oliver demonstrates that the workplace doesn't have to be a chapter from Dante's Inferno, but instead are simply another challenge that also has proven solutions.

Vicky Oliver divides her Problem people into three overarching groups, with each segment having subsets of various challenges. At the same time, the author offers strategies for identifying and dealing effectively with each problem individual, regardless of their position in the hierarchy. The three sections include:

* Bosses From Hell
* Colleagues From Purgatory
* When The Problem Lies Within

For me, the power of the book is how Vicky Oliver combines a comprehensive description of the complete gamut of problem people in workplaces, with a series of proven strategies for overcoming the challenges posed by working with those individuals. The author combines good humor with critical insights into the myriad of toxic people, and how they destroy their workplaces. Vicky Oliver pairs each problem person with the solution to handling that individual and their toxicity effectively.

The book is laid out in convenient, and readily accessed sections on bad bosses, problematic coworkers, and if the problem lies within oneself. With the problem paired with the solution, the book becomes an indispensable resource for all employees, managers, and supervisors to work effectively with any disruptive boss, colleague, or employee. The book is about solutions, and delivers on that promise.

I highly recommend the insightful and office transformational book Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots: 201 Smart Ways to Handle the Toughest People Issues by Vicky Oliver, to any leaders, managers, supervisors, employees, and job searchers who are seeking real world solutions for handling the most troubling people in any workplace environment. This book will change forever the culture in your office, through the empowering of people, to take back control of their own working lives from the trouble people, that haunt most offices.

Tags: Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots: 201 Smart Ways to Handle the Toughest People Issues, Vicky Oliver, personnel management, business book reviews