John Baldoni, MA'99
Lead by Example: 50 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Results, American Management Association, 2008.
The book: Taking over the top job, whether it's the CEO of a company or the manager of a department, is never easy. When done the right way, it results in inspired leadership; when done the wrong way, it can lead to disaster. This book reveals the traits and abilities leaders need to know to inspire others to follow them. Filled with examples of visionary leaders who have overcome their shortcomings and achieved greatness, it shows readers how to build trust, drive results and win the respect of the people they lead.
The author: John Baldoni is a leadership consultant, speaker and author of seven books, including "Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders." In 2007, he was named one of the 30 Most Influential Leadership Gurus by Leadership Gurus International. His leadership writings have appeared on BusinessWeek.com and FastCompany.com, and he has been featured or quoted in many publications.
Brian Reich, attended '97-'99, and Dan Solomon
Media Rules!: Mastering Today's Technology to Connect With and Keep Your Audience, Wiley, 2007.
The book: The authors have seen how changes in both technology and society can affect the communications and operations of an organization. Now, they provide you with a framework for understanding this dynamic world. It doesn't matter whether you're in the business of disseminating information or producing products, this book will prepare you to distinguish yourself from the competition by creating new models to better serve your audience and harnessing the full potential that technology provides.
The author: Brian Reich is director of New Media for Cone, Inc., a brand strategy and communications agency that creates stakeholder loyalty and long-term relationships through cause branding and corporate responsibility, marketing, public relations, and issues and crisis management initiatives. He has spent much of his life working with political organizations, helping to direct dozens of campaigns across the country.
Sam Wyly, MBA'57
1,000 Dollars and an Idea: Entrepreneur to Billionaire, New Market Press, 2008.
The book: This memoir reveals the creative process, relationships, struggles and financial strategies that allowed the author to become one of Forbes magazine's 1,000 wealthiest people in the world. From the hardships his parents faced trying to hold onto the family cotton farm during the Depression to the coaching he received on the high school football field, this self-made billionaire describes how his early days in Louisiana prepared him for what lay ahead. He recounts how he risked $1,000 of his savings to found University Computing and then took it public in 1965, making him a millionaire at age 30.
The author: Sam Wyly founded and grew companies on the leading edge of advancements in technology, energy, retail and investments over a career spanning 45 years. He is an active proponent of clean air through clean energy.
Lead by Example: 50 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Results, AMACOM, 2008.
The book: Taking over the top job, whether it’s the CEO of a company or the manager of a department, is never easy. When done the right way, it results in inspired leadership; when done the wrong way, it can lead to disaster. To be effective, the people in charge must give their team a reason to believe in their talents and their ability to get people to work together. Filled with examples of visionary leaders who have overcome their shortcomings and achieved greatness, this book will show readers how to build trust, drive results and win the respect of the people they lead.
The author: John Baldoni is a leadership consultant, speaker and author of seven books. His writing has appeared in BusinessWeek.com, FastCompany.com and Harvard Business Publishing. He has been featured or quoted in publications including the New York Times, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune and Investor’s Business Daily. In 2007, Baldoni was named one of the 30 Most Influential Leadership Gurus.
Eric Flamholtz, PhD'69, and Yvonne Randle
Leading Strategic Change: Bridging Theory and Practice, Cambridge University Press, 2008.
The book: Why are some companies successful while others experience difficulties and even failure? This book demonstrates that the key to long-term organizational success is the ability to adapt to and manage change. The authors combine theoretical and practical models of organizational change, together with a new theory of leadership, to build a framework for understanding, planning and leading change. The scope and value of this framework is then shown in relation to nine real-world case studies, ranging from relatively small companies to large multinationals. The focus throughout is to provide practical guidance to those concerned with managing and leading organizational change.
The author: Eric Flamholtz is professor emeritus at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and president of Management Systems Consulting Corporation, which he cofounded in 1978.
Andrew B. King, '83, MS'84
Website Optimization: Speed, Search Engine & Conversion Rate Secrets, O'Reilly, 2008.
The book: Is your site easy to find, simple to navigate and enticing enough to convert prospects into buyers? If not, this book shows you how to make it that way. It reveals a comprehensive set of techniques to improve your site's performance by boosting search engine visibility for more traffic, increasing conversion rates to maximize leads and profits, revving up site speed to retain users, and measuring your site's effectiveness (before and after these changes) with best practice metrics and tools.
The author: Andrew B. King is the president of Website Optimization, LLC, a Web performance and search engine marketing firm based in Ann Arbor. He is the author of "Speed Up Your Site: Web Site Optimization." He is also the founder and former managing editor of WebReference.com and JavaScript.com, two award-winning developer sites acquired by Mecklermedia in 1997.
Raymond Pettit, '72
Learning From Winners: How the ARF Ogilvy Award Winners Use Market Research to Create Advertising Success, Taylor & Francis, 2007.
The book: The best companies use the creative application of research to produce big ideas with significant impact on the market and on the people, employees, partners, retailers and customers. Readers will learn how brand managers and their agencies use research to drive new brand insights, redefine problems or markets, support risk-taking ideas, and illuminate diverse audiences. This book will be an invaluable resource for business executives looking for market strategy, consumer psychologists, teachers, students, and practitioners looking for a trusted guide for study in advertising, marketing and promotion.
The author: Raymond Pettit is senior vice president of MarketShare Partners, based in Los Angeles, California. He also is an at-large member of the Alumni Leadership Council and continues to marry business and musical pursuits with his wife, Beth Hall, a professional trumpet player in the New York City metro area.
Michael Dulworth, '83
The Connect Effect: Building Strong Personal, Professional, and Virtual Networks, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2008.
The book: This book shows how to take a conscious, systematic approach to networking. After a short quiz to measure your "networking quotient," it identifies three distinct kinds of networks: personal, professional, and virtual. The book examines their specific characteristics and offers strategies, tools and resources for building up and making the best use of each one. Stories from the author’s 20 years of experience running networks as well as interviews with executives, researchers and thought leaders, provide insights and advice about how networks function in the real world.
The author: Before acquiring Executive Networks, Mike Dulworth was vice president of learning services at The Concours Group. Before that, he was a founder and CEO of Learning Technologies Group, Inc. He is the author, co-author or a contributor to seven books and lives in San Francisco, California, with his wife, Teresa Goodwin, and son, Theo.
Web site: www.theconnecteffect.com/
David Andrew Singer, '94
Regulating Capital: Setting Standards for the International Financial System, Cornell University Press, 2007.
The book: Financial instability threatens the global economy. The volatility of capital movements across national borders has led many observers to argue for a reformed "global financial architecture," a body of consistent rules and institutions to prevent financial crises. Yet regulators have a decidedly mixed record in their attempts to create global standards for the financial system. David Andrew Singer seeks to explain the varying pressures on regulatory agencies to negotiate internationally acceptable rules and suggests that the variation is largely traceable to the different domestic political pressures faced by regulators.
The author: David Andrew Singer is assistant professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ellen Ernst Kossek, MBA'81, and Brenda A. Lautsch
CEO of Me: Creating a Life That Works in the Flexible Job Age, Wharton School Publishing, 2007.
The book: This book helps you identify which of six work-life "patterns" you fit into and how to move toward a pattern that's more productive and comfortable. Drawing on their research insights, the authors show how to identify the personal triggers that cause you the greatest stress; make the small changes that make the biggest difference; make technology work for you; redraw the lines between work and family as your life changes; master strategies for managing yourself, your colleagues and your supervisors; and leverage emerging work options that are now available for the first time.
The author: Ellen Ernst Kossek, a professor at Michigan State University’s School of Labor & Industrial Relations, is an expert on improving relationships between work, family and personal life in organizations; new flexible ways of working; management of talent and diversity in the global multicultural firm; and workplace innovation and change. She is married with four children.
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