Soundview Executive Book Summaries, November 2005

Enthusiastic employees outproduce and outperform employees who are not motivated to perform. In The Enthusiastic Employee, three employee management experts from Sirota Consulting offer 30 years of research and experience to show readers exactly what managers are doing wrong - and what they should do instead. Drawing on detailed case studies and employee attitude surveys from hundreds of companies, the authors describe a dollars-and-cents business case for high employee morale, and present specific management practices that offer the greatest positive performance impact.

Conventional business wisdom dictates that companies should focus their sites on growth. But growth is no certain thing, say the authors of The Growth Gamble. Not all companies are built for rapid growth: Their markets are unsteady or extremely competitive, their infrastructure is not sufficiently flexible, or they don't have the quality or quantity of people to lend to the effort. For these companies, a slow or steady growth curve, over years or even decades, is the healthiest option. With The Growth Gamble and its invaluable New Businesses Traffic Lights Toolkit, businesses have what they need to grow smartly.

Author Lance Berger is a management consultant to Fortune 500 companies and has served as a consultant to Major League Baseball. After looking deeply into the history of the Yankees' organization, Berger discovered that many of the same principles that made the Yankees great were also driving the success of business clients. These core principles are based on leadership, processes and culture. In Management Wisdom From the New York Yankees' Dynasty, Berger offers time-tested management techniques that can turn any team - in sports or in business - into a long-term winner.

© and (P)2005 Soundview Executive Book Summaries