Free Book Review Summaries:
Suzie Recommends...

Here I'll provide short and free book review summaries.

I love books. I buy and read a lot of them.

Amazon and I are on a one-click-ordering-basis. Not good. It makes ordering books that look and sound good way too easy and quick, all with one click!

Unfortunately not all books are as good as they sound. I have the bookshelves to prove it!

I'm providing here free book review summaries of the books I most love. These are the books on my shelves that will NEVER be given away.

They are my resource and go-to guides.

They are in this free book review summaries page because they are the books that are marked up, tabbed and revisited often. Each of the books covered in these free book review summaries offer unique and practical insight.

Each has been an important part of my personal leadership development and life.

Gee, they feel a little bit like good friends. Is it silly to feel so warm and fuzzy about knowledge?

“Books! I dunno if I ever told you this, but books are
the greatest gift one person can give another.”

Get 'cracking' the Wake Up Eager Guide is: 6 books a year. Use these free book review summaries to guide your purchases. Pick one below and start reading.

Think of me as you stumble across your first, "Ah - ha...."

You know a book's important to you if you can remember the day you bought it. I'd just begun my first 'career' job at NCR Corporation. I loved the job, but I was overwhelmed.

This book 'fell off' the book shelf and landed in my hands. And it changed my life.

I included it first in this list of free book review summaries because it's my favorite. I've read it at least 10 times.

It is a National Bestseller because the principles are timeless. Each time you read it, a new 'niggle' (is that a word?) of insight will come to you.

It is about mind set, self-empowerment, personal effectiveness, being communication & relationship smart and business savvy.

It contains universal wisdom and key leadership philosophies and insights. It's full of relevant stories, so it's not boring. It's profound.

If you read it before, but it's been awhile. Pick it up again. If you've never read it, get it. Read it, mark it up and immerse yourself in it. You don't need many other books from my, or others, free book review summaries if you spend time gleaning insight from this one.

I've recently partnered with a seasoned consultant from Canada, Ray Miller, to represent his Management Training by the Book materials in my business.

I share details about this material here.

Don't let basic management skills bite you in the butt! Get this cost effective, online resource immediately.

Find out more about Management Training by the Book here.

If you don't love to read, but you do want to learn and deepen skills, here's a 10 minute video tour of an eLearning course from one of my partners: SBI.

They've become a great teacher for me and are the backbone and support for my business and this website. Click here to read my review of SBI and it's leader.

Seth Godin is a well-known author and is famous for writing the business/marketing book: Purple Cow. I've not read it. He's famous in my mind for THIS book. I like it so much that I use a quote from it on my home page.

I like it because it helps us all see that we can lead and that the world is looking for us to lead. He makes a powerful distinction between management (manipulating resources, authority) and leadership (creating change you believe in, using passion and ideas to move people).

He makes the point that skill and attitude are all that's needed to be a leader, not authority. There are plenty of people who have authority (they have the title of leader) but they are not leaders.

This book is 'happening' and 'relevant' to today's internet/ virtual world. He talks about empowerment and differentiates between a crowd and a tribe. He inspired me to keep focused on my own dream of an online Wake Up Eager forum and community.

The book's short, small and a coffee-house read. The author is someone who's thoughtful, practical, forward thinking and extremely hip - I'd love to have coffee with this guy.

Read this one and you'll never look at leadership the same way again.

When I lead classroom training this book is always a prerequisite. The book is a recap of the largest study ever undertaken of interviews of over 80,000 managers in 400 companies.

From all these interviews they developed twelve questions (very simple) that should be asked and answered to ensure a high performing, high profit workplace.

Through revealing examples and stories from the interviews and the real world they highlight what you have to do to be a great leader and manager.

This was the first study to make a strong case for the power of focusing on strengths, not weaknesses. They offer an excellent 'strengths' interview and numerous easy-to-implement exercises you can use with your team.

Every leader will want this book on their bookshelf. Credible, proven insights and practical application. A keeper.

This is why I've taken the time to write
these free book review summaries:
“These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper,
but minds alive on the shelves.”
---Gilbert Highet

This book is written by the Gallup Organization, the same sponsors of the First Break All the Rules study.

It's a positive and uplifting book about the power of appreciation and focusing on strengths. It provides five strategies for inspiring and leading others.

They provide insights into the perfect ratio between affirmative feedback to constructive criticism, 3:1. The study is fascinating and sheds tremendous insight into why every relationship in your life is working (or not working).

The premise is that we all have invisible buckets and dippers. And we interact we're either adding to the bucket or taking something away. When we choose to fill others' buckets, we in turn fill our own.

This book helps us all remember the power of expressing sincere appreciation. It's shared in a non-sappy, logical and practical manner. A quick, easy and inspiring read.

This book is for high achievers. It encourages you to keep evolving. Marshall is an executive coach to some of the top CEO's and Executives in the country. He provides straight talk and candid insights.

I'm a big fan of his insights and had to include in this free book review summaries web page.

He hits the 'problem' head-on when he talks about, "The Success Delusion." Offering the top 20 most annoying habits and challenging behaviors that cause high performers to stumble.

He's a proponent of getting and using feedback for expansion - something I also support and encourage. There's many reasons why companies like Google hire this guy and why top CEO's call him the greatest teacher and coach on the planet.

Marshall is smart and he has a very direct and practical delivery. If you want to go to the next level, order and read this one.

I wanted to include this tome in the list of free book review summaries because if you hire low, poor-fit performers you'll always struggle as a leader.

To quote another good book (but not in my free book review summaries list here), Good to Great, "You have to get the right people on 'the bus' and get the wrong people off."

This book, Top grading, will help you get the right people 'on the bus'. Too many professionals hire the wrong fit and then spend months suffering with their poor choice.

The author helped the famed Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, build a high caliber of talent in the '80's and '90's - the book years.

This book is a road map for everything related to finding, hiring and keeping the best. This is a valuable and practical business book.

The candidate assessment score cards, the Top grading interview guides and the in-depth reference check guides found in the Appendix will save you hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Hire slow, fire faster. Get this book to learn why and how and see your profits and productivity sky rocket.

"A book is a gift you can open again and again." --- Garrison Keillor

This book became my "bible" in my consulting practice, working with teams and leaders.

I've attended all of the author's programs - he's dynamic and a guru around how to help teams work together effectively.

After I started implementing the techniques and 'secrets' taught by Michael, my effectiveness, ability and confidence when working with groups, soared.

I'd be remiss in my free book review summaries if I didn't reveal what the acronym S.M.A.R.T.(in the title) stands for, it's: Structured, Meeting. and Relating Techniques. He uses acronyms for everything - but it works, because the acronyms help you remember and implement all of his techniques.

If the meetings you're in charge of suck, get this book!

If your team has a hard time making decisions and time is wasted, you need this book and these tools.

It's a resource I turn to again and again, another useful and practical reference manual.

Have you noticed how I've used the word 'practical' in almost all of these free book review summaries? I have a 'bent' for stuff I can use and that will make me more effective. You too?

This book will explain what's gone wrong in every relationship you've ever had that went sour. With insight like that - you now know why it made 'the cut' in my selective and free book review summaries list.

It's about teams. Teams are made up of relationships - so it's really about what it takes to make relationships work.

It's a fable - story about a new CEO and the team she inherited as she tries to turn the company around. The story catches your attention - I first listened to it in my car. I was eager to drive places by myself so I could find out what happened.

It's interesting and keeps your attention, but even better it gives you THE road map for helping your team reach it's goals.

I've used it with teams dozens of times and all of the free team building activities offered on my site are based on this road map.

The author has CD's - that's I what I bought to first 'read it.'

I recommend that you get a copy for your entire team. Get everyone to read this story.

This free online book review can be paired with my Team Resources step-by-step guides and survey available here.

Plus, you can also use Lencioni's Leader's Guide (pictured here_ to help with implementation of each exercise.

Use these tools with your team.

Every team I've worked with around these principles invites it, because everyone's sick of team dysfunction.

This team work is a process, not a 'one-time-mention'.

So be sure you're ready to stick with it before you begin, or your team will be worse off if it gets dropped. No one likes to get their hope up that changes is coming, and then nothing changes.

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