The Business Plus Blog

August 2010

GOOD BOSS, BAD BOSS: How to Be the Best… and Learn from the Worst by Robert I. Sutton

If you have a job in the corporate world, chances are you have a boss. Indeed, pretty much everybody has a boss, whether it’s someone at the supervisory, managerial, or executive level.

And if you’re like everybody else, you know that keeping your boss happy with your performance is a major focus of your daily corporate life and career.

Problem is — and as Bob Sutton made clear in his classic THE NO ASSHOLE RULE – too many of us work for bosses who are jerks. And that’s the starting point of BOSS.

Based upon the thousands of letters, emails, and conversations Sutton has received since the publication of THE NO ASSHOLE RULE, he now focuses his common sense approach on what it is that truly distinguishes the great bosses in our world from the ones who are just good, so-so, or even worse.

Using real-life case studies, the latest psychological research, and a thorough scan of the pertinent literature, Sutton delivers a pinpoint accounting of what the best bosses do on a daily basis. In short, Sutton delivers the first blueprint manifesto for anyone who has ever been elevated into a position of authority — or for those who have to suffer because of those bosses who just don’t get it.

Visit Bobsutton.net
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PREVIOUSLY RELEASED:

June 2010

Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh

The hip, iconoclastic CEO of Zappos shows how a different kind of corporate culture can make a huge difference in achieving remarkable results — by actually creating a company culture that values happiness –and then delivers on it. In his first book, Tony Hsieh explains how he created a unique culture and commitment to service that aims to improve the lives of its employees, customers, vendors, and backers. Using anecdotes and stories from his own life experiences, and from other companies, Hsieh provides concrete ways that companies can achieve unprecedented success.

May 2010

The Mirror Test: Is Your Business Really Breathing? by Jeffrey W. Hayzlett with Jim Eber

A definitive, prescriptive and very much “in-your-face” approach on how business managers (including small business owners) can truly evaluate what’s not working well in their businesses and how they can turn their companies around. Jeff Hayzlett is the chief marketing officer for Kodak. He has 25 years of international marketing and management experience and has received numerous global awards and honors, including the Frost & Sullivan Lifetime Achievement Award for marketing. He is currently chairman of the board of directors of the Business Marketing Association (BMA), a member of the board of directors of the Electronic Document Systems Foundation (EDSF), a member of the advisory board of the CMO Council and serves as chairman of SMEI’s Foundation for Marketing Education.

April 2010

A clarion call to anyone in the business world who has ever wondered whether performance reviews really do work…or in fact, actually cause more problems than they solve. Based upon a startling article in the Wall Street Journal that appeared in November, 2008, Samuel Culbert, a professor at UCLA Anderson School of Business and an expert on human relations in the workplace, summarized what most of us have already known for years – that annual corporate performance appraisals not only don’t work, they actually cause more problems than they solve. This powerful book pinpoints how performance reviews destroy employee morale, are rarely helpful, vary widely from one manager to the next, and in short, actually have a negative impact on both the supervisor and his/her subordinate. www.straighttalkatwork.com

February 2010

Selling in Tough Times: Secrets to Selling When No One is Buying by Tom Hopkins

We’ve all heard it before: when times are tough, go back to the basics. It seems simple, but the reality is that in good times, many of us let some of the most important principles of selling go by the wayside, which leaves us scrambling when a downturn hits. That’s why world-renowned sales expert Tom Hopkins is here to remind us that challenges are a constant aspect of selling and that the key to success is to keep your attitude positive and to never stop striving for excellence.

Tom Hopkins is the founder and president of the renowned sales training service Tom Hopkins International. He is a member of the National Speakers Bureau and speaks and teaches seminars frequently around the world. He is the author of the national bestseller How to Master the Art of Selling.