Book Description
An award-winning sportswriter takes you inside a year with the nation's top high school chess team.
With strict admission standards and a progressive curriculum, Brooklyn's Edward R. Murrow High School has long been one of New York's public-education success stories, serving a diverse neighborhood of immigrants and minorities and ranking among the nation's best high schools. At Murrow, there are no sports teams, and the closest thing to jocks are found on the school's powerhouse chess team, which annually competes for the national championship.
In The Kings of New York sportswriter Michael Weinreb follows the members of the Murrow chess team through an entire season, from cash games in Washington Square Park to city and state tournaments to the SuperNationals in Nashville, where this eclectic bunch competes against private schoolers and suburbanites. Along the way, Weinreb brings to life a number of colorful characters: the Yale-educated calculus teacher (and former semipro hockey player) who guides the savants while struggling to find funding for his team; an aspiring rapper and tournament hustler who plays with cutthroat instinct; the team's lone girl, a shy Ukrainian immigrant; the Puerto Rican teen from the rough neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant who plays an ingenious opening gambit named the Orangutan; and the Lithuanian immigrant and team star whose chess rating is climbing toward grandmaster status.
In the bestselling tradition of such books as Word Freak and Friday Night Lights, The Kings of New York is a riveting look inside the world of competitive chess and an inspiring profile of young genius.
Customer Reviews:
He Knows Them So Well.......2007-09-14
Like many other guys I got into chess via the smash Broadsway musical written by Tim Rice and the two fellows from ABBA.
The musical, for those of us lucky enough to see it several times, glamorized the international world of high stakes chess championships, and posed chess as a way to resolve international Cold War tensions between grand masters of warring nations, spawning such monster hits as "One Night in Bangkok" and "I Know Him So Well." In Harold Prince's innovative direction, the stage became a living chessboard, the rooks, knights and pawns constantly alert and on the move at the drop of a baton. Now along comes Michael Weinreb, a top New York-based sportswriter, who focuses in on the Brooklyn high school that does for chess what FAME did for the performing arts.
The results? Not so glamorous, but compelling. Weinrib examines the ways in which few native-born Americans are drawn to chess, while the newly immigrant and the poor see in the sport a parallel to the nomadism of their existences, shuttled from state to state like bishops being moved two spaces one way, one space to the side. The main boys he profiles come from a wide variety of foreign countries, and once they're here, they do their best to go American, wearing baggy jeans, oversized T-shirts, FUBU underwear and the like. Their teacher, himself a chess expert, is not above employing Murrow's own strategies (Edward R. Murrow, after whom the school is named, was himself not a bad amateur chess player) to allow his boys (and one girl) a liberal amount of freedom regarding their academic commitments that would be unheard of at most schools.
As Weinrib reports, some of them fall apart, and some of them manage to keep their eye on the prize. Not since Frances Parkinson Keyes' 1960 novel THE CHESS PLAYERS, which examined the sorry, doomed life of American grand master Paul Morphy (possibly the greatest chess player who ever lived) (19th century, New Orleans), have we been shown in such detail the uncensored lives of the teens obsessed with the sport--the gateway to the kingdom.
In some way, his book will disappoint those of us who know how to play chess, for it is more about what our lives look like from the outside. But in others, it's a wake up call. I don't consider myself a geek, an oddball, or a genius, but now I know what the world thinks of men like me, men who, inspired by a dream (with music by ABBA), got into something I don't have any control of any more. Those who go to Hurrow in furture generations (like actress Marisa Tomei and director Darren Aronofsky--cited by Weinrib as two prominent graduates of Murrow's equally impressive theater program for kids) will be tempted to join the chess club just to travel the world! With their concentration on musical theater and chess, it's a wonder Murrow has not apparently put on a student production of the famous chess musical! They could star the the beloved chess graduates profiled in this book, Sal, Oscar Santana, Willy, Alex and Ilya. Hey, give it a chance! Weinrib quotes an approving chess source, who says, "The word dynasty does not completely describe Edward R. Murrow High School's pre-eminence in high school chess: complete hegemony is more accurate."
Great reviews, mediocre read.......2007-08-31
I read this on a long train ride, if I'd had anything else, I'd have read it.
I was just interested enough to keep reading and just bored enough to wish it would get more interesting.
A King among writers.......2007-08-23
embraces today's youth - now in chess!
so easy to read - thoughtful - hard to put down.
Thank you M. Weinreb
Interested in the New York chess scene?.......2007-08-11
If you are a chess player or someone new to chess, you may be interested in what is going on in the New York chess scene.New York is by far the biggest and most productive chess center in the USA.New York youth chess programs set the standard and produce many junior chess champions.In this book you will be following the journey of one such junior chess team on their road to the championships,this is a very well written book.The critism I have is this- I don't like the author calling chess players geeks and oddballs. Michael Weinreb the author is clearly a novice chess player at best,by his many annoying errors of chess terms and concepts.He sometimes writes about meaningless details which I found annoying, like giving small details about the environments and the details of what his characters are wearing ,hence why I took off one star.I appreciated the fact that this author took at least a year or more following a group of high school chess players around the country and giving us a glimpse into why chess is so popular in New York.I hope this trend spreads throughout the USA and to California, where I am from.Overall this book is helpful in spreading the popularity of chess, the game which I love, to more and more people throughout the USA.For that I am grateful.The book does a great job in expressing the emotions and trials of this group of young players.I will never forget the characters in this book. It was a fascinating read, and I took me only 3 days to finish it.I really enjoyed reading it ,and highly recommend this great book! This would be a great book for a high school teacher to read with thier students.
"Their lives have already been made much better".......2007-08-09
It is not often that I come across a book that has some great characteristics that make it excellent and others that seriously affect my enjoyment of the experience. This is one of those odd cases, because the portrayal of the kids and the gusto with which the author tells their personal stories is commendable. I can even risk going as far as saying that he comes close to the level of the best chess journalist I know, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam. But then when Weinreb starts talking about the games and chess concepts, everything comes tumbling down in a never ending spiral of mistakes and confusion. This gave me an odd feeling, because I started reading and thinking that it was a pretty good read and that it probably deserved between 4 and 5 stars. Then the chess parts started and I downgraded it to 2 to 3. Next I came across another good part, involving the description of coaches and masters, and I thought that it was on the right track again, only to be beaten down once more. Finally, I had to settle for 3.5 stars.
Lets start with the good part. The story focuses on the chess team of Edward R. Murrow High School, which is an institution in Brooklyn that implemented an experimental program giving the students considerably freedom to choose how to approach their education. In this setting, Eliot Weiss decided to start a chess team. This team attracted kids with different personalities, all of which have characteristics that give the author enough material to display his narrative skills. We are presented with the personal stories of the kids, which includes two master level players and a bunch of good club players, as well as some rookies. It is enlightening to see how chess affects their lives, and how their personalities differ from the stereotype most people have about how a chess player behaves and lives. We also get a tour through some of the most important factors that affected chess in the US and its introduction in schools. Finally, the book delivers great information on some of the most relevant coaches and masters in the game, such as Bruce Pandolfini and Bobby Fischer.
If the author, who clearly is not a chess player, had decided to stop there the result would have been excellent. He could have even asked a master for help in presenting the games and some of the chess concepts used in the book. Sadly, this was not the case, and starting with a convoluted explanation of what a pin is, the missteps accumulate and detract from the overall quality of the book. The problem is that the explanations do not help those that are already familiar with the concepts and are not clear enough for a newcomer to understand them. On top of that, we have the mistakes: positions that are wrong, illegal opening moves (on several occasions) and butchering the name of an opening, to name a few. And finally, to make it even worse, there is the narration of some of the games, which is so poor that it is impossible to follow. There are so many references to queen sacrifices that it is hard to believe these are accurate.
Those that are interested in the story of these oddballs and do not care about the chess portions will have a most pleasant experience with this book. However, if you are looking forward to following the development of the games through the narration, you will find yourself extremely disappointed.
Book Description
High Performing Investment Teams
"Although most leaders agree teamwork is important, few businesses effectively build collaborative, synchronized teams.
High Performing Investment Teams is an excellent guidepost for any manager striving to create a winning team and develop bench strength for the future."
—John W. Rogers Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ariel Capital Management, LLC
"Turning individual talent into team performance is the ultimate challenge for an investment organization, but also the key to building a sustainable investment franchise. Focus Consulting has captured the essence of how to leverage your intellectual capital for maximum and enduring success."
—Michelle R. Seitz, CFA, Principal, Head of Investment Management, Executive Committee Member, William Blair & Company, LLC
"Focus Consulting's work on behaviors of top teams is clear, effective, and practical. We recommend it highly for investment firms that are serious about world-class collaboration."
—Terry Toth, President, Northern Trust Global Investments
"Focus Consulting really understands that attracting and motivating talented people makes all the difference for asset managers. Their work is based on years of experience helping investment firms build strong cultures with productive behaviors."
—Scott Powers, Chief Executive Officer, Old Mutual Asset Management
"Focus Consulting understands the people aspect of the investment business. They know the investment business and how to make collaboration work."
—Harin de Silva, PhD, CFA, President, Analytic Investors
Download Description
High Performing Investment Teams ""Although most leaders agree teamwork is important, few businesses effectively build collaborative, synchronized teams. High Performing Investment Teams is an excellent guidepost for any manager striving to create a winning team and develop bench strength for the future."" John W. Rogers Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ariel Capital Management, LLC ""Turning individual talent into team performance is the ultimate challenge for an investment organization, but also the key to building a sustainable investment franchise. Focus Consulting has captured the essence of how to leverage your intellectual capital for maximum and enduring success."" Michelle R. Seitz, CFA, Principal, Head of Investment Management, Executive Committee Member, William Blair & Company, LLC ""Focus Consulting's work on behaviors of top teams is clear, effective, and practical. We recommend it highly for investment firms that are serious about world-class collaboration."" Terry Toth, President, Northern Trust Global Investments ""Focus Consulting really understands that attracting and motivating talented people makes all the difference for asset managers. Their work is based on years of experience helping investment firms build strong cultures with productive behaviors."" Scott Powers, Chief Executive Officer, Old Mutual Asset Management ""Focus Consulting understands the people aspect of the investment business. They know the investment business and how to make collaboration work."" Harin de Silva, PhD, CFA, President, Analytic Investors
Customer Reviews:
Highly recommended!!! An Insightful and Practical Guide to Investment Management Culture.......2007-08-20
This is an excellent book for anyone in a leadership position within the investment management industry. Although it is focused on people in investment management, its insights apply to any organization. Reading it will help you understand how emotions affect decision-making on investment teams and how to manage emotions so that they enhance rather than undermine your results. Although all of the material is very well done, I found the chapter on accountability to be the most useful for my own business as well as in my efforts to teach accountability to my children. Congratulations to Jim Ware and his co-contributors on their fine work.
A book on HR management for Investment/Trading Firms, "not" on Investment/Trading.......2006-11-08
As there's no table of content here on Amazon, I would like to take the priviledge to type it for you as below:-
Introduction: The Elements of Greatness
Ch 1 Investment Leadership: Building a Winning Culture for Long Term Success
Ch 2 Curiosity: Learning How to Learn
Ch 3 Accountability Part 1: Taking Responsibility
Ch 4 Accountability Part 2: Making and Keeping Agreements
Ch 5 Candor: Revealing, Not Concealing
Ch 6 Authenticity: Eliminating Drama
Ch 7 Awareness: Using Emotional and Intuitional Intelligence
Ch 8 Genius: Maximizing Your Contribution
Ch 9 Appreciation: Shifting from Entitlement
Ch 10 Fit: Investment Personalities and the Seven Behaviors
Ch 11 Decision Rights: Establishing and Clarifying the Rules
Concluding Thoughts: Measurement, Behavioral Finance, Integrity, and an Invitation for More
Obviously, though not that obvious before my purchase (that means I failed the acid test for a smart trader), it is a very niche book on HR management for Investment/Trading Firms, "not" on Investment/Trading. I am not qualifed to tell whether it serves its purpose well (that you may even be convinced to contact the author's Consulting Firm). However, I would like to warn potential buyers of the risk of a wrong bid.
p.s. Nevertheless, I like the passage below in Foreword by Michael J. Mauboussin, Chief Investment Strategist of Legg Mason.
Shortly after his retirement, Jack Welch spoke to a group of 5000 HR executives and delivered a message he was sure they would appreciate: The head of HR should be the second most important person in any organization. Anticipating some audience adulation, he was surprised when a strange hush filled the room. Prodding, he asked how many of the participants worked for firms where the CEO treated the head of HR and the CFO with equal respect. Only 50 hands went up. Welch was astounded. Ninety-nine percent of these companies emphasized finance over people! "If you managed a baseball team," he asked, "would you listen more closely to the team accountant or the director of player personnel!"
Book Description
When the Boston Red Sox won the World Series on October 27, 2004, they made history. Their stunning comeback against the New York Yankees and their four-game annihilation of the St. Louis Cardinals capped one of the most thrilling postseason runs ever. The World Series victory-Boston's first in 86 years-came less than three years after John Henry and Tom Werner bought the team from the Yawkey Trust and forever changed the way the Red Sox operated on and off the field.
Seth Mnookin was given access never before granted to a reporter in the history of organized sports. He had a key to Fenway Park and a desk in the team's front office. He spent weekends talking business with John Henry and afternoons in the clubhouse with Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. He learned never-before-told details of the team's Thanksgiving Day wooing of Curt Schilling, the jealousy Nomar Garciaparra felt toward better-paid teammates, and the anxiety that impelled Pedro Martinez to insist that the Red Sox guarantee his future. He was there when general manager Theo Epstein's frustration over the organization's ceaseless drive for more media coverage and new revenue streams collided with his fracturing relationship with CEO Larry Lucchino. The resulting narrative -- juicy, gripping, and overflowing with thrilling detail -- reveals how a savvy sports organization tries to stay on top while under the relentless scrutiny of the country's most voracious sportswriters and baseball's most demanding fans.
Drawn from hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews and a year with the team, Feeding the Monster shows as no book ever has before what it means to buy, sell, run, and be part of a major league sports team in America.
Customer Reviews:
Whatever happened to the Idiots?.......2007-10-01
Ever wonder what happened to that self-proclaimed gang of "idiots" that aimed to do what we all knew could not be done, but we believed in them anyway? Who were those guys? What happened to them? Why did they leave? What brought Johnny Damon to the Yankees? Why did Pedro sign with the Mets? What ever happened to Kevin "Cowboy up" Millar? And who was that bulbous little man with the huge head and huge smile seen on virtually every post-2004 Red Sox publicity stunt?
These are the questions you have been asking yourself. This is the stuff of myth and religion, the stuff of Red Sox belief. And now, in Feeding the Monster, these questions and more are finally answered.
What Mnookin reveals behind the Ruby Red curtain is an ownership-managemant-promotional gang that make decisions on the basis of science, not sentiment. The Idiots, we learn, were growing old, bitter, and complacent. They may have had great chemistry, and fans may have loved them, but in 2004 they were an anomoly--a statistical outlier. According to Mnookin, the Brain Trust knew that the value of the Red Sox could not be compromised by player popularity: Franchise decisions had to be made on the basis of intelligence, "good intelligence." The bottom line was that historical patterns demonstrate that winning teams are young teams, with strong arms, and a high on-base percentage. By the end of 2004, Keith Foulke's knees were shot, Pedro's arm was ready to fall off, Damon was old, Trot Nixon was ancient, and Kevin Millar was no longer funny: He was annoying. If history was right, then the idiots had to go.
Feeding the Monster provides an absoutely mesmerizing, insider chronicle of franchise operations and player shenanigans leading up to and after the 2004 season (the reprint edition extends the account through to spring 2007). The book is rich in detail. All I can add is that when read against the backdrop of any given regular season, Feeding the Monster will provide a deeply satisfying, entertaining narrative that helps to explain the logic underpinning the crazy, soap opera of the Boston Red Sox.
Hear From the Red Sox Managers.......2007-04-12
Dispel some of the rumors surrounding the Boston Red Sox with this behind-the-scenes look at the team's management.
These Aren't Your Grandfather's Sox.......2007-02-03
Taking the long view, as Seth Mnookin does at the beginning of this piece of reportage, the Boston Red Sox are a failed franchise, a broken watch.
Much like the famous New Yorker cover that maps Manhattan at the center of the universe with other, lesser places marked as specks on the horizon, Mnookin's story centers on the team that John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino assembled to change that legacy. Off in the irrelevant distance are a dueling Babe Ruth and Harry Frazee, an oafish Joe Cronin, a drunken Tom Yawkey, an overrated and ultimately inconsequential Ted Williams, and some guys called Yaz and Pudge and Pesky. From the get-go, this is not a work of Sawks idolatry.
In telling a front-office story, Mnookin sets himself a difficult task. The rise and fall of management teams makes interesting if somewhat limited reading for the type of reader who subscribes to the Wall Street Journal, but it is no simple oversight that publication lacks a sports page to cover the teams that perform on the field. For those who follow the daily exploits of their hometown favorites, owners and managers generally are figures to be reviled. It is necessary, then, for Mnookin as the teller of what is, after all, a heroic sports tale to jump back and forth between the people to whom he has access -- the suits -- and those to whom he clearly does not -- the players. As a result, we get only caricatures of those who are in fact the face of the franchise: a brooding, Hamlet-like Garciaparra; a blowhard Schilling; a proud and fragile-egoed Martinez; a whacked-out Ramirez; a universally beloved Pappi. Is there any magic here? Sadly, no. Like other sports franchises in modern times, baseball teams -- Red Sox included -- mix and match from year to year with few loyalties and scant long term vision. To hear Mnookin tell it, the club brass might just as well have been trading soybean futures.
Interesting, yes. Compelling, no.
The book is written well and carefully, with some exceptions: were he still alive, no doubt Bobby Bonds would be surprised to learn that Willie Mays is Barry's grandfather. Its background and context give it far greater depth than a compendium of clips from sports pages covering the same subject matter. As a journalist, one suspects that Mnookin disdains his peers on the Red Sox beat. Peter Gammons is the only writer who gets favorable mention, and one interesting but underdeveloped motif of the book is the love-hate relationship -- mostly hate, it seems -- between the team and the writers who cover it.
As hot stove reading, this book is good. But it likely will be forgotten as soon as pitchers and catchers report.
Experts Are Wrong.......2006-12-28
Mnookin nicely reminds us that the experts - both on the inside and outside - often don't know what they are talking about. A great book.
Essential Reading for Those Who Want Another World Championship.......2006-11-22
Although both major Boston papers are filled with Red Sox stories, much of what is written is wrong, biased, or irrelevant. Because so much ink is slung so indiscriminately, many involved with the Red Sox don't really want to open up to the press. In a remarkable departure from the policy of not providing any information, the team's new ownership decided to let the public in to know more about the team. One aspect of that new philosophy was to allow author, Seth Mnookin, unparalleled access to the team's management.
Now, that may not seem like a juicy subject, but it is if you are interested in how the Red Sox can hope to field teams that can compete with the New York Yankees and the unlimited budget for personnel in the Bronx. In Feeding the Monster, you get a realistic sense that the Red Sox are going to have bad years . . . in order to have good years. Now, that's quite a contradiction to the constantly upbeat publicity that the club has put out since the new owners took over. That "promise them anything" philosophy in fact becomes a major bone of contention that almost drives Theo Epstein away.
There are places where the book seems to falter. Some players are dismissed as being a problem for the club based on a few incidents or characteristics. Most of us have our drawbacks. While we're performing, no one cares. When we don't perform, those drawbacks are often cited when we lose a job. The same happens to baseball players.
But the behind-the-scenes look at management is unprecedented . . . and dispels a lot of myths happily carried forward by the local media. I was glad to see the record set straight about how the club came into its current ownership hands, for example.
It was interesting that this book came out describing the 2006 season as a problem year just as the Red Sox collapsed in the five-game series in Fenway . . . and the Yankees went nowhere. In the excitement of the great wins early in the season, it was easy to overlook that the club didn't have the pitching to make it very far. It was all the more remarkable that the early season went so well. Congratulations to the Red Sox for accomplishing as much as they did in 2006.
Wait until next year!
Book Description
It is common knowledge that CEOs declare their direct reports as a team at the top. Yet with a culture of individual accountability and self-reliance pervading executive suites, few management groups ever function as real teams. Now, in a natural follow-up to his bestselling The Wisdom of Teams, Jon Katzenbach offers practical guidelines for increasing leadership capacity at the highest executive levels. He shows how even the strongest and most successful CEO can improve a company's performance by turning the senior executive group into a real team--without sacrificing each member's individual leadership capabilities. Teams at the Top explains how to recognize when a team effort at the management level is preferable and when a work group under single leadership will do. Then, the book shows how to develop the capability to shift into whichever mode is appropriate. With stories and examples from well-known companies including Avon, Ben & Jerry's, Citicorp, and Clorox, Teams at the Top will help companies of all sizes and in all industries maximize the full potential of their leadership.
Customer Reviews:
A Delicate but Essential Balance.......2001-04-12
In one of his several brilliant studies of leadership, Organizing Genius, Warren Bennis examines high-performance teams such as those associated with the Disney studios (which created the first full-length animation film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), the Manhattan Project, Xerox's PARC, and Lockheed's "Skunk Works." But if your own organization has few (if any) geniuses, what are the best strategies for unleashing the potential of both collaborative teamwork and individual leadership? Katzenbach is himself the author or co-author of a number of brilliantly conceived and executed studies, notably The Wisdom of Teams and Real Change Leaders. In this book, his central thesis is that "an integrated balance of real team, individual, and single-leader working group performance is both possible and desirable at the top -- not that one mode is intrinsically better than the other." The key phrase is "integrated balance." Whatever the size and nature of your organization, Katzenbach offers "three major messages":
1. The best senior leadership groups are rarely a true team at the top -- although they can and do function as real teams when major, unexpected events prompt that behavior.
2. Most of the team members can optimize their performance as a group by consciously working to obtain a better balance between their team and non-team efforts -- rather than by trying to become an ongoing single team.
3. The secret to better balance lies in learning to integrate the discipline required for team performance with the discipline of executive (single-leader) behavior -- not in replacing one with the other.
This third "message" is especially relevant to smaller companies, probably privately-owned, in which the CEO (the archetypical single-leader) is either the founder or related to the founder. In such companies, the need for an "integrated balance" may be even greater than it is for much larger organizations. Katzenbach organizes his material within nine chapters. Rather than list their titles, I have selected a few key passages which, hopefully, will suggest the potential value of this book to you and your own organization's specific needs and interests.
Executive Leadership Discipline requires an individual to "create and maintain urgency, resolve the critical strategic issues, enforce individual accountability, leverage executive time, make the tough decisions individually, pick the best individuals for the key jobs, and periodically raise the bar." (Chapter One)
"The notion of `leadership capacity' implies a system of leadership, if you will, that can extract leadership wisdom, insight, and behaviors from many more individuals. [This is obviously essential to concensus-building.] Thus it fuels the continuing search for different kinds of leadership approaches, both individual and joint, at all levels of the organization." (Chapter Three)
Team Leadership Discipline requires members to "create a meaningful purpose, commit to a team performance goals, be mutually accountable (no member can fail... only the team fails), commit to real work, share decision among members, strive for the right skill mix, and establish the height of the bar." (Chapter Four)
"Integrating real team performance with executive leadership performance requires both a sharp understanding of the differences between the two two disciplines required and a relentless determination to integrate the two. It is hard work, counterintuitive, and outside the comfort zone of most senior executives. Nevertheless, it is well worth the effort." (Chapter Nine)
In Appendix B, Katzenbach offers this definition of a real team: "A small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable." My own opinion is that unless an organization has the two disciplines (both executive leadership and team leadership) in appropriate balance, it will probably have neither. Hopefully, this brief commentary will encourage you to read and then re-read this important book. Also, to check out the other books authored or co-authored by Katzenbach.
Misses the Point.......2000-01-22
I was hugely disappointed with this book. It held such promise of addressing one of the most important barriers to building collaborative behavior in organizations---the behavior of the senior people.
Throughout the book the author seemed to defend the hierarchical behavior of senior executives and diminish team benefits. And it completely missed the essence of teams which is collaboration. Phrases such as "amorphous groups with overlapping responsibilities," "disrupt the natural order of things," "seldom the best way to get normal work accomplished or routine problems solved," "seldom the fastest way for a group with an experienced, capable leader to get where they are going," "time-consuming 'forming, norming, and storming' stuff," had me wondering if the author really understands collaboration.
This book may do more to maintain the traditional topdown, hierarchical decision making model than to foster real collaboration and teamwork.
Product Description
Inside the Minds provides readers with proven business intelligence from C-Level executives (Chairman, CEO, CFO, CMO, Partner) from the world s most respected companies nationwide, rather than third-party accounts from unknown authors and analysts. Each chapter is comparable to an essay/thought leadership piece and is a future-oriented look at where an industry, profession or topic is headed and the most important issues for the future. Through an exhaustive selection process, each author was hand-picked by the Inside the Minds editorial board to author a chapter for this book.
Customer Reviews:
A Look at the Grit Behind the Glamour Moves.......2007-01-09
The Mets have experienced a few great seasons among the 45 in franchise history: 1969, 1973, 1986, 1999 and a few others that could be argued. The 2005 season wouldn't make a lot of people's lists on the surface, but dig underneath, like Adam Rubin has, and you'll see that 2005--starting with the most successful offseason in 20 years--was the year that the building blocks moved into place. Willie Randolph's hiring, the wooing of Pedro Martinez, the signing of Carlos Beltran, created, in Beltran's words, the "New Mets." In one fell swoop the Art Howe Era was shovelled it into the trash can. Just as important was the hiring of Omar Minaya to put all these changes in motion and the realization by the Wilpons that owning a team for a quarter century doesn't mean you essentially know what's best. Adam Rubin, who wrote about all these things deftly removes these facts from the constraints of the daily newspaper and creates a cohensive storyline in a year that may well stand with 1968, 1984, and 1997 as years that signaled sea changes in the club's fortunes. Of course, we all may be wrong about this--Mets fans are, after all, a pessimistic lot--but Adam Rubin's solid book shows what it's like to start from scratch in a town where baseball means so much.
Not All-Star Material.......2006-11-04
The story of how Omar Minaya refashioned the Mets - from perennial bottom feeders into genuine contenders, in two short seasons - is indeed an appropiately Amazin' tale. In fact, Minaya is not finished yet, and there is still work to be done. However, Adam Rubin has taken the first two of Minaya's moves - the enlistment of Pedro and Carlos Beltran in the winter of 2004/5 - as the basis for his book. Alas, his writing neither matches nor illuminates any of the very distinctive characters involved, nor does it shed any particular light on the sea-change that Minaya has instituted within the Mets organization. The book is enjoyable enough, at least for most Mets fans, simply because it replays two very enjoyable events - but it lacks depth. I know - it's only baseball - but still, more is required. The best of sports books have it - but this one doesn't.
Pedro, Carlos, Omar, Willie, Marlon Anderson and Mike DeJean.......2006-09-22
"Pedro, Carlos and Omar" is essentially an extended compilation of Daily News articles about the 2005 Mets. The book is edited well and tells a coherent story about how Omar Minaya was lured back into the Mets' fold by an ownership group tired of three straight losing season, with the promise of complete autonomy over the roster. The Wilpons fired two managers, Bobby Valentine and Art Howe -- each of whom had recent playoff experience, Valentine in the World Series -- and replaced him with Willie Randolph, who'd never managed in the big leagues before but who did have four Series rings as a Yankees coach. What contributions could Minaya and Randolph bring to the team?
Plenty, as it turns out. The Mets went out and did something they'd never done before -- signed a high-profile slugger under the age of 30 to a long-term, multi-million dollar contract. Say farewell to the shameful days of George Foster and Mo Vaughn. Along with Carlos Beltran came Pedro Martinez, fresh off his shutout in Game 3 of the World Series, with the hopes of getting Manny Ramirez right behind. Could Beltran bear up under big-market pressure? Could Pedro keep his sometimes whimsical, sometimes antagonistic attitude in check for a full year? Could he beat the Yankees?
The Mets don't make the playoffs in 2005. That has to wait for a thus-far glorious 2006 campaign that will probably be summarized in an afterword to the paperback edition of this book. However, they did finish third, at four games over .500 -- their best finish since the 2000 World Series season. They re-energized the fan base, capitalized on Fred Wilpon's promise to play "meaningful games in September", and gave a full year's experience to two youngsters who'd energize Queens in '06: David Wright and Jose Reyes. Best of all, they got rid of Braden Looper.
One caution: this is not hard-hitting investigative journalism. Apart from a few glimpses into the future, "Pedro, Carlos and Omar" is told one day at a time, in straight chronological order, and only with quotes taken from game-day articles. No-one is interviewed after the end of the season to provide perspective or commentary. This is not so much the untold story of the 2005 Mets, as a retelling of what we already knew from Rubin's Daily News articles from that year.
However, read in the run-up to the '06 playoffs, this book is a nice training montage showing how the Mets started to put it all together a year ago.
A Quick and "Amazin" read.......2006-08-21
I am a huge Mets fan, have been since I was old enough to understand baseball. I got this book from the library to read while I was on vacation this summer. I am not an avid book reader by any stretch. The most I read is either SI or the newspaper. But I read this book in just two nights. I couldn't put it down.
Rubin really takes you behind the scenes of what was going on from the Winter of 2003 until the Spring of 2005. I was stunned to learn some of the things in this book. For example, the Mets thought they had a 0% chance of landing Pedro, so they were content with going after Ramon Ortiz and Odalis Perez.
This book is a must-read for any NY Mets fan, or baseball fan for that matter.
Pedro,Carlos and Omar * * * Great Book* * *.......2006-08-03
I was very impressed with Adam Rubin's portrayal of the NY Mets in his new book, "Pedro, Carlos and Omar". Although his newspaper writing is excellent, he takes a different approach and gives a superb accounting of the behind the scenes look at the team. This book is packed with information that cannot be gotten from any other type of publication. You do not have to be a Mets fan to enjoy this book. I highly recommend "Pedro, Carlos and Omar" not only to all Mets fans, but to all fans of baseball.
Book Description
Conquest tells the story of a once-proud football program's return to glory after years of disappointment. USC's rout of Oklahoma in the 2005 Orange Bowl completed a turnaround as dramatic and inspiring as its fall from grace was shocking. Go behind the scenes to meet the players and coaches who revived the nation's most successful college football program.
Customer Reviews:
Solid, well-reported.......2007-01-20
David Wharton and Gary Klein know USC and the USC culture (full disclosure: I worked on the Daily Trojan with Wharton but have had virtually no contact with him since I graduated in 1984). "Conquest" will please USC devotees with its summary of the changes from the Trojans' 2002 re-emergence to the 2004 national championship. It contains some insider detail of locker room cheering, reporting on recruiting battles, and even a nice reminder that TV commentator Bob Griese said that Heisman Trophy QB Matt Leinart had "no supporting cast" moments before Leinart and all his teammates crushed Oklahoma in the 2004 National Championship game. I'd venture that even though Griese was a stellar pro football player, he knew a lot less about the Trojans than David Wharton and Gary Klein did. Fortunately, Griese doesn't write books, and equally fortunately, Wharton and Klein do.
WILL STAND THE TEST OF TIME!.......2006-04-28
When the 2004 season ended, many USC fans were filled with hubris, thinking it was just another step in our march towards replacing Notre Dame as the greatest of all college traditions. Perhaps this march will continue over the next few years, but one nine-yard Vince Evans TD run turned the 2005 team from the best ever to that other list which includes the '79 Trojans, '83 Cornhuskers, '54 Indians. . . Close but no cigar.
SOOOO. . . This book turns into that piece of history to be cherished, and both Gary Klein and David Wharton were with Pete Carroll's juggernaut every step of the way. Upon reflection, this - not the '05 team - is Carroll's best team up to the 2006 season. One is inceasingly thinking we will never see their likes again, not just at Troy but in all college football.
Who is better than the 2004 Trojans? The 1972 Trojans. Maybe the 1995 Nebraska team. Few if any others. This is an inside look at this greatness, and for those who need to research USC and the collegiate game, it is invaluable as a resource.
STEVEN TRAVERS, author of
THE USC TROJANS: COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S ALL-TIME GREATEST DYNASTY
BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN
TROJANS ESSENTIAL: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO BE A REAL FAN!
SEPTEMBER 1970: ONE NIGHT, TWO TEAMS, & THE GAME THAT CHANGED A NATION
USCSTEVE1@aol.com
Excellent Book for USC Football Fans.......2006-01-05
Anyone who has followed USC football should read this book. I felt that the behind-the-scenes information gave me a glimpse into the development of a college football powerhouse.
Very insightful look at big time college football today.......2005-12-28
As an 'SC alum and avid football fan, this was easy reading - brain candy. Not tremendous depth, but the book gave me great insight into how players are recruited and how the coaches approach each game. John McKay's autobiography is much more thorough about the game and leading the team. "Conquest" is a recap of the last several seasons with some behind the scenes stuff thrown in.
Conquest...book review...........2005-09-27
A "must read" for fans of USC football. The book is an engaging recap of the games from the past few seasons, along with interesting behind-the-scenes information on Pete Carroll and his role in reviving the USC football program. Even a hard-core USC football fan will likely learn something new about the team and its history. For long-time fans like me, who endured mediocre USC teams through the 1990's, it's fun to read this book and relive the excitement of Pete Carroll's Trojans. Check it out.
Product Description
Inside the Minds provides readers with proven business intelligence from C-Level executives (Chairman, CEO, CFO, CMO, Partner) from the worlds most respected companies nationwide, rather than third-party accounts from unknown authors and analysts. Each chapter is comparable to an essay/thought leadership piece and is a future-oriented look at where an industry, profession or topic is headed and the most important issues for the future. Through an exhaustive selection process, each author was hand-picked by the Inside the Minds editorial board to author a chapter for this book. Chapters Include: Ron V. Rose, Chief Information Officer, priceline.com Delivering E-Commerce Quality and Velocity; Bertram S. Reese, Vice President and Chief Information Officer and Jerry Kevorkian, Chief Technology Officer, Sentara Healthcare - Creating a Financial Impact: A Health Care Perspective; James Sanford Phillips, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Jackson Health System -The Pillars of Success; Ken Erdner, Vice President, Information Technology, Old Dominion Freight Line - Weeding Through the Fads to Find Success; Grant A. Richardson, Senior Director of Information and Technology Systems, ABX Air Inc. Adding Value to Your Organization; Tony Sabatino, Chief Technology Officer, Alamosa PCS - Everyone is Your Customer; Sean Moriarty, Chief Operations Officer, Ticketmaster Building Relationships and Overcoming Challenges; John Beale, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer, City National Bank - Check Your Ego at the Door; Jerrold M. Grochow, Vice President, Information Services and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Bond Between Business and Technology; Dan A. Canzano, Vice President, Information Technology, Paychex Inc.- Using IT to Provide Premier Service; Steven C. Rubinow, Chief Technology Officer, Archipelago Holdings Inc. - A Roadmap to Success as a Technologist; Bill Grimm, Chief Information Officer, Pacific Capital Bancorp Strategies for Mid-Sized Financial Institutions; David Egbert, Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Viasystems Group Inc. The Technology is the Easy Part; B. Scott McGlaun, Chief Information Officer, Synovus Financial Corp. Building and Managing a Strong Team; Lac Van Tran, Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer, and Associate Dean, Rush University Medical Center Goals of an IT Executive;
Download Description
Inside the Minds provides readers with proven business intelligence from C-Level executives (Chairman, CEO, CFO, CMO, Partner) from the world's most respected companies nationwide, rather than third-party accounts from unknown authors and analysts. Each chapter is comparable to an essay/thought leadership piece and is a future-oriented look at where an industry, profession or topic is headed and the most important issues for the future. Through an exhaustive selection process, each author was hand-picked by the Inside the Minds editorial board to author a chapter for this book. Chapters Include: Ron V. Rose, Chief Information Officer, priceline.com - "Delivering E-Commerce Quality and Velocity"; Bertram S. Reese, Vice President and Chief Information Officer and Jerry Kevorkian, Chief Technology Officer, Sentara Healthcare - "Creating a Financial Impact: A Health Care Perspective"; James Sanford Phillips, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Jackson Health System -"The Pillars of Success"; Ken Erdner, Vice President, Information Technology, Old Dominion Freight Line - Weeding "Through the Fads to Find Success"; Grant A. Richardson, Senior Director of Information and Technology Systems, ABX Air Inc. - "Adding Value to Your Organization"; Tony Sabatino, Chief Technology Officer, Alamosa PCS - "Everyone is Your Customer"; Sean Moriarty, Chief Operations Officer, Ticketmaster - "Building Relationships and Overcoming Challenges"; John Beale, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer, City National Bank - "Check Your Ego at the Door"; Jerrold M. Grochow, Vice President, Information Services and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology - "The Bond Between Business and Technology"; Dan A. Canzano, Vice President, Information Technology, Paychex Inc.- "Using IT to Provide Premier Service"; Steven C. Rubinow, Chief Technology Officer, Archipelago Holdings Inc. - "A Roadmap to Success as a Technologist"; Bill Grimm, Chief Information Officer, Pacific Capital Bancorp - "Strategies for Mid-Sized Financial Institutions"; David Egbert, Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Viasystems Group Inc. - "The Technology is the Easy Part"; B. Scott McGlaun, Chief Information Officer, Synovus Financial Corp. - "Building and Managing a Strong Team"; Lac Van Tran, Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer, and Associate Dean, Rush University Medical Center - "Goals of an IT Executive";
Book Description
With a 12-step strategic guide and a wealth of case studies, this book offers the tools organizations need to bridge distance, cultures, and language, and convert the richness created by cultural diversities into innovative thinking and action.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting views.......2006-12-15
This is mostly about common sense, but it does provide some clever insight into today's multinationals and it's worth for anyone interested in how our different cultures can work together in one organization, and perform at their best. The authors start from an interesting premise, that is "you can never completely understand a culture that is not yours / or that you haven't been living in".
A Solid Read!.......2004-04-30
Some of the challenges of managing global teams are obvious. For example, team members will probably speak different languages and come from different cultures. So how do you function in the Tower of Babel? Authors Michael J. Marquardt and Lisa Horvath recommend designating a common language, usually English for American companies. On the other hand, some of the challenges global team managers confront are not so obvious. For instance, what reward system do you use when everyone values different things? Can you just give everyone a pat on the back and a bonus, or must you individualize feedback mechanisms? What etiquette do you follow if everyone has a different sense of what is polite? If these issues haven't occurred to you already, you need this book. If they have, well, We still suggests this rundown on the very basics. As you may have guessed, all the issues you have already confronted with international employees get magnified with global teams.
A Solid Effort!.......2004-03-01
Some of the challenges of managing global teams are obvious. For example, team members will probably speak different languages and come from different cultures. So how do you function in the Tower of Babel? Authors Michael J. Marquardt and Lisa Horvath recommend designating a common language, usually English for American companies. On the other hand, some of the challenges global team managers confront are not so obvious. For instance, what reward system do you use when everyone values different things? Can you just give everyone a pat on the back and a bonus, or must you individualize feedback mechanisms? What etiquette do you follow if everyone has a different sense of what is polite? If these issues haven't occurred to you already, you need this book. If they have, well, We still suggests this rundown on the very basics. As you may have guessed, all the issues you have already confronted with international employees get magnified with global teams.
First book to show the real power of global teams!.......2001-11-10
Presents the key challenges facing global teams with specific recommendations and case studies on how to overcome those challenges.
Wonderful Treatment of What's Known.......2001-10-16
Marquardt and Horvath have done a very competent job bringing together good practices for people and organizations working in different places and cultures. Examples from Pfizer and other global corporations make the clear, simply written prose real to the reader, whether a newcomer to this interesting and pertinent field or someone who, like me, has seen a lot of the literature and done a lot of this work already. For my taste, I would have preferred to see more about technology, but the coverage was good and comprehensive enough to whet the appetite or confirm in business language what the practitioner would need to say to a business leader or a manager who was having trouble or starting out. The layout of the book is pleasant. What did worry me about the work, which I still rate highly, is suspicion that the research and scholarship were not up to a high standard, e.g., the consistently incorrect citation of the 1994 classic in the field "Globalwork" by Mary O'Hara-Devereaux and Robert Johansen, from which many of the authors' points are drawn, and an index that was generally wrong in its pagination.
Books:
- The Language of Letting Go (Hazelden Meditation Series)
- The Leader of the Future 2: Visions, Strategies, and Practices for the New Era (J-B Leader to Leader Institute/PF Drucker Foundation)
- The Little Red Book of Wisdom
- The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course In Finance for Non-Financial Managers
- The New Strategic Thinking
- The Perfect Fit: What Your Shoes Say About You
- The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power
- The Theory of Investment Value (Contrary Opinion Library)
- The Toyota Way
- The Toyota Way Fieldbook
Books Index
Books Home
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- The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece
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- 20,000 Secrets of Tea: The Most Effective Ways to Benefit from Nature's Healing Herbs
- Balance Sheet Basics for Non-financial Managers
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Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner To Master
KING'S GAMBIT: A SON, A FATHER, AND THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS GAME
The Queen's Gambit: A Novel
The Immortal Game: A History of Chess, or How 32 Carved Pieces on a Board Illuminated Our Understanding of War, Art, Science and the Human Brain
Mastering the Chess Openings: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Modern Chess Openings, Volume 1
