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Best Running Meetings & Presentations

Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition
The New York Times and Washington Post bestseller that changed the way millions communicate. The first edition of Crucial Conversations exploded onto the scene and revolutionized the way millions of people communicate when stakes are high. Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan , and Al Switzler are cofounders of VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and organizational performance.
Reviews
"Enter the book Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. I heard Joseph Grenny, one of the authors speak on this topic recently at the leadership summit and got a lot out of his session. Christians and church staffs are notorious for avoiding crucial conversations. This is why churches often split, people leave hurt and visions never move forward. When in reality, because of what is at stake (salvation) and because of the calling of Jesus, we should do a better job of having crucial conversations. Individuals who are the most influential—who can get things done and at the same time build on relationships—are those who master their crucial conversations. The mistake most of us make in our crucial conversations is we believe that we have to choose between telling the truth and keeping a friend. This is one of, if not the main reason, most conversations stop and things do not move forward. If you are a boss and want honest feedback and conversation, people can't fear for their jobs or that you will yell at them. Recently, there has been a lot of writing online about pastors abusing people, creating a culture of fear, yelling at staff members, elders and volunteers and it blows my mind. One of the ironies of dialogue is that, when talking with those holding opposing opinions, the more convinced and forceful you act, the more resistant others become. But, in conversations, if we give the impression that something has been decided or that we aren't open to suggestions, we will kill discussion. If you find yourself pushing your ideas, you aren't having a good dialogue and instead are simply giving out orders. That may be your leadership style, but it won't accomplish a healthy team environment and in the end, your church or business will never reach its full potential. When a crucial conversation ends, there must be clear expectations and guidance moving forward."
"They bring the group together by keeping the focus on the goal and constantly have focus on the big picture outlook of the conversations to prod ideas. However, I would like to focus on one area specifically- what makes conversations "difficult." The cause to conversations becoming difficult is that in those difficult conversations we are not able to use reason or logic. When we get tense in a conversation the blood flows from the logic and reason portion of our brain to the fight or run side of our brain. When you tell yourself- "My goal is to ask my boss for a raise, and have a conversation about what I have to do and on what timeline I will be working on to reach my goal"- Your brain say "hold on, hold on... we aren't running or fighting, we are just trying to have a conversation about getting a raise. When it comes down to it, the best way to handle difficult conversations is to focus on whole picture as unbiased as possible. Who am I in this scenario?, Who is the other person?, What is the goal of this conversation?, Is it reasonable for us to talk about this?...."
"I felt like I was reading an elongated sales pitch for the first few chapters."
"Though it has many stories and examples, the book tended to drag along at some points due to being repetitive, though that may be the case with most self help books."
"Great tools for applying."
"This book will change the way you think about difficult conversations."
"It's hard to really know the response of and individual and the correct reaction needed."
"Based on other reviews, I read the book to develop effective skills in my personal and business arena."
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Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (Robert's Rules of Order (Paperback))
This newly revised edition is the only book on parliamentary procedure to have been updated since 1876 under the continuing program of review established by General Henry M. Robert himself, in cooperation with the official publisher of Robert’s Rules . Henry M. Robert III is the grandson of General Henry M. Robert and has served as president of the Maryland Association of Parliamentarians and as parliamentarian for the National Association of Parliamentarians (NAP).
Reviews
"General Henry M. Robert published the original "Robert's Rules" in 1875 and 1876 and, since the copyright on that edition (and the next few editions) has long since expired, there are numerous unofficial editions on the market. With the copyright expired, even the name "Robert's" has passed into the public domain, and many imitators have slapped the name "Robert's" on books of parliamentary procedure that bear minimal relation to General Robert's work (much as many dictionaries claim the name "Webster's" without any connection to Noah Webster or the Merriam-Webster brand that carries on his work). Now in its 11th edition, published in September 2011, this book "supersedes all previous editions and is intended automatically become the parliamentary authority in organizations whose bylaws prescribe 'Robert's Rules of Order' ... or the like, without specifying a particular edition.""
"Perfect for anyone wanting to,understand how govt works and rules to abide by."
"This is a very nicely printed and bound softcover book."
"It's a good book for officials to know, I use mine a lot to advise new volunteers."
"New Version of old book... Great to have a new one to replace my worn old copy."
"I bought this for my husband, and he says it was exactuaaly what he wanted."
"In order to participate properly in union meetings, ALL MEMBERS should know these rules."
"All members of an organization (not just the officers) should acquaint themselves with the parliamentary rules for meetings."
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Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition
Prepare for high-stakes situations Transform anger and hurt feelings into powerful dialogue Make it safe to talk about almost anything Be persuasive, not abrasive. KERRY PATTERSON, JOSEPH GRENNY, DAVID MAXFIELD, RON MCMILLAN, and AL SWITZLER are the cofounders and leaders of VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and organizational performance that has taught more than two million people worldwide and worked with more than 300 of the Fortune 500 companies.
Reviews
"Enter the book Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. I heard Joseph Grenny, one of the authors speak on this topic recently at the leadership summit and got a lot out of his session. Christians and church staffs are notorious for avoiding crucial conversations. This is why churches often split, people leave hurt and visions never move forward. When in reality, because of what is at stake (salvation) and because of the calling of Jesus, we should do a better job of having crucial conversations. Individuals who are the most influential—who can get things done and at the same time build on relationships—are those who master their crucial conversations. The mistake most of us make in our crucial conversations is we believe that we have to choose between telling the truth and keeping a friend. This is one of, if not the main reason, most conversations stop and things do not move forward. If you are a boss and want honest feedback and conversation, people can't fear for their jobs or that you will yell at them. Recently, there has been a lot of writing online about pastors abusing people, creating a culture of fear, yelling at staff members, elders and volunteers and it blows my mind. One of the ironies of dialogue is that, when talking with those holding opposing opinions, the more convinced and forceful you act, the more resistant others become. But, in conversations, if we give the impression that something has been decided or that we aren't open to suggestions, we will kill discussion. If you find yourself pushing your ideas, you aren't having a good dialogue and instead are simply giving out orders. That may be your leadership style, but it won't accomplish a healthy team environment and in the end, your church or business will never reach its full potential. When a crucial conversation ends, there must be clear expectations and guidance moving forward."
"They bring the group together by keeping the focus on the goal and constantly have focus on the big picture outlook of the conversations to prod ideas. However, I would like to focus on one area specifically- what makes conversations "difficult." The cause to conversations becoming difficult is that in those difficult conversations we are not able to use reason or logic. When we get tense in a conversation the blood flows from the logic and reason portion of our brain to the fight or run side of our brain. When you tell yourself- "My goal is to ask my boss for a raise, and have a conversation about what I have to do and on what timeline I will be working on to reach my goal"- Your brain say "hold on, hold on... we aren't running or fighting, we are just trying to have a conversation about getting a raise. When it comes down to it, the best way to handle difficult conversations is to focus on whole picture as unbiased as possible. Who am I in this scenario?, Who is the other person?, What is the goal of this conversation?, Is it reasonable for us to talk about this?...."
"I felt like I was reading an elongated sales pitch for the first few chapters."
"Though it has many stories and examples, the book tended to drag along at some points due to being repetitive, though that may be the case with most self help books."
"Great tools for applying."
"This book will change the way you think about difficult conversations."
"It's hard to really know the response of and individual and the correct reaction needed."
"Based on other reviews, I read the book to develop effective skills in my personal and business arena."
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Best Business Decision Making

Thinking, Fast and Slow
Major New York Times bestseller. Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award in 2012. Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011. A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 Title. One of The Economist 's 2011 Books of the Year. One of The Wall Street Journal 's Best Nonfiction Books of the Year 2011. 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient. Kahneman's work with Amos Tversky is the subject of Michael Lewis's The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds. “Daniel Kahneman demonstrates forcefully in his new book, Thinking, Fast and Slow , how easy it is for humans to swerve away from rationality.” ― Christopher Shea, The Washington Post. Arguably the most important psychologist in history, Kahneman has reshaped cognitive psychology, the analysis of rationality and reason, the understanding of risk and the study of happiness and well-being . A magisterial work, stunning in its ambition, infused with knowledge, laced with wisdom, informed by modesty and deeply humane. Arguably the most important psychologist in history, Kahneman has reshaped cognitive psychology, the analysis of rationality and reason, the understanding of risk and the study of happiness and well-being . A magisterial work, stunning in its ambition, infused with knowledge, laced with wisdom, informed by modesty and deeply humane. So impressive is its vision of flawed human reason that the New York Times columnist David Brooks recently declared that Kahneman and Tversky's work ‘will be remembered hundreds of years from now,' and that it is ‘a crucial pivot point in the way we see ourselves.'. But for those who are merely interested in Kahenman's takeaway on the Malcolm Gladwell question it is this: If you've had 10,000 hours of training in a predictable, rapid-feedback environment--chess, firefighting, anesthesiology--then blink. It now seems inevitable that Kahneman, who made his reputation by ignoring or defying conventional wisdom, is about to be anointed the intellectual guru of our economically irrational times.” ― Evan R. Goldstein, The Chronicle of Higher Education. As Copernicus removed the Earth from the centre of the universe and Darwin knocked humans off their biological perch, Mr. Kahneman has shown that we are not the paragons of reason we assume ourselves to be.” ― The Economist. But Mr. Kahneman's simple experiments reveal a very different mind, stuffed full of habits that, in most situations, lead us astray.” ― Jonah Lehrer, The Wall Street Journal. “[A] tour de force of psychological insight, research explication and compelling narrative that brings together in one volume the high points of Mr. Kahneman's notable contributions, over five decades, to the study of human judgment, decision-making and choice . Thanks to the elegance and force of his ideas, and the robustness of the evidence he offers for them, he has helped us to a new understanding of our divided minds--and our whole selves.” ― Christoper F. Chabris, The Wall Street Journal. “With Kahneman's expert help, readers may understand this mix of psychology and economics better than most accountants, therapists, or elected representatives. “The mind is a hilariously muddled compromise between incompatible modes of thought in this fascinating treatise by a giant in the field of decision research. Kahneman uses this scheme to frame a scintillating discussion of his findings in cognitive psychology and behavioral economics, and of the ingenious experiments that tease out the irrational, self-contradictory logics that underlie our choices. We learn why we mistake statistical noise for coherent patterns; why the stock-picking of well-paid investment advisers and the prognostications of pundits are worthless; why businessmen tend to be both absurdly overconfident and unwisely risk-averse; and why memory affects decision making in counterintuitive ways. Kahneman's primer adds to recent challenges to economic orthodoxies about rational actors and efficient markets; more than that, it's a lucid, marvelously readable guide to spotting--and correcting--our biased misunderstandings of the world.” ― Publishers' Weekly (starred review). Before Malcolm Gladwell and Freakonomics, there was Daniel Kahneman who invented the field of behavior economics, won a Nobel…and now explains how we think and make choices. Before computer networking got cheap and ubiquitous, the sheer inefficiency of communication dampened the effects of the quirks of human psychology on macro scale events. In this absolutely amazing book, he shares a lifetime's worth of wisdom presented in a manner that is simple and engaging, but nonetheless stunningly profound. This book is a must read for anyone with a curious mind.” ― Steven D. Levitt, William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago; co-author of Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics. “ Thinking, Fast and Slow is a masterpiece--a brilliant and engaging intellectual saga by one of the greatest psychologists and deepest thinkers of our time. Kahneman should be parking a Pulitzer next to his Nobel Prize.” ― Daniel Gilbert, Harvard University Professor of Psychology, author of Stumbling on Happiness, host of the award-winning PBS television series "This Emotional Life". “This is a landmark book in social thought, in the same league as The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith and The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud . His work has reshaped social psychology, cognitive science, the study of reason and of happiness, and behavioral economics, a field that he and his collaborator Amos Tversky helped to launch.
Reviews
"The first observation, giving the title to the book, is that eons of natural selection gave us the ability to make a fast reaction to a novel situation. Thinking slow, applying human logic, we might reflect that it is probably Johnny coming back from the Girl Scout camp across the river bringing cookies, and that running might not be the best idea. Thinking is metabolically expensive; 20 percent of our energy intake goes to the brain. NB: Kahneman uses the example of multiplying two digit numbers in your head quite frequently. Whistling past the graveyard - we know full well that mental processes slow down after 65. We are inclined to expect more regularity than actually exists in the world, and we have poor intuition about the tail ends of the bell curve. It requires slow thinking to come up with the right answer - and the instinct to distrust your intuition. The larger the sample size, the more accurate the statistical inference from measuring them. For instance, the asking price of the house should have nothing to do with its value, but it does greatly influence bids. If I know somebody who got mugged last year, and you don't, my assessment of the rate of street crime will probably be too high, and yours perhaps too low. Newspaper headlines distort all of our thinking about the probabilities of things like in and terrorist attacks. Nonetheless, if you ask about Tom W, a sallow gloomy type of guy, people will ignore the statistics and guess he is in mortuary science. The most important aspect of this chapter is Bayesian analysis, which is so much second nature to Kahneman that he doesn't even describe it. Given these numbers, most people will assume that the cab in the accident was blue because of the witness testimony. However, if we change the statement of the problem so that there is a 20% chance that the blue identification of the color was wrong, but 85% of the cabs involved in accidents are green, people will overwhelmingly say that the cab in the accident was a green madman. In other words, this witness could be expected to identify the cab as blue 29% of the time whether she was right or wrong. Recommend that you cut and paste this, because Bayes theorem is cited fairly often, and is kind of hard to understand. The chances are little bit of both, and if I take a test a second time I will get a lower score, not because I am any stupider but because your first observation of me wasn't exactly accurate. The probability of a smart grade school kid becoming a Rhodes scholar is a cumulative probability of passing a whole series of hurdles: studying hard, excelling in high school, avoiding drink and drugs, parental support and so on. We make judgments on the basis of the knowledge we have, and we are overconfident about the predictive value of that observation. We discount the many perils which could have totally derailed the company along the way, including the venture capitalist who could have bought it all for one million dollars but thought the price was too steep. The answer is, not really, because performance on the SAT depends quite a bit on prior education and previous exposure to standardized tests. The key anecdote here is about a formula for predicting the quality of a French wine vintage. The rule of thumb formula beat the best French wine experts. He would trust the expert intuition of a firefighter; there is some similarity among fires, and the firemen learns quickly about his mistakes. The key notion here is that people within an institution, project, or any endeavor tend to let their inside knowledge blind them to things an outsider might see. It should destroy the notion that there are CEOs who are vastly above average, and also the efficient markets theory. The guys in charge often don't understand, and more important, they are blind to their own lack of knowledge. Part four - choices. This is a series of chapters about how people make decisions involving money and risk. Pouring good money after bad, the sunk cost effect, is an example. We overestimate the visible ones, such as tsunamis and terrorist attacks, and ignore the ones of which we are unaware. As a policy, should we accept the supposedly lower risk of buying mutual funds, even given the management fees? The classic example is people who refuse to sell for a loss, whether shares of stock or a house. Mountain climbing or marathon running are sheer torture at the time, but the memories are exquisite. Lift decision: do we live life for the present experience, or the anticipated memories?"
"Content is interesting, but as other reviewers point out, do not buy the Kindle version, because links often don't work, and many images and footnotes seem to be lost."
"Back in 1994, Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, Director of the Institute of San Raffaele in Milan, Italy, wrote a charming little book about common cognitive distortions called Inevitable Illusions. In it, he predicted that the two psychologists behind behavioral economics - Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman - would win the Nobel prize. Although Gladwell never says that snap judgments are infallible and cannot badly mislead us, many readers got a different message. As the Royal Statistical Society's Significance magazine put it "Although Gladwell's chronicle of cognition shows how quick thinking can lead us both astray and aright, for many readers Blink has become a hymn to the hunch." As a student, she was deeply concerned with the issues of discrimination and social justice, and she also participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations. Eighty-five percent of test subjects chose the second option, that Linda was a bank teller and active in the feminist movement. A more formal and theoretically better argued rebuttal of some of Kahneman's hypotheses can be found in the works of Gerd Gigerenzer. Kahneman notes that even top performers in business and sports tend to revert to the mean in the long run. While much of what we learnt can perhaps be extended to the real world, it is doubtful every generalization will work in practice. My cautionary comments probably have more to do with the distortions that might arise by those who uncritically generalize the findings to contexts for which they may not applicable. Nevertheless, Thinking Fast and Slow is a very valuable book by one of the most creative minds in psychology. After I published this review, I noticed an odd coincidence between Thinking Fast and Slow and Inevitable Illusions that I mentioned in my opening paragraph. Both books have white covers, with an image of a sharpened yellow pencil with an eraser top."
"As a result, we overweight the expectation of rationality based decisions (our own and those of public policy makers) with potentially dire outcome consequences. The author believes that the evidence shows (1) the great majority of the people are incapable of or unwilling to exercise the rational thinking needed to make good decisions; (2)most people are easily manipulated in the marketplaces of their private lives and public political thought;(3)that the rational and economically elite sector of society engages in these manipulations to maximize profit (as expected by free market capitalism) and is enabled in doing so by exploiting the deep seated American ethic that peoples' freedom to make bad decisions, i.e. their freedom, must be protected."
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Best Secretarial Aids & Training

Unlimited Memory: How to Use Advanced Learning Strategies to Learn Faster, Remember More and be More Productive
In Unlimited Memory, you'll learn how the world's best memory masters get themselves to concentrate at will, anytime they want. The 3 bad habits that keep you from easily remembering important information How a simple pattern of thinking can stop you from imprinting and remembering key facts, figures and ideas, and how to break this old pattern so you’ll never again be known as someone with a “bad memory” How to master your attention so you can focus and concentrate longer, even during challenging or stressful situations How to use your car to remember anything you want (like long lists or information you need to remember for your studies or personal life) without writing anything down Simple methods that allow you to nail down tough information or complex concepts quickly and easily How to combine your long-term memory (things you already know and will never forget) and short-term memory (information you want to remember right now) to create instant recall for tests, presentations and important projects The simple, invisible mental technique for remembering names without social awkwardness or anxiety How using your imagination to bring boring information to life can help you dramatically improve your attention span and recall An incredible strategy for remembering numbers (the same system Kevin used to remember Pi to 10,000 digits and beat the world memory record by 14 minutes) How to use a mental map to lock in and connect hundreds or even thousands of ideas in your long-term memory (this method will allow you to become a leading expert in your field faster than you ever dreamed possible). His work has been featured in The Oprah Magazine, Time, Forbes, Inc., The Huffington Post, ELLE, Longevity and on numerous TV and radio shows.
Reviews
"Many college students seem shockingly ok with forgetting half of what they spent so much money to learn, I for one spent the money to know and remember what I have been taught."
"He does not sugar coat the need for initial effort spent learning the systems, and does not belabor the obvious need & benefits of practice. AFTER finishing this book a little extra reading in the subject area, proved that without using the more commonly recognized terms, Mr. Horsley covered many areas of value including the "Major System" for handling the memorization of numbers based on a method of translating numbers into sounds. We all learn differently, & for this reason Mr. Horsley's book is a decent springboard from which to launch oneself into the act of mental improvement. The words created by the system he introduces in Chapter 12, can be used to create "Peg words" that upon creation are automatically organised in order."
"He also shows you/helps with examples on how you can use what you have learned earlier in the book to jump right in with both feet and start and work to improve your memory right way."
"I am definitely starting a DAILY memory skills training routine and will forever be grateful for stumbling upon this excellent piece of literature."
"The author makes it very clear that in order to change your same old dull routine, do something different."
"Love the narrator's voice."
"This book is okay."
"great book for self development."
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Best Business Writing Skills

Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
This revolutionary method for connecting with customers provides readers with the ultimate competitive advantage, revealing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services. Donald Miller has helped more than 3,000 businesses clarify their marketing messages so their companies grow.
Reviews
"Found the story brand processes for external and internal customer empowerment, band on and useful at every level of relationships."
"This book is filled with insight and information to good to be ignored."
"Miller provides an easy-to-follow format for developing a story for your brand."
"Great ideas for businesses small and large."
"My wife and I are using the principles and applying them to writing a book."
"This book is invaluable to anyone who wants to communicate s message."
"I'm going through it now and working at making my business marketing strategy better and simpler."
"This book is changing my business and me personally for the better."
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Best Business Mathematics

Data Science for Business: What You Need to Know about Data Mining and Data-Analytic Thinking
Written by renowned data science experts Foster Provost and Tom Fawcett, Data Science for Business introduces the fundamental principles of data science, and walks you through the "data-analytic thinking" necessary for extracting useful knowledge and business value from the data you collect.
Reviews
"- It is *not* your standard "management" title on the cool tech du jour available at airport stands and meant to be read in one sitting (buzzwords, hype and overly enthusiastic statements making up for the dearth of actual content)."
"Example : A leading Trucking company used Data mining skill to predict which part of the truck is going to break next instead of replacing it at specific intervals, a Leading insurer predicted those who will complete their antibiotic course based on their home ownership history. If this type of stories and scope interests you, read the book "Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think". It is a text book and authors have taken lot of care so general audience can also benefit from it, and also not to dilute it's textbook value. When you are finished with the book, you should have a fairly good understanding of data science, For example, what type of analysis that needs to be done to identify. A. ( When the target is clear, if the person will default on his loan). E. What is the significance of entropy in Data Science ? G. Don't get defensive, be comfortable when your colleague sprinkles words like like Classification ,regression, Similarity Matching, Clustering, Modelling, Entropy etc. You can get real life examples to work on in coursesolve dot org ( ex: Analyze the sleep cycle). 4. I signed up for Amazon elastic map reduce which has a higher level abstraction (for developers it is the difference between using sqlplus vs TOAD). Try to be the "umbilical cord that looks for a stomach to plug ", look for a mentor, look for opportunity in your firm or elsewhere to grow your Data scientist skills."
"The institution strategy and goals need to be reflected in the procedures used to analyse the data base of the institution and the determination as to what data is relevant."
"I appreciated the accessibility and plain English - albeit thorough - writing (from the perspective of a person who is self-taught in data science and sometimes less acquainted with the terminology)."
"Strengths – Organization, having technical details in a side by side section for those who want it, covering details from definition, through use and application, as well as doing a good job explaining similarities and differences on key topics."
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Best Communication Skills

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
Never Split the Difference Negotiating as If Your Life Depended on It.
Reviews
"I've taken approximately 20 hours of graduate study in negotiation and conflict resolution. You will be best aided by these books by taking a chapter at a time and practice the ideas and techniques."
"The author begins the book by relating his experience at a prestigious seminar at Harvard University. The author discovered that the same techniques used in life and death situations could be generalized--they "made great sense intellectually, and they worked everywhere...In the twenty years I spent at the Bureau we’d designed a system that had successfully resolved almost every kidnapping we applied it to." NEVER SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE is not just about tricky negotiation tactics, or ways to "outwit" your adversary in battle. This also means careful listening, or what the author calls, the martial art of "Tactical Empathy." Each chapter in NEVER SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE begins with a real-life example from the author's involvement with hostage negotiations. The book's title reflects the author's position that compromise, or "Splitting the Difference" is actually a lazy way to conclude a negotiation. Instead of taking the easy way, Chris recommends working relentlessly to see "what is really motivating the other side." All in all, I found NEVER SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE to be an impressive book, filled with practical knowledge, tips, and just plain WISDOM about how to deal with people."
"I was pretty sure the negotiation outcomes we were getting to were subpar, both for me and for them: a lot of splitting the difference, mostly to make the negotiations — which felt uncomfortable for all parties — stop. Note, when I mean “negotiation”, I’m speaking pretty broadly: from “negotiating" with my fiancée on who should walk the dog tonight, to negotiating with an employee on why this feature needed to be built urgently, to negotiating with an angry customer who’d called me angry about something, to negotiating with my parents on wedding plans, the list goes on. The book exposed me to a whole different way of negotiating, questioning the rational toolkit I’d been given in business school and replacing it with a more human set of tools. Since reading this book, I have: - Forged a better relationship with my fiancée by actively listening to her before jointly finding solutions. - Negotiated successful resolutions to emotionally charged topics with parents and friends. - Brought angry customers — who felt we had failed them — back from the brink to trusting us again. - Forged a better relationship with my business partners by understanding how they value time, silence, relationships, surprises, etc…. - Gotten discounts on things that I didn’t think could be discounted, just by using my name. - Gotten to the front of the waiting line at busy restaurants. - Said no to bad deals, because no deal is better than a bad one. - the list goes on. Negotiation, in the broadest sense as described above, is something I want to become an expert in, because I now understand that every conversation is a negotiation."
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Best Time Management

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
The new expanded edition of Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek includes: • More than 50 practical tips and case studies from readers (including families) who have doubled income, overcome common sticking points, and reinvented themselves using the original book as a starting point. • Real-world templates you can copy for eliminating e-mail, negotiating with bosses and clients, or getting a private chef for less than $8 a meal. • How Lifestyle Design principles can be suited to unpredictable economic times. • The latest tools and tricks, as well as high-tech shortcuts, for living like a diplomat or millionaire without being either. “Timothy has packed more lives into his 29 years than Steve Jobs has in his 51.”. —Tom Foremski, Journalist and Publisher of SiliconValleyWatcher.com. —Mike Maples, Co-founder of Motive Communications (IPO to $260M market cap), Founding Executive of Tivoli (sold to IBM for $750M). I've already used his advice to go spearfishing on remote islands and ski the best hidden slopes of Argentina. Tim Ferriss is a master of getting more for less, often with the help of people he doesn't even know, and here he gives away his secrets for fulfilling your dreams.”. —Bo Burlingham, Editor-at-Large, Inc. magazine and author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big. —Michael D. Kerlin, McKinsey & Company Consultant to Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund and J. William Fulbright Scholar. Small and mid-sized firms, as well as busy professionals, can outsource their work to increase their productivity and free time for more important commitments. " The 4-Hour Workweek is an absolute necessity for those adventurous souls who want to live life to its fullest. —Laura Roden, Chairman of the Silicon Valley Association of Start-up Entrepreneurs;Lecturer in Corporate Finance, San Jose State University. “With this kind of time management and focus on the important things in life, people should be able to get 15 times as much done in a normal work week.”. —Tim Draper, Founder, Draper Fisher Jurvetson; Financiers to innovators including Hotmail, Skype, and Overture.com. "Tim Ferriss’s book is about gaining the courage to streamline your life… But even more than that, it challenges the reader to seriously consider an essential–yet rarely asked–question: What do you really want from life?"
Reviews
"Don't get me wrong, Ferriss makes some excellent points and he's got some really great tips and tricks in here, I'm just not sure how universal they really are. I thought he was just talking about ways to spend less time working, but that "The 4-Hour" just sounded good (since he now has a whole line of books with titles that start that way). I never did understand the point of retirement, so Ferriss's plan sounds much more appealing to me. Granted, that would make my job a whole lot more portable, but I could never get away with only working four hours per week (at least not until after I sell that bestselling novel, which is such a realistic plan!). I, too, thought I could get another job within a few months, but that did not turn out to be the case. So, if I go spend all my money on a mini-retirement now, and then come back only to find that I can't get a job for another year, I'll be screwed. I love them, but they have enough to deal with right now, and the last thing I want to do is burden the people around me because I decided to go globe-trotting for a few months."
"Practicing the book context for over 2 months now."
"First edition was easier to read."
"Mostly conceptual with a few chapters of application, this book introduced me to mind blowing concepts (automated business, outsourcing and traveling inexpensive etc.)."
"With that said, the book does outline some good strategies to get through the workday quickly and enjoy more time with your family."
"Seriously, he begins by admitting he first made his fortune selling (allegedly) nutritional supplements that cost almost nothing to make and weren't based on science, but were then hyped to the point the uninformed public was paying through the nose to get it. This gave him ideas on how to further hype his message to an even larger audience, without bothering to sell anything tangible. He then gives advice about "paraphrasing and combining points from several books," borrowing from the public domain, and/or compensating some other "expert." Apparently, not knowing a damn thing is a virtue he calls "Cultivating Selective Ignorance." If having an educated and well-informed populace is fundamental to having a flourishing democracy, this is how we'll end up with a plutocracy where the stupidest few prey on the desperate and stupid masses, while outsourcing all the jobs they might create. Outsource everything -- including your brain -- to a 3rd World Country: He hires virtual assistants in various 3rd World Countries, especially India, who are then given fabulous access to all of his personal information to the point they can pretend to be him and make all of his personal and business decisions. Hey, what could possibly go wrong by hiring complete strangers and giving them all information about you in order to think for you, do your work and run your errands? Just tell him you're too busy and further kill morale by then asking those other suckers - aka, co-workers - for a quick breakdown of what happened."
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