Today’s fast-paced and high-pressured business environment often requires workers to spend 60, 70, 80, or more hours per week on the job. Unfortunately, productivity tends to decrease as work hours increase, and in this type of business climate, traditional time management techniques may be meaningless and outdated. In What To Do When There’s Too Much To Do, Laura Stack offers a system that allows workers to accomplish more by doing less work. Following her step-by-step Productivity Workflow Formula allows workers to organize their work lives around the tasks that really matter and disregard those that do not. The dozens of strategies that Stack provides help to reduce commitments, distractions, interruptions, and inefficiencies. Stack’s Productivity Workflow Formula is designed to help streamline time management, reduce tasks, and increase results. There are six primary steps: Determine what to do: Triage to-do lists and decide to do only what matters most. Schedule time to do it: Assign time slots and duration for all tasks. Focus attention: Avoid multitasking. Process new information: Research, file information, and handle incoming information. Close the loop: Reduce inefficiencies. Manage capacity: Focus on physical factors affecting energy. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The Time Trap, 10 Steps to Successful Time Management, The Personal Efficiency Program

In Great Leaders Grow, best-selling business author Ken Blanchard teams with Chick-fil-A vice president Mark Miller to guide executives on the path to becoming great leaders. The authors assert that while personal growth is the key to staying on that path, it is also the reason so many leaders fail to be effective in the long term. Great Leaders Grow helps leaders not only understand why they need to grow, but also offers practical advice for making this growth happen. Through the story of Blake Brown, a young man embarking on his first job, Blanchard and Miller illustrate what it takes to grow as a leader and how it affects everyday decisions. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, The Well-Balanced Leader, The Self-Aware Leader

While the U.S.  unemployment rate seems to be on the decline, many people still find themselves out of work or looking for a better job. While most people turn to the Internet as a way of finding and applying to job postings, many individuals do so without having a plan in place, which results is wasted effort and poor results. In his book, The Panic free Job Search, Paul Hill offers some advice to these individuals. Hill states that before searching for a job, it is important for job seekers to understand themselves, their goals, and what kind of job they want. While many job seekers end up applying to jobs they know they won’t enjoy or excel at, Hill believes this is detrimental to the individual and his or her chances of landing a good job. He offers job seekers the following advice: Tame the Inner Beast. Emotions of doubt and rejection must be dealt with before a job search. Find Out Who You Are. Find a job that fits as opposed to trying to fit into the job. Wishes, Dreams, and Goals. People do not obtain what they want because they do not know what they want. Visualization. This involves vividly imagining a positive outcome, which provides the motivation for confidently pursuing it. Search Smartly. Job seekers must understand the importance of Search Engine Optimization. Build the Resume that Gets Picked. While the style of the resume is important, content is king. Network. Continuously network to be known by as many people as possible. Use Direct Marketing. Direct marketing encourages job seekers to aggressively pursue employers. Ace the Interview. Asking how the job could be done better provides clues to what the performance standards are for the position. Close the Deal. Failure to ask questions sends a message that an individual does not comprehend a job well enough to have questions. By understanding oneself, it becomes easier to focus ones job search on only those positions that will fulfill personal or career goals. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The Job Search Solution, The Web 2.0 Job Finder, Get the Job You Want Even When There’s No One Hiring

With the new year right around the corner, it’s the perfect time to rethink one’s personal and career goals. Many of us may have been planning on going back to school, asking for a raise, changing careers, or simply doing better at our current job, and now is the time to solidify those goals and achieve them in the new year. In Earn What You’re Really Worth, Brian Tracy argues that by using care, planning, and written exercises, people can better achieve their goals. He believes people must continually examine their work lives and continually update their skills and knowledge, and insists that people should always aim high and treat life as a continuing process of education and reinvention. Tracy aims to break down some of life’s most formidable goals into a concise, easy-to-understand plan. Tracy shares the following advice with readers: Success is a personal decision that every individual makes, no matter how tough or expansive the job market. People must work harder and smarter today because the age of affluence has ended, replaced by an age of turbulence. Everyone, ultimately, works for themselves, and must continually upgrade their skills and knowledge. A successful career requires frequent reassessment-often, done in writing. Identify the key result areas of every job, and master them all-weakness in even one can sabotage an entire career. Everyone should be prepared to sell themselves. "Live" by lists-because writing down goals focuses on setting priorities, and on planning and scheduling the best ways to achieve them. A person’s character and reputation are among their most crucial assets. Never be afraid to ask at work-for an increase in responsibilities, a higher salary, or another request. People must be in the right job for the right company to earn what they’re really worth. With firm goals in mind and the willpower and tools to achieve them, anyone can become more personally and professionally successful in 2013. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Disaster Proof Your Career, Great Work, Great Career, Career Contentment

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case that the U.S. government could not prevent companies from actively supporting political campaigns through direct advertising, effectively giving corporations protection under free speech, something typically reserved for individual citizens. This has paved the way for the creation of giant Super PACs, or political action committees, that spend millions of dollars campaigning for politicians based on the best interests of corporations. At the same time, we have seen a huge uptick in direct corporate contributions to political campaigns. In the 2012 presidential election, President Obama and Governor Romney raised almost $2 billion combined during their campaigns, a large part of which came from companies and the extremely wealthy. In Corporations Are Not People, Jeffrey Clements details the destructive and far-reaching effects of the Supreme Court’s decision that corporations are people with free speech and other rights. With this decision, the Supreme Court reversed a century of legislative efforts to prevent corporate money from corrupting democracy and upended the notion that the U.S. has a government of the people rather than a government of corporate wealth. Clements contends that unbalanced corporate power has perverted the Bill of Rights and turned it into a charter for corporations. But he claims people can fight back to restore government of the people and save the country. Thousands of people have already started working for the People’s Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. What are your thoughts? To download three free summaries, please visit our site.

If you take a look through any of the top online review sites, such as Yelp, Google Places, Citysearch, or MerchantCircle, it won’t take long to find consumers voicing their (sometimes harsh) opinions of businesses and retailers. Today, consumers have access to more product and company information than ever before. Not only does this help people make better purchasing decisions, but it also allows those same people to sing a company’s praises or air their personal grievances. On top of consumers’ ability to vocalize their love or hate of a company, the Internet has created a system in which consumers regularly compare services of different companies. If they can get superior service from one company, shouldn’t all companies be able to provide that same top-notch service? How should companies go about competing in such an atmosphere, and how can they balance customer needs with profitability? In Wired and Dangerous, Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson attempt to answer these questions. They believe customer service is in a transition phase between the age of technology and the age of the customer. They believe today’s customers are different because they get outstanding service from some providers (like Zappos) and use that as a benchmark; they have more undifferentiated choices, so they are turning to the service experience as a differentiator. The old rules of customer service no longer apply. Service providers today need to deliver fast, easy service, while ensuring that customers are treated like respected partners. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service, @Your Service, The Conversation Company

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has been getting a lot of attention in the news lately after it was announced that the company would no longer allow employees to telecommute from home. The practice of telecommuting has been on the rise in recent years in the United States as more and more jobs are able to be accomplished from the comfort of the home. Telecommuters typically only need access to a computer, Internet connections, and phone to do their jobs. The question Mayer’s announcement raises is whether or not this practice of telecommuting works. Mayer cites decreased engagement, productivity, and innovation as reasons for Yahoo’s new policy against telecommuting, but do these reasons hold water? Many studies indicate that telecommuters are actually more productive than their in-office counterparts, perhaps due to the belief that they need to work harder to prove they can do their jobs at home just as well. As far as engagement and innovation are concerned, it seems that Yahoo is the one lacking the creativity to reach out and engage these employees, many of whom see telecommuting as a solution to busy family schedules and other duties. In the short-term, Mayer’s decision may impact employee morale and productivity. In the long-term Yahoo’s non-friendly stance on telecommuters could cost the company talent as many people seek work flexibility from other companies. Time will tell whether or not Yahoo ultimately benefits from this policy, but in a business world increasingly defined by mobility and flexibility, I think it is more likely to backfire.

Worry can adversely impact people’s daily lives and the lives of those around them. In How Not to Worry, Paul McGee explores why worry is such a significant part of people’s lives. He exposes some of the behavioral traps people fall into when dealing with life’s challenges and seeks to explore the causes as well as the consequences of worry. After defining worry and discussing its causes, McGee offers practical tools and ideas to help people deal with worries and challenges (real or otherwise) in a more constructive way. Despite the fact that people in the developed world live a long, healthier, and safer life than at any other time in human history, worry and stress are on the rise. But there are steps people can take to relieve this stress. Manage mental diet. People should be mindful of watching too much "CNN" — constant negative news. Escape "escalators." People should avoid sharing worries with people who escalate them. Cut the clutter. People should write things down to "declutter" the mind and also declutter their personal space. Clutter creates confusion and counteracts calm. Find the funny. Laughter really is the best medicine. Use music as a muse. Music affects people’s moods, so people should be careful what they listen to. If something cannot be controlled or influenced, people must learn to accept it. To re-tell is to re-live and this is not always helpful. Move on. People cannot start the next chapter of their lives if they keep re-reading the last one. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The Stress Effect, Thrive on Pressure, Choke

Today’s economy, with its insatiable need for great ideas and effective implementation, does not reward stifling environments and underdeveloped staffs. Instead, it demands smart work at full throttle. To unleash productive power, organizations look to their leaders. Global competitors and the advancement of new technologies require leaders to be constantly in motion as they lead their organizations to success by creating cultures of transformation. In Leaders in Motion, Dr. Marta Wilson offers her proven method for unleashing the full potential of every organization by helping leaders tap their potential to create and motivate cultures of transformation and achievement. Wilson offers the following advice to leaders wishing to spur cultural change in their companies: The race to win organizational health, wealth, and creative power begins with personal mastery, and the journey toward personal mastery begins with a commitment to integrity. Organizational transformation is based on personal transformation. The starting point for authentic organizational transformation is the leader, who must be committed to personal transformation. To master their enterprises and the interpersonal connections within them, leaders must first master themselves. Transformation requires personal mastery built on authenticity, integrity, consciousness, and willingness to embrace change. Learning how to practice new reactions is an essential element of transformation. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: People Follow You, Positive Leadership, Corporate Culture

Boring Meetings Suck by Jon Petz is intended for leaders who want to end, or at least minimize, useless time consuming meetings. To be great, a meeting must deliver real value by providing useful information, fostering creativity, supplying motivation, and building unity among participants. Petz offers techniques that seem radical but can make meetings more efficient and effective, including tips on how to recognize what meetings to skip, how to address poor meeting facilitation or bad etiquette, and descriptions of alternative style meeting formats to speed things up. Specific pointers on eye contact, stage presence, and speech patterns show how to make presentations more engaging. Petz also offers innovative ideas for enhancing meetings with technology, along with clever ways to politely wrap up meetings or gracefully get out of them. Petz offers readers the following advice: An established agenda with clearly defined goals and desired outcomes is essential for any meeting. Every meeting attendee has the right and responsibility to make the meeting productive, and when attendees are empowered to diplomatically keep the meeting on track, especially when a facilitator fails to do so, everyone benefits. Technology can greatly enhance meeting communication, build deeper engagement, and increase input, but it must not overshadow the intended meeting objectives. To avoid boring meetings, people must only call meetings when it is absolutely necessary, then use creative ways to move the meeting along quickly — such as holding the meeting in a room without chairs or walking up and down the hallway stairwells. The key to effective meetings is for both the facilitator and the attendees to prepare at least 24 hours in advance to be knowledgeable about the issues and objectives. Limit invitees to those who are true stakeholders directly affected by the meeting’s objectives and desired outcomes. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: 10 Steps to Successful Meetings, No More Pointless Meetings, Standing in the Fire