A forceful effort to help CEOs understand the hidden goals they pursue.
CEO adviser Cox (Straight Talk for Monday Morning, 1999, etc.) offers up a formula of sorts designed to get CEOs, or anyone for that matter, to understand a concept he calls “grounding.” Getting grounded, Cox writes, helps one “become more aware of your unique talent, to harness that talent to your unique Destiny, and to achieve extraordinary results.” Acknowledging the work of psychologist Alfred Adler, the author promotes the notion that everyone must identify their hidden “Style-of-Life”—“an organized set of convictions about life, [of] which the individual, at best, is only dimly aware.” What could easily have turned into conceptual claptrap is instead a very practical working guide that demands a serious amount of self-examination; in fact, the author is unafraid to share the results of delving into his own life, making his book refreshingly approachable. Cox leads the reader through a mature discussion that addresses such knotty topics as goals, changes, boundaries, visions and futures. In each chapter, Cox includes the requisite real-world examples and a good deal of guidance based on his considerable experience advising CEOs of major corporations and nonprofit organizations. Also present for the busy CEO are end-of-chapter summaries and “punch lists” that exhort readers to take proactive steps. Extremely beneficial are the interactive questionnaires and checklists, albeit with cutesy titles such as the “2:00 A.M. I Am Questionnaire,” the “CEO Boundaries Quiz” and the “YC (Your Company) Identity Kit.” Clearly, Cox has figured out that CEOs like to check things off and answer questions instead of just read text. Of particular interest to CEOs who are stubbornly individualistic is the final chapter, “Mentors,” in which Cox writes eloquently about “the power of ‘with’ ”: “Do you want authentic power? Yes? Then share it with others. You want people to follow you? Travel with them….It’s not CEO and team; it’s CEO with team; not leadership or management, but leadership with management.”
Nicely packaged and well-wrought, with the potential to shake up many an executive’s conventional thinking.
Pub Date: July 9, 2012
ISBN: 978-1938610035
Page Count: 244
Publisher: Harrier Press
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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