The Leader's Climb by Bob Parsanko & Paul Heagen - Book review

The Leader's Climb

A Business Tale of Rising to the New Leadership Challenge

By: Bob Parsanko, Paul Heagen

Published: September 18, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 188 pages
ISBN-10: 1937134210
ISBN-13: 978-1937134211
Publisher: Bibliomotion











"Today in companies big and small, local and global, public and private, leaders at all levels say the same thing: business has become faster, more complicated, more uncertain, more disruptive, and more competitive", write personal coach and president and founder of Executive Insights, Bob Parsanko; and executive coach and president and founder of Defining Moments Consulting, Paul Heagen, in their engaging and insightful business fable The Leader's Climb: A Business Tale of Rising to the New Leadership Challenge. The authors share the story of of Adam, a CEO who faces a challenging responsibility for his company, and a sense of overconfidence in his ability to control events. Suffering a rock climbing accident, Adam is forced to face his mistakes through chance meetings with an unusual set of characters who share their wisdom with the recovering CEO.

Bob Parsanko (photo left) and Paul Heagen provide insights into leadership, and into the challenges faced by organizational leaders, through the medium of a narrative story. For the authors, climbing to achieve a leadership position is only part of the leader's journey. The critical test of a leader is meeting the often overwhelming array of problems and obstacles presented to leaders, so as to remain at the top. The story poses the metaphor of rock climbing as the career of the leader.

The overburdened and overconfident Adam climbs the rock face, only to discover he is not invincible when he suffers an accident. As with his stuck career as a CEO< Adam finds himself stuck from the accident as well. Through the advice and teachings of an unexpected array of people, Adam uncovers the wisdom to become unstuck, and to move forward and grow as a leader.

Paul Heagen (photo left) and Bob Parsanko present their principles for remaining in a leadership role, and for avoiding the pitfalls that await the unwary and hurried leaders. The authors, through the medium of the business parable, demonstrate how CEO Adam finds himself trying to go too fast, fighting too much, and forcing too many decisions. The inevitable result, as shown by the story of the rock climb, Adam finds himself stuck and unable to find a way to break free. To help guide Adam on his climb, characters in the story teach Adam the principles of awareness and slowing down, acceptance and embracing reality, and abundance by considering multiple options.

The authors show how listening carefully and openly to others helps a leader to understand the principles. Instead of fighting against adversity, Adam learns to lean into it for greater success. Adam finds that the standard practice of limiting the number of options results in bad decision making, and instead finds that multiplying his choices and possibilities leads to better outcomes. Through the sage advice of the story guides, Adam learns how to become unstuck from the rock and from the difficulties he faced as a CEO.

For me, the power of the book is how Bob Parsanko and Paul Heagen present their principles of leadership through a story format that illustrates their concepts in action. The pillars of leadership, and being stuck and overwhelmed, are given clarity in the narrative of Adam, the rock climbing CEO. Through the metaphor of being stuck in a rock climbing accident, the authors point out how the same concepts that get a climber unstuck work for a stuck leader.

The story provides the key elements of successful leadership, that overcome the challenge of remaining in leadership positions, and how these behaviors are so lacking in companies today. The authors present the basic ideas of meeting the myriad of leadership obstacles in a pleasurable and engaging way that underlines the importance of developing and utilizing those principles and skills.

I highly recommend the idea filled and realistic leadership skills development business parable The Leader's Climb: A Business Tale of Rising to the New Leadership Challenge by Paul Heagen and Bob Parsanko, to anyone seeking a very readable and enjoyable narrative that offers rich insights into leadership and overcoming the challenges faced by the today's leaders. This book offers timeless wisdom and a healthy does of common sense to develop skills for any leader.

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Remembrance Day - Lest We Forget

Lt. Colonel John McRae - "In Flanders Fields" 1915

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Exam Schools by Chester E. Finn, Jr. & Jessica A. Hockett - Book review

Exam Schools

Inside America's Most Selective Public High Schools

By: Chester E. Finn, Jr., Jessica A. Hockett

Published: September 16, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 264 pages
ISBN-10: 0691156670
ISBN-13: 978-0691156675
Publisher: Princeton University Press












"Selective public high schools that serve motivated kids and high achievers, many of them also very smart, have been a tiny but important part of the U.S. secondary-education landscape for generations", write president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Chester E. Finn; and educational consultant in differentiated instruction, Jessica A. Hockett, in their pioneering and visionary book Exam Schools: Inside America's Most Selective Public High Schools. The authors describe their examination of America's selective public high schools, and outline their goals, their operations, and their successes and failures.

Chester E. Finn, Jr. (photo left) and Jessica A. Hockett recognize that the emphasis in American education has been to raise the floor, but at the same time, neglected to raise the ceiling. For the authors, the selective exam schools represent an opportunity for America's best and brightest students to excel, and to achieve the background to become the leaders in innovation, business, government, and entrepreneurship. In this first ever overview of the schools dedicated to the highest performing students, the authors consider how these publicly funded institutions work and prepare their students. The authors consider the racial and socioeconomic background of the students, and consider the impact of these schools on public policy considerations.

Jessica A. Hockett (photo left) and Chester E. Finn, Jr. understand the dilemma facing high achievement education. While enormous amounts of funding are spent on low achieving students, the exam schools are forced to turn away the top performing pupils. The authors are aware of problems and challenges facing exam schools, and also note there are many areas where the high performance schools could make improvements. At the same time, the authors note that the exam schools provide a leg up for highly intelligent and hard working students from lower income and racially diverse families.

The authors emphasize the critical role that selective schools play in the development of leaders who can strengthen America's future. The authors show how these selective schools work, and examine the 165 profiled schools on their admission policies, diversity, and how they select their teaching staff. the authors describe how the exam schools offer an alternative to the widely applied approach of addressing the worst producing schools and under-performing students. As a result of their comprehensive study, the authors make strong case for enhancing and increasing the role of selective schools as an integral part of public education policy.

For me, the power of the book is how Chester Finn and Jessica Hockett provide a complete overview of selective schools across the United States, and present a balanced analysis of their areas of strength, as well as where improvements can be made. The authors offer the first research based investigation of the exam schools, and sheds light on this important but relatively unknown area of secondary education. The selective schools, in the view of the authors, provide a crucial service to the students they teach, and to the overall quality of education in America.

The emphasis on selecting the best and brightest students, regardless of race and economic background, offers a high performance alternative to ever more costly private schools. The authors demonstrate how the exam schools can provide another potential blueprint for top performing education in the United States. and how the support for high standards and challenging the most intelligent students to become the leaders of tomorrow in innovations, the creative arts, the professions, business, and entrepreneurship.

I highly recommend the thought provoking and groundbreaking book Exam Schools: Inside America's Most Selective Public High Schools by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Jessica A. Hockett, to anyone seeking a complete examination of an alternative approach to excellence in high school eduction. This book provides a road map to high achievement levels that stresses raising the standards bar at the top, as an addition to the usual focus on raising the bar at the bottom.

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Mike Weinberg: New Sales. Simplified. - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Sales executive, founder and President of The New Sales Coach, and author of the straight talking and results oriented book New Sales. Simplified. The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development, Mike Weinberg describes how to become more successful at acquiring new customers. Mike Weinberg shares his simple and effective process for developing new customers through a straightforward method. Mike points out how new customers are critical to the health and growth of the company, and offers his tools and techniques for finding the right prospects and transforming them into buyers. Mike demonstrates how to target the right qualified prospects, how to contact them, use the power of story, and active listening, to overcome the buyer's reflexive resistance through establishing rapport. Mike offers his tips and tactics for preparing for the sales meeting to be seen as a value creator and problem solver. Learn how to find and land new customers for your company, and establish yourself as a valuable sales team asset.

Mike Weinberg is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Thursday, November 8, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Sales executive, founder and President of The New Sales Coach, and author of the straight talking and results oriented book New Sales. Simplified. The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development, Mike Weinberg describes how to become more successful at acquiring new customers. You will learn:

* Why sales representatives must prospect and develop new customers

* How to find targeted prospects and get meetings with them

* how to sell using stories and active listening

* How to stop relying on presentations and become a provider of value

Mike Weinberg (photo left) is a sales coach, consultant, speaker and author on a mission to simplify sales and help his clients achieve greater success developing new business.

Mike loves business and he loves sales. His specialty is new business development, and his passion is helping companies and individuals with sales responsibility acquire new accounts and increase sales.

Mike provides sales and sales leadership coaching to sales leaders and sales teams, sales force consulting to senior executives, and speak on topics pertinent to new business development sales success.

Mike's new book, published by AMACOM, was just released and he could not be more excited about the reviews it’s getting or the support from retailers and the professional sales community! On the publication date it rose to #2 on Amazon’s Bestseller list in the Sales & Selling category. Click for more about New Sales. Simplified. The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development.

This year Mike was also honored to be named a Top Sales Influencer for 2012 by both Top Sales World and OpenView Labs.

My book review of New Sales. Simplified. The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development by Mike Weinberg.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.



To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with sales executive, founder and President of The New Sales Coach, and author of the straight talking and results oriented book New Sales. Simplified. The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development, Mike Weinberg, as he describes how to become more successful at acquiring new customers. Mike Weinberg shares his simple and effective process for developing new customers through a straightforward method. Mike points out how new customers are critical to the health and growth of the company, and offers his tools and techniques for finding the right prospects and transforming them into buyers. Mike demonstrates how to target the right qualified prospects, how to contact them, use the power of story, and active listening, to overcome the buyer's reflexive resistance through establishing rapport. Mike offers his tips and tactics for preparing for the sales meeting to be seen as a value creator and problem solver. Learn how to find and land new customers for your company, and establish yourself as a valuable sales team asset on Blog Business Success Radio.

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New Sales. Simplified. by Mike Weinberg - Book review

New Sales. Simplified.

The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development

By: Mike Weinberg

Published: September 4, 2012
Format: Paperback, 220 pages
ISBN-10: 0814431771
ISBN-13: 978-0814431771
Publisher: AMACOM












"There is an oversupply of account managers and customers-service people filling sales roles, but precious few true sales hunters that can be counted on to consistently deliver new business. You can bring tremendous value to your business, your customers, and yourself by becoming proficient at bringing in new business", writes former sales executive and president of The New sales Coach, Mike Weinberg, in his straight talking and timeless idea packed book New Sales. Simplified. The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development. The author describes how to attract and close new customer sales, by connecting with and providing service for the needs of the buyers, and by offering real solutions to the customer's problems.

Mike Weinberg recognizes that new sales representatives, and established sales professionals as well, are experiencing real challenges in developing new business for themselves and the company. The author points out that despite the value offered by existing loyal customers, the company needs a continual influx of new customers and clients for sustainable growth. Unfortunately, as Rick Weinberg writes, the established sales methods are no longer effective with today's customers. The author shares a news sales approach, that is both simple to understand and execute, and is based on timeless wisdom that will motivate new and seasoned sales representatives.

Mike Weinberg (photo left) understands that today's economy is a challenging environment for sales representatives to maintain their quotas. To resolve that problem, Mike Weinberg offers a simple, yet effective sales system that finds qualified prospects, provides the resources and tools needed to approach the potential buyer, and for achieving a successful outcome that develops a new customer. Instead of doing things wrong, as so many new and even experienced sales representatives do, the author coaches sales professionals in how to perform the entire process from prospecting to the close the right way.

Mike Weinberg divides the new sales simple process into three readily understood and actionable steps. Those three parts include:

* Select target: identify the ideal prospect
* Create and deploy weapons: Using the telephone and other tools to tell a story
* Plan and execute the attack: Preparation, questions and listening

For me, the power of the book is how Mike Weinberg combines a straight forward and results oriented sales approach with the practical tools and techniques to achieve a successful outcome. The author provides an effective method for finding and developing new sales business. The concept of finding new customers has been downplayed in recent years, and has even been regarded as being almost automatic. Mike Weinberg shares an alternative to that passive strategy.

In its place, Mike Weinberg offers an integrated, yet very easy to understand and apply system, that will add new business to the order books, while keeping sales professionals engaged in the process. The author bolsters his timeless wisdom with humor and interesting anecdotes that illustrate the concepts in action in real world sales situations.

I highly recommend the very hands on and results oriented book New Sales. Simplified. The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development by Mike Weinberg, to any new or experienced sales representatives, and to any sales managers and leaders who are seeking a workable and effective process for developing new customers. This book offers a back to basics strategy that will find qualified prospects and transform them into satisfied customers.

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