Practice What You Preach - AchieveMax® Top Ten Book Review

Practice What You Preach: What Managers Must Do to Create a High Achievement Culture by David H. Maister

I can't believe this book title hasn't surfaced until now. It's a phrase that most of us have known since childhood. It's great advice and something you might assume to be an obvious game plan for anyone striving for success. I wonder if it's been avoided for so long because so few people and organizations actually do it?

In this book, the author asked and answers a very simple question: "Are employee attitudes correlated with financial success?" The answer he found, was "an unequivocal 'Yes!'" This highly respected consultant bases his findings on a worldwide survey of 139 offices in 29 professional service firms in 15 countries in 15 different lines of business. He proves that if your firm doesn't promote enthusiasm and high morale in your employees, your firm will make less money. Maister wrote the text in plain language and deferred all statistical language and presentation to the appendices. You'll learn, in no uncertain terms, how you can create a culture in your organization that promotes growth and superior financial returns.

Loaded with case studies, comparisons, strategies, questionnaires, and characteristics of successful organizations, this insightful work will facilitate your growth as a business leader and manager. Upon completion of this book and adoption of its principles, you'll be well on your way to joining a very exclusive group of leaders ... those who practice what they preach!

More than 100 business book reviews written by Harry K. Jones are available at http://www.AchieveMax.com/books/.

Reprint Information

Your organization may reprint this article for your newsletter, online publication, or mailing list. We ask that you print the:

  • article in its entirety;
  • byline of the writer;
  • information about the writer, which is available at the end of each article; and
  • contact information, including our toll-free phone number in the U.S. (800-886-2MAX) and link to our website - www.AchieveMax.com.

We would appreciate a tear sheet or electronic copy of the articles you reprint.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a firm specializing in custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has made presentations ranging from leadership to employee retention and time management to stress management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. He can be reached at 800-886-2MAX or by visiting http://www.AchieveMax.com.

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Book Reviews Information:

Related Articles

Dont Eat This Book by Morgan Spurlock: Lightweight But Convincing Expose of the Fast Food Industry
For those of you who've been on another planet for the past year or so, Morgan Spurlock is a filmaker who spent an entire month eating nothing but McDonald's food and filming the decline in his health, expanding waistline and other alarming consequences of this damaging diet.The result was the gripping documentary, Super Size Me, which earned a well-deserved Oscar nomination.
Niche Site Confessions Revealed - An Unbiased Ebook Review
If you're like me then chances are when it comes to purchasing ebooks online you want to make sure you get your moneys worth. As someone who is trying to establish a home-based Internet business within 4 years before I retire trust me when I tell you that Niche Site Confessions Revealed is easily the best ebook to come out in a long time.
The Leadership Challenge - AchieveMax® Top Ten Book Review
The Leadership Challenge: The Most Trusted Source on Becoming a Better Leader by James M. Kouzes & Barry Z.
The Leadership Pill - AchieveMax® Top Ten Book Review
The Leadership Pill is another volume for those of you anxious to add to your library of "mini-books." Ken Blanchard, a veritable self-help book-writing machine, partners with co-author Marc Muchnick to create this 112-page parable that every leader will want to read and share with those he/she mentors.
Jesus and the Gnostic Cathars
These are some of the highlights of a connected story of Milesian/Phocaean/ Phoenician architects who allow 'his'-story to confuse the masses. It is still going on and we must try to change it.
Twin Falls, Gooding, Jerome, ID, and Regional Economic Outlook for 2005
Twin Falls Economic Report done by me; Twin Falls, ID has potential for additional car washes, Detail Centers and mobile washing units. Twin Falls has enough water in their reservoirs to make it through the Summer for farmers and agriculture industries.
Pariah - Book Review
"Pariah, written by multi-talented artist and author Timothy Goodwin, is a science fiction, fantasy novel that incorporates some very clear ideas to what is wrong with today's world. The characters are colorfully portrayed and the battles were very well written.
Execution - A Book Summary
You've got the bright ideas and the smart people, and the market is just ready for you. But why hasn't your business taken off as you predicted? Maybe the problem is in your execution.
Screenwriter and Novelist Marguerite Ashton Receives Rave Reviews for Mafia Novel
When asked what gave her the idea for the story, she replied, "I am a big movie fanatic of all genres, but if you were to ask my favorites, it would be mafia and horror. With Taylini, I decided to add a twist that is not included in your usual "mafia stories.
Review: How To Become A Film Critic, The World's Greatest Job
Norm Goldman reviews Christopher Null's "How To Become A Film Critic, The World's Greatest Job" ...
The Wal-Mart Decade - AchieveMax® Top Ten Book Review
The Wal-Mart Decade: How a New Generation of Leaders Turned Sam Walton's Legacy into the World's #1 Company was destined for publication. It was simply a matter of when it would be written and by whom.
How Would You Move Mount Fuji? - AchieveMax® Top Ten Book Review
For a number of reasons, today's hiring managers from Wall Street to the Silicon Valley are totally restructuring their approach to interviewing job prospects. Few will admit it has anything to do with the fact that our litigious society makes it very difficult to ask almost any personal question of today's job applicant.
HIV-Muscles: This is the Title of a New Book about One Mans Battle with HIV
Today Lavaine is doing well and able to go about life in a manner which would never have been thought possible in 1986. This was the year which he was diagnosed as HIV+.
The Red Hourglass: Lives of the Predators, by Gordon Grice
The black widow spider is notorious for eating her mate as they copulate, but how many of us know much more than that about this beautiful, mysterious, spider?Grice collects black widows and keeps them in jars and studies them, and he tells us more than we care to know at times. But it is not just black widows that interest Grice, it is rattlesnakes, praying mantis, tarantula, pigs, dogs, and the recluse spider.
Sound Bodies through Sound Therapy - Book Review
"Dorinne Davis has written many books that concentrate on the subjects of hearing and sound. In the well-researched textbook, Sound Bodies through Sound Therapy, she looks at the concept of sound being a nutrient for our bodies.
Political Frugality - Review
It is hard to specify exactly what genre Larry Roth's new book can fall into. Political, frugal living, gay rights, taking care of the body and more are covered in Political Frugality - Guerrilla Economics for the Demonized, Devalued and Disenfranchised.
Business Plans
Way back in business school we had to churn out business plans every semester. As soon as the assignment would drop we would be scrambling for information.
Moon Child - Book Review
Moon Child by Simone Maroney is a larger sized adventure, fantasy novel with 55 chapters. The story line involves complex relationships between six main characters, which are delicately balanced leaving room for intrigue.
Story Structure - Classic Hero's Journey
The Classical Hero's Journey is one of the most detailed story structures containing 106 sequences overall and 32 in Act III alone.A descendant of Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces and containing references to all the normal and less usual Archetypes: Peer Brothers, the Failed Hero and more, it allows the screen or story writer to quickly map out a step outline, template or first draft screenplay.
How to Survive Sudden Leadership Challenges - Covey Has Some Clues
I have decided to start with this text as simply far too many people have said to me I should - it clearly has an enormous following of people who found the message rang true for them.In the introduction to the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Covey talks about how we perceive reality based on certain beliefs or paradigm.