Nov 30

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Emotional Intelligence (EI) coaching, Reldan NadlerAbout a decade ago, Emotional Intelligence, (EI), was recognized to be a far better indicator of success in the work world than IQ.

However, the key question that remained was, how do you raise you EI?Dr. Reldan S. Nadler’s book, Leaders’ Playbook answers that question. The Leaders’ Playbook is a how-to guide with more than 100 EI techniques and tools to help raise EI.

Nadler, an executive coach and speaker also reveals the secrets of success in fascinating thumbnail EI stories of corporate star performers, political leaders and sports coaches.

Examples include:

  • Rudy Giuliani.s perfect pitch of empathy and vision after 911
  • G.E.s Jeff Immelt.s managing adversity
  • eBays Meg Whitman’s initiative and service orientation
  • USC’s Pete Carroll’s optimism and developing star players and championship teams Continue reading »

Feb 17
Chameleon
by Richard Hains  

ChameleonI know little about the banking world and high finance, and in fact my idea of high finance is trying to balance my check book. So it was with some trepidation that I started reading Chameleon by Richard Hains - the concept of a novel revolving around the banking world did not seem like a great read.I quickly realized that my reservations were unfounded. Mr. Hains has done a fabulous job in this, his first book. The quality of the writing is outstanding. The characters and plot are carefully developed, and the writing style has none of the usual jerkiness found in a first time author; he writes with the authority and ease of a seasoned professional.

The main character is Australian born Jon Phillips, who through a combination of skill, cunning, and a certain amount of luck, has worked his way up to the top table of Government bond traders working on Wall Street. Jon however, is not a satisfied man, as he realizes that gradually the banking industry is changing, and with his style of financial horse trading becoming obsolete, his days at the top are numbered.

Although financially comfortable, Jon wants that last big stock market hit to allow him to retire. He formulates a plan to manipulate a section of the stock market. Not only will the bank make a huge profit, but he personally will then have the funds he needs to escape from the rat race.

His plan is daring, and in his mind virtually risk free. In order for it to work, though, he must have access to a very large sum of money for a short time. His savior comes in the form of a fellow bank employee and board member Earnest Johnston. It transpires that Earnest has a client who is willing to place $35 million to assist in the transaction. What Jon does not realize at the time is that the money is dirty, and Earnest is merely assisting the client in a money laundering scheme on a grand scale.

It is imperative that the plan is executed flawlessly and without raising any eyebrows as it strays outside of the SEC guidelines, and if discovered could lead to serious repercussions of a criminal nature both for Jon personally and also the bank.

Of course the plan goes awry. Rather than the price of bonds rising, the price falls on the news that the SEC chairman has been caught in flagrante with an underage girl. By the end of the day Jon, instead of making a huge profit, has actually succeeded in losing over $120 million dollars of the bank’s money. Worse than that, he has also lost the dirty money.

Jon rapidly becomes a pariah. Fired from his job and publicly humiliated in the press, he finds himself in a very lonely position. Earnest Johnston distances himself and the bank from Jon by deleting evidence and making Jon the scapegoat.

Meanwhile the owners of the $35 million in dirty money very much want to talk to Jon! An international chase ensues, and Jon plays both the part of the hunted and the hunter, with a number of untimely deaths along the way.

If you are a fan of fast action and high adventure, Chameleon is a book that you will want to read. It kept me riveted to the last page.

While researching questions for my interview with Richard Hains I discovered some interesting things about him. He is an Australian by birth, just like Jon, and like his character he is a financial wizard, although he is based in London rather than New York. And apparently one of the most eligible bachelors in England.

Hains has also come up with a very unique method of generating interest in Chameleon. Not only has he created an interesting website and a Youtube segment, you can also enter a competition, the first prize of which includes a first class flight to England, and dinner with the author. Now that’s what I call self-promotion!

Dec 10

By Ed Oakley and Doug Krug

Leadership Made Simple: Practical Solutions to Your Greatest Management ChallengesLeadership Made Simple reduces your greatest management challenges, often people issues, to the most simple and practical solutions. It captures and defines what the best leaders do naturally in a powerful Framework for Leadership. Practical, simple solutions are included for many management challenges, including: Getting critical projects back on track; Resolving conflict among people or cross-functional teams; Shifting resistance-to-change into whole-hearted commitment;

  • Inspiring people and teams to dramatically higher performance levels; Getting all team members fully aligned with important objectives; Solving problems in creative, inspiring ways; Gaining buy-in and ownership for what needs to be done. This book provides over 40 real-world examples of how leaders and organizations have used the powerful Framework for Leadership introduced herein to solve these and many other of your greatest management challenges.
    Continue reading »

  • Dec 09

    By Michael Mihalik

    Debt is Slavery: and 9 Other Things I Wish My Dad Had Taught Me About MoneyIn August 2006, United States consumer debt reached an all-time high of $2.35 trillion1. Real estate foreclosures are soaring nationwide2, millions of jobs are being shipped overseas, and pensions are being cut at iconic American companies such as Delta Airlines3. The American family is under a level of financial stress that hasn’t been seen for generations.

    In the past, Americans were taught to avoid debt, but lately we have been persuaded to embrace it. The process starts early—high school students receive pre-approved credit cards although their only income may be from babysitting or mowing their neighbor’s lawn. People don’t realize that embracing debt subjects them to financial servitude—a form of slavery—in which their bills determine when and how much they work, often at jobs they don’t even like.

    Can anything be done to help Americans regain control of their finances?
    Continue reading »

    Dec 08

    By Annie B. Kay

    Every Bite Is Divine: The Balanced Approach to Enjoying Eating, Feeling Healthy and Happy, and Getting to a Weight (Every Bite Is Divine)Every Bite Is Divine’s essential message is that we each have a perfect natural weight and shape. By remembering how to care for ourselves lovingly, we allow ourselves to gracefully create our unique and healthy body. Crash diets are not in this picture.

    Through yoga and other methods of relaxation and rediscovering our individual self-care basics, we can find our true self. We can enjoy life—including eating as we love to eat—and reach a healthy contentment with our own reality even if it doesn’t match the picture popular culture sells.
    Continue reading »

    Dec 07

    By Paul Horton

    Saving Babylon: The Heart of an Army Interrogator in IraqWhen Chief Paul Holton returned from Iraq in 2004 he couldn’t believe what he was reading in the American press about the war. It certainly didn’t match his experience. Every story seemed to be about the misbehavior of US soldiers or the successes of the insurgents. War is tough. But American soldiers, who were willing to do that incredibly tough job, were paving the way for a free Iraq.

    Saving Babylon is not the perspective of the all-too-frequently co-opted embedded reporter from the major media. This is the firsthand account of an Army interrogator who worked hand-in-hand with Iraqis at all levels in building a new nation
    Continue reading »

    Dec 04

    By Lori Avocato

    Nip, Tuck, Dead: A Pauline Sokol MysteryEx-nurse-turned-insurance fraud investigator Pauline Sokol’s willing to risk anything to put a bad doc out of business—even her best friend Goldie’s near-perfect proboscis! Her cross-dressing compadre has agreed to get his shnozz bobbed so Pauline can pose as his private nurse and gain entry into Highcliff Manor—a posh plastic surgery “spa” making an illegal killing with their repeat clientele.
    Continue reading »

    Nov 01

    You are free to duplicate or distribute the following information to your blog, Web site, ezine, newsletter, or friends. We would appreciate a link back to BloggingAuthors.com. If you would you like to review this book for your site, blog, or ezine, email nancy at bloggingauthors dot com

    Alive on the Andrea Doria!
    by Pierette Simpson

    On July 25, 1956, a most unlikely collision between two ocean liners took place off the shoals of Nantucket. The catastrophic ramming of the Stockholm into Italy’s crown jewel, the luxury liner Andrea Doria, sent shock waves around the world. In the new book, ALIVE ON THE ANDREA DORIA! THE GREATEST SEA RESCUE IN HISTORY, author Pierette Domenica Simpson becomes the first Andrea Doria survivor to publish a first-hand account as well as confront the controversial details of the disaster.

    As an eyewitness, Simpson presents the human aspects of survival through insightful vignettes as retold by her fellow passengers. Both poor immigrants and wealthy travelers give their moving accounts of despair and elation after surviving circumstances that could have led to a disaster like that of the Titanic: a teen-age girl is catapulted from her bunk on the Doria and is found alive on the mangled bow of the Stockholm; a mother hurls her toddler overboard, hoping he will land in a lifeboat; young parents search for one of their daughters for two days; a new college graduate carries eleven children down the rope ladder of a heavily inclined vessel; a priest crawls on all fours, offering general absolution and last rites. Continue reading »

    Oct 09

    You are free to duplicate or distribute the following information to your blog, Web site, ezine, newsletter, or friends. We would appreciate a link back to BloggingAuthors.com.  If you would you like to review this book for your site, blog, or ezine, email nancy at bloggingauthors dot com

    A Time Before Me
    by Michael H. Perronne

    NEW! Italian foreign language rights have just been sold for A Time Before Me.  Congratulations Michael!

    A Time Before MeGrowing up in a small Mississippi town, shy and inexperienced Mason spends much of his time with his best friend and childhood crush, Billy.  When a six-pack of beer leads to a kiss between the two, Mason believes his dreams have come true.  Billy’s disregard for the incident, however, dashes Mason’s hopes.

    After graduation, Mason fears he’s doomed to spend a humid Mississippi summer scooping ice cream.  But everything changes when his vivacious Aunt Savannah invites him to live with her in New Orleans and work in the box office of her drag queen cabaret.  It’s there- in the decadent and liberating French Quarter- that Mason begins to fall for Joey, a strikingly handsome and sweet nineteen year old, who may just be ready to open his heart to someone new.

    When Mason’s lingering feelings for Billy threaten his new romance, he must make a choice.  With the help of his aunt and a sassy drag queen, Miss Althea, Mason learns that the only way to get anywhere in life is to roll life’s dice and take a chance. Continue reading »

    Oct 09

    You are free to duplicate or distribute the following information to your blog, Web site, ezine, newsletter, or friends. We would appreciate a link back to BloggingAuthors.com.  If you would you like to review this book for your site, blog, or ezine, email nancy at bloggingauthors dot com

    Hot Water
    by Kathryn Jordan

    Hot Water is a woman’s fantasy come true. For years Julia dreamed of this: a weekend escape as far as she can get from Hot Water by Kathryn Jordanher dull mid-western life and a husband who cares more for his trucks than for her. The kids are raised; if not now, when? And Hidden Springs is perfect, a secluded spa resort in the California desert. Adults only with “clothing optional” tanning decks for her Minnesota white skin. She rents a red Lamborghini and hires a male escort from the internet. Hot, a delicious blend of Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp. She doesn’t even know his name. She’ll call him “William.”

    For “William,” meeting the Minnesota lady at Hidden Springs is just another job. Hardly the life he once imagined while studying philosophy in college, but lucrative. Besides, women are a study in themselves. Although he could’ve done without the morning’s disaster with Mrs. Carlton. At first glance he knows Julia is nothing like his other clients.

    What neither of them imagine is that the famous Hidden Springs water isn’t the only magic, and this one weekend will change their lives forever. Continue reading »

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