Term Paper on "Compare and Contrast Seven Popular Business Books"

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[EXCERPT] . . . .

Popular Business Books

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey

The book "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" was originally published in 1990. It was a groundbreaking book at the time and it is still a bestseller. Over 10 million copies of the book have been sold and this would indicate that it is still a very important book when dealing with business life. Stephen Covey, the author of the book, is respected as a leader all around the world and puts into his book the concepts of both professional and personal effectiveness. He believes that true success can only be found by balancing these two issues and the seven habits of highly effective people indicates how individuals can do better not just in their professional life but in their personal life as well.

One of the best things about the book is the way that the author includes family situations and personal issues as well as business challenges that he has faced. There are several points that the book makes that indicate they would be very viable in business life. The first of these is a paradigm shift. This involves changing the way someone feels about how the world works and the position they have in it, as well as the perceptions of what the world contains. By taking readers through the way that this change occurs, the author helps individuals to learn better ways to look at several areas of business. These include positive thinking, management of time, and ways to act that deal with productivity. The author teaches people how to act and take the initiative as opposed to only reacting to something that happened.

By doing this, he indicates how business life could be changed by proactive individuals and this concept would be extremely helpful in business life. People that are proactive realize what is going to happen in their specific area of skill and they look at these areas and attempt to make changes that will coincide with the up and coming trends rather than wait for the trends to get started and then follow up on them at a later date.

Another important concept that comes from the book is that the ideas that are presented here are not something that can be just learned in a night and started the next day. Many of the concepts that the author provides are very involved and skimming this book would not be helpful. The book needs to be studied well and notes need to be taken throughout each chapter in order to fully comprehend what the author is trying to teach the reader and to learn how to utilize the many ideas that the author provides. By living the concepts in the book, however, individuals who are dealing with business or personal difficulties would likely be able to turn many of these around and correct them to the point that they would learn how to handle future issues proactively instead of reactively.

This is one of the key points that the author makes and it is of vital importance that anyone who reads the book understands that reacting to things does not make good business sense. There are times when this cannot be avoided because of something sudden, but in general it is much easier to discover future trends and deal with them before they actually get started whether than attempt to react to them in the future.

Generally, there are some parts of books that are completely a waste of time. However, with this book that does not appear to be the case. From the first chapter about being proactive to the very last chapter called 'sharpen the saw,' the author provides a wealth of information that is vitally important for business individuals today and also can help a great deal in personal lives. If anything could be considered a waste of time it could be the fact that the author sometimes spends a great deal of time going into detail about many concepts. It is possible that these concepts could be explained in a way that was less complex, but even if this were the case, it still appears that the information that the author provides is not actually wasting anyone's time due to the fact that there is so much that can be learned from what the author has to say.

By reading the entire book very thoroughly and not skimming it individuals can learn how to do better in both their professional and their personal lives which is something that most individuals strive to do even if they do not actually realize that this is what they are working toward. Most of the anecdotes that the author provides are also very valuable because they have a lot of insight into many issues that individuals face today and sometimes do not know how to deal with. When someone reads the book and basically takes the seven habits that the author talks about to heart they are taught how to utilize success strategies that have turned otherwise floundering individuals into very successful businessmen.

The habits are not suggestions and should not be treated as such. They are specific habits that need to be employed if one wishes to succeed in the way that the author discusses. There are likely some individuals who will not enjoy the book because they do not want to do the work that is required. This does not mean that reading the book is an excessive amount of work, although it does need to be studied thoroughly to actually understand many of the concepts that the author puts across.

However, anyone who actually wants to practice what the author teaches in the book will need to work very hard at this and there are undoubtedly some who will not wish to do this. Those individuals may likely feel that this book is a waste of time, but for anyone truly wanting to change their lives and become the highly effective people that the author talks about this is undoubtedly the one and only book to read. It is full of insight, and provides the reader with concrete and solid ideas that will actually achieve the results discussed, which is more than can be said for many books today. It is truly fascinating and contains a wealth of information.

First Break All The Rules - Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman

Anyone who is a manager or works in human resources, as well as anyone who works for a company and needs to hire a manager would want to read "First, Break All The Rules." It is clear that Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman have done a great deal of research when it comes to this topic. Based on the work that they have done, they determined that there were 12 'key factors' that were needed when designating and retaining a 'star employee.' The workplace is assumed to be productive and strong if the employees can answer 'yes' to the following questions:

1) Do I know what is expected of me at work?

2) Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?

3) At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?

4) In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?

5) Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?

6) Is there someone at work who encourages my development?

7) At work, do my opinions seem to count?

8) Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important?

9) Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?

10) Do I have a best friend at work?

11) In the last six months, have I talked with someone about my progress?

12) At work, have I had the opportunities to learn and grow?"

Naturally, most employees also want to have higher pay, stock options, health insurance, vacation days, and other benefits that they often deem important. However, those types of benefits attract all kinds of employees, including those that are very unproductive and do not really do an honest day's work. The twelve factors that were mentioned above, in addition to the other benefits, work very well to both attract and keep employees that are productive, and that will stay productive. The authors also believe that not just anyone can be good or even great at management. The great managers have qualities that are deeply ingrained, and are not qualities that can be taught to those that do not already have them. The best of the managers also make a strong distinction between the talent, skills, and knowledge that they have. The skills and the knowledge are areas that can be taught to others, but talent is something that people are either born with or not born with, and it cannot be taught to those that… READ MORE

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