"Getting To Closing" will give you the insider information you need to understand and navigate the residential real estate loan process. This book explains the details of the mortgage process, the loan application and disclosures, and even tells you how to save thousands of dollars on your mortgage once you have it. Cheryl Peck spent ten years as a Mortgage Broker, closing thousands of loans. This book gives you the insider view of how the process works, how the underwriter views your file, and other things you need to know to help you get the best possible real estate mortgage loan. Whether you are a first time home buyer, or have closed several real estate loans, this book will give you valuable information that will help you get your residential real estate loan closed with a minimum of stress. Property types and uses, along with their effects on the loan, are discussed. The book also discusses the sales contract, appraisal, home owners insurance, title work, and what to expect at closing. You will learn the secrets of quoting and locking an interest rate. "Getting To Closing" will give you tips to streamline the process, reduce costs, be better prepared, and get your loan approved and closed. In today's tighter credit markets you need all the information you can get to make the best deal possible on your home or investment property loan. This book gives you that information, which you may not get from your loan officer, so you will never be surprised at closing

Brian Strachan shares powerful lessons learned in over forty years in business. Everyone engaged in business will benefit from the lessons he learned. The recent graduate will learn about the potholes along his career path and painlessly avoid them. The middle manager will learn how to fine-tune her skills to get better results. The seasoned executive will benefit by focusing on cultures required to optimize the business. Learn why it ain't okay to fail and how to avoid failure. Learn how your strengths can hurt you. Learn why every decision you make is correct. Learn how to lead instead of manage. Learn about "Immediate-improvement." Learn about "secret" visions. Learn all of this and much, much more in this "must read" book.

"Schooling Your Boss to not Suck" takes a fun and sarcastic journey into tales of horrible bosses. There are countless books on improving the workplace, but nothing like this. Is your boss a supervillain? Need a superhero to straighten him out? Instead of being written by another stuffy "expert", author Eric Muss-Barnes (who barely squeaked out of high school, let alone finished college), offers a lighthearted slant on leadership from the viewpoint of the common worker. True stories. Real experiences. No "puppydogs and rainbows" like other motivational books. Just genuine events of piss and vinegar from the American middleclass workplace. Eric is just an Average Joe, like yourself, telling it like it is. If your boss sincerely wants to learn how to motivate and inspire the people, it's time the boss stopped listening to other leaders and started listening to what regular people like you have to say. It's time someone whipped off those mild-mannered glasses, and schooled your boss on how to not suck!

In theory, managers serve as guides, directors, decision makers, and energizers for their employees. Unfortunately, few managers have, themselves, been trained in the skills and techniques to get the best results from their employees, and managerial styles can run the gamut from permissive-but-ineffectual to aloof to autocratic. In The Manager as Coach, the authors focus on the key purposes of coaching—improving individual performance, solving problems, and securing results—in order to address the challenges of effective management head-on. Dispelling popular myths and misconceptions about coaching as a passing fad or a collection of superficial motivation techniques, they offer practical tools for mastering the skills of effective coaching to the benefit of employees and the organization, identifying four primary roles that managers—as coaches—play on a regular basis: trainer, career advisor, strategist, and performance appraiser. Featuring diagnostic exercises, worksheets, and a listing of resources, The Manager as Coach will help readers develop the qualities and skills to align individual and organizational goals and forge dynamic, productive relationships. Whether large or small, manufacturing or service, every organization selects managers and assigns them the task of securing results through people. In theory, managers serve as guides, directors, decision makers, and energizers for their employees. Unfortunately, few managers have, themselves, been trained in the skills and techniques to get the best results from their employees, and managerial styles can run the gamut from permissive-but-ineffectual to aloof to autocratic. This volume in The Manager as… series addresses the challenges of effective management head-on by exploring the role of manager as coach. Focusing on the key purposes of coaching—improving individual performance, solving problems, and securing results—the authors dispel popular myths and misconceptions of management coaching as a passing fad, a process of endless tutoring, or superficial motivation techniques, and offer practical tools for mastering the skills of effective coaching to the benefit of both employees and the organization. They identify four primary roles managers—as coaches—play on a regular basis: trainer, career advisor, strategist, and performance appraiser. Featuring diagnostic exercises, worksheets, and a listing of resources, The Manager as Coach will help readers develop the qualities and skills to align individual and organizational goals and forge dynamic, productive relationships.

Conrad's new book, "Beyond Real Estate Licensing: Case Study Analysis of Behavioral Assessment Relationship Applied to Human Performance" is an outgrowth of his doctoral studies. The specific problem this research addresses pertains to whether behavioral readiness has an impact upon real estate brokerage sales performance. Although real estate students may score high on the real estate licensing examinations, it may not prove the student's ability to perform in a real estate brokerage performance sales environment. The most important performance criteria in real estate sales could be conceived as a developed personality capacity and alignment of motivational values. It is also noted that learning sales facilitators can not guarantee the knowledge transfer to performance unless, behavioral readiness is presented. Therefore behavioral assessment analysis can be considered as an integral aide to performance improvement. The purpose of this study was to establish the organizational responsibility towards behavioral assessment analysis during the pre-employment phase. The results of this study indicate that behavioral assessments may improve the overall recruitment and selection capability and to identify the necessary behavioral readiness that is necessary for knowledge transfer into sales performance.

Quality should be treated as a culture of success in the market. Enterprises focused on quality will survive in the long term in this new environment because quality is what may create a real and robust link between a company and its clients, and these clients should always be considered the heart of any business; without them, there is neither option nor sense to continue any activity in a company. The Handbook of Research on Quality Management for Competitive Advantage in Global Markets is an essential reference source that discusses the importance of quality practices and global market practices. With research that allows practitioners to improve their understanding of the strategic role of quality in the information and knowledge society, it focuses on describing a global economy formed by networks, organizations, teams, workgroups, information systems, and finally, actors in networked environments. Featuring research on topics such as consumer satisfaction, human capital, and quality management, the target audience of this book is composed of professionals and researchers working in the field of information and knowledge management in various disciplines including library, information and communication sciences, administrative sciences and management, education, adult education, sociology, computer science, and information technology. Moreover, the book provides insights and supports executives concerned with the management of expertise, knowledge, information, and organizational development in different types of work communities and environments.

We all possess a natural and authentic power that we can access at will once we know how. Activate Your Power is a personal leadership guide to achieving a more fulfilling life through effective decision-making and the power of intention. Building on his many years of experience with the corporate world and his wide exposure to human behaviour, Eitan Sharir has developed a set of innovative tools and techniques for unlocking your full potential and directing your own success. Activate your Power provides real-life examples and simple, practical exercises and tools, to help you refocus your attention, change your perspective and improve your life Readers say: "Whether you read this book in your corporate persona, striving to be both successful and ethical, or whether you read it as an individual, I sincerely believe that Activate Your Power will be a valuable positive catalyst in your life." "I have had the good fortune to have worked with Eitan Sharir and have seen the positive effects of his approach to coaching and leadership. Activate Your Power is an inspiring book that offers practical strategies that enable the reader to re-awaken the power and potential that resides within... a book that will genuinely change your approach to life and business -- for the better." "This book is about helping us understand that each of us has the power to achieve success regardless of our environment... It's about holding ourselves accountable for our own lives, and not blaming someone, or something else for the struggles or failures we experience. Reading this book will help you learn how to improve your life, professionally and personally... The concepts that Eitan talks about have made a major contribution to the mindset of all of our employees and have helped our organization achieve wonderful results. "

In a previous book, John Merrill and Ralph Lowenstein were the first journalism academics in America to predict, correctly, that newspapers and magazines as we know them would soon disappear, to be replaced by digitized products. Drawing on their long experience in journalism and journalism education, they lay out in this book their observations, suggestions and predictions - not only for the American media, but for the education of future journalists. They believe many media moguls have abused their fiduciary responsibility to maintain the financial strength and credibility of the press. They believe few university presidents understand the important relationship between journalism education and political democracy. They describe the chain of neglect that has led to press insolvency, staff unemployment and J-school misdirection. They believe print journalism will be the strongest form of journalism well into the future - although the "print" will not be on paper. It will be on what the authors call an "s-slate," silicon slate, and they believe that every individual from kindergartner to senior citizen will a personal s-slate in the future to retrieve and read books, magazines and newspapers. Merrill and Lowenstein assert that readers of the s-slate will pay for everything they read. The co-authors observe that journalism education's ties to professional journalism are more problematic than at any time in their mutual history, and that there is an unfortunate lack of self-examination about this tragic disconnect in both academe and the mass media. One remedy they suggest is the addition of a half-year to the undergraduate curriculum in which students immerse themselves in an intensive practicum involving print, radio and television. The reward at the end will be a meaningful "certification," in addition to their bachelor's degree. The co-authors also suggest that faculty should serve the media better and teach university administrators better about the true worth of journalism education to the political system.

MCKINSEY TOP 5 RECOMMENDED READ 'An underground hit' – Best Politics Books, Financial Times 'Jon has one of the few big ideas that's easily applied' – Sam Conniff, Be More Pirate 'A wonderful guide to how to be human in the 21st Century' –  Ece Temelkuran, How to Lose a Country: the Seven Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship Citizens opens up a new way of understanding ourselves and shows us what we must do to survive and thrive as individuals, organisations, and nations. Over the past decade, Jon Alexander’s consultancy, the New Citizenship Project, has helped revitalise some of Britain’s biggest organisations including the Co-op, the Guardian and the National Trust. Here, with the New York Times bestselling writer Ariane Conrad, he shows how history is about to enter age of the Citizen. Because when our institutions treat people as creative, empowered creatures rather than consumers, everything changes. Unleashing the power of everyone equips us to face the challenges of economic insecurity, climate crisis, public health threats, and polarisation.  Citizens is an upbeat handbook, full of insights, clear examples to follow, and inspiring case studies, from the slums of Kenya to the backstreets of Birmingham – and a foreword by Brian Eno. It is the perfect pick-me-up for leaders, founders, elected officials –and citizens everywhere. Organise and seize the future! Reviews 'Society is like an out of control house party – eating, drinking and consuming everything. Jon is the organiser of the campfire gathering behind the party. It’s calm and welcoming and you won’t want to leave. In Citizens, Jon and Ariane show how to leave the burning house of the Consumer Story and join the campfire that is the Citizen Story.' – Stephen Greene, CEO of RockCorps and founding Chair of National Citizen Service UK 'The belief that every single one of us has both the potential and the desire to make the world better drives me every day, in everything I do. In Citizens, Jon shows how taking that belief as a starting point really could transform our world. This is a truly powerful book, in every sense of the word.' - Josh Babarinde, Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur 'Every great transformation requires a new story. A story that reveals new possibilities and points toward an optimistic alternative to the current situation. Citizens presents just such a story.' – Tim Brown, Chair of IDEO and author of Change By Design 'The shift from consumer to citizen is a truly big idea. If you’re in a position of strategic influence, I strongly recommend you engage with this and consciously explore what it might mean for your organisation.' – Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE, Former Director General, National Trust, and Trustee, BBC 'There is such a thing as an idea whose time has come. This is that idea.' – James Perry, Board Member, B Lab Global, and Founding Partner, Snowball Investment Management

The genesis of the sub prime fiasco that resulted in this catastrophic financial melt down began with flawed credit reports. These were the bed rock upon which this house of cards was constructed. But the big question is how could these villains have escaped censure during the media blitz of the past year that blamed anyone remotely responsible? This gold standard of the FICO scores fails even base metal quality. How can these most malignant contributors be over looked and forgotten? Just how have they seemingly totally escaped criticism? Proof of inflation FICO scores is the elephant outside that is evidenced by the millions and millions of existing bad loans complete with documentation. Proof of misdeeds are legend. No conversation will be sufficient to offset these lies accepted as gospel. FICO is a four letter word explains it all.

This book highlights the planning and design process involved with building a new school foodservice facility. The intended target audience is architects, business managers, kitchen consultants, school foodservice directors, superintendents, school board members, kitchen managers, and interested community stakeholders. As part of the initial planning process, discussion must focus on future direction of the school foodservice program with consideration for factors that influence the design including the intended menu, foodservice production and delivery system, food safety and security, availability of labor, purchasing decisions and information about the customers and potential customers. Design intent and planning the school foodservice facility is discussed in great detail with depiction of nearly fifty actual photographs of receiving areas, kitchens, storage rooms, dining rooms, dishrooms, and serving areas. A chapter is dedicated to decisions regarding equipment purchase and installation, types of bids, and considerations for how to award a bid for foodservice equipment as part of a building project. Ergonomics, engineering, and equipment are discussed in great detail as considerations for designing for employee comfort, labor productivity, and reduction of on-the-job injuries. Foodservice facilities that are designed correctly keep employees and customers safe, and reduce incidence of workers compensation claims. Sustainability and the "green movement" is included in one chapter as a means of considering social responsibility for reducing, reusing, and recycling to reduce carbon footprint. Ideas for sustainability efforts are provided that may entitle the school district to be awarded LEED or Green Seal certifications. A final chapter is devoted to reviewing the project with architects, engineers, contractors, school administrative and foodservice personnel, and community members. A successful and well-operating foodservice facility is best achieved when many come together and agree on a design that works well for everyone in the community.

This is the first book on branding published in East Africa by an East African and takes a wide view of both the local and global brandscape. Through the collection of selected articles, the book which makes for an easy read, also tackles the future of brands and branding.

This book is about what I call "Fix it or lose it Management." I wrote it to help you do your own turnaround inside your organization, before someone else does it for you - or your organization goes under completely. This book is a compendium of carefully selected good ideas from good books, plus my own experience in nearly 20 years as a management consultant and the 27 years of Military service that preceded it. Like my last book, I wrote it so that you could have straightforward, no-nonsense material, ready to implement. CEOs and other responsible people in leadership positions don't always have time to do their own research. Instead, they throw themselves on the mercy of contractors, who think in terms of yearly contracts. You can do the job better.

'An incredibly propulsive read. It will absolutely challenge you, in the best way possible, to change the way you think about work.' Anne Helen Petersen 'A sharp analysis of modern work culture.' Vauhini Vara The Good Enough Job reminds us that the biggest goal of all is to live a life we are happy with, and in which work is but one of the multitude of facets that make us who we are. An antidote to the toxic #hustle movement convincing us all we need to find fulfilment in the office, it denounces the dangers of burnout linked to those of us who cannot answer the question: beyond work, what's left? Conversations of burnout have bubbled to the top of the cultural zeitgeist as the line between work and not-work continues to blur. Burnout and workaholism are symptoms of a deeper root cause: a lack of separation between who we are and what we do. This book is not a credo against looking to work for fulfilment, nor is it in favour of treating work as a necessary evil. It is a guide to developing a healthier relationship to work through the stories of people who have successfully done so. These are stories that invite us to re-evaluate what makes us happy, and how we can work to live, rather than the other way round.

Offices are not our natural habitat. Leadership is easier when we understand the nine instincts that still drive human behaviour. With the Industrial Revolution only 250 years ago, we left our hunting, gathering and village societies to work in offices and factories. The behaviour that ensured our ancestors' survival on the savannah plains of Africa over the millennia is alive and well in today's workplaces. The nine instincts explain the reasons, and the solutions, to the challenges that leaders commonly face. Based on the author's wide experience in large organisations combined with witty true stories of chimps from Gombe, Tanzania and Taronga Zoo, Sydney, Hardwired Humans explains the psychology behind the human instincts of social behaviour. As you read this entertaining book, you will learn how the instincts of clan connections, hierarchy, gossip, politics, snap judgments, status displays and sexual competition continue to drive modern office interactions just as they have driven human interaction for millennia. The book shares a practical framework that helps makes sense of human behaviour and allows leaders to manage more effectively. In a note introducing the book, Dr Jane Goodall calls it a 'compelling book'. The Australian Financial Review Boss magazine highly recommends the book as one 'that will captivate anyone who finds the "people stuff" confounding.'

The digital world is growing and changing at a rate that can seem overwhelming to those project managers who have to keep up with it to build customer-facing solutions and applications. It's rare for project managers working in this field to be provided with much direction or a process by which to carry out a project, and there has been almost nothing available specific to these types of projects in the literary marketplace. Digital Project Management: The Complete Step-by-Step Guide to a Successful Launch was developed to fill this gap by providing the knowledge, best practices, and proven steps to successfully manage digital projects from end-to-end and was created to be easily adaptable to different project types and technological advances.

An unethical and undemocratic cult of business leadership seems to hold sway over the minds of President George W. Bush and many other leaders in our society. According to ethics and leadership expert James Hoopes, this cult claims that leadership is attained and exercised through morality. But by instilling false pride and moral egotism in executives, the leadership cult intensifies the tendency of power to corrupt. For the first time, Hail to the CEO pulls back the curtain on the cult of moral leadership, revealing its dangers while showing readers how to lead with greater integrity and competence. What's more, it will help all citizens better guard their freedom against corrupt, ruinous decisions and the "leaders" who make them. The notion of leaders as moral exemplars began in business schools and is increasingly influential in the rest of society. Bush, a veteran of corporate life, is our first president to hold the degree Master of Business Administration. As a result of his business education and business experience, he has carried the leadership cult into the White House--with disastrous results. Many others have deplored Bush's incompetence and moral arrogance. Hail to the CEO is the first book to explain that his failures--from faith-based initiatives to the unconstitutional war on terror--reflect not just on him but on the business culture that created him. Moreover, Hail to the CEO challenges many of the assumptions underlying today's conventional wisdom on leadership. It will show leaders, for example, that it is morally dangerous to manage by values rather than manage for values. Hail to the CEO offers a new model of leadership in which moral influence is earned, not used, by managing as competently and justly as possible. More important, by reminding citizens of the democratic principle that leaders may be moral menaces as well as moral exemplars, Hail to the CEO will help protect freedom.

By any measure, workplace violence is increasing in frequency and intensity. A recent report estimates its cost at over $120 billion. Meanwhile, experts agree that risk factors, including psychological, behavioral, and situational stressors, are increasing in the context of today's volatile business environment. This timely book integrates insights from the fields of management and social psychology to identify the sources of workplace violence and offer readers practical strategies for preventing it, protecting themselves and their employees from it, and reacting swiftly and effectively when it happens. Featuring case examples, interviews, practical recommendations, and resources for additional information, the authors debunk common myths and misconceptions about workplace violence, its perpetrators, and its victims, and consider the link between domestic and workplace violence—in particular, its implications for women and minorities. The result is an essential guide for anyone, including managers and employees, human resource professionals and counselors, psychologists and other advocates, affected by the impact of workplace violence and seeking solutions. The statistics are alarming. Homicide is the most frequent manner in which female employees are fatally injured at work; it is the number two cause for men. According to a recent study cited by the Society for Human Resource Management, incidents of workplace violence have increased steadily over the past sixteen years; 58 percent of participating companies reported that disgruntled employees have threatened senior managers in the past year, 17 percent said employees had intentionally and maliciously downloaded computer viruses, and 10 percent said they were victims of product tampering. Meanwhile, the costs linked to workplace violence have been estimated at over $120 billion. Experts agree that risk factors for workplace violence include psychological, behavioral, and situational stressors—and today's volatile business environment increases their intensity. This timely book integrates insights from the fields of management and social psychology to identify the sources of workplace violence and offer readers practical strategies for preventing it, protecting themselves and their employees from it, and reacting swiftly and effectively when it happens. Featuring case examples, interviews, practical recommendations, and resources for additional information, the authors debunk common myths and misconceptions about workplace violence, its perpetrators, and its victims, and consider the link between domestic and workplace violence—in particular, its implications for women and minorities. The result is an essential guide for anyone, including managers and employees, human resource professionals and counselors, psychologists and other advocates, who is affected by the impact of workplace violence and is seeking solutions.

How do successful architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms become leaders in their markets? While there is not one formula for all AEC firms, a common characteristic is effective marketing. These firms don't view marketing as an expense, but as a strategic approach to winning. Leading With Marketing embodies how an AEC firm approaches their business, their marketplace and their customers. When companies lead with marketing, they strategically choose which markets to target, what to offer, how to differentiate, how to communicate, and how to win. To truly lead with marketing, a firm's marketing strategy must be an ongoing, dynamic process. The process must enable a company to focus its resources on the right opportunities to increase profitability, while satisfying the customer needs and achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. Leading With Marketing will provide you with the insights, expertise and knowledge needed to lead with marketing. Having worked with Brian and Kimberly for many years and seeing the direct results of their wisdom help Structural Group grow to over $500 million in sales, now having their wisdom detailed in this great book will allow more of us to apply marketing strategies to our everyday business. I highly recommend this book to every Architectural, Engineering and Contracting company that desires a profitable growth strategy.- Peter Emmons, CEO, Structural Group Kimberly has helped ACI develop many successful communications and program-launch campaigns by integrating key message development, online and traditional marketing, public relations, and so much more. Brian helped guide ACI into and through several new promotion, search, and communications initiatives as member, then chair of our Marketing Committee. Their combined expertise in marketing and how to market concrete has been a huge asset to our organization and our members.- Kevin Mlutkowski, Manager, Marketing; American Concrete Institute www.LeadingWithMarketing.com