Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading Review

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(More customer reviews)Those who read Heifetz's previously published Leadership Without Easy Answers will be interested to know that the final section in that brilliant book ("Staying Alive") led to the development of this book which Heifetz co-authored with Linsky. "We wanted this second book to be more focused, more practical, and more personal. We hope this book will be accessible, eminently usable, and inspiring in your life and work." The material is presented within three Parts: The Challenge (which explains "why leadership is so dangerous and how people get taken out of the game"), The Response (which provides "a series of action steps designed to reduce the risk of getting pushed aside"), and Body and Soul ("which discusses "ways that people contribute to their own demise"), followed by a Notes section filled with especially informative annotations. Pogo once said "we have met the enemy and he is us." More often than not, I think that is true. I also think that most human limits are self-imposed. That is probably what Henry Ford had in mind when he observed "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right."
According to Heifetz and Linsky, "To lead is to live dangerously because when leadership counts, when you lead people through difficult change, you challenge what people hold dear -- their daily habits, tools, loyalties, and ways of thinking -- with more to offer perhaps than a possibility. Moreover, leadership often means exceeding the authority you are given to tackle the challenge at hand. People push back when you disturb the personal and institution equilibrium they know. And people resist in all kinds of creative and unexpected ways that can get you taken out of the game: pushed aside, undermined, or eliminated." Throughout human history, most of the greatest leaders were "eliminated" precisely because they were perceived to be intolerable threats to what James O'Toole calls "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." Draw up a list of the 10-15 greatest leaders in history. How many of them died of natural causes? On my own list, only Winston Churchill and he was twice voted out of office amidst ridicule and even contempt. One of this book's greatest value-added benefits is the brief summary of key ideas which concludes each chapter. I strongly recommend that the book be re-read within 2-3 weeks; also, that at least the chapter summaries be reviewed weekly thereafter.
It is important to understand that Heifetz and Linsky view the subject of leadership in a much wider and deeper context than one normally encounters in a business book. Consider these brief remarks with which they conclude: " Opportunities for leadership are available to you, and to us, every day. But putting yourself on the line is difficult work, for the dangers are real. Yet the work has nobility and the benefits, for you and for those around you, are beyond measure. We have written this book out of admiration and respect for you and your passion. We hope that the words on these pages have provided both practical advice and inspiration; and that you have better means now to lead., protect yourself, and keep your spirit alive. May you enjoy with a full heart the fruits of your labor. The world needs you."
Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to read Heifetz's previous book, Leadership Without Easy Answers. Also David Maister's Practice What You Preach, James O'Toole's Leading Change, and Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan's Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done.

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The Right Stock at the Right Time: Prospering in the Coming Good Years Review

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(More customer reviews)Larry Williams is a prolific author, trader, educator, and money manager. With over a quarter century of experience, Williams has provided investors with practical and easy-to-implement market timing and stock selection strategies in this just published book.
Williams initially focuses on the recurrent seasonal patterns in the market. Williams reveals one interesting strategy where he notes that excellent times to go long the market are years ending in twos (e.g., 1952, 1962 ...... 1992) and threes. Just look at charts in those years or view them in this book to see those excellent buying points.
Williams also covers the best years of each decade to invest - fifth, eighth and ninth years. The consistency of these three years performance is 80%(positive returns in 8 out of 10 of those decade years). Next he covers the four-year cycle from 1858 to the present time (last 4-yr cycle years were 1994, 1998, 2002) showing that they were good times to buy at their yearly lows, many times occurring in the September/October timeframe.
Another strategy Williams covers in buying in October and selling in April. This strategy was offered by Stock Trader's Almanac in 1986 developed by Yale Hirsch, and it still works today. This strategy has produced significant returns while reducing risk as investors are out of the market for half the year.
Williams provides a look at indicators to determine that a market bottom is in place. He covers such items as the Fed's Stock Evaluation Model, margin credit, odd-lot short sales, Investors Intelligence Bull/Bear Index, US Bonds, and gold prices.
Williams covers in detail the fallacy of long-term investing and the devastation that it can wreak on investors portfolios. Investors who are die-hard "buy-and-holders" should read this chapter to learn that to use that strategy is dangerous.
To do well in the market, Williams urges investors to find stocks that have the capability to outperform the market, and then find the best time to buy them. He totally disagrees with the Wall Street cognoscenti that market-timing is useless.
He spends a chapter on buying stocks at a discount, and one on measuring investor sentiment on individual stocks. He lists seven traditional measures of value (e.g., P/E ratio, Price/Book) and elucidates on which ones work best.
All-in-all this well-written, easy to understand book provides investors with a systematic, time-tested approach to investing. Williams has again provided investors with another classic.

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Praise for THE RIGHT STOCK AT THE RIGHT TIME
"It is a fundamentally good time to consider the strategies in this book. Macro-market timing, stock-specific approaches, money management revelations, and intermarket analysis. Even better that it is written by someone who has actually done it himself."—Lindsay Glass Global Market Timing Specialist, Bloomberg LP
"This book delivers a knock-out punch to investor pessimism, with an uppercut of bullishness and hard facts."—Ray Mercer Former World Heavyweight Champion
"The stock market is a major stream of income and Williams clearly shows the best time and stocks to buy."—Robert Allen, New York Times bestselling financial author and millionaire maker
"No other book on the horizon comes close to this one. Larry lets you stand on his shoulders and view the market from the vantage of a master."—Yale Hirsch Chairman, The Hirsch Organization Inc.

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