This book got a big build up by my prof, so it's not surprising it didn't quite measure up, thus no 5 star. You have to like allegorical illustrations, you have to have a bit of an imagination, and you should have some work experience. Don't go into this book looking for data or illustrations from life or statistics. It's a morals tale for the new business world--you may learn something from it as you would reading Aesop or Brothers Grimm, but don't look for an epic or a treatise. Good readers can finish it in under 2 hours. The hard-headed should probably not waste their time (enpowerment, bah, humbug!) The rest of you, relax and enjoy.

Zapp! is fun and easy to read. It is a good basic reminder of the things that good managers and leaders should know but do not always practice. The cute story discribes the benefits of listening and sharing. Too many organizations are hindered by what I call the "Communications Stall". An additonal and very uccessful approach to this problem is to use many ways of communicating (print, videos, speeches, discussions,..) and to do so often. Part 4 accurately shows that in the larger company setting, the ways that people have always done things continuously get in the way of progress. We have found that these "Traditions Stalls" and "Bureaucratic Stalls" must be questioned if they are to be avoided, and new ways found to accomplish more. For example, take the seats out of the meeting rooms to make the meeting shorter. Zapp! begins to do this by saying "There must be another way". The key to finding 2,000 percent solutions and to making much faster progress, is to ask the right questions. I look forward to Byham's next book to learn how he recommends a manager or leader get started.

Many people fail to focus on whether or not their message is received. More effective people focus on whether the message is received as they attempt to improve communications so their company can be more successful. ZAPP! also focuses on WHAT message is received. As the book shows, a perceived message can be dispiriting or empowering.

I liked the fact that the book spent as much time on explaining about bad communications as it did on good ones. That is a great way to help people improve.

The only thing I did not like about the book was that the end led into a sales pitch for consulting rather than tips for how to pursue this on your own. It seemed out of keeping in a book about empowerment. Skip the last 2 pages, and you will be left with a better taste in your mouth.

Buy, read, think about, apply, and share this book and the lessons above with your colleagues. That will help you get heart-warming results to go with the heart-warming feeling that reading this book provides. Enjoy!

I was very disappointed in this book, especially in light of the fact that this is the same person who coauthored Goal. The characters didn't even rise to the level of caricatures, every woman in this book was potrayed as gold-digging nymphomaniac and the men weren't that much better. The whole point about how a new business is created got lost in the morass of subplots and soft-porn vignettes.

Just a truly disappointing waste of time and recycled paper.

This is a novel about a man who starts his own business after having his department downsized. If you bought this book to use it as a guide to starting your own business you probably made a mistake. It is not bad for a novel and the start-up of the new business is interesting. This is an easy read and has a human side to the story. I would recommended it as a fun easy read and it is an interesting book almost from a comical sense on starting a business as told in a story.

Not a how-to on being an entrepreneur, but a novel about life and business in the 1990's. If you lived through corporate downsizing, you'll identify with the characters in this book. This is a story about financial and emotional survival. Try Cox's other books (Selling the Wheel, Zapp, The Goal, Heroz, etc.) if you want to learn and still have a good time reading. The VEnture is about starting a business, but on a very personal level.

This is the worst book I've ever waisted money on. I'll be sure to go to the library or local bookstore from now on to check out, anything that he writes, for myself. After reading his book about the best 150 perrenials, I thought this might be a winner. Then someone rated this book with 5 stars. No Way! Talk about Rube Goldberg. The first item he mentions is an INDOOR composter. Even the new Organic Gardening magazine is in the 21st century. If I didn't have to pay for postage I'd send this book back. I'll donate it to the library for the next book sale.

I read this book last fall when I first started doing the research for my garden. It has some fabulous ideas for doubling your vegetables,recipes for organic insecicides,improving your current soils,etc. I could'nt wait to own my own copy to reference when it came time to "dig" in this spring!!