I'll bet that I've read 100,000 words by Michael Finley over the past ten years: his terrific books (including Why Teams Don't Work; Transcompetition; and Techno-Crazed) and his columns in a variety of publications. Everything he does seems quite beautiful to me -- elegantly written, always thought-provoking and often profound, walking the exact right line (for my taste) between objectivity and self-revelation. I don't understand why he's not famous. Maybe this site will speed him on his way to the wider recognition he deserves.

The real question in this particular column -- how might we live the values that we profess ourselves, espouse to our kids, and hope to encounter in others -- is one that's worth at least $1.50 to think about. And I think you just might wind up agreeing that it was worth a whole lot more than that to discover a thinker and communicator as adept as Finley.

1.50 is almost free in today's economy.......but most importantly, Michael Finley is a fine writer with unique insight toward business. His books "Why Teams Don't Work", "The New Why Teams Don't Work", and "Why Change Doesn't Work" with Harvey Robbins, Ph.D., cut through the haze of business philosophies and focus on common sense and results. These works have greatly assisted me in developing high performance teams.

This article "Can a Christian Run a Business" is timely and on-point for so many of us trying to balance business goals, ethics, and our principles. I highly recommend it!

To teach the justice in morality it would be wrong if you don't get this book. This book brings up all the ordeals someone would need to know. And how to act with a moral decision process, This book is gret for people that care. Personally I would recommend it for teenagers and up

I liked what I read on the back cover of Michael Finley's book, and I bought it as a kind of "self-defense"; course to protect me from someone who has been subjecting me to their symptoms of compulsive technophoria. On the basis of my preliminary scan, it seemed like a good collection of idiosyncratic cases of technological extremism -- no great depth, but some useful ammunition. The more I read the book however, the more I revised that judgement. This book is by far the best compendium of computer-culture wisdom that I have ever come across. Both the extent of knowledge and the breadth of comparison that Finley brings to bear on this topic, are truly exemplary. There is a short test to administer and score yourself, and it tells you what kind of computer person you are -- from power user to technophobe, and everyone in between. It's short, simple, and very insightful. And on the basis of both mine and my wife's results, I can assure you that it's right on! There is a running thumb-nail history of the evolution of computers that is better than many of the other books and charts I have seen elsewhere. And, it is modularized (the secret of good instruction), so it doesn't sidetract or waste time. The advice on how to develop a relationship with an after-sales service provider, is a gold-mine of useful tips. We are all lost without repairmen and online help desks, yet we usually deal with these people haphazardly, and they don't do much better by us. Finley explains how and why we need each other, and how to behave to minimize difficulties. The essential theme of Finley's book is that both technophoria and technophobia are undesirable extremes (I suspect they are forms of psychopathology) that should be avoided by anyone with good sense (wisdom). Neither lionizing nor demonizing gizmos is a fit attitude for self-respecting adults. Throughout the book, Finley recommends frugality, self-reliance, patience, and good sense when dealing with computers and technicians -- and these are precisely the virtues which my own experience also recommends. There is, in addition, much more of value in the book, which is exactly why you should buy it, read it, and take it to heart! END

it is fine

This is a useful and very entertaining take on the change process. The methods the authors promote are probably too "soft" to stand alone in a change effort, but they are make a great addition any consultant's tool kit.

Of teams and families it might be said, "Each is dysfunctional in its own special way." Today's corporate litany states that to succeed we must learn to cooperate more closely. The testing ground for this idea becomes trendy "cross-functional teams" or task forces. Here, antisocial tendencies and hidden agendas are sprinkled across meeting-room tables like dragon's teeth, springing up to mortally wound the best interests of your organization. The good news is that you can do something to help your organization's teams operate more effectively. Robbins and Finley are a couple of skilled veterans who say that "trust is the blood of teams." If you believe better teamwork is critical to your company's future, we think you will find the lessons in this book absolutely essential - whether you're a member of a team or the leader who serves them.

In The New Why Teams Don't Work: What Goes Wrong And How To Make It Right, Harvey Robbins and Michael Finley effectively collaborate to explain how to work with others to make decisions, stay in budget, and achieve team goals. They also reveal how to get hidden agendas on the table, clarify individual roles, learn what team members expect and want form each other, and to choose the right decision-making process for the task at hand. This updated and revised edition of The New Why Teams Don't Work features a new section on team leadership which explores the necessary qualities and skills a leader must have; new concepts for addressing team problems such a boundary management; an in depth examination of "team of one" mentality and how to eliminate it; an expanded definition of teams that sees teams and their problems everywhere; the myths of teams and why a sports team is a fitting metaphor or template for like a business team. The New Why Teams Don't Work is very highly recommended and informative reading for anyone charged with the responsibility of team leadership, membership, or management.

Robbins and Finley are highly witty and intelligent. They know their subjects and address them well. This is the first business book that has made me laugh out loud. Having experience as a team leader, I know these truths of which they speak. They offer very real solutions to very real problems.

Great read for teams and team leaders!

If you're going to read this book, be prepared. This is not a book of sports metaphors. This is not a ritualistic hosanna to the glory of teams. This is not "rah, rah, sis-boom-boaster, teams are the best thing since the wide-slot toaster."

In fact, Why Teams Don't Work is that rarest of beasts: a book of truths. Using language that is remarkably entertaining, honest, and brief, Robbins and Finley dissect the hackneyed assumptions about teams to explain why so many companies that switched to teams "have not been experiencing the organizational bliss they counted on." A simple matrix of fourteen team problems, symptoms, and solutions - one of the blessedly few diagrams in the book - sets the tone. Teams don't work because they're made up of people: people who don't communicate, people who are uncertain, people who lack feedback and tools, people who are (surprise!) reluctant to jump on a live grenade to save the team.

A recipe for pessimism? Not at all. The authors' antidote to "happy talk" team books emphasizes common sense recommendations.

* "Form teams only when they make sense."

* "Adapt your style to suit the needs of whoever you're communicating with."

* Since there are at least six ways to make a team decision, "the important thing is that the team decide, in advance, what decision making method will be used."

* "The more goals and objectives a team is handed, the worse their performance will be. If a task doesn't appear on the high priority, short-term goals/objectives list, the hell with it."

These may not sound like epiphanies, but they are ultimately more practical than rhapsodic cheerleading or abstruse four-box models. Robbins and Finley believe in teams because they do produce results - if you can avoid the pitfalls.

Why Teams Don't Work can be inconsistent. In their rejection of algorithms and hard-and-fast rules, the authors sometimes substitute pithy ideas and aphorisms for diagnostic tools or practical solutions. Nor do they offer revolutionary research that sets aside past thinkers; the book is peppered with quotations from the likes of Peter Senge, Wm. Edwards Deming, and B. W. "Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing" Tuckman. Nonetheless, Why Teams Don't Work makes for terrific reading: clear, realistic, and genuinely amusing. If you believe in magic and mantras and the panacea of teams, read something else. If you want to find the truth and enjoy yourself at the same time, read Why Teams Don't Work.

Not worth the five dollars. The whole "book" is only a handful of pages that doesn't give any real insight into the matter it discusses. Plus, you can find it all online if you look.