My first reaction when I read Robert Heller's Communicate Clearly was that the mini-text (only 72 pages) was extremely well laid out and designed: the 101 pointers are underscored in yellow boxes, pictures of people are used to demonstrate the learned skills, and diagrams abound.

However, when I began reading the content of Communicate Clearly, I felt that the content was extremely basic. For example, the first and second pointers highlighted in the book are "Encourage your company to improve all types of communication" and "Note that good communicators make better managers".

The reader may get turned off by such obvious platitudes, and feel that there is not much to be gained by Communicate Clearly. This would be a mistake for all but the veteran communicator. There are some true gems in the book. For example, the following are some of Heller's suggestions that I found useful:

(1) "Tilting your head slightly shows you are listening"

(2) Body language: "Hands on hips indicate determination and ablity to take control"

(3) "The first five seconds are more important than the next five minutes"

(4) "Take a slow deep breath to relax"

(5) Use Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) techniques to mirror an individual's verbal and physical expressions

(6) After studying, one should wait for a few minutes, review what was studied, then wait a much longer time period before another review

(7) Eliminate regressions because after re-reading text, one's comprehension is not significantly increased while reading time is almost doubled

(8) Read your notes when the context of the conversation is still remembered

(9) "The most effective meetings are small with only the vital people attending"

(10) In a negotiation the first person to name a price is at a disadvantage

(11) Work social events may be good opportunities to gather informal feedback

There are other useful communication tips, but the usefulness of these other techniques will depend on your workplace experience. If you are new to the workplace or are truly deficient in the art of communication, this book will be incredibly useful.

Oddly enough, I found that the most useful techniques in the book were those on note taking and speed reading, rather than those on communication skills.

Paul Erdos

Lack of effective communications differentiates the most least successful organizations and managers from successful ones more than anything else. It doesn't matter how good your ideas and effort are if no one else is able to coordinate with you!

Handling this important a subject in these few, small pages is a very daunting task! I'm glad that I was not asked to author this volume. I admire Mr. Heller's courage very much in taking this on.

Mr. Heller has packed far more into this book than I would have thought possible. As a result, the book becomes a great check list for thinking through a communications task before you start. Whether you are about to meet with a prospect, hold a staff meeting, write a proposal, or handle a reporter's question, this book has valuable material for you. Because it covers so much territory, it will be especially valuable to CEOs of small companies. Brand-new managers will find this volume can help them avoid terrible mistakes.

The advice touches on all of the better sources of information about communication that I am aware of, whether it be framing your body language, how to generate and benefit from public relations, use neuro-linguistic programming, or write a concise one-page letter.

I would particularly like to praise the effective use of photographs and examples in the book. These pictures are worth more than the proverbial thousand words each to make the advice practical, specific, and memorable.

If I were grading this book solely on its breadth and for being up-to-date on the subject, it would clearly be about a 6 star book or so.

But I did discern some weaknesses that caused me to grade the book down somewhat.

First, the most important lesson I have found about communication is to ask the person or people you are communicating with to you tell you or write to you what they have read or heard just as soon as you have made the initial communication. Then, you can keep repeating this checking until the information has gotten through. Elements of this approach show up here and there in the book, but not nearly strongly enough. If you only did this, you might not be an elegant communicator . . . but you would communicate clearly.

Second, the next most important lesson I have learned is that messages don't begin to be absorbed and internalized until after the 30th repetition. And the more frequently and consistently repeated, the better absorbed and understood is the message. The book doesn't say enough about repetition, and how to pursue it.

Third, the other important point is to have very few things to communicate about. Set up information flows so that people can ask and answer their own questions to achieve their own objectives (see E-Business Intelligence). Keep everything else to 3 ideas or less.

Beyond those points, in most of these subjects a manager will need more depth. The book would have been enormously more valuable if the best book in each of 10 or so major areas had been referenced for those who want more. That would have taken less than half a page in total, and more than doubled the value of the book. Clearly, a lot of these ideas came from reading other peoples' work, and citations were noticeably missing. That's poor communication in my view, by failing to give credit due to others.

After you have begun to benefit from this fine summary handbook, I suggest that you try to identify patterns of when your communications are working well and when they are not. Then, be sure you vary what you are doing until your effectiveness improves in both types of situations. Remember, the burden is on you to get the message across . . . as well as to be sure you receive the messages aimed for you.

Treat communications as precious and worthy gifts to give . . . and receive!

The Essential Managers series is just wonderful. The techniques were easy to utilize with the visual assistance the book provided.

Decision making should vary enormously in how much time is invested in it, from issue to issue. Studies have shown that relatively few decisions account for almost all of the benefit that an organization gets from choosing better paths. In this brief guide, the issue of which decisions to focus on receives far too little attention. The template given is one that would be used for pretty heavy duty issues, but short of the most important ones. As a result, most people will not get the guidance they need to make the right kind of decisions for the day-to-day, less important matters. To its credit, the book emphasizes the benefits of keeping lots of people involved in examining problems, looking for solutions, and commenting on the decisions while they are in process.

The book has a number of flaws that I found annoying. First, there are few examples. And the examples that are included are printed in small thin blue type on a yellow background. I practically needed a magnifying glass to read them. Second, the sequencing of the issues to address in a decision seemed to be out of order. For example, gathering information is mid process. For many decisions, gathering a little information will resolve the whole issue. You may only need to run a small experiment, or take a measurement to know the answer. Third, the text was confusing and apparently contradictory. In some places, top-down meant authoritarian and not delegating. In other places, top-down meant delegating. Fourth, although sophisticated techniques like scenario building are included, they are misdescribed. The purpose of multiple scenarios is to identify the paths that leave you better off regardless of the environment you encounter. See The Art of the Long View for more on that topic.

Frankly, I was disappointed in this book. It is not up to the usual high DK standard. If you have had no introduction to how to structure decisions, you will definitely be helped by it. There is a shortage of simple decision-making books for business people, so I cannot suggest an alternative.

After you finish this book, I suggest that you think about great business decisions that you have seen made. Can you identify the steps that preceded the decision? When would those steps be relevant in your work?

If you want to read about better decision-making in your personal life, I strongly recommend Smart Choices. That is a remarkably good decision-making book.

May you always place your attention and your thoughts where they will bear the most fruit!

Robert Heller is a leading authority on management consulting. In this practical guide, he shows us how to make effective decisions. This will allow you to identify your own decision making style.

"Always try to balance an intuitive hunch with sound logical analysis." -pg. 10 "Encourage people to speak out by praising, not damning, new ideas." -pg. 29

I felt this book has some great ideas for encouraging the creative process. I also loved the point which stated: "Be prepared to accept people's advice if you have asked for it." -pg. 24. It is so annoying to be asked for an idea, only to have your creative idea disregarded or worse, completely rejected.

Are you thinking about who will be affected by your decision? Does your staff have the information they need to make the tough decisions?

I really enjoyed reading this book and felt it would help managers to promote a team environment. People are creative and when you allow them to give you input, you just can't help but gain their respect and admiration. When you make your employees feel appreciated, that is a key to your success.

This is a great little handbook. The little motivational tips throughout are things that can easily be done in the workplace on a daily basis with little effort, yet act as motivators for employees. A lot will seem simple and common sense but those little things are sometimes lacking in the work environment.

Robert Heller is a leading authority on management consulting. He was the founding editor of Management Today. He has written this book to teach you all you need to know about how to motivate people. Motivating people will show you how to increase production and job satisfaction. It will provide you with practical techniques like rewarding achievement.

Are your employees overloaded with work? Are they clearly demotivated? When you start to see the negative signs you might also see absenteeism is increasing. You could try a employee survey or you can analyze your own talks with your employees to find out what they are feeling.

Some of the power tips I enjoyed reading:

"Praise work well done, even if some targets are missed." -pg. 24 "Provide training in small, regular doses rather than one long course." -pg. 45

Very practical and I think the points in this book will help you to create a more positive work environment for your employees.

Tim Hindle's book is an easy-to-use introduction to negotiating. This is the first book on negotiating that I've read. It is divided into three main chapters: Preparing, Conducting and Closing. It has a common sense approach and offers lots of tips including countering tactics for leading questions, intimidation, bluffing, threats or insults. It contains graphics and photographs in a clean design that help convey the ideas. I found the book was written for high level business negotiators, but most of the tips would be helpful in dealing with car dealers, gas stations, banks, stores, utility companies, or even a significant other. The book is a handy size for tucking away and reading a few pages at a time. It was an easy read.

Tim Hindle is the founder of Working Words, a consulting firm specializing in business communications. He knows what it takes to negotiate and then close a deal. Negotiating Skills shows you how to start from a strong position and then find common ground. It also provides practical techniques to use when bargaining. The power tips included are helpful. You will find tips like:

"Do not concede ground unless you receive something in return." -pg. 49 "Be flexible-it is a sign of strength, not of weakness." -pg. 11

If you have been in a car accident and can't solve the case with your insurance company, you might want to look at the Arbitration section. If you need a third party, a mediator could also be useful. A section on body language enables you to determine the attitude of the person you are negotiating with.

A nice handy guide which you could give out to all the managers in your company. It would also be a nice gift for anyone who makes proposals to obtain new business. You will feel pretty confident after reading this book.

Robert Heller's "Manager's Handbook" used few words to explain a lot of things. Its coverage is broad; and include creative thinking, public relations, partnerships, staff appraisal, and project evaluation.
It also touched on the interdependence between managers and other members of the staff. Of particular interest in this regard are the areas that dealt with collective output, professional ethics, prioritizing aims, and meeting objectives and responsibilities.
Designed to save time without running short of vital information, the 250 pages of this book constitute a handy reference, which busy people should appreciate. Having assimilated the concise ideas in this book, anybody who needs more detailed managerial information should consider "Successful Manager's Handbook" by Moi Ali, et al.

The software basically covers the SAME EXACT INFO as the book and 99.99% of the times its word for word the same. Why spend extra money ? Just get the book. Also, on my computer there were about 15 - 20 test questions where some html tags were not interpreted properly and were therefore indecipherable in some cases (I do know HTML). The book is great. Just get the book. The authors could have did a lot more with this concept, but sadly they didn't. I did pass the SCJP test and their book helped a lot.

Worthwhile complement to "Complete Java 2 Certification." Offers practice and timed exams. Keeps statistics. Allows review of answered questions. Provides explanation for each question. Good investment.

This is an excellent tool not only for learning ALL of the Java Certification material but also for charting the progress of your study.

It allows you instantly to review your progress. And with it's comprehensive review questions it's very useful for helping to pinpoint troublespots or missing areas in your study.

This is the only tool I've come across that easily helps you determine if what you THINK you know is the same as what you ACTUALLY know.

After completing all of the many review questions and practice tests contained in this product, the Exam itself was almost an anti-climax!

It deals especially well with some topics like Threads and IO which are really not covered all that well with other guides.

Initially I was somewhat concerned with the rather steep cost of this guide but as it turned out it was well worth the price!

This little booklet is full of small "sound bites" on the various aspects of change management and an ideal primer for people who want answers/ solutions "now." Has managed to capture major concepts and, through diagrams, pictures and charts, delivered them in an easy to understand and apply manner.

I was reading this book for reference on ChangeListener (page 729). The examples given does not even IMPLEMENT the ChangeListener interface. What a strange way to programing. This is entirely different from LeMay's TY 21 day examples. I am really confused. I am not buying another book by the same authors.

I bought this book when I was a beginner and read it rather quickly. Today I started work on a telnet client and remembered the book describing the use of telnet URLConnection. Cool, so I loaded the CD-ROM and to my disappointment no protocol handlers (the telnet handler or one for the other example) were included at all. I e-mailed their support person but after a few exchanges it became clear he didn't have a clue.

I found this a good reference on networking, I/O, RMI, and some threading.... but then again, I had some previous knowledge on each of those topics. Non-the-less, if you would like more information on those topics, I recommend it. Besides those topics, this book doesn't tell you anything useful. Just scratches a surface on Swing...

Remember that if you're a beginner or an advanced JAVA programmer, then this book will be completely useless. Trust me! For the amount of money, there're lots of better books around. In fact, you'll find the Official JAVA tutorial on java.sun.com much much better.... and it's free.

It is a shame that the author was allowed to use "In Search of Excellence" in the title. Heller is a poor author who rambles on endlessly with no real conclusions. For example, his first chapter "The Devolution of Leadership" leaves me wondering what Devolution means! His first chapter even lacks a conclusion! After three more very poorly written chapters, I put the book away. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK.