Starscapes home-based business opportunity

FROM OUR BOOKSHELF

A look at what we’re reading and recommending right now.

THE SIX FUNDAMENTALS OF SUCCESS
By Stuart R. Levine
(Doubleday/Currency $19.95)

As the fragile economy wavers, layoffs proliferate and manufacturing facilities close down, companies everywhere are waiting for “the next big thing” to rescue them. Perhaps you can relate. You may be seeking a new quality system that’ll help you turn out your product faster, better, more efficiently. Or the latest management trend that’s making the Fortune 500 rounds. Or a consulting guru who will enlighten your company and set you on the path to business nirvana. But according to Stuart R. Levine, the reality is that there is no next big thing. There’s just a multitude of small things—and they’re things you already know.

“Forget the fads,” urges the Chairman and CEO of Stuart Levine & Associates. “Management fads, manufacturing fads, or any of the ‘quick fixes’ companies seek out will not lead to long-term success. The only way to make it in the learn and mean future we’re facing is to get back to the basics. There is no substitute for careful communication, an emphasis on results, a commitment to ethics, and all the other fundamentals that have traditionally made for strong companies.”

“Everyone from CEO on down, must live by the rules that make up the six fundamentals every day. It takes practice, and discipline, but it’s worth it. In the same way that athletes and coaches drill their sport’s fundamentals so that in the heat of the game their muscles ‘remember’ what to do, practicing these rules will make them second nature. Then your entire team can perform at its best every day.”

MEDIATE, DON’T LITIGATE
By Peter Lovenheim & Attorney Lisa Guerin
(NOLO PRESS, $24.99)

We really haven’t come across a Nolo Press book we haven’t wanted to recommend, and this is no exception. Lovenheim is a professional mediator with more than twenty years of experience. Guerin is a legal editor at Nolo. Together, they’ve compiled a valuable tool for all small business owners who want to avoid big-ticket litigation.

Contracts today often require mediation. Increasingly, contracts in certain areas, such as employment and real estate, require medication or other forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) such as arbitration.

Many judges now require mediation before they’ll hear a case and this book will guide you through the process.

By helping participants to work together to find a solution to their problem, mediation can lay the groundwork for more positive interactions.

The book is written in step-by-step language and will help you:

decide whether to mediate your dispute
select a mediator with the right skills to settle a specific dispute
prepare for mediation and know the rules
negotiate successfully to reach an agreement
decide what to do if the mediation agreement doesn’t work

THE BILLION DOLLAR BET
Robert Johnson and the Inside Story of Black Entertainment Television
By Brett Pulley
(Wiley, $24.95)

Black Entertainment Television (BET) is synonymous with African-American music, entertainment and media. This entity is the heartbeat of black culture and brings together many forms of black music including hip-hop, R&B and rap. But, how did it get to be the huge force that it is today?

From music and entertainment to style and fashion, BET covers it all and this book explore never-reported information about the founder, Robert Johnson, and his life and controversial business that has allowed him to achieve success.

The book takes us on Johnson’s journey on how he turned what little he had into a billion-dollar media empire. Johnson, now a billionaire, started out in rural Mississippi. He then moved to a blue-collar childhood in Illinois.

Johnson financed his company with a $15,000 loan and the book tells how he handled attacks on BET’s program content and built it into a company that was a viable property that was purchased by Viacom for $3 billion. Many consider that move a sellout and Johnson answers the charges in this book. Today, Johnson is the first African-American owner of a sports franchise, the NBA Charlotte Bobcats.

It is a classic American business tale of a poor country boy who mixed old-fashioned grit, sweat and tears to attain unfathomable wealth. Even as he gained wealth and fame, Johnson was subjected to racial slights. He once sued a New York hotel after security guards detained him because he was mistakenly identified as a crime suspect. On his own horse farm in Virginia, he was once mistaken for a stable boy. The book is a good read for anyone who wants to learn the moves of a self-made billionaire.

(BACK TO TOP )

SBOMAG.com © 2008 by Harris Publications, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan American Copyright Conventions. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is strictly forbidden.