Dare to Dream and Work to Win Book Review

My wife and I are venturing into Multi Level Marketing or Network Marketing as Dr. Tom Barrett likes to call it, with two different excellent companies. She will focus on one and I will focus on the other and we will support each other’s efforts. Dr. Barrett’s book was highly recommended to us by a friend because we had made this decision to select these two MLM companies, after performing our due diligence. This book is already helping us formulate our action plans and motivate ourselves to win.

This book is a page burner/turner and I could not put it down. I took copious notes and highlighted the book too, and then went back and read the highlights and notes again. Now in its tenth printing, with over 300,000 books sold to date, Dare to Dream and Work to Win is a must read for anyone seriously considering entering into a multi level marketing company.
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Good To Great Book Review

Jim Collin’s “Good to Great” book is a must read and it should be a working model for all leaders to follow when transforming an already good organization into a great one. Ever since I read this book when it was published a few years ago, I have given a copy of it to my new clients so that we are singing out of the same hymn book as we progress and improve their organization together. The concepts are simple and yet incredibly effective and easy to emulate.
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Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir by John McCain

Faith of My Fathers is one of the most incredible books my wife Judy and I have ever read. It is the amazing family history of John McCain's grandfather and father. Both of these men were outstanding, recognized heroes of World War II. After reading about their incredible history, John McCain moves us into his own life story and eventually his being shot down over Hanoi during the Vietnam War.
I highly recommend this book because of how inspiring it is to read about someone persevering under the most adverse conditions. You won't look at your own problems the same ever again.
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Selecting the Right People To Be On Your Bus

Jim Collins, in his continued best selling business book called “Good to Great”, did not invent the concept of calling your business or organization a “Bus” and using it as a metaphor in regards to obtaining and retaining the right people on your bus, while removing those that did not fit. However, he took this metaphor and made it a critical success factor in his describing how a company grows from a good one to a great one. In essence, he boils it down to the following summary.

There were eleven study companies that “made the cut” in his book that he and his research team examined from top to bottom and compared to comparable companies. The comparison companies were not even close to making the cut, but they were well known in the specific industries and marketplaces represented by the eleven companies studied, who did “make the cut”. These eleven companies all had at least three key critical success factors in common. (1) Once a new leader moved into the role of being totally in charge, they set specific guidelines of what kind of employees they wanted on their team. (2) Next, they made sure they started hiring from that day forward, only those people who fit that “winners profile”, regardless of what position they were to fill in the company, and they made sure the practice was adhered to explicitly, corporate wide, with absolutely no exceptions. (3) At the same time, they closely examined the existing people “on the bus” and decided to either remove them (because they did not meet the “winners profile” and there was no hope of changing them); Or, because they did meet the “winners profile”, but their talents, skill sets, experience and knowledge were not being fully utilized, they moved them to a different, more suitable seat (or position) on the bus.

Tom Collins stated in his book and in speeches afterwards…. “It has been said that people are your greatest asset in a company or an organization. I am here to tell you that is not true. Great people in the right seat on your bus is your greatest asset.” Can it be that simple? Well, it is his firm belief and mine too that until a company exercises this best business practice, consistently and congruently, day after day, it can never grow from a “Good to a Great” company, regardless of all the other excellent processes that are incorporated into the organization along the way.

Winners Profile Basics: They must have a great attitude or nothing else listed below matters. They must be a happy person and demonstrate that with a great smile as often as possible. They must be a “we” person who wants the team to win first instead of an “I” person who needs to win first and look good. They must be able to be “up” even when they do not feel like it. They must be reliable, loyal, honest and trustworthy. They must be consistent and congruent in their work behavior instead of varying all over the place. They must have a servant’s heart when needed, and yet be able to take command and give direction when the chips are down and the heat is on. They must respect their fellow employees, the customers and vendors and if they cannot, something must change immediately. They need to be able to give input freely, and yet, when the final decision is made, if it is not to their liking, they will still support the decision without question. They must be decisive. They will deal with things assertively (focus on the issue, not the person) and never be passive, aggressive, or passive aggressive in dealing with others and situations.

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