HELPING MANAGERS BECOME BETTER LEADERS

Cost-cutting layoffs can sometimes lead to the loss of experienced workers and managers while the jobs of younger, more inexperienced workers are protected. Managers at all levels, including employees who suddenly find themselves leading larger teams or managing others for the first time, may find the advice in these two new books helpful.

In Primal Management (AMACOM, 978-0-8144-1396-8), business consultant Paul Herr insists that the best corporations are like an ant colony or beehive. These superorganisms function with little hierarchy and a great deal of cooperation. Truly successful corporations can mimic this behavior by working in harmony with human nature, which is driven by emotions. Companies that ignore their employees' natural emotions will have low employee engagement. On the other hand, high employee engagement is achieved by targeting people's natural social appetites. People are innately attracted to opportunities to innovate, demonstrate their competence, and deploy their skills.

The majority of the book addresses the author's five "social appetites" and discusses how companies can satisfy each of them. To satisfy the "skill-deployment appetite," for example, managers are encouraged to think of work as a game in which employees are rewarded when they put in a good effort.

In the chapter on cooperation, Herr stresses that it is important for managers to bond with their employees and gain knowledge about their personal lives. This bonding will feed workers "cooperation appetite." He explains how employers can encourage workers to "truly bring their employee inside themselves" and become bonded with it, as they would their own child. When a company is bonded with an employee, neither would sabotage the other, because it would be like hurting themselves. They feel each other's victories. Steps in the bonding process include mentoring, removing barriers (parking spaces, corporate jets, corner offices, etc.) between employees and management, and investing interest in the lives of direct reports.

The author once gave a curious friend an exaggerated example of his theory: "'If an employee needs a kidney transplant, I want you to be the donor. If an employee has a house fire, I want you to save the family pet.'.you can't expect your employees to go beyond the call of duty for you if you are not prepared to do the same for them."

Primal Management is an important book for managers at any level.

Although the world's population is pretty evenly split between introverts and extroverts, many introverts--who tend to be more reserved and soft-spoken than their counterparts--can feel overwhelmed by leadership duties. Naturally outgoing and outspoken extroverts can seem like a more natural fit for leadership roles, but introverts can excel as well.

In The Introverted Leader: Building on Your Quiet Strength (Berrett-Koehler, 978-1-57675-577-5) Jennifer B. Kahnweiler discusses challenges that introverts must face in order to be effective. They include overcoming stress, getting over the fear of public speaking, and learning to speak up.

"Networking is the building of relationships for mutual exchange," the author writes. "It is necessary, but it is not natural for most introverts." Kahnweiler shows readers how they can become better networkers, meeting leaders, and company producers by following her "4 P's" process. The process involves preparation, presence, push, and practice. Preparation is especially important, since introverts can sometimes feel caught off guard or put on the spot.

The author interviewed more than 100 introverted leaders to uncover challenges they have faced and how they overcome them by using their own unique skills. She devotes chapters to public speaking, managing people, running meetings, building relationships, and scoring wins for the entire organization. In each chapter Kahnweiler presents specific stories from introverts she interviewed, and shows readers how to use the "4 Ps" in each situation.

by Whitney Hallberg, Managing Editor

Attention publishers:
Promote your BEA galleys

If you plan to give away advance reading copies at BookExpo America, ForeWord can help you promote them! ForeWord is working to showcase independent presses and their forthcoming works of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction through a Galleys2Grab program for visiting booksellers, librarians, and agents. In order to participate, please Register online by May 8. There is no charge for this service. We will create a downloadable PDF file of the list of galleys and booth numbers, plus provide takeaway paper copies at the show from The Independent Press Lounge, booth number 2362.

BOOK REVIEW

Breakdown, Breakthrough: The Professional Woman's Guide to Claiming a Life of Passion, Power, and Purpose
by Kathy Caprino
(Berrett-Koehler, 978-1-57675-559-4)

A study conducted by the author in partnership with the Esteemed Woman Foundation uncovered an epidemic of women feeling deeply disempowered and dissatisfied with their professional lives. Yes, these women appear to have all the trappings of success-career, friends, family-but inside, they're falling apart. Kathy Caprino, formerly an executive high flyer, knows first-hand. Now a coach, career transition consultant, and speaker, she reports from the other side of breakdowns: "Many women today are reclaiming their lives and finding passion, power, and purpose in the process," she writes.

Drawing from the study's research, Caprino explores the dilemma of disempowerment for mid-life professional women, as the women themselves recount their crises. As an antidote to the loneliness, this compendium provides stories along with resources, exercises to heal, empowerment recaps, and acknowledgement of the real pain. Readers experience a powerful dose of possibilities, as well as recognition that the territory of breakdowns can lead to a fertile area for breakthroughs.

Laura's story in "Doing Work and Play You Love" examines the heartbreak that occurs when a woman doesn't follow her dream until other career paths become intolerable. Some stories begin with childhood abuse. Other crises erupt with the death of a mentor or collapse of a close relationship. Sharing stories relating to each of the twelve common breakdowns, the women's own words show readers the commonalities in experiences. Whether related to self (health, loss, self-love); others (speaking up, breaking cycles, shifting from competition); the world (finances, talents, helping); or the higher self (falling apart, balancing, loving work and life), these crises represent the spectrum of breakdowns that can yank women off the treadmills and wake them up.

While the examples may not perfectly mirror the specifics of any one woman's crisis, the variety of situations will likely resonate at some level for even moderately introspective working women. Some might quibble with the need to address professional women specifically since they have access to coaches, therapists, and support systems. Yet while each woman's empowerment is important, working women may be the vanguard. As the author concludes, ".we ensure that outdated cultural patterns and career models will be revised, making room for more expansive, inclusive experiences." Readers couldn't ask for more. (2008)

Reviewed by Bobbye Middendorf

Read more reviews at www.forewordmagazine.com.

Book Expo America Don't miss the all-new Thursday line-up of events at BookExpo America (BEA). Joins us for BEA Editor's Buzz featuring Deb Futter, Paul Elie, Ben Sevier and more. Followed by the Opening Night Keynote featuring Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band. Visit www.bookexpoamerica.com/Foreword5 for more information and to Register with Early Bird Discounts.

AUTHOR PAGES: TERESE SVOBODA

The Author Pages feature nearly 100 interviews with authors whose work has been reviewed in ForeWord magazine. Terese Svoboda, author of Black Glasses Like Clark Kent: A GI's Secret from Postwar Japan (Graywolf Press, 978-1-55597-490-9) writes:

"At a family wedding about ten years ago, my uncle asked me to write the story of his time as an MP in postwar Japan. I said to put it on tape. Years passed, as any busy author hopes they might. Then in 2004, my dad called me to say that my uncle had fallen into a terrible depression and that getting him to talk about his service might help him. Abu Ghraib was tearing up the airwaves just then. It turned out that he had been making tapes and he sent them to me one at a time all summer. I called to say how great they were--and they were, lively, funny and full of detail. Fall arrived and I became very busy--new job, school and so forth. He sent me another tape but I didn't have time to listen to it nor to call him back. He committed suicide. Listening to his last tape after the funeral, I discovered why the book had to be written."

Visit ForeWord’s Author Pages to read more about the authors reviewed in the pages of ForeWord.

Download ForeWord's latest 24/7 Bookshelf to read about eight outstanding audiobooks from independent publishers.

This week at Shelf Space, Carlie Webber pens a column titled "They're evil! They're brilliant! They're reviewers!"

At Editor’s Notes, Editor-in-Chief Heather Shaw talks about what you read when there's nothing to read.

At Publishing Insider, C.M. Mayo discusses what works and what doesn't in writer's blogs.

At Publishing Matters, Eugene Schwartz explores the myriad ways social networking and Web 2.0 can revitalize any publishing venture.

Visit www.forewordmagazine.com for publishing news, book reviews, and the ForeWord Book Club.

BOOK CLUB: LIGHTS ON A GROUND OF DARKNESS

ForeWord's editor-in-chief, Heather Shaw, was chosen this year to host the Indie Editor's Buzz panel at BookExpo America. Shaw invited five independent publishers to each present a title at BEA that they feel will have wide appeal--there's a debut mystery, a memoir by Ted Kooser, a debut novel, a book of essays by Michael Greenberg, and a debut fantasy. The editor's pitch session will be held on Saturday, May 30, at 11 a.m. in Room 1E15. A panel discussion with the authors will be held on Saturday, May 30, at 3:30 p.m. at the Downtown Stage.

In the weeks leading up to BEA, the ForeWord Book Club will be showcasing each of the "Buzz" books. This third week, we're introducing Ted Kooser's Lights on a Ground of Darkness (Bison Books/University of Nebraska, 978-0-8032-2642-5).

"Like the yellow, pink, and blue irises that had been transplanted from house to house over the years, the stories of poet Ted Kooser's family had been handed down until, as his mother lay ill and dying, he felt an urgency to write them down. With a poet's eye for detail, Kooser captures the beauty of the landscape and the vibrancy of his mother's Iowa family, the Mosers, in precise, evocative language.

"The center of the family's love is Kooser's uncle, Elvy, a victim of cerebral palsy. Elvy's joys are fishing, playing pinochle, and drinking soda from the ice chest at his father's roadside Standard Oil station. Kooser's grandparents, their kin, and the activities and pleasures of this extended family spin out and around the armature of Elvy's blessed life.

"Kooser has said that writing this book was the most important work he has ever undertaken because it was his attempt to keep these beloved people alive against the relentless erosion of time."

Ted Kooser, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and former U.S. poet laureate, is Presidential Professor of the University of Nebraska. He is the author of twelve books of poetry, including Valentines (Nebraska 2008) and The Blizzard Voices (available in a Bison Books edition). His award-winning prose book, Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps, is also available in a Bison Books edition.

Read an excerpt from Kooser's Lights on a Ground of Darkness at ForeWord's Book Club.

FOREWORD FOOTNOTES

Biography & Autobiography. LORD SELKIRK: A LIFE by J. M. Bumsted (Michigan State University Press, b/w illustrations, 517 pages, hardcover, $39.95, 978-0-87013-853-9): professor of history at St. John's College at the University of Manitoba and author of The Fur Trade Wars presents the life (1770-1820) of Scotsman Thomas Douglas, the Fifth Earl of Selkirk, who was active in the colonization of Canada; references include the settlement of Prince Edward Island, frontier life in the Red River valley of Manitoba, and Selkirk's involvement with the Hudson Bay Company's fur trading operation.

Body, Mind & Spirit. YOGA AND VEGETARIANISM: THE DIET OF ENLIGHTENMENT by Sharon Gannon (Mandala Publishing, 144 pages, softcover, $14.95, 978-1-60109-021-8): co-creator of the Jivamukti Yoga method, spiritual activist, and winner of the 2008 Compassionate Living Award explores how the practices of yoga are historically and structurally tied to an ethical vegetarian lifestyle; among the subjects are ethical treatment of animals, yoga philosophy, and "Satya," truthfulness" to one's self.

Education. REVENGE OF THE WOMEN'S STUDIES PROFESSOR by Bonnie J. Morris (Indiana University Press, 12 b/w photographs, 184 pages, hardcover, $50.00, 978-0-253-35295-8, softcover, $19.95, 978-0-253-22062-2): former history professor at George Washington University and Georgetown University, and author of Eden Built by Eves investigates the gender and generation gaps at colleges "by exploring negative stereotypes that keep many students from enrolling in women's studies"; topics include "basic" women's history, assembling a course syllabus, and teaching women's studies at Harvard as a visiting scholar.

Family & Relationships. PARENTONOMICS: AN ECONOMIST DAD LOOKS AT PARENTING by Joshua Gans (MIT Press / Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 235 pages, hardcover, $22.95, 978-978-0-262-01278-2): father of three and chair of management at the Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne, applies key economic principles to raising children; among the discussions are how the disposable diaper "changed the 'toilet or not' cost equation," and who pays for free kids meals at restaurants: "Our kids eat free so that someone else can eat 'free of kids' and pay for it."

History. FLYING FOR HER COUNTRY: THE AMERICAN AND SOVIET WOMEN MILITARY PILOTS OF WORLD WAR II by Amy Goodpaster Strebe (Potomac Books, 32 b/w photographs, 112 pages, softcover, $15.95, 978-1-59797-266-6): journalist, historian, and author of Desert Dogs: The Marines of Operation Iraqi Freedom chronicles the air service of women from two countries; topics include American women fliers who ferried aircraft from factories to airbases, Jacqueline Cochran who set more speed and distance records than her friend Amelia Earhart, and Marina Raskova who formed the first female USSR aviation regiments that flew combat missions.

History. MR. LINCOLN'S CHAIR: THE SHAKERS AND THEIR QUEST FOR PEACE by Anita Sanchez (McDonald & Woodward Publishing, b/w illustrations, 196 pages, softcover, $17.95-, 978-0-939923-94-6): Shaker historian and contributor to Natural History magazine provides an introduction to the history, faith, culture, and heritage of the Shakers; among the topics are eating meals in silence, their conscientious objector status during the Civil War, and their furniture craftsmanship, for example, a custom-made rocking chair made for the six-foot-four President.

Literary Criticism. MAINLY THE TRUTH: INTERVIEWS WITH MARK TWAIN edited by Gary Scharnhorst (University of Alabama Press, b/w illustrations, 344 pages, softcover, $24.95, 978-0-8173-5539-5): Distinguished Professor of English at the University of New Mexico and editor of the journal American Literary Realism presents a collection of the "most colorful and vivacious" interviews demonstrating Samuel Clemens' wit and introspection; among the topics are government corruption, his lecture style, and his aphorisms such as "Don't part with your illusions; when they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live."

Music. MUSIC OF THE ALAMO: FROM 19TH CENTURY BALLADS TO BIG-SCREEN SOUNDTRACKS by William R. Chemerka and Allen J. Wiener (Bright Sky Press, 9 x 9, color and b/w illustrations, 192 pages, hardcover w/audio CD, $29.95, 978-1-933979-31-1): History Channel consultant and contributor to The Washington Post trace the music history associated with the cry "Remember the Alamo!"; notes include the Mexican War, "Santa Ana's March," and "The Ballad of Davy Crockett": "Born on a mountain top in Tennessee / Greenest state in the Land of the Free / .."

Religion. THE WOMAN OF MYSTERY: UNVEILING THE SECRET TO TRUE ROMANCE by Hayley DiMarco (Tyndale House publishers, b/w illustrations, 208 pages, softcover, $14.99, 978-1-4143-2468-5): former brand manager of Thomas Nelson Publishers' teen imprint and author of Dateable as well as Marriable addresses the "mystery of hope, peace, and love fully fusing with daily life" and indicates that the "truest romance of all is found in the love that Christ the Bridegroom has for his bride"; topics include manufactured romance (imitation), earthly romance (man and woman), and true romance, which "comes from a relationship with a holy God."

Self-Help. INVISIBLE SCARS: HOW TO STOP, CHANGE OR END PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE by Catharine Dowda (New Horizon Press, 224 pages, softcover, $14.95, 978-0-88282-308-9): licensed professional counselor and a victim advocate/law enforcement liaison discusses the "complexities of psychological abuse" and the reasons people have "for staying in or leaving" abusive relationships; chapters include "Why Psychological Abuse Occurs," Hurting the One You Love," and "Needed Relationships" where people only feel significant only when connected to a partner.

by Alex Moore, Book Review Editor

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