Corporate-finance

I found this book to be extremely useful with its steps and strategies on, as the title states, building brand identity. Upshaw really delivers, and his case histories only serve to reinforce his ideas. Given how critical branding is nowadays, this book really delivers. It's a little out of date, though, but Guerilla PR: Wired compensated for that, handling some of the brand identity strategy techniques in today's digital age.

This is definitely a good book about building a brand identity in a competitive marketplace. Two chapters report some real world examples, updated to the end of 1994 (Nike, Burger King, Saturn and others). Considering the changes in the past three years in the e-world, this title lacks some more updated and recent information on the Web.

Upshaw's text hits the mark in two ways. It surveys a very complex, demanding environment and reduces it to several clear concepts. And it provides a range of examples, timeless ones, I think, that illustrate how the concepts are applied in the real world. Building Brand Identity reaches at least two different audiences, professionals who want new tools to evaluate their own brand management and the layperson/newcomer audience seeking to learn the techniques involved in brand development. The reader can use Upshaw's ideas as a business manual or as a tool to better understand what he calls a hostile marketplace. And both types of reader will be entertained along the way.

I anxiously looked forward to reading this book. Given the titles of Thomas's previous books, Redefining Diversity and Beyond Race and Gender, and the title of this one I expected more than passing reference to the disability community. I was disappointed.

We are told (p.84) that "I'm becoming more aware of sexual preference and physical ability diversity as well." Although I'm not one to get hung up on word choice, others are, and those locutions aren't popular in gay, lesbian, or disability-preference communities. In the latter are millions of people with ADHD and psychiatric disabilities, and for these millions to be excluded from a "house for diversity" would make it a "house divided against itself."

A tipoff for readers is the Personal Diversity Maturity Index. The reader is asked "What is the most important reason to respond to diversity?" The preferred answer has nothing to do with justice and social change, or even with building a house that will include your neighbors, your parents, your kids, and possibly you. It's "The diversity-mature manager recognizes that diversity is good for business."

I have used this as a supplement to a textbook in a class on industrial organization psychology. Just about every student finds it helpful and sees it as a fresh perspective on diversity. It sets a tone for thoughtful discussions on diversity through the semester.

Cheers to Dr. Thomas for providing a book that is one of the first -- in my opinion -- to present a clear picture of the need to address workforce, workplace and marketplace diversity. I came away understanding that to address one or two of these components without addressing the third is like commissioning a two to three mile dig, when all the geological reports tell you that oil is six miles down. Half and quarter steps will not lead to success. In the most simple straight-forward way, starting with a powerful parable, Dr. Thomas drives home the point that for true strategic benefits organizations need to make a balance commitment to the all three components.

Another great take-away from this book is Dr. Thomas's model for identifying and differentiating between business requirements and preferences.

All in all this is an extremely powerful book that should be in every manager's library. Thank you Dr. Thomas.

Joe Santana
Co-author of Manage I.T.

Moxon's book provides a very fine overview of 'how teams work' together with a highly practical and readable account of WHAT you can do to improve performance. Moxon has taken most of the basic components of the better work on team analysis from the last few decades and stripped them of some of their less useful 'academic' attributes. The result is a simple but powerful step-by-step understanding of teams. To this he has added his own mature and reflective commentary. The result is a very useful single reference text for trainers and all those who seek to better understand the human systems in which they work.