Strategize to win : the new way to start out, step up, or start over in your career

by Carla J. Harris      (Get the Book)
It's not so much a new way to manage your career as it is a smart and a wise one. Well-known author (Expect to Win, 2009) and businesswoman Harris speaks from experience, and she uses that experience to give readers more than a good idea of how to sell yourself, to understand your performance and relationship currencies, and to move through change successfully. The three sections (as per her title) address millennial issues as well as those confronting Gens X and Y and baby boomers. Instead of asking what to major in for life, she recommends defining the content that is, activities and goals that the career seeker enjoys then cross-referencing that content with jobs that offer these experiences. Of course, interviews and negotiating are key subjects (do your homework, she advises, as do other experts); more important, though, is her emphasis on the kinds of internal capital employees and leaders need to build, whether it's performance- or relationship-based. The crossroads that many confront knowing when it's time to leave, being downsized, losing a sponsor, and repositioning are well handled. And just in case readers skim through the chapters, she summarizes her content in Carla's Pearls. --Booklist

by Spencer Rascoff      (Get the Book)
This title seeks to arm home buyers, sellers, and owners with the relevant data to navigate today's postrecession housing market. Coauthored by Rascoff and Humphries, the CEO and chief economist of Zillow (zillow.com), respectively, the book tackles common myths (that remodeling a kitchen gives the best bang for your buck), niche trends (Manhattan real estate prices), and other topics (what your street name says about its value). It turns (mostly) Zillow statistics into interesting and relevant housing topics. While much of the coverage is very specific, the conclusion focuses on more general information and sometimes verges on editorializing. One example is the popular mortgage interest deduction (MID). Rascoff and Humphries state that it doesn't affect most people, only those who pay federal income taxes, itemize their deductions, and currently have a mortgage (about 13 percent of people). They recommend replacing it with a first-time home buyer tax credit or cash grant; they say that this would help less affluent buyers and wouldn't need to be subsidized by Washington, as the MID is. Extensively backed up by data and well sourced, this book is written in a fast-paced, conversational manner and is easy to read. VERDICT Recommended for those interested in statistics and the housing market, or real-estate watchers seeking new ways to look at housing. --Library Journal

Social security works! : why social security isn't going broke and how expanding it will help us all

by Nancy J. Altman     (Get the Book)
If passion alone was enough to resolve public policy debates, this dense and detailed examination of the Social Security issue could single-handedly give the United States a vastly expanded social-welfare system. Altman and Kingson, a lawyer and academic, respectively, who served on the landmark 1982 National Commission on Social Security Reform, explain, with wonkish fervor, how benefits can be expanded without increasing the program's cost. "We are wealthy enough to afford a much more robust, expanded Social Security System," they proclaim, pointing out how such an expansion would help the elderly, the working poor, and the millions caring for ailing family members. The authors blame a "three-decade-long billionaire-funded campaign" against Social Security for bastardizing terms such as entitlements, whipping up unwarranted fears about the federal deficit, and obscuring the fact that the program's fundamental nature is to be "earned compensation." As with many public policy pieces written by insiders, the level of detail is hard to follow, though the intentions are clearly stated and far from unreasonable. --Publishers Weekly

The ultimate competitive advantage : why your people make all the difference and the 6 practices you need to engage them

by Shawn D. Moon     (Get the Book)
"People are our most important asset." Every company pays lip service to this platitude, but how many companies really embrace it? People are what sustain-or ruin-your brand. If your people are not excited about the company, indifferent, or even alienated from it, your competitive advantage will disappear.In The Ultimate Competitive Advantage, FranklinCovey experts Shawn D. Moon and Sue Dathe-Douglass lay out the steps leaders can take to tap into their companies' most valuable and unique resource: people.When you promote a company of proactive and engaged employees who create a winning culture, sustain it, leverage it, and make it work no matter what comes your way, your business rises above the rest. From the company that brought you The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The Ultimate Competitive Advantage offers six highly effective practices that will propel your company to success by unleashing the potential of your people. (Summary)