Mind Games Jump-start your problem-solving skills for a better business.
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Want to feel dumb? Then just take a look at Retrain Your Business Brain (Dearborn,$19.95), and try one of the 101 problems inside. Donalee Markus,Lindsey Paige Markus and Pat Taylor designed these visual andverbal puzzles to force open new mental pathways. If pain leads togain, they've done it, because you'll feel as if your mindis being stretched, bent and twisted. It's like yoga for yourbrain.
The authors claim that leaders and employees who work their waythrough the book become better at solving business problems andspotting opportunities; they even promise to turn detail-orientedpeople into big-picture thinkers. They walk you through solutions,coaching you to color-code and label problem elements, createcategories and apply other problem-solving tools. By the finalchapter--in which you decipher an ancient Babylonian numberingsystem without the use of a decoder ring--you'll never approacha problem the same way again, whether it's unraveling a markettrend or trying to develop a new product.
What's theDeal?
The premise of Peter B. Stark and Jane Flaherty's book,The Only Negotiating Guide You'll EverNeed (Broadway Books, $22.95), is that people too oftentreat negotiations as one-time affairs. According to businessconsultants Stark and Flaherty, by failing to consider the otherside's needs, negotiators make it hard to win repeat customersand develop strong vendor relationships. After a self-test toevaluate your current negotiation skills, the authors introduce aslew of win-win deal-making tools, including The Dead Fish--a dealpoint unimportant to you, but one that your opponent will hate andperhaps exchange for something you do care about--as well as 100other tools for becoming a successful negotiator.
By Donalee Markus, Lindsey Markus, Pat Taylor | By Peter B. Stark, Jane S. Flaherty |
Mark Henricks is BIZ Experiences's "Smart Moves"columnist.
