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Summary: One of the best books on Getting Results I have ever read
Review: All I can say is that if you want to get great results in business or in life, read this book and apply it. It's awesome stuff from someone who built a billion dollar company from scratch.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books on Getting Results I have ever read
Review: All I can say is that if you want to get great results in business or in life, read this book and apply it. It's awesome stuff from someone who built a billion dollar company from scratch.
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Summary: Get organized, stay focused, and get things done!
Review: Are you pulled in so many different directions by so many different people that your days seem out of control? This savvy guide shows you how to get grip. With Mark McCormack at your side, you'll get organized, stay focused, gain confidence, and achieve more than you ever thought possible.Discover how to: *Set priorities and stay focused *Master low-tech organizational tools *Get a grip on e-mail and high-tech toys *Cut through clutter and say "no" nicely *Maximize your most precious resource-time Mark H. McCormack is the founder and chairman of the world's largest sports marketing organization, International Management Group, which represents many well-known athletes and events.
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Summary: A highly relevant and valuable book
Review: Books on the practical aspects of business are usually written by people who write books for a living. The most outstanding exceptions to this rule are the books written by Mark McCormack. McCormack writes from the perspective of a founder and chairman of a remarkably and consistently successful global enterprise. Few other persons of McCormack's stature write on such everyday business subjects as communicating, negotiating or, in Getting Results for Dummies, getting organized. Getting Results for Dummies has a lot more going for it besides being written by someone with over forty years of successful hands-on business experience. The book cleverly blends lessons on time-tested basics of getting results with insights into how to deal with newer tools like the Internet. It is written in McCormack's trademark anecdotal style. It deals with a wide range of aspects of getting organized, from mastering the art of saying "no" to planning for the long term. Part of the book's appeal lies in the fact that McCormack does not contend that everyone should use the same organizational system that he uses. Instead, he suggests that readers choose a system that best suits their personality. McCormack does list a number of attributes that all effective systems have in common. After implementing the many lessons in this book, readers will be able to get more results out of their time and effort. The fact that in today's environment nothing is more important than speed makes Getting Results for Dummies a highly relevant and valuable book.
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Summary: But If We Do Want to Invade Poland...
Review: I gave this book one star before. What it said appalled me. And it still does. But after reading it, I scanned it once more. As much as I hate to say it, if you want to invade Poland, accomplish something great, make your thumbprint on the world, you will need this book. It's the best for this purpose. But this leaves out about 99% of the population. And probably you and me. This is really a "commander's guide to organization". So for 99% of the population, I still give it one star. For that 1% of the population who want to climb Mount Everest or help cure world hunger, I give it five stars. Good luck.
Rating: 
Summary: When Do We Invade Poland?
Review: If you follow the dictums in this book, you will have everybody angry at you and a triple bypass in 30 days. Quaranteed! Sort of like marrying and then being hen-pecked every minute of every day. Please turn to page 44 for an organizational test. The first question is "Do you know what you will be doing at 10:37 tomorrow morning?" (Does this include going to the bathroom?). Second question: "Could you find your car keys inside of one minute?" There isn't any flexibility in this man's system. It's sort of a "goosestep march". I've studied biographies of Eisenhower, Patton, Roosevelt, Churchill, et all. They never had this approach. McCormack won't even walk his guests to his front door for a 15 minute chat as they are leaving because of the waste of time. This book won't get you results. But it will get you a heart attack! Organization is not "self-torture". Buy "Getting Organized" by Stephanie Winston. You will not be a Goose-Stepper marching into Poland via 1939, but you WILL get results. Also "Self-Help Stuff That Works" by Adam Khan for how to organize your brain. In this book, go to page 259. "Disorganized People Accept Interruptions". Well, if everytime that Franklin Roosevelt accepted interruptions he was considered "disorganized" - he seemed to get results somehow. Good or bad. Widen your margins and you will get results. I'm a "goose- stepper" like McCormack. It just doesn't work. At one point, the results begin to diminish when you apply more and more organizational effort.
Rating:
Summary: When Do We Invade Poland?
Review: If you follow the dictums in this book, you will have everybody angry at you and a triple bypass in 30 days. Quaranteed! Sort of like marrying and then being hen-pecked every minute of every day. Please turn to page 44 for an organizational test. The first question is "Do you know what you will be doing at 10:37 tomorrow morning?" (Does this include going to the bathroom?). Second question: "Could you find your car keys inside of one minute?" There isn't any flexibility in this man's system. It's sort of a "goosestep march". I've studied biographies of Eisenhower, Patton, Roosevelt, Churchill, et all. They never had this approach. McCormack won't even walk his guests to his front door for a 15 minute chat as they are leaving because of the waste of time. This book won't get you results. But it will get you a heart attack! Organization is not "self-torture". Buy "Getting Organized" by Stephanie Winston. You will not be a Goose-Stepper marching into Poland via 1939, but you WILL get results. Also "Self-Help Stuff That Works" by Adam Khan for how to organize your brain. In this book, go to page 259. "Disorganized People Accept Interruptions". Well, if everytime that Franklin Roosevelt accepted interruptions he was considered "disorganized" - he seemed to get results somehow. Good or bad. Widen your margins and you will get results. I'm a "goose- stepper" like McCormack. It just doesn't work. At one point, the results begin to diminish when you apply more and more organizational effort.
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Summary: Only Use for Tips
Review: If you've never read any other book on organization, time management, or efficiency, do NOT get this one. The author provides many useful tips, but not a "system." The tone of the author is unfortunate. I have never read a book where I was so put off by the author. You know how Tom Cruise portrays Jerry McGuire at the beginning of the movie "Jerry McGuire"? That's what the author sounds like. Business is life, money is the bottom line, winning is everything. The author, Mark McCormack, was the founder of the sports management company on which "Jerry McGuire" was based, so maybe that's where the similarity comes in. Whatever the connection, the tone of the book is that of an obnoxious braggart. On more than one occasion, Mr. McCormack excuses bad behavior in favor of the results they achieve. The ends always justify the means. With that said, there are some useful tips if you have already brushed up on time management and organization. If you have not, this should not be your first purchase. I would suggest: "Getting Things Done" by David Allen, "The Organized Executive" by Stephanie Winston, and/or "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey.
Rating: 
Summary: mixed
Review: It is hard to argue with Mark McCormack's success. He's built up an almost billion dollar business. I will say that in another book, he said he takes only 3 day vactions. That if he took a 2 week vacation "I'd be so worried about my business at the end of the second week, it wouldn't be worth it." And he promotes working long hard hours. But I know more than one filthy rich self-made man, who are not retired but active in their businesses, who nonetheless do NOT work long hard hours year round, and take as much as a month off straight, while their businesses hum along nicely without them. I would say McCormack is failing in his methods of getting results if he can't at this point take long periods of time off, without worrying about his business. Richard Branson is active in his much larger Virgin empire, but he takes weeks off to go on those balloon expeditions of his. What is he doing right that McCormack isn't? An example: In the book TIME TRAP (a time-management book I highly recommend) the author sites a salesman who made two goals for the next few years. The goals were to, each year, 1) double his income 2) double his vacation time. (!!) And the salesman succeeded, so that he doubled his income, as well as his vacation time, so that in the third year he had a lot more money, plus 6 weeks in vacation time. THAT'S what I call getting results!!!! Harvey Mackay in one of his books sites a saleswoman he hired, who told him she worked 20 hours a week at her interview. Mackey told her, "But your resume says you did $2 million in sales at your previous job." She said, "I did. You can phone them and ask." Mackay did so, and they confirmed what she said. Mackay says to the reader, "So I don't care HOW many hours a week she works, with those kind of results." Maybe it's the nature of a service business (which is what McCormack's management company is): you can't let a factory stamp out widgets while you do something else. You have to keep cracking the whip, or inspiring your subordinate agents, if they are what make-up your company. If that's the case, I'll avoid service businesses.
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Summary: Take what works & leave the rest
Review: Reading this book is rather like being beaten over the head with a club - for example, he asks (over and over) - Do you have your planing tool at your fingertips 24 hours a day? If not - you are NOT ORGANIZED!!!! Three lashes! He writes for a different audience than I, one that has In and Out boxes on their desk (I've never seen In or Out boxes on anyone's desk, ever), that needs an introduction to the net and that makes phone calls all day (executives on the East coast maybe). None the less, if you can handle being beated up by the author, he does have some good suggestions. He suggests planning not only what to do, but when to do it, which is probably the biggest win I'll get from the book. Every day I know my list is too long, but I start at the top & work down. I think that if I figure out when things will happen (even if the time spans are only guesses, since I don't know how long many things will take) it will help me to understand better what I can really accomplish & what I can't and thus, to focus my energy on what I can do. So I'd say that if you want to make things happen, it's worth reading for the hints that work for you.
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