The Home Ranch

Rating:
Summary: About as real as you can get today
Review: I grew up in the desert of southern Arizona in the 50's and 60's. Surrounded by real cattle and real cowboys. This book rings true. I loved it as a kid. No gun fights, no bar room fights. Ralph paints a soft, rich picture, that is much more accurate then any movie you ever saw. I have purchased several copies to give to REAL good friends.

Rating:
Summary: About as real as you can get today
Review: I grew up in the desert of southern Arizona in the 50's and 60's. Surrounded by real cattle and real cowboys. This book rings true. I loved it as a kid. No gun fights, no bar room fights. Ralph paints a soft, rich picture, that is much more accurate then any movie you ever saw. I have purchased several copies to give to REAL good friends.

Rating:
Summary: Business Today, Wrapped in the American West of Yesterday
Review: The Home Ranch is more then a slice of the American West. It's a greatslice of business management tucked in the recollections of Ralph Moody's summer on the Batchlett home ranch in 1910. Located nearColorado Springs, the home ranch is a metaphor for today's office.Batchlett sums up every business management theory written whenhe tells Moody during a trading trip, "You play the hand you draw." And Batchlett's hand is an array of characters that I see in the office everyday.People like, Zeb, quiet and smart, but who doesn't like to be out of sight of Pike's Peak. Hank, a boastrousold cowhand who's always telling everyone how it should be done but not doing any of it.Sid, the fiesty redhead with a fondness for "Jenny Wren",and Trinidad, the arrogant, rhinestone cowboy with the cowards heart. Mix in a manipulative 12 year old girl and a boy who sets his heart on turning a wildstallion into a good cowhorse and you got a recipe for today's workforce.

Stick it next to Covey, Petersen, and Drucker. But don't besuprised if you use it more often then any of them.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written
Review: This book will remain in my memory for a long time. The writing style, the vividness of setting, emotions, relationships, and timeframe, all come together to pack a powerful punch to the reader. My son and I could not put it down.