Rating: 
Summary: If only...
Review: I used to manage a telemarketing operation in Oregon. I wish I had had this book as a motivational tool to get the people I worked with excited about dealing with their customers. All this is harder than some realize, as so many deal with off-site operations these days. And keep in mind that your best customers are sometimes dealing with your worst employees.You know, my advice would be to create a little training/career development course around the notes and discussion questions in the back of this book. I think your employees would love it. The author seems to understand this issue, and I am glad she does.
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Summary: Back to Basics
Review: In a world of high-end coffee drinks sometimes a plain old cup of coffee is better. The same thing goes for the business world, you can have all the flavors, colors and sizes, but if you don't take care of the customers you eventually won't have any. Good solid advice in this book, stick to the basics and take care of the customer. Rat Race Relaxer: Your Potential & The Maze of Life by JoAnna Carey is another book that offers practical, goal oriented business motivation for owners and employees.
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Summary: Back to the basics
Review: In a world of high-end coffee drinks sometimes plain old cup of coffee is better. The same thing goes for the business world, you can have all the flavors, colors and sizes, but if you don't take care of the customer you eventually won't have any. Good solid advice in this book, stick to the basics and take care of the customer.
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Summary: A lovely book
Review: It seems to me that nobody has really talked about what a sweet, sweet story this book tells. I came to this country nearly 20 years ago with a dream - to sell English antiques to American buyers - and to leave my family behind in the process. I have had perhaps fifty employees over the years with varying degrees of commitment to my business. I wish I had this little book to give them to inspire them to better interactions with customers, as in my business it's all about telling stories and making people feel special. You can think this book is about "pulling" espressos, but it's really about making connections with your customers. I have never seen a book that makes it more explicit and more palatable to your staff.
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Summary: A deep, nutty aroma of captivating example
Review: It's like a quick shot of espresso, giving you the quality that you need without taking up too much of your time. People like me, who feel bogged down by business writing but love following stories, will connect with the small coffee shop owner, learning along the way and appreciating the story. The principles are simple, well drawn with the owner facing issues and reinforcing his "enjoy your work and the customers will enjoy being there". Quick reading because of likable setting, company and characters.
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Summary: Un libro maravilloso
Review: Just when you think you've seen it all comes a book that summarizes exactly why you're in business in the first place. For anybody who runs a business and needs a little reminder of why we needed to escape corporate America (despite the daily difficulties we all face) here's the perfect book. I am one of those businessmen who profited by NAFTA, though I realize there are people who didn't. I want to get a copy in Spanish so I can give it to my employees AND their families.
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Summary: Use it daily
Review: Just yesterday the fact that I read this book came in handy. An employee who had been really up and down in his interactions with customers (one day as happy as can be, the next surly) came to me to tell me he had had "disagreeable words" with a long-time, somewhat eccentric professor at the local college while I had been at the bank. I thanked him for being honest and suggested he work on an anger management program with one of my managers. This is new behavior for me. Before I read this book, which has a lot about trust and inspiration in it, I would have thrown a fit and probably fired him. Because I worked with him, I think I have a personal fan and also someone who is going to deal with customers in an entirely new and positive way. This really is a book that can make a difference, if you don't think you know it all already.
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Summary: A valuable contribution
Review: Let me say right up front that I read "Beans" because Charles Decker is a colleague, friend, and fellow author. I opened it with the bias that "Beans" would have the greatest value for owners and employees of retail businesses similar to the one profiled in the book. Yes, like most biases, this one turned out to be wrong. It was a pleasure to discover how wrong I had been. I don't even like coffee, but got drawn in by the story of how important passion for the product was to the main character and everyone else involved. We can all use a reminder of the power of passion in our work lives and this easy-to-read story conveys that message. There are several other principles covered in "Beans" that I'll let you discover on your own - passion was the one that hit home with me. This is the perfect book to distribute widely to employees so they can read and re-read it when they need to return to the basics to understand why businesses thrive or fail. We all need that periodically, don't we? --- Cynthia C. Froggatt, Author, "Work Naked: Eight Essential Principles for Peak Performance in the Virtual Workplace" (Jossey-Bass, 2001)
Rating: 
Summary: It's Just Okay
Review: Let's view the book in the realm of business books. Nothing new. Nothing great. Nothing earth shattering. Face it. There are just so many business principles. And various ways to present them. This book is simply a rudimentary example of presenting old material in a fable type story. The downside of the book - it's not very realistic. The upside of the book - it's not very realistic. It's just okay.
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Summary: It¿s official¿ I have FABLE FATIGUE!!!!
Review: Long ago I was enthralled with Michael Gerber's "E-Myth" and in the last few years I have learned from "Who Moved My Cheese?" and from "Fish". However, the latest business fable to hit the bookshelves, "Beans - Four Principles for Running a Business in Good Times or Bad", is a complete waste of sixty minutes. (Heck, I could watch an episode of Survivor and learn more than I did from reading this book.) I have come to believe that business fables are to the business book publishing game as reality television is to the television programming game. With the outrageous success of other business fables ("Cheese" and "Fish" to name two), authors are far to eager to capitalize on this trend and book publishers are more than willing to milk the genre for all the profit it can squeeze. So, why do I detest "Beans" so much? Its simple, I find that it is far too contrived, far too simplistic and far removed from anything authentic for me to learn from. My advice is simple... if you are an entrepreneur looking for answers on how to live a more rewarding personal and professional life, then read the "E-Myth" and or "E-Myth Manager." If you have read them before, read them again. You will derive far more meaning from the "E-Myth" books than you ever will with "Beans."
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