Rating: 
Summary: Great, simplistic messge on teamwork.
Review: One reviewer wrote this book was a waste of time as it is not how coporations work. The person stated that corporations look after individuals. As that may be true in most cases, it does not work for the learning organisation. The organisation that invests heavily in the individuals and not the teams will lose this investment when the individual leaves. This point is very clear and valid in the High Five book and a major point worth remembering. An effective team can carry on if one person leaves, which means the organisation is not impacted, or the team or the customer. And as individuals, by sharing knowledge we also become more empowered. Teamwork benefits everyone, the organisation, the employee and the customer.
Rating: 
Summary: Useless. Absolutely useless.
Review: Our company bought a copy of "High Five" for every employee. I can't imagine a bigger waste of money. This sappy and unrealistic story is written at the second-grade level. There is absolutely nothing in this book that should not be common sense knowledge to every corporate employee. The book's "big truth" is "None of us is as smart as all of us." Anyone who isn't smart enough to know that already probably won't learn it from this over-priced little book. The concepts contained in this book would have made a nice little 3-page pamphlet, but as a 200-page book it is a complete waste of time.
Rating: 
Summary: The one minute team player
Review: Team skills are needed to bring out the best in colleagues. While individual talent remains critical, team skills become increasingly important as organisations become flatter and more open. 'High Five' is a parable celebrating teamwork. It centres on an executive, who is smart, works hard, and meets his targets. He is fired because he was unable to make others more productive. By coaching his son's hockey team, he learns the importance of not 'hogging the puck'. And of course returns with this message as a consultant. Like "The one minute manager" and "Who moved my cheese", this book is written as a simple down to earth story. You are unlikely to discover great tips or new techniques, and if you dislike being patronised, perhaps you should stay away. However, success often consists of motivating oneself to keep up the basics. This book does that charmingly. It is a book, which will be bought in bulk and shared widely.
Rating:
Summary: The Book of Teamwork
Review: Team skills are needed to bring out the best in colleagues. While individual talent remains critical, team skills become increasingly important as organisations become flatter and more open. `High Five' is a parable celebrating teamwork. It centres on an executive, who is smart, works hard, and meets his targets. He is fired because he was unable to make others more productive. By coaching his son's hockey team, he learns the importance of not `hogging the puck'. And of course returns with this message as a consultant. Like "The one minute manager" and "Who moved my cheese", this book is written as a simple down to earth story. You are unlikely to discover great tips or new techniques, and if you dislike being patronised, perhaps you should stay away. However, success often consists of motivating oneself to keep up the basics. This book does that charmingly. It is a book, which will be bought in bulk and shared widely.
Rating: 
Summary: High Five Ho-Hum
Review: The management principles illustrated in this book are sound but could be more effectively displayed on a poster.Blanchard lists basic principles that have been the staple of many management books in the past decade: hire good people, define goals, provide the tools staff need, encourage teamwork, and reward achievement. Knowing what needs to be done is not the problem; knowing how to implement the principles is the challenge, and it's precisely that challenge that Blanchard ducks. My impression was that the book was not carefully written or researched. Take, for instance, the scene in which member of the boys' hockey team is rushed to the hospital with a closed head injury. The boy is unconscious, and Blanchard has an EMT administer codeine "so he won't wake up and thrash around." Sorry, Ken -- but how long the victim of a head injury is unconscious is a key diagnostic tool. Sedatives that prolong unconsciousness or supress the respiratory system would not be administered in an ambulance. This gaffe made me wonder how much care the author took with other information -- and whether or not the physician-author of "Who Moved My Cheese?" read the book carefully before writing his glowing endorsement. All in all, a disappointing work.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book Promoting Teamwork
Review: This book has a great storyline in it. But what it teaches about teamwork is magnificent. One thing that it teaches is that getting your star out of the lineup for a while can actually help the team. I believe corporate America often misses that. And it's a book that is easily read. I reccommend it to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: For the simple minded only - and not in a good way
Review: This book is a utopian, unrealistic, poorly thought-out, infantile piece of trash. It's an insult to the intelligence of any adult who reads it. Written at a third grade level with 16-point type, this book's contents would be better suited to a coloring book. The philosophy it presents a real no-brainer, and if you need to read this to learn these principles, you have bigger problems to worry about. The "story" is just that, a "story" - there isn't an ounce of truth or realism to it, so just file this book under "office fairy tales". Believe it or not, I'm not a pessimist, I love books, and I'm totally into "self/professional improvement" topics. But do not waste your time or money on this silly book.
Rating:
Summary: The spirit of sportsmanship
Review: This book is centered on an ice hockey team of ten-year-old boys. Traditionally, the boys who scored the maximum goals would receive the "best player award". This team also followed this concept and every player focussed on scoring the goal himself without passing the puck. When a player gets the puck, his parents would cheer " Strike-Boy-Strike". This team NEVER won a tournament. The new coach who joins this team analyses the problem and changes the reward mechanism. The player who scored the goal gets 1 point.
The player who passed the puck to the scorer gets 2 points.
The goalkeeper who prevented a hostile goal gets 3 points. There was also weightage for the factor (Goals scored/ No of strikes). Suddenly this team starts playing differently. More goals are scored than before and the team starts winning match after match. Alan Foster is this new coach. Alan had recently lost his job for lack of team skills. He is guided by Miss Weatherby, an aging African-American retired teacher and champion girls' basketball coach. There is lots of similarity between a sports team and teams at the work place. This book is a superb training guide for scoring team goals - for the Organization.
Rating:
Summary: High Five - Winning Is Everything
Review: This book tells its story in way that appeals to all readers. It involves lessons on how to coach, how to choose your attitude & how when old chapters end, new ones begin whether or not we are prepared.
Rating:
Summary: Motivating quick read
Review: This is a great book to share with your team members to inspire them and to help them learn how to work together more effectively. It's easy to read and will lead to great conversations.
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