Rating: 
Summary: An excellent blueprint for decision-making success
Review: "Don Maruska has provided an excellent blueprint for decision-making success. His book, How Great Decisions Get Made, is an indispensible tool for anyone involved in leadership, in both the public and private sectors. I have had the good fortune to watch Don use these principles firsthand, and I marvel at how he has translated his 10 easy steps into a clear, straightforward guide. This book is one that is destined to be pulled off my shelf for guidance, time and time again." Dr. Steven M. Ladd, Superintendent of Schools.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent blueprint for decision-making success
Review: "Don Maruska has provided an excellent blueprint for decision-making success. His book, How Great Decisions Get Made, is an indispensible tool for anyone involved in leadership, in both the public and private sectors. I have had the good fortune to watch Don use these principles firsthand, and I marvel at how he has translated his 10 easy steps into a clear, straightforward guide. This book is one that is destined to be pulled off my shelf for guidance, time and time again." Dr. Steven M. Ladd, Superintendent of Schools.
Rating:
Summary: How Great Decisions Get Made
Review: As an organizational consultant myself, I know how hard it is for people to understand each other's viewpoint and see how it can mesh with their own. Don's ideas are immediately useful, and I put them into practice the very next day after reading the book -- to great success!
Rating:
Summary: A book that really makes a difference!
Review: Don Marusaka has developed a critical process that builds on people's hopes, eliminates debate, and redirects energies into creative solutions, even for problems in which resources are scarce. As someone who works with a variety of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, I find that what Maruska has so clearly presented in this book makes intuitive sense and adds to my own skill set in getting groups to work collaboratively. It's an important contribution to the fields of organizational development, group dynamics, and leadership.
Rating:
Summary: A recipe for reason
Review: Don Maruska has been an "agent of hope" for organizations of all varieties for many years, particularly here on the Central Coast of California. Over the years, readers of Don's "Business Success" columns in Knight Ridder newspapers have been able to sample from a variety of "hors d'ouevres" from Don's wit and wisdom. Some of us have even settled down to a full-course entree through his extensive consulting for businesses, non-profits, and government agencies of all sizes. But in this book, we can all partake of a veritable feast of great ideals, with a menu built upon a systematic and methodical program for putting those ideals into practice. The essence of Don's message is that all worthwhile human endeavor requires a partnership of interests. In the words of Benjamin Franklin, "The good men may do separately is small compared to the good they may do collectively." Partnerships and collective action require that men (and women, of course) work together, and in working together they must take risks, and most of us are risk-averse. Don Maruska illuminates a systematic remedy for risk, and it lies in open communication based on a language of hope. Today's highly-charged media culture seems to foster a very different language, a language of scorn and spite and hatred, bred of a lust for conflict and blood - both literal and figurative. It is a truism that the pen is mightier than the sword, but these days, too many pens (and microphones) have been honed on the whetstone of fear. We no longer trust our adversaries to fight fairly; our politics have been darkened by poisonous accusations of corruption, treason, arrogance, slander, and lies. Rancor has replaced reason in virtually every meaningful political debate, and incivility is the rule rather than the exception. In this atmosphere of "mutual assured destruction," it is refreshing to find a book that seeks to turn us in a different direction - to transform the conversation from the ridiculous back to the sublime, where people can once again find common ground around common aspirations, and where political dialogue can once again take place upon a basis of trust and mutual respect. Don Maruska has given voice to a longing that lies within all of us, and we need but listen to that voice. If enough of us begin to listen, and to respond with the framework that Don has built for us, great things can happen. Great decisions await.
Rating:
Summary: A recipe for reason
Review: Don Maruska has been an "agent of hope" for organizations of all varieties for many years, particularly here on the Central Coast of California. Over the years, readers of Don's "Business Success" columns in Knight Ridder newspapers have been able to sample from a variety of "hors d'ouevres" from Don's wit and wisdom. Some of us have even settled down to a full-course entree through his extensive consulting for businesses, non-profits, and government agencies of all sizes. But in this book, we can all partake of a veritable feast of great ideals, with a menu built upon a systematic and methodical program for putting those ideals into practice. The essence of Don's message is that all worthwhile human endeavor requires a partnership of interests. In the words of Benjamin Franklin, "The good men may do separately is small compared to the good they may do collectively." Partnerships and collective action require that men (and women, of course) work together, and in working together they must take risks, and most of us are risk-averse. Don Maruska illuminates a systematic remedy for risk, and it lies in open communication based on a language of hope. Today's highly-charged media culture seems to foster a very different language, a language of scorn and spite and hatred, bred of a lust for conflict and blood - both literal and figurative. It is a truism that the pen is mightier than the sword, but these days, too many pens (and microphones) have been honed on the whetstone of fear. We no longer trust our adversaries to fight fairly; our politics have been darkened by poisonous accusations of corruption, treason, arrogance, slander, and lies. Rancor has replaced reason in virtually every meaningful political debate, and incivility is the rule rather than the exception. In this atmosphere of "mutual assured destruction," it is refreshing to find a book that seeks to turn us in a different direction - to transform the conversation from the ridiculous back to the sublime, where people can once again find common ground around common aspirations, and where political dialogue can once again take place upon a basis of trust and mutual respect. Don Maruska has given voice to a longing that lies within all of us, and we need but listen to that voice. If enough of us begin to listen, and to respond with the framework that Don has built for us, great things can happen. Great decisions await.
Rating:
Summary: How Great Decisions Get Made:10 Easy Steps For Reaching Agre
Review: Don Maruska is a genius. His 10 Steps to reaching agreement are a simple process that any group or organization should use to deal with complex issues. This simple system removes ego from the decision making process and avoids the "me too' speeched that drag out a meeting, polarize the participants and add nothing to resolution of the issues. Don's system enables the group to reach quality agreements quickly and harmoniously.
Rating:
Summary: Straightforward positive advice
Review: Don Maruska's ten steps are easy to follow and use. They work across a variety of organizations, not limited to business. Non-profits will partiuclarly like this approach to reaching agreement and setting direction.
Rating:
Summary: Linking Goals with Resources
Review: Don's ideas and approach to making tough decisions have been of enormous value to the City of San Luis Obispo in linking goals with resources. Even in the leanest of times, organization's still have "some" resources, so the issue isn't that we can't do anything - it's that we can't do everything. Given this, how do we identify and agree upon the most important, highest priority things to do? How do we lead with our deepest aspirations instead of our greatest fears? Don's "ten steps" offer powerful, pragmatic ways of achieving this, in "good times and bad". Don's book shares his "real world" successes as a consultant and coach for both private and public sector organizations, and makes them available for others to apply to their situations. Bill Statler, Director of Finance & Information Technology
City of San Luis Obispo
Rating:
Summary: Linking Goals with Resources
Review: Don's ideas and approach to making tough decisions have been of enormous value to the City of San Luis Obispo in linking goals with resources. Even in the leanest of times, organization's still have "some" resources, so the issue isn't that we can't do anything - it's that we can't do everything. Given this, how do we identify and agree upon the most important, highest priority things to do? How do we lead with our deepest aspirations instead of our greatest fears? Don's "ten steps" offer powerful, pragmatic ways of achieving this, in "good times and bad". Don's book shares his "real world" successes as a consultant and coach for both private and public sector organizations, and makes them available for others to apply to their situations. Bill Statler, Director of Finance & Information Technology
City of San Luis Obispo
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