An Arizona Cheesehead's Thoughts

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg My rating: 4 of 5 stars I already had this on my library reserve list when our CEO talked about it at a company meeting. He made me want to read it even more. Duhigg explains how habits create actual changes to our brains, why it's so hard to change them and how some people are seemingly able to change while most people struggle. He also talks about keystone habits which have more influence than other habits. If you change a keystone habit, it has a ripple effect on other habits. For example, if you develop an exercising habit, you'll eat, drink and smoke less, sleep more and spend less money. If you develop a financial budgeting habit, you'll exercise more, eat, drink and smoke less and sleep more. Duhigg gives lots of examples from science, business, sports and personal stories of people who experienced very destructive habits. As I was reading, I was reminded of what they've bee...

The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper My rating: 4 of 5 stars Man, I am ripping through Molly Harper books like there is no proverbial tomorrow. This one finds Pack Alpha Maggie facing some challenges. Someone seems out to get her, she has a persistent but unwanted suitor from another pack, yet another pack wants to take over her territory and a human scientist shows up to prove his theory that werewolves exist. If it were any other scientist, he might have met a tragic "accident" but he's a young hottie. Fun stuff! View all my reviews

Nice Girls Don't Bite Their Neighbors by Molly Harper My rating: 4 of 5 stars Nice ending to Jane's story (though I suspect she will be in a supporting role in future books). Jane and Gabriel are finally going to get hitched now that the government is allowing vampires to marry. Of course, all does not go well. With a vindictive spirit haunting her house, a potential killer stalking Gabriel and trying to keep her Mom from taking over the wedding, one would think Jane has enough going on. Nope. Add in her reluctant but requested turning of a young vampire childe and the mix gets overwhelming. I love these characters and I hope Harper includes them in her next books which look to center around a newly introduced character in this one. View all my reviews

First, Break All The Rules: What The Worlds Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham My rating: 4 of 5 stars A group of managers from our company read this as a book club. Lots of discussion ensued as we devoted up to 90 minutes per chapter. There was a lot of great material to make you think. Buckingham does a hierarchy of employee needs based on 12 questions. I'll paraphrase some "Do you know what is expected of you? "Do you have the tools to do your job right?" "Have you been praised for your performance in that past 7 days?" Like Maslow's hierarchy, basic needs have to be satisfied before satisfying higher needs positively affects performance. For example, if an employee doesn't know what's expected of them, giving them rewards won't increase their job satisfaction. What also touched me (because I've been doing a lot of this lately) was the message about hiring for talent, not necessarily skills. And, to consid...