Unstuck: Amazon.ca: Keith Yamashita: Books

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

This graphically modern and interactive volume demands that readers get themselves—and their businesses—out of whatever rut they’re in. By first encouraging the acknowledgment of being stuck, Yamashita and Spataro, a consultant and business school professor, respectively, pave the way for escape. They describe the seven emotional manifestations of being stuck (feeling alone, overwhelmed, directionless, battle-torn, worthless, hopeless, exhausted) and provide guidance for moving past them, through case studies (from the U.S. Postal Service to Apollo 13), exercises, charts and mantras such as "find the quiet rock star" and "write the headline from the future." It’s alternately funny and thought provoking; and with rarely more than 200 words per page, it doesn’t resemble a typical dense business tome. Yet somehow, in its succinctness (and despite its overuse of catchphrases), this book renders specific and practical points as well as enough inspiration to help all kinds of individuals and teams break through mental walls.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description

Practical guide to turn to for inspiration and immediate solutions. Based on proven results and practices the authors have discovered working with IBM, Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Nike, Gap Inc., and a host of other companies and leaders.

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First Sentence
Stuck? Maybe it's only been for a day. Read the first page

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Concordance

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

24 Reviews

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(9)
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Average Customer Review

3.9 out of 5 stars (24 customer reviews)

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1.0 out of 5 stars Horrible, May 12 2004

By

sciencegal (Jonestown, Guyana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unstuck (Hardcover)

This is the IKEA approach to business behaviour: cheap, nasty, and mass produced. So what if the authors spent more time designing the book instead of writing it - still no excuse to buy. Every year a book like this comes along that tries to be cute but is just annoying, just about every UNstuck solution should be followed by "well duh".

Example - "Don't embrace destructive behaviour", "Try not to limit creativity", "Encourage instead of reprimand". If you need to be told these things you shouldn't be in business at all.

Just an awful book.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting way to solve problems, April 27 2004

By

"eternityawaits13" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unstuck (Hardcover)

I just finished reading this book, and while I agree that it is focused on solving problems within a business environment, it can also be applied to solving problems in your personal life.

The book is based on business models, but it is easy to apply the same theories to solving personal and family problems as well. The basic idea is that you need to have an even balance within several aspects of your life for projects to succeed (makes sense, right?) and it shows you how to get back on track when parts of the system are off-balance. It also has a shortcut method if you don't want to read it cover-to-cover: you can look up certain areas that need improvement by using the index, and only read the areas that pertain to you. My only complaint is that if you do read it cover-to-cover, it is a little harder to follow. It's not something to read when you'll be easily distracted.

Overall I would highly reccommend this book not just to professionals, but to anyone who feels that they are at a "dead end" in their life. If you have an open mind about the methods they show you, you can get a lot out of this book and apply it to your regular life.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not for me, May 10 2004

By

Douglas E. Welch "New Media Consultant" (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Unstuck (Hardcover)

While the design of this book is first rate, I had a difficult time connecting to the ideas within. It attempts to be the place "to turn for inspiration and immediate solutions," but I found myself answering many of the question within with "How?", instead.

I get the feeling that the book would be great companion item to seminars provided by the authors, on its own, it seems too terse and fragmented to follow. There just wasn't enough information presented to give me a handle to use the concepts of the book. Like the print analogue of a web site, the book directs you to specific sections based on your needs or answers to a given exercise. While I am an experienced web users, I found it frustrating in a traditional print publication like this.

That said, the real-world examples given in the book were the most useful. This could be a personal preference, but I tend to develop a better understanding when given a good story as an example. There were tidbits that I found useful and led to further thinking on my part, but these had to be teased out of the text and graphics instead of being immediately observed.

I feel the authors are onto something here, but without their personal guidance down the path of becoming "Unstuck," the book can be a bit frustrating.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book for teambuilding
Unstuck is the perfect book to use for a teambuilding exercise. Pass the book out to each member and let them read it in their own way. Read more

Published on Jun 24 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars Get out of that rut!
This book came just at the right time. My group at work, and really my whole company, was just "stuck. Read more

Published on Jun 23 2004 by F. Perkins