I love to work. And I've been fortunate to work at a pretty broad spectrum of jobs. I've sold flowers on street corners when I was in college, worked at gas stations and numerous restaurants and bars, run a punch press, worked as a technical assistant at an oil company, sold real estate, worked as a contractor, and even been an Account Exec for a prestigious Wall Street re-insurance company. And needless to say, I've seen a lot of awful management styles.

I don't think most of these managers -- group leaders to board members-- wanted to be bad managers, they just didn't know how to be good leaders and motivators. And for most I wish someone had slipped Bill Sims Jr.'s little book into their mailbox.

One reason I say this is because this book is short and succinct, and I think that no matter how busy the manager she'd be able to whittle out some time to read a chapter or three a day.

Another reason I say this is because the author not only explains what Positive Reinforcement is, and what research supports it, he also gives you real life examples of positive reinforcement being used. So whatever the reader's methodology of learning, there's an approach in this book that they'll be able to grasp.

SUMMARY

GREEN BEANS & ICE CREAM is fast paced read that delivers research and real life examples. What I like about it is that it's well written and short enough that if you give it to some one, chances are that they are actually going to read it-- and they are going to understand it. This means that it would be a very good choice for a first-time group supervisor.

For more senior types, it might remind them that people aren't line-replaceable units and that they can get more from their employees, if they can tweak their management style.

I'm glad I requested a copy of this book to review. I enjoyed the read, and I'm quite the enthusiast for the author and his management approach.

Pam T~ ( )