Customer Reviews

1,001 Ways to Inspire: Your Organization, Your Team and Yourself

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I was very disappointed with this book. The author implies that his theories are based on Meyers-Briggs but the Meyers-Briggs type inventory is based on 16 personality types. What psychological principals Mr. Rye based his book on is a mystery.

I found "The Situation" examples more a work of fiction than of real life business problems. His motivational examples were repetitive and lacked insight into human behavior.

All in all, reading this book was irritating rather than helpful.

Although I'm only halfway into this book, I'm compelled to review it as I may not make it to the end. The book appears to be based on the Meyers-Briggs Personality Inventories. I've read and reviewed this well-known information several times in the past and have found it extremely useful, especially with respect to self-assessment. Mr. Rye's attempt to take the more complex Meyers-Briggs information and cyphon it into 4 distinct workplace personalities is an admirable and meaningful goal. The problem is, that while it serves as an excellent tool for the the reader (me) to understand his own personality type in the workplace, it has done little to help me identify the different personalities types of my subordinates. Just as the reader learns that he has a prodiminant personality trait with lesser traits of other types, so do his subordinates. It became increasingly difficult for me to identify the prodiminant personality types of the my subordinates. Mr. Rye's logical method of describing real and challenging work situations, and then precribing the correct remedies/approaches for the appropriate personality type of individual, just didn't work for me. The advise was good, except that I couldn't peg the majority of my employees into their prodiminant personality traits and thus apply the correct solution. The case-study situations themselves seemed to be a likely occurrence with only one or two of the possible personality types and therefore applying it to all four did not fit with my own experiences as a manager. However, if it does serve to help me better understand and resolve even a couple of employee situations (which it has already done), then it will have been worth the read. Each day of life teaches us to be better leaders, and this book will (to some degree) help me to recognize the lesson.

Beginning with a self-administered test and a discussion about understanding yourself in terms of four personality types, this book presents ways to motivate yourself and others, including your boss and folks outside of the company, under a variety of circumstances. The author addresses personality and situational challenges. Here is a book that provides you with very applied guidance and an abundance of ideas; the type of book that should stimulate your thinking and motivate you to action.

I am tasked to manage an extremely low morale team in a high tech environment. It is very difficult to find the motivating triggers for my employees. I picked up this book and found it very helpful. I actually had each of my employees do a personality assessment and it not only helped me to work better with them and their development, but also allowed me to identify ways to motivate each personality type. I enjoyed the book. I agree, it is not a complex subject and will most likely not be used in a philosophy class, but that is what I enjoyed. It took the concept of personality assessments and streamlined it to find the basic, common result (a better working relationship with myself and my direct reports.)

I expected to find 1001 ways to inspire my team, organization and self, as the title indicates. Normally, such books have numbered suggestions and creative ideas, usually adding up to 1001.

What was strange for me is that this book presented, not 1001 ideas, but 4 personality types and suggestions on dealing with them. I am not sure if the title was the author's idea or the publisher's suggestion, but it is somewhat unfortunate, as it is misleading to the reader.

However, the writing style is clear, and many of the points made on working with different personality types are valid and helpful. If looking for information on personality types, this book would be somewhat useful, but if looking for a list of creative tips or ideas to inspire, this book does not really fit the bill.

This book made me think about certain practices that I use in variuos organizations I am involved with. Insights for improvement and success are packed into this book.