Customer Reviews

Filling the Glass : The Skeptic's Guide to Positive Thinking in Business

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4 star:		(1)
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Having seen Maher speak, I picked up a copy of Filling the Glass as soon as I heard about it. Reading the book is even better than hearing him in person, because it lasts longer. I couldn't recommend the book more highly. Rich practical knowledge, a world of insight, fascinating and entertaining anecdotes, it's even extremely funny. It's certainly the only business book I've ever read with a conclusion that actually brought tears to my eyes. Wonderful!

Inventive, insightful, instructive, inspiring and funny. Filling the Glass is a surprisingly effective and effecting book. One minute you're laughing out loud, the next you're nodding your head in agreement, the next you just have to pause to let a powerful point sink in. As the author acknowledges, many of the strategies are novel and few are familiar, things we know to be true but which we probably haven't really made part of our lives yet. As promised, he provides great new insights even into the familiar strategies and, more importantly, practical tips for incorporating them into your career and/or your life.

Filling the Glass deals with the nuts and bolts real world, yet underneath it all the author conveys a pragmatic idealism which makes reading the book an extremely enjoyable experience. It includes tactics and tips, both useful and humorous (sometimes both at the same time), has entertaining and instructive anecdotes, and an ending as satisfying as a good novel. Beyond that, I really think that I will be able to use more than a few of the strategies here in my life and work, and I can't say that about many of the business and management books that I've read.

Strangely enough, one thing I didn't like was that the book ended on the last page, right before the back cover. It sounds strange but for some reason the way the book was set up, I got the feeling that the printers were trying to use as little paper as possible. I know that sounds picky but Filling the Glass itself has an expansive feel when you are reading it, so it bothered me that the physical book didn't seem to reflect that.

Guess I'm getting more neurotic as I grow older.

The cover quotes call this book a "must read" book. In an era with "must see" TV, this didn't exactly convince me. Then I read the book. It is instructive, inventive, inspiring, enlightening, practical and in places so funny that the end result is a book that I am recommending--along with "Shakelton's Way"--to everyone I come in contact with. And I don't mean just business people--because this book is for everyone.

Barry Maher has written an exceptional book, one filled to the brim with ideas on how to live up to your potetial, reach your goals, and, perhaps most important, enjoy your career. Take even a sip of his suggestions to heart, and you'll change your life.

Filling the Glass : The Skeptic's Guide to Positive Thinking in Business is an excellent book. The authors holds the view that it is essential to hold a realistic view of a situation to act as a launching point for improvement. Positive thinking is useful when it is bounded by reality.

Filling the Glass makes a very useful arguments for which when looked at in aggregate amount to managing yourself, managing those you work with and managing customers. The author, Barry Maher, lays out the program I mentioned above using the following topics:

Make peace with the negatives
Fill the glass
Become your own guru
Add water
Bring out the prospect in yourself
Become an expert witness
Fail toward success
Brag out the negatives
Change the scale to make the sale
Never settle for success

The author has a thought provoking style and has some really awesome quotes. If your current self help guru has you only visualizing a full glass then Barry can help you take action to actually fill the glass.

I pick up this book because it was along others (the art of war, guerrilla marketing, negotiating to yes, what color is your parachute, 21 laws of marketing, one minute manager) in a list of top bussiness books, it talks about attitude wich is a difficult concept and it comes all right. I like the part where he talks about self confidence: most books would lay down some method, this guy tells you to earn it, that you cant fool yourself so if you want to feel better you have to make something.