Customer Reviews

Peanut Butter and Jelly Management: Tales from Parenthood, Lessons for Managers

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Komisarjevskys have struck a harmonious chord with this little book! The stories of their children are immediately engaging and natural springboards for discussing effective management practices. They teach us with heartwarming sincerity that our children can be wonderful teachers, and that we can become more effective managers, employers, employees and parents by heeding what they have to teach and applying the lessons to our work environments. The authors show that our home lives and its values are really a "precious center" that help us bear the surrounding weight of the world. These lessons lead us to find a better sense of balance between home and work responsibilities, something we are all striving for these days!

This book allows us not just a glimpse into a successful CEO's way of thinking, but a sustained excursion into his practical philosophy of life, which includes working with his wife, Reina, in their teamwork approach to family life.

I read this book after reading a review of it in "Bookpage". As a librarian I read books on many subjects and am always looking for those that are unusual and intriguing. The title - "Peanut Butter and Jelly Management" and its premise-applying parental experiences to corporate leadership-promised to be both. The book did not disappoint me. I fell in love with the children(all nine of them)who are the heroes of the book. As a parent, I identified with the charming and sometimes poignant experiences of a large family : teaching a child to ride a bike, trips to the emergency room, watching a child play on a team, and vicariously crying at the loss of a baby. Although not a business person, I feel that the practical business suggestions can be used by anyone dealing with fellow employees. A must read for all.

This book takes real parenting experiences and correlates them into how to be a successful manager in today's business world. I found this book to be a true inspiration for management personnel. The funny and heartwarming parenthood experiences came right from the heart.

Chris and Reina Komisarjevsky illustrate effective management techniques using examples based on their toughest leadership experience: raising nine children. They delineate the skills that help children learn how to set goals, share objectives, communicate more effectively, and get along. Each chapter begins with a story about an experience with one of their children, such as buying ice cream or playing sandlot baseball. The stories illustrate management principles and guidelines. These precepts are very familiar, though linking them to child rearing is novel. Thus, the book serves as a nice, short recap of commonly known management and leadership principles, though we at getAbstract suspect that its treatment of the subject matter will probably be of more interest to managers who are parents as well.

This book was so much fun and interesting to read. It is really very insightful and a refreshing way to look at what it takes to motivate people. I can relate the individual stories to what has happened in my own family. In some chapters, I laughed aloud. In one I cried. I would recommend it to anyone.

I loved this book! I have been busy lately working full time outside of my home, pursuing a Masters degree, and being a mother of a two-year-old daughter. Switching between working with my young daughter and the folks at work and school can be rather challenging at times. Let's face it. Talking to a two year old can be quite different than holding an adult conversation. I loved this book because it helped me to make the connection that what I am learning at home in my relationship with my daughter can be very helpful in the how I deal with relationships with adults at work. I would recommend this book to all parents who are working professionals out there.

A Bit more of a Scholarly Application: The use of story telling and focus on practicality rather than just being theoretical is what sold me on this book. The author uses story telling to illustrate different childhood experiences that motivate, teach, and encourage children. What we learn from children can help us improve our leadership skills with adults at work. The Metaphor of Peanut Butter and Jelly Management is a clever representation of how the authors view the natural parallel in the patterns of learning with children and with adults at work. I feel this book will assist me tremendously in shaping a successful learning environment with employees at work.

The authors are unusually generous in sharing the joys and the tears of raising a large family without losing perspective -- and then applying the practical lessons to the not-always-practical business world. The multiple challenges of being a mother and a father have their counterparts in business brightly illuminated in this very readable book. The authors should be thanked because sharing the details they do could not have always been easy, and the larger purpose that is served -- helping managers become better leaders -- is worthwhile by any measure.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Management is an important and excellent book. Easy to read, it is written by Chris and Reina from real life stories. All of us, drawing on our own experiences, can effectively structure our lives on a daily basis.

A marketing high-concept for sure but I found the dynamics of an upsized family irrelevant to downsized corporate structures in this prime example of vanity press.