Customer Reviews

Secrets of a Leadership Coach 5 Practice and Assessments Manual and CD: The Coaching and Leadership Techniques of Marshall Goldsmith, Illustrated with ... For Every Manager and Employee (Pt. 5)

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I have a great respect for Marshall Goldsmith and have bought many of his books. (See other recommendation towards end of review) That is why I thought a CD product under his name, with a promising title and a considerably higher price tag (about $60.00)than a book would be well worth the cost.

To the contrary, this product was an immense disappointment. There were about 110 "pages" of written content on the CD, (no audio), many only a sentence or short paragraph long. The content was very basic. You're forced to take a pre-test (usually a good idea) and a post-test to proceed. The pre-test was so basic, or tied so closely to a particular point in the CD, that it held little or no value, and the post-test just wasted more time (granted, only a minute or so) which had to be spent to progress to the next section of the CD.

The CD felt as if it had been written by college students with little business-world experience, but rather regurgitating what they'd been taught. So I wonder who really developed it.

BE CAREFUL: You have to jump thorugh a lot of hoops to get a key to unlock and access the CD (must send email which is not monitored 24 hours, and no autorespoder to send the key, must wait for response), and then some confusing jargon that seemed to me to be burried in the instructions that supposedly says you can view part of the CD, but once you use the key, you're not able to get a refund. I never did pick up on this warning. (Maybe my fault?)

But why be so complicated about obtaining access to a CD product, and then making a return so difficult when the product is not even close to promised expectations (implied in the title, by author's name, and by use of supposedly more interactive or valuable "CD" media). The entire customer service process seems to go against Marshall Goldsmith's own philosophy about not negating feedback, and in his case, only being paid if services are worthy.

The publishing company (University of Health Care - CD Licensing) was
uncooperative about my attempt to return the product and obtain a refund (I've never before requested a refund of any book or product I've bought.) They did offer to "make an exception" and let me buy another product at 50% off, which would have meant I had to buy two products at an average 25% discount, at least one of which would have wasted $60.00. When I asked through email to speak with someone in person to discuss my complaint, my request was ignored. Finally, the publisher told me to request a refund through Amazon.com, which admittedly, I realize that I should have done from the beginning (my mistake). An Amazon rep. approved a refund, given the circumstances. Thank you Amazon!

At the same time that I bought this product, I also bought Marshall Goldsmith's, "What Got You Here Won't get You There," which is an absolutely excellent book, succinctly written with valuable insights.
I think it's the best book that he's authored.