For the last twenty years, we have searched for answers to three timeless questions: How did some people find and seize the great opportunities of their times? What can we learn from them to help us find and seize great opportunities? How did great leaders help others (and organizations) to find and seize great opportunities? In this search, we studied the lives the works, the writings of, and the past research on many successful people, including Michelangelo Buonarroti, Winston Churchill, Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Galileo Galilei, Bill Gates, Abraham Lincoln, Fred Smith, Leonardo da Vinci, Sam Walton, Oprah Winfrey, and Frank Lloyd Wright. We discovered that these and other great innovators and achievers all took the same actions to find and seize the great opportunities of their times. It was these actions -- rather than heredity, traits, intelligence, environment, or work habits -- that made them more successful than others.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"This book distills the wisdom of the ages and presents it as a life-changing potion." --John Mariotti, Past President, Rubbermaid Office Products, CEO, The Enterprise Group
"A leadership book with teeth...a rare read that explains the theory, the action, and results." --William J. Kohley, Ph.D, Vice President, Spraying Systems Company
"...masterfully helps individuals and organizations find high-leverage opportunities. --Bryan Vrblik, President, The Presidents Forum, Inc.
"A leadership book with teeth...a rare read that explains the theory, the action, and results." --William J. Kohley, Ph.D, Vice President, Spraying Systems Company
"...masterfully helps individuals and organizations find high-leverage opportunities. --Bryan Vrblik, President, The Presidents Forum, Inc.
About the Author
James B. Swartz has 26 years of industry experience as a physics researcher, a product design manager, a plan manager, and a director of lean productivity improvement for a $3 billion corporation. For the past 20 years, he has helped organizations find great opportunities. His clients have included 11 of the Fortune 100. he is author of The Hunters and the Hunted and is president of Competitive Action, Inc. He is a sought-after speaker, consultant, and workshop leader. He has an M.S. in Physics as a Bardeen Scholar from the Univ. of Illinois. Joseph E. Swartz received an M.S. in Operations Management from Purdue Univ. as a Krannert Scholar. He has 13 years of consulting experience, leading Lean-Six-Sigma manufacturing and engineering change. He is currently Director of Business Transformation for the St. Francis Hospital & Health Care Centers in Indianapolis, Indiana.
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More About the Author
Joseph Swartz is the Director of Business Transformation for Franciscan St. Francis Health of Indianapolis, IN. He has been leading continuous improvement efforts for 16 years and has lead more than 150 Lean and Six Sigma improvement projects. He is the co-author of Seeing David in the Stone: Finding and Seizing Great Opportunities. He is also the co-author (with Mark Graban) of the upcoming book Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements.
Joseph studied Electrical Engineering and earned an M.S. in Management from Purdue University as a Krannert Scholar for academic excellence. He was trained as a Six Sigma Blackbelt by Honeywell International (Honeywell). He has presented at several national conferences, and was a keynote speaker at the 2004 Outlook on Quality Systems Conference and the 2011 Marcus Evans Medical Device Summit. He has published several articles in Circuits Assembly, 6L, and other journals. He was an instructor for the University of Wisconsin's Executive Education School of Business in Madison Wisconsin from 1996 to 2004.
Joseph studied Electrical Engineering and earned an M.S. in Management from Purdue University as a Krannert Scholar for academic excellence. He was trained as a Six Sigma Blackbelt by Honeywell International (Honeywell). He has presented at several national conferences, and was a keynote speaker at the 2004 Outlook on Quality Systems Conference and the 2011 Marcus Evans Medical Device Summit. He has published several articles in Circuits Assembly, 6L, and other journals. He was an instructor for the University of Wisconsin's Executive Education School of Business in Madison Wisconsin from 1996 to 2004.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow! This was a surprise...,
This review is from: Seeing David in the Stone (Hardcover)
I generally don't read this kind of book but this time, because I was intrigued by the title and loved the cover, I did. It's a wonderful book--- motivating and inspirational--- thought provoking yet fun to read. For those who have opted for a change in direction and others blindsided by it, this book is an almost magical gift. Read it and you'll discover that the "steps" taken by others have left footprints into which you can place your own feet --- one size fits all! I find myself opening it at random, often, just to get a "Yes, I can!" fix. My enthusiasm for SEEING DAVID... prompted me to also read the senior Swartz' THE HUNTERS AND THE HUNTED and it certainly lives up to its best seller status. Thank you, Messrs. Swartz! ---Cynthia Brigham
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A few good ideas,
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This review is from: Seeing David in the Stone (Hardcover)
I heard an interview with the author and thought there would be more to the book than what I found in its pages. The "mentor conversation" construction of the book and some of the language is awkward and a bit dated. I felt like I had fallen into something written in 1971. That said...there are a few good ideas in this book and ones that I have definitely used in my business. I'm just not sure it's worth buying the book and getting through the way it's written to get to those few gems.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tremendous guidebook for tapping into your strengths,
By That Dwayne "www.genuinecuriosity.com" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Seeing David in the Stone (Hardcover)
The book's an easy, enjoyable read and is presented as a sort of conversation between a learner and his mentor. It's a captivating story, laced with specific case studies of people like Einstein, Marie Curie, Michelangelo, Edison, Da Vinci, and a 65 other masters of their craft. A lot of the stories are from long-ago history, but you'll be pleased to find some spotlights of recent breakthrough successes, as well.
I highly recommend it - see my full review at [...]
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Inside This Book
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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powerful learning processes, find common meaning, opportunity finders, highest meanings, high meaning, deliver rewards, great achievers, deep processing, other innovators, cautious people, sell the opportunity, wasteful activity Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bill Gates, Sam Walton, Leonardo da Vinci, Marie Curie, Nobel Prize, Peter Drucker, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Fred Smith, Santa Croce, Select Only High-Leverage Opportunity, Sell Opportunity, Sol Price, United States, World War, New York, Phil Jackson, Price Club, The Limited, Use Superior Design Processes, Abbott Laboratories, Albert Einstein, David's Cookies, Oprah Winfrey, Seizing Great Opportunities Seize Great Opportunities New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
powerful learning processes, find common meaning, opportunity finders, highest meanings, high meaning, deliver rewards, great achievers, deep processing, other innovators, cautious people, sell the opportunity, wasteful activity Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bill Gates, Sam Walton, Leonardo da Vinci, Marie Curie, Nobel Prize, Peter Drucker, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Fred Smith, Santa Croce, Select Only High-Leverage Opportunity, Sell Opportunity, Sol Price, United States, World War, New York, Phil Jackson, Price Club, The Limited, Use Superior Design Processes, Abbott Laboratories, Albert Einstein, David's Cookies, Oprah Winfrey, Seizing Great Opportunities Seize Great Opportunities New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 41
books:
See all 41 books this book cites
- Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior by Phil Jackson on page 164, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by Jim Collins in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Frank Lloyd Wright: Recollections by Those Who Knew Him by Edgar Tafel on page 39, and Back Matter
- Abraham Lincoln (The Great Americans Series) by Jean F. Blashfield on page 1, and page 167
- The Theory of Relativity: & Other Essays by Albert Einstein on page 15, and page 26
See all 41 books this book cites
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