Stop Setting Goals If You Would Rather Solve Problems (Hardcover)

by Bobb Biehl (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Every ten years or so, a simple idea comes along that revolutionizes the business world. Stop Setting Goals is one of those ideas!

Bobb Biehl, president of the consulting firm Masterplanning Group International, believes that decades of emphasis on setting goals has left many in the workplace feeling like second-class citizens. Most people find goal setting to be a major source of anxiety and frustration.

Here he sets out to expose the myth that goal setting is required for success in your business, career, and personal development. Instead, he argues, we can be very successful by simply identifying and solving strategic problems. You may never have to set another goal as long as you live.

Whether you work with a Fortune 500 company, a mom-and-pop start-up business, a sales firm, or a typical office, you will find yourself and your team experiencing:

* Maximized natural energy

* Reduced frustration, pressure, and tension

* Increased productivity

* Better team spirit, morale, and respect

* Improved communication

* Greater self-confidence

The simple ideas in this book will help you and your team, no matter what you do or where you go, for the rest of your life.

From the Inside Flap
Every ten years or so, a simple idea comes along that revolutionizes the business world. Stop Setting Goals is one of those ideas!

Bobb Biehl, president of the consulting firm Masterplanning Group International, believes that decades of emphasis on setting goals has left many in the workplace feeling like second-class citizens. Most people find goal setting to be a major source of anxiety and frustration.

Here he sets out to expose the myth that goal setting is required for success in your business, career, and personal development. Instead, he argues, we can be very successful by simply identifying and solving strategic problems. You may never have to set another goal as long as you live.

Whether you work with a Fortune 500 company, a mom-and-pop start-up business, a sales firm, or a typical office, you will find yourself and your team experiencing:

* Maximized natural energy

* Reduced frustration, pressure, and tension

* Increased productivity

* Better team spirit, morale, and respect

* Improved communication

* Greater self-confidence

The simple ideas in this book will help you and your team, no matter what you do or where you go, for the rest of your life.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Random House, Inc.; 1st edition (June 25, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345395662
• ISBN-13: 978-0345395665
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #726,936 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This needs to be reprinted., September 23, 2000

By A Customer

Another one of those "just two kinds of people" concepts. They are the goal setters and the problem solvers. Read it. Really liked it. Gave it away thinking I'd replace it. Unavailable. Thought it would be a big seller and available in paperback. Still looking to replace it and maybe give as gifts to others.

I'm one of those problem solvers who is often frustrated by goal setters who have not "counted the cost". It's comforting to know that there may be nothing wrong with you if you don't like tossing your hat over the fence before knowing how you're going to get yourself over the fence.

Biehl brings insight and information on how and why problem solvers and goal setters are both needed and on how they need to work together.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Is that all there is?, January 14, 2005

By	Arthur Schurr (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Had great expectations for this book, most of which went unfulfilled. A friend recommended it based on the initial concept of the difference between goal setters and problem solvers. Unfortunately, that initial concept is pretty much the entire book. It just gets repeated with a lot of exclamation points. I'm not surprised that this wasn't reprinted or that it didn't have a paperback edition. There simply isn't enough substance to warrant either. I wish that there was; I was truly looking for helpful ways to further understand and benefit from the difference between the two approaches. Unfortunately, the goal of this book turns out to be a problem unsolved.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most valuable management and patient care tool I have, May 10, 2005

By	Penny Duff (St. Petersburg, Florida) - See all my reviews

As a registered nurse of 20 years' experience, I have endlessly heard about setting goals with patients and setting my own goals. I cringed every time I heard this, because setting goals is NOT my style. Then this lovely book came along and changed the way I approached patient care planning with the patient and the way I approached planning in my own life.
We were always taught to work with patients to set goals for their care. And, for years, I had seen a blank curtain come down over eyes and faces when I started talking about goals. Once I understood the principles in this book, I started changing my approach and even just my words, so that my predominantly problem-solver patients were not intimidated or put off. What an improvement.
This book has not received the ongoing attention it merits, but I recommend to you that you read it and put it into practice. Its testimony is in significantly more effective nursing care planning with my patients. If my wide variety of patients generally respond better with the application of Bobb Biehl's principles, it will no doubt work in any other setting where you interact in planning with people. Do not knock this book until you have tried Biehl's principles in actual practice.