Breakthrough!: Everything You Need to Start a Solution Revolution (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Sally K. Green (Illustrator, Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Debbe Kennedy, author and apparent creator of this array of resources, comes with solid business credentials and an impressive set of endorsements from the likes of Joel Barker and Francis Hesselbein. Kennedy's basic proposition is that since most problems are similar and are the result of universal core issues, too much time is wasted in starting up the problem solving process.The approach offers several advantages. Aside from speed, the group is provided an inventory of possible root causes. The card deck contains over fifty common roadblocks to work group effectiveness. Participants sort through the cards, identify the most likely problem areas and pull those cards out for discussion. After a re-sort and cull down to the key issues, the members turn to each issue's corresponding chapter in the book for a comprehensive listing of generic solutions.There are typically eight to ten carefully described alternatives for each problem. This is the heart of Breakthrough!; well conceived, clearly written and often insightful. The easy to follow format allows even the uninitiated to run a problem solving session with reasonable assurance of having a successful outcome. Its a particularly nice tool for a line manager who wants to practice team building skills or doesn't have available HR resources. Breakthrough! is clever idea with broad potential audience. The package can be considered a next step in the evolution of educational tools, and if properly positioned, Breakthrough! can be an alternative delivery vehicle for the devolution of team building responsibility to line managers. If only it told the outside temperature." -- Excerpt from book review by Steve McIntosh, PhD for HR Magazine, June 1999

... wonderful book... outstanding work. -- Kazuo Inamori, Letter to publisher, February 18, 1998

...great wisdom, great style, great utility, and great innovation. I've run out of superlatives. I love it! -- Frances Hesselbein, President and CEO, The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Non-Profit Management

...the value of Breakthrough! is the ease of its adaptions for use with basic models of organizational change. An unknown author said, Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Breakthrough! provides an organization with tools to fish for real solutions. You can take it anywhere, on a plane, or a train ... Use it alone or in a group setting. It offers insightful concrete direction for solutions to difficult problems. It is truly an essential item in any consultants tool box. -- Dolores Murrey, Ph.D., Black Hawk Center for Organizationl Excellence, Letter to the publisher

Breakthrough!--1998 InnoThink Award Winner ...for most far-thinking combination of message and media. This slipcased set with book, CD-ROM, card deck is a helpful kit for hands-on organizational renewal. If fully used, problems diminish as new possibilities emerge. Pioneering. -- Management General's 1998 InnoThink Award Official Announcement, January 21, 1999

Debbe Kennedy, author and apparent creator of this array of resources, comes with solid business credentials and an impressive set of endorsements from the likes of Joel Barker and Francis Hesselbein. Kennedy's basic proposition is that since most problems are similar and are the result of universal core issues, too much time is wasted in starting up the problem solving process.The approach offers several advantages. Aside from speed, the group is provided an inventory of possible root causes. The card deck contains over fifty common roadblocks to work group effectiveness. Participants sort through the cards, identify the most likely problem areas and pull those cards out for discussion. After a re-sort and cull down to the key issues, the members turn to each issue's corresponding chapter in the book for a comprehensive listing of generic solutions.There are typically eight to ten carefully described alternatives for each problem. This is the heart of Breakthrough!; well conceived, clearly written and often insightful. The easy to follow format allows even the uninitiated to run a problem solving session with reasonable assurance of having a successful outcome. Its a particularly nice tool for a line manager who wants to practice team building skills or doesn't have available HR resources. Breakthrough! is clever idea with broad potential audience. The package can be considered a next step in the evolution of educational tools, and if properly positioned, Breakthrough! can be an alternative delivery vehicle for the devolution of team building responsibility to line managers. If only it told the outside temperature. -- Excerpt from book review by Steve McIntosh, PhD for HR Magazine, June 1999
... wonderful book... outstanding work. -- Kazuo Inamori, Letter to publisher, February 18, 1998
...great wisdom, great style, great utility, and great innovation. I've run out of superlatives. I love it! -- Frances Hesselbein, President and CEO, Leader to Leader Institute (The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Non-Profit Management)
...the value of Breakthrough! is the ease of its adaptions for use with basic models of organizational change. An unknown author said, Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Breakthrough! provides an organization with tools to fish for real solutions. You can take it anywhere, on a plane, or a train ... Use it alone or in a group setting. It offers insightful concrete direction for solutions to difficult problems. It is truly an essential item in any consultants tool box. -- Dolores Murrey, Ph.D., Black Hawk Center for Organizationl Excellence, Letter to the publisher
Breakthrough!--1998 InnoThink Award Winner ...for most far-thinking combination of message and media. This slipcased set with book, CD-ROM, card deck is a helpful kit for hands-on organizational renewal. If fully used, problems diminish as new possibilities emerge. Pioneering. -- Management General's 1998 InnoThink Award Official Announcement, January 21, 1999
Kennedy's Breakthrough! is simultaneously a compendium of timeless, recognized wisdom and a great toolkit for getting something done on Monday morning. Few management packages - book, CD - pack the punch of this effort. -- Nicholas Imparato, Co-Author, Jumping the Curve and Professor of Marketing and Management, University of San Francisco Research Fellow, Hoover Institute, Stanford University
Nomination for Top 10 Books in 1998 --- In what may very easily be the future format of many business books, Kennedy focuses on the workplace syndrome of talking about problems without ever developing concrete actions to address the real business issues. --Rating: *** Newletter March 9, 1998

Kennedy's Breakthrough! is simultaneously a compendium of timeless, recognized wisdom and a great toolkit for getting something done on Monday morning. Few management packages - book, CD-ROM - pack the punch of this effort. -- Nicholas Imparato, Co-Author, Jumping the Curve and Professor of Marketing and Management, University of San Francisco Research Fellow, Hoover Institute, Stanford University

Nomination for Top 10 Books in 1998 --- In what may very easily be the future format of many business books, Kennedy focuses on the workplace syndrome of talking about problems without ever developing concrete actions to address them. Her technique, however, is special. She provides a hefty book to guide the reader toward a "Solution Revolution," then also includes a universally-accessible CD-ROM that mates with the book, making the reader's search for new ideas to intractable problems simple yet thorough. Simple in format yet wide in scope, Kennedy's book is a thinking experience excellently done. Don't just read it; drive it! -- Management General (Nominations for Top 10 Books of 1998; Web Site for Managerial Leadership)

Problem solving for an up coming business era of accelerating change is the goal of the boxed leadership tool set produced by Debbe Kennedy. Forget consultants, individual brain-storming, and reading another business book. It's time to get practical right now. -- Today's Books / Public News Service - Lex Ticonderoga, editor --Rating: *** Newletter March 9, 1998

Product Description

A timeless boxed set of organizational tools and resources that can revolutionize the way you approach problems. Identify core issues in minutes relating to management, your team, or your whole organization through action-directed dialogue. Debbe Kennedy s Breakthrough! won the 1998 InnoThink Award: ...for the most far-thinking combination of message and media; by MANAGEMENT GENERAL® .
SET INCLUDES: 288-page hardcover two-color book of timeless leadership wisdom with over 60 two-color illustrations; Problem Identification Illustrated Card Pack (highlighting 52 of the most common organizational issues that inhibit breakthroughs with related leadership wisdom quotations). Additionally, there is a Breakthrough! for Teams CD with how-to options for mobilizing your team by putting the Breakthrough! book, cards and strategy ideas to work; a Quick Reference Card to guide you through the process.
PACKAGING: All this comes in one compact book-size slip case, ready for your briefcase, library, or bookshelf.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Leadership Solutions Publishing; 1 edition (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965767795
• ISBN-13: 978-0965767798
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,687,796 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last a new, fresh approach!, July 1, 1998

By A Customer

This book says in a few words, what others never say from cover to cover. Solutions to major business problems are simplified with the step-by-step approach presented. Kennedy's simple, concisely stated management solutions apply whether one's view is up or down the corporate ladder. The messages in Breakthrough are so simple they seem obvious. But don't be fooled; that's Kennedy's genius, not yours. YOU discover the solutions to the greatest management problems today. Her methods suddenly become yours as you read on through the book. Breakthrough will not only change your approach to management problems, it will change your entire mentality on the subject.

As I read the book, I had a problem concentrating on the written text. My mind kept leaving to apply Kennedy's solutions to my everyday corporate life. Suddenly the problems were defined, and better yet, the solutions in sight. Why isn't Breakthrough required reading at all corporate levels? I LIKED THIS BOOK!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strategies presented are ground breaking, innovative, March 23, 1998

By A Customer

Not only did I find the material in this book of immense help, it has become my secret weapon in approaching those sales situations that had been my most challenging. The sales management of our company has also embraced the approach introduced by Ms. Kennedy and has implemented the approach set forth by Breakthrough in lieu of what has always been a tedious planning process. I talk about this book to any sales and management professional I know because it has had such an impact on my business--couldn't do without it!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent! Never leave my office without it., June 8, 1998

By	Emily Duncan ([e-mail]) (Califoria) - See all my reviews

I've been using BREAKTHROUGH! for several months and have found it to be one of the most useful and practical business book I've ever purchased. I make sure I have it in my briefcase whenever I leave the office for a meeting. If you're looking for a personal coach that you can keep with you at all times, this is the book. An easy to apply, jump start for problem solving.