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Rating: 
Summary: Lessons for being a "player's coach" in life
Review: As Joe Torre's Yankees currently battle for yet another trip to the World Series, a television analyst recently shared a comment from a once-fiery opposing manager that coaches like Torre, who lead with intelligence rather than just emotion, have become the ones who are winning today. The philosophy of managing sports teams and business teams has changed substantially in the lifetime of most adults, and Joe Torre is a fitting spokesperson for the new style of succeeding. In Ground Rules for Winners, he makes it clear that competitive fire and a passion for success doesn't conflict with things like respect, dignity and knowing how to motivate people as individuals. This book represents a clear, practical game plan for anyone who wants a team of people to be the best at what they do. Amidst a compelling inside view of the Yankees' championship seasons in the late 1990s, some of the jewels of this book include his intensive one-on-one style of coaching (he eschews team meetings in favor of literally hundreds of individual get-togethers with players), his uncanny ability to get inside players' heads and learn their strengths and motivations, and three entire chapters devoted to the nuances of working with a demanding boss. It's a fascinating read that will help you look at managing any business team in a new light. -Rich Gallagher, author Delivering Legendary Customer Service: Seven Steps to Success.
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Summary: Torre Uncovers Winning Attitude for Success
Review: Coaches not only bring winning teams to victory, but they influence the team and individual to aspire to their highest potential. The art of coaching sculpts people into personal success with the clay of trust, encouragement, insight into individual psychology, and a thorough knowledge of the activity coached. Joe Torre, the manager of the New York Yankees baseball team who brought the players to championship at the World Series, weaves together these factors to show how business people can reach the same level of personal success. His wisdom applies to any activity that relies on an individual's extra push to succeed.
"How do you make it happen? As an individual, you work relentlessly on the fundamentals of the game-whatever you game may be," he notes in the book. The mechanics of the game or business lay the groundwork, but the variables of talent, interaction with coworkers, attitude and relationship skills count even more. "In order to build teamwork, you must acknowledge each individual's worth, letting him know that this role, no matter how seemingly minor, is a vital cog in the team's efforts," he writes.
In today's work environment, where getting to know fellow workers may be subordinate to getting the job done, and where the focus is on production rather than people, Torre's ground rules of knowing the people who work with and for you may seem radical. But, he says, they are essential.
His blend of common sense, experience and psychological insight make this book a productive and instructive use of time for managers or anyone wanting to succeed in business. He shows how the complexity of mind, emotion, heart and talent work together to build success, and he emphasizes the power of the mind and attitude on performance. The dreams and goals deep within the individual can win out, he insists. He encourages bravery and persistence to carry on in a world that can make it easy to douse the flame of a dream for the banality of safe routine. In the end, success in business and in life have meaning to the individual because of the struggle to get there. "(O)nly you know how many small triumphs and snarls went into that big victory, how many months, years, or decades of sweat and sorrow preceded that breakthrough. That's baseball, and that's life," he notes.
And that's Torre's attitude in a book worth reading.
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Summary: Good stuff from Joe Torre
Review: Don't bother wasting your time on this. It's a big dissapointment. It's really sad when books this boring and uninciteful get published.
Rating:
Summary: Not an average Joe
Review: I've only heard audio portions of this book so far and I've enjoyed it immensely. I'm a huge Yankee fan and I love the way Joe manages them - and George Steinbrenner for that matter; calm, clear, focused, patient. However, I just wanted to respond to Bill from NY, who said that Joe Torre can not write and that the book wasn't very "inciteful".
Note to Bill: buy a dictionary before you "right" off a review in haste.
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Summary: Yes, but It's JOE TORRE!
Review: It would be easy to categorize this book as yet another of the many self-help, management guide, consciousness raising, spiritually-uplifting, personal development textbooks. But the fact is that. . . well, it's JOE TORRE! The simple language prompts the reader to earmark pages and highlight passages as a reminder and confirmation of what should be second (if not first) nature but generally is not. You'd be hard-pressed to find life-altering revelations, but it certainly is a feel-good and must-read book. Besides, it's JOE TORRE!
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Summary: A Good Read!
Review: Joe Torre distills his management and "team player" philosophy into twelve keys. These insights elegantly deal with ways to inspire critical qualities, including trust, commitment, optimism, resilience, excellence, patience, integrity, respect, leadership, teamwork, and camaraderie. Torre illustrates his beliefs and advice with pertinent anecdotes told in a detailed, witty, heartfelt style. Torre, who has won four world series titles as manager of the New York Yankees, draws on his experiences as a player, manager, and leader. He includes the lessons he learned when he reported to a demanding team owner. The book delivers what it promises and offers an engaging behind-the-scenes look at professional baseball. We [...] recommend this book to executives, managers and employees at all levels in any kind of business. Since it never relies on macho clichés, both men and women will find it satisfying and worthwhile.
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Summary: Useful examples that can be applied to many situations
Review: Read JOE TORRE'S GROUND RULES FOR WINNERS:
12 KEYS TO MANAGING TEAM PLAYERS, TOUGH BOSSES,
SETBACKS, AND SUCCESS by Joe Torre with Henry
Dreher . . . Torre, in case you're not a baseball fan, is the manager
of the New York Yankees . . . this book tells how he has
applied commonsense principles to become perhaps the
sport's best top skipper . . . nothing overly profound here,
but it all did make sense to me . . . and I liked how he related
baseball examples to business, family and life situations. There were several passages I particularly enjoyed; among them:
* In any business, workers up and down the hierarchy want nothing
more than to be treated fairly, to feel that they aren't getting
the short end of a manager's stick. My second baseman in 1966,
Mario Duncan, once was quoted as saying about me, "He doesn't
play favorites. All twenty-five guys are his favorites." It was kind of
him to say, and I believe that it's true. Managers who make it
their business to keep personal preferences to themselves, to
show regard for all employees, and to be scrupulously fair about
opportunities, promotions, and perks, will be rewarded with a
bunch of highly motivated team players. * During my eight years as a player with the Braves, I was fortunate
to hit behind baseball's all-time home run king, Hank Aaron. One
day, Hank and I were talking about batting slumps when he made
a comment that's stayed with me ever since: "Each at bat is a
new day." * "I hang pictures," is a phrase I've used whenever I start a new
job. . . . When I first managed the Mets in the late 1970s, Boyer,
then the Cardinals' manager, visited me in my clubhouse
office. Kenny noticed all the personal pictures I had hanging on
the walls. "Wow," he exclaimed. "You expect to be here for a
while?" "When I start working somewhere, I just assume that I'm going
to be there forever," I said. "It's the only way I can do my job."
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Summary: A Great Book
Review: this Book deals with Uplifting Yourself&those around You.Joe Torre is a Man that has overcome alot and Yet he just Gets Stronger with time.Caoching for George Steinbrenner alone is alot of work unto itself but Joe is cool as can be.also Caoching Todays Players is a challenge but he is up for the task.and He is a Winner both on the field&Off.and so is His Brother.what a Uplifting Story.
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Summary: Not an average Joe
Review: This book offers good advice for managers of most professions. It may be simplistic to say that the baseball industry strategies will apply to all areas, but one of the first things you learn IS that it will apply to most areas -- because it deals with one long-time commonality -- people. Joe Torre shows that his insight and respect for others really does work and that it is NOT just money.
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Summary: Book for Employee Communicators too!
Review: Why Davis & Company (employee communication consulting experts) likes this book -- Even if you're not baseball fan-or a Yankees fan-it's easy to be impressed with Joe Torre's dedication to success and confidence as a leader, motivator and communicator. In the introduction, Torre explains that although his experiences are in baseball, the principles and advice his gives in his book are applicable to any business or organization that has team leaders and team players. His advice is broken out into 12 short chapters-each one dedicated to a success strategy. We, at Davis & Company, love the fact that Chapter 3 focuses on communication. "Straight Communication: The Key to Trust" addresses how important clear communication is to having your team strive toward the same goals. Torre stresses that communication is everybody's responsibility-not just the leader's. Yes this is a simple concept, but it's illustrated nicely with anecdotes and stories about the players and situations where clear communication was key. Pros -- Business book without being dry. An easy read. Success strategies are explained through real-life, easy-to-remember (and relate to) examples. Cons -- Some might view this book as too baseball-focused, with sports analogies run amok. Excerpt -- "We often neglect to learn new communication skills, because we underestimate their importance in our quest for success. Also, many of us think that we can't learn how to communicate more effectively. But we can become better communicators, and when we do, it plays a big part in realizing our dreams of winning."
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