Revved!: An Incredible Way to Rev Up Your Workplace and Achieve Amazing Results

Years ago, my editor met Revved! co-author Harry Paul, one of the creators of the bestseller FISH!, and asked him to consider endorsing my forthcoming book The Soul of an Organization. He not only agreed to look at it, but read it with interest, and later spoke with me by phone to discuss his thoughts on some of the book's finer points. It was a kind gesture for a budding author that I will never forget. I later had the pleasure of meeting Harry in person for the first time, together with his co-author Ross Reck, at last year's Book Expo America, and I was amazed at what I saw. With a long line of people waiting to meet him and get his autograph, he did more than smile and sign books - he truly created a connection with each and every person on line. It was like watching someone greet his best friend over and over again. So, I smiled when I finally sat down to read Revved! - because it spells out, in story form, exactly how to be the way Harry is in real life. His three steps to getting people "revved" are common sense, and yet elegant and procedural at the same time - and I can tell you from personal experience that they work. Buy this book for your entire management team, or better yet, get Harry to come speak in person. If everyone put his words into practice, our workplaces would be the happiest places in the world. -Rich Gallagher, author of The Soul of an Organization and Great Customer Connections.

Fast and easy reading and good information for many managers who truly are missing this piece of management - the caring piece can make or break your effectiveness as a leader! Following the guidelines in this book can take you to the top of your team as a leader of anything in any organization. Simple concepts + easily implemented = SUCCESS!

I have been waiting for a book like this to come along for more than three years. Harry and Ross do an outstanding job of driving home the three steps for getting others excited about going the extra mile--Winning Them Over, Blowing Them Away and Keeping them Revved. REVVED! is the kind of book you'll want to read over and over again--I've already read it twice. Also, the exercises at the end of the book are excellent and easy to use--great bonus material! REVVED! will not only make you more successful at work, but it will enable you to live your personal life more fully as well. I can't recommend this book enough! Read it and you'll see why.

FISH! was one of the best business books I've read in the last several years . . . so when I saw that one of the co-authors, Harry Paul, came out with a new book, I just had to get hold of a copy. His latest, REVVED!, certainly does not disappoint . . . written with Ross Reck, it is a business parable about how any workplace can be energized to achieve amazing results. However, the ideas contained in this brief but oh so powerful book can be applied in other situations too--such as with families, our personal lives, etc. . . . though they may not appear to be brilliantly new, I'm amazed at how rarely we follow all three basic principles: 1. Winning them over; 2. Bowling them away; and 3. Keeping them revved. Paul and Peck provide much useful advice, presented in a very realistic fashion . . . there were several passages that particularly caught my attention; among them: * When you share your dreams and goals with those close to you-a change of careers, starting a new business, going back to school-you're very likely to hear a negative response. Don't let others rain on your parade-instead, go for it! * Caring energizes everyone around you. When you open up and really care about people, you make them feel really good about themselves. This releases the reservoir of positive energy that resides in all of us. * Whether it is a put-down or a rude driver cutting you off in traffic, do not take it personally. Remember, you are in charge of your emotions! One other thing I liked about REVVED! was that it contained a plausible love story that left me smiling at the end.

This book puts forth a simple yet terrific concept: recognize the accomplishments of people in your organization and they'll go out of their way to support you. I did some contract work for Digital Equipment Corporation in the 80s, and the book reminded me of what I called their "atta-boy" culture. It's not a complex idea, but it definitely works.