A thoughtful and detailed approach to a particular niche of business management.
Herres offers a business management strategy guide that’s designed specifically for mental health therapists.
In this work, the author takes the established Profit First system for managing business accounts, created by author and lecturer Mike Michalowicz (who provides a foreword), and tailors it to the needs of therapists—from solo practitioners to owners of large, multiclinician practices. The book first explains Profit First, which is similar to the envelope method of personal finance with income divided among accounts dedicated to specific areas of a business. The system requires business owners to determine the percentage of income needed for operations, payroll, and other areas, and then to make gradual changes, as needed, to maintain a healthy, self-sustaining business while delivering an adequate return. Herres takes readers through the big-picture aspects and the minutiae of setting up the system, addresses common challenges and mistakes, and explains how Profit First can be adapted to businesses at all stages of growth and maturity. The book’s approach (“Profit happens on purpose, with every session and every clinician in your practice”) is sensible and clearly explained, and Herres is an empathetic adviser, reminding therapists that they’re not doing their clients or employees any kind of disservice by running a successful business. The book ably covers everything from the mundane, such as how to switch to a multiple-account system without throwing off existing insurance payments or automatic bill payments, to the aspirational, such as using the system to understand when a business is ready to expand. Readers without an accounting background will have no trouble following the book’s more technical aspects, which are laid out in a straightforward manner with plenty of examples. The author’s advice is also effectively tailored to the specific needs of therapy practices, addressing differences between insurance and private pay, standard methods of paying contractors and employees, and the relationship between electronic health records and accounting software. A plethora of anecdotes from Herres’ clients makes it easy to bridge the gap between theory and practice and to see the Profit First concepts in action.
A thoughtful and detailed approach to a particular niche of business management.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9798987216309
Page Count: 318
Publisher: Greenoak Press
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
