Authors: Michael Lee Stallard, Carolyn Dewing-Hommes, Jason Pankau

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

ISBN: 0-7852-2358-4

Michael Lee Stallard is the man who founded E. Pluribus Partners. He’s been a managing director for a US Trust Company and a principal at a universal private wealth management business.

An established leader of business in marketing and engaging people in their work, Michael has given talks with various organizations, including some conferences for Fortune magazine, the Corporate Executive Board, the American Bankers Association and many more.

Carolyn Dewing-Hommes is also a partner at E. Pluribus Partners. She has spent fifteen years at Citibank where she worked on a worldwide task force identifying companies whose employees were successfully engaged in their jobs.

Jason Pankau another partner at E. Pluribus Partners, is president of Life Spring Network, an organization which focuses on helping people understand life’s full potential.

Together these business partners have co-produced Fired Up or Burned Out, a book which concentrates on helping you and your colleagues produce a thriving business with happy employees.

Did you know that fewer then three out of ten Americans are engaged in their jobs? Did you know that connection at the workplace is essential for good business? Michael and his duo explore these questions and give step by step accounts as well as tales of business that have worked out and ones that have failed.

Coach Wooden notes that the key success to helping failing business is to treat your team-mates as equal “the star of the team is the team” he famously quotes. Wooden has always encouraged people to have their own views and opinions. He said that if you all think and say the same then “nobody thinks”. Wooden’s optimistic outlook on having your own opinions has always helped him in the past. When asked once for advice Wooden said “I don’t give advice; I give opinions”.

Couch Wooden has created a culture in the UCLA basketball that has included the elements of vision, value and most importantly voice.  Wooden was a great role model who made vision value and voice the new age.

Later on in chapter seven we explore inspiring with identity. We find out how to motivate others and how this can be great for business. An individual’s outlook is an important part of his/her identity and should be looked on as such and not as a bad thing. Many businesses fail because there is only one voice - there should be room for more voices, and more often that means improvement in the workspace.

If you have an idea then SHARE it with others. This increases connection. Connection like we learnt before, is essential.

Value is the next motivation at work. If you think someone has said something right, has got the voice across to everyone else and is contributing unique ideas then don’t be afraid to praise them (especially if you are the boss or the owner of a business) say what you think and reward them. Again this produces a productive workforce and again a productive workforce is the right balance for a good business.

However if someone has said something out of place and you want to criticize them do it but in a mature way - never say everything they said is wrong. This decreases human value as does many other behaviours at work.

Remember work together as a team but don’t be afraid to have your own say.

If you happen to be the boss the best way to connect with your employees is to learn more about them personally. Learn what they like, what they don’t like, learn their personal stories and their names. Talking to them and knowing their names is very useful. This shows them you do care and are looking at them as individuals and also as partners as apposed to just employees.

 This can create a powerful bound and emotional connection.

All of these wonderful facts are packed into this handy book on how to fire up workers instead of degrading them.  At the end of each chapter are bite-sized chunks that help summarize what the chapter has been about and take the most important parts from it, describing these in a snappy way.

Even after you’ve read the first couple of chapters, you will feel you have a greater understanding of business then you had when you first started. Michael and his co-writers have explained how to motivate business and bring out the best in people. Fired Up or Burned Out is a unique book that helps you understand your team better and helps you to “fire” them up. A great book for bosses and business partners everywhere.

 The above review was contributed by: Jessica Roberts: Jessica has been a book reviewer for a newspaper and a national women's magazine and is working on a novel.