Fine Art and High Finance by Clare McAndrew (Ed) - Book review

Fine Art and High Finance

Expert Advice on the Economics of Ownership

By: Clare McAndrew PhD (Editor)

Published: January, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
ISBN-13: 9781576603338
ISBN-10: 1576603334
Publisher: Bloomberg Press








"In recent years, as some of its opacity has begun to slowly lift, the modern art market has begun to evolve into an international financial trading platform in which specialized assets are exchanged by a widening group of investors, both individual and institutional, with as many interested in their financial benefits as in their aesthetic beauty or historical importance", writes cultural economist and investment analyst Dr. Clare McAndrew, in her comprehensive guide to the fine art investment market Fine Art and High Finance: Expert Advice on the Economics of Ownership. The author, and guest expert contributors provide a detailed road map for navigating the often opaque but potentially very profitable world of investing in fine art.

Clare McAndrew, along with the noted art experts featured in the book, provide valuable insights necessary for understanding how the fine art market works as a financial investment arena. Included in the book are critical chapters on how fine art is priced, appraised, and valued in the marketplace. While in general, art is valued according to the well known laws of supply and demand, the book contains important information about how values are determined beyond basic economic laws. Clare McAndrew is a specialist in the field of cultural economics, including fine art, and shares inside information that can help the novice or more experienced art investor recognize where and how art is sold, and to ask the right questions to avoid many of the potential pitfalls that await the unwary. At the same time, the book goes well beyond the overt investment potential of art, and includes key chapters on storage, restoration, conservation, insurance, taxation, and the myriad of fees and commissions incurred in buying and selling works of art.



Clare McAndrew (photo left) and the other contributors examine the art market from the inside out, and from every possible direction. Along with demonstrating the opportunities for profit through art investing, the book also describes how to assess possible future value changes, including how to lower the possibility of future financial losses. While art can appreciate greatly in value over time, as a result of many factors described in the book, improper care can undermine the value of the work to a large degree. Through important chapters on understanding the roles and differences between conservation, restoration, and preservation, the investor can prevent physical deterioration of the art assets within a portfolio. The book also shares advice on displaying and storing art to avoid possible degradation as well. The chapters on taxation in the United States and the United Kingdom, along with the section on art and banking, provide a degree of sophistication found rarely in books on art as an investment.

For me, the power of the book is how Clare McAndrew and her contributing experts provide detailed information on the world of art investing in a clear and concise manner. The information is well presented, in logical order, and includes seldom discussed issues of art banking, art investment securities and funds, and art as collateral for loans. Other important and valuable chapters discuss the role of government and its effects in the art market, risk assessment and insurance, as well as the illegal art trade. The book works well for guiding art investors at every stage of ownership from understanding what art to buy, where to buy it and how to evaluate it properly. The writing team is also very detailed on how to understand and budget for the costs associated with purchasing and owning a fine art portfolio. The book then provides further information on selling art, a known illiquid asset, to best advantage and how to understand the tax implications of any art sale.

I highly recommend the indispensable book on art investment Fine Art and High Finance: Expert Advice on the Economics of Ownership written and edited by Clare McAndrew PhD, to anyone seeking to better understand the world of fine art investment, including investors, collectors, curators, artists, and advisers. The book removes much of the mystery and misunderstandings surrounding the art market, and describes the inner workings of the milieu in easy to understand language. The book contains valuable information for anyone regardless of their experience level in the world of fine art investing.

Read the essential guide book Fine Art and High Finance: Expert Advice on the Economics of Ownership written and edited by Clare McAndrew PhD, and learn why fine art can be an important addition to any investment portfolio, and how to maximize the potential earnings from current and future art investments. This book is the definitive reference book for art investing, and is a must read for any serious fine art investor or institutional buyer.

Tags: Fine Art and High Finance: Expert Advice on the Economics of Ownership, Clare McAndrew PhD, fine art investment, business book reviews.

Rodd Wagner: Power of 2 - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



A principal of Gallup and co-author of the insightful and groundbreaking, research based book Power of 2: How to Make the Most of Your Partnerships at Work and in Life, Rodd Wagner, describes the importance of partnerships in all aspects of our personal, business, and professional lives. He shares extensive research findings on why some partnerships succeed, while others fail, and the reasons why. He also describes how people with one or more strong partnerships are more successful in all areas of their lives. He also shows how to improve and strengthen partnerships and their untapped potential for creating happier and more fulfilled lives.

Rodd Wagner is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, February 9, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

A principal of Gallup and co-author of the insightful and groundbreaking, research based book Power of 2: How to Make the Most of Your Partnerships at Work and in Life, Rodd Wagner, describes the importance of partnerships in all aspects of our personal, business, and professional lives. You will learn:

* Why humans crave collaboration and partnerships with others

* The value of encouraging collaboration and teams in companies

* The essential elements that all successful partnerships share

* How to build partnerships in your personal and professional life



Rodd Wagner (photo left) is a New York Times bestselling author and a principal of Gallup. He and Gallup Vice Chairman Gale Muller, Ph.D., are authors of Power of 2: How to Make the Most of Your Partnerships at Work and in Life. Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter, Ph.D., are authors of 12: The Elements of Great Managing.

Rodd Wagner's books, speeches, and consulting focus on how human nature affects business strategy. He advises senior executives in many industries on the best ways to strengthen their partnerships, increase employee engagement, and improve profitability.

Rodd was formerly the research director for the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram; a reporter and news editor for The Salt Lake Tribune; and a radio talk show host. He received a master's degree in business administration from the University of Utah Graduate School of Business.

When not writing or consulting, Rodd Wagner enjoys snowboarding, fly-fishing, kayaking, and coaching youth lacrosse. He, his wife, Nora, and their three tennis-, hockey-, and lacrosse-playing children live near Minneapolis.

My book review of Power of 2: How to Make the Most of Your Partnerships at Work and in Life by Rodd Wagner and Gale Muller.

Listen live on Tuesday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.



To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with principal of Gallup and co-author of the insightful and groundbreaking, research based book Power of 2: How to Make the Most of Your Partnerships at Work and in Life, Rodd Wagner, as he describes the importance of partnerships in all aspects of our personal, business, and professional lives. He shares extensive research findings on why some partnerships succeed, while others fail, and the reasons why. He also describes how people with one or more strong partnerships are more successful in all areas of their lives. He also shows how to improve and strengthen partnerships and their untapped potential for creating happier and more fulfilled lives on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Power of 2: How to Make the Most of Your Partnerships at Work and in Life, Rodd Wagner, partnership and collaboration, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Power of 2 by Rodd Wagner & Gale Muller - Book review

Power of 2

How to Make the Most of Your Partnerships at Work and in Life

By: Rodd Wagner, Gale Muller

Published: November 2009
Format: Hardcover, 204pp
ISBN-13: 9781595620293
ISBN-10: 159562029
Publisher: Gallup Press








"Face it. Your partnerships could use some work", write co-authors and Gallup executives Rodd Wagner and Gale Muller in their insightful and groundbreaking, research based book Power of 2: How to Make the Most of Your Partnerships at Work and in Life. The authors provide an in depth analysis of why few people take advantage of the power and strength provided by building strong partnerships, despite their tremendous benefits for everyone.



Rodd Wagner (photo left) and Gale Muller recognize the importance of collaboration with others. The authors describe why working together as partners, in all areas of a person's personal and professional lives, multiplies the strengths of all parties. The strong research based study, upon which this book is based, describes the common elements of what makes a partnership successful. Even though the Gallup research uncovered the commonalities of strong and effective partnerships, the research also found that people as individuals and as parts of larger organizations, were not utilizing the power of partnership to its fullest extent. The authors point out that humans are made for collaborating with one another and for working together. As a result, the authors set out to discover how and why collaboration works, and the book outlines their findings very effectively.



Gale Muller (photo left) and Rodd Wagner provide some disturbing statistics about the lack of partnerships in most peoples' working and personal lives. The authors show how the internet, social media, text messaging, and cell phones have people connected, but not collaborating as full partners. The research also uncovered systemic problems in organizational structure, culture, and management that worked against partnering with others, creating isolation of individual employees and resources wasted on counterproductive internal company battles. The research and analysis in the book demonstrate quite clearly that companies, starting from the top, that encourage and nurture teamwork, partnerships, and organizational collaboration will be stronger, have happier employees with less turnover, and enhanced profitability.

For me, the power of the book is how Rodd Wagner and Gale Muller utilize sound research based data to demonstrate and underline the critical importance of partnerships for both individuals and for organizations. Unlike many research based books, there is no need to examine the research methodology for weaknesses. Gallup utilizes state of the art research and analytical techniques, ensuring the statistical accuracy of its findings. Along with the research based information, the authors also provide real world examples of both effective and ineffective partnerships to illustrate their important points. The study found several common features of successful partnerships, and each one of these important factors is given its own chapter, underlining their value for creating positive working partnerships in any situation.

I highly recommend the must read book Power of 2: How to Make the Most of Your Partnerships at Work and in Life by Rodd Wagner and Gale Muller, to anyone seeking research based insight and analysis of the power of partnership and collaboration with others. The book will transform an organization built on isolated, go it alone individuals into a company based on a shared sense of mission, and of working together to maximize strengths. At the same time, the business will have happier and more productive employees, who work as a team to further the goals of the organization.

Read the empowering book Power of 2: How to Make the Most of Your Partnerships at Work and in Life by Rodd Wagner and Gale Muller, and put the multiplied force of the many to work for your company. The positive results will astound you.

Tags: Power of 2: How to Make the Most of Your Partnerships at Work and in Life, Rodd Wagner, Gale Muller, partnership and collaboration, business book reviews.

Repositioning by Jack Trout (with Steve Rivkin) - Book review

Repositioning

Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change, and Crisis

By: Jack Trout, Steve Rivkin

Published: October 2009
Format: Hardcover, 224pp
ISBN-13: 9780071635592
ISBN-10: 0071635599
Publisher: The McGraw-Hill Companies





"Repositioning is how you adjust perceptions, whether those perceptions are about you or about your competition", write co-authors Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin in their idea challenging and important book Repositioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change, and Crisis. The authors move beyond Jack Trout's classic book Positioning, and describe how winning the minds of customers is only part of the road to success, and demonstrate the critical role of strategy in beating the competition in times of change and crisis.



Jack Trout (photo left) and Steve Rivkin recognize that the concept of positioning within the marketplace is still critical to success. A business must differentiate its products and services in a crowded marketplace if it is to survive and prosper. At the same time, however, change is happening in the competition, the industry, and the economy as a whole. A company or its competitors may face a crisis of due to economic conditions, cost increases, or a serious product or public relations disaster. A failure to meet these challenges, along with the constant threat of being overtaken by the competition, serve to make repositioning a crucial part of overall business strategy. Through examining the potential impact of the competition, change in the market, and the potential for crisis within a company or the economy, an organization can meet those challenges through a strong. well planned repositioning strategy.



Steve Rivkin (photo left) and Jack Trout provide a powerful framework for establishing a repositioning strategy that not only shows the weaknesses of the competition, but also the strengths and advantages of one's own company. To build that successful repositioning strategy, the authors provide a five step process:

* Rethink your current marketing
* Refocus your consumer branding
* Reassess your company’s strengths
* Reposition your corporate identity
* Reclaim your competitive edge

With these important steps in place, a company can meet the challenge of the competition which may not be considering a repositioning strategy. The dynamic of change in the marketplace and the economy can be overcome through an understanding and consideration of the process. In the event of a crisis in the company or industry, the repositioning steps create a road map for rebuilding customer confidence and moving ahead of the competitors.

For me, the power of the book is how Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin add the important strategy of repositioning to the well known concept of positioning. They describe why repositioning is much more than finding weaknesses withing the competition. While that idea is part of repositioning, the authors demonstrate that moving ahead of the competition is not simply about the negative aspect of the competition, but about creating positive differentials to claim the competition's market share as well. Repositioning is also a timely topic for today's rapidly changing economic and market conditions. Knowing when to change from the current market position into a new repositioned area of the market can mean the difference between company success and failure. The specter of crisis looms large within today's economy, and whether a crisis hits on a company only or industry wide scale, the ability to utilize the five step repositioning strategy outlined in the book, can be a game changer.

I highly recommend the brilliant and destined to become classic book Repositioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change, and Crisis by Jack Trout (with Steve Rivkin), and put the transformational power of repositioning to work in your company. The book provides a powerful combination of theory and practical application that can be utilized to strengthen your organization while leaving the competition far behind.

Read the essential and revolutionary book Repositioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change, and Crisis by Jack Trout (with Steve Rivkin), and put the power of repositioning to work for your company. This book will improve your organization's strategic thinking during these times of change and crisis, and leave the competition in the dust.

Tags: Repositioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change, and Crisis, Jack Trout, Steve Rivkin, business strategy, business book reviews.

The Price Of A Bargain by Gordon Laird - Book review

The Price of a Bargain

The Quest for Cheap and the Death of Globalization

By: Gordon Laird

Published: October 20, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 344 pages
ISBN: 978-0-7710-4606-3
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart







"For better and for worse, ours is the age of the bargaineers - the engineers of bargains - whose factories extend from rice paddies to suburban basements everywhere. Each year we are drawn to their doors by the millions", writes award winning journalist Gordon Laird in his incisive and thoughtful book
The Price of a Bargain: The Quest for Cheap and the Death of Globalization. The author provides rare insight into the driving forces behind globalization, and lays bare the real costs associated with perceived bargains, that fill the shelves of big box stores and discount chains.

Gordon Laird comes to the conclusion that globalization may have reached its practical limit. In a world of depleting and more costly resources, less available cheap offshore labor, more expensive transportation, and exhausted consumer credit, the real price of bargains has been borne by those other than the customer. The author describes, through extensive research that spans the globe, that the globalized economy of the past two decades is unsustainable and is nearing an end. The true environmental costs of bargains, writes Gordon Laird, are now being realized in higher levels of air pollution, increased asthma and cancer rates, and accelerated climate change. At the same time, the author describes how exploited workers rioting for higher wages and better working conditions, while increasingly scarce resources become more expensive as well. These realities lead the author to conclude that product prices will increase at the same time as consumers have lower incomes and less access to credit.



Gordon Laird (photo left)describes the rise and fall of shopping malls and big boz stores, how industry leader Wal-Mart may have passed its peak growth period, and how dollar stores and independent retailers are adding customers. The author takes the reader on a tour of Alberta's tar sands, the port of Los Angeles, and through mainland China. Each of these integral parts of the world bargain trade system point to what he sees as its decline. All of these changes in the retail, environment, resource, and offshore labor landscape, according to Gordon Laird, represent an overall sea change in the global supply chain. As a result, the author sees dramatic changes in consumer behavior to a more local and regional type of economy. For Gordon Laird, these changes mark the beginning of the end of globalization.

For me, the power of the book is how Gordon Laird combines seemingly unrelated aspects of the global economy, ranging from resource scarcity to Chinese worker riots to less consumer credit, and connects them into an overall global system of bargains. At the same time, the author makes a compelling case that today's familiar shopping malls are soon to be ghost towns, and they will be joined by countless big box stores and power centers. The true prices of labor, environmental degradation, and health concerns have not been part of the low prices for imported consumer goods. That situation is about to change. The author provides policy and market based alternatives to the current bargain economy. Instead of globalization continuing as what Gordon Laird calls a gambler's economy of Las Vegas writ large, he suggests that a more balanced economy will emerge, where the real price of things saves the world economy and globalization from themselves.

I highly recommend the powerful and essential analysis of the true cost of bargains The Price of a Bargain: The Quest for Cheap and the Death of Globalization by Gordon Laird, to anyone seeking a more clear understanding of how the search for bargains has many hidden and unaccounted for costs. The book also takes a glimpse into the future of the retail, resource, and transportation industries and how their transformation will change forever the face of national economies and globalization.

Read the powerful and important book The Price of a Bargain: The Quest for Cheap and the Death of Globalization by Gordon Laird, and you will never look at low prices and perceived bargains in the same way again.

Tags: The Price of a Bargain: The Quest for Cheap and the Death of Globalization, Gordon Laird, costs of globalization, economics book reviews.

Who Owns The World by Kevin Cahill (with Rob McMahon) - Book review

Who Owns the World

The Surprising Truth About Every Piece of Land on the Planet

By: Kevin Cahill, Rob McMahon

Published: January 29, 2010
Format: Trade Paperback, 384 pages
ISBN: 9780446581219
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing










"Land is the single most common characteristic of wealth worldwide. What the poor lack - land - the rich have in spades. In fact, land defines the wealthy to a far greater extent than cash", writes journalist, editor, and geographer Kevin Cahill, along with journalist Rob McMahon, write in their comprehensive and fascinating study of global land ownership Who Owns the World: The Surprising Truth About Every Piece of Land on the Planet. The authors assert that land ownership is very heavily concentrated in a few hands, has been concentrated throughout history, and that lack of access to real property was and remains the leading cause of national and global poverty.

Kevin Cahill and Rob McMahon provide startling statistics about who really owns the land in every country and territory on earth. Tables and charts, complete with numbers of owned acres, demonstrate that the ownership of land everywhere is not widely held. Instead, a few wealthy people, members of royal families, churches, and governments represent the vast overwhelming majority of land ownership. The authors identify Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom as the largest owner of land in the world. Through Crown ownership, her ownership extends to entire countries and encompasses one seventh of the globe. Other monarchs hold similar ownership levels in the countries of their dominion. In the United States, the largest landowners are the government and Ted Turner. The book lists the major owners in exhaustive lists of their extensive holdings.



Kevin Cahill (photo left) and Rob McMahon assert that the overwhelming proportion of land held by a few people, including hereditary monarchs, is the primary source of global poverty. For Kevin Cahill, the lack of land ownership and the exclusion of any access to owning land, creates poverty and perpetuates the gap between rich and poor around the world. The authors consider that land ownership, and the access to property, is a basic human right. They demonstrate that the usual rates of population density, and measures of land ownership fail to take into account disparity in population placement and the ultimate state or monarch ownership. The authors write that there is just over 5 acres of land per person in the world. They propose that everyone have access to one tenth of an acre to live or two acres of rural property. They believe this step would do more to end the gap between rich and poor than any other measure that can be undertaken in terms of wealth redistribution.

Foe me, the power of the book is the extensive and intensive research done by the authors in building their case about who really owns the world's property. They provide hard data in the form of documented numbers, lists of the major owners in various groups, and how property title is often not as secure as thought previously. With only 15% of the world's population owning all of the land, the authors make a solid assessment of who holds real property. Those statistics also underline the vast majority of the world's people who own no land. For the authors, that exclusion to land ownership is the most important indicator and cause of world poverty. By examining the global ownership of land, the book provides a valuable forecasting tool for how developments in property ownership may evolve, helping to formulate and create public land ownership policy.

I highly recommend the monumental and often shocking book Who Owns the World: The Surprising Truth About Every Piece of Land on the Planet by Kevin Cahill (with Rob McMahon), to anyone seeking a comprehensive study into the real truth about global land ownership, and its effect on wealth and poverty on a worldwide basis. Whether you agree with the authors' assessment and analysis or not, the book is a must read for everyone, as land ownership affects everyone living on the planet. This understanding is also critical to understanding our collective future as well.

Tags: Who Owns the World: The Surprising Truth About Every Piece of Land on the Planet, Kevin Cahill, Rob McMahon, global land ownership, geography book reviews.

Alan Levy: Cinch & BlogTalkRadio Make Audio Easy - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



BlogTalkRadio CEO Alan Levy shares the latest news and developments at BlogTalkRadio. He describes the rapid growth of BlogTalkRadio as an industry leader, provides information about new options including Premium Hosting. He also points out the power and potential of the new audio sharing application Cinch that lets you post audio podcasts to Facebook and Twitter through your iPhone, computer, and much more.

Alan Levy is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Thursday, February 4, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

BlogTalkRadio CEO Alan Levy shares the latest news and developments at BlogTalkRadio. He describes the rapid growth of BlogTalkRadio as an industry leader, provides information about new options including Premium Hosting. You will learn:

* About the rapid growth of industry leader BlogTalkRadio

* How to access and use Premium Hosting

* Why you should add Cinch to your social media program

* Why podcasting is growing and will continue to expand its scope



Alan Levy (photo left) XEO along with Bob Charish founded BlogTalkRadio in August 2006. The concept for BlogTalkRadio was developed by Levy as he mourned his father’s passing. Levy maintained a blog, www.theinspirationalvisit.blogspot.com to update his family and friends on his father’s health - and later as a memorial to his life. Levy thought by combining blogging and telecommunications, a true immediate two-way interactive online platform could be established. This led to the birth of BlogTalkRadio.

In addition to BlogTalkRadio, Levy is a principal shareholder of XChange Telecommunications, a local telephone provider and myphonecompany.com, a VOIP company, both of which were founded in 2002. XChange powers BlogTalkRadio’s telephone needs. From December 1999 to March 2000, Levy served as Chief Operating Officer at Viatel Inc. (NASDAQ – VYTL), a facility based global telecommunications company. In December 1999, Viatel Inc acquired Destia Communications in an all stock transaction valued at $1.2 billion.

Prior to Viatel Inc, Levy served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Destia Communications (NASDAQ - DEST) from July 1996 to December 1999. The company sold an array communications services including voice, data, and ISP services with sales operations in eleven countries including the US, UK and most of Western Europe. When Levy joined Destia in August 1996, the company had 40 employees in two countries, 10,000 customers and revenue of $2 million per month. Under Levy’s leadership, Destia grew to 1200 employees, 550,000 customers (with a growth rate of 50,000 customers per quarter, and annual run rate revenue of $400 million).

From October 1993 to July 1996, Levy held positions including Managing Director Europe, Executive VP of Legal and Finance, and Chief Financial Officer at Viatel. He joined the company after George Soros purchased a 20% minority stake in the company. During his tenure, the company raised more than $100 million to deploy a pan European fiber network and establish sales and marketing organizations throughout Western Europe.

Prior to joining Viatel, Levy was a Certified Public Accountant in New York City. Alan Levy graduated from Boston University in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.



To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with BlogTalkRadio CEO Alan Levy as he shares the latest news and developments at BlogTalkRadio. He describes the rapid growth of BlogTalkRadio as an industry leader, provides information about new options including Premium Hosting. He also points out the power and potential of the new audio sharing application Cinch that lets you post audio podcasts to Facebook and Twitter through your iPhone, computer, and much more on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: BlogTalkRadio news and future plans, Alan Levy, Cinch API, CinchCast, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.