Bazi, or the "Eight Characters," is a system used to analyze your destiny based on the year, month, day, and hour of your birth. It examines the relationship between your personal energy and the Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). Through Bazi readings, you can gain insight into various aspects of your life, including career, relationships, and health. Master Xuan Shen’s approach combines this ancient wisdom with practical guidance to help you make informed decisions and create balance in your life.

Quick but effective

I read this book as an assignment in a Leadership class and I’m so glad I did! The title did not capture my attention, but the book was fascinating. I live the concept of Good to Great. Great companies have far more in common with Great social organizations than they do mediocre companies. I truly believe that no matter the organization, developing the qualities of greatness is always possible. It’s all in the attitude!

The broad scope of my training and experience is in business and leadership in the military and government sectors. However, I have also spent 10 years as a pastor struggling to bring my business acumen to bear in the social sector. This little book has finally brought a some clarity to some of the elements I have struggled to connect and has provided some insight into why some of the business concepts did not seem to bridge the gap. It has given me a lot to think about. If you are a leader in the social sector, I recommend reading this first and then immediately commence to reading "Good to Great" if you haven't already. It may make all the difference in how you approach the important work you do.

Essential Primer

As a student of social entrepreneurship, I was initially struck by Jim Collins's argument that social ventures should not strive to operate like traditional businesses. However, by the conclusion of his monograph, I came to appreciate his perspective that social ventures can achieve sustainability on their own terms. In this vein, Collins succinctly outlines the key elements that contribute to building 'great' and enduring organizations in the social sector. It is an essential primer, particularly for practitioners working in this space.

Great read!

This book provides you with great examples and lessons that you can implement into your own career, business, organization personal life.

A great, short read! Very insightful and lots of great ideas and visuals- the author clearly did his work understanding the differences between what defines nonprofit success v. For profit success.

Appreciate the author taking an extra dive into how the business principles would apply to government and nonprofits, and wish more business authors did the same.

A solid analysis of the differing types of leadership required by the business and government sectors.

Good essay, on topic.

great addition to the main book. Quick read.

Dense. Interesting. Took me a while to process despite just being 34 pages. I really like how research based the original ideas were. I think I’ll likely read “Good to Great”; It might fill in a few gaps, although with how much this covered in 34 pages, I’m hopeful there is not too much repetition in a longer book.

Evergreen

I read this monograph when it was first published. Rereading it today reminded me that this is not a fad leadership book. The principles have staying power.