Oiler Blues Oiler Blues: The Story of Pro Football's Most Frustrating Team, written by Joh Pirkle, BBA 81, tells the complete history of the team that came within one yard of winning last year's Super Bowl-the Tennessee Titans.   The story is primarily a sad one as it details the Titans' woeful predecessors, the Houston Oilers (1960-98).   A former U.S. Justice Department attorney, Pirkle gives a detailed, season-by-season account of the ill-fated team whose hometown didn't shed a tear when it moved to Tennessee.  Bad trades, bad tempers, bad seasons, and bad management marked the team that for years hinted at greatness but never achieved it.   The book also chronicles the evolution of football in the age of television, into a money-making vehicle. For more information and reviews contact info@sportline -books.com.  Oiler Blues is available at local bookstores. Also See Alumni Profiles Class Notes

Fall/Winter 2000 : Past Issues

Books From Our Own

Enlisting the services of a professional recruiter adds a future-focused dimension to your career life, says Darrell W. Gurney, BBA 84 and a 14-year veteran of the executive recruiting profession. In this way, you can maintain peak performance in your current job while the recruiter is always on the lookout for something better, not just when you’re unsettled for one reason or another. Gurney’s book, Headhunters Revealed! escorts readers through the job-search jungle, providing the inside scoop on the mind and mechanics of executive recruiters.

Having coached thousands of job seekers at all levels through profitable career moves, Gurney attempts to cut through myths and misconceptions to reveal tips and techniques to help boost your career—not just for the next job, but for life. The book covers such topics as: how to position yourself, how to choose a recruiter, career partnering, recruiter etiquette, and the high-tech job search. It concludes with a list of recruiting resources. Further information and reviews can be obtained at http://www.hunterarts.com.

In Workplace Warrior: Insights and Advice for Winning on the Corporate Battlefield, Kay Hammer, McCombs School Advisory Council member, shares her personal war stories and techniques for triumphing in today’s fiercely competitive business environment. Hammer is cofounder, president, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Evolutionary Technologies International (ETI), a spin-off from MCC. Using the metaphor of war to uncover truths about today’s work environment, Workplace Warrior combines candid lessons from the front lines with scrupulous analysis of the battlefield. More than just an autobiography, Workplace Warrior shares Dr. Hammer’s lessons learned the hard way in her journey from college professor to high-tech CEO, and offers practical advice for up-and-coming entrepreneurs battling it out in today’s highly competitive business environment. She identifies three stages of professional and personal growth: The Apprentice, The Warrior, and The Adventurer. The skills of the warrior, Hammer says, are crucial to self-assurance and lasting success. To purchase a copy, call 1-800-714-6395.

Nationally known author and motivational speaker, Byrd Baggett, BBA 72, has written seven books containing practical advice on achieving personal and professional excellence. Although nothing happens in commerce until a sale is made, Baggett says that business success starts with leadership and is sustained through customer service. His latest book, The Complete Book of Business Success, provides guidelines for sales, customer service, and leadership in proverb format.

Baggett has over 28 years of sales and sales management experience and is the former owner of a multi-million dollar food delivery business. His book is published by Rutledge Hill Press. Further information can be found at 
www.rutledgehillpress.com.

 

The management and marketing of technology have not always gone hand in hand, but McCombs Phd (1978) and former Texas professor (1989-95) Fred Phillips is out to reverse this trend with his latest book, Market-Oriented Technology Management. Published by Spencer-Verlag, the book examines the fundamentals of technology cycles, acquisition, management, and policy. A set of core principles will help managers find, acquire and develop technologies while adding value to them. Most importantly, the book aims to help managers turn a profit in the rapid, short-cycle environment of high-tech. The text comes pre-tested from courses at the Austin Technology Incubator and in Oregon's Silicon Forest. 

Author Phillips is presently a professor and department head of management science and technology at the OGI School of Science and Engineering, Oregon Health & Science University. Readers can get more information on his website or on the book's page at the publisher's site, where they can purchase a copy.

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