God, do we need this book! Scott Ventrella, adjunct professor at Fordham Universitys Graduate School of Business, has taken Norman Vincent Peales classic, The Power of Positive Thinking, updated it to the 21st Century, and applied it to the business world. What is impressive about Ventrellas style is that the book still carries the old-fashioned, almost religious, or formal, tone of the original book.

The book begins with a nice introduction from Dr. Peales wife and ends with a useful application tool Ventrella calls the Professional Challenge Worksheet, which you can use to apply the ideas presented in the book to an actual challenge, problem or opportunity you are currently facing in your business life. In between, there are ten traits: optimism, enthusiasm, belief, integrity, courage, confidence, determination, patience, calmness, and focus.

I found the information on building calmness especially helpful. Some of the tips the author offers are fairly obvious, but are also concise and well-explained for instant understanding and application. Ventrella suggests that you deal with problems directly and immediately, empty you mind of worry, deal with the physical symptoms of stress quickly, take advantage of your belief and focus traits, control how you talk to yourself and others, and work towards greater balance in your life. Not bad advise. You will find in this nice airplane read a valuable addition to the ever-growing arsenal of books we need to read to help keep us sane.