Robert B Shaw

The scents that permeate the poems of AROMATICS include bittersweet ones of memory, acrid ones of danger, and many others equally enticing or alarming. Candles-in this enlightened age, who needs them? Everyone and his mother, it appears. And what they're after more than anything is opportunity to choose aromas. As in Robert B. Shaw's previous work, his questing scrutiny of the world's inner mysteries is revealed in daily concerns and the self-reflection and hope that accompanies it. Looking through the skylight a moment after midnight, I found my gaze returned. The seven bright eyes burned with neither love nor hate. Robert Frost once offered this definition of a successful poem: "Read it a hundred times: it will forever keep its freshness as a metal keeps its fragrance." The poems in this book aspire to that high standard." Robert Shaw can do almost anything in verse, and do it well. His structural patterns vary; the range of his subjects is wide, but his New England sensibility is bedrock; unexpected shifts and turns mark many poems. His voice is conversational yet quietly formal, amiably inviting to his reader. Everything, no matter how randomly it may seem to occur, is aimed. His rare and subtle ways of observing the things of this world are also affectionate and welcoming. Aromatics, Shaw's sixth book of poetry, caps 30 years of work, of saying what he has 'lived to say.' It's a gem."-Dabney Stuart, Author of "Tables""Undaunted by 'the heatless fire of time' (not heartless-heatless), unafraid of the monsters of myth (check the poem about Perseus), and wonderfully allusive, whether comic (how did Rilke get into that gym? see the end of 'Working Out') or tragicomic (see the villanelle 'Single File, ' with its joke against Frost's 'Design'), Shaw demonstrates once again his care and craft, his mix of transatlantic, or traditional, elegance and New England honesty, of fluent blank verse and rhyme, attentive to-rather than bound by-the examples of Frost, Auden, Merrill. Here is an unshowy, confident, and often masterful collection: read it and hear it, and you might just find yourself saying, some times, 'What a neat effect ' and at others, simply, 'Life is like that.-Stephen Burt, professor of English at Harvard, Author of "Close Calls with Nonsense"

In Solving for X, his award-winning collection of new poems, Robert B. Shaw probes the familiar and encounters the unexpected; in the apparently random he discerns a hidden order. Throughout, Shaw ponders the human frailties and strengths that continue to characterize us, with glances at the stresses of these millennial times that now test our mettle and jar our complacency. Often touched with humor, his perceptions are grounded in devoted observation of the changing world. As in his previous collections, Shaw in these poems unites conversational vigor with finely crafted metrical lines. Final judge Rachel Hadas says it best: "Solving for X is droll and puzzled, elegiac and satirical in equal measure. Shaw's attention alights on a variety of more and less tangible things—a seed catalog, a shirt, a bad book, a request for a letter of recommendation, an irritating colleagues's death—which his masterfully packed lines then proceed to light up with deliberate and unforgettable authority."

In Solving for X, his award-winning collection of new poems, Robert B. Shaw probes the familiar and encounters the unexpected; in the apparently random he discerns a hidden order. Throughout, Shaw ponders the human frailties and strengths that continue to characterize us, with glances at the stresses of these millennial times that now test our mettle and jar our complacency. Often touched with humor, his perceptions are grounded in devoted observation of the changing world. As in his previous collections, Shaw in these poems unites conversational vigor with finely crafted metrical lines. Final judge Rachel Hadas says it best: "Solving for X is droll and puzzled, elegiac and satirical in equal measure. Shaw's attention alights on a variety of more and less tangible things—a seed catalog, a shirt, a bad book, a request for a letter of recommendation, an irritating colleagues's death—which his masterfully packed lines then proceed to light up with deliberate and unforgettable authority."

Acquire the best asset of all Your business is either enhanced by the presence of trust or held back by the presence of distrust. Robert Shaw gives conviction and advice to the leader who recognizes that trust becomes a performance multiplier only when the leader is prepared to go first. -- Craig E. Weatherup, president, PepsiCo, Inc. If you've never examined how trust affects your organization, maybe you should. In this engaging book, Robert Shaw moves past the right thing to do argument and focuses on trust as a critical issue successful managers cannot take for granted. He shows how lack of trust is compromising more and more organizations in today's highly competitive environment. And he offers a way out. Drawing on a variety of examples from real business situations, Shaw explains trust's increasing importance at four key levels: individual credibility, one-to-one collaboration, team effectiveness, and organizational vitality. He then provides an assessment survey to help you determine how you and your organization measures up trust-wise, and offers action steps for overcoming trust dilemmas such as those that arise during reinvention efforts. A vital handbook for leaders, change agents, and anyone interested in building high trust for high performance.

Explores the practical lessons learned from internationally renowned companies to bring about lasting and fundamental organizational transformation, providing a useful set of field-tested concepts and techniques for anyone seeking to promote change. In-depth interviews with such key corporate change leaders as Bob Allen of AT&T and Jamie Houghton of Corning, Inc., provide valuable insight and firsthand advice on the role CEOs and leadership teams can play in organizational transformation.

Reveals emerging techniques for answering the challenges senior managers face today: improving organizational quality, inspiring team performance, and creating powerful long-range strategy. Presents a proven model for understanding organizations and demonstrates how it can be used to effect positive change in organizational systems.