title: Army of Entrepreneurs: Create an Engaged and Empowered Workforce for Exceptional Business Growth
author:  Jennifer Prosek 
description: Small-business owners will find much of value in public relations consultant Prosek's claim that employers should harness the energy and initiative of their workforce to drive new business rather than being strapped with sole responsibility. Prosek recounts how she successfully transformed her company into an environment that empowered, motivated, and rewarded employees to pitch business and pursue clients themselves. Using case studies from such companies as Edward Jones and Harley Davidson/Buell, she maintains that in both large and small businesses, employees can be empowered to become an "army of entrepreneurs." The theory, and even application, of employee-based growth is credible when applied to small businesses, but may be less feasible in larger organizations. While the opening chapters advance her argument by concentrating on the potential of employees as rainmakers and use her business as a template, she drops the thread in subsequent chapters, which drift to broad cultural and structural issues faced by larger companies, including how to create a formal training program and recruit and retain talent. (Feb.) <br />(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: DEDICATION
  This is for Felicia, Sophia, Mariah, and the Boocher, mi familia, for
  putting up with me when I was learning all of this.
   
  One hundred percent of my portion of the proceeds of this book will
  go to help women in developing countries gain basic civil rights via
  the American Jewish World Service. They truly face the hard things.
  
  CONTENTS
  Dedication
  Introduction
   
  Chapter 1: From Communist to Venture Capitalist
  Chapter 2: “I Will Survive”
  Chapter 3: This Time with Feeling
  Chapter 4: When Things Fall Apart
  The Struggle
  CEOs Should Tell It Like It Is
  The Right Way to Lay People Off
  Preparing to Fire an Executive
  Demoting a Loyal Friend
  Lies That Losers Tell
  Lead Bullets
  Nobody Cares
  Chapter 5: Take Care of the People, the Products, and the Profits—in That
  Order
  A Good Place to Work
  Why Startups Should Train Their People
  Is It Okay to Hire People from Your Friend’s Company?
  Why It’s Hard to Bring Big Company Execs into Little Companies
  Hiring Executives: If You’ve Never Done the 