Bøger af Marvin Dixon

Vicky Taylor was not looking forward to the coming year, and with good reason. No job, no boyfriend, and no prospects. However, a chance meeting with a charismatic young man and the promise of a new job help her start to put the dark days of her past behind her. Her life is looking up, but then Covid hits, and like the rest of the country, her world is turned upside down as the demons from her past return to haunt her. Meanwhile, Justin Kell faces his own problems when Molly's father becomes the victim of a callous investment fraud. The case puts him on the trail of a ruthless criminal determined to maintain his corrupt empire. With Molly expecting their first baby in the spring, the outbreak of Covid pushes their relationship to the limit, forcing Justin to make some stark choices. When murder happens on his doorstep, the ensuing chain of events leaves Kell wondering if their lives will ever be the same again.

Balance and Control: On Managing Subordinates, Peers, and your Manager was taken, in large measure, from the Parent Book, Balance and Control: A Guide to Managing Human Beings by Understanding Human Nature and Human Interactions. Here, the author walks the reader through three of the four management competencies; managing subordinates, managing peers and managing your superiors. Self-management is the fourth competence and is thoroughly explored throughout the parent book. The author emphasizes the importance of maintaining a degree of cerebral control and emotional balance when attempting to successfully manage either group. Your key to success in taking up these management challenges is to stay focused on your objectives and gain and maintain control of the human dynamics that are replete in every interaction. You'll have to stay aware of human nature and the motivational drivers of the human animal. You'll have to become an objective tactician and not allow vanity, ego, and emotions to cloud your judgment as you try to move the work, projects, and your careers forward. At the end of the day, the choices are yours. You can choose to become an effective manager and leader, a respected peer, and a valued employee, or to be driven by pride, egotism and blinded by power and fail. The author provides directions that are situational based and which he believes would be intuitive to the confident manager. But because many of us lack that level of confidence, the author helps by explaining the rationale for each approach. And while the author strongly recommends a thorough read of the parent book by new managers, the more experienced managers should greatly benefit from a read of the current book.

Balance and Control: On the Responsibilities of the Manager was taken, in large measure, from the Parent Book, Balance and Control: A Guide to Managing Human Beings by Understanding Human Nature and Human Interactions. Many managers assume the responsibilities of management and leadership without a full and complete understanding of what the job entails, and as a result, they come to the position wholly lacking in the tools that are essential for success. In this book, the author provides many of those tools using a simulation and an actual case study to demonstrate practical solutions to a myriad of familiar problems the manager is likely to encounter and which it is his responsibility to overcome and deliver on his obligations to the organization and to his people. The author identifies the problems as being both tangible (objective and physical) and intangible (subjective and nuanced). He also offers specific strategies that are designed to overcome most of these problems by supporting, training, and encouraging subordinates to buy in to the work or project at hand. But on those occasions when positive handling and encouragement are not enough, the manager must be prepared to bring negative consequences to bare in order to rectify the situation; up to and including the termination of a problematic employee. From the author's prospective, one of the key requirements for success as a manager in any job is setting and communicating realistic expectations and by holding your subordinates to the same standards of accountability for their work as Management has established for him. The author defines the distinctions between the manager and the leader and he tells the reader that he will have to be both if he is to be successful in the position. And because sexual discrimination is still institutionalized in our work environment and work place politics, the author closes the book with a note to the female reader.

Balance and Control: On Communications and Image Projection was taken, in large measure, from the Parent Book, Balance and Control: A Guide to Managing Human Beings by Understanding Human Nature and Human Interactions. In this book, the author takes a completely different approach to these topics than you might have expected. Heretofore these subjects have been taught and discussed single dimensionally and from the perspective of the communicator. The author puts communications and image projection in three dimensions in order to help the communicator get a fuller understanding of what might actually be happening at the interface between the communication transmitter, the receiver of the information, and to any casual observers to the communique. The author takes the position that on a subconscious level we are always communicating something, to someone, on some level, in our immediate environment and frequently the messages we send conflict with the overt messages we intended to convey. The author helps the reader understand the complex nature of communications and helps him to avoid communication traps such as incomplete, biased, and bad information. In addition, the author helps the reader learn to control both his own verbal and nonverbal communiques so they don't become liabilities to his career and to the professional image he is trying to project. And because we hold our personal image in such high regard, the author warns against the negative consequences of peer pressure, public vanity and pride, as well as the trappings of public honor. The latter sections of the book focuses on how to hold and control meetings, the types of presentations and how to prepare and give a presentation that is both purposeful and effective. Before concluding, the author provides some guidance on effective writing and concludes the book with some of the positive and negative messages we send without being aware of how they speak volumes to onlookers as to who we really are.

Balance and Control: On Personal and Professional Morality and Ethics was taken, in large measure, from the Parent Book, Balance and Control: A Guide to Managing Human Beings by Understanding Human Nature and Human Interactions. Here, the author walks the reader through many of the challenges we have to confront daily in our day-to-day lives as we try to do what we know to be "right". The author has taken the position that as a species; we are aspirational and are always struggling to reach a higher level of human existence and to move closer to our Ideal Image (a product of the Super Ego). He provides a number of examples to show how we live in a society made up of rules, laws, and norms that go unchallenged and unexamined but are just accepted by the masses. And, because we tend to live within the laws, norms, and rules for the better part of our lives, we seldom have to decide good over evil or right and wrong on our own. But when the decision is ours, and we find ourselves either morally or ethically opposed to social dictates and norms, we put ourselves at risk. The author provides familiar examples where the decision is yours to make and demonstrates how internal forces (greed and vengeance) and external forces (fear and intimidation, as well as social expectations (Group Think)) colors your reasoning process. He makes no attempt to provide moral or ethical guidance but describes the environment and the forces at work; decisions are left to you. And because your perceptions of what it means to be moral and what it means to be ethical are constantly evolving - as you mature - you will inevitably find yourself at odds with others in society, and when you do, and in far too many cases, you will subject yourself to the sanctions in that hierarchy. But regardless of how you decide these matters, there will always be sanctions; either from society or the psychological sanctions from your own conscious mind. The contents of this book should go a long way in helping you find your own path forward when deciding moral and ethical issues.

The Oort cloud is an attempt by the author (Marvin Dixon, also the author of Balance and Control) to explain the complex nature of the universe, man's place in it, the limitations of space travel, dimensional space and the universe's grand design, the notion of dark matter and dark energy, intelligence and the life force within the universe as well as the existence of God and the concept of religion. And while much of the discussion is thoughtful and well-reasoned, in the end, because the author is limited to the confines of the Oort cloud and his own three dimensional existence and intellect, he acknowledges that he is only able to prove his own existence and the existence of God; everything else is based upon theory and supposition. Though realistically, when we get down to the nuts and bolts of cosmology, all any of us really have are our theories and concepts. Verifiable proof of anything beyond our theories will have to wait until we can create new and different sciences. It is a fascinating read.

Balance and Control is the book that I would have welcomed at the start of my professional career. But because it didn't exist, after I retired, I felt compelled to write it for the benefit of all others responsible for managing people. Balance and Control is a guide to managing people at many different levels of technical and psychological maturities and at different hierarchical ranks (subordinates, peers, and superiors). It takes the theories of management and leadership and puts them into practical strategies and actions that have been proven to actually work. It takes an unvarnished look at the interface between the manager and those they manage or interact with and helps the manager to get a better appreciation of the human dynamics that are likely at play. My intent is to help the individual reader grow as a manager and help them avoid the majority of the professional and political pitfalls that are always present when any attempt is made to manage the competitive, narcissistic, and un-contented animal that is man. The book was designed to provide the manager a window into their own basic nature in order to give them a better understanding of the nature of man. In addition, the book's design brings together many of the same standard operational management strategies and tools, found elsewhere, but I have put them into situational context so the manager can see how their actions (or lack thereof) might be being interpreted on a psychological and emotional level by those directly affected by what they do. The book takes the reader on a blue collar journey through the white collar challenges of management. It will walk you through many of the human interactions a manager is likely to encounter while keeping you mindful of man's natural motivational drivers (his desires and fears), his pursuit of higher hierarchical status, individual recognition, pride, and personal respect. I have constructed the book in a cumulative fashion, allowing each new section to build upon the last, and I have chosen to take a holistic approach to the information provided. Therefore, the subject matter is interrelated, wide-ranging, and somewhat detailed. You will also find demonstrative examples, scenarios, and actual case studies to provide you with added clarity. Man is presented to the reader as a compartmentalized being so that each of the three separate and distinct levels of his being can be examined individually (the aspirational being, the competitive being, and the primordial being). The book was written for the sole purpose of helping you (the reader (the manager)) become skilled at managing and leading man at all three of those levels - not just the aspirational man. You shouldn't expect to find any gimmicks or short cuts in this book because there are none in Human Sociology or Psychology. Consequently, there won't be any "Magic Formulas" to instantly becoming a better manager, and there won't be any "5 Simple Steps to Superior Leadership" or a "60 Second Solution" to anything. What you should expect is to be able to learn the actual tools of human management and to be able to take control and become an effective manager and leader of people. You should also expect to develop an insight into man's nature which will allow you to avoid unintended consequences while facilitating cooperation and compliance with your leadership; your requests, recommendations, or dictates. While I have made no attempt to make the book's contents sufficiently comprehensive or all inclusive, the information presented should provide you a solid foundation upon which you can start to build, or continue to build, your managerial acumen and career success. Marvin Dixon

Roddy Roan is an intense young man who attends the prestigious Wellington Private School in the Herefordshire countryside. As the dislike of his English teacher Bill Solomons becomes an obsession of revenge, his friends slowly distance themselves from the impending carnage. Solomons turns to his brother for help and circumstances unite them in a common cause, but as each of them battle their own demons, personal tragedy strikes. Justin Kell reluctantly takes on the case of the suspicious disappearance of a city banker and quickly finds himself at the heart of a ruthless crime syndicate. It becomes a race against a time as he puts his life on the line with the stakes even higher when his personal life is turned upside down.

When cyber security expert Jack Neild goes missing in London it appears to be a straightforward missing person's case. As the situation unfolds, Justin Kell's sighting of an adversary from his past makes it clear that kidnap and organised crime are involved. With the authorities struggling to make progress in finding Neild and suspicion of a critical event with a global implication increasing, Kell puts his relationship with his longstanding girlfriend on the line as he becomes central to the investigation. When information from an unexpected source changes the dynamic of the operation, and with the body count increasing, the security services make their move, but will it be too late?