Mario Martinez

In April 1943 Lady Be Good, an American Liberator bomber, vanished into the night while returning to base at Benghazi, Libya, following a mission to Naples, Italy. All attempts to find the aircraft and her crew proved unsuccessful, and they became just one more casualty of the war. Fifteen years later, oil geologists spotted the bomber's remarkably well-preserved remains from the air some 400 miles southeast of Benghazi. Reports to American and British authorities provoked no interest. The investigation and reconstruction of the ill-fated mission was left to geologist Don Sheridan, who led a survey party to the plane and eventually located the crew and evidence of their desperate attempt to survive in the forbidding desert environment.Fascinated by rumors of the tragedy, Mario Martinez spent years attempting to find out exactly what happened. His account of the mystery is riveting. An intriguing piece of detective work, the story he has put together tells of the crew's courageous efforts to save themselves. It is a story with broad appeal, as evidenced by the popularity of a television documentary broadcast when this book was first published in 1995.

Policy and Performance in American Higher Education presents a new approach to understanding how public policy influences institutional performance, with practical insight for those charged with crafting and implementing higher education policy. Public institutions of higher learning are called upon by state governments to provide educational access and opportunity for students. Paradoxically, the education policies enacted by state legislatures are often complex and costly to implement, which can ultimately detract from that mission. Richard Richardson, Jr., and Mario Martinez evaluate the higher education systems of five states to explain how these policies are developed and how they affect the performance of individual institutions. The authors compare the higher education systems of New Mexico, California, South Dakota, New York, and New Jersey and describe the difficulty of enforcing state policies amid increasing demands for greater efficiency and accountability. In the process they identify the "rules in use"-rules that are central to the coherence and performance of higher education systems-that administrators apply to meet organizational goals within the constraints of changing, sometimes conflicting federal and state policies. Incorporating rich data from seven years of observations, interviews, and research, Richardson and Martinez offer a clear comparative framework for understanding state higher education.

The tenets of excellent customer service are central to any organization that creates or delivers products or services In fact, excellent customer service is a bigger differentiator today than it was twenty years ago. Customers are hungry for good service; they are hungry to establish long-term relationships with those who provide not only a one-time solution but serve as a long-term resource. There is a problem, however. Organizations and the people who work within them have difficulty implementing the principles of customer service. The vast majority of books and training materials on customer service teach the concepts, but do not provide the tools to implement them. In The Seven ServiceElements of Customer Success, we take you on an enjoyable journey where you will learn about the foundational principles of customer service and acquire the tools to implement those principles. These application tools will help make you more successful in your job and simultaneously contribute to an enhanced service culture in your organization. In the pages that follow, we blend classic knowledge with new information to create valuable insights about how to make customer service a sustainable competitive advantage in your joband for your organization.

The tenets of excellent customer service are central to any organization that creates or delivers products or services In fact, excellent customer service is a bigger differentiator today than it was twenty years ago. Customers are hungry for good service; they are hungry to establish long-term relationships with those who provide not only a one-time solution but serve as a long-term resource. There is a problem, however. Organizations and the people who work within them have difficulty implementing the principles of customer service. The vast majority of books and training materials on customer service teach the concepts, but do not provide the tools to implement them. In The Seven ServiceElements of Customer Success, we take you on an enjoyable journey where you will learn about the foundational principles of customer service and acquire the tools to implement those principles. These application tools will help make you more successful in your job and simultaneously contribute to an enhanced service culture in your organization. In the pages that follow, we blend classic knowledge with new information to create valuable insights about how to make customer service a sustainable competitive advantage in your joband for your organization.