Published May 1, 2005

Book Explains Why He's Working Harder But Happier

by Jo-Ann Greene

Dr. Ira Wolfe traded 25-hour work weeks for 18-hour workdays.

He swapped a six-figure income for economic uncertainty.

He went from running a 15-year old professional practice to running a brand-new employment consulting firm.

Ten years later he's still loving it.

His new book, "Understanding Business Values and Motivators," "highlights my career change from dentist to president of a career and pre-employment test firm," Wolfe said in an e-mail.  "This mirrors my transition from an unsatisfying job to an exhilarating career."

Wolfe's book outlines six different values that motivate people to perform in their jobs.  A savvy employer can tap into his employees' motivation - be it economic or aesthetic - to ensure their success as well as his own, Wolfe contends.

His 96-page paperback is studded with examples and quotes from everyone from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Yogi Berra.

Wolfe, as founder of Success Performance Solutions and president of Poised for the Future Company of Lancaster, PA, focuses on personnel recruitment, retention, and management.

The book is "for anyone who is 'suffering' in a career or position that just doesn't provide them with energy and passion anymore, and for all the managers who feel that motivating employees is like "pulling teeth," said the former dentist.

Wolfe has also written and published a new 48-page paperback, "The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book," which he describes as a "listing of social and demographic facts that will influence why worker shortages will not go away."

It reads like the weather report describing the Nor'easter that swamped the boat in "The Perfect Labor Storm" book and movie.  But instead of winds and waves, business must contend with work illiteracy and ill health.

In the end, the book promotes Wolfe's "CriteriaOne: The Whole Person Approach" to hiring, which he designed and trademarked, as a port in the "labor storm."

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