Hoover, John 1952-

PERSONAL:

Born September 23, 1952, in Des Moines, IA; son of Robert (in public relations) and Ruth (a writer and poet) Hoover; married; wife's name Andrea Jean (divorced, January, 1997). Education: Iowa State University, B.A., 1977; Azusa Pacific University, M.A. (psychology), 1990; Fielding Graduate Institute, M.A. (human and organization development), 1995, Ph.D., 1997.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Millburn, NJ. Agent—Peter Miller, Peter Miller Literary and Film Management, Inc., 45 W. 21st St., New York, NY 10010. E-mail—bizwrtr@comcast.net.

CAREER:

Disneyland Entertainment Division, line producer, 1977-84; Tape Data Media Audio and Video Publishing (now part of HarperCollins Audio), vice president, publisher, and managing partner, 1984-87; McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, divisional general manager, 1987-90; organizational transformation, leadership, and organizational development and communications consultant, 1990—. Aquinas College, Nashville, TN, adjunct faculty member, 2000-06; Middle Tennessee State University, adjunct faculty member, 2003-04; Vanderbilt University, guest lecturer, 2004-06; keynote speaker and seminar presenter; guest on national and local media programs. Tennessee Supreme Court, Rule 31 civil mediator; also worked as marriage, child, and family counselor in California.

MEMBER:

American Society for Training and Development, Association for Conflict Resolution, Society for Human Resource Management, Organization Development Network.

WRITINGS:

(With Robert J. Hoover) An American Quality Legend: How Maytag Saved Our Moms, Vexed the Competition, and Presaged the Quality Revolution, McGraw-Hill (New York, NY), 1993.

(With Danny Cox) Seize the Day: How to Be an Extraordinary Person in an Ordinary World, Career Press (Franklin Lakes, NJ), 1994.

(With D. Deacon and M. Vance) Think Out of the Box!, Career Press (Franklin Lakes, NJ), 1995.

(With Danny Cox) Leadership When the Heat's On, McGraw-Hill (New York, NY), 2002.

How to Live with an Idiot: Clueless Creatures and the People Who Love Them, Career Press (Franklin Lakes, NJ), 2004.

(With Angelo Valenti) Unleashing Leadership: Aligning What People Do Best with What Organizations Need Most, Career Press (Franklin Lakes, NJ), 2005.

(With Roger DiSilvestro) The Art of Constructive Confrontation: How to Increase Accountability and Decrease Conflict, John Wiley (Hoboken, NJ), 2005.

(With Bill Sparkman) How to Sell an Idiot: Twelve Steps to Selling Anything to Anyone, John Wiley (Hoboken, NJ), 2005.

How to Work for an Idiot: Survive and Thrive without Killing Your Boss, Career Press (Franklin Lakes, NJ), 2006.

Bullwinkle on Business: Motivational Secrets of a Chief Executive Moose, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2007.

Collins' Best Practices: Time Management, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2007.

Collins' Best Practices: Dealing with Difficult People, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2007.

Hoover's writings have been published in Chinese, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, and other languages.

SIDELIGHTS:

John Hoover told CA: "I always wanted to twist the lens on the human side of business issues. As I began to write solo works I noticed my literary style beginning to resemble a love child with two daddies: Hunter S. Thompson and P.J. O'Rourke. I write most of my books in ninety days. I begin and don't stop until they're finished. It helps to be unemployed.

"There is exiguous money in writing long form; unless you're insanely successful. So far I've only become insane. How to Work for an Idiot: Survive and Thrive without Killing Your Boss and Bullwinkle on Business: Motivational Secrets of a Chief Executive Moose were the most fun for me to write. How to Live with an Idiot: Clueless Creatures and the People Who Love Them is by far my best and most substantive work.

"I truly want to help people relax and accept who they really are, just the way God made them; beginning with me. Then, as Theodore Roosevelt said, we can ‘start where we are, use what we have, and do what we can.’ Or words to that effect."