The Essential Organizer

Buy Now Home About the Book About the Author Media Links Contact

About the Author

After working for Exxon and Polaroid, Bill Lytle became an independent management consultant to a variety of organizations in the U.S. and Canada, including: manufacturing, research, and financial; private, nonprofit, and government; union and nonunion. He has helped organizations learn to work collaboratively with their employees to implement significant organizational changes. Bill has been a frequent presenter at workshops and conferences and has written books, articles, and training materials that guide those involved in complex change. He received his bachelors and masters degrees from Yale University; he also served as an officer in the U.S. Navy.

How the Book Began

The idea for The Essential Organizer began with Bill’s neighbor who is a volunteer at a Boston area hospice. She and others have witnessed the stress so many family members face, at an already fragile and vulnerable time, when they have no idea what the wishes of their loved ones are either for their personal care or for the management of their estates. Those observations, coupled with having the responsibility of resolving her own family’s complicated estate, led her to conclude that a solution would be to develop a comprehensive and user-friendly guidebook. Important preferences for even the most basic information unique to the life of a loved one, as well as more obvious instructions, need inclusion in a guide. As a consequence, she suggested that Bill write this book.

“The manager of our local bookstore told me that of all the books he's seen on the subject, this one was by far the ‘most approachable’. Glad it came along when I needed it! Everything from the beautiful colors and design to the sample pages is appealing — like doing this could actually be interesting, not some awful chore.”
— E. Akiba