Dallas, TX -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/11/2009 -- Michael E. McGrath, the founder and author of the groundbreaking decision making book series, Decide Better! is being featured on the Celebrate America television show that is being broadcast in thirteen major markets on PBS. Celebrate America is a national program designed to spotlight our nation’s youth and pull communities together founded by Tim Janis. The program reaches over 8,000 students in celebrating and honoring America’s youth in over 136 schools. The Celebrate America program featuring McGrath was one of the biggest pledge programs in PBS history. McGrath discussed two of his critically acclaimed and award winning books – Decide Better! For a Better Life and Decide Better! For College on the show highlighting how each can help parents and children make better decisions in the challenging times that they face. Decide Better! For College, recently was awarded the prestigious Disney iParenting award for excellence and the USA Book News Award. This book is the ideal gift for any child considering college, already in college or parent who wants to know some of the challenges that await their children in entering college or in daily college life. Decide Better! For a Better Life, the first book in the acclaimed series, provides 90 witty and practical lessons on decision-making for everyday life. In keeping with the spirit of Celebrate America, McGrath discussed practical lessons from each book and if applied how they can help our nation’s youth excel in any endeavor they pursue.

Janis’ Celebrate America is a project that spotlights America’s thousands of public school students and their music programs on PBS. Carried in major American media markets by PBS, Celebrate America has earned a following estimated to be several million strong. In highlighting the achievements of public school students, Celebrate America also serves as an educational character building tool with its show and with its inclusion of the Decide Better! book series demonstrated to both students and parents the importance of good decision making. Having already aired in Vermont, and reaching most of New England, the Celebrate America showcasing Decide Better! will be broadcast on PBS in such markets as Dallas, Nashville, and statewide in Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Maryland, in 2010 to coincide with the PBS pledge drives nationally.

“I was very pleased to have been asked by Tim Janis, the creator of Celebrate America, to appear on this telecast,” said Michael E. McGrath, author of the Decide Better! series. “Today’s youth are our future as Celebrate America truly recognizes. Decide Better! For a Better Life and Decide Better! For College are both written to educate our youth and indeed anyone on how to make better decisions in their daily lives. By teaching our children, the importance of the better decision making and how to make better decision, we can ensure that we are leaving the future better off than we found it and that is what every parent strives for with their children.

“When I first developed the Decide Better! series, I did so with the recognition that we all need to make better decisions in our daily lives both personally and professionally,” continued McGrath. “The need for better decision making is more critical now than ever before and by understanding how to make better decisions, we will be able to make more meaningful and impactful decisions in our daily life.”

Decide Better! For a Better Life provides 90 witty and practical lessons on decision-making. It is designed so that readers can pick it up and read one or two chapters at random throughout the book, then come back to it and read other chapters later. It is truly a guidebook for successful decision-making in everyday life. It was a finalist for the Benjamin Franklin Book Award in the category of self-help.

Decide Better! For College is the second book in the series and was co-authored with McGrath’s son, Christopher K. McGrath. Decide Better! For College is the only comprehensive source of information for prospective and current college students in how to make the decisions for the challenges that they will encounter in college. Additionally, it is an excellent resource for parents. The book navigates students through how to decide what college is best, how to decide what major to puruse, how to balance social and academic life, how to decide whether to study abroad, whether Greek life is for them, and other decisions that students will encounter in their collegiate life. It was awarded the prestigious Disney iParenting award for excellence and the USA Book News Award for youth in the category of education.

About Michael E. McGrath and Decide Better!
In 1986 when Michael McGrath initiated the PACE® (Product and Cycle-time Excellence) decision process for product development, it enabled thousands of companies to reduce time-to-market. In Business Decisions! he now changes the way and the process of how companies make decisions. Author and decision-making expert Michael McGrath has devoted his career to making winning business decisions. He has advised some of the largest companies in the world and created innovative new decision techniques used by hundreds of successful businesses. He has made countless decisions as a CEO building a world-leading consulting firm and leading a public company turnaround. He is the author of the best-selling book Product Strategy for High-Technology Companies and founder of Decide Better!. He currently is the executive chairman of Thomas Group, and serves on a number of private and nonprofit boards.

Decide Better! was founded in 2007 to help businesses and individuals achieve success through making better decisions. The company has two series of books. The Decide Better! Self-Help series is targeted at individuals, with Decide Better! For a Better Life and Decide Better! For College published in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Business Decisions! is the first book in the Decide Better! Business Series, with additional books and workbooks to follow. In addition to publications, Decide Better! also provides decision workshops for executives, teams, and boards, as well as presentations to large groups. For more information, go to http://www.decidebetter.com.