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Lola and the Boy Next Door
Brief Summary
Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better. And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.
When Cricket, a gifted inventor, steps out from his twin sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.
ISBN:9780525423287
Author:Stephanie Perkins
The Stupidity Paradox The Power and P...
Brief Summary
The Stupidity Paradox: The Power and Pitfalls of Functional Stupidity at Work
Why do smart people do stupid things at work?
Welcome to the idea of functional stupidity.
Functional stupidity can be catastrophic. It can cause organizational collapse, financial meltdown and technical disaster. And there are countless, more everyday examples of organizations accepting the dubious, the absurd and the downright idiotic, from unsustainable management fads to the cult of leadership or an over-reliance on brand and image. And yet a dose of stupidity can be useful and produce good, short-term results: it can nurture harmony, encourage people to get on with the job and drive success.
This is the stupidity paradox.
The Stupidity Paradox tackles head-on the pros and cons of functional stupidity. You'll discover what makes a workplace mindless, why being stupid might be a good thing in the short term but a disaster in the longer term, and how to make your workplace a little less stupid by challenging thoughtless conformity. It shows how harmony and action in the workplace can be balanced with a culture of questioning and challenge.
The book is a wake-up call for smart organizations and smarter people. It encourages us to use our intelligence fully for the sake of personal satisfaction, organizational success and the flourishing of society as a whole.
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ISBN:9781781255414
Author:Mats Alvesson and André Spicer
The Startup Way How Entrepreneurial M...
Brief Summary
The Startup Way: Making Entrepreneurship a Fundamental Discipline of Every Enterprise
Entrepreneur and bestselling author of The Lean Startup Eric Ries reveals how entrepreneurial principles can be used by businesses ranging from established companies to early-stage startups to grow revenues, drive innovation, and emerge as truly modern organizations poised to take advantage of the enormous opportunities of the 21st century.
In The Lean Startup, Eric Ries laid out the practices of successful startups - building minimal viable products ("MVPs"), extensive customer-focused testing based on a build, measure, learn method of continuous innovation, and deciding whether to persevere or pivot.
In The Startup Way, he turns his attention to a whole new group of organizations: iconic multinationals like GE and Toyota, Silicon Valley tech titans like Amazon and Facebook, and the next generation of Silicon Valley upstarts like Airbnb and Twilio. Drawing on his experiences over the past five years working with these organizations, as well as nonprofits, NGOs, and governments, Ries lays out a new management system that leads to sustainable growth and long-term impact. Filled with in-the-field stories, insights, and tools, The Startup Way is an essential roadmap for any organization navigating the uncertain waters of the century ahead.
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ISBN:9780147523303
Author:Eric Ries
The Test Book: 64 Tools to Lead You t...
Brief Summary
The bestselling authors of the decision book return with their most fascinating and practical book yet. This pocket-sized compendium of the world's fifty most useful tests is a vital tool for anyone looking to gauge their abilities and improve their performance.
From intelligence to personality type via creativity and leadership skills, krogerus and tschäppeler will help you see how you fare on every essential trait you need to succeed. Beyond your own abilities, the test book also provides sample diagnostic tests for your career, relationship and business, sketching out not just what your skills are but how well you're utilizing them too.
Some are old favorites - gmat, mbti, iq, eq - and many more are little-known tests with genuinely new insights. Every single one has been condensed to just a few pages, leading you to the quickest route to self-knowledge. With in-depth analysis of the history, strengths and weaknesses of each test and what your answers mean for you, the test book is the fastest and most entertaining way to equip yourself for happiness and success.
ISBN:9781781253205
Author:Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschäppeler
The Decision Book Fifty Models for St...
Most of us face the same questions every day: What do I want? And how can I get it? How can I live more happily and work more efficiently?
A UK bestseller, The Decision Book distils into a single volume the fifty best decision-making models used on MBA courses and elsewhere that will help you tackle these important questions - from the well-known (the Eisenhower matrix for time management) to the less familiar but equally useful (the Swiss Cheese model). It will even show you how to remember everything you will have learned by the end of it.
Stylish and compact, this little black book is a powerful asset. Whether you need to plot a presentation, assess someone's business idea or get to know yourself better, this unique guide will help you simplify any problem and take steps towards the right decision.
The Curve Turning Followers Into Supe...
Brief Summary
The Curve is a new way of doing business and of seeing the world.
In the digital age everyone struggles to answer one question: how do I get people to pay when so much is free?
The answer is the Curve.
Whatever business or creative field you are in, Nicholas Lovell's startling book encourages you to embrace giving some things away for free. By stimulating interest and cultivating communities, you'll build relationships with your audience and your fans, who'll want more of what they love.
With stories ranging from musicians and artists to gaming and flour companies, from Kick starter to Angry Birds, The Curve shows how to connect with people - and make them happy to pay up for the very best you can offer.
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ISBN:9780670923212
Author:Nicholas Lovell
Platform Revolution How Networked Mar...
Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are Transforming the Economy--and How to Make Them Work for You.
Uber. Airbnb. Amazon. Apple. PayPal. All of these companies disrupted their markets when they launched. Today they are industry leaders. What’s the secret to their success?
These cutting-edge businesses are built on platforms: two-sided markets that are revolutionizing the way we do business. Written by three of the most sought-after experts on platform businesses, Platform Revolution is the first authoritative, fact-based book on platform models. Whether platforms are connecting sellers and buyers, hosts and visitors, or drivers with people who need a ride, Geoffrey G. Parker, Marshall W. Van Alstyne, and Sangeet Paul Choudary reveal the what, how, and why of this revolution and provide the first "owner’s manual” for creating a successful platform business.
Platform Revolution teaches newcomers how to start and run a successful platform business, explaining ways to identify prime markets and monetize networks. Addressing current business leaders, the authors reveal strategies behind some of today’s up-and-coming platforms, such as Tinder and Skill Share, and explain how traditional companies can adapt in a changing marketplace. The authors also cover essential issues concerning security, regulation, and consumer trust, while examining markets that may be ripe for a platform revolution, including healthcare, education, and energy.
As digital networks increase in ubiquity, businesses that do a better job of harnessing the power of the platform will win. An indispensable guide, Platform Revolution charts out the brilliant future of platforms and reveals how they will irrevocably alter the lives and careers of millions.
Oversubscribed How to Get People Lini...
Brief Summary
Oversubscribed: How to Get People Lining Up to Do Business with You
Don't fight for customers, let them fight over you!
Have you ever queued for a restaurant? Pre-ordered something months in advance? Fought for tickets that sell out in a day? Had a hairdresser with a six-month waiting list? There are people who don't chase clients, clients chase them. In a world of endless choices, why does this happen? Why do people queue up? Why do they pay more? Why will they book months in advance? Why are these people and products in such high demand? And how can you get a slice of that action?
In Oversubscribed, entrepreneur and bestselling author Daniel Priestley explains why…and, most importantly, how. This book is a recipe for ensuring demand outstrips supply for your product or service, and you have scores of customers lining up to give you money.
Oversubscribed:
Shows leaders, marketers, and entrepreneurs how they can get customers queuing up to use their services and products while competitors are forced to fight for business Explains how to become oversubscribed, even in a crowded marketplace Is full of practical tips alongside inspiring examples to alter our mindsets and get us bursting with ideas Is written by a successful entrepreneur who's used these ideas to excel in the ventures he has launched
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ISBN:9780857086198
Author:Daniel Priestley
Mindful Work How Meditation Is Changi...
Brief Summary
Mindful Work: How Meditation Is Changing Business from the Inside Out
A New York Times reporter reveals what business leaders around the country are already discovering: Meditation may be the key to fostering a happier, more productive workplace.
For the past few years, mindfulness has begun to transform the American workplace. Many of our largest companies, such as General Mills, Ford, Target, and Google, have built extensive programs to foster mindful practices among their workers. Mindful Work is the first book to explain how all sorts of businesses and any kind of worker can benefit from meditation, yoga, and other mindful techniques.
As a business reporter for the New York Times who has also practiced meditation for two decades, David Gelles is uniquely qualified to chart the growing nexus between these two realms. As he proves, mindfulness lowers stress, increases mental focus, and alleviates depression among workers. He also offers real-world examples of how mindfulness has benefited companies that have adopted it — from the millions of dollars Aetna has saved in health-care costs to the ways Patagonia has combined leadership in its market with a pervasively mindful outlook.
Gelles's revelatory book picks up where bestsellers like Thriveand 10% Happier leave off, by detailing how mindfulness works in and for the companies that adopt it, revealing the profound impact mindfulness can have on the world of work. Mindful Work goes beyond other books on the subject by providing evidence for the practical benefits of mindfulness and showing readers how to become more mindful themselves.
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ISBN:9780544227224
Author:David Gelles
Leadership Transformed How Ordinary M...
Brief Summary
Leadership Transformed: How Ordinary Managers Become Extraordinary Leaders
How does a good manager become a great leader? Ask around in business circles and you’ll get a thousand different answers. But now, internationally renowned leadership expert Dr. Peter Fuda has created a single, coherent roadmap for leadership effectiveness in Leadership Transformed.
After more than a decade’s research and practice, Dr. Fuda shares the seven common themes that have enabled hundreds of CEOs around the world to transform themselves into highly effective leaders, and transform the performance of their organizations as well. Through his work, Dr. Fuda discovered that the best way to elicit deep and broad discussion of the seven leadership themes—and to describe the CEOs’ mastery of what they had learned—was through metaphor.
• Fire—motivational forces that initiate and sustain transformation efforts.
• Snowball—mutual accountability, and the consequent momentum that occurs when a critical mass of leaders commit to shared leadership principles.
• Master Chef—leadership frameworks, tools, and strategies that can be "artfully” deployed.
• Coach—how a "coaching staff” can collectively help leaders achieve their aspirations.
• Mask—leaders can shed the heavy burden of wearing a mask in favor of a more congruent "best self.”
• Movie—leaders can develop critical capabilities of self-awareness and reflection.
Russian Dolls—how a leader’s personal journey can align with the journeys of his or her colleagues and organization.
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ISBN:9781477850565
Author:Peter Fuda
From Silk to Silicon by Jeffrey E Garten
Brief Summary
From Silk to Silicon: The Story of Globalization through Ten Extraordinary Lives
The story of globalization, the most powerful force in history, as told through the life and times of ten people who changed the world by their singular, spectacular accomplishments.
This is the first book to look at the history of globalization through the lens of individuals who did something transformative, as opposed to describing globalization through trends, policies, or particular industries. From Silk to Silicon tells the story of who these men and women were, what they did, how they did it and how their achievements continue to shape our world today. They include:
• Genghis Khan, who united east and west by conquest and by opening new trade routes built on groundbreaking transportation, communications, and management innovations.
• Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who arose from an oppressive Jewish ghetto to establish the most powerful bank the world has seen, and ushered in an era of global finance.
• Cyrus Field, who became the father of global communications by leading the effort to build the transatlantic telegraph, the forerunner to global radio, TV, and the worldwide Internet.
• Margaret Thatcher, whose controversial policies opened the gusher of substantially free markets that linked economies across borders.
• Andy Grove, a Hungarian refugee from the Nazis who built the company—Intel—that figured out how to manufacture complex computer chips on a mass, commercial scale and laid the foundation for Silicon Valley’s computer revolution.
Through these stories Jeffrey E. Garten finds the common links between these figure and probes critical questions including: How much influence can any one person have in fundamentally changing the world? And how have past trends in globalization affected the present and how will they shape the future? From Silk to Silicon is an essential book to understanding the past—and the future—of the most powerful force of our times.
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ISBN:9780062409973
Author:Jeffrey E. Garten
Family Enterprises The Essentials
Brief Summary
Family firms are to be found in every sector of commercial activity. Commitment, family values and pride in the business are typically their special strengths, yet they also face major challenges in reconciling the needs of the business with those of the family.
Drawing on the author's extensive experience of working with and advising some of the world's most successful business families, this new and updated edition of Family Enterprises: The Essentials explains the pitfalls, tensions and competing demands that destroy too many family businesses.
These problems can be avoided, and Peter Leach reveals the techniques and strategies needed to do so. Running a successful family business is always a huge challenge, but this book offers real insight and guidance on how to keep both business and family united and buoyant.
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ISBN:9781781255483
Author:Peter Leach
Credibility How Leaders Gain and Lose It
Brief Summary
Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It
"Leadership is personal. It's not about the corporation, the community, or the country. It's about you. If people don't believe in the messenger, they won't believe the message. If people don't believe in you, they won't believe in what you say. And if it's about you, then it's about your beliefs, your values, and your principles."-- From Credibility
In this best-selling book, Kouzes and Posner (authors of The Leadership Challenge), explain why leadership is above all a relationship, with credibility as the cornerstone. They provide rich examples of real managers in action and reveal the six key disciplines and related practices that strengthen a leader's capacity for developing and sustaining credibility. Kouzes and Posner show how leaders can encourage greater initiative, risk-taking, and productivity by demonstrating trust in employees and resolving conflicts on the basis of principles, not positions.
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ISBN:9780787964641
Author:James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
Dark Pools The Rise of the Machine Tr...
Brief Summary
A news-breaking account of the global stock market's subterranean battles, Dark Pools portrays the rise of the "bots"--artificially intelligent systems that execute trades in milliseconds and use the cover of darkness to out-maneuver the humans who've created them.
In the beginning was Josh Levine, an idealistic programming genius who dreamed of wresting control of the market from the big exchanges that, again and again, gave the giant institutions an advantage over the little guy. Levine created a computerized trading hub named Island where small traders swapped stocks, and over time his invention morphed into a global electronic stock market that sent trillions in capital through a vast jungle of fiber-optic cables.
By then, the market that Levine had sought to fix had turned upside down, birthing secretive exchanges called dark pools and a new species of trading machines that could think, and that seemed, ominously, to be slipping the control of their human masters.
Dark Pools is the fascinating story of how global markets have been hijacked by trading robots--many so self-directed that humans can't predict what they'll do next.
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ISBN:9780307887184
Author:Scott Patterson
Atlas Shrugged
Brief Summary
This is the story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world and did. Was he a destroyer or the greatest of liberators?
Why did he have to fight his battle, not against his enemies, but against those who needed him most, and his hardest battle against the woman he loved? What is the world’s motor — and the motive power of every man? You will know the answer to these questions when you discover the reason behind the baffling events that play havoc with the lives of the characters in this story.
Tremendous in its scope, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life — from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy — to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction — to the philosopher who becomes a pirate — to the composer who gives up his career on the night of his triumph — to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad — to the lowest track worker in her Terminal tunnels.
You must be prepared, when you read this novel, to check every premise at the root of your convictions.
This is a mystery story, not about the murder — and rebirth — of man’s spirit. It is a philosophical revolution, told in the form of an action thriller of violent events, a ruthlessly brilliant plot structure and an irresistible suspense. Do you say this is impossible? Well, that is the first of your premises to check.
ISBN:9780452011878
Author:Ayn Rand
Awaken The Giant Within by Tony Robbins
Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny!
Wake up and take control of your life! From the bestselling author of Inner Strength, Unlimited Power, and MONEY Master the Game, Anthony Robbins, the nation's leader in the science of peak performance, shows you his most effective strategies and techniques for mastering your emotions, your body, your relationships, your finances, and your life.
The acknowledged expert in the psychology of change, Anthony Robbins provides a step-by-step program teaching the fundamental lessons of self-mastery that will enable you to discover your true purpose, take control of your life, and harness the forces that shape your destiny.
Taking Advice How Leaders Get Good Co...
Brief Summary
Taking Advice: How Leaders Get Good Counsel and Use It Wisely
Leaders can find plenty of resources explaining how to give advice. But what about how to take advice? According to Dan Ciampa, too many leaders overlook this "demand side" of advice. In Taking Advice, Ciampa explains that more outside advisors than ever are offering leader’s advice in increasingly costly projects.
Yet as advice has become more ubiquitous, leaders have grown less satisfied with it--especially when dealing with high-stakes, unfamiliar situations that require assertive action and speed but also wise judgment. Also, leaders too often overlook help from colleagues, board members, subordinates, friends, and spouses. Good advice bridges the gap between a leader's vision and realization of that vision. When leaders fail to solicit advice or obtain it from the wrong sources, the leader and his vision suffer.
By offering the broadest perspective on advice to date, Ciampa helps you avoid this scenario. He provides a topology of advice (strategic, operational, political, and personal) and defines four types of advisors (expert, experienced, sounding board, partner). He also identifies the defining characteristics of effective advice takers--illustrating them with a wealth of examples from business, the public sector, and history.
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ISBN:9781591396680
Author:Dan Ciampa
London Cape Town Joburg
Brief Summary
1994. The world is about to change. The first truly democratic election in South Africa’s history is about to unite Nelson Mandela’s rainbow nation at the ballot box. And, across the world, those in exile, those who could not return home, those who would not return home, wait. Watch and wait . . .
London. Martin O’Malley isn’t one of those watching and waiting. He is too busy trying to figure out if Germaine Spencer really is the girl for him and why his best friend is intent on ruining every relationship he gets involved in. And then . . . And then Germaine is pregnant and suddenly the world really has changed for Martin O’Malley.
South Africa. A land of opportunity. A place where a young black man with an MSc from the London School of Economics could have it all, would have it all. But what does Martin O’Malley, London born and bred with an Irish surname, really know about his mother’s country? His motherland. A land he has never seen.
ISBN:B00LQ7796O
Author:Zukiswa Wanner
The Political Animal: An Anatomy
Brief Summary
Jeremy Paxman knows every maneouvre a politician will make to avoid answering a difficult question, but in The Political Animal he seeks an answer to just one: What makes politicians tick? Embarking on a journey in which he encounters movers and shakers past and present, he discovers: that Prime Ministers have often lost a parent in childhood why Trollope is the politician's novelist of choice that Lloyd George once hunted Jack the Ripper how an Admiral's speech in parliament helped win WWII Where do politicians come from?
How do they get elected? What do they do all day? And why do they seek power? All these questions and many more are addressed in Paxman's thrilling dissection of that strange and elusive breed - the political animal. 'Lively, persuasive, excellent.
Boisterous and funny, provocative and punchily written... an intelligent romp' Matthew Parris, Spectator 'Entertaining, informative, incisive and insightful' Andrew Rawnsley Observer 'One of the best primers on the vicissitudes of political life I have read Christopher Silvester, Sunday Times Jeremy Paxman is a journalist, best known for his work presenting Newsnight and University Challenge. His books include Empire, On Royalty, The English and The Political Animal. He lives in Oxfordshire.
ISBN:9780140288476
Author:Jeremy Paxman
When Victims Become Killers Coloniali...
Brief Summary
When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda.
"When we captured Kigali, we thought we would face criminals in the state; instead, we faced a criminal population." So a political commissar in the Rwanda Patriotic Front reflected after the 1994 massacre of as many as one million Tutsis in Rwanda. Underlying his statement is the realization that, though ordered by a minority of state functionaries, the slaughter was performed by hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens, including even judges, human rights activists, and doctors, nurses, priests, friends, and spouses of the victims. Indeed, it is its very popularity that makes the Rwandan genocide so unthinkable. This book makes it thinkable.
Rejecting easy explanations of the genocide as a mysterious evil force that was bizarrely unleashed, one of Africa's best-known intellectuals situates the tragedy in its proper context. He coaxes to the surface the historical, geographical, and political forces that made it possible for so many Hutu to turn so brutally on their neighbors. He finds answers in the nature of political identities generated during colonialism, in the failures of the nationalist revolution to transcend these identities, and in regional demographic and political currents that reach well beyond Rwanda. In so doing, Mahmood Mamdani usefully broadens understandings of citizenship and political identity in postcolonial Africa.
There have been few attempts to explain the Rwandan horror, and none has succeeded so well as this one. Mamdani's analysis provides a solid foundation for future studies of the massacre. Even more important, his answers point a way out of crisis: a direction for reforming political identity in central Africa and preventing future tragedies.
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ISBN:9780691102801
Author:Mahmood Mamdani
