Book recommendations for Culture
A fine selection of books, recommended by our mentors and mentees. Probably the best you can find. And the best is: You can support us by buying books directly from the library.
The chaos imperative
Ori Brafman
In the bestselling tradition of Switch and Made to Stick, Ori Brafman reveals how organizations can drive growth and profits by allowing contained chaos and disruption the space to flourish, generating new ideas that trigger innovation. In The Chaos Imperative, organizational expert and bestselling author Ori Brafman (Sway, The Starfish and the Spider) shows how even the best and most efficient organizations, from Fortune 500 companies to today's US Army, benefit from allowing a little unstructured space and disruption into their planning and decision-making.
View
The Culture Code
Daniel Coyle, Will Damron
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BLOOMBERG AND LIBRARY JOURNAL Where does great culture come from? How do you build and sustain it in your group, or strengthen a culture that needs fixing? In The Culture Code, Daniel Coyle goes inside some of the world’s most successful organizations—including the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team Six, IDEO, and the San Antonio Spurs—and reveals what makes them tick. He demystifies the culture-building process by identifying three key skills that generate cohesion and cooperation, and explains how diverse groups learn to function with a single mind. Drawing on examples that range from Internet retailer Zappos to the comedy troupe Upright Citizens Brigade to a daring gang of jewel thieves, Coyle offers specific strategies that trigger learning, spark collaboration, build trust, and drive positive change. Coyle unearths helpful stories of failure that illustrate what not to do, troubleshoots common pitfalls, and shares advice about reforming a toxic culture. Combining leading-edge science, on-the-ground insights from world-class leaders, and practical ideas for action, The Culture Code offers a roadmap for creating an environment where innovation flourishes, problems get solved, and expectations are exceeded. Culture is not something you are—it’s something you do. The Culture Code puts the power in your hands. No matter the size of your group or your goal, this book can teach you the principles of cultural chemistry that transform individuals into teams that can accomplish amazing things together.
View
Lead Right for Your Company Type
W. Schneider
Every year, businesses needlessly fail because they adapted the wrong strategies suited for their organization’s strengths. A mid-tier retail chain is derailed by leadership demands for superior products instead of reliably low prices. A software giant is brought to its knees by prioritizing profits over innovation. A small arts college is destabilized by top-down rules designed for a predictable and dependable company. There is no one-size-fits-all game plan for success when it comes to the wide array of businesses today. Success starts with knowing the kind of business you’re really in. In Lead Right for Your Company’s Type, learn the four categories that every enterprise falls into, depending on their customer promise: customized (e.g., ad agency), predictable and dependable (e.g., utility company), benevolent (e.g., educational institution), and best in class (e.g., high-tech company like Apple). Then follow a proven five-step process to help you in diagnosing your organization’s ills and stop them at their source.When leadership practices fit the customer promise and company type, the organization thrives. But apply the wrong practices and the mismatch pulls the enterprise apart. Lead Right for Your Company’s Type will help you find the best strategies for success for your unique business.
View
Powerful
Patty McCord
Imagine you could develop a customer-focused culture so powerful that your employees always seem to do the right thing. They encourage each other, proactively solve problems, and constantly look for ways to go the extra mile. In short, imagine a workplace culture where employees were absolutely obsessed with customer service. The Service Culture Handbook is a step-by-step guide to help you develop a customer-focused culture in your company, department, or location. Whether you’re just beginning your journey, or have been working on culture for years, this handbook will prepare you to take the next step. You’ll receive actionable advice, straightforward exercises, and proven tools you can utilize immediately. Learn the one thing that forms the foundation of every great culture. Discover what customer-focused companies do differently to engage their employees. And explore ways to strategically align every facet of your organization with outstanding service. Creating and sustaining a customer-focused culture is a never-ending journey that takes hard work, dedication, and commitment. The Service Culture Handbook is an indispensable resource to help you and your employees stay headed in the right direction. Praise for The Service Culture Handbook: "The Service Culture Handbook provides the poignant inspiration and practical instruction for the difficult work of transforming a service culture into one that is distinctive, successful, and permanent." —Chip R. Bell, author of Kaleidoscope: Delivering Innovative Service That Sparkles "Though research continues to uncover the astonishing impact of customer-focused cultures on customer loyalty and business results, few organizations know how to get there. Jeff Toister unlocks that mystery through this practical (and fun to read!) guide to developing a culture that really works." —Brad Cleveland, founding partner and former CEO, International Customer Management Institute
View
ReWork
Jason Fried
Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business. Most business books give you the same old advice: Write a business plan, study the competition, seek investors, yadda yadda. If you're looking for a book like that, put this one back on the shelf. Read it and you'll know why plans are actually harmful, why you don't need outside investors, and why you're better off ignoring the competition. The truth is, you need less than you think. You don't need to be a workaholic. You don't need to staff up. You don't need to waste time on paperwork or meetings. You don't even need an office. Those are all just excuses. What you really need to do is stop talking and start working. This book shows you the way. You'll learn how to be more productive, how to get exposure without breaking the bank, and tons more counterintuitive ideas that will inspire and provoke you. With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, Rework is the perfect playbook for anyone who’s ever dreamed of doing it on their own. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs they hate, victims of "downsizing," and artists who don’t want to starve anymore will all find valuable guidance in these pages.
View
Slack
Tom DeMarco
If your company’s goal is to become fast, responsive, and agile, more efficiency is not the answer--you need more slack. Why is it that today’s superefficient organizations are ailing? Tom DeMarco, a leading management consultant to both Fortune 500 and up-and-coming companies, reveals a counterintuitive principle that explains why efficiency efforts can slow a company down. That principle is the value of slack, the degree of freedom in a company that allows it to change. Implementing slack could be as simple as adding an assistant to a department and letting high-priced talent spend less time at the photocopier and more time making key decisions, or it could mean designing workloads that allow people room to think, innovate, and reinvent themselves. It means embracing risk, eliminating fear, and knowing when to go slow. Slack allows for change, fosters creativity, promotes quality, and, above all, produces growth. With an approach that works for new- and old-economy companies alike, this revolutionary handbook debunks commonly held assumptions about real-world management, and gives you and your company a brand-new model for achieving and maintaining true effectiveness.
View
What you do is who you are
Ben Horowitz
Ben Horowitz, a leading venture capitalist, modern management expert, and New York Times bestselling author, combines lessons both from history and from modern organizational practice with practical and often surprising advice to help executives build cultures that can weather both good and bad times. Ben Horowitz has long been fascinated by history, and particularly by how people behave differently than you’d expect. The time and circumstances in which they were raised often shapes them―yet a few leaders have managed to shape their times. In What You Do Is Who You Are, he turns his attention to a question crucial to every organization: how do you create and sustain the culture you want? To Horowitz, culture is how a company makes decisions. It is the set of assumptions employees use to resolve everyday problems: should I stay at the Red Roof Inn, or the Four Seasons? Should we discuss the color of this product for five minutes or thirty hours? If culture is not purposeful, it will be an accident or a mistake. What You Do Is Who You Are explains how to make your culture purposeful by spotlighting four models of leadership and culture-building―the leader of the only successful slave revolt, Haiti’s Toussaint Louverture; the Samurai, who ruled Japan for seven hundred years and shaped modern Japanese culture; Genghis Khan, who built the world’s largest empire; and Shaka Senghor, a man convicted of murder who ran the most formidable prison gang in the yard and ultimately transformed prison culture. Horowitz connects these leadership examples to modern case-studies, including how Louverture’s cultural techniques were applied (or should have been) by Reed Hastings at Netflix, Travis Kalanick at Uber, and Hillary Clinton, and how Genghis Khan’s vision of cultural inclusiveness has parallels in the work of Don Thompson, the first African-American CEO of McDonalds, and of Maggie Wilderotter, the CEO who led Frontier Communications. Horowitz then offers guidance to help any company understand its own strategy and build a successful culture. What You Do Is Who You Are is a journey through culture, from ancient to modern. Along the way, it answers a question fundamental to any organization: who are we? How do people talk about us when we’re not around? How do we treat our customers? Are we there for people in a pinch? Can we be trusted? Who you are is not the values you list on the wall. It’s not what you say in company-wide meeting. It’s not your marketing campaign. It’s not even what you believe. Who you are is what you do. This book aims to help you do the things you need to become the kind of leader you want to be―and others want to follow.
View
Originals
Adam Grant
Author examines how people can drive creative, moral, and organisational progress—and how leaders can encourage originality in their organisations. How can we originate new ideas, policies and practices without risking it all? Adam Grant shows how to improve the world by championing novel ideas and values that go against the grain, battling conformity, and bucking outdated traditions. Using surprising studies and stories spanning business, politics, sports, and entertainment, Grant explores how to recognize a good idea, speak up without getting silenced, build a coalition of allies, choose the right time to act, and manage fear and doubt. Parents will learn how to nurture originality in children, and leaders will discover how to fight groupthink to build cultures that welcome dissent. Told through dazzling case studies of people going against the grain, you’ll encounter an entrepreneur who pitches the reasons not to invest, a woman at Apple who challenged Steve Jobs from three levels below, an analyst who challenged secrecy at the CIA, a billionaire financial wizard who fires employees who don’t criticize him, and the TV executive who saved Seinfeld from the cutting room floor. Originals will give you groundbreaking insights about rejecting conformity and how to change the world.
View
Reinventing Organisations
Frederic Laloux
The uplifting message of Reinventing Organizations has resonated with readers all over the world, and they have turned it, one conversation at a time, into a word-of-mouth phenomenon. The book has helped shift the conversation from what’s broken with management today to what’s possible. It is inspiring thousands of organizations—corporations and nonprofits, schools and hospitals—to adopt radically more powerful, soulful, and purposeful practices. The book resonates widely, but not everyone has time to devote to a dense 360-page management book. This illustrated version conveys the main ideas of the original book and shares many of its real-life stories in a lively, engaging way. Don’t be surprised if you find it hard to put down and end up reading it almost in one sitting. Welcome to the conversation on next-stage organizations!
View
What Color is your Parachute
Richard N. Bollis
In today’s challenging job-market, as recent grads face a shifting economic landscape and seek work that pays and inspires, as workers are laid off mid-career, and as people search for an inspiring work-life change, the time-tested advice of What Color Is Your Parachute? is needed more than ever. This completely updated edition features the latest resources, strategies, and perspectives on today’s job market, revealing surprising advice on what works—and what doesn’t—so you can focus your efforts on tactics that yield results. This practical manual has been fully revised for 2021 by Vanderbilt University Career Center Director Katharine Brooks, EdD, with modern advice on the job hunt strategies that are working today, such as building an online resume, making the most of social media tools to network effectively, interviewing virtually with confidence, and negotiating the best salary possible. At its core is Richard N. Bolles’s famed Flower Exercise, a unique self-inventory that helps you design your career—and your life—around your key passions, transferable skills, traits, and more. With the unique and authoritative guidance of What Color Is Your Parachute?, job-hunters and career changers will have all the tools they need to discover—and land—their dream job.
View
The Best Teams Win
Adam Robinson
Reduce Hiring Risks and Predict Success New Mindset. In The Best Team Wins, author Adam Robinson gives you a proven, straightforward, and effective method for hiring new employees. He teaches you how to rethink the process of finding, assessing, and hiring the right people. New Methods. Robinson, a recruiting professional with over twenty years experience, shows you how to— Use a Data-Driven Job Profile to Assess Candidate Risk Build a Candidate Scorecard Rate the Candidate's Core Competencies Ask the Right Questions to Dig Deeper in Interviews Craft an Offer the Candidate Can't Refuse Better Results. By following Robinson's in-depth process, you can eliminate guesswork and focus on building a team that will bring value to your company's culture and bottom line.
View
Ruthless Consistency: How Committed Leaders Execute Strategy, Implement Change, and Build Organizations That Win
Michael Canic
When all is said and done, a lot more gets said than done. What is the antidote to this? Ruthless Consistency. According to Harvard Business Review, “most studies still show a 60-70% failure rate for organizational change projects―a statistic that has stayed constant from the 1970s to the present.” Drawing on his 20+ years of experience as a strategy and execution consultant specializing in midsize companies, Michael Canic helps committed leaders drive the odds in their favor. In Ruthless Consistency, he identifies the three surprising reasons most strategic change initiatives fail: Leaders unwittingly send mixed messages that demotivate their people and undermine those initiatives. Leaders focus on what they do instead of what their people experience. Leaders are not as committed as they think they are or need to be. The book then introduces an intuitive yet comprehensive model for success. Simply put, leaders who develop the right focus, create the right environment, and build the right team―consistently―are leaders whose organizations win. Finally, it details each element of the model and offers ready-to-apply processes, practices, techniques, and tools to make it happen. It’s a must-read for every leader who wants to implement change successfully.
View
Humanocracy: Creating Organizations as Amazing as the People Inside Them
Gary Hamel, Michele Zanini
A Wall Street Journal Bestseller In a world of unrelenting change and unprecedented challenges, we need organizations that are resilient and daring. Unfortunately, most organizations, overburdened by bureaucracy, are sluggish and timid. In the age of upheaval, top-down power structures and rule-choked management systems are a liability. They crush creativity and stifle initiative. As leaders, employees, investors, and citizens, we deserve better. We need organizations that are bold, entrepreneurial, and as nimble as change itself. Hence this book. In Humanocracy, Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini make a passionate, data-driven argument for excising bureaucracy and replacing it with something better. Drawing on more than a decade of research and packed with practical examples, Humanocracy lays out a detailed blueprint for creating organizations that are as inspired and ingenious as the human beings inside them. Critical building blocks include: Motivation: Rallying colleagues to the challenge of busting bureaucracy Models: Leveraging the experience of organizations that have profitably challenged the bureaucratic status quo Mindsets: Escaping the industrial age thinking that frustrates progress Mobilization: Activating a pro-change coalition to hack outmoded management systems and processes Migration: Embedding the principles of humanocracy—ownership, markets, meritocracy, community, openness, experimentation, and paradox—in your organization's DNA If you've finally run out of patience with bureaucratic bullshit . . . If you want to build an organization that can outrun change . . . If you're committed to giving every team member the chance to learn, grow, and contribute . . . . . . then this book's for you. Whatever your role or title, Humanocracy will show you how to launch an unstoppable movement to equip and empower everyone in your organization to be their best and to do their best. The ultimate prize: an organization that's fit for the future and fit for human beings.
View
The Insider's Guide to Culture Change: Creating a Workplace That Delivers, Grows, and Adapts
Siobhan McHale
The secret to the success or failure of any business boils down to its culture. From disengaged employees to underserved customers, business failures invariably stem from a culture problem. In The Insider’s Guide to Culture Change, acclaimed culture transformation expert and global executive Siobhan McHale shares her proven four-step process to demystifying culture transformation and starting down the path to positive change. Many leaders and managers struggle to get a handle on exactly what culture is and how pervasive its impact is throughout an organization. Some try to change the culture by publishing a statement of core values but soon find that, aside from some short-term lip service, no meaningful change happens. Others try to unify the culture around a set of shared goals that satisfy shareholders but find their efforts backfire as stressed employees throw their hands up because “leadership just doesn’t get it.” Others implement expensive new IT systems to try to bring about change, only to find that employees find “workarounds” and soon go back to their old ways. Culture transformation expert Siobhan McHale defines culture simply: “It’s how things work around here.” The Insider’s Guide to Culture Change walks readers through McHale’s four-step process to culture transformation, including how to Understand what “corporate culture” really is and how it impacts every aspect of the way your organization operates Analyze where your culture is broken or not adding maximum value Unlock the power of reframing roles within your company, to empower and engage your employees Utilize proven methods and tools to break through deeply embedded patterns and change your company mind-set Keep the momentum going by consolidating gains and maintaining your foot on the change accelerator With The Insider’s Guide to Culture Change, watch your employees go from followers to change leaders who drive an agile culture that constantly outperforms.
View
The Long-Distance Teammate: Stay Engaged and Connected While Working Anywhere
Kevin Eikenberry, Wayne Turmel
What does it mean to “go to work” when you don't actually leave the house? This is the ultimate guide for remote workers who want to stay engaged as team members, maintain robust work relationships, and keep an eye on their long-term career goals. Even before the coronavirus hit, remote work was growing at nearly 30 percent per year, and now it's just a fact of life. There are many millions of people who once worked at a central location every day who now find themselves facing an entirely new way of working. Written by the founders of the Remote Leadership Institute, this book is the most authoritative single resource for helping remote workers get work done effectively, build relationships that are both productive and satisfying, and maintain a career trajectory when they are not in constant close contact with their leader, coworkers, or the organization in general. The Long-Distance Teammate tackles three important issues: navigating the personal and interpersonal, growing the skills to be productive, and communicating effectively—all from a distance. In short, there is a big difference between working at home and being an effective member of a team. This practical guide describes that difference and allows you to be a great remote teammate.
View
The Culture Quotient: Ten Dimensions of a High-Performance Culture
Greg Besner
Based on never-before-shared insights from more than 1,000 organizations and millions of employees, this insightful book reveals the ten essential culture qualities that can help any organization prepare for, and thrive in a constantly changing future. The Culture Quotient provides a simple, easy-to-read approach to culture that guides readers every step of the way. It focuses on helping companies achieve better financial results, as well as increasing employee engagement, and improving talent acquisition and retention. The Culture Quotient is written with three main goals. The first is to inspire readers. The second is to provide tangible data, tips, and actions. And the third is to share culture stories from many industry leaders that show the power and results of culture initiatives in action. The Culture Quotient features forty-five culture stories and excerpts written exclusively for this book. Some featured companies include American Express, GoDaddy, Bazaarvoice, and many others. The Culture Quotient combines these three goals to provide practical takeaways and tips to help readers implement similar culture programs at their company. The author Greg Besner, is the founder of CultureIQ, a company that helps organizations around the world create high-performance cultures. He is also a highly rated adjunct professor at New York University Stern School of Business, and he was one of the original investors in Zappos.com. Besner was recently ranked in USA Today as the eighth best CEO in the United States among a pool of fifty thousand companies. He also was named the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® in New Jersey. The Culture Quotient highlights qualities that help any organization achieve a high-performance culture. Business leaders have been seeking a practical yet data-driven solution for managing culture for a very long time. Now leaders have it with The Culture Quotient.
View
Rituals Roadmap: The Human Way to Transform Everyday Routines into Workplace Magic
Erica Keswin
From the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Bring Your Human to Work comes an indispensable guide to taking your employee engagement to the next level. In Bring Your Human to Work, Erica Keswin laid down the rules and protocols of a human workplace. Now, in Rituals Roadmap, she shows us how to further employee engagement, explaining that workplace rituals foster a sense of belonging and help workers connect with one another and their work. From our morning cup of coffee to the standing Wednesday morning meeting with our team, our lives are steeped in rituals. Rituals Roadmap combines cutting-edge scientific research with examples from the most human companies, like Starbucks, Microsoft, Chipotle and LinkedIn, showing how they establish rituals during meetings, employee onboarding procedures, and daily interactions among coworkers. Whether you choose to pass around a stuffed penguin at your weekly meeting to express gratitude like Aria Finger of DoSomething, or decide to make lunchtime a daily ritual with your team in the same way one top performing team at Douglas Elliman does, rituals create community and change us in a way that conjures lifelong commitments. If you’re serious about employee engagement, Rituals Roadmap is your blueprint for creating a workplace full of engaged, connected employees who drive revenue and stay at their jobs long term.
View
The Live Enterprise: Create a Continuously Evolving and Learning Organization
Jeff Kavanaugh
Transform your organization into a constantly learning, ever-evolving industry leader with the proven operating model of leading global firms. For decades, leaders of large, complex organizations have been rightfully encouraged to run their organizations like lean, agile startups. More often than not, they place their bets on trends like digital transformation or design thinking. Well-intended, yet in isolation they are not enough. There’s another, better way to drive durable, effective change in your organization, and it’s been proven effective by global IT and business consulting leader Infosys. The Live Enterprise operating model provides a clear path to transform large complex businesses into agile, digital ecosystems that evolve with changing market needs and scale to any size. You’ll learn how to apply the benefits of the startup operating model―but go much further. This groundbreaking guide addresses issues critical to transform large organizations, such as: Create an organizational structure that drives collaboration, innovation, strategic alignment, and new culture across distributed interconnected teams Respond quickly yet thoughtfully―and scientifically―to opportunities to create valuable new employee and customer experiences Reengineer your value chain to see what’s missing, what can be improved, and what can be eliminated to generate exponential value Automate systems so routine decisions can be acted upon with maximum human intuition and minimum human intervention Groundbreaking in theory and long-term strategy, this game-changing guide includes practical steps you can take now―for immediate, concrete results―while laying the groundwork to operate with agility in the future. The application of Live Enterprise enabled Infosys to make the kinds of changes during the COVID crisis to not only survive but drive outstanding financial results. Now, you can use this innovative approach to position your company for the highly unpredictable future ahead.
View
The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Business Relationships
Susan McPherson
Reclaim the power of genuine human connection Networking is often considered a necessary evil for all working professionals. With social media platforms like Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at our disposal, reaching potential investors or employers is much easier. Yet, these connections often feel transactional, agenda-driven, and dehumanizing, leaving professionals feeling burnt out and stressed out. Instead, we should connect on a human level and build authentic relationships beyond securing a new job or a new investor for your next big idea. To build real and meaningful networking contacts, we need to go back to basics, remembering that technology is a tool and more than just a means to an end. We need to tap into our humanity and learn to be more intentional and authentic. As a “serial connector” and communications expert, Susan McPherson has a lifetime of experience building genuine connections in and out of work. Her methodology is broken down into three simple steps: Gather: Instead of waiting for the perfect networking opportunity to come to you, think outside the box and create your own opportunity. Host your own dinner party, join a local meet-up group, or volunteer at your neighborhood food pantry. Ask: Instead of leading with our own rehearsed elevator pitches asking for help, ask to help, opening the door to share resources, experience, contacts, and perspectives that add diversity to your own vision. Do: Turn new connections into meaningful relationships by taking these newly formed relationships deeper. Follow through on the promises you made and keep in touch. Woven together with helpful tips and useful advice on making the most out of every step, this book draws on McPherson’s own experience as a renowned “serial connector,” as well as the real life success stories of friends and clients. Filled with humor, humility, and wisdom, The Lost Art of Connecting is the handbook we all need to foster personal and professional relationships that blur the lines between work and play―and enrich our lives in every way.
View
Trampled by Unicorns: Big Tech's Empathy Problem and How to Fix It
Maelle Gavet
An insider’s revealing and in-depth examination of Big Tech’s failure to keep its foundational promises and the steps the industry can take to course-correct in order to make a positive impact on the world. Trampled by Unicorns: Big Tech’s Empathy Problem and How to Fix It explores how technology has progressed humanity’s most noble pursuits, while also grappling with the origins of the industry’s destructive empathy deficit and the practical measures Big Tech can take to self-regulate and make it right again. Author Maëlle Gavet examines the tendency for many of Big Tech’s stars to stray from their user-first ideals and make products that actually profoundly damage their customers and ultimately society. Offering an account of the world of tech startups in the United States and Europe—from Amazon, Google, and Facebook to Twitter, Airbnb, and Uber (to name a few)—Trampled by Unicorns argues that the causes and consequences of Big Tech’s failures originate from four main sources: the Valley’s cultural insularity, the hyper-growth business model, the sector’s stunning lack of diversity, and a dangerous self-sustaining ecosystem. However, the book is not just an account of how an industry came off the rails, but also a passionate call to action on how to get it back on track. Gavet, a leading technology executive and former CEO of Ozon, an executive vice president at Priceline Group, and chief operating officer of Compass, formulates a clear call to action for industry leaders, board members, employees, and consumers/users to drive the change necessary to create better, more sustainable businesses—and the steps Western governments are likely to take should tech leaders fail to do so. Steps that include reformed tax codes, reclassification of platforms as information companies, new labor laws, and algorithmic transparency and oversight. Trampled by Unicorns’ exploration of the promise and dangers of technology is perfect for anyone with an interest in entrepreneurship, tech, and global commerce, and a hope of technology’s all-empowering prospect. An illuminating book full of insights, Trampled by Unicorns describes a realistic path forward, even as it uncovers and explains the errors of the past. As Gavet puts it, “we don’t need less tech, we need more empathetic tech.” And how that crucial distinction can be achieved by the tech companies themselves, driving change as governments actively pave the road ahead.
View
The Heart of Business: Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism
Hubert Joly
How to unleash "human magic" and achieve improbable results. Hubert Joly, former CEO of Best Buy and orchestrator of the retailer's spectacular turnaround, unveils his personal playbook for achieving extraordinary outcomes by putting people and purpose at the heart of business. Back in 2012, "Everyone thought we were going to die," says Joly. Eight years later, Best Buy was transformed as Joly and his team rebuilt the company into one of the nation's favorite employers, vastly increased customer satisfaction, and dramatically grew Best Buy's stock price. Joly and his team also succeeded in making Best Buy a leader in sustainability and innovation. In The Heart of Business, Joly shares the philosophy behind the resurgence of Best Buy: pursue a noble purpose, put people at the center of the business, create an environment where every employee can blossom, and treat profit as an outcome, not the goal. This approach is easy to understand, but putting it into practice is not so easy. It requires radically rethinking how we view work, how we define companies, how we motivate, and how we lead. In this book Joly shares memorable stories, lessons, and practical advice, all drawn from his own personal transformation from a hard-charging McKinsey consultant to a leader who believes in human magic. The Heart of Business is a timely guide for leaders ready to abandon old paradigms and lead with purpose and humanity. It shows how we can reinvent capitalism so that it contributes to a sustainable future.
View
The Promises of Giants
John Amaechi
WE NEED MORE LEADERS. From socio-political chaos and workplace disruption to the climate change crisis, we have never needed people with the skill and will to collaborate to create a better world more than now. We need people who are willing to fill the leadership void. People who will embrace the influence they have. People who believe in improving society and workplace culture - not only because it makes life better, but because it is proven to yield positive results. The Promises of Giants is a challenge to anyone who aspires to make a difference in their environment. Over fourteen promises, it seamlessly intertwines personal anecdotes and workplace and social observation with the latest research, to provide practical, proven tips and strategies to empower you to maximize your own potential and inspire others. It is not a self-help book. It is a how-to guide for winning, rooted in the belief that the most unlikely of people, in the most improbable of circumstances, can become extraordinary. John Amaechi well understands the responsibilities and potential that come with being a giant. The Promises of Giants is the product of a lifetime spent observing and studying effective leadership - from accompanying his mother's visits to her dying patients to competing at the highest levels of professional sport, through two decades of management consulting with multinational corporations. These experiences have shown that everyone has the ability to act decisively to influence the world in a positive way. Everyone is a giant to someone.
ViewOrganizational Culture and Leadership
Edgar H. Schein
Regarded as one of the most influential management books of all time, this fourth edition of Leadership and Organizational Culture transforms the abstract concept of culture into a tool that can be used to better shape the dynamics of organization and change. This updated edition focuses on today's business realities. Edgar Schein draws on a wide range of contemporary research to redefine culture and demonstrate the crucial role leaders play in successfully applying the principles of culture to achieve their organizational goals.
ViewNo Rules Rules - Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention
Reed Hastings, Erin Meyer
*** Shortlisted for the 2020 Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year *** It's time to do things differently. Trust your team. Be radically honest. And never, ever try to please your boss. These are some of the ground rules if you work at Netflix. They are part of a unique cultural experiment that explains how the company has transformed itself at lightning speed from a DVD mail order service into a streaming superpower - with 190 million fervent subscribers and a market capitalisation that rivals the likes of Disney. Finally Reed Hastings, Netflix Chairman and CEO, is sharing the secrets that have revolutionised the entertainment and tech industries. With INSEAD business school professor Erin Meyer, he will explore his leadership philosophy - which begins by rejecting the accepted beliefs under which most companies operate - and how it plays out in practice at Netflix. From unlimited holidays to abolishing approvals, Netflix offers a fundamentally different way to run any organisation, one far more in tune with an ever-changing fast-paced world. For anyone interested in creativity, productivity and innovation, the Netflix culture is something close to a holy grail. This book will make it, and its creator, fully accessible for the first time.
ViewThe Culture Map - Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business
Erin Meyer
An international business expert helps you understand and navigate cultural differences in this insightful and practical guide, perfect for both your work and personal life. Americans precede anything negative with three nice comments; French, Dutch, Israelis, and Germans get straight to the point; Latin Americans and Asians are steeped in hierarchy; Scandinavians think the best boss is just one of the crowd. It's no surprise that when they try and talk to each other, chaos breaks out. In The Culture Map, INSEAD professor Erin Meyer is your guide through this subtle, sometimes treacherous terrain in which people from starkly different backgrounds are expected to work harmoniously together. She provides a field-tested model for decoding how cultural differences impact international business, and combines a smart analytical framework with practical, actionable advice.
ViewThe Path - What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life
Michael Puett, Christine Gross-Loh
For the first time an award-winning Harvard professor shares his wildly popular course on classical Chinese philosophy, showing you how these ancient ideas can guide you on the path to a good life today. Why is a course on ancient Chinese philosophers one of the most popular at Harvard? It’s because the course challenges all our modern assumptions about what it takes to flourish. This is why Professor Michael Puett says to his students, “The encounter with these ideas will change your life.” As one of them told his collaborator, author Christine Gross-Loh, “You can open yourself up to possibilities you never imagined were even possible.” These astonishing teachings emerged two thousand years ago through the work of a succession of Chinese scholars exploring how humans can improve themselves and their society. And what are these counterintuitive ideas? Good relationships come not from being sincere and authentic, but from the rituals we perform within them. Influence comes not from wielding power but from holding back. Excellence comes from what we choose to do, not our natural abilities. A good life emerges not from planning it out, but through training ourselves to respond well to small moments. Transformation comes not from looking within for a true self, but from creating conditions that produce new possibilities. In other words, The Path upends everything we are told about how to lead a good life. Above all, unlike most books on the subject, its most radical idea is that there is no path to follow in the first place—just a journey we create anew at every moment by seeing and doing things differently. Sometimes voices from the past can offer possibilities for thinking afresh about the future. A note from the publisher: To read relevant passages from the original works of Chinese philosophy, see our free ebook Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi: Selected Passages, available on Kindle, Nook, and the iBook Store and at Books.SimonandSchuster.com.
ViewLanguage and Problems of Knowledge - The Managua Lectures
Noam Chomsky
Language and Problems of Knowledge is Noam Chomsky's most accessible statement on the nature, origins, and current concerns of the field of linguistics. He frames the lectures with four fundamental questions: What do we know when we are able to speak and understand a language? How is this knowledge acquired? How do we use this knowledge? What are the physical mechanisms involved in the representation, acquisition, and use of this knowledge? Starting from basic concepts, Chomsky sketches the present state of our answers to these questions and offers prospects for future research. Much of the discussion revolves around our understanding of basic human nature (that we are unique in being able to produce a rich, highly articulated, and complex language on the basis of quite rudimentary data), and it is here that Chomsky's ideas on language relate to his ideas on politics.The initial versions of these lectures were given at the Universidad Centroamericana in Managua, Nicaragua, in March 1986. A parallel set of lectures on contemporary political issues given at the same time has been published by South End Press under the title On Power and Ideology: The Managua Lectures. Language and Problems of Knowledge is sixteenth in the series Current Studies in Linguistics, edited by Jay Keyser.
ViewThe Alchemist
Paulo Coelho
A special 25th anniversary edition of the extraordinary international bestseller, including a new Foreword by Paulo Coelho. Combining magic, mysticism, wisdom and wonder into an inspiring tale of self-discovery, The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations. Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams.
ViewGreen Eggs and Ham
Dr. Seuss
This Dr. Seuss classic will have readers of all ages craving Green Eggs and Ham—no matter where they are! I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am. With unmistakable characters and signature rhymes, Dr. Seuss’s beloved favorite has cemented its place as a children’s classic. Kids will love the terrific tongue-twisters as the list of places to enjoy green eggs and ham gets longer and longer...and they might even learn a thing or two about trying new things! And don’t miss the Netflix series adaptation – featuring the voice talents of Michael Douglas, Diane Keaton, Daveed Diggs, and more! Originally created by Dr. Seuss himself, Beginner Books are fun, funny, and easy to read. These unjacketed hardcover early readers encourage children to read all on their own, using simple words and illustrations. Smaller than the classic large format Seuss picture books like The Lorax and Oh, The Places You’ll Go!, these portable packages are perfect for practicing readers ages 3-7, and lucky parents too!
ViewNine Lies About Work - A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World
Marcus Buckingham, Ashley Goodall
Forget what you know about the world of work You crave feedback. Your organization's culture is the key to its success. Strategic planning is essential. Your competencies should be measured and your weaknesses shored up. Leadership is a thing. These may sound like basic truths of our work lives today. But actually, they're lies. As strengths guru and bestselling author Marcus Buckingham and Cisco Leadership and Team Intelligence head Ashley Goodall show in this provocative, inspiring book, there are some big lies--distortions, faulty assumptions, wrong thinking--that we encounter every time we show up for work. Nine lies, to be exact. They cause dysfunction and frustration, ultimately resulting in workplaces that are a pale shadow of what they could be. But there are those who can get past the lies and discover what's real. These freethinking leaders recognize the power and beauty of our individual uniqueness. They know that emergent patterns are more valuable than received wisdom and that evidence is more powerful than dogma. With engaging stories and incisive analysis, the authors reveal the essential truths that such freethinking leaders will recognize immediately: that it is the strength and cohesiveness of your team, not your company's culture, that matter most; that we should focus less on top-down planning and more on giving our people reliable, real-time intelligence; that rather than trying to align people's goals we should strive to align people's sense of purpose and meaning; that people don't want constant feedback, they want helpful attention. This is the real world of work, as it is and as it should be. Nine Lies About Work reveals the few core truths that will help you show just how good you are to those who truly rely on you.
ViewLove + Work - How to Find What You Love, Love What You Do, and Do It for the Rest of Your Life
Marcus Buckingham
World-renowned researcher and New York Times bestselling author Marcus Buckingham helps us discover where we're at our best--both at work and in life. You've long been told to "Do what you love." Sounds simple, but the real challenge is how to do this in a world not set up to help you. Most of us actually don't know the real truth of what we love--what engages us and makes us thrive--and our workplaces, jobs, schools, even our parents, are focused instead on making us conform. Sadly, no person or system is dedicated to discovering the crucial intersection between what you love to do and how you contribute it to others. In this eye-opening, uplifting book, Buckingham shows you how to break free from this conformity--how to decode your own loves, turn them into their most powerful expression, and do the same for those you lead and those you love. How can you use love to reveal your unique gifts? How can you pinpoint what makes you stand out from anyone else? How can you choose roles in which you'll excel? Love + Work unlocks answers to these questions and others, so you can: Choose the right role on the team. Describe yourself compellingly in job interviews. Mold your existing role so that it calls upon the very best of you. Position yourself as a leader in such a way that your followers quickly come to trust in you. Make lasting change for your team, your company, your family, or your students. Love, the most powerful of human emotions, the source of all creativity, collaboration, insight, and excellence, has been systematically drained from our lives--our work, teams, and classrooms. It's time we brought love back in. Love + Work shows you how.
ViewGuns, Germs and Steel - A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years
Jared M. Diamond
This book answers the most obvious, the most important, yet the most difficult question about human history: why history unfolded so differently on different continents. Geography and biography, not race, moulded the contrasting fates of Europeans, Asians
ViewThe Buddha and the Badass - The Secret Spiritual Art of Succeeding at Work
Vishen Lakhiani
NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, AND #1 WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER • Forget hustling. This book, from the author of The Code of the Extraordinary Mind, will disrupt your deeply held beliefs about work, success, and, indeed, life. If you’re the average person in the developed world, you spend 70 percent of your waking hours at work. And if you’re the average person, you’re miserable for most of those hours. This is simply not an acceptable state of affairs for your one shot at life. No matter your station, you possess incredible unique powers. It’s a modern myth that hard work and hustle are the paths to success. Inside you is a soul. And once you unleash it fully into the domain of work, magic happens. Awakening the Buddha and the Badass inside you is a process that will disrupt the way you work altogether. You’ll gain access to tools that bend the very rules of reality. • The Buddha is the archetype of the spiritual master. The person who can live in this world but also move with an ease, grace, and flow that comes from inner awareness and alignment. • The Badass is the archetype of the changemaker. This is the person who is out there creating change, building, coding, writing, inventing, leading. The badass represents the benevolent disruptor—the person challenging the norms so we can be better as a species. Once you integrate the skill sets of both archetypes, you will experience life at a different level from most people. You will operate from a space of bliss, ease, inspiration, and abundance. The Buddha and the Badass: The Secret Spiritual Art of Succeeding at Work will show you how. Author of the New York Times bestseller The Code of the Extraordinary Mind and founder of Mindvalley, Vishen Lakhiani has turned his own life and company into his research lab. He’s codified everything he’s learned into the how-to steps in this book. The Buddha and the Badass teaches you how to master your work and your life.
ViewFour Thousand Weeks - Time Management for Mortals
Oliver Burkeman
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Provocative and appealing . . . well worth your extremely limited time." —Barbara Spindel, The Wall Street Journal The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks. Nobody needs telling there isn’t enough time. We’re obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we’re deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and “life hacks” to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of anxious hurry grows more intense, and still the most meaningful parts of life seem to lie just beyond the horizon. Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the challenge of how best to use our four thousand weeks. Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman delivers an entertaining, humorous, practical, and ultimately profound guide to time and time management. Rejecting the futile modern fixation on “getting everything done,” Four Thousand Weeks introduces readers to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing finitude, showing how many of the unhelpful ways we’ve come to think about time aren’t inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we’ve made as individuals and as a society—and that we could do things differently.
ViewThanks for the Feedback - The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well
Douglas Stone, Sheila Heen
The authors of the classic Difficult Conversations teach you how to take criticism productively in Thanks for the Feedback. We get feedback every day of our lives, from friends and family, colleagues, customers, and bosses, teachers, doctors, and strangers. We're assessed, coached, and criticized about our performance, personalities and appearance. We know that feedback is essential for professional development and healthy relationships - but we dread it and even dismiss it. That's because while want to learn and grow, we also want to be accepted just as we are. Thanks for the Feedback is the first book to address this tension head on. In it, the world-renowned team behind the Harvard Negotiation Project offer a simple framework and powerful tools, showing us how to take on life's blizzard of comments and advice with curiosity and grace. 'I'll admit it: Thanks for the Feedback made me uncomfortable. And that's one reason I liked it so much. With keen insight and lots of practical takeaways, it reveals why getting feedback is so hard - and then how we can do better' Daniel H. Pink, author of To Sell Is Human and Drive 'Thanks for the Feedback is a road map to more self-awareness, greater learning, and richer relationships. A tour de force' Adam Grant, Wharton professor and author of Give and Take Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen are Lecturers on Law at Harvard Law School and cofounders of Triad Consulting. Their clients include the White House, Citigroup, Honda, Johnson & Johnson, Time Warner, Unilever, and many others. They are co-authors of the international bestseller Difficult Conversations. Stone lives in Cambridge, MA. Heen lives with her husband and three children in a farmhouse north of Cambridge, MA.
ViewHow to Read a Book - The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading
Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren
With more than half a million paperback copies in print and now in this stunning hardcover keepsake edition, How to Read a Book is the classic and definitive guide to reading comprehension for students of literature, scholars across disciplines, and anyone who just loves to read. Originally written in 1940 and first published by Simon & Schuster in 1972, How to Read a Book introduces and elucidates the various levels of reading and how to achieve them in order to gain the most understanding and insight from any book. From elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading and beyond, readers will learn when and how to “judge a book by its cover,” perceive structure no matter the prose, read critically, and extract the author's message from the text. Also included are specific reading techniques that work best for reading particular genres, whether they be practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy, or social science works. A recommended reading list and multiple comprehension tests are incorporated as well in order to measure progress in reading skills, speed, and understanding. As poignant and applicable today as it was nearly seventy-five years ago, this beautiful hardcover edition is the perfect way to rediscover How to Read a Book, the best and most successful guide to reading comprehension.
ViewNoise
Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, Cass R. Sunstein
The Sunday Times bestseller ‘A monumental, gripping book ... Outstanding’ Sunday Times Wherever there is human judgement, there is noise. ‘Noise may be the most important book I've read in more than a decade. A genuinely new idea so exceedingly important you will immediately put it into practice. A masterpiece’ Angela Duckworth, author of Grit ‘An absolutely brilliant investigation of a massive societal problem that has been hiding in plain sight’ Steven Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics From the world-leaders in strategic thinking and the multi-million copy bestselling authors of Thinking Fast and Slow and Nudge, the next big book to change the way you think. Imagine that two doctors in the same city give different diagnoses to identical patients – or that two judges in the same court give different sentences to people who have committed matching crimes. Now imagine that the same doctor and the same judge make different decisions depending on whether it is morning or afternoon, or Monday rather than Wednesday, or they haven’t yet had lunch. These are examples of noise: variability in judgements that should be identical. In Noise, Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein show how noise produces errors in many fields, including in medicine, law, public health, economic forecasting, forensic science, child protection, creative strategy, performance review and hiring. And although noise can be found wherever people are making judgements and decisions, individuals and organizations alike commonly ignore its impact, at great cost. Packed with new ideas, and drawing on the same kind of sharp analysis and breadth of case study that made Thinking, Fast and Slow and Nudge international bestsellers, Noise explains how and why humans are so susceptible to noise and bias in decision-making. We all make bad judgements more than we think. With a few simple remedies, this groundbreaking book explores what we can do to make better ones.
ViewRich Dad, Poor Dad - What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money
Robert T. Kiyosaki
In Rich Dad Poor Dad, the #1 Personal Finance book of all time, Robert Kiyosaki shares the story of his two dad: his real father, whom he calls his poor dad,’ and the father of his best friend, the man who became his mentor and his rich dad.’ One man was well educated and an employee all his life, the other’s education was street smarts” over traditional classroom education and he took the path of entrepreneurship a road that led him to become one of the wealthiest men in Hawaii. Robert’s poor dad struggled financially all his life, and these two dads these very different points of view of money, investing, and employment shaped Robert’s thinking about money. Robert has challenged and changed the way tens of millions of people, around the world, think about money and investing and he has become a global advocate for financial education and the path to financial freedom. Rich Dad Poor Dad (and the Rich Dad series it spawned) has sold over 36 million copies in English and translated editions around the world. Rich Dad Poor Dad will explode the myth that you need to earn a high income to become rich challenge the belief that your house is an asset show parents why they can’t rely on the school system to teach their kids about money define, once and for all, an asset and a liability explain the difference between good debt and bad debt teach you to see the world of money from different perspectives discuss the shift in mindset that can put you on the road to financial freedom
ViewThe 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens
Sean Covey
Over 3 million copies sold. Over 800 positive reviews. Adapted from the New York Times bestseller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens is the ultimate teenage success guide—now updated for the digital age. Imagine you had a roadmap—a step-by-step guide to help you get from where you are now, to where you want to be in the future. Your goals, your dreams, your plans…they’re all within reach. You just need the tools to help you get there. That’s what Sean Covey’s landmark book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, has been to millions of teens: a handbook to self-esteem and success. Now updated for the digital age, this classic book applies the timeless principles of 7 Habits to the tough issues and life-changing decisions teens face. Covey provides a simple approach to help teens improve self-image, build friendships, resist peer pressure, achieve their goals, and appreciate their parents, as well as tackle the new challenges of our time, like cyberbullying and social media. In addition, this book is stuffed with cartoons, clever ideas, great quotes, and incredible stories about real teens from all over the world. Endorsed by high-achievers such as former 49ers quarterback Steve Young and 28-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens has become the last word on surviving and thriving as a teen.
ViewMade in Japan - Akio Morita and Sony
Akio Morita, Edwin M. Reingold, Mitsuko Shimomura
Sony is one of the most powerful and respected multinational corporations in the world, and Akio Morita is its outspoken chairman. From his global perspective, Morita provides an informative and highly entertaining look at how Japanese business really works.
ViewLosing My Virginity
Sir Richard Branson
‘Branson has a list of achievements unmatched by any other UK businessman. For anyone burning with entrepreneurial zeal, his reminiscences are akin to a sacred text’ Mail on Sunday THE NO.1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The worldwide bestselling autobiography of iconic entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, with over two million copies sold to date. Much more than a memoir, this is Sir Richard Branson’s own take on his extraordinary life so far – and a definitive business guide that reveals his unique philosophy of commerce, success and life. In Losing My Virginity, you'll discover how Virgin grew from a mail-order music business into a path-breaking global brand. From the $25 million Virgin Earth initiative to the launch of Virgin Galactic, this is a powerful and unique look into the life of an iconic global entrepreneur.
ViewInvisible Women - Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
Caroline Criado Perez
Data is fundamental to the modern world. From economic development, to healthcare, to education and public policy, we rely on numbers to allocate resources and make crucial decisions. But because so much data fails to take into account gender, because it treats men as the default and women as atypical, bias and discrimination are baked into our systems. And women pay tremendous costs for this bias, in time, money, and often with their lives. Celebrated feminist advocate Caroline Criado Perez investigates shocking root cause of gender inequality and research in Invisible Women†‹, diving into women’s lives at home, the workplace, the public square, the doctor’s office, and more. Built on hundreds of studies in the US, the UK, and around the world, and written with energy, wit, and sparkling intelligence, this is a groundbreaking, unforgettable exposé that will change the way you look at the world.
ViewWhat If? - Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
Randall Munroe
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER From the creator of the wildly popular xkcd.com, hilarious and informative answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask. Millions visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. Fans ask him a lot of strange questions: How fast can you hit a speed bump, driving, and live? When (if ever) did the sun go down on the British Empire? When will Facebook contain more profiles of dead people than living? How many humans would a T Rex rampaging through New York need to eat a day? In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations and consults nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, complemented by comics. They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion.
ViewCloud Native Development Patterns and Best Practices - Practical architectural patterns for building modern, distributed cloud-native systems
John Gilbert
Learn to apply cloud-native patterns and practices to deliver responsive, resilient, elastic, and message-driven systems with confidence Key Features Understand the architectural patterns involved in cloud-native architectures Minimize risk by evolving your monolithic applications into distributed cloud-native systems Discover best practices for applying cloud-native patterns to your enterprise-level cloud applications Book Description Build systems that leverage the benefits of the cloud and applications faster than ever before with cloud-native development. This book focuses on architectural patterns for building highly scalable cloud-native systems. You will learn how the combination of cloud, reactive principles, devops, and automation enable teams to continuously deliver innovation with confidence. Begin by learning the core concepts that make these systems unique. You will explore foundational patterns that turn your database inside out to achieve massive scalability with cloud-native databases. You will also learn how to continuously deliver production code with confidence by shifting deployment and testing all the way to the left and implementing continuous observability in production. There's more—you will also learn how to strangle your monolith and design an evolving cloud-native system. By the end of the book, you will have the ability to create modern cloud-native systems. What you will learn Enable massive scaling by turning your database inside out Unleash flexibility via event streaming Leverage polyglot persistence and cloud-native databases Embrace modern continuous delivery and testing techniques Minimize risk by evolving your monoliths to cloud-native Apply cloud-native patterns and solve major architectural problems in cloud environment Who this book is for This book is for developers who would like to progress into building cloud-native systems and are keen to learn the patterns involved. Basic knowledge of programming and cloud computing is required.
ViewCompany
Max Barry
Stephen Jones is a shiny new hire at Zephyr Holdings. From the outside, Zephyr is just another bland corporate monolith, but behind its glass doors business is far from usual: the beautiful receptionist is paid twice as much as anybody else to do nothing, the sales reps use self help books as manuals, no one has seen the CEO, no one knows exactly what they are selling, and missing donuts are the cause of office intrigue. While Jones originally wanted to climb the corporate ladder, he now finds himself descending deeper into the irrational rationality of company policy. What he finds is hilarious, shocking, and utterly telling.
ViewThe Unicorn That Said No
Marc-Uwe Kling
In the prettiest parts of the Forest of Hearts, a cute little unicorn was born. Its mane was puffy, its fur SUPER fluffy... But as adorable as it looked, it didn't behave like the other unicorns in its herd. 'NO' was its favourite word! No matter how many sweet lucky clovers or soft squishy cuddles that the other unicorns offered, the answer was always 'NO'. And so this unicorn became known as the uNOcorn. It's no surprise that one day our contrary unicorn decides to break free of its cotton-candy world and have an adventure of its own. Along the way, the uNOcorn meets a raccoon who never listens ('Huh?'), a dog who doesn't care ('So what?') and a rude princess (whose favourite word is 'YES!'). What a wonderful team they make, because being stubborn is much more fun together!
ViewOur Iceberg Is Melting - Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions
John Kotter, Holger Rathgeber
The revised and updated tenth anniversary edition of the classic, beloved business fable that has changed millions of lives in organizations around the world. Our Iceberg Is Melting is a simple story about doing well under the stress and uncertainty of rapid change. Based on the award-winning work of Harvard Business School’s John Kotter, it can help you and your colleagues thrive during tough times. On an iceberg near the coast of Antarctica, group of beautiful emperor penguins live as they have for many years. Then one curious bird discovers a potentially devastating problem threatening their home—and almost no one listens to him. The characters in the story—Fred, Alice, Louis, Buddy, the Professor, and NoNo—are like people you probably recognize in your own organization, including yourself. Their tale is one of resistance to change and heroic action, seemingly intractable obstacles and clever tactics for dealing with those obstacles. The penguins offer an inspiring model as we all struggle to adapt to new circumstances. Our Iceberg Is Melting is based on John Kotter's pioneering research into the eight steps that can produce needed change in any sort of group. After finishing the story, you'll have a powerful framework for influencing your own team, no matter how big or small. This tenth anniversary edition preserves the text of the timeless story, together with new illustrations, a revised afterword, and a Q&A with the authors about the responses they've gotten over the past decade. Prepare to be both enlightened and delighted, whether you're already a fan of this classic fable or are discovering it for the first time.
ViewThe Basic Laws of Human Stupidity - The International Bestseller
Carlo M. Cipolla
'A classic' - Simon Kuper, Financial Times 'Brilliant' - James O'Brien, author of How to be Right The five laws that confirm our worst fears: stupid people can and do rule the world. Since time immemorial, a powerful dark force has hindered the growth of human welfare and happiness. It is more powerful than the Mafia or the military. It has global catastrophic effects and can be found anywhere from the world's most powerful boardrooms to your local pub. This is the immensely powerful force of human stupidity. Seeing the shambolic state of human affairs, and sensing the dark force at work behind it, Carlo M. Cipolla, the late, noted professor of economic history at the University of California, Berkeley, created a vitally important economic model that would allow us to detect, know and neutralise this threat: The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity. If you've ever found yourself despairing at the ubiquity of stupidity among even the most 'intellectual' of people, then this hilarious, timely and slightly alarming little book is for you. Arm yourself in the face of baffling political realities, unreasonable colleagues or the unbridled misery of dinner with the in-laws with the first and only economic model for stupidity.
ViewToo Soon Old, Too Late Smart - Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now
Gordon Livingston
The beloved bestselling collection of common sense wisdom from a celebrated psychologist and military veteran who proves it's never too late to move beyond the deepest of personal losses After service in Vietnam, as a surgeon for the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in 1968-69, at the height of the war, Dr. Gordon Livingston returned to the U.S. and began work as a psychiatrist. In that capacity, he has listened to people talk about their lives--what works, what doesn't, and the limitless ways (many of them self-inflicted) that people find to be unhappy. He is also a parent twice bereaved; in one thirteen-month period he lost his eldest son to suicide, his youngest to leukemia. Out of a lifetime of experience, Gordon Livingston has extracted thirty bedrock truths, including: We are what we do. Any relationship is under the control of the person who cares the least. The perfect is the enemy of the good. Only bad things happen quickly. Forgiveness is a form of letting go, but they are not the same thing. The statute of limitations has expired on most of our childhood traumas. Livingston illuminates these and twenty-four other truths in a series of carefully hewn, perfectly calibrated essays, many of which focus on our closest relationships and the things that we do to impede or, less frequently, enhance them. Again and again, these essays underscore that "we are what we do," and that while there may be no escaping who we are, we have the capacity to face loss, misfortune, and regret and to move beyond them--that it is not too late. Full of things we may know but have not articulated to ourselves, Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart offers solace, guidance, and hope to everyone ready to become the person they'd most like to be.
ViewThe Monk Who Sold his Ferrari
Robin Sharma
An internationally bestselling fable about a spiritual journey, littered with powerful life lessons that teach us how to abandon consumerism in order to embrace destiny, live life to the full and discover joy. This inspiring tale is based on the author's own search for life's true purpose, providing a step-by-step approach to living with greater courage, balance, abundance and joy. It tells the story of Julian Mantle, a lawyer forced to confront the spiritual crisis of his out-of-balance life: following a heart attack, he decides to sell all his beloved possesions and trek to India. On a life-changing odyssey to an ancient culture, he meets Himalayan gurus who offer powerful, wise and practical lessons that teach us to: - Develop joyful thoughts - Follow our life's mission - Cultivate self-discipline and act courageously - Value time as our most important commodity - Nourish our relationships - Live fully, one day at a time
ViewThe Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck - A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
Mark Manson
#1 New York Times Bestseller Over 10 million copies sold In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people. For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected American society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up. Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek. There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.
ViewThe Goal - A Process of Ongoing Improvement
Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox, David Whitford
"This book, which introduces the Theory of Constraints, is changing how America does business. The Goal is a gripping, fast-paced business novel about overcoming the barriers to making money. Over 2 million copies sold! Used by thousands of companies and hundreds of business schools! Required reading for anyone in the Theory of Constraints. This book, which introduces the Theory of Constraints, is changing how America does business. The Goal is a gripping, fast-paced business novel about overcoming the barriers to making money. You will learn the fundamentals of identifying and solving the problems created by constraints. From the moment you finish the book you will be able to start successfully addressing chronic productivity and quality problems."--Proporcionado por la editorial.
ViewThe Secret
Rhonda Byrne
The tenth-anniversary edition of the book that changed lives in profound ways, now with a new foreword and afterword. In 2006, a groundbreaking feature-length film revealed the great mystery of the universe—The Secret—and, later that year, Rhonda Byrne followed with a book that became a worldwide bestseller. Fragments of a Great Secret have been found in the oral traditions, in literature, in religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. For the first time, all the pieces of The Secret come together in an incredible revelation that will be life-transforming for all who experience it. In this book, you’ll learn how to use The Secret in every aspect of your life—money, health, relationships, happiness, and in every interaction you have in the world. You’ll begin to understand the hidden, untapped power that’s within you, and this revelation can bring joy to every aspect of your life. The Secret contains wisdom from modern-day teachers—men and women who have used it to achieve health, wealth, and happiness. By applying the knowledge of The Secret, they bring to light compelling stories of eradicating disease, acquiring massive wealth, overcoming obstacles, and achieving what many would regard as impossible.
ViewThe Best Interface Is No Interface - The simple path to brilliant technology
Golden Krishna
Our love affair with the digital interface is out of control. We’ve embraced it in the boardroom, the bedroom, and the bathroom. Screens have taken over our lives. Most people spend over eight hours a day staring at a screen, and some “technological innovators” are hoping to grab even more of your eyeball time. You have screens in your pocket, in your car, on your appliances, and maybe even on your face. Average smartphone users check their phones 150 times a day, responding to the addictive buzz of Facebook or emails or Twitter. Are you sick? There’s an app for that! Need to pray? There’s an app for that! Dead? Well, there’s an app for that, too! And most apps are intentionally addictive distractions that end up taking our attention away from things like family, friends, sleep, and oncoming traffic. There’s a better way. In this book, innovator Golden Krishna challenges our world of nagging, screen-based bondage, and shows how we can build a technologically advanced world without digital interfaces. In his insightful, raw, and often hilarious criticism, Golden reveals fascinating ways to think beyond screens using three principles that lead to more meaningful innovation. Whether you’re working in technology, or just wary of a gadget-filled future, you’ll be enlighted and entertained while discovering that the best interface is no interface.
ViewThe Prince
Niccolo Machiavelli
The Prince is a 16th-century political treatise by the Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli. Although it was written as if it were a traditional work in the mirrors for princes style, it is generally agreed that it was especially innovative. The Prince is sometimes claimed to be one of the first works of modern philosophy, especially modern political philosophy, in which the effective truth is taken to be more important than any abstract ideal. It was also in direct conflict with the dominant Catholic and scholastic doctrines of the time concerning how to consider politics and ethics. Although it is relatively short, the treatise is the most remembered of Machiavelli's works and the one most responsible for bringing the word "Machiavellian" into usage as a pejorative. It also helped make "Old Nick" an English term for the devil, and even contributed to the modern negative connotations of the words "politics" and "politician" in western countries. The descriptions within The Prince have the general theme of accepting that the aims of princes—such as glory and survival—can justify the use of immoral means to achieve those ends.
ViewStrangers to Ourselves
Timothy D. Wilson
"Know thyself," a precept as old as Socrates, is still good advice. But is introspection the best path to self-knowledge? Wilson makes the case for better ways of discovering our unconscious selves. If you want to know who you are or what you feel or what you're like, Wilson advises, pay attention to what you actually do and what other people think about you. Showing us an unconscious more powerful than Freud's, and even more pervasive in our daily life, Strangers to Ourselves marks a revolution in how we know ourselves.
ViewRadical Responsibility - How to Move Beyond Blame, Fearlessly Live Your Highest Purpose, and Become an Unstoppable Force for Good
Fleet Maull
An Invitation to Discover Personal Freedom, Authentic Relationships, and Limitless Possibility What is the greatest obstacle to your fulfillment, success, and happiness? “It's the belief,” teaches Fleet Maull, “that your current situation, whatever it is, has the power to determine your future.” Before he was a revered meditation teacher, Fleet Maull served 14 years in prison for drug trafficking. And during that time, he embarked on a path of transformation and service that today has helped tens of thousands—from inmates to hospice patients to top-level business leaders. With Radical Responsibility, he invites us to experience for ourselves the life-changing journey from victim to co-creator. Here, he guides us step by step to shift our fear-based conditioning into the habits of courage, compassion, and positive change. Join him to delve deeply into: • The complete Radical Responsibility® method for breaking free of your learned limitations and accessing limitless possibility • Discovering basic goodness— your indestructible inner resource for happiness, connection, and strength • Fleet Maull's mindfulness-based emotional intelligence (MBEI) model—neuroscience-informed principles and tools for shedding shame and blame and embracing self-awareness, resilience, and freedom from our self-created suffering • Getting off the Drama Triangle and into the Empowerment Zone—profound practices to transform interpersonal conflicts • Creating your life plan—a clear and achievable map for living your highest purpose, and many other chapters of real-world-tested insights and strategies If you would like to take your life to the next level and truly optimize your health, relationships, career, and other life pursuits, Radical Responsibility will give you the expert guidance to move beyond the inner walls of your beliefs and realize your full potential. This book includes access to guided audio sessions for many of the exercises, available online.
ViewAtlas of the Heart - Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience
Brené Brown
In her latest book, five-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Dr Brené Brown, writes, "If we want to find the way back to ourselves and each other, we need language and the grounded confidence to both tell our stories, and to be stewards of the stories that we hear. This is the framework for meaningful connection." In Atlas of the Heart, Brown takes us on a journey through 87 of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human. As she maps the necessary skills and lays out an actionable framework for meaningful connection, she gives us the language and tools to access a universe of new choices and second chances - a universe where we can share and steward the stories of our bravest and most heart-breaking moments with one another in a way that builds connection. Over the past two decades, Brown's extensive research into the experiences that make us who we are has shaped the cultural conversation and helped define what it means to be courageous with our lives. Atlas of the Heart draws on this research, as well as Brown's singular skills as a researcher/storyteller, to lay out an invaluable, research-based framework that shows us that naming an experience doesn't give the experience more power, it gives us the power of understanding, meaning and choice. Brown shares, "I want this to be an atlas for all of us, because I believe that, with an adventurous heart and the right maps, we can travel anywhere and never fear losing ourselves. Even when we have no idea where we are."
ViewWhite Fragility - Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
Dr. Robin DiAngelo
The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality. In this “vital, necessary, and beautiful book” (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and “allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to ‘bad people’ (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.
ViewThe Joy of Work - The No.1 Sunday Times Business Bestseller – 30 Ways to Fix Your Work Culture and Fall in Love with Your Job Again
Bruce Daisley
__________________________ ‘Bruce Daisley is on a mission to change the world of work.’ The Times __________________________ From the creator of hit podcast Eat Sleep Work Repeat comes a revolutionary re-envisioning of how to enjoy your job. Do you want to get more done, feel less stressed and love your job again? Sometimes having a job can feel like hard work. But between Monk Mode mornings, silent meetings and crisp Thursdays, the solutions are at your fingertips. Bruce Daisley knows a thing or two about the workplace. In the course of a career that has taken him from some of the world’s biggest media companies to Twitter, via Google and YouTube, he has become a leading expert on how we work now. And in his hugely popular podcast Eat Sleep Work Repeat, he has explored ways to fix it. Now he shares 30 brilliant – and refreshingly simple – tips on how to make your job more productive, more rewarding – and much, much more enjoyable. ‘With just 30 changes, you can transform your work experience from bland and boring (or worse) to fulfilling, fun, and even joyful.’ Daniel Pink, author of When and Drive __________________________ "This is a warm, wise and funny book which provides a terrific summary of some of the science - and stories - behind what makes work a positive part of people’s lives. From the importance of lunch to the value of laughter, this book gives witty and practical advice. I loved it and I’ve already started changing some of the things I do at work, as a result!" - Professor Sophie Scott "Don't quit yet! In this book, Bruce shares remarkable advice that may well have you laughing while you work and truly loving your job." - Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder “Bruce Daisley’s The Joy of Work is a joy to read. It translates the best of workplace psychology research into practical ways of establishing creative and liveable cultures at work—a must read for all of us 9-5ers!” - Professor Sir Cary Cooper, ALLIANCE Manchester Business School, University of Manchester “Bruce’s The Joy of Work is an important reminder of simple everyday practices to improve how we all work together, which will lead to greater team and individual happiness and performance. Great results will follow.” - Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square "With just 30 changes, you can transform your work experience from bland and boring (or worse) to fulfilling, fun, and even joyful. Bruce Daisley has pulled together threads of research and woven them into a tapestry of strategies that actually work, and that don't depend on the CEO's sign-off for implementation. You can begin changing your work culture today at the individual, team, and organisational levels with these tactics that increase creativity, productivity, and satisfaction.” - Daniel Pink, author of WHEN and DRIVE
ViewGood Vibes, Good Life - How Self-Love Is the Key to Unlocking Your Greatness
Vex King
Be the best version of you that YOU can be. How can you learn to truly love yourself? How can you transform negative emotions into positive ones? Is it possible to find lasting happiness? In this book, Instagram guru Vex King answers all of these questions and more. Vex overcame adversity to become a source of hope for thousands of young people, and now draws from his personal experience and his intuitive wisdom to inspire you to: - practise self-care, overcome toxic energy and prioritize your wellbeing - cultivate positive lifestyle habits, including mindfulness and meditation - change your beliefs to invite great opportunities into your life - manifest your goals using tried-and-tested techniques - overcome fear and flow with the Universe - find your higher purpose and become a shining light for others In this book, Vex will show you that when you change the way you think, feel, speak and act, you begin to change the world.
ViewFix the System, Not the Women
Laura Bates
'Get your daughters to read this, but only after your partners and sons have finished it’ Jo Brand 'An astute and persuasive page-turner' Observer _____________________________________________________ Too often, we blame women. For walking home alone at night. For not demanding a seat at the table. For not overcoming the odds that are stacked against them. This distracts us from the real problem: the failings and biases of a society that was not built for women. In this explosive book, feminist writer and activist Laura Bates exposes the systemic prejudice at the heart of five of our key institutions. Education Politics Media Policing Criminal justice Combining stories with shocking evidence, Fix the System, Not the Women is a blazing examination of sexual injustice and a rallying cry for reform. ________________________________________________ 'Powerful’ Sunday Times 'A blistering manifesto for change' Dr Pragya Agarwal 'I am in awe of Laura Bates . . . her writing is nothing short of perfect' Sofie Hagen, author of Happy Fat ‘Finish the book furious – before rallying for the next fight’ Grazia Latest Must-Reads
ViewGraswurzelinitiativen in Unternehmen: Ohne Auftrag – mit Erfolg! - Wie Veränderungen aus der Mitte des Unternehmens entstehen – und wie sie erfolgreich sein können
Sabine Kluge, Alexander Kluge
Zu diesem Buch Was passiert eigentlich, wenn sich Mitarbeiter aus der Mitte der Organisation selbstorganisiert in Bewegung setzen, um ihr Unternehmen zu verändern? Eine Graswurzelinitiative ist oft mehr als ein kurzer, einmaliger Impuls, denn sie hat das Potenzial, Organisationen nachhaltig zu verändern. Das Buch bietet eine Nahaufnahme aus deutschen Konzernen. Es beleuchtet Initiativen aus Sicht von Entscheidern und Akteuren und zeigt die kritischen Erfolgsfaktoren. Als ehemaliger Vorstand von Telekom, Lufthansa und Continental bekannt und heute aktives Bundestagsmitglied kommentiert Dr. Thomas Sattelberger seine Sicht auf die Rolle von Graswurzelinitiativen für den Wandel aus der Mitte im Rahmen der aus seiner Sicht dringend notwendigen Selbsterneuerung der deutschen Wirtschaft. Der Epilog der bekannten Organisationssoziologin Judith Muster (Universität Potsdam) ergänzt schließlich die praktischen Beobachtungen und Analysen der Autoren um eine kritische Würdigung von Veränderungsinitiativen aus der Mitte aus organisationssoziologischer Sicht und liefert damit eine weitere Facette auf die Thematik. Aus dem Inhalt Können Mitarbeiter großer Konzerne ihr Unternehmen verändern? Bewegung aus der Mitte – wenn einer anfängt zu tanzen und viele folgen Phasen einer Graswurzelinitiative in Unternehmen – und Tipps für Akteure und Entscheider Erfolgsfaktoren und Ausblick Zu den Autoren Die Autoren Alexander und Sabine Kluge gestalten mit ihrem Unternehmen Kluge+Konsorten digitale und kulturelle Transformationsvorhaben in Organisationen. Viele der im Buch vorgestellten Graswurzelinitiativen haben sie persönlich begleitet und beschreiben damit deren Erfolgsfaktoren nicht nur aus der beobachtenden, sondern auch aus der mitgestaltenden Perspektive. Alexander Kluge zählt mit seinen Kernthemen rund um digitale Kommunikation, Kollaboration und Koordinierung von Geschäftsprozessen bereits seit rund 20 Jahren zu den bedeutenden Kennern, Keynote-Speakern und Autoren der Digitalszene und teilt sein Wissen auf Konferenzen und digitalen Plattformen. Sabine Kluge gilt als eines der prominentesten Gesichter der New-Work-Szene und wurde 2019 als eine der 40 führenden HR-Köpfe ausgezeichnet (Personalmagazin). Für ihre Mitwirkung bei erfolgreichen New-Work-Projekten in traditionellen Unternehmenskulturen erhielt sie 2017 den HR Excellence Award, 2018 den Xing New Work Award und wurde für ihre vielgelesenen Blogbeiträge auf der Plattform LinkedIn mehrmals als Topvoice ausgezeichnet. Zielgruppe Führungskräfte, Veränderer in Organisationen, Unternehmens- und Innovationsberater, Organisationsentwickler sowie Coaches
ViewJoy, Inc. - How We Built a Workplace People Love
Richard Sheridan
The moment you walk into Menlo Innovations, you can sense the atmosphere full of energy, playfulness, enthusiasm, and maybe even . . . joy. As a package-delivery person once remarked, “I don’t know what you do, but whatever it is, I want to work here.” Every year, thousands of visitors come from around the world to visit Menlo Innovations, a small software company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They make the trek not to learn about technology but to witness a radically different approach to company culture. CEO and “Chief Storyteller” Rich Sheridan removed the fear and ambiguity that typically make a workplace miserable. His own experience in the software industry taught him that, for many, work was marked by long hours and mismanaged projects with low-quality results. There had to be a better way. With joy as the explicit goal, Sheridan and his team changed everything about how the company was run. They established a shared belief system that supports working in pairs and embraces making mistakes, all while fostering dignity for the team. The results blew away all expectations. Menlo has won numerous growth awards and was named an Inc. magazine “audacious small company.” It has tripled its physical office three times and produced products that dominate markets for its clients. Joy, Inc. offers an inside look at how Sheridan and Menlo created a joyful culture, and shows how any organization can follow their methods for a more passionate team and sustainable, profitable results. Sheridan also shows how to run smarter meetings and build cultural training into your hiring process. Joy, Inc. offers an inspirational blueprint for readers in any field who want a committed, energizing atmosphere at work—leading to sustainable business results.
ViewImagine - How Creativity Works
Jonah Lehrer
The profound mysteries of creative thought have long intimidated the world's finest brains. How do you measure the imagination? How do you quantify an epiphany? These daunting questions led researchers to neglect the subject for hundreds of years. In Jonah Lehrer's ambitious and enthralling new book, we go in search of the epiphany. Shattering the myth of creative 'types', Lehrer shows how new research is deepening our understanding of the human imagination. Creativity is not a 'gift' that only some possess. It's a term for a variety of distinct thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively. Some acts of imagination are best done sipping espresso in a crowded cafe, while others require long walks in a quiet park. Lehrer helps us fit our creative strategies to the task at hand. The journey begins with the fluttering of neurons in the prefrontal cortex, before moving out to consider how this new science can also make neighbourhoods more vibrant, companies more productive and schools more effective. We'll learn about Bob Dylan's writing habits and the drug addiction of poets. We'll see why Elizabethan England experienced a creative explosion, and how Pixar designed its office space to get the most out of its talent. Collapsing the layers separating the neuron from the finished symphony, Imagine reveals the deep inventiveness of the human mind and its essential role in our increasingly complex world.
ViewEgo Is the Enemy
Ryan Holiday
The instant Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and international bestseller “While the history books are filled with tales of obsessive visionary geniuses who remade the world in their image with sheer, almost irrational force, I’ve found that history is also made by individuals who fought their egos at every turn, who eschewed the spotlight, and who put their higher goals above their desire for recognition.” —from the prologue Many of us insist the main impediment to a full, successful life is the outside world. In fact, the most common enemy lies within: our ego. Early in our careers, it impedes learning and the cultivation of talent. With success, it can blind us to our faults and sow future problems. In failure, it magnifies each blow and makes recovery more difficult. At every stage, ego holds us back. Ego Is the Enemy draws on a vast array of stories and examples, from literature to philosophy to history. We meet fascinating figures such as George Marshall, Jackie Robinson, Katharine Graham, Bill Belichick, and Eleanor Roosevelt, who all reached the highest levels of power and success by conquering their own egos. Their strategies and tactics can be ours as well. In an era that glorifies social media, reality TV, and other forms of shameless self-promotion, the battle against ego must be fought on many fronts. Armed with the lessons in this book, as Holiday writes, “you will be less invested in the story you tell about your own specialness, and as a result, you will be liberated to accomplish the world-changing work you’ve set out to achieve.”
ViewCustomer Success - How Innovative Companies Are Reducing Churn and Growing Recurring Revenue
Nick Mehta, Dan Steinman, Lincoln Murphy
Your business success is now forever linked to the success of your customers Customer Success is the groundbreaking guide to the exciting new model of customer management. Business relationships are fundamentally changing. In the world B.C. (Before Cloud), companies could focus totally on sales and marketing because customers were often 'stuck' after purchasing. Therefore, all of the 'post-sale' experience was a cost center in most companies. In the world A.B. (After Benioff), with granular per-year, per-month or per-use pricing models, cloud deployments and many competitive options, customers now have the power. As such, B2B vendors must deliver success for their clients to achieve success for their own businesses. Customer success teams are being created in companies to quarterback the customer lifecycle and drive adoption, renewals, up-sell and advocacy. The Customer Success philosophy is invading the boardroom and impacting the way CEOs think about their business. Today, Customer Success is the hottest B2B movement since the advent of the subscription business model, and this book is the one-of-a-kind guide that shows you how to make it work in your company. From the initial planning stages through execution, you'll have expert guidance to help you: Understand the context that led to the start of the Customer Success movement Build a Customer Success strategy proven by the most competitive companies in the world Implement an action plan for structuring the Customer Success organization, tiering your customers, and developing the right cross-functional playbooks Customers want products that help them achieve their own business outcomes. By enabling your customers to realize value in your products, you're protecting recurring revenue and creating a customer for life. Customer Success shows you how to kick start your customer-centric revolution, and make it stick for the long term.
ViewMindset - The New Psychology of Success
Carol S. Dweck
The updated edition of the book that has changed millions of lives with its insights into the growth mindset. After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities. People with a fixed mindset--those who believe that abilities are fixed--are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset--those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment. In this edition, Dweck offers new insights into her now famous and broadly embraced concept. She introduces a phenomenon she calls false growth mindset and guides people toward adopting a deeper, truer growth mindset. She also expands the mindset concept beyond the individual, applying it to the cultures of groups and organizations. With the right mindset, you can motivate those you lead, teach, and love--to transform their lives and your own. Praise for Mindset "A good book is one whose advice you believe. A great book is one whose advice you follow. This is a book that can change your life, as its ideas have changed mine."--Robert J. Sternberg, co-author of Teaching for Wisdom, Intelligence, Creativity, and Success "An essential read for parents, teachers and] coaches . . . as well as for those who would like to increase their own feelings of success and fulfillment."--Library Journal (starred review) "Everyone should read this book."--Chip Heath and Dan Heath, authors of Made to Stick "One of the most influential books ever about motivation."--Po Bronson, author of NurtureShock "If you manage people or are a parent (which is a form of managing people), drop everything and read Mindset."--Guy Kawasaki, author of The Art of the Start 2.0
ViewEmotional - How Feelings Shape Our Thinking
Leonard Mlodinow
We’ve all been told that thinking rationally is the key to success. But at the cutting edge of science, researchers are discovering that feeling is every bit as important as thinking. You make hundreds of decisions every day, from what to eat for breakfast to how you should invest, and not one of those decisions would be possible without emotion. It has long been said that thinking and feeling are separate and opposing forces in our behavior. But as Leonard Mlodinow, the best-selling author of Subliminal, tells us, extraordinary advances in psychology and neuroscience have proven that emotions are as critical to our well-being as thinking. How can you connect better with others? How can you make sense of your frustration, fear, and anxiety? What can you do to live a happier life? The answers lie in understanding your emotions. Journeying from the labs of pioneering scientists to real-world scenarios that have flirted with disaster, Mlodinow shows us how our emotions can help, why they sometimes hurt, and what we can learn in both instances. Using deep insights into our evolution and biology, Mlodinow gives us the tools to understand our emotions better and to maximize their benefits. Told with his characteristic clarity and fascinating stories, Emotional explores the new science of feelings and offers us an essential guide to making the most of one of nature’s greatest gifts.
ViewSoftware for Your Head - Core Protocols for Creating and Maintaining Shared Vision
Jim McCarthy, Michele McCarthy
Most people have experienced--at least once in their lives--the incomparable thrill of being part of a great team effort. They can remember the unity of purpose they experienced, the powerful passion that inspired them, and the incredible results they achieved. People who have been on a great team can attest that the difference between being on a team with a shared vision and being on a team without one is the difference between joy and misery. In 1996, Jim and Michele McCarthy, after successful careers leading software development teams at Microsoft and elsewhere, set out to discover a set of repeatable group behaviors that would always lead to the formation of a state of shared vision for any team. They hoped for a practical, communicable, and reliable process that could be used to create the best possible teams every time it was applied. They established a hands-on laboratory for the study and teaching of high-performance teamwork. In a controlled simulation environment, their principle research and teaching effort--the McCarthy Software Development BootCamp--challenged dozens of real-world, high-tech teams to produce and deliver a product. Teams were given a product development assignment, and instructed to form a team, envision the product, agree on how to make it, then design, build, and ship it on time. By repeating these simulations time after time, with the new teams building on the learning from previous teams, core practices emerged that were repeatedly successful. These were encoded as patterns and protocols. Software for Your Head is the first publication of the most significant results of the authors' unprecedented five-year investigation into the dynamics of contemporary teams. The information in this book will provide a means for any team to create for itself a compelling state of shared vision. 0201604566B09042001
ViewTogether is Better - A Little Book of Inspiration
Simon Sinek
Most of us live our lives by accident - we live as it happens. Fulfilment comes when we live our lives on purpose. 'What are you going to do with your life? What are you doing with your life now?' 'Do you have goals? A vision? A clear sense of why you do what you do?' Almost everyone knows someone who has grappled with at least one of these questions. The answers can often seem elusive or uncertain. Though there are many paths to follow into the unknown future, there is one way that dramatically increases the chances we will enjoy the journey. To travel with someone we trust. We can try to build a successful career or a happy life alone, but why would we? Together is better. This unique and delightful little book makes the point that together is better in a quite unexpected way. Simon Sinek, bestselling author of Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last, blends the wisdom he has gathered from around the world with a heartwarming, richly illustrated original fable. Working hard for something we don't care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.
ViewWOLFPACK - How to Come Together, Unleash Our Power and Change the Game
Abby Wambach
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Based on her inspiring, viral 2018 commencement speech to Barnard College's graduates in New York City, New York Times bestselling author, two-time Olympic gold medallist and FIFA World Cup champion Abby Wambach delivers her empowering rally cry for women to unleash their individual power, unite with their pack, and emerge victorious together. Abby Wambach became a champion because of her incredible talent as a football player. She became an icon because of her remarkable wisdom as a leader. As the co-captain of the 2015 Women's World Cup Champion Team, she created a culture not just of excellence, but of honour, commitment, resilience, and sisterhood. She helped transform a group of individual women into one of the most successful, powerful and united Wolfpacks of all time. In her retirement, Abby's ready to do the same for her new team: All Women Everywhere. She insists that women must let go of old rules of leadership that neither include or serve them. She's created a new set of Wolfpack rules to help women unleash their individual power, unite with their Wolfpack, and change the landscape of their lives and world. · Make failure your fuel: Transform failure to wisdom and power. · Lead from the bench: Lead from wherever you are. · Champion each other: Claim each woman's victory as your own. · Demand the effing ball: Don't ask permission: take what you've earned. In Abby's vision, we are not Little Red Riding Hoods, staying on the path because we're told to. We are the wolves, fighting for a better tomorrow for ourselves, our pack, and all the future wolves who will come after us.
ViewThe Anthropocene Reviewed - Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
John Green
Goodreads Choice winner for Nonfiction 2021 and instant #1 bestseller! A deeply moving collection of personal essays from John Green, the author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down. “The perfect book for right now.” –People “The Anthropocene Reviewed is essential to the human conversation.” –Library Journal, starred review The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale—from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar. Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity. As a species, we are both far too powerful and not nearly powerful enough, a paradox that came into sharp focus as we faced a global pandemic that both separated us and bound us together. John Green’s gift for storytelling shines throughout this masterful collection. The Anthropocene Reviewed is a open-hearted exploration of the paths we forge and an unironic celebration of falling in love with the world.
ViewUnlearn Patriarchy - Mit Beiträgen von Madeleine Alizadeh, Teresa Bücker, Kübra Gümüşay, Emilia Roig, Kristina Lunz u.v.a. | Feministische Impulse für Wege aus dem Patriarchat
Lisa Jaspers, Naomi Ryland, Silvie Horch
Obwohl wir inzwischen im 21. Jahrhundert leben, herrscht noch immer das Patriarchat. Warum zur Hölle ist das so? Und was kann jede: r persönlich dazu beitragen, die häufig unbewussten toxischen Strukturen zu erkennen und aufzulösen? Dieser Sammelband mit bekannten Autor:innen bietet Hilfestellung. Sich gegen das Patriarchat zur Wehr zu setzen, ist besonders im Alltag schwierig. Denn Vieles ist uns so vertraut, dass wir es gar nicht hinterfragen. Sogar bekennende Feminist:innen tappen immer wieder in die gleichen Fallen. Wir schließen Frauen durch Sprache aus, folgen veralteten Vorstellungen von einer glücklichen Kleinfamilie inklusive traditionellen Rollenbildern. Oder wir passen uns männergemachten und kapitalistischen Strukturen an, wenn wir im Beruf erfolgreich sein wollen. Die Beitragenden der Anthologie UNLEARN PATRIARCHY berichten von ihren Erfahrungen und spüren eigenen fatalen Denkmustern nach. Sie zeigen, wie über alle Gesellschaftsbereiche hinweg von Sprache und Liebe über Arbeit bis hin zu Politik, Bildung oder Identität die patriarchalen Handlungsmuster gebrochen werden können und ein besseres Leben für alle möglich wird. »Große strukturelle Denkhindernisse werden in diesem Buch von klugen Köpfen analysiert. Sie helfen zu verlernen, was Gegenwart und Zukunft zerstört!« Luisa Neubauer
ViewBuilding a Values-driven Organization - A Whole System Approach to Cultural Transformation
Richard Barrett
Richard Barrett, author of the best-selling book Liberating the Corporate Soul, presents his new thinking Based on his experience working with over 1,000 organizations in 32 countries on cultural transformation for the values-driven organization. He presents a whole system approach to cultural transformation, showing organizations how they can change their culture to become values-driven organizations that support their employees, their customers, their partners, their leaders, and ultimately drive effectiveness and profit. *New thinking from best-selling author on the value-driven organization *Integrates cutting-edge technologies available to companies on the web *Integrates many methodologies into a whole system approach to cultural transformation
View