If your workplace feels like a battle zone and colleagues sometimes act like adversaries, you ore not alone. Today four generations glare at one another across the conference table, and the potential for conflict and confusion has never been greater. Traditionalist employees with their "heads down, onward and upward" attitude live out a work ethic shaped during the Great Depression. Eighty million Baby Boomers vacillate between their overwhelming need to succeed and their growing desire to slow down and enjoy life. Generation Xers try to prove themselves constantly yet dislike the image of being overly ambitious, disrespectful, and irreverent. Millennials, new to the workforce, mix savvy with social conscience and promise to further change the business landscape. This insightful book provides hands-on methods to close the generation gaps. With effective tools to recruit, retain, motivate, and manage each generation, you can now create teamwork, not war, in today's highperformance workplace . . . where at any age, productivity is what counts.

For an extraordinary fifty-seven-year period, one of the nation's largest and fastest-growing companies was run by two men who were flesh and blood. The chief executives of the International Business Machines Corporation from 1914 until 1971 were Thomas J. Watson and Thomas J. Watson, father and son. That great corporation bears the imprint of both men -- their ambitions and their strengths -- but it also bears the consequences of a family that was in near-constant conflict.Sometimes wrong but never in doubt, both Watsons had clear -- and farsighted -- visions of what their company could become. They also had volcanic tempers. Their fights with each other combined with their commitment to leadership and excellence made IBM one of the most rewarding, yet gut-clutching firms to work for in the history of American business.We are accustomed to describing professional behavior as if men and women leave their emotions and vulnerabilities at home each day. In the case of the Watsons, filial and sibling strife could not be excluded from the office. In closely studying the desires and frustrations of the Watson family, eminent historian Richard S. Tedlow has produced something more than a family portrait or a company history. He has raised the nearly forbidden issue of the role of emotion in corporate life.This book explores the interplay between the person- alities of these two extraordinary men and the firm they created. Both Watsons had deeply held beliefs about what a corporation is and should be. These ideas helped make "Big Blue" the bluest of blue-chip stocks during the Watsons' tenure. These very beliefs, however, also sowed the seeds for IBM's disasters in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the company had lost sight of the original meaning behind many of the practices each man put into place.Tracing the family's idiosyncratic ability to cope with each other's weaknesses but not their strengths, The Watson Dynasty is a book for every person who ever went to work but didn't want to check his personality at the door.

The popular TODAY financial editor Jean Chatzky helps you navigate through the critical challenges and potential catastrophes of personal finance.You've just lost your job. You've got a baby on the way. Your parent has had a stroke. Most people seek financial help not because they're planning for the future but because they need it . . . right now! If you have money problems or are seeking immediate help to solve a dire, unanticipated financial emergency, then you need Money 911. In this invaluable guidebook, financial expert Jean Chatzky provides answers to today's most pressing financial questions and concerns, including: How do I get out of debtHow do I avoid foreclosureHow do I set up a monthly budgetHow can I improve my credit scoreHow do I get my health insurance to pay a claimWhat should I do when I lose a parentWith Money 911, you can prepare for retirement, buy or sell a home, pick up the pieces of your personal finances, and get back on your feet and stay there!

At nineteen, Michael Dell started his company as a freshman at the University of Texas with $1,000 and has since built an industry powerhouse. As Dell journeys through his childhood adventures, ups and downs, and mistakes made along the way, he reflects on invaluable lessons learned.Michael Dell's revolutionary insight has allowed him to persevere against all odds, and Direct from Dell contains valuable information for any business leader. His strategies will show you effective ways to grow your business and will help you save time on costly mistakes by following his direct model for success.

Former NBA center Adonal Foyle has seen athletes burn through millions on women, large entourages, family gifts, gambling debts even shark tanks! Such spending habits are partly responsible for 60 percent of NBA players going broke within five years of retirement and nearly 80 perfect of NFL players being strapped within two.Rich with anecdotes from a sports insider, Winning the Money Game shows you how to avoid the financial fouls of athletes. Foyle gives you the straight, offering guidance on a wide range of money matters, from taxes to alimony, from child support to medical bills, and so much more. He beaks down expenses point by point, illustrating the difference between luxury items and family needs, and lays out the essential dos and don'ts to help you spend, save, and grow your money wisely.

For most people, the Great Crash of 2008 has meant troubling times. Not so for those in the flourishing poverty industry, for whom the economic woes spell an opportunity to expand and grow. These mercenary entrepreneurs have taken advantage of an era of deregulation to devise high-priced products to sell to the credit-hungry working poor, including the instant tax refund and the payday loan. In the process they've created an industry larger than the casino business and have proved that pawnbrokers and check cashers, if they dream big enough, can grow very rich off those with thin wallets.Broke, USA is Gary Rivlin's riveting report from the economic fringes. From the annual meeting of the national check cashers association in Las Vegas to a tour of the foreclosure-riddled neighborhoods of Dayton, Ohio, here is a subprime Fast Food Nation featuring an unforgettable cast of characters and memorable scenes. Rivlin profiles players like a former small-town Tennessee debt collector whose business offering cash advances to the working poor has earned him a net worth in the hundreds of millions, and legendary Wall Street dealmaker Sandy Weill, who rode a subprime loan business into control of the nation's largest bank. Rivlin parallels their stories with the tale of those committed souls fighting back against the major corporations, chain franchises, and newly hatched enterprises that fleece the country's hardworking waitresses, warehouse workers, and mall clerks.Timely, shocking, and powerful, Broke, USA offers a much-needed look at why our country is in a financial mess and gives a voice to the millions of ordinary Americans left devastated in the wake of the economic collapse.

With The E-Myth Contractor, Michael E. Gerber launches a series of books that apply the E-Myth to specific types of small businesses. The first is aimed at contractors.This book reveals a radical new mind-set that will free contractors from the tyranny of an unprofitable, unproductive routine. With specific tips on topics as crucial as planning, money and personnel management, The E-Myth Contractor teaches readers how to: Implement the ingenious turnkey system of management a means of creating a business prototype that reflects the business owner's unique set of talents and replicating and distributing them among employees and customers. Recognise and manage the four forms of money income, profit, flow and equity. Harness the power of change to expand the company. The book also provides help on a larger level, leading readers towards becoming business visionaries by relinquishing tactical work and embracing strategic work, by letting go to gain control. Once put into action, Gerber's revolutionary ideas promise not only to help contractors build successful businesses, but successful lives as well.

The epic story of a publishing giantIn 1817 four young brothers opened a printing shop in downtown Manhattan. Two centuries later, their small enterprise has grown into one of the world's largest and most successful publishing houses. The Harper brothers and their sons and successors created a grand cultural institution that has become a cornerstone of America's literary heritage.Eugene Exman's classic history, published in 1967, The House of Harper is the fascinating account of the birth and growth of a magnificent literary empire. Richly detailed, it is filled with portraits of dynamic publishers and editors, with remarkable anecdotes about the legendary artists and authors whose works they championed and brought to the general public Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Winslow Homer, Henry James, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Thomas Wolfe, and Aldous Huxley, to name but a few. More than the enthralling saga of a successful business venture, it is a story of the shaping of American literature and culture.

Geared toward the unique challenges faced by self-employed businesswomen and updated for the social media-driven, post-financial crisis world The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business offers solutions and advice for handling a range of issues, including how to write a business plan, how to secure funding, and how to hire (and fire) employees. Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio share practical information drawn from their own extensive experience in the public relations, marketing, and consulting fields. Their concise and engaging advice is explained through entertaining tips, lists, and quizzes that speak directly to women who are dreaming of starting, or have already started, their own businesses.

#131 The Case of the Two-Cent CandyYears ago, I wrote about a retail store in the Palo Alto environs a good one, which had a box of two-cent candies at the checkout. I subsequently remember that "little" parting gesture of the two-cent candy as a symbol of all that is Excellent at that store. Dozens of people who have attended seminars of mine from retailers to bankers to plumbing-supply-house owners have come up to remind me, sometimes 15 or 20 years later, of "the two-cent candy story," and to tell me how it had a sizable impact on how they did business, metaphorically and in fact.Well, the Two-Cent Candy Phenomenon has struck again with oomph and in the most unlikely of places.For years Singapore's "brand" has more or less been Southeast Asia's "place that works." Its legendary operational efficiency in all it does has attracted businesses of all sorts to set up shop there. But as "the rest" in the geographic neighborhood closed the efficiency gap, and China continued to rise-race-soar, Singapore decided a couple of years ago to "rebrand" itself as not only a place that works but also as an exciting, "with it" city. (I was a participant in an early rebranding conference that also featured the likes of the late Anita Roddick, Deepak Chopra, and Infosys founder and superman N. R. Narayana Murthy.)Singapore's fabled operating efficiency starts, as indeed it should, at ports of entry the airport being a prime example. From immigration to baggage claim to transportation downtown, the services are unmatched anywhere in the world for speed and efficiency.Saga . . . Immigration services in Thailand, three days before a trip to Singapore, were a pain. ("Memorable.") And entering Russia some months ago was hardly a walk in the park, either. To be sure, and especially after 9/11, entry to the United States has not been a process you'd mistake for arriving at Disneyland, nor marked by an attitude that shouted "Welcome, honored guest."Singapore immigration services, on the other hand:The entry form was a marvel of simplicity. The lines were short, very short, with more than adequate staffing.The process was simple and unobtrusive.And:The immigration officer could have easily gotten work at Starbucks; she was all smiles and courtesy.And:Yes!Yes!And . . . yes!There was a little candy jar at each Immigration portal!The "candy jar message" in a dozen ways:"Welcome to Singapore, Tom!! We are absolutely beside ourselves with delight that you have decided to come here!"Wow!Wow!Wow!Ask yourself . . . now:What is my (personal, department, project, restaurant, law firm) "Two-Cent Candy"?Does every part of the process of working with us/me include two-cent candies?Do we, as a group, "think two-cent candies"?Operationalizing: Make "two-centing it" part and parcel of "the way we do business around here." Don't go light on the so-called substance but do remember that . . . perception is reality . . . and perception is shaped by two-cent candies as much as by that so-called hard substance.Start: Have your staff collect "two-cent candy stories" for the next two weeks in their routine "life" transactions. Share those stories. Translate into "our world." And implement.Repeat regularly.Forever.(Recession or no recession you can afford two cents.)(In fact, it is a particularly Brilliant Idea for a recession you doubtless don't maximize Two-Cent Opportunities. And what opportunities they are.)

Thirty-nine of America's most successful business leaders share the most important decisions of their careers and the life and career lessons they hold for us all. When former CEO Harlan Steinbaum decided to buy back his retail drug chain with his partners, his life changed dramatically. The personal impact that this one business decision this "tough call" had on Steinbaum made him wonder if others had experienced similar kinds of defining moments in their own careers. To find out, he reached out to some of the most successful people in the country leaders from companies such as Verizon, Chrysler, ESPN, Ogilvy & Mather, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, WellPoint, and Panera Bread Company to pinpoint the career-defining decisions that were integral to their success. The result is Tough Calls from the Corner Office, a treasure trove of rich business wisdom, stories of tough decisions and hard-won victories, and lessons from a lifetime of achievement in the world of business.Tough Calls from the Corner Office offers inspiring stories, lessons, principles, strategies, ideas, and solutions drawn from every stage in a successful career, from early key choices to the final leave-taking from the world of work. Given unprecedented access to such visionaries as Union Square Hospitality Group's Danny Meyer, ESPN's Bill Rasmussen, Build-A-Bear's Maxine Clark, and Let's Make a Deal's Monty Hall, Steinbaum shares their experiences, told in their own words, so that others may learn from them. In a time when many people are at professional crossroads, Tough Calls from the Corner Office offers inspiration and the confidence to believe that tough decisions can be the first step to extraordinary success.

The classic #1 New York Times bestseller that answers the age-old questionWhy is incompetence so maddeningly rampant and so vexingly triumphantThe Peter Principle, the eponymous law Dr. Laurence J. Peter coined, explains that everyone in a hierarchy from the office intern to the CEO, from the low-level civil servant to a nation's president will inevitably rise to his or her level of incompetence. Dr. Peter explains why incompetence is at the root of everything we endeavor to do why schools bestow ignorance, why governments condone anarchy, why courts dispense injustice, why prosperity causes unhappiness, and why utopian plans never generate utopias.With the wit of Mark Twain, the psychological acuity of Sigmund Freud, and the theoretical impact of Isaac Newton, Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull's The Peter Principle brilliantly explains how incompetence and its accompanying symptoms, syndromes, and remedies define the world and the work we do in it.

Here is the bestselling guide that created a new game plan for marketing in high-tech industries. Crossing the Chasm has become the bible for bringing cutting-edge products to progressively larger markets. This edition provides new insights into the realities of high-tech marketing, with special emphasis on the Internet. It's essential reading for anyone with a stake in the world's most exciting marketplace.

Transform Your Workplace!Imagine a company where people are excited about coming to work and giving their best efforts every day. In this innovative and engrossing business parable, Harry Paul and Ross Reck show managers at all levels how they can immediately and easily increase productivity by tapping into the discretionary effort of the people who work for them. Starting from the most basic aspect of business reality that people intentionally regulate the amount of effort they put into their jobs based upon how they feel they're being treated the authors point out that the most important part of the job of every manager, team leader, supervisor, and executive is to treat people in such a way that they become excited about applying all their discretionary effort toward performing their jobs.At the book's center is the story of Nancy Kim, a human resources director at a magazine that is struggling with all the problems associated with unhappy employees low productivity and morale along with high absenteeism and turnover. After she openly challenges the CEO's new management-by-the-numbers system, she's charged with turning the situation around immediately. Filled with real-world studies, Instant Turnaround! shows anyone how to turn the workplace into a destination a place where working hard feels like hardly working because it's engaging, enjoyable, and fulfilling.

Today we all face more impossible challenges than ever before. But flash foresight lets you transform the impossible into the possible, revealing hidden opportunities and allowing you to solve your biggest problems before they happen. Daniel Burrus is one of the world's leading forecasters, corporate strategists, and visionaries. Over the past quarter century, he has established a reputation worldwide for his exceptional record of accurately predicting the future of technological change and its direct impact on the business world."Wouldn't it be amazing if you could predict the future and be right?" writes Burrus. "You can: all you have to do is leave out the parts you could be wrong about! And the amazing thing is, when you know where to look, there's more than enough you can be right about to make all the difference."From small businesses to multinationals, individual careers to entire industries, Flash Foresight looks at how Burrus's seven radical flash foresight "triggers" have transformed dozens of careers, fortunes, and lives. Both engaging and enlightening, Flash Foresight provides an easy-to-implement blueprint for applying the same strategies to your own business, enabling you to see the invisible and do the impossible.In the past, flash foresight was useful. Today, as the pace of technological change accelerates almost beyond the point of comprehension, it's an imperative.

The media coach and Emmy Award-winning correspondent Bill McGowan shares his secrets of pitch-perfect communications, showing readers how to communicate with confidence.During the pivotal moments of our lives, results are often determined not only by our actions but by our words as well. Saying the right thing the right way can make the difference between sealing the deal or losing the account, advancing your career or suffering a demotion. During these moments, it's important to be pitch perfect to use precisely the right tone to convey the right message to the right person at the right time. Such pitch-perfect moments are crucial in our personal and professional journeys. In Pitch Perfect, the renowned media coach Bill McGowan shows you how to craft just the right message. Along the way, McGowan lays out his Seven Principles of Persuasion, including: The Scorsese Principle: Hold your audience's attention with visual images. Direct the film that plays in your listener's mind. The No-Tailgating Principle: Avoid verbal fender-benders and career-wrecking moments by maintaining a safe talking distance. When in doubt, stop talking and listen. The Pasta-Sauce Principle: Cure boredom by boiling down your message, making it as rich and brief as possible. In Pitch Perfect, you'll learn how to overcome all these communication pitfalls. The Seven Principles of Persuasion are as easy to learn, implement, and master as they are effective. The right language both verbal and nonverbal can make you more confident, persuasive, and certain. It can stir people to listen closely to your every word and to remember you long after you've left the room.

*Author will be named after the final show is aired in Australia*The winner of the hit TV show, The Apprentice, shows how anyone can become their own personal success in both business and life, using his or her own experiences as a self-made entrepreneur,his or her work ethic, top business strategies, and lessons learned competing on the show, working for Donald Trump and winning the most talked about reality shows in years.Foreword by Donald Trump.

After an eleven-year-old Kimberly Guilfoyle lost her mother to leukemia, her dad wanted her to become as resilient and self-empowered as she could be. He wisely taught her to build a solid case for the things she wanted. Creating a strong logical argument was the best way to ensure she could always meet her needs. That childhood lesson led her to become the fearless advocate and quick-thinking spitfire she is today. In Making the Case, Guilfoyle interweaves stories and anecdotes from her life and career with practical advice that can help you win arguments, get what you want, help others along the way, and come out ahead in any situation.Learning how to state your case effectively is not just important for lawyers it's something every person should know how to do, no matter what stage of life they are in. From landing her dream job right out of school, switching careers seamlessly midstream, and managing personal finances for greater growth and stability to divorcing amicably and teaching her young child to advocate for himself, Guilfoyle has been there and done it. Now she shares those stories, showing you how to organize your thoughts and plans, have meaningful discussions with the people around you, and achieve your goals in all aspects of your life. You'll also learn the tips and strategies that make the best advocates so successful, some of which come directly from courtroom scenarios where the stakes are highest.Told in her winning and humorous voice, Guilfoyle's experiences and the wisdom drawn from them are a ready guide to help you reach your potential and live a fulfilling and happy life at work and at home.

How to afford kids and teach them about moneyWe all want to raise smart children. But somewhere between the reading, writing, and arithmetic, one of life's most important lessons is too often overlooked: personal finances. As adults, we interact with money every day, whether by saving, investing, spending, or giving it, but we often forget that kids also face these same decisions from their own unique perspective as they mature. How do we teach today what kids really need to know tomorrow to thrive as financially savvy adultsIn Piggybanking, veteran Wall Street Journal personal-finance writer Jeff D. Opdyke provides a clear and effective plan to help parents raise children to be comfortable and confident managing the daily finances of life.But even before kids arrive, parents face a rash of financial decisions. Accordingly, Piggybanking also deals with the essential problems every struggling young family must face, including how to prepare your budget for a child's arrival, how to choose between single- and dual-income lifestyles, and how to plan for funding a college education.With Opdyke's valuable advice, and with his 15 Rules of Kids Money in hand, parents will be well equipped to create a sound financial foundation for their family and a successful financial life for their kids.

Who's really driving oil and gas pricesHow much oil is leftHow far will Big Oil go to get it, and at what cost to the environment, human rights, the economy, worker safety, public health, and democracy?Here, at last, are the answers we've been looking for and the inside story on Big Oil.In The Tyranny of Oil, Antonia Juhasz investigates the true state of the companies collectively known as "Big Oil," uncovering their unparalleled global financial power, their political dominance, and their increasingly destructive plans for the future. And she tells us what we can do about it.A tool for meaningful change that blends history, original investigative research and reporting, candid interviews with key insiders, and a unique focus on activism, The Tyranny of Oil is required reading for every concerned global citizen.

The definitive guide to turning the Millennials' great expectations into even greater results The Millennial generation (those born between 1982 and 2000) has rapidly entered the workforce in greater numbers, but its introduction to the workplace has been anything but seamless. In fact, many companies already report attention-grabbing stories about: the mother who called HR to complain when her Millennial daughter got a mediocre performance review; the new hire who dialed the CEO directly to tell him what the company could be doing better; the young employee who revealed a confidential new product on her Facebook page before it was made public. Clashes like these are happening in workplaces around the world, and they leave leaders and coworkers scratching their heads and wondering, "What do these Millennials wantWhy are they so differentHow do we get the good ones in the doorHow do we keep them there without alienating the other generations?" Going forward, a company's success will depend upon knowing the answers to these questions, because they are the keys to motivating this new generation and to taking advantage of the amazing potential it possesses. In The M-Factor, Baby Boomer Lynne Lancaster and Generation Xer David Stillman draw on cutting-edge case studies, findings from large-scale surveys, and hundreds of interviews to identify the seven trends essential for understanding and managing the Millennials: the role of the parents, entitlement, the search for meaning, great expectations, the need for speed, social networking, and collaboration. Observant, humorous, and savvy, this book the ultimate guide to Millennials in the workplace offers valuable insights and practical, take-action tips and solutions that Traditionalists, Boomers, Gen Xers, and even Millennials can use to bridge generational gaps, be more productive, and achieve organizational success like never before.