Seven business innovators and the empires they built. The pre eminent business historian of our time Richard S. Tedlow examines seven great CEOs who successfully managed cutting edge technology and formed enduring corporate empires. With the depth and clarity of a master Tedlow illuminates the minds lives and strategies behind the legendary successes of our times: . George Eastman and his invention of the Kodak camera; . Thomas Watson of IBM; . Henry Ford and his automobile; . Charles Revson and his use of television advertising to drive massive sales for Revlon; . Robert N. Noyce co inventor of the integrated circuit and founder of Intel; . Andrew Carnegie and his steel empire; . Sam Walton and his unprecedented retail machine Wal Mart.

Want freedom from management, mediocrity and moronsEver wonder what the best bosses know that you don'tDo you want to have great employees, people who don't need to be managed and who make everyone around them work harder and raise the department to a higher standardThe Gifted Boss is management guru Dale Dauten's classic yet revolutionary guidebook on teaching managers how to spot and court talent and how to give great employees what they want and need. This is a comprehensive system full of valuable insight and lessons aimed at creating the best work environment for the best people. Throughout The Gifted Boss, Dale Dauten defines his different breed of leader as one who is able to shape a business environment and culture that is a magnet for self-motivated employees. Dauten's starting point is a powerful fact about hiring great employees: the best ones are almost never in the job market. His system also includes a discussion of "ideal turnover" and how the great managers employ "the secret skill" of "de-hiring" to gracefully move mediocre employees up or out. Throughout his discussions, Dauten incorporates priceless knowledge gained from an exhaustive search for America's best bosses. The wisdom he acquired was startling, and it pertained to every type of organization: "Different isn't always better, but better is always different." The Gifted Boss has already earned itself a cult following. Now, based on conversations with hundreds of readers, Dauten has revised his work by adding a quick-start guide to help his audience get fast results and a discussion guide to help executives share the book with their teams. Though new technology continues to bring new changes to communication in the workplace, The Gifted Boss still remains the essential guide to maneuvering the tricky world of managing the modern employee. It belongs on every businessperson's desk.

Let's say you're about to hire somebody for a position in your company. Your corporation wants someone who's fearless, charismatic, and full of new ideas. Candidate X is charming, smart, and has all the right answers to your questions. Problem solved, rightMaybe not.We'd like to think that if we met someone who was completely without conscience -- someone who was capable of doing anything at all if it served his or her purposes -- we would recognize it. In popular culture, the image of the psychopath is of someone like Hannibal Lecter or the BTK Killer. But in reality, many psychopaths just want money, or power, or fame, or simply a nice car. Where do these psychopaths goOften, it's to the corporate world. Researchers Paul Babiak and Robert Hare have long studied psychopaths. Hare, the author of Without Conscience, is a world-renowned expert on psychopathy, and Babiak is an industrial-organizational psychologist. Recently the two came together to study how psychopaths operate in corporations, and the results were surprising. They found that it's exactly the modern, open, more flexible corporate world, in which high risks can equal high profits, that attracts psychopaths. They may enter as rising stars and corporate saviors, but all too soon they're abusing the trust of colleagues, manipulating supervisors, and leaving the workplace in shambles.Snakes in Suits is a compelling, frightening, and scientifically sound look at exactly how psychopaths work in the corporate environment: what kind of companies attract them, how they negotiate the hiring process, and how they function day by day. You'll learn how they apply their "instinctive" manipulation techniques -- assessing potential targets, controlling influential victims, and abandoning those no longer useful -- to business processes such as hiring, political command and control, and executive succession, all while hiding within the corporate culture. It's a must read for anyone in the business world, because whatever level you're at, you'll learn the subtle warning signs of psychopathic behavior and be able to protect yourself and your company -- before it's too late.

In this gripping and colorful account of the American dream gone astray, Lewis Pinault provides the essential guidelines on how to get ahead and an enlightening perspective on the brutal infighting that can engulf even the most civilized consulting firm. This stunning expose of some of the most prestigious and respected names in the business leads you into a world where a client's interests are skillfully subordinated to those of the consultants, where money rules the day, and where principles and morals are unwelcome baggage.Humorous and insightful, this no-holds-barred account takes you behind the scenes of the dehumanizing indoctrination of an academic intellectual into an exploitative -- and exploited -- "global transformation contractor." Featuring new material dealing with the e-consulting industry's boom, bust, and its future, Consulting Demons offers the most complete look at an industry that exacts the highest prices for the most questionable standards of success.

Integrity more than simple honesty, it's the key to success. A person with integrity has the ability to pull everything together, to make it all happen no matter how challenging the circumstances. Drawing on experiences from his work, Dr. Henry Cloud, a clinical psychologist, leadership coach, corporate consultant and nationally syndicated radio host, shows how our character can keep us from achieving all we want to (or could) be. In Integrity, Dr. Cloud explores the six qualities of character that define integrity, and how people with integrity: Are able to connect with others and build trust Are oriented toward reality Finish well Embrace the negative Are oriented toward increase Have an understanding of the transcendent Integrity is not something that you either have or don't, but instead is an exciting growth path that all of us can engage in and enjoy.

The world has changed in the seventeen years since the controversial initial publication of Paul Hawken's Ecology of Commerce, a stirring treatise about the perceived antagonism between ecology and business. Yet Hawken's impassioned argument that business both causes the most egregious abuses of the environment and, crucially, holds the most potential for solving our sustainability problems is more relevant and resonant than ever.Containing updated and revised material for a new audience, The Ecology of Commerce presents a compelling vision of the restorative (rather than destructive) economy we must create, centered on eight imperatives: Reduce energy carbon emissions 80 percent by 2030 and total natural resource usage 80 percent by 2050. Provide secure, stable, and meaningful employment to people everywhere. Be self-organizing rather than regulated or morally mandated. Honor market principles. Restore habitats, ecosystems, and societies to their optimum. Rely on current income. Be fun and engaging, and strive for an aesthetic outcome.

Newly revised and updated, Leadership and the One Minute Manager teaches leaders the world-renowned method of developing self-reliance in those they manage: Situational Leadership II.In Leadership and the One Minute Manager, you'll learn why adapting leadership styles to team members based on their key goals and tasks is so important and why knowing when to delegate, support, or direct is critical. By consistently using Situational Leadership II's proven model and powerful techniques, leaders can develop and retain competent, motivated, confident employees. This remarkable, easy-to-follow book is a priceless guide to personalized leadership that elicits the best performance from your team and the best bottom line for any business.

A groundbreaking book that sheds new light on the vital importance of teams as the fundamental unit of organization and competition in the global economy. Teams—we depend on them for both our professional success and our personal happiness. But isn't it odd how little scrutiny we give themThe teams that make up our lives are created mostly by luck, happenstance, or circumstance—but rarely by design. In trivial matters—say, a bowling team, the leadership of a neighborhood group, or a holiday party committee—success by serendipity is already risky enough. But when it comes to actions by fast-moving start-ups, major corporations, nonprofit institutions, and governments, leaving things to chance can be downright dangerous. Offering vivid reports of the latest scientific research, compelling case studies, and great storytelling, Team Genius shows managers and executives that the planning, design, and management of great teams no longer have to be a black art. It explores solutions to essential questions that could spell the difference between success and obsolescence. Do you know how to reorganize your subpar teams to turn them into top performersCan you identify which of the top-performing teams in your company are reaching the end of their life spanDo you have the courage to shut them downDo you know how to create a replacement team that will be just as effective—without losing time or damaging moraleAnd, most important, are your teams the right size for the jobThroughout, Rich Karlgaard and Michael S. Malone share insights and real-life examples gleaned from their careers as journalists, analysts, investors, and globetrotting entrepreneurs, meeting successful teams and team leaders to reveal some "new truths": The right team size is usually one fewer person than what managers think they need. The greatest question facing good teams is not how to succeed, but how to die. Good "chemistry" often makes for the least effective teams. Cognitive diversity yields the highest performance gains—but only if you understand what it is. How to find the "bliss point" in team intimacy—and become three times more productive. How to identify destructive team members before they do harm. Why small teams are 40 percent more likely to create a successful breakthrough than a solo genius is. Why groups of 7 (± 2), 150, and 1,500 are magic sizes for teams. Eye-opening, grounded, and essential, Team Genius is the next big idea to revolutionize business.

How dynamic businesses of every size can unleash innovation by inviting customers to codesign what they do and make. Reading line: The 8 Roles Customers Play in Trend Setting Companies The refrain is familiar for Patricia Seybold in her journeys as a top technology and management strategist: "I want our company to be acknowledged as the most admired and most customer valued in our industry and to be recognized as the company that has forever changed the way things are done." "How can we become the Google of banking?" "How can we be the eBay of software?" "I want to be the JetBlue of manufacturing." "How can we become the undisputed trend setter in our industry with a competitive bar no one can topple?" In Outside Innovation, bestselling author Seybold taps her close relationship with dozens of high innovation companies to reveal the untold strategy behind the trendsetters and the next HUGE leap forward in customer strategy. Seybold shows that companies that are dominating their category and staying ahead of the pack are collaborating at every level of their business with their customers.

Meet the men and women whose deeply personal philanthropy is dramatically changing the way we think about giving There are 8.6 million millionaires in the United States, and these numbers are set to rise in what will be the biggest intergenerational wealth transfer in history. As $41 trillion dollars (or over three times the national GDP) moves from the World War II generation to their baby- boomer children over the next couple of decades, it will become imperative that the beneficiaries of this wealth—even those not joining the ranks of the superrich—begin thinking about philanthropy, perhaps for the first time in their adult lives. Here they will find the personal journeys of the most successful givers of their generation. This new generation of wealth has already begun to change the face of philanthropy and to reshape the entire nonprofit sector. In Be the Change, bestselling author Lisa Endlich presents eleven compelling profiles of this twenty-first century generosity. Through candid, revealing, and often surprising interviews, readers will venture into the hearts and minds of the top names in philanthropy today—men and women who have chosen to use their immense riches and influence to meaningfully improve the lives of others in the most dramatic ways. These intimate conversations include in-depth interviews with: ?Melinda Gates, one of the driving forces behind the largest philanthropic organization the world has ever seen; ?Bob and Suzanne Wright, he's the former vice chairman of GE and longtime head of NBC Universal and their Autism Speaks has brought awareness of autism onto the national and international stage; ?Paul Tudor Jones, founder of Tudor Investments and the Robin Hood Foundation; ?Peter Bloom, founding chairman of the groundbreaking DonorsChoose.org. From Connie Duckworth, a former Goldman Sachs partner, who brings steady employment to Afghani women and education to them and their children, to Johann Olav Koss, an Olympic gold medalist who now strives to give children in the direst circumstances the chance to play, these philanthropists demonstrate that giving doesn't begin or end with a signed check. They grant Endlich exclusive access to the stories of how they learned from early failures and developed a personal, sustainable way of giving, and they also share the catalyzing moment when they saw a problem so heartbreaking they simply could not turn away. In doing so, these new philanthropists offer valuable lessons—ones that will inspire readers to start giving, keep giving, and become the change they want to see in the world.

Does a secure financial life seem to difficult to imagine let alone achieveDoes wealth strike you as an impossible dreamWhether you're living from paycheck to paycheck, or simply confused by the world of stocks, bonds, and brokers, it's never too late to change your situation. All you need is a little help.By spending just ten to fifteen minutes a day with this immensely helpful book, you'll discover that financial security is just steps away. Filled with the wisdom and advice of a seasoned expert, this year-old program for success shows you how to: change your attitude and change your life break out of debt and control your spending choose investments and make your money grow protect your gains and prepare for a comfortable retirement give your children or grandchildren a secure start in life and much more!

Based on a groundbreaking study, analysing data on 200 management practices gathered over a 10 year period. Reveals the effectiveness of the 4+2 practices (4 primary and 2 of 4 possible secondary) practices that really matter the ones that, if followed rigorously, ensure sustained business success. With a new introduction by the authors. With hundreds of well known management practices and pre*ions promoted by consultants and available to business, which are really effective and contribute to the growth and continued success of a companyWhich do little or nothingBased on the "Evergreen Project," a massive, 5 year study involving the business school faculties of ten universities, the authors set out to find the management practices that truly promote long term growth and success. Their findings will revolutionize the art and practice of business management.The book shows that there are essentially six management practices that all successful companies must master simultaneously. They range from focusing on a strategy of growth to maintaining the depth and quality of human talent in the organization.

Do you feel that if you could get rid of some of the chaos in your work life, you could take your performance to a greater levelDo you stay late at the office many nights, trying to empty an inbox that never seems to diminishDo you have difficulty dealing with cantankerous bosses or passive-aggressive coworkersDo you find yourself checking your BlackBerry almost against your will during dates, family dinners, or your children's soccer gamesIf you've answered yes to any of the above, chances are you feel fragmented, pulled in too many directions at once, frustrated. Your work life has taken over your personal life.In The One-Life Solution, Dr. Henry Cloud, consultant, bestselling author of the Boundaries series and Integrity, and clinical psychologist, examines the workplace. He demonstrates how our failure to maintain a unified life with good boundaries at the office not only blurs the line between the professional and the personal, but leaves us less equipped to deal with the problems of today's workplace: stress, heavy workload, and a blistering pace. As a result, we are overworked, overstressed, and unhappier than ever. Through real-world examples from years of working with leaders at companies large and small, Dr. Cloud shows us how to construct and enforce better boundaries against the technological devices, bullying bosses, and distracting coworkers who invade our time and space.From conducting an audit of your time, to developing a policy of who you are and what you stand for, to learning how to overcome a paralyzing inability to say no, Dr. Cloud provides invaluable strategies and *s for moving toward a more unified, coherent sense of self and a life that fully encompasses work, family, and spirituality. In a clear, conversational voice, he will help you develop the ability to: contain self-destructive behavior and keep it from spreading. define yourself and know who you are. set limits when needed. communicate effectively. learn how to improve your performance at the office and outside it. By starting to do what's best for you, you'll find the key to living the one happy, fulfilling life that only you can live.

The final word on what traits make for highly successful managers and a detailed explanation of how to identify potential standout performers. Executive Intelligence is about the substance behind great leadership. Inspired by the work of Peter Drucker and Jim Collins, Justin Menkes set out to isolate the qualities that make for the 'right' people. Drawing on his background in psychology and bolstered by interviews with accomplished CEOs, Menkes paints the portrait of the ideal executive.In a sense, Menkes's work reveals an executive IQ the cognitive skills necessary in order to excel in senior management positions. Star leaders readily differentiate primary priorities from secondary concerns; they identify flawed assumptions; they anticipate the different needs of various stakeholders and how they might conflict with one another; and they recognise the underlying agendas of individuals in complex exchanges.Weaving together research, interviews and the results of his own proprietary testing, Menkes exposes one of the great fallacies of corporate life, that hiring and promotion are conducted on a systematic or scientific basis that allows the most accomplished to rise to their levels of optimal responsibility. Finally, Menkes is a passionate advocate for finding and employing the most talented people, especially those who may have been held back by external assumptions.

There is an epidemic of unhappiness in the American workplace. A full 70 percent of workers in the United States report that they are disengaged from their jobs. When asked, "Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?" only 20 percent of nearly 2 million employees said yes. It is no wonder that 56 percent of all Americans dream of starting their own business. So why don't they do soBecause starting one's own business is seen as difficult, expensive, and risky.In this extraordinary book, successful Go It Alone! entrepreneur Bruce Judson explains that the conventional wisdom about starting your own business is stunningly wrong. Using the leverage of technology -- e-mail, the World Wide Web, and the remarkable array of off-the-shelf business services now available -- it is dramatically easier to start your own business. Magnified by these new services, it is also possible to create, for the first time, a highly focused business.Bruce Judson shows you the practical steps that will allow nearly any individual to create a business, often using job skills that seem to require an entire corporation for support. It is no longer necessary to spend time on the tasks that don't add value. It is now possible to stay small but reap big profits. Go-it-alone businesses allow the individual the freedom to concentrate on their greatest skills. After reading this book, your motto will be "Do What You Do Best, Let Others Do the Rest."

This is the story of Rebecca Smith and John R. Emshwiller, the two reporters who led the Wall Street Journal's reporting on Enron and uncovered the unorthodox partnerships at the heart of the scandal through skill, luck, and relentless determination. It all started in August 2001when Emshwiller was assigned to write a supposedly simple article on the unexpected resignation of Enron CEO Jeff Skilling. During his research, Emshwiller uncovered a buried reference to an off-balance-sheet partnership called LJM. Little did he know, this was the start of a fast and furious ride through the remarkable downfall of a once highly-prized company. Written in an intense, fast paced narrative style, 24 Days tells the gripping story of the colossal collapse of what would become the world's most notorious corporation. The reader follows along as Smith and Emshwiller continue to uncover new partnerships and self-dealing among the highest levels of Enron's management. As they publish articles detailing their findings in the Journal, Wall Street and individual investors have a crisis of confidence and start selling Enron stock at unprecedented levels of volume. In the end - 24 short days later - Enron had completely collapsed, erasing 16 years of growth and losing $19 billion in market value while watching the stock drop from $33.84 to $8.41. Not only was the company destroyed, but investors and retired employees were completely wiped out-all the while Enron executives were collecting millions of dollars. Climaxing with this 24-day period, this book shows the reporter's-eye view of a David-and-Goliath battle between journalists and a giant corporation. Each day a new story uncovered another fact; each day the company issued denials. And when the investigative stories reached critical mass and momentum, the stock market cast its final vote of no confidence. In the tradition of Indecent Exposure and Barbarians at the Gate, two other gripping narratives that began as a series of Wall Street Journal stories and ended up as books that defined an era, 24 Days brings the importance of great investigative journalism to life.

As the host of Fox News Channel's Your World with Neil Cavuto and Cavuto on Business, Neil Cavuto reports on today's most influential business leaders and newsmakers. His great talent is to get beneath the issues, connecting people to the events that define them and changing the way that Americans think about their money. Ending each show with a provocative, insightful commentary, Cavuto stirs people to see the world in a new light, calling on them to think beyond the stories at hand and challenging people to reevaluate the world that they live in.In Your Money or Your Life, Cavuto compiles the best of these commentaries in one volume, creating a collection that is at once witty, thought-provoking, and inspiring. Covering a variety of topics from remembering life before 9/11, to providing tips for empty nesters Cavuto presents a wry yet evocative look at our world, one that speaks to the heart of the American condition. Spanning one of the most tumultuous decades in memory from the wild and chaotic Clinton years through the sobering challenges of the War on Terror Cavuto's words offer a window into our America at its best and its worst.

In this long-anticipated, groundbreaking guide to building a portfolio, acclaimed stock pickers and Internet pioneers David and Tom Gardner lay bare the simple philosophy that they have used to help millions of grateful individual investors outfox the professionals on Wall Street. The research, the stories, and the results that underpin this book stem from the revolutionary and wildly successful "Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio"" a one-of-a-kind Web experiment in which individual investors follow along as Motley Fool co-founder Tom Gardner invests and manages $1 million of The Motley Fool's own money. In page after page of sound, sensible investment advice, readers are offered a rare glimpse into the inner workings of The Motley Fool machine and offered a first-class education in building, growing, and defending an individual portfolio, one investment strategy at a time. From learning to think like an investor to finding a first stock, from dividend investing to blue-chip bargains to small-cap treasures, from international investing to community-based online tools that are revolutionizing stock selection and asset allocation, this book takes the reader through the essential strategies for building any portfolio no matter how small its start or how big its ambitions.

The author of Getting from College to Career reinvents the concept of management for a new generation, offering a fresh and relevant approach to career success that shows Millennials how to make the next step: become a leader.We are in the midst of a leadership revolution, as power passes from Baby Boomers to Millennials, who are stepping into executive positions in corporations, government, and their own businesses. Becoming the Boss is a brisk, tech savvy success manual filled with real-world, actionable tips from an expert. Lindsey Pollak defines what Millennial generation leadership is and draws on original research, her own experience, and interviews with young managers and entrepreneurs to share the secrets of what makes them successful leaders and shows young professionals how to rise in their own careers. From learning to develop a style that appeals to your older colleagues to managing virtual employees to mastering the rules of social media etiquette, Becoming the Boss helps you identify your next professional move and shows you how to succeed once you get there.

How does your company define creativityOr doescreativity define your companyIn this remarkable book, Jerry Hirshberg, founder and president of Nissan Design International (NDI), distills his experience as leader of the world's hotbed of automotive innovation and reveals his strategy for designing an organization around creativity.In The Creative Priority Hirshberg weaves together enlightening real-world anecdotes with the story of NDI's genesis to illustrate eleven interlocking strategies that came to define NDI's creative priority. Richly illustrated with NDI's elegant designs and sketched, The Creative Priority is at once a compelling narrative, a rich store of hands-on experience, and a grab bag of breakthrough insights that can help your business perform its most vital function.

After years of TV and radio coverage, gallons of newsprint ink, and billions of scholarly opinions on the blogosphere, do we really understand the financial engineering that brought the global economy to the brink?The terms and acronyms that make up the language of economics are enough to cause the layman's head to start spinning: leverage, securitization, futures, options, MBS, CDS, CDO. Luckily, we have veteran journalist Paddy Hirsch senior producer at APM's Marketplace and acknowledged Whiteboard Guru to help us crack the code. In Man vs. Markets, he proves that it's not impossible to understand what's going on in the glass-and-steel canyons of Wall Street; that most international financial transactions aren't all that different from those taking place every day in stores, in car dealerships, even on the playgrounds of Main Street.BondsThey're basically loans. FuturesYou probably used one when you ordered your Thanksgiving turkey last year. OptionsEver bought a fully transferable, returnable airline ticketThat's pretty much the same thing.With a winning combination of acquired wisdom, common sense, market savvy, and an outrageous sense of humor, Hirsch clearly explains and defines the instruments that power our financial system and very nearly caused its demise. Clever, insightful, hugely educational, and always entertaining, Man vs. Markets translates the often confusing language of finance, enabling every one of us to truly comprehend what makes the markets tick.