Najczęściej kupowane w kategorii Podejmowanie decyzji i rozwiązywanie problemów

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Daniel Kahneman
Major New York Times bestsellerWinner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award in 2012Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of 2011A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 TitleOne of The Economist’s 2011 Books of the Year One of The Wall Street Journal's Best Nonfiction Books of the Year 20112013 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient

In the international bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions.

Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011, Thinking, Fast and Slow is destined to be a classic.

 

How Children Succeed : Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character

Paul Tough
“Drop the flashcards—grit, character, and curiosity matter even more than cognitive skills. A persuasive wake-up call.”—People

Why do some children succeed while others fail? The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs. But in How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter more have to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, optimism, and self-control.

How Children Succeed introduces us to a new generation of researchers and educators, who, for the first time, are using the tools of science to peel back the mysteries of character. Through their stories—and the stories of the children they are trying to help—Tough reveals how this new knowledge can transform young people’s lives. He uncovers the surprising ways in which parents do—and do not—prepare their children for adulthood. And he provides us with new insights into how to improve the lives of children growing up in poverty. This provocative and profoundly hopeful book will not only inspire and engage readers, it will also change our understanding of childhood itself.

“Illuminates the extremes of American childhood: for rich kids, a safety net drawn so tight it’s a harness; for poor kids, almost nothing to break their fall.”—New York Times

“I learned so much reading this book and I came away full of hope about how we can make life better for all kinds of kids.”—Slate

Switch : How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

Chip Heath
Why is it so hard to make lasting changes in our companies, in our communities, and in our own lives?

The primary obstacle is a conflict that’s built into our brains, say Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the critically acclaimed bestseller Made to Stick. Psychologists have discovered that our minds are ruled by two different systems—the rational mind and the emotional mind—that compete for control. The rational mind wants a great beach body; the emotional mind wants that Oreo cookie. The rational mind wants to change something at work; the emotional mind loves the comfort of the existing routine. This tension can doom a change effort—but if it is overcome, change can come quickly.

In Switch, the Heaths show how everyday people—employees and managers, parents and nurses—have united both minds and, as a result, achieved dramatic results:  

●      The lowly medical interns who managed to defeat an entrenched, decades-old medical practice that was endangering patients.

●      The home-organizing guru who developed a simple technique for overcoming the dread of housekeeping.

●      The manager who transformed a lackadaisical customer-support team into service zealots by removing a standard tool of customer service
            
In a compelling, story-driven narrative, the Heaths bring together decades of counterintuitive research in psychology, sociology, and other fields to shed new light on how we can effect transformative change. Switch shows that successful changes follow a pattern, a pattern you can use to make the changes that matter to you, whether your interest is in changing the world or changing your waistline.


From the Hardcover edition.

How to Win at the Sport of Business : If I Can Do It, You Can Do It

Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban shares his wealth of experience and business savvy in his first published book, HOW TO WIN AT THE SPORT OF BUSINESS, available now only as an eBook. Using the greatest material from his popular Blog Maverick, he has collected and updated his postings on business and life to provide a catalog of insider knowledge on what it takes to become a thriving entrepreneur. Cuban tells his own rags-to-riches story of how he went from selling powdered milk and sleeping on friends' couches to owning his own company and becoming a multi-billion dollar success story. His unconventional yet highly effective ideas on how to build a successful business offer entrepreneurs at any stage of their careers a huge edge over their competitors.

Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition : Edition 2

Kerry Patterson

The New York Times and Washington Post bestseller that changed the way millions communicate

“[Crucial Conversations] draws our attention to those defining moments that literally shape our lives, our relationships, and our world. . . . This book deserves to take its place as one of the key thought leadership contributions of our time.”
—from the Foreword by Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

“The quality of your life comes out of the quality of your dialogues and conversations. Here’s how to instantly uplift your crucial conversations.”
—Mark Victor Hansen, cocreator of the #1 New York Times bestselling series Chicken Soup for the Soul®

The first edition of Crucial Conversations exploded onto the scene and revolutionized the way millions of people communicate when stakes are high. This new edition gives you the tools to:

Prepare for high-stakes situations Transform anger and hurt feelings into powerful dialogue Make it safe to talk about almost anything Be persuasive, not abrasive

Problemas resueltos de teoría de la decisión

Federico Garriga Garzón

 Este libro va enfocado a personas con conocimientos de teoría de la decisión y estadística, con el objetivo de facilitar el aprendizaje de los procedimientos de formulación y resolución de problemas de análisis de decisiones. Los ejercicios se enmarcan dentro de la resolución de los problemas de toma de decisiones mediante el uso de árboles de decisión, siendo el enfoque expuesto marcadamente práctico. Por ello, resulta de enorme interés tanto para estudiantes como para directivos, así como para cualquier persona que a lo largo de su vida requerirá tomar decisiones que afectarán el transcurso de la misma.

Blue Ocean Strategy : How To Create Uncontested Market Space And Make The Competition Irrelevant

W. Chan Kim
The global phenomenon, embraced by business worldwide and now published in more than 40 languages.

This international bestseller challenges everything you thought you knew about the requirements for strategic success.

Since the dawn of the industrial age, companies have engaged in head-to-head competition in search of sustained, profitable growth. They have fought for competitive advantage, battled over market share, and struggled for differentiation. Yet, as this influential and immensely popular book shows, these hallmarks of competitive strategy are not the way to create profitable growth in the future.

In the international bestseller Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne argue that cutthroat competition results in nothing but a bloody red ocean of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool. Based on a study of 150 strategic moves (spanning more than 100 years across 30 industries), the authors argue that lasting success comes not from battling competitors, but from creating "blue oceans"—untapped new market spaces ripe for growth. Such strategic moves, which the authors call “value innovation,” create powerful leaps in value that often render rivals obsolete for more than a decade.

Blue Ocean Strategy presents a systematic approach to making the competition irrelevant and outlines principles and tools any company can use to create and capture their own blue oceans. A landmark work that upends traditional thinking about strategy, this bestselling business book charts a bold new path to winning the future.

Published by Harvard Business Review Press.

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth : What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything

Chris Hadfield
Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4000 hours in space. During this time he has broken into a Space Station with a Swiss army knife, disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane, and been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft. The secret to Col. Hadfield's success-and survival-is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA: prepare for the worst-and enjoy every moment of it.

In An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, Col. Hadfield takes readers deep into his years of training and space exploration to show how to make the impossible possible. Through eye-opening, entertaining stories filled with the adrenaline of launch, the mesmerizing wonder of spacewalks, and the measured, calm responses mandated by crises, he explains how conventional wisdom can get in the way of achievement-and happiness. His own extraordinary education in space has taught him some counterintuitive lessons: don't visualize success, do care what others think, and always sweat the small stuff.

You might never be able to build a robot, pilot a spacecraft, make a music video or perform basic surgery in zero gravity like Col. Hadfield. But his vivid and refreshing insights will teach you how to think like an astronaut, and will change, completely, the way you view life on Earth-especially your own.

Creative Confidence : Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All

Tom Kelley
IDEO founder and Stanford d.school creator David Kelley and his brother Tom Kelley, IDEO partner and the author of the bestselling The Art of Innovation, have written a powerful and compelling book on unleashing the creativity that lies within each and every one of us.

Too often, companies and individuals assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of the "creative types."  But two of the leading experts in innovation, design, and creativity on the planet show us that each and every  one of us is creative.  In an incredibly entertaining and inspiring narrative that draws on countless stories from their work at IDEO, the Stanford d.school, and with many of the world's top companies, David and Tom Kelley identify the principles and strategies that will allow us to tap into our creative potential in our work lives, and in our personal lives, and allow us to innovate in terms of how we approach and solve problems.  It is a book that will help each of us be more productive and successful in our lives and in our careers. 

Lean Thinking : Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation

James P. Womack
Expanded, updated, and more relevant than ever, this bestselling business classic by two internationally renowned management analysts describes a business system for the twenty-first century that supersedes the mass production system of Ford, the financial control system of Sloan, and the strategic system of Welch and GE. It is based on the Toyota (lean) model, which combines operational excellence with value-based strategies to produce steady growth through a wide range of economic conditions.

In contrast with the crash-and-burn performance of companies trumpeted by business gurus in the 1990s, the firms profiled in Lean Thinking -- from tiny Lantech to midsized Wiremold to niche producer Porsche to gigantic Pratt & Whitney -- have kept on keeping on, largely unnoticed, along a steady upward path through the market turbulence and crushed dreams of the early twenty-first century. Meanwhile, the leader in lean thinking -- Toyota -- has set its sights on leadership of the global motor vehicle industry in this decade.

Instead of constantly reinventing business models, lean thinkers go back to basics by asking what the customer really perceives as value. (It's often not at all what existing organizations and assets would suggest.) The next step is to line up value-creating activities for a specific product along a value stream while eliminating activities (usually the majority) that don't add value. Then the lean thinker creates a flow condition in which the design and the product advance smoothly and rapidly at the pull of the customer (rather than the push of the producer). Finally, as flow and pull are implemented, the lean thinker speeds up the cycle of improvement in pursuit of perfection. The first part of this book describes each of these concepts and makes them come alive with striking examples.

Lean Thinking clearly demonstrates that these simple ideas can breathe new life into any company in any industry in any country. But most managers need guidance on how to make the lean leap in their firm. Part II provides a step-by-step action plan, based on in-depth studies of more than fifty lean companies in a wide range of industries across the world.

Even those readers who believe they have embraced lean thinking will discover in Part III that another dramatic leap is possible by creating an extended lean enterprise for each of their product families that tightly links value-creating activities from raw materials to customer.

In Part IV, an epilogue to the original edition, the story of lean thinking is brought up-to-date with an enhanced action plan based on the experiences of a range of lean firms since the original publication of Lean Thinking.

Lean Thinking does not provide a new management "program" for the one-minute manager. Instead, it offers a new method of thinking, of being, and, above all, of doing for the serious long-term manager -- a method that is changing the world.

Decisive : How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work

Chip Heath

Chip and Dan Heath, the bestselling authors of Switch and Made to Stick, tackle one of the most critical topics in our work and personal lives: how to make better decisions.
 
   Research in psychology has revealed that our decisions are disrupted by an array of biases and irrationalities: We’re overconfident. We seek out information that supports us and downplay information that doesn’t. We get distracted by short-term emotions. When it comes to making choices, it seems, our brains are flawed instruments. Unfortunately, merely being aware of these shortcomings doesn’t fix the problem, any more than knowing that we are nearsighted helps us to see. The real question is: How can we do better?

   In Decisive, the Heaths, based on an exhaustive study of the decision-making literature, introduce a four-step process designed to counteract these biases. Written in an engaging and compulsively readable style, Decisive takes readers on an unforgettable journey, from a rock star’s ingenious decision-making trick to a CEO’s disastrous acquisition, to a single question that can often resolve thorny personal decisions.

   Along the way, we learn the answers to critical questions like these: How can we stop the cycle of agonizing over our decisions? How can we make group decisions without destructive politics? And how can we ensure that we don’t overlook precious opportunities to change our course? 

   Decisive is the Heath brothers’ most powerful—and important—book yet, offering fresh strategies and practical tools enabling us to make better choices. Because the right decision, at the right moment, can make all the difference.




From the Hardcover edition.

Scarcity : Why Having Too Little Means So Much

Sendhil Mullainathan

A surprising and intriguing examination of how scarcity—and our flawed responses to it—shapes our lives, our society, and our culture

Why do successful people get things done at the last minute? Why does poverty persist? Why do organizations get stuck firefighting? Why do the lonely find it hard to make friends? These questions seem unconnected, yet Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir show that they are all examples of a mind-set produced by scarcity.

Drawing on cutting-edge research from behavioral science and economics, Mullainathan and Shafir show that scarcity creates a similar psychology for everyone struggling to manage with less than they need. Busy people fail to manage their time efficiently for the same reasons the poor and those maxed out on credit cards fail to manage their money. The dynamics of scarcity reveal why dieters find it hard to resist temptation, why students and busy executives mismanage their time, and why sugarcane farmers are smarter after harvest than before. Once we start thinking in terms of scarcity and the strategies it imposes, the problems of modern life come into sharper focus.

Mullainathan and Shafir discuss how scarcity affects our daily lives, recounting anecdotes of their own foibles and making surprising connections that bring this research alive. Their book provides a new way of understanding why the poor stay poor and the busy stay busy, and it reveals not only how scarcity leads us astray but also how individuals and organizations can better manage scarcity for greater satisfaction and success.

Nudge : Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Richard H. Thaler
For fans of Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink and Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow, a revelatory new look at how we make decisions

More than 750,000 copies sold

A New York Times bestseller
An Economist Best Book of the Year
A Financial Times Best Book of the Year

Nudge is about choices—how we make them and how we can make better ones. Drawing on decades of research in the fields of behavioral science and economics, authors Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein offer a new perspective on preventing the countless mistakes we make—ill-advised personal investments, consumption of unhealthy foods, neglect of our natural resources—and show us how sensible “choice architecture” can successfully nudge people toward the best decisions. In the tradition of The Tipping Point and Freakonomics, Nudge is straightforward, informative, and entertaining—a must-read for anyone interested in our individual and collective well-being.

The Heart of Leadership : Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

Mark Miller
The Heart of Leadership Are you the type of leader people want to follow? You can be—but first, you’ve got to understand what sets great leaders apart from all the rest. Certainly, leaders need people skills, execution skills, a deep knowledge of industry trends, the ability to articulate a vision, and more—they must be competent—but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. What’s below the waterline? What’s deep inside the best leaders that makes them different? Mark Miller contends it is their leadership character. In his latest enlightening and entertaining business fable, he describes the five unique character traits exhibited by exceptional leaders and how to cultivate them. The Heart of Leadership begins with young and ambitious Blake Brown being passed over for a desperately wanted promotion, despite an outstanding individual performance. Confused and frustrated, he turns to his former mentor, Debbie Brewster. Rather than attempting to solve Blake’s problem for him, she sends him on a quest to meet with five of his late father’s colleagues, each of whom holds a piece of the puzzle he’s trying to solve. As Blake puts the pieces together, he discovers that in the final analysis, a lack of skills isn’t what holds most leaders back; skills are too easy to learn. Without demonstrated leadership character, however, a skill set will never be enough. Most often, when leaders fail to reach their full potential, it is an issue of the heart. This is Blake’s ultimate revelation. This book shows us that leadership needn’t be the purview of the few—it is within reach for millions around the world. The Heart of Leadership is a road map for every person who desires to make a difference in the lives of others and become a leader people want to follow.

Thanks for the Feedback : The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well

Douglas Stone
The bestselling authors of the classic Difficult Conversations teach us how to turn evaluations, advice, criticisms, and coaching into productive listening and learning

We swim in an ocean of feedback. Bosses, colleagues, customers—but also family, friends, and in-laws—they all have “suggestions” for our performance, parenting, or appearance. We know that feedback is essential for healthy relationships and professional development—but we dread it and often dismiss it.

That’s because receiving feedback sits at the junction of two conflicting human desires. We do want to learn and grow. And we also want to be accepted just as we are right now. Thanks for the Feedback is the first book to address this tension head on. It explains why getting feedback is so crucial yet so challenging, and offers a powerful framework to help us take on life’s blizzard of off-hand comments, annual evaluations, and unsolicited advice with curiosity and grace.

The business world spends billions of dollars and millions of hours each year teaching people how to give feedback more effectively. Stone and Heen argue that we’ve got it backwards and show us why the smart money is on educating receivers— in the workplace and in personal relationships as well.

Coauthors of the international bestseller Difficult Conversations, Stone and Heen have spent the last ten years working with businesses, nonprofits, governments, and families to determine what helps us learn and what gets in our way. With humor and clarity, they blend the latest insights from neuroscience and psychology with practical, hard-headed advice. The book is destined to become a classic in the world of leadership, organizational behavior, and education.

On Becoming a Leader

Warren Bennis
Deemed ?the dean of leadership gurusOCO by "Forbes" magazine, Warren Bennis has for years persuasively argued that leaders are not born?they are made. Delving into the qualities that define leadership, the people who exemplify it, and the strategies that anyone can apply to achieve it, his classic work "On Becoming a Leader" has served as a source of essential insight for countless readers. In a world increasingly defined by turbulence and uncertainty, the call to leadership is more urgent than ever.

Featuring a provocative new introduction, this new edition will inspire a fresh generation of potential leaders to excellence.

Decide : Work Smarter, Reduce Your Stress, and Lead by Example

Steve McClatchy
How to make better decisions and achieve your goals

What shapes a person's career and life, and defines them as a leader? Their decisions. We all want to be more productive and deliver our best results. But doing this effectively—and consistently over time—is a significant challenge. Managing it all is hard, and leading in today's hyper-paced world is even harder.

The good news is that leadership expert Steve McClatchy makes it easier. In Decide, McClatchy—who works with Fortune 1000 people every day to help them achieve outstanding levels of performance—shows you how to cut through the complexities and excuses to start realizing real gains simply by changing one thing: the way you make decisions. With McClatchy's help, you can quickly begin to:

Use the time you have each day to move your business and your life forwardMake decisions that yield better resultsWaste less time, reduce stress and regain balance

Again and again, McClatchy has helped people learn for themselves how great decision-making habits yield a lifetime of accomplishments. Follow McClatchy's no-nonsense and practical approach, and you'll soon manage—and even lead—at your highest level of personal performance.

Good Strategy Bad Strategy : The Difference and Why It Matters

Richard Rumelt
Clears out the mumbo jumbo and muddled thinking underlying too many strategies and provides a clear way to create and implement a powerful action-oriented strategy for the real world
 
Developing and implementing a strategy is the central task of a leader, whether the CEO at a Fortune 100 company, an entrepreneur, a church pastor, the head of a school, or a government official. Richard Rumelt shows that there has been a growing and unfortunate tendency to equate Mom-and-apple-pie values, fluffy packages of buzzwords, motivational slogans, and financial goals with “strategy.” He debunks these elements of “bad strategy” and awakens an understanding of the power of a “good strategy.”

A good strategy is a specific and coherent response to—and approach for overcoming—the obstacles to progress. A good strategy works by harnessing and applying power where it will have the greatest effect in challenges as varied as putting a man on the moon, fighting a war, launching a new product, responding to changing market dynamics, starting a charter school, or setting up a government program. Rumelt’s
nine sources of power—ranging from using leverage to effectively focusing on growth—are eye-opening yet pragmatic tools that can be put to work on Monday morning.

Surprisingly, a good strategy is often unexpected because most organizations don’t have one. Instead, they have “visions,” mistake financial goals for strategy,
and pursue a “dog’s dinner” of conflicting policies and actions.

Rumelt argues that the heart of a good strategy is insight—into the true nature of the situation, into the hidden power in a situation, and into an appropriate response. He shows you how insight can be cultivated with a wide variety of tools for guiding your
own thinking.

Good Strategy/Bad Strategy uses fascinating examples from business, nonprofit, and military affairs to bring its original and pragmatic ideas to life. The detailed examples range from Apple to General Motors, from the two Iraq wars to Afghanistan, from a small local market to Wal-Mart, from Nvidia to Silicon Graphics, from the Getty Trust to the Los Angeles Unified School District, from Cisco Systems to Paccar, and from Global Crossing to the 2007–08 financial crisis.

Reflecting an astonishing grasp and integration of economics, finance, technology, history, and the brilliance and foibles of the human character, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy stems from Rumelt’s decades of digging beyond the superficial to address hard questions with honesty and integrity.


From the Hardcover edition.

The Most Important Thing : Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor

Howard Marks
Chairman and cofounder of Oaktree Capital Management, Howard Marks has been linked to Warren Buffett for his lucid assessments of market opportunities and risks. His memos to clients have long been consulted by the world's leading value investors. Now he brings his insightful commentary and investment philosophy to everyone.

Informed by a lifetime of experience and study, Marks helps readers understand the keys to investment success and how to avoid the pitfalls that can destroy capital or ruin a career. Utilizing passages from his memos to illustrate his ideas, he teaches by example. Part memoir, part creed, the book shows the development of an investment philosophy that fully acknowledges the complexities of investing and the perils of the financial world. Marks's insight applies brilliantly to today's markets, supplying many broad takeaways for both the amateur and seasoned investor.

Marks expounds on such concepts as "second-level thinking," the price/value relationship, patient opportunism, and defensive investing. His frank and honest assessment of his own decisions—and occasional missteps—provides valuable lessons on critical thinking, risk assessment, and investment strategy. Marks encourages investors to be "contrarian," to judge market cycles wisely, and to achieve returns through aggressive yet measured action. Which is the most essential element? Successful investing requires thoughtful attention to many separate aspects. Each of the subjects Marks covers is the most important thing.

The Innovator's Dilemma : When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail

Clayton Christensen
An innovation classic. From Steve Jobs to Jeff Bezos, Clay Christensen’s work continues to underpin today’s most innovative leaders and organizations.

The bestselling classic on disruptive innovation, by renowned author Clayton M. Christensen.

His work is cited by the world’s best-known thought leaders, from Steve Jobs to Malcolm Gladwell. In this classic bestseller—one of the most influential business books of all time—innovation expert Clayton Christensen shows how even the most outstanding companies can do everything right—yet still lose market leadership.

Christensen explains why most companies miss out on new waves of innovation. No matter the industry, he says, a successful company with established products will get pushed aside unless managers know how and when to abandon traditional business practices.

Offering both successes and failures from leading companies as a guide, The Innovator’s Dilemma gives you a set of rules for capitalizing on the phenomenon of disruptive innovation.

Sharp, cogent, and provocative—and consistently noted as one of the most valuable business ideas of all time—The Innovator’s Dilemma is the book no manager, leader, or entrepreneur should be without.

The Science of Success : How Market-Based Management Built the World's Largest Private Company

Charles G. Koch
Praise for THE SCIENCE OF SUCCESS

"Evaluating the success of an individual or company is a lot like judging a trapper by his pelts. Charles Koch has a lot of pelts. He has built Koch Industries into the world's largest privately held company, and this book is an insider's guide to how he did it. Koch has studied how markets work for decades, and his commitment to pass that knowledge on will inspire entrepreneurs for generations to come."
—T. Boone Pickens

"A must-read for entrepreneurs and corporate executives that is also applicable to the wider world. MBM is an invaluable tool for engendering excellence for all groups, from families to nonprofit entities. Government leaders could avoid policy failures by heeding the science of human behavior."
—Richard L. Sharp, Chairman, CarMax

"My father, Sam Walton, stressed the importance of fundamental principles—such as humility, integrity, respect, and creating value—that are the foundation for success. No one makes a better case for these principles than Charles Koch."
—Rob Walton, Chairman, Wal-Mart

"What accounts for Koch Industries' spectacular success? Charles Koch calls it Market-Based Management: a vision that nurtures personal qualities of humility and integrity that build trust and the confidence to enhance future success through learning from failure, and a culture of thinking in terms of opportunity cost and comparative advantage for all employees."
—Vernon Smith, 2002 Nobel laureate in economics

"In a very thoughtful, creative, and understandable way, Charles Koch explains how he has used the science of human behavior to create a culture that has produced one of the world's largest and most successful private companies. A must-read for anyone interested in creating value."
—William B. Harrison Jr., Former Chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co.

"The same exacting thought, rooted in the realities of human nature, that the framers of the U.S. Constitution put into building a nation of entrepreneurs, Charles Koch has framed to build an enduring company of entrepreneurs—a company larger than Microsoft, Dell, HP, and other giants. Every entrepreneur should study this book."
—Verne Harnish, founder, Young Entrepreneurs' Organization, author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, CEO, Gazelles Inc.

Стартап без бюджета

Майкл Михаловиц
Эта книга для тех, у кого нет за плечами ангела с серьезной финансовой поддержкой.
Она для тех, кто начинает свое дело с крайне ограниченными ресурсами. Для тех, кому первым офисом служит кофейня в центре города. Мы сами так когда-то начинали наш издательский бизнес.
Эта книга незаменима для тех, кто растит стартап, для тех, кто собирается запустить стартап и терзается сомнениями, и для всех, кто хочет, чтобы его компания, уже не будучи стартапом, сохраняла свой драйв.
Если вы уже прочитали Rework и Доставляя счастье, то это — ваша следующая книга.
Книга издательства 'Манн, Иванов и Фербер'

Thinkertoys : A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques

Michael Michalko
Rethink the Way You Think
 
In hindsight, every great idea seems obvious. But how can you be the person who comes up with those ideas?
In this revised and expanded edition of his groundbreaking Thinkertoys, creativity expert Michael Michalko reveals life-changing tools that will help you think like a genius. From the linear to the intuitive, this comprehensive handbook details ingenious creative-thinking techniques for approaching problems in unconventional ways. Through fun and thought-provoking exercises, you’ll learn how to create original ideas that will improve your personal life and your business life. Michalko’s techniques show you how to look at the same information as everyone else and see something different.
 
With hundreds of hints, tricks, tips, tales, and puzzles, Thinkertoys will open your mind to a world of innovative solutions to everyday and not-so-everyday problems.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, Second Edition : The New Science of Leading Change, Second Edition (EBOOK), Edition 2

Joseph Grenny
CHANGE YOUR COMPANY. CHANGE THE LIVES OF OTHERS. CHANGE THE WORLD.

An INFLUENCER leads change.
An INFLUENCER replaces bad behaviors with powerful new skills.
An INFLUENCER makes things happen.
This is what it takes to be an INFLUENCER.

Whether you're a CEO, a parent, or merely a person who wants to make a difference, you probably wish you had more influence with the people in your life. But most of us stop trying to make change happen because we believe it is too difficult, if not impossible. We learn to cope rather than learning to influence.

From the bestselling authors who taught the world how to have Crucial Conversations comes the new edition of Influencer, a thought-provoking book that combines the remarkable insights of behavioral scientists and business leaders with the astonishing stories of high-powered influencers from all walks of life. You'll be taught each and every step of the influence process--including robust strategies for making change inevitable in your personal life, your business, and your world. You'll learn how to:

Identify high-leverage behaviors that lead to rapid and profound change Apply strategies for changing both thoughts and actions Marshal six sources of influence to make change inevitable

Influencer takes you on a fascinating journey from San Francisco to Thailand to South Africa, where you'll see how seemingly "insignificant" people are making incredibly significant improvements in solving problems others would think impossible. You'll learn how savvy folks make change not only achievable and sustainable, but inevitable. You'll discover breakthrough ways of changing the key behaviors that lead to greater safety, productivity, quality, and customer service.

No matter who you are or what you do, you'll never learn a more valuable or important set of principles and skills. Once you tap into the power of influence, you can reach out and help others work smarter, grow faster, live, look, and feel better--and even save lives. The sky is the limit . . . for an Influencer.

PRAISE FOR INFLUENCER:

"AN INSTANT CLASSIC! Whether you're leading change or changing your life, this book delivers." -- Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

"Ideas can change the world—but only when coupled with influence--the ability to change hearts, minds, and behavior. This book provides a practical approach to lead change and empower us all to make a difference." -- Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Winner

"Influencing human behavior is one of the most difficult challenges faced by leaders. This book provides powerful insight into how to make behavior change that will last." -- Sidney Taurel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Eli Lilly and Company

"If you are truly motivated to make productive changes in your life, don't put down this book until you reach the last page. Whether dealing with a recalcitrant teen, doggedly resistant coworkers, or a personal frustration that 'no one ever wants to hear my view,' Influencer can help guide you in making the changes that put you in the driver's seat." -- Deborah Norville, anchor of Inside Edition and bestselling author

The Innovator's Solution : Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth

Clayton Christensen
An innovation classic. From Steve Jobs to Jeff Bezos, Clay Christensen’s work continues to underpin today’s most innovative leaders and organizations.

A seminal work on disruption—for everyone confronting the growth paradox.

For readers of the bestselling The Innovator’s Dilemma—and beyond—this definitive work will help anyone trying to transform their business right now.

In The Innovator’s Solution, Clayton Christensen and Michael Raynor expand on the idea of disruption, explaining how companies can and should become disruptors themselves. This classic work shows just how timely and relevant these ideas continue to be in today’s hyper-accelerated business environment.

Christensen and Raynor give advice on the business decisions crucial to achieving truly disruptive growth and propose guidelines for developing your own disruptive growth engine. The authors identify the forces that cause managers to make bad decisions as they package and shape new ideas—and offer new frameworks to help create the right conditions, at the right time, for a disruption to succeed. This is a must-read for all senior managers and business leaders responsible for innovation and growth, as well as members of their teams.

Based on in-depth research and theories tested in hundreds of companies across many industries, The Innovator’s Solution is a necessary addition to any innovation library—and an essential read for entrepreneurs and business builders worldwide.

The Up Side of Down : Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success

Megan McArdle
For readers of Drive, Outliers, and Daring Greatly, a counterintuitive, paradigm-shifting new take on what makes people and companies succeed

Most new products fail. So do most small businesses. And most of us, if we are honest, have experienced a major setback in our personal or professional lives. So what determines who will bounce back and follow up with a home run? If you want to succeed in business and in life, Megan McArdle argues in this hugely thought-provoking book, you have to learn how to harness the power of failure.

McArdle has been one of our most popular business bloggers for more than a decade, covering the rise and fall of some the world’s top companies and challenging us to think differently about how we live, learn, and work. Drawing on cutting-edge research in science, psychology, economics, and business, and taking insights from turnaround experts, emergency room doctors, venture capitalists, child psychologists, bankruptcy judges, and mountaineers, McArdle argues that America is unique in its willingness to let people and companies fail, but also in its determination to let them pick up after the fall. Failure is how people and businesses learn. So how do you reinvent yourself when you are down?

Dynamic and punchy, McArdle teaches us how to recognize mistakes early to channel setbacks into future success. The Up Side of Down marks the emergence of an author with her thumb on the pulse whose book just might change the way you lead your life.

The Decision Book: 50 Models for Strategic Thinking

Mikael Krogerus

A short, sharp guide to tackling life’s biggest challenges: understanding ourselves and making the right choices.

Every day offers moments of decision, from what to eat for lunch to how to settle a dispute with a colleague. Still larger questions loom: How can I motivate my team? How can I work more efficiently? What is the long tail anyway?

Whether you’re a newly minted MBA, a chronic second-guesser, or just someone eager for a new vantage point, The Decision Book presents fifty models for better structuring, and subsequently understanding, life’s steady challenges. Interactive and thought-provoking, this illustrated workbook offers succinct summaries of popular strategies, including the Rubber Band Model for dilemmas with many directions, the Personal Performance Model to test whether to change jobs, and the Black Swan Model to illustrate why experience doesn’t guarantee wisdom. Packed with familiar tools like the Pareto Principle, the Prisoner’s Dilemma, and an unusual exercise inspired by Warren Buffet, The Decision Book is the ideal reference for flexible thinkers.

Blind Spots : Why We Fail to Do What's Right and What to Do about It

Max H. Bazerman

When confronted with an ethical dilemma, most of us like to think we would stand up for our principles. But we are not as ethical as we think we are. In Blind Spots, leading business ethicists Max Bazerman and Ann Tenbrunsel examine the ways we overestimate our ability to do what is right and how we act unethically without meaning to. From the collapse of Enron and corruption in the tobacco industry, to sales of the defective Ford Pinto, the downfall of Bernard Madoff, and the Challenger space shuttle disaster, the authors investigate the nature of ethical failures in the business world and beyond, and illustrate how we can become more ethical, bridging the gap between who we are and who we want to be.

Explaining why traditional approaches to ethics don't work, the book considers how blind spots like ethical fading--the removal of ethics from the decision--making process--have led to tragedies and scandals such as the Challenger space shuttle disaster, steroid use in Major League Baseball, the crash in the financial markets, and the energy crisis. The authors demonstrate how ethical standards shift, how we neglect to notice and act on the unethical behavior of others, and how compliance initiatives can actually promote unethical behavior. They argue that scandals will continue to emerge unless such approaches take into account the psychology of individuals faced with ethical dilemmas. Distinguishing our "should self" (the person who knows what is correct) from our "want self" (the person who ends up making decisions), the authors point out ethical sinkholes that create questionable actions.

Suggesting innovative individual and group tactics for improving human judgment, Blind Spots shows us how to secure a place for ethics in our workplaces, institutions, and daily lives.

Rock Breaks Scissors : A Practical Guide to Outguessing and Outwitting Almost Everybody

William Poundstone
A practical guide to outguessing everything from multiple-choice tests to the office football pool to the stock market.

People are predictable even when they try not to be. William Poundstone demonstrates how to turn this fact to personal advantage in scores of everyday situations, from playing the lottery to buying a home. ROCK BREAKS SCISSORS is mind-reading for real life.

Will the next tennis serve go right or left? Will the market go up or down? Most people are poor at that kind of predicting. We are hard-wired to make bum bets on "trends" and "winning streaks" that are illusions. Yet ultimately we're all in the business of anticipating the actions of others. Poundstone reveals how to overcome the errors and improve the accuracy of your own outguessing. ROCK BREAKS SCISSORS is a hands-on guide to turning life's odds in your favor.

Aprendiendo de los mejores : Tu desarrollo personal es tu destino

Francisco Alcaide Hernández
Decía Betrand Russell que «la mejor prueba de que algo puede hacerse es que antes alguien ya lo hizo». Por eso las personas inteligentes aprenden de la experiencia de los demás. Es cierto que nadie puede vivir tu vida por ti pero hay principios universalmente contrastados aplicables a todas las circunstancias y personas, que se repiten una y otra vez, y que son de gran utilidad.En el libro encontrarás reflexiones y frases sobre el desarrollo personal, sobre la gestión de empresas y equipos, pero también sobre la vida misma. Personajes como Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, Robert Kiyosaki, Richard Branson, John C. Maxwell, Steve Jobs, Jack Welch, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, Brian Tracy... aparecen por estas páginas para enseñarte lo que ellos saben y lo que ellos también han aprendido anteriormente y que les ha hecho grandes.

The 3rd Alternative : Solving Life's Most Difficult Problems

Stephen R. Covey
From the multimillion-copy bestselling author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People—hailed as the #1 Most Influential Business Book of the Twentieth Century—The 3rd Alternative introduces a breakthrough approach to conflict resolution and creative problem solving. One of Time magazine’s 25 most influential Americans, Dr. Stephen R. Covey has helped millions transform their lives. In The 3rd Alternative, Covey turns his formidable insight to a powerful new way to resolve professional and personal difficulties and create solutions to great challenges in organizations and society.

In any conflict, the 1st Alternative is my way and the 2nd Alternative is your way. The fight usually boils down to a question of whose way is better. There are many methods of “conflict resolution,” but most involve compromise, a low-level accommodation that stops the fight without breaking through to amazing new results. The 3rd Alternative is about more than just an armistice—it’s about creating a new and improved reality. A departure from the usual approaches to conflict resolution, negotiation, and innovation, this book reveals a new way of thinking that will be embraced not only by the many fans who have flocked to Covey’s prior books, but also by anyone who is seeking solutions in their professional or personal lives.

The 3rd Alternative transcends traditional solutions to conflict by forging a path toward a third option, a 3rd Alternative that moves beyond your way or my way to a higher and better way—one that allows both parties to emerge from debate or even heated conflict in a far better place than either had envisioned. With the 3rd Alternative, nobody has to give up anything, and everyone wins.

To a world of escalating strife and contention, 3rd Alternative thinkers like those Covey profiles here bring creative solutions, peace, and healing. Through key examples and stories from his work as a consultant, Covey demonstrates the power of 3rd Alternative thinking. His wide-ranging examples include: a Canadian metropolitan police force that transformed a crime-plagued community by abandoning their “them vs. us” mentality and changing the whole definition of police work; a father who rescued his troubled daughter from years of despair and near suicide in one surprising evening; a judge who brought a quick, peaceful end to one of the biggest environmental lawsuits in American history without setting foot in a courtroom; the principal of a high school for the children of migrant workers who raised their graduation rate from a dismal 30 percent to 90 percent and tripled their basic skill levels; a handful of little-known people who are quietly finding new ways to bring peace to the Middle East; and many others. These various groups and individuals offer living examples of how to create new and better results instead of escalating conflict, as well as how to build strong relationships with diverse people based on an attitude of winning together.

Beyond conflict and compromise, The 3rd Alternative unveils a radical, creative new way of thinking. It is a groundbreaking but practical work that demonstrates why 3rd Alternative thinking represents the supreme opportunity of our time.

The Innovator's Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care

Clayton Christensen

A groundbreaking prescription for health care reform--from a legendary leader in innovation . . .

Our health care system is in critical condition. Each year, fewer Americans can afford it, fewer businesses can provide it, and fewer government programs can promise it for future generations.

We need a cure, and we need it now.

Harvard Business School’s Clayton M. Christensen—whose bestselling The Innovator’s Dilemma revolutionized the business world—presents The Innovator’s Prescription, a comprehensive analysis of the strategies that will improve health care and make it affordable.

Christensen applies the principles of disruptive innovation to the broken health care system with two pioneers in the field—Dr. Jerome Grossman and Dr. Jason Hwang. Together, they examine a range of symptoms and offer proven solutions.

YOU’LL DISCOVER HOW

“Precision medicine” reduces costs and makes good on the promise of personalized care Disruptive business models improve quality, accessibility, and affordability by changing the way hospitals and doctors work Patient networks enable better treatment of chronic diseases Employers can change the roles they play in health care to compete effectively in the era of globalization Insurance and regulatory reforms stimulate disruption in health care

Everything that Follows Is Different: The Disruptive Power of Insight

Gary Klein
Insights—like Darwin’s understanding of the way evolution actually works, and Watson and Crick’s breakthrough discoveries about the structure of DNA—can change the world. We also need insights into the everyday things that frustrate and confuse us so that we can more effectively solve problems and get things done. Yet we know very little about when, why, or how insights are formed—or what blocks them. In Seeing What Others Don’t, renowned cognitive psychologist Gary Klein unravels the mystery.

Klein is a keen observer of people in their natural settings—scientists, businesspeople, firefighters, police officers, soldiers, family members, friends, himself—and uses a marvelous variety of stories to illuminate his research into what insights are and how they happen. What, for example, enabled Harry Markopolos to put the finger on Bernie Madoff? How did Dr. Michael Gottlieb make the connections between different patients that allowed him to publish the first announcement of the AIDS epidemic? What did Admiral Yamamoto see (and what did the Americans miss) in a 1940 British attack on the Italian fleet that enabled him to develop the strategy of attack at Pearl Harbor? How did a “smokejumper” see that setting another fire would save his life, while those who ignored his insight perished? How did Martin Chalfie come up with a million-dollar idea (and a Nobel Prize) for a natural flashlight that enabled researchers to look inside living organisms to watch biological processes in action?

Klein also dissects impediments to insight, such as when organizations claim to value employee creativity and to encourage breakthroughs but in reality block disruptive ideas and prioritize avoidance of mistakes. Or when information technology systems are “dumb by design” and block potential discoveries.

Both scientifically sophisticated and fun to read, Seeing What Others Don’t shows that insight is not just a “eureka!” moment but a whole new way of understanding.

The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization

Peter F. Drucker
With Peter Drucker's five essential questions and the help of five of today's thought leaders, this little book will challenge readers to take a close look at the very heart of their organizations and what drives them. A tool for self-assessment and transformation, answering these five questions will fundamentally change the way you work, helping you lead your organization to an exceptional level of performance.

Peter Drucker's five questions are:What is our Mission? with Jim CollinsWho is our Customer? with Phil KotlerWhat does the Customer Value? with Jim KouzesWhat are our Results? with Judith RodinWhat is our Plan? with V. Kasturi Rangan

These essential questions, grounded in Peter Drucker's theories of management, will take readers on a exploration of organizational and personal self-discovery, giving them a means to assess how to be--how to develop quality, character, mind-set, values and courage. The questions lead to action. By asking these questions, readers can focus on why they are doing what they are doing in their work, and how to do it better. Designed for today's busy professionals, this brief, clear and accessible book will challenge readers to ask these provocative questions and it will stimulate spirited discussions and action within any organization, inspiring positive change and new levels of excellence, helping all to envision the future of theirs' or any organization.

Problem Solving 101 : A Simple Book for Smart People

Ken Watanabe
The fun and simple problem-solving guide that took Japan by storm

Ken Watanabe originally wrote Problem Solving 101 for Japanese schoolchildren. His goal was to help shift the focus in Japanese education from memorization to critical thinking, by adapting some of the techniques he had learned as an elite McKinsey consultant.

He was amazed to discover that adults were hungry for his fun and easy guide to problem solving and decision making. The book became a surprise Japanese bestseller, with more than 370,000 in print after six months. Now American businesspeople can also use it to master some powerful skills.

Watanabe uses sample scenarios to illustrate his techniques, which include logic trees and matrixes. A rock band figures out how to drive up concert attendance. An aspiring animator budgets for a new computer purchase. Students decide which high school they will attend.

Illustrated with diagrams and quirky drawings, the book is simple enough for a middleschooler to understand but sophisticated enough for business leaders to apply to their most challenging problems.


The Doodle Revolution : Unlock the Power to Think Differently

Sunni Brown
There is NO SUCH THING as a mindless doodle

What did Einstein, JFK, Edison, Marie Curie, and Henry Ford have in common? They were all inveterate doodlers. These powerhouse minds knew instinctively that doodling is deep thinking in disguise—a simple, accessible, and dynamite tool for innovating and solving even the stickiest problems.

Sunni Brown’s mission is to bring the power of the Doodle to the rest of us. She leads the Revolution defying all those parents, teachers, and bosses who say Stop doodling! Get serious! Grow up! She overturns misinformation about doodling, demystifies visual thinking, and shows us the power of applying our innate visual literacy.

Doodling has led to countless breakthroughs in science, technology, medicine, architecture, literature, and art. And as Brown proves in this inspiring, empowering book, it can help all of us think and do better in whatever fields we pursue.

With passion and wit, Brown guides you from the basic Doodle all the way to the formidable “Infodoodle”—the tight integration of words, numbers, images, and shapes that craft and display higher-level thinking.

She’ll teach you how to doodle any object, concept, or system imaginable.

She’ll show you how to shift habitual thinking patterns to get cognitive breakthroughs.

She’ll help you transform boring text into displays that can engage any audience.

And she’ll give you the courage to take up your pen, pencil, or whiteboard marker, without shame, judgment, or apology.

As Brown writes in the Doodle Revolutionary’s Manifesto, “No longer will the Doodle live in a house of ill repute. No longer will simple visual language be underestimated, underused, and misunderstood. Forevermore, we acknowledge the Doodle as a tool for immersive learning and we wield its power deliberately and without restriction, in any learning environment we see fit.”

Doodlers of the world, unite! The power of the pen awaits you.

Adapt : Why Success Always Starts with Failure

Tim Harford

In this groundbreaking book, Tim Harford, the Undercover Economist, shows us a new and inspiring approach to solving the most pressing problems in our lives. When faced with complex situations, we have all become accustomed to looking to our leaders to set out a plan of action and blaze a path to success. Harford argues that today’s challenges simply cannot be tackled with ready-made solutions and expert opinion; the world has become far too unpredictable and profoundly complex. Instead, we must adapt.

Deftly weaving together psychology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, physics, and economics, along with the compelling story of hard-won lessons learned in the field, Harford makes a passionate case for the importance of adaptive trial and error in tackling issues such as climate change, poverty, and financial crises—as well as in fostering innovation and creativity in our business and personal lives.  

Taking us from corporate boardrooms to the deserts of Iraq, Adapt clearly explains the necessary ingredients for turning failure into success. It is a breakthrough handbook for surviving—and prospering— in our complex and ever-shifting world.


The Most Important Thing Illuminated : Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor

Howard Marks
In May of 2011, Columbia Business School Publishing released Howard Marks’ The Most Important Thing, a book that distilled the wisdom of Marks’ celebrated client memos into a single volume, making his time-tested investing philosophy available to general readers for the first time. The book was greeted with wide acclaim from investors—professional, casual, aspiring, and armchair alike—and became a business bestseller.

Now, Columbia Business School Publishing is proud to announce an innovative digital edition that allows you to read Marks’ words alongside comments, insights and counterpoints from four other renowned investors and investment educators: Christopher Davis, Joel Greenblatt, Paul Johnson and Seth Klarman. See what these investors think of such concepts as "second-level thinking," the price/value relationship, patient opportunism, and defensive investing. There are also annotations from Howard Marks himself, highlighting some of the themes that run throughout the book, along with a previously unpublished bonus chapter on the importance of reasonable expectations. This edition features a foreword from Bruce Greenwald.

Whether you’ve already read The Most Important Thing cover to cover or are new to the book, The Most Important Thing Illuminated will give you an unprecedented look into how America’s top investors make decisions and achieve financial success.

Brick by Brick : How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry

David Robertson
Brick by Brick takes you inside the LEGO you've never seen. By following the teams that are inventing some of the world's best-loved toys, it spotlights the company's disciplined approach to harnessing creativity and recounts one of the most remarkable business transformations in recent memory.

Brick by Brick reveals how LEGO failed to keep pace with the revolutionary changes in kids' lives and began sliding into irrelevance. When the company's leaders implemented some of the business world's most widely espoused prescriptions for boosting innovation, they ironically pushed the iconic toymaker to the brink of bankruptcy. The company's near-collapse shows that what works in theory can fail spectacularly in the brutally competitive global economy.

It took a new LEGO management team – faced with the growing rage for electronic toys, few barriers to entry, and ultra-demanding consumers (ten-year old boys) – to reinvent the innovation rule book and transform LEGO into one of the world's most profitable, fastest-growing companies. 

Along the way, Brick by Brick reveals how LEGO:

- Became truly customer-driven by co-creating with kids as well as its passionate adult fans
- Looked beyond products and learned to leverage a full-spectrum approach to innovation
- Opened its innovation process by using both the "wisdom of crowds" and the expertise of elite cliques
- Discovered uncontested, "blue ocean" markets, even as it thrived in brutally competitive red oceans
- Gave its world-class design teams enough space to create and direction to deliver
built a culture where profitable innovation flourishes

Sometimes radical yet always applicable, Brick by Brick abounds with real-world lessons for unleashing breakthrough innovation in your organization, just like LEGO. Whether you're a senior executive looking to make your company grow, an entrepreneur building a startup from scratch, or a fan who wants to instill some of that LEGO magic in your career, you'll learn how to build your own innovation advantage, brick by brick.

Everything Is Obvious : *Once You Know the Answer

Duncan J. Watts
Why is the Mona Lisa the most famous painting in the world? Why did Facebook succeed when other social networking sites failed? Did the surge in Iraq really lead to less violence? How much can CEO’s impact the performance of their companies? And does higher pay incentivize people to work hard?

If you think the answers to these questions are a matter of common sense, think again. As sociologist and network science pioneer Duncan Watts explains in this provocative book, the explanations that we give for the outcomes that we observe in life—explanation that seem obvious once we know the answer—are less useful than they seem.

Drawing on the latest scientific research, along with a wealth of historical and contemporary examples, Watts shows how common sense reasoning and history conspire to mislead us into believing that we understand more about the world of human behavior than we do; and in turn, why attempts to predict, manage, or manipulate social and economic systems so often go awry.

It seems obvious, for example, that people respond to incentives; yet policy makers and managers alike frequently fail to anticipate how people will respond to the incentives they create. Social trends often seem to have been driven by certain influential people; yet marketers have been unable to identify these “influencers” in advance. And although successful products or companies always seem in retrospect to have succeeded because of their unique qualities, predicting the qualities of the next hit product or hot company is notoriously difficult even for experienced professionals.

Only by understanding how and when common sense fails, Watts argues, can we improve how we plan for the future, as well as understand the present—an argument that has important implications in politics, business, and marketing, as well as in science and everyday life.

Big Data at Work : Dispelling the Myths, Uncovering the Opportunities

Thomas Davenport
Go ahead, be skeptical about big data. The author was—at first.

When the term “big data” first came on the scene, bestselling author Tom Davenport (Competing on Analytics, Analytics at Work) thought it was just another example of technology hype. But his research in the years that followed changed his mind.

Now, in clear, conversational language, Davenport explains what big data means—and why everyone in business needs to know about it. Big Data at Work covers all the bases: what big data means from a technical, consumer, and management perspective; what its opportunities and costs are; where it can have real business impact; and which aspects of this hot topic have been oversold.

This book will help you understand:
• Why big data is important to you and your organization
• What technology you need to manage it
• How big data could change your job, your company, and your industry
• How to hire, rent, or develop the kinds of people who make big data work
• The key success factors in implementing any big data project
• How big data is leading to a new approach to managing analytics

With dozens of company examples, including UPS, GE, Amazon, United Healthcare, Citigroup, and many others, this book will help you seize all opportunities—from improving decisions, products, and services to strengthening customer relationships. It will show you how to put big data to work in your own organization so that you too can harness the power of this ever-evolving new resource.

Business Plans that Work: A Guide for Small Business 2/E : Edition 2

Andrew Zacharakis

Turn your great idea into BIG PROFITS with a powerful, persuasive business plan!

With any endeavor, good planning is the key to good results—especially in the launch of a new business or product. Business Plans That Work gives you an easy-to-follow template for conceptualizing, writing, focusing, and revising a business plan that converts your business idea into financial profit.

A virtual blueprint for entrepreneurial success, this new edition of the popular entrepreneur’s guide provides all the tools you need to communicate the value of your idea to investors and attract key talent, and create a plan you can turn to throughout the entire process of starting and running a business. You’ll learn how to:

Determine what to include in each plan, why, and for whom Secure the capital you need to get the project off the ground Assess opportunities and risks involved in your project Avoid common pitfalls that cost money, time, and effort

With Business Plans That Work, you have everything you need to create winning strategies for development, sales, marketing, operations, distribution, and everything else successful ventures are founded on.

Ментальные ловушки на работе

Марк Гоулстон
Марк Гоулстон — практикующий психиатр и тренер переговорщиков ФБР. Его книга описывает принципы эффективного поведения на работе, позволяющие вам успешно управлять своей карьерой. Мы решили выпустить ее после успеха первой книги Гоулстона, вышедшей в нашем издательстве, о мастерстве ведения эффективных переговоров — «Я слышу вас насквозь».
Вас оскорбляет безразличие руководителя к вашим результатам? Беспокоит слишком долгое пребывание на одной и той же должности? Вы боитесь не справиться с новой задачей и потерять работу? Марк Гоулстон рассказывает о том, как научиться преодолевать ментальные и психологические ловушки, которыми мы сами себя окружаем.
Эта книга поможет вам трезво взглянуть на вещи и постараться изменить себя — не изменяя себе.
Книга издательства 'Манн, Иванов и Фербер'

Employee Body Language Revealed : How to Predict Behavior in the Workplace by Reading and Understanding Body Language

Harmony Stalter

Only 7 percent of communication is verbal and 38 percent is vocal (pitch, speed, volume, tone of voice). The largest chunk then, 55 percent, is visual (body language, eye contact). People form 90 percent of their opinion about you within the first 90 seconds of meeting you. Understanding body language is a skill that can enhance your life. This understanding can be a plus in the workplace. You can know what an employee or co-worker thinks and feels by examining their subconscious body language. And, like the world's best communicators, you can have strong body language that reflects confidence, competence, and charisma.
This groundbreaking new book will make you an expert on body language. You will have the ability to read people s minds. Would you like to know if a co-worker is interested or attracted to you, when an employee or co-worker is lying or telling the truth, how to make instant friends, and persuade and influence others?
This book contains proven techniques that will make people, including employers and co-workers, like you and trust you. You can use your body language to your advantage by transmitting only the messages you want people to receive. This specialized book will demonstrate step by step how to use body language to your benefit in the workplace and in everyday situations.

Atlantic Publishing is a small, independent publishing company based in Ocala, Florida. Founded over twenty years ago in the company president's garage, Atlantic Publishing has grown to become a renowned resource for non-fiction books. Today, over 450 titles are in print covering subjects such as small business, healthy living, management, finance, careers, and real estate. Atlantic Publishing prides itself on producing award winning, high-quality manuals that give readers up-to-date, pertinent information, real-world examples, and case studies with expert advice. Every book has resources, contact information, and web sites of the products or companies discussed.
"This Atlantic Publishing eBook was professionally written, edited, fact checked, proofed and designed. The print version of this book is 288 pages and you receive exactly the same content. Over the years our books have won dozens of book awards for content, cover design and interior design including the prestigious Benjamin Franklin award for excellence in publishing. We are proud of the high quality of our books and hope you will enjoy this eBook version. "

The Accidental Creative : How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice

Todd Henry
“Todd Henry has spent years breaking down the secrets of highly effective creatives. Read this book and prepare to ramp up your brilliance!”
—Chris Guillebeau, author of The Art of Nonconformity

Many of us assume that our creative process is beyond our ability to influence, and pay attention to it only when it isn’t working properly. For the most part, we go about our daily tasks and everything just “works.” Until it doesn’t.

Adding to this lack of understanding is the rapidly accelerating pace of work. Each day we are face escalating expectations and a continual squeeze to do more with less. We are asked to produce an ever-increasing amount of brilliance in an ever-shrinking amount of time. There is an unspoken (or spoken!) expectation that we’ll be accessible 24/7, and as a result we frequently feel like we’re “always on.”

Now business creativity expert Todd Henry explains how to unleash your creative potential. Whether you’re a creative by trade or an “accidental creative,” this book will help you quickly and effectively integrate new ideas into your daily life.

Keeping Up with the Quants : Your Guide to Understanding and Using Analytics

Thomas H. Davenport
Why Everyone Needs Analytical Skills

Welcome to the age of data. No matter your interests (sports, movies, politics), your industry (finance, marketing, technology, manufacturing), or the type of organization you work for (big company, nonprofit, small start-up)—your world is awash with data.

As a successful manager today, you must be able to make sense of all this information. You need to be conversant with analytical terminology and methods and able to work with quantitative information. This book promises to become your “quantitative literacy" guide—helping you develop the analytical skills you need right now in order to summarize data, find the meaning in it, and extract its value.

In Keeping Up with the Quants, authors, professors, and analytics experts Thomas Davenport and Jinho Kim offer practical tools to improve your understanding of data analytics and enhance your thinking and decision making. You’ll gain crucial skills, including:

• How to formulate a hypothesis
• How to gather and analyze relevant data
• How to interpret and communicate analytical results
• How to develop habits of quantitative thinking
• How to deal effectively with the “quants” in your organization

Big data and the analytics based on it promise to change virtually every industry and business function over the next decade. If you don’t have a business degree or if you aren’t comfortable with statistics and quantitative methods, this book is for you. Keeping Up with the Quants will give you the skills you need to master this new challenge—and gain a significant competitive edge.

Positive Leadership : Strategies for Extraordinary Performance, Edition 2

Kim Cameron
NEW EDITION, REVISED AND UPDATED Beyond Success Positive Leadership shows how to reach beyond ordinary success to achieve extraordinary effectiveness, spectacular results, and what Kim Cameron calls “positively deviant performance”—performance far above the norm. Citing a wide range of research in organizational behavior, medical science, and psychology as well as real-world examples, Cameron shows that to achieve exceptional success, leaders must emphasize strengths rather than simply focus on weaknesses; foster virtuous actions such as compassion, gratitude, and forgiveness; encourage contribution goals in addition to achievement goals; and enable meaningfulness in work. In this concise, inspiring, and practical guide, Cameron describes four positive leadership strategies, lays out a proven process for implementing them, and includes a self-assessment instrument. This second edition has been updated throughout with new research findings and new ideas for implementing positive leadership.

Simply Managing : What Managers Do — and Can Do Better

Henry Mintzberg
The Essence of Managing Henry Mintzberg appreciates that managers are busy people. So he has taken his classic book Managing, done some updating, and distilled its essence into a lean 176 pages of text. The essence of the book remains the same: what Mintzberg learned from observing twenty-nine managers in settings ranging from a refugee camp to a symphony orchestra. Simply Managing considers the intense dynamics of this job as well as its inescapable conundrums, for example: • How is anyone supposed to think, let alone think ahead, in this frenetic job? • Are leaders really more important than managers? • Where has all the judgment gone? • Is email destroying management practice? • How can managers connect when their job disconnects them from what they are managing? If you read only one book about managing, this should be it!

The Moment of Clarity : Using the Human Sciences to Solve Your Toughest Business Problems

Christian Madsbjerg
Businesses need a new type of problem solving. Why? Because they are getting people wrong.

Traditional problem-solving methods taught in business schools serve us well for some of the everyday challenges of business, but they tend to be ineffective with problems involving a high degree of uncertainty. Why? Because, more often than not, these tools are based on a flawed model of human behavior. And that flawed model is the invisible scaffolding that supports our surveys, our focus groups, our R&D, and much of our long-term strategic planning.

In The Moment of Clarity, Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel Rasmussen examine the business world’s assumptions about human behavior and show how these assumptions can lead businesses off track. But the authors chart a way forward. Using theories and tools from the human sciences—anthropology, sociology, philosophy, and psychology—The Moment of Clarity introduces a practical framework called sensemaking. Sensemaking’s nonlinear problem-solving approach gives executives a better way to understand business challenges involving shifts in human behavior.

This new methodology, a fundamentally different way to think about strategy, is already taking off in Fortune 100 companies around the world. Through compelling case studies and their direct experience with LEGO, Samsung, Adidas, Coloplast, and Intel, Madsbjerg and Rasmussen will show you how to solve problems as diverse as setting company direction, driving growth, improving sales models, understanding the real culture of your organization, and finding your way in new markets.

Over and over again, executives say the same thing after engaging in a process of sensemaking: “Now I see it . . .” This experience—the moment of clarity—has the potential to drive the entire strategic future of your company. Isn’t it time you and your firm started getting people right?

Learn more about the innovation and strategy work of ReD Associates at: redassociates.com

Resilience : Why Things Bounce Back

Andrew Zolli
IN THIS TIME OF TURBULENCE, scientists, economists, social innovators, corporate and civic leaders, and citizens alike are asking the same basic questions: What causes one system to break down and another to rebound? Are we merely subject to the whim of forces beyond our control? Or, in the face of constant disruption, can we build better shock absorbers—for ourselves, our communities, our economies, and for the planet as a whole?

The answers to these vital questions are shaping a new field of inquiry, and a new agenda, focused on resilience: the ability of people, communities, and systems to maintain their core purpose and integrity amid unforeseen shocks and surprises. By encouraging adaptation, agility, and cooperation, this new approach can not only help us weather disruptions, but also bring us to a different way of being in and engaging with the world.

Reporting firsthand from the coral reefs of Palau to the back streets of Palestine, Andrew Zolli and Ann Marie Healy relate breakthrough scientific discoveries, pioneering social and ecological innovations, and important new approaches to constructing a more resilient world. Along the way, they share insights to bolster our own psychological resilience, foster greater stability within our communities, and establish leadership imperatives for more resilient organizations. Zolli and Healy show how this new concept of resilience is a powerful lens through which we can assess major issues afresh: from business planning to social development, from urban planning to national energy security—circumstances that affect us all.

Provocative, optimistic, and eye-opening, Resilience sheds light on why some systems, people, and communities fall apart in the face of disruption and, ultimately, how they can learn to bounce back.

The Mediator's Handbook : Revised & Expanded Fourth Edition

Jennifer E. Beer
The classic resource for effective mediation - now fully updated and expanded

El Arte de la Guerra

Sun Tzu

 “El Arte de la Guerra”, es el tratado militar más antiguo del mundo, compilado por el sabio y estratega chino Sun Tzu. La presente es la más reciente traslación al castellano de esta obra, basada en la histórica edición de Lionel Giles, el primer divulgador en occidente de este tratado, que desde entonces ha servido de inspiración a militares, políticos, estrategas, y estudiosos de la teoría del juego, entre otros. Sin embargo, sus aplicaciones trascienden el campo militar y casi cualquier actividad humana que requiera la interacción social y la competencia, encontrará en sus páginas una iluminación esclarecedora. 

Los capítulos del “Arte de la Guerra” son: 

I. Planificación 

II. Hacer la guerra 

III. Ataque por estratagema 

IV. Disposiciones tácticas 

V. Energía 

VI. Puntos fuertes y débiles 

VII. Maniobras 

VIII. Variaciones tácticas 

IX. El ejército en marcha 

X. Terreno 

XI. Las nueve situaciones 

XII. El ataque por el fuego 

XIII. El uso de espías 


The Science of Fear : How the Culture of Fear Manipulates Your Brain

Daniel Gardner
A timely and entertaining psychological look at why we're afraid and what to do about it

From terror attacks to bursting real estate bubbles, from crystal meth epidemics to online sexual predators and poisonous toys from China, our list of fears seems to be exploding. Yet we are the safest and healthiest humans in history. Why are we so worried?

The Science of Fear is an introduction to the new brain science of risk, dissecting the fears that misguide and manipulate us every day. Award-winning journalist Daniel Gardner demonstrates how irrational fear springs from the ways humans miscalculate risks based on our hunter-gatherer brains. With the exclusive cooperation of risk-science pioneer Paul Slovic and other leading experts, Gardner reveals how our "gut" reactions lead us astray. Understanding our irrational fears frees us from political and corporate manipulation, and makes our choices better, and our lives braver.


Kidding Ourselves : The Hidden Power of Self-Deception

Joseph T. Hallinan
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Why We Make Mistakes, an illuminating exploration of human beings’ astonishing ability to deceive themselves.
 
To one degree or another, we all misjudge reality. Our perception—of ourselves and the world around us—is much more malleable than we realize. This self-deception influences every major aspect of our personal and social life, including relationships, sex, politics, careers, and health. 
     In Kidding Ourselves, Joseph Hallinan offers a nuts-and-bolts look at how this penchant shapes our everyday lives, from the medicines we take to the decisions we make. It shows, for instance, just how much the power of many modern medicines, particularly anti-depressants and painkillers, is largely in our heads. Placebos in modern-day life extend beyond hospitals, to fake thermostats and “elevator close” buttons that don’t really work…but give the perception that they do.          
     Kidding Ourselves brings together a variety of subjects, linking seemingly unrelated ideas in fascinating and unexpected ways. And ultimately, it shows that deceiving ourselves is not always negative or foolish. As increasing numbers of researchers are discovering, it can be incredibly useful, providing us with the resilience we need to persevere, in the boardroom, bedroom, and beyond. 
     Provocative, accessible, and easily applicable to multiple facets of everyday life, Kidding Ourselves is an extraordinary new exploration of our mind’s flexibility.
 

Business Without the Bullsh*t : 49 Secrets and Shortcuts You Need to Know

Geoffrey James
Contrary to popular belief, the business world is not that complicated. While every industry and every profession requires specific expertise, the truth is that the "business of business" is relatively simple.

For the past seven years, Geoffrey James has written a daily blog that's become one of the most popular business-focused destinations on the web. In BUSINESS WITHOUT THE BULLSH*T, readers will learn surprising but tried-and-true secrets about being an extraordinary boss, about coping with annoying coworkers, and navigating the thorny problems that recur in every workplace.

TIPS FROM BUSINESS WITHOUT THE BULLSH*T:

Long work hours mean less work gets done.

Multiple studies reveal that working 60 rather than 40 hours a week makes you slightly more productive but only for a little while. After about three weeks, people get burned out, get sick and go absent, and start making avoidable errors.

What every boss wants from you.

From your boss's perspective your real job is to make the boss successful. There are no exceptions to this rule.

Why your resume is your enemy.

Only write a resume after you're talking to people inside the hiring firm. Then, customize it to match what you've discovered that they really what.

Cracking Creativity : The Secrets of Creative Genius

Michael Michalko
In this trailblazing book, internationally renowned business creativity expert Michael Michalko shows how creative people think—and how to put their secrets to work for you. To create this book, Michalko researched and analyzed hundreds of history's greatest thinkers—from Leonardo da Vinci to Pablo Picasso—and then brought their techniques into the modern home and workplace. The follow-up to the popular THINKERTOYS, which sold over 80,000 copies.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

No B. S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs : The Ultimate No Holds Barred Kick Butt Take No Prisoners Guide to Time Productivity and Sanity

Dan S. Kennedy
In 2004, Kennedy took on the world of cell phones, PDAs, faxes, emails and every other communication device that pervade the lives of entrepreneurs and suggested when to tap it, and when to give it the heave-ho. He delivered a fresh take on the mantra ?time is moneyOCO and showed entrepreneurs how to maximize their time to better manage their business. However, times have changed and so has the technology.
In this latest edition, Kennedy tackles the technology of today and delivers new insights and tools for boosting personal productivity in keeping with his ?less is moreOCO approach. New material includes how to outsource, buying experts, expertise and time. Kennedy covers virtual assistants, errand-running services, and the far-reaching scope of activities and tasks people are paying others to do for them. Kennedy also adds two new chapters discussing how to get more accomplished by leveraging cooperative relationships, why goal setting (and New YearOCOs Resolutions) fails and how he manages achievement.
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Governing Business & Relationships

A. Parthasarathy

The detailed answer to applying intellect to business and relationships. How to correctly contact the world in all areas of your life. A. Parthasarathy has lectured extensively all over the world to some of the most accomplished business organisations and places of learning, including Harvard and Wharton. He has also been featured in Time Magazine as "the go getter's guru". This is the second title in an ordered series of nine written works by A. Parthasarathy. It is recommended that one read "The Fall of the Human Intellect" as an introduction to these concepts.


The book deals with the basic concepts associated with the running of a business such as Value Systems, Work Ethics, Stress Management, Productivity, Leadership and Time Management. Also analyses one’s relationship with the world at large. The emphasis is on self -development through study and reflection of the higher values of life rather than correcting the external world. Towards the end the book highlights a human being’s role in achieving the ultimate management by gaining identity with one’s own Self.

The Success Equation : Untangling Skill and Luck in Business, Sports, and Investing

Michael Mauboussin
“Much of what we experience in life results from a combination of skill and luck.” — From the Introduction

The trick, of course, is figuring out just how many of our successes (and failures) can be attributed to each—and how we can learn to tell the difference ahead of time.

In most domains of life, skill and luck seem hopelessly entangled. Different levels of skill and varying degrees of good and bad luck are the realities that shape our lives—yet few of us are adept at accurately distinguishing between the two. Imagine what we could accomplish if we were able to tease out these two threads, examine them, and use the resulting knowledge to make better decisions.

In this provocative book, Michael Mauboussin helps to untangle these intricate strands to offer the structure needed to analyze the relative importance of skill and luck. He offers concrete suggestions for making these insights work to your advantage. Once we understand the extent to which skill and luck contribute to our achievements, we can learn to deal with them in making decisions.

The Success Equation helps us move toward this goal by:

• Establishing a foundation so we better understand skill and luck, and can pinpoint where each is most relevant
• Helping us develop the analytical tools necessary to understand skill and luck
• Offering concrete suggestions about how to take these findings and put them to work

Showcasing Mauboussin’s trademark wit, insight, and analytical genius, The Success Equation is a must-read for anyone seeking to make better decisions—in business and in life.

Group Genius : The Creative Power of Collaboration

Keith Sawyer
Creativity has long been thought to be an individual gift, best pursued alone; schools, organizations, and whole industries are built on this idea. But what if the most common beliefs about how creativity works are wrong? Group Genius tears down some of the most popular myths about creativity, revealing that creativity is always collaborative-even when you’re alone. Sharing the results of his own acclaimed research on jazz groups, theater ensembles, and conversation analysis, Keith Sawyer shows us how to be more creative in collaborative group settings, how to change organizational dynamics for the better, and how to tap into our own reserves of creativity.