Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies are Turning Us All into Patients


Ray Moynihan - 2005
    Suggesting he would like Merck to be more like the maker of Wrigley's chewing gum, the CEO said it had long been his dream to make drugs for healthy people, to "sell to everyone." That dream now drives the marketing machinery of the most profitable industry on earth. From award-winning Ray Moynihan,—one of the world's top medical journalists—Selling Sickness reveals how widening the boundaries of illness and lowering the threshold for treatments is creating millions of new patients and billions in new profits. This in turn is driving up personal drug bills and threatening to bankrupt national health systems all over the world. As more and more ordinary life is "medicalized," the industry moves ever closer to being able to "sell to everyone."

Power Moves


NOT A BOOK - 2019
    Private corner offices and management by decree are out, as is unquestioned trust in the government and media. These former pillars of traditional power have been replaced by networks of informed citizens who collectively wield more power over their personal lives, employers, and worlds than ever before. So how do you navigate this new landscape and come out on top? Adam Grant, Wharton organizational psychologist and New York Times best-selling author of Give and Take, Originals, and Option B, went to the World Economic Forum in Davos, the epicenter of power, and sat down with thought leaders from around the world, to find out.In interviews with two dozen leaders and thinkers - from top executives at Google, GM, Slack, and Goldman Sachs, to the CEO of the Gates Foundation and NASA's former chief scientist - Grant shares hard-earned insight on how to succeed in this new era of hyper-linked power. He also explores how it's reshaping everything from how employees work to how employers manage their workers, from how women rise in the office to how scientists influence policy.The combination of captivating interviews, compelling data, and Grant's unmistakably incisive and actionable analysis results in an inspiring crash course from the frontlines on the changing nature of power today.

Only the Paranoid Survive. Lessons from the CEO of INTEL Corporation


Andrew S. Grove - 1988
    Under Andrew Grove's leadership, Intel has become the world's largest computer chipmaker, the 5th most admired company in America, and the 7th most profitable company among the Fortune 500. Few CEOs can claim this level of success. Grove attributes much of it to the philosophy and strategy he has learned the hard way as he steered Intel through a series of potential major disasters. There are moments in any business when massive change occurs, when all the rules of business shift fast, furiously and forever. Grove calls such moments strategic inflection points (SIPs), and he has lived through several. They can be set off by almost anything - by mega competition, an arcane change in regulations, or by a seemingly modest change in technology. They are not always easy to spot - but you can't hide from them. Intel's first SIP was when the Japanese started producing better-quality, lower-cost memory chips. It took Grove three years and huge losses to recognize that he had to rethink and reposition the company to become, once again, leader in its field.Grove extrapolates the lessons he has learned from this and other SIPs - for instance the drama of the Pentium flaw, and the SIP brought on by the Internet - to reveal a unique insight into the management of change. He recounts strategies from other companies and examines his own record of success and failure. Only the Paranoid Survive is a classic lesson in leadership skills that every manager in every industry will benefit from. Every manager must assume that something will change - very soon.

Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back


Andrew Zolli - 2012
    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.

On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System


Henry M. Paulson Jr. - 2010
    But Paulson had no idea that a year later, he would find himself at the very epicenter of the world's most cataclysmic financial crisis since the Great Depression. Major institutions including Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Merrill Lynch, and Citigroup, among others-all steeped in rich, longstanding tradition-literally teetered at the edge of collapse. Panic ensnared international markets. Worst of all, the credit crisis spread to all parts of the U.S. economy and grew more ominous with each passing day, destroying jobs across America and undermining the financial security millions of families had spent their lifetimes building. This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime economic nightmare. Events no one had thought possible were happening in quick succession, and people all over the globe were terrified that the continuing downward spiral would bring unprecedented chaos. All eyes turned to the United States Treasury Secretary to avert the disaster. This, then, is Hank Paulson's first-person account. From the man who was in the very middle of this perfect economic storm, ON THE BRINK is Paulson's fast-paced retelling of the key decisions that had to be made with lightning speed. Paulson puts the reader in the room for all the intense moments as he addressed urgent market conditions, weighed critical decisions, and debated policy and economic considerations with of all the notable players-including the CEOs of top Wall Street firms as well as Ben Bernanke, Timothy Geithner, Sheila Bair, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, and then-President George W. Bush. More than an account about numbers and credit risks gone bad, ON THE BRINK is an extraordinary story about people and politics-all brought together during the world's impending financial Armageddon.

It Shouldn't Be This Hard to Serve Your Country: Our Broken Government and the Plight of Veterans


David Shulkin - 2019
    David Shulkin was originally brought into government by President Obama to save the beleaguered Department of Veterans Affairs. When President Trump appointed him as secretary of the VA, Shulkin was as shocked as anyone.Yet this surprise was trivial compared to what Shulkin encountered as secretary: a team of political appointees devoted to stopping anyone -- including the secretary himself -- who stood in the way of privatizing the agency and implementing their political agenda. In this uninhibited memoir, Shulkin opens up about why the government has long struggled to provide good medical care to military veterans and the plan he had to solve these problems. This is a book about the commitment we make to the men and women who risk their lives fighting for our country, how the VA was finally beginning to live up to it, and why the new administration may now be taking us in the wrong direction.

How the Poor Can Save Capitalism: Rebuilding the Path to the Middle Class


John Hope Bryant - 2014
    I urge everyone to read How the Poor Can Save Capitalism and discover for themselves John’s great ideas for creating an America with more shared opportunity and shared responsibility.” —Former US President Bill Clinton"John and I want the same things. And the goals of this book are the same goals of my Rebuild The Dream campaign. He has provided the roadmap to economic recovery for this country at a time when economic inequality is at its peak. I for one will be following the steps laid out in the HOPE plan." —Van Jones, Former Advisor to President Obama and host of CNN's CrossfireHow the Poor Can Save Capitalism reveals Operation HOPE founder and successful businessman John Hope Bryant’s strategy for restoring the American middle class and eradicating poverty. “For capitalism to thrive, the poor and middle class must thrive,” Bryant writes. “We must make financial literacy – teaching each and every one of our children the language of money – the new civil rights issue for the twenty-first century America.” According to Bryant, capitalism isn’t to blame for a struggling economy; we’re just doing it wrong. Important statistics Bryant shares in the book: • 76% of Americans are living from paycheck to paycheck, while 60% of American GDP is consumer-driven. • 1 in 4 of the Americans who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit never ask for it – that’s $9 to $10 billion in unclaimed funds that could be put towards mortgages, car payments, education, etc.• 47% of U.S. employers require a credit report as part of the hiring process.In the book, Bryant exposes the historical roots of poverty, explains why the solutions tried so far have proved insufficient, and offers a way forward. He lays out what he calls a Marshall Plan for our times, a series of straightforward, actionable steps to build financial literacy and expand opportunity so that the poor can join the middle class.Praised by Dr. Bernice A. King of the King Center as “a practical idealist who dreams big and then moves with precision to action,” John Hope Bryant aspires to create a thriving economy that works not just for the 1% or even the 99%, but for the 100%.

Paychecks and Playchecks: Retirement Solutions For Life


Tom Hegna - 2011
    A person would spend their entire career with ONE company and then upon retirement they would receive a pension which was a guaranteed paycheck every month for the rest of their life. Most Americans have no chance at getting that deal anymore. The burdens, challenges, and risks of today's world are far greater. The stock market has seen negative returns for an entire decade. Health care costs are up but benefits are down. Life expectancy has dramatically increased but pensions are all but extinct! We are in a time when people need guaranteed income more than ever, yet fewer people have it than ever before. Paychecks and Playchecks: Retirement Solutions For Life is a guide for retirement that is BUILT for markets like these. It's a roadmap for surviving, and thriving, in difficult economic times. This book is not an Op-Ed on how "Average Joe" can invest to generate huge returns. It is a mathematical and scientifically proven guide on how to create a solid retirement with as much upside potential and downside protection as possible. Its purpose is to help you make absolutely sure that you have guaranteed lifetime income to keep you and your family protected in any market.By using simple financial products properly, having a plan for long term care, and utilizing cutting edge estate planning ideas, Paychecks and Playchecks will show you how to retire with enough guaranteed lifetime income to cover your basic expenses and optimize the rest of your portfolio to make sure you receive your "playchecks." It's not rocket science - it's financial sense. Despite what most experts say, "Happily ever after" still exists and it starts with Paychecks and Playchecks: Retirement Solutions For Life.

Blowing My Way to the Top: How to Change the Things That Are Keeping You from Living Your Best Life


Jen Atkin - 2020
    . . but her success didn’t arrive overnight. Her glamorous, jet-setting lifestyle came from years of hard work, humility, and hustle. In Blowing My Way to the Top, Jen shatters the illusion of effortless, instant success that permeates social media to reveal the sweat, dedication, and drive it really takes to make it.Jen chronicles her remarkable journey—from growing up in an isolated, conservative religious community where girls were encouraged to marry young, to striking out on her own and breaking every rule and convention to build an empire valued at $80 million.Though Jen rebelled against the restrictions meant to limit her potential as a young woman, she has since formed her own core principles, which serve as the foundation of her daily life. In Blowing My Way to the Top, she offers insight into the values that have allowed her to thrive in the modern, digital landscape, from looking out for others to embracing humility and financial responsibility. As a trailblazer in a male-dominated industry, Jen also speaks frankly about the difficulties and challenges women face in business. She offers crucial advice, from the importance of running your business like a feminist—hiring, nurturing, and promoting female talent; finding mentors; and building camaraderie amid the competition—to learning to navigate the work and life issues that impact women most.Jen makes it clear to those who aspire to follow in her footsteps that while inhabiting the world of celebrity culture has its perks, it can also be dangerously distracting and misleading. Part personal narrative, part practical how-to, Blowing My Way to the Top is a fierce, funny, and inspiring book about how Jen built a one-of-a-kind business against all odds—and how readers can take what she’s learned the hard way to live their own dreams.