The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth


Clayton M. Christensen - 2003
    Christensen.In his international bestseller The Innovator's Dilemma, Clayton M. Christensen exposed this crushing paradox behind the failure of many industry leaders: by placing too much focus on pleasing their most profitable customers, these firms actually paved the way for their own demise by ignoring the disruptive technologies that aggressively evolved to displace them. In The Innovator’s Solution, Christensen and coauthor Michael E. Raynor help all companies understand how to become disruptors themselves.Clay Christensen (author of the award-winning Harvard Business Review article, “How Will You Measure Your Life?”) and Raynor not only reveal that innovation is more predictable than most managers have come to believe, they also provide helpful advice on the business decisions crucial to truly disruptive growth. Citing in-depth research and theories tested in hundreds of companies across many industries, the authors identify the processes that create successful innovation—and they show managers how to tailor their strategies to the changing circumstances of a dynamic world.The Innovator’s Solution is an important addition to any innovation library.Published by Harvard Business Review Press.

Selling You!


Napoleon Hill - 1988
    He became legend in business circles for creating effective sales courses that turned around failing companies. Hill’s philosophy of success for salesmen was simple—you, the salesman, are the most valuable asset and you need to sell yourself first. Selling You brings together the best of Napoleon Hill's writings from his sales courses with a special introduction by Jeffrey Gitomer. This is a new release of a previously published edition.

Management Rewired: Why Feedback Doesn't Work and Other Surprising Lessons from the Latest Brain Science


Charles S. Jacobs - 2009
    Appeals to reason fall short, for our decisions are made emotionally, and logic is at best an after-the-fact justification for what we've already determined to do. That's just one of the many amazing discoveries that explain why management is so challenging. but as Charles Jacobs explains, once we understand the lessons of neuroscience, we're able to create more powerful strategies, inspire people to maximize their potential, and overcome the biggest hurdle to improving business performance-making change stick.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and Principles


Peter F. Drucker - 1985
    A superbly practical book that explains what established businesses, public survey institutions, and new yentures have to know, have to learn, and have to do in today' s economy and marketplace.

Working for You Isn't Working for Me: The Ultimate Guide to Managing Your Boss


Katherine Crowley - 2009
    Now they apply their research and insights to the challenges of "toxic bosses." Sooner or later, we all work for someone we can't stand. When that happens, some people quit, some suffer in silence, and others cope by sulking, obsessing, avoiding, or retaliating. But it's better to take control by applying the four-step process in this book: • Detect: Am I crazy or is my boss driving me crazy? • Detach: Accept that you can't change your boss, but you can take back your power. • Depersonalize: Learn to take your supervisor's behavior less personally. • Deal: Devise a plan to get what you need, manage your boss, and move your career forward. Filled with concrete examples, this book will help readers take back their power from even the most challenging bad bosses- chronic critics, yellers, unconscious discriminators, control freaks, pathological liars, and more.

The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions


Scott Adams - 1996
    Lavishly illustrated with Dilbert strips, these hilarious essays on incompetent bosses, management fads, bewildering technological changes and so much more, will make anyone who has ever worked in an office laugh out loud in recognition. The Dilbert Principle: The most ineffective workers will be systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage -- management.Since 1989, Scott Adams has been illustrating this principle each day, lampooning the corporate world through Dilbert, his enormously popular comic strip. In Dilbert, the potato-shaped, abuse-absorbing hero of the strip, Adams has given voice to the millions of Americans buffeted by the many adversities of the workplace.Now he takes the next step, attacking corporate culture head-on in this lighthearted series of essays. Packed with more than 100 hilarious cartoons, these 25 chapters explore the zeitgeist of ever-changing management trends, overbearing egos, management incompetence, bottomless bureaucracies, petrifying performance reviews, three-hour meetings, the confusion of the information superhighway and more. With sharp eyes, and an even sharper wit, Adams exposes -- and skewers -- the bizarre absurdities of everyday corporate life. Readers will be convinced that he must be spying on their bosses, The Dilbert Principle rings so true!

How F*cked Up Is Your Management?: An uncomfortable conversation about modern leadership


Johnathan Nightingale - 2017
    Any honest discussion of management today needs a few. And it's just what you'd expect from the creators of the internet famous blog, The Co-pour.If you're trying to lead a group of people today, the bad news is that it's harder than ever. Your employees have impossible expectations of you, and your investors haven't operated a business in over twenty years. The good news is that there's hope. You can be the leader your people need, but you won't get there without some discomfort.How F*cked Up Is Your Management tackles a massive gap in the conversation about modern leadership. Through personal narrative, and candid storytelling, Melissa and Johnathan Nightingale distill the lessons they've learned and the mistakes they've made into a new management standard.This book doesn't gloss over the hard work, uncertainty, and stress that it takes for startups to get things right. It doesn't glorify those things either. In addition to the swears, this book has thoughtful things to say on:What to do when you double in size but haven't doubled your output How to interview better, hire smarter, and grow and retain the people you've already got Why meritocracy doesn't work and other cultural traps How to build a non-toxic workplace culture and a diverse team Why you don't want superheroes on your team (and definitely don't want to be one) How to manage an employee up and when to manage them out What to do when it all falls apart

What Does Somebody Have to Do to Get A Job Around Here?: 44 Insider Secrets That Will Get You Hired


Cynthia Shapiro - 2008
    What Does Somebody Have to Do to Get a Job Around Here? puts a former Human Resources executive turned employee advocate in your corner. Cynthia Shapiro reveals the best-kept job secrets that employers don't want you to know including:*Secret #8: A computer is deciding your job prospects.*Secret #12: Professional references are useless.*Secret #18: There is a "type" that always gets the offer.*Secret #21: The Thank-You note is too late.*Secret #28: Always negotiate.* …and thirty-nine more!Once you know the secrets you can create a winning resume, ace the interview, and land the job of your dreams.Cynthia Shapiro, M.B.A., E.L.C., P.H.R., author of Corporate Confidential, is a former human resources executive and consultant. Now a personal career coach and employee advocate, she provides consultations and advice for employees all over the world. Her unique brand of career advice has been seen on ABC, CNN, FOX News, PBS and MSNBC; in the pages of Fortune, Glamour, Self, Details, Essence, Marie Claire, and is widely read in major newspapers across the U.S. Cynthia Shapiro lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

Icons and Idiots: Straight Talk on Leadership


Bob Lutz - 2013
    There’s a good side, which gets the job done. There’s often also a downside that makes them hard to understand or difficult to work for. It’s precisely that they are impatient, stubborn, opinionated, unsatisfied, and domineering that makes them successful.”   When Bob Lutz retired from General Motors in 2010, after an unparalleled forty-seven-year career in the auto industry, he was one of the most respected leaders in American business. He had survived all kinds of managers over those decades: tough and timid, analytical and irrational, charismatic and antisocial, and some who seemed to shift frequently among all those traits.  His experiences made him an expert on leadership, every bit as much as he was an expert on cars and trucks.   Now Lutz is revealing the leaders—good, bad, and ugly—who made the strongest impression on him throughout his career.  Icons and Idiots is a collection of shocking and often hilarious true stories and the lessons Lutz drew from them. From enduring the sadism of a Marine Corps drill instructor, to working with a washed-up alcoholic, to taking over the reins from a convicted felon, he reflects on the complexities of all-too-human leaders. No textbook or business school course can fully capture their idiosyncrasies, foibles and weaknesses – which can make or break companies in the real world.   Lutz shows that we can learn just as much from the most stubborn, stupid, and corrupt leaders as we can from the inspiring geniuses. He offers fascinating profiles of icons and idiots such as...Eberhard von Kuenheim. The famed CEO of BMW was an aristocrat-cum-street fighter who ruled with secrecy, fear, and deft maneuvering. Harold A. “Red” Poling: A Ford CEO and the ultimate bean counter. If it couldn’t be quantified, he didn’t want to know about it. Lee Iacocca: The legendary Chrysler CEO appeared to be brillant and bold, but was often vulnerable and insecure behind the scenes. G. Richard “Rick” Wagoner: The perfect peacetime CEO whose superior intelligence couldn’t save GM from steep decline and a government bailout. As Lutz writes:We’ll examine bosses who were profane, insensitive, totally politically incorrect, and who “appropriated” insignificant items from hotels or the company. We’ll visit the mind of a leader who did little but sit in his office. We’ll look at another boss who could analyze a highly complex profit-and-loss statement or a balance sheet at a glance, yet who, at times, failed to grasp the simplest financial mechanisms—how things actually worked in practice to create the numbers in the real world.   The result is a powerful and entertaining guide for any aspiring leader.

The Real Team


Richard Marcinko - 1999
    Told in Marcinko's unique first-person voice, readers will learn how and why he chose each of them in order to assemble one of the finest antiterrorist groups in U.S. history.

Full Engagement!: Inspire, Motivate, and Bring Out the Best in Your People


Brian Tracy - 2011
    In Full Engagement!, business success expert Brian Tracy shows how managers can step up to this seemingly impossible task by supercharging their employees' efforts. A manager's role is to achieve the highest possible return on the physical, emotional, and mental effort that his or her people put forth. It's not a return on investment--it's a return on energy. Packed with powerful, practical ideas and strategies, this eye-opening guide teaches readers to inspire their people to perform at their absolute best. You'll learn skills including how to unlock the potential of each person on your team; how to motivate and inspire employees to peak performance; how to trigger the "X Factor" that maximizes productivity; how to drive out the fears that hold people back; how to create a high-trust work environment; how to set clear goals and objectives; and how to recognize, reward, and reinforce in a way that energizes every employee.Studies have shown that on average, employees are working at only a fraction of their potential. With this essential guide, all managers can unlock superstar performance from their teams

The Visual MBA: Two Years of Business School Packed into One Priceless Book of Pure Awesomeness


Jason Barron - 2019
    Along the way, rather than taking boring notes that he would never read (nor use) again, Jason created sketch notes for each class—visually capturing the essential points of his education—and providing an engaging and invaluable resource.   Once finished with his MBA, Jason launched a widely successful Kickstarter campaign distilling these same notes into a self-published book to help aspiring business leaders of all backgrounds and income levels understand the critical concepts one learns in business school.   Whether you are thinking about applying to business school, are currently in college studying business, or have always wondered what is taught in an MBA program, this highly entertaining and visual book is for you.

Guerrilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business


Jay Conrad Levinson - 1984
    Based on hundreds of solid ideas that really work, Levinson’s philosophy has given birth to a new way of learning about market share and how to gain it. In this completely updated and expanded fourth edition, Levinson offers a new arsenal of weaponry for small-business success including* strategies for marketing on the Internet (explaining when and precisely how to use it)* tips for using new technology, such as podcasting and automated marketing* programs for targeting prospects and cultivating repeat and referral business* management lessons in the age of telecommuting and freelance employeesGuerrilla Marketing is the entrepreneur’s marketing bible -- and the book every small-business owner should have on his or her shelf.

EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches


Dave Ramsey - 2011
    These are the men and women doing battle daily beneath the banner that is your brand. Are they courageous or indecisive? Are they serving a motivated team or managing employees? Are they valued? Your team will never grow beyond you, so here’s another question to consider—are you growing? Whether you’re sitting at the CEO’s desk, the middle manager’s cubicle, or a card table in your living-room-based start-up, EntreLeadership provides the practical, step-by-step guidance to grow your business where you want it to go. Dave Ramsey opens up his championship playbook for business to show you how to: -Inspire your team to take ownership and love what they do -Unify your team and get rid of all gossip -Handle money to set your business up for success -Reach every goal you set -And much, much more! EntreLeadership is a one-stop guide filled with accessible advice for businesses and leaders to ensure success even through the toughest of times.

Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success


Ken Segall - 2012
    It was also a weapon.Simplicity isn’t just a design principle at Apple—it’s a value that permeates every level of the organization. The obsession with Simplicity is what separates Apple from other technology companies. It’s what helped Apple recover from near death in 1997 to become the most valuable company on Earth in 2011.Thanks to Steve Jobs’s uncompromising ways, you can see Simplicity in everything Apple does: the way it’s structured, the way it innovates, and the way it speaks to its customers.It’s by crushing the forces of Complexity that the company remains on its stellar trajectory.As ad agency creative director, Ken Segall played a key role in Apple’s resurrection, helping to create such critical marketing campaigns as Think different. By naming the iMac, he also laid the foundation for naming waves of i-products to come.Segall has a unique perspective, given his years of experience creating campaigns for other iconic tech companies, including IBM, Intel, and Dell. It was the stark contrast of Apple’s ways that made Segall appreciate the power of Simplicity—and inspired him to help others benefit from it.In Insanely Simple, you’ll be a fly on the wall inside a conference room with Steve Jobs, and on the receiving end of his midnight phone calls. You’ll understand how his obsession with Simplicity helped Apple perform better and faster, sometimes saving millions in the process. You’ll also learn, for example, how to:• Think Minimal: Distilling choices to a minimum brings clarity to a company and its customers—as Jobs proved when he replaced over twenty product models with a lineup of four.• Think Small: Swearing allegiance to the concept of “small groups of smart people” raises both morale and productivity.• Think Motion: Keeping project teams in constant motion focuses creative thinking on well-defined goals and minimizes distractions.• Think Iconic: Using a simple, powerful image to symbolize the benefit of a product or idea creates a deeper impression in the minds of customers.• Think War: Giving yourself an unfair advantage—using every weapon at your disposal—is the best way to ensure that your ideas survive unscathed.Segall brings Apple’s quest for Simplicity to life using fascinating (and previously untold) stories from behind the scenes. Through his insight and wit, you’ll discover how companies that leverage this power can stand out from competitors—and individuals who master it can become critical assets to their organizations.