Late fees were ubiquitous, video-streaming unheard was of, and widespread DVD adoption seemed about as imminent as flying cars. Indeed, these were the widely accepted laws of the land in 1997, when Marc Randolph had an idea. It was a simple thought—leveraging the internet to rent movies—and was just one of many more and far worse proposals, like personalized baseball bats and a shampoo delivery service, that Randolph would pitch to his business partner, Reed Hastings, on their commute to work each morning.But Hastings was intrigued, and the pair—with Hastings as the primary investor and Randolph as the CEO—founded a company. Now with over 150 million subscribers, Netflix's triumph feels inevitable, but the twenty first century's most disruptive start up began with few believers and calamity at every turn. From having to pitch his own mother on being an early investor, to the motel conference room that served as a first office, to server crashes on launch day, to the now-infamous meeting when Netflix brass pitched Blockbuster to acquire them, Marc Randolph's transformational journey exemplifies how anyone with grit, gut instincts, and determination can change the world—even with an idea that many think will never work.What emerges, though, isn't just the inside story of one of the world's most iconic companies. Full of counter-intuitive concepts and written in binge-worthy prose, it answers some of our most fundamental questions about taking that leap of faith in business or in life: How do you begin? How do you weather disappointment and failure? How do you deal with success? What even is success?From idea generation to team building to knowing when it's time to let go, That Will Never Work is not only the ultimate follow-your-dreams parable, but also one of the most dramatic and insightful entrepreneurial stories of our time.

    And thirty years later, if you're going to read only one book on Watergate, that's still the one. Today, Enron is the biggest business story of our time, and Fortune senior writers Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind are the new Woodward and Bernstein.Remarkably, it was just two years ago that Enron was thought to epitomize a great New Economy company, with its skyrocketing profits and share price. But that was before Fortune published an article by McLean that asked a seemingly innocent question: How exactly does Enron make money? From that point on, Enron's house of cards began to crumble. Now, McLean and Elkind have investigated much deeper, to offer the definitive book about the Enron scandal and the fascinating people behind it.Meticulously researched and character driven, Smartest Guys in the Room takes the reader deep into Enron's past—and behind the closed doors of private meetings. Drawing on a wide range of unique sources, the book follows Enron's rise from obscurity to the top of the business world to its disastrous demise. It reveals as never before major characters such as Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Andy Fastow, as well as lesser known players like Cliff Baxter and Rebecca Mark. Smartest Guys in the Room is a story of greed, arrogance, and deceit—a microcosm of all that is wrong with American business today. Above all, it's a fascinating human drama that will prove to be the authoritative account of the Enron scandal.

    Collins' research project—more than four years in duration—uncovered five step-wise stages of decline:Stage 1: Hubris Born of SuccessStage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of MoreStage 3: Denial of Risk and PerilStage 4: Grasping for SalvationStage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or DeathBy understanding these stages of decline, leaders can substantially reduce their chances of falling all the way to the bottom.Great companies can stumble, badly, and recover.Every institution, no matter how great, is vulnerable to decline. There is no law of nature that the most powerful will inevitably remain at the top. Anyone can fall and most eventually do. But, as Collins' research emphasizes, some companies do indeed recover—in some cases, coming back even stronger—even after having crashed into the depths of Stage 4.Decline, it turns out, is largely self-inflicted, and the path to recovery lies largely within our own hands. We are not imprisoned by our circumstances, our history, or even our staggering defeats along the way. As long as we never get entirely knocked out of the game, hope always remains. The mighty can fall, but they can often rise again.

    Drawing on confidential internal memos and interviews with dozens of key players, Lowenstein explains not just how the fund made and lost its money but also how the personalities of Long-Term’s partners, the arrogance of their mathematical certainties, and the culture of Wall Street itself contributed to both their rise and their fall.When it was founded in 1993, Long-Term was hailed as the most impressive hedge fund in history. But after four years in which the firm dazzled Wall Street as a $100 billion moneymaking juggernaut, it suddenly suffered catastrophic losses that jeopardized not only the biggest banks on Wall Street but the stability of the financial system itself. The dramatic story of Long-Term’s fall is now a chilling harbinger of the crisis that would strike all of Wall Street, from Lehman Brothers to AIG, a decade later. In his new Afterword, Lowenstein shows that LTCM’s implosion should be seen not as a one-off drama but as a template for market meltdowns in an age of instability—and as a wake-up call that Wall Street and government alike tragically ignored.

    And best of all, these crystal-clear, bite-sized lessons can be put to work in your business immediately! Discover how to: Generate hundreds of promising new leads Increase your conversion rate of leads to sales Maximize the value of your average sale Measure your results and fine-tune your best strategies Get real results right now when you discover all that Instant Success has to offer! Instant Advertising * Instant Leads * Instant Profit * Instant Promotions * Instant Referrals * Instant Repeat Business * Instant Sales * Instant Systems * Instant Team Building * The Business Coach * The Real Estate Coach * Successful Franchising * Billionaire in TrainingDDC: 658.8

    Having peeked behind the curtain at over 10,000 companies, this book aims to demystify the buyers, the process, and the inevitably emotional journey that is selling a company.Read it. Reference it. Share it.Think about what outcomes are important to you and why. Here's a cheat sheet:I want between $__________ and $___________ of cash as a financial result. (You'll have to pay off debt, taxes, and transaction costs. Also, something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.) I want to work for ___ years in my current position, and am willing to consult with the company for ___ years thereafter. (It's okay to say you want to stick with the company long-term, or leave the day of closing.) I'm looking for a buyer/partner that will take the ________ role in the company. (Example roles include advisory board, passive partner, CEO, and CFO.) The characteristics/values of an ideal buyer would be: My ideal timeline for a transaction would be ______, but I'd be happy to sell in _____ years. My top non-financial goals are:

    Kiyosaki. What the Rich do that the Poor and Middle Class do not! If you are a financial tard like I was, you should invest in the program-I did, and am glad I did! It covers the beginning basics of financial awareness, with exercises, examples and tons of info that will kick you in the seat and motivate you to get going! - JR, Rich Dad community member This program will teach you the 3 step plan to wealth that Robert's Rich Dad taught him. The program contains a 3 spiral Home Study Course Binders, the "60 Minutes to Getting Rich! ~ A Personal Seminar From Robert T. Kiyosaki" DVD, and the "Get Ready to be Rich!" audio CD. Stop living from paycheck to paycheck and enjoy the power of having money work for you.

    Brown knows exactly what a professional trying to come up to speed on a new trading tool needs and she provides it, covering what Fibonacci analysis is, how it works, where it comes from, pitfalls and dangers, and, of course, how to use it. Basic trading strategies are touched upon in virtually every chapter.Fibonacci analysis is one of the most popular technical analysis tools, yet it is often used incorrectly. Brown quickly clears up common misconceptions and moves on to show, step by step, the correct way to apply the technique in any market.Those with Fibonacci analysis software will learn how to use it with maximum effectiveness; those without will chart the market the old-fashioned way. All will find answers to the trader's most important questions:Where is the market going? At what level should my stop be entered? Based on the size of my trading account, how much should I leverage into a trading position? Can I tell if I am in trouble before my stop is hit? How much should I buy or sell if given a second or third opportunity? Occasional references to other tools--including Elliott Wave, W.D. Gann, and candlestick charts--and an extensive bibliography make this book richer for accomplished technical analysts without confounding the less experienced. Plentiful real-life examples and dozens of carefully annotated charts insure every reader will get maximum value from every minute spent with this book.Gold Medal Winner (tie), Investing Category, Axiom Business Book Awards (2009)Winner: Book Series Cover Design, The Bookbinders Guild of New York/2009 New York Book Show Awards

    Not only will you get sucked into the rollercoaster relationship of Amber and Dylan, but you’ll learn hundreds of money lessons along the way, giving you the tools to drive your financial destiny. As the book begins, Amber thinks her finances are under control, but her worldview crumbles when she encounters her college flame, Dylan, and his unusual perspective on money. While Amber and her friends were finishing their degrees, Dylan dropped out to pursue a different goal: Financial Independence. Amber doesn’t even know what Financial Independence means when she reconnects with Dylan seven years later. What she does know is that there’s nothing exciting about his lifestyle. At first she writes him off as a bum, but the more she questions, the more she realizes that how calculated his financial choices are. He’s not struggling for money; he’s building a Cash Machine. Amber wants to give Dylan another chance, but realizes she can never build a life with him until she understands his financial path. So she asks Dylan to teach her how to build a Cash Machine of her own. Unlike other personal finance books, that are normally written by finance experts and that only cover the areas of their expertise, The Cash Machine was not written by financial experts. Just the opposite. Before starting The Cash Machine, Dave and Chana Mason found themselves deeply in debt, despite having earned significant amounts of money in their careers. They came to realize that what they didn’t understand about money really was hurting them, and that the time had come to get themselves a strong financial education. And when Dave and Chana want to grow in some area, they find that there’s no better way than to research and write a novel on the subject. The result is a novel that has more financial lessons than any personal finance book they’ve ever seen, all taught through a story to make the lessons really stick. The lessons taught inside include: Credit Card Hacks. How to turn the high interest credit card arena in your favor Stock Market Strategies: How to get the highest returns from the market without getting your savings eaten up in fees Real Estate: Bring your housing costs down to zero and use real estate to generate equity and passive income Tax Shelters: Build your wealth faster by earning and growing it tax free Transportation: The fastest area to gain financial traction Discover hundreds of financial lessons, seamlessly taught within a novel you won’t want to put down. The Cash Machine isn’t just another money book. This page-turning love story teaches hundreds of financial lessons, giving you the tools to drive your financial destiny.

    No more excuses. Learn how to start something stupid—the smartest thing you can do.Drawing on years of research, including hundreds of face-to-face interviews and some of the world’s greatest success stories past and present, Richie shows you how stupid is the New Smart—the common denominator for success, creativity, and innovation in business and life.

    Steward founded his company, Worldwide Technology, Inc., on a shoestring budget and borrowed money, well aware of the high-risk nature of the venture he was undertaking. Despite the fact that he was a novice entrepreneur, he was certain he would succeed. Steward believed intensely that God wouldn't let him down.Doing Business by the Good Book shares the inspiring lessons culled straight from the Bible, that Steward used to build his privately held billion-dollar company into a global information technology enterprise.

    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.

     Celebrated historian David Nasaw, whom The New York Times Book Review has called "a meticulous researcher and a cool analyst," brings new life to the story of one of America's most famous and successful businessmen and philanthropists- in what will prove to be the biography of the season. Born of modest origins in Scotland in 1835, Andrew Carnegie is best known as the founder of Carnegie Steel. His rags to riches story has never been told as dramatically and vividly as in Nasaw's new biography. Carnegie, the son of an impoverished linen weaver, moved to Pittsburgh at the age of thirteen. The embodiment of the American dream, he pulled himself up from bobbin boy in a cotton factory to become the richest man in the world. He spent the rest of his life giving away the fortune he had accumulated and crusading for international peace. For all that he accomplished and came to represent to the American public-a wildly successful businessman and capitalist, a self-educated writer, peace activist, philanthropist, man of letters, lover of culture, and unabashed enthusiast for American democracy and capitalism-Carnegie has remained, to this day, an enigma. Nasaw explains how Carnegie made his early fortune and what prompted him to give it all away, how he was drawn into the campaign first against American involvement in the Spanish-American War and then for international peace, and how he used his friendships with presidents and prime ministers to try to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. With a trove of new material-unpublished chapters of Carnegie's Autobiography; personal letters between Carnegie and his future wife, Louise, and other family members; his prenuptial agreement; diaries of family and close friends; his applications for citizenship; his extensive correspondence with Henry Clay Frick; and dozens of private letters to and from presidents Grant, Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt, and British prime ministers Gladstone and Balfour, as well as friends Herbert Spencer, Matthew Arnold, and Mark Twain-Nasaw brilliantly plumbs the core of this facinating and complex man, deftly placing his life in cultural and political context as only a master storyteller can.

    500 CEOs.An instant classic, this revised and updated edition of the phenomenal bestseller dispels the myths about starting your own business. Small business consultant and author Michael E. Gerber, with sharp insight gained from years of experience, points out how common assumptions, expectations, and even technical expertise can get in the way of running a successful business.Gerber walks you through the steps in the life of a business—from entrepreneurial infancy through adolescent growing pains to the mature entrepreneurial perspective: the guiding light of all businesses that succeed—and shows how to apply the lessons of franchising to any business, whether or not it is a franchise. Most importantly, Gerber draws the vital, often overlooked distinction between working on your business and working in your business.The E-Myth Revisited will help you grow your business in a productive, assured way.