The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences (Financial Times Series)


Matt Watkinson - 2012
    They have a loud voice, a wealth of choice and their expectations are higher than ever. This book covers ten principles you can use to make real world improvements to your customers’ experiences, whatever your business does and whoever you are. For managers, leaders and those starting a new business, the book shows that making improvements customers will appreciate doesn’t need to be complicated or cost a fortune.

Changing How the World Does Business: Fedex's Incredible Journey to Success - The Inside Story


Roger Frock - 2006
    The company's early years were an unending series of legal, financial, and operational crises that continually threatened its ability to stay in business. Yet FedEx's leaders and employees were incredibly resourceful and resilient. Pilots used personal credit cards to gas up planes, paychecks weren't cashed, and in one of the most famous episodes, founder Fred Smith literally gambled the company's last remaining funds to keep the planes flying. Becuase Roger Frock was with the companies from the start, he is able to chronicle these real-life hardships and hard-fought triumphs as only an insider can. With humor and insight, he describes how FedEx overcame impossible odds to become one of the world's greatest success stories, a revolutionary company that truly changed the way the world does business.

Freelance to Freedom: The Roadmap for Creating a Side Business to Achieve Financial, Time and Life Freedom


Vincent Pugliese - 2017
    After winning the highest award in his field, Vincent was offered a 3 percent raise. He knew at that moment he needed a monumental change. One month away from their baby being born, Vincent and Elizabeth started a side photography business out of desperation. In less than four years, they grew their business to pay off all of their debt, including their home, and left their jobs for a life of freedom. With the world moving rapidly towards a freelance model, Freelance to Freedom is not only timely and necessary, but it’s also entertaining, engaging and paints a picture for anyone looking for a life of freedom with money, time and location.

HBR's 10 Must Reads on Strategy (including featured article “What Is Strategy?” by Michael E. Porter)


Michael E. PorterRobert S. Kaplan - 2010
    Porter). We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you catalyze your organization's strategy development and execution.HBR's 10 Must Reads on Strategy will inspire you to:• Distinguish your company from rivals• Clarify what your company will and won't do• Craft a vision for an uncertain future• Create blue oceans of uncontested market space• Use the Balanced Scorecard to measure your strategy• Capture your strategy in a memorable phrase• Make priorities explicit• Allocate resources early• Clarify decision rights for faster decision making"This collection of best-selling articles includes: featured article "What Is Strategy?" by Michael E. Porter, "The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy," "Building Your Company's Vision," "Reinventing Your Business Model," "Blue Ocean Strategy," "The Secrets to Successful Strategy Execution," "Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System," "Transforming Corner-Office Strategy into Frontline Action," "Turning Great Strategy into Great Performance," and "Who Has the D? How Clear Decision Roles Enhance Organizational Performance."

Find Your Why: A Practical Guide to Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team


Simon Sinek - 2017
    However, many people have had trouble bringing the book's message into their own career and company. Now, along with two of his colleagues, Peter Docker and David Mead, he has created a guide to the most important step any business can take: finding your why. This easy-to-follow guide starts with the search for your personal why, and then expands to helping your colleagues find your organization's why. With detailed instructions on every stage in the process, the book also answer common concerns, such as: What if my why sounds like my competitor's? Can you have more than one why? And, if my work doesn't match my why, what do I do? Whether you're entry level or a CEO, whether your team is run by the founder or a recent hire, these simple steps will lead you on a path to a more fulfilling life and longterm success for you and your colleagues.

Intercom On Starting Up


Des TraynorMaggie Cohen - 2017
    No one wants to add to the scrap heap. But if you restrict yourself to only reading articles from people who have actually created a business, hit some revenue target, or broken out of the MVP-in-an-incubator stage, there’s very few books and blogs left. This is why we hope this book is relevant to you.It’s not packed with startup clichés, nor is it steeped in myths about how huge companies got their break. Yes, Airbnb sold cereal before they were a 31 billion dollar company, and Slack was one hell of a pivot, but those wells have been over-drilled for their useful lessons at this point. This book is our honest, opinionated take on what we’ve learned building Intercom over the past 6 years. You won’t like it all, you won’t agree with it all, but you’re not supposed to. Your mileage will vary.

The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)


Seth Godin - 2007
    Godin shows that winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt--until they commit to beating the right Dip.Every new project (or job, or hobby, or company) starts out fun...then gets really hard, and not much fun at all. You might be in a Dip--a temporary setback that will get better if you keep pushing. But maybe it's really a Cul-de-Sac--a total dead end. What really sets superstars apart is the ability to tell the two apart.Winners seek out the Dip. They realize that the bigger the barrier, the bigger the reward for getting past it. If you can beat the Dip to be the best, you'll earn profits, glory, and long-term security. Whether you're an intern or a CEO, this fun little book will help you figure out if you're in a Dip that's worthy of your time, effort, and talents. The old saying is wrong--winners do quit, and quitters do win.

HBR's 10 Must Reads for New Managers (with bonus article "How Managers Become Leaders" by Michael D. Watkins) (HBR's 10 Must Reads)


Linda A. Hill - 2017
    We’ve combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you transition from being an outstanding individual contributor to becoming a great manager of others. This book will inspire you to: Develop your emotional intelligence Influence your colleagues through the science of persuasion Assess your team and enhance its performance Network effectively to achieve business goals and for personal advancement Navigate relationships with employees, bosses, and peers Get support from above View the big picture in your decision making Balance your team’s work and personal life in a high-intensity workplace This collection of articles includes “Becoming the Boss,” by Linda A. Hill; “Leading the Team You Inherit,” by Michael D. Watkins; “Saving Your Rookie Managers from Themselves,” by Carol A. Walker; “Managing the High-Intensity Workplace,” by Erin Reid and Lakshmi Ramarajan; “Harnessing the Science of Persuasion,” Robert B. Cialdini; “What Makes a Leader?” by Daniel Goleman; “The Authenticity Paradox,” by Herminia Ibarra; “Managing Your Boss,” by John J. Gabarro and John P. Kotter; “How Leaders Create and Use Networks,” by Herminia Ibarra and Mark Lee Hunter; “Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?” by William Oncken, Jr., and Donald L. Wass; and BONUS ARTICLE: “How Managers Become Leaders,” by Michael D. Watkins.

The Start-Up J Curve: The Six Steps to Entrepreneurial Success


Howard Love - 2016
    Author Howard Love calls this pattern the  start-up J Curve: The toughest part of the endeavor is the time between the actual start of a new business and when the product and model are firmly established. The Start-Up J Curve gives entrepreneurs the tools they need to get through the early challenges so they can reach the primary value creation that lies beyond.Love brings thirty-five years of start-up experience to this comprehensive guide to starting a business. He outlines the six predictable stages of start-up growth and details the activities that should be undertaken at each stage to ensure success and to avoid common pitfalls. Instead of feeling lost and confused after a setback, start-up founders and investors can anticipate the challenges, overcome the obstacles, and ride the curve to the top.

Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed


Alexis Ohanian - 2013
    And when that power is harnessed to create new communities, technologies, businesses or charities, the results can be absolutely stunning. In this book, Alexis will share his ideas, tips and even his own doodles about harnessing the power of the web for good, and along the way, he will share his philosophy with young entrepreneurs all over the globe. At 29, Ohanian has come to personify the dorm-room tech entrepreneur, changing the world without asking permission. Within a couple of years of graduating from the University of Virginia, Ohanian did just that, selling reddit for millions of dollars. He's gone on to start many other companies, like hipmunk and breadpig, all while representing Y Combinator and investing in over sixty other tech startups. Without Their Permission is his personal guidebook as to how other aspiring entrepreneurs can follow in his footsteps.

The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results


Gary Keller - 2013
    The One Thing explains the success habit to overcome the six lies that block our success, beat the seven thieves that steal time, and leverage the laws of purpose, priority, and productivity.

Remote: Office Not Required


David Heinemeier Hansson - 2013
    Moms in particular will welcome this trend.  A full 60% wish they had a flexible work option. But companies see advantages too in the way remote work increases their talent pool, reduces turnover, lessens their real estate footprint, and improves the ability to conduct business across multiple time zones, to name just a few advantages.  In Remote, inconoclastic authors Fried and Hansson will convince readers that letting all or part of work teams function remotely is a great idea--and they're going to show precisely how a remote work setup can be accomplished.

Friction: Passion Brands in the Age of Distruption


Jeff Rosenblum - 2017
    Stalwart brands are losing market share to upstarts that capture our collective consciousness. Trillions of dollars are at stake.   Brands know a new approach is needed. But most don’t realize the strategic underpinnings need to change. Great brands are no longer built through interruptive advertisements.   Friction  argues that brands don't simply need clever messages or new, shiny technologies. They need a fundamental change in strategy. Friction provides a system for embracing transparency, engaging audiences, creating evangelists, and unleashing unprecedented growth.   The authors of  Friction  have worked on some of the industry's most innovative assignments for the world’s most successful brands. This groundbreaking book reveals how corporations can divorce themselves from legacy business models to create a passion brand. A brand that breaks its addiction to traditional advertising. A brand that empowers its customers. A brand that dominates the competition.

Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead


Laszlo Bock - 2015
    "We spend more time working than doing anything else in life. It's not right that the experience of work should be so demotivating and dehumanizing." So says Laszlo Bock, head of People Operations at the company that transformed how the world interacts with knowledge. This insight is the heart of WORK RULES!, a compelling and surprisingly playful manifesto that offers lessons including:Take away managers' power over employeesLearn from your best employees-and your worstHire only people who are smarter than you are, no matter how long it takes to find themPay unfairly (it's more fair!)Don't trust your gut: Use data to predict and shape the futureDefault to open-be transparent and welcome feedbackIf you're comfortable with the amount of freedom you've given your employees, you haven't gone far enough. Drawing on the latest research in behavioral economics and a profound grasp of human psychology, WORK RULES! also provides teaching examples from a range of industries-including lauded companies that happen to be hideous places to work and little-known companies that achieve spectacular results by valuing and listening to their employees. Bock takes us inside one of history's most explosively successful businesses to reveal why Google is consistently rated one of the best places to work in the world, distilling 15 years of intensive worker R&D into principles that are easy to put into action, whether you're a team of one or a team of thousands. WORK RULES! shows how to strike a balance between creativity and structure, leading to success you can measure in quality of life as well as market share. Read it to build a better company from within rather than from above; read it to reawaken your joy in what you do.

Leadership Skills: Essentials of Leadership and the Skills Required to Lead Effectively


Sheryl Sandberg - 2014
    To become an effective leader in whatever leadership role or capacity, there are leadership qualities or leadership characteristics you need to lead effectively. Communication skills and negotiating skills may be just some of the qualities of a good leader. In this book, the author shares some of the most powerful insights that will help you to become a visionary and inspiring leader in whatever spectrum of leadership. Leadership Skills: Essentials of Leadership and the Skills Required to Lead Effectively Tags: leadership skills, leadership, lead, leader, leaders, leading, effective leadership, leadership qualities, leadership characteristics, business leadership, women in leadership, john Maxwell, creativity, decision making, making ideas happen, leadership styles, inspiring people, inspiring leaders, leadership advice, leadership development, leadership training, good leadership skills, leadership quotes, leadership definition, effective leadership skills, good leadership qualities, inspiring action, women's leadership, on leadership, situational leadership, leadership books, best leadership books, books on leadership, qualities of a good leader, qualities of a leader, team leader skills, managerial skills, communication skills, team leadership, leadership traits, visionary leadership, leadership academy, transactional leadership, authentic leadership, educational leadership, adaptive leadership, leadership vs management, time management