Book picks similar to
Culture.com: How the Best Startups Make it Happen by Robert Stringer
business
management
startups
betterment
The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You
Julie Zhuo - 2019
She stared at a long list of logistics--from hiring to firing, from meeting to messaging, from planning to pitching--and faced a thousand questions and uncertainties. How was she supposed to spin teamwork into value? How could she be a good steward of her reports' careers? What was the secret to leading with confidence in new and unexpected situations?Now, having managed dozens of teams spanning tens to hundreds of people, Julie knows the most important lesson of all: great managers are made, not born. If you care enough to be reading this, then you care enough to be a great manager.The Making of a Manager is a modern field guide packed everyday examples and transformative insights, including:* How to tell a great manager from an average manager (illustrations included) * When you should look past an awkward interview and hire someone anyway * How to build trust with your reports through not being a boss * Where to look when you lose faith and lack the answersWhether you're new to the job, a veteran leader, or looking to be promoted, this is the handbook you need to be the kind of manager you wish you had.
How I Almost Blew It
Sidharth Rao - 2019
The market is flush with capital, and the internet and emerging technologies have lowered costs and nearly levelled the playing field. The Indian digital ecosystem is ready to explode. The romance of the start-up story fills media column inches.But, for every new venture that made it, there are numerous others that didn’t. The untold story of the successes is that every one of them almost didn’t make it. Each one had a near-death experience, almost shut down, almost sold itself too short—in short, almost ‘blew it’. How I Almost Blew It talks to some of India’s biggest entrepreneurs—Sanjeev Bikhchandani (Info Edge and Naukri.com), Deep Kalra (MakeMyTrip), Deepinder Goyal (Zomato), Ashish Hemrajani (BookMyShow), Sahil Barua (Delhivery) and Girish Mathrubootham (Freshworks) and others—to tell stories that shock, reveal and inspire. Quick-thinking, astute decision-making and—occasionally—sheer dumb luck is what stood between them and the abyss. These heart-stopping stories of near-fiascos are industry wisdom, yes, but also critical life lessons. In the book, Sidharth Rao narrates the tales of the start-up industry titans. The industry leaders covered in the book include: SANJEEV BIKHCHANDANI (Info Edge India - Naukri.com) KUNAL SHAH (FreeCharge) MURUGAVEL JANAKIRAMAN (Bharat Matrimony) AJIT BALAKRISHNAN (Rediff.com) ANUPAM MITTAL (People Group) ASHISH HEMRAJANI (BookMyShow) BRIJESH AGARWAL (IndiaMART) JITENDRA GUPTA (Citrus Pay) DEEPINDER GOYAL (Zomato) DEEP KALRA (MakeMyTrip) PRADEEP KAR (Microland) SATYAN GAJWANI (Times Internet) RAJESH JAIN (IndiaWorld) SAHIL BARUA (Delhivery) ALOK MITTAL (JobsAhead.com) R. RAMARAJ (Sify) GIRISH MATHRUBOOTHAM (Freshworks)
Strategic Doing: Ten Skills for Agile Leadership
Edward Morrison - 2019
This complexity and the emergence of networks is changing the practice of strategic management. Today's leaders need to understand how to design and guide complex collaborations to accelerate innovation and change--collaborations that cross boundaries both inside and outside organizations.Strategic Doing introduces you to the new disciplines of agile strategy and collaborative leadership. You'll learn how to design and guide complex collaborations by following a discipline of simple rules that you won't find anywhere else.- Unleash the power of true collaboration- Learn and master the 10 skills of agile leadership- Apply individual skills to targeted situations- Introduces a new discipline of leadership strategyFilled with compelling case studies, Strategic Doing outlines a new discipline of leadership strategy specifically designed for open, loosely-connected networks.
Connecting the Dots: Lessons for Leadership in a Startup World
John Chambers - 2018
When Chambers joined Cisco in 1991, it was a company with 400 employees, a single product, and about $70 million in revenue. When he stepped down as CEO in 2015, he left a $47 billion tech giant that was the backbone of the internet and a leader in areas from cybersecurity to data center convergence. Along the way, he had acquired 180 companies and turned more than 10,000 employees into millionaires. Widely recognized as an innovator, an industry leader, and one of the world's best CEOs, Chambers has outlasted and outmaneuvered practically every rival that ever tried to take Cisco on--Nortel, Lucent, Alcatel, IBM, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard, to name a few. Now Chambers is sharing his unique strategies for winning in a digital world. From his early lessons and struggles with dyslexia in West Virginia to his bold bets and battles with some of the biggest names in tech, Chambers gives readers a playbook on how to act before the market shifts, tap customers for strategy, partner for growth, build teams, and disrupt themselves. He also adapted those lessons to transform government, helping global leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to create new models for growth. As CEO of JC2 Ventures, he's now investing in a new generation of game-changing startups by helping founders become great leaders and scale their companies. Connecting the Dots is destined to become a business classic, providing hard-won insights and critical tools to thrive during the accelerating disruption of the digital age.
BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0): Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company
Jim Collins - 2020
And while Collins would go on to write a series of famous bestsellers that have sold more than ten million copies worldwide, this lesser-known early work remains the favourite of many of his loyal readers.Now, with Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0, Collins re-shares the timeless insights in Beyond Entrepreneurship alongside new perspectives gleaned after decades of additional research into what makes great companies tick. In Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0, you'll learn how to turn your company into the 2.0 version of itself. You'll be challenged to grow your own leadership as your company grows, from 1x to 2x to 5x to 10x. You'll learn Collins's newest reflections on people decisions, insights that extend beyond his seminal "first who" principle about getting the right people on the bus. You'll learn why luck favours the persistent, and what it means to look for "who luck." You'll learn about the origins of the "BHAG" (Big Hairy Audacious Goal), and why even a small business needs a galvanising BHAG to have a complete and inspiring vision.You'll also unlock what Collins calls "The Map." The Map is a road map that pulls together the key concepts developed from thirty years of research and writing into one integrated framework for building a company that delivers superior results, makes a distinctive impact, and achieves lasting endurance.Finally, you'll learn the lessons that Jim Collins himself learned from the most influential mentor in his life, Bill Lazier.Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0 is the ambitious upgrade to a classic. In Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0, you'll discover that the goal to turn your business into an enduring great company is as relevant - and as within your reach - as ever.
Serve to Be Great: Leadership Lessons from a Prison, a Monastery, and a Boardroom
Matt Tenney - 2014
In fact, Serve to Be Great: Leadership Lessons from a Prison, a Monastery, and a Boardroom will train you to make this a reality. Although it’s not an easy process, it is a worthwhile one.By making a shift in your approach to leadership, you can become a highly effective leader who enjoys your work and makes the world a better place. The shift is simply a matter of gradually becoming more focused on how you can serve others and increase your capacity to do so.Matt Tenney introduces us to the principles in this book through the story of going from selfish to servant while on his journey from prisoner to monk to social entrepreneur. He also cites numerous business case studies and research that demonstrate how putting serving first results in: - Attracting top talent - Increased engagement and lower turnover - A more innovative team culture - Better customer service - A better ROI on marketing efforts The book also offers practical, actionable guidance for making the shift to becoming an extraordinary leader who is devoted to serving and inspiring greatness in others.All of the author proceeds from the sale of this book are donated to charity.
Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days
Chris Guillebeau - 2017
For many others, it's terrifying. After all, a stable job that delivers a regular paycheck is a blessing. And not everyone has the means or the desire to take on the risks and responsibilities of working for themselves.But what if we could quickly and easily create an additional stream of income without giving up the security of a full-time job? Enter the side hustle.Chris Gullibeau is no stranger to this world, having launched more than a dozen side hustles over his career. Here, he offers a step-by-step guide that takes you from idea to income in just 27 days.Designed for the busy and impatient, this detailed roadmap will show you how to select, launch, refine, and make money from your side hustle in under a month. You'll learn how to:- Brainstorm, borrow, and steal to build an arsenal of great side hustle ideas (day 3) - Apply "Tinder for Side Hustle" logic to pick the best idea at any time (day 6) - Learn, gather, or create everything you need to launch; then set up a real life way to get paid (days 13-14) - Start raking in the money by channeling your inner Girl Scout (day 18) - Master the art of deals, discounts, and special offers (day 21) - Raise your game: improve, expand, or make more money off your hustle (days 24-26)A side hustle is more than just another stream of income, it's also the new job security. When you receive paychecks from different sources, it allows you to take more chances in your "regular" career. More income means more options. More options equals freedom. You don't need entrepreneurial experience to launch a profitable side hustle. You don't have to have an MBA, or know how to code, or be an expert marketer. You don't need employees or investors. With Chris as a guide, anyone can make more money, pursue a passion, and enjoy greater security - without quitting their day job.
Total Quality Management
James R. Evans - 1999
Today, Total Quality is an integral component of management success in today's complex business environment. This text presents an overview of the key principles of total quality and links those concepts to traditional management practices and organizational models in management theory. This book has three objectives: 1) to familiarize readers with the basic principles and methods associated with total quality management; 2) to show readers how these principles and methods have been put into effect in a variety of organizations; and, 3) to illustrate the relationship between total quality principles and the theories and models studied in management courses.
Accelerate: Building and Scaling High-Performing Technology Organizations
Nicole Forsgren - 2018
Through four years of groundbreaking research, Dr. Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim set out to find a way to measure software delivery performance—and what drives it—using rigorous statistical methods. This book presents both the findings and the science behind that research. Readers will discover how to measure the performance of their teams, and what capabilities they should invest in to drive higher performance.
It Starts with One: Changing Individuals Changes Organizations
J. Stewart Black - 2002
Unfortunately, change is extraordinarily difficult, and most attempts to initiate and sustain it fail. In It Starts with One, J. Stewart Black and Hal B Gregersen identify the core problem: changing individuals and the "mental maps" inside their heads must happen before you can change the organization. Just as actual maps guide people's footsteps, mental maps guide daily behavior. Successful strategic change for the organization is all about changing individual mental maps and behaviors first, because they are the organization.To change organizations, you must break through your own brain barrier -- and help those around you do the same. One step at a time, It Starts with One shows how to do that: how to create new destinations, and new, more inspiring effective paths to sustainable change. Black and Gregersen systematically identify the brain barriers that stand in your way: failure to see, failure to move, and failure to finish. Drawing on their extensive experience consulting with world-class organizations, they offer integrated tools, strategies, and solutions for overcoming each of these obstacles. This edition offers even more effective tools, more guidance on leading change in globalizing environments, and more insight into changing your own mental maps...liberating yourself to transform your entire organization.Seventy percent of organizations that seek strategic change fail. Organizations can't change because individuals don't change. Individuals don't change because powerful mental maps stand in their way. This book offers a powerful, start-to-finish strategy for helping people redraw their mental maps -- and unleash their power to deliver superior, sustained strategic change. Thoroughly updated with new techniques, case studies, and examples, this book offers even more valuable insights for today's leaders and managers.
The Rainforest: The Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley
Victor W. Hwang - 2012
Victor W. Hwang and Greg Horowitt propose a radical new theory to explain the nature of "innovation ecosystems": human networks that generate extraordinary creativity and output. They argue that free market thinking fails to consider the impact of human nature on the innovation process. This ambitious work challenges the basic assumptions that economists have held for over a century.The authors argue that such ecosystems - what they call Rainforests - can only thrive when certain cultural behaviors unlock human potential. People in Rainforests belong to "tribes of trust" and follow a secret unwritten code: the Rules of the Rainforest. The theory of the Rainforest is influenced by several breakthrough ideas in academia, including insights on sociobiology from Harvard, economic transactions from the University of Chicago, and design theory from Stanford. With an unorthodox and entertaining narrative, the book reveals the mysterious mechanisms of Rainforests. Furthermore, the authors provide practical tools for readers to design, build, and sustain new innovation ecosystems. The Rainforest will transform the way you think about technology, business, and leadership.
Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
Donald Miller - 2017
This revolutionary method for connecting with customers provides readers with the ultimate competitive advantage, revealing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services. Building a StoryBrand does this by teaching readers the seven universal story points all humans respond to; the real reason customers make purchases; how to simplify a brand message so people understand it; and how to create the most effective messaging for websites, brochures, and social media. Whether you are the marketing director of a multibillion dollar company, the owner of a small business, a politician running for office, or the lead singer of a rock band, Building a StoryBrand will forever transform the way you talk about who you are, what you do, and the unique value you bring to your customers.
Prince2 Study Guide
David Hinde - 2012
Everything you need to be fully prepared to take the PRINCE2Foundation and Practitioner examAs an internationally recognized certification which focuses onthe Foundation and Practitioner levels along with being recommendedby the Project Management Institute, the PRINCE2 accreditationgives a bolster to any resume.The author, David Hinde, has trained hundreds of individualsfrom many different backgrounds to prepare for the PRINCE2 exams.The book provides explanations of all parts of the PRINCE2approach, lots of practical examples, and a whole range of mockexamination questions to test your knowledge.Explains all the PRINCE2 themes, processes, principles, rolesand management products for the very latest version of PRINCE2(PRINCE2 2009 Edition)Features full coverage of all Foundation and Practitioner levelexam objectivesPresents real-world scenarios, showing how the method isused in business and the public sectorIncludes challenging review questions and electronic flashcardsto sharpen your knowledgeCovers tips and techniques for tackling the PRINCE2accreditation examinations and shows you how and where to take theexamsIncorporates over 300 sample Foundation-level and over 100sample Practitioner-level questions, with answers and fullexplanationsContains a glossary of all PRINCE2 terminology and a quickreference to all the PRINCE2 management productsGives a web link to a set of on-line tools with more bonusexamsPRINCE2 Study Guide covers all the necessary topics youneed to know in order to confidently take the PRINCE2 Foundationand Practitioner exams.
Flawless Execution: Use the Techniques and Systems of America's Fighter Pilots to Perform at Your Peak and Win the Battles of the Business World
James D. Murphy - 2005
At Mach 2, the instrument panel of an F-15 is screaming out information, the horizon is a blur, the wingman is occupied, the jet is hanging on the edge -- and yet fighter pilots routinely handle the stress. It's not much different in today's unforgiving business world. One slipup and your company is bankrupt before your employees know what hit them.What works on the squadron level for F-15 pilots will also work for your marketing team, sales force, or research and development group. By analyzing the work environment and attacking its centers of gravity in parallel, you'll begin to utilize the Plan-Brief-Execute-Debrief-Win cycle that will rapidly impact your business's future success. U.S. fighter squadrons have been using this program for nearly fifty years to reduce their mistake rate, cut casualties and equipment losses, and rack up an envious victory record. Now, with Flawless Execution, your business can too.
Made to Stick (Chapter 4: Credible): Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Chip Heath - 2008
Offer people the chance to test your ideas themselves–a “try before you buy” philosophy. People want to believe your ideas, so give them a reason to. Examples include the Nobel-winning scientist no one believed, flesh-eating bananas, and the human-scale principle.