His liberating message: you'll be more successful if you stop struggling so hard to plan or control your success. Messy is a deeply researched, endlessly eye-opening adventure in the life-changing magic of not tidying up' Oliver BurkemanThe urge to tidiness seems to be rooted deep in the human psyche. Many of us feel threatened by anything that is vague, unplanned, scattered around or hard to describe. We find comfort in having a script to rely on, a system to follow, in being able to categorise and file away.We all benefit from tidy organisation - up to a point. A large library needs a reference system. Global trade needs the shipping container. Scientific collaboration needs measurement units. But the forces of tidiness have marched too far. Corporate middle managers and government bureaucrats have long tended to insist that everything must have a label, a number and a logical place in a logical system. Now that they are armed with computers and serial numbers, there is little to hold this tidy-mindedness in check. It's even spilling into our personal lives, as we corral our children into sanitised play areas or entrust our quest for love to the soulless algorithms of dating websites. Order is imposed when chaos would be more productive. Or if not chaos, then . . . messiness.The trouble with tidiness is that, in excess, it becomes rigid, fragile and sterile. In Messy, Tim Harford reveals how qualities we value more than ever - responsiveness, resilience and creativity - simply cannot be disentangled from the messy soil that produces them. This, then, is a book about the benefits of being messy: messy in our private lives; messy in the office, with piles of paper on the desk and unread spreadsheets; messy in the recording studio, the laboratory or in preparing for an important presentation; and messy in our approach to business, politics and economics, leaving things vague, diverse and uncomfortably made-up-on-the-spot. It's time to rediscover the benefits of a little mess.

    Weinberg shows you exactly how to become a more effective consultant. He reveals specific techniques and strategies that really work.Through the use of vividly memorable rules, laws, and principles -- such as The Law of Raspberry Jam, The Potato Chip Principle, and Lessons from the Farm -- the author shows you how to-- price and market your services-- avoid traps and find alternative approaches-- keep ahead of your clients-- create a special "consultant's survival kit"-- trade improvement for perfection-- negotiate in difficult situations-- measure your effectiveness-- be yourselfYou will also find straightforward advice on marketing your services, including how to-- find clients-- get needed exposure-- set just-right fees-- gain trustThe Secrets of Consulting -- techniques, strategies, and first-hand experiences -- all that you'll need to set up, run, and be successful at your own consulting business.

    It seems hard to believe today, but there was a time when Airbnb was the best-kept secret of travel hackers and couch surfers, Pinterest was a niche web site frequented only by bakers and crafters, LinkedIn was an exclusive network for C-suite executives and top-level recruiters, Facebook was MySpace's sorry step-brother, and Uber was a scrappy upstart that didn't stand a chance against the Goliath that was New York City Yellow Cabs.So how did these companies grow from these humble beginnings into the powerhouses they are today? Contrary to popular belief, they didn't explode to massive worldwide popularity simply by building a great product then crossing their fingers and hoping it would catch on. There was a studied, carefully implemented methodology behind these companies' extraordinary rise. That methodology is called Growth Hacking, and it's practitioners include not just today's hottest start-ups, but also companies like IBM, Walmart, and Microsoft as well as the millions of entrepreneurs, marketers, managers and executives who make up the community of GrowthHackers.com.Think of the Growth Hacking methodology as doing for market-share growth what Lean Start-Up did for product development, and Scrum did for productivity. It involves cross-functional teams and rapid-tempo testing and iteration that focuses customers attaining them, retaining them, engaging them, and motivating them to come back and buy more. An accessible and practical toolkit that teams and companies in all industries can use to increase their customer base and market share, this book walks readers through the process of creating and executing their own custom-made growth hacking strategy. It is a must read for any marketer, entrepreneur, innovator or manger looking to replace wasteful big bets and "spaghetti-on-the-wall" approaches with more consistent, replicable, cost-effective, and data-driven results.

    It offers a step-by-step action plan for harnessing the power modern marketing and PR to communicate with buyers directly, raise visibility, and increase sales. It shows how large and small companies, nonprofits, and more can leverage Web-based content to get the right information to the right people at the right time for a fraction of the cost of big-budget campaigns.Including a wealth of compelling case studies and real-world examples of content marketing and inbound marketing success, this is a practical guide to the new reality of reaching buyers when they're ready.Includes updated information, examples, and case studies plus an examination of newly popular tools such as Infographics, photo-sharing using Pinterest and Instagram, as well as expanded information on social media such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedInDavid Meerman Scott is a marketing strategist, bestselling author of eight books including three international bestsellers, advisor to emerging companies including HubSpot and Eloqua, and a professional speaker on topics including marketing, leadership, and social media. Prior to starting his own business, he was marketing VP for two U.S. publicly traded companies and was Asia marketing director for Knight-Ridder, at the time one of the world's largest information companies."The New Rules of Marketing & PR" offers the single resource for entrepreneurs, business owners, nonprofit managers as well as those working in marketing or publicity departments to build a marketing and PR strategy to grow any business.

    Three dots to represent Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Three arrows to show direct flights. Problem solved, and the picture made it easy to sell Southwest Airlines to investors and customers. Used properly, a simple drawing on a humble napkin is more powerful than Excel or PowerPoint. It can help crystallize ideas, think outside the box, and communicate in a way that people simply “get”. In this book Dan Roam argues that everyone is born with a talent for visual thinking, even those who swear they can’t draw. Drawing on twenty years of visual problem solving combined with the recent discoveries of vision science, this book shows anyone how to clarify a problem or sell an idea by visually breaking it down using a simple set of visual thinking tools – tools that take advantage of everyone’s innate ability to look, see, imagine, and show. THE BACK OF THE NAPKIN proves that thinking with pictures can help anyone discover and develop new ideas, solve problems in unexpected ways, and dramatically improve their ability to share their insights. This book will help readers literally see the world in a new way.

    His studio, johnson banks, is responsible for the rebranding of many notable clients, including Virgin Atlantic, Think London, BFI, Christian Aid, and MORE TH>N, and he has garnered a plethora of awards in the process.In Branding, Johnson strips everyday brands down to their basic components, with case studies that enable us to understand why we select one product or service over another and allow us to comprehend how seemingly subtle influences can affect key life decisions. The first part of the book shows how the birth of a brand begins not with finding a solution but rather with identifying the correct question—the missing gap in the market—to which an answer is needed. Johnson proceeds to unveil hidden elements involved in creating a successful brand—from the strapline that gives the brand a narrative and a purpose to clever uses of typography that unite design and language.With more than 1,000 vibrant illustrations showcasing the world’s most successful corporate identities, as well as generic templates enabling you to create your own brand or ad with ease, Branding explores every step of the development process required to create the simplest and most immediately compelling brands.

    Written by the world's leading marketing authorities, this book helps you navigate the increasingly connected world and changing consumer landscape to reach more customers, more effectively. Today's customers have less time and attention to devote to your brand—and they are surrounded by alternatives every step of the way. You need to stand up, get their attention, and deliver the message they want to hear. This book examines the marketplace's shifting power dynamics, the paradoxes wrought by connectivity, and the increasing sub-culture splintering that will shape tomorrow's consumer; this foundation shows why Marketing 4.0 is becoming imperative for productivity, and this book shows you how to apply it to your brand today. Marketing 4.0 takes advantage of the shifting consumer mood to reach more customers and engage them more fully than ever before. Exploit the changes that are tripping up traditional approaches, and make them an integral part of your methodology. This book gives you the world-class insight you need to make it happen. Discover the new rules of marketing Stand out and create WOW moments Build a loyal and vocal customer base Learn who will shape the future of customer choice Every few years brings a "new" marketing movement, but experienced marketers know that this time its different; it's not just the rules that have changed, it's the customers themselves. Marketing 4.0 provides a solid framework based on a real-world vision of the consumer as they are today, and as they will be tomorrow. Marketing 4.0 gives you the edge you need to reach them more effectively than ever before.

    With vital performance and career lessons and ideas for how to apply them, it is a must-read for managers at every level.

    Lovemarks is the product of the fertile-iconoclast mind of Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi. Roberts argues vociferously, and with a ton of data to support him, that traditional branding practices have become stultified. What's needed are customer Love affairs. Roberts lays out his grand scheme for mystery, magic, sensuality, and the like in his gloriously designed book Lovemarks."-Tom PetersTom Peters, one of the most influential business thinkers of all time, described the first edition of Lovemarks: the future beyond brands as "brilliant." He also announced it as the "Best Business Book" published in the first five years of this century. Now translated into fourteen languages, with more than 150,000 copies in print, Lovemarks is back in a revised edition featuring a new chapter on the peculiarly human experience of shopping. The new chapter, "Diamonds in the Mine," is an insightful collection of ideas for producers and consumers, for owners of small stores and operators of superstores. So forget making lists! Shopping, says Kevin Roberts, is an emotional event. With this as a starting point, he looks at the history of shopping and how it has changed so dramatically over the last ten years. Using the Lovemark elements of Mystery, Sensuality, and Intimacy, Roberts delves into the secrets of success that can be used to create the ultimate shopping experience.

    A memorable slogan has been the cornerstone of every great ad campaign. In the past, writing one great headline could launch a career. But today's advertising campaigns are interactive, multi-platform and ongoing, and the copywriter's canvas is vast. At any given time, a copywriter may be conceiving a video game, writing a TV show, maintaining a Twitter feed, creating a mobile app or an interactive installation or, yes, writing a headline or a TV script. While the best copywriters have always been brand storytellers, now that story can play out anywhere. The digital revolution put control in the hands of the people - the audience - now no longer just consumers, but active participants in a brand's story. The art and science of advertising has gone from creating one-way messages to engaging audiences in ongoing conversations. A new ad landscape means new opportunities for writers who now have the incredible opportunity to push brand narrative to places it's never been before and to actually create something so useful or entertaining that it generates its own audience. It also means that many of the rules of the past - while exceedingly worthy of study - are insufficient to guide the modern copywriter. Co-published with AdvertisingAge, The Idea Writers outlines the changing landscape of the advertising industry while providing useful how-to advice. Filled with interviews from top creatives including: Greg Hahn, Nick Law, Jeff Benjamin, Tim Delaney, Rei Inamoto, Lee Clow, Steve Simpson, Rick Condos, David Droga, Gerry Graf, Ty Montague, Calle and Pelle Sjonell, PJ Pereira, David Abbott and many more!

    

    This book offers material on how to overcome objections and vital information on internet- and e-based marketing and sales. It also includes a chapter on how to work in smaller markets with family owned businesses, non-profits and other 'non-traditional' clients.

    Do the WorkOur enemy is not lack of preparation; it's not the difficulty of the project, or the state of the marketplace or the emptiness of our bank account.The enemy is resistance.The enemy is our chattering brain, which, if we give it so much as a nanosecond, will start producing excuses, alibis, transparent self-justifications and a million reasons why he can't/shouldn't/won't do what we know we need to do.Start before you're ready.

    Hartmut explains innovation through the lens of design, and it's about time we gained his valuable perspective." --Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist, Apple and co-founder of Alltop.com"At Flextronics, we fell in love with Hartmut and frog, and their passion for bringing crazy great designs and design processes into the forefront of great product companies. We used their expertise to help our customers, many of the greatest product companies in the world, including Apple, HP, Cisco, Microsoft and others. It is a credit to Hartmut that in the midst of a shocking global recession, frog still sets quarterly revenue records. Theirs is a unique and fascinating story." --Michael Marks, partner, Riverwood Capital LLC and former CEO, Flextronics"Hartmut's new approach to design is felt in every room in every house in every country and in every business around the world. He proved that thoughtful design is not only good for people but is good for business--and that both are interlinked. I have been fortunate to have observed first hand his impact at Sony, Apple, and HP?and have learned so much from him. He is an unsung hero of our times! A Fine Line is a must-read for designers and business people alike." --Satjiv Chahil, senior vice president, Hewlett-Packard"A fascinating, breathtaking, and exemplary insight into a success story that never had so much topicality, and so much informative potential as just now. Esslinger offers an honest and encouraging portrait of the incredible power of the business and design alliance. A Fine Line is a handbook of design expertise and the art of business at its best, showing a variety of radical solutions and fresh new ideas." --Professor Dr Peter Zec, president, ICSID and founder, red dot awards

     Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you'll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world's top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule.David Epstein examined the world's most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields--especially those that are complex and unpredictable--generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They're also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can't see.Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. Failing a test is the best way to learn. Frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The most impactful inventors cross domains rather than deepening their knowledge in a single area. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.