Three times the size of Generation X, they have a much bigger impact on society and business. In How Cool Brands Stay Hot, Joeri Van den Bergh and Mattias Behrer address what drives Generation Y as consumers and how marketers can develop the right brand strategies to reach this generation of 16-33 year olds.The authors' insights on what drives the consumer preferences of this new "Dot-com" generation are based on interviews with 5,000 Generation Y consumers. This new research provides understanding of the consumer psychology and behavior of the generation also known as the "Millennials." It helps marketers connect with the new generation of consumers by understanding their likes and dislikes, and guides them on advertising, marketing, and branding relevant to them.How Cool Brands Stay Hot contains guidance and checklists for marketing plans and campaigns, as well as case studies of Nokia, Nivea, PlayStation, Coca Cola, Volkswagen, Smirnoff, Red Bull, H&M, and Levi's. It offers creative and effective ideas on how to position, develop and promote brands to one of the largest and most influential generations of consumers today.Visit the website at http://www.howcoolbrandsstayhot.com/

    Drop the Pink Elephant: 15 Ways to Say What You Mean...and Mean What You Say ...

    Ram Charan, expert in corporate governance and best-selling author, packs this book with useful tools and techniques to take boards and their companies to a higher level of performance. Charan puts his finger on a growing problem for boards: the disconnect between directors' efforts and their results. The added time and attention boards invest is not translating into better governancea that is, governance that adds value to the business. Boards That Deliver gets beyond the rhetoric of corporate governance reform. It captures the tried-and-true practices used by high-performance boards. In contrast to experts who base prescriptions on number-crunching exercises, Charan identifies the real problems that drain directors' time and suppress their best judgmentsa and explains clearly and succinctly how boards can solve those problems. These battle-tested solutions help boards achieve what rules and regulations alone cannota to get succession right, refine a winning strategy, and design a rational CEO compensation package.Good governance requires leadership. Boards That Deliver is the no-nonsense guide for directors and CEOs who are rising to the leadership challenge to make their boards a competitive advantage.

    It breaks down the 5 stages of the service lifecycle into digestible chunks, helping you to ensure that customers receive the best possible IT experience. Whether readers need to identify their customers' needs, design and implement a new IT service, or monitor and improve an existing service, this official guide provides a support framework for IT-related activities and the interactions of IT technical personnel with business customers and users.Understanding how ITIL can help you Getting to grips with ITIL processes and the service lifecycle Implementing ITIL into your day to day work Learn key skills in planning and carrying out design and implementation projects

    But three things have changed the path to success:Boomers are realizing that a lot of the things they were promised aren't going to materialize, and they have started second and third careers.Technology has given access to an unprecedented number of people who are building online empires and changing their lives in ways that would have been impossible years ago.The days of "success first, significance later," have ended.While none of the stages can be skipped, they can be shortened and accelerated. There are only two paths in life: average and awesome. The average path is easy because all you have to do is nothing. The awesome path is more challenging, because things like fear only bother you when you do work that matters. The good news is "Start" gives readers practical, actionable insights to be more awesome, more often.

    In a 1995 interview, the late Steve Jobs claimed that the secret to his and Apple’s success was talent. “We’ve gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people,” he said, believing that the talented resource was twenty-five times more valuable than an average alternative. For Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the multiple was even higher:A great lathe operator commands several times the wage of an average lathe operator, but a great writer of software code is worth 10,000 times the price of an average software writer.While the actual number might be up for debate, the importance of technical talent is not. The most successful companies today are those that understand the strategic role that developers will play in their success or failure. Not just successful technology companies – virtually every company today needs a developer strategy. There’s a reason that ESPN and Sears have rolled out API programs, that companies are being bought not for their products but their people. The reason is that developers are the most valuable resource in business.How did we get here? How did developers become the most important constituency in business seemingly overnight? The New Kingmakers explores the rise of the developer class, its implications and provides suggestions for navigating the new developer-centric landscape.

    And everything is based on the “science of investing” – evidenced with studies from peer-reviewed journals.Overall, this adds up to a complete retirement guide, packed with the latest and best knowledge. Don’t enter your retirement without it.

    

    Rapidly evolving technology, globalization, and a saturated marketplace offer consumers instant access to thousands of equally compelling products and services, creating unprecedented levels of expectation. The impact of these changes is so profound that 50 percent of today's retailers and consumer companies will not survive it. Traditional business models will become extinct, and the relationship between vendors and consumers will shift dramatically.Here, industry experts Robin Lewis and Michael Dart identify the forces behind these changes and look at the retail heroes of today and tomorrow to see how their business models are responding to the modern marketplace. They profile industry giants such as VF Corporation (owner of Wrangler and The North Face), Starbucks, and Ralph Lauren, as well as cutting-edge favorites like Apple, Gilt Groupe, and Amazon, to uncover why some retailers are so successful at reaching today's increasingly elusive and demanding customer while others miss the mark by a mile. What they find are three crucial factors that determine whether businesses win or lose:*Neurological Connectivity -- creating an addictive, irresistible shopping experience, from preshopping anticipation to consumption satisfaction*Preemptive Distribution -- using all possible distribution platforms to access consumers ahead of the competition*Value Chain Control -- vertically integrating control of a company's entire value chain, from creation through point of sale, for maximum delivery on the brand promiseThis essential formula, Lewis and Dart argue, is responsible for virtually every retail success story of the past few decades. So while the landscape may never look the same, The New Rules of Retail gives business leaders the tools they need to not only survive, but thrive.

    But what are the habits and behaviors that actually lead to success? Drawing on his own experiences, Rajeev Agarwal, the founder and CEO of MAQ Software, concisely explains the steps he took for a successful career. As Agarwal realized that an IIT degree and a technical knowledge was not enough for his success. To distinguish himself, he shares his habits, behaviors, and thinking. Encouraging graduates to look at their careers over a forty-year span, Agarwal explains that successful people choose to be passionate about every job they have. Successful people recognize that performing average work does not advance them in the direction they want. The little bits of dedication here and there all add up-showing up to work on time, getting proper rest and nutrition, always striving to learn, and owning the results of your actions all build toward success. Transitioning from college to the workplace can be difficult. Graduates are required to determine their own lives, making several important decisions before the age of thirty. By providing an honest account, this book will make that transition easier.

    Selling to the C-Suite is the first book that reveals how to land those career-making sales in the words of CEOs themselves!With 60 years of combined experience selling to corporations around the world, Nicholas A.C. Read and Stephen J. Bistritz, Ed.D., conducted in-depth interviews with executive- level decision makers of more than 500 organizations. One thing they learned might surprise you: leaders at the highest corporate levels don't avoid sales pitches; in fact, they welcome them--provided the salesperson approaches them the right way. Inside this invaluable book, CEOs reveal exactly which sales techniques they find most effective, as well as those you should avoid.Selling to the C-Suite provides all the insight you need to:Gain access to executivesEstablish trust and credibilityLeverage relationshipsCreate value at the executive levelIt also reveals when executives personally enter the buying process and sheds light on what role they play.Selling to the C-Suite provides field-tested techniques to put you well ahead of thecompetition when it comes to making those multimillion-dollar sales you never thought possible.

    

    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.

    This major revision of the bestselling guide adds advice on using new technology to present business plans, plus information on financing trends and strategic position development.

    For decades, understanding management—what works, and what doesn't—has been the pursuit of the world's best and brightest. Globally, there are more than 1,500 credible schools offering master's degrees in business administration, and hundreds of magazines and newspapers and thousands of books devoted to the subject. What's been missing is a simple and convenient way to disseminate the best ideas and practices to managers everywhere, at all levels and in all kinds of industries and organizations. The Wall Street Journal Essential Guide to Management draws the best from the existing body of knowledge and research, and summarizes it in a simple, clear, and useful way. Focusing on classic and contemporary works that have been recommended by members of The Wall Street Journal CEO Council—all chief executives of large and successful global companies—it is an invaluable reference and essential tool for every manager, new and experienced alike.