Book picks similar to
The Wisdom of Alexander the Great: Enduring Leadership Lessons from the Man Who Created an Empire by Lance B. Kurke
history
leadership
alexander-the-great
non-fiction
The Mask of Command
John Keegan - 1987
From a wide array, Keegan chooses four commanders who profoundly influenced the course of history: Alexander the Great, the Duke of Wellington, Ulysses S. Grant and Adolph Hitler. All powerful leaders, each cast in a different mold, each with diverse results. “The best military historian of our generation.” –Tom Clancy “A brilliant treatise on the essence of military leadership.” –The Philadelphia Inquirer “Fascinating and enlightening… marked by great intellectual liveliness… Mr. Keegan knows how to bring fighting alive on the page.” –The New York Times
I Am John Galt: Today's Heroic Innovators Building the World and the Villainous Parasites Destroying It
Donald Luskin - 2011
Some of today's most successful CEOs, journalists, sports figures, actors, and thinkers have led their lives according to Galt's (i.e., Rand's) philosophy.Now, in I Am John Galt, these inspiring stories are gathered with the keen insight and analysis of well-known market commentator Donald Luskin and business writer Andrew Greta. Filled with exclusive interviews, profiles, and analyses of leading financial, business, and artistic stars who have based their lives, and careers, on the philosophy of the perennially popular Ayn Rand, this book both inspires and enlightens. On the other side are Rand's arch villains?the power-seekers, parasites, and lunatics who would destroy that which the creators and builders make. Who are today's anti-heroes, fighting the creativity of the innovators?Contains insightful interviews, profiles, and analyses of the individuals who have lived by a Randian code to achieve greatness for themselves and others Offers a probing analysis of those who seek to destroy or undo the achievements of others?from academics, pundits, and government bureaucrats to fraudsters who have wreaked havoc on our world Engaging and entertaining, I Am John Galt examines how the inspiration that is Galt thrives more than 50 years after publication of Atlas Shrugged. It will spark the interest of Ayn Rand fans everywhere, as well as those seeking a way to succeed in today's turbulent and confusing times.
Sun Tzu For Success: How to Use the Art of War to Master Challenges and Accomplish the Important Goals in Your Life
Gerald A. Michaelson - 2003
By exploring the basic components of The Art of War, this guide to personal development and success shows you how to unleash your full potential, triumph over adversity, and achieve long-term goals.
Good for the Money: My Fight to Pay Back America
Robert Benmosche - 2016
It was the peg upon which the nation hung its ire and resentment during the financial crisis: the pinnacle of Wall Street arrogance and greed. When Bob Benmosche climbed aboard as CEO, it was widely assumed that he would go down with his ship. In mere months, he turned things around, pulling AIG from the brink of financial collapse and restoring its profitability. Before three years were up, AIG had fully repaid its staggering debt to the U.S. government - with interest.Good for the Money is an unyielding leader's memoir of a career spent fixing companies through thoughtful, unconventional strategy. With his brash, no-holds-barred approach to the job, Benmosche restored AIG's employee morale and good name. His is a story of perseverance, told with refreshing irreverence in unpretentious terms.Called "an American hero" by Andrew Ross Sorkin, author of Too Big to Fail, Benmosche was a self-made man who never forgot what life is like for the nation's 99-percent; again and again, he pushed back against obstinate colleagues to salvage American jobs and industry. Good for the Money affords you a front-row seat for Benmosche's heated battles with major players from Geithner to Obama to Cuomo, and offers incomparable lessons in leadership from the legendary CEO who changed the way Wall Street does business.
Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters
Richard P. Rumelt - 2011
Richard Rumelt shows that there has been a growing and unfortunate tendency to equate Mom-and-apple-pie values, fluffy packages of buzzwords, motivational slogans, and financial goals with “strategy.” He debunks these elements of “bad strategy” and awakens an understanding of the power of a “good strategy.” A good strategy is a specific and coherent response to—and approach for overcoming—the obstacles to progress. A good strategy works by harnessing and applying power where it will have the greatest effect in challenges as varied as putting a man on the moon, fighting a war, launching a new product, responding to changing market dynamics, starting a charter school, or setting up a government program. Rumelt’snine sources of power—ranging from using leverage to effectively focusing on growth—are eye-opening yet pragmatic tools that can be put to work on Monday morning.Surprisingly, a good strategy is often unexpected because most organizations don’t have one. Instead, they have “visions,” mistake financial goals for strategy,and pursue a “dog’s dinner” of conflicting policies and actions.Rumelt argues that the heart of a good strategy is insight—into the true nature of the situation, into the hidden power in a situation, and into an appropriate response. He shows you how insight can be cultivated with a wide variety of tools for guiding yourown thinking.Good Strategy/Bad Strategy uses fascinating examples from business, nonprofit, and military affairs to bring its original and pragmatic ideas to life. The detailed examples range from Apple to General Motors, from the two Iraq wars to Afghanistan, from a small local market to Wal-Mart, from Nvidia to Silicon Graphics, from the Getty Trust to the Los Angeles Unified School District, from Cisco Systems to Paccar, and from Global Crossing to the 2007–08 financial crisis.Reflecting an astonishing grasp and integration of economics, finance, technology, history, and the brilliance and foibles of the human character, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy stems from Rumelt’s decades of digging beyond the superficial to address hard questions with honesty and integrity.From the Hardcover edition.
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
Eliyahu M. Goldratt - 1984
His factory is rapidly heading for disaster. So is his marriage. He has ninety days to save his plant—or it will be closed by corporate HQ, with hundreds of job losses. It takes a chance meeting with a colleague from student days—Jonah—to help him break out of conventional ways of thinking to see what needs to be done.The story of Alex's fight to save his plant is more than compulsive reading. It contains a serious message for all managers in industry and explains the ideas which underline the Theory of Constraints (TOC) developed by Eli Goldratt.
On Grand Strategy
John Lewis Gaddis - 2018
Now, in On Grand Strategy, Gaddis reflects on what he has learned. In chapters extending from the ancient world through World War II, Gaddis assesses grand strategic theory and practice in Herodotus, Thucydides, Sun Tzu, Octavian/Augustus, St. Augustine, Machiavelli, Elizabeth I, Philip II, the American Founding Fathers, Clausewitz, Tolstoy, Lincoln, Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Isaiah Berlin. On Grand Strategy applies the sharp insights and wit readers have come to expect from Gaddis to times, places, and people he's never written about before. For anyone interested in the art of leadership, On Grand Strategy is, in every way, a master class.
Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger
Charles T. Munger - 2005
Edited by Peter D. Kaufman. Brand New.
Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
Philip E. Tetlock - 2015
Unfortunately, people tend to be terrible forecasters. As Wharton professor Philip Tetlock showed in a landmark 2005 study, even experts’ predictions are only slightly better than chance. However, an important and underreported conclusion of that study was that some experts do have real foresight, and Tetlock has spent the past decade trying to figure out why. What makes some people so good? And can this talent be taught? In Superforecasting, Tetlock and coauthor Dan Gardner offer a masterwork on prediction, drawing on decades of research and the results of a massive, government-funded forecasting tournament. The Good Judgment Project involves tens of thousands of ordinary people—including a Brooklyn filmmaker, a retired pipe installer, and a former ballroom dancer—who set out to forecast global events. Some of the volunteers have turned out to be astonishingly good. They’ve beaten other benchmarks, competitors, and prediction markets. They’ve even beaten the collective judgment of intelligence analysts with access to classified information. They are "superforecasters." In this groundbreaking and accessible book, Tetlock and Gardner show us how we can learn from this elite group. Weaving together stories of forecasting successes (the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound) and failures (the Bay of Pigs) and interviews with a range of high-level decision makers, from David Petraeus to Robert Rubin, they show that good forecasting doesn’t require powerful computers or arcane methods. It involves gathering evidence from a variety of sources, thinking probabilistically, working in teams, keeping score, and being willing to admit error and change course. Superforecasting offers the first demonstrably effective way to improve our ability to predict the future—whether in business, finance, politics, international affairs, or daily life—and is destined to become a modern classic.
Everything is Obvious: Once You Know the Answer
Duncan J. Watts - 2011
As sociologist and network science pioneer Duncan Watts explains in this provocative book, the explanations that we give for the outcomes that we observe in life—explanation that seem obvious once we know the answer—are less useful than they seem.Drawing on the latest scientific research, along with a wealth of historical and contemporary examples, Watts shows how common sense reasoning and history conspire to mislead us into believing that we understand more about the world of human behavior than we do; and in turn, why attempts to predict, manage, or manipulate social and economic systems so often go awry.It seems obvious, for example, that people respond to incentives; yet policy makers and managers alike frequently fail to anticipate how people will respond to the incentives they create. Social trends often seem to have been driven by certain influential people; yet marketers have been unable to identify these “influencers” in advance. And although successful products or companies always seem in retrospect to have succeeded because of their unique qualities, predicting the qualities of the next hit product or hot company is notoriously difficult even for experienced professionals.Only by understanding how and when common sense fails, Watts argues, can we improve how we plan for the future, as well as understand the present—an argument that has important implications in politics, business, and marketing, as well as in science and everyday life.
How to Think Like Churchill
Daniel Smith - 2014
As one of the few voices warning about Nazi Germany in the 1930s, he returned to government to play his part in defeating Nazism, becoming one of the defining figures of the twentieth century.Studying how and why he accomplished what he did, how he overcame personal and professional adversity and stood strong in the face of overwhelming odds, with quotes and passages by and about the great man, you too can learn to think like Churchill.Other books in the series include: How to Think Like Stephen Hawking, How to Think Like Sherlock and How to Think Like Steve Jobs
50 Success Classics: Winning Wisdom For Work & Life From 50 Landmark Books
Tom Butler-Bowdon - 2004
50 Success Classics is the first and only ‘bite-sized’ guide to the most important and inspiring works that have already demonstrated their power to change lives.
Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life
James Kerr - 2013
Legacy is a unique, inspiring handbook for leaders in all fields, and asks: What are the secrets of success – sustained success? How do you achieve world-class standards, day after day, week after week, year after year? How do you handle pressure? How do you train to win at the highest level? What do you leave behind you after you’re gone?What will be your legacy?
Fish!: A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results
Stephen C. Lundin - 1996
In Fish! the heroine, Mary Jane Ramirez, recently widowed and mother of two, is asked to engineer a turnaround of her company's troubled operations department, a group that authors Stephen Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen describe as a "toxic energy dump." Most reasonable heads would cut their losses and move on. Why bother with this bunch of losers? But the authors don't make it so easy for Mary Jane. Instead, she's left to sort out this mess with the help of head fishmonger Lonnie. Based on a bestselling corporate education video, Fish! aims to help employees find their way to a fun and happy workplace. While some may find the story line and prescriptions--such as "Choose Your Attitude," "Make Their Day," and "Be Present"--downright corny, others will find a good dose of worthwhile motivational management techniques. If you loved Who Moved My Cheese? then you'll find much to like here. And don't worry about Mary Jane and kids. Fish! has a happy ending for everyone. --Harry C. Edwards
Federal Resume Guidebook: Strategies for Writing a Winning Federal Resume
Kathryn K. Troutman - 1997
This book shows you writing methods to get best qualified, referred to a supervisor, interviewed, and hired! Effectively include KSAs in your resume with accomplishments. Maximize readability with the Outline Format federal resume. Analyze vacancy announcements for keywords. Master the Assessment Questionnaire. Format your USAJOBS federal resume for readability. Includes dozens of sample federal resumes in the Outline Format with KSAs!