In fact, it has been argued that the number two position is the toughest job in a company. COOs are typically the key individuals responsible for the delivery of results on a day-to-day, quarter-to-quarter basis. They play a critical leadership role in executing the strategies developed by the top management team. And, in many cases, they are being groomed to be—or are actually being tested as—the firm's CEO-elect. Despite all this, the COO role has not received much attention.Riding Shotgun: The Role of the COO provides a new understanding of this little-understood role. The authors—a scholar and a consultant—develop a framework for understanding who the COO is, why a company would want to create this position, and the challenges associated with successful performance in the COO role. Drawing heavily on a number of first-person accounts from CEOs and other top executives in major corporations, the authors have developed a set of strategies or principles to inform individuals who aspire to serve in such a position. The executives who share their experiences in this book are from some of the most established and important companies in today's economy: AirTran; American Standard Companies; Amgen; Adobe Systems, Inc.; Autodesk, Inc; eBay; Heidrick & Struggles; InBev; Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company; Mattel, Inc; Motorola; PepsiCo; Raytheon Company; Starbucks; and many others. Excerpts from the Book:On focusing on success"The primary goal I set for myself on how I define what success looks like for me is am I working at a company that matters? Am I working with somebody who I think affects positive change? Am I providing a benefit to my family? Am I enjoying myself? Why would I put a limitation on my enjoyment? There is an old view on Wall Street that says, 'They love you until they don't.' I am going to stay happy until I am not."—Dan Rosensweig, COO Yahoo!On the relationship between the CEO and COO"Deep down, you have to trust each other and you have to like each other. If you don't like each other, and/or don't trust each other, it may work, kind of, but it will be at a fifty percent level at best."—Craig Weatherup, Director, Starbucks, and former Chairman, PepsiOn the challenges of transitioning into the COO role"If you can't conceptualize the strategic objectives or help drive that or participate in that, I don't think you are going to succeed. But, equally, if you can't translate that into an executable plan, you are not going to succeed either."—Shantanu Narayen, COO, Adobe SystemsAdditional Quotes:"Miles & Bennett tackle an important and drastically under-researched area: the role, personalities, fit and success factors of COOs. We've seen several COOs who have been total winners, but it's striking how different the models of success can be depending on role, personal competencies, business situation/cycle/type, team strengths, and CEO strengths. The authors have done a very nice job of tying all of this together."—Jim Williams, Partner, Texas Pacific Group"The lessons reported in this book will be very useful to Boards, Heads of Human Resources and CEOs as they consider succession planning and organizational design."—Dale Morrison, President & Chief Executive Officer, McCain Foods Limited"The job of COO is becoming more important as companies and their boards look internally for succession alternatives. One question they face: Will the organization continue to run as the number 2 becomes the number 1? Riding Shotgun will help answer this and many more questions about the COO role in today's corporate structure."—John Berisford, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, The Pepsi Bottling Group"The COO plays a critical leadership role in most businesses, but its particularly true in the natural resources

    When we listen, we can notice that there are seven main lessons he encourages for people to learn. By learning and implementing these lessons and habits into your everyday life, you can increase your likelihood of achieving your goals and manifesting your dreams into reality. These habits work in both your personal life, as well as your career life, and will assist you in making the most of any opportunity. It is important to realize that you must work simultaneously on your personal and business lives to achieve success in either, because as Anthony says: “Success without fulfillment is failure.” You cannot truly succeed in one, if you are unhappy and failing within’ the other.

    The debate has been mostly marked by mud-slinging and name-calling and the debates that have ensued often have no basis in fact. While most people have a hazy notion of black money, only a few are able to unpack the concept to reveal its various shades.In this e-single, which is part of a larger, ongoing work, Prof. R. Vaidyanathan provides the reader with a brief overview of black money—its generation, its estimates and how and why it is spirited away to tax havens. This is a unique, timely work that packs in much information and offers a 360-degree view of the issue.Prof. R. Vaidyanathan recently retired from IIM, Bangalore as Professor of Finance. He is now Cho S Ramaswamy Visiting Professor of Public Policy at Sastra University, Thanjavur.

    

    

    A single planetary cataclysm could wipe out the human race. As long as humanity only occupies one planet, the danger exists.Computer genius Bernd Decker understands it, too. Together, Burke and Decker come up with a daring plan to send human colonies out to multiple other planets. Not least among their problems is that no one yet has solved the problem of interstellar travel.Bernd Decker’s computer project offers to help. But Decker doesn't realize that the Joint Artificial Neural Intelligence Computation Engine - JANICE - has crossed the Singularity."Janice Quant" decides to carry out their project, and absolutely nothing is going to get in her way.

    It's the art of anticipating your opponent's next moves, knowing full well that your rival is trying to do the same thing to you. Though parts of game theory involve simple common sense, much is counterintuitive, and it can only be mastered by developing a new way of seeing the world. Using a diverse array of rich case studies—from pop culture, TV, movies, sports, politics, and history—the authors show how nearly every business and personal interaction has a game-theory component to it. Are the winners of reality-TV contests instinctive game theorists? Do big-time investors see things that most people miss? What do great poker players know that you don't? Mastering game theory will make you more successful in business and life, and this lively book is the key to that mastery.

    It's bad for society, especially now. . . . Call me crotchety, but I can't help asking, whatever happened to the social contract?'The get-rich-quick exuberance of the late nineties may have temporarily blinded us to how dependent we are on one another. Subsequent events serve as reminders that the strength of our economy and the security of our society rest on the bonds that connect us. But what, specifically, are these bonds? What do we owe one another as members of the same society?With his characteristic humor, humanity, and candor, one of the nation's most distinguished public leaders and thinkers delivers a fresh vision of politics by returning to basic American values: workers should share in the success of their companies; those who work should not have to live in poverty; and everyone should have access to an education that will better their chances in life.An insider who knows how the economy and government really work, Reich combines realistic solutions with democratic ideals. Businesses do have civic responsibilities, and government must stem a widening income gap that threatens to stratify our nation. And everyone must get involved to help return us to a society that works for everyone.

    What separates the world's top traders from the vast majority of unsuccessful investors? Jack Schwager sets out to answer tis question in his interviews with superstar money-makers including Bruce Kovner, Richard Dennis, Paul Tudor Jones, Michel Steinhardt, Ed Seykota, Marty Schwartz, Tom Baldwin, and more in "Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders," now in paperback and ebook.This classic interview-style investment text from a financial expert is a must-read for traders and professional financiers alike, as well as anyone interested in gaining insight into how the world of finance really works.Filled with anecdotes about market experiences, including the story of a trader who after wiping out several times, turned $30,000 into $80 million and an electrical engineer from MIT whose computerized trading has earned returns of 250,000 percent over sixteen yearsIdentifies the factors that define a successful traderNow availabe as in digital formats.One of the most insightful, bestselling trading books of all time.

    Or it can be a way to lose your shirt. What determines whether you get rich or go broke can often be a tiny detail here, a missed opportunity there. The margin for error is slim. Heck, it’s non-existent. Fortunes are amassed by experienced options traders who know how to use this strategy THE RIGHT WAY. And financial lives are destroyed by those who don’t. This book will catapult you into that first category. Without all the fluff and B.S. that you don’t need. The Bullsh*t Free Guide to Iron Condors is a TRUE no-nonsense guide to the Iron Condor strategy, written by an experienced trader who lives (or dies) by working it every day. It’s designed as a real-life, step-by-step guide for experienced options traders who want to use this strategy the RIGHT WAY -- which means the CONSISTENTLY PROFITABLE way. In the book you’ll discover: * 6 little-known techniques for adjusting trades that go bad (most experienced traders don’t even know these) * How to create a trading journal and trading log, and why it’s CRUCIAL that you do. (Note: the book includes downloadable examples you can use yourself.) * The 3 ways the world’s top Iron Condor traders manage risk, including detailed examples so you can trade “like the big boys.” * How to save yourself thousands of dollars when entering live trades (this information is closely guarded by many trading “gurus”). * Which option broker is the best for trading Iron Condors. (This is one of the most important decisions you’ll make, so choose wisely.) * How to set up a trading plan that actually works. (We include a sample trading plan to get you started.) * Why weekly options are not as amazing as they sound (and are, in fact, often a HUGE mistake). * How to incorporate volatility into your trading. (You will come to LOVE huge volatility moves after reading this!) * How to eliminate the risk of early assignment. * How to avoid being caught with your pants down on settlement day. (Make this mistake and you can kiss your profits goodbye.)

    What does this increased reliance on imported food mean for the people around the globe who produce our food? Kelsey Timmerman set out on a global quest to meet the farmers and fisherman who grow and catch our food, and also worked alongside them: loading lobster boats in Nicaragua, splitting cocoa beans with a machete in Ivory Coast, and hauling tomatoes in Ohio. "Where Am I Eating?" tells fascinating stories of the farmers and fishermen around the world who produce the food we eat, explaining what their lives are like and how our habits affect them.This book shows how what we eat affects the lives of the people who produce our food. Through compelling stories, explores the global food economy including workers rights, the global food crisis, fair trade, and immigration.Author Kelsey Timmerman has spoken at close to 100 schools around the globe about his first book, "Where Am I Wearing: A Global Tour of the Countries, Factories, and People That Make Our Clothes" He has been featured in the Financial Times and has discussed social issues on NPR's Talk of the Nation and Fox News Radio"Where Am I Eating?" does not argue for or against the globalization of food, but personalizes it by observing the hope and opportunity, and sometimes the lack thereof, which the global food economy gives to the world's poorest producers.

    But many managers can't read a balance sheet, wouldn't recognize a liquidity ratio, and don't know how to calculate return on investment. Worse, they don't have any idea where the numbers come from or how reliable they really are. In Financial Intelligence, Karen Berman and Joe Knight teach the basics of finance--but with a twist. Financial reporting, they argue, is as much art as science. Because nobody can quantify everything, accountants always rely on estimates, assumptions, and judgment calls. Savvy managers need to know how those sources of possible bias can affect the financials and that sometimes the numbers can be challenged. While providing the foundation for a deep understanding of the financial side of business, the book also arms managers with practical strategies for improving their companies' performance--strategies, such as "managing the balance sheet," that are well understood by financial professionals but rarely shared with their nonfinancial colleagues. Accessible, jargon-free, and filled with entertaining stories of real companies, Financial Intelligence gives nonfinancial managers the financial knowledge and confidence for their everyday work. Karen Berman and Joe Knight are the owners of the Los Angeles-based Business Literacy Institute and have trained tens of thousands of managers at many leading organizations. Co-author John Case has written several popular books on management.

    In this powerful guide to achieving independence, entrepreneur and inspirational speaker Keith Cameron Smith shares ten crucial principles to help you make the leap from ordinary follower to extraordinary leader, including   • Entrepreneurs have an empowering perspective of failure. Employees see failure as bad. Learn to see setbacks not as a form of rejection, but as feedback to help you learn and grow. • Entrepreneurs are solution finders. Employees are problem solvers. Instead of quick fixes, seek out permanent solutions that save time and money. • Entrepreneurs look into the future. Employees look into the past. Choose where you want to go, take consistent steps in that direction, and work toward it relentlessly.   Begin building a better future today. Even if you can’t start your own business, you can make positive changes right now, in your cubicle or your corner office, by adopting an entrepreneurial spirit. By following Keith Cameron Smith’s expert advice, you too can take control of your career and your life, once and for all!  Foreword by Sharon Lechter  Praise for Keith Cameron Smith’s The Top 10 Distinctions between Millionaires and the Middle Class   “Everyone can be a millionaire. You just need to know the 10 Distinctions. Learn, use, and study these great distinctions and become a millionaire.”—Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of The One Minute Millionaire and Chicken Soup for the Soul   “Filled with wisdom and knowledge that leads to freedom and abundance.”—Nido R. Qubein, author of Stairway to Success

    The Customer Service Survival Kit recognizes that the worst customer situations demand more of front-line employees than good intentions and the right attitude. The book includes tangible tips and tricks to help readers discover how to lean into criticism, how to avoid trigger phrases that can make bad situations worse, the secret to helping people feel heard, how to safely deliver bad news, and how to become immune to intimidation--among many other skills.Issues with customers can send even the most seasoned service professionals into red alert. But you don’t need to be a crisis counselor to effectively communicate your way out of a difficult spot. With the help of these valuable insights, lessons, and indispensable problem-solving tools, your organization holds the key to radically improving its customer service reputation.

    The Master Key teaching has been published in the form of a Correspondence Course of 24 lessons, delivered to students one per week for 24 weeks. The reader, who now receives the whole 24 parts at one times, is warned not to attempt to read the book like a novel, but to treat it as a course of study and conscientiously to imbibe the meaning of each part - reading and re-reading one part only per week before proceeding to the next. Otherwise the later parts will tend to be misunderstood and the reader's time and money will be wasted. Used as thus instructed "The Master Key" will make of the reader a greater, better personality, and equipped with a new power to achieve any worthy personal purpose and a new ability to enjoy life's beauty and wonder.