Harley-Davidson is still the great, iconic American motorcycle. But like many storied companies, Harley has had to evolve to stay on top, even to stay in existence. From near-extinction in the early eighties, it has risen to worldwide recognition for management excellence and innovation. The Lean Machine is an inside look at how Harley-Davidson was able to adapt in an ever-changing world and accelerate product development. Rooted in Japanese productivity improvement techniques, Knowledge-Based Product Development helped fuel Harley's incredible period of sustained growth. Even after the company earned the PDMA Corporate Innovator Award in 2003, Dantar Oosterwal, a Harley-Davidson executive, took the improvement a quantum leap further. By implementing Lean Product Development techniques, Harley realized an unprecedented fourfold increase in throughput in half the time, powering annual growth of more than ten percent. In The Lean Machine, Oosterwal shows the day-to-day transformation at Harley and identifies universal change and improvement issues, so that companies in any industry can incorporate Knowledge-Based Innovation--with predictably excellent results.

    The first is titled The Ideal Executive: Why You Cannot Be One and What to Do About It. The third is Leading the Leaders: How to Enrich Your Style of Management and Handle People Whose Style is Different From Yours. Each book in this series can be read independently, but all together they provide a methodology on how to lead organizations as a team.The capabilities that textbooks and trade journals demand from a leader do not and cannot exist in any single individual because the task of leading an organization is far too complicated for any one individual to perform well. These books and journals describe what a leader should be because that is what the organization needs. They ignore, however, that being human, people have strengths and weaknesses. No one is perfect. Management / Mismanagement Styles analyzes why the ideal executive or leader cannot exist and thus does not exist. Attempts to train and develop the ideal leader, by definition, cannot produce expected results.This book helps managers identify the style of real people, not imaginary templates, and provides tools to build a team of people with complementary strengths and weaknesses, based on their different management styles.This book provides a methodology to classify styles identify their strengths and weaknesses, and predict how each style will make decisions, staff, motivate, and communicate; in a word, manage.Management / Mismanagement Styles is based on Dr. Adizes 30 years of consulting experience worldwide, from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. Dr. Adizes has also used the methodology described in this book in working with prime ministers, presidents and cabinets of governments around the world. His previous books have been translated into 26 languages and are best sellers in several countries.

    You will learn to prepare yourself for a career in artist management - and then learn the tools to coach, lead, organize time, manage finances, market an artist, and carve out a successful career path for both yourself and your clients.The book features profiles of artist managers, an exclusive and detailed template for an artist career plan, and samples of major contract sections for artist management and record deals. Updated information including a directory of artist management companies is available at the book's companion website.A peer reviewer for Artist Management for the Music Business proclaimed ."this is going to be an excellent text. It contains many unique insights and lots of valuable information." This is essential reading for managers, students, and artists in the music business.

    Less inventory. The highest quality cars with the fewest defects of any competing manufacturer. In factories around the globe, Toyota consistently raises the bar for manufacturing, product development, and process excellence. The result is an amazing business success story: steadily taking market share from price-cutting competitors, earning far more profit than any other automaker, and winning the praise of business leaders worldwide.The Toyota Way reveals the management principles behind Toyota's worldwide reputation for quality and reliability. Dr. Jeffrey Liker, a renowned authority on Toyota's Lean methods, explains how you can adopt these principles--known as the "Toyota Production System" or "Lean Production"--to improve the speed of your business processes, improve product and service quality, and cut costs, no matter what your industry.Drawing on his extensive research on Toyota, Dr. Liker shares his insights into the foundational principles at work in the Toyota culture. He explains how the Toyota Production System evolved as a new paradigm of manufacturing excellence, transforming businesses across industries. You'll learn how Toyota fosters employee involvement at all levels, discover the difference between traditional process improvement and Toyota's Lean improvement, and learn why companies often think they are Lean--but aren't.

    Hence, modern management minds have been looking for solutions beyond the reservoir of Western management thoughts and practices. They have examined and experimented with Japanese and Chinese systems of management. Of late, their focus has shifted to Indian philosophy to find solutions to re-occurring irritants in efficient management practices. As a step in this direction, Western management executives are being encouraged to put purpose before self during retraining sessions at institutions of management learning. Through Ved Vyasa's Bhagavad Gita, they are attempting to inspire themselves with the supremacy of action, learning to enrich matter with forces of spirit, realizing that the principle of karma has invaluable merits. The present work is a systematic presentation of the vital management contents as enshrined in Bhagavad Gita, the eternal Song of Wisdom. The book is a running treatise comprising principles, precepts, and practices employed by Lord Krishna to achieve his mission incarnate objectives, examining such qualities as: the dignity of work, commitment appreciations, strategic intervention, internal conflict --- management, and the management of uncertainties --- the skills of verbal and non-verbal communication, logic, and intellect --- the humility and ethicality of approach, respect for virtue and merit, skillful ego management, and total impartiality --- using energy as a management tool, the principle of causality, and the unified concept of management performance --- and much more

    1 Lakh/ below US$ 2500 car), is set to change our perception of India': on the threshold of becoming a truly global brand.*s oldest and most respected corporate brand. With a major international presence, in a variety of areas including steel, tea, chemicals, communications and software, Tata now stands 65th in the world brand valuation league. But what is the Tata brand all about? What are its values? How do people perceive it, in India and around the world? In this absorbing and informed book Morgen Witzel digs into the heart of the Tata enterprise, describes its origins, how Tata's reputation and image evolved, and how the group has worked to transform that image into a powerful and valuable brand. Tata: The Evolution of a Corporate Brand goes to the core of the Tata ethos to explore the unique relationship between the Tata group and the Indian people, a relationship that goes beyond the achievements of a successful business to its social contributions for its employees and the society at large. Finally it asks how that reputation will be perceived and understood as Tata moves into global markets. Whether you re an entrepreneur, a manager, a marketer, or an interested Tata loyalist this book will help you understand the durability of the brand and inspire you with the values it holds onto in the global economy.

    These specialists have begun forming shops of their own - the new modern version of the agency. Increased marketing fragmentation and brand's need for specialists means that the time has never been better for a freelancers or niche service providers to build their own small firms. All they're missing is the guidance they need to find their footing.While specialist agencies and freelancers are highly skilled, most have a lot to learn about the mechanics of starting and running an agency. Many of these specialists come from a different background than those who traditionally started agencies: they come from the internet, not the ad world. In Agency, Rick Webb provides a comprehensive guidebook - giving readers the knowledge, strategies, and understanding they'll need to make the exciting transition into a modern creative services firm. Drawing from his experience running his own digital ad agency and working with countless innovative tech start-ups, Webb focuses not just on how to get started, but how to survive in a competitive marketplace. This is a hands-on master class in everything that the agency manager needs to know. From understanding small business banking, to deciding how to price a job and manage procurement, to winning new business, Agency provides everything from basic business and leadership skills to insider tips and industry information. Webb outlines the shape of the ecosystem in which new agencies will be finding their place. Packed with personal anecdotes from his time starting and running the highly successful Barbarian Group, Webb provides practical techniques for building an agile company.Modern agency upstarts need a different sort of education, and Agency provides a remarkable crash course.

    Fortunately, Jon McGee is an ideal guide through this dynamic marketplace. In Breakpoint, he argues that higher education is in the midst of an extraordinary moment of demographic, economic, and cultural transition that has significant implications for how colleges understand their mission, their market, and their management. Drawing from an extensive assessment of demographic and economic trends, McGee presents a broad and integrative picture of these changes while stressing the importance of decisive campus leadership. He describes the key forces that influence higher education and provides a framework from which trustees, presidents, administrators, faculty, and policy makers can address pressing issues in the aftermath of the Great Recession.Although McGee avoids endorsing one-size-fits-all solutions, he suggests a number of concrete strategies for handling prospective students and developing pedagogical practices, curricular content and delivery, and management structures. Practical and compelling, Breakpoint will help higher education leaders make choices that advance their institutional values and serve their students and the common good for generations to come.

    Who better to write a book on DYNAMIC PEOPLE SKILLS than Dexter Yager - one of America's most admired and respected businessman? Dexter will guide you, step by step, toward more effective and satisfying personal and business relationships.In Dynamic People Skills, you will learn practical insights about how to: develop dynamic relationships stay motivated overcome rejections understand who you are build a powerful marriage and more!

    But, as Mandi Walls explains in this Velocity report, DevOps is really about changing company culture—replacing traditional development and operations silos with collaborative teams of people from both camps. The DevOps movement has produced some efficient teams turning out better products faster. The tough part is initiating the change. This report outlines strategies for managers looking to go beyond tools to build a DevOps culture among their technical staff. Topics include: Documenting reasons for changing to DevOps before you commit Defining meaningful and achievable goals Finding a technical leader to be an evangelist, tools and process expert, and shepherd Starting with a non-critical but substantial pilot project Facilitating open communication among developers, QA engineers, marketers, and other professionals Realigning your team’s responsibilities and incentives Learning when to mediate disagreements and conflicts Download this free report and learn how to the DevOps approach can help you create a supportive team environment built on communication, respect, and trust. Mandi Walls is a Senior Consultant with Opscode.

    Thank you, Scott, for a wonderful book that has changed my life!" --Scott Alexander"Compelling...startling...I recommend it for everyone!" --Scott Alexander

    It's Tuesday morning and on his drive into the office, Bill gets a call from the CEO. The company's new IT initiative, code named Phoenix Project, is critical to the future of Parts Unlimited, but the project is massively over budget and very late. The CEO wants Bill to report directly to him and fix the mess in ninety days or else Bill's entire department will be outsourced. With the help of a prospective board member and his mysterious philosophy of The Three Ways, Bill starts to see that IT work has more in common with manufacturing plant work than he ever imagined. With the clock ticking, Bill must organize work flow streamline interdepartmental communications, and effectively serve the other business functions at Parts Unlimited. In a fast-paced and entertaining style, three luminaries of the DevOps movement deliver a story that anyone who works in IT will recognize. Readers will not only learn how to improve their own IT organizations, they'll never view IT the same way again.

    Countless business authors and analysts have assured us that great leadership demands great character. Time and again, we’ve seen that truth play out, as once-thriving organizations falter and fail under the guidance of leaders behaving badly. Why, then, do so many executives remain skeptical about the true value of leadership character? A winning strategy and a sound business model are what really matter, they argue; character is just the icing on the cake.What’s been missing from this debate is hard evidence: data that shows not only that leadership character matters for organizational success, but how it matters; and concrete evidence that it leads to better business results. Now, in this groundbreaking book, respected leadership researcher, adviser, and author Fred Kiel offers that evidence—solid data that demonstrates the connection between character, leadership excellence, and organizational results.After seven years of rigorous research based on a landmark study of more than 100 CEOs and over 8,000 of their employees’ observations, Kiel’s findings show that leaders of strong character achieved up to five times the ROA for their organizations as did leaders of weak character.Return on Character goes on to reveal:• How leadership character is formed, how it creates value, and how that value spreads throughout the organization• How low-character leaders undermine the success of even the best business plans• How leaders at any level can develop the habits of strong character and “unlearn” the habits of poor characterThe book also provides a character-building methodology—step-by-step advice and techniques for assessing your own character habits and improving your performance and that of your organization.Return on Character provides the blueprint for building your own leadership character and creating a character-driven organization that achieves superior business results.

    It covers every aspect of call center management - service level, forecasting, scheduling, resource calculations, metrics, quality, budgeting, reporting, strategy and key enabling technologies - in a format that is well-organized and easy to understand. The updated and expanded edition contains important new information, including: Trends in customer expectations; Best practices in performance reports and objectives; How to create an effective customer access strategy appropriate for today's environment; How to manage multichannel contacts with quality; New technologies, and how they're changing customer contact services; Improving the call center's strategic impact and ROI; New case studies and examples from Wells Fargo, Starbucks, Aetna and many others.

    It's romantic and exciting to think of leadership as all inspiration, decisive action, and rich rewards, but leading requires taking risks that can jeopardize your career and your personal life. It requires putting yourself on the line, disrupting the status quo, and surfacing hidden conflict. And when people resist and push back, there's a strong temptation to play it safe. Those who choose to lead plunge in, take the risks, and sometimes get burned. But it doesn't have to be that way say renowned leadership experts Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky. In Leadership on the Line, they show how it's possible to make a difference without getting "taken out" or pushed aside. They present everyday tools that give equal weight to the dangerous work of leading change and the critical importance of personal survival. Through vivid stories from all walks of life, the authors present straightforward strategies for navigating the perilous straits of leadership. Whether you're a parent or a politician, a CEO or a community activist, this practical book shows how you can exercise leadership and survive and thrive to enjoy the fruits of your labor.