Most teams underperform. Yours can beat the odds. If you need the best practices and ideas for superior teambuilding--but don't have time to find them--this book is for you.Here are 10 inspiring and useful perspectives, all in oneplace. This collection of HBR articles will help you: - Boost team performance through mutual accountability - Motivate large, diverse groups to tackle complex projects - Increase groups' emotional intelligence - Reverse the fortunes of a struggling team - Prevent decision deadlock - Extract results from a bunch of touchy superstars - Fight constructively with top-management colleagues - Ensure productivity in far-flung teams

In this book, packed with phrases organized both by skill andby profession, job seekers at any level and in any industry willeasily find the best wording to craft outstanding resumes.

Everyone knows that Toyota has had an amazing twenty-five- yearrun, rising from a humble Japanese start-up to a thriving globalgiant. But how did it pass Ford and GM to become the world’slargest auto manufacturer? And how does it continue to thrive whileso many competitors are struggling and failing? Journalist David Magee dug deeply into Toyota’s past and present,interviewing senior executives who rarely talk to the press, alongwith many other sources. The powerful lessons that he distills,especially about corporate culture, are valuable for managers inall industries.

Richard L. Brandt is an award-winning journalist and formercorrespondent for BusinessWeek. He is the author of Inside Larryand Sergey’s Brain.Amazon’s business model is deceptively simple:make online shopping so easy and convenient that customers won’tthink twice. It can almost be summed up by the button on everypage: Buy now with one-click. Richard L. Brandt explains how Amazonhas been so successful, and he shows how much of it has to do withAmazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos.

Praise for the First Edition of MARKETING TO THE SOCIAL WEB: "We've been liberated! Communicating with existing and potential customers used to mean one-way broadcasts of your company's product messages—'buy buy buy' we all said. But Marketing to the Social Web enables smart marketers to communicate in a much better way: by creating compelling content that people actually want to consume and interact with. Larry Weber knows his stuff—he's been part of this revolution from the beginning." —David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR "I was pleased to read a book that actually suggests how to do something with social networks, instead of just ponder them. Larry's pragmatic and useful recommendations will help brand builders manage the complexity of social interaction in a digital age." —David Kenny, Chairman and CEO, Digitas, Inc. "Consumers are using technology to grab power from companies, the media, and the government. Marketing to the Social Web succinctly out

Put these words to work for you Learn the gift of gab and getcloser to your dream job This latest addition to the bestsellingPerfect Phrases series is a must-read for anyone who dreadsnetworking or who has ever fumbled or frozen during important andpossibly career-changing conversations. "Perfect Phrases forProfessional Networking" arms readers with foolproof and versatilephrases that help them take advantage of virtually any professionalnetworking opportunity. KNOW WHAT TO SAY IN ANY SITUATION Fromcocktail parties to industry conferences, association meetings, andeven unexpected run-ins on the street, this book has all the toolsyou need to feel comfortable striking up a conversation, steeringit in the right direction, and following up effectively. Whetheryou're looking for a promotion, considering a career change, orjust hoping to update that rolodex for a rainy day, this handyresource has you covered--including new-media tactics such ase-mail etiquette, rules for social networking, and the proper way

The core of the lean model remains the same in the new edition. All businesses must define the "value" that they produce as the product that best suits customer needs. The leaders must then identify and clarify the "value stream," the nexus of actions to bring the product through problems solving, information management, and physical transformation tasks. Next, "lean enterprise" lines up suppliers with this value stream. "Flow" traces the product across departments. "Pull" then activates the flow as the business re-orients towards the pull of the customer's needs. Finally, with the company reengineered towards its core value in a flow process, the business re-orients towards "perfection," rooting out all the remaining muda (Japanese for "waste") in the system.

The definitive guide to the graphic presentation of information. In today’s data-driven world, professionals need to know how to express themselves in the language of graphics effectively and eloquently. Yet information graphics is rarely taught in schools or is the focus of on-the-job training. Now, for the first time, Dona M. , a student of the information graphics pioneer Edward Tufte, makes this material available for all of us. In this book, you will learn: to choose the best chart that fits your data; the most effective way to communicate with decision makers when you have five minutes of their time; how to chart currency fluctuations that affect global business; how to use color effectively; how to make a graphic “colorful” even if only black and white are available. The book is organized in a series of mini-workshops backed up with illustrated examples, so not only will you learn what works and what doesn’t but also you can see the dos and don’ts for yourself. This is an invaluable ref

"Few books really are 'a joy to read.' This one, full of charmand wisdom, truly is." ( New Scientist ) A Nobel Prize-winningphysicist, a loving husband and father, an enthusiastic teacher, asurprisingly accomplished bongo player, and a genius of the highestcaliber---Richard P. Feynman was all these and more. PerfectlyReasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track --collecting overforty years' worth of Feynman's letters--offers an unprecedentedlook at the writer and thinker whose scientific mind and lust forlife made him a legend in his own time. Containing missives to andfrom such scientific luminaries as Victor Weisskopf, StephenWolfram, James Watson, and Edward Teller, as well as a remarkableselection of letters to and from fans, students, family, and peoplefrom around the world eager for Feynman's advice and counsel, Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track notonly illuminates the personal relationships that underwrote the keydevelopments in modern science, but also forms the most intimatelook

A brilliantly reported true-life thriller that goes behind thescenes of the financial crisis on Wall Street and inWashington. In one of the most gripping financial narratives in decades,Andrew Ross Sorkin-a New York Times columnist and one of thecountry's most respected financial reporters-delivers the firstdefinitive blow- by-blow account of the epochal economic crisisthat brought the world to the brink. Through unprecedented accessto the players involved, he re-creates all the drama and turmoil ofthese turbulent days, revealing never-before-disclosed details andrecounting how, motivated as often by ego and greed as by fear andself-preservation, the most powerful men and women in finance andpolitics decided the fate of the world's economy.

Today's increasingly competitive marketplace is filled with business transactions that include elements of both negotiations and auctions, yet the received wisdom on deal-making treats these two mechanisms separately. Leading dealmaking scholar Guhan Subramanian explores the ubiquitous situation in which negotiators are "fighting on two fronts"-across the table, of course, but also on the same side of the table with known, unknown, or possible competitors. Delving into case studies as diverse as buying a house, haggling over the rights to the television show Frasier, and selling "toxic" assets into the U.S. government's bailout fund, Subramanian combines meticulous research, field experience, and classroom-tested strategies to create an indispensable guide for anyone involved in buying or selling everything from cars to corporations.

IT RANKS AMONG THE UNQUESTIONED LAWS OF AMERICAN BIG BUSINESSover the last half century: If you want to be taken seriously, youhire McKinsey Company. For decades, its consultants havehelped companies and governments come up with the strategies andhabits that have shaped the world we live in. In this book, starfinancial journalist Duff McDonald shows how, in becoming anindispensable part of decision making at the highest levels,McKinsey has done nothing less than set the course of Americancapitalism. He also answers the question that’s on the mind ofanyone who has ever heard the word McKinsey: Are they worth it?After all, just as McKinsey can be shown to have helped invent mostof the tools of modern management, the company was also involvedwith a number of striking failures. Its consultants were on thescene when General Motors drove itself into the ground, and theyplayed a critical role in building the bomb known as Enron. McDonald is one of the few journalists to have not only parsedthe record but

Essential resources for training and HR professionals KennethH. Silber and Lynn Kearny Organizational Intelligence A Guide toUnderstanding the business of your organization for HR, Training,and Performance Consulting Organizational Intelligence To succeed,those who practice as training, HPT, ID, OD, HR, or ITprofessionals must understand the "language of business," and thekey business issues and measures of the organizations we work for.Organizational Intelligence shows how to use the proven BusinessLogics Model to gather and synthesize the information needed tounderstand organizations, and how to align our work to key businessissues, explain it in appropriate language, and measure it in ameaningful way. "Kearny and Silber have taken the complexinterrelated aspects of a business and broken them into componentsand key questions that can help anyone understand the essence ofthat business." —Julie O'Mara, past president, American Society forTraining and Development "This book should be in your professio

This book details the leadership principles used by MotherTeresa in building one of the world’s largest and most successfulorganizations, with this as its central lesson: leaders mustarticulate a simple vision, and execute it with absolutepracticality. Bose—who spent eight months working with MotherTeresa in 1992-3—and Faust have distilled Mother Teresa’sleadership style into nine essential principles. Each principleshows readers how to apply Mother Teresa’s wisdom in their livesand businesses. Much has been written about Mother Teresa. She is an actualsaint, beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003, as well as thewinner of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, This book is the first toview her in another light—as a pragmatic, realistic leader who over47 years raised billions of dollars and helped millions of people.This often meant making tough decisions—such as accepting adonation from Saddam Hussein. This book has the principles thatguided those decisions. These are universal principles that

The definitive story of Amazon.com, one of the most successful companies in the world, and of its driven, brilliant founder, Jeff Bezos. Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn't content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To do so, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked. Until now. Brad Stone enjoyed unprecedented access to current and former Amazon employees and Bezos family members, giving readers the first in-depth, fly-on-the-wall account of life at Amazon. Compared to tech's other elite innovators--Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg--Bezos is a private man. But he stands out for his restless pursuit of new markets, leading Amazon into risky new ventures like the Kindle and cloud computing, and transforming retail in the same way Henry Ford revolutionized manufactur

Stop pushing products--and start cultivating customerrelationships. If you need the best practices and ideas for marketing today--butdon't have time to find them--this book is for you. Here are 10inspiring and useful perspectives, all in one place. This collection of HBR articles will help you: - Figure out what business you're really in - Collaborate with customers to meet current and futureneeds - Create products that perform the jobs people need to getdone - Get a bird's-eye view of your brands' strengths andweaknesses - Tap a market that's larger than China and India combined - Deliver superior value to your B2B customers - End the war between sales and marketing

Joe Girard was an example of a young man with perseverance and determination. Joe began his working career as a shoeshine boy. He moved on to be a newsboy for the Detroit Free Press at nine years old, then a dishwasher, a delivery boy, stove assembler, and home building contractor. He was thrown out of high school, fired from more than forty jobs, and lasted only ninety-seven days in the U.S. Army. Some said that Joe was doomed for failure. He proved them wrong. When Joe started his job as a salesman with a Chevrolet agency in Eastpointe, Michigan, he finally found his niche. Before leaving Chevrolet, Joe sold enough cars to put him in the "Guinness Book of World Records" as 'the world's greatest salesman' for twelve consecutive years. Here, he shares his winning techniques in this step-by-step book, including how to: read a customer like a book and keep that customer for life; convince people reluctant to buy by selling them the right way; develop priceless information from a two-minute phone call; mak

The bestselling Excel book on the market, updated forExcel 2010 As the world's leading spreadsheet application, Excel has a hugeuser base. The release of Office 2010 brings major changes toExcel, so Excel For Dummies comes to the rescue oncemore! In the friendly and non-threatening For Dummies style,this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running withExcel and helps more experienced users get comfortable with newfeatures. Excel is the number one spreadsheet application worldwide, and Excel For Dummies is the number one guide to using it With the major changes in Microsoft Office 2010, Excel has newfeatures and a new interface design; users need help to get up tospeed The book includes everything you need to know to perform basicExcel 2010 tasks Covers creating and editing worksheets and charts, formattingcells, entering formulas, inserting graphs, designing databaseforms, and adding database records Also covers printing, adding hyperlinks to worksheets, savingworksheets as Web

In a natural follow-up to his international bestseller "TheCrash of 2008: The New Paradigm for Financial Markets", GeorgeSoros reflects on what went wrong with the global economy, and howto get it back on track. The dire economic situation we findourselves in is not a result of economic forces alone, but of thepolicies pursued, and not pursued, by world leaders. In thiscollection of his recent writings on the global financialsituation, George Soros presents his views and analysis of keyeconomic policy choices leading up to, during, and following thefinancial crisis of 2008-2009. Soros explores domestic andinternational policy choices, like how to manage the (then)potential implosion of Fannie Mae Freddie Mac; options for"setting a floor" on the collapsing housing market; deployingmeasures to stem global contagion from the sub-prime crisis;alternative options for bailing out lesser developed countries andwhy this was vital; how to bring the credit default swap industryunder control; the structural pro

The world is more branded than ever before: Americans encounter anywhere between 3,000 and 5,000 ads a day, and increasingly brands vie for our attention from insidious angles that target our emotional responses (scent, taste, sound, and touch). In an ever-faster, more competitive global landscape, branding, or identity-making, has begun to replace the research and development of yore. From the fertile crescent of branding (Cincinnati) to the laboratories of sensory specialists (musicologists, and “noses”), Lucas Conley investigates the phenomenon of rampant commercialism (often backed by little substance), offering an illuminating portrait of an age of obsession.

"Now there is a single source - this book - that gives you thestep-by-step, word-by-word instructions you need to get in front ofmore people and make more sales than ever before. Keith Rosen hasbrought together, in one book, the very best techniques for gettingmore and better appointments ever written in the field ofsales." —Brian Tracy, author, Advanced Selling Strategies

The definitive overview of knowledge management, now availablein paperback. This influential book establishes the enduringvocabulary and concepts in the burgeoning field of knowledgemanagement. It serves as the hands-on resource of choice forcompanies that recognize knowledge as the only sustainable sourceof competitive advantage going forward. Drawing from their workwith more than 30 knowledge-rich firms, Davenport and Prusak -experienced consultants with a track record of success - examinehow all types of companies can effectively understand, analyze,measure, and manage their intellectual assets, turning corporatewisdom into market value.They categorize knowledge work into foursequential activities - accessing, generating, embedding, andtransferring - and look at the key skills, techniques, andprocesses of each. While they present a practical approach tocataloging and storing knowledge so that employees can easilyleverage it throughout the firm, the authors caution readers on thelimits of communications an

Persuade others to do what you want--for their ownreasons. If you need the best practices and ideas for making dealsthat work--but don't have time to find them--this book is foryou. Here are 10 inspiring and useful perspectives, all in oneplace. This collection of HBR articles will help you: - Seal or sweeten a bargain by uncovering the other side'smotives - Conquer faulty assumptions to make the right deals - Forge deals only when they support your strategy - Set the stage for a healthy relationship long after the ink hasdried - Make promises you can keep - Gain your adversaries' trust in high-stakes talks - Know when to walk away

Developed by two Harvard scientists, this is a revolutionaryand fascinating new approach for achieving extraordinary success -how to re-train your brain to win. Ever wonder why some people seemblessed with success? In fact, everyone is capable of winning inlife - you just need to develop the right brain for it. In "TheWinner's Brain", Drs. Jeffrey Brown and Mark Fenske usecutting-edge neuroscience to reveal the secrets of those whosucceed no matter what - and demonstrate how little it has to dowith IQ or upbringing. Through simple everyday practices, Brown andFenske explain how to unlock the Brain's hidden potential using:Balance - Make emotions work in your favour; Bounce - Create afailure-resistant brain; Opportunity Radar - Spot hot prospectspreviously hidden by problems; Focus Laser - Lock into what'simportant; and, Effort Accelerator - Cultivate the drive to win.Along the way, meet dozens of interesting people who possess 'winfactors' (like the inventor of Whac-A-Mole) and glean fascinatinginforma