The motivations behind today's most successful leaders and entrepreneurs come to a simple yet decisive explanation: there are people who give, people who take, people who match, and people who fake. Our world is filled with these givers, takers, matchers and fakers. Amazingly, those who succeed (not only personally but for their clients and companies) don't take or match. They give. (Although they're not necessarily philanthropic.) GIVE AND TAKE presents the fascinating secrets to givers' success. The results are unequivocal: givers gain big. Jack Welch, Richard Branson, Jon Huntsman Sr. - all of them are givers. In a world in which so many takers such as Bernard Madoff and Raj Rajaratnam have ruined lives and reputations, this book will reassure readers that the real power lies in becoming a giver. Since the vast majority of people aren't born givers, Grant not only presents the case for why givers win, he also offers their hidden strategies for winning.

We live in an age of unprecedented opportunity: with ambition,drive, and talent, you can rise to the top of your chosenprofession regardless of where you started out. But with opportunity comes responsibility. Companies today aren'tmanaging their knowledge workers' careers. Instead, you must beyour own chief executive officer. That means it's up to you tocarve out your place in the world and know when to change course.And it's up to you to keep yourself engaged and productive during acareer that may span some 50 years. In Managing Oneself, Peter Drucker explains how to do it. Thekeys: Cultivate a deep understanding of yourself by identifyingyour most valuable strengths and most dangerous weaknesses.Articulate how you learn and work with others and what your mostdeeply held values are. Describe the type of work environment whereyou can make the greatest contribution. Only when you operate with a combination of your strengths andself-knowledge can you achieve true and lasting excellence

"Evaluating the success of an individual or company is a lotlike judging a trapper by his pelts. Charles Koch has a lot ofpelts. He has built Koch Industries into the world's largestprivately held company, and this book is an insider's guide to howhe did it. Koch has studied how markets work for decades, and hiscommitment to pass that knowledge on will inspire entrepreneurs forgenerations to come." "A must-read for entrepreneurs and corporate executives that isalso applicable to the wider world. MBM is an invaluable tool forengendering excellence for all groups, from families to nonprofitentities. Government leaders could avoid policy failures by heedingthe science of human behavior." "My father, Sam Walton, stressed the importance of fundamentalprinciples—such as humility, integrity, respect, and creatingvalue—that are the foundation for success. No one makes a bettercase for these principles than Charles Koch." "What accounts for Koch Industries' spectacular success? CharlesKoch

Opening in theaters November 20, 2009, The Blind Side is afeature movie based on Michael's Lewis's New York Times bestseller,produced by Alcon Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros.Pictures. The Blind Side tells the inspirational story of MichaelOher, a homeless black teen taken under the wing of the Touhys, awealthy white Memphis family. Oher's size and speed on the footballfield bring him accolades. But learning the game's strategy andmaking it as a student take the help of his new family, coaches,and tutor. Sandra Bullock stars as Leigh Anne Touhy, thesharp-witted and compassionate matriarch. Tim McGraw stars as hersports-enthusiast husband. Oscar winner Kathy Bates plays Miss Sue,Oher's indefatigable tutor. Quinton Aaron has his first major roleas Oher. John Lee Hancock, who directed The Rookie and The Alamo,writes and directs the film. Michael Oher was just drafted in thefirst round of the NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens. This editionincludes a new afterword bringing Oher's life up to date thro

Innovation may be the hottest discipline around today—inbusiness circles and beyond. And for good reason. Innovationtransforms companies and markets. It’s the key to solving vexingsocial problems. And it makes or breaks professional careers. Forall the enthusiasm the topic inspires, however, the practice ofinnovation remains stubbornly impenetrable. No longer. In The Little Black Book of Innovation, long-timeinnovation expert Scott D. Anthony draws on stories from hisresearch and field work with companies like Procter Gamble todemystify innovation. In his trademark conversational and livelystyle, Anthony presents a simple definition of innovation, breaksdown the essential differences between types of innovation, andilluminates innovation’s vital role in organizational success andpersonal growth. This unique hybrid of professional memoir and business guidebookalso provides a powerful 28-day program for mastering innovation’skey steps: ? Finding insight

Write every business correspondence with speed, precision, andpower The number one prerequisite for effective management is effectivecommunication—and writing is a critical part of it. Simply put,whether it’s a quick e-mail or a 20-page report, your writing is areflection of you—and people will make judgments accordingly. Manager’s Guide to Business Writing, Second Edition, provideseverything you need to give colleagues, customers, and otherstakeholders the most information accurately and quickly. Learn howto express yourself as a serious professional by writing everythingwith clarity, quality, and decisiveness. Manager’s Guide to Business Writing teaches you how to: Know your audience and your purpose before you start writing Engage readers’ curiosity from the first sentence Compose instructions that are easy to understand and follow Write effectively on social media platforms and blogs Master the foundations of effective writing—grammar, sentencestructure, spelling, and style Briefcase

Go from being a good manager to an extraordinary leader. If you read nothing else on leadership, read these 10 articles.We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articleson leadership and selected the most important ones to help youmaximize your own and your organization's performance. HBR's 10 Must Reads On Leadership will inspire you to: - Motivate others to excel - Build your team's self-confidence in others - Provoke positive change - Set direction - Encourage smart risk-taking - Manage with tough empathy - Credit others for your success - Increase self-awareness - Draw strength from adversity

Get ahead of the competition with some expert planning. As any business manager knows, success doesn't just happen. Ittakes hard work and planning to get the desired results. Strategicplanning is the discipline that helps businesses build on theirpresent success by analyzing all the factors that can impact thefuture and take measures to anticipate them. The Complete Idiot'sGuide(r) to Strategic Planning offers clear and concretediscussions about: ? Defining business goals in mission statements ? Proven methods to gather the information necessary to formulatea strategy ? Anticipating the competition ? Executing a strategic plan

This title presents a practical approach to fuel game changinggrowth through business model innovation. Transformational newgrowth remains the Holy Grail for many organizations. But a deepunderstanding of how great business models are made can provide thekey to unlocking that growth. This landmark book describes howcompanies can achieve transformational growth in new markets Or,simply put, how they can seize the white space. To step out intothe unknown and seize the white space requires a new language - anda framework with which to understand an existing enterprise and thewhite space it hopes to conquer. This book - from ClayChristensen's firm Innosight - is devoted to making game-changingbusiness model innovation a possibility. Leaving the rhetoric toothers, it provides the building blocks for creating business modelinnovation: first, by showing executives how to discover newbusiness models and then by showing them how to bring theseinnovations to market. With road-tested frameworks, analytics, anddia

Companies have long engaged in head-to-head competition insearch of sustained, profitable growth. They have fought forcompetitive advantage, battled over market share, and struggled fordifferentiation. Yet in today’s overcrowded industries, competing head-on resultsin nothing but a bloody “red ocean” of rivals fighting over ashrinking profit pool. In a book that challenges everything youthought you knew about the requirements fro strategic success, W.Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne contend that while most companiescompete within such red oceans, this strategy is increasinglyunlikely to create profitable growth in the future. Based on a study of 150 strategic moves spanning more then ahundred years and thirty industries, Kim and Mauborgne argue thattomorrow’s leading companies will succeed not by battlingcompetitors, but by creating “blue ocean” of uncontested marketspace ripe for growth. Such strategies moves—termed “valueinnovation”-create powerful leaps in value for both th

The blockbuster bestseller now in a manga edition––fullyillustrated and fun to read! Beautifully illustrated by Kensuke Okabayashi, this enthrallingedition of Patrick Lencioni′s massive bestseller gives readers anew format in which to understand the fascinating, complex world ofteams. Kathryn Petersen, Decision Tech′s CEO, faces the ultimateleadership crisis: Uniting a team in such disarray that itthreatens to bring down the entire company. Will she succeed? Willshe be fired? Will the company fail? Lencioni′s gripping taleserves as a timeless reminder that leadership requires as muchcourage as it does insight. Throughout the story, Lencioni reveals the five dysfunctions thatgo to the heart of why teams––even the best ones––often struggle.He outlines a powerful model and actionable steps that can be usedto overcome these common hurdles and build a cohesive, effectiveteam. This is a compelling fable with a powerful, yet deceptivelysimple message for all those who strive to b