Three years after the events of The Golem's Eye, the youngmagician Nathaniel is an established member of the BritishGovernment. But he faces unprecedented problems: foreign wars aregoing badly and Britain's enemies are mounting attacks close toLondon. Increasingly distracted, he is treating Bartimaeus worsethan ever: the long-suffering djinni is growing weak from too muchtime in this world, and his patience is at an end. Meanwhile,undercover in London, Kitty has been stealthily completing herresearch into magic and Bartimaeus' past. She hopes to break theendless cycle of conflict between djinn and humans - but will shebe able to get anyone to listen? Before any of these problems canbe resolved, disaster strikes London from an unexpected source andthe destinies of Bartimaeus, Nathaniel, and Kitty are throwntogether once more. They have to face treacherous magicians, along-fermented conspiracy, and an enemy from 'The Other Place' thatthreatens London and the world. Worst of all, they must somehowcope wit

John Meriwether, a famously successful Wall Street trader,spent the 1980s as a partner at Salomon Brothers, establishing thebest--and the brainiest--bond arbitrage group in the world. Amysterious and shy midwesterner, he knitted together a group ofPh.D.-certified arbitrageurs who rewarded him with filial devotionand fabulous profits. Then, in 1991, in the wake of a scandalinvolving one of his traders, Meriwether abruptly resigned. For twoyears, his fiercely loyal team--convinced that the chief had beenunfairly victimized--plotted their boss's return. Then, in 1993,Meriwether made a historic offer. He gathered together his formerdisciples and a handful of supereconomists from academia andproposed that they become partners in a new hedge fund differentfrom any Wall Street had ever seen. And so Long-Term CapitalManagement was born. In a decade that had seen the longest and most rewarding bullmarket in history, hedge funds were the ne plus ultra ofinvestments: discreet, private clubs limited to those

In this instant New York Times Bestseller, Geoff Smart andRandy Street provide a simple, practical, and effective solution towhat The Economist calls “the single biggest problem in businesstoday”: unsuccessful hiring. The average hiring mistake costs acompany $1.5 million or more a year and countless wasted hours.This statistic becomes even more startling when you consider thatthe typical hiring success rate of managers is only 50percent. The silver lining is that “who” problems are easily preventable.Based on more than 1,300 hours of interviews with more than 20billionaires and 300 CEOs, Who presents Smart and Street’s A Methodfor Hiring. Refined through the largest research study of its kindever undertaken, the A Method stresses fundamental elements thatanyone can implement–and it has a 90 percent success rate. Whether you’re a member of a board of directors looking for a newCEO, the owner of a small business searching for the right peopleto make your company grow, or a pare

In this absorbing tale, you watch the timeless principles ofservant leadership unfold through the story of John Daily, abusinessman whose outwardly successful life is spiraling out ofcontrol. He is failing miserably in each of his leadership roles asboss, husband, father, and coach. To get his life back on track, hereluctantly attends a weeklong leadership retreat at a remoteBenedictine monastery. To John's surprise, the monk leading the seminar is a formerbusiness executive and Wall Street legend. Taking John under hiswing, the monk guides him to a realization that is simple yetprofound: The true foundation of leadership is not power, butauthority, which is built upon relationships, love, service, andsacrifice. Along with John, you will learn that the principles in this bookare neither new nor complex. They don't demand special talents;they are simply based on strengthening the bonds of respect,responsibility, and caring with the people around you. Perhaps thisis why The Servant has touche

What is that makes urban myths so persistent but many everydaytruths so eminently forgettable? How do newspapers set aboutensuring that their headlines make you want to read on? And why dowe remember complicated stories but not complicated facts? In thecourse of over ten years of study, Chip and Dan Heath haveestablished what it is that determines whether particular ideas orstories stick in our minds or not, and "Made to Stick" is thefascinating outcome of their painstaking research.Packed full ofcase histories and thought-provoking anecdotes, it shows, amongother things, how one Australian scientist convinced the world he'ddiscovered the cause of stomach ulcers by drinking a glass filledwith bacteria, how a gifted sports reporter got people to watch afootball match by showing them the outside of the stadium, and howhigh-concept pitches such as 'Jaws on a spaceship' ("Alien") and'Die Hard on a bus' ("Speed") convince movie executives to investvast sums of money in a project on the basis of almost noinformati

Now in a striking new hardcover edition, Fooled by Randomnessis the word-of-mouth sensation that will change the way you thinkabout business and the world. Nassim Nicholas Taleb–veteran trader,renowned risk expert, polymathic scholar, erudite raconteur, andNew York Times bestselling author of The Black Swan–has written amodern classic that turns on its head what we believe about luckand skill. This book is about luck–or more precisely, about how we perceiveand deal with luck in life and business. Set against the backdropof the most conspicuous forum in which luck is mistaken forskill–the world of trading–Fooled by Randomness providescaptivating insight into one of the least understood factors in allour lives. Writing in an entertaining narrative style, the authortackles major intellectual issues related to the underestimation ofthe influence of happenstance on our lives. The book is populated with an array of characters, some of whomhave grasped, in their own way, the significance

The book that shows how to get the job done and deliverresults . . . whether you’re running an entire company or in yourfirst management job Larry Bossidy is one of the world’s most acclaimed CEOs, a manwith few peers who has a track record for delivering results. RamCharan is a legendary advisor to senior executives and boards ofdirectors, a man with unparalleled insight into why some companiesare successful and others are not. Together they’ve pooled theirknowledge and experience into the one book on how to close the gapbetween results promised and results delivered that people inbusiness need today. After a long, stellar career with General Electric, Larry Bossidytransformed AlliedSignal into one of the world’s most admiredcompanies and was named CEO of the year in 1998 by Chief Executivemagazine. Accomplishments such as 31 consecutive quarters ofearnings-per-share growth of 13 percent or more didn’t just happen;they resulted from the consistent practice of the discipline ofexe

Bestselling author Harvey Mackay reveals his techniques forthe most essential tool in business--networking, the indispensableart of building contacts. Now in paperback, Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty is HarveyMackay's last word on how to get what you want from the worldthrough networking. For everyone from the sales rep facing acareer-making deal to the entrepreneur in search of capital, DigYour Well explains how meeting these needs should be no more than afew calls away. This shrewdly practical book distills Mackay'swisdom gleaned from years of "swimming with sharks," including:

One of the most popular and respected style guides ever written,this handbook by a seasoned writer with more than forty years ofexperience offers ten principles and seven axioms that professionalwriters use to express their thoughts clearly and effectively. Thislatest edition is expanded to include an extensive glossary ofAmerican idiomatic expressions, developed to assist users fromother backgrounds and cultures; new chapters with tips onlittle-known facts of usage, such as compound words, hyphenation,numeration, and capitalization; and explanations of technicalproblems encountered in writing and editing with tips and exercisesto help solve them. For anyone faced with the challenges of writtenEnglish, Writing with Precision can help readers write moreclearly, more effectively, and more precisely than they everhave. Previous editions of Writing with Precision have beenselected by the Writer's Digest , McMillan , Fortune , and Reader's Digest book clubs.

From the man the Wall Street Journal hailed as "theguru of Revenue Management" comes revolutionary ways to recoverfrom the after effects of downsizing and refocus your business ongrowth. Whatever happened to growth? In Revenue Management, RobertG. Cross answers this question with his ground-breaking approach torevitalizing businesses: focusing on the revenue side of the ledgerinstead of the cost side. The antithesis of slash-and-burn methodsthat left companies with empty profits and dissatisfiedstockholders, Revenue Management overturns conventionalthinking on marketing strategies and offers the key to initiatingand sustaining growth. Using case studies from a variety of industries, smallbusinesses, and nonprofit organizations, Cross describes no-tech,low-tech, and high-tech methods that managers can use to increaserevenue without increasing products or promotions; predict consumerbehavior; tap into new markets; and deliver products and servicesto customers effectively and efficiently

Knowledge has become the most important factor in economiclife. It is the chief ingredient of what we buy and sell, the rawmaterial with which we work. Intellectual capital--not naturalresources, machinery, or even financial capital--has become the oneindispensable asset of corporations. Intellectual Capital is a groundbreaking book, visionaryin scope and practical in applications, that offers powerful newways of looking at what companies do and how to lead them. It isthe first book to show how to turn the untapped, unmapped knowledgeof an organization into its greatest competitive weapon. Intellectual Capital cuts through the vague rhetoric of"paradigm shifts" to show how the Information Age economy reallyworks--and how to make it work for you and your business. Readerswill learn how to discover and map the human, structural, andcustomer capital that embody the knowledge assets of a corporation;how successful companies manage their intellectual capital toimprove performance; how intellectual capital

Using a straightforward rational-choice approach, ProfessorRamseyerexplores the impact that law had on various markets inJapanese historyand the effect that those markets had on economicgrowth. In doing so,he applies an economic logic to markets in adifferent world in a differenthistorical period with a differentpolitical regime and a different legalsystem. He looks hardest atthose markets that have most often strucktraditional observers as"exploitative" (e.g., the markets for indenturedservants and forsexual services). Within those markets, he focuses on thewayparticipants handled informational asymmetries in thecontractingprocess. Ramseyer finds that Japanese courts generally definedimportant prop-erty rights clearly, and that Japanese marketsgenerally protected an indi-vidual's control over his or her ownlabor. As a result, that the Japaneseeconomy grew at relativelyefficient levels follows directly from standardeconomic theory. Healso concludes that the legal system usually pro-moted mutuallyadva

Find out what separates stars from average performers Learn how to be the top pick for the choice jobs Use nine star-performer strategies to become a member of theselect "ten-for-one" club, with ten times the productivity of theaverage worker Find out how using the nine strategies enables you to out-performpeople with supposedly better credentials New in this edition: special insights for women and members ofminority groups

For more than fifteen years, Robin Sharma has been quietly sharing with Fortune 500 companies and many of the super-rich a success formula that has made him one of the most sought-after leadership advisers in the world. Now, for the first time, Sharma makes his proprietary process available to you, so that you can get to your absolute best while helping your organization break through to a dramatically new level of winning in these wildly uncertain times.

The Profit Zone, a Business Week Top Ten Book of the Year,examines 12 of today's great success stories--from GE toSwatch--and reveals how vital adaptations kept these companies onthe edge of the ever-changing profit zone. Charts graphsthroughout.

In Shift, Carlos Ghosn, the brilliant, audacious, and widelyadmired CEO of Nissan, recounts how he took the reins of the nearlybankrupt Japanese automotive company and achieved one of the mostremarkable turnarounds in automotive—and corporate—history. When Carlos Ghosn (pronounced like “phone”) was named COO ofNissan in 1999, the company was running out of gas and careeningtoward bankruptcy. Eighteen short months later, Nissan was back inthe black, and within several more years it had become the mostprofitable large automobile company in the world. In Shift, Ghosndescribes how he went about accomplishing the seemingly impossible,transforming Nissan once again into a powerful global automotivemanufacturer. The Brazilian-born, French-educated son of Lebanese parents,Ghosn first learned the management principles and practices thatwould shape his decisions at Nissan while rising through the ranksat Michelin and Renault. Upon his arrival at Nissan, Ghosn beganhis new position by embarkin

An Apple Store customer asks for the latest iPhone in blackbut suddenly changes to white when he sees others choosing it. Acitizen of a former communist country picks~ a drink at random;soda is soda, he says. A young man and woman decide tomarry--knowing that they'll meet for the first time on theirwedding day. In THE ART OF CHOOSING, Columbia University profes- sor SheenaIyengar, a leading expert on choice, asks fascinating questions:Are our choices innate or created by culture? Why do we sometimeschoose against our best interests? How much control do we reallyhave? What's the relationship between choice and freedom? Drawingon her award-winning, discipline: spanning research, thisremarkable book illuminates the joys and challenges ofchoosing--and shows us how we can choose better, one choice at atime.

From experts at McKinsey Company's world-renowned growthpractice comes a highly practical, field-tested approach toinitiating and sustaining growth in companies of all sizes. .Growth unleashes benefits beyond the economic. It revitalizesorganizations and invigorates the people in them, creating energy,a sense of purpose, and the glow of being on a winning team. Likethe alchemy of old, it seeks to transform the everyday into theexalted by means that seem little short of magical. Yet growth isoften elusive, achieved at unacceptable costs, or managed in fitsand starts. Based on over three years of research and applicationat high-performing companies around the world, The Alchemy ofGrowth is a comprehensive, practical approach to initiating,achieving, and sustaining profitable growthtoday and tomorrow. Asthe book shows, the secret is to manage business opportunitiesacross three time horizons at once: extending and defending corebusinesses, building new businesses, and seeding options for thefuture. The Alchemy

In Seduced by Success, Robert J. Herbold, the former Chief Operating Officer of Microsoft, shows you how to avoid the nine traps of success-the “legacy practices” that almost felled such giants as General Motors, Kodak and Sony. Herbold, a 26-year-veteran of Procter & Gamble who lived through each trap, gives you proven tactics for preventing arrogance, bloat, and neglect while capitalizing on your accomplishments, sustaining your momentum, and retaining your position in the marketplace. The nine traps every successful organization must avoid are Neglect: Sticking with Yesterday's Business Model Pride: Allowing Your Products to Become Outdated Boredom: Clinging to Your Once-Successful Branding Complexity: Ignoring Your Business Processes Bloat: Rationalizing Your Loss of Speed and Agility Mediocrity: Letting Your Star Employees Languish Lethargy: Getting Lulled into a Culture of Comfort Timidity: Not Confronting Turf Wars and Obstructionists

The Remarkable discoveries about what drives and sustainssuccessful women leaders. Based on five years of proprietary research, How Remarkable WomenLead speaks to you as no other book has, with its hopeful outlookand unique ideas about success. It's the new "right stuff" ofleadership, raising provocative issues such as whether feminineleadership traits (for women and men) are better suited for ourfast-changing, hyper-competitive, and increasingly complexworld. The authors, McKinsey Company consultants Joanna Barsh andSusie Cranston, establish the links between joy, happiness, anddistinctive performance with the groundbreaking model of CenteredLeadership. The book's personal stories and related insights show you themagic that happens when you put the five elements of CenteredLeadership–meaning, framing, connecting, engaging, andenergizing–to work. They include: How Alondra de la Parra built on her strengths and passions toinfuse her life with meaning and make her way in the

The legitimate use of force is generally presumed to be therealm of the state. However, the flourishing role of the privatesector in security over the last twenty years has brought this intoquestion. In this book Deborah Avant examines the privatization ofsecurity and its impact on the control of force. She describes thegrowth of private security companies, explains how the industryworks, and describes its range of customers – including states,non-government organisations and commercial transnationalcorporations. She charts the inevitable trade-offs that the marketfor force imposes on the states, firms and people wishing tocontrol it, suggests a new way to think about the control of force,and offers a model of institutional analysis that draws on botheconomic and sociological reasoning. The book contains case studiesdrawn from the US and Europe as well as Africa and the MiddleEast.

Tom Hopkins carries the standard as a master sales trainer andis recognized as the world’s leading authority on sellingtechniques and salesmanship. Over 3,000,000 people on five continents have attended Tom’shigh-energy live seminars. Tom personally conducts 75 seminars eachyear traveling throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, NewZealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines. Tom Hopkins is a distinguished charter member of the NationalSpeakers Association and was among the first to receive itsprestigious Council of Peers Award for Excellence. Tom’s talent ofteaching in a creative and entertaining style has brought him atremendous following, as well as constant demand for appearances atregional and national conventions each year. Tom Hopkins has been the subject of countless articles inpublications such as U.S. News and World Report, The New YorkTimes, The Los Angeles Times, Personal Selling Power, Peoplemagazine, Selling magazine, Entrepreneur magazine, and TheWashington Post.