If you're ever favored enough to catch a few minutes of a corporate CEO's time, and feel bold enough to ask what their job entails, chances are you'll hear something lofty about developing strategy, empowering employees, seeing the big picture. But if you ask to see their calendar for the past month, you'll probably find they've spent very little, if any, time doing those things. The look-at-last-month's-calendar trick was devised by Donald Laurie, a Boston-based management consultant, to help top executives figure out how best to lead their companies. Laurie sees a leader as the person who climbs out on the balcony and sees the company from above, the one who sees how all the parts connect to make a smoothly running machine. At the same time, if the leader stays up on that balcony for too much of the day, he or she can't hear the grumbling below. And what's being grumbled about is often the information that could save the CEO's job. As an example of this, Laurie relates the story of Xerox Corp. when it

In 1984, The LittleKingdom told the story of Apple's first decade alongside thehistories of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Now Moritz revisits hisclassic biography in light of what Apple has become, offering forthe first time in paperback the only from the ground up account ofApple's early years.

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

The companion to the blockbuster bestseller, Getting Things Done . Since its publication in 2001, Getting ThingsDone has become, as Time magazine put it, "the definingself-help business book" of the decade. Having inspired millions ofreaders around the world, it clearly spoke to an urgent need in anincreasingly time-pressured society. Now, in the highly anticipatedsequel Making It All Work , Allen unlocks the full power ofhis methods across the entire span of life and work. WhileGetting Things Done functioned as an essential tool kit, Making It All Work is an invaluable road map, providing bothbearings to help you determine where you are in life and directionson how to get to where you want to go.

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

“The invaluable advice in How to Wow guarantees your successin any meeting situation, from the boardroom to the breakfasttable.” –Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone In today’s fast-paced world, where an elevator ride with your CEOcan turn into an impromptu meeting, your lunch date can become ajob interview, and your conversation at a cocktail party may be apreamble to a potential business merger, knowing how to marketyourself in any situation is vital. Corporate coach Frances ColeJones has helped numerous CEOs, celebrities, and publicpersonalities present their best selves on camera and onstage, inboardrooms and in person; now in her new book, How to Wow, sheshares her strategies for making your mark in business and inlife. Every encounter, Jones believes, provides you with an opportunityto positively influence colleagues, employers, neighbors–evencompetitors. Not only your words, but your tone of voice and yourbody language speak volumes. The question, however, is: A

With corporate scandals dominating the headlines on aregular basis, business ethics are more important than ever. Thisamusing primer highlights everything an aspiring CEO should knowabout maintaining integrity in corporate America. You llfind: - Guidance on making fair and honest business decisions - A quiz to test your own ethics - Advice on promoting ethical behavior - Simple lessons for making your workplace a positiveenvironment - And much, much more. It's the perfect gift for office newbies, seasoned executives,and college graduates everywhere!

From two leaders in executive education at Harvard BusinessSchool, here are the mental habits and proven strategies you needto achieve outstanding results in any negotiation. Whether you’ve “seen it all” or are just starting out,Negotiation Genius will dramatically improve your negotiatingskills and confidence. Drawing on decades of behavioral researchplus the experience of thousands of business clients, the authorstake the mystery out of preparing for and executingnegotiations—whether they involve multimillion-dollar deals orimproving your next salary offer. What sets negotiation geniuses apart? They are the men andwomen who know how to: ?Identify negotiation opportunities where others see noroom for discussion ?Discover the truth even when the other side wants toconceal it ?Negotiate successfully from a position of weakness ?Defuse threats, ultimatums, lies, and other hardballtactics ?Overcome resistance and “sell” proposals using proveninfluence tactics

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.

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

An international sensation—and still the talk of the relevantblogosphere—this Wall Street Journal and New York Times businessbestseller examines the "power" in numbers. Today more than ever,number crunching affects your life in ways you might not evenimagine. Intuition and experience are no longer enough to make thegrade. In order to succeed—even survive—in our data-based world,you need to become statistically literate. Cutting-edge organizations are already crunching increasinglylarger databases to find the unseen connections among seeminglyunconnected things to predict human behavior with staggeringlyaccurate results. From Internet sites like Google and Amazon thatuse filters to keep track of your tastes and your purchasinghistory, to insurance companies and government agencies that everyday make decisions affecting your life, the brave new world of thesuper crunchers is happening right now. No one who wants to stayahead of the curve should make another keystroke without readingIan Ayre

Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the answer to the global crisis ofbusiness and American-style capitalism. Out of the ashes of conventional business models arises a set ofcompanies using their power not only for profits and sustainablegrowth but also social good. If you think business corporations are doomed to be lumbering,bloated, and corrupt, think again. Based on an extraordinary three-year investigation, interviewingmore than 350 key people at major companies around the world,Rosabeth Moss Kanter provides encouraging and astounding evidencethat this assumption is completely outdated. The businesses thatare agile, keeping ahead of the curve in terms of market changesand customer needs, are the businesses that are also progressive,socially responsible human communities. Take IBM. When the tsunami and earthquake struck Asia, IBM didn’tjust cut a check for relief funds and call it a day. The companyused its technological expertise and skilled people to create whatgovernment and relief agencies could not: infor

From America’s most authoritative source: the quintessentialprimer on understanding and managing your money Money courses through just about every corner of our lives andhas an impact on the way we live today and how we’ll be able tolive in the future. Understanding your money, and getting it towork for you, has never been more important than it is today, asmore and more of us are called upon to manage every aspect of ourfinancial lives, from managing day-to-day living expenses toplanning a college savings fund and, ultimately, retirement. FromThe Wall Street Journal, the most trusted name in financial andmoney matters, this indispensable book takes the mystery out ofpersonal finance. Start with the basics, learn how they work, andyou’ll become a better steward of your own money, today and in thefuture. Consider The Wall Street Journal Complete Personal FinanceGuidebook your cheat sheet to the finances of your life. This bookwill help you: ? Understand the nuts and bolts

In today's world, yesterday's methods just don't work. In Getting Things Done , veteran coach and management consultantDavid Allen shares the breakthrough methods for stress-freeperformance that he has introduced to tens of thousands of peopleacross the country. Allen's premise is simple: our productivity isdirectly proportional to our ability to relax. Only when our mindsare clear and our thoughts are organized can we achieve effectiveproductivity and unleash our creative potential. In GettingThings Done Allen shows how to:

“Applicants looking for the competitive edge in gettingaccepted at the business school of their choice may want to perusethis book.” –Security Traders Handbook Every year, thousands apply for a finite number of places inbusiness schools. With similar grades, backgrounds, and goals,sometimes the only thing that can make an applicant stand out isthe application essay. It’s the best chance you have to shine andtip the balance in your favor. Essays That Worked for Business Schools shows that the bestessays are brief, sincere, and personal. Some are off the wall,some are bold, all are unique to their creator. One applicantwrites about starting his own airline. Another tells about thecorruption in his job as a defense contractor. And a third reflectson his license plate. From the thousands submitted each year, theforty essays in this book were considered some of the best byadmissions officers at the nation’s top business schools. As thiscollection demonstrates, with creativity and effor

Practical ideas from the best brains in Business A sharp, jargon-free guide to the core curriculum of an MBAprogram, MBA in a Book shows how to master the big ideas ofbusiness and use them in a practical way to build and enhancecareer success. “In the world of business, ideas matter. . . . Some of the sharpestminds in the business world give perceptive looks into innovation,marketing, finance, strategy, and leadership, providingstimulating, useful perspectives on these core topics.” —Larry Bossidy, retired chairman and CEO of Honeywell Internationaland coauthor of Execution: The Discipline of Getting ThingsDone Great business thinkers such as Michael Porter, Rosabeth Kanter,and Bill George of Harvard Business School; Paul Argenti of theTuck School at Dartmouth; Jeffrey Sonnenfeld of Yale; Peter Sengeof MIT; the entrepreneur and inventor Dean Kamen; and the financialinnovator Michael Milken are just a few of the best brains inbusiness, providing the intellectual nourishment that will help youplay

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.

A hands-on, interactive guide to managing your monday andbuilding your financial future Many of the worksheets in this book are available online and can besaved, printed, and recalculated at any time. Go to:WSJ.com/BookTools Understanding your money, and getting it to work for you, is moreimportant today than it ever was, because you alone are responsiblefor every aspect of your financial life, from managing yourday-to-day living expenses to planning a college savings fund and,ultimately, retirement. The sooner you start taking control of yourfinancial life the better, and there’s no greater authority onfinancial matters than The Wall Street Journal . Thisworkbook takes the mystery out of personal finance and addressesevery topic you’ll need to master, from building a solid financialbase to growing your financial assets. Worksheets, charts, andstep-by-step instructions throughout help you do the math and workthrough the basics, making it quick and easy to organize your cashand eventually build wealth.

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to riseeffortlessly to the top, while others are stuck in the same jobyear after year? Have you ever felt you are falling short of yourcareer potential? Have you wondered if some of the things you do–ordon’t do–at work might be hamstringing your ambitions? In The 12Bad Habits That Hold Good People Back, James Waldroop and TimothyButler identify the twelve habits that–whether you are a retailclerk or a law firm partner, work in technology or in a factory–arealmost guaranteed to hold you back. The fact is, most people learn their greatest lessons not fromtheir successes but from their mistakes. The 12 Bad Habits ThatHold Good People Back offers the flip side to Stephen Covey’sapproach in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, zeroing in onthe most common behavior that can impede a career. Based on overtwenty years of research as business psychologists, the authorsclaim that the reasons people fail in their jobs are the sameeverywhere. Only a

Because starting a small business is not only a huge financialrisk but also a complete lifestyle change, anyone who wants to behis or her own boss needs to approach entrepreneurship thoughtfullyand with careful planning. That’s why there is no better resourcethan The Wall Street Journal Complete Small Business Guidebook, apractical guide for turning your entrepreneurial dreams into asuccessful company, from America’s most trusted source of financialadvice. It answers would-be business owners’ biggest question—howdo I fund my venture?—then explains the mechanics of building,running and growing a profitable business. You’ll learn: ? How to write a winning business plan ? Secrets to finding extra money during the lean years andbeyond ? Ways to keep your stress in check while maintaining a work/lifebalance ? How to manage your time, including taking vacations anddealing with sick days ? Strategies for keeping your business running smoothly—frominvesting in technology to hiring the right peop

In his bestselling first book, Getting Things Done ,veteran coach and management consultant David Allen presented hisbreakthrough methods to increase efficiency. Now "the personalproductivity guru" ( Fast Company ) shows readers how toincrease their ability to work better, not harder—every day. Basedon Allen’s highly popular e-newsletter, Ready for Anything offers readers 52 ways to immediately clear your head forcreativity, focus your attention, create structures that work, andtake action to get things moving. With wit, inspiration, and know-how, Allen shows readers how tomake things happen—with less effort and stress, and lots moreenergy, creativity, and effectiveness. Ready for Anything isthe perfect book for anyone wanting to work and live at his or hervery best.