A compelling vision. Bold leadership. Decisive action.Unfortunately, these prerequisites of success are almost always theingredients of failure, too. In fact, most managers seeking tomaximize their chances for glory are often unwittingly settingthemselves up for ruin. The sad truth is that most companies haveleft their futures almost entirely to chance, and don’t evenrealize it. The reason? Managers feel they must make choices withfar-reaching consequences today, but must base those choices onassumptions about a future they cannot predict. It is thiscollision between commitment and uncertainty that creates THESTRATEGY PARADOX. This paradox sets up a ubiquitous but little-understood tradeoff.Because managers feel they must base their strategies onassumptions about an unknown future, the more ambitious of themhope their guesses will be right – or that they can somehow adaptto the turbulence that will arise. In fact, only a small number oflucky daredevils prosper, while many more unfortunate, bu

"[A]...breakthrough for the genre....Peters is not onlythe father of the postmodern corporation...he may well haveproduced the first piece of postmodern management literature."--LosAngeles Times "No matter where you are in your career, this book is a mustread. The younger your thinking the more you'll get out ofit." --The Cleveland Plain Dealer "A manual for businesses that want to survive and thrive in aworld continually undergoing change." --St. PetersburgTimes "Tom Peters has done it again."--J.W. Marriot, Jr., CEO, MarriotInternational, Inc. "[Peters] yields potent insights...his keen attention to thehuman element in organizational growth and change shinesthrough...No cutting-edge manager can afford to ignoreit."--Publishers Weekly -- Review

MAKE RICK PITINO YOUR PERSONAL COACH AND ACHIEVE MORE THAN YOUEVER THOUGHT POSSIBLE. For Rick Pitino, the first coach to bring teams from threedifferent schools to the Final Four, success isn’t aboutshortcuts. Pitino’s secret–and the reason he has become botha great coach and one of the most sought-after motivationalspeakers in the nation–is his strategy of overachievement. Now, in Success Is a Choice, he takes the same proven methods thathave earned him and his teams legendary status and gives you aten-step plan of attack that will help you become a winner atanything you set your mind to:

The path to your professional success starts with a criticallook in the mirror. If you read nothing else on managing yourself, read these 10articles. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Reviewarticles to select the most important ones to help you maximizeyourself. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself will inspire youto: - Stay engaged throughout your 50+-year work life - Tap into your deepest values - Solicit candid feedback - Replenish physical and mental energy - Balance work, home, community, and self - Spread positive energy throughout your organization - Rebound from tough times - Decrease distractibility and frenzy - Delegate and develop employees' initiative

The authors present important research showing thatcorporatist institutions generate smaller non-competitive wagedifferentials than a decentralized system. A theoreticalexplanation is developed based on the hold-up problem ininvestments, arguing that corporatist institutions solve theproblem by specifying ex ante nominal contracts that remove thenecessity of ex post bargaining over the surplus of an employmentrelationship. The authors also argue that such institutions allowsufficient flexibility to accommodate aggregate shocks, even moreso than decentralized systems. Corporatism or Competition? is thefirst book to bring together the mass of research on comparativewage differences, wage movements and employment behaviour indifferent countries with different institutional frameworks, in anorganized and coherent fashion.

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

Just as Watergate was the defining political story of its time,so Enron is the biggest business story of our time. And just as All the President’s Men was the one Watergate book that gavereaders the full story, with all the drama and nuance, TheSmartest Guys in the Room is the one book you have to read tounderstand this amazing business saga.

Michael Goldhaber, writing in Wired, said, "If there isnothing very special about your work, no matter how hard you applyyourself you won't get noticed and that increasingly means youwon't get paid much either. In times past you could be obscure yetsecure -- now that's much harder." Again: the white collar job as now configured is doomed. Soon.("Downsizing" in the nineties will look like small change.) Sowhat's the trick? There's only one: distinction. Or as we call it,turning yourself into a brand . . . Brand You. A brand is nothing more than a sign of distinction. Right? Nike.Starbucks. Martha Stewart. The point (again): that's not the waywe've thought about white collar workers--ourselves--over the pastcentury. The "bureaucrat" on the finance staff is de factofaceless, plugging away, passing papers. But now, in our view, she is born again, transformed frombureaucrat to the new star. She works in a professional servicefirm and works on projects that she'll be able to brag about yearsfrom now. I call

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:

The bestselling guide to seizing opportunity in the workplace,from the woman at the pinnacle of the Hearst magazine empire Every woman dreams of having a wise, funny mentor who understandsthe challenges she faces. Now, Cathie Black—one of Forbes's "100Most Powerful Women" and Fortune's "50 Most Powerful Women inBusiness"—offers invaluable lessons that will help you land thejob, promotion, or project you're vying for. You'll find out how tohandle interviews, which rules to break, and why you should makeyour life a grudge-free zone. Filled with surprisingly candid,personal stories and advice, this is the only career guide you'llever need.

In Take on the Street , Arthur Levitt--Chairman of theSecurities and Exchange Commission for eight years under PresidentClinton--provides the best kind of insider information: the kindthat can help honest, small investors protect themselves from thedeliberately confusing ways of Wall Street. At a time when investor confidence in Wall Street and corporateAmerica is at an historic low, when many are seriously questioningwhether or not they should continue to invest, Levitt offers thebenefits of his own experience, both on Wall Street and as itschief regulator. His straight talk about the ways of stockbrokers(they are salesmen, plain and simple), corporate financialstatements (the truth is often hidden), mutual fund managers(remember who they really work for), and other aspects of thebusiness will help to arm everyone with the tools they need toprotect—and enhance—their financial future.

Named one of the Best Business Books of 1997 by BusinessWeek , Inside Intel is the gripping business saga of acompany that rose to dominance through technological innovation,and maintained its leadership against competitors throughaggressive marketing, tough business tactics, and liberal use oflegal firepower. In his in-depth portrait of Intel, the firsthistory/expose of the company, Financial Times columnist Tim Jackson reveals that: * Intel's corporate culture isdeterminedly secretive and authoritarian. * The company retains itsown force of private investigators to prevent its employees fromgoing astray. * Intel routinely uses the threat of lawsuits againstworkers and rivals. At the center of this story is AndyGrove , Intel's high-profile CEO and chairman, once a pennilessimmigrant who waited tables to put himself through college. It isGrove who has made the unpopular decisions which have kept Intel atthe top of the chip market. Exhaustively researched from courtrecords, unpublished documents,

Business revolves around making decisions, often riskydecisions, usually with incomplete information and too often inless time than we need. Executives at every level, in everyindustry, are confronted with information overload, less leeway formistakes, and a business environment that changes rapidly. In lightof this increased pressure and volatility, the old-fashioned waysof making decisions–depending on intuition, common sense, andspecialized expertise–are simply no longer sufficient. Distillingover thirty years of groundbreaking research, WinningDecisions , written by two seasoned business advisers and worldleaders in behavioral decision studies, is a comprehensive,one-of-a-kind guide to the proven methods of making criticalbusiness decisions confidently, quickly–and correctly. Decision-making is a business skill which managers often take forgranted in themselves and others–but it's not as easy as some mightthink. The authors, whose expertise has been sought out by over ahundred companies, includi

Tradition says there are three ways to grow a company’sprofits: Fire up the sales team with empty promises, cut costs anddownsize, or cook the books. But what if there’s a better way—a waythat nine amazingly profitable and well-run companies are alreadyembracing? Jason Jennings and his research team screened more than100,000 Amer?ican companies to find nine that rarely end up onmagazine covers, yet have increased revenues and profits by tenpercent or more for ten consecutive years. Then they interviewedthe leaders, workers, and customers of these quiet super?stars tofind the secrets of their astoundingly consistent and profitablegrowth. What they have in common is a culture—a community—based on ashockingly simple precept: Think big, but act small. It works forretailers like PETCO, Cabela’s, and O’Reilly Automotive,manufacturers like Medline Industries, service compa?nies likeSonic Drive-In, private educational companies like Strayer,industrial giants like Koch Enterprises, a

Most of us think of leaders as courageous risk takers,orchestrators of major events-in a word, heroes. Yet while suchfigures are inspiring and admirable, Harvard Business SchoolProfessor Joseph Badaracco argues that their larger-than-lifeaccomplishments are simply not what makes the world work. Whatdoes, he says, is the sum of millions of small yet consequentialdecisions that men and women working far from the limelight makeevery day: how a line worker for a pharmaceutical company respondswhen he discovers a defect in a product's safety seal; how amanager deals with a valued employee suspected of stealing; how atrader handles a transaction error that will cost a clientmoney.Badaracco calls them "quiet leaders"-people who chooseresponsible, behind-the-scenes action over public heroism toresolve tough leadership challenges. These individuals don't fitthe stereotype of the bold and gutsy leader, and they don't wantto. What they want is to do the "right thing" for theirorganizations, their coworkers, and t

Too many companies are managed not by leaders, but by mere roleplayers and faceless bureaucrats. What does it take to be a realleader—one who is confident in who they are and what they stand forand who truly inspires people to achieve extraordinaryresults? In this lively and practical book, Goffee and Jones draw fromextensive research to reveal how to hone and deploy one’s uniqueleadership assets while managing the inherent tensions at the heartof successful leadership. Why Should Anyone Be Led By You? will forever change how we view,develop and practice the art of leadership, wherever we live andwork.

How anyone can be more effective with less effort by learninghow to identify and leverage the 80/20 principle--the well-known,unpublicized secret that 80 percent of all our results in businessand in life stem from a mere 20 percent of our efforts. The 80/20 principle is one of the great secrets of highlyeffective people and organizations. Did you know, for example, that 20 percent of customers accountfor 80 percent of revenues? That 20 percent of our time accountsfor 80 percent of the work we accomplish? The 80/20 Principle showshow we can achieve much more with much less effort, time, andresources, simply by identifying and focusing our efforts on the 20percent that really counts. Although the 80/20 principle has longinfluenced today's business world, author Richard Koch reveals howthe principle works and shows how we can use it in a systematic andpractical way to vastly increase our effectiveness, and improve ourcareers and our companies. The unspoken corollary to the 80/20 princip

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

“I’ve got the name for our publishing operation. We just saidwe were going to publish a few books on the side at random. Let’scall it Random House.” So recounts Bennett Cerf in this wonderfullyamusing memoir of the making of a great publishing house. Anincomparable raconteur, possessed of an irrepressible wit and anabiding love of books and authors, Cerf brilliantly evokes theheady days of Random House’s first decades. Part of the vanguard of young New York publishers whorevolutionized the book business in the 1920s and ’30s, Cerf helpedusher in publishing’s golden age. Cerf was a true personality,whose other pursuits (columnist, anthologist, author, lecturer,radio host, collector of jokes and anecdotes, perennial judge ofthe Miss America pageant, and panelist on What’s My Line? )helped shape his reputation as a man of boundless energy andenthusiasm and brought unprecedented attention to his company andto his authors. At once a rare behind-the-scenes account of bookpublishing and a fascinat

"As a manager, my purpose is to serve the greater goodby bringing people and resources together to create value that nosingle individual can create alone..." So begins the MBA Oath, conceived in early 2009 byMax Anderson, Peter Escher, and a team of Harvard Business Schoolstudents. They saw that in the wake of the financial crisis, theMadoff scandal, and other headlines, MBAs were being vilified.People were angry because business leaders, many of whom were MBAs,seemed not to care about anything beyond their own privateinterests. Many began to question the worth of business schools andthe MBA degree. The oath quickly spread beyond Harvard, becoming a worldwidemovement for a new generation of leaders who care about society aswell as the bottom line. Thousands of graduating MBAs have nowpledged to conduct themselves with honesty and integrity, just asmedical students swear by the Hippocratic oath before they canpractice. This book is the manifesto for the movement. It provides not only astrong case for wh

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.

The little black book of marketing is here. Marketing guru Peter Fisk's inspirational manual of marketing shows you how to inject marketing genius into your business to stand out from the crowd and deliver exceptional results. Marketing Genius is about achieving genius in your business and its markets, through your everyday decisions and actions. It combines the deep intelligence and radical creativity required to make sense of, and stand out in today's markets. It applies the genius of Einstein and Picasso to the challenges of marketing, brands and innovation, to deliver exceptional impact in the market and on the bottom line. Marketers need new ways of thinking and more radical creativity. Here you will learn from some of the world's most innovative brands and marketers from Alessi to Zara, Jones Soda to Jet Blue, Google to Innocent. Peter Fisk is a highly experienced marketer. He spent many years working for the likes of British Airways and American Express, Coca Cola and Microsoft. He was the CEO of

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.