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Good to Great - Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't
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by Jim Collins
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ISBN: 0066620996, Hardcover- $ BUY
Jim Collins asked the question, "Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?" In Good to Great, Collins concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets. Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They finally settled on 11--including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo--and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success.
Making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner. Good to Great is one of those books that managers and CEOs will be reading and rereading for years to come.
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Construction Contractors' Survival Guide
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by Thomas Schleifer
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ISBN: 0471513245, Hardcover- $ BUY
The turnover rate for companies in the construction industry is high. This book identifies the ten key elements of contractor failure and shows how to avoid them. Each element of failure is defined, illustrated by real examples, and ways are discussed to avoid or minimize the risks involved. The final chapter shows how to bring all these elements together to develop a positive and workable management strategy. This survival guide should prove invaluable to the 1.4 million individual construction-industry businesses in this country.
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The E-Myth Contractor : Why Most Contractors' Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It
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by Michael E. Gerber
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ISBN: 0060938463, Paperback- $ BUY
Despite the single letter at the heart of its hyphenated title, The E-Myth Contractor isn't another book about e-commerce. Instead, like previous entries in Michael E. Gerber's popular series, it focuses on a different e-word--entrepreneur--and the fact that most of us who go into business for ourselves are doomed to fail because we really don't understand business. This time, Gerber lays out the basics for starry-eyed newly self-employed contractors who know everything about their trade but precious little about being a boss. "I don't try to tell you how to do the work you do," he writes at the outset. "Rather, I share with you some profound insights into how great businesspeople think." In his easy-to-understand manner, Gerber explains the concept of Strategic Thinking and how it "will enable you to create a business that works apart from you instead of because of you." He addresses key topics like money, people, management and growth with an eye toward making related functions run seamlessly and effectively as we build our independent enterprises into true companies that have inherent value whether we stay involved or ultimately hand them off to eager buyers. Taken to heart, it could save more than a few worthy ventures as well as the people behind them. --Howard Rothman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Getting Things Done : The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
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by David Allen
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ISBN: 0142000280, Paperback- $ BUY
Productivity trainer and consultant David Allen offers a crash course in basic time management and personal organization. Allen's has great enthusiasm for the topic and his passion for systems comes across loud and clear. Allen's message is concise: Organize yourself to free your mind for greater pursuits. And this simple production makes that daunting task seem possible. It's a quick glimpse at setting goals, clearing clutter, and staying focused.
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Raving Fans - A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service
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by Kenneth H. Blanchard, Sheldon Bowles (Contributor)
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ISBN: 0688123163, Hardcover- $14.00 BUY
Kenneth Blanchard continues his trend of writing easy-to-read books with BIG ideas for making your business better. Raving Fans is a book of stories relating how fictional companies have created an environment of delivering awesome customer service. A guy that has just been put in a managment position requiring a turnaround goes on a fictional trip with his "angel" to visit businesses that have figured out their vision and their system to deliver customer service extraordinary. Based on three simple principles (Decide, Discover, Deliver), each company has created a group of Raving Fans (not just customers, but fans) who wouldn't consider shopping anywhere else for what one of these companies offers.
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The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Restoring the Character Ethic
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by Stephen R. Covey
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ISBN: 0671708635, Paperback- $11.20 BUY
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change was a groundbreaker when it was first published in 1990, and it continues to be a business bestseller with more than 10 million copies sold. Stephen Covey, an internationally respected leadership authority, realizes that true success encompasses a balance of personal and professional effectiveness, so this book is a manual for performing better in both arenas.
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How to Make Your Business Run Without You!
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by Susan M. Carter
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ISBN: 0967029104, Paperback- $38.00 BUY
How To Make Your Business Run Without You is a how-to resource for small business owners and entrepreneurs to effectively streamline operations that will pave the way for more business, bigger profits and a business that virtually runs itself. Through step-by-step chapters, Author Susan Carter advances readers from the high-risk potential of 'owning their own jobs' to the freedom and control of 'owning their own businesses.' A must read for any owner or self-employed professional who is eager to move from start-up status to ongoing success.
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Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround
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by Louis V. Gerstner
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ISBN: 0060523794, Hardcover- $17.61 BUY
Gerstner quarterbacked one of history's most dramatic corporate turnarounds. For those who follow business stories like football games, his tale of the rise, fall and rise of IBM might be the ultimate slow-motion replay. The book's opening section snappily reports Gerstner's decisions in his first 18 months on the job-the critical "sprint" that moved IBM away from the brink of destruction. The following sections describe the marathon fight to make IBM once again "a company that mattered."
One of Gerstner's first tasks was to redirect the company's attention to the outside world, where a marketplace was quickly changing and customers felt largely ignored. He succeeded mightily. Upon his retirement this year, IBM was undeniably "a company that mattered." Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? is a well-rendered self-portrait of a CEO who made spectacular change on the strength of personal leadership.
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First, Break All the Rules - What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently
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by Marcus Buckingham, Curt Coffman
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ISBN: 0684852861, Hardcover- $18.90 BUY
Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman expose the fallacies of standard management thinking in First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently. In seven chapters, the two consultants for the Gallup Organization debunk some dearly held notions about management, such as "treat people as you like to be treated"; "people are capable of almost anything"; and "a manager's role is diminishing in today's economy." "Great managers are revolutionaries," the authors write. "This book will take you inside the minds of these managers to explain why they have toppled conventional wisdom and reveal the new truths they have forged in its place."
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A New Brand World - Eight Principles for Achieving Brand Leadership in the Twenty-First Century
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by Scott Bedbury, Stephen Fenichell (Contributor)
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ISBN: 0670030767, Hardcover- $17.47 BUY
Bedbury, who headed advertising and marketing divisions for Nike and Starbucks during their phenomenal growth, coaches on establishing a memorable brand. Observing consumers overwhelmed by countless choices, he argues that now's the time to build a brand that evokes trust from its customers.
"Unless your brand stands for something, it stands for nothing," he declares, as he explains methods for companies big and small to articulate their essence and ethos to core customers, potential customers and employees. Bedbury elaborates his belief that "the brand is the sum total of everything a company does" with lively anecdotes from the experiences of Harley-Davidson, Microsoft and others. He calls for advertising and marketing that will inspire rather than merely inform (ie: "Just Do It").
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Inside The Magic Kingdom - 7 Keys to Disney's Success
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by Thomas K. Connellan
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ISBN: 1885167237, Hardcover- $13.00 BUY
Look in Mickey's Briefcase . . . Now, an outsider takes you inside the incredible Disney service culture and presents simple, powerful concepts in a fun, memorable way that just may change the way you conduct business. Based on hours of interviews and discussions with present and former Disney employees, Inside the Magic Kingdom discloses the secrets behind Disneys success . . . and explains why, of its more than 30 million guests each year, over two-thirds are repeat customers.
This upbeat, easy-to-read book illustrates clear, solid principles with examples that are well-known to Disney insiders but virtually unknown to outsiders until now. Outlines the seven keys to Disney's success. Now the principles that drive the culture and phenomenal success of Disney are disclosed in this fun, easy-to-read book. You will learn many insider secrets that will spell success if implemented in any business.
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McDonald's - Behind the Arches
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by John F. Love
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ISBN: 0553347594, Paperback- $11.05 BUY
McDonald's: it is the world's premier entrepreneurial success story, a company whose growth worldwide continues to be astonishing. In tough financial times, McDonald's proved that ingenuity, trial and error, and gut instinct were the keys to building a service business the entire world has come to admire. In the years since McDonald's: Behind The Arches was first published, McDonald's has been a trendsetter in advertising, focusing on different ethnic groups as well as the physically disabled.
McDonald's created McJobs, a program that employs both mentally challenged adults and senior citizens. And because its franchisees have their fingers on the pulse of the marketplace, McDonald's has evolved successfully with the health food revolution, launching dozens of new products and moving toward environmentally-safe packaging and recyclable goods. Inspiring, informative, and filled with behind the scenes stories, this remarkable saga offers an irresistible look inside a great American business success.
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The Myth of Excellence - Why Great Companies Never Try to Be the Best at Everything
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by Fred Crawford, Ryan Mathews
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ISBN: 0609608207, Hardcover- $19.25 BUY
Crawford is the managing director of the consumer products, retail, and distribution practice at the Cap Gemini Ernst and Young consultancy. Mathews is a futurist specializing in demographics and lifestyle analysis at FirstMatter, another consulting firm. To research purchasing behavior, they surveyed 5,000 consumers, but the responses they got surprised them and prompted their title's contrary proposition.
They developed a new model of "consumer relevancy." They explain in detail the importance of price, service, quality, access, and experience for the consumer. They then suggest that for companies to be successful they need to dominate on only one of these five factors. On a second of the five they should stand out or differentiate themselves from their competitors; and on the remaining three they need only to be at par with others in their industry. With dozens of examples, Crawford and Mathews demonstrate the validity of their premise.
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Differentiate or Die - Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition
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by Jack Trout, Steve Rivkin (Contributor)
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ISBN: 0471357642, Hardcover- $17.61 BUY
There are no two ways about it with Jack Trout. Either you've got a product or service that you can say is different, or you don't have much at all. In today's global marketplace and at its lightning-fast rate of change, there's no point in inventing and presenting a product only to sit back and hope that consumers everywhere will discover its greatness. It's not simply about what you or your product can do, it's about what you do differently from everyone else. Coauthors Trout and Steve Rivkin say it all in their no-holds-barred title, Differentiate or Die.
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Extraordinary Guarantees - Achieving Breakthrough Gains in Quality and Customer Satisfaction
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by Christopher Hart
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ISBN: 0814450644, Paperback- $24.95 BUY
Many leading firms have achieved both these results by offering extraordinary guarantees. You too can boost organizational performance and quality to new levels by following the practical advice offered in the important book, Extraordinary Guarantees. Guarantees were once considered nothing more than a marketing gimmick. But as more and more quality leaders have begun to offer ironclad pledges of total customer satisfaction, the guarantee is now being recognized as an unparalleled tool for gaining a major, often unbeatable, competitive edge-and a host of other benefits.
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Competing on Value
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by Mack Hanan, Peter Karp (Contributor)
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ISBN: 0814450369, Hardcover- $17.47 BUY
Presents a new approach to selling that emphasizes not competing on the basis of the best price, but the highest value--i.e. demonstrating to current and prospective customers that using your products or services will either cut their costs or improve their revenues. This book discusses VALUE. Value is not what you put INTO your products and services, it is what the customer GETS OUT. Three qualifiers of value are how much, how soon, and how sure--these are what the customer needs to know. In summary, this is highly recommended for every company that sells products and/or services.
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Practice What You Preach - What Managers Must Do to Create a High-Achievement Culture
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by David H. Maister
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ISBN: 0743211871, Hardcover- $18.20 BUY
Maister, a professional service consultant, surveyed 6,500 employees at 50 worldwide companies to evaluate the relationship between company financial performance and employee satisfaction and loyalty. He found a direct and dramatic correlation. Here, he offers detailed commentary from CEOs, managers and staffers, and analysis of the survey results. Bosses in all kinds of companies will benefit from his solid advice, which should be required reading for executives and upper level managers.
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Leadership
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by Rudolph W. Giuliani, Ken Kurson
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ISBN: 0786868414, Hardcover- $16.35 BUY
This highly anticipated book from New York's once controversial, now beloved former mayor opens with a gripping account of Giuliani's immediate reaction to the September 11 attacks, including a narrow escape from the original crisis command headquarters, and closes with the efforts to address the aftermath during his remaining four months in office. But, he argues, he did not suddenly become a great leader on September 11, and "had been doing [my] best to take on challenges my whole career."
Throughout, he displays the hands-on management that marked his administration, including his willingness to respond swiftly and in person to crises, to prove that he could be relied on when the city needed him most. While some critics found his style too aggressive, he has an effective counterargument: "Before September 11, there were those who said we were being overly concerned [about security]," he observes. "We didn't hear that afterwards..."
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Why We Buy - The Science of Shopping
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by Paco Underhill
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ISBN: 0684849143, Paperback- $9.75 BUY
In an effort to determine why people buy, Paco Underhill and his band of retail researchers have camped out in stores over the course of 20 years, dedicating their lives to the "science of shopping." Armed with an array of video equipment, store maps, and customer-profile sheets, Underhill and his consulting firm, Envirosell, have observed over 900 aspects of interaction between shopper and store. They've discovered that men who take jeans into fitting rooms are more likely to buy than females (65 percent vs. 25 percent).
They've learned how the "butt-brush factor" (bumped from behind, shoppers become irritated and move elsewhere) makes women avoid narrow aisles. They've quantified the importance of shopping baskets; contact between employees and shoppers; the "transition zone" (the area just inside the store's entrance); and "circulation patterns" (how shoppers move throughout a store). And they've explored the relationship between a customer's amenability and profitability, learning how good stores capitalize on a shopper's unspoken inclinations and desires.
Underhill, whose clients include McDonald's, Starbucks, Est?Lauder, and Blockbuster, stocks Why We Buy with a wealth of retail insights, showing how men are beginning to shop like women, and how women have changed the way supermarkets are laid out. He also looks to the future, projecting massive retail opportunities with an aging baby-boom population and predicting how online retailing will affect shopping malls. This lighthearted look at shopping is highly recommended to anyone who buys or sells.
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Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal With Change in Your Work and in Your Life
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by Spencer Johnson, Kenneth H. Blanchard
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ISBN: 0399144463, Paperback- $12.97 BUY
Change can be a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. The message of Who Moved My Cheese? is that all can come to see it as a blessing, if they understand the nature of cheese and the role it plays in their lives. Who Moved My Cheese? is a parable that takes place in a maze. Four beings live in that maze: Sniff and Scurry are mice--nonanalytical and nonjudgmental, they just want cheese and are willing to do whatever it takes to get it. Hem and Haw are "littlepeople," mouse-size humans who have an entirely different relationship with cheese. It's not just sustenance to them; it's their self-image.
Their lives and belief systems are built around the cheese they've found. Most of us reading the story will see the cheese as something related to our livelihoods--our jobs, our career paths, the industries we work in--although it can stand for anything, from health to relationships. The point of the story is that we have to be alert to changes in the cheese, and be prepared to go running off in search of new sources of cheese when the cheese we have runs out.
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Principle-Centered Leadership
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by Stephen R. Covey
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ISBN: 0671792806, Paperback- $9.75 BUY
Covey, the author of the New York Times number 1 bestseller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has struck a chord with millions of readers with his insights into human nature and values. Now he tells them how to apply his theories to everyday life, focusing primarily on the world of business.
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The Power Principle - Influence With Honor
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by Blaine Lee, Stephen R. Covey
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ISBN: 0684846160, Paperback- $9.75 BUY
This self-help book reflects Lee's views on various types of power and how to develop principle-centered power in your life, which he defines as power that inspires loyalty and devotion, transcending time and place. Such power is based on trust and respect and survives even after one dies. Lee describes three types of power: coercive, which relies on the premise of control and uses fear as its instrument; utility, which is based on fairness, the exchange of what you can do for me with what I can do for you; and principle-centered, which is based on what you can do with others. The author tells us that his purpose in writing this book is to encourage us in our work with people, and he recommends that we choose principle-centered power as the primary way to influence others in our key relationships. Such power requires us to grow, to challenge our assumptions, and often to change our whole orientation in life.
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The Richest Man in Babylon
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by George S. Clason
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ISBN: 0451205367, Paperback- $6.99 BUY
I often give this book out as a gift whenever a person younger than me asks for my advice on money. I always present this book to them saying "if you read it and do as it says, it will work magic." It really contains excellent, time tested advice, and would make a good gift for someone in their early 20s who is on their own for the first time, and struggling.
The book is a series of parables about money written in the 1920s by George Clason. They were written as individual essays of a few thousand words, but the theme throughout them is consistent -- save 10% of your money, give 10% away, use 10% to reduce your debt load, and live on the remaining 70%.
The stories in the book are entertaining; they are reminiscent of some of the parables in the Bible, such as the Prodigal Son or the story of the Workers in the Vineyard. I think this is intentional on the part of the author; certainly readers in the 1920s had an appreciation for "old fashioned stories with a moral" that people today seem to have lost. I enjoy the book greatly, though, and any thoughtful person who reads the book should find it interesting, especially if they are trying to get their finances in order.
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The Wealthy Barber, Updated 3rd Edition
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by David Chilton
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ISBN: 0761513116, Paperback- $10.78 BUY
In this revised and expanded edition of one of the biggest-selling financial-planning books ever, David Chilton, president of Financial Awareness Corporation, shows readers how to achieve the financial independence they've always dreamed of. With the help of his fictional barber, Roy, and a large dose of humor, Chilton encourages readers to take control of their financial future and build wealth slowly, steadily, and with sure success.
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Think and Grow Rich
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by Napoleon Hill
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ISBN: 0449214923, Paperback- $7.19 BUY
Is it true that by simply changing your thoughts you can completely change what you have in life? How could it be that simple? It is, but first you have to believe.
Most people want to see something happen, then believe in it. To be succesful you have to do the opposite. Believe in it first, then you will see it. That's is one of the key messages in this book written almost 70 years ago.... It reads like it was written yesterday.
The title says it all. "Think and Grow Rich", but it is NOT just a book about making money. I am certain many people from all walks of life could benefit from this work, regardless of their opinion of money and riches. The message is clear: You may have whatever you want in life... if you can discover the secret within its pages.
I first read this book when I was a teenager. I am not sure it made much of an impression on me. I picked it up recently and I can't believe how much it has changed. Of course, that's nonsense. The book is the same, only my mind is now ready to see what the secret is...
Get this book and see if you can unlock the Secret to finding 'riches' for yourself.
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Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
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by Chip Heath, Dan Heath
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ISBN: 0385528752, Hardcover- $14.49 BUY
The Heath brothers (coauthors of Made to Stick) address motivating employees, family members, and ourselves in their analysis of why we too often fear change. Change is not inherently frightening, but our ability to alter our habits can be complicated by the disjunction between our rational and irrational minds: the self that wants to be swimsuit-season ready and the self that acquiesces to another slice of cake anyway. The trick is to find the balance between our powerful drives and our reason. The authors' lessons are backed up by anecdotes that deal with such things as new methods used to reform abusive parents, the revitalization of a dying South Dakota town, and the rebranding of megastore Target. Through these lively examples, the Heaths speak energetically and encouragingly on how to modify our behaviors and businesses. This clever discussion is an entertaining and educational must-read for executives and for ordinary citizens looking to get out of a rut. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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It's Okay to Be the Boss: The Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming the Manager Your Employees Need
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by Bruce Tulgan
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ISBN: 0061121363, Hardcover- $16.31 BUY
"Hands-on management advice . . . excellent." -- Booklist
"Small business owners . . . will find [Tulgan’s] advice valuable." -- BusinessWeek SmallBiz
An insightful work on how to manage people as individuals and achieve strong results. Should be required reading for anyone who manages other people. -- Ted Fowler, President and CEO, Golden Corral Corporation
Anyone with the desire to become a great boss will find here the inspiration, motivation, and empowerment not only to succeed but also to excel. Bruce Tulgan is a great teacher and coach with a positive and disciplined approach that builds the confidence and courage to take charge. Everyone benefits-boss, manager, and employee-but only if the boss knows it's okay to be the boss. -- John Edward Sexton, President, New York University
Bruce Tulgan has written an incredibly important book. As a fast growing company we are continually asking people to take on new management challenges. This is the only book I've found that spells out what it means to be a manager and how to do it. -- Chris Glowacki, President, Plum TV
Bruce Tulgan makes it safe again to be a hands-on manager. -- Mike Archer, President and COO, T.G.I. Friday's USA
Hands on management advice . . . an excellent book. -- Peter Cappelli, George W. Taylor Professor of Management, The Wharton School
If you want to be successful, I strongly recommend you do it the "Tulgan way." -- General Dennis J. Reimer (Ret.), Chief of Staff, United States Army (1995-1999)
Leaders and managers will find Tulgan's ideas, models and insights extremely helpful in adjusting their supervisory practices to a workforce destined to be dominated by post Baby-Boomer generations. -- John B. Coduri, National Executive Director/CEO, Association of YMCA Professionals
Sometimes we forget that the simplest concepts are the most difficult to execute. Bruce presents great tools for the seasoned executive and the newest "boss" in the organization! -- William S. Thompson, CEO, PIMCO
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The Leadership Challenge
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by James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner
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ISBN: 0787984922, Paperback- $14.58 BUY
An inspirational and practical handbook, this expanded revision of a bestselling manual originally published in 1987 offers sound advice to corporate leaders and entrepreneurs, to managers and employees and to aspiring leaders in retail, manufacturing, government, community, church and school settings. Drawing on interviews and a questionnaire survey of more than 3000 leaders, the authors identify five fundamental practices of exemplary leadership: challenge the status quo; inspire a shared vision; enable others to act; model the way forward by setting an example; tap individuals' inner drives by linking rewards and performance. Kouzes, chairman and CEO of TPG/Learning Systems, and Posner, managing partner of Santa Clara University's Executive Development Center in California, write insightful, down-to-earth, jargon-free prose. This new edition has been substantially updated to reflect the challenges of shrinking work forces, rising cynicism and expanded telecommunications. An appendix includes the author's Leadership Practices Inventory, a tool for assessing leadership behavior. 75,000 first printing; Executive Program Book Club main selection; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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