Showing results by publisher "Recorded Books" in Business & Careers

Ever wonder how a startup comes together - the people, places, skills, failures, and hustle that make it a real business? This is the story of David and David, two entrepreneurs with lots of energy and less of a roadmap than you might think. In 1993, David Cohen and David Brown founded their first company, Pinpoint Technologies, which grew from a basement startup to a successful multinational company with $50 million in annual sales and over 250 employees.

Understand the dynamics of all different types of teams. Beyond Team Building: How to Build High Performing Teams and the Culture to Support Them represents the latest in thinking about creating effective teams. The authors present a new "Five C" framework that focuses on the core aspects of team building. The book helps the listener assess how his/her team is performing on each of the 5Cs - context, composition, competencies, change, and collaborative leadership - and discusses options concerning how to improve team performance along each of these dimensions.

With their distinctive greeting at the homes across the country, sales ladies brought door-to-door sales of makeup, perfume, and other products to American women beginning in 1886. Working for the company enabled women to earn money on the side and even become financially independent in a respectable profession. Ding Dong! Avon Calling! is the story of women and entrepreneurship, and of an innovative corporation largely managed by men that empowered women to exploit networks of other women and their community for profit.

In a series of brief and personal essays, Why We Revolt describes what is wrong with industrial healthcare, how it has corrupted its mission, and how it has stopped caring. Montori rescues the language of patient care to propose a revolution of compassion and solidarity, of unhurried conversations, and of careful and kind care.

From the best-selling coauthor of the business classic The Wisdom of Teams comes an all-new exploration of the modern workplace, and how leaders and managers must embrace it for success. Katzenbach and Khan examine how two distinct factions together form the bigger picture for how organizations actually work: the more defined "formal" organization of a company - the management structure, performance metrics, and processes - and the "informal" - the culture, social networks, and ad hoc communities that spring up naturally....

You subscribe to the basic idea that business can do more than make money, but you're not sure how to act on that conviction or how to share it with the rest of your organization. The Conscious Capitalism Field Guide - the authoritative follow-up to the best-selling book Conscious Capitalism, by John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, and leadership expert Raj Sisodia - gives you the tools for sharing and implementing the principles of higher purpose and conscious business throughout your organization.

When Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1558, England was the laughing stock of Europe. Economic, political, and religious calamities were numerous, and Elizabeth endured constant criticism. But by the end of her 45-year reign, England was one of the world's mightiest nations. Axelrod uses the legendary Queen's life as a model for modern leadership, and a powerful example of how one person can make an extraordinary difference. Elizabeth I CEO is an indispensable guide for today's business managers and leaders. It is also an inspiring listen for those taking their first steps up the corporate ladder, or those who simply love history. Nelson Runger's narration gives a renewed energy to Elizabeth's lessons, which are as relevant today as they were four centuries ago.

Many professionals aspire to work for a start-up. Yes, start-ups look magical, but they can also be chaotic and inaccessible. Many books are written for those who aspire to be founders, but a company only has one or two of those. What's needed are hundreds of employees to do the day-to-day work. This practical, step-by-step guide provides an insider's analysis of various start-up roles and responsibilities, including product development, marketing, growth strategy, and sales, to help you figure out if you want to join a start-up and what to expect if you do.

While obvious on the surface, understanding the subtle difference between a life journey to "somewhere" and a life journey to "somewhere you desire to be" will determine how satisfied you are with your life and the decisions you make along the way. Jackson and Grimes share a novel approach to this subject. In this book, they show you that it is really how we make important decisions that will determine how happy we are.

Whether you're rolling out a new product from a city-view office or rolling up your sleeves to deliver a social service in the field, learning why and how to embrace failure can help you do better faster. Smart leaders, entrepreneurs, and change agents design their innovation projects with a key idea in mind: ensure that every failure is maximally useful. In Fail Better, Anjali Sastry and Kara Penn show how to create the conditions, culture, and habits to systematically, ruthlessly, and quickly figure out what works in three steps.

In a sweeping narrative that takes listeners from the production of Stone Age axes, to the invention of chocolate chip cookies, to the experience of Burning Man, Philip Auerswald argues that the key driver of human history is the advance of code. At each major stage in the advance of code over the span of centuries, shifts in the structure of society have challenged human beings to reinvent not only how we work, but who we are. We are at one of those stages now.

The Risk-Driven Business Model will help you manage risk better by showing how the key choices you make in designing your business models either increase or reduce two characteristic types of risk - information risk, when you make decisions without enough information, and incentive-alignment risk, when decision makers' incentives are at odds with the broader goals of the company. Leaders who understand how the structure of their business model affects risk have the power to create wealth, revolutionize industries, and shape a better world.

Go ahead, be skeptical about big data. The author was - at first. When the term "big data" first came on the scene, best-selling author Tom Davenport ( Competing on Analytics, Analytics at Work) thought it was just another example of technology hype. But his research in the years that followed changed his mind. Now, in clear, conversational language, Davenport explains what big data means - and why everyone in business needs to know about it.

This updated edition with brand-new material reveals ingenious ways to solve problems using techniques from the greatest minds in history, like Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, and the brains at Google. Featuring new chapters on the latest breakthroughs in neuroscience and thought-process research, How to Think Like Einstein offers astonishing solutions to everyday challenges - such as business, breaking creative blocks, parenting, and improving relationships.

Drawing on deeply revealing conversations with powerful and dynamic women, input from researchers and relationship experts, and her own wealth of experience, Mika helps women pinpoint their individual definition of success. She advises her listeners to define the "professional value" that encompasses their worth in the workplace, and the "inner value" made up of their core beliefs and goals.

The latest edition of this Wall Street Journal best-seller offers 26 simple strategies - from A to Z - that managers can use to address their employees' real concerns and keep them engaged. The fifth edition has been revised and updated throughout and includes many more international examples, reflecting the fact that Love 'Em or Lose 'Em is available in 22 languages, from Albanian and Arabic to Thai and Turkish. Its message is truly one that spans continents and cultures.

In this vital guide, Beckwith discusses the four keys necessary for successful marketing in the service industry - what he calls the "invisible touch". With real-life examples, he explains strategies for setting the correct price, creating a recognized brand, designing appealing packaging, and building lasting relationships with clients.

About 97 percent of a rocket's fuel is used in the first three feet of its launch. The same is true in launching a new business, product, or service. Those first few steps are absolutely critical. Scott Duffy has developed a practical approach for turning your big idea into a thriving venture by focusing on the crucial period immediately before, during, and after opening your doors (literally or online). His approach is based on his experiences working with top entrepreneurs like Tony Robbins and Richard Branson, who taught him how to balance the two key sides of entrepreneurship.

When Orange County, Florida, began its Literacy Project in 1994, Kyle Gonzalez set out to instill the lifelong joy of reading into her at-risk middle school students. She and Janet Allen delved into research and studied classroom approaches. As they reflected on the results, they discovered effective strategies that turn nonreaders into the most avid bookworms.

A nationally recognized business etiquette specialist, Professor Robert A. Shutt of Binghamton University reviews the strategies, guidelines, and appropriate behavior that can help people excel in a variety of professional environments. During the course of these lectures, Professor Shutt examines etiquette in situations such as the business dinner and the job interview. He shows how etiquette functions in the workplace and discusses such features as electronic-communications and sales etiquette.