Showing results by publisher "Berrett-Koehler Publishers" in Business Development & Entrepreneurship

Traditionally, an entrepreneur develops a detailed plan, finds money to fund it, and then pursues it to its conclusion. But conditions can change drastically at any point - you can end up locked into a process based on now-obsolete assumptions. The lean startup is all about agility and flexibility. Its mantra is "build, measure, learn": create small, experimental initiatives, get real-world feedback on them quickly, and use that data to identify what works and discard what doesn't. And then test some more.

Based on over 10 years working with small businesses, Kassan says the landscape of investment capital is far larger and more diverse than many would have you believe. Venture capitalists looking for a tenfold return on their investment are a tiny minority, and many investors are just as mission-driven as entrepreneurs. Kassan takes listeners through a six-step process to create a customized capital-raising plan, one that inspires them, excites them, and is in complete agreement with their business, their values, and their lives.

Entrepreneurial ventures often fail in the developing world because of the lack of something taken for granted in the developed world: trust. Over centuries the developed world has built up customs and institutions like enforceable contracts. This is not the case in the developing world. Using vivid examples from Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and elsewhere, scholar and entrepreneur Tarun Khanna shows how entrepreneurs can build on existing customs and practices instead of trying to push against them.

Join a Growing Movement: Learn how you can join a global movement to redefine success in business, led by well-known icons like Patagonia and Ben & Jerry's, disruptive upstarts like Warby Parker and Etsy, and recently covered by The New York Times, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Inc., and Entrepreneur.

Faking it till you make it doesn't work - at least, not long enough to build a sustainable business. This book by a CEO and public relations expert shows how authentic leadership eliminates the need for shortcuts that sabotage success.

Building a Successful Social Venture integrates leaning from the experience of hundreds of social enterprises that have participated in GSBI accelerator programs to formalize knowledge about what works. It provides rich case studies from social ventures to illustrate practice-based theories that combine the acumen of Silicon Valley executives with the intimate on-the-ground insights of social entrepreneurs working globally to eradicate poverty. 

How can organizations integrate sustainable design into their overarching operations and align it with profitability and corporate strategy? The Sustainability Scorecard is the first scientifically rooted, data-driven methodology for creating inherently sustainable and profitable products and processes. By redesigning with sustainability as a key design element, firms open themselves to unexpected solutions, leapfrog innovations, and sources of value that simply don’t occur when sustainability is leveraged purely as a risk-avoidance and compliance measure.

Leadership that connects people and centers compassion and trust instead of competition and disconnection is needed more than ever before. There are plenty of manuals that show people how to manage organizations, but what is really needed in this moment is a book that shows us how to include kindness and inspiration within leadership. Leading with Joy promotes a courageous and compassionate approach to leadership that can sustain purposeful action and social change. 

The members of a massive and growing customer group are highly engaged with one subject: changing their own behavior to be healthier, wealthier, and wiser. Unlike the average consumer, these people are eager and excited to connect with businesses - if they'll help them make these very difficult changes. Nelson calls these people "transformational consumers".

This radical and rigorous rethinking of the traditional MBA program combines solid business principles with a commitment to environmental and social justice.

Organizations need to offer customers breakthrough products, services, and solutions to effectively compete in today’s innovation-hungry economy. The challenge is customers often don’t know precisely what they want. As Henry Ford is reputed to have said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

Americans agree on very little these days, but red state conservatives and blue state progressives can agree on one critical point: Wall Street can no longer be trusted. Yet most of us continue to invest our money in the stocks and bonds of Fortune 500 companies, transferring our capital far from where we live and work. Local investing expert Michael Shuman offers another alternative.

From years of research and practical experience as a consultant, Jeff DeGraff has learned that when it comes to any innovation initiative, disharmony is crucial. We innovate when we disrupt, and we first have to disrupt each other.

For small organizations, public relations may feel like a luxury to be indulged in at some point in the distant future. Author Jennifer Farmer argues you don't need a multi-million dollar budget to have a successful public relations program.

"It's a marathon, not a sprint." We hear this truism all the time, but in business there's constant pressure to go all out and never let up. Leaders are driven to set stretch targets, relentlessly reduce costs, launch new initiatives, expand into new markets, hire more people, develop more capabilities, and execute flawlessly. It all sounds great - until the company overextends itself and collapses like a badly trained racehorse in the home stretch.

Allan Cohen and Pramodita Sharma, scholars with deep professional and personal roots in family businesses, draw on extensive global research to reveal the secrets of enterprising families, using examples of both firms that flourished and those that failed. They describe the practices that characterize entrepreneurial individuals, families, and organizations and offer detailed advice on how to develop and implement those practices.

Moatti - a technologist and industry insider - says these kinds of mobile apps adhere to three universal principles: They must have a simple design, enable the user to personalize them, and be continually improved by their makers through relentless attention to analytics. She uses examples from a host of great mobile app creators - Facebook, Yelp, Lyft, Tinder, Aerbnb, Trulia, WhatsApp, and more - to demonstrate how it's done.

Using numerous examples, Robinson and Schroeder argue that the employees who interact directly with your customers, make your products, and provide your services are in the best position to see where problems exist and what improvements and new offerings would have the most impact.

Karen Phelan is sorry. She really is. She tried to do business by the numbers-the management consultant way- developing measures, optimizing processes, and quantifying performance. The only problem is that businesses are run by people. And people can't be plugged into formulas or summed up in scorecards.

A noted economist and human capital expert, together with a multidisciplinary team, show that we've entered a new era in which good corporate behavior is no longer optional, it's the new imperative for success-and they have the data to prove it. Their Good Company Index ranking of the Fortune 100 takes the belief in the bottom-line benefits of good behavior out of the realm of faith and into the realm of facts.