Showing results by publisher "Ascent Audio" in Business Development & Entrepreneurship

Whether you're the new kid in a cubicle, the boss in the executive suite, or self-employed, you have huge potential for greater productivity and fulfillment. Even very high performers in excellent organizations - large and small, for profit and nonprofit - report that 30 to 40 percent of their talent is untapped. Imagine what lies waiting for you.

Through her work with a wide range of organizations from small companies to professional service providers to Fortune 500 companies, Linda Popky has developed Dynamic Market Leverage™, an approach to help cut through the clutter, stand out, and effectively build business. What's needed is a timeless framework - a way of looking at marketing as tied to both business growth and the building and nurturing of ongoing customer engagement.

Investing with Impact: Why Finance Is a Force for Good outlines the roadmap to reinvigorate a skeptical public and demoralized financial services industry by making the case that contrary to popular misconception, finance is not the cause of the world's problems, in fact, it can provide the solution. Author Jeremy Balkin presents the case that the finance industry can improve the state of the world by positively influencing the allocation of capital.

Today when the competition, technology, and the economy are evolving faster than ever before, organizations and the people like us who work in them need a proven approach to help us adapt - and succeed. The key, according to Paul B. Brown, is to think like an entrepreneur, no matter what your position or industry. What works for the most successful entrepreneurs will work for us, Brown argues, whether we want to stay employed working for someone else or are thinking of going off on our own.

After years of sharing her small-business tips and marketing tricks with readers of her popular blog, ChunkOfChange.com, and her column in the Long Beach Post, Olga Mizrahi has taken her message to the streets, urging business owners to focus in while reaching out. You'll be excited and motivated to state your difference clearly to the world--and your neighborhood--while confidently selling yourself and your business.

Branding is more than a great logo. A brand is the essence of an organization - its DNA - impacting its continual success. It is absolutely essential to get it right. Brand managers, marketers, and executives have long turned to this trusted guide to troubleshoot their branding problems. Written by an acknowledged expert with 30 years of experience building world-class brands, Brand Aid covers topics ranging from research and positioning to brand equity management and architecture strategy.

There are nine million women-owned businesses in the United States; they account for $1.3 trillion in revenue. American women are starting businesses at a rate twice that of men. Most of these women are also moms. What does it take to be successful as both a mom and as an entrepreneur? Moms Mean Business gives existing and potential mom business owners the encouragement, advice, and healthy dose of "how-to" they need.

A generation of people around the world, from Boston to Bangkok, from New York to New Delhi, are making everyday choices in ways that defy traditional logic. They are judging where and how their clothes were made, not just how they fit. They are thinking global but buying local. They are spending their money and their time, forming loyalties, casting votes, and even enjoying entertainment based increasingly upon their desire to make a positive impact on others and the world around them.

How businesses can harness the power of online consumer reviews. More than seventy percent of consumers now consult online reviews before making purchases, and they take those picks and pans very seriously. A disgruntled but ignorant customer on Yelp might have more clout than any expert guidebook, magazine article, or newspaper critic. No wonder many businesses feel terrified by the review-driven marketplace.

Stressaholic explains the impact of chronic stress on the body, mind, and spirit, and shows how a simple shift in mindset can dramatically alter the body's response to stress. Stressaholic shows you how to win the war on stress without limiting your progress by creating an optimal performance pulse of stress and recovery for life. With easy-to-implement tips and real-world examples of individuals and organizations that have turned stress into sustainable drive, Stressaholic will guide you on your journey from exhaustion to enlightenment!

Based on extensive research and interviews, Own Your Future shows how to apply the simple model they use - Act. Learn. Build. Repeat - to reinvent the way you maneuver in an unpredictable job market. Here's how it works. Instead of picturing your perfect career and working backwards, simply begin with the direction you want to go and take a small step. Thinking alone will never change your life - you must act.

The question of how to lead successfully and responsibly is crucially important in our uncertain, high-pressure, turbulent world. In this audiobook, Harvard Business School Professor Joseph Badaracco answers this question in practical and, at times, provocative ways. Leaders today are surrounded by what Badaracco calls “the new invisible hand” - powerful, pervasive markets that touch and shape almost everything. As a result, understanding the inevitability and importance of struggle is critical.

There is an invisible army of people deep inside the world’s biggest and best-known companies, pushing for safer and more responsible practices. They are trying to prevent the next Rana Plaza factory collapse, the next Deepwater Horizon explosion, the next Foxconn labor abuses. Obviously, they don’t always succeed. Christine Bader was one of those people. Using her story as its skeleton, Bader weaves in the stories of other “Corporate Idealists” working inside some of the world's biggest and best-known companies.

Becoming a successful entrepreneur takes energy and drive. Less than 20% make it beyond the first three years. Achieving the next level, the status of business titan - the upper echelon of leadership - takes an unrelenting commitment to turn an idea into a plan, a plan into a startup venture, and a venture into a successful business. The chances of getting to the top are slim at best, relying on a particular set of skills and attributes.

America is in decline, and the rise of the East suggests a bleak future for the world’s only superpower - so goes the conventional wisdom. But what if the traditional measures of national status are no longer as important as they once were? What if America’s well-being was assessed according to entirely different factors? In The Upside of Down, Charles Kenny argues that America’s so-called decline is only relative to the newfound success of other countries.

The growth engine of the global economy is no longer through mega-production and huge conglomerates, but rather through the proliferation of smaller enterprises. In America alone, tens of thousands of businesses crop up each year. Unfortunately, few will succeed, though not due to a lack of ingenuity, initiative, or even capital. Why, then?

We've entered a new era. Call it the age of imagination, ideation, conceptualization, creativity, or innovation - take your pick. Creativity, mental flexibility, and collaboration have displaced one-dimensional intelligence and isolated determination as core ingredients of competitive advantage. But these methods and mindsets needed to drive innovation are only found by tapping into the discretionary levels of passion, creativity and initiative within us. This is where Out Think leadership comes in.

With environmental problems, resource shortages, financial uncertainty, and global hyper competition in full swing, it's a big scary world out there. And your business is going to have to change in order to survive. There is simply no more room for "business as usual." Evolve or Die shows how businesses that adapt the fastest are the ones that succeed the most. If you're ready, this audiobook presents a series of practical, proven real-world tools and techniques to start changing your business....

Imagine a system that allowed you to make money almost effortlessly, so that you could spend your time with friends and family, follow your dreams, or pursue other goals without worrying about where your next paycheck is coming from. Now imagine if all you needed to make that happen were a computer and an Internet connection. If you can imagine it, you can achieve it - with Your Portable Empire.

Soccer moms drive Priuses. Sport utility vehicles are going hybrid. Families are using hemp shopping bags. More and more companies are developing "green" buildings. What's more, the business consultants say going green is easy and profitable. In reality, though, many green-leaning businesses, families, and governments are still fiddling with the small stuff while the planet burns. Why?