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Peter Georgescu explains how his American Dream journey-from refugee to the CEO of Young & Rubicam-is no longer possible, and the underlying culprit is shareholder primacy. The income gap is growing larger and larger, and Georgescu argues that only a return to a true form of capitalism will begin to decrease that gap.
Peter Georgescu is scared, as are some of his more farsighted fellow millionaires and billionaires-not “of Al Qaeda or the vicious Islamic State or some other evolving radical group . . . We are afraid of where income inequality will lead.”
So begins both his 2015 op-ed piece in the New York Times, which generated over 1,000 comments, and this book. Georgescu believes the capitalism that allowed a penniless refugee like him to rise to the top no longer exists. He vividly depicts the damage income inequality is doing and examines the trends and developments that have led to our current crisis. He argues to his fellow capitalists that they are the ones best positioned to fix this problem because they can directly address it. They need to look beyond a single-minded focus on maximizing the short-term profits their shareholders demand and serve the interests of all their stakeholders-employees, customers, society, and the environment. This book offers solutions, which are deep, rich, and compelling.
Peter Georgescu is scared, as are some of his more farsighted fellow millionaires and billionaires-not “of Al Qaeda or the vicious Islamic State or some other evolving radical group . . . We are afraid of where income inequality will lead.”
So begins both his 2015 op-ed piece in the New York Times, which generated over 1,000 comments, and this book. Georgescu believes the capitalism that allowed a penniless refugee like him to rise to the top no longer exists. He vividly depicts the damage income inequality is doing and examines the trends and developments that have led to our current crisis. He argues to his fellow capitalists that they are the ones best positioned to fix this problem because they can directly address it. They need to look beyond a single-minded focus on maximizing the short-term profits their shareholders demand and serve the interests of all their stakeholders-employees, customers, society, and the environment. This book offers solutions, which are deep, rich, and compelling.
This book teaches leaders how to focus on people development rather than product development. Innovation comes from people, not products or technology. Deborah Piscione's twelve-step process is a comprehensive guide to success for leaders that shows them how to harness the creative energy in their organization, thereby bringing better products to market.
For too long, companies and their leadership teams focused primarily on their products or services. Leaders are deeply dialed in to the minutiae of their companies' operations. But veteran Silicon Valley consultant Deborah Perry Piscione says investments in new technologies or operations do not create innovations-people do. For innovation to happen, organizations need to be people-centric. In this breakthrough book she shows how, by following her People Equation, every organization can develop a mindset, an organizational structure, and a product development process that will maximize creativity and innovation.
Using examples from her consulting work and from her research into successful business practices, Piscione shows how to create a culture where risk taking is rewarded, mavericks are encouraged, collaboration between highly competent people is nurtured, and, when experiments and new initiatives are proposed, the response is to ask how rather than question why. This requires upending the usual organizational pyramid, giving more decision-making power to frontline workers and less to the C-level executives traditionally at the top. Once this is all in place, you can take advantage of Piscione's twelve-step Improvisational Innovation process for bringing new products and services to market. This is a comprehensive guide to harnessing the creative energy in every organization.
For too long, companies and their leadership teams focused primarily on their products or services. Leaders are deeply dialed in to the minutiae of their companies' operations. But veteran Silicon Valley consultant Deborah Perry Piscione says investments in new technologies or operations do not create innovations-people do. For innovation to happen, organizations need to be people-centric. In this breakthrough book she shows how, by following her People Equation, every organization can develop a mindset, an organizational structure, and a product development process that will maximize creativity and innovation.
Using examples from her consulting work and from her research into successful business practices, Piscione shows how to create a culture where risk taking is rewarded, mavericks are encouraged, collaboration between highly competent people is nurtured, and, when experiments and new initiatives are proposed, the response is to ask how rather than question why. This requires upending the usual organizational pyramid, giving more decision-making power to frontline workers and less to the C-level executives traditionally at the top. Once this is all in place, you can take advantage of Piscione's twelve-step Improvisational Innovation process for bringing new products and services to market. This is a comprehensive guide to harnessing the creative energy in every organization.
Continuing his groundbreaking work in Positive Organizational Scholarship, Robert Quinn (bestselling author of Deep Change) offers a clear path and concrete actions for creating extraordinarily high-performing organizational cultures.
Conventional beliefs and cultures all too often create work groups, departments, and even entire organizations that are full of unengaged, underperforming people. Drawing on his decades of pioneering research, Robert Quinn shows how to create organizations where people flourish and exceed expectations.
Using many compelling stories and examples Quinn describes how to replace an outmoded and limiting conventional mindset with a new, more positive and affirming “mental map.” He explains how, with this as your foundation, you can clarify the highest purpose of your organization, help others access their own excellence, communicate honestly and authentically, and much more. The book includes the Positive Organization Generator, a tool any leader can use to develop a custom action plan for turning an organization positive. At its heart, Quinn's book helps leaders transform organizations by changing themselves and others from being comfort-centered to being results-centered, from being self-focused to being other-focused, and from being internally closed to being externally open.
Conventional beliefs and cultures all too often create work groups, departments, and even entire organizations that are full of unengaged, underperforming people. Drawing on his decades of pioneering research, Robert Quinn shows how to create organizations where people flourish and exceed expectations.
Using many compelling stories and examples Quinn describes how to replace an outmoded and limiting conventional mindset with a new, more positive and affirming “mental map.” He explains how, with this as your foundation, you can clarify the highest purpose of your organization, help others access their own excellence, communicate honestly and authentically, and much more. The book includes the Positive Organization Generator, a tool any leader can use to develop a custom action plan for turning an organization positive. At its heart, Quinn's book helps leaders transform organizations by changing themselves and others from being comfort-centered to being results-centered, from being self-focused to being other-focused, and from being internally closed to being externally open.
On the heels of the tremendously successful "Hamster Revolution" (over 40,000 copies sold in English and tens of thousands more in ten foreign languages) comes this equally compelling work that uses the same franchised and branded "hamster" metaphor to empower workers, managers, facilitators and anyone who experiences the universal malaise of meeting overload to fight back.
Picking up where he left off in his bestselling book Synchronicity (over 150,000 copies sold), Joseph Jaworski tells the story his and his colleagues' discovery of the ultimate Source of visionary leadership, transformation, and breakthrough innovation.
Most companies put values statements on their websites and in their annual reports, but as recent scandals and financial crises have shown, the practice of values is dying in organizations. Edward Freeman and Ellen Auster argue that the problem is values are imposed from the top down and offer a process for involving employees in values creation through ruthlessly honest organization-wide conversations.
Studies have consistently shown that employees are deeply cynical about corporate values statements. (Enron had a great one.) The reason, argue top scholars and consultants Edward Freeman and Ellen Auster, is that most companies' values are handed down from on high with no employee input. This practically invites disconnects between intention and reality-and the results are disengagement, lower productivity, less innovation, and even outright corruption.
Freeman and Auster here offer a process, Values through Conversation, that makes values living, dynamic, and evolving, not just static words nobody really believes in. Based on scrupulous research and experience, VTC gives employees a safe space to speak honestly and freely about what's happening in the organization, what is important to them, and what values would have real meaning and impact. The book focuses on four core values areas: introspective (who we are), historical (what we've stood for), connectedness (how we lead and work together), and aspirational (why we do what we do), offering questions, exercises, and examples for developing values in each area. VTC allows companies to explore and create values authentically, not impose them from without.
Studies have consistently shown that employees are deeply cynical about corporate values statements. (Enron had a great one.) The reason, argue top scholars and consultants Edward Freeman and Ellen Auster, is that most companies' values are handed down from on high with no employee input. This practically invites disconnects between intention and reality-and the results are disengagement, lower productivity, less innovation, and even outright corruption.
Freeman and Auster here offer a process, Values through Conversation, that makes values living, dynamic, and evolving, not just static words nobody really believes in. Based on scrupulous research and experience, VTC gives employees a safe space to speak honestly and freely about what's happening in the organization, what is important to them, and what values would have real meaning and impact. The book focuses on four core values areas: introspective (who we are), historical (what we've stood for), connectedness (how we lead and work together), and aspirational (why we do what we do), offering questions, exercises, and examples for developing values in each area. VTC allows companies to explore and create values authentically, not impose them from without.
Video games have been a source of controversy in the media almost since their invention. At best, these digital diversions are thought of as trivial, childish obsessions. At worst, they are attacked as violent, antisocial, corrupting, and dangerous to our youth. But as Rusel DeMaria shows, video games may represent one of the most powerful learning technologies ever invented. He turns the controversy on its head and shows the positive potential of the much-maligned video game to inspire, motivate, and teach.
DeMaria delves deeply into the realities of the gaming world, analyzing both the business forces driving game development and the unique qualities that distinguish video games from all other popular media. Drawing on the latest research on play and learning, he explains that it is precisely these qualities—a combination DeMaria calls the “magic edge”—that make video games such potentially powerful tools. He shows how games can be designed to integrate content that educates, inspires, motivates, and empowers players—even as they lure them in with their drama and thrill them with special effects—and offers numerous examples of popular games that do just that. He even offers a primer to help curious non-gamers begin to explore the gaming world and discover the positive potential of games for themselves.
DeMaria presents video games in a new light and details many of the ways they can facilitate learning. Because millions of people are playing games all around the world, we owe it to ourselves to utilize their positive power to spark imaginations and make learning fun for our own kids and for gamers around the world.
DeMaria delves deeply into the realities of the gaming world, analyzing both the business forces driving game development and the unique qualities that distinguish video games from all other popular media. Drawing on the latest research on play and learning, he explains that it is precisely these qualities—a combination DeMaria calls the “magic edge”—that make video games such potentially powerful tools. He shows how games can be designed to integrate content that educates, inspires, motivates, and empowers players—even as they lure them in with their drama and thrill them with special effects—and offers numerous examples of popular games that do just that. He even offers a primer to help curious non-gamers begin to explore the gaming world and discover the positive potential of games for themselves.
DeMaria presents video games in a new light and details many of the ways they can facilitate learning. Because millions of people are playing games all around the world, we owe it to ourselves to utilize their positive power to spark imaginations and make learning fun for our own kids and for gamers around the world.
Our economic crisis has shown that we need a fundamentally new kind of business leader-able to make ethical decisions in the face of strategic unknowns, serve the environment and society while also serving the needs of investors and shareholders, and understand how their personality and the social context in which they operate impacts their leadership. This book lays out a compelling model for creating and developing these new entrepreneurial leaders.
All countries signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. This book is part of an ambitious project to make the fundamental human rights in the Universal Declaration enforceable in the courts of all countries by 2048, the 100th anniversary of the Declaration's signing.
This book has a simple message for business leaders: you help yourselves by helping the poor. If the poor can gain a stake in the economy they can buy your products and put money in the banks. Increasing poor people's financial literacy will help them move into the middle class and enrich everyone, rich and poor alike.
When we talk about how to save our struggling economy, Operation HOPE founder and successful businessman John Hope Bryant says that for far too long, we've been having the wrong conversation. Fully 70% of the American economy is generated by consumer spending. If we want capitalism to work, we have to make it work for the poor.
“We must make financial literacy – teaching each and every one of our children the language of money – the new civil rights issue for the twenty-first century America,” Bryant writes. In the book, Bryant exposes the historical roots of poverty, explains why the solutions tried so far have held the poor back from getting “the memo” about financial literacy, and offers a way forward. He lays out what he calls a Marshall Plan for our times, a series of straightforward, actionable steps to build financial literacy and expand opportunity so that the poor can join the middle class.
Praised by Dr. Bernice A. King of the King Center and former President Bill Clinton, John Hope Bryant's book aspires to create a thriving economy that works not just for the 1% or even the 99%, but for the 100%.
When we talk about how to save our struggling economy, Operation HOPE founder and successful businessman John Hope Bryant says that for far too long, we've been having the wrong conversation. Fully 70% of the American economy is generated by consumer spending. If we want capitalism to work, we have to make it work for the poor.
“We must make financial literacy – teaching each and every one of our children the language of money – the new civil rights issue for the twenty-first century America,” Bryant writes. In the book, Bryant exposes the historical roots of poverty, explains why the solutions tried so far have held the poor back from getting “the memo” about financial literacy, and offers a way forward. He lays out what he calls a Marshall Plan for our times, a series of straightforward, actionable steps to build financial literacy and expand opportunity so that the poor can join the middle class.
Praised by Dr. Bernice A. King of the King Center and former President Bill Clinton, John Hope Bryant's book aspires to create a thriving economy that works not just for the 1% or even the 99%, but for the 100%.
The Pebble and the Avalanche shows how the Internet, the auto industry, music downloading, and other rapidly evolving industries are all connected by the same dynamic -- disaggregation. Moshe Yudkowsky shows why this dynamic is crucial to survival in the 21st century marketplace, and how you can use it to bring about change in your industry.
Disaggregation means taking things apart -- for example, the break-up of AT&T, which greatly improved phone service. But there are more subtle examples. Separating information from the storage medium -- digital music doesn't rely on records, tapes, or CDs; digital photographs don't require paper; and digital movies don't need film -- has enabled millions of people to create and share their work (and others') far more easily than ever before, with enormous implications.
Think of this process as an avalanche: at the top of a mountain, rocks are jammed together in a solid mass. Pry some of these rocks loose and you will unleash a tremendous outpouring of energy that sweeps everything from its path. The same thing happens in technology: with the right innovation, you can pry the pieces of technology apart and unleash an outpouring of powerful ideas that shake apart whole industries.
Yudkowsky details exactly how disaggregation works, describing five different ways of taking things apart, and the many ways it can be used to generate new innovations. The Pebble and the Avalanche provides strategies for successfully adapting to a disaggregation revolution, and points towards the future, identifying several industries that are about to be completely transformed by disaggregation.
Disaggregation means taking things apart -- for example, the break-up of AT&T, which greatly improved phone service. But there are more subtle examples. Separating information from the storage medium -- digital music doesn't rely on records, tapes, or CDs; digital photographs don't require paper; and digital movies don't need film -- has enabled millions of people to create and share their work (and others') far more easily than ever before, with enormous implications.
Think of this process as an avalanche: at the top of a mountain, rocks are jammed together in a solid mass. Pry some of these rocks loose and you will unleash a tremendous outpouring of energy that sweeps everything from its path. The same thing happens in technology: with the right innovation, you can pry the pieces of technology apart and unleash an outpouring of powerful ideas that shake apart whole industries.
Yudkowsky details exactly how disaggregation works, describing five different ways of taking things apart, and the many ways it can be used to generate new innovations. The Pebble and the Avalanche provides strategies for successfully adapting to a disaggregation revolution, and points towards the future, identifying several industries that are about to be completely transformed by disaggregation.
They Just Don't Get It! explores an all-too-common dilemma: when people around us just don't "get" our ideas. Through a charming illustrated fable, it tells the story of Julie Buffet, a hard-charging advertising executive with what she thinks is a fantastic idea for a new campaign. But nobody gets it-not the client, not her boss, and not her coworkers. And Julie can't understand why.
We have all found ourselves in this situation at one time or another, and we typically see this problem as a failing on the part of the other party. They Just Don't Get It! shows that when they don't get it, the problem is really with ourselves. And it shows how we can finally really get it.
If you've ever wondered why your ideas haven't been received or acted on in the way you expected, this book will reveal your own personal responsibility in helping others understand your intentions. Examining the root source of the problem, it details five keys to "getting it"-Take Responsibility; Practice Humility; Begin with Questions; Remain Open; and Believe They Can. These five simple steps will enable you to overcome the problem, and prevent it from happening in the future.
They Just Don't Get It! will teach you how to communicate your ideas better, and how to motivate others to pull together and achieve your highest goals in any situation.
We have all found ourselves in this situation at one time or another, and we typically see this problem as a failing on the part of the other party. They Just Don't Get It! shows that when they don't get it, the problem is really with ourselves. And it shows how we can finally really get it.
If you've ever wondered why your ideas haven't been received or acted on in the way you expected, this book will reveal your own personal responsibility in helping others understand your intentions. Examining the root source of the problem, it details five keys to "getting it"-Take Responsibility; Practice Humility; Begin with Questions; Remain Open; and Believe They Can. These five simple steps will enable you to overcome the problem, and prevent it from happening in the future.
They Just Don't Get It! will teach you how to communicate your ideas better, and how to motivate others to pull together and achieve your highest goals in any situation.
Traditional pathways to delivering health care to the global poor are failing. Five million children die each year before their fifth birthday due to lack of basic health education, services, or low-cost treatments. Bing and Epstein show how focusing micro-innovations at the level of care is the way to end these grim health statistics.
How can the world's nearly 3 billion who live on $2 a day or less be lifted out of poverty? Paul Polak (bestselling author of Out of Poverty) and the organizations he has founded have pioneered methods that have already helped nearly 20 million of the world's poorest people to get out of poverty without charitable or government handouts. Now Polak teams with social entrepreneur and author Mal Warwick (bestselling author of Values-Driven Business) to reveal the keys for entrepreneurs, businesses, and others to replicate this success and expand its scale to include hundreds of millions of the poorest of the poor around the world.
Innovation within an organization is no longer sufficient; in a growing number of businesses, collaboration between companies and even industries is critical to success. A respected Harvard professor and a journalist team up to show how one creative startup exemplifies this new, intensely interactive form of leadership.
Niccolò Machiavelli famously wrote: “There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”
Constructing a new order of things, which Edmondson and Reynolds call “building the future,” is the focus of this book. It explores how to bring complex new systems into being, particularly systems that transform human experience and make the world more livable and sustainable. Intense collaboration across professions and industries is vital to come up with new ideas and innovative solutions. This requires practicing new forms of leadership that enable complex, team-based, whole-system innovation.
To reveal how pioneers build the future, Edmondson and Reynolds study a startup's long and innovative journey in the smart-city industry, which uses digital, information and communication technologies to enhance the quality and performance of urban services, They follow the leaders in this company, Living PlanIT, through cycles of hope, exhaustion, disillusionment, pragmatism, and renewal in creating the city of the future.
Niccolò Machiavelli famously wrote: “There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”
Constructing a new order of things, which Edmondson and Reynolds call “building the future,” is the focus of this book. It explores how to bring complex new systems into being, particularly systems that transform human experience and make the world more livable and sustainable. Intense collaboration across professions and industries is vital to come up with new ideas and innovative solutions. This requires practicing new forms of leadership that enable complex, team-based, whole-system innovation.
To reveal how pioneers build the future, Edmondson and Reynolds study a startup's long and innovative journey in the smart-city industry, which uses digital, information and communication technologies to enhance the quality and performance of urban services, They follow the leaders in this company, Living PlanIT, through cycles of hope, exhaustion, disillusionment, pragmatism, and renewal in creating the city of the future.
Too much to do! I never get anything done! I have so little control over my life!
These were thoughts Ray had as he headed home later for supper, confident his wife, Carol, would be sympathetic to his problem.
One sentence into unloading his problems on her, he heard, "Too much to do? Tell me about it!" Her problems were as big as or even bigger than his.
When they went to a friend for help, they discovered more than hope, "That sounds like us several years ago. But Coach Eric's Aligned Thinking not only solved those problems, it helped us to do what most people believe impossible: align every action to what we really want.
With mild hope and huge skepticism, Ray and Carol visited Coach Eric and gave him a description of their ideal professional and personal life. Coach Eric assured them that Aligned Thinking could help them enjoy each item on their list. However, when he asked them to add to their list "make every moment count so life becomes a celebration," Ray and Carol became even more skeptical.
Join Ray and Carol as they discover the proven power of Aligned Thinking.
These were thoughts Ray had as he headed home later for supper, confident his wife, Carol, would be sympathetic to his problem.
One sentence into unloading his problems on her, he heard, "Too much to do? Tell me about it!" Her problems were as big as or even bigger than his.
When they went to a friend for help, they discovered more than hope, "That sounds like us several years ago. But Coach Eric's Aligned Thinking not only solved those problems, it helped us to do what most people believe impossible: align every action to what we really want.
With mild hope and huge skepticism, Ray and Carol visited Coach Eric and gave him a description of their ideal professional and personal life. Coach Eric assured them that Aligned Thinking could help them enjoy each item on their list. However, when he asked them to add to their list "make every moment count so life becomes a celebration," Ray and Carol became even more skeptical.
Join Ray and Carol as they discover the proven power of Aligned Thinking.
