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Can Finance Save the World?
Regaining Power over Money to Serve the Common Good

Just as Thomas Piketty offered a sweeping critique and progressive reassessment of capitalism, former World Bank Group chief financial officer Bertrand Badré looks at the destructive role finance played in the global economic crisis of 2007–2008 and offers a bold prescription for making it a force for good.

Badré says that finance is inherently neither good nor bad. It's just a tool—the most powerful tool on earth. Used correctly, it can be at the heart of the way we address many of the world's biggest problems, ranging from climate change to the eradication of poverty to building much-needed infrastructure. He describes innovations in financial tools and approaches that are already happening around the world and looks at the role regulation can play in channeling the power of finance in a positive direction. He details options for strengthening international cooperation for financial stability and prosperity and overcoming the blinkered nationalism currently on the rise. And he tells what is working and what needs to change in financing the sustainable development of the world.

This book is rich with practical examples, some developed by Badré himself. For instance, he describes how at the World Bank he devised an innovative way to use insurance, a financial tool rarely considered in international development, to buttress fragile emerging economies against natural disasters and pandemics. Initiatives like these show that, as Badré writes, “when controlled and used intelligently, with benevolence and inventiveness, finance can accomplish great things.”

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Creating a Better Future

This book offers a concise, accessible guide to the key concepts and applications in Otto Scharmer's classic
Theory U. Scharmer argues that our capacity to pay attention coshapes the world. What prevents us from attending to situations more effectively is that we aren't fully aware of that interior condition from which our attention and actions originate. Scharmer calls this lack of awareness our blind spot. He illuminates the blind spot in leadership today and offers hands-on methods to help change makers overcome it through the process, principles, and practices of Theory U. And he outlines a framework for updating the “operating systems” of our educational institutions, our economies, and our democracies. This book enables leaders and organizations in all industries and sectors to shift awareness, connect with the highest future possibilities, and strengthen the capacity to co-shape the future.

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Faster Together
Accelerating Your Team's Productivity

There are more roadblocks to productivity today than ever before. Everyone who works must deal with countless emails, constant communication, cascading deadlines, and seemingly endless meetings. These can be managed efficiently, or they can be a huge time suck. When you're surrounded by slow-moving coworkers, you're stuck in a traffic jam of sorts. What makes the difference isn't individuals working harder or faster or smarter but “teaming well.”

You have at your disposal what Stack calls “the most powerful productivity machine in existence”: your team. Individual productivity is just the beginning of business profitability; the real winner is team productivity. A good team can accomplish more, and more quickly, than any one Lone Ranger. Yes, there are always stars—in sports, Peyton Manning, Mia Hamm, and Stephen Curry come to mind—but they couldn't do their jobs without the rest of the team doing theirs.

Bestselling author Laura Stack's FAST model mobilizes teams to be the most effective they can be, while keeping each other's best interests at heart. Using her original model, teams learn to work together Fairly, accept Accountability, apply Systems Thinking, and maximize available Technology. An interactive assessment helps you evaluate your team's current speed and rate of acceleration.

By the end of this book, you'll truly understand the abilities of your team. Team members will ask themselves, “How can I help my team go
faster together?” You work to save everyone else time, and they work to save you time. For your business to win, everyone must contribute. As Stack puts it, “Team up; don't slow down!”

So, rev your team's engines, and you'll soon be roaring down the track together!

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Open Mind, Open Heart

Millions have found mindfulness to be a powerful practice for reducing stress, enhancing attention, and instilling tranquility. But it can offer so much more—it can transform you, make you more fully awake, alive, and aware of your connection to all beings. In Japanese, the character that best expresses mindfulness, 念, consists of two parts—the top part, 今, meaning “now,” and the bottom part, 心, meaning “heart.” Using stories from his own life as the son of an Irish father and a Japanese mother, a professor in Japan and America, a psychotherapist, a father, and a husband, Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu describes eight “heartfulness” principles that help us realize that the deepest expression of an enlightened mind is found in our relation to others.

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“This is a powerful book—tiny is mighty. Sharon Rowe's simple shift in thinking is a profound idea, precisely what we need to hear.”
—Seth Godin, author of Linchpin

Too many of us feel trapped by work that keeps us from living our purpose. We fantasize about starting our own business, yet we're warned against falling into debt, working eighty hours a week, and coping with the pressure to grow. Eco-Bags Products founder Sharon Rowe says there's another way: go tiny.

Like a tiny house, a tiny business is built on maintaining a laser focus on what is essential by living an intentional life. As an entrepreneur and mother, Rowe is most concerned with putting family first, maintaining financial security, and doing something that makes an impact in the world. Using the success story of Eco-Bags Products, Rowe distills the step-by-step process of building a profitable, right-scaled, sustainable venture that doesn't compromise your values. She shows you how to test your concept, manage your money and priorities, and more, while staying true to the "tiny" ethos.

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What Does Top Talent Really Want?

More than vision, strategy, creativity, marketing, finance, or even technology, it is ultimately people that determine organizational success. That's why virtually every organization wants more top talent. But do you know what they're looking for? It might not be what you think! Talent Magnet will show you how to attract and keep great people.

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