Showing results by publisher "Penguin Audio" in Management

That's Not How We Do It Here! is a business parable about a clan of meerkats who live in the Kalahari. Well-organised and efficient, the colony enjoys many years of successful growth until it suddenly comes under threat from a new form of predator and is forced to rethink its organizational structure. John Kotter uses this charming parable to explore why organizations often struggle no matter their past success and why they fall.

Every day outstanding organizations do things and promote values that ensure they will retain customers, grow revenues, increase market share, and build their reputations. Informed by his own commitment to the concept of personal accountability and enlivened by compelling true stories from exceptional organizations, in this insightful and accessible audiobook John Miller identifies the principles and behaviors that distinguish such organizations from the pack and provides listeners with ways to integrate them into their own work.

Do you dream of starting your own business but don’t have any money? What if you could set up a venture with nothing but a good business idea and the determination to make it work? It’s an appealing idea, particularly in the current economic climate where no one has cash to spare and austerity rules the day. In fact, studies show that more people start businesses during recessions than at any other time. The good news is that it can be done, provided you follow a few golden rules.

There are enormous differences between managing and coaching. Yet many companies and organizations encourage their leaders to coach teams without ever teaching them how. Nathan Jamail, a leading consultant, professional speaker, and the president of his own group of businesses, trains coaches at several Fortune 500 companies and learned that it takes not only different skills to achieve success, but a truly effective coach needs an organizational culture that creates and multiplies the success of every motivated team member.

Tony Hsieh's first successful venture was in middle school, selling personalized buttons. At Harvard, he made a profit compiling and selling study guides. In 1998, Hsieh sold his first company to Microsoft for $265 million. About a decade later, he sold online shoe empire Zappos to Amazon for $1.2 billion. The secret to his success? Making his employees happy. At its peak, Zappos's employee-friendly culture was so famous across the tech industry that it became one of the hardest companies to get hired at, and CEOs from other companies regularly toured the headquarters.

We all know that the future is inherently unknowable, and yet we behave and plan as though it is. Once we truly understand the nature of uncertainty, though, we can take practical steps to make the most of the opportunities that come our way. In Mastering Uncertainty, award-winning author Matt Watkinson and investor and entrepreneur Csaba Konkoly offer a masterclass on the workings of luck and probability. They show how to calculate when to make big bets and when to pull back.

We’ve been sold the lie that success comes in the form of the latest designer goods, luxury car or McMansion. But success is a feeling that we cultivate, not something we can purchase. Success is about finding the path in life that lights you up and gives you meaning, choosing to be the best version of yourself every day. As globally recognized mindset coach, entrepreneur and seven-figure business founder Noor Hibbert reveals in this book, the only yardstick of success should be the one you create for yourself.

Can we bring more meaning to our lives and help change the world at the same time? Richard Branson, at his brilliant and motivating best, reveals how with his exciting new vision for the future. It is time to turn capitalism upside down - to shift our values, to switch from a profit focus to caring for people, communities, and the planet.

LEGO is one of the world's best-loved and most familiar brands, adored by generations of children. What is less well known, though, is how close this iconic company came to total collapse in 2003. Brick by Brick is the compelling story of a Danish family-owned company that enjoyed decades of success before its inability to keep in step with a rapidly changing market brought it crashing to earth. It's also the story of an extraordinary recovery.

The founder of Menlo Innovations and author of the business culture cult classic Joy, Inc. offers an inspirational guide to leaders seeking joy in the challenge of leading others. Filled with colorful anecdotes from Sheridan's personal journey and wisdom from many leadership mentors, Chief Joy Officer offers an approachable, down-to-earth philosophy and practice that will help even the most disillusioned of middle managers bring a renewed sense of purpose to their work building others.

In this brilliant, one-stop guide WIRED journalist Matt Burgess explains everything you need to know about AI. He describes how it works. He looks at the ways in which it has already brought us everything from voice recognition software to self-driving cars and explores its potential for further revolutionary change in almost every area of our daily lives.

Renowned media scholar Sherry Turkle investigates how a flight from conversation undermines our relationships, creativity, and productivity - and why reclaiming face-to-face conversation can help us regain lost ground. We live in a technological universe in which we are always communicating. And yet we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection. Preeminent author and researcher Sherry Turkle has been studying digital culture for over 30 years. Long an enthusiast for its possibilities, here she investigates a troubling consequence.

In the war for customer acquisition, businesses invest millions of dollars to improve customer experience. They deliver packages faster, churn out new products, and endlessly revamp their UI, often putting greater strain on employees for diminishing returns. According to Tiffani Bova, this siloed focus on customer experience – without considering the impact on your staff—actually hinders growth in the long run. The most successful companies adopt an Experience Mindset that strengthens both employee experience (EX) and customer experience (CX) at the same time.

In traditional companies, managers make decisions and workers execute the plan. But Holacracy is a revolutionary and tried-and-tested new system which turns everyone into a leader. The organisation looks like a nest of circles, not a pyramid—but it's not anarchy. It's finally clear who should make each decision—the person on the frontline has that authority—and the organisation succeeds by adapting swiftly to pursue its purpose.

The Ten Commandments for Business Failure is a cautionary bible for business leaders from a widely admired elder statesman who has seen and heard it all.

The Sunday Times number-one best seller. How people succeed and how you can, too. Alastair Campbell knows all about winning. As Tony Blair’s chief spokesman and strategist, he helped guide the Labour Party to victory in three successive general elections, and he’s fascinated by what it takes to win. How do sports stars excel, entrepreneurs thrive, or individuals achieve their ambitions? Is their ability to win innate? Or is the winning mind-set something we can all develop?

Create your next breakthrough. Mad Genius is a unique audiobook for entrepreneurs - and for employees who want to think like entrepreneurs. It will help you unleash the innate creative genius inside you. Every industry has its sacred cows and accepted practices. These are often based upon foundational premises that are no longer valid - if they ever were. There's a reason Facebook was birthed in a dorm room, Amazon.com came from people not in the bookstore business, and UBER was created by people who weren't from the taxi industry.

Real-world leadership is very different from all that the media would have us believe. Forget the dashing swashbuckler - effective leadership is typically understated. It's the myriad small things that make the big things possible. In Do Lead, Les McKeown demolishes the myths that have paralysed leadership in our modern era, then provides new, relevant tools for the job. You'll discover that we can all lead. And what's more, we should.

Can we bring more meaning to our lives and help change the world at the same time? Richard Branson, at his brilliant and motivating best, reveals how with his exciting new vision for the future. It is time to turn capitalism upside down - to shift our values, to switch from a profit focus to caring for people, communities and the planet.

From its creation as a mail-order record company to the literal launch of Virgin Galactic, today Virgin is one of the premier ‘way-of-life’ brands in the world, trusted and enjoyed by many millions of people. In Business Stripped Bare, Sir Richard Branson shares the inside track on his life in business and reveals the incredible truth about his most risky, brilliant and audacious deals.