Business

In Holacracy, Brian J Robertson outlines a ground-breaking approach to organisation: no managers, only roles. "Holacracy is the opposite (read more)

In Holacracy, Brian J Robertson outlines a ground-breaking approach to organisation: no managers, only roles. "Holacracy is the opposite of the cliche way to run a start-up. It creates clarity: who is in charge of what, and who makes each kind of decision" (Evan Williams, cofounder of Blogger, Twitter and Medium). 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. In Holacracy, pioneer Brian Robertson explains how to adopt this system across your organisation - and what you can do just within your department or for yourself - and how to overcome any obstacles along the way. (hide)

Strategic Lean management efforts significantly fail because leaders often lack a map of their organizations. Written in a colloquial (read more)

Strategic Lean management efforts significantly fail because leaders often lack a map of their organizations. Written in a colloquial manner, The Hoshin Kanri Forest is for Lean practitioners who seek to design organizational structures that functionally support the dynamics associated with Lean Management. This book will provide a comprehensive quantifiable framework for strategically designing organizations for Lean management.

Combining knowledge about strategic organizational design and Lean management, the author introduces a theory called the Hoshin Kanri Forest that considers organizations as networks with organizational structure, functional connectivity, and effective dynamic patterns for attaining an optimal strategic organizational design towards the strategic goal of Lean management. It presents the future of Lean organizations relying on strategically designing its structure, function, and effective dynamics. This book is about describing an evolutional approach toward a peaceful Lean revolution.
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A cross between a business book and a storybook, How Coca-Cola Took Over the World is a collection of 101 accessible, enjoyable and (read more)

A cross between a business book and a storybook, How Coca-Cola Took Over the World is a collection of 101 accessible, enjoyable and informative tales of some of the world's greatest brands, including Tiffany's, Mercedes, Apple, Pinterest, Chanel No. 5, Corona, Brewdog, Spanx, LG, KFC, WWF, Guinness World Records and Coca-Cola. The stories are arranged into sections covering brand origins, brand naming and identity, marketing strategy, communication, innovation and repositioning and renovation.

For each story, the author has drawn a moral - a marketing principle that can be applied to many brand and marketing challenges facing businesses today. When pulled together as they are by the author in the final chapter, they provide the reader with a compelling and inspirational toolbox.
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The first comprehensive reference work on error management, blending the latest thinking with state of the art industry practice (read more)

The first comprehensive reference work on error management, blending the latest thinking with state of the art industry practice on how organizations can learn from mistakes. Even today the reality of error management in some organizations is simple: "Don't make mistakes. And if you do, you're on your own unless you can blame someone else." In most, it has moved on but it is still often centered around quality control, with Six Sigma Black Belts seeking to eradicate errors with an unattainable goal of zero.

But the best organizations have gone further. They understand that mistakes happen, be they systemic or human. They have realized that rather than being stigmatized, errors have to be openly discussed, analyzed, and used as a source for learning. (hide)

Based on the highly acclaimed NPR podcast, How I Built This with Guy Raz, his book offers priceless insights and inspiration from (read more)

Based on the highly acclaimed NPR podcast, How I Built This with Guy Raz, his book offers priceless insights and inspiration from the world's top entrepreneurs on how to start, launch and build a successful venture. Great ideas often come from a simple spark: a football player on the New Zealand national team notices all the unused wool his country produces and figures out a way to turn them into shoes (Allbirds). A former Buddhist monk decides the very best way to spread his mindfulness teachings is by launching an app (Headspace).
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Building on his bestseller The Rational Optimist, Matt Ridley chronicles the history of innovation, and how we need to change our (read more)

Building on his bestseller The Rational Optimist, Matt Ridley chronicles the history of innovation, and how we need to change our thinking on the subject. Innovation is the main event of the modern age, the reason we experience both dramatic improvements in our living standards and unsettling changes in our society. It is innovation that will shape the twenty-first century.

Yet innovation remains a mysterious process, poorly understood by policy makers and businessmen alike. Matt Ridley argues that we need to see innovation as an incremental, bottom-up, fortuitous process that happens as a direct result of the human habit of exchange, rather than an orderly, top-down process developing according to a plan. Innovation is crucially different from invention, because it is the turning of inventions into things of practical and affordable use to people.
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Discover everything you need to know to improve your management skills, and understand key management and business theories with (read more)

Discover everything you need to know to improve your management skills, and understand key management and business theories with this unique graphic guide. Combining clear, jargon-free language and bold, eye-catching graphics, How Management Works is a definitive and user-friendly guide to all aspects of organisational management. Learn whether it is more effective to lead through influence or control? Is delegation the key to productivity and how do you deal with different personalities? Drawing on the latest theories and practices - and packed with graphics and diagrams that demystify complex management concepts - this book explains everything you need to know to build your management skills and get the very best out of your team.
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Although the words "productivity" and "cat" might not often be seen in the same sentence, Office Cat somehow manages to claw himself (read more)

Although the words "productivity" and "cat" might not often be seen in the same sentence, Office Cat somehow manages to claw himself and his fluffy Meownagement Team a tasty yearly profit in shrimp and catnip, while still getting his 20 hours of sleep a day. How does he do it? The answer is simple - employ a support staff of infatuated humans, who not only accept your every feline foible but downright adore them! However, as Office Cat demonstrates, humans still require careful handling - from dealing with their constant questioning of the value of weekly can-opening workshops, to being mindful of their preference for your staying awake when they're addressing you. Animal-loving work-shirkers the world over will fall in love with Office Cat and his humorous business guide, which pokes ticklish fun at both the way cats see the world and the eagerness of humans to be at the beck and call of their furry overlords. (hide)

Practical tools, expert advice and innovative ideas to help you create a successful business that reflects your values, supports (read more)

Practical tools, expert advice and innovative ideas to help you create a successful business that reflects your values, supports your lifestyle and creates real fulfilment. In 2014, in her farmhouse kitchen in Wales, Shann Nix Jones started to manufacture a relatively unknown probiotic goat's milk called kefir. It was a powerful healing remedy that cured her son's eczema and even saved her husband from a life-threatening MRSA infection.

Today, the business she started on her kitchen table has 300,000 customers and an annual turnover of GBP4.5 million. In this book, Shann shares the innovative methods that helped her turn her passion into a sustainable business. (hide)

After years of ill health, capitalism is now in a critical condition. Growth has given way to stagnation; inequality is leading to (read more)

After years of ill health, capitalism is now in a critical condition. Growth has given way to stagnation; inequality is leading to instability; and confidence in the money economy has all but evaporated. In How Will Capitalism End?, the acclaimed analyst of contemporary politics and economics Wolfgang Streeck argues that the world is about to change.

The marriage between democracy and capitalism, ill-suited partners brought together in the shadow of World War Two, is coming to an end. The regulatory institutions that once restrained the financial sector's excesses have collapsed and, after the final victory of capitalism at the end of the Cold War, there is no political agency capable of rolling back the liberalization of the markets. Ours has become a world defined by declining growth, oligarchic rule, a shrinking public sphere, institutional corruption and international anarchy, and no cure to these ills is at hand.
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