Orbiting the Giant Hairball

Orbiting the Giant Hairball
Author: Gordon MacKenzie
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1998-04-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0670879835

Creativity is crucial to business success. But too often, even the most innovative organization quickly becomes a "giant hairball"--a tangled, impenetrable mass of rules, traditions, and systems, all based on what worked in the past--that exercises an inexorable pull into mediocrity. Gordon McKenzie worked at Hallmark Cards for thirty years, many of which he spent inspiring his colleagues to slip the bonds of Corporate Normalcy and rise to orbit--to a mode of dreaming, daring and doing above and beyond the rubber-stamp confines of the administrative mind-set. In his deeply funny book, exuberantly illustrated in full color, he shares the story of his own professional evolution, together with lessons on awakening and fostering creative genius. Originally self-published and already a business "cult classic", this personally empowering and entertaining look at the intersection between human creativity and the bottom line is now widely available to bookstores. It will be a must-read for any manager looking for new ways to invigorate employees, and any professional who wants to achieve his or her best, most self-expressive, most creative and fulfilling work.

Disciplined Dreaming

Disciplined Dreaming
Author: Josh Linkner
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2011-01-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1118001710

A 5-part process that will transform your organization — or your career — into a non-stop creativity juggernaut We live in an era when business cycles are measured in months, not years. The only way to sustain long term innovation and growth is through creativity-at all levels of an organization. Disciplined Dreaming shows you how to create profitable new ideas, empower all your employees to be creative, and sustain your competitive advantage over the long term. Linkner distills his years of experience in business and jazz — as well as hundreds of interviews with CEOs, entrepreneurs, and artists — into a 5-step process that will make creativity easy for you and your organization. The methodology is simple, backed by proven results. Empowers individuals, teams, and organizations to meet creative challenges posed by the marketplace Turns the mystery of creativity into a simple-to-use process Shows how creativity can be used for everything from innovative, game-shifting breakthroughs to incremental advances and daily improvements to business processes Offers dozens of practical exercises, thought-starters, workouts to grow "creative muscles," and case studies Disciplined Dreaming shows even the stuffiest corporate bureaucracies how to cultivate creativity in order to become more competitive in today's shifting marketplace. #4 New York Times Best Seller (Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous) #8 New York Times Best Seller (Hardcover Business) #2 Wall Street Journal Best Seller (Hardcover Business) #9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller (Hardcover Nonfiction) #9 Washington Post Best Seller (Hardcover Nonfiction) #1 USA Today Best Seller (Money) #10 Entertainment Weekly Best Seller (Hardcover Nonfiction) #10 Publishers Weekly Bestseller (Hardcover Nonfiction)

Making Strategy Work

Making Strategy Work
Author: Lawrence G. Hrebiniak
Publisher: Pearson Education
Total Pages: 499
Release: 2005-01-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0132716208

Without effective execution, no business strategy can succeed. Unfortunately, most managers know far more about developing strategy than about executing it -- and overcoming the difficult political and organizational obstacles that stand in their way. In this book, leading consultant and Wharton professor Lawrence Hrebiniak offers the first comprehensive, disciplined process model for making strategy work in the real world. Drawing on his unsurpassed experience, Hrebiniak shows why execution is even more important than many senior executives realize, and sheds powerful new light on why businesses fail to deliver on even their most promising strategies. Next, he offers a systematic roadmap for execution that encompasses every key success factor: organizational structure, coordination, information sharing, incentives, controls, change management, culture, and the role of power and influence in your business. Making Strategy Work concludes with a start-to-finish case study showing how to use Hrebeniak's ideas to address one of today's most difficult business execution challenges: ensuring the success of a merger or acquisition.

The Right-and Wrong-Stuff

The Right-and Wrong-Stuff
Author: Carter Cast
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2018-01-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 161039710X

"Warning: Your career might be in danger of going off the rails. You probably have blind spots that are leaving you closer to the edge than you realize. Fortunately, Carter Cast has the solution. In this smart, engaging book he shows you how to avoid career derailment by becoming more self-aware, more agile, and more effective. This is the book you wish you had twenty years ago, which is why you should read it now." -- Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of Drive and To Sell Is Human The Right -- and Wrong -- Stuff is a candid, unvarnished guide to the bumpy road to success. The shocking truth is that 98 percent of us have at least one career-derailment risk factor, and half to two-thirds actually go off the rails. And the reason why people get fired, demoted, or plateau is because they let the wrong stuff act out, not because they lack talent, energy, experience, or credentials. Carter Cast himself had all the right stuff for a brilliant career, when he was called into his boss's office and berated for being obstinate, resistant, and insubordinate. That defining moment led to a years-long effort to understand why he came so close to getting fired, and what it takes to build a successful career. His wide range of experiences as a rising, falling, and then rising star again at PepsiCo, an entrepreneur, the CEO of Walmart.com, and now a professor and venture capitalist enables him to identify the five archetypes found in every workplace. You'll recognize people you work with (maybe even yourself) in Captain Fantastic, the Solo Flyer, Version 1.0, the One-Trick Pony, and the Whirling Dervish, and, thanks to Cast's insights, they won't be able to trip up your future.

Orbiting the Giant Hairball

Orbiting the Giant Hairball
Author: Gordon MacKenzie
Publisher: Viking Adult
Total Pages: 224
Release: 1998
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780670879830

A humorous look at the corporate structure invites readers to explore their own creativity within the confines of the workplace, which the author describes as the giant "hairball"

Focused

Focused
Author: Noelle Pikus-Pace
Publisher: Deseret Book
Total Pages: 137
Release: 2014-09-08
Genre: Bobsledders
ISBN: 9781609079468

World champion Noelle Pikus Pace discusses the life lessons she learned as an Olympic athlete and shows how her daily choices and challenges became opportunities for growth.

Essentials of Leadership in Public Health

Essentials of Leadership in Public Health
Author: Rowitz
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2017-03-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1284111482

Essentials of Leadership in Public Health reflects the complexities of leadership in Public Health as well as the overall needs of effective leadership in a constantly changing social environment. In addition, the book examines the impact of health reform, with an expanding definition of public health and understanding of how our leaders will be affected by these new changes. Important Notice: The digital edition of this book is missing some of the images or content found in the physical edition.

The No Asshole Rule

The No Asshole Rule
Author: Robert I. Sutton
Publisher: Business Plus
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2007-02-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0759518017

The definitive guide to working with -- and surviving -- bullies, creeps, jerks, tyrants, tormentors, despots, backstabbers, egomaniacs, and all the other assholes who do their best to destroy you at work. "What an asshole!" How many times have you said that about someone at work? You're not alone! In this groundbreaking book, Stanford University professor Robert I. Sutton builds on his acclaimed Harvard Business Review article to show you the best ways to deal with assholes...and why they can be so destructive to your company. Practical, compassionate, and in places downright funny, this guide offers: Strategies on how to pinpoint and eliminate negative influences for good Illuminating case histories from major organizations A self-diagnostic test and a program to identify and keep your own "inner jerk" from coming out The No Asshole Rule is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Business Week bestseller.

Brain Matters

Brain Matters
Author: Patricia Wolfe
Publisher: ASCD
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2010-09-15
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1416612386

Everyone agrees that what we do in schools should be based on what we know about how the brain learns. Until recently, however, we have had few clues to unlock the secrets of the brain. Now, research from the neurosciences has greatly improved our understanding of the learning process, and we have a much more solid foundation on which to base educational decisions. In this completely revised and updated second edition, Patricia Wolfe clarifies how we can effectively match teaching practice with brain functioning. Encompassing the most recent and relevant research and knowledge, this edition also includes three entirely new chapters that examine brain development from birth through adolescence and identify the impact of exercise, sleep, nutrition, and technology on the brain. Brain Matters begins with a "mini-textbook" on brain anatomy and physiology, bringing the biology of the brain into context with teaching and learning. Wolfe describes how the brain encodes, manipulates, and stores information, and she proposes implications that recent research has for practice—why meaning is essential for attention, how emotion can enhance or impede learning, and how different types of rehearsal are necessary for different types of learning. Finally, Wolfe introduces and examines practical classroom applications and brain-compatible teaching strategies that take advantage of simulations, projects, problem-based learning, graphic organizers, music, active engagement, and mnemonics. These strategies are accompanied by actual classroom scenarios—spanning the content areas and grade levels from lower elementary to high school&mdashthat help teachers connect theory with practice.

Communicating the UX Vision

Communicating the UX Vision
Author: Martina Schell
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2015-02-19
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0127999248

This book identifies the 13 main challenges designers face when they talk about their work and provides communication strategies so that a better design, not a louder argument, is what makes it into the world. It is a fact that we all want to put great design into the world, but no product ever makes it out of the building without rounds of reviews, feedback, and signoff. As an interaction or UX designer, you've felt the general trend toward faster development, more work, and less discussion. As we spend time crafting, we become attached to our own ideas and it gets all too easy to react to feedback emotionally or dismiss it, when we should be taking the time to decode it and explain or adapt the design. Communicating the UX Vision helps you identify the skills and behavioral patterns to present your work in more persuasive ways, and respond more constructively to feedback from coworkers and stakeholders. - Learn presentation tips that make stakeholders and other departments take your designs more seriously - Uncover valuable techniques to make feedback sessions more productive - Understand how to improve empathy with business stakeholders and learn to speak their language better - Discover how to better understand your behavior and identify your personal anti-patterns