800-CEO-READ New Releases

Show Me the Money

by Jack J. Phillips Ph.D., Patricia Pulliam Phillips

(Berrett-Kohler, 300 Pages)

From IT to HR, from boardroom to shop floor, increased accountability for achieving high-value results for new initiatives is the norm in every organization and department. Jack and Patricia Phillips, the world’s leading experts on Return On Investment (ROI) strategy, distill their years of experience and research into proven, step-by-step tools for determining the value of any project before, during, and after implementation. They present a comprehensive method for measuring the hard-to-measure, and placing monetary value on the hard-to-value. They even show how to measure and place value on "intangible" qualities like leadership, creativity, customer loyalty, employee engagement, and more. Developed in an easy-to-read format and fortified with case studies, checklists, tips, and tools, Show Me the Money clarifies and resolves the mystery surrounding the allocation of monetary value. It gives change agents everything they need to provide concrete, detailed evaluations of the potential and actual financial benefits of any project or program.

Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing

by Robert S. Kaplan, Steven R. Anderson

(Perseus Distribution Services, 266 Pages)

In the classroom, activity-based costing (ABC) looks like a great way to manage a company's limited resources. But executives who have tried to implement ABC in their organizations on any significant scale have often abandoned the attempt in the face of rising costs and employee irritation. Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing is the solution to the problems associated with large-scale ABC implementation. In this book, Kaplan and Anderson offer a revised model where managers can estimate the resource demands imposed by each transaction, product, or customer, rather than rely on time-consuming and costly employee surveys.

In their new model, Kaplan and Anderson focus on the two parameters managers need to estimate: how much it costs per time unit to supply resources to the business activities (the total overhead expenditure of a department divided by the total number of minutes of employee time available) and how much time it takes to carry out one unit of each kind of activity (as estimated or observed by the manager). Rather than endlessly updating and maintaining ABC data, this book with allow managers to spend their time addressing the deficiencies the model reveals: inefficient processes, unprofitable products and customers, and excess capacity.

Kaplan and Anderson lead the discussion of Time-Driven ABC in the first seven chapters, followed by individual cases studies of actual implementations by Acorn consultants in diverse settings.

The Economic Naturalist

by Robert Frank

(Perseus Books Group, 256 Pages)

The fascinating and playful guide to how economics explains the simple but profound ideas that govern our world.

Why do the keypads on drive-up cash machines have Braille dots? Why are round-trip fares from Orlando to Kansas City higher than those from Kansas City to Orlando?

For decades, Robert Frank has been asking his economics students to pose and answer questions like these as a way of learning how economic principles operate in the real world--which they do everywhere, all the time.

Once you learn to think like an economist, all kinds of puzzling observations start to make sense. Drive-up ATM keypads have Braille dots because it's cheaper to make the same machine for both drive-up and walk-up locations. Travelers from Kansas City to Orlando pay less because they are usually price-sensitive tourists with many choices of destination, whereas travelers originating from Orlando typically choose Kansas City for specific family or business reasons.

The Economic Naturalist employs basic economic principles to answer scores of intriguing questions from everyday life, and, along the way, introduces key ideas such as the cost benefit principle, the "no cash left on the table" principle, and the law of one price. There is no more delightful and painless way of learning these fundamental principles.

Greenspan's Bubbles

by Bill Fleckenstein, Frederick Sheehan

(McGraw-Hill, 194 Pages)

SMALL LOANS, BIG CHANGES

by Alex Counts

(John Wiley & Sons Inc, 0 Pages)

How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years

by Howard Ruff

(Berkley Pub Group, 304 Pages)

From the back cover

The devaluation of the American dollar, with the subsequent inflation, is eerily similar to the chaotic markets of the 1970s. The factors that created the stagflation and the gold and silver bull markets of the late seventies and early eighties are back. As Yogi Berra said, "It's deja vu all over again." Only this time, they're even more exaggerated--offering once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for middle-class Americans, if they look beyond the Wall Street stock-market propaganda. This book can help you panic-proof your life and your finances, and reap huge profits with relatively small investments in gold, silver, certain ETFs, mutual funds and mining stocks.

How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years in the 21st Century is a must-have survival and moneymaking guide for people who want to profit from the rough economic seas that are upon us--and come through with their share of treasure.

Howard J. Ruff is the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of the original How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years, still the bestselling financial book in history. Ruff recommended gold at $125 and silver at $2 in 1975, and sold out in the late seventies with gold above $700 and silver at $35. He also sold out of the dot-com boom near the top, and continues to guide investors toward prosperity in the new millennium.

The Wall Street Diet

by Heather Bauer

(Hyperion, 352 Pages)

Crunch

by Jared Bernstein, Arbinger Institute

(Berrett-Koehler Pub, 240 Pages)

Bad Money

by Kevin Phillips

(Viking Pr, 0 Pages)

Pension Dumping

by Fran Hawthorne

(Bloomberg Press, 288 Pages)

It's Not About the Money

by Brent Kessel

(HarperOne, 320 Pages)

From Publishers Weekly

Financial planner by day, yogi by dawn, Kessel offers holistic financial advice in this Buddhist-influenced debut promising both a better financial strategy and greater fulfillment and happiness. More money doesn't necessarily mean more enjoyment of life and freedom from worry, Kessel argues; people are often unhappy with their financial lives because traditional ways to think about money—spend less, save more—work from the outside in rather than the inside out. Kessel highlights the benefits of focusing awareness inward, allowing for the integration of outer actions with inner understanding. He explores eight financial archetypes (including The Pleasure Seeker and The Empire Builder), helps readers determine their type and suggests ways to overcome the problems each type typically faces. Pleasure Seekers, for example, should take a weekly break from wanting or redefine the things that bring them pleasure. The rewards will be an abiding sense of financial fulfillment, a sense of security and confidence about the future and a greater ability to reach important financial goals. Readers interested in an Eastern-influenced approach will find useful advice on how to think about money, as well as insight into what makes us tick.

You're So Money

by Farnoosh Torabi

(Three Rivers Pr, 288 Pages)

The Value of Money

by Susan McCarthy

(J P Tarcher, 320 Pages)

Houseonomics

by Gary Smith, Margaret H. Smith

(Financial Times Management, 200 Pages)

Becoming Your Own China Stock Guru

by J. Trippon

(John Wiley & Sons Inc, 208 Pages)

Wall Street

by Steve Fraser

(Yale Univ Pr, 224 Pages)

10 Birds with 1 Stone

by Merritt Sher

(Re-Search Pubns, 110 Pages)

WEALTH SECRETS OF THE AFFLUENT

by Christopher Jarvis

(John Wiley & Sons Inc, 0 Pages)

Ethical Fundraising

by Janice Gow Pettey

(John Wiley & Sons Inc, 288 Pages)

While America Aged

by Roger Lowenstein

(Penguin Press, 288 Pages)

Book Description

A Bestselling Author Explains, Via Three Fascinating Stories, How An Upcoming Pension Crisis Threatens to Upset the American Economy.

With his trademark narrative panache, Lowenstein unravels the truth about how pensions work in America and illuminates the impending crisis. While America Aged is comprised of three fascinating case studies, set in the Detroit auto industry, among New York City transit workers, and in the city of San Diego. Lowenstein warns that the pension wars that erupted in these industries and cities are only the first. But he also recognizes that workers are entitled to decent security in their retirement--a critical problem as the country ages. Arming readers with knowledge of the consequences of doing nothing, While America Aged is, first and foremost, a call to action.

Wall Street Stories

by Edwin Lefevre

(McGraw-Hill, 224 Pages)

Follow the Fed to Investment Success

by Doug Roberts

(John Wiley & Sons , 224 Pages)

A World of Wealth

by Thomas G. Donlan

(Financial Times Management, 300 Pages)

This is a book about economics that avoids charts and graphs and dull discussion. This is a book about money, wealth, power and society. It explains contemporary issues from a capitalist perspective and provides historical depth for understanding the issues. Throughout history people have tried many ways of building wealth and driving progress. One has consistently worked best: capitalism. This book explains why free markets and free enterprise are so successful, and demonstrates how they offer the best solutions for today's most challenging problems. Long-time Barron's editorial page editor Tom Donlan starts by explaining why markets are such efficient allocators of wealth, income, labor, goods, and everything else. It's possible to imagine kinder, more just, more equitable outcomes than markets deliver, says Donlan, but it's virtually impossible to engineer those outcomes without creating disastrous consequences. Then, one issue at a time, he focuses on the greatest challenges facing America and the world. Donlan reveals what economic history teaches us about poverty, inequality, taxes, globalization, trade, immigration, energy, health care, retirement security, and population growth -- and how we can harness the power of free markets to address these challenges today. Donlan has written the year's most compelling, engaging, passionate book about money, wealth, power, and society -- and the most powerful case for capitalism in a generation.

iMoney

by Tom Lydon

(Financial Times Management, 300 Pages)

Smart investors have made ETFs today's hottest investment and the industry has responded by introducing some 700 new ETFs covering every conceivable investment option. Yesterday's ETF advice is simply no longer applicable: you need entirely new guidance that reflects the ETF marketplace's radically new realities. This book delivers that guidance, fully customized to your specific goals and objectives as an individual investor. The authors are singularly qualified to write this book. Tom Lydon's ETFtrends.com is the world's leading Web site on ETF investing for individuals; John Wasik writes regularly on ETFs as a leading personal finance columnist for Bloomberg News and bloomberg.com. In this book, they explain exactly how ETFs fit into today's complex universe of investments, and present specific roadmaps, strategies and model portfolios strategies for a wide range of investors, from young college graduates through retirees. You'll learn how to build and monitor an ETF portfolio; choose among the fast-growing array of ETFs; and profit from changing global market trends. Along the way, the authors cover virtually every type of ETF, including domestic and foreign stock ETFs; sector, commodity, and currency ETFs; fixed income ETFs, long/short ETFs, and even "actively managed" ETFs. They preview emerging ETF industry trends, and objectively address the key criticisms that have been leveled at ETFs recently, information you'll find in no other ETF book.

Profiting from Credit Cards

by Curtis Arnold

(Financial Times Management, 250 Pages)

When Markets Collide

by Curvebreakers, Mohamed El-erian

(McGraw-Hill, 304 Pages)

The Gridlock Economy

by Michael Heller

(Basic Books, 304 Pages)

How the Wise Decide

by Aaron Sandoski, Bryn Zeckhauser

(Crown , 224 Pages)

ABOUT THIS BOOK
Discover the formula used by twenty-one of the world’s most extraordinary leaders to make consistent and smart decisions.

How do the wise decide and lead businesses and organizations to great success is the question Bryn Zeckhauser and Aaron Sandoski posed to themselves after landing their first jobs as managers. Despite the best training the world could offer—Harvard MBAs and stints at McKinsey & Company, the elite powerhouse consulting firm—they felt unprepared when faced with the pressure to make critical decisions. So they set out on a three-year quest to discover how people with remarkable success and experience in both corporate and public life—“the wise”—went about making crucial, often make-or-break decisions.

* How did William George, when CEO of Medtronic, get the real story about why a critical tool used by cardiologists was failing and use that information to fix a systemic problem within the company?

* When inventor Dean Kamen has to make a decision about investing in a new technology, why does he find it useful to “fill a room with barbarians” to get the best thinking from his team?

* How did Shelly Lazarus assess the risks of making a nontraditional career move, a decision that eventually led her to being appointed CEO?

* How did Stephen Schwarzman and Peter Peterson, the founders of The Blackstone Group, turn $400,000 of their own money into one of the world’s preeminent alternative asset managers with $100 billion under management?

These and the other accounts of the direct conversations Zeckhauser and Sandoski had with twenty-one major leaders show that between wise decisions and poor ones lie vast fortunes and extraordinary contrasts in success. How the Wise Decide distills their wisdom, and it reveals how you can use this wisdom to be on the winning side of the ledger.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

BRYN ZECKHAUSER is a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government and a principal at Equity Resource Investments, a real-estate investment firm with funds in the United States and Asia. She developed her interest in strategic decision making working with portfolio companies at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and with her Fortune 500 clients at McKinsey and Company.

AARON SANDOSKI is managing director of Norwich Ventures, a medical device venture capital firm. He began his professional career with the consulting firm McKinsey & Company and has also been a teaching fellow at Harvard University, where he won the Allyn Young Teaching Prize.

The Little Book That Saves Your Assets

by David M. Darst

(John Wiley & Sons Inc, 224 Pages)

While it's difficult to outperform the market year in and year out, some people continue to earn substantial market-beating returns from their portfolios. How do they do it? With the help of savvy asset allocation strategies, such as those developed by author David Darst, one of the world's leading thinkers in the field of asset allocation. Now, with The Little Book That Saves Your Assets, Darst discusses how readers can invest like the rich by implementing this proven approach in their everyday investment endeavors.

Based on brilliant thinking and innovative research, this book is crisp, clear, and down-to-earth. It explores both the art and science of asset allocation and makes this crucial method accessible to anyone--investors and professionals alike--all of whom can benefit from asset allocation strategies. Along the way, Darst details the importance of spreading assets among uncorrelated classes, and building a portfolio that can beat the market at best, and match it at worst. Page by page, he describes the principles behind this process and stresses the substantial investment returns that the right mix of stocks, bonds, cash, real estate, gold, commodities, and other assets can bring to the average portfolio.

Wealthy individuals and financial institutions have successfully used this strategy to achieve excellent returns in a variety of markets. And with The Little Book That Saves Your Assets, these same strategies can now be understood and used by anyone.