800-CEO-READ New Releases

The Wal-Mart Effect

by Charles Fishman

(Penguin, 336 Pages)

Wal-Mart isn’t just the world’s biggest company, it is probably the world’s most written-about. But no book until this one has managed to penetrate its wall of silence or go beyond the usual polemics to analyze its actual effects on its customers, workers, and suppliers. Drawing on unprecedented interviews with former Wal-Mart executives and a wealth of staggering data (e.g., Americans spend $36 million an hour at Wal-Mart stores, and in 2004 its growth alone was bigger than the total revenue of 469 of the Fortune 500), The Wal-Mart Effect is an intimate look at a business that is dramatically reshaping our lives.

Boeing Versus Airbus

by John Newhouse

(Random House Inc, 256 Pages)

From the author of the classic study of the aviation industry, The Sporty Game, a new book that chronicles the high-stakes rivalry between the world’s two largest aircraft manufacturers—companies that will bet the house on a single airplane.

Long one of America’s most successful and admired corporations—and its biggest exporter—Boeing struggled to maintain 50 percent of the market share for commercial aircraft after being overtaken by the European upstart Airbus in the late 1990s. But Airbus did not remain on top for long. By 2006, the company suffered from mismanagement and had adopted the kind of complacent, risk-averse culture that had once characterized its competitor.

Incorporating interviews he conducted throughout the industry—with everyone from company leaders, past and present, and Wall Street analysts to design engineers and factory workers—John Newhouse takes us inside these two firms to help us understand their struggle for supremacy in a business based as much on instinct as on economics. He examines the critical issues that Boeing has faced in recent years, including its difficult merger with McDonnell Douglas, its controversial move from Seattle to Chicago, and a series of corporate scandals that made front-page news. And he analyzes the troubles that have beset a once ascendant Airbus, notably an institutional structure aimed at satisfying the narrowly focused interests of its European stakeholders. Newhouse also explores the problems that now face Boeing and Airbus alike: potential competition from China and Japan, the challenge of serving burgeoning Asian markets, and the need to undo years of mismanagement.

Boeing Versus Airbus is a fascinating, informed, and insightful tale of success, and failure, in the turbulent, do-or-die world of the aircraft industry.

The Unwritten Laws of Business

by J.W King, Alan Sklar, James G. Skakoon

(Bantam Dell Pub Group, 112 Pages)

Every once in awhile, there is a book with a message so timeless, so universal, that it transcends generations. The Unwritten Laws of Business is such a book. Originally published over 60 years ago as The Unwritten Laws of Engineering, it has sold over 100,000 copies, despite the fact that it has never been available before to general readers. Fully revised for business readers today, here are but a few of the gems you’ll find in this little-known business classic:

If you take care of your present job well, the future will take care of itself.
The individual who says nothing is usually credited with having nothing to say.
Whenever you are performing someone else’s function, you are probably neglecting your own.
Martyrdom only rarely makes heroes, and in the business world, such heroes and martyrs often find themselves unemployed.

Refreshingly free of the latest business fads and jargon, this is a book that is wise and insightful, capturing and distilling the timeless truths and principles that underlie management and business the world over.

Deals on the Green

by David Rynecki

(Penguin USA, 0 Pages)

No matter how sophisticated business becomes, nothing can replace the golf course as a communication hub. It’s where up-and-comers can impress the boss and where CEOs can seal multibillion-dollar deals. It’s no coincidence that many of the most admired people in business—Jack Welch, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Sandy Weill—always carved out time in their busy schedules for golf.

Deals on the Green takes us inside the gates of elite courses like Augusta National and Pebble Beach to reveal how important golf really is. It tells entertaining stories about the people who rely on golf to drive their success in business, from John D. Rockefeller a century ago to Donald Trump today. Some of those you’ll meet:

• Wayne Huizenga, the founder of Blockbuster, who was so golf obsessed that he created his own personal course in Florida.
• Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric, who won Jack Welch’s blessing for the big job after proving himself on the golf course.
• Stan O’Neal, CEO of Merrill Lynch, who became the most powerful black executive in America—and a late bloomer at golf.

A perfect gift for dads, grads, bosses, and avid golfers of all ages, Deals on the Green will make you think about golf, and business, in a whole new way.

The 4-hour Work Week

by Timothy Ferriss

(Crown, 208 Pages)

What do you do? Tim Ferriss has trouble answering the question. Depending on when you ask this controversial Princeton University guest lecturer, he might answer:

• "I race motorcycles in Europe."
• "I ski in the Andes."
• "I scuba dive in Panama."
• "I dance tango in Buenos Aires."

He has spent more than five years learning the secrets of the New Rich, a fast-growing subculture who has abandoned the "deferred-life plan" (slaversaver retire) and instead mastered the new currencies--time and mobility--to create luxury lifestyles in the here and now.

Whether you are an overworked employee or an entrepreneur trapped in your own business, this book is the compass for a new and revolutionary world. Join Tim Ferriss as he teaches you:

• What the crucial difference is between absolute and relative income
• How to train your boss to value performance over presence, or kill your job (or company) if it's beyond repair (pages 209 and 222)
• What automated cash-flow "muses" are and how to create one in 2 to 4 weeks
• How to cultivate selective ignorance— and create time-with a low-information diet
• What the management secrets of Remote Control CEOs are (page 184)
• How to get free housing worldwide and airfare at 50-80% off (page 232)
• How to fill the void and create a meaningful life after removing work and the office

New Ideas from Dead Ceos

by Todd G. Buchholz

(Harpercollins, 304 Pages)

New Ideas from Dead CEOs uncovers the secrets of success of great CEOs by giving readers an intimate look at their professional and personal lives. Why did Ray Kroc's plan for McDonald's thrive when many burger joints failed? And how, decades later, did Krispy Kreme fail to heed Kroc's hard-won lessons? How did Walt Disney's most dismal day as a young cartoonist radically change his career? When Estée Lauder was a child in Queens, New York, the average American spent $8 a year on toiletries. Why did she spot an opportunity in selling high-priced cosmetics, and why did she pound on Saks's doors? How did Thomas Watson Jr. decide to roll the dice and put all of IBM's chips on computing, when his father thought it could be a losing idea? We learn about these CEOs' greatest challenges and failures, and how they successfully rode the waves of demographic and technological change.

New Ideas from Dead CEOs not only gives us fascinating insights into these CEOs' lives, but also shows how we can apply their ideas to the present-day triumphs and struggles of Sony, Dell, Costco, Carnival Cruises, Time Warner, and numerous other companies trying to figure out how to stay on top or climb back up.

The featured CEOs in this book were not candidates for sainthood. Many of them knew "god" only as a prefix to "dammit." But they were devoted to their businesses, not just to their egos and their personal bank accounts and yachts. Extraordinarily fresh and deeply thoughtful, Todd G. Buchholz's New Ideas from Dead CEOs is a truly enjoyable and fun—yet serious and realistic—look at what we still have to learn and absorb from these decomposing CEOs.

Revolt in the Boardroom

by Alan Murray

(Harpercollins, 288 Pages)

Throughout the 20th century, American corporations were governed by autocratic, almost unaccountable chief executives. Their word was law and the only check on their power was a board of directors composed of their friends and allies.

Then, in a stunning reversal, a momentous series of firings deposed the heads of some of the world's best-known companies: AIG, Morgan Stanley, Boeing, Hewlett-Packard and Pfizer, just to name a few. Formerly unchallenged CEOs found themselves under fire, often from their own handpicked boards. The number of deposed executives is astonishing. In 2004, the leaders of 600 companies were asked to leave. That number more than doubled in 2005 and reached 1,400 companies in 2006.

Flexing new muscles, directors are assuming new and unfamiliar responsibilities. In Revolt in the Boardroom, Alan Murray reveals the inner workings of the new seat of power. Using the access afforded to him by his influential Wall Street Journal column, Murray tells the story of three seminal board revolts—the now-famous Hewlett-Packard drama, the ousting of Boeing's Harry Stonecipher and the end of the reign one of the world's most autocratic executives, Hank Greenberg at AIG.

Murray goes further to chart the history of the corporation, the rise of governance and the effects of the new power gained by outside institutions like hedge funds and interest groups. Through it all, Murray shows how the job of chief executive has rapidly and permanently changed. Leaders like A. G. Lafley and Jeff Immelt govern instead of rule, build alliances and support instead of dictating direction and pay careful attention to a broader range of stakeholders than ever before.

Revolt in the Boardroom is the first look at the new world of corporate power and the last word on the transformational events of the last two years.

Weird Ideas That Work

by Bob Sutton

(Free Press, 240 Pages)

Creativity, new ideas, innovation -- in any age they are keys to success, but in today's whirlwind economy they are essential for survival itself. Yet, as Robert Sutton explains, the standard rules of business behavior and management are precisely the opposite of what it takes to build an innovative company. We are told to hire people who will fit in; to train them extensively; and to work to instill a corporate culture in every employee. In fact, in order to foster creativity, we should hire misfits, goad them to fight, and pay them to defy convention and undermine the prevailing culture. Weird Ideas That Work codifies these and other proven counterintuitive ideas to help you turn your workplace from staid and safe to wild and woolly -- and creative. Stanford professor Robert Sutton is an authority on innovation and a popular speaker. In Weird Ideas That Work he draws on extensive research in behavioral psychology to explain how innovation can be fostered in hiring, managing, and motivating people; building teams; making decisions; and interacting with outsiders. Business practices like "hire people who make you uncomfortable," "reward success and failure, but punish inaction," and "decide to do something that will probably fail, and then convince yourself and everyone else that success is certain" strike many managers as strange or even downright wrong. Yet Weird Ideas That Work shows how some of the best teams and companies use these and other counterintuitive practices to crank out new ideas, and it demonstrates that every company can reap sales and profits from such creativity. Weird Ideas That Work is filled with examples of each of Sutton's 11 1/2 practices, drawn from hi- and low-tech industries, manufacturing and services, information and products.

The Art of Woo

by G. Richard Shell, Mario Moussa

(Penguin USA, 304 Pages)

Your projects, programs, and career turn on the difference between “no” and “yes.” Yet selling ideas—especially the kinds of ideas that make organizations work—is a skill shrouded in mystery. Part emotional intelligence, part politics, part rhetoric, and part psychology, selling ideas is not like tricking someone out of his money. It’s about helping others to see things your way— engaging their minds and imaginations.

Charles Lindbergh needed woo to assemble backers for his famous flight; Nelson Mandela used it to lead a revolution in South Africa. In any context, woo is two parts art and one part science.

Richard Shell and Mario Moussa offer a self-assessment to determine which persuasion role fits you best and how to make the most of your natural strengths. They also share vivid stories from their experiences advising thousands of leaders, and stories about famous people like John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Andy Grove, and Bono.

Whether you’re introverted or extroverted, competitive or collaborative, intellectual or practical, The Art of Woo will strengthen your persuasion skills in every aspect of your life.

About the Author G. Richard Shell is director of the Wharton Executive Negotiation Workshop at the Wharton School, where he is professor of legal studies, business ethics and management. His previous book is the award-winning Bargaining for Advantage. Mario Moussa is a faculty member at the Wharton School and a principal of CFAR Inc., a management consulting firm.

The Art of Woo

by G. Richard Shell, Mario Moussa

(Penguin USA, 304 Pages)

Your projects, programs, and career turn on the difference between “no” and “yes.” Yet selling ideas—especially the kinds of ideas that make organizations work—is a skill shrouded in mystery. Part emotional intelligence, part politics, part rhetoric, and part psychology, selling ideas is not like tricking someone out of his money. It’s about helping others to see things your way— engaging their minds and imaginations.

Charles Lindbergh needed woo to assemble backers for his famous flight; Nelson Mandela used it to lead a revolution in South Africa. In any context, woo is two parts art and one part science.

Richard Shell and Mario Moussa offer a self-assessment to determine which persuasion role fits you best and how to make the most of your natural strengths. They also share vivid stories from their experiences advising thousands of leaders, and stories about famous people like John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Andy Grove, and Bono.

Whether you’re introverted or extroverted, competitive or collaborative, intellectual or practical, The Art of Woo will strengthen your persuasion skills in every aspect of your life.

About the Author G. Richard Shell is director of the Wharton Executive Negotiation Workshop at the Wharton School, where he is professor of legal studies, business ethics and management. His previous book is the award-winning Bargaining for Advantage. Mario Moussa is a faculty member at the Wharton School and a principal of CFAR Inc., a management consulting firm.

Extraordinary Circumstances

by Cynthia Cooper

(John Wiley & Sons, 368 Pages)

Book Description

A courageous narrative of one woman's victory over corporate wrongdoing.

Written in an autobiographic style, Extraordinary Circumstances takes the reader through the journey of Cynthia Cooper–former WorldCom employee and Time magazine’s 2002 Person of the Year–and her compelling story in exposing the largest corporate fraud in history.

Following Cooper from her early upbringing in Mississippi, to her high-level position in WorldCom, to the issues of fraud that she confronted, to the fall of WorldCom, Extraordinary Circumstances is an insider’s guide to the decision-making process that led her to "blow the whistle" and the role her personal faith and ethics played during this challenging time.

Cynthia Cooper (Brandon, MS) was named one of Time magazine’s 2002 Persons of the Year, along with fellow whistleblowers Coleen Rowley and Sherron Watkins. Ms. Cooper was inducted to the 2004 AICPA Hall of Fame, and is the first woman to receive this distinction. Ms. Cooper is also the 2003 recipient of the Accounting Exemplar Award, which is awarded annually to an individual who has made notable contributions to professionalism and ethics in accounting practice or education. Ms. Cooper is the tenth recipient of the Accounting Exemplar Award and the first woman to receive the award. As the former vice president of the internal audit department at WorldCom, she is best known for her detection and reporting of the massive corporate fraud that was taking place at some of the highest levels of the company. After the collapse of WorldCom, Cooper continued to work at WorldCom (now MCI) but in 2004 she resigned her position as the Chief Audit Executive for MCI to form her own company, through which she speaks to both professionals and students across the country to share some of the lessons she has learned and to emphasize the importance of strong ethical leadership.

Your Business Brickyard

by Howard Mann

(Jackson Business Press, 64 Pages)

Product Description
The basics. That is what you lost when you went from feeling like, I am going to make my mark, to It is too hard to keep up so let us just try to survive. It is time to admit you re not having fun anymore. Only then can you find your way back to the beginning when your business was all promise and no misery. Only then can you build (and keep building on) the basics that will never let you down. This small book contains the secret basics to unlock the true power and potential of your business. Strategist, speaker and consultant Howard Mann has collected twelve bricks essential to any business foundation. Mann shows you how to get back to basics, reconnect with your purpose, and grow your business, instead of getting stuck following the latest trend or innovation. Most important of all, Your Business Brickyard provides a game plan for how to make your business fun to run again. You will learn how to Reconnect to Your Purpose and keep your goals uppermost in your mind. You will say goodbye to worries over competition when you Lose Your Nemesis. You ll appreciate the powerful simplicity of Pay Fast, Get Paid Even Faster. You will learn how to Goaljump and work backwards from your most ambitious goals to actionable tasks you can do today. Your Business Brickyard shows you how to eliminate whatever it is that hinders your ability as a business owner to enjoy your position properly. With practical, hands-on exercises and a fresh, concise format, The Brickyard will help you establish a brick solid foundation so your business can grow without limit while you enjoy the journey.

About the Author

Howard Mann is the president of The Business Brickyard, a leading strategy, marketing and communication consultancy based in New York, and a founder of Sideshow Digital, an award-winning interactive agency. Prior to founding The Business Brickyard in 2001, Mann was the President of a premier customs broker and international freight forwarder with six U.S. offices and a network of over 35 agents worldwide. Mann currently works as an adviser to entrepreneurs and business owners. His highly focused workshops and year long programs help executive teams dig down to unlock the power of the perfect execution of the basics of business. His clients learn how to build brick-solid foundations that sustain growth and make their businesses more fun to run. In addition to consulting, Mann speaks and writes frequently about the importance of the basics and reconnecting to the passion that too often gets lost as businesses mature.

Women on Top

by Margaret Heffernan

(Penguin Group USA, 274 Pages)

Book Description

More women are starting successful businesses than ever before. But what makes women leaders different? And how can others learn to capitalize on their strengths? Through interviews with hundreds of women entrepreneurs, Margaret Heffernan discovered that women are more values-oriented, more flexible, and less ego-driven than their male counterparts; as a result they’re creating company cultures that are better able to meet the demands of the new economy. Heffernan’s stories about real women making really serious profits is a must-read for all entrepreneurs—male or female, whether well established or just starting up—as well as anyone seeking to understand what it takes to do business today.

Family Wars

by Nigel Nicholson, Grant Gordon

(Kogan Page Ltd, 288 Pages)

How Tiger Does It

by Brad Kearns

(McGraw-Hill, 208 Pages)

Book Description

Insight for living life like a champ, based on what drives the most dominant athlete of the modern era--Tiger Woods

How Tiger Does It gives you the secrets to living life to the fullest—the Tiger way. Using intimate interviews with Tiger’s contemporaries and examples from his professional and personal life, Brad Kearns analyzes the mental drive behind Tiger’s success to reveal the heart and mind of a great champion. With emphasis on the three Tiger Woods’ Success Factors, the book shows you how to apply Tiger traits to your everyday challenges, from building a career to raising a family and much more.

2011

by Richard Laermer

(McGraw-Hill, 256 Pages)

In this fast and furious time machine of a book, Richard Laermer shows you how to use-and in some cases abuse-the trends of the next decade (or two) that really matter. As an author with a functional crystal ball, a veteran marketing innovator, and media master, Laermer foresees a fabulous future-if you start planning for it today.

Sometimes you see a business evolve and think, “I wish I'd thought of that.” With his trademark razor-sharp style, Laermer reveals the most functional forecasting secrets of professional trendspotters. Divided into nine categories, with more than 72 “short-short” chapters and dozens of outrageous sidebars, this captivating book shows you the ways to:

-Read the signs

-Influence the trends

-Embrace new and reject stodgy

-Anticipate change

-Ask experts the right questions

-Seek out visionaries and snub fakers

-Separate the trends from fads

-Use technology-for everything

-Cash in on being ahead of the competition!

2011: Trendspotting for the Next Decade is packed with eye-popping predictions (and realities) on how you'll live, work, play, buy, sell, talk, text, laugh, and more. You'll discover how miniscule attention spans will increase a need for velocity...how to work while you're sleeping...how to wash off mediocrity...and why today's communication devices will become obsolete. With 2011you'll learn how to participate in change instead of trailing it.

Laermer calls trends as he sees 'em-from what's dead to what's sensational to what's novel and what's next. If you're looking for surprising observations, shocking statistics, sublime insights, and wholesome food for thought--read this book.

The Zone of Insolvency

by R. Mattocks

(John Wiley & Sons Inc, 352 Pages)

Leisureville

by Andrew D. Blechman

(Atlantic Monthly Press, 320 Pages)

Winner Take All

by Richard Elkus

(Basic Books, 272 Pages)

Good Guys and Bad Guys

by Joe Nocera

(Portfolio, 288 Pages)

The Change Cycle

by Lillie R. Brock, Ann Salerno

(Berrett-Koehler Pub, 180 Pages)

However necessary, organizational change is likely to be angst ridden and frustrating to the workforce. The Change Cycle will help readers to more resourcefully cope with change at work by helping them understand and predict their behavior and the behavior of others. Authors Salerno and Brock teach readers about six predictable and sequential stages that accompany any sort of change. This model is firmly grounded in recent discoveries in social psychology and cognitive neuroscience, but is presented in a straightforward, conversational style peppered with humor. Salerno and Brock describe how we think, feel and act during each stage, utilizing stories of common work/life transitions and how organizations have successfully dealt with the challenges accompanying the stages. They offer tools and success strategies needed for individuals at all levels, helping them understand what they ought to expect, from themselves and others, as they move through each stage of The Change Cycle.

The Necessary Revolution

by Peter M. Senge, Bryan Smith, Sara Schley, Joe Laur

(Currency, 432 Pages)

Sway

by Ori Brafman, Rom Brafman

(Currency, 224 Pages)

A fascinating journey into the hidden psychological influences that derail our decision-making, Sway will change the way you think about the way you think.

Why is it so difficult to sell a plummeting stock or end a doomed relationship? Why do we listen to advice just because it came from someone “important”? Why are we more likely to fall in love when there’s danger involved? In Sway, renowned organizational thinker Ori Brafman and his brother, psychologist Rom Brafman, answer all these questions and more.

Drawing on cutting-edge research from the fields of social psychology, behavioral economics, and organizational behavior, Sway reveals dynamic forces that influence every aspect of our personal and business lives, including loss aversion (our tendency to go to great lengths to avoid perceived losses), the diagnosis bias (our inability to reevaluate our initial diagnosis of a person or situation), and the “chameleon effect” (our tendency to take on characteristics that have been arbitrarily assigned to us).

Sway introduces us to the Harvard Business School professor who got his students to pay $204 for a $20 bill, the head of airline safety whose disregard for his years of training led to the transformation of an entire industry, and the football coach who turned conventional strategy on its head to lead his team to victory. We also learn the curse of the NBA draft, discover why interviews are a terrible way to gauge future job performance, and go inside a session with the Supreme Court to see how the world’s most powerful justices avoid the dangers of group dynamics.

Every once in a while, a book comes along that not only challenges our views of the world but changes the way we think. In Sway, Ori and Rom Brafman not only uncover rational explanations for a wide variety of irrational behaviors but also point readers toward ways to avoid succumbing to their pull.

Turning Learning Right Side Up

by Russell Ackoff and Daniel Greenberg

(Wharton School Publishing, 224 Pages)

In the age of the Internet, we educate people much as we did during the Industrial Revolution. We educate them for a world that no longer exists, instilling values antithetical to those of a free, 21st century democracy. Worst of all, too many schools extinguish the very creativity and joy they ought to nourish.

In Turning Learning Right Side Up, legendary systems scientist Dr. Russell Ackoff and “in-the-trenches” education innovator Daniel Greenberg offer a radically new path forward. In the year’s most provocative conversation, they take on the very deepest questions about education: What should be its true purpose? Do classrooms make sense anymore? What should individuals contribute to their own education? Are yesterday’s distinctions between subjects–and between the arts and sciences–still meaningful? What would the ideal lifelong education look like–at K-12, in universities, in the workplace, and beyond?

Ackoff and Greenberg each have experience making radical change work–successfully. Here, they combine deep idealism with a relentless focus on the real world–and arrive at solutions that are profoundly sensible and powerfully compelling.

• Why today’s educational system fails–and why superficial reforms won’t help
  The questions politicians won’t ask–and the answers they don’t want to hear




• How do people learn–and why do they choose to learn?
  Building schools that reflect what we know about learning
• What values do we want students to learn in a 21st century democracy?
  ...and why aren’t they being learned?
• How can tomorrow’s transformed schools be operated and funded?

A plan that cuts through political gridlock and can actually work.

Order of Proof

by Paul Goldstein

(Doubleday, 288 Pages)

Tuned In

by David Meerman Scott, Craig Stull, Phil Myers

(John Wiley & Sons Inc, 240 Pages)

A proven framework for creating products and services that resonate.

Tuned In argues that the key to business success lies in understanding and connecting with what consumers and markets want most. Being tuned in to the needs of buyers, whether those needs are expressed outwardly or not, is the ultimate secret to creating and marketing products and services that people want to buy. For anyone who markets a product, service, or ideas in any business, industry, or organization, Tuned In delivers a simple six-step process for discovering real and deep insights into any market: finding unsolved problems, understanding buyer personas, quantifying impact, creating breakthrough experiences, articulating powerful ideas, and establishing sustainable connections.

Tuned In shows readers how to stop guessing what consumers need and stop wasting time and money building, marketing, and selling solutions that the market doesn't value. This insightful book shows readers how to connect with their market in order to create products and services that truly resonate with people.

Service Scorecard

by Praveen Gupta, Rajesh Tyagi

(FT Press, 300 Pages)

In the U.S., service related activities have become dominant aspects of the economy and currently account for well over 50% of our GNP. The authors' framework eliminates outdated, low-value techniques originally created for manufacturing firms, replacing them with advanced techniques that fully leverage your investments in technology. Tyagi and Gupta begin by explaining why conventional balanced scorecard approaches don't work well for service organizations, discussing issues ranging from the inherent variability of customers, servers, and processes, the crucial importance of engagement, and the unique challenges of service innovation. Next, they introduce a Service Scorecard framework that encompasses the seven key elements of service organization success: Growth, Leadership, Acceleration, Collaboration, Innovation, Execution, and Retention. You'll learn how to set clear performance targets at the function and business level; benchmark performance against best practices; identify improvement opportunities; and capture performance data that offers a leading indicator for financials. Their proven approach is designed for easy understanding and implementation without the need for expensive consultants. Simply put, it offers today's most direct path to measuring performance and optimizing business value in any service organization.

The New Gold Standard

by Rhodes, Joseph Michelli Ph.D.

(McGraw-Hill, 224 Pages)

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. The name says it all. When it comes to quality, style, and unsurpassed service, this international company has set the gold standard for delivering the highest level of customer experience-which companies in all industries strive to meet. Now, for the first time, this world-class luxury hotel group has given bestselling author Joseph Michelli unprecedented access to their executives, staff, and award-winning Leadership Center training facilities. You'll discover the five key principles behind The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company's unparalleled success and customer service innovations for which they are famous. For executives and managers at all levels, this book is pure gold.

Six Disciplines® Execution Revolution

by Gary Harpst

(Six Disciplines Publishing, 208 Pages)

With all of the pressures successful business leaders have today, none is more urgent or challenging than learning the ability to execute strategy. While larger businesses have the luxury of budgets and resources to meet this challenge, it s the small and midsized businesses that now have a tremendous opportunity to level the playing field, leapfrog the expensive, outdated approaches of the past, and attack the challenge of execution in a revolutionary way. The key insights are:

Based on breakthrough research, field testing and proven best-practices, the thought-leading vision described by Gary Harpst in Six Disciplines® Execution Revolution sets a new course for how small and midsized businesses can finally confront the never-ending challenge of executing strategy.

As a follow-up to the success of Six Disciplines for Excellence, Harpst's new book, Six Disciplines® Execution Revolution, details the elements of a complete strategy execution program, clarifies how it could only have happened now, and explains why such a program will soon become a mainstream requirement for your business.

Good Is Not Enough

by Keith R. Wyche

(Portfolio, 256 Pages)

A no-nonsense guide for minorities in business who want to make it to senior management

In recent decades, corporate America has gotten better at recruiting minority talent. But despite their education and hard work, too many African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans still find unique obstacles on the path to senior management. And there are too few minority mentors available to help them understand and overcome these challenges.

Keith R. Wyche, a division president at a Fortune 500 company, is the perfect mentor for ambitious minority businesspeople at all levels. His book is filled with thought-provoking insights and practical advice based on his own experiences and those of the many people he has counseled. He discusses the importance of:

• Understanding corporate culture—and the impact it has on your career

• Being visible—because you can’t get ahead if nobody knows who you are

• Staying current—why minorities must be continuous learners

Good Is Not Enough also includes anecdotes from prominent CEOs such as Ken Chenault of American Express, Richard Parsons of Time Warner, and Aylwin Lewis of Kmart.

Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000

by Pete Blackshaw

(Doubleday, 208 Pages)

Book Description

In today’s Internet-driven world, customers have more power than ever. Through what interactive marketing expert Pete Blackshaw calls "consumer-generated media"—blogs, social networking pages, message boards, product review sites—even a single disgruntled customer can broadcast his complaints to an audience of millions. Blackshaw shows managers, marketers, and business leaders how to establish and maintain credibility for their brand by being authentic, listening and responding to customers, and forming relationships built on openness, transparency, and trust.

Filled with stories based on his experience working with Fortune 500 brands such as Toyota, Dell, Nike, Sony, General Motors, Unilever, Nestlé, Southwest Airlines, and Bank of America, Blackshaw offers a clear strategy to sustain a competitive advantage by creating enduring, loyal relationships with today’s consumer.

Ahead of the Curve

by Philip Delves Broughton

(Penguin Pr, 256 Pages)

Lessons from the Mouse

by Dennis Snow

(DC Press, 156 Pages)

Lessons From the Mouse is constructed as a series of lessons -- because therein lies the secret to discovering Disney s magic -- understanding and applying these ideas every day in a disciplined way. Each chapter explores how a particular lesson was taught and reinforced at Disney World and why it s important and how to apply it to other industries by using examples from the author's consulting work and from conversations with leaders and employees of other organizations. The end of each chapter provides some questions and ideas for utilizing the lesson. The book has multiple uses: raising the bar for personal performance, using a chapter for a series of staff meetings, or training modules for an entire organization. The ideas in the book have been applied to hospitals, law firms, banks, trucking companies, and gas station chains. Topics include identification of appropriate and inappropriate corporate behaviors, consistency, accepting responsibility, understanding how customers can make or break an organization, building loyalty among employee and customers, bring passion to your work, making your boss look good, and respect. Several books have already been written about the Disney way, but there is a gap in the Disney literature. Most of the books out there were written by people who had never actually worked at Disney or were written from the perspective of senior management. It was thought that there was a need for a Disney book written by someone who had actually worked on the rides, controlled the crowds at parades, stood in the rain for hours telling guests Space Mountain was closed, and even had to reprimand Goofy for poor attendance. Over the past eight years Dennis Snow has helped many organizations apply the principles found inside this book the principles he was privileged to learn at Disney. The results for these companies have been positive: improved customer satisfaction; reduced employee turnover; and increased profitability. There are a lot of ways you can apply the lessons in this book. You might decide to use them to raise the bar of your own performance. You might decide to make each chapter a topic for a series of staff meetings to get the whole team involved. If you re really ambitious, you can use each chapter as a training module for the entire organization. Or you might simply open the book periodically to any chapter for a quick dose of inspiration. However you decide to use Lessons From the Mouse, the important thing is to put the lessons to work. Anybody and any organization can employ these ideas. They have been applied by major research hospitals and by gas stations. Bank presidents as well as truck mechanics have put these principles to good use. It all comes down to commitment, consistency, and hard work.

13 Things That Don't Make Sense

by Michael Brooks

(Doubleday, 224 Pages)

Navigating the Healthcare Maze

by Jeff Knott

(DC Press, 364 Pages)

1,000 Dollars and an Idea

by Sam Wyly

(Newmarket Press, 256 Pages)

The rags-to-riches story of an amazing business wizard—from the Louisiana cotton fields to the worlds of computers, retailing, fast food, high finance, and green energy—life lessons from a man ahead of the pack and ahead of his time.

"My work is to create companies and build them," says the billionaire whom Fortune magazine, over thirty years ago, characterized_as "one of the most, if not the most, important entrepreneurs" of the century. This was even before Wyly contributed to nearly every great technological, service industry, and investment business breakthrough in the second half of the twentieth century.

Now, in his fast-paced, fascinating, and candid memoir, Wyly reveals the thought processes, relationships, and financial machinations behind the building of his diverse businesses over the last four decades.

Here's the story of how he worked his way through Louisiana Tech selling class rings and why, after his first job in which he broke sales records for IBM (along with Ross Perot, a fellow IBM salesman) and a brief stint at Honeywell, he decided to risk $1,000 of his savings to found the first "computer utility" company in the business world. This was in 1963. Two years later, he took his University Computing Company public and became an instant millionaire.

Never losing his entrepreneurial spirit, Wyly undertook one challenge after another, such as:

• Waging a successful anti-monopoly battle against AT&T, enabling him to build a "telephone highway" for computers

• Growing the modest Bonanza Steak House chain, which he "inherited" as the result of a bad debt, to a total of 600 outlets before selling it for a huge profit

• Creating a new systems software company, Sterling Software, which he eventually sold for $4 billion

• Dividending Sterling Commerce to public shareholders and selling to AT&T_for $4 billion in 2000

• Expanding the small arts-and-crafts chain Michaels Stores from 10 to 1,000 stores before selling it for $6 billion in 2006

• Founding Green Mountain Energy, which has become the largest and most profitable green business in the country.

Part autobiography and part inspirational self-help business guide, Wyly not only provides his homespun life lessons in the practice of starting and building businesses, but he also delivers refreshing new insights into how many American businesses operated from the 1950s to the present.

About the Author

Sam Wyly, a self-made billionaire of Scottish-Irish descent, grew up in Louisiana, attending local schools before eventually going to Louisiana Tech to study journalism and accounting. He was awarded a scholarship to the University of Michigan Business School, where he earned his MBA. Always an avid reader, student of history, and environmentalist, Sam and his brother, Charles, his partner in many of his businesses, together funded The Charles Wyly Sr. Tower of Learning at Louisiana Tech, built in memory of their father. Sam is an active proponent of clean air through clean energy. Recently, he and his wife, Cheryl, purchased the independent Explore Booksellers and Bistro in Aspen, where he maintains a home, as well as in Dallas and New York City.