Taking Smart Risks: How Sharp Leaders Win When Stakes are High

Taking Smart Risks: How Sharp Leaders Win When Stakes are High

Author: Doug Sundheim

Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional

Published: 2013-01-04

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0071778209

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In today’s market, playing it safe is not an option Lead your company to sustainable success by taking the RIGHT RISKS The business world is in flux, and you have to think and act quickly in order to stay competitive. But the last thing you want to do is make reckless business decisions. You have to find the middle ground. You have to take SMART RISKS. In this groundbreaking book, leadership expert Doug Sundheim explains how to find that precise point between comfort and danger for generating the sustained ability to work at the highest level of performance. Taking Smart Risks reveals the secrets to discovering, planning for, and acting upon the kind of risks that will move your company forward and ahead of the competition. Learn how to: Find Something Worth Fighting For—What do you care enough about to risk time, energy, and money to try to make happen? Determining this is half the battle. See the Future Now—Clarify your big idea in terms of real objectives, plans, and intended results. Act Fast, Learn Fast—Make your move quickly, but be sure you don’t squander valuable resources in the process. Communicate Powerfully—Assume communication will break down at points, plan accordingly—and don’t shy away from the tough conversations. Create a Smart Risk Culture— Build teams that share the same mindsets and values about expected smart risk behavior. Applying Sundheim’s advice will help you let go of old assumptions, explore new possibilities, move your organization out of its comfort zone, and experience long-term success. When you take smart risks, you will create. You will innovate. You will grow. And you will WIN. “From Sherwin Williams to Moo.com, Doug Sundheim is onto something here: your work is worth fighting for. A worthy read for everyone in your organization.” —Seth Godin, Author, The Icarus Deception “The risk-taking concepts in this book lie at the heart of effective leadership. Using case studies and stories from executives who have ‘been there, done that,’ Doug Sundheim teaches us that sometimes the most dangerous thing to do—in business and life—is to play it safe.” —Marshall Goldsmith, million-selling author of the New York Times bestsellers MOJO and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There “Sundheim delivers a message that every business needs to hear right now: excessive risk will kill you, but so will complacency. . . . If you’re charged with driving growth in your organization, buy this book—but more importantly, use it.” —Jed Hartman, Group Publisher, Fortune & CNNMoney.com “A spectacular book! The stories were powerful, the advice was crystal clear, and every few pages called me to action. I have bookmarked more pages in Taking Smart Risks than I have in any book since reading Peter Drucker’s classics.” —Michael Hejtmanek, President & CEO, Hasselblad Bron Inc. “Doug Sundheim does an excellent job of demonstrating not only how to take smart risks, but also how to lead the process of risk-taking—a critical skill set for leaders today.” —Cindy Zollinger, President & CEO, Cornerstone Research “A compelling case for why smart risk taking is so important in today’s fast-paced, uncertain world.” —Willie Pietersen, Professor, Columbia Business School; former CEO, Tropicana and Seagram USA


Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to Correct Them

Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to Correct Them

Author: Gary Belsky

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2010-01-12

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 1439169748

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Protect and grow your finances with help from this definitive and practical guide to behavioral economics—revised and updated to reflect new economic realities. In their fascinating investigation of the ways we handle money, Gary Belsky and Thomas Gilovich reveal the psychological forces—the patterns of thinking and decision making—behind seemingly irrational behavior. They explain why so many otherwise savvy people make foolish financial choices: why investors are too quick to sell winning stocks and too slow to sell losing shares, why home sellers leave money on the table and home buyers don’t get the biggest bang for their buck, why borrowers pay too much credit card interest and savers can’t sock away as much as they’d like, and why so many of us can’t control our spending. Focusing on the decisions we make every day, Belsky and Gilovich provide invaluable guidance for avoiding the financial faux pas that can cost thousands of dollars each year. Filled with fresh insight; practical advice; and lively, illustrative anecdotes, this book gives you the tools you need to harness the powerful science of behavioral economics in any financial environment.


Smart People Should Build Things

Smart People Should Build Things

Author: Andrew Yang

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2014-02-04

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 0062292056

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Andrew Yang, the founder of Venture for America, offers a unique solution to our country’s economic and social problems—our smart people should be building things. Smart People Should Build Things offers a stark picture of the current culture and a revolutionary model that will redirect a generation of ambitious young people to the critical job of innovating and building new businesses. As the Founder and CEO of Venture for America, Andrew Yang places top college graduates in start-ups for two years in emerging U.S. cities to generate job growth and train the next generation of entrepreneurs. He knows firsthand how our current view of education is broken. Many college graduates aspire to finance, consulting, law school, grad school, or medical school out of a vague desire for additional status and progress rather than from a genuine passion or fit. In Smart People Should Build Things, this self-described “recovering lawyer” and entrepreneur weaves together a compelling narrative of success stories (including his own), offering observations about the flow of talent in the United States and explanations of why current trends are leading to economic distress and cultural decline. He also presents recommendations for both policy makers and job seekers to make entrepreneurship more realistic and achievable.


Your Money and Your Brain

Your Money and Your Brain

Author: Jason Zweig

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2007-09-04

Total Pages: 403

ISBN-13: 1416539794

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Drawing on the latest scientific research, Jason Zweig shows what happens in your brain when you think about money and tells investors how to take practical, simple steps to avoid common mistakes and become more successful. What happens inside our brains when we think about money? Quite a lot, actually, and some of it isn’t good for our financial health. In Your Money and Your Brain, Jason Zweig explains why smart people make stupid financial decisions—and what they can do to avoid these mistakes. Zweig, a veteran financial journalist, draws on the latest research in neuroeconomics, a fascinating new discipline that combines psychology, neuroscience, and economics to better understand financial decision making. He shows why we often misunderstand risk and why we tend to be overconfident about our investment decisions. Your Money and Your Brain offers some radical new insights into investing and shows investors how to take control of the battlefield between reason and emotion. Your Money and Your Brain is as entertaining as it is enlightening. In the course of his research, Zweig visited leading neuroscience laboratories and subjected himself to numerous experiments. He blends anecdotes from these experiences with stories about investing mistakes, including confessions of stupidity from some highly successful people. Then he draws lessons and offers original practical steps that investors can take to make wiser decisions. Anyone who has ever looked back on a financial decision and said, “How could I have been so stupid?” will benefit from reading this book.


The Intelligent Portfolio

The Intelligent Portfolio

Author: Christopher L. Jones

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2017-12-27

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 0470228040

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Intelligent Portfolio draws upon the extensive insights of Financial Engines—a leading provider of investment advisory and management services founded by Nobel Prize-winning economist William F. Sharpe—to reveal the time-tested institutional investing techniques that you can use to help improve your investment performance. Throughout these pages, Financial Engines’ CIO, Christopher Jones, uses state-of-the-art simulation and optimization methods to demonstrate the often-surprising results of applying modern financial economics to personal investment decisions.


Brazen Careerist

Brazen Careerist

Author: Penelope Trunk

Publisher: Business Plus

Published: 2009-05-30

Total Pages: 117

ISBN-13: 0446561657

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Are you taking long lunches? Ignoring sexual harassment? Do you keep your desk neat to the point of looking like you don't have enough to do? The answer to all three should be yes, if you want to succeed in your career on your own terms. Penelope Trunk, expert business advice columnist for the Boston Globe, gives anything but standard advice to help members of the X and Y generations succeed on their own terms in any industry. Trunk asserts that a take-charge attitude and thinking outside the box are the only ways to make it in today's job market. With 45 tips that will get you thinking bigger, acting bolder, and blazing trails you never thought possible, Brazen Careerist will forever change your career outlook. Guy Kawasaki, author of The Art of the Start "Take everything you think you 'know' about career strategies, throw them away, and read this book because the rules have changed. 'Brazen,' 'counter-intuitive,' and 'radical' are the best three descriptions of Trunk's work. Life is too short to be stuck in a rat hole..." Robert I. Sutton, Ph.D, author of the New York Times Bestseller The No Asshole Rule "A delightful book, with some edgy advice that made me squirm a bit at times. I agreed with 90% of it, found myself arguing with the other 10%, and was completely engaged from start to finish." Paul D. Tieger, author of Do What You Are and CEO of SpeedReading People, LLC "Penelope Trunk brings considerable savvy and a fresh new perspective to the business of career success. Bold and sometimes unconventional, Brazen Careerist gives readers much to think about as well as concrete, practical suggestions that will help them know what they want, and know how to get it." Keith Ferrazzi, bestselling author of Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time "Brazen Careerist has the street-smarts you need to make your career and life work for you from the start. Read it now, or you'll wish you had when you're 40!"


Smart Thinking

Smart Thinking

Author: Jo Owen

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2024-11-07

Total Pages: 153

ISBN-13: 1399415190

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

You are living proof that you are already a smart thinker – you've navigated life well enough to have survived so far. From the author of Smart Leadership, Smart Thinking gives you the tools to be an even smarter thinker so that you can thrive, not just survive, in a challenging world. Smart Thinking focuses on common thinking challenges – both rational and emotional – and gives you an array of practical solutions, helping you deal with unexpected problems and difficult decisions simply and effectively. From getting the best out of others, to thinking more creatively about financial struggles, Jo Owen tackles 42 of the most common 'thinking' challenges that can derail even the best-laid plans and intentions. Be more decisive in the face of uncertainty, make better decisions for you and your colleagues, and tackle any of the unexpected problems that our busy work lives can throw at us, with Smart Thinking. Packed with original research and cases, Smart Thinking might not only entertain you – it might just change your life.


Intelligence

Intelligence

Author: Hans Eysenck

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-01-16

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 135131002X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The concept and measurement of intelligence present a curious paradox. On the one hand, scientists, fluent in the complex statistics of intelligence-testing theories, devote their lives to exploration of cognitive abilities. On the other hand, the media, and inexpert, cross-disciplinary scientists decry the effort as socially divisive and useless in practice. In the past decade, our understanding of testing has radically changed. Better selected samples have extended evidence on the role of heredity and environment in intelligence. There is new evidence on biology and behavior. Advances in molecular genetics have enabled us to discover DMA markers which can identify and isolate a gene for simple genetic traits, paving the way for the study of multiple gene traits, such as intelligence. Hans Eysenck believes these recent developments approximate a general paradigm which could form the basis for future research. He explores the many special abilities verbal, numerical, visuo-spatial memory that contribute to our cognitive behavior. He examines pathbreaking work on "multiple" intelligence, and the notion of "social" or "practical" intelligence and considers whether these new ideas have any scientific meaning. Eysenck also includes a study of creativity and intuition as well as the production of works of art and science identifying special factors that interact with general intelligence to produce predictable effects in the actual world. The work that Hans Eysenck has put together over the last fifty years in research into individual differences constitutes most of what anyone means by the structure and biological basis of personality and intelligence. A giant in the field of psychology, Eysenck almost single-handedly restructured and reordered his profession. Intelligence is Eysenck's final book and the third in a series of his works from Transaction.


If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?

If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?

Author: Ben S. Branch

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2006-05-30

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 031308047X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Football is often described as a game of inches. First downs, scoring, and in/out of bound decisions that can determine the outcome of the game may even come down to fractions of an inch. Investing is similar: the difference between outperforming or underperforming the market may be a few fractions of a percentage point. As Ben Branch succinctly states, successful investing, defined as outperforming the market averages, is not easy. And yet it is very much a game worth playing, particularly if you win. The key to being on the winning side is to understand the fundamental principles of investing—what it is and how it works—before making any decision. In this highly practical, non-technical guide, Branch introduces the reader to stocks, bonds, options, mutual funds, real estate, futures, and all of the other basic elements of the market. He debunks popular myths and misconceptions about investing and shows you how to avoid mistakes in order to invest wisely. An extensive glossary, definitions and examples, and lists of dos and don'ts will make this book a handy resource for the novice as well as for seasoned investors looking to take their game to the next level. In this highly practical, non-technical guide, Branch provides the building blocks of a multi-dimensional investing approach. First, he reviews the principle of compound interest, the foundation of all investment strategy and performance. Then, arguing that successful investing is a function of three types of activities—selection, timing, and execution—he introduces the reader to stocks, bonds, options, mutual funds, real estate, futures, and all of the other elements of the market. In addition to covering well-known investments in detail, he explains lesser-known opportunities, such as bankruptcies and takeovers. Special topics include the effects of macroeconomic trends and the subtleties of timing for maximum advantage. He debunks popular myths and misconceptions about investing and shows you how to avoid mistakes in order to invest wisely. An extensive glossary, definitions and examples, and lists of dos and don'ts will make this book a handy resource for the novice, as well as for seasoned investors looking to take their game to the next level.