Purpose, Incorporated
Purpose, Incorporated

Author: John Wood

Publisher: Amalia McGibbon

Published: 2017-12-21

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 9780692999639

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Too many working professionals still subscribe to the old Milton-Friedman logic that "businesses' sole purpose is to generate profit for shareholders." In this revolutionary book, authors John Wood and Amalia McGibbon show once and for all that cause is not the enemy of commercialism, but perhaps the new key to it. Based on over 100 interviews with entrepreneurs, executives and front-line staff, Wood and McGibbon provide a breath-taking tour of this new and inspiring world. You'll learn from mom-and-pop shops and corporate giants like Google and Goldman Sachs why corporate social responsibility is more than just a buzzword or publicity stunt, but instead represents the new competitive advantage. You'll learn how to: - win the war for talent - create a compelling bond with customers - motivate employees - reduce attrition - appease the regulators - and create a positive buzz on social media Purpose Incorporated is a "permission slip" to those businesspeople who want to have a positive impact on the world, but worry the corner office or cubicle isn't the place for it.

Creating Room to Read
Creating Room to Read

Author: John Wood

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2013-02-07

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1101606126

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The inspirational story of a former Microsoft executive’s quest to build libraries around the world and share the love of books What’s happened since John Wood left Microsoft to change the world? Just ask six million kids in the poorest regions of Asia and Africa. In 1999, at the age of thirty-five, Wood quit a lucrative career to found the nonprofit Room to Read. Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “the Andrew Carnegie of the developing world,” he strived to bring the lessons of the corporate world to the nonprofit sector—and succeeded spectacularly. In his acclaimed first book, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, Wood explained his vision and the story of his start-up. Now, he tackles the organization’s next steps and its latest challenges—from managing expansion to raising money in a collapsing economy to publishing books for children who literally have no books in their native language. At its heart, Creating Room to Read shares moving stories of the people Room to Read works to help: impoverished children whose schools and villages have been swept away by war or natural disaster and girls whose educations would otherwise be ignored. People at the highest levels of finance, government, and philanthropy will embrace the opportunity to learn Wood’s inspiring business model and blueprint for doing good. And general readers will love Creating Room to Read for its spellbinding story of one man’s mission to put books within every child’s reach.

The Gifts of Reading
The Gifts of Reading

Author: Robert Macfarlane

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2017-06-01

Total Pages: 25

ISBN-13: 0241982707

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From the bestselling author of UNDERLAND, THE OLD WAYS and THE LOST WORDS - an essay on the joy of reading, for anyone who has ever loved a book Every book is a kind of gift to its reader, and the act of giving books is charged with a special emotional resonance. It is a meeting of three minds (the giver, the author, the recipient), an exchange of intellectual and psychological currency, that leaves each participant enriched. Here Robert Macfarlane recounts the story of a book he was given as a young man, and how he managed eventually to return the favour, though never repay the debt. From one of the most lyrical writers of our time comes a perfectly formed gem, a lyrical celebration of the transcendent power and humanity of the given book.

The Humachine
The Humachine

Author: Nada R. Sanders

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-09-09

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 0429671202

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

There is a lot of hype, hand-waving, and ink being spilled about artificial intelligence (AI) in business. The amount of coverage of this topic in the trade press and on shareholder calls is evidence of a large change currently underway. It is awesome and terrifying. You might think of AI as a major environmental factor that is creating an evolutionary pressure that will force enterprise to evolve or perish. For those companies that do survive the "silicon wave" sweeping through the global economy, the issue becomes how to keep their humanity amidst the tumult. What started as an inquiry into how executives can adopt AI to harness the best of human and machine capabilities turned into a much more profound rumination on the future of humanity and enterprise. This is a wake-up call for business leaders across all sectors of the economy. Not only should you implement AI regardless of your industry, but once you do, you should fight to stay true to your purpose, your ethical convictions, indeed your humanity, even as our organizations continue to evolve. While not holding any punches about the dangers posed by overpowered AI, this book uniquely surveys where technology is limited, and gives reason for cautious optimism about the true opportunities that lie amidst all the disruptive change currently underway. As such, it is distinctively more optimistic than many of the competing titles on Big Technology. This compelling book weaves together business strategy and philosophy of mind, behavioral psychology and the limits of technology, leadership and law. The authors set out to identify where humans and machines can best complement one another to create an enterprise greater than the sum total of its parts: the Humachine. Combining the global business and forecasting acumen of Professor Nada R. Sanders, PhD, with the legal and philosophical insight of John D. Wood, Esq., the authors combine their strengths to bring us this profound yet accessible book. This is a "must read" for anyone interested in AI and the future of human enterprise.

Metadesigning Designing in the Anthropocene
Metadesigning Designing in the Anthropocene

Author: John Wood

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-06-08

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1000591018

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Long-sighted, radical and provocative, this book offers a foundational framework of concepts, principles and methods (exemplified with selected tools) to enable metadesigners to manage and reinvent their practices. The book reminds readers that designers are, albeit unwittingly, helping to shape the Anthropocene. Despite their willingness to deliver greener products and services, designers find themselves part of an industry that has become the go-to catalyst for dividends and profit. If our species is to achieve the rehabilitation and metamorphosis, we may need to design at the level of paradigms, genres, lifestyles and currencies. This would mean making design more integrated, comprehensive, adaptive, transdisciplinary, self-reflexive and relational. The book, therefore, advocates a shift of emphasis from designing ‘sustainable’ products, services and systems towards cultivating synergies that will induce regenerative lifestyles. The book will be of interest to managers, designers, scholars and educators from a wide range of backgrounds, including design research, design history, design studies and environmental studies.

Confederate Seadog
Confederate Seadog

Author: John Bell

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2002-11-11

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 9780786413522

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

John Taylor Wood, the grandson of President Zachary Taylor and a nephew of Jefferson Davis, was one of the most daring and remarkable participants of the Civil War and among the few people to hold dual rank in the Confederate military as a captain in the Confederate States Navy (CSN) and a colonel in the cavalry. Wood was widely known for his wartime activities, but at the time of his death in 1904, he had been largely forgotten. This work combines a thorough biography of John Taylor Wood and three of his memoirs that were published in Century magazine between 1885 and 1898. The biography gives special attention to Wood's childhood and youth, such as his harrowing experiences in Florida during the Seminole Wars, his service in the United States Navy during and after the Mexican War, his experiences in California during the Gold Rush and his leading role among the members of the little-known postwar Confederate naval colony in Halifax, Nova Scotia, organized to fight the Fenian forces for the British in 1866. His writings about the war and other literary activities, and his friendship with William Hall, the first African American to win the Victoria Cross are covered. The memoirs in this book cover his service on the CSS Virginia, the cruise of the CSS Tallahassee (of which he was the commander), and his gutsy escape from the South as the Confederacy collapsed.

Ordinary Lives Extraordinary Mission
Ordinary Lives Extraordinary Mission

Author: John R. Wood

Publisher: Beacon Publishing (OH)

Published: 2012-12-15

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 9781937509316

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

These are difficult times for the Catholic Church and the United States of America. There is only one solution to the problems we face saints! Becoming a saint is a choice, and we must begin choosing the saint within each of us. The biggest crisis of our time is not economic, health care, or vocations, but is an identity crisis. We have forgotten our mission to become saints and forgotten our story as Catholics. We must rediscover that mission and hold each other accountable to accepting responsibility for that mission. We need heroic Catholicism. Everything we need to accomplish our mission is in the Church but the Catholic Church is a sleeping giant. It is time we wake the sleeping giant! This book is a five step guide to choosing the saint within you. The world doesn't need another John Paul II or Mother Teresa. The world needs you. Your ordinary life has an extraordinary purpose.

A House in St John’s Wood: In Search of My Parents
A House in St John’s Wood: In Search of My Parents

Author: Matthew Spender

Publisher: HarperCollins UK

Published: 2015-08-27

Total Pages: 438

ISBN-13: 0008132070

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An intimate portrait of Stephen Spender’s extraordinary life written by Matthew Spender, shifting between memoir and biography, with new insights drawn from personal recollections and his father’s copious unpublished archives.