Mistakes to Success: Learning and Adapting When Things Go Wrong
Mistakes to Success: Learning and Adapting When Things Go Wrong

Author: Colin Austin

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2010-09-03

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1450248616

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Throughout the nonprofit sector, successes are celebrated and mistakes tend to be deliberately forgotten. But, as Mistakes to Success: Learning and Adapting When Things Go Wrong makes clear, this is a lost opportunity. Discussing, analyzing and learning from mistakes should be a common practice, which can strengthen the work of nonprofits. Breaking new ground, Mistakes to Success provides a rich collection of revealing essays focused on failures in the field of community economic development. The authors, leaders in the nonprofit field, write with firsthand knowledge about a range of projects, including an ethnic marketplace in Chicago, a childcare assistance initiative in New York City, national workforce development initiatives and an innovative program to help working families purchase affordable used cars. These compelling stories provide valuable insights into what it takes to shape and manage complicated initiatives designed to improve opportunities for lower-income people and communities. This collection will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in the challenges associated with social innovations, including program leaders, nonprofit advocates, policymakers, elected officials, foundation officers and members of the public. Researchers and practitioners jump at the chance to show their latest program impact results and share best practices. Asking them to acknowledge, much less discuss, their mistakes is like inviting them for a root canal. Yet, we learn some of our most useful lessons from our mistakes. The authors deserve gratitude from those interested in improving the practice of workforce and community development. Chris King, Director, Ray Marshall Center, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin This volume offers a fascinating walk through a variety of social innovation programs that didnt succeed, or at least didnt work as planned. Key themes, such as defining what constitutes success, determining when a projects success should be judged, balancing or prioritizing among the multiple goals social projects often reach for, and building and sustaining organizational capacity are addressed in a variety of contexts, providing a rich set of insights for both program leaders and investors. Maureen Conway, Director, The Aspen Institute Workforce Strategies Initiative

Adapt
Adapt

Author: Tim Harford

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2011-05-10

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 1429920688

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In this groundbreaking book, Tim Harford, the Undercover Economist, shows us a new and inspiring approach to solving the most pressing problems in our lives. When faced with complex situations, we have all become accustomed to looking to our leaders to set out a plan of action and blaze a path to success. Harford argues that today's challenges simply cannot be tackled with ready-made solutions and expert opinion; the world has become far too unpredictable and profoundly complex. Instead, we must adapt. Deftly weaving together psychology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, physics, and economics, along with the compelling story of hard-won lessons learned in the field, Harford makes a passionate case for the importance of adaptive trial and error in tackling issues such as climate change, poverty, and financial crises—as well as in fostering innovation and creativity in our business and personal lives. Taking us from corporate boardrooms to the deserts of Iraq, Adapt clearly explains the necessary ingredients for turning failure into success. It is a breakthrough handbook for surviving—and prospering— in our complex and ever-shifting world.

Sometimes You Win--Sometimes You Learn
Sometimes You Win--Sometimes You Learn

Author: John C. Maxwell

Publisher: Center Street

Published: 2013-10-08

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1455555339

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#1 New York Times bestselling author John C. Maxwell believes that any setback, whether professional or personal, can be turned into a step forward when you possess the right tools to turn a loss into a gain. Drawing on nearly fifty years of leadership experience, Dr. Maxwell provides a roadmap for winning by examining the eleven elements that constitute the DNA of learners who succeed in the face of problems, failure, and losses. 1. Humility - The Spirit of Learning 2. Reality - The Foundation of Learning 3. Responsibility - The First Step of Learning 4. Improvement - The Focus of Learning 5. Hope - The Motivation of Learning 6. Teachability - The Pathway of Learning 7. Adversity - The Catalyst of Learning 8. Problems - The Opportunities of Learning9. Bad Experiences - The Perspective for Learning10. Change - The Price of Learning 11. Maturity - The Value of Learning Learning is not easy during down times, it takes discipline to do the right thing when something goes wrong. As John Maxwell often points out--experience isn't the best teacher; evaluated experience is.

Responsibility Rebellion
Responsibility Rebellion

Author: Kain Ramsay

Publisher: Houndstooth Press

Published: 2020-06-13

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 9781544509129

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Many of us crave more fulfillment in life, but we don't know how to find it. We try everything to feel better, from changing jobs and dating new people, to attending therapy and taking pills. We grasp at the superficial, and externally overcompensate for our internal voids and self-doubts. What we don't realize is that avoiding responsibility only postpones the inevitable-that nothing about our life changes until we change. You will not become empowered until you choose to take responsibility for the role you've played in undermining yourself. Finding more fulfillment, satisfaction, and inner-peace is your responsibility because no one else cares. In Responsibility Rebellion, author Kain Ramsay discusses why we often rely on easy steps and magical formulas to find fulfillment, only to come up short. He'll equip you with a structured roadmap for personal growth and progress-one that shows you how to be better, rather than feel better.

Leading Change
Leading Change

Author: John P. Kotter

Publisher: Harvard Business Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 1422186431

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From the ill-fated dot-com bubble to unprecedented merger and acquisition activity to scandal, greed, and, ultimately, recession -- we've learned that widespread and difficult change is no longer the exception. By outlining the process organizations have used to achieve transformational goals and by identifying where and how even top performers derail during the change process, Kotter provides a practical resource for leaders and managers charged with making change initiatives work.

Why Startups Fail
Why Startups Fail

Author: Tom Eisenmann

Publisher: Currency

Published: 2021-03-30

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 0593137027

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If you want your startup to succeed, you need to understand why startups fail. “Whether you’re a first-time founder or looking to bring innovation into a corporate environment, Why Startups Fail is essential reading.”—Eric Ries, founder and CEO, LTSE, and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way Why do startups fail? That question caught Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann by surprise when he realized he couldn’t answer it. So he launched a multiyear research project to find out. In Why Startups Fail, Eisenmann reveals his findings: six distinct patterns that account for the vast majority of startup failures. • Bad Bedfellows. Startup success is thought to rest largely on the founder’s talents and instincts. But the wrong team, investors, or partners can sink a venture just as quickly. • False Starts. In following the oft-cited advice to “fail fast” and to “launch before you’re ready,” founders risk wasting time and capital on the wrong solutions. • False Promises. Success with early adopters can be misleading and give founders unwarranted confidence to expand. • Speed Traps. Despite the pressure to “get big fast,” hypergrowth can spell disaster for even the most promising ventures. • Help Wanted. Rapidly scaling startups need lots of capital and talent, but they can make mistakes that leave them suddenly in short supply of both. • Cascading Miracles. Silicon Valley exhorts entrepreneurs to dream big. But the bigger the vision, the more things that can go wrong. Drawing on fascinating stories of ventures that failed to fulfill their early promise—from a home-furnishings retailer to a concierge dog-walking service, from a dating app to the inventor of a sophisticated social robot, from a fashion brand to a startup deploying a vast network of charging stations for electric vehicles—Eisenmann offers frameworks for detecting when a venture is vulnerable to these patterns, along with a wealth of strategies and tactics for avoiding them. A must-read for founders at any stage of their entrepreneurial journey, Why Startups Fail is not merely a guide to preventing failure but also a roadmap charting the path to startup success.

Good Strategy/Bad Strategy
Good Strategy/Bad Strategy

Author: Richard Rumelt

Publisher: Profile Books

Published: 2011-06-09

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 184765746X

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When Richard Rumelt's Good Strategy/Bad Strategy was published in 2011, it immediately struck a chord, calling out as bad strategy the mish-mash of pop culture, motivational slogans and business buzz speak so often and misleadingly masquerading as the real thing. Since then, his original and pragmatic ideas have won fans around the world and continue to help readers to recognise and avoid the elements of bad strategy and adopt good, action-oriented strategies that honestly acknowledge the challenges being faced and offer straightforward approaches to overcoming them. Strategy should not be equated with ambition, leadership, vision or planning; rather, it is coherent action backed by an argument. For Rumelt, the heart of good strategy is insight into the hidden power in any situation, and into an appropriate response - whether launching a new product, fighting a war or putting a man on the moon. Drawing on examples of the good and the bad from across all sectors and all ages, he shows how this insight can be cultivated with a wide variety of tools that lead to better thinking and better strategy, strategy that cuts through the hype and gets results.

The Sniper Mind
The Sniper Mind

Author: David Amerland

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2017-11-07

Total Pages: 423

ISBN-13: 1250113687

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The Sniper Mind from David Amerland is the first book to examine the learned skills necessary to become a sniper and teach readers how to apply those skills in business and in life. Snipers are exceptional. The trained sniper is a complex fusion of hard skills such as weapons knowledge, situational awareness, knowledge of ballistics and physics, and soft skills such as emotional stability, empathy, and a stoic acceptance of the hardships associated with a particular set of circumstances. There are countless instances where a single sniper, embarking on a secret mission, would have to improvise, operate beyond any hope of support, and yet still manage to carry out the mission and get back home unharmed even though the enemy was actively hunting him. For the first time ever, The Sniper Mind reveals the practical steps that allow a sniper’s brain to work in this superhuman precise, calculated way. It teaches readers how to understand and apply these steps, whether they are stuck in a cubicle facing mounting piles of work or sitting in a corner office making industry-defining decisions. Through the explanation of advanced military training techniques and cutting-edge neuroscience, David Amerland's book provides concrete strategies and real-world skills that can help us be better: -At our jobs -In our relationships -In our executive decision making -In the paths we choose to take through life By learning how snipers teach their minds to eliminate fears and deal with uncertainty we can also develop the mental toughness we need to achieve the goals that seem to elude us in business as well as in life.

The Fearless Organization
The Fearless Organization

Author: Amy C. Edmondson

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2018-11-14

Total Pages: 181

ISBN-13: 1119477263

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Conquer the most essential adaptation to the knowledge economy The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth offers practical guidance for teams and organizations who are serious about success in the modern economy. With so much riding on innovation, creativity, and spark, it is essential to attract and retain quality talent—but what good does this talent do if no one is able to speak their mind? The traditional culture of "fitting in" and "going along" spells doom in the knowledge economy. Success requires a continuous influx of new ideas, new challenges, and critical thought, and the interpersonal climate must not suppress, silence, ridicule or intimidate. Not every idea is good, and yes there are stupid questions, and yes dissent can slow things down, but talking through these things is an essential part of the creative process. People must be allowed to voice half-finished thoughts, ask questions from left field, and brainstorm out loud; it creates a culture in which a minor flub or momentary lapse is no big deal, and where actual mistakes are owned and corrected, and where the next left-field idea could be the next big thing. This book explores this culture of psychological safety, and provides a blueprint for bringing it to life. The road is sometimes bumpy, but succinct and informative scenario-based explanations provide a clear path forward to constant learning and healthy innovation. Explore the link between psychological safety and high performance Create a culture where it’s “safe” to express ideas, ask questions, and admit mistakes Nurture the level of engagement and candor required in today’s knowledge economy Follow a step-by-step framework for establishing psychological safety in your team or organization Shed the "yes-men" approach and step into real performance. Fertilize creativity, clarify goals, achieve accountability, redefine leadership, and much more. The Fearless Organization helps you bring about this most critical transformation.

The Daily Stoic
The Daily Stoic

Author: Ryan Holiday

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2016-10-18

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 0735211744

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From the team that brought you The Obstacle Is the Way and Ego Is the Enemy, a daily devotional of Stoic meditations—an instant Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestseller. Why have history's greatest minds—from George Washington to Frederick the Great to Ralph Waldo Emerson, along with today's top performers from Super Bowl-winning football coaches to CEOs and celebrities—embraced the wisdom of the ancient Stoics? Because they realize that the most valuable wisdom is timeless and that philosophy is for living a better life, not a classroom exercise. The Daily Stoic offers 366 days of Stoic insights and exercises, featuring all-new translations from the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the playwright Seneca, or slave-turned-philosopher Epictetus, as well as lesser-known luminaries like Zeno, Cleanthes, and Musonius Rufus. Every day of the year you'll find one of their pithy, powerful quotations, as well as historical anecdotes, provocative commentary, and a helpful glossary of Greek terms. By following these teachings over the course of a year (and, indeed, for years to come) you'll find the serenity, self-knowledge, and resilience you need to live well.