Douglas Rushkoff was mugged outside his apartment on Christmas Eve, but when he posted a friendly warning on his community website, the responses castigated him for potentially harming the local real-estate market. When did these corporate values overtake civic responsibilites? Rushkoff examines how corporatism has become an intrinsic part of our everyday lives, choices and opinions. He demonstrates how this system created a world where everything can be commodified, where communities have dissolved into consumer groups, where fiction and reality have become fundamentally blurred. And, with this system on the verge of collapse, Rushkoff shows how the simple pleasures that make us human can also point the way to freedom.
While a company's code of values may look good on paper, oftentimes they mean nothing to the day-to-day functions of its business and the people it employs. And that's a tragedy that needs to stop. The Dwyer Group decided to operationalize its company code of values, and discovered a real and tangible impact on their business--shaping it from the corner office to front lines of their service brands around world, while also making the company a really fun place to work that attracted people to the home office and across its franchise service brands like never before. Here, Dwyer-Owens invites a movement to live right and do right in business and in life for a world in need of direction--one that isn't just framed and hung on a wall. --
Me, Inc. features a black simulated-leather cover with gold foil stamping and a black ribbon bookmark. The fact that KISS is one of the most successful rock bands in the world is no accident. From the beginning Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley had a clear-cut vision of what they wanted to do and how they wanted to operate KISS as a business well before they ever first took the stage. Since deciding with Paul to manage the band themselves, Simmons has proved himself to be a formidable businessman, having sold over 100 million CDs and DVDs worldwide, overseen over 3,000 licensed merchandise items, and starred in the longest running celebrity reality show to date. More impressive is that he handles all of his business ventures on his own—no personal assistant, few handlers, and as little red tape as possible. In Me, Inc., Simmons shares a lifetime of field-tested and hard-won business advice that will provide readers with the tools needed to build a solid business strategy, harness the countless tools available in the digital age, network like hell, and be the architect for the business entity that is you. Inspired by The Art of War, the book dispenses Simmons’ in-depth insights via thirteen specific principles for success based on his own experience, triumphs, and instructional failures in business—from finding the confidence within yourself that’s necessary to get started, to surrounding yourself with the right people to partner with and learn from, to knowing when to pull the plug and when to double-down. These thirteen principles are a skeleton key into a world of success, freedom, peace of mind and, most importantly, financial success.
The co-founder and longtime president of Pixar updates and expands his 2014 New York Times bestseller on creative leadership, reflecting on the management principles that built Pixar’s singularly successful culture, and on all he learned during the past nine years that allowed Pixar to retain its creative culture while continuing to evolve. “Might be the most thoughtful management book ever.”—Fast Company For nearly thirty years, Pixar has dominated the world of animation, producing such beloved films as the Toy Story trilogy, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up, and WALL-E, which have gone on to set box-office records and garner eighteen Academy Awards. The joyous storytelling, the inventive plots, the emotional authenticity: In some ways, Pixar movies are an object lesson in what creativity really is. Here, Catmull reveals the ideals and techniques that have made Pixar so widely admired—and so profitable. As a young man, Ed Catmull had a dream: to make the first computer-animated movie. He nurtured that dream as a Ph.D. student, and then forged a partnership with George Lucas that led, indirectly, to his founding Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter in 1986. Nine years later, Toy Story was released, changing animation forever. The essential ingredient in that movie’s success—and in the twenty-five movies that followed—was the unique environment that Catmull and his colleagues built at Pixar, based on philosophies that protect the creative process and defy convention, such as: • Give a good idea to a mediocre team and they will screw it up. But give a mediocre idea to a great team and they will either fix it or come up with something better. • It’s not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It’s the manager’s job to make it safe for others to take them. • The cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them. • A company’s communication structure should not mirror its organizational structure. Everybody should be able to talk to anybody. Creativity, Inc. has been significantly expanded to illuminate the continuing development of the unique culture at Pixar. It features a new introduction, two entirely new chapters, four new chapter postscripts, and changes and updates throughout. Pursuing excellence isn’t a one-off assignment but an ongoing, day-in, day-out, full-time job. And Creativity, Inc. explores how it is done.
Be inspired to transform your business to change the world. Do you ever wonder how successful businesses can be used as a force for good? Do you sometimes feel conflicted by the principles of capitalism? Do you wish to change the world around you whilst doing what you love? In this book, Gaurav Sinha, world-class businessman and entrepreneur, founder of Insignia in 2003, outlines the economics of empathy for life and for business. He offers actionable solutions to maintaining a successful trade in a changing global landscape where conscience, ethics, and authenticity are high on the agenda. The world is changing, perceptions are shifting, consumers are evolving, and this book will ensure your business keeps up.
