A journey in search of the primary forces that either fuel or destroy progress in companies today. Scientists changed our world by proving that the complex world of physics is ruled by only a few forces which obey simple Laws. This allowed a quantum leap in our progress. In this business novel an Eastern woman teams up with a Western turnaround guy to master the forces that are limiting their progress in business. They set their aim as high as the imagination will allow: *For their traditional products company to achieve a Viable Vision - to turn its sales into its net profits in 4 years, and *To encourage their people to escape from the rat race by becoming millionaires - free to pursue their real purpose in life. They use ancient Laws and wisdoms to defeat the forces that stand in their way. Is it possible that a traditional business is also ruled by a few distinct forces - which could be mastered to allow for a quantum leap in the performance of the business and its people?
Why do some innovation projects succeed where others fail? The book reveals the business implications of Jobs Theory and explains how to put Jobs Theory into practice using Outcome-Driven Innovation.
It's trendy to be pessimistic about the future. We hear daily about the looming threats from global warming, terrorist plots, nuclear proliferation, overpopulation, and other frightening possibilities. It's also easy to point to the unprecedented toll of destruction during the two world wars of the 20th century and conclude that the prospects for global civilization rest on pretty shaky grounds.While not discounting the calamities of the past or the troubling realities on the horizon, social psychologist Ronald G. Havelock looks at the same facts and sees a different, much more optimistic trend. He calls it the forward function, a cluster of six forces that has driven human progress from the Stone Age to the present.In this positive yet realistic appraisal of the human condition, Havelock examines in detail these six forces. He explains that the key to humanity's past and future success is our ability to pass on what has been learned from one generation to the next, resulting in an ever larger and more widely shared knowledge platform. This has been especially evident in the last two hundred years, when the scientific revolution has produced an explosive growth of knowledge building and the application of that knowledge to human needs.Today, the most exciting and hopeful development is that the transfer of knowledge is increasingly not just from generation to generation but within generations and across cultures. And it extends from the rich to the middle class and even to the poor. The primary consequence of knowledge expansion is thus the empowerment of those who can understand and use it and a better life for more and more people.Havelock argues that, despite periodic setbacks, progress is actually accelerating on many dimensions of human existence. In his view, fears for the human future are wildly exaggerated and overlook both the knowledge resources at hand to solve problems and the ingenuity of succeeding generations in using those resources for both individual and planetary well-being.Grounded in a wealth of solid research, this optimistic outlook on human destiny offers a realistic hope that we human beings are fully capable of solving even our most challenging problems.Ronald G. Havelock, PhD (Shady Side, MD) is the director of the Knowledge Transfer Institute, a consulting practice formerly affiliated with The American University of Washington, D.C. He is the author of five books, including The Change Agents Guide to Innovation (with S. Zlotolow).
What really sets the best managers above the rest? It’s their power to build a cadre of employees who have great inner work lives—consistently positive emotions; strong motivation; and favorable perceptions of the organization, their work, and their colleagues. The worst managers undermine inner work life, often unwittingly. As Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer explain in The Progress Principle, seemingly mundane workday events can make or break employees’ inner work lives. But it’s forward momentum in meaningful work—progress—that creates the best inner work lives. Through rigorous analysis of nearly 12,000 diary entries provided by 238 employees in 7 companies, the authors explain how managers can foster progress and enhance inner work life every day. The book shows how to remove obstacles to progress, including meaningless tasks and toxic relationships. It also explains how to activate two forces that enable progress: (1) catalysts—events that directly facilitate project work, such as clear goals and autonomy—and (2) nourishers—interpersonal events that uplift workers, including encouragement and demonstrations of respect and collegiality. Brimming with honest examples from the companies studied, The Progress Principle equips aspiring and seasoned leaders alike with the insights they need to maximize their people’s performance.
Recent Progress in Steel and Composite Structures includes papers presented at the XIIIth International Conference on Metal Structures (ICMS 2016, Zielona Gra, Poland, 15-17 June 2016). The contributions focus on the progress made in theoretical, numerical and experimental research, with special attention given to new concepts and algorithmic proc
Our intuition on how the world works could well be wrong. We are surprised when new competitors burst on the scene, or businesses protected by large and deep moats find their defenses easily breached, or vast new markets are conjured from nothing. Trend lines resemble saw-tooth mountain ridges. The world not only feels different. The data tell us it is different. Based on years of research by the directors of the McKinsey Global Institute, No Ordinary Disruption: The Four Forces Breaking all the Trends is a timely and important analysis of how we need to reset our intuition as a result of four forces colliding and transforming the global economy: the rise of emerging markets, the accelerating impact of technology on the natural forces of market competition, an aging world population, and accelerating flows of trade, capital and people. Our intuitions formed during a uniquely benign period for the world economy -- often termed the Great Moderation. Asset prices were rising, cost of capital was falling, labour and resources were abundant, and generation after generation was growing up more prosperous than their parents. But the Great Moderation has gone. The cost of capital may rise. The price of everything from grain to steel may become more volatile. The world's labor force could shrink. Individuals, particularly those with low job skills, are at risk of growing up poorer than their parents. What sets No Ordinary Disruption apart is depth of analysis combined with lively writing informed by surprising, memorable insights that enable us to quickly grasp the disruptive forces at work. For evidence of the shift to emerging markets, consider the startling fact that, by 2025, a single regional city in China -- Tianjin -- will have a GDP equal to that of the Sweden, of that, in the decades ahead, half of the world's economic growth will come from 440 cities including Kumasi in Ghana or Santa Carina in Brazil that most executives today would be hard-pressed to locate on a map. What we are now seeing is no ordinary disruption but the new facts of business life -- facts that require executives and leaders at all levels to reset their operating assumptions and management intuition.
