This book includes real-life examples from over 70 respected organizations, small and large, representing a multitude of industries using stories to drive results. Leaders from organizations such as Microsoft, Lands’ End, Verizon, U.S. Air Force, and World Vision demonstrate the strong positive influence stories can have. No abstract theories or platitudes are conveyed here. The book spells out how Kevin Roberts, CEO worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, achieved sustained sales growth after several mergers and downsizings caused the organization to fall on hard times. It also shows how Erik Shaw, president and CEO of FivePoint Federal Credit Union, overcame resistance to an organizational name change, resulting in membership growth exceeding the national average.
This is my story; I am a musician and entrepreneur who created and co-owned nightclubs, now part of the history of music and nightlife in New York City. Starting with my first club, Sanctuary, and continuing with Mission in Manhattan's East Village and ending with the highly regarded Luna Lounge, this is the first book to cover a part of the New York rock music scene that came after punk, new wave, and no wave. Musicians and bands including Joey Ramone, The Psychedelic Furs, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, The Sugarcubes, The Sisters Of Mercy, and Killing Joke, among others, would party together at Mission. It was the late 1980s, a time of MTV's "120 Minutes," melodic British psychedelic guitar rock, Wax Trax industrial rock records, and a dangerous but exciting Lower East Side. Moving further ahead, my story continues with the sale of the Mission and the opening of Luna Lounge in 1995, possibly the most important venue of its size in New York. Luna was the stage where The Strokes, Interpol, The National, Longwave, stellastarr*, The Bravery, The Hold Steady, and many other bands first performed before friends and early fans of the bands. Also, Luna would host free performances from Marty Willson-Piper (The Church), Black Box Recorder, Sonic Boom, and Kid Rock. This is also a narrative about Elliott Smith as he wrote out his work for the album, XO, while sitting at the Luna Lounge bar and his subsequent launch into stardom. In addition, Luna Lounge was a well known Monday night comedy spot where cutting edge comics worked new material in front of a supportive audience as part of the "Eating It" comedy series, the room where fans could see, among others, Jon Stewart, Janeane Garofalo, Jeff Garlin, Rob Cordry, Greg Fitzsimmons, Lewis Black, Jim Norton, Lewis C.K., and Marc Maron. Finally, this is the story of the forced closing of Luna Lounge, a victim of the rising real estate values which came as a result of the quality of life initiatives set out by the Republican mayors who have controlled the city for the last twenty years. More information is available at the author's website, wakeme.net.
A thrilling journey through China's dark criminal underworld, from a celebrated voice in Chinese literature When Hongyang is found dead after a night of debauched drinking, it looks as if his reign of terror has finally come to an end. Few in this insular community have much reason to mourn his passing: Hongyang is an infamous mob boss, a man with plenty of enemies. But now it seems that his years of crime have also earned him some very dangerous friends. As his funeral draws near, those who knew him come together to look back on a life characterised by corruption, deceit and a flair for violence. Their recollections will keep Hongyang's legacy alive, with terrifying consequences. From the master of Chinese noir fiction comes this explosive new novel about the power of one man, unravelled by a tangled web of secrets.
When a killer comet hurtles for the earth, 18-year-old Joanna Murphy is selected to wait out the apocalypse in an underground bunker. She enters cryosleep with her close-knit team, preparing to resettle the planet after the atmosphere clears in two hundred years. Joanna is the only one who wakes up. Faced with a bunker full of bones and a blocked exit, Joanna must claw her way to the surface, figure out what happened to her team, and try not to panic-or die. That's going to be tricky if she's the only person left in the world. From the author of The Seabound Chronicles, Steel and Fire, and Empire of Talents comes a story of resilience and optimism at the end of the world.
Spirituality.The search for happiness --Religion, East and West --Mindfulness --The truth of suffering --Enlightenment --The mystery of consciousness.The mind divided --Structure and function --Are our minds already split? --Conscious and unconscious processing in the brain --Consciousness is what matters --The riddle of the self.What are we calling "I"? --Consciousness without self --Lost in thought --The challenge of studying the self --Penetrating the illusion --Meditation.Gradual versus sudden realization --Dzogchen: taking the goal as the path --Having no head --The paradox of acceptance --Gurus, death, drugs, and other puzzles.Mind on the brink of death --The spiritual uses of pharmacology.
