Business Biography

This printing of Men and Rubber: The Story of Business by Harvey S. Firestone is part of the Farnam Street Timeless Classics Series, where we continue with our goal of "mastering the best of what other people have figured out".

What can you learn from the most successful companies in the world? The Spanx Story will help you understand and adopt the competitive strategies, workplace culture, and daily business practices that enabled entrepreneur Sara Blakely to dominate the shapewear industry and become a billionaire.

من خلالِ موقعٍ إلكترونيٍّ وتطبيقٍ على الهواتفِ الذكيةِ، تقدمُ شركةُ يا مسافر خدمةَ حجزِ الرحلات والفنادقِ في أكثرَ من أربعةِ آلافِ مدينةٍ حولَ العالمِ، حيثُ توفرُ للمستخدمينَ خدمةَ حجزٍ لأكثرَ من عشرةِ ملايينِ غرفةٍ. أُسستِ الشركةُ في مدينةِ رام الله بفِلسطينَ، وفي الجَوْلاتِ التمويليةِ الأولى استطاعتِ الشركةُ تحصيلَ عشَرةِ ملايينِ دولارٍ. تحدثْنَا معَ أحد مُؤسِسَي الشركةِ لنعرفَ أكثرَ عن رِحلتِهِ الداخليةِ لتحقيقِ هذا النجاحِ الاستثنائيِّ.

From the New York Times best-selling author of Return of the King comes the story of LeBron James' incredible transformation from basketball star to sports and business mogul.

In Jimmy Buffett: A Good Life All the Way, acclaimed music critic Ryan White has crafted the first definitive account of Buffett's rise from singing songs for beer to his emergence as a tropical icon and CEO behind the Margaritaville industrial complex, a vast network of merchandise, chain restaurants, resorts, and lifestyle products all inspired by his sunny but disillusioned hit "Margaritaville".

Discretion, secrecy, and subtle strategy were the weapons of choice at Wall Street investment bank Lazard Frères & Co. For more than a century, the mystique and reputation of the "Great Men" who worked there allowed the firm to garner unimaginable profits, social cachet, and outsized influence in the halls of power. But in the mid-1980s, their titanic egos started getting in the way, and the Great Men of Lazard jeopardized all they had built.

What would you do with your life if you knew it was half over? It was the question that faced Jennie Smythe during a pivotal point in her early adult life. Becoming Girlilla answers that question and more, as this digital marketing trailblazer candidly shares her path to success, full of sometimes surprising and oftentimes laugh-out-loud moments.

Growing up in small-town Texas, Jason Felts dreamed of being in Hollywood. He made his way to California, started his own production company at twenty-three, was named to Variety's "Top 10 to Watch" list, rubbed elbows with famous faces daily, and rose quickly to build and lead a multi-million dollar entertainment company for Virgin, one of the world's most respected brands—so why did he walk away at such a young age?

The Space Barons is the story of a group of billionaire entrepreneurs who are pouring their fortunes into the epic resurrection of the American space program. Nearly a half century after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, these Space Barons—most notably Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, along with Richard Branson and Paul Allen—are using Silicon Valley-style innovation to dramatically lower the cost of space travel and send humans even further than NASA has gone.

Raj Rajaratnam, the respected founder of the iconic hedge fund Galleon Group, which managed seven billion dollars and employed 180 people in its heyday, chose to go to trial rather than concede to a false narrative concocted by ambitious prosecutors looking for a scapegoat for the 2008 financial crisis. Naively perhaps, Rajaratnam had expected to get a fair hearing in court. Uneven Justice is the story of his bewildering and confounding prosecution by forces who, quite frankly, were looking for bigger game.

Before being named President Trump's Secretary of Commerce in 2017, Wilbur Ross had already earned a reputation as the "King of Bankruptcy" over his fifty-five-year career on Wall Street. Often working on high-profile bankruptcies such as Pan Am and Texaco, Ross helped restructure more than $400 billion in assets, and was named among Bloomberg's fifty most influential people in global finance. After coming to Washington, Ross faced equally tough challenges, yet survived in his post for all four years.

So You Want to Start a Brewery? is the first-person account of Tony Magee's gut-wrenching challenges and heart-warming successes in founding Lagunitas Brewing Company. In just 20 years, the company has grown from a seat-of-the-pants, one-man operation to be the fifth largest--and the fastest growing--craft brewer in the United States.

From its creation as a mail-order record company to the literal launch of Virgin Galactic, today Virgin is one of the premier 'way-of-life' brands in the world, trusted and enjoyed by many millions of people. In Business Stripped Bare, Sir Richard Branson shares the inside track on his life in business and reveals the incredible truth about his most risky, brilliant, and audacious deals.

Jennifer Sey was on track to become the first woman CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. As the President of the Levi's brand, she was widely celebrated as a versatile and inspirational leader who had helped save the iconic brand from bankruptcy. Formerly a self-described "left of left of center" progressive, she was beloved as the embodiment of the company's "profits through principles" ethos.

The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland is a book lover’s paradise, with thousands of books across nearly a mile of shelves, a real log fire, and Captain, the portly bookshop cat. You’d think that after twenty years, owner Shaun Bythell would be used to his quirky customers by now. Don’t get him wrong, there are some good ones among the antiquarian porn-hunters, die-hard train book lovers, people who confuse bookshops for libraries, and the toddlers just looking for a nice cozy corner in which to wee. He’s sure there are some good ones. There must be.

Listed as one of the “12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time" by Fortune magazine in 2012, Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, or NR Narayana Murthy as he is better known, is probably the most recognized and respected face of Indian industry. This book takes you through the fascinating journey of a 17-year-old who had to sacrifice his entry into the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology because his father did not have money to pay his fees and ultimately came up in life to head a global IT giant.

In a time of sweeping media change, the four major networks struggle for the attention of American viewers increasingly distracted by cable, video games, and the Internet. Behind boardroom doors, tempers flare in the search for hit shows, which often get on the air purely by accident. The fierce competition creates a pressure-cooker environment where anything can happen.

In Shark Tales, Barbara shares her hilarious stories about growing up, getting into trouble, failing miserably, and then starting over again. In each chapter, she comes back to one of her mom's unconventional lessons, and how it applies in the real world of business. Whatever your calling, the homespun lessons that work for Barbara will help you use what you've got to create success in your life.

In The Eagle and the Dragon, you'll follow one man's journey into the darkness of his own heart and witness the transformation of alcoholism, pain, and defeat into vision, character, and victory. Through Chris's powerful self-realization, you'll see how the human spirit can be either shackled by circumstance or freed from it....

Wie ich zu Europas erfolgreichstem Verkaufstrainer wurde. Es gibt Menschen, die hören gerne Märchen. Meine Biografie ist keines, sondern das Ergebnis harter, intensiver und täglicher Arbeit. In diesem Hörbuch kommt keine gute Fee, die mir drei Wünsche gewährt hat und zack, war ich erfolgreich. Nein. Dieses Hörbuch ist voller Höhen und Tiefen, Siegen und Niederlagen und erzählt dir Geschichten und Geheimnisse über mich und mein Leben, die bisher nicht einmal langjährige Mitarbeiter und ganz enge Freunde von mir kannten.