Business Problem Solving

The inability to set good strategy can sink a company - and a leader's career. A recent Wall Street Journal study revealed that the number one most sought after executive skill by organizations is strategic thinking, but few leaders have that skill set.

For many organizations, the word strategy conjures up endless ideas, concepts, and tools - while the intent is correct, the awful reality is most companies do not have a simple, common definition of strategy or a simple approach to make the big decisions. Too many PowerPoints, not enough one pagers that can be put into practice. The lack of a common approach to strategy frustrates executives, creates conflict where there is none, fast-tracks dubious alternatives, lengthens decision-making, and hampers the quality of the decisions that finally emerge.

For more than 20 years, major innovations - the kind that transform industries and even societies - seem to have come almost exclusively from startups, despite massive efforts and millions of dollars spent by established companies. Tony Davila and Marc Epstein, authors of the best-selling Making Innovation Work, say the problem is that the very processes and structures responsible for established companies' enduring success prevent them from developing breakthroughs.

Even the Odds helps us understand the broader implications of risk - and how it guides our decision-making - so that we can improve outcomes across multiple facets of our lives, from our businesses and investments, to the personal choices we make.

Frank Savage's is an unlikely success story. Raised in segregated Washington, DC, by his mother, a hairdresser and entrepreneur with little formal education, Savage's career has taken him around the world as a globetrotting financier. From his first banking job at Citibank to his current position as Chairman Emeritus of Howard University, The Savage Way shares the life and business lessons he learned along the way.

Mohan and Oliver have been very fortunate to have intimate views into the data challenges that face the largest organizations and institutions across every possible industry - and what they have been hearing about for some time is how the business needs to use data and analytics to their advantage. To really address the data concerns of today's enterprise, they wanted to find a way to help enterprises achieve the success they seek. Not as a prescriptive process - but a methodology to become agile and leverage data and analytics to drive a competitive advantage.

The pressure to generate big ideas can feel overwhelming. We know that bold innovations are critical in these disruptive and competitive times, but when it comes to breakthrough thinking, we often freeze up. Instead of shooting for a $10-billion payday or a Nobel Prize, the most prolific innovators focus on Big Little Breakthroughs - small creative acts that unlock massive rewards over time. By cultivating daily micro-innovations, individuals and organizations are better equipped to tackle tough challenges and seize transformational opportunities.

This groundbreaking resource provides comprehensive coverage across all aspects of business analytics, presenting proven management guidelines to drive sustainable differentiation. Through a rich set of case studies, author Evan Stubbs reviews solutions and examples to over 20 common problems spanning managing analytics assets and information, leveraging technology, nurturing skills, and defining processes. Delivering Business Analytics also outlines the Data Scientist's Code, 15 principles that, when followed, ensure constant movement toward effective practice.

How to Survive the Recession, Handle Layoffs, Raise Emergency Cash, Thwart an Employee Coup, and Avoid Other Potential Disasters! Don't Panic. Be Prepared. Have a Plan. Layoffs. Sales slumps. Dangerously low morale. Extreme cash tightness. Reorganizations. It's a scary world out there. Times are as tough as they've been in decades.

Research shows that people often wildly misunderstand the state of the world, regardless of age, sex, or education. And though the internet brings us unprecedented access to information, there's little evidence we're any better informed because of it. We may blame cognitive bias or fake news, but neither tells the complete story. Bobby Duffy draws on his research into public perception, offering a sweeping account of the stubborn problem of human delusion: how society breeds it, why it will never go away, and what our misperceptions say about what we really believe.

Why are some of us better than others at committing to a decision? How can we move from indecision and procrastination to smart choices? What are the forces that hold us back and how can we successfully overcome them? The Art of Decision Making explores, analyses and navigates the idea of volition: ''the power to use one's own will in order to make decisions.' By drawing on diverse sources, Joseph Bikart has created a precise map of the intricate paths we take when we move from will to action.

Navy Ace pilot and TOPGUN instructor Bill Driscoll demonstrates how his own life-or-death aerial dogfights - and the preparation for them - can help guide high-risk corporate decisions. Interviews with over 200 senior executives and 26 Ace pilots, as well as strategies from Driscoll's own highly successful second career in commercial real estate, reinforce the consistent patterns underlying exceptional performance under pressure.

चुकलेले निर्णय योग्य कसे ठरवाल.

An inspiring case study for the next generation of start-ups by the unconventional founders of Method. Founded ten years ago by childhood pals Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry, Method has been making headlines and profits with a revolutionary blend of culture and commerce, style and substance. Today, Method's ecofriendly soaps, detergents, and cleaners are ubiquitous in stores, capturing valuable shelf space long dominated by the tired old products of giants P&G and Unilever.

> Left Brain, Right Stuff takes up where other books about decision making leave off. For many routine choices, from shopping to investing, we can make good decisions simply by avoiding common errors, such as searching only for confirming information or avoiding the hindsight bias. But as Phil Rosenzweig shows, for many of the most important, more complex situations we face — in business, sports, politics, and more — a different way of thinking is required.

In Meta-Leadership, Dierickx draws on a vast body of research from psychology and business to show how great leaders can improve their judgment for stronger, more profitable results. Incorporating leading-edge data and research on the science of thinking, emotional regulation, and behavior, Meta Leadership offers fascinating stories, incisive insights, and useful takeaways for better leadership and better outcomes.

In The Digital Transformer's Dilemma: How to Energize Your Core Business While Building Disruptive Products and Services, the authors show companies how to go digital while also advancing their core business. The book emphasizes how to strike a difficult balance between establishing a new (digital) business and revitalizing - and digitizing - the legacy business.

By cultivating executive poise and presence, we not only improve how others see us but enhance our capacity to lead a life of our choosing. While leadership styles may vary, all great leaders are able to connect with others while staying true to themselves. By remaining true to the best aspects of your personality, you, too, will be able to lead effectively in every situation. Leading from Your Best Self delivers a road map for developing the poise, presence, and influence needed to succeed at work and in life.

In Inflection Points: How to Work and Live with Purpose, renowned executive coach and speaker Matt Spielman delivers an energizing and hands-on existential navigational tool that walks you through how to identify what really matters in life and how to achieve it.

When designer and computer scientist John Maeda was tapped to be president of the celebrated Rhode Island School of Design in 2008, he had to learn how to be a leader quickly. He had to transform himself from a tenured professor - with a love of argument for argument’s sake and the freedom to experiment - into the head of a hierarchical organization. The professor is free to speak his mind against “the man.” The college president is “the man.” Maeda has had to teach himself, through trial and error, about leadership.