Business Society

For years, consumers have been promised a simple, carefree digital future. We could live, work, learn, and play from the comforts of our homes, and have whatever we desire brought to our door with the flick of a finger. Instant communication would bring us together. Technological convenience would give us more time to focus on what really mattered. When the pandemic hit, that future transformed into the present, almost overnight. And the reviews aren't great.

In four decades, bookended by the Pope’s visits to Ireland in September 1979 and August 2018, Ireland has become one of the wealthiest and most progressive nations in the world. Characteristically brilliant and timely, Renaissance Nation is a thrilling account of Ireland’s vertiginous rise and a timely exploration of its conflicted present, where stark decisions await the next generation of would-be revolutionaries.

In this disquieting cyber thriller, Joseph Menn takes readers into the murky hacker underground, traveling the globe from San Francisco to Costa Rica and London to Russia. His guides are California surfer and computer whiz Barrett Lyon and a fearless British high-tech agent. Through these heroes, Menn shows the evolution of cyber-crime from small-time thieving to sophisticated, organized gangs, who began by attacking corporate websites but increasingly steal financial data from consumers.

The most interconnected generation in history is navigating unimaginable amounts of social pressure, both in personal and online interactions. How do we help the overloaded and distracted next generation deal with increasing complexity and help them not only survive, but thrive? How do we help them experience stress-free productivity and gain momentum and confidence? Getting Things Done for Teens will train the next generation to overcome these obstacles and flourish by coaching them to use the internationally renowned Getting Things Done methodology.

The world often falls short of how we'd like it to be, and our ability to make even just a little difference can seem limited. Sometimes it feels like you need to be a super-hero to achieve anything meaningful. But what if by re-conceiving what you do, you could change the world for the better? In The Regenerative Life, Carol Sanford shows you how to fundamentally change the roles you play in society, enabling you to do more than you ever believed possible.

Developed by experienced professors and professionally narrated for easy listening, this course is a valuable tool when preparing for your Society for Human Resource Management Certified Professional or SHRM-CP Exam. The audio is focused and high-yield, covering the most important topics you need to know to succeed on the SHRM-CP Test.

Consumerism drives the pursuit of happiness in much of the world, yet as wealth grows, unhappiness abounds, compounded by the grave problems of climate change, pollution, and ecological degradation. We've now reached both an environmental and spiritual dead-end that leaves us crying out for alternatives. Elegant Simplicity provides a coherent philosophy of life that weaves together simplicity of material life, thought, and spirit.

In this concise book, feminist thought is made accessible and relevant to both students and management practitioners. An empowering introduction to an often-overlooked key idea, this book illuminates how feminist thinking can liberate our understanding of work and management.

Are the rich bad for society? The author of this book, a successful Canadian entrepreneur who made his fortune and created 3000 jobs, has written a manifesto celebrating the achievements of people who have earned their wealth. He says that many of the critics are overlooking one crucial thing: we need business people to build companies and generate wealth to keep the economy going. That's the only way to generate the wealth that pays for government services like health and education.

With Expand: Stretching the Future By Design, authors Jens Martin Skibsted, a multiple-award-winning designer, entrepreneur, and design philosopher, and Christian Bason, political scientist and CEO of the Danish Design Centre, take listeners beyond "design thinking" to challenge current habits and carve out new space for more sustainable innovation. From transforming the ways we do business and reimagining health care, to creating planet-restoring housing and humanizing our digital lives in an age of AI, Expand explores how expansive thinking across six key areas.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, digital technologies had become deeply embedded in children’s lives, despite a growing body of research detailing the harms of excessive immersion in the unregulated, powerfully seductive, profit-driven world of the “kid-tech” industry. In Who’s Raising the Kids? Linn—one of the world’s leading experts on the impact of Big Tech and big business on children—explores the roots and consequences of this monumental shift toward a digitized, commercialized childhood, focusing on kids’ values, relationships, and learning.

What if you could have whatever you want, produced and provided immediately and affordably no matter how customized—with minimal environmental impact? Products, services, and experiences on demand. Just-in-time anything, anywhere, anytime. This radical change is underway, as digital technologies push the production and provision of value ever closer to the moment of demand. Robert C. Wolcott and Kaihan Krippendorff provide an indispensable guide to the Proximity revolution, showing how it's transforming every industry—and our lives.

Case studies of business and management success tend to focus on factors such as leadership, innovation, competition, and geography, but what about good fortune? This book highlights luck as a key idea for business and society. The author provides insights from economics, sociology, political science, philosophy, and psychology to create a brief intellectual history of luck.

Growing into You is the book that will change how you perceive yourself, within the boundaries of the life you’ve created. Do you feel like there must be more to life? Do you perceive having done everything right, yet something is still missing? Perhaps you’ve forgotten who you truly are, deep down, beyond all societal conditioning.

In this endlessly fascinating book, New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea that has profound implications: large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant. Groups are better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future.

Technology - at least in theory - is improving our productivity, efficiency, and communication. The one thing it's not doing is making us happier. We are experiencing historically high levels of depression and dissatisfaction. But it doesn't have to be that way. Technology can drive - not diminish - human happiness.

DEI work is getting a bad reputation. But that’s because it’s not being done right, say veteran diversity consultants James O. Rodgers and Laura Kangas. Too many organizations are treating diversity training as a quick-hit, low-cost, check-the-box activity. Effective diversity training involves behavioral change based on adult learning theory. It is rigorous, deeply personal, experience based, and, if done well, life changing. Rodgers and Kangas offer a complete guide, from design to implementation to results.

From massive festivals to daily conversations, every day we’re on a stage. Each stage allows us an opportunity to express our unique presence—our stage presence. This is the secret, the charisma that lets us shine. But sometimes we block our power and forget this moment is the only one we have. This book teaches you to take your power back. It grounds you and launches you into the next level of your life. Whether it’s with family or friends, a boss or bandmate, this book frees you from your limitations so you can be your true, authentic self in any situation.

In Nature’s Fortune, Mark Tercek, CEO of The Nature Conservancy and former investment banker, and science writer Jonathan Adams argue that nature is not only the foundation of human well-being, but also the smartest commercial investment any business or government can make. The forests, floodplains, and oyster reefs often seen simply as raw materials or as obstacles to be cleared in the name of progress are, in fact as important to our future prosperity as technology or law or business innovation.

In a world with an endless hunger for innovation, why is it so hard to create audacious change? According to thought leader Seth Goldenberg, the answer to this question stems from how we, as a society, view questions themselves. In Radical Curiosity, Goldenberg argues that because we value knowing above learning and prioritize doing over thinking, curiosity has become an endangered species.