Showing results by narrator "Don Hagen" in All Categories

Despite the dizzying amount of data at our disposal today - and an increasing reliance on analytics to make the majority of our decisions - many of our most critical choices still come down to human judgment. This fact is fundamental to organizations whose leaders must often make crucial decisions: to do this they need the best available insights. This book introduces a model that taps the collective judgment of an organization so that the right decisions are made, and the entire organization profits.

On the morning of October 24, 1944, in the Sibuyan Sea amidst the Philippine Islands, VT-18, a close-knit squadron of six young American torpedo bomber pilots, departed the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid on a search and destroy mission. Their target: the super-battleship Musashi, the pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The pilots were tasked with preventing the immense enemy warship and the huge naval armada of which she was a part from inflicting unspeakable damage.

The governments and central banks of the developed world have tried every policy tool imaginable, yet our economies remain sluggish, or worse. How did we get here, and how can we emerge from the longest downturn in recent memory? Daniel Alpert, a progressive Wall Street banker and economist, argues that we are living in the age of oversupply.

According to Paul Sullivan, clutch performance does not stem from an innate ability. It’s a learned skill—the art of operating in high-stress situations as if they were everyday conditions. Even some of the most experienced and talented performers lack this skill—but Sullivan shows that anyone can develop it.

In the first half of the 21st century, giving to family and community foundations alone will be ten times in today's dollars what it was throughout the entire 20th century. Yet despite tremendous innovation in the social sector, philanthropy's natural state is under-performance. Not since Andrew Carnegie wrote The Gospel of Wealth has a book been written that provides practical guidance for donors to get the most impact from their giving.

A trusted member of Hitler’s inner circle, Artur Axmann, the head of the Hitler Youth, witnessed the Führer commit suicide in Berlin - but he would not let the Reich die with its leader. Evading capture, and with access to remnants of the regime’s wealth, Axmann had enough followers to reestablish the Nazi party in the very heart of Allied-occupied Germany - and position himself to become dictator of the Fourth Reich. U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps Officer Jack Hunter was the perfect undercover operative.

John Homans adopted his dog, Stella, from a shelter for all the usual reasons: fond memories of dogs from his past, a companion for his son, an excuse for long walks around the neighborhood. Soon enough, she is happily ensconced in the daily workings of his family. And not only that: Stella is treated like a family member - in ways that dogs of his youth were not. Spending humanlike sums on vet bills, questioning her diet and exercise regimens, contemplating her happiness - how had this all come to pass, when the dogs from Homans's childhood seemed quite content living mostly out in the yard?

For speakers who want to make their presentations more impressive than the tens of thousands of speeches delivered (and immediately forgotten) every day, The How of WOW offers a refreshing antidote to the usual formulas. The How of WOW offers hundreds of practical tips, techniques, and illuminating examples to help speakers at every stage of the speech process, from considering an invitation to speak to making sure that the message is remembered even after the speech is over.

Just as there are three dimensions of the physical world (height, width, and depth), there are three dimensions of the interpersonal world - power, love, and mindfulness. How well we learn to navigate them directly corresponds to how well we live our lives and how happy and fulfilled we feel. Human reactivity is the source of most of our interpersonal problems and pain.

Sales have dropped precipitously. The board is meeting next week. Bob, founder and long-time CEO, is urged by his team to hire an expensive management consulting firm and drastically cut costs as a last ditch effort to improve the company’s bottom line.

This Chinese treatise on war was written by Sun Tzu in the 6th century BC. Each one of the 13 chapters is devoted to a different aspect of warfare, making it the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time. Studied by generals from Napoleon to Rommel it is still one of the most influential works on the subject and is required reading in most military academies around the world.

In the age of Google, your customers are searching. Will they find you? In today’s searching world, customers turn to online search engines first. Yet many companies simply don’t realize acquiring customers from search engines should be a core business strategy. Instead, they usually focus on narrow goals, such as boosting page rankings. These oversights leave a huge channel for engaging with potential customers largely untapped.

It can seem like every person, every television show, and every ad has an idea of who we are supposed to be. But who does your soul ask you to be? In Your ReDefining Moments, spiritual teacher Dennis Merritt Jones offers a road map back to your center, where you will find your Authentic Self. It is from that center, Merritt Jones shows, that you can live the life you were born for, rather than the tug-of-war so many people get caught up in, trying to be all things to all people, trying to be anyone but who they truly are.

You've heard of the burgeoning consumer markets in China and India that are driving the world economy. But do you know enough about these new consumers to convert them into customers? In The $10 Trillion Prize, bestselling author Michael J. Silverstein and The Boston Consulting Group colleagues in China and India provide the first comprehensive profile of the emerging middle class, primed to transform the global marketplace.

Great companies distinguish themselves from the competition by providing their customers with something truly special, something beyond price point that can't be duplicated: unique, outstanding customer service experiences.

How did the human mind emerge from the collection of neurons that makes up the brain? How did the brain acquire self-awareness, functional autonomy, language, and the ability to think, to understand itself and the world? In this volume in the Essential Knowledge series, Zoltan Torey offers an accessible and concise description of the evolutionary breakthrough that created the human mind.

Alignment is the single most critical business challenge for any organization and its leaders. Without it, inefficiency, conflict, and disengagement will cripple your ability to provide value to your customers. Companies live or die based on their ability to communicate and deliver on the promise their brand makes to its customers. To do this effectively, leaders need to clearly define the vision and strategies that support that brand intention and ensure these are manifested in the roles, expectations, and goals of each and every member of the organization.

Simply "making the numbers" is no longer enough to remain competitive. In today's high-pressure environment, organizations need to overachieve. That level of success requires a clear and objective view of the business - because even the most courageous leader can't steer a ship in the dark. Is the enterprise Agile? Resilient? Vulnerable? Or Lagging? The Scorecard Solution provides the answer. The audiobook introduces a data-centric tool - the Organizational Prowess Scorecard™.

Legendary Harvard religion scholar Harvey Cox offers up a new interpretation of the history and future of religion. Cox identifies three fundamental shifts over the last 2,000 years of church history: The Age of Faith, The Age of Belief, The Age of the Spirit. Reflecting on how his own faith journey mirrors these three historical shifts, Cox personalizes the material in a compelling, practical ways. The Future of Faith is a major statement by one of the most revered theologians today.

Are you underwhelmed with the way your traditional 60/40 portfolio has been performing lately and wondering why? Do you suspect there might be better ways to invest your money, but aren't sure what they are? What about all those "alternative" investments you keep hearing so much about in the media, such as commodities, real estate, emerging market funds, and, of course, that darling of pirates, Medieval monarchs, and radio talk-show hosts everywhere: gold?