Difference Matters

Good Strategy/Bad Strategy clarifies the muddled thinking underlying too many strategies and provides a clear way to create and implement a powerful action-oriented strategy for the real world. Developing and implementing a strategy is the central task of a leader. A good strategy is a specific and coherent response to—and approach for—overcoming the obstacles to progress. A good strategy works by harnessing and applying power where it will have the greatest effect. Yet, Rumelt shows that there has been a growing and unfortunate tendency to equate Mom-and-apple-pie values, fluffy packages of buzzwords, motivational slogans, and financial goals with “strategy.” In Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, he debunks these elements of “bad strategy” and awakens an understanding of the power of a “good strategy.” He introduces nine sources of power—ranging from using leverage to effectively focusing on growth—that are eye-opening yet pragmatic tools that can easily be put to work on Monday morning, and uses fascinating examples from business, nonprofit, and military affairs to bring its original and pragmatic ideas to life. The detailed examples range from Apple to General Motors, from the two Iraq wars to Afghanistan, from a small local market to Wal-Mart, from Nvidia to Silicon Graphics, from the Getty Trust to the Los Angeles Unified School District, from Cisco Systems to Paccar, and from Global Crossing to the 2007–08 financial crisis. Reflecting an astonishing grasp and integration of economics, finance, technology, history, and the brilliance and foibles of the human character, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy stems from Rumelt’s decades of digging beyond the superficial to address hard questions with honesty and integrity.

A noted pediatrician and child psychologist looks at the controversial question of biologically based gender differences, arguing that these variations are a biological reality and that they play a key role in the development of personality traits and intellectual and social skills. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

Allens proven ability and flare for presenting complex and oftentimes sensitive topics in nonthreatening ways carry over in the latest edition of Difference Matters. Her down-to-earth analysis of six social identity categories reveals how communication establishes and enacts identity and power dynamics. She provides historical overviews to show how perceptions of gender, race, social class, sexuality, ability, and age have varied throughout time and place. Allen clearly explains pertinent theoretical perspectives and illustrates those and other discussions with real-life experiences (many of which are her own). She also offers practical guidance for how to communicate difference more humanely. While many examples are from organizational contexts, readers from a wide range of backgrounds can relate to them and appreciate their relevance. This eye-opening, vibrant text, suitable for use in a variety of disciplines, motivates readers to think about valuing difference as a positive, enriching feature of society. Interactive elements such as Spotlights on Media, I.D. Checks, Tool Kits, and Reflection Matters questions awaken interest, awareness, and creative insights for change.

Shades of Difference addresses the widespread but little studied phenomenon of colorism—the preference for lighter skin and the ranking of individual worth according to skin tone. Examining the social and cultural significance of skin color in a broad range of societies and historical periods, this insightful collection looks at how skin color affects people's opportunities in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and North America. Is skin color bias distinct from racial bias? How does skin color preference relate to gender, given the association of lightness with desirability and beauty in women? The authors of this volume explore these and other questions as they take a closer look at the role Western-dominated culture and media have played in disseminating the ideal of light skin globally. With its comparative, international focus, this enlightening book will provide innovative insights and expand the dialogue around race and gender in the social sciences, ethnic studies, African American studies, and gender and women's studies.

While many books address the 'what' of change in education, this addresses the 'how'. The pressure for continuous adaptation and innovation in education is relentless, yet there is more failure in implementation of change than success. These failures are damaging to staff and students, as well as costly. Change Matters offers a practical guide to change management for teachers and administrators across all education sectors and for training managers in workplace settings. Change Matters assists educators to develop their abilities to manage their own change projects, and also to help their organisations to manage their overall improvement and innovation activities. Geoff Scott draws on successful experience to create a framework for the educational change process. He shows how to initiate, develop, implement and evaluate a new learning program, and how to manage continuous quality improvement and innovation at the organisational level. The need for leadership is assessed, and the particular circumstances of workplace trainers are discussed. The book is illustrated with case studies and reflective exercises which can be used individually or with other educators. 'An eminently readable and practical guide for those who want to make sure that the educational changes they attempt really do make a difference for their students. Highly recommended.' - Professor Michael Fullan, Dean, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, and author of The New Meaning of Educational Change and of the What's Worth Fighting For trilogy with Andy Hargreaves.

52 Mondays, 52 Activities, 52 Ways to Make a Life-Enhancing Difference. Monday used to be the least favorite day of the week. Monday was the day that ended the weekend; the day you had to go back to work; and the day you started a diet or decided to quit smoking...again. Not anymore! Authors Matthew Emerzian and Kelly Bozza do a total makeover on the bad image of Mondays and make that day mean something amazing, something incredible, something unbelievable. Every Monday Matters does this by taking 52 Mondays, providing 52 creative but doable activities, giving 52 down-to-earth ways to make a difference, one for each Monday of the year. It's a perfect way to have a positive impact, get others involved, and make a difference in your life and the lives of others. Includes fifteen-minute bonus DVD providing two celebrity segments, a word from the authors, and codes to unlock special features of the EMM official website: EveryMondayMatters.com. Book is made from 95% recycled paper.

This captivating book analyzes six salient categories of social identity (gender, race, social class, disability, sexuality, and age) and why difference within and between those categories matter. Brenda J. Allen provides overviews of sociohistorical developments and their impact on how people perceive and treat one another. She explains how communication constitutes social identity and explores relationships among social identity, discourse, and power dynamics. Allen’s book has motivated thousands of individuals in university classes/ programs and a variety of other organizations. She offers life-changing guidance in harnessing the potential of diverse perspectives—whether to improve interpersonal relationships and workplace communication or to build a more just society. Difference Matters: Communicating Social Identity invites and induces readers to value and appreciate difference. Allen covers complex and sensitive topics with an ease that inspires others to approach potentially threatening situations with an open mind and heart. Her frank discussions of the effects of dominant belief systems on her own behaviors encourage and reassure the audience to engage in self-reflection. Difference matters to everyone. Establishing meaningful dialogue begins with curiosity about differing perspectives, empathy for others, and cultural humility. Allen addresses the uncertainty and anxiety too often connected with difference, advises mindfulness to reveal the hidden associations connected with stereotypes, and urges proactivity to challenge and change mainstream meanings of difference. She also provides tools and techniques to help readers apply lessons learned.

#1 New York Times Bestseller Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how the goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth—and how it can help any organization thrive. In the fall of 1999, John Doerr met with the founders of a start-up whom he'd just given $12.5 million, the biggest investment of his career. Larry Page and Sergey Brin had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy, and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. For Google to change the world (or even to survive), Page and Brin had to learn how to make tough choices on priorities while keeping their team on track. They'd have to know when to pull the plug on losing propositions, to fail fast. And they needed timely, relevant data to track their progress—to measure what mattered. Doerr taught them about a proven approach to operating excellence: Objectives and Key Results. He had first discovered OKRs in the 1970s as an engineer at Intel, where the legendary Andy Grove ("the greatest manager of his or any era") drove the best-run company Doerr had ever seen. Later, as a venture capitalist, Doerr shared Grove's brainchild with more than fifty companies. Wherever the process was faithfully practiced, it worked. In this goal-setting system, objectives define what we seek to achieve; key results are how those top-priority goals will be attained with specific, measurable actions within a set time frame. Everyone's goals, from entry level to CEO, are transparent to the entire organization. The benefits are profound. OKRs surface an organization's most important work. They focus effort and foster coordination. They keep employees on track. They link objectives across silos to unify and strengthen the entire company. Along the way, OKRs enhance workplace satisfaction and boost retention. In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations. This book will help a new generation of leaders capture the same magic.