Invent And Wander

In Jeff Bezos's own words, the core principles and philosophy that have guided him in creating, building, and leading Amazon and Blue Origin. In this collection of Jeff Bezos's writings—his unique and strikingly original annual shareholder letters, plus numerous speeches and interviews that provide insight into his background, his work, and the evolution of his ideas—you'll gain an insider's view of the why and how of his success. Spanning a range of topics across business and public policy, from innovation and customer obsession to climate change and outer space, this book provides a rare glimpse into how Bezos thinks about the world and where the future might take us. Written in a direct, down-to-earth style, Invent and Wander offers readers a master class in business values, strategy, and execution: The importance of a Day 1 mindset Why "it's all about the long term" What it really means to be customer obsessed How to start new businesses and create significant organic growth in an already successful company Why culture is an imperative How a willingness to fail is closely connected to innovation What the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us Each insight offers new ways of thinking through today's challenges—and more importantly, tomorrow's—and the never-ending urgency of striving ahead, never resting on one's laurels. Everyone from CEOs of the Fortune 100 to entrepreneurs just setting up shop to the millions who use Amazon's products and services in their homes or businesses will come to understand the principles that have driven the success of one of the most important innovators of our time. Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos is co-published by PublicAffairs, an imprint of Perseus Books, and Harvard Business Review Press.

Do you secretly hate exercising? Struggle to stick with a program? Millions of people try and fail to stay fit. But what if "exercising" is the real problem, not you? Motivation scientist and behavior expert Michelle Segar?translates years of research on exercise and motivation into a simple four-point program that will empower you to break the cycle of exercise failure once and for all. You'll discover why you should forget about willpower and stop gritting your teeth through workouts you hate. Instead, you'll become motivated from the inside out and start to crave physical activity. In No Sweat, Segar will help you find: A step-by-step program for staying encouraged to exercise Pleasure in physical activity Realistic ways to fit fitness into your life The success of the clients Segar has coached testifies to the power of her program. Their stories punctuate the book, entertaining and emboldening you to break the cycle of exercise failure once and for all. Practical, proven, and loaded with inspiring stories, No Sweat makes getting fit easier--and more fun--than you ever imagined. Get ready to embrace an active lifestyle that you'll love!

Amazon's business model is deceptively simple: Make online shopping so easy and convenient that customers won't think twice. It can almost be summed up by the button on every page: "Buy now with one click." Why has Amazon been so successful? Much of it has to do with Jeff Bezos, the CEO and founder, whose unique combination of character traits and business strategy have driven Amazon to the top of the online retail world. Richard Brandt charts Bezos's rise from computer nerd to world- changing entrepreneur. His success can be credited to his forward-looking insights and ruthless business sense. Brandt explains: Why Bezos decided to allow negative product reviews, correctly guessing that the earned trust would outweigh possible lost sales. Why Amazon zealously guards some patents yet freely shares others. Why Bezos called becoming profitable the "dumbest" thing they could do in 1997. How Amazon.com became one of the only dotcoms to survive the bust of the early 2000s. Where the company is headed next. Through interviews with Amazon employees, competitors, and observers, Brandt has deciphered how Bezos makes decisions. The story of Amazon's ongoing evolution is a case study in how to reinvent an entire industry, and one that anyone in business today ignores at their peril.

In Dream With Your Eyes Open, first-generation entrepreneur and UTV-founder Ronnie Screwvala details his vast experiences and the myriad lessons learnt from more than two decades of building some successful (and some not-so-successful) businesses, bringing clarity to a quickly changing business landscape and making an impassioned case for the role of entrepreneurship in India's future. If you've ever had an impactful, disruptive product or business idea, been curious about owning your own business, or have already taken the first steps on your entrepreneurial journey, this is the book for you. If you've been running your own company for the last seven-odd years, and scale, brand and value-creation are some of the crossroads for you now, keep reading. If you think your parents or family would freak out if you dared to suggest ditching your safe haven-your professional job-to pursue your dreams of owning your own business, relax. Better yet, share this book with them. If you're an experienced professional ready to take the plunge into starting your own business or committed to growing into an effective leader in the company you work for, read on. This book hopes to demystify failure, inspire success, raise ambitions and help you think big. Dream With Your Eyes Open shares failures and triumphs, thoughts and anecdotes in a simple narrative that could help you gain better insights into entrepreneurship and give you a fighting chance when it comes to realizing your dreams in a David-versus-Goliath world. Only then will we succeed in harnessing the country's enormous entrepreneurial potential with the most energetic and passionate people in the world, alive with fresh mind-sets, optimism and hope. This book is about 'it can be done', not 'I did it'. It's all possible. Just dream your own dream-and when you do, dream with your eyes open.

One Nation Under Gold examines the countervailing forces that have long since divided America—whether gold should be a repository of hope, or a damaging delusion that has long since derailed the rational investor. Worshipped by Tea Party politicians but loathed by sane economists, gold has historically influenced American monetary policy and has exerted an often outsized influence on the national psyche for centuries. Now, acclaimed business writer James Ledbetter explores the tumultuous history and larger-than-life personalities—from George Washington to Richard Nixon—behind America’s volatile relationship to this hallowed metal and investigates what this enduring obsession reveals about the American identity. Exhaustively researched and expertly woven, One Nation Under Gold begins with the nation’s founding in the 1770s, when the new republic erupted with bitter debates over the implementation of paper currency in lieu of metal coins. Concerned that the colonies’ thirteen separate currencies would only lead to confusion and chaos, some Founding Fathers believed that a national currency would not only unify the fledgling nation but provide a perfect solution for a country that was believed to be lacking in natural silver and gold resources. Animating the "Wild West" economy of the nineteenth century with searing insights, Ledbetter brings to vivid life the actions of Whig president Andrew Jackson, one of gold’s most passionate advocates, whose vehement protest against a standardized national currency would precipitate the nation’s first feverish gold rush. Even after the establishment of a national paper currency, the virulent political divisions continued, reaching unprecedented heights at the Democratic National Convention in 1896, when presidential aspirant William Jennings Bryan delivered the legendary "Cross of Gold" speech that electrified an entire convention floor, stoking the fears of his agrarian supporters. While Bryan never amassed a wide-enough constituency to propel his cause into the White House, America’s stubborn attachment to gold persisted, wreaking so much havoc that FDR, in order to help rescue the moribund Depression economy, ordered a ban on private ownership of gold in 1933. In fact, so entrenched was the belief that gold should uphold the almighty dollar, it was not until 1973 that Richard Nixon ordered that the dollar be delinked from any relation to gold—completely overhauling international economic policy and cementing the dollar’s global significance. More intriguing is the fact that America’s exuberant fascination with gold has continued long after Nixon’s historic decree, as in the profusion of late-night television ads that appeal to goldbug speculators that proliferate even into the present. One Nation Under Gold reveals as much about American economic history as it does about the sectional divisions that continue to cleave our nation, ultimately becoming a unique history about economic irrationality and its influence on the American psyche.

Portrait of the growth of tech company Amazon and the evolution of its billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos.

In Detox Your Thoughts, popular psychologist Andrea Bonior, PhD, identifies the 10 most prevalent mental traps that make people feel anxious, insecure, and generally just bad. Clinical psychologist Andrea Bonior has spent over twenty years studying, teaching, and practicing the science of thoughts, emotions, and behavior. In Detox Your Thoughts, she uses the latest research into mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to teach you to understand your thoughts–and your body–in a completely different way. To challenge negative self-talk, you must change the way you relate to your thoughts altogether. Bonior shows us how to create new mental pathways that truly stick. For each of the ten mental traps, Bonior offers a new habit to practice, including: • leaning in to your feelings • recognizing and counteracting your blind spots to gain insight • valuing the present moment, and immersing yourself in it. Bonior deciphers the latest research in psychology and neuroscience to help disempower and conquer self-sabotaging thoughts with specific and actionable steps. You're not erasing negative thoughts, but rather growing bigger than they are–and improving your mental and emotional life along the way. • Dr. Andrea Bonior is a popular psychologist and contributor to BuzzFeed and the Washington Post. • Detox Your Thoughts was inspired by her popular BuzzFeed challenge of the same name. • Dr. Bonior's mental health advice column, "Baggage Check," has appeared for 14 years in the Washington Post and several other newspapers nationwide. With bite-sized psychology takes on the thought patterns that plague most people and a practical approach to quitting negative self-talk for good, Detox Your Thoughts is a transformational read. • Perfect for readers of the Washington Post's "Baggage Check" column, Goodful's Detox Your Thoughts, Psychology Today, and The Cut's "Science of Us." • Also a good fit for those who love pop psychology, self-help books, and any books related to motivation or happiness. • Fans of Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World by Max Lucado, 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do by Amy Morin, and Dare: The New Way to End Anxiety and Stop Panic Attacks by Barry McDonagh will want this. Audio edition read by the author.

“A perceptive look at [the] Amazon founder’s annual shareholder letters, extracting 14 key ‘growth principles’ that [businesses] can use to scale up.” —Publishers Weekly Jeff Bezos created Amazon, the fastest company to reach $100 billion in sales ever, making him the richest man in the world. Business owners marvel at Amazon’s success, but don’t realize they have the answers right at their fingertips as Bezos reveals his hidden roadmap in his annual letters to shareholders. For the first time, business analyst Steve Anderson unlocks the key lessons, mindset, principles, and steps Bezos used, and continues to use, to make Amazon the massive success it is today. Steve shows business owners, leaders, and CEOs how to apply those same practices and watch their business become more efficient, productive, and successful?fast! “So much of what Steve Anderson has uncovered about Jeff Bezos and Amazon reminds me of the legacy of Walt Disney. Walt had a vision and made it happen; Jeff had a vision and made it happen; and you, too, can make your vision happen—and make it happen faster and easier using the principle’s Steve has laid out in The Bezos Letters.” —Lee Cockerell, former executive Vice President of Walt Disney World Resorts and author of Creating Magic: Common Sense Business Strategies from a Life at Disney “If you ever wanted a manual for building and growing your business, this is it.” —Dan Miller, New York Times–bestselling author of 48 Days to the Work You Love