Leap

Every business faces the existential threat of competitors producing cheaper copies. Even patent filings, market dominance and financial resources can't shield them from copycats. So what can we do--and, what can we learn from companies that have endured and even prospered for centuries despite copycat competition?In a book of narrative history and practical strategy, IMD professor of management and innovation Howard Yu shows that succeeding in today's marketplace is no longer just a matter of mastering copycat tactics, companies also need to leap across knowledge disciplines, and to reimagine how a product is made or a service is delivered. This proven tactic can protect a company from being overtaken by new (and often foreign) copycat competitors.Using riveting case studies of successful leaps and tragic falls, Yu illustrates five principles to success that span a wide range of industries, countries, and eras. Learn about how P&G in the 19th century made the leap from handcrafted soaps and candles to mass production of its signature brand Ivory, leaped into the new fields of consumer psychology and advertising, then leaped again, at the risk of cannibalizing its core product, into synthetic detergents and won with Tide in 1946. Learn about how Novartis and other pharma pioneers stayed ahead by making leaps from chemistry to microbiology to genomics in drug discovery; and how forward-thinking companies, including China's largest social media app--WeChat, Tokyo-based Internet service provider Recruit Holdings, and Illinois-headquartered John Deere are leaping ahead by leveraging the emergence of ubiquitous connectivity, the inexorable rise of intelligent machines, and the rising importance of managerial creativity.Outlasting competition is difficult; doing so over decades or a century is nearly impossible--unless one leaps. Ultimately, Leap is a manifesto for how pioneering companies can endure and prosper in a world of constant change and inevitable copycats.

Traditionally, company leaders develop a business strategy based on bottom lines and profit margins, then hire an ad agency to back up that strategy with creative advertising. But history shows that some of the most effective branding campaigns are born when companies work with ad agencies to develop a business strategy that has a big, creative idea at its heart-what CEO of Euro RSCG Bob Schmetterer calls the Creative Business Idea. In Leap, Bob Schmetterer shows advertisers how to combine advertising creativity and bottom-line realities to develop winning business strategies and winning ad campaigns. He analyzes some of the most creative business ideas in history, showing how successful advertising and marketing strategies do more than simply communicate the brand-they define it. Advertisers know how to create demand for an existing brand, but Schmetterer argues that the next challenge for advertisers is to help their clients apply creative thinking to their core business strategy before they launch a branding blitz. Leap is about connecting the left brain and the right brain to develop solid business strategies that are also creative, fresh, and exciting. It's about mixing business's cold fixation on numbers with the warm heart of art and creativity to build revolutionary brands. It's about connecting with and listening to the client, understanding the business and the product, tapping into the client's passion for the product, and transmitting that passion to the consumer. It's about what happens when the business makes creativity part of its core strategy-enabling it to move beyond self-imposed boundaries and expand the limits of its reach. With a wealth of examples from Volvo to Purdue, Schmetterer shows ad agencies and managers how to help their clients develop the big, creative idea that will transform their businesses-and perhaps their industries. It's time for companies to make the Leap that synthesizes business and creativity to reap the full rewards of profitable innovation. BOB SCHMETTERER is Chairman and CEO of Euro RSCG Worldwide, a one of the world's top five global advertising and communications agencies with clients such as Intel, Peugeot, Air France, Orange, Abby National, MCI, Danone Group, Reckitt Benckiser, Volvo, and Yahoo!

A lyrical leap from one animal to the next! “A flea asleep / in the deep green moss / nettled by midges / wakes up cross, / starts to fidget / and turn and toss.” And then he LEAPS into the path of a grasshopper. Who, in turn, LEAPS onto a bunny. And so it goes, dog, fish, bullfrog, horse and dog again, each leaping and upsetting the next. Until, at last, the dog arrives in that same deep green moss. The flea leaps onto the dog. And they both fall asleep! A romp of a satisfying, circular story poem — like a game of tag, it’s pure delight!

An enchanting story of an adventurous young boy who dreams of going to the moon and all of the things he would do when he gets there. With sweet illustrations by Nadia Ronquillo, this charming story will encourage kids to leap for their dreams every day!

Discusses the Buddhist concept of shenpa in order to describe how to become free from the destructive energy experienced during moments of conflict.

“Gay Hendricks is a great role model for true success. He enjoys abundance and a deep connection with his own spiritual essence, and at the same time has lived for three decades in a thriving marriage. Now, he shows us how to do it for ourselves.” — Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of Cracking the Millionaire Code In The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks, the New York Times bestselling author of Five Wishes, demonstrates how to eliminate the barriers to success by overcoming false fears and beliefs. Fans of Wayne Dyer, Eckhart Tolle, Marianne Williamson, and The Secret will find useful, effective tips for breaking down the walls to a better life in The Big Leap.

The revolutionary follow-up to Chris Turner's Governor General's Literary Award and National Business Book Award nominee, The Geography of Hope. The most vital project of the twenty-first century is a shift from our unsustainable way of life to a sustainable one--a great lateral leap from a track headed for economic and ecological disaster to one bound for renewed prosperity. In The Leap, Chris Turner presents a field guide to making that jump, drawing on recent breakthroughs in state-of-the-art renewable energy, cleantech and urban design. From the solar towers of sunny Spain to the bike paths and pedestrianized avenues of the world's most livable city--Copenhagen, Denmark--to the nascent "green-collar" economies rejuvenating the former East Germany and the American Rust Belt, he paints a vivid portrait of a new, sustainable world order already up and running. In his 2007 book, The Geography of Hope, Chris Turner wrote about an emerging world of cleantech possibility. This led to a two-year stint as sustainability columnist for the Globe and Mail, during which many of the fringe developments covered in his book became vital. By the time those two years were up his reporting tracks were being retraced by mainstream outlets like the New York Times. In The Leap, he once again charts the world's near-future course.

What does it mean to be enlightened or spiritually awakened? In The Leap, Steve Taylor shows that this state is much more common than is generally believed. He shows that ordinary people — from all walks of life — can and do regularly “wake up” to a more intense reality, even if they know nothing about spiritual practices and paths. Wakefulness is a more expansive and harmonious state of being that can be cultivated or that can arise accidentally. It may also be a process we are undergoing collectively. Drawing on his years of research as a psychologist and on his own experiences, Taylor provides what is perhaps the clearest psychological study of the state of wakefulness ever published. Above all, he reminds us that it is our most natural state — accessible to us all, anytime, anyplace.