People Not Paperclips

The way HR is working isn’t working. A global epidemic of workplace unhappiness, poor engagement and high churn shows that our well-intended HR interventions just aren’t cutting it. So, how can we put the ‘human’ back into Human Resources? Combining her own research with 20 years’ experience of leading OD and cultural change, Kath Howard encourages HR leaders to think big and to think personal. Accessible and compelling, People Not Paperclips is a refreshing blend of practical insights, stories, and tools that will help you create an environment in which your people can do their best work. It explores how we can attract, recruit, develop and support our people with heart, and why this really matters. People Not Paperclips positions HR professionals at the forefront of cultural change bringing humanity back into the workplace. · Combines expertise in OD and Psychology with interviews with business and HR leaders · An accessible and practical guide for HR leaders to build a workable OD plan for their business A practical toolkit for creating people-centred HR services, processes, and practices, with accompanying online materials

The explosive story of America's secret post-WWII science programs, from the author of the New York Times bestseller Area 51 In the chaos following World War II, the U.S. government faced many difficult decisions, including what to do with the Third Reich's scientific minds. These were the brains behind the Nazis' once-indomitable war machine. So began Operation Paperclip, a decades-long, covert project to bring Hitler's scientists and their families to the United States. Many of these men were accused of war crimes, and others had stood trial at Nuremberg; one was convicted of mass murder and slavery. They were also directly responsible for major advances in rocketry, medical treatments, and the U.S. space program. Was Operation Paperclip a moral outrage, or did it help America win the Cold War? Drawing on exclusive interviews with dozens of Paperclip family members, colleagues, and interrogators, and with access to German archival documents (including previously unseen papers made available by direct descendants of the Third Reich's ranking members), files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, and dossiers discovered in government archives and at Harvard University, Annie Jacobsen follows more than a dozen German scientists through their postwar lives and into a startling, complex, nefarious, and jealously guarded government secret of the twentieth century. In this definitive, controversial look at one of America's most strategic, and disturbing, government programs, Jacobsen shows just how dark government can get in the name of national security.

Explains why business failure and unemployment promote long-term economic growth.

How can humans keep thousands of words in mind and have no difficulty understanding trillions of sentences? The answer to this question might lie in parents teaching their children language skills, or in in the human brain, which may be equipped with a language instinct or maybe in impressive memory skills that link words to their perceptual information. Undoubtedly, there is some truth to some of these explanations. But one answer – perhaps the most important answer – has been largely ignored. Keeping Those Words in Mind tries to remedy this oversight. Linguist and cognitive psychologist Max Louwerse, PhD. argues that understanding language is not just possible because of memory, brains, environment and computation, but because of the patterns in the sequence of sounds and words themselves.He demonstrates that what seems to be an arbitrary communication system, with arbitrary characters and sounds that become words, and arbitrary meanings for those words, actually is a well-organized system that has evolved over tens of thousands of years to make communication as efficient as it is. What is needed for humans to acquire language, is for humans to recognize and discover the patterns in our communication system. By examining how our brains process language and find patterns, the intricacies of the language system itself, and even scientific breakthroughs in computer science and artificial intelligence, Keeping Those Words in Mind brings a brand new and interdisciplinary explanation for our ability to extract meaning from language.

Petroski delves deep into the mystery of invention, to explore what everyday artifacts and sophisticated networks can reveal about the way engineers solve problems.

Meet Kyle MacDonald. He has one red paperclip and one big dream. And he can write. Only problem is he’s between jobs, and his girlfriend is supporting him. Now is the time for Kyle MacDonald to get creative. And that is where this amazing story begins. Kyle takes his paperclip and puts an ad on Craigslist. In just fourteen trades, Kyle MacDonald turned that paperclip into a fish pen, then a doorknob, and then a camping stove. Next, he trades the camping stove for a generator. Soon, Corbin Bernsen, Alice Cooper, and a small town in Canada are involved, and before long Kyle MacDonald turns his paperclip into a house! One Red Paperclip is an inspiring story about a man with the courage and moxie to think outside the box. It is the most unlikely of stories and an example of how we can create and do amazing things with the right amount of know-how and determination. Let Kyle MacDonald inspire you to find your own one red paperclip. You just never know where it could lead . . .