Raising The Bar

In April of 2000, Gary Erickson turned down a $120 million offer to buy his thriving company. Today, instead of taking it easy for the rest of his life and enjoying a luxurious retirement, he's working harder than ever. Why would any sane person pass up the financial opportunity of a lifetime? Raising the Bar tells the amazing story of Clif Bar's Gary Erickson and shows that some things are more important than money. Gary Erickson and coauthor Lois Lorentzen tell the unusual and inspiring story about following your passion, the freedom to create, sustaining a business over the long haul, and living responsibly in your community and on the earth. Raising the Bar chronicles Clif Bar's ascent from a homemade energy bar to a $100 million phenomenon with an estimated 35 million consumers, and a company hailed by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. four years in a row. The book is filled with compelling personal stories from Erickson's life-trekking in the Himalayan mountains, riding his bicycle over roadless European mountain passes, climbing in the Sierra Nevada range--as inspiration for his philosophy of business. Throughout the book, Erickson--a competitive cyclist, jazz musician, world traveler, mountain climber, wilderness guide, and entrepreneur--convinces us that sustaining one's employees, community, and environment is good business. If you are a manager, executive, business owner, or board member, Raising the Bar is your personal guide to corporate integrity. If you are a sports enthusiast, environmentalist, adventure lover, intrigued by a unique corporate culture, or just interested in a good story, Raising the Bar is for you.

The host of Spike TV's Bar Rescue distills the secrets to running a successful hospitality business as based on his Reaction Management strategy for creating desirable reactions in customers.

A first-of-its-kind book of honest reflections, straight talk, and essential advice about life at big law firms for people of color What do young people of color aspiring to careers in the law need to know about life at big law firms? What do law schools need to do to prepare them? What do the firms themselves need to do to attract, retain, and promote them? In Raising the Bar, four partners of color from leading law firms engage in a no-holds-barred conversation about what it takes to make it in big law using their own journeys to the top to discuss how law firms can do a better job of attracting and holding on to a more diverse set of young attorneys. They also offer advice to the attorneys themselves on how to succeed in a culture that has long excluded them, including finding mentors among those who don't look like you, building a portable toolkit of skills, establishing key connections outside the firm, and staying "true to you," even as young associates of color navigate the foreign terrain of insular firm culture. The book also includes a section of concrete advice from diversity coordinators at several top law firms.

This book provides a definitive review of knowledge about bar room environments and their regulation, and provides directions for the prevention of aggression, violence and injury in and around public drinking establishments. It shows why drinking establishments are high risk for aggression, why some establishments are riskier than others, the effectiveness of existing interventions and policies, and the importance of better regulatory models for achieving safer drinking establishments. The authors emphasise the need to understand the problem and to tackle it through evidence-based preventive strategies, providing a detailed review of the nature of problem behaviours within the specific context of public drinking establishments - while recognising that these establishments are businesses that operate in diverse communities and cultures. Special attention is paid to the difficulties in implementing and sustaining effective interventions within the kinds of regulatory structures and political and economic climates that currently prevail in western countries. The book draws upon the authors' extensive experience with observational, interview and intervention research related to reducing aggression and injury in drinking establishments, as well as their knowledge of the alcohol field, and of prevention, policing and regulation more generally.

Two-thirds of today's teens are interested in having a meaningful relationship with God, yet less than one-third of them are active in a local church. These statistics indicate that it is time to change how the church does youth ministry, and this compelling book provides an impassioned plea for the church to set higher standards for ministry to teens and their families.

The Olympic gold medalist shares the story of her life and how the people in her life helped to allow her to persevere and reach her dreams.

With a strong focus on the operational side of the process, Plant explores the role of strategic planning in improving continuity across organizational staff and departments.The popular narrative is that the strategic planning process can reveal new initiatives and fresh ideas for the organization to pursue. While this outcome is obviously valuable, and undoubtedly necessary to stay current and ahead of public sector changes, it is equally important to understand the step-by-step development of how strategic plans take shape, are eventually implemented, and the results subsequently monitored. With Plant's ability to break down the different components that determine the success of a strategic plan, this book is a must read for any municipal administrator who is looking to improve the function of their municipality's strategic management framework."Often, the operations are an afterthought when planning the future of a municipality," says Plant. "By providing a 'line of sight' from the strategic goals to the municipal operations, staff can be engaged in identifying ways to improve service delivery, leading to cost savings and greater citizen satisfaction." With many practical examples, including case studies, and a strategic planning citizen survey to help collect valuable information, Plant highlights the importance of leaving "no stone unturned" in effectively implementing the operations behind a successful strategic plan.As local governments constantly grow and evolve, it is important to step back and determine how the pieces of the "puzzle" are working together to achieve the goals the organization has set out in its plan. Raising the Bar gives insightful direction for best practices to follow - to help ensure the community's ideas and initiatives have the best chance to succeed.

In April of 2000, Gary Erickson turned down a $120 million offer to buy his thriving company. Today, instead of taking it easy for the rest of his life and enjoying a luxurious retirement, he's working harder than ever. Why would any sane person pass up the financial opportunity of a lifetime? Raising the Bar tells the amazing story of Clif Bar's Gary Erickson and shows that some things are more important than money. Gary Erickson and coauthor Lois Lorentzen tell the unusual and inspiring story about following your passion, the freedom to create, sustaining a business over the long haul, and living responsibly in your community and on the earth. Raising the Bar chronicles Clif Bar's ascent from a homemade energy bar to a $100 million phenomenon with an estimated 35 million consumers, and a company hailed by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. four years in a row. The book is filled with compelling personal stories from Erickson's life-trekking in the Himalayan mountains, riding his bicycle over roadless European mountain passes, climbing in the Sierra Nevada range--as inspiration for his philosophy of business. Throughout the book, Erickson--a competitive cyclist, jazz musician, world traveler, mountain climber, wilderness guide, and entrepreneur--convinces us that sustaining one's employees, community, and environment is good business. If you are a manager, executive, business owner, or board member, Raising the Bar is your personal guide to corporate integrity. If you are a sports enthusiast, environmentalist, adventure lover, intrigued by a unique corporate culture, or just interested in a good story, Raising the Bar is for you.