Squirrels Boats And Thoroughbreds

Leading change is hard. Leading change in a traditional industry can seem impossible. In this lively and irreverent book, Jamie Gerdsen presents hard-learned lessons for inspiring innovation in traditional industries, such as manufacturing or his own heating, cooling, and plumbing company. Through personal stories of trial and error and eventual triumph over the roadblocks to change, you’ll discover how to embrace and foster innovation in your own organization. Discussions include hiring, employee motivation, professional focus, coaching, the business cycle, and work-life balance. In traditional industries, you might find more dogs than squirrels, more thor- oughbreds than quarter horses. A leader’s first instinct might be to work himself into a stupor trying to manage all of the tasks required to make change stick. But with Gerdsen’s guidance and relatable tales, you’ll see how to get everyone rowing in the same direction to pull the company forward together.

If your find yourself daydreaming about your own business and not just your next promotion, this book will help you shape your ideas as you begin your enrepreneurial journey.

The thing about zombies is you don’t know them when you see them. They’re invisible; but don’t be fooled. As they walk unnoticed through the halls of your small business, they’re doing a number—a negative number—on your bottom line. They slow productivity, treat your customers rudely, and infect other employees with their poor morale and shoddy work ethic. In a small business, one zombie—one employee not pulling his or her share of the workload—can make all the difference. In his second book, Zombies Ate My Business, Jamie Gerdsen returns to help traditional business owners—plumbers, dry cleaners, bakery operators—find and eliminate zombie employees, and to clear the ranks of zombie-like thinking among management. Traditional businesses—those mainstays of Main Street—may have started out with a bang, but many have grown stagnant, even tottering on the edge of death. Join Gerdsen as he considers the life cycle of a traditional business, and the life cycle of an employee. Listen as he forecasts what happens when the two intersect. Sure, a young business staffed with young employees should find it easy to grow; but what about a mature, “plateaued” business, staffed with mature, retirement-age employees? Or a middle-aged company with middle-aged workers? Even these companies can return to growth, says Gerdsen, who speaks from experience with his own turned-around HVAC business. This book maps the way to growth, renewal, and zombie-free prosperity for businesses in all life stages.

STRATEGY? TACTICS? CONFUSED? How many times have you sat in a meeting and heard someone use the word "strategic?" As in: "We're not being very strategic about X." or "We need a strategic plan for project Y." And, if your organization is like most, everyone in the meeting nods wisely, the meeting drones on, people endlessly debate how to approach the situation at hand, with – generally – no one the wiser as to what "strategic" really means. Next time, respond: "Being strategic means consistently making those core directional choices that will best move us toward our hoped-for future. Is this what we're doing?" Everybody talks about strategy, but there is a big gap between discussing strategy, defining strategy and actually being strategic -- so you can accomplish something. This book helps you approach business—and life—strategically, explaining what strategy is, why it's important, and how to do it. Being Strategic offers you a step-by-step model and skills for strategic thought and action that are broadly applicable and thoroughly practical: • First, get clear about the problem you're trying to solve • Then, figure out where you're starting from • Now, imagine your "castle on the hill," the future you want to create. • Identify the "trolls under the bridge"; the obstacles in your path • Next, outline the path to the castle: your core strategies and the tactics for implementing them. • Re-evaluate your strategy and your tactics as conditions change Framed around the story of 13th-century Welsh nobles building an actual castle, and weaving in dozens of real-life examples from her practice, which has helped restaurateur Danny Meyer and many others, noted consultant Erika Andersen offers a complete course in turning around a business, or a life.

Shows how archaeologists gain knowledge about past ontologies, and explores the role that birds played in Bronze Age economy, ritual and religion.

The Leopard's Spots: A Romance Of The White Man's Burden 1865-1900, By Thomas Dixon. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.