The Best Of Growing Edge

The Growing Edge is a book of Howard Thurman's sermons. For Thurman, the sermon is an act of worship in which the preacher exposes his spirit and mind as they seek to reveal the spirit of the Living God upon them. Thurman presents his sermons in six sections: Concerning Enemies, Concerning Prayer, Concerning God, Concerning Peace, Concerning Festivals, and Concerning Christian Character.

Are you missing opportunities for growth that are right in front of you? In today’s volatile economic environment, filled with uncertainty and sudden change, the forces pushing you to stay focused on the core business are extremely powerful. Profiting from the core is crucial, but the danger is that overfocus on the core can blind companies. Scanning the horizon for new markets and new products can also be tempting, but risky. Fixating too much on either strategy can cause you to miss the substantial opportunities for growth that are often hidden in plain sight, at the edge of the core business. In this insightful yet practical book, strategy experts Alan Lewis and Dan McKone articulate a mindset that helps leaders recognize and capitalize on these opportunities. The Edge Strategy framework challenges how the boundaries of your existing products and services map to your customers’ views of the world and then provides three different lenses through which you can see and leverage value: • Product edge. How to capture incremental profits and other benefits by slightly altering the elements and composition of a core offering • Journey edge. How to create and capture extra value by adjusting your role in supporting the customer’s journey to and through your offering • Enterprise edge. How to unlock additional value from resources and capabilities that support your core offering by applying them in a different context, for a different offering or different set of customers With engaging examples across many industries, Lewis and McKone coach you on how to identify and assess each of the different “edges” and then provide concrete insights and advice on applying edge strategy and tactics to use in specific business contexts. The book concludes with a ten-step process to help executives and managers find and leverage the edges in their own companies. Edge Strategy is the concise, hands-on guide for growing your business by getting more yield from assets already in place, relationships already established, and investments already made.

“This impassioned book invites readers to the deep end of life where authentic soul work and human transformation become pressing concerns.” —Publishers Weekly 2019 Independent Publisher Book Awards Gold Medalist in the Aging/Death & Dying Category From bestselling author Parker J. Palmer comes a brave and beautiful book for all who want to age reflectively, seeking new insights and life-giving ways to engage in the world. “Age itself,” he says, “is no excuse to wade in the shallows. It’s a reason to dive deep and take creative risks.” Looking back on eight decades of life—and on his work as a writer, teacher, and activist—Palmer explores what he’s learning about self and world, inviting readers to explore their own experience. In prose and poetry—and three downloadable songs written for the book by the gifted Carrie Newcomer—he meditates on the meanings of life, past, present, and future. With compassion and chutzpah, gravitas and levity, Palmer writes about cultivating a vital inner and outer life, finding meaning in suffering and joy, and forming friendships across the generations that bring new life to young and old alike. “This book is a companion for not merely surviving a fractured world, but embodying—like Parker—the fiercely honest and gracious wholeness that is ours to claim at every stage of life.” —Krista Tippett, New York Times-bestselling author of Becoming Wise “A wondrously rich mix of reality and possibility, comfort and story, helpful counsel and poetry, in the voice of a friend . . . This is a book of immense gratitude, consolation, and praise.” —Naomi Shihab Nye, National Book Award finalist

Entrepreneurs often struggle with many aspects of business: planning and financing company growth, creating a company vision, recruiting, leading, and managing people, as well as personal costs. In Lessons from the Edge, more than 50 business owners and entrepreneurs offer a wealth of real-life stories--in their own words--that provide rare insights about keeping a company healthy and growing. Here is a unique collection of first-person accounts by entrepreneurs who describe their mistakes in business and the lessons they have learned as a result. The stories cover a wide range of experiences from the trials and tribulations of partnerships, to the loss of key customers, theft, finding and retaining employees, and the personal cost of living on the edge. The authors have drawn on interviews with more than 50 entrepreneurs, all of whom are under 45 years of age and are founders or presidents of companies with revenues over $1 million and growing rapidly. They volunteered to share their stories, describing why they lost or almost lost their companies, what they did wrong, and the lessons they have learned. Their narratives are full of mistakes, failure, courage, moments of realization, and timely moves that saved the day. Every company owner will find these accounts insightful, compelling, and occasionally gut wrenching, especially because most face similar challenges and live with the reality that they too could fall off the edge. This instructive and inspiring book brims with lessons for all business owners about courage, persistence, and survival. Lessons from the Edge is an essential read for both established and prospective entrepreneurs.

Revolutionary hydroponic/soilless advances are being achieved by efficiently improving results with the application of new concepts, methods, and equipment. The new edition of a bestseller, Hydroponics: A Practical Guide for the Soilless Grower has been revised to reflect these advances with new chapters that provide essential information on greenhouse design, function, and methods for crop production and management. With approximately 40% additional material in the second edition, the book is a state-of-the-art, comprehensive guide. The second edition begins with the concepts of how plants grow and then describes the requirements necessary to be successful when using various hydroponic and soilless growing methods. The major focus is on the nutritional requirements of plants and how best to prepare and use nutrient solutions for different plants using various growing systems under a wide range of environmental conditions. Supported by a wealth of tables, figures, and nutrient formulas the book provides clear explanations of the advantages and disadvantages of each hydroponic growth system. Appropriate for a wide audience, this edition is a practical guide, overview, and handy reference for advanced hobbyists, commercial growers, and researchers.