Harness the power of games to create extraordinary customer engagement with Game-Based Marketing. Gamification is revolutionizing the web and mobile apps. Innovative startups like Foursquare and Swoopo, growth companies like Gilt and Groupon and established brands like United Airlines and Nike all agree: the most powerful way to create and engage a vibrant community is with game mechanics. By leveraging points, levels, badges, challenges, rewards and leaderboards – these innovators are dramatically lowering their customer acquisition costs, increasing engagement and building sustainable, viral communities. Game-Based Marketing unlocks the design secrets of mega-successful games like Zynga’s Farmville, World of Warcraft, Bejeweled and Project Runway to give you the power to create winning game-like experiences on your site/apps. Avoid obvious pitfalls and learn from the masters with key insights, such as: Why good leaderboards shouldn’t feature the Top 10 players. Most games are played as an excuse to socialize, not to achieve. Status is worth 10x more than cash to most consumers. Badges are not enough: but they are important. You don’t need to offer real-world prizing to run a blockbuster sweepstakes. And learn even more: How to architect a point system that works Designing the funware loop: the basics of points, badges, levels, leaderboards and challenges Maximizing the value and impact of badges Future-proofing your design Challenging users without distraction Based on the groundbreaking work of game expert and successful entrepreneur Gabe Zichermann, Game-Based Marketing brings together the game mechanics expertise of a decade’s worth of research. Driven equally by big companies, startups, 40-year-old men and tween girls, the world is becoming increasingly more fun. Are you ready to play?
For a popular television series, Undercover Boss has an unusual knack for raising deep and weighty questions. —Forbes On February 7, 2010 the CBS television series Undercover Boss USA premiered to a staggering 38.6 million viewers, the largest post-Super Bowl audience for a new series and the most-watched premiere episode of any reality series in the history of television. Now, for the first time, the bosses and employees featured on Undercover Boss share the lessons they learned as well as the formative experiences that resulted from being on the show. Show creators and executive producers Stephen Lambert and Eli Holzman reveal how they came up with the idea for the show, how they got a major network on board, and of course, how they found a dynamic, charismatic group of bosses willing to go undercover—on camera—in this thoroughly new experiment. Featuring all-new interviews and insights with the bosses and employees of the nine businesses featured on Season 1 of the show, as well producers' notes on what you didn't see behind the scenes, this book is a must-have for fans of the show everywhere.
Inside the Trillion Dollar Industry That Owns Everything What do Dunkin' Donuts, J. Crew, Toys "R" Us, and Burger King have in common? They are all currently or just recently were owned, operated, and controlled by private equity firms. The New Tycoons: Inside the Trillion Dollar Private Equity Industry That Owns Everything takes the reader behind the scenes of these firms: their famous billionaire founders, the overlapping stories of their creation and evolution, and the outsized ambitions that led a group of clever bankers from small shops operating in a corner of Wall Street into powerhouse titans of capital. This is the story of the money and the men who handle it. Go inside the private worlds of founders Henry Kravis, Steve Schwarzman, David Bonderman, and more in The New Tycoons, and discover how these men have transformed the industry and built the some of the most powerful and most secretive houses of money in the world. With numerous private equity firms going public for the first time, learn how these firms operate, where their money comes from and where it goes, and how every day millions of customers, employees, and retirees play a role in that complex tangle of money Author Jason Kelly tells the story of how thirty some years ago a group of colleagues with $120,000 of their own savings founded what would become one of the largest private equity shops in the world, completing the biggest buyout the world has ever seen, and making them all billionaires in the process Presents a never-before-seen look inside a secretive and powerful world on the verge of complete transformation as the industry and its leaders gain public profiles, scrutiny, and political positions Analyzing the founders and the firms at a crucial moment, when they've elevated themselves beyond their already lofty ambitions into the world of public opinion and valuation, New Tycoons looks at one of the most important, yet least examined, trillion-dollar corners of the global economy and what it portends for these new tycoons.
University endowment managers have generally outperformed the market benchmarks. However, their knowledge has not been well documented in any book. This book fills that gap and should be of significant help to all those who want to learn from extensive interviews with a number of endowment managers.—PREM JAIN, McDonough Professor of Accounting and Finance, Georgetown University Learn how higher education's largest endowments consistently achieve higher investment returns than the overall market. The Chief Investment Officers who oversee the top academic endowment funds manage over $400 billion in total assets. Over the last ten years (1999–2009), large endowments returned an average of 6.1%, compared to the S&P 500 index average of –2.22%, an outperformance difference of over 8%. With the recent sharp economic downturn, and a decade of inflation-adjusted flat returns in the overall equities market, institutional and individual investors alike are looking to endowments for proven strategies for improving the performance of their portfolios. Outperform: Inside the Investment Strategy of Billion Dollar Endowments interviews top CIOs from leading endowments, to detail how they consistently outperform the market, what they predict for the coming years, and how small investors can employ their investment philosophies.
What's driving the burgeoning global Chinese family businesses? Chinese family businesses are the driving force behind Asia's economic prosperity. As the world becomes more global they have had to adapt to the new environment. This timely book draws on an extensive regional survey to reveal the key players and the strategies that will drive their success going forward. The book discusses and analyzes the business life and achievements of some prominent overseas Chinese family businesses in Asia and reveals their life philosophies, their business journey, and their family role in business. Includes analysis regarding how the senior Chinese generations prepare their children to run the business in the future Reveals that flexibility, ability to adapt to changing business environments, and resilience contribute to the success of many overseas Chinese family businesses Offers illustrative examples of successful family businesses from Malaysia, Indonesia, The Philippines, and China Based in solid research and filled with illustrative examples, The Dragon Network offers an inside look at how family businesses succeed and thrive in Asia.
We need a bold new brand of teacher leadership that will create opportunities for teachers to practice, share, and grow their knowledge and expertise. This book is about «teacherpreneurs»—highly accomplished classroom teachers who blur the lines of distinction between those who teach in schools and those who lead them. These teacherpreneurs embody the concept that teachers can teach as well as lead the transformation of teaching and learning. It’s about empowering expert teachers who can buoy the image of teaching and enforce standards among their ranks while all along making sure that their colleagues as well as education policymakers and the public know what works best for students. The book follows a small group of teacherpreneurs in their first year. We join their journey toward becoming teacher leaders whose work is not defined by administrative fiat, but by their knowledge of students and drive to influence policies that allow them and their colleagues to teach more effectively. The authors trace the teacherpreneurs' steps—and their own—in the effort to determine what it means to define and execute the concept of «teacherpreneurism» in the face of tough demands and resistant organizational structures.
A worldwide leader in financial trading software shares one of its most successful systems In AbleTrend, Dr. John Wang discloses for the first time, the fundamental principles behind his bestselling and award-winning trading system, AbleTrend signals. Sophisticated in scope, yet written in a way that any trader can understand, this book skillfully presents the theory behind this award-winning system. This reliable resource presents the logic of a proven system that reveals the direction of a trend at its early stage in all markets-stocks, commodities, foreign currencies, ETFs, e-Minis, and mutual funds. It also identifies objective, automatic buy/sell/stop signals, helping you manage risk, make rational trading decisions, and eliminate the guesswork. Pinpoint when market trends start and end, and where the key support and resistance are It's universal-applied to any market and any time chart Applications are offered with over 20 real-market case studies AbleTrend confidential seminar costs $2,000, now you may get the secrets from this book AbleTrend was developed by a recognized authority and expert trading system developer AbleTrend presents innovative decision-making trading concepts that will allow ordinary traders to identify market trends and seek profits from them.
Covering philosophical issues ranging from tattooed religious symbols to a feminist aesthetics of tattoo, Tattoos and Philosophy offers an enthusiastic analysis of inking that will lead readers to consider the nature of the tattooing arts in a new and profound way. Contains chapters written by philosophers (most all with tattoos themselves), tattoo artists, and tattoo enthusiasts that touch upon many areas in Western and Eastern philosophy Enlightens people to the nature of tattoos and the tattooing arts, leading readers to think deeply about tattoos in new ways Offers thoughtful and humorous insights that make philosophical ideas accessible to the non-philosopher
The truth about the 2008 economic crisis from a Washington insider The 1980s opened with the prime interest rate at an astonishing 21.5 percent, leading to a severe recession with unemployment reaching nearly 11 percent. Depression-like conditions befell the country, the entire thrift industry was badly insolvent and the major money center banks were loaded with third world debt. Some 3,000 bank and thrifts failed, including nine of Texas’ ten largest, and Continental Illinois, which, at the time, was the seventh largest bank in the nation. These severe conditions were not only handled without creating a panic, the economy actually embarked on the longest peacetime expansion in history. In Senseless Panic: How Washington Failed America, William M. Isaac, Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) during the banking and S&L crises of the 1980s, details what was different about 2008’s meltdown that allowed the failure of a comparative handful of institutions to nearly shut down the world’s financial system. The book also tells the rousing story of Isaac’s time at the FDIC. Details the mistakes that led to the panic of 2008 and 2009 An updated paperback revision of the bestselling book on the 2008 economic crisis, including a fascinating new Epilogue Demystifies the conditions America faced in 2008 Provides a road map for avoiding similar shutdowns and panics in the future Includes a foreword by Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker Senseless Panic is a provocative, quick-paced, and thoughtful analysis of what went wrong with the nation's banking system, a blunt indictment of United States policy, and a road map for making sure it doesn’t happen again.
The business leader's guide to encouraging continuous innovation in any organization Innovation governance is a hot topic in the business world. In a fast-paced business environment, the ability of corporate leaders to build purpose, direction, and focus for innovation is more important than ever. In this book, the authors provide a framework for encouraging and focusing innovation by explaining what innovation governance is, the various models for governance and their advantages and disadvantages, how to assess and improve governance practices, and behavioral tactics for maximizing the effectiveness of governance. It offers guidance for everyone from the boardroom through senior management, illustrating effective governance models with real case studies from a range of companies in the United States and Europe. Addresses an important yet underappreciated skill for CEOs, board members, and top management Features real-world examples and case studies from a variety of business from around the world Written by an author team with hands-on experience in the subjects of innovation management, organizational learning, innovation leadership, organizational behavior, and individual leadership and teamwork Innovation governance is a sadly neglected topic in many organizations. This book offers vital guidance and real-world experience for building innovation into any business from the top down.