Five common problems your team is susceptible to—and the one thing you can do to fix all of them There are so many ways a team can go wrong. Does your team make decisions so slowly that nothing ever gets done, or does it go too fast and miss critical issues that come back to bite you later? Does your team bicker endlessly or smile and nod while avoiding the tough issues? Too often, team dysfunction leads to abysmal productivity and zero innovation for your organization, as well as misery and wasted time for you. Most team members sit and wait, feeling trapped in a team that just isn't working. You First: Inspire Your Team to Grow Up, Get Along, and Get Stuff Done presents a radical new idea: you can change your team. Author Liane Davey shows how you, from any seat at the table, even without support from your colleagues or your team leader, can transform even a toxic team. It starts with living up to five responsibilities that will change the workings of even the most dysfunctional team. Addresses the five most common ways your team can become toxic Gives you a diagnostic to see if your team is at risk Doles out practical suggestions to deal with the crisis in the short-term Instructs you on how to disrupt the patterns that leave you in an endless cycle of dysfunction Replaces those patterns with positive interactions and even productive conflict Gives you the right words to say to change your team for the better—starting today Written by Liane Davey, PhD, a highly sought-after consultant and Principal of Knightsbridge Leadership Solutions and the Vice President of Global Solutions and Team Effectiveness Designed for front line employees, middle managers, executives, or anyone who works regularly in teams, You First will help you figure out how to make your team happier, healthier, and more productive.
FIX YOUR MINDSET AND UNLEASH YOUR TALENT Simon Hartley spent many years working with world class athletes and helping them to new levels of achievement. Then he got wondering: What is it that enables some people to develop their talent in a more impactful way than others? What differentiates the winners from those who almost made it? And how can we be world class in our chosen fields? How To Shine is more than just a window into the world of winning. It’s the distillation of all Simon has learned from talking to and coaching some of the world’s top success stories, from Premiership footballers and Olympiads to champions of business. It’s a practical, step by step guide to honing skills which are as vital in the office as they are on the athletics track and truly shining in your field. Includes: Practical, life-affirming tips Insights into the winning mentality from sportsmen, coaches, Michelin starred chefs and scientists How to develop skills which will enable you to be a genuine leader in your field
An inside look at what it really takes to become a better trader A proprietary trading firm consists of a group of professionals who trade the capital of the firm. Their income and livelihood is generated solely from their ability to take profits consistently out of the markets. The world of prop trading is mentally and emotionally challenging, but offers substantial rewards to the select few who can master this craft called trading. In One Good Trade: Inside the Highly Competitive World of Proprietary Trading, author Mike Bellafiore shares the principles and techniques that have enabled him to navigate the most challenging of markets over the past twelve years. He explains how he has imparted those techniques to an elite desk of traders at the proprietary trading firm he co-founded. In doing so, he lifts the veil on the inner workings of his firm, shedding light on the challenges of prop trading and insight on why traders succeed or fail. An important contribution to trading literature, the book will help all traders by: Emphasizing the development of skills that are critical to success, such as the fundamentals of One Good Trade, Reading the Tape, and finding Stocks In Play Outlining the factors that really make the difference between a consistently profitable trader and one who underperforms Sharing entertaining, hysterical, and page turning stories of traders who have excelled or failed and why, many trained by the author, with an essential trading principle wrapped inside Becoming a better trader takes discipline, skill development, and statistically profitable trading strategies, and this book will show you how to develop all three.
This book is for anyone who wants to learn how to build rich and interactive web sites that run on the Microsoft platform. With the knowledge you gain from this book, you create a great foundation to build any type of web site, ranging from simple hobby-related web sites to sites you may be creating for commercial purposes. Anyone new to web programming should be able to follow along because no prior background in web development is assumed although it helps if you do have a basic understanding of HTML and the web in general. The book starts at the very beginning of web development by showing you how to obtain and install Visual Web Developer. The chapters that follow gradually introduce you to new technologies, building on top of the knowledge gained in the previous chapters. Do you have a strong preference for Visual Basic over C# or the other way around? Or do you think both languages are equally cool? Or maybe you haven't made up your mind yet and want to learn both languages? Either way, you'll like this book because all code examples are presented in both languages! Even if you have some experience with prior versions of ASP.NET, you may gain a lot from this book. Although many concepts from previous versions are brought forward into ASP.NET 4, you'll discover there's a lot of new stuff to be found in this book, including an introduction to the ADO.NET Entity Framework, the inclusion of jQuery, ASP.NET AJAX, the many changes to the ASP.NET 4 Framework, and much more. This book teaches you how to create a feature-rich, data-driven, and interactive web site called Planet Wrox. Although this is quite a mouthful, you'll find that with Visual Web Developer 2010, developing such a web site isn't as hard as it seems. You'll see the entire process of building a web site, from installing Visual Web Developer 2010 in Chapter 1 all the way up to putting your web application on a live server in Chapter 19. The book is divided into 19 chapters, each dealing with a specific subject. Chapter 1, “Getting Started with ASP.NET 4” shows you how to obtain and install Visual Web Developer 2010. You'll get instructions for downloading and installing the free edition of Visual Web Developer 2010, called the Express edition. You are also introduced to HTML, the language behind every web page. The chapter closes with an overview of the customization options that Visual Web Developer gives you. Chapter 2, “Building an ASP.NET Web Site” shows you how to create a new web site and how to add new elements like pages to it. Besides learning how to create a well-structured site, you also see how to use the numerous tools in Visual Web Developer to create HTML and ASP.NET pages. Chapter 3, “Designing Your Web Pages.” Visual Web Developer comes with a host of tools that allow you to create well-designed and attractive web pages. In this chapter, you see how to make good use of these tools. Additionally, you learn about CSS, the language that is used to format web pages. Chapter 4, “Working with ASP.NET Server Controls.” ASP.NET Server Controls are one of the most important concepts in ASP.NET. They allow you to create complex and feature-rich web sites with very little code. This chapter introduces you to the large number of server controls that are available, explains what they are used for, and shows you how to use them. Chapter 5, “Programming Your ASP.NET Web Pages.” Although the built-in CSS tools and the ASP.NET Server Controls can get you a long way in creating web pages, you are likely to use a programming language to enhance your pages. This chapter serves as an introduction to programming with a strong focus on programming web pages. Best of all: all the examp
For a successful world economic system we need some fundamental changes that respond to the changing nature and expectations of society. Capitalism has to become more robust, more acceptable and more sustainable. Managers and Leaders Who Can provides a vision and road-map for making sense of the new world we live in as it affects management and leadership. Looking at the new economic and social circumstances of the post-recession world and examining the implications holistically for management and leadership, for governments, employers and individuals alike, this book provides practical guidance and illustrations on how to take forward the development challenge on a national, organisational and individual level. Praise for Managers and Leaders Who Can: “Ruth Spellman’s book is a timely and long awaited outstanding addition to the management literature. This is a ‘must read’ for anybody in a leadership or managerial role.” Prof. Cary L. Cooper, CBE, Distinguished Professor of Organisational Psychology and Health at Lancaster University Management School “Ruth Spellman has provided the thought platform from which a younger generation of aspiring leaders and managers can transform the nature of their profession. I urge you to read this and be creative!” Des Benjamin, CEO Simplyhealth “In times of unprecedented change, Managers and Leaders Who Can equips managers with tangible tools and case studies to develop their own and their organisations’ capabilities. Spellman offers superb, practical and up-to-date insight into what employees want, what managers need and what all business leaders have to focus on to develop competitive advantage in turbulent times.” Christina Ioannidis, Founder and CEO, Aquitude; author of Your Loss: How to Win Back your Female Talent “Ruth is absolutely right to identify and describe how leadership has to adapt to a totally new business environment. The advice and thoughts in this book will be valuable to all leaders in the public and private sectors.” Miles Templeman, DG, IOD “Chief Executives in the third sector are facing enormous challenges in the world they operate in. ACEVO members look to us for guidance in these difficult times and this book will be essential and very valuable reading for them in supporting them to make the changes many will need to make.” Stephen Bubb, CEO ACEVO
From the CEO of Umpqua Bank, the essential leadership practices that allowed the West Coast’s largest independent community bank to emerge from the economic crisis even stronger than before In this follow-up to the successful Leading for Growth, Umpqua Bank CEO Ray Davis shares the tactics and strategies that have allowed Umpqua to grow and succeed in the toughest economic environment. The results are clear: despite years of economic uncertainty, Umpqua has continued its upward trajectory—expanding from five locations in 1994 to more than 200 today. Davis’s approach can help leaders recalibrate their approaches, no matter what the industry or market upheaval they face. In Leading Through Uncertainty, Davis shares a concise set of smart, actionable leadership practices that leaders can use to navigate their businesses and teams through difficult times. These include focusing on honesty and transparency, motivating and inspiring employees, building an outstanding corporate reputation, paying attention to details, and more. By showing leaders how to maintain a clear value proposition and strong leadership, Leading Through Uncertainty will help any company secure a lasting foothold in any economy.
Driving Results Through Social Networks shows executives and managers how to obtain substantial performance and innovation impact by better leveraging these traditionally invisible assets. For the past decade, Rob Cross and Robert J. Thomas have worked closely with executives from over a hundred top-level companies and government agencies. In this groundbreaking book, they describe in-depth how these leaders are using network thinking to increase revenues, lower costs, and accelerate innovation.
A world-renowned money manager shares winning strategies for small-stock investing Since forming Bares Capital Management, Inc. in 2000, Brian Bares has shown that above average returns can be generated through the careful selection of small company common stocks. Additionally, he's shown how concentrating capital in a handful of ideas improves the potential for outperformance by increasing the depth of knowledge of each position and allowing each security to have a more meaningful impact on the portfolio. In The Small-Cap Advantage: How Top Endowments and Foundations Turn Small Stocks Into Big Returns, Bares describes how endowment-model investors and aspiring managers can gain meaningful exposure to small stocks while sidestepping many of the obstacles that have historically prevented institutional investment in the asset class. The book also Details the historical outperformance of small-cap stocks Contrasts the various strategies employed by managers in the space Explains how aspiring managers can structure a firm to boost performance and attract institutional capital Describes how endowment-model institutions can evaluate and engage outside managers for their small-cap allocations Summarizes important topics such as liquidity and the research process Bigger is not better. The Small-Cap Advantage reveals that small stocks have historically performed better than large ones, and that lack of competition in small-cap stocks provides diligent managers with a singular opportunity to outperform.
How to leverage the enduring human need for analogue experiences to attract and retain more customers in a digital world. Anything that can be digitised will be digitised. But can the digital-connect ever really replace the personal touch? Is word-of-mouse always more effective than word-of-mouth? And what of customers’ enduring need for analogue experiences (think analogue watches, paperback books and multiplex movie theatres, for example). In your rush to embrace your customers’ digital mind are you ignoring an equally valuable asset: their analogue heart? Better yet, how can you leverage the analogue heart to provide your company or brand with an unbeatable competitive edge? The answer, according to internationally acclaimed futurist, Anders Sormon-Nilsson is Digilogue – the ‘translational sweet-spot, the convergence of the digital and the analogue.’ A book that will revolutionise how you do business in a digital world, Digilogue provides powerful insights, strategies and tools to help you provide value to digital minds, while connecting with analogue hearts.
This is not a book about one thing. It's not a 250-page dissertation on leadership, teams or motivation. Instead, it's an agenda for building organizations that can flourish in a world of diminished hopes, relentless change and ferocious competition. This is not a book about doing better. It's not a manual for people who want to tinker at the margins. Instead, it's an impassioned plea to reinvent management as we know it—to rethink the fundamental assumptions we have about capitalism, organizational life, and the meaning of work. Leaders today confront a world where the unprecedented is the norm. Wherever one looks, one sees the exceptional and the extraordinary: Business newspapers decrying the state of capitalism. Once-innovative companies struggling to save off senescence. Next gen employees shunning blue chips for social start-ups. Corporate miscreants getting pilloried in the blogosphere. Entry barriers tumbling in what were once oligopolistic strongholds. Hundred year-old business models being rendered irrelevant overnight. Newbie organizations crowdsourcing their most creative work. National governments lurching towards bankruptcy. Investors angrily confronting greedy CEOs and complacent boards. Newly omnipotent customers eagerly wielding their power. Social media dramatically transforming the way human beings connect, learn and collaborate. Obviously, there are lots of things that matter now. But in a world of fractured certainties and battered trust, some things matter more than others. While the challenges facing organizations are limitless; leadership bandwidth isn't. That's why you have to be clear about what really matters now. What are the fundamental, make-or-break issues that will determine whether your organization thrives or dives in the years ahead? Hamel identifies five issues are that are paramount: values, innovation, adaptability, passion and ideology. In doing so he presents an essential agenda for leaders everywhere who are eager to… move from defense to offense reverse the tide of commoditization defeat bureaucracy astonish their customers foster extraordinary contribution capture the moral high ground outrun change build a company that's truly fit for the future Concise and to the point, the book will inspire you to rethink your business, your company and how you lead.