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Graybar Syndications
by William J. PoorvuA potential investor evaluates a proposed offering--a major office building in downtown Manhattan.
The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America
by Marc LevinsonFrom modest beginnings as a tea shop in New York, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company became the largest retailer in the world. It was a juggernaut, the first retailer to sell $1 billion in goods, the owner of nearly sixteen thousand stores and dozens of factories and warehouses. But its explosive growth made it a mortal threat to hundreds of thousands of mom-and-pop grocery stores. Main Street fought back tooth and nail, enlisting the state and federal governments to stop price discounting, tax chain stores, and require manufacturers to sell to mom and pop at the same prices granted to giant retailers. In a remarkable court case, the federal government pressed criminal charges against the Great A&P for selling food too cheaply—and won. The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America is the story of a stunningly successful company that forever changed how Americans shop and what Americans eat. It is a brilliant business history, the story of how George and John Hartford took over their father’s business and reshaped it again and again, turning it into a vertically integrated behemoth that paved the way for every big-box retailer to come. George demanded a rock-solid balance sheet; John was the marketer-entrepreneur who led A&P through seven decades of rapid changes. Together, they built the modern consumer economy by turning the archaic retail industry into a highly efficient system for distributing food at low cost.
The Great Adaptation: Climate, Capitalism and Catastrophe
by Romain FelliWhen capitalism doesn't fight climate change but rather tries to make a buck out of itThe Great Adaptation tells the story of how scientists, governments and corporations have tried to deal with the challenge that climate change poses to capitalism by promoting adaptation to the consequences of climate change, rather than combating its causes. From the 1970s neoliberal economists and ideologues have used climate change as an argument for creating more "flexibility" in society, that is for promoting more market-based solutions to environmental and social questions. The book unveils the political economy of this potent movement, whereby some powerful actors are thriving in the face of dangerous climate change and may even make a profit out of it.
Great Again
by David Kline Henry R. NothhaftThe innovation engine that powered the U.S. economy to unmatched prosperity over the last century is now failing, threatening the way we work and live. As the nation spins its wheels--reeling from the job losses of the recession and seemingly unable to generate the breakthroughs needed to propel alternative energy, medicine, and other critical fields--Europe and especially Asia have begun to capture the leadership of crucial new technology sectors.How can America revitalize its innovation leadership and kick-start the economy again?In Great Again, veteran high-tech CEO Henry Nothhaft takes us inside the heart of America's innovation community to surface a new proposal for the job creation and economic growth we need. Bringing to life the human drama of the exhilarating, demanding and often frustrating startup environment, Nothhaft offers this complex world as the setting for a promising solution to the country's current standstill. Nothhaft, with journalist David Kline, says a breakthrough can be achieved through a series of practical and achievable tax, regulatory and other reforms that would help strengthen entrepreneurial startup businesses--and offer the necessary fuel for an American resurgence. They key is to bolster the segment and lessen the startup's struggle against a perfect storm of "red tape" burdens. In fact, this entrepreneurial ecosystem may be the only force in society that can create revolutionary innovations that would lead to new industries and millions of new jobs--generating prosperity again for all citizens.Great Again provides fresh research and original analysis to offer an entirely new lens for recovery. Filled with evocative stories and surprising evidence of the crucial role of the innovative force in society, the book presents an action plan that both entrepreneurs and policymakers can rally behind.
The Great American Bank Robbery: The Cost and Causes of the New Depression
by Paul SperryYou may not realize it, but you helped pay for a $10million, fourteen-month government "investigation" of the housing collapse.Only your $10 million didn't buy much, and it certainly didn't buy truth; anyhope of that went out the window on day one.The congressionally appointed panel--made up primarily ofanti-market, historic revisionists--managed to shift the blame away fromWashington and onto mortgage lenders and "greedy" Wall Street executives, whileprotecting the real culprits at the core of the crisis: POLITICIANS LIKETHEMSELVES.It's not about Democrat or Republican, left or right, blackor white. It's about the usual suspects--money and power and the people who usegovernment to manipulate them for private advantage.The Great AmericanBank Robbery maps out in detail exactly how Washington social engineers andtheir accomplices reshaped banking regulations and housing policies and guttedtime-tested underwriting standards that led to the worst financial calamity sincethe 1930s, one that has robbed American households of $14 trillion in networth.And they're not done yet . . .
The Great American Economy: How Inefficiency Broke It and What We Can Do to Fix It
by Steve SlavinMany Americans feel that the economy is no longer working for them and that "the American Dream" has become a sham. This book explains the underlying reasons for this gloomy outlook and lays out a clear plan for making the American economy work for everyone, not just the top 1 percent. The heart of the problem, says economist Steve Slavin, is gross inefficiency. Since the end of World War II, America has been wasting vast amounts of its resources. As examples he cites the following key sectors: • Healthcare--we spend nearly twice as much as other industrialized nations but achieve no better results; • Education--just half of our eighteen-year-olds can function at an eighth-grade level, while many European and Asian countries do far better educating their young people; • Transportation--by relying on cars instead of mass transit, we spend much more than comparable nations; • The military--several decades after the Cold War our military budget continues to be almost 40 percent of the world's total military spending, while few politicians ever question the necessity for such massive outlays. In these areas and other sectors of the economy, Slavin proposes sweeping changes to eliminate inefficiency. These would include a restructuring of our healthcare system to make it affordable for all, a major push toward public transportation, increased emphasis on quality results from our education system, ways to eliminate waste throughout our vast military-industrial complex, and a renewed emphasis on manufacturing. Refreshingly clear and readable, The Great American Economy will appeal to readers who want to learn what went wrong with our economy and how to fix it.
The Great American Foreclosure Story
by Paul Kiel Olga Pierce Cora CurrierProPublica's mesmerizing and groundbreaking look at the national housing crisis, told through the lens of one woman whose story came to exemplify itSheila Ramos's story mirrors the lives of millions of Americans who have lost their homes since the beginning of the housing crisis in 2007. The Great American Foreclosure Story details with clarity and empathy the road that led Ramos and so many like her toward financial ruin. Once the owner of a small business and a home, Ramos fell on hard times. Predatory lending and denied loan-modification applications eventually sent her and her three grandchildren packing, leaving behind their house in Florida and winding up in a tent outside of Ramos's faraway hometown. Alongside Ramos's story are additional investigations by ProPublica reporter Paul Kiel and his colleagues Olga Pierce and Cora Currier documenting the systematic failures at banks, mortgage servicers, and government watchdogs that have exacerbated the country's most severe foreclosure crisis since the Great Depression. Drawing from whistleblower testimonies, extensive homeowner databases, and a trove of underlying data, The Great American Foreclosure Story is a comprehensive and unrivaled look at the housing crisis, and its continuing human toll.
The Great American Housing Bubble: What Went Wrong and How We Can Protect Ourselves in the Future
by Adam J. Levitin Susan M. WachterThe definitive account of the housing bubble that caused the Great Recession—and earned Wall Street fantastic profits. The American housing bubble of the 2000s caused the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression. In this definitive account, Adam Levitin and Susan Wachter pinpoint its source: the shift in mortgage financing from securitization by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to “private-label securitization” by Wall Street banks. This change set off a race to the bottom in mortgage underwriting standards, as banks competed in laxity to gain market share. The Great American Housing Bubble tells the story of the transformation of mortgage lending from a dysfunctional, local affair, featuring short-term, interest-only “bullet” loans, to a robust, national market based around the thirty-year fixed-rate mortgage, a uniquely American innovation that served as the foundation for the middle class. Levitin and Wachter show how Fannie and Freddie’s market power kept risk in check until 2003, when mortgage financing shifted sharply to private-label securitization, as lenders looked for a way to sustain lending volume following an unprecedented refinancing wave. Private-label securitization brought a return of bullet loans, which had lower initial payments—enabling borrowers to borrow more—but much greater back-loaded risks. These loans produced a vast oversupply of underpriced mortgage finance that drove up home prices unsustainably. When the bubble burst, it set off a destructive downward spiral of home prices and foreclosures. Levitin and Wachter propose a rebuild of the housing finance system that ensures the widespread availability of the thirty-year fixed-rate mortgage, while preventing underwriting competition and shifting risk away from the public to private investors.
The Great American Jobs Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation
by Greg LeRoyFor the past 20 years, corporations have been receiving huge tax breaks and subsidies in the name of "jobs, jobs, jobs." But, as Greg LeRoy demonstrates in this important new book, it's become a costly scam. Playing states and communities off against each other in a bidding war for jobs, corporations reduce their taxes to next-to-nothing and win subsidy packages that routinely exceed $100,000 per job. But the subsidies come with few strings attached. So companies feel free to provide fewer jobs, or none at all, or even outsource and lay people off. They are also free to pay poverty wages without health care or other benefits. All too often, communities lose twice. They lose jobs--or gain jobs so low-paying they do nothing to help the community--and lose revenue due to the huge corporate tax breaks. That means fewer resources for maintaining schools, public services, and infrastructure. In the end, the local governments that were hoping for economic revitalization are actually worse off. They're forced to raise taxes on struggling small businesses and working families, or reduce services, or both. Greg LeRoy uses up-to-the-minute examples, naming names--including Wal-Mart, Raytheon, Fidelity, Bank of America, Dell, and Boeing--to reveal how the process works. He shows how carefully corporations orchestrate the bidding wars between states and communities. He exposes shadowy "site location consultants" who play both sides against the middle, and he dissects government and corporate mumbo-jumbo with plain talk. The book concludes by offering common-sense reforms that will give taxpayers powerful new tools to deter future abuses and redirect taxpayer investments in ways that will really pay off.
Great American Lives: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, and The Education of Henry Adams
by Benjamin Franklin V Ulysses S. Grant Andrew Carnegie Henry AdamsBrilliant, captivating, and unforgettable memoirs from four of the greatest minds in American history. Penned between 1771 and 1790 and published after his death, TheAutobiography of Benjamin Franklin is one of the most acclaimed and widely read personal histories ever written. From his youth as a printer&’s assistant working for his brother&’s Boston newspaper through his own publishing, writing, and military careers, his scientific experiments and worldwide travels, his grand triumphs and heartbreaking tragedies, Franklin tells his story with aplomb, bringing to life the flesh-and-blood man behind the American icon. Completed just days before his death, Ulysses S. Grant&’s Personal Memoirs is a clear and compelling account of his military career, focusing on two great conflicts: the Mexican–American War and the Civil War. Lauded for its crisp and direct prose, Grant&’s autobiography offers frank insight into everything from the merits of the war with Mexico to the strategies and tactics employed by Union forces against the Confederacy to the poignancy of Grant&’s meeting with General Lee at Appomattox Court House. Documenting a world of tariffs, insider deals, and Wall Street sharks as well as his stunning rise from bobbin boy to steel baron, The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie opens a window into the great industrialist&’s decision-making process. His insights on education, business, and the necessity of giving back for the common good set an inspirational example for aspiring executives and provide a fitting testament to the power of the American dream. The Education of Henry Adams is the Pulitzer Prize–winning memoir of a brilliant man reckoning with an era of profound change. The great-grandson of President John Adams and the grandson of President John Quincy Adams, Henry Adams possessed one of the most remarkable minds of his generation. Yet he believed himself fundamentally unsuited to the era in which he lived—the tumultuous period between the Civil War and World War I. Written in third person, this uniquely unclassifiable autobiography is the Modern Library&’s number-one nonfiction book of the twentieth century. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
Great American Outpost: Dreamers, Mavericks, and the Making of an Oil Frontier
by Maya RaoA surreal, lyrical work of narrative nonfiction that portrays how the largest domestic oil discovery in half a century transformed a forgotten corner of the American West into a crucible of breakneck capitalism.As North Dakota became the nation's second-largest oil producer, Maya Rao set out in steel-toe boots to join a wave of drifters, dreamers, entrepreneurs, and criminals. With an eye for the dark, absurd, and humorous, Rao fearlessly immersed herself in their world to chronicle this modern-day gold rush, from its heady beginnings to OPEC's price war against the US oil industry. She rode shotgun with a surfer-turned-truck driver braving toxic fumes and dangerous roads, dined with businessmen disgraced during the financial crisis, and reported on everyone in between--including an ex-con YouTube celebrity, a trophy wife mired in scandal, and a hard-drinking British Ponzi schemer--in a social scene so rife with intrigue that one investor called the oilfield Peyton Place on steroids.As the boom receded, a culture of greed and recklessness left troubling consequences for investors and longtime residents. Empty trailers and idle oil equipment littered the fields like abandoned farmsteads, leaving the pioneers who built this unlikely civilization to reckon with their legacy. Part Barbara Ehrenreich, part Upton Sinclair, Great American Outpost is a sobering exploration of twenty-first-century America that reads like a frontier novel.
The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street
by Robert ScheerInThe Great American Stickup, celebrated journalist Robert Scheer uncovers the hidden story behind one of the greatest financial crimes of our time: the Wall Street financial crash of 2008 and the consequent global recession. Instead of going where other journalists have gone in search of this story-the board rooms and trading floors of the big Wall Street firms-Scheer goes back to Washington, D. C. , a veritable crime scene, beginning in the 1980s, where the captains of the finance industry, their lobbyists and allies among leading politicians destroyed an American regulatory system that had been functioning effectively since the era of the New Deal. This is a story largely forgotten or overlooked by the mainstream media, who wasted more than two decades with their boosterish coverage of Wall Street. Scheer argues that the roots of the disaster go back to the free-market propaganda of the Reagan years and, most damagingly, to the bipartisan deregulation of the banking industry undertaken with the full support of “progressive” Bill Clinton. In fact, if this debacle has a name, Scheer suggests, it is the “Clinton Bubble,” that era when the administration let its friends on Wall Street write legislation that razed decades of robust financial regulation. It was Wall Street and Democratic Party darling Robert Rubin along with his clique of economist super-friends-Alan Greenspan, Lawrence Summers, and a few others-who inflated a giant real estate bubble by purposely not regulating the derivatives market, resulting in the pain and hardship millions are experiencing now. The Great American Stickupis both a brilliant telling of the story of the Clinton financial clique and the havoc it wrought-informed by whistleblowers such as Brooksley Born, who goes on the record for Scheer-and an unsparing anatomy of the American business and political class. It is also a cautionary tale: those who form the nucleus of the Clinton clique are now advising the Obama administration.
Great American Wit: The Classic Humor of the Algonquin Round Table
by Robert E. Drennan Heywood Hale BrounThe perfect gift for the snarky literature fan in your life! “Stop looking at the world through rose-colored bifocals.” “His mind is so open, the wind whistles through it.” “You can’t teach an old dogma new tricks.” Ever wonder where these sayings came from? For decades, the dining room of New York’s legendary Algonquin Hotel was a hub of letters and humor. Cocktails swirled as writers, humorists, actors, and critics poked fun at culture, the arts, and one another. In this lively tribute, today’s readers will come to understand why Robert Benchley, George S. Kaufman, and Dorothy Parker represent the epitome of quips and comebacks—wit that still packs a punch decades later. Each chapter contains:A short biographical sketch A photo of the great American wit Handpicked collection of quotes and anecdotes Packaged in a contemporary cover, this is the perfect gift or coffee table book. Discover the sarcasm, double entendres, insults, and jabs that earned these sharp minds the collective title of “the Vicious Circle.”
Great Answers to Tough Interview Questions
by Martin John YateGreat Answers to Tough Interview Questions is the essential companion for all job-seekers. One of the best-selling job-hunting books of all time, having sold over 5 million copies, it takes you through the whole process; from composing your CV and preparing for interviews to interview techniques, answering tough questions and even negotiating your new salary. Crammed full of the difficult questions that interviewers might throw at you, Martin John Yate gives you expert tips and suggested answers to tackle the tricky ones including:Why should I give you the job? What is your biggest weakness? What are your salary expectations? How long would you stay with the company? What is your greatest strength? Why do you want to work here? Great Answers to Tough Interview Questions will help anyone at any stage of their career. It is your indispensable guide to blowing away the competition and landing your dream job.
Great Answers to Tough Interview Questions: Your Comprehensive Job Search Guide with over 200 Practice Interview Questions
by Martin John YateGreat Answers to Tough Interview Questions is the essential companion for all jobseekers. With over 5 million copies sold, this bestseller takes you through the whole process: from composing your CV and preparing for interviews, to interview techniques, answering tough questions and even negotiating your new salary. Crammed full of the difficult questions that interviewers might throw at you, Martin John Yate gives you expert tips and suggested answers to tackle the tricky ones including:Why should I give you the job? What is your biggest weakness? What are your salary expectations? How long would you stay with the company? What is your greatest strength? Why do you want to work here? Now in its 11th edition, Great Answers to Tough Interview Questions is your indispensable guide to blowing away the competition and landing your dream job.
Great Answers to Tough Questions at Work
by Michael DoddThe essential guide to turning tough questions into positive opportunities Difficult questions can be thrown at you from your first job interview through to challenges you get when you've made it to the top. If you find yourself on the firing line on a regular or occasional basis this is the perfect go-to guide to help you turn tough questions into positive opportunities. Great Answers to Tough Questions at Work promotes a confident 'win-win-win' mindset for questioner, answerer and wider audiences beyond. Author Michael Dodd provides golden formulae and proven strategies for constructing inspirational answers--however challenging, vicious, tricky or stupid the question. He outlines simple but successful techniques for dealing with the kind of nightmare questions which all ambitious people in the workplace have to face along their journey, whatever stage of their career. Contains critical communication skills for executives, managers, leaders and those aspiring to fill these roles Covers a wide range of work place scenarios such as job interviews, performance reviews, negotiations, customer relations, parliamentary inquiries and cross-examination Discusses how to see the issues underlying tough questions that you face in a different, more positive, solution-oriented way Includes case study examinations of key moments where people in the public spotlight have done something particularly well or particularly badly while answering questions and draws out the lessons for readers.
Great at Work: How Top Performers Do Less, Work Better, and Achieve More
by Morten HansenFrom the New York Times bestselling author of Great by Choice comes an authoritative, practical guide to individual performance - based on analysis from an exhaustive, groundbreaking study.Why do some people perform better at work than others? This deceptively simple question continues to confound professionals in all sectors of the workforce. Now, after a unique, five-year study of more than 5,000 managers and employees, Morten Hansen reveals the answers in his 'Seven Work Smarter Practices' that can be applied by anyone looking to maximise their time and performance. Each of Hansen’s seven practices is highlighted by inspiring stories from individuals in his comprehensive study. You’ll meet a high school principal who engineered a dramatic turnaround of his failing high school; a rural Indian farmer determined to establish a better way of life for women in his village; and a sushi chef, whose simple preparation has led to his restaurant (tucked away under a Tokyo subway station underpass) being awarded the maximum of three Michelin stars. Hansen also explains how the way Alfred Hitchcock filmed Psycho and the 1911 race to become the first explorer to reach the South Pole both illustrate the use of his seven practices (even before they were identified). Each chapter contains questions and key insights to allow you to assess your own performance and figure out your work strengths, as well as your weaknesses. Once you understand your individual style, there are mini-quizzes, questionnaires and clear tips to assist you focus on a strategy to become a more productive worker. Extensive, accessible and friendly, Great at Work will help you achieve more by working less, backed by unprecedented statistical analysis.
Great at Work: The Hidden Habits of Top Performers
by Morten T. HansenWall Street Journal Business Bestseller A Financial Times Business Book of the Month Named by The Washington Post as One of the 11 Leadership Books to Read in 2018 From the New York Times bestselling coauthor of Great by Choice comes an authoritative, practical guide to individual performance—based on analysis from an exhaustive, groundbreaking study.Why do some people perform better at work than others? This deceptively simple question continues to confound professionals in all sectors of the workforce. Now, after a unique, five-year study of more than 5,000 managers and employees, Morten Hansen reveals the answers in his &“Seven Work Smarter Practices&” that can be applied by anyone looking to maximize their time and performance. Each of Hansen&’s seven practices is highlighted by inspiring stories from individuals in his comprehensive study. You&’ll meet a high school principal who engineered a dramatic turnaround of his failing high school; a rural Indian farmer determined to establish a better way of life for women in his village; and a sushi chef, whose simple preparation has led to his restaurant (tucked away under a Tokyo subway station underpass) being awarded the maximum of three Michelin stars. Hansen also explains how the way Alfred Hitchcock filmed Psycho and the 1911 race to become the first explorer to reach the South Pole both illustrate the use of his seven practices (even before they were identified). Each chapter contains questions and key insights to allow you to assess your own performance and figure out your work strengths, as well as your weaknesses. Once you understand your individual style, there are mini-quizzes, questionnaires, and clear tips to assist you focus on a strategy to become a more productive worker. Extensive, accessible, and friendly, Great at Work will help you achieve more by working less, backed by unprecedented statistical analysis.
The Great Awakening: Defeating the Globalists and Launching the Next Great Renaissance
by Alex Jones Kent HeckenlivelyIn The Great Awakening: Defeating the Globalists and Launching the Next Great Renaissance, the most persecuted man on Earth, Alex Jones, gives you the good news about the failing plans of the globalists to control humanity. The expression &“Get woke, go broke&” has entered the common lexicon as we&’ve seen company after company invoke the false gods of diversity, equity, and inclusion to their financial demise. But this surface discussion masks a much darker truth. What we are witnessing is nothing less than the failed plans of social Darwinists to capture free market capitalism and turn it toward their fascist aims of controlling and depopulating the globe. Working with New York Times bestselling author Kent Heckenlively, Jones masterfully gives you the deeper discussion about such hot button topics as the truth behind the globalists plans for artificial intelligence (AI), the central bank digital currency, social credit scores, Big Tech tyranny, censorship, fifteen-minute cities, the unholy alliance between big business and big government, the military-intelligence-industrial complex—which is hell-bent on eternal war—and the all-out assault on free speech and the Second Amendment. The good news is that these plans are destined to fail, if we wake up to the anti-human future the globalists have planned for us. The globalists hate freedom, and what they hate the most is the greatest freedom document in human history, the United States Constitution. Jones does not shy away from the darker parts of American history—the way we have been systematically deceived by the intelligence agencies since their assassination of President John F. Kennedy—but he provides example after example of people who have broken free from the matrix of lies to tell the truth. The people the globalists fear the most are the members of their own systems of control, who wake up and then decide to act against the machine. The globalists believe they&’ve planned for every possible contingency, but they hadn&’t counted on the conscience and love of truth, which lives in the souls of good people. St. Augustine once wrote: &“The truth is like a lion; you don&’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.&” No figure in our modern times has roared louder against the enemies of freedom than Alex Jones. In the calm and dispassionate style that made his first book, The Great Reset: And the War for the World, such a smash hit, Alex lays out the flaws in the plans of the globalists and how they seek to create a world in direct opposition to God&’s plans for our glorious human future. But God consistently works His will in our world, even through imperfect individuals like Donald Trump, Alex Jones, or you. If you want to read one book this year to understand your world and help lead humanity to the next great human renaissance, you need to order this book today.
The Great Beanie Baby Bubble
by Zac BissonnetteIn the annals of consumer crazes, nothing compares to Beanie Babies. With no advertising or big-box distribution, creator Ty Warner - an eccentric college dropout - become a billionaire in just three years. And it was all thanks to collectors. The end of the craze was just as swift and extremely devastating, with "rare" Beanie Babies deemed worthless as quickly as they'd once been deemed priceless. Bissonnette draws on hundreds of interviews (including a visit to a man who lives with his 40,000 Ty products and an in-prison interview with a guy who killed a coworker over a Beanie Baby debt) for the first book on the most extraordinary craze of the 1990s.height of success by a collective belief that their values would always rise. Just as strange as the mass hysteria was the man behind it. From the day he started in the toy industry, after dropping out of college, Ty Warner devoted all his energy to creating what he hoped would be the most perfect stuffed animals the world had ever seen. Sometimes called the "Steve Jobs of plush" by his employees, he obsessed over every detail of every animal. He had no marketing budget and no connections, but he had something more valuable--an intuitive grasp of human psychology that would make him the richest man in the history of toys. Through first-ever interviews with former Ty Inc. employees, Warner's sister, and the two ex-girlfriends who were by his side as he achieved the American dream, The Great Beanie Baby Bubble tells the inspiring yet tragic story of one of America's most enigmatic self-made tycoons. Bestselling author Zac Bissonnette uncovers Warner's highly original approach to product development, sales, and marketing that enabled the acquisition of plush animals to activate the same endorphins chased by stock speculators and gamblers. Starting with a few Beanie-crazed housewives on a cul-de-sac in Naperville, Illinois, Beanie Babies became the first viral craze of the Internet era. Bissonnette traces their rise from the beginning of the official website--one of the first corporate websites to aggressively engage consumers--to the day when "rare" models became worthless as quickly as they'd once been deemed priceless. He also explores the big questions: Why did grown men and women lose their minds over stuffed animals? Was it something unique about the last years of the American century--or just the weirdest version of the irrational episodes that have happened periodically ever since the Dutch tulip mania of the 1630s? The Great Beanie Baby Bubble is a classic American story of people winning and losing vast fortunes chasing what one dealer remembers as "the most spectacular dream ever sold."
Great Big Agile: An OS for Agile Leaders
by Jeff DaltonBig Agile leaders need an empirical, "high-trust" model that provides guidance for scaling and sustaining agility and capability throughout a modern technology organization. This book presents the Agile Performance Holarchy (APH)—a "how-ability" model that provides agile leaders and teams with an operating system to build, evaluate, and sustain great agile habits and behaviors. The APH is an organizational operating system based on a set of interdependent, self-organizing circles, or holons, that reflect the empirical, object-oriented nature of agility. As more companies seek the benefits of Agile within and beyond IT, agile leaders need to build and sustain capability while scaling agility—no easy task—and they need to succeed without introducing unnecessary process and overhead. The APH is drawn from lessons learned while observing and assessing hundreds of agile companies and teams. It is not a process or a hierarchy, but a holarchy, a series of performance circles with embedded and interdependent holons that reflect the behaviors of high-performing agile organizations. Great Big Agile provides implementation guidance in the areas of leadership, values, teaming, visioning, governing, building, supporting, and engaging within an all-agile organization. What You’ll Learn Model the behaviors of a high-performance agile organizationBenefit from lessons learned by other organizations that have succeeded with Big AgileAssess your level of agility with the Agile Performance HolarchyApply the APH model to your businessUnderstand the APH performance circles, holons, objectives, and actionsObtain certification for your company, organization, or agency Who This Book Is For Professionals leading, or seeking to lead, an agile organization who wish to use an innovative model to raise their organization's agile performance from one level to the next, all the way to mastery
The Great Boom 1950-2000
by Robert SobelIn The Great Boom, historian Robert Sobel tells the fascinating story of the last 50 years when American entrepreneurs, visionaries, and ordinary citizens transformed our depression and war-exhausted society into today's economic powerhouse.As America's G.I.s returned home from World War II, many of the nation's best minds predicted a new depression--yet exactly the opposite occurred. Jobs were plentiful in retooled factories swamped with orders from pent-up demand. Tens of thousands of families moved out of cities into affordable suburban homes built by William Levitt and his imitators. They bought cars, televisions, and air conditioners by the millions. And they took to the nation's roads and new interstate highways--the largest public works project in world history--where Kemmons Wilson of Holiday Inns, Ray Kroc of McDonalds, and other start-up entrepreneurs soon catered to a mobile populace with food and lodgings for leisure time vacationers.Americans and their families began to channel savings into new opportunities. Credit cards democratized purchasing power, while early mutual funds found growing numbers of investors to fuel the first postwar bull market in the go-go '60s. At the same time the continuing boom enriched the fabric of social and cultural life. A college education became a must on the highway to upward mobility; high-tech industries arose with astonishing new ways of conducting business electronically; and an unprecedented 49 million families had become investors when the 1981-2000 stock market boom reached 10,000 on the Dow. The Great Boom is the first major book to portray the great wave of homegrown entrepreneurs as post-war heroes in the complete remaking and revitalizing of America. All that, plus the creation of unprecedented wealth--or themselves, for the nation, for tens of millions of citizens--all in five short drama-filled decades.
Great Brand Blunders: The Worst Marketing and Social Media Meltdowns of All Time...and How to Avoid Your Own
by Rob GrayWhat causes some marketing campaigns to go spectacularly wrong? Why might new product launches, publicity stunts or rebranding exercises be doomed to failure? How can you prevent a social media backlash spiralling out of control? When should you apologise, cut your losses, make a U-turn? Great Brand Blunders takes an informed and at times acerbic look at the worst marketing and social media disasters of all time - and treats them as an amazing learning opportunity. The first book for several years to examine brand failures - and the first with a special focus on social media - Great Brand Blunders offers a mix of entertaining commentary and authoritative advice, and features several first-hand interviews with those involved. A fascinating roll-call of over 150 A-list brands in sticky situations, the book will be required reading not only for professional marketers, academics and students, but for anyone interested in the gritty stories and testing challenges that lie behind the polished brand images marketers hope to present to the public. From awful advertising to ridiculous brand extensions, via misguided sales promotions and ill-conceived social media activity, Great Brand Blunders pulls no punches, putting rash decisions under the microscope and offering advice on how to avoid landing in the same foul mess yourself.
Great Brand Blunders: The Worst Marketing and Social Media Meltdowns of All Time...and How to Avoid Your Own
by Rob GrayWhat causes some marketing campaigns to go spectacularly wrong? Why might new product launches, publicity stunts or rebranding exercises be doomed to failure? How can you prevent a social media backlash spiralling out of control? When should you apologise, cut your losses, make a U-turn? Great Brand Blunders takes an informed and at times acerbic look at the worst marketing and social media disasters of all time - and treats them as an amazing learning opportunity. The first book for several years to examine brand failures - and the first with a special focus on social media - Great Brand Blunders offers a mix of entertaining commentary and authoritative advice, and features several first-hand interviews with those involved. A fascinating roll-call of over 150 A-list brands in sticky situations, the book will be required reading not only for professional marketers, academics and students, but for anyone interested in the gritty stories and testing challenges that lie behind the polished brand images marketers hope to present to the public. From awful advertising to ridiculous brand extensions, via misguided sales promotions and ill-conceived social media activity, Great Brand Blunders pulls no punches, putting rash decisions under the microscope and offering advice on how to avoid landing in the same foul mess yourself.
Great Britain?: The must-read Sunday Times bestseller on How We Get Our Future Back
by Torsten Bell*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*An essential blueprint for a better future, from the leading economist & Labour rising star‘Stellar: brilliant, incredibly pragmatic’ Rory Stewart‘Refreshingly optimistic’ The Times‘No one has done more to re-inject sanity into our national policy’ Emily MaitlisThere are few who are better placed to investigate Britain’s plight than Torsten Bell, Labour MP for Swansea West and former Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation.In Great Britain? he offers both a clear-eyed diagnosis of the problems facing our country – a uniquely toxic combination of huge inequality and stagnant economic growth – and a bold vision for the alternative. This is a book bursting with ideas and infectious hope.In his treasure trove of enlightening and original analysis, Torsten Bell argues that our era of chaos and cynicism needs neither utopianism nor nostalgia, but a practical patriotism to raise living standards and create a more equal country. He passionately points us towards a Britain that we can actually build – a future worth fighting for.‘A roadmap to the new normal’ Observer'Pretty cool … the think tank work I raved about on The Rest Is Politics has morphed into a book' Alastair Campbell‘A dose of Torstenomics is the only thing that can give us hope’ Amol Rajan‘Spiced with wit, masterful, fact-packed’ Polly Toynbee