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Software Project Management: Measures for Improving Performance (Management Concepts)
by Robert Bruce KelseySoftware Project Management: Measures for Improving Performance focuses on more than the mechanics of project execution. By showing the reader how to identify and solve real world problems that put schedule, cost, and quality at risk, this guide gets to the heart of improving project control and performance.• Identify measurement needs and goals• Determine what measures to use to maximize the value of data• Interpret data and report the results• Diagnose quality and productivity issues• Use metrics data to solve real problemsThis is a must-read for project managers and engineering managers working in organizations where deadlines are tight, the workload is daunting, and daily crises are the rule rather than the exception. The text provides simple run rate data through progressively advanced measures, as well as:• Examples that show you how to combine measures to solve complex problems• Exercises that guide you through best practices for metric program development and implementationFrom beginning to end, Software Project Management: Measures for Improving Performance guides you to improved project performance — long before you turn the last page!
The Daily Edge: Simple Strategies to Increase Efficiency and Make an Impact Every Day
by David HorsagerWall Street Journal bestselling author David Horsager frequently hears executives lament that their hands are more than full trying to balance the barrage of tasks they face on a daily basis. While he never set out to be a productivity expert, Horsager realized that over the years he has developed and adopted dozens of extraordinarily practical time- and energy-saving techniques that could help today's leader. The key objective is to become so effective in the little things that you have enough time for more meaningful interactions. In The Daily Edge, you'll learn strategies such as identifying the key Difference-Making Actions on which to focus your efforts. Perhaps it is time to set a personal or even company-wide “power hour,” during which you do not attend meetings, answer the phone, or reply to emails, creating the time and space to really focus and get things done. The thirty-five high-impact ideas Horsager introduces in succinct, quick-read chapters are easily implemented and powerful on their own. Taken together, they form a solid wave of efficacy that enables you to get more done, keep your energy up, and make sure that you're able to honor all your relationships, both personal and professional.
Be a Project Motivator: Unlock the Secrets of Strengths-Based Project Management
by JD PearceRuth Pearce knows project management from the inside out. She knows the best project managers use their influence to engage their teams--and with that engagement comes motivation and commitment to the projects and to each other. Read Be a Project Motivator and watch your project teams thrive."--Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The New One Minute Manager® and Servant Leadership in ActionWhat you have in your hands is the first project management book to take the latest research on character strengths - and with sublime skill, wisdom, and experience - integrate strengths seamlessly for project managers. Said simply: Ruth gives us "the how" of human motivation. As a result, project managers and their clients will be soaring after they read this book.--Dr. Ryan M. Niemiec, author of Character Strengths Interventions and Mindfulness and Character Strengths, and education director of the global nonprofit, VIA Institute on Character. "Ruth is a master at connecting and engaging teams--and getting projects done. Every person who works on teams (and who doesn't?) needs to read this book." --Megan McDonough, co-founder and CEO, Wholebeing InstituteSuccessful project managers must engage and motivate others to achieve complex goals. Ruth Pearce shows how behavior, language, and attitudes affect engagement and how leveraging character strengths can help improve relationships, increase innovation, and build higher-functioning teams. This focus on character strengths--such as bravery, curiosity, fairness, gratitude, and humor--can help project managers recognize and cultivate the things that are best in themselves and others. Many project managers do not have the authority to direct the activities of people on their teams--they can only influence them. The most influential people succeed by focusing less on themselves and their message and more on others. They pay attention, they are brave, they are vulnerable, they are curious, and they look for and acknowledge the things that are important about and to the other person. And they model the behavior that they want to see. This book tells you how.Pearce provides tools and frameworks for building a culture of appreciation, understanding character strengths, mapping leadership qualities, understanding learning styles, identifying team roles, and executing plans. She also explores the factors that contribute to conflict and tensions, as well as strategies for getting through difficult times. We see these tools and techniques in action through "Maggie," a project manager who is struggling to motivate her team. Each chapter concludes with reflective questions to make the ideas stick and with key strategies for success.
Work Reimagined: Uncover Your Calling
by Richard J. Leider David A. ShapiroDISCOVER WHAT YOU'RE HERE TO DOIt's the end of work as we know it. Career paths look nothing like they did in the days before phones got smart. We work more hours at more jobs for more years than ever before. So it's vital that we know how to find work that allows us to remain true to who we are in the deepest sense, work that connects us to something larger than ourselves—in short, our “calling.” We all have one, and bestselling authors Richard Leider and David Shapiro can help you uncover yours.Through a unique Calling Card exercise that features a guided exploration of fifty-two “natural preferences” (such as Advancing Ideas, Doing the Numbers, Building Relationships, and Performing Events), Leider and Shapiro give us a new way to uncover our gifts, passions, and values and find work that expresses them. Along the way, they mix in dozens of inspiring true stories about people who have found, or are in the process of finding, their own callings.Uncovering your calling enables you to experience fulfillment in all aspects and phases of your life. And here's the even better news: you'll never have to work again. When you choose to do what you are called to do, you're always doing what you want to do. Work Reimagined offers an enlightening, effective, and entertaining approach to discovering what you were born to do, no matter your age or stage of life.
The Intelligent Optimist's Guide to Life: How To Find Health and Success in a World That's a Better Place Than You Think
by Jurriaan KampThe world isn’t coming to an end, contrary to what you may have heard. But the media’s near-exclusive focus on conflict and disaster means that the progress and everyday acts of brilliance taking place across the globe go unnoticed. Jurriaan Kamp shows that optimism—intelligent optimism, not a rose-colored-glasses brand of wishful thinking—is good for not only your mind but your body too. He details a whole host of health problems that can actually be linked to pessimism. Moreover, there is good reason for optimism: Kamp proves that on the whole we’re living longer, becoming smarter, working less, and growing richer. Not only that, democracy is on the rise, and violence is declining. This book will help you tune out the media’s focus on sensationalism and negativity and turn on your natural optimism so you’ll drop into a “real world” that’s richer than you ever imagined.
The Chinese Maze Murders: A Judge Dee Mystery (The Judge Dee Mysteries)
by Robert van GulikThe legendary T&’ang Dynasty judge untangles three intertwined cases in the &“entertaining&” historical detective series (Times Literary Supplement). Poisoned plums, a cryptic scroll picture, passionate love letters, and a hidden murderer with a penchant for torturing and killing women lead Judge Dee to the heart of the Governor&’s garden maze and the answers to three interwoven mysteries. The Chinese Maze Murders represents Robert van Gulik&’s first venture into writing suspense novels after the success of Dee Gong An, his translation of an anonymous Chinese detective novel from the eighteenth century—leading to a long-running series inspired by a real-life magistrate of seventh-century China. &“Judge Dee, the officers of his tribunal and the people with whom he and they are concerned are interesting folk, and the world of crime, mystery, violence, lust, corruption and ceremony in which they move is formidably picturesque.&” —Times Literary Supplement &“Delightful novels, so scrupulously in the classic Chinese manner yet so nicely equipped with everything to satisfy the modern reader.&” —The New York Times
Medical Gaslighting: How to Get the Care You Deserve in a System that Makes You Fight for Your Life
by Ilana JacquelineOur healthcare system is broken. But it doesn&’t have to break you. This practical, realistic guide is designed to help women fight medical bias and neglect in order to get the care they need—and deserve. For women, the possibility of experiencing medical gaslighting—having a health care provider dismiss or ignore their concerns without considering appropriate testing or creating a treatment plan—has always been a very real and present danger, with consequences ranging from self-doubt and emotional stress to delayed diagnosis and death. And being a woman of color, transgender, or disabled only compounds the risk. Today, more women are aware of medical gaslighting than ever—but awareness isn&’t enough. In Medical Gaslighting, you&’ll equip yourself with the tools you need to be fully heard at every step of the process, including: Mastering the ability to request, revise, and read your electronic medical records so you and your medical team are on the same page. Responding effectively when you recognize the signs, language, and scenarios associated with medical gaslighting Give yourself a fighting chance against common medical bias by being mindful of how you present yourself as a patient. With expert advice and stories from women across the medical spectrum who fought medical gaslighting and lived to tell their stories, patient advocate (and rare disease patient), Ilana Jacqueline provides a combat guide for increasing your confidence—and success—when advocating for your health. You might have to get naked in the exam room, but you don&’t have to walk in unarmed. Medical Gaslighting is your guide to taking control of your healthcare.
elle: Life, Lessons, and Learning to Trust Yourself
by Elle MacphersonA revealing account of Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson&’s extraordinary life of celebrity under pressure of relentless perfectionism and trauma of addiction. Elle shares her hard-earned, well-learned insights and understandings, empowering us all to discover our own uniqueness and life purpose.In the dazzling world of fashion, Elle Macpherson is synonymous with elegance and timeless beauty. Her inimitable, &‘give-it-a-go&’ spirit underpins all her achievements as an iconic supermodel, businesswoman, and wellness advocate—a remarkable career concealing profound inner challenges. A powerful journey of personal transformation and a meditation on public image, self-image, and the meaning of real beauty, Elle peels back decades of curated perfection to share rare wisdom and intimate, messy realness from life in the limelight, including: Elle&’s early life-lessons as a teenager modeling in 1980s New York building a remarkable career with professionalism, strong values, real results and her breakthrough opportunity with Sports Illustrated A meteoric rise to fame as a runway model for iconic designers like Azzedine Alaïa and Calvin Klein and actress in Hollywood films like Sirens and Batman & Robin Nuanced reflections on relationships, divorces and the delights of raising her two sons. Previously undisclosed traumas with addiction, burnout, overall mental, emotional, and physical health—and the startling realization that gave her life new meaning This open-hearted book reveals the authentic journey of personal transformation that empowered Elle to prevail over adversities, illness and inner conflicts. Told with Elle&’s irrepressible humor and honesty, elle offers a wise perspective on resilience, recovery, self-trust and authentic love that empowers readers to value their own uniqueness, embrace life, and love unconditionally.
28 Days to Save the World: Crafting Your Culture to Be Ready for Anything
by Dan PurvisIn 2020, engineering firm Velentium faced an unprecedented ask: partner with a small medical device company and a very large vehicle manufacturer to increase emergency ventilator production from hundreds per month to thousands per week—in just 28 days. Serving on the frontlines of pandemic response is enough pressure to cause any size business to buckle, but the small firm thrived and even doubled in size to complete their manufacturing scale-up known as Project V: seven months of work in six weeks. Velentium&’s cofounder Dan Purvis attributes their extraordinary success to their decade-in-the-making company culture, which buoyed them in the face of an unforeseeable crisis. In 28 Days to Save the World, he lays out how to harness the power of organizational culture to prepare your small business to weather any challenges ahead. Every quarter, more than 30 million small-business entrepreneurs face innumerable familiar crises—of management, strategic direction, cashflow and credit, staff, and customers—that can spell their doom. Drawing from his twenty-five years of experience as a small-business leader, and with gripping stories from Project V, Purvis reveals crisis-tested methods for turning challenges into opportunities. He shows how a well-crafted culture: Reveals the right path in a crisis Taps into team members&’ inner motivation Unites leaders and followers Compels action in &“made for you&” moments Enables you to step up to global challenges Catalyzes deep connections between people inside and outside your organization When a defining moment arrives for your organization, will your team be ready? 28 Days to Save the World is an essential resource for ensuring that you are.
The Miracle Morning (Updated and Expanded Edition): The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)
by Hal ElrodUSA Today Bestseller Start waking up to your full potential every single day with the updated and expanded edition of the groundbreaking book with more than 2 million copies sold. Getting everything you want out of life isn&’t about doing more. It&’s about becoming more. Hal Elrod and The Miracle Morning have helped millions of people become the person they need to be to create the life they&’ve always wanted. Now, it&’s your turn. Hal&’s revolutionary S.A.V.E.R.S. method is a simple, effective step-by-step process to transform your life in as little as six minutes per day: Silence: Reduce stress and improve mental clarity by beginning each day with peaceful, purposeful quiet Affirmations: Reprogram your mind to overcome any fears or beliefs that are limiting your potential or causing you to suffer Visualization: Experience the power of mentally rehearsing yourself showing up at your best each day Exercise: Boost your mental and physical energy in as little as 60 seconds Reading: Acquire knowledge and expand your abilities by learning from experts Scribing: Keep a journal to deepen gratitude, gain insights, track progress, and increase your productivity by getting clear on your top priorities This updated and expanded edition has more than 40 pages of new content, including: The Miracle Evening: Optimize your bedtime and sleep to wake up every day feeling refreshed and energized for your Miracle Morning The Miracle Life: Begin your path to inner freedom so you can truly be happy and learn to love the life you have while you create the life you want
The Accidental Millionaire: How to Succeed in Life Without Really Trying
by Gary FongThe Accidental Millionaire is the memoir of Gary Fong, would-be slacker who revolutionized wedding photography, inventor of popular photography aids, entrepreneur, contrarian, bon vivant and a man who really, really didn't want to become a doctor. A first-generation Chinese-American, Gary was raised in one of Los Angeles' least-desirable neighborhoods and was forced to deal—in his own quirky and often very funny way—with the burdens of poverty, crime and his parents' relentless aspirations. These issues almost overwhelmed him until he had a dramatic epiphany. Spotting a bumper sticker that read "Since I gave up hope, I feel much better," Gary promptly did just that. He stopped trying and started succeeding. At turns hilarious, insightful and instructive, The Accidental Millionaire is Horatio Alger-meets-David Sedaris. Turning the traditional self-help principles upside down, The Accidental Millionaire disdains the goal-oriented approaches of traditional self-help philosophies. Sometimes not knowing where you are going is the best possible way to get there.
Do You Talk Funny?: 7 Comedy Habits to Become a Better (and Funnier) Public Speaker
by David NihillPublic speaking can be terrifying. For David Nihill, the idea of standing in front of an audience was scarier than cliff jumping into a thorny pit of spiders and mothers-in-law. Without a parachute or advanced weaponry. Something had to change. In what doesn't sound like the best plan ever, David decided to overcome his fears by pretending to be an accomplished comedian called "Irish Dave" for one full year, crashing as many comedy clubs, festivals, and shows as possible. One part of the plan was at least logical: he was already Irish and already called Dave. In one year, David went from being deathly afraid of public speaking to hosting a business conference, regularly performing stand-up comedy and winning storytelling competitions in front of packed houses. And he did it by learning from some of the best public speakers in the world: stand-up comedians. Do You Talk Funny?: 7 Comedy Habits to Become a Better (and Funnier) Public Speaker shows how the key principles of stand-up comedy can be applied to your speaking engagements and presentations to make you funnier, more interesting, and better looking. (Or at least two of the three.) Whether you are preparing for a business presentation, giving a wedding toast, defending your thesis, raising money from investors, or simply want to take on something you're afraid of, this book will take you from sweaty to stage-ready. You'll learn how to: - Craft a story and content that your audience will want to listen to - Find the funniest parts of your material and how to get to them faster - Deal with stage fright - Master the two most important parts of your performance: timing and delivery Ten percent of the author's proceeds from this book will go to Arash Bayatmakou via Help Hope Live until he is fully back on his feet and thereafter to one of the many facing the same challenges after suffering a severe spinal cord injury.
How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race: Practical Tools for Necessary Change in the Workplace and Beyond
by Kwame ChristianIf we want a more equitable workplace—and a more equitable world—we have to talk to each other about race. But, for so many of us, that&’s easier said than done. When we avoid conversations about race, it&’s often because of fear: fear of discomfort, or of damaging important relationships; fear of being misunderstood, &“canceled,&” ostracized. Negotiation expert Kwame Christian&’s motto is: "The best things in life are on the other side of difficult conversations." How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race equips you with the skills you need to make these crucial conversations both easier and more productive. You&’ll not only gain the confidence to talk about race, but also learn how to actually make a difference when you do. Whether you&’re looking to create change for yourself and other BIPOC, or are a white ally seeking to support your coworkers or clients, you&’ll learn how to: Overcome your internal barriers to talking about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Work around others&’ barriers to productive discussion. Be strategic about the outcome you want and guide the conversation accordingly. Use &“Compassionate Curiosity&” to connect and persuade. Avoid common mistakes. Tackle some of the most common race-related conversations that come up in the workplace. If you&’ve ever struggled to turn your passion for change into persuasion or been too afraid to speak up at work (or outside of it), this book is for you. The first step toward lasting social change is productive discussion. With How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race, you&’ll never shy away from those crucial conversations again.
Expand: Stretching the Future By Design
by Christian Bason Jens Martin SkibstedToday, it can seem as if the world has nothing but problems. And more than ever the boundaries of those problems are expanding in terms of the speed, scale, and impact by which they can alter business conditions, public governance, entire societies, the health of our planet, and the quality of our lives. Meeting these growing challenges requires ambitious new ways of designing solutions. With Expand: Stretching the Future By Design, authors Jens Martin Skibsted, a multiple-award winning designer, entrepreneur, and design philosopher, and Christian Bason, political scientist and CEO of the Danish Design Centre, take readers beyond &“design thinking&” to challenge current habits and carve out new space for more sustainable innovation. From transforming the ways we do business and reimagining health care, to creating planet-restoring housing and humanizing our digital lives in an age of AI, Expand explores how expansive thinking across six key areas—time, proximity, value, life, dimensions, and sectors—can provide radical, useful solutions to a whole host of current problems around the globe. With powerful real-world examples, the book challenges our freewheeling belief in technological determinism and its insensitivity toward ethics, humanity, and the environment. Expand is the first book to not just critique design thinking, but welcome it as a starting point for an ambitious, wide-ranging tale of how to expand and think beyond it. The best way to predict the future is to design it. Expand is the book that shows us how.
The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity--and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race
by Daniel Z. Lieberman Michael E. LongWhy are we obsessed with the things we want only to be bored when we get them? Why is addiction perfectly logical to an addict? Why does love change so quickly from passion to indifference? Why are some people die-hard liberals and others hardcore conservatives? Why are we always hopeful for solutions even in the darkest times—and so good at figuring them out? The answer is found in a single chemical in your brain: dopamine. Dopamine ensured the survival of early man. Thousands of years later, it is the source of our most basic behaviors and cultural ideas—and progress itself. Dopamine is the chemical of desire that always asks for more—more stuff, more stimulation, and more surprises. In pursuit of these things, it is undeterred by emotion, fear, or morality. Dopamine is the source of our every urge, that little bit of biology that makes an ambitious business professional sacrifice everything in pursuit of success, or that drives a satisfied spouse to risk it all for the thrill of someone new. Simply put, it is why we seek and succeed; it is why we discover and prosper. Yet, at the same time, it's why we gamble and squander. From dopamine's point of view, it's not the having that matters. It's getting something—anything—that's new. From this understanding—the difference between possessing something versus anticipating it—we can understand in a revolutionary new way why we behave as we do in love, business, addiction, politics, religion—and we can even predict those behaviors in ourselves and others. In The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity—and will Determine the Fate of the Human Race, George Washington University professor and psychiatrist Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD, and Georgetown University lecturer Michael E. Long present a potentially life-changing proposal: Much of human life has an unconsidered component that explains an array of behaviors previously thought to be unrelated, including why winners cheat, why geniuses often suffer with mental illness, why nearly all diets fail, and why the brains of liberals and conservatives really are different.
Design Any Disaster: The Revolutionary Blueprint to Master Your Next Crisis or Emergency
by Patrick HardyNever experience a disaster again—ever. Hurricanes, wildfires, mass shootings, and pandemics are a reality for 21st century families and small businesses. But here&’s the truth: Not one of these has to be a disaster. What determines whether an unexpected event becomes a disaster is you. In Design Any Disaster, certified emergency manager and master business continuity practitioner Patrick Hardy reveals to you the secrets of disaster preparedness that helped him build the largest and most successful small business and family disaster planning company in the world. He explains why: You should never, ever &“remain calm&” during a disaster. 99% of all disaster plans are a complete waste of time. Fancy disaster equipment and supplies actually leave you less prepared. Design Any Disaster is not a survival manual. It&’s a revolutionary approach to disaster preparedness, response, and recovery for families and small businesses that can be used whether you live in the middle of a big city, in a quiet suburban neighborhood, or in a rural county with more cows than people. Using the powerful C3 Method Hardy uses with his clients, from Fortune 500 CEOs to average families, you will discover how to get ready (plan effectively), react (focus without panicking), respond (protect yourself and your possessions), and recover (overcome swiftly). And in a revolutionary section you will not find in any other disaster book, Hardy also reveals how to reverse disaster, converting the experience into an opportunity to become wiser and happier. Control the disaster so that it doesn&’t control you—that&’s how you Design Any Disaster.
Sustainable Happiness: Live Simply, Live Well, Make a Difference
by Sarah Van GelderWe're bombarded by messages telling us that bigger and better things are the keys to happiness—but after we pile up the stuff and pile on the work hours, we end up exhausted and broke on a planet full of trash. Sarah van Gelder and her colleagues at YES! Magazine have been exploring the meaning of real happiness for eighteen years. Here they offer fascinating research, in-depth essays, and compelling personal stories by visionaries such as Annie Leonard, Matthieu Ricard, and Vandana Shiva, showing us that real well-being is found in supportive relationships and thriving communities, opportunities to make a contribution, and the renewal we receive from a thriving natural world. In the pages of this book, you'll find creative and practical ways to cultivate a happiness that is nurturing, enduring, and life affirming.
Plain Language in Government Writing: A Step-by-Step Guide (Management Concepts)
by Judith Gillespie MyersA Plain-English Guide to Government Writing Whether you're in the public or private sector, good writing skills are critical to your success in the workplace. Plain Language in Government Writing: A Step-by-Step Guide shows you how to apply federal plain-language guidelines to every type of writing — from emails, memos, and letters to agency communications, technical procedures, and budget justification statements. Through numerous exercises as well as examples from a variety of federal and state agencies, this practical guide walks you step-by-step through every phase of the writing process, providing tips for improved clarity, conciseness, and completeness. This valuable reference will help you: Write for diverse audiences in reader-friendly, plain languageOvercome writer's blockGain confidence in your ability to write — and get resultsMake your writing visually appealingPrepare for briefings and presentationsRecognize successful writing and identify what makes it effectiveA Plain-English Guide to Government Writing will enable you to express yourself more clearly and concisely, produce documents more efficiently, and work more effectively with others throughout the writing process.
Ownership: Reinventing Companies, Capitalism, and Who Owns What
by John Case Corey RosenWinner of the William Foote Whyte and Kathleen King Whyte Book Prize from the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit SharingEmployee ownership creates stronger companies, helps workers build wealth, and fosters a fairer, more stable society. In this book, two leading experts show how it works-and how it can be greatly expanded. Why are wages stagnant and wealth inequality increasing? One factor has inexplicably been left out: who owns the companies that drive the economy. Ownership gives people a claim to the fruits of free enterprise. Employee ownership gives workers-the people who have a stake in the company-a fair chance to benefit from their labors. In three simple parts, Corey Rosen and John Case create a powerful argument for why employee ownership is the answer to capitalism's crisis and how to implement it: 1. What's wrong with what we have-The authors explain why companies usually end up being sold off to investors and the often-horrific consequences that result for workers, communities, and the environment.2. How can we change things?-This section shows how overlooking ownership limits attempts to reform capitalism and why employee ownership is a realistic and practical way to save capitalism from its own excesses.3. Reinventing capitalism for the 21st century-This section describes how employee ownership has been done, is being done, and can be expanded and gives examples of companies of all sizes and sectors.
Benefit Corporation Law and Governance: Pursuing Profit with Purpose
by Frederick H. AlexanderCorporations with a ConscienceCorporations today are embedded in a system of shareholder primacy. Nonfinancial concerns—like worker well-being, environmental impact, and community health—are secondary to the imperative to maximize share price. Benefit corporation governance reorients corporations so that they work for the interests of all stakeholders, not just shareholders. This is the first authoritative guide to this new form of governance. It is an invaluable guide for legal and financial professionals, as well as interested entrepreneurs and investors who want to understand how purposeful corporate governance can be put into practice.
Pharmacy on a Bicycle: Innovative Solutions for Global Health and Poverty
by Marc J. Epstein Eric G. BingEvery four minutes, over 50 children under the age of five die. In the same four minutes, 2 mothers lose their lives in childbirth. Every year, malaria kills nearly 1.2 million people, despite the fact that it can be prevented with a mosquito net and treated for less than $1.50.Sadly, this list goes on and on. Millions are dying from diseases that we can easily and inexpensively prevent, diagnose, and treat. Why? Because even though we know exactly what people need, we just can’t get it to them. They are dying not because we can’t solve a medical problem but because we can’t solve a logistics problem. In this profoundly important book, Eric G. Bing and Marc J. Epstein lay out a solution: a new kind of bottom-up health care that is delivered at the source. We need microclinics, micropharmacies, and microentrepreneurs located in the remote, hard-to-reach communities they serve. By building a new model that “scales down” to train and incentivize all kinds of health-care providers in their own villages and towns, we can create an army of on-site professionals who can prevent tragedy at a fraction of the cost of top-down bureaucratic programs. Bing and Epstein have seen the model work, and they provide example after example of the extraordinary results it has achieved in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This is a book about taking health care the last mile—sometimes literally—to prevent widespread, unnecessary, and easily avoided death and suffering. Pharmacy on a Bicycle shows how the same forces of innovation and entrepreneurship that work in first-world business cultures can be unleashed to save the lives of millions.
Thriving in the Fight: A Survival Manual for Latinas on the Front Lines of Change
by Denise Padín CollazoSocial justice work is more crucial than ever, but it can be physically and emotionally draining. Longtime activist Denise Collazo offers three keys to help Hispanic women keep their focus, morale, and energy high.Winner of the gold medal at the International Latino Book Awards for Best Latina-Themed Book and Best Self-Transformational Book!Doing the work of social change is hard. Waking up every day to take on the biggest challenges of our time can be overwhelming, and sometimes progress is hard to see. She understands that Latina and all women of color activists do their best work when they are thriving, not simply surviving. Denise Pad√≠n Collazo has been there. She is the first Latina, the first woman of color, and the first woman period to raise a family and stay in the work of community organizing at Faith in Action, an international progressive network of 3,000 congregations and 2 million members. Drawing on her own experiences of triumph and failure, and those of other Latina activists, Collazo lays out three keys to thriving in the movement for social change: leading into your vision, living into the fullest version of yourself, and loving past negatives that hold you back. She also warns about the three signs that you may be surrendering: wishing for a future reality to emerge, wondering where your limits are, and waiting for permission and answers to come from others. Using this framework, Collazo offers wise and compassionate advice on some of the most important leadership challenges facing Latina activists. She explains how you can integrate family and work, step out of the background and claim your leadership potential, confront anti-Blackness in your own culture, keep focused on your ultimate purpose, and raise the necessary resources to keep fighting for justice. This honest, practical, and inspirational book will help Latina activists to burn bright, not burn out.
The Orbital Perspective: Lessons in Seeing the Big Picture from a Journey of 71 Million Miles
by Ron GaranFor astronaut Ron Garan, living on the International Space Station was a powerful, transformative experience—one that he believes holds the key to solving our problems here on Earth. On space walks and through windows, Garan was struck by the stunning beauty of the Earth from space but sobered by knowing how much needed to be done to help this troubled planet. And yet on the International Space Station, Garan, a former fighter pilot, was working work side by side with Russians, who only a few years before were “the enemy.” If fifteen nationalities could collaborate on one of the most ambitious, technologically complicated undertakings in history, surely we can apply that kind of cooperation and innovation toward creating a better world. That spirit is what Garan calls the “orbital perspective.”Garan vividly conveys what it was like learning to work with a diverse group of people in an environment only a handful of human beings have ever known. But more importantly, he describes how he and others are working to apply the orbital perspective here at home, embracing new partnerships and processes to promote peace and combat hunger, thirst, poverty, and environmental destruction. This book is a call to action for each of us to care for the most important space station of all: planet Earth. You don't need to be an astronaut to have the orbital perspective. Garan's message of elevated empathy is an inspiration to all who seek a better world.
Citizen Wealth: Winning the Campaign to Save Working Families
by Wade RathkeAmerica’s safety net is torn and tattered. Income inequality continues to grow—the gap between rich and poor has expanded fivefold in the last 25 years. For millions of working families achieving basic middle class comforts has begun to seem as distant a dream as winning the lottery. What is needed, and what veteran organizer and ACORN founder Wade Rathke provides in this hard-hitting new book, is a comprehensive grassroots strategy to create what he calls citizen wealth: an enduring foundation on which working people can build a future that extends beyond paying next month’s rent.Rathke shares breakthrough strategies that have enabled ACORN and other organizations help people secure the basics of citizen wealth—a house and a decent income—offering from-the-trenches advice on mounting successful living wage campaigns, battling unscrupulous and predatory lending practices, and developing new forms of worker organizations to protect wages and benefits. The anti-poverty programs still out there can provide critical support for citizen wealth-building efforts, but they’re woefully underutilized. Rathke shows how to cut through government indifference and bureaucratic obstacles to provide those in need with access to these vital resources. But community organizations can’t do it alone. Rathke describes ACORN partnerships with HSBC Bank and H & R Block that helped these businesses see building citizen wealth as a new market opportunity—a win for them and for the people they once exploited. And he looks at other examples of strange bedfellows in the fight for citizen wealth, including Citibank, once the target of massive protests by ACORN and now, working with them, a major investor in working class communities.“We need to create a national economic and political consensus that increasing family income, wealth and assets is not `welfare’ or an entitlement ‘give-away” program but an investment in the public good and well-being.” Rathke writes. Based on forty years of hard-won experience, Wade Rathke offers a new blueprint for helping millions to achieve the American Dream.
Dreamcrafting: The Art of Dreaming Big, The Science of Making It Happen: Five Skills for Achieving Any Goal
by Paul Levesque Art McNeilMany people set out to achieve a dream-starting a business or learning to play the piano or publishing a book-but they don't succeed, and the dream fizzles away. In many cases, these people have lots of skills and expertise, such as deep knowledge of the business or career they are interested in, so why don't they succeed? Paul Levesque and Art McNeil have discovered that making a dream come true requires cultivating skills of a higher order-macroskills-that inevitably spell the difference between success and failure no matter what the specifics of a person's dreams are. These are the skills Dreamcrafting outlines in detail.