The Source of Success: Five Enduring Principles at the Heart of Real Leadership (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) by Peter Georgescu, Ram Charan, and David Dorsey (Paperback - Aug 8, 2005)

• Paperback: 177 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass (August 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787980374
• ISBN-13: 978-0787980375

Product Description

In The Source of Success, Peter Georgescu, former CEO of  the world-renowned advertising agency Young & Rubicam, reveals the nature of the new economic world, and shows what it takes to win in this intensely competitive arena. Georgescu presents a new standard of leadership that focuses on the key source of value in today’s corporation: the relationship between the informed customer and the creative employee—a relationship, he shows, that must be built with honesty and integrity. Georgescu’s vision rests on five crucial principles, which together can unleash a tremendous untapped reservoir of energy within our organizations, and within ourselves:

• Creative capacity and the brand integrity that grows from it are an   organization’s most important assets.
• Enlightened leaders inspire creativity through understanding, cooperation, and respect.
• Competence and execution are as important as ever, but they must be aimed at building intimacy with the customer.
• Alignment is the critical concept for the twenty-first-century organization.
• Great companies don’t happen without leaders who have transformed themselves.

From the Inside Flap

Dramatic change has swept the business world in?recent years, rendering standard paradigms of?leadership obsolete.In The Source of Success, Peter Georgescu, former?CEO of the world-renowned advertising agency Young & Rubicam, reveals the nature of the new economic world, and shows what it takes to win in this intensely competitive arena. Georgescu presents a new standard of leadership that focuses on the key source of value in today's corporation: the relationship between the informed customer and the creative employee—a relationship, he shows, that must be built with honesty and integrity. Georgescu's vision rests on five crucial principles, which together can unleash a tremendous untapped reservoir of energy within our organizations, and within our?selves:

• Creative capacity and the brand integrity that grows from it are an organization's most important assets.
• Enlightened leaders inspire creativity through understanding, cooperation, and respect.
• Competence and execution are as important as ever, but they must be aimed at building intimacy with the customer.
• Alignment is the critical concept for the?twenty-first-century organization.
• Great companies don't happen without leaders who have transformed themselves.

Rich on many levels, the book is filled with stories taken from the author's experience—his early life experiences growing up in communist Romania and his professional career working with the most powerful companies and brands in the world.

From the Back Cover

"In The Source of Success, Peter Georgescu tackles two issues that have special resonance in today's business world: creativity and integrity. At the intersection of the two stands the type of enlightened business leader we need in the twenty-first century. Peter shares important insights forged through a remarkable career—and fascinating life story."
—Bob Wright, vice chairman, GE, and chairman and CEO, NBC Universal"Peter Georgescu gives us all a lot to talk about in The Source of Success. He tells us what's essential for business success and then shows us how to attain it. The core of this values-based business book is the belief that to be a business success you must be a good person. In a time of corporate scandal, his message has never been more right. A great read."
—Bill Bradley, U.S. Senator
"One of the most enduring principles for success is integrity, in both our professional and personal lives. The Source of Success should be considered a leadership compass for new, as well as established, executives to achieve greatness in today's business world."
—Leonard A. Lauder, chairman, Estée Lauder
"Peter Georgescu eloquently articulates a vision of decency, fairness, and humanity in corporate life. A utopian dream? Not at all. What Georgescu is really describing is the optimum recipe for success in the twenty-first century."
—Vernon Jordan
"Peter Georgescu's career has allowed him to work with some of the great companies and great leaders in the world. From this perspective he offers observations and very provocative advice on what it takes to win in today's world of 'excess supply.' This is a book that really makes you think. The views are fresh; and Peter is a wonderful storyteller."
—Shelly Lazarus, chairman and CEO, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
"With America still reeling from the orgy of corporate dishonesty and malfeasance symbolized by ENRON, there is already a backlash against more regulation of business. In this climate of cynicism and mistrust, this timely book comes as a breath of fresh air and courage. Corporate leaders may smile at being told they need to be honest and decent to succeed today, but this book should wipe the cynical smiles away. Peter Georgescu, former CEO of Young & Rubicam, warns that global forces have created a brutal new business environment in which productivity outstrips demand, the consumer has won, and every company's survival is always at stake. Georgescu should know: on Madison Avenue he was a master shaper of demand. Now, he argues, to win and keep loyal customers, business will have to adopt revolutionary values: honesty, trust, respect for others, integrity, and accountability. Imagine! Those are the very values business has claimed to be observing all along."
—Robin MacNeil, newscaster, journalist, and author

About the Author

Peter Georgescu is chairman emeritus of EYoung & Rubicam Inc. Under his leadership, EYoung & Rubicam transformed from a private to a publicly held company. The company built the most extensive database on global branding and from its findings developed a proprietary model for diagnosing and managing brands. Georgescu was elected to the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2001.David Dorsey is the author of The Force, which was selected as one of the ten best business books of the year by BusinessWeek. He is a freelance writer who has contributed to magazines such as Fast Company, Esquire, and Inc., among others.

The Seventy Great Battles in History by Jeremy Black

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson; illustrated edition edition (October 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500251258
• ISBN-13: 978-0500251256

• Product Description

Twenty-five military historians from around the world describe the decisive conflicts that shaped history from the fifth century BC to the present.

Cannae and Agincourt, Waterloo and Gettysburg, Stalingrad and Midway, the Tet Offensive….The latest book in the popular Seventies series assesses the great battles and conflicts in history from the past twenty-five centuries, and discusses the effects they have had on the development of states and civilizations.

Organized chronologically into seven parts, the book encompasses the ancient and medieval worlds as well as the wars of the past hundred years, including the conflict in Iraq. The contributors analyze not just the greatest land battles of all time, but sieges such as Constantinople (1453) and Tenochtitlán (1521); naval battles such as Actium (31 BC), Trafalgar (1805), and Tsushima (1905); and the crucial conflicts in the air during the Battle of Britain (1940) and the American attack on Japan (1945).

The coverage is truly worldwide in scope, from the battle in Teutoburg Forest in AD 9, where the Germans defeated the Romans, to Hakata Bay in 1281, where the Japanese defeated the Mongols, and the first battle of Panipat in 1526, where the Mughals conquered Hindustan. The reader is presented with a masterly overview of advances in military technology, and of the changing tactics and strategy of battlefield commanders from Hannibal to Napoleon, Montgomery, and Eisenhower.

Richly illustrated in color with hundreds of photographs, contemporary paintings, and specially commissioned battle plans and maps, this will be essential reading for anyone interested in military history. 350 illustrations, 230 in color.

About the Author

Jeremy Black is Professor of History at the University of Exeter and the author or editor of more than forty books, including World War Two: A Military History and The Cambridge Illustrated Atlas of Warfare: Renaissance to Revolution, 1492-1792.

Getting it Right the Second Time by Michael Gershman

Getting it Right the Second Time by Michael Gershman (Paperback - Mar 30, 2005)

• Hardcover: 270 pages
• Publisher: Addison Wesley Longman Publishing Co (January 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201550822
• ISBN-13: 978-0201550825

From Library Journal

Anyone interested in marketing new or old products will gain insight from some, if not all, of Gershman's case-study examples of marketing failures-turned-successes. Almost 50 famous products, including Jello, Post-it Notes, and Timex watches, were abject failures when first introduced, but after "remarketing" they all went on to become very big. It is estimated that 93 out of 100 new food products fail. Does the ingenuity, enthusiasm, and determination of their creators make the difference? Each of the 12 chapters highlights a valuable marketing lesson, such as "Don't Quit," "Don't Price It Wrong," and "Don't Skimp on Promotion." Don't miss these fascinating believe-it-or-not business anecdotes. For public library business collections.
- Susan Awe, Natrona County P.L., Casper, Wy.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

Remarketing strategies that have turned failures into success.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (Hardcover - Sep 23, 2005)

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1ST edition (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401308589
• ISBN-13: 978-1401308582

From Publishers Weekly

"At the time of his death, Eddie was an old man with a barrel chest and a torso as squat as a soup can," writes Albom, author of the bestselling phenomenon Tuesdays with Morrie, in a brief first novel that is going to make a huge impact on many hearts and minds. Wearing a work shirt with a patch on the chest that reads "Eddie" over "Maintenance," limping around with a cane thanks to an old war injury, Eddie was the kind of guy everybody, including Eddie himself, tended to write off as one of life's minor characters, a gruff bit of background color. He spent most of his life maintaining the rides at Ruby Pier, a seaside amusement park, greasing tracks and tightening bolts and listening for strange sounds, "keeping them safe." The children who visited the pier were drawn to Eddie "like cold hands to a fire." Yet Eddie believed that he lived a "nothing" life-gone nowhere he "wasn't shipped to with a rifle," doing work that "required no more brains than washing a dish." On his 83rd birthday, however, Eddie dies trying to save a little girl. He wakes up in heaven, where a succession of five people are waiting to show him the true meaning and value of his life. One by one, these mostly unexpected characters remind him that we all live in a vast web of interconnection with other lives; that all our stories overlap; that acts of sacrifice seemingly small or fruitless do affect others; and that loyalty and love matter to a degree we can never fathom. Simply told, sentimental and profoundly true, this is a contemporary American fable that will be cherished by a vast readership. Bringing into the spotlight the anonymous Eddies of the world, the men and women who get lost in our cultural obsession with fame and fortune, this slim tale, like Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, reminds us of what really matters here on earth, of what our lives are given to us for.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Albom, newspaper columnist and radio broadcaster, is, of course, best known as the author of the astonishingly successful Tuesdays with Morrie (1997). This is his first novel. With an appropriately fable-like tone, Albom tells the story of Eddie, "an old man with a barrel chest." But for us, Eddie's story "begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun"--at Ruby Pier, an amusement park by the sea, where he spent most days, for despite his advanced years, he worked as a maintenance man on the rides. He dies on his eighty-third birthday trying to save a little girl from an accident. Eddie wakes up in heaven, where he is informed that "there are five people you meet in heaven. Each . . . was in your life for a reason. You may not have known the reason at the time, and that is what heaven is for. For understanding your life on earth." And, not surprisingly, this is what the novel is about: Eddie coming to appreciate his 83 years of mortal life; the novel's "point" is that apparently insignificant lives do indeed have their own special kind of significance. A sweet book that makes you smile but is not gooey with overwrought sentiment. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"It reminds you of how everything is somehow connected." -- Diane C.


"Let me finish wiping my tears. What a beautiful journey. Such a touching, moving, thought-provoking story." -- Alicia Fleischer

Product Description

A specially produced paperback edition -- with flaps -- of the phenomenal #1 New York Times bestseller, that has sold more than six million copies in hardcoverEddie is a grizzled war veteran who feels trapped in a meaningless life of fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. His days are a dull routine of work, loneliness, and regret.
Then, on his 83rd birthday, Eddie dies in a tragic accident, trying to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakens in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a lush Garden of Eden, but a place where your earthly life is explained to you by five people. These people may have been loved ones or distant strangers. Yet each of them changed your path forever.
One by one, Eddie’s five people illuminate the unseen connections of his earthly life. As the story builds to its stunning conclusion, Eddie desperately seeks redemption in the still-unknown last act of his life: Was it a heroic success or a devastating failure? The answer, which comes from the most unlikely of sources, is as inspirational as a glimpse of heaven itself.
In The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom gives us an astoundingly original story that will change everything you’ve ever thought about the afterlife -- and the meaning of our lives here on earth. With a timeless tale, appealing to all, this is a book that readers of fine fiction, and those who loved Tuesdays with Morrie, will treasure.

About the Author

Mitch Albom is the author of the #1 international bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie. A nationally syndicated columnist for the Detroit Free Press and a nationally syndicated radio host of his own show, Albom has also been named the top sports columnist in the nation 13 times by the Associated Press Sports Editors of America -- the highest honor in his field. He is the founder of The Dream Fund, a charity that helps underprivileged youth study art, and of A Time to Help, a volunteer program. Albom serves on the boards of numerous charities. He lives with his wife in Michigan.

From AudioFile

"I'm especially proud to have an audio version of this book, since it harkens back to the way my first stories came to me--not by the written page, but by other people's voices." That's Mitch Albom himself in his introduction. This writer's commitment to the aural tradition is clearly demonstrated in the sophistication with which his book is presented. Erik Singer's virtuoso performance is set off with musical interludes and background noises that are diverting but never distracting. The teaching parable is built around an 83-year-old war vet turned maintenance man who dies trying to save the life of a little girl. This is at the Ruby Point Amusement Park. "All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time..." B.H.C. 2004 Audie Award Finalist © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

The 250 Sales Questions To Close The Deal by Stephan Schiffman (Paperback - Apr 1, 2005)

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Adams Media (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593372809
• ISBN-13: 978-1593372804

Product Description

The key to more sales is closing more deals-and sales guru Stephan Schiffman knows all the tricks and techniques you need to do just that. Organized in a simple question-and-answer format that allows you to implement new strategies virtually overnight, this new Schiffman classic is a gold mine of practical information for all salespeople-newcomers and veterans alike. The 250 Sales Questions to Close the Dealoffers cutting-edge sales questions in six core areas to help you:

Initiate contact with prospective clients

Build rapport with your customers

Help secure the "Next Step" with every prospect

Craft customized presentations

Cope with setbacks or obstacles

Negotiate and finalize the best dealsNo matter what you're selling-or to whom you're selling it-you'll sell more with Stephan Schiffman by your side!

About the Author

Stephan Schiffman, America's #1 Corporate Sales Trainer, is the author of dozens of bestselling books, including Cold Calling Techniques, 5th Edition (That Really Work!); and Closing Techniques (That Really Work), 3rd Edition. His clients include Aetna, AT&T, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Boise Office Solutions, ChevronTexaco, Cox Communications, EMC, Federal Express, IBM, Merrill Lynch, Motorola, The New York Times, Sony, and Waste Management.

Microsoft First Generation by Cheryl Tsang

Microsoft First Generation: The Success Secrets of the Visionaries who launced a Technology Empire by Cheryl Tsang

• Hardcover: 254 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; 1 edition (October 4, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471332062
• ISBN-13: 978-0471332060

Amazon.com Review

If a company's soul is defined by its employees, Cheryl Tsang's Microsoft First Generation offers the definitive look at the way one of the world's top corporations has really been shaped. In straightforward but perceptive profiles, Tsang introduces a dozen key individuals hired by Bill Gates and Paul Allen before 1990--when the primary focus was creation and development, rather than growth and maintenance. They are mathematician-programmer Bob O'Rear (hired two years before Microsoft relocated from Albuquerque to Seattle), technical writer Russell Borland, programmer Richard Brodie, senior vice president Scott Oki, chief information officer Neil Evans, CPA Dave Neir, Ida Cole (the first female VP), CD-ROM author Min Yee, technical manager Ron Harding, publishing-systems manager Russell Steele, Asian-business-development manager Paul Sribhibhadh, and senior diversity administrator Trish Millines Dziko. "The people who comprised Microsoft's first generation were exactly right for their time. They were the pioneers," Tsang writes. "The founders of Microsoft were shrewd to have hired them, for the company's monumental and continuing success would not have been possible without [their] exceptional work and passion." --Howard Rothman

From Library Journal

How has mighty Microsoft, begun 25 years ago as a two-man (Bill Gates and Paul Allen) partnership of extremely bright "twentysomethings," amassed an estimated market value of nearly $500 billion and become the predominant computer company in the world? This is the focus of business journalist Tsang's collection of personal stories from 12 former "softies" and their fond reminiscences about their work in the very early days of the firm. Among the alums interviewed are Bob O'Rear, the original programmer of the first MS DOS program for the IBM machine, and Trish Maline, an early beta tester who became the advocate for the ethnic diversity movement inside the company. From these tales, Tsang summarizes keys to the unprecedented success of Microsoft, including its famous maniacal work ethic, an emphasis on risk taking, an unwavering drive to success, and the unique internal culture mainly influenced by the even more unique personality of CEO Gates. Throughout these fascinating inside scoops, listeners will be continually intrigued by the always crisp narration by Mary Woods, which reveals some of the truth about what it was really like to work for Microsoft in the beginning. While this is not a historical analysis of the company, a story yet to be told, these nostalgic recollections are important to the growing computer history genre and are essential for all university libraries supporting an information systems curriculum.ADale Farris, Groves, TX
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From Booklist

Microsoft and Bill Gates are synonymous. Although Gates appears on the covers of news magazines and is treated as a celebrity, few are familiar with Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen. Allen, who left Microsoft in 1983, is nonetheless the third richest man in America, with $22 billion. Then there are the even more anonymous "Microsoft millionaires," the young workers hired by Gates and Allen because they were bright, willing to take risks, and possessed a "maniacal work ethic." In return, they collected stock options that were worth more when they left Microsoft and cashed them in than they could ever have dreamed. Tsang profiles 12 of those people, who represent a cross section of Microsoft's first generation of employees. Included are programmers, project managers, and individuals who worked in marketing and in accounting. Tsang conducted extensive interviews to find out the paths those men and women took to arrive at Microsoft, what life was like there, and what happened to them after they left the company. David Rouse

Product Description

What began as a modest start-up partnership only twenty-five years ago has already surpassed all the giants of contemporary capitalism, including General Electric and IBM, and has achieved a value estimated at nearly $500 billion. How did Microsoft achieve all of this in so short a time? What was the true nature of the Microsoft environment in the beginning, and what are the secrets behind its triumph?Find the answers here. With Microsoft First Generation, Cheryl Tsang skillfully renders recent history in bold, colorful strokes, highlighting each of the specific business qualities and entrepreneurial traits that turned Microsoft's dreams into reality. Meet the early builders of Microsoft, and step inside the famous culture of loyalty, the storied "maniacal work ethic," and the hardcore world of reckless risk-taking that remains so integral to the computer giant's matchless and ongoing success.
Here, up close and personal, Tsang introduces readers to twelve members of Microsoft's mythic first generation, each of whom has walked away from Microsoft as a multimillionaire. The collection spans a diverse collection of creative geniuses and business wizards, from Bob O'Rear, employee number seven, who joined the team in 1977 and wrote the original MS-DOS program on the first IBM PC; to bestselling author Russell Borland who, after innocently answering a help wanted ad for a technical copywriter in 1980, suddenly became the mouthpiece of an entire company, singlehandedly familiarizing the world with Microsoft products; to Trish Millines, who began as a software tester in 1988 and then blazed a trail and effected lasting change as a powerful advocate for ethnic diversity in the technological arena.
Featuring candid appraisals of the idiosyncrasies of software culture, fascinating portraits of the enigmatic Bill Gates, and rare photographs of the company's early days, Microsoft First Generation uncovers a range of surprising success secrets-and reveals, once and for all, exactly what makes Microsoft tick.

About the Author

CHERYL TSANG is an award-winning business journalist and fiction writer. She lives in Bellevue, Washington.

From AudioFile

Before Microsoft became an alleged monopoly, it was a group of smart young people working very hard on revolutionary software. The members of this founding generation were bright and aggressive people thrown together in a company in which ideas and competitiveness trumped protocols and procedures. Tsang managed to interview many of the key early employees; most have since "retired" as "Microsoft millionaires." These men and women opened up their life stories and shared a wealth of insights and anecdotes that help explain how Microsoft became what it is. Whether you love or hate Microsoft, this audiobook will hold your attention. Mary Woods's singsong voice is not suited to the production, but the material wins over the presentation. T.F. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

Firnando Chau Review