Picking the Low Hanging Fruit

Author: James Sudakow
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780996503310
Category : Business
Languages : en
Pages : 122

Book Description
Are you interested in baking someone into a process at work? Leading a paradigm shift? Or maybe you just feel like drilling down after a nice data dump so you can flesh out a straw dog to help everyone get their ducks in a row and sing from the same song-sheet. Whether you understood any of that or had no idea what you just read, you've probably heard these expressions lobbed around the corporate world with some regularity. What does all of this mean? In meetings on his first job out of college, James Sudakow found himself struggling to pick up a bizarre new language: corporate-speak. He pretended to know what they were saying, but in actuality, he had no idea what expressions like "singing from the same song sheet" or "picking the low hanging fruit" meant or why strange phrases like these were being used to talk about business operations. Had he missed something important in his education that would have prepared him for this? With time, Sudakow adapted to the language; and much to his own embarrassment, he found himself actually using many of these same expressions. For his own sanity, he came up with a plan to combat this corporate-speak language - and it all started with a whiteboard in his office. He listed all of the words and phrases his colleagues, even superiors, were not allowed to use in his office - less they allowed themselves to be subjected to some form of office hazing. "I wondered if we all knew how ridiculous we sounded using these generally weird phrases, instead of just speaking in plain English." Sudakow says."I wanted to call attention to the way we were all communicating and see if we could change it." Ironically, not only did his experiment not deter their use of any of the expressions on his whiteboard, Sudakow found that his colleagues put up with the hazing with seemingly far too much enjoyment and also began to actually, if not enthusiastically, add additional phrases to his whiteboard, taking great pride in their contributions. That whiteboard became the premise for his new book, "Picking the Low-Hanging Fruit... and Other Stupid Stuff We Say in the Corporate World," a humorous corporate glossary that sheds an irreverent light on the weird things we say in the corporate world every day.

Low-Hanging Fruit

Author: Jeremy Eden
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118857925
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Book Description
A straightforward, valuable guide to reduce effort and raise profits Step inside any organization, even a very successful one, and you’ll probably find a lot of waste if you know where to look. From providing a feature that consumers don’t care about to exhausting efforts on tasks that only require adequate attention, there are countless areas where resources go down the drain. In Low-Hanging Fruit, Jeremy Eden and Terri Long provide seventy-seven of their most effective techniques for improvement, each drawn from their success working with major companies. For more than twenty years, Jeremy Eden and Terri Long have helped companies of all sizes make millions by harvesting their low-hanging fruit. In this practical guide, Eden and Long share valuable, refreshing insights in entertaining chapters that get straight to the point. This book shows you how to smoothly shift your approach, your priorities, and your mindset to reveal the hidden potential in your organization. Whether you are a member of a small team or a global executive, you will learn how to identify and solve hidden problems, improve productivity, and increase profits. Many people don’t realize that there are dozens of quick, easy, and affordable ways to make things better. Don’t buy into the myth that only some people have creative ideas. Typically, the people closest to the work (from the factory floor to the C-Suite) and the people closest to the customer know the best ways to improve business. We can pluck this “low-hanging fruit” every day to save time and money right away. Need to grow your company’s earnings but don’t know where to find the low-hanging fruit? The answer is right in front of you, but harvesting it takes skill. Eden and Long show you seventy-seven clever ways to discover possibilities and make meaningful changes. Low-Hanging Fruit shows you how to easily improve your job satisfaction, your team’s performance, and your company’s earnings.

Energy Fables

Author: Jenny Rinkinen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429674244
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 143

Book Description
Energy Fables: Challenging Ideas in the Energy Sector takes a fresh look at key terms and concepts around which energy research and policy are organised. Drawing on recent research in energy and transport studies, and combining this with concepts from sociology, economics, social theory and technology studies, the chapters in this collection review and challenge different aspects of received wisdom. Brief but critical introductions to classic notions like those of ‘energy efficiency’, ‘elasticity’, ‘energy services’ and the ‘energy trilemma’, together with discussions and analyses of well-worn phrases about ‘low hanging fruit’ and ‘keeping the lights on’, articulate aspects of the energy debate that are often taken for granted. In re-working these established themes and adding twists to familiar tales, the authors develop a repertoire of new ideas about the fundamentals of energy demand and carbon reduction. This book presents a valuable and thought-provoking resource for students, researchers and policy-makers interested in energy demand, politics and policy.

The Thing About Work

Author: Richard A. Moran
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135181771X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
Why does a CEO who has already made hundreds of millions of dollars continue to work? Why does a rock star who has made a bundle continue to tour? Why do retirees’ miss work as soon as they stop doing it? Why do we all wrestle with our life’s work and talk about it incessantly? The thing about work is that we love it, we hate it, we need it, we miss it, we measure ourselves by it, we judge others by it—we are addicted to it. Work often defines us and fulfills us. Yet, today’s rapidly changing workplace environment is stressful and confusing to deal with. In The Thing About Work, Richard A. Moran takes a ground-level perspective on what is happening at work and how to thrive in the new professional world. Through funny, prescriptive vignettes and short essays, Moran finds the “white space” in the company manual—those issues that you encounter every day at work but which are not covered in employee training. He uses hilarious and true stories from his own life and others’ to answer questions like, “Should you take your dog to work?” and “How late is late?” and “What is that foreign object growing in the refrigerator?” This very contemporary view of work will prove invaluable for the modern employee.

The Great Stagnation

Author: Tyler Cowen
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101502258
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 98

Book Description
Tyler Cowen’s controversial New York Times bestseller—the book heard round the world that ignited a firestorm of debate and redefined the nature of America’s economic malaise. America has been through the biggest financial crisis since the great Depression, unemployment numbers are frightening, media wages have been flat since the 1970s, and it is common to expect that things will get worse before they get better. Certainly, the multidecade stagnation is not yet over. How will we get out of this mess? One political party tries to increase government spending even when we have no good plan for paying for ballooning programs like Medicare and Social Security. The other party seems to think tax cuts will raise revenue and has a record of creating bigger fiscal disasters that the first. Where does this madness come from? As Cowen argues, our economy has enjoyed low-hanging fruit since the seventeenth century: free land, immigrant labor, and powerful new technologies. But during the last forty years, the low-hanging fruit started disappearing, and we started pretending it was still there. We have failed to recognize that we are at a technological plateau. The fruit trees are barer than we want to believe. That's it. That is what has gone wrong and that is why our politics is crazy. In The Great Stagnation, Cowen reveals the underlying causes of our past prosperity and how we will generate it again. This is a passionate call for a new respect of scientific innovations that benefit not only the powerful elites, but humanity as a whole.

Who Moved My Pulpit?

Author: Thom S. Rainer
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
ISBN: 143364388X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 102

Book Description
Who Moved My Pulpit? may not be the exact question you’re asking. But you’re certainly asking questions about change in the church—where it’s coming from, why it’s happening, and how you’re supposed to hang on and follow God through it—even get out ahead of it so your church is faithfully meeting its timeless calling and serving the new opportunities of this age. Based on conversations with thousands of pastors, combined with on-the-ground research from more than 50,000 churches, best-selling author Thom S. Rainer shares an eight-stage roadmap to leading change in your church. Not by changing doctrine. Not by changing biblical foundations. But by changing methodologies and approaches for reaching a rapidly changing culture. You are the pastor. You are the church staff person. You are an elder. You are a deacon. You are a key lay leader in the church. This is the book that will equip you to celebrate and lead change no matter the cost. The time is now.

How Asia Works

Author: Joe Studwell
Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
ISBN: 0802193471
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 434

Book Description
“A good read for anyone who wants to understand what actually determines whether a developing economy will succeed.” —Bill Gates, “Top 5 Books of the Year” An Economist Best Book of the Year from a reporter who has spent two decades in the region, and who the Financial Times said “should be named chief myth-buster for Asian business.” In How Asia Works, Joe Studwell distills his extensive research into the economies of nine countries—Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, and China—into an accessible, readable narrative that debunks Western misconceptions, shows what really happened in Asia and why, and for once makes clear why some countries have boomed while others have languished. Studwell’s in-depth analysis focuses on three main areas: land policy, manufacturing, and finance. Land reform has been essential to the success of Asian economies, giving a kick-start to development by utilizing a large workforce and providing capital for growth. With manufacturing, industrial development alone is not sufficient, Studwell argues. Instead, countries need “export discipline,” a government that forces companies to compete on the global scale. And in finance, effective regulation is essential for fostering, and sustaining growth. To explore all of these subjects, Studwell journeys far and wide, drawing on fascinating examples from a Philippine sugar baron’s stifling of reform to the explosive growth at a Korean steel mill. “Provocative . . . How Asia Works is a striking and enlightening book . . . A lively mix of scholarship, reporting and polemic.” —The Economist

The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook

Author: Rachel Saunders
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ISBN: 1449401988
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 390

Book Description
A comprehensive, year-round guide to jellies, jams, conserves, preserves, and marmalades, featuring over 100 recipes. If you love to cook, are crazy for fruit, or have even a passing interest in jam or marmalade, Rachel Saunders’s James Beard Award–nominated Blue Chair Jam Cookbook is the book for you. Rachel’s legendary Bay Area jam company, Blue Chair Fruit, earned instant fame for its intensely flavored preserves when it launched in 2008. Rachel’s passion for fruit shines through every part of this lavishly illustrated book, which is the culmination of nearly ten years of research. The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook is the essential jam and marmalade book of the twenty-first century, one in which Rachel’s modern yet nostalgic vision of cooking takes center stage. Rachel offers an in-depth exploration of individual fruits, a comprehensive technical section, and nearly 120 original recipes organized around the seasons. In offerings ranging from Plum Jam to Strawberry–Blood Orange Marmalade with Rosemary and Black Fig and Candied Citrus Jam, she vividly captures the joyful essence of fruit and of the preserving process. The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook is not only an exciting and vibrant exploration of fruit and of the seasons, but also one of the few books that clearly explains and illustrates preserving techniques. Each recipes includes clear and detailed directions to help ensure success, and Rachel explores a wide range of technical questions as they relate to individual fruits and types of preserves. Whether you make jam or marmalade once a year or every week, and whether you are a home or professional cook, The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook is sure to claim a special place in your cookbook library. Praise for The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook “A complete and exquisite guide to making jam and marmalade at home. In addition to sharing 100+ recipes, Saunders walks you step-by-step through the process with in-depth explanations as well as photos of the various steps so you see exactly what each phase looks like.” —Epicurious “Blue Chair could well become the jam maker’s quintessential reference book.” —SFGate.com “Rachel Saunders . . . is quite possibly the high priestess of jam making. [The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook] . . . belongs in the kitchen of anyone interested in keeping their pantry stocked with delicious and unique fruit preserves. And Rachel’s instructions are so thorough and clear, even beginners are assured success.” —The Splendid Table’s “Weeknight Kitchen” newsletter

Agile!

Author: Bertrand Meyer
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3319051555
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 181

Book Description
Are you attracted by the promises of agile methods but put off by the fanaticism of many agile texts? Would you like to know which agile techniques work, which ones do not matter much, and which ones will harm your projects? Then you need Agile!: the first exhaustive, objective review of agile principles, techniques and tools. Agile methods are one of the most important developments in software over the past decades, but also a surprising mix of the best and the worst. Until now every project and developer had to sort out the good ideas from the bad by themselves. This book spares you the pain. It offers both a thorough descriptive presentation of agile techniques and a perceptive analysis of their benefits and limitations. Agile! serves first as a primer on agile development: one chapter each introduces agile principles, roles, managerial practices, technical practices and artifacts. A separate chapter analyzes the four major agile methods: Extreme Programming, Lean Software, Scrum and Crystal. The accompanying critical analysis explains what you should retain and discard from agile ideas. It is based on Meyer’s thorough understanding of software engineering, and his extensive personal experience of programming and project management. He highlights the limitations of agile methods as well as their truly brilliant contributions — even those to which their own authors do not do full justice. Three important chapters precede the core discussion of agile ideas: an overview, serving as a concentrate of the entire book; a dissection of the intellectual devices used by agile authors; and a review of classical software engineering techniques, such as requirements analysis and lifecycle models, which agile methods criticize. The final chapters describe the precautions that a company should take during a transition to agile development and present an overall assessment of agile ideas. This is the first book to discuss agile methods, beyond the brouhaha, in the general context of modern software engineering. It is a key resource for projects that want to combine the best of established results and agile innovations.

Youtility

Author: Jay Baer
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101633883
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Book Description
The difference between helping and selling is just two letters If you're wondering how to make your products seem more exciting online, you're asking the wrong question. You're not competing for attention only against other similar products. You're competing against your customers' friends and family and viral videos and cute puppies. To win attention these days you must ask a different question: "How can we help?" Jay Baer's Youtility offers a new approach that cuts through the clutter: marketing that is truly, inherently useful. If you sell something, you make a customer today, but if you genuinely help someone, you create a customer for life.