Screw Business As Usual

Author: Richard Branson
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143130544
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 386

Book Description
From the trailblazing founder and CEO of the Virgin Group, a powerful argument for using business to make a positive impact in the world. Richard Branson, one of the world’s most famous and admired business leaders, argues that it’s time to turn capitalism upside down—to shift our values from an exclusive focus on profit to also caring for people, communities and the planet. As he writes, “My message is a simple one: business as usual isn’t working. In fact, it’s ‘business as usual’ that’s wrecking our planet. Resources are being used up; the air, the sea, the land—are all heavily polluted. The poor are getting poorer. Many are dying of starvation or because they can’t afford a dollar a day for life-saving medicine. . . . Prophesying doom and gloom is simply not my style. . . . I think business can help fix things and create a more prosperous world for everyone. I happen to believe in business because I believe that business can be a force for good. By that I mean doing good is good for business.” Screw Business as Usual shows how easy it is for both businesses and individuals to embark on a whole new way of doing things, solving major problems and turning our work into something we both love and are proud of.

Like a Virgin

Author: Richard Branson
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1591845688
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 354

Book Description
It’s business school, the Branson way. Whether you’re interested in starting your own business, improving your leadership skills, or simply looking for inspiration from one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time, Richard Branson has the answers. Like a Virgin brings together some of his best advice, distilling the experiences and insights that have made him one of the world’s most recognized and respected business leaders. In his trademark thoughtful and encouraging voice, Branson shares his knowledge like a close friend. He’ll teach you how to be more innovative, how to lead by listening, how to enjoy your work, and much more. In hindsight, Branson is thankful he never went to business school. Had he conformed to the conventional dos and don’ts of starting a business, would there have been a Virgin Records? A Virgin Atlantic? So many of Branson’s achievements are due to his unyielding determination to break the rules and rewrite them himself. Here’s how he does it.

Reach for the Skies

Author: Richard Branson
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101514213
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 341

Book Description
One of the world's most famous business leaders (and a well-known avian fanatic) explores the pioneers of flight. Bestselling author and billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has always been obsessed with the skies. To promote a new Virgin Airlines route, he became the first man to water ski behind a blimp. His Virgin Galactic venture will soon offer ordinary people the opportunity to experience spaceflight aboard the first commercial spaceliner, SpaceShipTwo. In Reach for the Skies, Branson examines the history of aviation over the last two hundred years, putting the spotlight on trailblazers such as: *Tony Jannus, who made the first ever commercial flight over Tampa Bay, Florida, in 1914. *Leo Valentin, the "bird man" who jumped from 9,000 feet wearing a pair of wooden wings in the 1950s. *Steve Fossett, who broke 130 world records in planes, balloons, and airships. The pioneers of flight-not just the world-famous Wright Brothers, but also lesser known visionaries and dreamers-made it possible for any of us with the desire and the commitment to reach for the skies ourselves.

The Virgin Way

Author: Richard Branson
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0753519887
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 404

Book Description
In September 2012, a YOUGOV poll conducted in Britain found that the person British workers would most like as their manager was Sir Richard Branson. With over 40 years in business, Richard Branson is an inspiring pioneer of humanitarian projects and an iconic business leader. In The Virgin Way: How to Listen, Learn, Laugh and Lead, Richard shares and distils his secrets of leadership and success. Featuring anecdotes from his own business dealings, as well as his observations of many others who have inspired him âe" from politicians, business leaders, explorers, scientists and philanthropists âe" Richard reflects on the qualities he feels are essential for success in todayâe(tm)s world. This is not a conventional book on leadership. There are no rules âe" but rather the secrets of leadership that he has learned along the way from his days at Virgin Records, to his recent work with The Elders. Whether youâe(tm)re at the beginning of your career, or head of a Fortune 500 company âe" this is your guide to being your own CEO (Chief Enabling Officer) and becoming a true leader âe" not just a boss.

Business Stripped Bare

Author: Sir Richard Branson
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0753515881
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 387

Book Description
In Business Stripped Bare, Sir Richard Branson shares the inside track on his life in business and reveals the incredible truth about his most risky, brilliant and audacious deals. Discover why Virgin tried to take on one of the world's biggest superbrands, how Virgin Mobile USA holds the record as the fastest company in history to generate revenues of over one billion dollars (faster than Microsoft, Google and Amazon) and how Richard is the only person in the world to have built eight billion-dollar companies from scratch in eight different sectors. Combining invaluable advice with the remarkable and candid inside stories of Virgin's greatest achievements, as well as some of its setbacks, Business Stripped Bare is a dynamic, inspirational and truly original guide to success in business and in life. Whether you are an executive, an entrepreneur or are just starting out, Richard strips business down to show how you can succeed and make a difference.

Lying

Author: Sam Harris
Publisher: Four Elephants Press
ISBN: 1940051010
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 113

Book Description
As it was in Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, and Othello, so it is in life. Most forms of private vice and public evil are kindled and sustained by lies. Acts of adultery and other personal betrayals, financial fraud, government corruption—even murder and genocide—generally require an additional moral defect: a willingness to lie. In Lying, best-selling author and neuroscientist Sam Harris argues that we can radically simplify our lives and improve society by merely telling the truth in situations where others often lie. He focuses on "white" lies—those lies we tell for the purpose of sparing people discomfort—for these are the lies that most often tempt us. And they tend to be the only lies that good people tell while imagining that they are being good in the process.

The Loose Screw

Author: Jim Dawkins
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
ISBN: 1907792406
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Book Description
Jim Dawkins left home at the age of sixteen to pursue his dream of joining the army, and subsequently served with the Royal Green Jackets, including tours of Canada and Northern Ireland. During that time he learnt many important lessons in the ‘University of Life' that would serve him well in the future, such as discipline, respect, pride and honour, but which, at the same time, would lead to insufferable stress as he constantly battled with his conscience and struggled to swim against the tide. Once back in Civvy Street, and with a new house and a baby to support, Jim decided to join the Prison Service. But what faced him in this new career, which centred on Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs and Belmarsh prisons, shocked him to the core. For this ex-squaddie, who believed in establishing good working relationships with inmates, including notorious long-termer, Charles Bronson, the cancerous environment of staff bully-boy tactics and prisoner victimization was sickening. Jim tells his story, which, although peppered with humorous anecdotes of often lager-induced incidents from both his army and prison days, bears witness to the stark reality of what actually goes on behind prison doors, and exposes both the glaring flaws in the prison system and the atrocities perpetrated in the name of justice, which ultimately forced his decision to leave the Prison Service seven years later.

Permission to Screw Up

Author: Kristen Hadeed
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1591848296
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
The inspiring, unlikely, laugh-out-loud story of how one woman learned to lead–and how she ultimately succeeded, not despite her many mistakes, but because of them. This is the story of how Kristen Hadeed built Student Maid, a cleaning company where people are happy, loyal, productive, and empowered, even while they’re mopping floors and scrubbing toilets. It’s the story of how she went from being an almost comically inept leader to a sought-after CEO who teaches others how to lead. Hadeed unintentionally launched Student Maid while attending college ten years ago. Since then, Student Maid has employed hundreds of students and is widely recognized for its industry-leading retention rate and its culture of trust and accountability. But Kristen and her company were no overnight sensation. In fact, they were almost nothing at all. Along the way, Kristen got it wrong almost as often as she got it right. Giving out hugs instead of feedback, fixing errors instead of enforcing accountability, and hosting parties instead of cultivating meaningful relationships were just a few of her many mistakes. But Kristen’s willingness to admit and learn from those mistakes helped her give her people the chance to learn from their own screwups too. Permission to Screw Up dismisses the idea that leaders and organizations should try to be perfect. It encourages people of all ages to go for it and learn to lead by acting, rather than waiting or thinking. Through a brutally honest and often hilarious account of her own struggles, Kristen encourages us to embrace our failures and proves that we’ll be better leaders when we do.

Alcatraz Screw

Author: George H. Gregory
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 0826263739
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Book Description
Alcatraz Screw is a firsthand account from a prison guard’s perspective of some of the most storied years at the infamous U.S. Penitentiary at Alcatraz. George Gregory began his career as a guard for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 1940. Following his training, he was sent to the federal prison at Sandstone, Minnesota. A few years later he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Badly wounded at Iwo Jima, he returned to Sandstone after a long rehabilitation. When the Bureau of Prisons closed Sandstone in 1947, Gregory was transferred to Alcatraz, which had been a federal penitentiary since 1934. For the next fifteen years, Gregory worked on “The Rock.” He takes the reader along on a correctional officer’s tour of duty, showing what it was like to pull a lonely, tedious night of sentry duty in the Road Tower, or witness illicit transactions in the clothing room, or forcibly quell a riot in the cell blocks. Gregory provides an insider’s account of the tenures of all four of Alcatraz’s wardens and their sometimes contradictory approaches to administering the institution. He knew and regularly interacted with such legendary inmates as Robert Stroud (the Birdman of Alcatraz) and George “Machine Gun” Kelly. Without glamorizing or demonizing either the staff or the convicts, Alcatraz Screw provides a candid portrayal of corruption, drug abuse, and sexual practices, as well as efforts at reform and unrecorded acts of kindness. Various incidents in the memoir convey the fear, hatred, frustration, boredom, and unavoidable tension of being incarcerated. With the inclusion of maps and diagrams of Alcatraz Island, as well as photographs of inmates, officers, and the prison itself, this book offers insight into life at the notorious Alcatraz from an unprecedented perspective.

Inside Steve's Brain

Author: Leander Kahney
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101140194
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Book Description
One of USA Today's Best Business Books of 2008-now updated with a new chapter It's hard to believe that one man revolutionized computers in the 1970s and '80s (with the Apple II and the Mac), animated movies in the 1990s (with Pixar), and digital music in the 2000s (with the iPod and iTunes). No wonder some people worship Steve Jobs like a god. On the other hand, stories of his epic tantrums and general bad behavior are legendary. Inside Steve's Brain cuts through the cult of personality that surrounds Jobs to unearth the secrets to his unbelievable results. So what's really inside Steve's brain? According to Leander Kahney, who has covered Jobs since the early 1990s, it's a fascinating bundle of contradictions. This expanded edition includes a new chapter on Jobs's very public health crisis and the debate about Apple's future.