Quicklet on Jim Collins' Great By Choice


Book Description

I just finished reading Jim Collins' new book. "Great by Choice: Uncertainty Chaos and Luck -- Why Some Thrive Despite Them All" (often GBC from here on out) describes the results of a deep investigation into how young companies can survive and thrive in chaotic, turbulent environments to achieve spectacular results. The book is of great value to startups and entrepreneurs seeking to build enduringly great companies. In this ebook, I look at how his concepts of fanatical discipline, productive paranoia, and empirical creativity apply to building a startup that succeeds over the long-term. To Note: I think that if you're trying to found-n-flip a business, most of these lessons do not apply. Rather, they're specifically for founders/leaders who want to be a long-lasting business success. Additionally, I don't want readers to come away with the idea that these are the only ways to become an enduring success. However, we have more evidence to suggest that these ways will work compared to many other approaches.




Quicklet on Jim Collins' How the Mighty Fall (CliffsNotes-like Book Summary)


Book Description

Quicklets: Your Reading Sidekick! ABOUT THE BOOK When an individual or group entity reaches the pinnacle of success, the inevitable concern is where do we go from here? This zenith of success could be in the financial realm, or in the realm of public perception. Yet, when answering the concern where do we go from here the answer is almost always down, down, down. Jim Collins How the Mighty Fall is a valiant attempt to codify an intellectual grasp on recognizing, then mitigating the warning signs. In more advanced cases, this means addressing the later stages of decline toward salvaging social standing and profitability. Though the books subtitle, And Why Some Companies Never Give In, indicates an emphasis or relevance for companies in the private sector. The authors concepts are geared toward business entities, and governments at all levels. These institutions can draw useful, relevant insights toward maximizing their own effectiveness and efficiency. The first chapter clearly sheds important light on thisafter all, a symposium at West Point provided the inspiration for what would become the How the Mighty Fall project. This resulted in a published work that would eventually be distributed by the well-recognized publisher HarperCollins. MEET THE AUTHOR Joe Taglieri is a professional journalist and musician (drum set and Latin percussion instruments) in Los Angeles. He has written on a range of subjects for a variety of publications since the 1990s. Taglieri's forte is writing about governmental and economic issues, and he has a keen interest in sports and the arts, most notably music, television and film. He holds a degree in print journalism from the University of Southern California and has studied, taught and performed via the drum set for nearly 25 years and has done the same with Latin percussion instruments such as conga and bongo drums, cajon and timbales for more than 15 years. EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK This litany of symptoms of a sick mega-firm is a vehicle for Collins adage: Clearly, the solution to decline lies not in the simple bromide Change or Die; Bank of America changed a lot, and nearly killed itself in the process. We need a nuanced understanding of how decline happens... (How the Mighty Fall) Through the rest of the book, Collins specifically identifies and analyzes five stages of decline that organizations go through before total collapse such as bankruptcy. As has been the case in recent years, many seemingly indestructible corporationsAIG, Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, General Motors, Circuit City, just to name a fewhave collapsed and caused major havoc in the markets and among an assortment of societal segments. The five stages of decline, according to How the Mighty Fall, are... Buy a copy to keep reading! CHAPTER OUTLINE Quicklet on Jim Collins’ How the Mighty Fall + Introduction + About the Author + Overall Summary + Important People + ...and much more




Quicklet on Jim Collins' Great By Choice


Book Description

ABOUT THE BOOK I just finished reading Jim Collins' new book. "Great by Choice: Uncertainty Chaos and Luck -- Why Some Thrive Despite Them All" (often GBC from here on out) describes the results of a deep investigation into how young companies can survive and thrive in chaotic, turbulent environments to achieve spectacular results. The book is of great value to startups and entrepreneurs seeking to build enduringly great companies. In this ebook, I look at how his concepts of fanatical discipline, productive paranoia, and empirical creativity apply to building a startup that succeeds over the long-term. To Note: I think that if you're trying to found-n-flip a business, most of these lessons do not apply. Rather, they're specifically for founders/leaders who want to be a long-lasting business success. Additionally, I don't want readers to come away with the idea that these are the only ways to become an enduring success. However, we have more evidence to suggest that these ways will work compared to many other approaches. MEET THE AUTHOR Jason Shen is the co-founder of Ridejoy - a Y Combinator-funded community marketplace for ridesharing. His blog, "The Art of Ass-Kicking," has been featured by Lifehacker and ReadWriteWeb. Jason studied Biology and Philosophy at Stanford where he led the men's gymnastics team to an NCAA national championship. Ridejoy is a company where friendly and talented people can do their best work and make the world a better place. EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK Luck: the dirty word in all success, business, and self-improvement literature. Perhaps some people and companies just get lucky, and our ability to draw useful lessons and conclusions from their success is just not possible. But Collins and his team anticipated the curiosity, at any rate, and devoted an entire chapter to luck. GBC applied a consistent methodology to both pairs of companies to analyze how luck played a role in their outcomes. About 230 luck events were categorized and studied, each meeting all three criteria of being unpredictable, independent of the actions of key players, and having significant good or bad implications for the business. Examples of luck events include Amgen isolating the gene for EPO, which it likened to finding a sugar cube in a lake a mile wide/long/deep, or the New England Journal of Medicine publishing a paper that challenged the effectiveness of one of Genentech's major drug products. What they found: Neither 10x-ers or comparison companies had substantially more good luck or bad luck events, nor did one giant piece of good luck carry a 10x company through all its success. Luck exists, but it tends to even out the playing field. What matters is Return on Luck, or how you take advantage of good luck and avoid choking. Buy a copy to keep reading! CHAPTER OUTLINE Quicklet On Jim Collins' Great By Choice: The Surprising Lessons Of How Tech Startups Succeed Over The Long Term + Introduction + About the Book + A Closer Look: Summary, Analysis, and Important Lessons + Fire Bullets Then Cannonballs: Another Look At Launching MVPs + ...and much more




Big Game


Book Description

Teddy Fitzroy returns as FunJungle’s resident zoo sleuth when a rhinoceros is at risk in Big Game, a follow-up to Belly Up and Poached—which Kirkus Reviews called a “thrill-ride of a mystery.” When someone takes aim at Rhonda Rhino, FunJungle’s pregnant (and endangered) Asian greater one-horned rhinoceros, the zoo steps up security measures in order to protect this rare animal and her baby. But the extra security isn’t enough—someone is still getting too close for comfort. Teddy and company start to suspect that whoever is after Rhonda is really after her horn, which is worth a lot of money on the black market. For the first time ever, the head of the zoo enlists Teddy for help—for once, he doesn’t have to sneak around in order to investigate—and the results are even more wacky, and even more dangerous, than ever before.




I'd Rather Teach Peace


Book Description




My Remarkable Uncle


Book Description

This celebrated collection of sketches sparkles with Stephen Leacock’s humour and shines with the warmth of his wit. The comical E.P., star of the title essay, “My Remarkable Uncle,” is a classic Leacock character. He is president of a railway with a letterhead but no rails, and he heads a bank that boasts credit but no cash whatsoever – all of which trouble E.P. not in the least. My Remarkable Uncle, a wonderful smorgasbord of mirth served up by a master of comedy, includes several essays, a short story, a political parable, and personal reflections on a dizzying array of subjects. Here, in rich abundance, are the inspired nonsense and the unerring eye for human folly that have made Stephen Leacock Canada’s most celebrated humorist.




Introducing Psychology


Book Description

This is the textbook only without Launchpad. With an author team equally at home in the classroom, in the lab, or on the bestseller list, this book is written to keep students turning the pages. It offers expert coverage of psychology’s scientific foundations, but communicates with students in a style that’s anything but that of a typical textbook. Introducing Psychology keeps the level of engagement high, with quirky and unforgettable examples, and reminders throughout that the critical thinking skills required to study psychology will serve students well throughout their lives. The fourth edition has been completely retooled for the classroom. For the first time, each chapter section begins with Learning Outcomes to guide students’ learning. These outcomes represent the big picture, so readers come away with more than a collection of facts. The new edition also includes the new 'A World of Difference' feature, which highlights interesting and important research on individual differences such as sex, gender, culture and ethnicity in understanding the breadth of psychology. Introducing Psychology can also be purchased with the breakthrough online resource, LaunchPad, which offers innovative media content, curated and organised for easy assignability. LaunchPad's intuitive interface presents quizzing, flashcards, animations and much more to make learning actively engaging.




Introduction to Psychology


Book Description

This book is designed to help students organize their thinking about psychology at a conceptual level. The focus on behaviour and empiricism has produced a text that is better organized, has fewer chapters, and is somewhat shorter than many of the leading books. The beginning of each section includes learning objectives; throughout the body of each section are key terms in bold followed by their definitions in italics; key takeaways, and exercises and critical thinking activities end each section.




The Last Words of Distinguished Men and Women


Book Description

Reproduction of the original: The Last Words of Distinguished Men and Women by Frederic Rowland Marvin




Addressing Tipping Points for a Precarious Future


Book Description

Tipping points are zones or thresholds of profound changes in natural or social conditions with very considerable and largely unforecastable consequences. Tipping points may be dangerous for societies and economies, especially if the prevailing governing arrangements are not designed either to anticipate them or adapt to their arrival. Tipping points can also be transformational of cultures and behaviours so that societies can learn to adapt and to alter their outlooks and mores in favour of accommodating to more sustainable ways of living. This volume examines scientific, economic and social analyses of tipping points, and the spiritual and creative approaches to identifying and anticipating them. The authors focus on climate change, ice melt, tropical forest drying and alterations in oceanic and atmospheric circulations. They also look closely at various aspects of human use of the planet, especially food production, and at the loss of biodiversity, where alterations to natural cycles may be creating convulsive couplings of tipping points. They survey the various institutional aspects of politics, economics, culture and religion to see why such dangers persist.