Unstoppable


Book Description

Over the next decade, two out of every three companies will face the challenge of their corporate lives: redefining their core business. Buffeted by global competition and facing an uncertain future, more and more executives will realize that they must make fundamental changes in their core even as they continue delivering the goods and services that keep them in business today. Unstoppable shows these managers how to look deep within their organizations to find undervalued, unrecognized, or underutilized assets that can serve as new platforms for sustainable growth. Drawing on more than thirty interviews with CEOs from companies such as De Beers, American Express, and Samsung, it shows readers how to recognize when the core needs reinvention and how to deploy the "hidden assets" that can be the basis for tomorrow's growth. Building on the author's previous books, Profit from the Core and Beyond the Core, this book shows how any company in crisis can transform itself to become truly unstoppable.




The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook


Book Description

In this warmhearted middle-grade novel, Oona and her brother, Fred, love their cat Zook (short for Zucchini), but Zook is sick. As they conspire to break him out of the vet’s office, convinced he can only get better at home with them, Oona tells Fred the story of Zook’s previous lives, ranging in style from fairy tale to grand epic to slice of life. Each of Zook’s lives has echoes in Oona’s own family life, which is going through a transition she’s not yet ready to face. Her father died two years ago, and her mother has started a relationship with a man named Dylan—whom Oona secretly calls “the villain.” The truth about Dylan, and about Zook’s medical condition, drives the drama in this loving family story. Praise for The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook STARRED REVIEW "Rocklin’s characters are fully developed: readers will be invested. Set in Oakland, readers are also treated to a refreshingly authentic child’s view of a diverse city. The only imperfection in this novel is that it ends." —Booklist, starred review “Oona’s character is a combination of Harriet the Spy in curiosity and Anastasia in spunk. Another emotionally satisfying outing from Rocklin; hanky recommended.” —Kirkus Reviews "Just as she did in One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street, Rocklin intertwines her characters so smartly that the many coincidences and serendipitous events feel organic to the story. The story’s ending—bittersweet, inevitable, and true—offers much-needed catharsis for the family and for anyone who has ever loved a pet." —The Horn Book "This heartwarming family tale is filled with resilient and thoughtful characters who are willing to learn from their mistakes. Readers who enjoy the novels of Jeanne Birdsall and Leslie Crunch will appreciate this charming story." —School Library Journal "There is a strong sense of place in this loving story with the ending sure to generate some tears. This would make a strong library lesson extension activity." —Library Media Connection Awards SCBWI’s Golden Kite Award for Fiction - 2012 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award




The Zook in the Book


Book Description

When Zook jumps out of Amy Sue's book, things get pretty wild. Zook has many talents including being a chef. Zook makes his famous Mook batter that suddenly escapes the pot and slithers out through the streets of the town. How will they get it back? What will Amy Sue do? What will the town do! The amazing way it works out will make you chuckle.Will the Zook come back for another adventure? We'll see!




The Founder's Mentality


Book Description

A Washington Post Bestseller Three Principles for Managing—and Avoiding—the Problems of Growth Why is profitable growth so hard to achieve and sustain? Most executives manage their companies as if the solution to that problem lies in the external environment: find an attractive market, formulate the right strategy, win new customers. But when Bain & Company’s Chris Zook and James Allen, authors of the bestselling Profit from the Core, researched this question, they found that when companies fail to achieve their growth targets, 90 percent of the time the root causes are internal, not external—increasing distance from the front lines, loss of accountability, proliferating processes and bureaucracy, to name only a few. What’s more, companies experience a set of predictable internal crises, at predictable stages, as they grow. Even for healthy companies, these crises, if not managed properly, stifle the ability to grow further—and can actively lead to decline. The key insight from Zook and Allen’s research is that managing these choke points requires a “founder’s mentality”—behaviors typically embodied by a bold, ambitious founder—to restore speed, focus, and connection to customers: • An insurgent’s clear mission and purpose • An unambiguous owner mindset • A relentless obsession with the front line Based on the authors’ decade-long study of companies in more than forty countries, The Founder’s Mentality demonstrates the strong relationship between these three traits in companies of all kinds—not just start-ups—and their ability to sustain performance. Through rich analysis and inspiring examples, this book shows how any leader—not only a founder—can instill and leverage a founder’s mentality throughout their organization and find lasting, profitable growth.




Color by Fox


Book Description

Locating a persistent black nationalist desire - yearning for home and community - in the shows produced in the 1980s and 1990s, Zook shows how the Fox hip-hop sitcom both reinforced and rebelled against earlier black sitcoms from the 1960s and 1970s.




Own Your Weird


Book Description

Tired of all the "shoulds" that guide your life? Want to create a life full of meaning? Work on your own terms? See the world a little differently? Then it's time to Own Your Weird. Creative entrepreneur Jason Zook certainly walks the walk of "owning his weird." He's had some crazy yet successful schemes -- he's made over a million dollars by having more than 1,600 companies pay him to wear their t-shirt (a project called I WearYour Shirt). Later he auctioned off his last name twice, for $50K each time. He then self-published his first book Creativity for Sale by nabbing sponsors and generating $75K in revenue. Now Own Your Weird is targeted to other potential "out of the box" thinkers who dream not only of doing work on their own terms, but also creating a meaningful life. Consider Jason your spirit guide, offering strategies for honing in on what makes you weird, recognizing when feedback is just another form of procrastination, and how to stop with social media already. There's a specific set of strategies and exercises that can help you prioritize your life over your business, by identifying your MMM (Minimum Monthly Magic) number. He also offers examples from his own life (how he got out of $124K worth of debt, escaped the pressure to have a big wedding, and has thrived on social media by primarily ignoring it). Own Your Weird is the permission slip you need to take that big risk. To finally chase down that big idea. And to let go of "supposed to" thoughts. See how life opens up when you break out of the blueprint.




Summary of Tony Robbins and Christopher Zook's The Holy Grail of Investing


Book Description

Get the Summary of Tony Robbins and Christopher Zook's The Holy Grail of Investing in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. "The Holy Grail of Investing" by Tony Robbins and Christopher Zook is a comprehensive guide to achieving financial independence through strategic investing. The book draws on insights from financial experts like Alan Greenspan, Ray Dalio, and the late Jack Bogle, emphasizing principles such as the avoidance of losses, proper asset allocation, asymmetric risk-reward opportunities, and diversification. Robbins and Zook highlight the success of alternative investment managers who have delivered extraordinary returns through unique opportunities and economic resilience...




Color Blind


Book Description

Color Blind by Dacie Zook __________________________________




Beyond the Core


Book Description

This work shows executives how to grow profitably by finding and focusing on their core business. It shows how they can increase the odds of successful expansion once their core business no longer provides sufficient new growth.




Repeatability


Book Description

Based on a multiyear study of such firms as Apple, IKEA, and Vanguard, the authors warn against complexity as a strategy for business planning, advocating instead for a simple, repeatable model that provides for constant improvement.