Authors: Carl Hiaasen.
Paperback, 96 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: 1998-05-05
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    "Disney is so good at being good that it manifests an evil; so uniformly efficient and courteous, so dependably clean and conscientious, so unfailingly entertaining that it's unreal, and therefore is an agent of pure wickedness. . . . Disney isn't in the business of exploiting Nature so much as striving to improve upon it, constantly fine-tuning God's work."
--from TEAM RODENT

TEAM RODENT
How Disney Devours America

"Revulsion is good. Revulsion is healthy. Each of us has limits, unarticulated boundaries of taste and tolerance, and sometimes we forget where they are. Peep Land is here to remind us; a fixed compass point by which we can govern our private behavior. Because being grossed out is essential to the human experience; without a perceived depravity, we'd have nothing against which to gauge the advance or decline of culture; our art, our music, our cinema, our books. Without sleaze, the yardstick shrinks at both ends. Team Rodent doesn't believe in sleaze, however, nor in old-fashioned revulsion. Square in the middle is where it wants us all to be, dependable consumers with predictable attitudes. The message, never stated but avuncularly implied, is that America's values ought to reflect those of the Walt Disney Company, and not the other way around."...

    Let's get one thing straight: Carl Hiaasen doesn't like the Walt Disney Company. Whenever the giant entertainment conglomerate stumbles, as it did with its proposed Civil War theme park in Virginia, Hiaasen cheers. When a rhinoceros mysteriously dies at Disney's new theme park, Animal Kingdom, Hiaasen secretly hopes for the worst, because, as he writes, "no scandal is so delectable as a Disney scandal."

A native of Florida, author of such thrillers as Lucky You and Strip Tease, and a journalist for the Miami Herald, Hiaasen comes by his dislike for Disney honestly. He has witnessed the relentless success of the Disney machine firsthand with the development of Disney World and other properties around Orlando. In Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World, Hiaasen paints a witty and sarcastic portrait in this nonfiction account of a company who can control the press, manipulate local governments, and because it's Disney, get away with it. Team Rodent is a quick, entertaining read that even the most loyal Disney shareholder (except maybe Michael Eisner) will find enlightening and amusing. --Harry C. Edwards ...

Authors: Robert H. Frank. Philip J. Cook.
Paperback, 288 pages
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Publication Date: 1996-09-01


Reviews :

    Selected by Business Week as one of the 10 best business books of the year, this text is "a major contribution to the debate about the causes and consequences of inequality in America."--The New York Times Book Review....

Authors: John Seely Brown. Paul Duguid.
Paperback, 330 pages
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Publication Date: 2002-02-15
Edition: 1st

Reviews :

    "Should be read by anyone interested in understanding the future." - "The Times Literary Supplement".For years pundits have predicted that information technology will obliterate everything - from supermarkets to business organizations to social life itself. But beaten down by info-glut, exasperated by computer crashes, and daunted by the dot com crash, individual users find it hard to get a fix on the true potential of the digital revolution. John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid argue that the gap between digerati hype and end-user gloom is largely due to the "tunnel vision" that information-driven technologies breed. We've become so focused on where we think we ought to be - a place where technology empowers individuals and obliterates social organizations-that we often fail to see where we're really going. "The Social Life of Information" shows us how to look beyond our obsession with information and individuals to include the critical social networks of which these are always a part.John Seely Brown is the Chief Innovation Officer of 12 Entrepreneuring and the Chief Scientist of Xerox. He was the director of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) for ten years. Paul Duguid is affiliated with Xerox PARC and the University of California, Berkeley....

    How many times has your PC crashed today? While Gordon Moore's now famous law projecting the doubling of computer power every 18 months has more than borne itself out, it's too bad that a similar trajectory projecting the reliability and usefulness of all that power didn't come to pass, as well. Advances in information technology are most often measured in the cool numbers of megahertz, throughput, and bandwidth--but, for many us, the experience of these advances may be better measured in hours of frustration.

The gap between the hype of the Information Age and its reality is often wide and deep, and it's into this gap that John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid plunge. Not that these guys are Luddites--far from it. Brown, the chief scientist at Xerox and the director of its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and Duguid, a historian and social theorist who also works with PARC, measure how information technology interacts and meshes with the social fabric. They write, "Technology design often takes aim at the surface of life. There it undoubtedly scores lots of worthwhile hits. But such successes can make designers blind to the difficulty of more serious challenges--primarily the resourcefulness that helps embed certain ways of doing things deep in our lives."

The authors cast their gaze on the many trends and ideas proffered by infoenthusiasts over the years, such as software agents, "still a long way from the predicted insertion into the woof and warp of ordinary life"; the electronic cottage that Alvin Toffler wrote about 20 years ago and has yet to be fully realized; and the rise of knowledge management and the challenges it faces trying to manage how people actually work and learn in the workplace. Their aim is not to pass judgment but to help remedy the tunnel vision that prevents technologists from seeing larger the social context that their ideas must ultimately inhabit. The Social Life of Information is a thoughtful and challenging read that belongs on the bookshelf of anyone trying to invent or make sense of the new world of information. --Harry C. Edwards...

Authors: Frederic L. Laughlin. Robert C. Andringa.
Hardcover, 192 pages
Publisher: AMACOM
Publication Date: 2007-08-15
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    Many nonprofits are reluctant to develop a policies manual, believing that it takes far too much time, effort, and expertise. But the lack of responsible policies and governance can actually end up costing an organization much more in the long run -- both in reputation and in resources.

Good Governance for Nonprofits is a succinct but thorough guide that will help organizations develop a board that is legally and ethically responsible and effective in advancing their needs. The authors offer a clear process for creating a policies manual to help boards apply proven standards of governance or "attributes of excellence." Now even with limited resources, nonprofit leaders will learn how to:

* eliminate redundant or outdated policies
* add new policies more effectively
* clearly guide the CEO and evaluate his or her performance
* ensure compliance with relevant legislation and regulations
* understand why certain policies should be included
* adapt the authors' templates to their specific needs.
...

Authors: Eric Chester.
Paperback, 224 pages
Publisher: Kaplan Business
Publication Date: 2005-05-01


Reviews :

    ""Businesses need to stop focusing on 'paradigm shifts' and 'strategic initiatives' and realize that none of that makes any sense if your front-line employees don't 'give a damn.'"" —Rhoda Olsen, President, Great Clips, Inc.

 

Transform the Your Bored, Uncaring ""Generation Why"" Young Workforce into a Powerhouse of Performers and Innovators

 

According to the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs, by 2012 there will be a shortage of more than two million front-line service workers in retail sales, customer service, and food preparation. Only a fraction of the restless Generation Y workers who typically fill these positions stay with their employer longer than a year!  Dubbed ""kidployees,"" these 16- to 24-year-olds share an entirely different set of values, expectations, and skills that must be reckoned with if you're among the millions of business owners and managers in America.  

 

In Getting Them to Give a Damn, nationally recognized Generation Y expert Eric Chester shows readers how to hire, train, manage, and motivate a workforce that won't blindly conform to traditional standards and time-honored company policies and standards. Chester reveals the management techniques that leading-edge employers are using to get these quirky, book-smart, and streetwise kidployees to contribute in innovative and entrepreneurial ways....

Authors: David N. Feldman.
Hardcover, 264 pages
Publisher: Bloomberg Press
Publication Date: 2006-09-01
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    Written for CEOs, CFOs, and the investment bankers, lawyers, and auditors who advise them, this is the first book to explain how reverse mergers work, from the business and legal points of view....

Authors: Mark Tinghino.
Hardcover, 295 pages
Publisher: Bloomberg Press
Publication Date: 2008-02-19


Reviews :

    Technical Analysis Tools offers a concise and objective assessment of the most widely used technical analysis tools. Emphasizing the practical and supporting each technique with a plethora of real market examples, the book details each technique's strengths and weaknesses, as well as which tool works best in which type of market. The author clearly explains how to integrate each technical analysis tool into an overall effective trading system. Readers get a critical look at a wide variety of technical analysis tools and how to best use them for greater trading success....

Authors: Mary Jo Foley.
Hardcover, 304 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 2008-05-05


Reviews :

    Does Bill Gatess retirement consign Microsoft to the corporate retirement home as well? Mary Jo Foley doesnt think so. Her 25 years of Microsoft-watching provides a unique vantage point from which to speculate on how Microsoft might write its next chapter. Identifying signposts and interpreting clues she knows well, Foley offers a thought-provoking view of the software giants post-Gates future. Dont be surprised to be surprised....

Authors: Dennis Carey. Robert J. Aiello. Michael D. Watkins. Robert G. Eccles. Alfred Rappaport.
Paperback, 224 pages
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Publication Date: 2001-05


Reviews :

    Almost every day the papers report another merger, buyout, or joint venture. It's difficult enough to keep track of who owns which company, but it's even more difficult to know if your own company should join in the game. From valuation to integration, this collection helps managers think through what such a strategic move would mean for their organizations. "The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series" is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. From the preeminent thinkers whose work has defined an entire field to the rising stars who will redefine the way we think about business, here are the leading minds and landmark ideas that have established the "Harvard Business Review" as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe....

Authors: Ron Shelp.
Hardcover, 240 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 2006-10-06


Reviews :

    In Fallen Giant, author Ron Shelp—who worked within the AIG organization for more than a decade—sheds light on AIG, the company, and Hank Greenberg, the man. Through in-depth research, candid interviews, and firsthand experiences, Shelp provides a detailed look at how AIG was originally created and reveals how Greenberg’s unrelenting drive to be the best may have led to his untimely departure from AIG....