Showing results by publisher "Instaread" in Business & Careers

Please note: This is key takeaways and analysis of the book and not the original book. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich is a manifesto calling for workers everywhere to rise up and flee their cubicles in pursuit of a life guided by their passions and not their paychecks. It offers a practical, step-by-step guide that can be followed by people who are not independently wealthy but who don't want to be slaves to their jobs until retirement.

Most companies rely on manipulations to attract customers and employees; they use short-term motivators that do not inspire or encourage loyalty. Customers who are not inspired will stop buying the product as soon as the company cannot keep up the manipulative strategies, and employees are less motivated and less productive when they are not inspired.

The 4 Disciplines of Execution is a guide for businesses to reliably commit to the goals and plans they set, authored by associates from FranklinCovey, a management consultancy. Rather than focusing on what a business must accomplish to be successful, the four disciplines establish how to accomplish those things.

Blue Ocean Strategy is the 2015 update to the classic business strategy text of the same name originally published in 2005. The text offers a practical handbook to business students and entrepreneurs who wish to rise above the fray of the competition, become pioneers in previously uncharted market territory, and gain access to impressive growth opportunities and an untapped customer base.

The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict, Second Edition, is an expanded version, including additional appendices, of a successful 2006 publication by the Arbinger Institute. The book, which uses fictional characters to illustrate its points, details strategies for defusing political, personal, and business conflicts. It argues that conflict must be approached with a heart at peace rather than a heart at war. Before people can change another's behavior, they must rid themselves of hatred and self-deception.

Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek advocates for a leadership style that focuses on serving others rather than pursuing shareholder goals or personal interests. Modern trends in leadership prioritize profits and executive bonuses over creating a healthy environment for employees. Leaders who think of themselves as serving their employees like family can increase job satisfaction and engagement, which reduces stress and increases productivity because employees feel secure.

Platforms connect two types of users in order to exchange something of value. This is different from the traditional pipeline model of business where something of value is created by transferring it from producer to producer with the consumer receiving it at the last step. Platforms are dominating production processes particularly because they reduce the costs of value creation, consumption, and quality control.

This is key takeaways and analysis of the book and not the original book. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty is an examination of the causes of economic inequality. Authors Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson conclude that underdevelopment is caused by political institutions and not by geography, climate, or other cultural factors. Elites in underdeveloped countries deliberately plunder their people and keep them impoverished.

Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss is a compelling nonfiction investigation into how corporate food manufacturers have come to rely on salt, sugar, and fat as the mainstays of processed and prepackaged food.

Please note: This is a summary, analysis and review of the book and not the original book. Inside you will find an overview of the book, important people, and key takeaways.

Success is available for anyone who wants to seize it. Regardless of background, intellect, wealth, or personality, anyone can achieve great things by multiplying their goals by 10. Once they set a lofty goal, people must then multiply their efforts by 10 in order to achieve it. At no point along the way, even when the going gets rough, should an unreasonable goal be recalibrated to make it easier to reach. Instead, individuals must further increase their efforts and actions to reach the initial goal.

Leadership and Self-Deception by the Arbinger Institute is a business fable that illustrates the ways that self-deception can undermine interpersonal relationships and productivity. It begins with a new product-line lead employee, Tom Callum, at the fictional Zagrum Company. He's meeting with the company's executive vice president, Bud Jefferson. Bud says that Tom has a problem with self-deception, as they all do, and begins a long meeting to mentor Tom on how to avoid self-deception.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F--k by blogger Mark Manson is a candid self-help guide for anyone who needs a dose of inspired but realistic perspective on their path of self-development. Manson's personal experience in self-improvement is the cornerstone of his philosophy.

The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Barry Posner takes a close look at the factors that contribute to strong leadership in a variety of fields. In their research, Kouzes and Posner found that there are five practices that leaders commonly list as key to moments when they were effective leaders. Central to every leader's success is credibility, which is related to the characteristics that followers seek in their leaders.

The Art of Closing the Sale delivers advice and guidelines that author Brian Tracy has accumulated throughout his sales career. Tracy became a more productive salesman when he developed the technique of forcing prospects to choose on the spot whether to buy the product.

Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's is Ray Kroc's rags-to-riches story of how he built the fast-food behemoth McDonald's from the ground up. His book has been widely recognized as a business executive's bible for how to succeed. Kroc narrates his life story and demonstrates how the grit and determination he used as a paper cup salesman led him through a series of twists and turns to meet the McDonald brothers, Richard and Maurice.

Be Obsessed or Be Average by Grant Cardone explains how to harness an obsessive or addictive personality for success in the business world. Cardone experienced loss in his family, first economically and then when his father died, and eventually became a struggling car salesman with a drug addiction problem. When he finished a short rehabilitation program, he decided to manage his tendency toward addiction by expending his energy on self-improvement in business and his personal life.

Awaken the Giant Within by motivational speaker Tony Robbins is a comprehensive self-help book designed for people who want to feel in control of all aspects of their lives and fulfill their greatest potential in their relationships, career, finances, and personal lives.

The Membership Economy: Find Your Super Users, Master the Forever Transaction, and Build Recurring Revenue is a guide intended to show companies, nonprofits, and individuals how they can create a membership program and why it is important that they do so. Author Robbie Kellman Baxter offers specific advice for a wide variety of organizations and asserts the need to create memberships that place the customer at the center of any business model.

Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It is an investigative overview of the food industry's often intentional efforts to mislead consumers about the origin and identity of the products that they eat. Author Larry Olmsted highlights the most outrageous examples of food frauds perpetrated upon the American people and offers recommendations for ways that consumers can reclaim their grocery bags and fill their dinner plates with foods they can trust.