Tell to win : connect, persuade, and triumph with the hidden power of story

 by Peter Guber. True business leaders know that stories, not facts and statistics, sell an idea. Guber, chair/CEO of the Mandalay Entertainment Group, offers insight on how to craft and deliver a story that will bring an idea to life. Guber liberally draws on the wealth of stories from his years of experience as a Hollywood studio executive and includes anecdotes from former President Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, Deepak Chopra, Alice Walker, Gene Simmons, Wolfgang Puck, and dozens of others on how they have used personal stories to motivate. While books by Stephen Denning (e.g., The Leader's Guide to Storytelling) and Annette Simmons (e.g., The Story Factor) delve into how storytelling can be used to lead organizations, Guber focuses on how it can be employed in negotiations as well. VERDICT This will appeal to the casual business reader and those interested in the entertainment industry. --Library Journal (Check catalog)

The Google way : how one company is revolutionizing management as we know it

 by Bernard Girard. Can a small start-up company sustain its entrepreneurial spirit? Google, a relatively young organization valued at $100 billion, has become so popular that its name has become a verb for searching the Internet. Girard, a French management consultant, presents interesting information about Google's unconventional employee and management practices. He describes how job applicants are rigorously tested for innovation and creativity and how Google's three leaders, Brin, Page, and Schmidt, have nurtured a working environment that takes the best from human nature and competition. Giving employees 20 percent of their time to create new products and encouraging small team collaboration have resulted in a dramatically expanded service portfolio. Applying its motto, "Don't be evil," Google has shaped its practices to encourage and recognize innovation. Girard demonstrates how similar management principles can be applied in other organizations. The author writes colloquially, frequently comparing Google's and Microsoft's practices. Chapter-by-chapter source notes. See related, Janet Lowe's Google Speaks (CH, Sep'09, 47-0371), Virginia Scott's Google (CH, Apr'09, 46-4547), and John Battelle's The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture. --Choice (Check catalog)

The facebook era : tapping online social networks to market, sell, and innovate

 by Clara Shih. Shih (CEO, Hearsay Labs) has updated her book, which is warranted by the immense changes in the social Web since the 2009 publication of the first edition. Many of the featured platforms of the first edition, such as MySpace, are now uninteresting for business, while Twitter and LinkedIn are significantly more important. In this reviewer's opinion, a more accurate title would be "The Social Media Era." The book contains many new examples of how companies are innovatively using the social Web to better know and support customers and reach new audiences for business functions including sales, marketing, customer service, innovation, collaboration, and recruiting. Each chapter ends with an actionable to-do list including items such as "Consider building a crowdsourced ideation community to track market demand for proposed features and generate new ideas." Shih has created associated Web discussion threads for each chapter to allow readers to share experiences. The book contains case studies, some of which are locatable in the index under "case studies." Sidebars from renowned social media authorities vary from idiosyncratic anecdotes to useful recommendations. A new chapter for nonprofits, health care, education, and political organizations is very helpful. Summing Up: Highly recommended --Choice (Check catalog)

Start your own import/export business

 by Krista Turner. An innovative guide to how great nonprofits achieve extraordinary social impact. What makes great nonprofits great? Authors Crutchfield and McLeod Grant searched for the answer over several years, employing a rigorous research methodology which derived from books on for-profits like Built to Last. They studied 12 nonprofits that have achieved extraordinary levels of impact-from Habitat for Humanity to the Heritage Foundation-and distilled six counterintuitive practices that these organizations use to change the world. This book has lessons for all readers interested in creating significant social change, including nonprofit managers, donors and volunteers. Leslie R. Crutchfield (Washington, D.C.) is a managing director of Ashoka and research grantee of the Aspen Institute. Heather McLeod Grant (Palo Alto, CA) is a nonprofit consultant and advisor to Duke University's Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship and the Stanford Center for Social Innovation. Crutchfield and Grant were co-founding editors of Who Cares, a national magazine reaching 50,000 readers in circulation between 1993-2000. --Publisher (Check Catalog)