Users, not customers : who really determines the success of your business

 by Aaron Shapiro. CEO of the digital marketing agency Huge, Shapiro argues that companies need to stop focusing on scrounging for the customer dollar in favor of improving a "user experience" that will keep prospective consumers engaged. In one generation, we've seen a dramatic shift in how we buy things; we are, in short (the eponymous), users not customers. Our engagement with brands goes far beyond merely purchasing a product or service; we're more motivated by the ease and experience of our engagement with the brand, and the quality of a company's digital presence. Shapiro discusses companies that have gotten it right (Hulu, Zipcar, Groupon) and those who have failed (JetBlue, Borders), walking readers through becoming a truly user-first company: structuring the business, balancing goals with technical feasibility and consumer needs, creating social value, and attracting users by giving, not taking. Shapiro's ideas are smart and perceptive, and his approach to strategy pleasingly concrete; he urges business owners to create a digital experience that's in service of customers, not trying to trick them. A much-needed, incisive guide to creating a genuinely appealing digital presence. Publishers Weekly (Check catalog)

Start something that matters

 by Blake Mycoskie. Best known as the founder of TOMS Shoes and as a contestant on The Amazing Race, Mycoskie uses his experience with TOMS, as well as interviews with leaders of non-profits and corporations, to convey valuable lessons about entrepreneurship, transparency of leadership, and living by one's values. The brilliant, simple mission of TOMS (for every pair of shoes purchased, they will give another pair away to children in need around the world) has inadvertently turned its customers into brand ambassadors, making this for-profit company with defined charitable goals wildly successful. Mycoskie deftly balances personal tales about starting a business with generally applicable lessons. While his story sometimes becomes repetitive and he treads familiar ground with start-up tales (motivate your overworked interns by feeding them, never be afraid to get your hands dirty), he offers excellent advice about the importance of honesty and principles in business. This book will appeal to the Millennial generation, who are known for seeking socially relevant jobs, as well as older workers looking to get back in touch with their values. --Publishers Weekly. (Check Catalog)

Keynes Hayek : the clash that defined modern economics

 by Nicholas Wapshott. British journalist Wapshott likes dual biographies. But the politicians at the heart of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher: A Political Marriage (2007) were on the same side. Here, Wapshott chronicles profound disagreements between John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), the British Bloomsbury Group veteran who urged governments to spend to bolster demand in economic downturns, and Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992), the Austrian School (and, for a time, University of Chicago) economist who came over time to view most government intervention in the market as a step toward totalitarianism. Keynes' approach macroeconomic in analysis, pragmatic and experimental in prescriptions is precisely what many Democrats (and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman) wish the U.S. was doing now to reduce unemployment. Meanwhile, Hayek's The Road to Serfdom (1944) rides high on Glenn Beck's recommended reading list, and his microeconomic, theoretically based prescriptions often match those of the Tea Party. A journalist's biography (Wapshott's first footnote concedes that his opening anecdote may never actually have happened), but perhaps more accessible than the several respected academic biographies of these two iconic twentieth-century economists. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Quitter : closing the gap between your day job & your dream job

 by Jon Acuff. Have you ever felt caught between the tension of a day job and a dream job? That gap between what you have to do and what you'd love to do? From figuring out what your dream is to quitting in a way that exponentially increases your chance of success, Quitter is full of inspiring stories and actionable advice. This book is based on 12 years of cubicle living and my true story of cultivating a dream job that changed my life and the world in the process. --Publisher (Check Catalog)

Currency wars : the making of the next global crisis

 by James Rickards. Rickards, experienced financial adviser, investment banker, and risk manager, tells us we are in a new currency war that could destroy faith in the U.S. dollar; he examines that war through the lens of economic policy, national security, and historical precedent. As a national security issue, he tells a fascinating story of his involvement with the Pentagon and other agencies in designing and participating in a war game using currencies and capital markets, instead of ships and planes, to gain early warning of attacks on the U.S. dollar. The author concludes that mainstream economists and central bankers alike are well aware of dollar weakness and the risks to international monetary stability from the new currency wars. He sees four prospects for the dollar multiple reserve currencies, special drawing rights, gold, and chaos. Rickards' ideas are controversial and will attract support and criticism across many disciplines. Nevertheless, he presents a compelling case for his views and offers thought-provoking information for library patrons. This is a must-read book. --Booklist (Check Catalog)