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by Kim Heldman. (Find the Book)
The role of the project manager continues to become more diverse and demanding, placing strong project management skills in high demand. This in-depth introductory guide offers aspiring project managers the essential fundamentals of project management. Fully revised since the previous version, this new edition includes updated project management methods and practices as well as new examples and study questions. Project management guru Kim Heldman presents you with a clear, concise, and enjoyable writing style so that you can approach project management from a practical rather than theoretical standpoint. --Summary
by Steve Coll. (Find the Book)
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Coll (Ghost Wars) combines a corporate history of the world's biggest energy company with a survey of energy geopolitics. He begins with the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, suggesting that the ongoing public criticism it generated fostered a corporate culture that is conservative, defensive, highly disciplined, and focused on cost and efficiency. While Coll covers corporate leadership and the Mobil and XTO mergers, he concentrates on the company's relentless pursuit of replacement oil reserves, its tactics to mitigate threats from environmentalism and alternative fuels, and its attempts to influence government policy. He follows the company's maneuvers in politically unstable parts of the world such as Africa and Indonesia and shows how it has coped with nationalism in Russia and Venezuela. He closes with BP's Deepwater Horizon debacle and a summary of where the United States stands today with regard to the environmental and economic costs of fossil fuel dependency. VERDICT In a very long work, Coll manages to keep his text clear, informative, and at times riveting. Highly recommended for students of the energy economy as well as for motivated general readers. --Library Journal
by Ken Segall. Segall worked with Steve Jobs for 12 years, as creative director at Apple and NeXT Computer, and also spent time as agency global creative director at Dell, IBM, Intel, and BMW. As the man who came up with the iconic iMac name, which launched one of the most successful product lines in history, Segall played a pivotal role in reviving Apple from near death. His close working relationship with Jobs allows him to provide insight into how Jobs' obsession with simplicity became the driving force that informs every decision the company makes to this day, from product design to advertising, even down to the packing boxes. Segall contrasts this Apple mind-set with those of companies like Dell, Intel, and Microsoft, where complexity and a dizzying array of product choices only serve to confuse and distract customers. His recounting of high-level meetings, ad campaigns, and product-naming sessions reveals much about how Jobs' unyielding, brutally honest approach pushed aside rivals, teams of lawyers, and everyone else who said it couldn't be done to remake Apple into one of the most admired and valuable companies in the world. --Booklist (Check Catalog)
by Ruchir Sharma. Sharma, the head of Morgan Stanley's Emerging Markets division, takes readers on a lively tour across five continents as he explores the factors behind the next economic powerhouses. Analyzing a smorgasbord of indicators-from income levels, to the number of billionaires in a country, to the pronouncements of local politicians-Sharma stresses that the nations poised to be the next big thing in the global marketplace are not the just usual suspects like China, Russia, and India. Instead, they are smaller countries that are making quiet, unheralded progress before the rest of the world catches on. The Czech Republic and Poland benefit from low levels of debt, strong political systems, and conservative businesses communities, as does South Korea, a perennial innovator. Turkey gets a nod for its efforts to bring its poorer areas in line with wealthier urban enclaves, and others like Indonesia and Nigeria have notable potential. But Sharma also offers cautionary advice, courtesy of former Bank of England adviser Charles Goodhart's law: "once an economic indicator gets too popular, it loses its predictive value." Accessible to newbies and revelatory for veterans, Sharma's observations upend conventional wisdom regarding what it takes to succeed in the relentlessly competitive global marketplace. --Publishers weekly (Check Catalog)
