House of outrageous fortune : Fifteen Central Park West, the world's most powerful address

by Michael Gross    (Get the Book)
Fifteen Central Park West is the New Gilded Age address of a new generation of moguls enjoying the costliest real estate in an enclave of international wealth from the worlds of finance, technology, information, and entertainment. Gross, chronicler of the wealthy in 740 Park (2005) and Unreal Estate (2011), looks beyond the list of notable tenants (Sting, Denzel Washington, top executives from Goldman Sachs, Google, and Yahoo) to explore the changes in the architectural and social landscape of elite Manhattan. Gone are the days of snobbish cooperative boards declining the declasse, gone are the old assumptions of the good buildings. Gross details the ego-bruising battles to get into 15 CPW and the campaigns to snag just the right tenants for the tycoon-stuffed building. Gross offers historical perspective on the real-estate market in Manhattan, on the rise and fall of trendy buildings and their owners and tenants up to the latest shift in real-estate and financial markets, which has broadened the upper crust to include the newly wealthy, foreigners, and more ethnic Americans. Drawing on interviews with real-estate titans and power brokers, Gross provides a deliciously detailed and completely engaging look at how the 0.1 percent live in one building. --Boooklist

Talk like TED : the 9 public speaking secrets of the world's top minds

by Carmine Gallo   (Get the Book)
TED Talks have earned an enviable reputation for public speaking that likely only increases the jitters for most people called on to make presentations. But after analyzing 500 presentations, Gallo, author of The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs (2009), identifies the common elements that make TED Talks so successful. He offers nine secrets, including mastering the art of storytelling, being passionate about the subject matter, speaking conversationally, using humor, delivering jaw-dropping moments, and keeping presentations to 18 minutes. Gallo divides the lessons into three parts, focusing on the emotional, novel, and memorable. Drawing on research by psychologists and communication experts, Gallo provides detailed analysis of TED Talks. The book is most fascinating, however, when Gallo recalls interviews with some of the most successful TED speakers, offering recollections of their processes in preparing for the talk. Gallo's references to particular TED speakers are sure to send readers to the TED website to check on the talks themselves. This is sound advice and encouragement for those who need to make presentations and an enjoyable resource for fans of TED Talks. --Booklist

Absolute value : what really influences customers in the age of (nearly) perfect informatio

by Itamar Simonson    (Get the Book)
According to Simonson (Sebastian S. Kresge Professor, marketing, Graduate Sch. of Business, Stanford Univ.) and Rosen (The Anatomy of Buzz), what draws consumers to products in an age of readily available information is their "absolute value," or ultimate quality. The authors argue that the ease of finding immediate evaluations from strangers, friends, and experts about any given item with the click of a button has stripped away most marketing dogma. Gone are the days when positioning or brand loyalty influenced what people bought. Many products are at the mercy of aggregation tools and review websites, with the report from a buyer about their experience determining its success or failure. The book identifies the shift from relative value to absolute; the new changes in marketing, given the way people respond to the rapid spread of accessible information about new products; and the introduction of an "Influence Matrix" that helps managers determine where their product falls in this new framework. -Simonson and Rosen offer suggestions for how to navigate successfully the new environment and quickly respond to the opportunities it affords. VERDICT The authors' approach to thriving in the new climate of consumerism is a worthwhile addition to any business section. --Library Journal

Young money : inside the hidden world of Wall Street's post-crash recruits

by Kevin Roose    (Get the Book)
Roose, a financial journalist and author, offers a compelling glimpse of Wall Street in the post-2008 recession era as he shadows eight first- and second-year entry-level analysts at leading investment firms. All college graduates in their early twenties, they give him unauthorized access to their own experiences and lives in return for absolute anonymity. We learn about their big bonuses and lifestyles along with 100-hour work weeks. Roose is quoted, Their offices are covered in moldy takeout containers . . . . They dress in whatever is left in the clean laundry bag . . . and haven't seen sunlight in two months. The author discovers the toll the 2008 recession has taken on Wall Street, shrinking it significantly with lost jobs, and he also cites emerging competition for recruits from the growing technology industry. Overall values in this generation may be changing, too, as a student and potential Wall Street recruit said, Everyone wants to make money. But when I'm working in the place, I want to know that I'm doing some good. A thought-provoking, excellent book. --Booklist

The moment of clarity : using the human sciences to solve your hardest business problems

by Christian Madsbjerg    (Get the Book)
The authors describe the experience as a fog, a time when the business and its executives know something's wrong but can't quite define it. Consultants Madsbjerg and Rasmussen are proponents of sensemaking, a nonlinear process derived from the human sciences (like anthropology and ethnography) in which judgment and intuition help drive answers. Their statements of assumptions will have every head nodding: among others, that people are rational and fully informed, that tomorrow will look like today, and that hypotheses are objective and unbiased. Yet what they do is so innately smart and practical that it's a real surprise more corporations haven't adopted it. Look at LEGO, one of their four detailed case histories. In the early 2000s, sales slipping, the company turned to a new CEO and new thinking about the role of play in kids' lives. Adidas, too, turned to sensemaking, realizing that its core appeal was no longer to athletes or wannabes but rather as an inclusive brand inviting all of us to join a movement of living a healthier and better life. Strong, seductive arguments that hopefully will sway the logic and process makers among us. --Booklist

Appreciative inquiry : a positive revolution in change

by David L. Cooperrider    (Get the Book)
Originally part of Berrett-Koehler Communication's "Collaborating for Change" series, this short introduction to Appreciative Inquiry is the best way for organisations to be introduced to AI by the originators and leaders of the movement itself. Now with a new introduction and updated with revisions throughout, "Appreciative Inquiry" offers an approach that works because it acknowledges the prevailing attitudes toward change. It offers a fresh view based on the possibility of a more desirable future, experience with the whole system and activities that signal "something different is happening this time." That difference systematically taps the potential of human beings to make themselves, their organisations and their communities more adaptive and more effective. This approach is based on solid, proven principles for unleashing people's creativity, knowledge and spirit toward a common purpose. (Summary)

Jim Cramer's get rich carefully

by Jim Cramer    (Get the Book)
Cautious investors are weary of low returns on bonds and CDs but wary of the stock market, given recent precipitous declines and minor crashettes. Cramer, former hedge fund manager, host of CNBC's Mad Money, and founder of TheStreet.com, asserts that conservative investors need not shy away from stocks. Cramer identifies several megatrends (and stocks) that promise strong returns, including technology that embraces the holy trinity of social, mobile, and the Cloud; healthy eating; frugality; biotechnology; and energy. Beyond the trends, Cramer highlights bankable CEOs offering strong management that also promises strong returns on the stocks in their companies. In highly accessible language, Cramer explains how the stock market is influenced by economic data, Fed policy, world events, the actions of hedge funds, and the trend toward sector funds even when the underlying fundamentals of a stock remain stable. Drawing on his long experience, both mistakes and successes, Cramer demystifies the stock market and offers sound investing advice and an insightful overview of the market for cautious investors. --Booklist