A compelling vision. Bold leadership. Decisive action. Unfortunately, these prerequisites of success are almost always the ingredients of failure, too. In fact, most managers seeking to maximize their chances for glory are often unwittingly setting themselves up for ruin. The sad truth is that most companies have left their futures almost entirely to chance, and don’t even realize it. The reason? Managers feel they must make choices with far-reaching consequences today, but must base those choices on assumptions about a future they cannot predict. It is this collision between commitment and uncertainty that creates THE STRATEGY PARADOX. This paradox sets up a ubiquitous but little-understood tradeoff. Because managers feel they must base their strategies on assumptions about an unknown future, the more ambitious of them hope their guesses will be right – or that they can somehow adapt to the turbulence that will arise. In fact, only a small number of lucky daredevils prosper, while many more unfortunate, but no less capable managers find themselves at the helms of sinking ships. Realizing this, even if only intuitively, most managers shy away from the bold commitments that success seems to demand, choosing instead timid, unremarkable strategies, sacrificing any chance at greatness for a better chance at mere survival. Michael E. Raynor, coauthor of the bestselling The Innovator's Solution, explains how leaders can break this tradeoff and achieve results historically reserved for the fortunate few even as they reduce the risks they must accept in the pursuit of success. In the cutthroat world of competitive strategy, this is as close as you can come to getting something for nothing. Drawing on leading-edge scholarship and extensive original research, Raynor’s revolutionary principle of Requisite Uncertainty yields a clutch of critical, counter-intuitive findings. Among them: The Board should not evaluate the CEO based on the company’s performance, but instead on the firm’s strategic risk profile The CEO should not drive results, but manage uncertainty Business unit leaders should not focus on execution, but on making strategic choices Line managers should not worry about strategic risk, but devote themselves to delivering on commitments With detailed case studies of success and failure at Sony, Microsoft, Vivendi Universal, Johnson & Johnson, AT&T and other major companies in industries from financial services to energy, Raynor presents a concrete framework for strategic action that allows companies to seize today’s opportunities while simultaneously preparing for tomorrow’s promise.

«How You Can Strike It Rich in Life and Business Finally, the secrets of the truly wealthy are revealed! Now you can uncover what the world's richest people know that you don't—and learn to apply simple, practical, yet innovative methods that will enrich and enhance your life and bottom line. In What Rich People Know & Desperately Want to Keep Secret, author Brian Sher shares the best-of-the-best ideas and secrets to help you discover the basic but powerful principles necessary to attain personal and financial success. «A must-read. Packed with common sense and sound strategies, this book shows how you can succeed and get a taste of the good life». —James W. Robinson, senior adviser, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and author of the bestselling The Excel Phenomenon, Empire of Freedom, and The New Professionals «A good primer for the self-directed, self-motivated, and self-employed. This is the new bible for the self-made millionaire. Follow it well and reap the rewards». —Edmund J. Pankau, CEO of Pankau Consulting»

Bernhard Schlink brings to these seven superbly crafted stories the same sleek concision and moral acuity that made The Reader an international bestseller. His characters–men with importunate appetites and unfortunate habits of deception–are uneasily suspended between the desire for love and the impulse toward flight. A young boy’s fascination with an eerily erotic painting gradually leads him into the labyrinth of his family’s secrets. The friendship between a West Berliner and an idealistic young couple from the East founders amid the prosperity and revelations that follow the collapse of communism. An acrobatic philanderer (one wife and two mistresses, all apparently quite happy) begins to crack under the weight of his abundance. By turns brooding and comic, and filled with the suspense that comes from the inexorable unfolding of character, Flights of Love is nothing less than masterful

Thirteen-year-old Ben Tracey is looking forward to spending the summer in the Democratic Republic of Congo where his father has been hired to examine the valuable mineral Coltan that is being mined there. They soon realize that the people in the village close to the mine are frightened and it doesn’t take long for Ben and his father to discover why: behind the door of every hut there is at least one person dying or seriously ill, and no one seems to be doing anything to help. As Ben’s father falls ill, it is up to Ben and his new friend from the village, Halima, to try and tell the government what’s going on so the village can be isolated to prevent the sickness spreading. Will they be able to prevent disaster?

«Part «Blackhawk Down», part «The Riddle of the Sands», this is an extraordinarily gripping non-fiction thriller, written by a former MI6 officer. «Operation Kronstadt» not only reveals the early days of Britain's intelligence services but uncovers a truly dramatic story from the Russian Revolution involving a daring rescue attempt and a 'mission impossible' against the best defended naval target in Russia. By May 1919, when the power struggle between former Tsarists and Bolsheviks hangs in the balance, the only British agent in Russia is trapped and in mortal danger. Mansfield Cumming, the first 'C', dreams up an audacious — probably suicidal — plan to rescue him, and a young naval officer is sent with a specially selected team into the jaws of the Soviet fleet. This is the remarkable story of the spy, Paul Dukes, (the only MI6 officer to be knighted for work in the field), and of Gus Agar, whose extraordinary escapade won him the Victoria Cross.»

These three short novels about forbidden and otherworldly desires reveal deeply buried erotic truths. Met by Moonlight asks the questions Can it be possible that a handsome stranger met by moonlight is a mischievous fairy out to sample a taste of human love and passion? What will happen when the magic witching month of May is over? When he loses his human form, will he lose his memories of her as well? In the tale The House of Dust, the king is dead, but the queen cannot grieve until she's had vengeance. She must descend into and brave the Underworld in order to bring her lover back from the dead. Lastly, The Dragon Lord takes place in the misty marshlands of Navarone, where the princess is about to be married. Her parents desperately hope this will cure her of the problem that they have fought to keep secret for years her tendency to play with fire. The princess lights fires in the grate with her eyes when no one is looking, and she is lustful in a land of rigid morality.

Scattered, disorganized, with a badly coordinated wardrobe, Louise resolves to get it together although even her boyfriend is part-time. But then she discovers she’s succeeded at something: getting pregnant.

Wise, often funny, sometimes heartbreaking, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood tells the story of Marjane Satrapi's life in Tehran from the ages of six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken child of radical Marxists, and the great-grandaughter of Iran's last emperor, Satrapi bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Amidst the tragedy, Marjane's child's eye view adds immediacy and humour, and her story of a childhood at once outrageous and ordinary, beset by the unthinkable and yet buffered by an extraordinary and loving family, is immensely moving. It is also very beautiful; Satrapi's drawings have the power of the very best woodcuts. Persepolis ends on a cliffhanger in 1984, just as fourteen-year-old Marjane is leaving behind her home in Tehran, escaping fundamentalism and the war with Iraq to begin a new life in the West. In Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return we follow our young, intrepid heroine through the next eight years of her life: an eye-opening and sometimes lonely four years of high school in Vienna, followed by a supremely educational and heartwrenching four years back home in Iran. Just as funny and heartbreaking as its predecessor — with perhaps an even greater sense of the ridiculous inspired by life in a fundamentalist state — Persepolis 2 is also as clear-eyed and searing in its condemnation of fundamentalism and its cost to the human spirit. In its depiction of the universal trials of adolescent life and growing into adulthood — here compounded by being an outsider both abroad and at home, and by living in a state where you have no right to show your hair, wear make-up, run in public, date, or question authority — it's raw, honest, and incredibly illuminating.

Written by a leading professional with years of experience in the field of human resources, this is essential reading for novice and experienced job hunters alike. The 100 most common interview questions as well as the trickiest are all covered, and practical advice on how to display your best personality traits is provided. Instructions for how to dress and act, and what to do after your interview are also included. Ideal for graduates looking to take the first step on the career ladder and individuals returning to the work force, this detailed overview provides a vital edge on the competition.

The Gulag Archipelago is Solzhenitsyn's masterwork, a vast canvas of camps, prisons, transit centres and secret police, of informers and spies and interrogators and also of heroism, a Stalinist anti-world at the heart of the Soviet Union where the key to survival lay not in hope but in despair. The work is based on the testimony of some two hundred survivors, and on the recollection of Solzhenitsyn's own eleven years in labour camps and exile. It is both a thoroughly researched document and a feat of literary and imaginative power. This edition has been abridged into one volume at the author's wish and with his full co-operation.

From his favourite chair on the terrace above the ninth hole, The Oldest Member tells a series of hilarious golfing stories. From Evangeline, Bradbury Fisher's fifth wife and a notorious 'golfing giggler', to poor Rollo Podmarsh whose game was so unquestionably inept that 'he began to lose his appetite and would moan feebly at the sight of a poached egg', the game of golf, its players and their friends and enemies are here shown in all their comic glory.

Once in a while a book is produced that captures the energy and spirit of the world of rock. Somebody Someday was published to massive popular and critical acclaim in September 2001, and spent 14 weeks at the top of bestseller lists. It looks at Robbie's professional, family, social and love lives. The insight, honesty and humour combine with quality photographs and design to make this biography a triumph.

Richard Yates was acclaimed as one of the most powerful, compassionate and accomplished writers of America's post-war generation. Whether addressing the smothered desire of suburban housewives, the white-collar despair of Manhattan office workers or the heartbreak of a single mother with artistic pretensions, Yates ruthlessly examines the hopes and disappointments of ordinary people with empathy and humour.

The richest and most depraved man on Earth takes a wild space journey to distant worlds, learning about the purpose of human life along the way.

Perry's IQ is only 76, but he's not stupid. His grandmother taught him everything he needs to know to survive: She taught him to write things down so he won't forget them. She taught him to play the lottery every week. And most important, she taught him whom to trust. When Gram dies, Perry is left orphaned and bereft at the age of thirty-one. Then he wins twelve million dollars with his weekly Washington State Lottery ticket, and he finds he has more family than he knows what to do with. Peopled with characters both wicked and heroic who leap off the pages, Lottery is a deeply satisfying, gorgeously rendered novel about trust, loyalty, and what distinguishes us as capable.

Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets: Secrets from her boyfriend: I've always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken. Secrets from her mother: I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur. Secrets she wouldn't share with anyone in the world: I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is. Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger... Until Emma comes face-to-face with Jack Harper, the company's elusive CEO, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her...

«In a sequel to the bestselling «Confessions of a Shopaholic», the plucky, hapless Becky Bloomwood is back. She and her credit cards are making their way across the Atlantic because there just aren't enough shops in London.»

Under Andy Grove's leadership, Intel has become the world's largest chip maker and one of the most admired companies in the world. In Only the Paranoid Survive, Grove reveals his strategy of focusing on a new way of measuring the nightmare moment every leader dreads--when massive change occurs and a company must, virtually overnight, adapt or fall by the wayside. Grove calls such a moment a Strategic Inflection Point, which can be set off by almost anything: mega-competition, a change in regulations, or a seemingly modest change in technology. When a Strategic Inflection Point hits, the ordinary rules of business go out the window. Yet, managed right, a Strategic Inflection Point can be an opportunity to win in the marketplace and emerge stronger than ever. Grove underscores his message by examining his own record of success and failure, including how he navigated the events of the Pentium flaw, which threatened Intel's reputation in 1994, and how he has dealt with the explosions in growth of the Internet. The work of a lifetime, Only the Paranoid Survive is a classic of managerial and leadership skills. The Currency Paperback edition of Only the Paranoid Survive includes a new chapter about the impact of strategic inflection points on individual careers--how to predict them and how to benefit from them.