A guide to making money sans job offers insight-provoking interactive tests, self-evaluations, charts, and checklists, as well as numerous anecdotes about people who are successfully self-employed. “If you are ready to stretch your mind to the idea of making a living without a job, you’ll find plenty of encouragement and practical information here. Designing a lifestyle for yourself that nurtures and supports who you are and what you value won’t happen instantaneously, but this book will certainly make the process simpler and easier for you. Becoming joyfully jobless begins with a commitment to self-discovery, a curiosity about your potential, and a willingness to acquire the information and skills that will enhance your work. Your way will be unlike anyone else’s, although you will share a deep camaraderie with others on this path. Being your own boss is both heady and humbling, but it’s seldom boring.” —Barbara J. Winter, from the Introduction

If your company’s goal is to become fast, responsive, and agile, more efficiency is not the answer--you need more slack. Why is it that today’s superefficient organizations are ailing? Tom DeMarco, a leading management consultant to both Fortune 500 and up-and-coming companies, reveals a counterintuitive principle that explains why efficiency efforts can slow a company down. That principle is the value of slack, the degree of freedom in a company that allows it to change. Implementing slack could be as simple as adding an assistant to a department and letting high-priced talent spend less time at the photocopier and more time making key decisions, or it could mean designing workloads that allow people room to think, innovate, and reinvent themselves. It means embracing risk, eliminating fear, and knowing when to go slow. Slack allows for change, fosters creativity, promotes quality, and, above all, produces growth. With an approach that works for new- and old-economy companies alike, this revolutionary handbook debunks commonly held assumptions about real-world management, and gives you and your company a brand-new model for achieving and maintaining true effectiveness.

Based on a wealth of empirical studies and case studies, this book explains the strategic choices companies have to make in order to remain consistent. In each chapter, real-life examples illuminate the key message managers should take away from the book. It offers a purely managerial viewpoint focused on what managers can do to manage the business enviroment in any situation.

Allow Adversity to Refine You, Not Define You "[Britney Ruby Miller] is a change agent who brings the possibility of transformation to all those she leads and influences. From hostess to CEO, Britney leads with courage and humility and impacts the lives of her employees, family members, community, and beyond." —Ford Taylor, Founder, Transformational Leadership Crisis rarely comes with a warning. When blindsided by trauma, betrayal, or soul-crushing news, it’s natural to want to give up. Is it possible to rise above calamity and even thrive despite the turmoil? Britney Ruby Miller, entrepreneur and CEO of a nationally ranked, family-owned restaurant group, says yes, it absolutely is. Having faced family tragedy, peer rejection, infidelity, infertility, and a pandemic that threatened not only to close her family’s business but also to decimate the restaurant industry, Britney battled back with the winning combination of faith and fight that has led to her five-star life. Britney demonstrates what it means to live authentically and effectively as a strong woman in leadership. With captivating stories and practical applications to lead you deeper into principles for success, this book will show you how to increase your faith and hope in the midst of challenges, setbacks, and even tragedy as you persevere to attain your own Five-Star Life. “Every battle [Britney] has faced has been hard won. The scars she has received have become the stars she has earned…. Sit down. Relax. Enjoy. Savor. You’re about to experience a delicious meal.” —Kathie Lee Gifford

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, published by the U.S. Government and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in early 2011, is the official government report on the United States financial collapse and the review of major financial institutions that bankrupted and failed, or would have without help from the government. The commission and the report were implemented after Congress passed an act in 2009 to review and prevent fraudulent activity. The report details, among other things, the periods before, during, and after the crisis, what led up to it, and analyses of subprime mortgage lending, credit expansion and banking policies, the collapse of companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the federal bailouts of Lehman and AIG. It also discusses the aftermath of the fallout and our current state. This report should be of interest to anyone concerned about the financial situation in the U.S. and around the world.THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION is an independent, bi-partisan, government-appointed panel of 10 people that was created to "examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States." It was established as part of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. The commission consisted of private citizens with expertise in economics and finance, banking, housing, market regulation, and consumer protection. They examined and reported on "the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or would have failed if not for exceptional assistance from the government."News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER is a journalist, blogger and filmmaker. He has been reporting on economic crises since the 1980's when he was with ABC News. His film In Debt We Trust warned of the economic meltdown in 2006. He has since written three books on the subject including Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books, 2008), and The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big to Jail (Disinfo Books, 2011), a companion to his latest film Plunder The Crime Of Our Time. He can be reached online at www.newsdissector.com.

Our fear of the world ending, like our fear of the dark, is ancient, deep-seated and perennial. It crosses boundaries of space and time, recurs in all human communities and finds expression in every aspect of cultural production - from pre-historic cave paintings to high-tech computer games. This volume examines historical and imaginary scenarios of apocalypse, the depiction of its likely triggers, and imagined landscapes in the aftermath of global destruction. Its discussion moves effortlessly from classic novels including Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, to blockbuster films such as Blade Runner, Armageddon and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Lisboa also takes into account religious doctrine, scientific research and the visual arts to create a penetrating, multi-disciplinary study that provides profound insight into one of Western culture's most fascinating and enduring preoccupations.

Based on first-hand experience with companies such as Volvo, BP, Proctor and Gamble, ICI and Fuji Xerox, Elkington defines the triple bottom line of 21st century business as profit, environmental sustainability and social responsibility.