Tom Chappell has created one of America's most extraordinary success stories by turning a mom-and-pop natural personal care products company started on a $5,000 loan into a nationally recognized brand with $28 million and counting in sales. Chappell achieved his rapid growth and profitability by "managing upside down" --focusing on social values and respect for the environment to increase customer satisfaction and the bottom line. Now, Chappell shares his straightforward and practical business advice in seven easy-to-follow steps. They show how anyone can: . Manage for social aims and profit Redefine leadership in a values-driven company Develop a competitive advantage around shared values among customers, owners, employees, and communities Businesses throughout America are already using Chappell's Seven Intentions and proving that pursuing a broader social mission can actually strengthen a company's financial performance. Managing Upside Down brings this important message to an even wider audience.

There's a lot of hot air in the world of business. Wouldn't it be nice just to hear some common sense? That's exactly what John Timpson has got. After four decades running his family business and turning it into one of the high street's biggest success stories, he really knows what works and what doesn't. Upside Down Management shares with you all the wisdom he's accumulated in that time. From being the CEO to his trademark 'upside down management', and from breaking the rules to following your conscience, this book tells it like it is. Upside Down Management is a fantastic insider's view of what really makes a family business tick.

Imagine a management philosophy based not upon serving a company's customers, but on serving the company's employees. Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies in India, has put such a philosophy into practice with remarkable results. His "employee first, customer second" mantra has been recognized globally as an example of organizational innovation, and was deemed a "new and radical management philosophy" ripe for the picking in the Western world by Business Week. In this book, Nayar himself describes his blunt refusal to treat the flesh and blood of HCL--its people--as "human resource" or as "intellectual capital" or even as an asset like all its other assets-and how his unique perspective led to an holistic transformation of his organization. By putting employees on top of the organizational pyramid, he argues, your company can fully realize the value created in the interface between customers and employees. This book leads managers and executives through the five core aspects of Nayar's approach, demonstrating how to create a sense of urgency, overhaul incentives and reporting structures, foster transparency in communications and feedback, provide platforms for achievement and personal growth, and finally recognize the potential of every individual in the organization. The "Employee First" philosophy should be the fulcrum of the transformation journey of any organization.

As companies reorganize and reengineer, thousands of people are finding themselves tossed into management every day. "You may go to bed as a member of the team and wake up to find yourself suddenly in charge," says Matuson. The key to success is managing effectively both up and down the line of organization. And Suddenly in Charge provides this unique approach with two books in one: read it in one direction and you'll find all the tips and tools you need to manage down, establishing credibility with your team and leading in a way that both builds rapport and garners respect. Flip the book over and you'll find success strategies for managing up, interacting successfully with your bosses and developing strong relationships. In the Managing Up side of the this book, you will learn how to manage your relationships and responsibilities as an employee, including how to understand the boss's style of management; deal with dictatorial, indecisive or otherwise difficult bosses; promote yourself; ask for raises; and know when it's time to leave a position. With key learning points, real-life examples and proved strategies for effective communication, Managing Up helps you navigate the world of office politics while staying true to yourself. In the Managing Down side of this book, you will learn how to manage your relationships and responsibilities as a boss, including how to stay sane during conflicts, evaluate performance, and make the hiring and firing process easier and more mutually beneficial. With key learning points, real-life examples and proven strategies for effective communication, Managing Down helps you clearly define your new role and cultivate an environment of engaged, motivated employees.

“Clever, surprisingly fast-paced, and enlightening.” —Forbes Most new products fail. So do most businesses. And most of us, if we are honest, have experienced a major setback in our personal or professional lives. So what determines who will bounce back and follow up with a home run? What separates those who keep treading water from those who harness the lessons from their mistakes? One of our most popular business bloggers, Megan McArdle takes insights from emergency room doctors, kindergarten teachers, bankruptcy judges, and venture capitalists to teach us how to reinvent ourselves in the face of failure. The Up Side of Down is a book that just might change the way you lead your life.

Beatrice does her best thinking upside down. Hanging from trees by her knees, doing handstands . . . for Beatrice Zinker, upside down works every time. She was definitely upside down when she and her best friend, Lenny, agreed to wear matching ninja suits on the first day of third grade. But when Beatrice shows up at school dressed in black, Lenny arrives with a cool new outfit and a cool new friend. Even worse, she seems to have forgotten all about the top-secret operation they planned! Can Beatrice use her topsy-turvy way of thinking to save the mission, mend their friendship, and flip things sunny-side up?

From the author of the #1 bestselling and Governor General’s Literary Award-winning The Ingenuity Gap – an essential addition to the bookshelf of every thinking person with a stake in our world and our civilization. This is a groundbreaking, essential book for our times. Thomas Homer-Dixon brings to bear his formidable understanding of the urgent problems that confront our world to clarify their scope and deep causes. The Upside of Down provides a vivid picture of the immense stresses that are simultaneously converging on our societies and threatening a breakdown that would profoundly shake civilization. It shows, too, how we can choose a better route into the future. With the immediacy that characterized his award-winning international bestseller, The Ingenuity Gap, Homer-Dixon takes us on a remarkable journey – from the fall of the Roman empire to the devastation of the 9/11 attacks in New York, from Toronto in the 2003 blackout to the ancient temples of Lebanon and the wildfires of California. Incorporating the newest findings from an astonishing array of disciplines, he argues that the great stresses our world is experiencing – global warming, energy scarcity, population imbalances, and widening gaps between rich and poor – can’t be looked at independently. As these stresses combine and converge, the risk of breakdown rises. The first signs are appearing in the wastelands of the Arctic, the mud-clogged streets of Gonaïves, Haiti, and the volatile regions of the Middle East and Asia. But while the consequences of denial in our more perilous world are dire, Homer-Dixon makes clear that we can use our emerging understanding of the complex systems in which we live to avoid catastrophic collapse in a way the Roman empire could not. This vitally important new book shows how, in the face of breakdown, we can still provide for the renewal of our global civilization. We are creating the conditions for catastrophe, but by understanding the underlying principles that make human and natural systems resilient – and by working together to put those principles into effect – we can still limit the severity of collapse and foster regeneration, innovation, and renewal.