New tools for managing complexity Does your organization manage complexity by making things more complicated? If so, you are not alone. According to The Boston Consulting Group’s fascinating Complexity Index, business complexity has increased sixfold during the past sixty years. And, all the while, organizational complicatedness—that is, the number of structures, processes, committees, decision-making forums, and systems—has increased by a whopping factor of thirty-five. In their attempt to respond to the increasingly complex performance requirements they face, company leaders have created an organizational labyrinth that makes it more and more difficult to improve productivity and to pursue innovation. It also disengages and demotivates the workforce. Clearly it’s time for leaders to stop trying to manage complexity with their traditional tools and instead better leverage employees' intelligence. This book shows you how and explains the implications for designing and leading organizations. The way to manage complexity, the authors argue, is neither with the hard solutions of another era nor with the soft solutions—such as team building and feel-good “people initiatives”—that often follow in their wake. Based on social sciences (notably economics, game theory, and organizational sociology) and The Boston Consulting Group’s work with more than five hundred companies in more than forty countries and in various industries, authors Yves Morieux and Peter Tollman recommend six simple rules to manage complexity without getting complicated. Showing why the rules work and how to put them into practice, Morieux and Tollman give managers a much-needed tool to reinvigorate people in the face of seemingly endless complexity. Included are detailed examples from companies that have achieved a multiplicative effect on performance by using them. It’s time to manage complexity better. Employ these six simple rules to foster autonomy and cooperation and to effectively handle business complexity. As a result, you will improve productivity, innovate more, reengage your workforce, and seize opportunities to create competitive advantage.

Six Simple Rules for a Better Life is not another self-help manual touting all kinds of grand changes that are meant to impress you but that instead serve to oppress you, making you feel so guilty that you avert your eyes as you walk past the shelf where it sits next to a bunch of other impulsively bought, unread books, each accusingly calling out to you, Why aren't you following my instructions? What it is: Six Simple Rules for a Better Life is a book filled with practical, achievable suggestions for all kinds of ways you can improve your life, along with a game plan for doing so. In Six Simple Rules for a Better Life, you'll learn that Life is Long and that you can achieve your goals when you slow down to make the changes and stop to celebrate the progress.

Scarlet considers herself someone who fixes other people’s problems…until she becomes one when she falls in love with her sister’s husband in this beautiful young adult novel about love and family from National Book Award finalist and Printz Honor medal winner Deb Caletti. Scarlet spends most of her time worrying about other people. Some are her friends, others are practically strangers, and then there are the ones no else even notices. Trying to fix their lives comes naturally to her. And pushing her own needs to the side is part of the deal. So when her older sister comes home unexpectedly married and pregnant, Scarlet has a new person to worry about. But all of her good intentions are shattered when the unthinkable happens: she falls for her sister’s husband. For the first time in a long time, Scarlet’s not fixing a problem, she’s at the center of one. And ignoring her feelings doesn’t seem to be an option…

The first collection of abridged versions of Munro Leaf’s most popular children’s guides to proper behavior—featuring retro, midcentury modern illustrations, this is the perfect gift for grandparents, parents, and children alike. Renowned children’s book illustrator and author Munro Leaf captured the whimsy and innocence of childhood for an entire generation of young readers. Now, more than fifty years later, those same readers are passing these stories down to their children and their children’s children, and Leaf’s collection of children’s books has reached iconic status. Collected here for the first time in one affordable volume are selections from some of Leaf’s most beloved childhood guides. With a charming mixture of fatherly concern and kindhearted humor, and without ever coming across as a scold, Leaf has helped generations of American children (and adults) learn how to behave like proper grown-ups (in grown-up company), how to speak politely, to enjoy reading, and even to remember to brush their teeth. With over 500,000 copies of his beloved books in print, this new edition will bring Leaf’s unique voice to an entirely new group of young readers.

George Orwell set out ‘to make political writing into an art’, and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature – his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell’s essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. In Politics and the English Language, the second in the Orwell’s Essays series, Orwell takes aim at the language used in politics, which, he says, ‘is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind’. In an age where the language used in politics is constantly under the microscope, Orwell’s Politics and the English Language is just as relevant today, and gives the reader a vital understanding of the tactics at play. 'A writer who can – and must – be rediscovered with every age.' — Irish Times

“The business environment is so uncertain that no can afford to miss a step. Some forces are out of out control–recessions, cutbacks, layoffs. But being the best we can be at our job is not. We have total control over that.” --From the Introduction of The Six Fundamentals of Success Everyone has his or her own style at work. But if you look at the people who are successful, you’ll see similarities. They always do the most important things first--they know how to prioritize. They can sum up how their company stands out from the pack in only a few minutes. They work with a sense of urgency, every day. These are the kinds of qualities and habits that never go out of style. Moreover, they are crucial to any successful career and life. By pursuing them regularly, you and your company are more likely to get ahead. In The Six Fundamentals of Success, CEO and business consultant Stuart Levine spells out exactly how to practice the constants of business success--whether it’s satisfying customers, developing strong relationships, or communicating clearly--through six fundamental principles, gained from decades of experience working with top executives. But it’s the way Levine zeroes in on these fundamentals--add value, communicate well, deliver results, act with integrity, invest in relationships, and gain perspective--and brings them to life through dozens of pithy, to-the-point rules that makes the book so practical and useful. With no-nonsense lessons like “Face time counts,” “Do breakfast,” and “Share the good news--and the bad,” Levine offers concrete examples of how to behave, respond, and motivate others. Aimed at business people and entrepreneurs at all levels, whether they work in companies large or small, The Six Fundamentals of Success provides the smart, action-oriented guidance people need in today’s challenging climate.

In Three Simple Rules, Rueben Job offers an interpretation of John Wesley's General Rules for today's readers. For individual reading or group study, this insightful work calls us to mutual respect, unity and a deeper daily relationship with God. This simple but challenging look at three commands, "do no harm, do good, stay in love with God," calls us to mutual respect, unity, and a deeper relationship with God. “Every year I review the three general rules of the United Methodist Church with those who are being ordained. Now I have a wonderful ordination gift to give them in Bishop Job’s, Three Simple Rules, to start and deepen the conversation as they enter a new relationship with the church. Bishop Job has described “by attending upon all the ordinances of God” to be to “stay in love with God.” It’s a fresh language that speaks especially to long-time Christians and United Methodists.” Sally Dyck, Resident Bishop, Minnesota Area “Three Simple Rules is a new catechism for everyone wanting to follow Jesus Christ. These practices for holy living should replace the membership vows in every church! Don’t let the title fool you. Bishop Job writes, ‘The rules are simple, but the way is not easy. Only those with great courage will attempt it, and only those with great faith will be able to walk this exciting and demanding way.’” John Hopkins, Resident Bishop, East Ohio Area Table of Contents: Introduction The World In Which We Live First Do No Harm Do All the Good You Can Stay in Love with God A Guide for Daily Prayer