Build-A-Bear Workshop® is one of the most successful retailing concepts in recent history. Starting with just one location in 1997, the company now operates more than 200 stores worldwide. Leading the way is Maxine Clark, the company's founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Bear. Clark is widely recognized as one of the nation's leading and most creative entrepreneurs. In The Bear Necessities of Business, she reveals how she built this amazing global business from the ground up, while arming you with the tools you need to start, run, and market your own company in today's tough competitive environment. While primarily drawing on real-life experiences from Build-A-Bear Workshop®, Clark also offers wisdom gained throughout her entire thirty-plus-year career, including lessons and examples from some of the other great companies that do so much right. Straightforward and accessible, The Bear Necessities of Business is divided into seven parts, each built around an essential element that will allow you to stand apart from the crowd. The short, accessible chapters show you everything you need to: Get your business started Become a great boss Connect with your customers Add value to the overall experience Effectively market your company Plan for future growth Give back to your customers, employees, and community Best of all, these principles can be applied to any industry and are proven to work whether your target audience is children, teenagers, baby boomers, seniors, or any age in-between. Whether you're looking to start a new business, improve an existing one, be a better manager, or hire the best employees, The Bear Necessities of Business contains the insights and information you need to succeed. Even if you work for some-one else and have no plans to strike out on your own, you'll still benefit from the advice found in this book. After all, the best employees—and those who consistently rise to the top—are those who think like entrepreneurs!

A “refreshing” (Kirkus Reviews), unpretentious, and uplifting story about a father and son reconnecting and finding happiness in the most unlikely circumstances. Danny’s life is falling apart. His eleven-year-old son, Will, hasn’t spoken since the death of his mother in a car crash a year earlier, and Danny has just been fired from his construction job. He’s behind on the rent and his landlord is threatening to break his legs if he doesn’t pay soon. Danny needs money, and fast. After observing street performers in a local park, Danny spends his last few dollars on a tattered panda costume, impulsively deciding to become a dancing bear. While performing one day, Danny spots his son being bullied by a group of older boys. Danny chases them off, and Will opens up for the first time since his mom died, unaware that the man in the panda costume is his father. Afraid of disclosing his true identity, Danny comforts his son. But will Danny lose Will’s trust once he reveals who he is? And will he be able to dance his way out of despair? Filled with a delightful cast of characters including Danny’s Ukrainian best friend Ivan, Bear Necessity is “a moving, sensitive story that is also very funny, and a perfect literary antidote to anxious, troubled times” (Shelf Awareness).

Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer, Second Edition offers a powerful framework every leader can use to promote honest, constructive dissent and skepticism; test their assumptions; more thoroughly consider "best alternatives"; make better choices, and align organizations to act on their decisions. In this new edition, Roberto presents new cases from Google, Ford, Intuit, and others, plus expands coverage to more deeply illuminate his decision-making approach. Offering both positive and negative examples, he presents a well rounded view of how to determine when "yes" means "yes," when it doesn't, and what to do when it doesn't. Roberto explains why "good process entails the astute management of the social, political, and emotional aspects of decision making" -- in other words, why effective leaders are well served by carefully "deciding how to decide." ¿ Know What You Don’t Know: How Great Leaders Prevent Problems Before They Happen lays out the key skills and capabilities required to ensure that problems do not remain hidden in your organization. It explains how leaders can become effective problem finders, unearthing problems before they destroy an organization. The book explains how leaders can become an anthropologist, going out and observing how employees, customers, and suppliers actually behave. It then goes on to present how they can circumvent the gatekeepers, so they can go directly to the source to see and hear the raw data; hunt for patterns, including refining your individual and collective pattern recognition capability; "connect the dots" among issues that may initially seem unrelated, but in fact, have a great deal in common; give front-line employees training in a communication technique; encourage useful mistakes, including creating a "Red Pencil Award"; and watch the game film, where leaders reflect systematically on their own organization's conduct and performance, as well as on the behavior and performance of competitors.

Can business activity in itself be morally good and pleasing to God? Sometimes business can seem so shady—manipulating the "bottom line," deceiving the consumer, or gaining promotions because of whom you know. But Wayne Grudem introduces a novel concept: business itself glorifies God when it is conducted in a way that imitates God's character and creation. He shows that all aspects of business, including ownership, profit, money, competition, and borrowing and lending, glorify God because they are reflective of God's nature. Though Grudem isn't naïve about the easy ways these activities can be perverted and used as a means to sin, he knows that Christians can be about the business of business. This biblically based book is a thoughtful guide to imitating God during interactions with customers, coworkers, employees, and other businesses. See how your business—and your life in business—can be dedicated to God's glory.

A comprehensive guide to running a retail store, with advice on hiring and training, licenses and registrations, working with customers, and learning the retail market.

Completely updated and revised, this eleventh edition arms managers with the business tools they’ll need to succeed. The text presents managerial concepts and theory related to the fundamentals of planning, leading, organising, and controlling with a strong emphasis on application. It offers new information on the changing nature of communication through technology. Focus is also placed on ethics to reflect the importance of this topic, especially with the current economic situation. This includes all new ethics boxes throughout the chapters. An updated discussion on the numerous legal law changes over the last few years is included as well. Managers will be able to think critically and make sound decisions using this text because the concepts are backed by many applications, exercises, and cases.