[This book] analyzes ... the chains of blunders and bad judgments that led to fifteen legendary debacles, including the Firestone tire recall, EuroDisney, and Quaker's failed acquisition of Snapple. In each case, [the author] pinpoints exactly how and where the decision-making process went wrong and shows what managers in any organization can learn from these monumental fiascoes. Based on his analysis of 400 strategic decisions made by top managers in areas such as products and services, pricing and markets, personnel policy, technology acquisition, and strategic reorganization, [the author] estimates that two-thirds of all decisions are based on failure-prone or questionable tactics. He uses the fifteen monumental decision-making disasters to illustrate the potential consequences of these common tactical errors and traps ... He then details successful alternative approaches to decision-making.-Back cover.

Business runs on decisions. Business relies on estimates, plans, and projections - and we all know how accurate they tend to be. Careers are made, careers are broken based on perceived accuracy in estimation and planning. But what if the successes and failures of these projects were not based on the prowess of those making the plans? What if successes and failures were instead the result of a more complex set of events? What if our own cognitive biases - our own brains - were creating our inaccuracies, our poor assumptions, and our unreasonable expectations? Why Plans Fail directly addresses our ability to plan, to forecast, and to make decisions. Written by Jim Benson, author of the Shingo Research Award-winning Personal Kanban, urban planner, software developer, and business owner who has planned and built everything from small software projects, to houses, to urban freeway systems, Why Plans Fail is told by someone with much skin in the estimation and planning game. This short work is the first in the Modus Cooperandi MemeMachine series - which looks specifically at underlying issues that directly impact the success of teams, companies, and individuals. The Mememachine series is meant to start conversations and advance discussion.

Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine? Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are? Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Sierra Leone, are mired in poverty and violence? Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Korea, to take just one of their fascinating examples, is a remarkably homogeneous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest. The south forged a society that created incentives, rewarded innovation, and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities. The economic success thus spurred was sustained because the government became accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass of people. Sadly, the people of the north have endured decades of famine, political repression, and very different economic institutions—with no end in sight. The differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories. Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including: - China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West? - Are America’s best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority? - What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity? More philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of Acemoglu and Robinson’s breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive political and economic institutions? Why Nations Fail will change the way you look at—and understand—the world.

***#4 WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER*** ***PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER*** The business professional’s guide to building success out of failure Learning from our mistakes is the only way to make sure we don’t make the same ones twice. But what if you could use every failure—large and small—to actually create a successful business, career, and life? You can. Fail More provides the knowledge, insight, and tools to do just that. This one-of-a-kind guide teaches you how to take active, strategic measures to turn the sting of failure into the reward of growth. It reveals the setbacks that are both inevitable and valuable, and it delivers practical ways of quickly moving past self-judgment and -recrimination to: • Create large and small goals • Establish milestones for achieving them • Analyze data to determine what worked and what didn't • Make the necessary corrections to your method • Determine what you need and adjust accordingly • Evaluate your actions • Assess your progress while refining your game plan • Use failing as a core tool for motivation By embracing failure, not just “getting past it,” you will fly past your competition, whether you’re building a startup, advancing in your career, or improving your personal life. The most underrated tool for success is failure. Now, you have a pragmatic program for turning failure today into profits and growth tomorrow.

The World’s Most Influential Book on Personal Success The bestselling classic that made Systems Over Goals, Talent Stacking, and Passion Is Overrated universal success advice has been reborn. Once in a generation, a book revolutionizes its category and becomes the preeminent reference that all subsequent books on the topic must pay homage to, in name or in spirit. How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, is such a book for the field of personal success. A contrarian pundit and persuasion expert in a class of his own, Adams has reached hundreds of millions directly and indirectly through the 2013 first edition’s straightforward yet counterintuitive advice—to invite failure in, embrace it, then pick its pocket. The second edition of How to Fail is a tighter, updated version, by popular demand. Yet new and returning readers alike will find the same candor, humor, and timeless wisdom on productivity, career growth, health and fitness, and entrepreneurial success as the original classic. How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Second Edition is the essential read (or re-read) for anyone who wants to find a unique path to personal victory—and make luck find you in whatever you do.

The first book to use the unexpected discoveries of neuroscience to help us make the best decisions Since Plato, philosophers have described the decision-making process as either rational or emotional: we carefully deliberate, or we “blink” and go with our gut. But as scientists break open the mind’s black box with the latest tools of neuroscience, they’re discovering that this is not how the mind works. Our best decisions are a finely tuned blend of both feeling and reason—and the precise mix depends on the situation. When buying a house, for example, it’s best to let our unconscious mull over the many variables. But when we’re picking a stock, intuition often leads us astray. The trick is to determine when to use the different parts of the brain, and to do this, we need to think harder (and smarter) about how we think. Jonah Lehrer arms us with the tools we need, drawing on cutting-edge research as well as the real-world experiences of a wide range of “deciders”—from airplane pilots and hedge fund investors to serial killers and poker players. Lehrer shows how people are taking advantage of the new science to make better television shows, win more football games, and improve military intelligence. His goal is to answer two questions that are of interest to just about anyone, from CEOs to firefighters: How does the human mind make decisions? And how can we make those decisions better?