What catastrophes have in common -- and how to keep them from happening to you! Introducing M3: the first systematic approach to Managing mistakes so they don't lead to disaster Building systems that prevent 'failure chains' from spiraling out of control Avoiding failures in preparation, strategy, execution, and culture Reducing the impact and cost of the mistakes you do make Also includes coverage of the unique 'mistake chains' facing entrepreneurs and small businesses. Every business disaster has one thing in common: the people in charge never saw it coming. The warnings were there. They didn't have to wreck their companies and their careers. But they let it happen. This book can keep it from happening to you. You will make mistakes. If you don't, you're not taking enough risk. But you can make fewer of them. You can catch them early. Keep them cheap. Learn from them. Whether you're in a global enterprise or a garage startup, Robert Mittelstaedt shows how. His techniques apply to everything from culture to strategy, customer safety to market share. They won't just help you avoid catastrophe: they'll help you improve profitability and business value, too. Stay on track. Stay off the front page of The Wall Street Journal. Read this book.

What do Enron, the Space Shuttle Columbia and 9/11 have in common? Catastrophes don't 'just happen.' From Enron to the Space Shuttle Columbia to 9/11, virtually every disaster is the end result of a long series of small mistakes -- each one easy to overlook, and set in motion because people simply refused to believe the evidence staring right at them. Robert E. Mittelstaedt first identifies the common factors beneath massive failures ranging from Watergate to Firestone Tire, Three Mile Island to 'New Coke.' Why did they happen? What could have prevented them? How did they spiral out of control.

”This book is your chance to learn from others’ mistakes.”-- Entrepreneur In the 1960s, IBM CEO Tom Watson called an executive into his office after his venture lost $10 million. The man assumed he was being fired. Watson told him, “Fired? Hell, I spent $10 million educating you. I just want to be sure you learned the right lessons.” There are thousands of books about successful companies but virtually none about the lessons to be learned from those that crash and burn. Now Paul Carroll and Chunka Mui draw on research into more than 750 flameouts to reveal the seven biggest reasons for business failure.

Brand risk is often narrowly defined as risk to reputation. Yet risk and uncertainty are evident in many aspects of brand performance and marketing operations. Considered and responsible risk-taking is central to effective brand management. Risk literacy is the marketer’s third necessary competence, alongside strategic insight and financial understanding. In Brand Risk, a practical and accessible book for those who hold responsibilities in marketing or risk management, David Abrahams brings together relevant risk thinking and a range of techniques for the evaluation of brand exposures and opportunities - whether in response to the ambitions of a key business project, new market conditions or shareholder concern. A balanced review of the subject is enriched by reference to topics of current interest and is supported by illustrative examples throughout. Presenting the essentials of brand management and risk management side-by-side, Brand Risk offers graduated and complementary approaches to brand risk assessment, from the intuitive to the data-driven.

Today’s best companies get it. From Costco® to Commerce Bank, Wegmans to Whole Foods®: they’re becoming the ultimate value creators. They’re generating every form of value that matters: emotional, experiential, social, and financial. And they’re doing it for all their stakeholders. Not because it’s “politically correct”: because it’s the only path to long-term competitive advantage. These are the Firms of Endearment. Companies people love doing business with. Love partnering with. Love working for. Love investing in. Companies for whom “loyalty” isn’t just real: it’s palpable, and driving unbeatable advantages in everything from marketing to recruitment. You need to become one of those companies. This book will show you how. You’ll find specific, practical guidance on transforming every relationship you have: with customers, associates, partners, investors, and society. If you want to be great—truly great—this is your blueprint. We’re entering an Age of Transcendence, as people increasingly search for higher meaning in their lives, not just more possessions. This is transforming the marketplace, the workplace, the very soul of capitalism. Increasingly, today’s most successful companies are bringing love, joy, authenticity, empathy, and soulfulness into their businesses: they are delivering emotional, experiential, and social value–not just profits. Firms of Endearment illuminates this, the most fundamental transformation in capitalism since Adam Smith. It’s not about “corporate social responsibility”: it’s about building companies that can sustain success in a radically new era. It’s about great companies like IDEO and IKEA®, Commerce Bank and Costco®, Wegmans and Whole Foods®: how they earn the powerful loyalty and affection that enables truly breathtaking performance. This book is about gaining “share of heart,” not just share of wallet. It’s about aligning stakeholders’ interests, not just juggling them. It’s about building companies that leave the world a better place. Most of all, it’s about why you must do all this, or risk being left in the dust... and how to get there from wherever you are now.

50,000 copies sold, now in paperback... If you can think impossible thoughts, then you can do impossible things!! The power of change: create new thinking for new solutions! Includes a new introduction demonstrating the "power of impossible thinking," plus access to exclusive book summary and authors' interview at the book's companion Web site. The Power of Impossible Thinking is about getting better at making sense of what's going on around you so you can make decisions that respond to reality, not inaccurate or obsolete models of the world. This bestseller reveals how mental models stand between you and the truth and how to transform them into your biggest advantage! Learn how to develop new ways of seeing, when to change to a new model, how to swap amongst a portfolio of models, how to understand complex environments and how to do "mind R and D," improving models through constant experimentation. Jerry Wind and Colin Crook review why it's so hard to change mental models and offer practical strategies for dismantling "hardened missile silos". Finally they show how to access models quickly through intuition, and assess the effectiveness of any mental model. Purchasers of this book gain access to audio summaries on a companion web site, along with a new half-hour interview with the authors.