Named #1 Best Business Book of 2011, by Patriot-News-PennLive.com If you have ever flown in an airplane, used electricity from a nuclear power plant, or taken an antibiotic, you have benefited from a brilliant mistake. Each of these life-changing innovations was the result of many missteps and an occasional brilliant insight that turned a mistake into a surprising portal of discovery. In Brilliant Mistakes, Paul Schoemaker, founder and chairman of Decision Strategies International, shares critical insights on the surprising benefits of making well-chosen mistakes. Brilliant Mistakes explores why minimizing mistakes may be the greatest mistake of all, situations when mistakes are most beneficial and when they should be avoided, the counter-intuitive idea that we should deliberately permit errors at times, and how to make the most of brilliant mistakes to improve business results. Brilliant Mistakes is based on solid academic research and insights from Schoemaker's work with more than 100 organizations, as well as his provocative Harvard Business Review article with Robert Gunther, "The Wisdom of Deliberate Mistakes." Schoemaker provides a practical roadmap for using mistakes to accelerate learning for your organization and yourself.

If you have ever flown in an airplane, used electricity from a nuclear power plant, or taken an antibiotic, you have benefited from a brilliant mistake. Schoemaker proveds a practical roadmap for using mistakes to accelerate learning for your organization and yourself.

Drawing on the lives of five great scientists, this “scholarly, insightful, and beautifully written book” (Martin Rees, author of From Here to Infinity) illuminates the path to scientific discovery. Charles Darwin, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Linus Pauling, Fred Hoyle, and Albert Einstein all made groundbreaking contributions to their fields—but each also stumbled badly. Darwin’s theory of natural selection shouldn’t have worked, according to the prevailing beliefs of his time. Lord Kelvin gravely miscalculated the age of the earth. Linus Pauling, the world’s premier chemist, constructed an erroneous model for DNA in his haste to beat the competition to publication. Astrophysicist Fred Hoyle dismissed the idea of a “Big Bang” origin to the universe (ironically, the caustic name he gave to this event endured long after his erroneous objections were disproven). And Albert Einstein speculated incorrectly about the forces of the universe—and that speculation opened the door to brilliant conceptual leaps. As Mario Livio luminously explains in this “thoughtful meditation on the course of science itself” (The New York Times Book Review), these five scientists expanded our knowledge of life on earth, the evolution of the earth, and the evolution of the universe, despite and because of their errors. “Thoughtful, well-researched, and beautifully written” (The Washington Post), Brilliant Blunders is a wonderfully insightful examination of the psychology of five fascinating scientists—and the mistakes as well as the achievements that made them famous.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Business Book Awards 2020 - HR & Management Category Deliver learning in the flow of work to optimize your L&D activities, improving performance of individuals and the overall business. Learning and Development (L&D) professionals are uniquely placed in an organization to improve both individual employee performance as well as the overall performance of the business. To maximise the impact of learning, activities must be aligned with the goals of the organization and delivered in the flow of work so that performance improvement is continuous. The course can no longer be the default learning option and creative workplace solutions are now vital. Driving Performance through Learning shows L&D professionals how to identify business needs and leverage learning that drives performance improvement to enable an organization to achieve its objectives. Beginning with an exploration of the fast-changing organizational learning landscape Driving Performance through Learning covers everything from how to diagnose needs through performance consulting conversations, using data and metrics and tracking impact to designing agile solutions by leveraging technology, facilitating social collaboration and vibrant learning communities. There is also expert guidance on curating content, embedding coaching, valuing mistakes and adopting a more self-directed learning approach. This book also defines the key characteristics of the new learning organization and the emerging roles of the future-focussed L&D team and whether these new responsibilities should be developed in-house or outsourced. This is an essential handbook for all L&D professionals seeking to transform workplace learning and drive organizational performance.

Discover the essential thinking tools you’ve been missing with The Great Mental Models series by Shane Parrish, New York Times bestselling author and the mind behind the acclaimed Farnam Street blog and “The Knowledge Project” podcast. This first book in the series is your guide to learning the crucial thinking tools nobody ever taught you. Time and time again, great thinkers such as Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett have credited their success to mental models–representations of how something works that can scale onto other fields. Mastering a small number of mental models enables you to rapidly grasp new information, identify patterns others miss, and avoid the common mistakes that hold people back. The Great Mental Models: Volume 1, General Thinking Concepts shows you how making a few tiny changes in the way you think can deliver big results. Drawing on examples from history, business, art, and science, this book details nine of the most versatile, all-purpose mental models you can use right away to improve your decision making and productivity. This book will teach you how to: Avoid blind spots when looking at problems. Find non-obvious solutions. Anticipate and achieve desired outcomes. Play to your strengths, avoid your weaknesses, … and more. The Great Mental Models series demystifies once elusive concepts and illuminates rich knowledge that traditional education overlooks. This series is the most comprehensive and accessible guide on using mental models to better understand our world, solve problems, and gain an advantage.

How different is the sharing economy from the traditional economy? What can entrepreneurs learn from failure? Can start-ups change the world? SAGE Business Researcher’s Issues in Entrepreneurship offers an in-depth and nuanced look at a wide range of today’s latest issues and controversies in entrepreneurship. This new collection of timely readings delves into current topics such as learning from failure, social entrepreneurship, flat management, crowdfunding, and more. Written with the rigor and immediacy of the best explanatory journalism, each issue provides deep, balanced, and authoritative coverage on the selected topic and key research, pointing students to reliable resources for further inquiry. These articles are perfect for outside reading assignments or in-class debates for any introductory entrepreneurship course.

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to catch all the breaks and win over and over again? What do the super successful know? What is standing between you and your wildest dreams? The Book of Mistakes will take you on an inspiring journey, following an ancient manuscript with powerful lessons that will transform your life. You'll meet David, a young man who with each passing day is more disheartened and stressed. Despite a decent job, apartment, and friends, he just feels hollow . . . until one day he meets a mysterious young woman and everything starts to change. In this self-help tale wrapped in fiction, you'll learn the nine mistakes that prevent many from achieving their goals. You'll learn how to overcome these hurdles and reinvent your life. This success parable is packed with wisdom that will help you discover and follow your personal purpose, push beyond your perceived capabilities, and achieve more than you ever dreamed possible. You'll find yourself returning again and again to a deceptively simple story that teaches actionable insights and enduring truths.