Centuries of Success is the first book to chronicle the colorful success stories and timeless lessons of some of the world's oldest family businesses. This one-of-a-kind work blends complete family histories with corporate philosophies and business sensibilities that are practical, adaptable, and enduring. From Japan's Hoshi Ryokan -- a hotel that dates back forty-seven generations to 718 -- to the sprawling Tuscan vineyards of Marchesi Antinori -- winemakers since 1385 -- Centuries of Success brings to life the strength and dedication that puts family-run businesses in a league of their own. William T. O'Hara, president emeritus of Bryant University, has produced a unique work that is certain to influence business philosophies and practices for many years to come and stir renewed excitement for family businesses worldwide. Book jacket.

How our collective intelligence has helped us to evolve and prosper Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters, or avoiding predators. On the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have permitted us to successfully expand into a vast range of diverse environments. What has enabled us to dominate the globe, more than any other species, while remaining virtually helpless as lone individuals? This book shows that the secret of our success lies not in our innate intelligence, but in our collective brains—on the ability of human groups to socially interconnect and learn from one another over generations. Drawing insights from lost European explorers, clever chimpanzees, mobile hunter-gatherers, neuroscientific findings, ancient bones, and the human genome, Joseph Henrich demonstrates how our collective brains have propelled our species' genetic evolution and shaped our biology. Our early capacities for learning from others produced many cultural innovations, such as fire, cooking, water containers, plant knowledge, and projectile weapons, which in turn drove the expansion of our brains and altered our physiology, anatomy, and psychology in crucial ways. Later on, some collective brains generated and recombined powerful concepts, such as the lever, wheel, screw, and writing, while also creating the institutions that continue to alter our motivations and perceptions. Henrich shows how our genetics and biology are inextricably interwoven with cultural evolution, and how culture-gene interactions launched our species on an extraordinary evolutionary trajectory. Tracking clues from our ancient past to the present, The Secret of Our Success explores how the evolution of both our cultural and social natures produce a collective intelligence that explains both our species' immense success and the origins of human uniqueness.

In The Business of the 21st Century, Robert Kiyosaki explains the revolutionary business of network marketing in the context of what makes any business a success in any economic situation. This book lends credibility to multilevel marketing business, and justifies why it is an ideal avenue through which to learn basic business and sales skills... and earn money.

The phenomenal follow-up to the bestselling Built to Last Imagine discovering what successful people have in common, distilling it into a set of simple practices, and using them to transform your career and your life. That's what Jerry Porras, Stewart Emery, and Mark Thompson, leading thinkers in organizational development and self-improvement, have done in Success Built to Last. Two hundred remarkable people are included, notably: -Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO, Amazon.com -Warren Buffett -Bill Clinton -Frances Hesselbein, former CEO, Girl Scouts of America -Maya Angelou -Bill Gates Each shares how he or she harvested victories, learned from failures, and found the courage to be true to their passions. By following a set of simple principles culled from these inspiring interviews, readers can transform their business and personal lives, and discover the true meaning of success.

What makes somebody a Loser, a person doomed to unfulfilled dreams and humiliation? Nobody is born to lose, and yet failure embodies our worst fears. The Loser is our national bogeyman, and his history over the past two hundred years reveals the dark side of success, how economic striving reshaped the self and soul of America. From colonial days to the Columbine tragedy, Scott Sandage explores how failure evolved from a business loss into a personality deficit, from a career setback to a gauge of our self-worth. From hundreds of private diaries, family letters, business records, and even early credit reports, Sandage reconstructs the dramas of real-life Willy Lomans. He unearths their confessions and denials, foolish hopes and lost faith, sticking places and changing times. Dreamers, suckers, and nobodies come to life in the major scenes of American history, like the Civil War and the approach of big business, showing how the national quest for success remade the individual ordeal of failure. Born Losers is a pioneering work of American cultural history, which connects everyday attitudes and anxieties about failure to lofty ideals of individualism and salesmanship of self. Sandage's storytelling will resonate with all of us as it brings to life forgotten men and women who wrestled with The Loser--the label and the experience--in the days when American capitalism was building a nation of winners.