Golden Opportunities is a collection of over two dozen profiles of people who launched their very successful careers with McDonalds. The book also includes 12 key “principles for success” that led to such remarkable careers as Katie Kouric’s, Jay Leno’s, and Jeff Bezos’. All of these individuals started their job path based on the foundations of their first job at their hometown McDonald’s. Author, Cody Teets, Vice President of McDonald’s and VP/general manager of the Rocky Mountain Region, also made her way up from crew member to corporate office. What do 20 million Americans have in common with Tonight Show host Jay Leno, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, actress Andie MacDowell, and former White House chief of staff Andrew Card? They all started their working careers at a McDonald’s restaurant, learning some of the most important lessons of their lives. Golden Opportunity is a myth-busting collection of 44 profiles of people who went from flipping burgers to building remarkable careers in business, the arts, politics, science, the military, and sports. Over the past six decades, millions of teens have earned their first paychecks under the Golden Arches. Whether they stayed for a year or a career, they learned work habits, basic skills, and the business principles that have made McDonald’s one of the best-run companies in the world. Their journeys remind us that at the beginning of every success story there is the first paycheck from the first “real” job. That first job is not a dead end, it is a young person’s rite of passage into adult responsibility. The author’s compelling personal story—growing up in modest circumstances with a strong work ethic—gives a unique voice to the experiences of leading entrepreneurs, entertainment figures, and others who represent a cross section of American enterprise. They recall what they learned in their first jobs at McDonald’s and how those lessons helped them build their remarkable careers. Including a foreword by Willard Scott—the original Ronald McDonald—and the 10 Golden Opportunity Keys to Success, this collection of stories will leave you wondering what today’s burger flippers will achieve tomorrow. Visit GoldenOpportunityBook.com to learn more and share your own story.

In 1819 Sir Stamford Raffles, without authority from London, raised the British flag on a small jungle-covered island and founded a settlement which would become the city state of Singapore. It was the crowning moment in an extraordinary career in South-East Asia, which saw Raffles shake off his humble beginnings to become Lieutenant-Governor of Java. But his success in the tropics was overshadowed by professional conflict and personal tragedy. Acclaimed biographer Victoria Glendinning charts the extraordinary life of an English adventurer, disobedient employee of the East India Company, utopian imperialist, linguist, naturalist, collector and troublesome visionary. If Raffles' own end was tragic, the mark he left on the world is indelible. His name and fame are undimmed today and, as he hoped, Singapore has become his lasting monument.

James McMillan is a third generation owner of the most prosperous horse ranch in Golden, Colorado. When a gorgeous little filly shows up at his door waving what she claims is the deed to half his ranch, James tries to send her packing. But the document is authentic, according to his lawyer: Reese McMillan sold the little opportunist his half of the Double M during a poker game in Atlantic City. So not only must James find a way to buy those shares back, he needs to fight his growing attraction to his luscious new business partner-who turns out to be a lot more than just a pretty face. Angela Roberts has never wanted anything more than the security of a real home. Her dreams come true when the chance to own half of a Colorado horse ranch falls into her lap. If Reese McMillan is too blind to appreciate what he has, that's his loss. Only she hadn't counted on the hostile reception she receives from his brother. Surly as a bear, James McMillan is also much too handsome for her peace of mind. Refusing to be intimidated, Angela sets out to win him over by proving she has what it takes to help him run the ranch-and ends up losing her heart to both.

“Bradt's message in this excellent and inspiring book is a 'golden ring' itself amidst the rubble often permeating our lives. It not only speaks true but makes you strive for more.”--Stephen R. Covey, author, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness “Beautifully written and full of wisdom, The Ring in the Rubble is a gem.”--Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One Minute Manager and Leading at a Higher Level Change always creates hidden opportunities. A leader's job is unearthing them. In The Ring in the Rubble, change authority Gary Bradt reveals the secrets to moving beyond the rubble of disruption, fear, and uncertainty that change often creates, to finding the golden ring of opportunity that always lies beneath. Each chapter of this breakthrough book delivers a powerful principle for leading change, supported by engaging real-life experiences of the author and other well-known business executives that illustrate how to put principles into action. Bradt asks penetrating questions that help you “dig deeper” and pinpoint the best ways for applying these principles to your specific change effort. You will discover how Richard Schulze weathered a devastating event that threatened to destroy everything he'd worked so hard to build-and became the founder of Best Buy in the process. You'll see how a 65-year-old man, nearly broke after having suffered a string of disastrous setbacks, dug through the rubble to emerge as Colonel Harland Sanders, who remains the face of Kentucky Fried Chicken to this day. Change itself doesn't dictate the eventual outcome of your situation; how you think about and handle change is what makes all the difference. You'll never find the ring if you don't start digging!

The New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of Secret Daughter returns with an unforgettable story of family, responsibility, love, honor, tradition, and identity, in which two childhood friends—a young doctor and a newly married bride—must balance the expectations of their culture and their families with the desires of their own hearts. The first of his family to go to college, Anil Patel, the golden son, carries the weight of tradition and his family’s expectations when he leaves his tiny Indian village to begin a medical residency in Dallas, Texas, at one of the busiest and most competitive hospitals in America. When his father dies, Anil becomes the de facto head of the Patel household and inherits the mantle of arbiter for all of the village’s disputes. But he is uneasy with the custom, uncertain that he has the wisdom and courage demonstrated by his father and grandfather. His doubts are compounded by the difficulties he discovers in adjusting to a new culture and a new job, challenges that will shake his confidence in himself and his abilities. Back home in India, Anil’s closest childhood friend, Leena, struggles to adapt to her demanding new husband and relatives. Arranged by her parents, the marriage shatters Leena’s romantic hopes, and eventually forces her to make a desperate choice that will hold drastic repercussions for herself and her family. Though Anil and Leena struggle to come to terms with their identities thousands of miles apart, their lives eventually intersect once more—changing them both and the people they love forever. Tender and bittersweet, The Golden Son illuminates the ambivalence of people caught between past and present, tradition and modernity, duty and choice; the push and pull of living in two cultures, and the painful decisions we must make to find our true selves.