"Read this book, apply its concepts, and see how your business transforms." - Marshall Goldsmith, Thinkers 50 #1 Executive Coach and #1 Leadership Thinker Outstanding leaders make business indispensable. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines "Indispensable" as being absolutely necessary and not subject to being set aside or neglected. INDISPENSABLE: Build and Lead A Company Customers Can't Live Without provides a framework that you can follow to transform your business and features dozens of examples from industry including those drawn from Amazon, Uber, Facebook and more. Each business example illustrates how the concepts offered in the book are already being used to make businesses indispensable in the marketplace. Keep in mind, though, only your customers can decide if your business is indispensable. We don't get a vote on that. However, there are steps that we can take to improve our chances. A Leader's pursuit of greatness for his or her company is important, but, it's not enough, and a business does not become indispensable by accident. Outstanding leadership is essential to bring a company from greatness to indispensability. This is an important distinction because anything less than outstanding leadership will not suffice. Why? Outstanding leaders lead by example. They demonstrate desired qualities and behaviors to their followers through their actions and conduct. By doing so, these leaders put forth a sense that they and their teams share the same goals and aspirations, and, that together, they are going to go about achieving these ambitions as one. Indispensable businesses share a common purpose so they need leaders that can set the example. As you read the book, you will come to recognize how vital TRUE leadership is to helping your business become indispensable. Regardless of your rank or position, you must study, learn, exemplify and LIVE these essential behaviors to be able to provide the people you work with and serve: A Captivating Vision: Outstanding leaders can articulate a vision for the future that every staff member can understand and buy-in to. This vision becomes the stuff of rallying cries and establishes the common goal that leader and team will share. Outstanding leadership is required to articulate the vision of being indispensable and to work to drive it deep into the enterprise. If the troops don't "get" it, they won't follow. Active Direction-Setting: Next, a game plan for execution must be built in support of that vision. But, building a plan without engaged direction-setting will not suffice. Outstanding leaders at every level will be fully involved, monitoring progress and charting the course for execution throughout their firm's journey to indispensability. Enlightened Coaching: Outstanding leaders support their team and understand how to provide the "right" touch at the "right" time - directive when the path to success is unclear and supportive when it's time to empower - just like any world-class coach does when building a champion. A Collaborative Environment: Outstanding leaders know how to establish a collaborative tenor within their area of responsibility. Selfish and egocentric behavior is stomped out; teamwork is recognized and rewarded. There are many great companies - only a few are indispensable. This book was written to help you build an indispensable business - one that your customers can't live without.

Whether you need to understand other people's calculations to make confident business decisions, or formulate investment choices based on your own numbers, this book will give you the tools you need.

" "

Banks and financial institutions, businesses and politicians often spin their statistics as they know they can rely on customers or constituents not to understand or check maths and formulas.

This book introduces you to the basic tools of maths, statistics and business calculations so that that you can understand the numbers, work out your own calculations and make better investing, saving and business decisions.

Proceedings of the ISPRA-Course held at the Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenieros Navales, Spain, September 22-26, 1986 in collaboration with Universidad Politecnica de Madrid

Bernard ROY Professor, University of Paris-Dauphine Director of LAMSADE 11 is not unusual for a dozen or so loosely related working papers to be published in book form as the natural outgrowth of a scientific gathering. Although many a volu- me of collected papers has come into point in this way, the homogeneity of the arti- cles included will often be more apparent than real. As the reader will quickly ob- serve, such is not the case with the present volume. As one can judge from its ti- tle, 1t is in fact an outcome of an ed~torial project by J. Kacprzyk and M. Roubens. T~ey asked contributing authors to submit recent works which would examine. within a non-traditional theoretical framework, preference analysis and preference modeliing 1n a fuzzy context oriented towards decision aid. The articles by J.P. Ooignon, B. Monjardet, T. Tanino and Ph. Vincke empnasize the analysis of oreference structures, mainly in the presence of incomparability. In- transitivlty, thresholds and, more generally, inaccurate determination. Considera- ble attention is devoted to the analysis of efficient and non-dominated (in Pareto's sense of the term) decisions in the four papers presented by S. Ovchinnikov and M.

Decision Theory has considerably developed in the late 1970's and the 1980's. The evolution has been so fast and far-r2aching that it has become increasingly difficult to keep track of the new state of the art. After a decade of new contributions, there was a need for an overview' of the field. This book is intended to fill the gap. The reader will find here thirty nine selected papers which were given at FUR-III, the third international confe rence on the Foundations and applications of Utility, Risk and decision theories, held in Aix-en-Provence in June 1986. An introductory chapter will provide an overview of the main questions raised on the subject since the 17th Century and more particularly so in the last thirty years, as well as some elementary information on the experimental and theoretical results obtained. It is thus hoped that any reader with some basic background in either Economics, Hanagement or Operations Research will be able to read profitably the thirty-nine other chapters. Psychologists, Sociologists, Social Philosophers and other specialists of the social sciences will also read this book with interest, as will high-level practitioners of decision making and advanced students in one of the abovementioned fields. An expository survey of this volume will be found at the end of the introductory chapter, so that any of the seven parts of the book can be put by the reader in due perspective."

"The Pursuit of Organizational Intelligence" brings together the writing of one of the best-known academics in the field of decision making and organizational theory. It acts as a sequel to March's earlier "Decisions and Organizations." The essays published here reflect the shift in March's thinking, and therefore the shift in teaching of organizational theory generally, towards a "softer," more European approach since the late 1980s.

Proceedings of the ISPRA-Course Held at the Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy, October 21-25, 1985, in Collaboration with EuReDatA

The completion of this thesis gives me feelings of satisfaction and thankfulness. Satisfaction because its results appear to be worthwile and relevant, and thankfulness towards so many persons who contributed to the progress of the work. The project "Analysis of multilevel decisions" was granted by the common research pool of Tilburg University and Eindhoven University of Techno- logy (Samenwerkingsorgaan Brabantse Universiteiten). During the 4-year lead time, the Department of Econometrics of Tilburg University provided not only a single room but also a pleasant and inspiring environment, for which I am very grateful. The research itself, particularly the inevitable scientific struggles, was perfectly coached by my promotors, Prof. Dr. P.A. Verheyen and Prof. Dr. J.F. Benders. I cannot give even the slightest description of the unique way in which they managed to do this. In all criticism they succeeded to maintain a positive, and thus stimulating, working atmosphere. The work also benefited from the suggestions gi ven by Prof. Dr. Th.M.A. Bemelmans, Prof. Dr. J.P.C. Kleijnen, Prof. Dr. P.H.M. Ruys and Prof. Dr. A. Schrijver. Furthermore I am indebted to Dr. Adam Wofniak (Warsaw University of Technology), who made me participate in his multi- level experience and critically commented on an earlier draft of the thesis.

Proceedings of the Advanced Seminar held at the Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy, June 4-8, 1984

Economists, decision analysts, management scientists, and others have long argued that government should take a more scientific approach to decision making. Pointing to various theories for prescribing and rational izing choices, they have maintained that social goals could be achieved more effectively and at lower costs if government decisions were routinely subjected to analysis. Now, government policy makers are putting decision science to the test. Recent government actions encourage and in some cases require government decisions to be evaluated using formally defined principles 01' rationality. Will decision science pass tbis test? The answer depends on whether analysts can quickly and successfully translate their theories into practical approaches and whether these approaches promote the solution of the complex, highly uncertain, and politically sensitive problems that are of greatest concern to government decision makers. The future of decision science, perhaps even the nation's well-being, depends on the outcome. A major difficulty for the analysts who are being called upon by government to apply decision-aiding approaches is that decision science has not yet evolved a universally accepted methodology for analyzing social decisions involving risk. Numerous approaches have been proposed, including variations of cost-benefit analysis, decision analysis, and applied social welfare theory. Each of these, however, has its limitations and deficiencies and none has a proven track record for application to govern ment decisions involving risk. Cost-benefit approaches have been exten sively applied by the government, but most applications have been for decisions that were largely risk-free."

This monograph is intended for an advanced undergraduate or graduate course of engineering and management science. as well as for persons in business. industry. military or in any field. who want an introductory and a capsule look into the methods of group decision making under multiple criteria. This is a sequel to our previous works entitled "Multiple Objective Decision Making--Methods and Applications (No. 164 of the Lecture Notes). and "Multiple Attribute Decision Making--Methods and Applications (No. 186 of the Lecture Notes). Moving from a single decision maker (the consideration of Lecture Notes 164 and 186) to a multiple decision maker setting introduces a great deal of complexity into the analysis. The problem is no longer the selection of the most preferred alternative among the nondominated solutions according to one individual's (single decision maker's) preference structure. The analysis is extended to account for the conflicts among different interest groups who have different objectives. goals. and so forth. Group decision making under multiple criteria includes such diverse and interconnected fields as preference analysis. utility theory. social choice theory. committee decision theory. theory of voting. game theory. expert evaluation analysis. aggregation of qualitative factors. economic equilibrium theory. etc; these are simplified and systematically classified for beginners. This work is to provide readers with a capsule look into the existing methods. their characteristics. and applicability in the complexity of group decision making.

Flashes of insight-the "Eureka!" moments that produce new and useful ideas in a single thought-are behind some of the world's most creative and practical innovations. This book shows how to cultivate more and better flashes of insight by harnessing the science and practice of the "seventh sense." Drawing from psychology, neuroscience, Asian philosophy, and military strategy, William Duggan illustrates the power of the seventh sense to help readers aspire to and achieve more in their personal and professional lives. His examples include Gandhi, Joan of Arc, Starbucks founder Howard Shultz, and executives and students he has taught in his classes. His book presents specific steps in the form of three practical tools to help prepare the mind, see and seize opportunity, and follow through on one's resolution. Based on Duggan's perennially popular Columbia Business School course, this book teaches the mental skills and discipline that power the seventh sense.

Proceedings of the Third Symposium on Heavy Gas and Risk Assessment, Bonn, Wissenschaftszentrum, November 12-13, 1984

In recent years there has been substantial interest in benefits assessment methods, especially as these methods are used to assess health, safety, and environmental issues. At least part of this interest can be traced to Executive Order 12291, issued by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. This Executive Order requires Federal agencies to perform benefits assessments of pro posed major regulations and prohibits them from taking regulatory action unless potential benefits exceed potential costs to society. Heightened interest in benefits assessment methods has in tum given rise to greater recognition of the inherent difficulties in performing such assess ments. For example, many benefits that are intuitively felt to be most important are also among the most difficult to measure. It can be difficult to identify the full range of both benefits and costs. The choice of an appro priate discount rate for comparing benefits and costs over time is proble matic. Even when benefits are quantifiable in principle and agreement can be reached on their valuation, required d, ata may not be available. Thus considerable uncertainty is built into most benefit estimates, even when they are based on the best available data. In light of the complexities and difficulties associated with the perform ance of a benefits assessment, this book reviews the current state of theoretical and methodological knowledge in the field. The review is extensive in that it covers over fifty years of research, theoretical develop ment, and practice."

Suppose you had the chance to invest in a venture that succeeds half the time. When you fail you lose your in vestment; when you succeed you make a profit of$1.60 for every $1.00 you invest. The odds are 8 to 5 in your favor and you should do well-casinos and insurance companies thrive under less favorable conditions. If you can invest as much as you like, as often as you like, using a betting system that guarantees you can't go broke, common sense suggests you will almost certainly make aprofitafteryou make a large numberofinvestments. In response to yourrequest for a hot stock yourastrologer tells you ABC Inc. will triple in a year (she's really a fraud and picked the stock at random). But since such stocks are rare (one in athousand) you consultan expert and, strangely enough, he confirms the astrologer. From experience you know that the expert diagnoses all stocks, good and bad, correctly, 90% of the time. Common sense suggests you have an excellent chance of tripling your money. You are chairman of acommittee ofthree. Decisions are made by majority rule but if there is no majority your vote as chairman breaks ties. Common sense suggests you will inevitably have more power to determine the outcome than the other members."

Much of the work in this volume was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant SES82-05112 from the Program in History and Philosophy of Science and the Division of Policy Research and Analysis. (Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. ) Several of these essays were written because of the impetus afforded by speaking invitations. An earlier version of Chapter 3 was presented in Berkeley in January 1983 at a Principal Investi gators' Conference sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Division of Policy Research and Analysis, Technology Assessment and Risk Assessment Group. In May 1982, an earlier version of Chapter 5 was presented at the meeting of the Society for Philos ophy and Technology, held in conjunction with the American Philosophical Association meeting, Western Division, in Columbus, Ohio. Finally, earlier versions of Chapter 6 were presented in Boston in December 1981 at the Boston Colloquium for the Philosophy of Science, as well as at the University of Delaware in January 1982 and at the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association held in Philadelphia in October 1982. An earlier version of this same chapter was published in Philosophy of Science Association 82, volume 1, ed. T. Nickles, Philosophy of Science Association, East Lansing, Michigan, 1982. A number of people have helped to make this book better than it might have been."

When you start a new managerial role, there is an inevitable contrast between what you believed you would find and what you're actually faced with. And Now What? helps you manage this gap between expectation and reality, ensuring that you get off to the best possible start in your new job. This book is structured in two parts, and it begins by offering readers a panoramic perspective of what a 'landing' entails in terms of personal self-leadership and managing people and uncertainty. The first part of the book reviews the process of taking charge in your new role, from preparation through to implementation. The second part presents a range of case studies arranged in order of increasing professional responsibility, allowing the reader to take a trip from the first stages of a professional leader's life to the highest responsibilities of a chairperson's role - experiencing changes, promotions, exits, internationalizations and take-offs along the way. The most important thing for a leader is not to discover how to motivate, but to better understand their reasons for motivating others. In this way, you can think of the leadership journey as both a personal and a professional adventure.

Whether you're 20, 40, 60 or older, many of us are still looking for an answer to that perennial question, `What do I want to be when I grow up?' In Designing Your Life, Silicon Valley design innovators Bill Burnett and Dave Evans use their expertise to help you work out what you want -- and how to get it. Their phenomenally successful Life Design course has been tried and tested by thousands of people, from students to mid-career professionals to retirees contemplating a whole new future. Now in book form for the first time, their simple method will teach you how to use basic design tools to create a life that will work for you. Using lots of real-life stories and proven techniques like reframing, prototyping and mind-mapping you will learn how to build your way forwards, step-by-positive-step, to a life that's better by a design of your own making. Because a well-designed life means a life well-lived.

Comparative Causal Mapping: The CMAP3 Method, by Mauri Laukkanen and Mingde Wang, is an introduction to the conceptual backgrounds of causal (cognitive) mapping and to the typical methods in comparative and composite causal mapping, based on either interview or questionnaire primary data or on secondary documentary data. The discussed CCM research is supported by CMAP3, a freely downloadable (www.uef.fi/cmap3) Windows software platform for CCM studies. The book has three parts. The first discusses the theoretical underpinnings and methodological issues in causal mapping including the target phenomena and different interpretations of causal maps/mapping, the motives for using CCM methods and the criteria of method selection. The second part focuses on the technical aspects of using CMAP3 in typical CCM research. The third part presents three CCM study cases: a classical document-based study; a semi-structured interview-based (SIM) study; and a methodological study comparing SIM with an electronically administered structured hybrid CCM approach. In addition to demonstrating CCM practices, they suggest that different methods produce divergent results and are thus not substitutable. The research task should determine which CCM approach is appropriate. The book will appeal to both academic and professional audiences, in particular to doctoral students and experienced researchers looking for new topics and method approaches, but also to practitioners in fields such as management and organization studies, organizational development, public policy and education, and knowledge management.

The proceedings contain lectures and short papers presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute on "Reliability Theory and Its Application in Structural and Soil Me chanics", Bornholm, Denmark, August 31 -September 9,1982. The proceedings are organized in two parts. The first part contains 12 papers by the invited lecturers and the second part contains 23 papers by participants plus one paper from an invited lecturer (la~e arrival). The Institute dealt with specific topics on application of modem reliability theories in structural engineering and soil mechanics. Both fundamental theory and more ad vanced theory were covered. Lecture courses were followed by tutorial and summary discussions with active participation of those attending the Institute. Special lectures of topical subjects were given by a number of invited speake~, leading to plenary dis cussions and summary statements on important aspects of application of modem .re liability theory in structural engineering and soil mechanics. A great number of the participants presented brief reports of their own research activities.

This book is a report to the Executive Board of the Rijnmond Public Authority. The report presents the results of a pilot study of the risks to the employees in, and the population around six industrial installations. The installations were selected to illustrate various materials and technologies present in this area e.g. toxic, flammable, cryogenic and pressure storage. The study was performed in close cooperation between authorities, industry and consultants. The report consists of 5 parts: Part I is the report of the Steering Committee, which managed the whole project. It contains the background, the aims of the study, conclusions, general comments and recommendations. Appendices I and 2 give information about the parties involved in the study and the screening process applied to the collected safety data respectively. Part 2, the main report by Cremer and Warner Ltd., presents the way the risk analysis of the six industrial installations was performed. All the steps necessary to carry out such an analysis are presented and discussed. The final results are given in tables showing the average number of fatalities per year both for employees and the population. Appendices I to VII contain the calculation models used (dischar ge rates, dispersion, combustion, etc.). Appendices VII to X give a historical review of incidents, fai lure rate data and meteorological data respectively. Appendix XII gives the final results of the consequence analyses and appendix XIII presents the fault trees and derivation of failure rates."

Rooted in the study of chaos and complexity, "Adaptive Action" introduces a simple, common sense process that will guide you and your organization into reflective action.
This elegant method prompts readers to engage with three deceptively simple questions: What? So what? Now what? The first leads to careful observation. The second invites you to thoughtfully consider options and implications. The third ignites effective action. Together, these questions and the tools that support them produce a dynamic and creative dance with uncertainty. The road-tested steps of adaptive action can be used to devise solutions and improve performance across multiple challenges, and they have proven to be scalable from individuals to work groups, from organizations to communities.
In addition to laying out the adaptive action framework and clear protocols to support it, Glenda H. Eoyang and Royce J. Holladay introduce best practices from exemplary professionals who have used adaptive action to meet personal, professional, and political challenges in leadership, consulting, Alzheimer's treatment, evaluation, education reform, political advocacy, and cultural engagementOCoreadying readers to employ this new toolkit to meet their own goals with a sense of ingenuity and flexibility."

Business acumen has emerged as a critical competency for communicators. But if you're a public relations, advertising or communication professional that didn't go to business school, how can you make sure you have the abilities and skills to evolve along with your role? Business Acumen for Strategic Communicators is the book for you. Offering a critical primer for the world of business, Ragas and Culp equip you with the must-have business know-how needed to understand everything from the language and thinking of C-suites and boardrooms, to organizational agility, business models, rules and regulations, the money and the numbers, and even how to read financial statements and reports. Written for communicators by communicators, the concepts in each chapter are illustrated by expert insight essays written by a diverse group of senior communications leaders, and packed full of case studies, interviews, key terms and cutting-edge research. Brands profiled include Aflac, Costco, CVS Health, Levi Strauss, Mayo Clinic, Southwest Airlines, Target and YMCA of America. With these critical business literacy skills in hand, you will be set to serve with success as strategic counselors to the organizational leaders that are your colleagues, clients, and business partners.

The Fourth International MCDM Conference follows a tradition that began with an exploratory gathering at the University of South Carolina in 1973. The First International Conference was held in Jouy-en-Josas in 1975. The second and third were held in Buffalo (1977) and KOnigswinter (1979). We are grateful to the Office of Naval Research for years of advice and funding, and to Springer-Verlag for providing a widely dispersed series of proceedings volumes. In the case of the Delaware Conference we gratefully acknowledge new support from the corporate sector, coordinated by the University of Delaware's Development Office. Now that I have attended to the formal recognitions, I wish to place my recollection of the human side of the conference into the record. This is justi fiable because multiple criteria problem solving has been nurtured by a close-knit group of people whose interactions are not fully captured by the standard journal format. This was the conference in which an animated discussion between Dave, Bell and Paul Schoemaker caused Mathilde Stephenson to stand up and say, "Don't stop it; this is the best part of the conference. " Another sort of moment occurred when Lucas Pun was asked to explain a certain Chinese character in one of his transpar encies. He replied, "No alcohol allowed. " From Erick Duesing, speaking with an historical perspective, we had the insight that multiple criteria methods lan guished because "McCarthyism had made planning suspect."