This is the biography of a contested memory, how it was born, grew, changed the world, and was changed by it. It's the story of the story of how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began. Joseph Smith, the church's founder, remembered that his first audible prayer, uttered in spring of 1820 when he was about fourteen, was answered with a vision of heavenly beings. Appearing to the boy in the woods near his parents' home in western New York State, they told Smith that he was forgiven and warned him that Christianity had gone astray. Smith created a rich and controversial historical record by narrating and documenting this event repeatedly. In First Vision, Steven C. Harper shows how Latter-day Saints (beginning with Joseph Smith) and others have remembered this experience and rendered it meaningful. When and why and how did Joseph Smith's first vision, as saints know the event, become their seminal story? What challenges did it face along the way? What changes did it undergo as a result? Can it possibly hold its privileged position against the tides of doubt and disbelief, memory studies, and source criticism-all in the information age? Steven C. Harper tells the story of how Latter-day Saints forgot and then remembered accounts of Smith's experience and how Smith's 1838 account was redacted and canonized. He explores the dissonance many saints experienced after discovering multiple accounts of Smith's experience. He describes how, for many, the dissonance has been resolved by a reshaped collective memory.

Real entrepreneurs live in a world where they constantly hear, Are you crazy? or What have you been smoking? when they announce to their friends, family, and colleagues they are starting a business. They are the ones who hear, It can't be done? from all the naysayers who are not willing or able to leave their comfort zones. Real entrepreneurs are the ones who think and act differently. They are the ones who see opportunities that others cannot see. Real entrepreneurs are not like normal people. They are the crazy ones Steve Jobs described in Apple's Think Different ad who change the world. They are the ones who like operating at the edge without a net. They identify with Karl Wallenda -the great high wire artist - when he said, Life is on the wire, the rest is just waiting. They are the ones who cannot retire. Their lives revolve around sensing and seizing opportunities. While most people think the greatest frustration for entrepreneurs involves seeking sufficient funding, their greatest frustration is that the opportunity clock is always ticking. As one entrepreneur noted, There are so many opportunities, but so little time. Instead of celebrating their entrepreneurial successes, they go to their grave thinking about the opportunities they did not seize. They are the ones who know entrepreneurship is not a spectator sport. Real entrepreneurs are like moths driven to the flame. Their opportunity radar is always scanning the marketplace for situations where people are not having their needs met well enough or at all. They know that for every problem, every sense of frustration, and every source of pain, there is a potential entrepreneurial opportunity. They are the ones who sense what people want before they know it. They are the ones who find a way to make possible what others consider impossible. They are the ones who are willing to step into the darkness and to take the leap of faith. They are like explorers. They thrive on Boldly going where no one has gone. In a world full of path takers, they are the path makers. They are the ones who create ventures that change the way the game is played. They are the ones who create firms that disrupt markets and create new markets. They are the serial entrepreneurs who constantly think about their next venture(s) while managing their current venture. They are the multipreneurs who create and run multiple ventures rather than having just one business at a time. Normal people cannot understand what drives real entrepreneurs. The only people who understand real entrepreneurs are other entrepreneurs. Here's to the Crazy Entrepreneurs takes the reader into the minds of the people who change the marketplace and who, in some cases, change the world. Stephen C. Harper demonstrates an uncanny insight in to what makes entrepreneurs tick. In his latest book, Here's to the Crazy Entrepreneurs he investigates whether entrepreneurism is a mental disorder or if normal people are actually the ones who are crazy by risking their mortgages, careers, and future by working for someone else.

There are dozens of books that help people start businesses. Yet, few books focus on life after start-up. Entrepreneurship is not about starting a business. It is about starting a business that becomes an exceptional enterprise. It is about Taking Your Business to the Next Level and Beyond Managing growth can be like traversing a minefield. One misstep and your emerging business can be in serious trouble. Growing too fast can spell disaster. Growing too slow can result in missed opportunities. Entrepreneurs cannot afford to approach managing growth with a learning by doing and/or a trial and error approach. If you do not have the skills and ability, then you could be your firm's worst enemy. As an entrepreneur, consultant, speaker, award-winning educator, and best-selling author, Dr. Stephen C. Harper helps guide you through the minefield. His latest book: Blends the latest thinking with timeless ideas. Provides numerous lists, examples, guidelines, tips, insights, and cautions that will make the difference between thriving and just surviving. Features hundreds of "Reality Checks" that challenge your assumptions and practices. Concludes with insightful and candid "Do"s and "Don't"s from numerous entrepreneurs. Early reviews from entrepreneurs of high-growth ventures include: ""Great book A must read for any new or seasoned entrepreneur," "Dr. Harper's candid insight guides any entrepreneur through the hard realities of growth." "An enjoyable, inspiring, and timely read." "Dr. Harper approaches you as a Board of Advisors would, by providing you and your business with solid guidance, direction, and experience." "He encourages you to face the realities of obstacles and warning signs inherent in the business growth cycle as well as provides the motivation and road map to plan for your company's future." "Dr. Harper presents the essential elements of success in a thought provoking format that is sure to make an immediate impact on the way you do business. This book is not about quick fixes or growth at any cost." "Dr. Harper's book offers keen insight about how to create a fast growth company that provides actual value to the marketplace opposed to short-minded strategies on "quick flip" exits," "Dr. Harper's 'Reality Checks' force you to truly look at your business thru the eyes of your customers, your employees and your competition." "Dr. Harper has done a remarkable job putting together the best subject matter for taking your business to The Next Level and Beyond." This is The Entrepreneur's Guide to Developing an Exceptional Enterprise

This insightful guide showcases a new psychological framework through which business leaders can transform themselves and their organizations. "Most managers," author Stephen C. Harper writes, "do not understand what is involved in transforming organizations." His book, The Ever-Evolving Enterprise: Guidelines for Creating Your Company's Future, is intended to remedy that, focusing on ten areas proactive business leaders must address as they guide their companies through everyday activities and into the future. The book stresses the need for firms to evolve to remain in sync with an ever-changing marketplace. It explores the multifaceted nature of transformational leadership and offers specific guidelines, ideas, and techniques leaders can institute to seize new opportunities and develop innovative products and services that offer sustainable competitive advantages. But it also invites executives to take a closer look at how they lead their firms, promoting a fresh psychological framework that will keep business leaders-and their companies-anticipatory, perceptive, agile, innovative, results-oriented, and able to execute so that their visions become realities. Hundreds of cautions, insights, tips, and techniques Candid "reality checks" throughout Chapter-ending quizzes that profile the extent to which a firm is demonstrating the qualities of Ever-Evolving Enterprises Numerous figures that profile the multidimensional nature of organizational transformation Sources and notes at the end of each chapter