Many executives don't take full advantage of the assistant who sits right outside their door. This book educates executives about all the ways in which they can streamline and improve the way they work with the help of a great assistant, while teaching them to identify great candidates and maximize the benefits of this special relationship.

Hello! And Every Little Thing that Matters will transform the way businesses interact with customers - delivering a big impact with small ideas. Impactful ideas for businesses on how to treat their customers, from saying Hello to everyone who you encounter to making sure the chairs in your place of business are comfortable.

We have spent the last three decades engaged in a pointless and irrelevant debate about the relative merits of privatization or nationalization. We have been arguing about the wrong thing while sitting on a goldmine of assets. Don't worry about who owns those assets, worry about whether they are managed effectively. Why does this matter? Because despite the Thatcher/ Reagan economic revolution, the largest pool of wealth in the world - a global total that is much larger than the world's total pensions savings, and ten times the total of all the sovereign wealth funds on the planet - is still comprised of commercial assets that are held in public ownership. If professionally managed, they could generate an annual yield of 2.7 trillion dollars, more than current global spending on infrastructure: transport, power, water, and communications. Based on both economic research and hands-on experience from many countries, the authors argue that publicly owned commercial assets need to be taken out of the direct and distorting control of politicians and placed under professional management in a 'National Wealth Fund' or its local government equivalent. Such a move would trigger much-needed structural reforms in national economies, thus resurrect strained government finances, bolster ailing economic growth, and improve the fabric of democratic institutions. This radical, reforming book was named one of the "Books of the Year".by both the FT and The Economist.

A must read for any copywriter and anyone looking to understand the new realities of the brand creativity business.

A memorable slogan has been the cornerstone of every great ad campaign. In the past, writing one great headline could launch a career. But today's advertising campaigns are interactive, multi-platform and ongoing, and the copywriter's canvas is vast. At any given time, a copywriter may be conceiving a video game, writing a TV show, maintaining a Twitter feed, creating a mobile app or an interactive installation or, yes, writing a headline or a TV script.

While the best copywriters have always been brand storytellers, now that story can play out anywhere. The digital revolution put control in the hands of the people - the audience - now no longer just consumers, but active participants in a brand's story.

The art and science of advertising has gone from creating one-way messages to engaging audiences in ongoing conversations.

A new ad landscape means new opportunities for writers who now have the incredible opportunity to push brand narrative to places it's never been before and to actually create something so useful or entertaining that it generates its own audience. It also means that many of the rules of the past--while exceedingly worthy of study--are insufficient to guide the modern copywriter. Co-published with AdvertisingAge, The Idea Writers outlines the changing landscape of the advertising industry while providing useful how-to advice.

Filled with interviews from top creatives including:

Greg Hahn, Nick Law, Jeff Benjamin, Tim Delaney, Rei Inamoto, Lee Clow, Steve Simpson, Rick Condos, David Droga, Gerry Graf, Ty Montague, Calle and Pelle Sjonell, PJ Pereira, David Abbott and many more

Non-executive directors play a very important role in modern business. Providing a rare emphasis on 'soft skills', culture and relationship building, this comprehensive guide offers a unique insight into what it's actually like to be a non-executive director, backed up by global case studies, research and interviews.

Today's world is complex and getting more so each day. Huge multinational corporations, international crisis and fast breaking events require most people to make decisions on a daily basis without the tools to understand the long term impact that today's decision might create. Because most people have never really been trained in how to make important complex decisions most people rely on experience, and 'gut reaction' which is okay for many decisions, but not okay for decision that will have meaningful impact on organizations and individual. Decision makers need to develop the art and science of strategic decision making. Here, Professor Thomas Martin explains the need for decision makers to modify their thinking about how they deal with acquiring and analyzing information in each of the decision-making process steps. This approach requiring thinking modification will lengthen the process, make it more complex, and to some more arduous, but the comprehensiveness of the new thinking approach should lead to improved and more effective decision making. In this book, Dr. Martin presents a thinking modification framework that asserts that in the decision-making process, there are three situational states - a current state, future state, and a transitional state that one must deliberate in finding a solution. For each of these situational states, Martin develops an identical five-step process to determine the best decision to make. The steps of this process include: * Change-Needing Situational Analysis * Challenge Framing & Causal Analysis * Generating Solution Ideas * Choosing a Solution Set * Implementation and Aftermath Planning This book will appeal to decision makers, leaders, and students of management who want a specific framework that details the process behind making strategic, well-informed decisions.

Interest rate traders have been using the SABR model to price vanilla products for more than a decade. However this model suffers however from a severe limitation: its inability to value exotic products. A term structure model a la LIBOR Market Model (LMM) is often employed to value these more complex derivatives, however the LMM is unable to capture the volatility smile. A joint SABR LIBOR Market Model is the natural evolution towards a consistent pricing of vanilla and exotic products. Knowledge of these models is essential to all aspiring interest rate quants, traders and risk managers, as well an understanding of their failings and alternatives. SABR and SABR Libor Market Models in Practice is an accessible guide to modern interest rate modelling. Rather than covering an array of models which are seldom used in practice, it focuses on the SABR model, the market standard for vanilla products, the LIBOR Market Model, the most commonly used model for exotic products and the extended SABR LIBOR Market Model. The book takes a hands-on approach, demonstrating simply how to implement and work with these models in a market setting. It bridges the gap between the understanding of the models from a conceptual and mathematical perspective and the actual implementation by supplementing the interest rate theory with modelling specific, practical code examples written in Python.

Most family business owners and wealth creators share an important vision: perpetuating family and wealth for many generations to come. To ensure wealth continuity, many families put into place various structures, plans, and processes, including estate plans (which may include multiple trusts), ownership succession plans, governance structures/strategies, and others. These sometimes-elaborate plans are aimed at preserving family wealth. In reality, for many families, they don't. In fact, it has been estimated that a majority of estate plans in place fail, largely as a result of family conflict or communication problems. Author David Lansky reveals here that too many one-size-fits-all and elaborate continuity plans fail to take into account the idiosyncratic family factors that can interfere with continuity planning. Lansky details further how building the right foundation will help families implement the best continuity plans. Addressing that foundation effectively includes understanding the building blocks that make it up, assessing their strengths, and developing strategies to improve them. The specific building blocks include:* Learning Capacity * Familyness * Safe Communication Culture * Commitment to Personal Development* Effective Leadership of Change While richly informative, this book is not intended as a training manual, but rather as a starting point for important ideas and conversations. In fact, the goal of this book is to help families consider several related factors that go into a foundation for continuity, and to build more effective continuity plans and strategies based on their assessments.

A new edition of the bestselling, comprehensive framework for understanding Asian branding strategies and Asian brands, including a user-friendly strategic model and examples of success stories and challenges. The author offers trusted insights, knowledge and perspectives supported by brand new research and case studies.

In the battleground for the hearts and minds of customers, music is one of the most powerful tools that brands can use.
In this definitive guide to how brands harness the power of music to drive business, three leading industry experts show you how to create and execute successful music strategies with lasting impact.
Every major global brand already uses and invests in music as part of its communications but very few have created 'hits'. Music has the power to make a brand instantly recognised and loved, so what are the secrets? Including case studies from Coke, Sephora, NESCAFE and Converse and ranging from the strategic use of mnemonics to harnessing conversations in social media, "Hit Brands" is a practical guide from three pioneers of music branding that defines a seminal moment in the history of music, as brands start to create and own music for the benefit of their customers.

This book will help HR managers and founders/owners develop a formal process within the company and also provide insights from family firms on how to manage sensitive topics ranging from family member compensation; family member appraisal, etc., and serves as a guide to HR managers struggling to get a "seat at the table" in family firms.

Approximately 35 percent of African Americans had no measurable assets in 2009, and 24 percent of these same households had only a motor vehicle. Dennis Kimbro, observing how the weight of the continuing housing and credit crises disproportionately impacts the African American community, takes a sharp look at a carefully cultivated group of individuals who've scaled the heights of success and how others can emulate them. Based on a seven-year study of 1,000 of the wealthiest African Americans, The Wealth Choice offers a trove of sound and surprising advice about climbing the economic ladder, even when the odds seem stacked against you. Readers will learn about how business leaders, entrepreneurs, and celebrities like Bob Johnson, Spike Lee, L. A. Reid, Herman Cain, T. D. Jakes, and Tyrese Gibson found their paths to wealth; what they did or didn't learn about money early on; what they had to sacrifice to get to the top; and the role of discipline in managing their success.

Today's economy is rapidly shifting and extremely complex. As we enter this new commercial age, a global restructuring of the business world is underway. Executives must respond to this change by re-imagining their organizations' structures, enhancing product and service offerings, and leveraging emerging technological capabilities in order to keep their organizations vital for years to come.
Written for executives and those aspiring to become one, this book serves as a primer for how to set direction and manage change within the 21stcentury enterprise. Organized into easily accessible checklists, each chapter demystifies a key aspect of today's leadership challenge and outlines the steps necessary to revitalize today's businesses. The 'See It In Action' sidebars provide real world examples of how these concepts are already being implemented in businesses today, featuring companies such as CIGNA HealthCare, Forbes Insights, Virgin Records, DreamWorks Animation, Google, Molex, and Marriott International. Together, these chapter checklists encompass a guide that can be used to institute an overarching, enterprise-wide transformation program and make today's ultra-complex business world a little easier to manage.

Organizational executives must change the way they think about how to invest in and manage IT if they want to get lasting value from computer-based innovations. The old way of thinking has not served organizations well. They continue to experience high levels of technological and operational failures even though they apply a wide variety of industry best practices. The rapid pace of technological advancement has tended to hide some fundamental problems that have existed from the start. These involve, not the technology only, but also the management and application of that technology. The human and organizational factors have not kept pace. They have remained relatively static and, to a shocking degree, ineffective. As a result, the IT department in many organizations has remained a breed apart. Communication between IT and the rest of the organization is fraught with misunderstanding. This leads to failures, recrimination, and, sometimes, wholesale changes which fall well short of their goals. The authors wrote this book because they wanted to help both business and IT to shift their focus from technology project implementation to that of value realization. In The Value Imperative readers will be introduced to a new business model called The Agricultural Model created by the authors for managing IT in organizations. This innovative model will help you learn how to change the mindset of people in your organization about how IT should be invested in and managed; key considerations for ensuring that business value is delivered from IT investments; how to measure that value that has been delivered and whether there has been effective return on the investments made; and finally the authors challenge business and IT managers to focus on the business value that customers seek which will help companies.

The Business of Family teaches readers how to write their own family business plan using time-tested strategies from the corporate world to provide a practical, user-friendly method that ensures their family knows where it's been, where it's headed, and how it's going to get there.

Migration, both behind and beyond borders, has become a prominent issue in domestic and international debates. This report explores how the movement of people can expand human capabilities and entitlements. It also looks at how to address the underlying inequalities and distortions which limit the potential gains.

Building on the work of Daniel Kahneman (Thinking Fast and Slow), Dan Ariely (Predictably Irrational), Shaw and Hamilton provide a new understanding of how people behave, explain what it means for organizations who really want to understand their customers, and show you what to do to create exceptional customer experiences.

Leveraged Exchange-Traded Funds (LETFs) are publicly-traded funds that promise to provide daily returns that are in a multiple (positive or negative) of the returns on an index. To meet that promise, the funds use leverage, which is typically obtained through derivatives such as futures contracts, forward contracts, and total-return swaps. As of the end of 2012, there were over 250 LETFs in North America with total assets of approximately $32.24 billion. While the amount of assets held by these funds is still small, their popularity continues to grow as their trading volume is significantly larger and much more dynamic than traditional, non-leveraged ETFs. This comprehensive guide to LETFs provides high-level practitioners and researchers with a detailed reference tool for navigating the market and making informed investment decisions. Written from a measured analytical perspective, Miu and Charupat use clear and concise explanations of all important aspects of LETFs, focusing on such key elements as structure, pricing, performance, regulations, taxation, and trading strategies. The first two chapters set the stage for the book by identifying exactly what LETFs are and how they are regulated. The following chapters then look to bridge theory with practice to dive deep into the mechanics, portfolio rebalancing techniques, and daily compounding effects that make investing in these funds so lucrative.

Championship is the key differentiator between women who achieve leadership roles and those who don't. This book examines the reasons why championing works and why it is so important for female executive development in particular, and provides a user-friendly guide to develop workplace champions for female leaders in any organization

Digital Relevance teaches readers the knowledge, strategies, and skills need to create content, instantly engage customers, and compel them to action by sharing ideas so seamlessly matched to each audience's context that they can't help but take next steps toward purchase.

In times of financial crises and imminent sovereign defaults, gold is the investment on everyone's lips. As a safe investment, one could traditionally rely on gold markets for good, stable performance, however in recent years, they have seen surprising volatility and price fluctuation, with no visible reason as to why.
In "The Gold Cartel," seasoned commodity analyst Dimitri Speck illustrates in detail how central banks have secretly manipulated the price of gold in an effort to calm financial markets and control inflation. Using quantitative analysis of historic gold market patterns, the author shows how and when central banks intervene in gold markets, and how this has affected price movement and impacted the global financial markets, leading to the creation of a mega-bubble.
Since the abolition of the gold standard in 1971, the indebtedness of the global economy has increased rapidly and has now reached levels way beyond comprehension. What are the mechanisms that have led us to this mega-bubble? Is it possible to avoid a catastrophic outcome like deflation or hyperinflation? And how does this relate to the gold markets? This book has the answers.

Here Calkins shows businesses how to create and maintain a defensive strategy including: how to understand and get competitive intelligence; how to determine if your brand or company is at risk; how to create a defensive strategy; limiting risk and preventing a trial; understanding your own IP as a weapon; and much more.

This book provides a comprehensive guide for modern derivatives pricing and credit analysis. Written to provide sound theoretical detail but practical implication, it provides readers with everything they need to know to price modern financial derivatives and analyze the credit exposure of a financial instrument in today's markets.

In today's knowledge-based society universities and firms must learn to engage more effectively. Universities focus on generating new knowledge, while firms are increasingly drawing on external collaborations to add value to their offerings. This book shows managers how to work with universities to boost their competitive position and revenue.

Neuroscience is revolutionizing our understanding of human psychology and behaviour. By showing how to apply this new understanding to how you recruit, manage, and develop your people, Brann is enabling you to deliver a step change in organizational performance and individual achievement.