Spoiled Rotten

In a world where technology allows companies to gather, aggregate and analyse data about us that includes our buying habits, our financial behavior, our professional and personal networks, and even our physical whereabouts - our digital reputations are becoming our most valuable currency. Whether you like it or not, everywhere you go, other people will be able to instantly access information about your reputation - with or without your knowledge or consent.In The Reputation Economy, Michael Fertik reveals the secrets used to optimise the digital reputations and improve the lives of millions of users of Reputation.com. Discover: *Which keywords to include in your CV, performance review, and LinkedIn profile to ensure you come up at the top of recruiters and potential employers' search results*How to curate your on and offline activity in way that will reduce the risk profile (and therefore your premiums) calculated by insurers*How to lure venture capital for your business idea or start-up, court low interest rates from investors, and garner the attention of tech giants like Google and Microsoft*How to hide the negative information (or information that doesn't match how you want to be perceived) that's out in the ether. There's nothing you can do to erase that digital footprint, but there are tricks you can use to keep it from being discovered. It will also show how you can use all this technology evaluate others' reputations so you always know who you're dealing with, whether it's a potential employee, investor or romantic partner. In short, The Reputation Economy will show you how to become 'reputation rich' in a world where your digital reputation is as valuable as the cash in your wallet.

Business, culture, and competitive landscapes have fundamentally changed, but the basic principles and best practices for succeeding and future-proofing both yourself and your organisation haven't. With a mix of compelling stories, research from the social sciences and psychology, and real-world insights, Make Change Work for You shows how to reignite your career, rekindle creativity, and fearlessly innovate your way to success by providing the tools needed to master uncertainty and conquer every challenge in life or business.Using a simple, four-part model, Steinberg helps you understand and better respond to the challenges that change can bring:1. Focus: Define the problem and come to understand it objectively.2. Engage: Interact with the challenge and try a range of solutions.3. Assess: Review the response(s) generated by your tactics.4. React: Adjust your strategy accordingly.And finally, the book shows how to develop the vital personal and professional skills required to triumph in the 'new normal' by understanding and engaging in the 10 new habits that highly successful people share:1. Play the Odds2. Embrace Tomorrow Today3. Seek Constant Motion4. Lead, Don't Follow5. Never Stop Learning6. Create Competitive Advantage7. Connect the Dots8. Pick Your Battles9. Set and Align Your Priorities10. Always Create Value

Product management has never been a more necessary or in-demand discipline for both technology startups and more established companies. Through technology, we have the means to enrich our work and leisure time in ways people, even just a few years ago, could only have dreamed about. It is easier, cheaper and quicker than it ever has been before to create technology products in both software and hardware. Everything is continually changing and the pace of innovation is perpetually increasing - just look at 3D printing.Product management is the art, science and skill of bringing a successful product to life. In The Practitioner's Guide To Product Management, Jock Busuttil looks what product managers do, how the role came to be, how it's still continuing to evolve, and why it's such good news that there's no prescribed route to becoming one. Busuttil also delves into examples of the good, the bad and the ill-advised products to consider why they succeeded and failed and give you the inside track on avoiding all the common product management pitfalls. The book examines the fine line between success and failure and reveals nine ways you can increase your product's chances of success.If you're new to product management and wondering what it's all about or if you're a product manager shooting for professional success, this book will give you the inside track on starting, developing, and then selling a new product.

'Coleman and Ferguson have done something remarkable: they've written an evidence-based book on the complex topic of conflict and made it easy to read, easy to understand, and, best of all, easy to use. A genuine winner' Robert B. Cialdini, author of Influence: The Psychology of PersuasionA PRACTICAL GUIDE TO NAVIGATING WORKPLACE CONFLICTS Work conflict is risky. It can go bad and poison employee health, work relationships and organizational climates, or it can go well and help to energize problem solving, innovation and bottom-line effectiveness. Managing conflicts up and down the chain of command at work can be particularly treacherous, as power differences complicate conflicts and constrain response options. Organizations are rife with stories of executives and managers who abuse their power, employees who overstep their authority, and the resulting conflicts that get stuck in downward spirals. When people find themselves in conflict, they immediately become aware of the balance of power in the situation or relationship: 'Hey, you work for me, so back off!', or 'Wow, he is much bigger and drunker than I thought he was before I told him to shut up', so understanding how conflict and power affect each other is vital to effective conflict management.In Making Conflict Work, Peter Coleman and Robert Ferguson, leading experts in the field of conflict resolution, address the key role of power in workplace tension. Coleman and Ferguson explain how power dynamics function and provide step-by-step guidance to determining your standing in a conflict and identifying and applying the strategies that will lead to the best resolution. Drawing on the authors' years of research and consulting experience, Making Conflict Work offers seven new strategies and dozens of tactics for negotiating disputes at all levels of an organization. This powerful approach can turn workplace tensions into catalysts for creativity, innovation, and meaningful change.

Deep down, we're just like animals. Some of us are selfish like apes. Some are chaotic like ants. . . And somehow the two clash and coalesce in 'antagonistic harmony'. A fascinating look at the evolutionary psychology, instincts and tactics of the workplace.My Manager & Other Animals examines the evolutionary psychology of work, focusing on the office, workshop, corporation or government department, and the complex and fascinating evolutionary tactics that have developed to deal with working life.37 years ago Richard Dawkins wrote The Selfish Gene and it didn't take long for the business community to latch on to the 'selfish' part and adopt it as an industry standard. After all, it fitted in with the notion that, since we are all descended from apes, we should be like them: selfish, aggressive and competitive. More recently, astounding discoveries in human and animal behaviour (particularly ants) have shown that, in all animals, cooperation and altruism is more common than we think and more useful than we could imagine. It seems we contain an inner ape and an inner ant. How confusing; they seem like opposites, because co-operation means helping others, competition means swatting them. What are we, ape or ant? This book shows that ant and ape are both important. Co-operation without leadership is random, leadership without co-operation is slavery. The result of these two colliding is the mad mad mad world of work and life, lovingly described in the book.

From its earliest years, the United States was a nation of tinkerers: men and women who looked at the world around them and were able to create something genuinely new from what they saw. Guided by their innate curiosity, a desire to know how things work, and a belief that anything can be improved, amateurs and professionals from Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Edison came up with the inventions that laid the foundations for America's economic dominance. Recently, Americans have come to question whether our tinkering spirit has survived the pressures of ruthless corporate organization and bottom-line driven caution. But as Alec Foege shows in The Tinkerers , reports of tinkering's death have been greatly exaggerated.Through the stories of great tinkerers and inventions past and present, Foege documents how Franklin and Edison's modern-day heirs do not allow our cultural obsessions with efficiency and conformity to interfere with their passion and creativity. Tinkering has been the guiding force behind both major corporate-sponsored innovations such as the personal computer and Ethernet, and smaller scale inventions with great potential, such as a machine that can make low-cost eyeglass lenses for people in impoverished countries and a device that uses lasers to shoot malarial mosquitoes out of the sky. Some tinkerers attended the finest engineering schools in the world some had no formal training in their chosen fields. Some see themselves as solo artists others emphasize the importance of working in teams. What binds them together is an ability to subvert the old order, to see fresh potential in existing technologies, and to apply technical know-how to the problems of their day.As anyone who has feared voiding a warranty knows, the complexity of modern systems can be needlessly intimidating. Despite this, tinkerers can - and do - come from anywhere, whether it's the R&D lab of a major corporation, a hobbyist's garage, or a summer camp for budding engineers. Through a lively retelling of recent history and captivating interviews with today's most creative innovators, Foege reveals how the tinkering tradition remains, in new and unexpected forms, at the heart of American society and culture.

The story of Captain D. Michael Abrashoff and his command of USS Benfold has become legendary inside and outside the Navy. Now Abrashoff offers this fascinating tale of top-down change for anyone trying to navigate today's uncertain business seas. When Captain Abrashoff took over as commander of USS Benfold, a ship armed with every cutting-edge system available, it was like a business that had all the latest technology but only some of the productivity. Knowing that responsibility for improving performance rested with him, he realized he had to improve his own leadership skills before he could improve his ship. Within months he created a crew of confident and inspired problem-solvers eager to take the initiative and take responsibility for their actions. The slogan on board became "It's your ship," and Benfold was soon recognized far and wide as a model of naval efficiency. How did Abrashoff do it? Against the backdrop of today's United States Navy-Benfold was a key player in our Persian Gulf fleet-Abrashoff shares his secrets of successful management including: ·See the ship through the eyes of the crew: By soliciting a sailor's suggestions, Abrashoff drastically reduced tedious chores that provided little additional value. ·Communicate, communicate, communicate: The more Abrashoff communicated the plan, the better the crew's performance. His crew would eventually call him "Megaphone Mike," since they heard from him so often. ·Create discipline by focusing on purpose: Discipline skyrocketed when Abrashoff's crew believed that what they were doing was important. Listen aggressively: After learning that many sailors wanted to use the GI Bill, Abrashoff brought a test official aboard the ship-and held the SATs forty miles off the Iraqi coast. From achieving amazing cost savings to winning the highest gunnery score in the Pacific Fleet, Captain Abrashoff's extraordinary campaign sent shock waves through the U.S. Navy. It can help you change the course of your ship, no matter where your business battles are fought.