"A step-by-step guide to successfully transforming any organization. It is well recognized that succeeding at innovation is fundamental in today's hyper-competitive global marketplace. It is the only way to outperform current and emerging competitors sustainably. But what we call "innovation" is messy and difficult and too often lacks the rigor and discipline of other management processes. The Innovator's Field Guide: Market Tested Methods and Frameworks to Help You Meet Your Innovation Challenges changes that. It is a practical guide that moves beyond the "why" to the "how" of making innovation happen, for leaders and practitioners inside organizations of all sizes.Written by two pioneers in the field of embedding innovation in organization, The Innovator's Field Guide focuses on the most pressing innovation problems and specific challenges innovation leaders will face and offers concrete solutions, tools, and methods to overcome them. Each chapter describes a specific innovation challenge and details proven ways to address that challenge Includes practical ideas, techniques, and leading practices Describes common obstacles and offers practical solutions Any leader or professional who needs concrete solutions--right now--to the critical challenges of innovation will find invaluable aid in the practical, easy-to-understand, and market-tested approaches of The Innovator's Field Guide"--

"Democracy promotion has been an influential policy agenda in many Western states, international organisations, and amongst many NGO actors. But what kinds of models of democracy do democracy promoters promote? This book examines in detail the conceptual orders that underpin democracy support activity, and the conceptions of democracy that democracy promoters, consciously or inadvertently, work with. Such an examination is not only timely but much-needed in today's context of multiple democratic and financial crises. Contestation over democracy's meaning is returning, but how is this contestation reflected, if at all, in democracy promotion policies and practices?Seeking to open up debate on multiple models of democracy, this text provides the reader not only with the outlines of various possible politico-economic models of democracy, but also with a close empirical engagement with democracy promoters' discourses and practices. Drawing on a broad spectrum of examples, it exposes the challenges faced by Western governments in trying to reshape the political and economic landscape across the world and tentatively advances a set of concrete policy provocations which may enable a more, pluralist and flexible democracy promotion practice to emerge.This innovative new work will be essential reading for all students of democratization, democracy promotion and international relations"-- "This text explains the different models of democracy and the varied approaches taken by a number of international actors to promote (or impose) democratic and economic reform"--

"Beyond Wealth by New York Times bestselling author Alexander Green is a blueprint for personal prosperity. But the rewards are more than just financial. The book reveals fail-proof, time-tested strategies to help you achieve maximum success in both your business and personal life. One of the nation's highest-rated and most-admired investment analysts, Mr. Green offers ageless wisdom and a priceless perspective that draws on today's best business minds as well as many of the world's great philosophers from Ancient times right through to the Modern Era. Beyond Wealth is both a deeply inspiring read and a concrete plan that shows you the shortest and most direct route to what the author calls "True Wealth.""--

Following the smashing success of Material World 1 and Material World 2, the third edition in this series, Material World 3: Innovative Materials for Architecture and Design, offers another hundred-plus materials and semi-finished products carefully selected by matériO, the library of emerging materials. Highlighting this exclusive collection, which covers materials with a wide variety of properties and aesthetic qualities, are modular, undulating wall coverings, fish-skin leathers, photovoltaic textiles, and LED lighting systems powered by wafer-thin batteries. Material World 3 promises to satisfy the demand among architects, designers, and students for product information, technical specifications, and suggestions for ways in which to use the latest fascinating materials and finishes. Above and beyond inspiration, the reader finds the names, addresses, phone numbers, and websites of suppliers—all the information needed to contact and purchase every item featured in the book. The team at matériO—intent on informing readers about materials and convinced that innovation emerges largely from maximizing the use of materials and technologies through in-depth knowledge—summarizes fifteen basic concepts to help novices gain a better understanding of this complex topic and to point out, even to the more well-informed reader, aspects of materials that are often overlooked. What do FSC, COV, Cradle to Cradle, and oxo-degradable mean? What are Damascus steel, float glass, and electroluminescence? What’s the story behind the invention of nylon, or of Velcro? Find the answers to these and many other relevant questions in Material World 3. Taken as a whole, these features make Material World 3 a virtually encyclopedic survey of exciting materials and finishes for use in interior design and architecture.

"Bakan offers passionate argument and copious research in this compelling call for parents to stand up for their children."--Booklist (starred review) "Corporations have found a new resource to be mined for profit: our children. In this shocking and indelible behind-the-scenes journey, Joel Bakan, acclaimed author and award-winning maker of the renowned film and international bestselling book The Corporation, uncovers the astonishing degree to which companies exploit the special vulnerabilities of children, manipulate parents' fears, and operate with callous disregard for children's health and well-being. The number of children taking dangerous psychotropic drugs has skyrocketed as pharmaceutical companies employ insidious, often illegal tactics to inflate diagnoses of disorders and convince parents their children require medication. A highly sophisticated marketing industry deploys increasingly subtle and powerful tactics to play on children's intense emotions and desires and to lure them into obsessive consumerism. Computer game designers craft techniques to titillate children with sex and violence, while social media developers infiltrate and shape children's social and emotional worlds to compel them to spend more and more monetizable time online. America's schools are being transformed into profit centers while children are subjected to increasingly regimented teaching that thwarts curiosity and creativity, numbing the joy of learning. And children's chronic health problems, from asthma to cancer, autism, and birth defects, steadily escalate as thousands of new industrial chemicals are dumped into their environments. Nelson Mandela once sagely remarked that "there can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way it treats its children." The problem today, as Joel Bakan reveals, is that business interests have made protecting children extremely difficult. Corporations pump billions into rendering parents and governments powerless to shield children from an unrelenting commercial assault, with the result that after a century of progress, during which protective laws and regulations were widely promulgated, children are once again exposed to substantial harms at the hands of economic actors. Childhood Under Siege leaves no room for doubt that this assault on childhood is a major crisis of our time. A powerful manifesto for urgent change, it empowers us to shield our own children while offering concrete and realistic proposals for legal reforms that would protect all children from these predatory practices. "--Publisher's description

"In 1991, Anita Hill's courageous testimony during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings sparked a national conversation on sexual harassment and women's equality in politics and the workplace. Today, she turns her attention to another potent and enduring symbol of economic success and equality-the home. Hill details how the current housing crisis, resulting in the devastation of so many families, so many communities, and even whole cities, imperils every American's ability to achieve the American Dream. Hill takes us on a journey that begins with her own family story and ends with the subprime mortgage meltdown. Along the way, she invites us into homes across America, rural and urban, and introduces us to some extraordinary African American women. As slavery ended, Mollie Elliott, Hill's ancestor, found herself with an infant son and no husband. Yet, she bravely set course to define for generations to come what it meant to be a free person of color. On the eve of the civil rights and women's rights movements, Lorraine Hansberry's childhood experience of her family's fight against racial restrictions in a Chicago neighborhood ended tragically for the Hansberry family. Yet, that episode shaped Lorraine's hopeful account of early suburban integration in her iconic American drama A Raisin in the Sun. Two decades later, Marla, a divorced mother, endeavors to keep her children safe from a growing gang presence in 1980s Los Angeles. Her story sheds light on the fears and anxiety countless parents faced during an era of growing neighborhood isolation, and that continue today. In the midst of the 2008 recession, hairdresser Anjanette Booker's dogged determination to keep her Baltimore home and her salon reflects a commitment to her own independence and to her community's economic and social viability. Finally, Hill shares her own journey to a place and a state of being at home that brought her from her roots in rural Oklahoma to suburban Boston, Massachusetts, and connects her own search for home with that of women and men set adrift during the foreclosure crisis. The ability to secure a place that provides access to every opportunity our country has to offer is central to the American Dream. To achieve that ideal, Hill argues, we and our leaders must engage in a new conversation about what it takes to be at home in America. Pointing out that the inclusive democracy our Constitution promises is bigger than the current debate about legal rights, she presents concrete proposals that encourage us to reimagine equality. Hill offers a twenty-first-century vision of America-not a vision of migration, but one of roots; not one simply of tolerance, but one of belonging; not just of rights, but also of community-a community of equals"--Provided by publisher.

""Are we right," Benjamin M. Friedman asks, "to care so much about economic growth as we clearly do?" To answer, Friedman reaches beyond economics. He examines the political and social histories of the large Western democracies - particularly of the United States since the Civil War - distinguishing times of generally rising living standards from those of pervasive stagnation to illustrate how rising incomes render a society more open and democratic. He shows, too, how our attitudes toward economic growth and its consequences have roots in the thinking of prior centuries, especially the Enlightenment, and also include significant strands of religious influence." "Friedman also delineates the role of economic growth in determining which developing nations extend the broadest freedoms to their citizenry. He makes clear that growth, rather than just the level of living standards, is key to effecting political and social liberalization in the third world. But he also warns that the democratic values of countries even as wealthy as our own are at risk whenever incomes stagnate for extended periods. Merely being rich is no protection against a society's retreat into rigidity and intolerance once enough of its citizens lose the sense that they are getting ahead." "Finally, Friedman shows us why, if America is to strengthen democratic institutions around the world as a bulwark against terrorism and social unrest, we must aggressively pursue growth at home and promote worldwide economic expansion beyond what purely market-driven forces would create. And for the United States, he offers concrete suggestions for policy steps to achieve those objectives."--BOOK JACKET