Iconic
This book is about icons – exceptional organizations (orchestras, restaurants, sports teams or companies) with an aspiration to make or do something special, and to go on doing so, year in, year out for decades. This is what gives these organizations their undeniably iconic status.
By selecting 14 iconic organizations (including ElBulli, McKinsey, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Procter & Gamble, the All Blacks) and researching what characteristics make them different from others, the authors discovered a “competency spiral” which these organizations exhibit in their success. Attracting and retaining the right people; forging individuals into a team; and achieving outstanding results, time after time, through continuous improvement and adjustment – these are the key competencies required to achieve iconic status.
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Minifesto
We live in times of great change. Or so we are told. Headlines blast messages about clashes between tribes, civilisations, political factions, East and West. We are told that unless we abstain from eating meat, flying or enjoying other modern amenities, the planet is doomed. We live in times of trouble. Of crossroads. Of signs of decline. We live in special times. In turn, future thinking is often reduced to people having opinions about other people’s opinions.
As opposed to manifesto, in manifesto many small ideas are created to inspire one person, your- self. By sharing the vision of the future, we can avoid telling stories and instead strive to surround ourselves with as many strange, conflicting ideas that we can in order to immerse ourselves in future possibilities and possible futures. Incorporating recognisable examples, Minifesto will illustrate how the world changes when a single individual does something new.
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Upgraded
The realm of the “personal” is now increasingly touched by technology – especially the Internet. For example, sleep is now something we do in between checking our smartphones. Our relationship to food and eating has changed too. Home delivery, restaurant search, table bookings – these have all been elevated to a high level skill-set which is part-entertainment, part-electronic processing. And travel is now a finger-clicking exercise with precision timing.
This readjustment of our daily routine has had one significant effect: it has taught individuals a range of skills that would normally be in the domain of businesses. Ordinary people now behave as businesses do by using buying strategies to get costs down. We now have expectations of quality and delivery. In fact, we have become so business-like as individuals that marketers need to get rid of the processes of “Business-to-Consumer” communication, and begin to adopt the rules of “Business-to-Business” when talking to consumers. Such change of our lives is an explosion of the new – new thinking, new business, new relationships, new selling, new buying, new leisure, new humans.
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The Networking Book
This book deals with networking and asks the question: Do you have the nerve not to use - or not to learn to use - networking in business and in your private life? It is a well-documented fact that what we want and desire is more easily achieved when we understand how to build the right relationships. Networking is basically the exchange of a wide range of services - and the most precious insurance in your private life and your career. This highly practical and accessible book will help anyone understand the power of networking quickly through face-to-face meeting and social media, as well as how they can use it as a way to enhance their prospects.
Author: Simone Andersen
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The Prisoner and the Penguin
The power of a good story has long been recognised.
It seems that, as a race, we humans love a good story. But stories aren’t just for pure enjoyment - they have long been a powerful tool for teaching. This book is an alternative to traditional marketing handbook. Rather than a textbook, it is an enjoyable “story-book” that brings to life some of the key principles of marketing in an easy-to-read, accessible form. Some of these stories are quite remarkable and almost unbelievable; but all are true and remind marketers and businesspeople that the best marketing is something which people tell others about and retell over many years.
Author: Giles Lury
Creative 4Cast
A New Solution for the Future of Advertising
This book presents a manifesto for the changing face of advertising. But rather than a revolution, this change is more of an evolution. Creative thought has to evolve, creative professionals have to evolve and therefore advertising agencies, too, have to evolve. Leading advertising practitioner Emanuele Nenna provides ideas and direction for this evolution in this timely and important book for everyone involved in the advertising sector.
Author: Emanuele Nenna
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The Art of Shopping
How we shop and why we buy
Whether you love it, hate it, or just get on with it, everybody is a shopper. From the poorest African townships to the smartest retail spaces in the world, shopping is an activity that constantly consumes vast amounts of our time, money and attention. It simultaneously drives commerce and fills our fridges. The things we buy contribute to our own personal sense of identity, sustaining us both physically and emotionally.
Yet how much do we really understand about shopping? More to the point, how well do retailers and manufacturers understand the way we shop? In this highly readable, ground-breaking book Siemon Scamell-Katz, one of the world's leading analysts of shopper behaviour, provides a surprising look at shopper behaviour. Drawing on 20 years of pioneering research (from filming shoppers in-store to brain scanning), the author explains how people around the world really shop. The Art of Shopping explores what we actually do rather than what we think we do, how we really choose and make decisions to buy, and what really works for brands trying to persuade us to buy. The result is a book that will change the way retailers sell and people shop, forever.
Author: Siemon Scamell-Katz