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Book SynopsisHow to Articulate and Assess What Success Looks Like The Social Profit Handbook offers those who lead, govern, and support mission-driven organizations and businesses new ways to assess their impact in order to improve future work rather than merely judge past performance. For-profit institutions measure their success primarily by monetary gains. But nonprofit institutions are different; they aim for social profit. How do you measure the success of these social profit institutions, where missions are focused on the well-being of people, place, and planet? Drawing upon decades of leadership in schools and the foundation and nonprofit worlds, author David Grant offers strategies—from creating mission time to planning backwards to constructing qualitative assessment rubrics—that help organizations take assessment back into their own hands, and improve their work as a result. His insights, illustrated by numerous case studies, make this book a unique organizational development tool for a wide range of nonprofit organizations, as well as emerging mission-based social venture businesses, such as low-profit corporations and B Corps. The Social Profit Handbook presentsassessment and evaluation not as ends in themselves but as the path toward achieving what matters most in the social sector. The result: more benefits to society and stronger, more unified, more effective organizations prepared to make the world a better place.Trade Review“This handbook is nothing less than revolutionary, and just what we need. If you can describe the change you most want to create, you can measure it, and others will come to value what you measure. Social profit, mission time, planning backwards: here’s the answer to how we measure what matters most, focus our attention, and get to where we actually want to go as change-makers. David Grant is the most level-headed, poetic voice for how we might all live and perform closer to our own values. Three times now, his simple and provocative teaching have shifted the way I think and act, and through this book we can share his nuanced, accessible teaching with everyone. I will give this book to every social profit organization with whom I collaborate.”--Peter Forbes, coauthor of A Man Apart, and cofounder of the Center for Whole Communities“For many years, David Grant has helped our organization create firm foundations for new projects and initiatives through the principles outlined in this excellent roadmap for rethinking success. At last his guidance and wisdom are available to anyone fortunate enough to come across this book.”--Robert Lynch, President and CEO, Americans for the Arts"Anyone in the business of improving lives—whether they spend their days in government or in mission-driven organizations—can benefit from this simple, elegant, and incisive guide to having not just more impact, but also the right impact. David Grant has produced a book that belongs on the shelves of every political and social leader interested in translating goals to successes."--Peter Welch, Congressman, U.S. House of Representatives“It has been my good fortune to help launch and run about a dozen mission-driven organizations over the past several decades. When I finished David Grant's wonderful new book, one thought eclipsed all others. Damn, I thought, I sure wish I had had this guide all those years! What a blessing that would have been!”--James Gustave Speth, author, Angels by the River; founder, World Resources Institute; cofounder, Natural Resources Defense Council"Normally, when I hear the word assessment, I consider a nap. But The Social Profit Handbook is different. I enjoyed the jogging pace of the writing, the personal narrative, the linguistic memes for easy transmission. Even better, I'm already integrating David Grant's approach into existing assessment tools. Grant's fresh framework emphasizes formative feedback and rubrics to guide your team toward high performance. This is essential reading for mission-driven leaders dedicated to constantly improving their work.”--Adam Werbach, cofounder, Yerdle; former president, Sierra Club"Wow. Who would have thought a book on assessment could be so compelling! If you are looking for a way to get your board and staff aligned and mobilized around a practical, impact-driven strategy, Grant’s handbook is essential.”--George Hamilton, President and CEO of the Institute for Sustainable Communities“I read The Social Profit Handbook over a weekend. My first day back in the office I recommended it to a new executive director and to one of my senior colleagues and referred to its core concept twice in my senior team meeting. Those of us who lead, oversee, and work in social purpose organizations all know how setting out to describe a compelling vision and to hold ourselves accountable to reach it can be treacherous and disorienting. David Grant has written a timely and valuable guide that reminds us how important that journey is and describes how we can all build a map to navigate it with confidence.”--Antony Bugg-Levine, CEO, Nonprofit Finance Fund; founding board chair of the Global Impact Investing Network; former managing director of the Rockefeller Foundation"Over many years of hosting grantee workshops led by David Grant, I have watched hundreds of individuals shift their mindsets before my very eyes. Executive directors and board members alike move from a palpable distaste and fear of assessment to a place where they embrace it as a major capacity-building tool. Like those workshops, The Social Profit Handbook gives every nonprofit or mission-driven business the tools they need to determine what 'success would look like' if they vigorously pursue what matters most to them. David's approach can help readers focus on mission and goals in entirely new ways."--Wendy Liscow, program director, education and capacity building, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation"David Grant's Social Profit Handbook is exactly what a handbook should be–accessible, enjoyable, practical, yet linked to important and thought-provoking theory. I have already applied his rubric assessment framework to my ongoing work as a consultant, as his examples are both refreshing and inspiring. Using his comforting educator's voice, Grant powerfully reframes perennial stumbling blocks into questions that can lead to responsible organizational approaches. I have spent my career attempting to improve the performance of foundations and nonprofits, and I genuinely see this resource as a breath of fresh air in the pursuit of effective implementation of strategy. This book will be a permanent resident on my 'foot-long bookshelf.'"--Nadya K. Shmavonian, former executive of The Rockefeller Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts"Grant has the ability to take on incredibly big ideas, distilling them in a way that sustains their breadth and power, and bringing them into the civic sphere. In The Social Profit Handbook, Grant challenges disheartedness in our sector by providing a rational and aspirational context by which social profit can be better understood and pursued."--Clement A. Price, founding director of the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience, Rutgers University“Those of us in the business of creating social change all want to do great work, work that really moves our society forward. But figuring out just what success is and remaining committed to it turns out to be very hard. David Grant’s great new handbook provides just the sort of wise counsel anchored by practical tools we need to help us get there. And, for me, his insistence that we truly take the time we need to get clear on what great work looks and feels like is a gift in itself.”--Phillip Henderson,president,Surdna Foundation“The Social Profit Handbook is the most meaningful, understandable, and practical guide to designing metrics that count in mission-driven work that I’ve ever read. What charity-rating organizations completely miss is what David Grant provides in this handbook – the means to measure what truly matters: impact. A must read for foundation leaders, nonprofit professionals, and even individual donors who want to understand the effect of their work, beyond the numbers.”--Nina Stack, President, Council of New Jersey Grantmakers

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Book SynopsisIn his trailblazing book Theory U, Otto Scharmer described a powerful process for sensing the future that is emerging so we can align ourselves with it and help it to come into being. Now he shows that this same U process is the key to finally resolving the multiple crises we face today. One of the key insights of Theory U is that form follows awareness: the quality of the results in any kind of system is a function of the awareness that people in the system are operating from. Even though our world is interconnected in ways unimaginable even a decade ago, in many cases our awarenessâwhether as individuals, organizations or nationsâis still limited and local. To use an analogy from biology, even though our actions affect the larger ecosystem of which we are a partâin fact the multiple interacting economic, social, political and environmental ecosystemsâwe sill behave as though our actions are narrow in scope and impact. We see ourselves as part of a far smaller, more isolated ego-system.Scharmer and Kaufer explain why actions based on this âœego-systemâ awareness not only result in recurring crises, but doom any attempt to resolve themâwe are trying to meet new challenges with an obsolete mindset. To show the shape of the emerging future they bring this ecosystem awareness to bear on areas such as labor, capital, production, technology, leadership, ownership and many others, offering a blueprint for a new society based on a profound understanding of how the actions of each affects the many. This bookâs journey is about a path and a method of dropping the baggage of old habits of thought and then crossing through the gate to an economy that operates more consciously, inclusively, and collectively.

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Book SynopsisâœThere are two birds, two sweet friends, who dwell in the self-same tree,â says the ancient Indian scripture the Upanishads. The first bird, dwelling on the lower part of the tree, lives âœin sorrow and anxiety.â Unable to see beyond the branches it hops around compulsively indulging its appetites, eating every fruit, sweet and sour. The other bird, higher up, can see the whole tree and the wider worldâthis perspective puts it in touch with its innate sense of being, the quality of existence that it shares in common with all other living beings and the natural world. Content, it âœlooks on in compassionate silenceâ at the other bird. Ram Nidumolu's provocative book on business leadership uses this allegory from Indian scripture to highlight why many businesses are distrusted by the public and contribute to social ills like environmental destruction, wealth inequality and climate change: they mimic the bird on the lower branch. But can business, compassion, and stewardship really coexist? Ram's surprising insight is to hearken back to the earliest Indian philosophical texts to reclaim their lessons for acting in accordance with our connection to Being. He outlines a four-part framework for what he calls being-centered leadership and offers examples of this kind of leadership in action, from companies such as Harley Davidson, Timberland, Puma, Pepsi and many others. It is time, he writes, to âœlook up from our rickety perch on the lower branch of a storm-tossed tree and begin the journey to the higher branch.â

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Book SynopsisBooks like StrengthsFinder 2.0 have helped leaders discover their strengths - but they stop there. The Sindells argue that focusing only on your best abilities neglects a vital development opportunity. They show how to identify hidden strengths that can be quickly elevated into full strengths with attention and focus. Working mainly on your strengths can ultimately make you weaker, they argue - you need to continually add new skills, not rely on what youâre already good at. And while most people assume that means they should try to turn their weaknesses into usable skills, the Sindells say that it takes too much time and effort - the ROI just isnât there. Itâs in the neglected middle skills, neither strengths nor weaknesses, that the most potent development opportunities lie. Theyâre close enough to being strengths that putting your energy there can offer a powerful payoff. Using assessments, exercises, and case studies, the Sindells help you identify your most promising middle skills and create a plan to turn them into strengths. In todayâs work environment, not growing and stretching yourself translates into lack of innovation, stagnation, and obsolescence. Relying upon strengths is like relying upon training wheels - at a certain point you need to take them off in order to improve and grow.

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Book SynopsisEveryone knows collaboration creates high performing teams and organizations - and with today's diverse, globalized workforce it's absolutely crucial. Yet it often doesn't happen because people and groups typically believe that the problem is always outside: the other team member, the other department, the other company. Bestselling author Ken Blanchard and his coauthors use Blanchard's signature business parable style to show that, in fact, if collaboration is to succeed it must begin with you.

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Book Synopsis"Einhorn shows how good decision-making is part imagination and part science. This excellent book shows how the science of decision-making can be applied and therefore the outcome made better." -Tony Blair It can be messy and overwhelming to figure out how to solve thorny problems. Where do you start? How do you know where to look for information and evaluate its quality and bias? How can you feel confident that you are making a careful and thoroughly researched decision? Whether you need to decide between colleges or careers, help your aging parents find the right housing or expand your business, PROBLEM SOLVED brings readers the powerful AREA Method, a practical roadmap to make the right decision in an objective, thorough and informed manner. Cheryl''s AREA Method coaches you to make smarter, better decisions because it:Recognises that research is a fundamental part of decision making and breaks down the process into a series of easy-to-follow steps.Solves for problematic mental shortcuts such as bias, judgment and assumptions.Builds in strategic stops that help you chunk your learning, stay focused and make your work work for you.Provides a flexible and repeatable process that acts as a feedback loop. PROBLEM SOLVED offers a proactive way to work with, and work through, ambiguity to make thoughtful, confident decisions.

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Book SynopsisEveryone is capable of accomplishing extraordinary things. If you share this belief, then this book was written for you. In business and in life, handing over the reins to others is inevitable. Everyone will eventually leave their team, retire from being the CEO, or see their kids leave home and lead their own lives. Leading from the Jumpseat enables us to embrace this inevitability. Leading from the Jumpseat is a metaphor for how we can choose to lead. It's about the journey we take so we can hand over control to others, who are then equipped to continue forward. Peter Docker, co-author of Find Your Why and formerly a founding Igniter at Simon Sinek Inc., delivers the message that leadership is about lifting people up and giving them the space they need so that, when the time is right, they can take the lead. Drawing on his 25-year career in the Royal Air Force, and over 14 years spent partnering with businesses around the world, Peter's goal is to inspire others to Lead from the Jumpseat. Jumpseat Leadership is a way of interacting with people that will enhance performance in any given situation - during normal business, times of crisis, and life in general. Becoming a Jumpseat Leader takes practice and this book is your practical guide to handing over control.Trade Review"Leaders know that the secret to success is giving control to the team, safely, consistently, and boldly. In Leading from the Jumpseat, former RAF pilot Peter Docker shows us how to do this." David Marquet, Author of Fortune's #1 Best Business Book of the Year, Turn the Ship Around and Founder of Intent Based Leadership;"Trust and empower your people so they can lead. Easier said than done. This book is an invaluable guide on how to do that." Nick Beighton, CEO, ASOS;"An exciting ride - start to finish! Peter's book is filled with stories that challenge you to consider the legacy you are leaving behind. We know we NEED to give up control, the question is how? This book has the answers you've been waiting for." Kristen Hadeed, Author of Permission to Screw Up;"Leading From The Jumpseat makes a compelling case for today's biggest leadership challenge: to lead with integrity. Peter Docker shares what it takes for individuals and organizations to accomplish extraordinary things - not just at 30,000 ft, but in every working environment. Leading From The Jumpseat is a great read: it offers a rich collection of real-world examples for human-centric leadership." Ralf Specht, Founder and former CEO of Spark44 and author of Building Corporate Soul; "Peter's real skill is to express, in simple terms and by examples, those ideas and principles that immediately chime with the reader. By drawing on dramatic examples of airborne emergencies, as well as more mundane and everyday situations, he guides us in applying them to our own lives." Lieutenant General Sir James Dutton KCB CBE, former Governor of Gibraltar, & Regional President for Bechtel; "This is a wonderful, rich and powerful leadership resource, full of compelling stories that really bring the concepts to life. I loved it, started stealing ideas immediately and am recommending it to all my colleagues." Susie Scott, Corporate Safety Director, Major US Airline;"If life were a 1940s black and white movie, just a couple of pages into Peter Docker's 'Leading From the Jumpseat', I'd have buzzed through to my PA saying, "Hey - hold my calls - I'm busy." Once I started reading, I kept going. Peter's a natural storyteller and he uses those stories to make point after point that you'll be able to use if you do anything at all that involves leading people. It's an absolute belter of a book." Mark McArthur-Christie, Writer and Managing Director at Rubuss; "Leading from the Jumpseat is such a warm and thought provoking read. The stories and concepts that Peter uses to explain Jumpseat Leadership are so positive and uplifting. I found myself reflecting back to situations where I have been lifted up, how that made me feel and how I might do the same for others. It is clear from the stories Peter tells the importance of lifting others up and the lasting impression that positive actions leave on those you are supporting. One of the main messages I took away was that, just because I am not a CEO it doesn't matter - leadership is available to everyone at every level, in every situation." Alexandra Cox, Events Manager, Pembroke College, University of Oxford;Table of ContentsChapter 1 - Setting the Context; Chapter 2 - Why Jumpseat Leadership? ***COMMITMENT*** Chapter 3 - When Something is Important Enough; Chapter 4 - Cutting Through the Noise; Chapter 5 - Fear in the Shadows; Chapter 6 - Guardian of Hope; ***HUMBLE CONFIDENCE*** Chapter 7 - Antidote to Ego; Chapter 8 - The Way We Occur; Chapter 9 - Collective Genius; ***BELONGING*** Chapter 10 - Finding the Connection; Chapter 11 - Seconds Count; Chapter 12 - Handing Over Control; Now Consider This; Lifting Others Up

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Book SynopsisCreating new ideas and growth opportunities is the lifeblood of any organisation.But do you ever have enough time to come up with them?If the answer to this is 'no', then The Idea Accelerator is the book for you. It presents 60 effective and practical speed thinking tools to help you come up with new ideas quickly. Each tool is simple to use and will help you develop ideas and solve problems faster. There are tools that you can use by yourself, with others, or to unlock the creativity of a team.The Idea Accelerator is a powerful handbook and the ultimate resource for time-strapped business executives who might be running their own business, working in innovation, new product development, business development, sales, marketing and advertising.Expect immediate results.

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Book SynopsisYou CAN change your business destiny. From a veteran technology executive comes an essential toolkit to reveal exactly where your company's true value lies-and how to reap its rewards. Over his 30 years as an executive in the technology sector, Matt Hulett has become the go-to company fixer. From RealNetworks to Rosetta Stone to Expedia, he has steered start-ups and large companies into renewed areas for growth. Now, he shares five key questions that will uncover new insight into your business's potential-without the need for a lengthy and costly strategic planning process. Through real-life examples, personal stories, and insights from thought leaders and CEOs, Hulett guides you through the steps of taking a deep dive into your company's pivot potential. He shows you how to take stock of your business, from your company's alignment to market trends and your supply chain position, to your value proposition for customers, to your ability to raise capital. Along the way, you'll begin to identify where your true potential lies, and map out a plan to capitalize on it. With expert advice on assessing industry shifts, valuable insights on leading teams, and tips for raising money and pitching investors, Hulett shows you exactly where to look, and what you need to find, in order to map out a new future for you and your company.

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Book SynopsisIn 2020 Vision leading chairmen and senior executives of major multinationals set out their vision of what their markets, companies and strategy will look like in 2020, and how they will prepare for and adapt to long-term change in the face of new technology, globalisation, intense competition, decreasing security and maturing markets.The contributors are all prominent figures in their industries. Between them they represent a diverse cross-section of the business world, in terms of geography, gender and industry, from sectors including advertising, education, healthcare, law, technology and retail.Here are insights from those operating at the top of their game, whose decisions affect not just global business, but all of our lives. They might not all agree about where we are going, but their combined perspectives afford a depth of analysis that makes this essential reading for both present and future leaders.As seen serialized in The Times on the 23rd and 24th of April 2015.If you would like to find out more, you can read the interview with Tim Burt in the Trust Magazine.Trade Review"Tim Burt's book brings an array of business leaders all at the cutting edge of globalisation and economic change. All are perceptive and unshackled by convention: their thinking is transferable to business everywhere. Tim's journalistic background supplements his experience helping companies articulate strategy. This is a book that gets under the surface of businesses that are shaping the new global economy." -Simon Walker, Director General of "Institute of Directors". Furthermore, "2020 Vision" has been reviewed by "The Business Traveller"'s Tom Otley, who writes that; "I'm impressed both by the list Burt has compiled, and the quality of the writing throughout, which is clear, concise, and keeps the author's own opinions and personality firmly out of frame until the conclusion."Table of Contents1. Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP 2. Mark Schwab, Star Alliance 3. Li Shufu, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group 4. Kasper Rorsted, Henkel 5. Enrique Zambrano, Proeza 6. Ashish J. Thakkar, Mara Group 7. Linda Zecher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 8. Roberto Quarta, Smith & Nephew 9. Martha Lane Fox, Go ON UK 10. Jacob Wallenberg, Investor AB 11. Eduardo Leite, Baker & McKenzie 12. Beth Comstock, GE 13. Jac Nasser, BHP Billiton 14. Lucian Grainge, Universal Music Group 15. Lord Rothermere, Daily Mail and General Trust 16. Tadashi Yanai, Fast Retailing 17. Andrew Sukawaty, Inmarsat 18. Ingar Skaug, J. Lauritzen and DFDS 19. Augie Fabela, VimpelCom 20. Emma Marcegaglia, Eni and BusinessEurope Conclusion Index

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Book SynopsisThis book provides an overview of the main methods and results in the formal study of the human decision-making process, as defined in a relatively wide sense. A key aim of the approach contained here is to try to break down barriers between various disciplines encompassed by this field, including psychology, economics and computer science. All these approaches have contributed to progress in this very important and much-studied topic in the past, but none have proved sufficient so far to define a complete understanding of the highly complex processes and outcomes. This book provides the reader with state-of-the-art coverage of the field, essentially forming a roadmap to the field of decision analysis. The first part of the book is devoted to basic concepts and techniques for representing and solving decision problems, ranging from operational research to artificial intelligence. Later chapters provide an extensive overview of the decision-making process under conditions of risk and uncertainty. Finally, there are chapters covering various approaches to multi-criteria decision-making. Each chapter is written by experts in the topic concerned, and contains an extensive bibliography for further reading and reference.Table of ContentsPreface xxi Chapter 1. From Decision Theory to Decision-aiding Methodology 1Alexis TSOUKIAS Chapter 2. Binary Relations and PreferenceModeling 49Denis BOUYSSOU, Philippe VINCKE Chapter 3. Formal Representations of Uncertainty 85Didier DUBOIS, Henri PRADE Chapter 4. Human Decision: Recognition plus Reasoning 157Jean-Charles POMEROL Chapter 5. Multiple Objective Linear Programming 199Jacques TEGHEM Chapter 6. Constraint Satisfaction Problems 265Gerard VERFAILLIE, Thomas SCHIEX Chapter 7. Logical Representation of Preferences 321Jerome LANG Chapter 8. Decision under Risk: The Classical Expected Utility Model 365Alain CHATEAUNEUF, Michele COHEN, Jean-Marc TALLON Chapter 9. Decision under Uncertainty: The Classical Models 385Alain CHATEAUNEUF, Michele COHEN, Jean-Yves JAFFRAY Chapter 10. Cardinal Extensions of the EU Model Based on the Choquet Integral 401Alain CHATEAUNEUF, Michele COHEN Chapter 11. A Survey of Qualitative Decision Rules under Uncertainty 435Didier DUBOIS, Helene FARGIER, Henri PRADE, Regis SABBADIN Chapter 12. A Cognitive Approach to Human Decision Making 475Eric RAUFASTE, Denis J. HILTON Chapter 13. Bayesian Networks 505Jean-Yves JAFFRAY Chapter 14. Planning under Uncertainty with Markov Decision Processes 541Regis SABBADIN Chapter 15. Multiattribute Utility Theory 579Mohammed ABDELLAOUI, Christophe GONZALES Chapter 16. Conjoint Measurement Models for Preference Relations 617Denis BOUYSSOU, Marc PIRLOT Chapter 17. Aggregation Functions for Decision Making 673Jean-Luc MARICHAL Chapter 18. Subjective Evaluation 723Michel GRABISCH Chapter 19. Social Choice Theory and Multicriteria Decision Aiding 779Denis BOUYSSOU, Thierry MARCHANT, Patrice PERNY Chapter 20.Metric and Latticial Medians 811Olivier HUDRY, Bruno LECLERC, BernardMONJARDET, Jean-Pierre BARTHELEMY List of Authors 857 Index 861

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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