Search results for ""momentum""

The revealing and candid memoir of Australia's legendary playwright and screenwriter The definitive memoir of David Williamson, author of iconic dramas such as The Removalists, The Club, Don's Party, Emerald City and Travelling North, as well as more than fifty other plays, explores the life of the writer and the true stories and real lives that inspired his works. A powerful force in theatre since the 1970s, Williamson's plays have uniquely explored the pulse of our Australianness. After five decades of chronicling the blunders, mishaps and messes that he and his fellow Australians got themselves into, Williamson has penned his long-awaited memoir, Home Truths. It reveals the story of the man behind the work: how a childhood defined by marital discord sparked a lifelong fascination with the power of drama to explore emotional conflict; how a mechanical engineering student became our most successful playwright; the anxiety that plagued him as he crafted his plays; the joy of connecting with an audience and the enduring sting of the critics; and the great love story that defined his personal life.Fearless, candid and witty, Williamson also writes about the plethora of odd, interesting, caustic and brilliant people – actors, directors, writers, theatre critics, politicians – who have intersected with his life and work: from a young Jacki Weaver and Chris Haywood in the first Sydney production of The Removalists in 1971 to Nicole Kidman on the brink of stardom in the 1988 feature film of Emerald City and lively dinners with political powerhouse Paul Keating; and from Graham Kennedy in the 1976 film version of Don's Party through eventful overseas travels with Gareth Evans, Peter Carey and Tim Winton to a West End production of Up for Grabs starring Madonna, and the satisfaction of seeing his sons Felix and Rory tread the boards in several of his own plays.Praise for David Williamson:'Australia's most enduringly popular social comedy writer … keenly observant and satirical.' The Sydney Morning Herald'Williamson always keeps us engaged … his words weave a spellbinding course … testament to the power of [his] language.' The Daily Telegraph'Our greatest dramatic entertainer.' Chris Boyd, Financial Review'His genius has been to define for us, in advance of our own recognition, the qualities which make up the Australian character.' Katharine Brisbane, The Australian'It would be impossible to fault Williamson for not being brutally honest.' Jasper Lindell, Canberra Times'Known for his sharp wit, brutal dialogue and fierce politics, Williamson's book is savage, funny and tender in equal parts. It's also first-class eyewitness cultural history.' Filmink'Home Truths unfurls a sweeping and surprising life. It is a potpourri of Australian middle-class mores, exiting cultural schisms in the nation's theatre fuelled by young men and women who would go on to change the face of stage and screen, the politics of the day, love trysts and betrayal, backstage drama, fame and financial success, family, enemies made and friends lost, marriage and divorce, all backdropped by Williamson's remarkable work.' Matthew Condon, The Australian'... the overall momentum is powerfully sustained. Home Truths is as much a collective portrait as a self-portrait, and anyone who picks it up is likely to be carried on by the surge and the propulsion.' Peter Craven, Sydney Morning Herald'Like so many of his plays, it is name-dropping, gossipy and wonderfully entertaining.' Susan Lever, Inside Story'The book is packed with detail, personal and professional, as he covers his life step by step, highs and lows, plenty of each.' NZ Listener

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A comprehensive new framework for winning at Mfrom up-front planning to postmerger integration The challenges of mergers and acquisitions can be daunting-but the opportunities and benefits they offer forward-thinking companies can be tremendous. Winning at Mergers and Acquisitions offers a critical new approach to strategic M&A based on the authors' pioneering concept of marketing due diligenceSM. Covering every stage of market-driven M&A planning and integration, this book shows how to look beyond the quick hit to focus on long-term growth rather than short-term cost-cutting. Featuring dozens of real-life case studies-including both failures and extraordinary successes-plus inside comments from leading M&A specialists, this book contains crucial guidance on: * Predeal planning-how to identify your strategic needs and pinpoint the merger candidate(s) that will help you meet them * Sizing up targets for acquisition-how to examine the essential marketing, sales, and product issues that will determine a good company "fit,".strategically and culturally * Revenue enhancement planning-how to identify ways to drive top-line growth and develop action plans to generate near- and long-term revenues * Filling the pipeline-how to prioritize and actualize the critical steps necessary to drive shareholder value * Developing communication programs-how to design and execute communication strategies to garner support for the merger by employees, customers, and other stakeholders * Building a comprehensive postmerger integration plan-how to align diverse corporate cultures, develop training and reward programs, and move beyond the turf wars and lack of productivity that hamper the success of mergers and acquisitions. Last year more than 7,000 mergers and acquisitions were completed, with a collective price tag estimated at more than $800 billion. And although they are known as highly effective means of achieving corporate growth and strategic advantage, these transactions are fraught with pitfalls: Statistics indicate that a third of these deals will fail and another third will not bear out the expectations of the merger partners. What can businesses looking to undertake strategic mergers and acquisitions do to ensure that they do not fall victim to confusion, multimillion-dollar losses, declining market share and profits, or any number of other negative results of failed transactions? The answers are in Winning at Mergers and Acquisitions, a pioneering step-by-step guide to growth-driven planning and swift, effective post-merger integration. Challenging the conventional emphasis on cost-reduction synergies, this book presents the authors' groundbreaking blueprint for mergers that yield strategic synergies and high returns in meeting long-term growth, increased market share, and revenue generation objectives. Mark Clemente and David Greenspan explore in detail the marketing, sales, and organizational issues that are vital aspects of successful M&A ventures. They take executives through the entire strategic M&A process-from setting objectives, to evaluating target companies, to aligning corporate cultures in an effort to ensure problem-free integration. They show how to maintain a sharp focus on the markets that will be reached by the merger-and they offer invaluable advice on charting a steady course through the often tumultuous period of integration, when organizational chaos can cause the merged company to lose momentum, market share, and the backing of customers, prospects, and shareholders. Winning at Mergers and Acquisitions is essential reading for CEOs, managers, deal makers, and others looking to capitalize on one of the most important methods of effecting corporate growth in business today-while staying focused on the people, product, and process issues that power that growth.

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Tom de Freston (born 1983) is a British artist and writer, living and working in Oxford. De Freston’s multimedia art tackles themes of trauma, humanity and intimacy across paintings, films and performance. He builds rich visual narratives, drawing on literature, art history and social issues. He graduated from Cambridge University in 2007 and since 2008 has exhibited his work in over twenty shows to date. A prolific author, Granta published de Freston’s debut non-fiction book, Wreck, in 2022 and his second will be released in 2024. Julia and the Shark (Hachette, 2021), created with his wife Kiran Millwood Hargrave, won the Waterstones Children’s Gift of the Year and was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Children's Writing on Nature and Conservation. De Freston was chosen to illustrate the twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of David Almond’s Skellig, published in 2023.I Saw This was born out of a collaboration between de Freston, filmmaker Mark Jones and Dr Ali Souleman after de Freston was introduced to the academic in 2017. The paintings and mixed-media works that resulted from the project are an exploration into Souleman’s experiences of terrorism, displacement and war in Syria and ruminate on how art can attempt to represent suffering and terror. In 1996, a bomb explosion in Damascus on New Year’s Eve nearly killed Souleman and left him blind. A sensitive and highly-charged topic, Souleman explained to de Freston the importance of engaging with what is happening in Syria. Disembodied mouths, hands and feet appear frequently in the works. Circles recur as a motif, which bear an uncomfortable resemblance to eyes and eye sockets. In the Mirror paintings which stand upright in black boxes, de Freston embeds ash, screws, thick glue, dirt and bits of wood into the canvas. They are corporeal and volcanic, visceral and abstract. The sense of molten heat in the paintings was compounded by a fire in de Freston’s studio in 2020, which was simultaneously destructive while giving the artist and the collaboration new momentum.The singular artistic process between the three men involves de Freston describing the paintings to Souleman through words and touch. Souleman brings fresh meaning to the works by reading them in new ways, grounding them in his psychological landscape. Mark Jones captures these interactions in striking photographs and film footage. The collaborators’ close relationships, with each of their practices feeding into the others’, shine through.Habda Rashid, Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Kettle’s Yard and the Fitzwilliam Museum, introduces I Saw This and considers the challenges and significance of incorporating elements from real life. Journalist Yasmina Floyer’s contribution describes her reaction to de Freston’s work at his From Darkness exhibition at No 20 Arts, where she found that the sooty-black feet stencils and inky circles depicted resonated with her own experience of child loss. The moving text shows how de Freston’s art carries both specific and universal meanings. Editor Matt Price elaborates on the collaborative process and identifies layers of symbolism across the project, structuring his essay with fascinating quotes from Abu al-Ala al-Ma’arri, the eleventh-century blinded Arab philosopher. Crucially, de Freston, Jones and Souleman’s voices are present in the book, with each shedding light on their part in the project. De Freston’s art is rooted in empathy and I Saw This is a culmination of this, successfully translating Souleman’s world of memory and metaphor.

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A droid and his boy, on a search for a legendary weapon. Daslakh is an AI with a problem. Its favorite human, a young man named Zee, is in love with a woman who never existed—and he will scour the Solar System to find her, and drag Daslakh along for the ride. But in the Tenth Millennium a billion worlds circle the Sun—everything from terraformed planets to artificial habitats, home to a quadrillion beings. Daslakh’s nicely settled life gets more complicated when Zee helps a woman named Adya escape a gang of crooks. This gets the pair caught up in the hunt for the Godel Trigger, a legendary weapon left over from an ancient war between humans and machines—which could spell the end of civilization. In their search, they face a criminal cat and her henchmen, a paranoid supermind with a giant laser, the greatest thief in history, and a woman who might actually be Zee's lost love. It’s up to Daslakh to save civilization, keep Zee’s love life on the right track—and make sure that nobody discovers the real secret of the Godel Trigger. About The Godel Operation: “With this freewheeling story of an ancient, cunning artificial intelligence and its naïve human companion, Cambias (The Initiate) mashes humor, mystery, and looming apocalypse into a roundly satisfying space epic. . . . With plenty of fun moments along the way, this raucous adventure through the solar system’s distant future will appeal to any fan of lighter science fiction.”—Publishers Weekly Praise for Arkad's World: “Far-flung adventure . . . Cambias offers up an entertaining coming-of-age novel filled with action and surprises. His aliens are suitably non-human in mannerisms, attitudes, and objectives, and his worldbuilding suggests a vast universe ready for further exploration. Readers . . . will find this hits the spot.”—Publishers Weekly “. . . a classic quest story, a well-paced series of encounters with different folk along the way, building momentum toward a final confrontation with Arkad’s past . . . [with] a delicious twist to the end.”—ALA Booklist “Cambias has achieved a feat of world-building: an expansive, believable setting with fascinating aliens, compelling mysteries, and a rich sense of history.”—Bookpage “Drop a teenage boy into a distant planet chock full of colorful aliens—with troubles all their own. Stir, flavor, apply heat. A tour de force in the field, and great, quick fun.”—Gregory Benford Praise for the work of James L. Cambias: “Beautifully written, with a story that captures the imagination the way SF should.”—Booklist, starred review “An engaging nail-biter that is exciting, fun and a satisfying read.”—The Qwillery “An impressive debut by a gifted writer.”—Publishers Weekly starred review “An exceptionally thoughtful, searching and intriguing debut.”—Kirkus starred review “James Cambias will be one of the century's major names in hard science fiction.”—Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award–winning author of Red Planet Blues “Fast-paced, pure quill hard science fiction. . . . Cambias delivers adroit plot pivots that keep the suspense coming.”—Gregory Benford, Nebula Award-winning author of Timescape

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'SMART, SOPHISTICATED, SUSPENSEFUL, AND WRITTEN WITH REAL INSIDER AUTHENTICITY. A WINNER' LEE CHILD It's not who you know, it's what you know about them . . . Among Washington D.C. power players, everyone has something to hide, including Sean Serrat, a Supreme Court lawyer. Sean transformed his misspent youth into a model adulthood, and now has one of the most respected legal careers in the country. But just as he learns he's on the short list to be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, his daughter, Abby, a talented and dedicated law student, goes missing. When Abby's lifeless body is discovered shoved into a shelf at the Supreme Court Library, Sean is wracked with grief. Does her murder have anything to do with the secret he's been keeping for years? He follows the footsteps of his daughter's last days and stumbles over secrets within his own family - as well as the lies of some of the most powerful people in the country. People who will stop at nothing to prevent Sean from exposing the truth . . . Praise for The Advocate's Daughter: 'Keeps twisting and turning right up until its shock of an ending. Long-buried secrets and shadowy agendas murderously collide - smack in the middle of a heated Supreme Court nomination clash [...] Read and marvel' GREGG HURWITZ 'The tension starts on the very first page, and keeps ratcheting up. Once it grabs you it won't let go' JOSEPH FINDER 'A brilliant thriller that's smart, well-written, and heart-stopping' LINDA FAIRSTEIN 'A taut and twisting thriller ... It crackles with authenticity and moves with an irresistible momentum' LISA UNGER 'A smart, suspenseful thriller filled with insider knowledge of the Supreme Court, D.C. politics, and collisions between the two. It's also an absorbing story about families and the sacrifices we make for the people we love' ALAFAIR BURKE 'Fast paced, sharply plotted ... A blast!' ROBERT DUGONI 'Engaging and riveting ... This no-holds-barred potboiler shines a light on Washington's halls of power only to reveal the darkness lurking within them' PROVIDENCE JOURNAL 'The 'best of the best' when it comes to suspense' SUSPENSE MAGAZINE 'A taut, twisting thriller' HUFFINGTON POST 'This fast-paced thriller will appeal to fans of Brad Meltzer, Joseph Finder, and Scott Turow' BOOKLIST 'Rich and fine in plot background with a flowing narrative style - this is fiction rooted in reality ... Highly recommended' NEW MYSTERY READER MAGAZINE 'Judicial fiction at its finest' FOR THE LOVE OF BOOKS.COM 'A riveting legal thriller that will keep you turning pages until the breathtaking end' ABOVE THE LAW 'Tautly written and expertly put together, if there is one crime thriller you want to add to your collection, then let this be it' CRIMINAL ELEMENT What Amazon reviewers are saying: 'Nobody does it better [...] than Franze. He's perfectly suited to tell this story, himself a starred Supreme Court advocate. And he tells it so well, smoothly slipping in and blending day-to-day Supreme Court realisms with a highly suspenseful tale' 'Best leisure read of my life. Real. Intoxicating. Impactful. Superior. Franze's latest offering is fueled by uncommonly salacious access to many elements of the world's highest and most exclusive secret society' 'A tremendously enjoyable read. Finished in just a couple days - actually a couple very late nights. If you enjoy fast paced thrillers, then you will not be disappointed' 'Franze does a great job drawing in the reader, and rewards them with deep characters and constant action. Definitely recommended!'

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A damaged teenage tech prodigy meets an enigmatic waitress in a tiny Tokyo café, sparking an epic journey across Japan that will change everything, forever … a captivating, masterful novel with an extraordinary mystery at its heart… ‘Set against a tech heavy backdrop Beautiful Shining People blooms into an emotional and soulful tale that reckons with the isolation we can all feel as outsiders’ SciFi Now Book of the Month ‘That Beautiful Shining People isn’t just a slipstream novel with pretensions to being literature is in great part down to the deftness and tenderness with which Grothaus draws his central relationship … to let us explore a world of robots and deepfakes that’s just unfamiliar enough to be exotic’ SFX Magazine Book of the Month ‘A fascinating exploration of what it means to be human in a world where everything can be faked … wonderful, insightful and thoughtful’ James Oswald –––––––––––––This world is anything but ordinary, and it’s about to change forever… It’s our world, but decades into the future… An ordinary world, where cars drive themselves, drones glide across the sky, and robots work in burger shops. There are two superpowers and a digital Cold War, but all conflicts are safely oceans away. People get up, work, and have dinner. Everything is as it should be… Except for seventeen-year-old John, a tech prodigy from a damaged family, who hides a deeply personal secret. But everything starts to change for him when he enters a tiny café on a cold Tokyo night. A café run by a disgraced sumo wrestler, where a peculiar dog with a spherical head lives, alongside its owner, enigmatic waitress Neotnia… But Neotnia hides a secret of her own – a secret that will turn John’s unhappy life upside down. A secret that will take them from the neon streets of Tokyo to Hiroshima’s tragic past to the snowy mountains of Nagano. A secret that reveals that this world is anything ordinary – and it’s about to change forever… ––––––––––––– ‘Poetically written, every word of this adventure leaps off the page with passion. A wonderful and enlightening trip’ The Sun ‘Cyberpunk meets bildungsroman – a real joy’ Oscar de Muriel ‘Exquisite world-building, this book had me invested from the very first page. Vivid plot and irresistible characters and a real tug at the soul … you'll drown in it’ Lisa Bradley ‘A life-affirming, epic book about what it is to be human: to live, to dream, to hope, to love … at a time when we most need reminding of these things’ David F Ross ‘Totally engrossing from the start – the story, characters and settings will linger in your imagination long after you're finished … truly wonderful’ Jonathan Whitelaw ‘Masterful … truly breathtaking and achingly beautiful. It builds anticipation and suspense before coming together in a thrilling, captivating conclusion’ The Bookbag ‘Outstanding! Sci-fi showing how the past might impact on the future … a glimpse into a (very plausible) terrifying future’ Michael J Malone What readers are saying… ***** ‘A beautiful, emotional and thought-provoking read’ ‘A striking and strange novel – and a searing statement about the dangerously thin lines between utopia and dystopia’ ‘Just devastatingly beautiful’ ‘My book of the year … no question’ ‘Masterful storytelling’ ‘Grothaus has a bewitching ability to stop time in a moment, and then run seemlessly into action with unstoppable momentum’ ‘Succinctly captured the feeling of Japanese fiction. I was very much put in mind of Haruki Murakami or Toshikazu Kawaguchi’

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“All that have ever tried to impose change in their organization will immediately recognize and truly value the in-depth knowledge and experience captured in this book. It contains a collection of eye-openers that is a treasure chest for pioneers of new organizational ideas, A fantastic toolbox for use in future missions!”—Lise B. Hvatum, product development manager, Schlumberger “If you have need of changing your organization, and especially of introducing new techniques, then you want to understand what is in this book. It will help you avoid common pitfalls that doom many such projects and will show you a clear path to success. The techniques are derived from the experience of many individuals and organizations. Many are also fun to apply. This stuff is really cool—and really hot.” —Joseph Bergin, professor of computer science, Pace University, New York “If change is the only guarantee in life, why is it so hard to do? As this book points out, people are not so much resistant to change itself as they are to being changed. Mary Lynn and Linda have successfully used the pattern form to capture and present the recurring lessons of successful change efforts and have placed a powerful knowledge resource in the hands of their readers.” —Alan O'Callaghan, researcher, Software Technology Research Laboratory, De Montfort University, United Kingdom “The most difficult part of absorbing patterns, or any technology, into an organization is overcoming the people issues. The patterns in this book are the documentation of having gone through that experience, giving those that dare push the envelope a head start at success.”—David E. DeLano, IBM Pervasive Computing “If you have ever wondered how you could possibly foster any cultural changes in your organization, in this book you will find a lot of concrete advice for doing so. I recommend that everyone read this book who has a vast interest in keeping his or her organization flexible and open for cultural change.”—Jutta Eckstein, Independent Consultant, Objects In Action Author of Agile Software Development in the Large 48 Patterns for Driving and Sustaining Change in Your Organization Change. It's brutally tough to initiate, even harder to sustain. It takes too long. People resist it. But without it, organizations lose their competitive edge. Fortunately, you can succeed at making change. In Fearless Change, Mary Lynn Manns and Linda Rising illuminate 48 proven techniques, or patterns, for implementing change in organizations or teams of all sizes, and show you exactly how to use them successfully. Find out how to Understand the forces in your organization that drive and retard change Plant the seeds of change Drive participation and buy-in, from start to finish Choose an "official skeptic" to sharpen your thinking Make your changes appear less threatening Find the right timing and the best teaching moments Sustain your momentum Overcome adversity and celebrate success Inspired by the "pattern languages" that are transforming fields from software to architecture, the authors illuminate patterns for every stage of the change process: knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation. These flexible patterns draw on the experiences of hundreds of leaders. They offer powerful insight into change-agent behavior, organizational culture, and the roles of every participant. Best of all, they're easy to use—and they work!

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Enjoy this comprehensively updated, expanded, and redesigned paperback version of the original bestseller, which was one of the first primal/paleo cookbooks ever published back in 2010. The all-new design features stunning photography, an overview education on primal eating, shopping and lifestyle elements, updated recipes with macronutrient breakdowns and metric conversions, do-it-yourself preparations for the popular Primal Kitchen brand salad dressings and mayonnaise's, and icon designations for recipes as gluten-free, vegetarian and keto-friendly (inspired by Mark Sisson’s 2017 New York Times bestseller, The Keto Reset Diet.) The Primal Blueprint Cookbook has everything you need to get started with a primal-style diet, or get more creative with your primal meals. These recipes are free from refined sugars, grains, and vegetable oils, and honor the ancestral foods of meat, fish, fowl, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, and healthy modern foods such as high fat dairy and dark chocolate. You learn about the basics of primal cooking and living, source the best ingredients and kitchen items, and then be off and running with creative recipes in the following categories: Meat, Offal, Fowl, Seafood, Vegetables, Eggs, Primal Substitutes, Marinades, Sauces and Dressings, Desserts, Beverages, Primal Kitchen mayo and dressings, and Keto Recipes. Even if you’re an enthusiastic meat eater, you’ll break through to the next level with the creative preparations of Offal (animal organ meats.) If you think dessert is only about sugar, you’ll be amazed at the array of primal-approved savory treats you can prepare. With the Substitute Recipe section, you can still enjoy your breads, crackers, muffins, pancakes, and rice, and will perhaps even agree that primal-style tastes even better. This offering from Mark Sisson, New York Times bestselling author, publisher of the number one primal/paleo blog MarksDailyApple.com, and Jennifer Meier, with 2018 updates by Tracy Dunigan, and Dr. Lindsay Taylor and Layla McGowan (Mark’s co-authors on the bestselling Keto Reset Instant Pot Cookbook), contains over 100 recipes and hundreds of vibrant photos (all from McGowan) to help you dial in these fun and easy to understand recipes. Join the wildly popular primal/paleo movement, as millions are transforming their lives by ditching nutrient-deficient processed modern foods and eating the nutrient-dense foods that have nourished humans for 2.5 million years of evolution. As you ditch refined sugars, grains and vegetable oils and start emphasizing primal foods, you’ll transition away from the disastrous state of carbohydrate dependency and chronically excessive insulin production that is agreed to be the number one public health problem in the developed world. Instead, you’ll become what Sisson calls a “fat burning beast.” This means you are able to burn fat as your primary fuel source instead of relying on regular high carbohydrate snacks and meals. You’ll enjoy stable energy, appetite, mood, and cognition all day long, and efficiently reduce excess body fat without struggling or suffering in the manner of a typical calorie-restrictive diet. By teaching your body to prefer fat for fuel, you can efficiently reach and maintain your ideal body composition for the rest of your life. As you build momentum for Primal eating, you'll find that you won't even miss the bland, boring, low-fat foods that previously were the central focus of your diet. How can you argue with a menu that includes Roasted Leg of Lamb with Herbs and Garlic, Salmon Chowder with Coconut Milk, Tomatoes Stuffed with Ground Bison and Eggs, and Baked Chocolate Custard? The Primal Blueprint isn’t a crash course diet. These and the other Primal recipes provide the foundation for a lifetime of healthy eating, high energy and protection from common health problems that arise from eating SAD (Standard American Diet).

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Traditional retail is becoming increasingly volatile and challenged as a business model. Brick-and-mortar has shifted to online, while online is shifting into pop-up storefronts. Virtual stores in subway platforms and airports are offering new levels of convenience for harried commuters. High Street and Main Street are becoming the stuff of nostalgia. The Big Box is losing ground to new models that attract consumers through their most-trusted assistant—the smartphone. What’s next? What’s the future for you—a retailer—who is witnessing a tsunami of change and not knowing if this means grasping ahold of new opportunity or being swept away? The Retail Revival answers these questions by looking into the not-so-distant retail past and by looking forward into a future that will continue to redefine retail and its enormous effect on society and our economies. Massive demographic and economic shifts, as well as historic levels of technological and media disruption, are turning this once predictable industry—where “average” was king—into a sea of turbulent change, leaving consumer behavior permanently altered. Doug Stephens, internationally renowned consumer futurist, examines the key seismic shifts in the market that have even companies like Walmart and Procter & Gamble scrambling to cope, and explores the current and future trends that will completely change the way we shop. The Retail Revival provides no-nonsense clarity on the realities of a completely new retail marketplace— realities that are driving many industry executives to despair. But the future need not be dark. Stephens offers hope and guidance for any businesses eager to capitalize on these historic shifts and thrive. Entertaining and thought-provoking, The Retail Revival makes sense of a brave new era of consumer behavior in which everything we thought we knew about retail is being completely reimagined. Praise for The Retail Revival “It doesn’t matter what type of retail you do—if you sell something, somewhere, you need to read Doug Stephens’ The Retail Revival. Packed with powerful insights on the changing retail environment and what good retailers should be thinking about now, The Retail Revival is easy to read, well-organized and provides essential food for thought.” — Gregg Saretsky, President and CEO, WestJet “This book captures in sharp detail the deep and unprecedented changes driving new consumer behaviors and values. More importantly, it offers clear guidance to brands and retailers seeking to adapt and evolve to meet entirely new market imperatives for success.” —John Gerzema, Author of Spend Shift and The Athena Doctrine “The Retail Revival is a critical read for all marketing professionals who are trying to figure out what’s next in retail… Doug Stephens does a great job of explaining why retail has evolved the way it has, and the book serves as an important, trusted guide to where it’s headed next. ” —Joe Lampertius SVP, Shopper Marketing, Momentum Worldwide and Owner, La Spezia Flavor Market “Doug Stephens has proven his right to the moniker ‘Retail Prophet.’ With careful analysis and ample examples, the author makes a compelling case for retailers to adapt, change and consequently revive their connection with consumers. Stephens presents actionable recommendations with optimism and enthusiasm—just the spoonful of sugar we need to face the necessary changes ahead.” —Kit Yarrow, Ph.D., Consumer Psychologist; Professor, Golden Gate University; Co-Author, Gen BuY: How Tweens, Teens and Twenty-Somethings are Revolutionizing Retail “Doug Stephens doesn’t just tell you why retail is in the doldrums, he tells you why retail is a major signpost for the larger troubles of our culture and provides a compelling, inspiring vision for a future of retail—and business, and society.” —Eric Garland, author of Future Inc.: How Businesses Can Anticipate and Profit from What’s Next

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The two years covered in the fifth volume of The Papers of George Catlett Marshall were among the most momentous in the life of Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall-and in the course of the twentieth century. A year of transitions for Marshall, 1945 witnessed the final assault on Nazi Germany and the use of atomic weapons against Japan. Allied forces under the command of Marshall's protege, Dwight D. Eisenhower, had contained Hitler's Ardennes offensive at the beginning of the year and launched the final drive to smash the German regime. The war against Japan seemed far from over, however, and Marshall was deeply involved in planning for the massive and difficult redeployment of troops and materials from Europe to the Pacific. The debate with the U.S. Navy over supreme command of the invasion of Japan continued through the first six months of the year until Marshall secured Douglas A. MacArthur's appointment. In May and June, the chief of staff was involved in the decision to use the new atom bomb. Military-related political problems continued to consume much of Marshall's time as the Second World War drew to a close, although he was only peripherally involved in the Big Three conferences at Yalta and Potsdam. Instead, demobilization and readying U.S. Army ground and air forces for the postwar era were Marshall's chief concerns. He pressed for a unified military department against navy opposition and also lobbied incessantly for universal military training for all physically fit eighteen-year-old males as the key element in the nation's military readiness and deterrent value. After the fighting ceased, Marshall expected to retire, having served on active duty since 1902, but President Truman kept him in office until late November 1945. The day after his retirement, the president asked him to go to China to mediate in that country's increasingly violent civil war. Despite his initial success in negotiating a cease-fire between the Nationalists and Communists, irreconcilable differences soon led to renewed fighting. Marshall's continued hopes for achieving a political compromise, along with knowledge that his mission was the only hope for avoiding a disaster in China, kept him in the country until early 1947. He returned to the United States only when the president announced that General Marshall would join his cabinet as secretary of state.From The Papers of George Catlett Marshall "The one great element in continuing the success of an offensive is maintaining the momentum. This was lost last fall when shortages caused by the limitation of port facilities made it impossible for us to get sufficient supplies to the armies to continue their sweep into Germany when they approached the German border. Once additional ports had been captured and reopened there was a shortage of rail and transportation facilities with which to get supplies forward. Now the port facilities and the interior supply lines are adequate. Subject to the worldwide shortage of both cargo and personnel shipping, there is no foreseeable shortage which will be imposed by physical events in the field."-Speech to the Overseas Press Club, March 1, 1945 "Today we celebrate a great victory, a day of solemn thanksgiving. My admiration and gratitude go first to those who have fallen, and to the men of the American armies of the air and ground whose complete devotion to duty and indomitable courage have overcome the enemy and every conceivable obstacle in achieving this historic victory."-Marshall V-E Day Radio Address, May 8, 1945 "Just a few months ago the world was completely convinced of the strength and courage of the United States. Now they see us falling back into our familiar peacetime habits. They witness the tremendous enthusiasm with which we mount demobilization and reconversion, but they see as yet no concrete evidence that we are determined to hold what we have won-permanently. Are we already at this early date inviting that same international disrespect that prevailed before this war? Are we throwing away today what a million Americans died or were mutilated to achieve? Are we already shirking the responsibility of the victory?"-Speech to the New York Herald Tribune Forum, October 29, 1945

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Shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize 2019'[A] painfully intense, courageous and gripping account of [Fanning's] journey to the underworld of madness and back. This is a brave and instructive book.' Irish Times'Extraordinary. An account of mental illness, grief, delusions, homelessness, a fractured family relationship ... and all while trying to recover and create. Superb writing on a frequently difficult subject.' Sinéad Gleeson Arnold Thomas Fanning had his first experience of depression during adolescence, following the death of his mother. Some ten years later, an up-and-coming playwright, he was overcome by mania and delusions. Thus began a terrible period in which he was often suicidal, increasingly disconnected from family and friends, sometimes in trouble with the law, and homeless in London.Drawing on his own memories, the recollections of people who knew him when he was at his worst, and medical and police records, Arnold Thomas Fanning has produced a beautifully written, devastatingly intense account of madness - and recovery, to the point where he has not had any serious illness for over a decade and has become an acclaimed playwright. Fanning conveys the consciousness of a person living with mania, psychosis and severe depression with a startling precision and intimacy. Mind on Fire is the gripping, sometimes harrowing, and ultimately uplifting testament of a person who has visited hellish regions of the mind.'Arnold Thomas Fanning offers the most vivid and unflinching window into the mind of someone who is in the throes of madness ... It was like nothing I'd read before' Rick Edwards'Mind on Fire is a truly powerful, arresting, haunting account. Arnold Thomas Fanning has reckoned with the darkest matter of his heart and mind, and I challenge anyone not to be moved by that.' Sara Baume, author of Spill Simmer Falter Wither and A Line Made by Walking'In this strange and singular book, Arnold Thomas Fanning mercilessly excavates the infernal underworld of his own years of madness. As reminiscent as it occasionally is of John Healy's The Grass Arena, and even of Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London, the book is ultimately not quite like anything else I've read, and brought me as close to the lived reality of mental illness as I have ever been. It's a significant achievement: a painful, inexorable work of autobiography, whose existence is its own form of redemption.' Mark O'Connell, Baillie Gifford Prize-shortlisted author of To Be a Machine'This is an extraordinary memoir about how it feels to be depressed, delusional, desperate' The Observer 'Incredibly important' Emilie Pine, author of Notes to Self'A ratcheting pace, a tight first-person immediacy, and utterly staggering to be a passenger over its entire warped course ... An indelible, ground-shaking account' Hilary A White, Irish Independent, Memoir of the Year, Best Reads of 2018'A spellbinding memoir that should prove both moving and hopefully cathartic for the reader.' RTE Culture 'Told in tight and immediate first-person, and imbued with a startling momentum that ratchets unnervingly, Fanning's publishing debut ... is a significant achievement and should be a talking point in publishing this year.' Irish Independent 'Fanning's debut book lays it on the line in a deeply personal and compelling chronicle of his descent into depression and his way back out.' RTE Guide'Wonderful' Joseph O'Connor, Irish Times Books of the Year'Unsparingly direct, searing and honest ... It is gripping to read and must have been exhausting to live' Medical Independent 'One of the most gripping and revealing memoirs I've read in a long time. A controlled and artful exploration of absolute loss of control, an unsettling and at times very moving reconstruction of a period of serious mental illness, Mind on Fire is a beautiful book about a terrifying thing.' Mark O'Connell, Irish Times Books of the Year'Gripping' Sinéad Gleeson, Irish Times Books of the Year'Shocking' Liz Nugent, Irish Times Books of the Year'Poignant, beautifully detailed memoir' Sarah Gilmartin, Irish Times, Best debuts of 2018'Brave and illuminating' Sunday Business Post'This is the type of account that not only grips you wholesale as the pages flitter past, it also changes your very perception of psychology' Hilary A White, Sunday Independent Memoir of the Year

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"I believe that [Bob Greenleaf's] essay, 'The Servant as Leader' is the most singular and useful statement on leadership that I have read in the last 20 years. Despite a virtual tidal wave of books on leadership during the last few years, there is something different about Bob Greenleaf's essay, something both simpler and more profound . . . For many years, I simply told people not to waste their time reading all the other managerial leadership books. 'If you are really serious about the deeper territory of true leadership,' I would say, 'read Greenleaf.' " —from Chapter 20 by Peter M. Senge, Director of the Center for Organizational Learning at MIT's Sloan School of Management and author of The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization "There is a building momentum for enlightened leadership in the for-profit world, the social sector, and many areas of government today . . . Good books that deal with the beliefs and convictions that nurture this movement are not easy to find. This is one. Reflections on Leadership is a worthy and worthwhile gift to all those who attach high value both to their responsibilities and to the people with whom they work." —from the Foreword, by Max DePree, Chairman and CEO of Herman Miller Inc. and author of Leadership Is an Art and Leadership Jazz "I could give you three examples of major businesses who have used this business of servant-leadership training . . . at times of terrible crisis and have worked themselves out of the crisis. Practicing servant-leadership . . . had absolutely enormous incredible benefits for them . . . and then they threw it away. Because, as soon as the crisis passed, they said 'why exert ourselves?' The great problem is not how to . . . teach servant-leadership in the first place, but to get organizations to continue to use it and embed it in part of their culture." —from Chapter 7 by M. Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Traveled "Reflections on Leadership is fitting tribute to a man whose own sense of service has given all of us hope that at long last leaders will recognize that power of purpose is far stronger than power of position. After nearly 30 years, Robert K. Greenleaf's work has struck a resonant chord in the minds and hearts of scholars and practitioners alike. His message lives through others, the true legacy of a servant-leader." —Jim Kouzes, Chairman and CEO of TPG/Learning Systems and coauthor of The Leadership Challenge and Credibility "We are each indebted to Greenleaf for bringing spirit and values into the workplace. His ideas will have enduring value for every generation of leaders." —Peter Block, Founding Partner, Designed Learning Inc. and author of The Empowered Manager, Flawless Consulting, and Stewardship: Choosing Service Over Self-Interest In the twenty-five years since Robert K. Greenleaf first articulated his vision of "servant-leadership," the world has seen a steady expansion in the influence of the man and his ideas. Hailed as the "grandfather" of the modern empowerment movement in business leadership, Greenleaf described true leaders as those who lead by serving others —empowering them to reach their full potential. He saw the ideal leader as one who transforms and integrates an organization; a steward with a commitment to the growth of people and the building of a community. Reflections on Leadership demonstrates the scope of Greenleaf's impact on contemporary management theory and offers key essays by Greenleaf and his leading business and intellectual disciples. They include such influential thinkers as M. Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Traveled, and Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline. "Despite all the buzz about modern leadership techniques, no one knows better than Greenleaf what really matters." —Working Woman magazine Reflections on Leadership opens with two remarkable essays by Greenleaf himself. One of them, "Reflections from Experience," published here for the first time, presents Greenleaf's prophetic observations on the use of executive power in an organization. In "Life's Choices and Markers," Greenleaf recounts five significant influences that led him to develop his revolutionary ideas on the nature of leadership. "Servant-leadership deals with the reality of power in everyday life—its legitimacy, the ethical restraints upon it and the beneficial results that can be attained through the appropriate use of power." —The New York Times In Reflections on Leadership, a host of notable management thinkers explore the implications of the servant-leadership concept in such areas as: Business ethics Team-building and servant-leadership Corporate risk-taking Spirit in the workplace Becoming a servant-leader The future of leadership For those who have already benefited from Greenleaf's ideas and wish to deepen their understanding, this is an essential book. It is also the ideal introduction for those eager to draw on a source of wisdom that has inspired so many others.

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National Theatre Connections is an annual festival which brings new plays for young people to schools and youth theatres across the UK and Ireland. Commissioning exciting work from leading playwrights, the festival exposes actors aged 13-19 to the world of professional theatre-making, giving them full control of a theatrical production - from costume and set design to stage management and marketing campaigns. NT Connections have published over 150 original plays and regularly works with 500 theatre companies and 10,000 young people each year. This anthology brings together 9 new plays by some of the UK's most prolific and current writers and artists alongside notes on each of the texts exploring performance for schools and youth groups. Wind / Rush Generation(s) by Mojisola Adebayo This is a play about the British Isles, its past and its present. Set in a senior common room, in a prominent university, a group of 1st year undergraduates are troubled, not by the weight of their workload, but by a ‘noisy’ ghost. So they do what any group self-respecting and intelligent university students would do in such a situation – they get out the Ouija Board to confront their spiritual irritant and lay them to rest – only to be confronted by the full weight of Britain’s colonial past – in all its gory glory. Fusing naturalism, with physical theatre, spoken-word, absurdism, poetry and direct address – this is event-theatre that whips along with the grace, pace and hypnotic magnetism of a hurricane. Tuesday by Alison Carr Tuesday is light, playful and nuanced in tone. And a little bit sci-fi. The play centres on an ordinary Tuesday that suddenly turns very weird indeed when a tear rips across the sky over the school yard. The play touches on themes of friendship, sibling love, family, identity, grief, bullying, loneliness and responsibility. And in the process we might just learn something about ourselves as well as some astronomical theories of the multiverse! A series of public apologies (in response to an unfortunate incident in the school lavatories) by John Donnelly This satirical play is heightened in its naturalism, in its seriousness, in its parody and piercing in its interrogation of how our attempts to define ourselves in public are shaped by the fear of saying the wrong thing. Presented quite literally as a series of public apologies this play is spacious, flexible and welcoming of inventive and imaginative interpretation as each iteration spirals inevitably to its absurdist core. This is a play on words, on convention, on manners, on institutions, on order, online and on point. THE IT by Vivienne Franzmann THE IT is a play about a teenage girl who has something growing inside her. She doesn't know what it is, but she knows it's not a baby. It expands in her body. It starts in her stomach, but quickly outgrows that, until eventually ittakes over the entirety of her insides. It has claws. She feels them. Presented in the style of a direct to camera documentary, this is a darkly comic state of the nation play exploring adolescent mental health and the rage within, written very specifically for today. The Marxist in Heaven by Hattie Naylor The Marxist in Heaven is a play that does exactly what its title page says it’s going to do. The eponymous protagonist ‘wakes up’ in paradise and once they get over the shock of this fundamental contradiction of everything they believe in…..they get straight back to work….and continue their lifelong struggle for equality and fairness for all….even in death. Funny, playful, provocative, pertinent and jam-packed with discourse, disputes, deities and disco dancing by the bucketful, this upbeat buoyant allegory shines its holy light on globalization and asks the salient questions – who are we and what are we doing to ourselves?.....and what conditioner do you use on your hair? Look Up by Andrew Muir Look Up plunges us into a world free from adult intervention, supervision and protection. It’s about seeking the truth for yourself and finding the space to find and be yourself. Nine young people are creating new rules for what they hope will be a new and brighter future full of hope in a world in which they can trust again. Each one of them is unique, original and defiantly individual, break into an abandoned building and set about claiming the space, because that is what they do. They have rituals, they have rules, together they are a tribe, they have faith in themselves….and nothing and no one else. They are the future, unless the real world catches up with them and then all they can hope for is that they don't crash and burn like the adults they ran away from in the first place. Crusaders by Frances Poet A group of teens gather to take their French exam but none of them will step into the exam hall. Because Kyle has had a vision and he’ll use anything, even miracles, to ensure his classmates accompany him. Together they have just seven days to save themselves, save the world and be the future. And Kyle is not the only one who has had the dream. All across the globe, from Azerbaijan to Zambia, children are dreaming and urging their peers to follow them to the promised land. Who will follow? Who will lead? Who will make it? Witches Can’t Be Burned by Silva Semerciyan St. Paul’s have won the schools Playfest competition, three years in a row, by selecting recognised classics from the canon and producing them at an exceptionally high level, it’s a tried and trusted formula. With straight A’s student and drama freak, Anuka cast as Abigail Williams in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the school seem to be well on course for another triumph, which would be a record. However, as rehearsals gain momentum, Anuka has an epiphany. An experience resulting in her asking searching questions surrounding the text, the depiction and perception of female characters, the meaning of loyalty, and the values and traditions underpinning the very foundations of the school. Thus, the scene is set for a confrontation of epic proportions as Anuka seeks to break with tradition, before tradition breaks her and all young women like her and reality begins to take on the ominous hue of Miller’s fictionalized Salem. Dungeness by Chris Thompson . In a remote part of the UK, where nothing ever happens, a group of teenagers share a safe house for LGBT+ young people. While their shared home welcomes difference, it can be tricky for self-appointed group leader Birdie to keep the peace. The group must decide how they want to commemorate an attack that happened to LGBT+ people, in a country far away. How do you take to the streets and protest if you’re not ready to tell the world who you are? If you’re invisible, does your voice still count? A play about love, commemoration and protest.

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