Search Results: "Social Venture Networks" Results 271-276 of 404
This book is about a new possibility for us together to discover the real basis for a satisfying life. It is a life that becomes possible when we join our neighbors in creating a community that nurtures our family and makes us useful citizens.

We are besieged by messages from consumer society telling us that we are insufficient, that we must purchase what we need from specialists and systems outside the community. We outsource our health care, child care, relationships, recreation, our safety, and our satisfaction. We are trained to become consumers and clients, not citizens and neighbors. McKnight and Block take a thoughtful look at how this situation came about, what maintains it, and the crippling effect it has had on our families, our communities, and our environment.

Right in our neighborhood we have the capacity to address our human needs in ways that systems, which see us only as interchangeable units, as problems to be solved, never can. We all have gifts to offer, even the most seemingly marginal among us. It does not matter how rich or poor the neighborhood is. McKnight and Block suggest how to nurture voluntary, self-organizing structures that will reveal these gifts and allow them to be shared to the greatest mutual benefit. They recommend roles we can assume and actions we can take to reweave the social fabric that has been unraveled by consumerism and its belief that however much we have, it is not enough.

Each neighborhood has poeple with gifts and talents needed to provide for our prosperity and peace of mind -- this book offers practical ways to discover them. It gives voice to the ideas of an abundant community. It reminds us of our power to create a hope-filled life. It assures us that when we join together with our neighbors, we are the architects of the future where we want to live.

Block Mc Knight

Learn more...




Proven, Profitable, and Sustainable

For the past fifty years, leaders in the business world have believed that their sole responsibility is to maximize profit for shareholders. But this obsessive focus was a major cause of the abuses that nearly sunk the global economy in 2008. In this analytically rigorous and eminently practical book, Bruno Roche and Jay Jakub offer a more complete form of capitalism, one that delivers superior financial performance precisely
because it mobilizes and generates human, social, and natural capital along with financial capital. They describe how the model has been implemented in live business pilots in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere. Recent high-profile books like Capital in the Twenty-First Century have exposed financial capitalism's shortcomings, but this book goes far beyond by describing a well-developed, field-tested alternative.

Learn more...




OLD-SCHOOL top-down organizational behavior won't cut it anymore. Direct chain-of-command hierarchies are obsolete, fast giving way to networked, team-oriented organizations. To be successful, the ability to influence others-especially others over whom you have no direct control-is a must. You have to build alliances and persuade people, not boss them around.
The ability to influence people isn't something you're born with, it's a skill anyone can acquire. In his new book, The Influence Edge, experienced organizational consultant Alan Vengel teaches the influence skills needed to enlist the cooperation of others, inside and outside the organization, to achieve your professional goals.
Drawing on case studies and illustrative anecdotes from his consulting practice, Vengel introduces a powerful system of influence initiatives and strategic thinking that anyone can apply to almost any work situation. The Influence Edge details specific influence tactics that can lead to workplace success. It provides a nuts and bolts guide for planning for a real influence situation, and shows exactly how to map out a strategy. And The Influence Edge goes deeper into the influence realm to show how to build better long-term rapport, even with really difficult people.
An interactive self-study guide, The Influence Edge offers immediate hands-on applications. Its heavily tested, practical insights are embodied in a variety of exercises that help readers evaluate their progress, reflect deeply on what they've read, and build a personal strategy for increasing their influence edge.
Vengel equips readers to influence without authority, sell ideas, and build relationships. The Influence Edge is designed to be used again and again. It provides a complete toolkit for turning the often disorderly and seemingly impossible task of getting someone else to help you achieve your goal into an entirely viable process of analysis, preparation, and action.

Learn more...




Beholden to accepted assumptions about people and organizations, too many enterprises waste human potential. Robert Quinn shows how to defy convention and create organizations where people feel fully engaged and continually rewarded, where both individually and collectively they flourish and exceed expectations.

The problem is that leaders are following a negative and constraining “mental map” that insists organizations must be rigid, top-down hierarchies and that the people in them are driven mainly by self-interest and fear. But leaders can adopt a different mental map, one where organizations are networks of fluid, evolving relationships and where people are motivated by a desire to grow, learn, and serve a larger goal. Using dozens of memorable stories, Quinn describes specific actions leaders can take to facilitate the emergence of this organizational culture—helping people gain a sense of purpose, engage in authentic conversations, see new possibilities, and sacrifice for the common good.

The book includes the Positive Organization Generator, a tool that provides 100 real-life practices from positive organizations and helps you reinvent them to fit your specific needs. With the POG you can identify and implement the practices that will have the greatest impact on your organization.

At its heart, the book helps leaders to see new possibilities that lie within the acknowledged realities of organizational life. It provides five keys for learning to be "bilingual"--speaking the conventional language of business as well as the language of the positive organization.  When leaders can do this, they are able to make real and lasting change.

Learn more...




Be the BEST Bad Presenter Ever

Be the BEST Bad Presenter Ever

Many people find public speaking can be scary, but it doesn't need to be. In this course, you'll toss out the old "tried-and-true" rules of presentation and in the process transform yourself into a confident, authentic presenter. Former network engineering executive and stage actor Karen Hough uses wit and wisdom to show you how "being bad" at public speaking can really work. Discover the true purpose of any presentation (hint: it's not to convey information) Learn the value of emotions in public speaking?even nervousness and fear Understand why your voice is more important than your slides Nail the most critical parts of any presentation: the bookends Learn how to practice a speech (hint: break your mirror) Know how to read?and not read?an audience Get tips for what to do when something goes wrong Yale graduate Karen Hough teaches public speaking as founder and CEO of ImprovEdge. She is the recipient of the Athena PowerLink Award for outstanding women-owned businesses and is a national conference keynote speaker on topics such as executive presence and presentation skills, negotiation, and leadership.  Run time: 2 hours, 17 minutes.


Learn more...




A timely sequel with breakthrough strategies from Jane Hyun, the author of Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling, to help Asian Americans build their leadership and influence skills by embracing their cultural strengths and mapping an achievable career path.

How can Asian Americans lead and influence in a way that feels culturally authentic?

19 years after her groundbreaking book, global leadership strategist Jane Hyun unveils Leadership Toolkit for Asians a guide for Asian Americans to build their capacity to lead and influence with a blueprint that is achievable and culturally relevant.

Asian Americans are the least likely demographic to be promoted or to have a mentor or sponsor they make up 13% of the professional workforce, but less than 3% of executive positions. This dynamic hurts everyone, and the solution calls us to embrace our unique perspectives while organizations create a more fertile environment for growing Asian talent.

This toolkit-based on Hyun's work with thousands of leaders-is filled with self-assessments, checklists, quizzes, and stories of Asian American leaders to help you put ideas into action. It will show you how to leverage your life experiences to craft a bespoke leadership journey.

  • Assess: Identify your goals, cultural values and assets
  • Equip: Navigate effectively with people who are different from you, push back against stereotypes, strengthen your networks, apply a developmental model to help you get there
  • Transform: Create your own model and engage advocates as you put it into practice

Learn more...