Academic Career

In a compilation of fascinating stories, Dr. Jim Webb shares a view of visionary leaders who defied the odds to create extraordinary, lasting results in diverse environments. While guiding listeners on a journey through some of the world’s finest institutions and the influencers who produced and directed radical improvements, he shines a light on a variety of these exceptional leaders. Innovators Who Changed the World profiles the history of those who created, built, and guided organizations and people through transformation and changed the world in the process.

Fabian Videla’s story could be your story. Breaking the Mold teaches you how to build and run a successful business with particular emphasis on the construction industry. Born in Argentina, Videla moved to the USA as a penniless young man. Through dedication and hard work, he applied the lessons taught to him in his childhood and young-adult years, changing his position as a local handyman to the CEO of a conglomerate with interests in construction, trading, and software companies on three continents.

Na década de 1980, Vicente Falconi, então professor de Engenharia da UFMG, começou a cruzar o Brasil para apresentar a empresários conceitos inspirados na eficiência das companhias japonesas e que eram praticamente desconhecidos no país.

"A los catorce años conseguí mi primer trabajo. Fui mensajero en un almacén de vestidos y como era tan inquieto, rápido, curioso y enérgico, me pusieron el apodo de "Pulga Arrecha". Desde entonces siempre he sido así, no veo obstáculos porque la vida solo nos ofrece oportunidades. Nunca he dejado nada para el día siguiente y mi clave ha sido insistir siempre.

Un récit motivant et plein de bienveillance qui aidera les mamans à croire en elles, en leurs projets et à trouver la parfaite harmonie entre vie familiale, accomplissement professionnel et personnel.

Frank Lorenzo is the epitome of the American dream. A first-generation American and entrepreneur, Lorenzo started an airline advisory business in his mid-twenties and ultimately rose to control the largest fleet of airplanes in the free world. Flying for Peanuts explains how the son of Spanish immigrants put himself through Columbia College by driving a Coca-Cola truck and then grew the fledgling advisory into ownership of Texas International Airlines. From there, Lorenzo became CEO of Continental Airlines, a large loss-making west coast airline at the time.

Several years ago, I was approached by Carolyn Wyman, author of “The Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Book” to write a book about Otis Spunkmeyer Cookies. I am co-founder of Otis Spunkmeyer Cookies with my husband, but no one starts a company alone. I told her that Otis Spunkmeyer was about many things besides cookies, and I wrote stories to prove it. Carolyn agreed, indicating my most fascinating stories had nothing to do with cookies. She suggested I compile my “you can’t make this up” stories of improbable possibilities.

Chocolate Covered Money is for anyone who eats chocolate, has shopped for chocolate as a gift, or has wondered what really goes on at the chocolate store "in a mall near you." Chocolate is a big business, and makes a lot of money. This book "pulls the curtain back" for a behind-the-scenes look at the people who own chocolate companies, how they make chocolate, and their celebrity friends.

Join Nyimpini Mabunda on his journey from his childhood in an apartheid-era homeland to the CEO's office at one of the world's best-known businesses. In a career spanning Procter & Gamble, Nando's, Diageo, Boston Consulting Group, Vodacom and General Electric in South Africa, the UK and Uganda, Mabunda shows why he strives for continuous and active improvement of his business acumen and leadership skills.

By day he made deals with giants that made headlines everywhere. By night he felt his family, who he loved so much, slipping away. From the first ventures in the 1980s that started things out to massive contracts with some of the most respected companies in America, here, in Joshua Wallack’s own words, is a 40-year adventure no one could invent: the true love that forged the meaning of his life, startups, partnerships, and battles for the soul of the family.

In The Startup Story: An Entrepreneur's Journey from Idea to Exit, renowned serial entrepreneur Martin Warner takes a fledgling company all the way from zero to hero, selling it for $50 million after a mere seventeen months. It's a memoir of whirlwind entrepreneurial success, a nonfiction narrative that puts the listener in the CEO's seat, giving the feel of what it's really like to steer a company around the toughest of tracks and come out with a massive payday.

Leal llegó a los Estados Unidos sin un centavo cuando era adolescente, casi sin hablar inglés; literalmente durmió en la sala de calderas de una fábrica de queso de Wisconsin durante meses antes de que lo atraparan. A través del trabajo duro, la determinación y el ingenio, Leal lanzaría su propio negocio. Se le atribuye ampliamente el mérito de introdujo quesos mexicanos en el mercado estadounidense e hizo crecer su empresa hasta convertirla en una historia de éxito multimillonaria.

Uma das mais bem-sucedidas histórias de empreendedorismo do Brasil começou com uma demissão. Em 2001, Guilherme Benchimol iniciava sua carreira no mercado financeiro carioca quando perdeu o emprego. Envergonhado, decidiu fugir do Rio de Janeiro: pegou o carro e dirigiu quase 20 horas até Porto Alegre, onde, longe dos principais centros financeiros do país, fundou uma modesta empresa de investimentos, a XP, numa salinha de 25 metros quadrados.

Told through his journals, From the Arena recounts Michael Dwyer's marathon entrepreneurial journet with Pigsback.com, starting at the height of the dot-com boom in late 1999, going on to pursue international ambitions in Britain and North America, facing a myriad of unforeseen shocks along the way. The journals tell the entrepreneur's business and personal highs and lows, persisting on a wing and a prayer, reinventing time and again until that final chance—an encore—one last shot at success.

Standing splendidly in the intersection of two genres – business memoir and gritty personal tell-all - Finding the Exit is a courageous tale of a woman who, against harrowing odds that began in childhood, successfully started and sold a medtech company to a Fortune 100 in less than five years.

Individuals, teams, and organizations must become more resilient in today’s complex world, and each one will experience failure at some point. Successful individuals, teams, and organizations bounce back. Winning After Losing: Building Resilient Teams offers a collection of lessons on leadership and resilience of winning teams. I am writing this book as a retired US Army three-star general and as the former chief operating officer of a public biotechnology company.

Born to a family of modest means in Kentucky, Jim Glidewell overcame insurmountable odds to create a business of staggering success. In January of 1970, he opened Glidewell Laboratories - one of the largest and most successful dental laboratories in the world with multiple locations worldwide. Jim Glidewell’s story is one of the great American success stories of our times and offers valuable wisdom on topics ranging from relationships to investing and ways to navigate insurmountable obstacles in a changing world.

What do Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Jim Carrey have in common? This deep analysis reveals they all achieved their success using Savanting’s biology-driven modus operandi. This unprecedented protocol exploits how savants outperform their potential - how they achieve incredible feats of genius from deficient brains theoretically incapable of them.

不了解李嘉诚的人，更多的只是看到他的财富。其实财富本身不足以让他显得不凡与高贵，李嘉诚之所以显得不凡与高贵，更在于他深谙做人的真谛与做事的法则。…… 不了解李嘉誠的人，更多的只是看到他的財富。其實財富本身不足以讓他顯得不凡與高貴，李嘉誠之所以顯得不凡與高貴，更在於他深諳做人的真諦與做事的法則。

这部有声书讲的是马云成功和失败的故事，他的传奇需要你来感受，他的经典需要你来总结。…… 這部有聲書講的是馬雲成功和失敗的故事，他的傳奇需要你來感受，他的經典需要你來總結。