Career Memoirs

What makes a company great? Management trends come and go. Economic conditions fluctuate, and market demands shift. Corporations restructure and new owners take over. The one constant, the one enduring truth, is that people define the character of a company. They always have and always will. Motivated, passionate people make the difference between ho-hum mediocrity and extraordinary performance. That's the message from Peter W. Schutz, former CEO of Porsche AG and author of this new book.

John H. Johnson, the remarkable entrepreneur who founded the Ebony publishing empire, tells the story of his success. The wealthiest African-American in the US today, Johnson shares his rags to riches saga, from the many obstacles that confronted him to his ultimate triumph.

From the New York Times bestselling author of A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning comes Katerina, James Frey’s highly anticipated new novel set in 1992 Paris and contemporary Los Angeles. A kiss, a touch. A smile and a beating heart. Love and sex and dreams, art and drugs and the...

Called "a triumphant piece of reporting", Snowblind recounts the exploits of former cocaine smuggler Zachary Swan, chronicling his elaborate scams and outstanding success in the early 1970s.

Born into one of America's most illustrious trading families, Sam Israel was determined to strike out on his own. After apprenticing with one of the greatest traders of the 1980s, he founded his own fast-growing hedge fund, promising investors extraordinary returns. But it was all an elaborate charade.

Dorothy Parker observed, "It's a man's world". The lady entrepreneurs and game-changers profiled in Women Who Launch would beg to differ. Unlike the matrons of the 1950s - "the women who lunched” - these kick-ass females left their DNA in the annals of time.

With nearly four decades of experience with the good, bad, and ugly of the board universe, Brian Hayward hones in on practical ways to develop the thinking and behaviour necessary for anyone taking this seat. Through real-life examples, and stories featuring Paul McCartney, Kalahari bushmen, Robert Maxwell, camels, Buddhist parables, and the Boeing 737 Max, listeners will see how chairing a board requires leadership competency of its own (distinct from being a director).

Grâce aux témoignages exclusifs d'Elon Musk, Amy Rowe Klement, Peter Thiel, Julie Anderson, Max Levchin, Reid Hoffman et beaucoup d'autres, Jimmy Soni nous raconte l'histoire de ces talents réunis dans l'aventure Paypal, qui vont par la suite façonner la nouvelle économie, jusqu'au concept de cryptomonnaie. Aujourd'hui, les fondateurs et les premiers employés de PayPal constituent le réseau le plus puissant de l'industrie technologique.

Patagonia, named by Fortune in 2007 as the coolest company on the planet, has earned a reputation as much for its ground-breaking environmental and social practices as for the quality of its clothes. In this exceptionally frank account, Chouinard and Stanley recount how the company and its culture gained the confidence, by step and misstep, to make its work progressively more responsible, and to ultimately share its discoveries with companies as large as Wal-Mart or as small as the corner bakery.

For decades there have been two iconic Japanese auto companies. One has been endlessly studied and written about. The other has been generally underappreciated and misunderstood. Until now. Since its birth as a motorcycle company in 1949, Honda has steadily grown into the world’s fifth largest automaker and top engine manufacturer, as well as one of the most beloved, most profitable, and most consistently innovative multinational corporations.

How did a bank, which boasts ‘we’re committed to helping protect the world’s financial system on which millions of people depend, by only doing business with customers who meet our high standards of transparency’ come to facilitate Mexico’s richest drug baron? And how did a bank that as recently as 2002 had been named ‘one of the best-run organisations in the world’ become so entwined with such a criminal? Too Big to Jail is an extraordinary story brilliantly told by writer, commentator, and former editor of The Independent.

Pour la majorité des Canadiens, le nom de la famille Molson fait partie de l’essence même du Canada. Depuis 1786, année où John Molson fonda sa première brasserie à Montréal, il rime avec bière, hockey et philanthropie. Rares sont cependant ceux qui savent à quel point la famille est passée proche, ces dernières années, de perdre le contrôle de cette entreprise.

What essential leadership lessons do we learn by distilling the actions and ideas of great military commanders such as George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Colin Powell? That is the fundamental question underlying The Art of Command: Military Leadership from George Washington to Colin Powell. The book illustrates that great leaders become great through conscious effort - a commitment not only to develop vital skills but also to surmount personal shortcomings.

A Higher Standard takes a candid look at the exciting military career of US Army General Ann Dunwoody, who received her fourth star - a rank never before reached by a woman - in her fourth decade of service. From her first command leading 200 soldiers to her final one leading 69,000, Dunwoody reveals the challenges she faced and the changes she initiated by sharing both the smallest moments and the most pivotal events in her career.

While free markets have brought positive change, traditional capitalism cannot solve problems of inequality and poverty because of its view of people as solely profit-driven. In fact, humans have other drives and passions, including spiritual, social, and altruistic.

From the award-winning entrepreneur USA Today named one of the twenty-one most influential Blacks in technology comes an empowering, bracingly honest, entertaining blueprint for success in life and work—including the true story of what really happened to MoviePass—straight from the cofounder and former CEO himself.

Sentenced to 65 years in a Texas prison, Damon West once had it all. He came from a great family, in a home full of God, love, support, and opportunities to reach any goal. A natural born leader, an athlete with good looks and charm, he appeared to be the all-American kid pursuing his dreams. Underneath this facade, however, was an addict in the early stages of disease. After suffering childhood sexual abuse by a babysitter at the age of nine, Damon began putting chemicals into his body to alter the way he felt.

Junk to Gold is about one man's journey from humble beginnings to unimaginable success. Willis Johnson, the founder of Copart (CPRT), offers up a personal and inspirational account of this journey to the top, including lessons he learned from love, war, and building a global, multibillion-dollar business. Even at the pinnacle of success, Willis remained grounded in his family-first values. His stories will inspire and provoke the entrepreneur in everyone to start building their dream.

From the small country town of Abbotsford to the skyscrapers of New York, this book shares the hard-learned lessons and captivating story of the start-up of Naked Boxer Briefs, a Nasdaq publicly-traded company that had A-list celebrity endorsements, raised over 17 million dollars, and sold its product in department stores around the world, including Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s.

Embracing Schizophrenia is the story of Samantha Mercanti’s experience with schizophrenia. The story is light and positive, but at the same time shows the difficulties Samantha experienced, and continues to experience, in her recovery and her life. Embracing Schizophrenia is a story of struggle, strength, resilience, and hope that opens a window onto mental illness and illuminates it, so we can all understand just a little bit better.