Showing results by narrator "Christopher Grove" in All Categories

Businesses have a big role to play in a capitalist society. They can tip the scales toward the benefit of the few, with toxic side effects for all, or they can guide us toward better, more equitable long-term solutions. Christopher Marquis tells the story of the rise of a new corporate form - the B Corporation. These companies undergo a rigorous certification process, overseen by the B Lab, and commit to putting social benefits, the rights of workers, community impact, and environmental stewardship on equal footing with financial shareholders.

The 20th century witnessed the triumph of democratic capitalism in the industrialized West, with widespread popular support for both free markets and representative elections. Today, that political consensus appears to be breaking down, disrupted by polarization and income inequality, widespread dissatisfaction with democratic institutions, and insurgent populism. Tracing the history of democratic capitalism over the past two centuries, Carles Boix explains how we got here - and where we could be headed.

Of all the religions, creeds, and self-help manifestos the world has produced, most concentrate on how to achieve salvation in aspects other than the here-and-now, with our lives merely transitory testing grounds for a higher realm or our actions guided so that we maximize life in a state of "enlightened hedonism", consuming rapaciously but really achieving not much at all. But there's one philosophy that provides a concrete foundation for living well, for living "a good life" in this world. Stoicism.

This collection of short stories encompasses 20 years of work by Howard Fast, including some of his best-known and most treasured tales. Not merely fantasy or science fiction, these "Zen stories" explore the world’s mysterious and unanswerable questions, big and small, and the results are at once bizarre, humorous, chilling, and poignant. An American general shoots down what appears to be an angel during a Vietnam War battle, a celebrated author becomes a hunted man, and a mouse is granted human thought and emotion by a group of alien beings.

Though Joseph Smith's run for president is now best remembered for its gruesome end, the renegade campaign was revolutionary. Smith called for the total abolition of slavery, the closure of the country's penitentiaries, and the reestablishment of a national bank to stabilize the economy. But Smith's most important proposal was for an expansion of protections for religious minorities. At a time when the Bill of Rights did not apply to individual states, Smith sought to empower the federal government to protect minorities when states failed to do so.

Prize-winning essayist turns to the imagination as a spiritual guide and material method of living through climate disruption, as climate change and broad extinction forever alter our place on the planet and our lives together.

Medicare for All is the leading proposal to achieve to universal health coverage in America. But what is it exactly? How would it work? More importantly, is it practical or practicable? This book goes beyond partisan talking points to offer a serious examination of how Medicare for All would transform the way we give, receive, and pay for healthcare in America.

When thinking about America's role in the world, Dwight Eisenhower, George H. W. Bush, and Barack Obama may not seem to have a lot in common. But they do. While divided by background, generation, and political party, they exemplify a distinct and underappreciated tradition of American leadership: The Middle Way. As the scholar and former senior foreign policy official Derek Chollet shows in this deeply researched book, these three presidents took a centrist - and effective - approach to foreign policy.

Hacking Leadership is Mike Myatt's latest leadership book written for leaders at every level. Leadership isn't broken, but how it's currently being practiced certainly is. Everyone has blind spots. The purpose of Hacking Leadership is to equip leaders at every level with an actionable framework to identify blind spots and close leadership gaps. The bulk of the book is based on actionable, topical leadership and management hacks to bridge eleven gaps every business needs to cross in order to create a culture of leadership.

By tracing the evolution of the categories the United States used to count and classify its population from 1790 to 1940, Schor shows that, far from being simply a reflection of society or a mere instrument of power, censuses are actually complex negotiations between the state, experts, and the population itself. The census is not an administrative or scientific act, but a political one. Counting Americans is a social history exploring the political stakes that pitted various interests and groups of people against each other as population categories were constantly redefined.

As the voting public continues to diversify across the United States, political candidates, and particularly white candidates, increasingly recognize the importance of making appeals to voters who do not look like themselves. As history has shown, this has been accomplished with varying degrees of success. During the 2016 election, for example, both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders campaigned vociferously among Latino voters in Nevada's early primary, where 19 percent of the Democratic caucus consisted of Latinos.

In this book, Cedric de Leon analyzes two pivotal crises in the American two-party system: the first resulting in the demise of the Whig party and secession of 11 southern states in 1861, and the present crisis splintering the Democratic and Republican parties and leading to the election of Donald Trump. Recasting these stories through the actions of political parties, de Leon draws unsettling parallels in the political maneuvering that ultimately causes once-dominant political parties to lose the people's consent to rule.

Since the Great Recession, most Americans' standard of living has stagnated or declined. Economic inequality is at historic highs. But inequality's impact differs by race; African Americans' net wealth is just a 10th that of White Americans, and over recent decades, White families have accumulated wealth at three times the rate of Black families. In our increasingly diverse nation, sociologist Thomas M. Shapiro argues, wealth disparities must be understood in tandem with racial inequities - a dangerous combination he terms "toxic inequality".

Whenever you go to your local public library, send mail via the post office, or visit Yosemite, you are taking advantage of a longstanding American tradition: the public option. Some of the most useful and beloved institutions in American life are public options - yet they are seldom celebrated as such. These government-supported opportunities coexist peaceably alongside private options, ensuring equal access and expanding opportunity for all.

How do firms compete? How do firms earn above normal returns? What's needed to sustain superior performance long term? An increasingly powerful answer to these fundamental questions of business strategy lies in the concept of dynamic capabilities. These are the skills, processes, routines, organizational structures, and disciplines that enable firms to build, employ, and orchestrate intangible assets relevant to satisfying customer needs, and which cannot be readily replicated by competitors.

Bold Venture tells the nearly forgotten story of the American airmen who flew perilous combat missions over Hong Kong during the Second World War.

You will learn how to assemble a balanced and talented leadership team, to understand the definition and value of a true business leader, and what resources are critical to business success.

Noah Adair is a 13-year-old boy orphaned on the Oregon Trail in the late 1840s. After his parents die in a flood, his aunt rejects him in favor of his little brother, while his venomous uncle takes to beating him. Noah is very much alone in a world he doesn’t really understand. When he discovers that his life is in danger, he flees into the wilds on a stolen horse. After hiding out in the desert, he decides to track down the remnants of his family and rescue his brother from his uncle’s malicious intent.

In Rescuing Olivia, a man sets out on a search against time to find and save the woman he loves when she mysteriously disappears after a suspicious motorcycle accident. When Olivia Mayfield first arrived in Florida, hoping to escape her rich, powerful father and her controlling ex-boyfriend, the attraction between her and Anders Erickson was immediate and mutual.

Call it the flattening effect. The process by which mystery is leached from life and replaced by weary literalism. Age is the primary culprit, abetted by desensitizing technology and the reductive shove of science. At a certain point, thought becomes synapse, talk becomes tweet, and all Netflix movies seem to merit three stars. Gradually the world recedes from your touch until the only things that still feel real are sex and video games.