Pocket Shop

At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, and when societies around the world are trying to build digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.  

Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off-limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.

Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.

Michael Hyatt, one of the top business bloggers in the world, provides down-to-earth guidance for building and expanding a powerful platform.

To be successful in the market today, you must possess two strategic assets: a compelling product and a meaningful platform. In this step-by-step guide, Michael Hyatt, former CEO and current Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers, takes readers behind the scenes, into the new world of social media success. He shows you what best-selling authors, public speakers, entrepreneurs, musicians, and other creatives are doing differently to win customers in today's crowded marketplace. Hyatt speaks from experience. He writes one of the top 800 blogs in the world and has more than 100,000 followers on Twitter. His large and growing platform serves as the foundation for his successful writing, speaking, and consulting practice.

In Platform, Hyatt will teach readers not only how to extend their influence, but also how to monetize it and build a sustainable career. The key? By building a platform. It has never been easier, less expensive, or more possible than right now. . .  The book includes:

• proven strategies
• easy-to-replicate formulas
• practical tips

Social media technologies have changed everything. Now, for the first time in history, non-celebrities can get noticed-and win big!-in an increasingly noisy world.

Endorsements:

"I've known Michael Hyatt for more than a decade, and during thattime I've seen him master just about every social media platform that's hit thescene. He's used blogging, Facebook, Twitter and more to expand his personalplatform from a successful book publisher to a leading national brand of hisown. Trust me, this guy knows what he's talking about-so pay attention!" -DAVE RAMSEY, New York Times Best-selling Author, Host, "The Dave Ramsey Show"

"A generous book from a man who knows what he's talking about.Michael Hyatt has built a platform, and you can too." -SETH GODIN, New York TimesBest-selling Author, We Are All Weird

"Platform is absolutely essential to delivering value. As a big fanof Michael Hyatt, I'm excited he's sharing this with you. Your job? Learn aboutthis and implement it. Your success depends on it." -CHRISBROGAN, President, Human Business Works, New York Times Best-selling Author

"Michael Hyatt is the authority on creating aplatform in our crowded world, and Platform is the definitive,step-by-step guide to building a platform-from the ground up. If you're longingto become a true influencer in this world, Hyatt can teach you how. With Platform,Hyatt's done the near-impossible: create a guide even more useful thanhis wildly popular blog!" -CLAIRE DIAZ ORTIZ, SocialInnovation, Twitter, Inc.

"I have watched Michael Hyatt build his own platform from the groundup to become one of the largest in the world. And he has done so with thestrategies and tips he outlines in this very practical book. Any author,speaker, or small business owner who wants a blueprint for getting the attentionand visibility they want, needs to read this book." -JOHN C. MAXWELL, New York Times Best-sellingAuthor, and Leadership Expert

"Michael Hyatt is a pioneer in social media who is now generouslysharing his 'secrets' with those of us who have been marveling at his successfor many years. Whether you are a seasoned writer, blogger, speaker and socialmedia enthusiast, or just now starting out, this book will help you take thatnext step and begin to build a platform of your own." -DAN T.CATHY, President & COO, Chick-fil-A, Inc.

"In today's world, having an idea isn't enough to land a book orrecord deal, get a movie made or find funding for your startup.  You needa platform: A connected following that's ready to try, buy and spread the word.Final...

Did you know that the most creative companies have centralized bathrooms? That brainstorming meetings are a terrible idea? That the color blue can help you double your creative output?

From the New York Times best-selling author of How We Decide comes a sparkling and revelatory look at the new science of creativity. Shattering the myth of muses, higher powers, even creative “types,” Jonah Lehrer demonstrates that creativity is not a single gift possessed by the lucky few. It’s a variety of distinct thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively.

Lehrer reveals the importance of embracing the rut, thinking like a child, daydreaming productively, and adopting an outsider’s perspective (travel helps). He unveils the optimal mix of old and new partners in any creative collaboration, and explains why criticism is essential to the process. Then he zooms out to show how we can make our neighborhoods more vibrant, our companies more productive, and our schools more effective.

You’ll learn about Bob Dylan’s writing habits and the drug addictions of poets. You’ll meet a Manhattan bartender who thinks like a chemist, and an autistic surfer who invented an entirely new surfing move. You’ll see why Elizabethan England experienced a creative explosion, and how Pixar’s office space is designed to spark the next big leap in animation.

Collapsing the layers separating the neuron from the finished symphony, Imagine reveals the deep inventiveness of the human mind, and its essential role in our increasingly complex world.

 http://www.jonahlehrer.com/ 

In the hyper-connected, hyper-digitized world in which we are living, the time has come to revise Abraham Maslow’s classic “hierarchy of needs”—a pyramid of human drives that places the basic needs of safety and sustenance at the bottom. Burchard, a world-renowned motivational speaker and bestselling author, makes a compelling case that it’s time for an entirely new approach to understanding what drives human ambition and achievement today; it’s time to change the conversation about what it takes to succeed and feel alive and fulfilled in a stressful, chaotic, distracted world.

In The Charge: Activating the 10 Human Drives that Make You Feel Alive, Burchard, using pioneering studies from the fields of positive psychology and neuroscience, as well as great stories from his own experience, identifies the ten simple drives of human emotion and happiness: Control, Competence, Congruence, Caring, Connection, Change, Challenge, Creative expression, Contribution, and Consciousness. The Charge provides the keys to understanding and activating these drives in clear and concrete ways that will inspire and help everyone find the one thing we all are searching for: more life in our lives. 

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity -- principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.

In 2010 world-renowned innovation expert Clayton M. Christensen gave a powerful speech to the Harvard Business School's graduating class. Drawing upon his business research, he offered a series of guidelines for finding meaning and happiness in life. He used examples from his own experiences to explain how high achievers can all too often fall into traps that lead to unhappiness.

The speech was memorable not only because it was deeply revealing but also because it came at a time of intense personal reflection: Christensen had just overcome the same type of cancer that had taken his father's life. As Christensen struggled with the disease, the question "How do you measure your life?" became more urgent and poignant, and he began to share his insights more widely with family, friends, and students.

In this groundbreaking book, Christensen puts forth a series of questions: How can I be sure that I'll find satisfaction in my career? How can I be sure that my personal relationships become enduring sources of happiness? How can I avoid compromising my integrity—and stay out of jail? Using lessons from some of the world's greatest businesses, he provides incredible insights into these challenging questions.

How Will You Measure Your Life? is full of inspiration and wisdom, and will help students, midcareer professionals, and parents alike forge their own paths to fulfillment.

Award-winning personal finance columnist read by millions of people each week

The Incredibly Simple, Step-by-Step Guide to Investing Money for Your Future!

“A cover-to-cover must-read for everyone 16 to 60 who wants to live the American Dream. The earlier we choosetosave^®, the sooner we can stop saving, and the later we start saving the more we need to know in order to catch up. What you need to know; where you can find the answers; how you can take action. It is all here.” 

–Dallas Salisbury, CEO, Employee Benefit Research Institute and American Savings Education Council (www.choosetosave.org)

“Bookstores are full of tomes advising people how to save for retirement, yet millions of people are still hopelessly confused about what they should do. Gail MarksJarvis breaks it down into simple steps that anyone can do to ensure a more comfortable retirement. Read this book and prosper!”

–Liz Pulliam Weston, MSN Money Personal finance columnist and best-selling author of Your Credit Score

“This book offers a sensible, sophisticated approach for tackling the daunting challenge of saving for retirement. The good news? You can retire–without living on canned food or buying lottery tickets–if you follow Gail’s realistic strategies for saving, investing, and ultimately spending money in retirement.”

–Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press

“You can wallpaper a warehouse with all of the awful investment advice offered up every year in newspapers, magazines, and books. One of the most difficult tasks is to separate the get-rich-quick hype from the truly worthwhile knowledge that will make you wealthy over time. I’m thrilled to say that Gail MarksJarvis has cut through the claptrap of investment cacophony and provided not only a solid plan for retirement saving, but a realistic, common-sense approach to personal finance in general. This is a triumph.”

–John F. Wasik, Bloomberg News personal finance columnist and author, The Merchant of Power

Drawn from responses to questions from over 20,000 readers of the author’s personal finance columns.

Over the years, Chicago Tribune financial columnist Gail MarksJarvis has taken the time to listen and respond to thousands of her readers about the issues, questions, and concerns that are most important to them. Saving and investing for retirement has never been more important...and with this book, it’s never been clearer what you need to do and how to do it. 

Don’t wait another day! Discover…

• How much you’ll need and how to get there…even if you’ve fallen behind
• Exactly how to set up IRAs, 401(k)s, or 403(b)s in minutes and pocket your tax money
• How to harness the money-making power of the stock market
• How to pick the right mutual funds confidently with simple strategies and specific recommendations
• Incredibly easy, safe investing strategies based on professional money-management techniques
• "Gimmick-free" investing shortcuts that won’t backfire on you
• How to keep debt from making you poor
• How to get reliable help if you need it…and avoid incompetents or scam artists
• How the new 2006 pension laws affect you

Introduction

1             Start Investing Early, or Start Now  1

2             Know What You'll Need  9

3             Savings on Steroids: Use a 401(k) and an IRA  39

4             An IRA—Every American’s Treasure Trove  59

5             IRA Decisions: How to Start, Where to Go  65

6             Why the Stock Market Isn't a Roulette Wheel  89

7             What's a Mutual Fund?  105

8             Making Sense of Wacky Mutual Fund Names  115

9             Know Your Mutual Fund Manager's Job  127

10           The Only Way that Works: Asset Allocation  151

11           Do This  163

12           How to Pick Mutual Funds: Bargain Shop  181

13           Index Funds: Get What You Pay For  189

14           Simple Does It: No-Brainer Investing with Target-Date Funds  209

15           Do You Need a Financial Adviser?  219

Index  229