Search

The First Management Classic of the New Millennium! A bold experiment is taking place these days, as leading-edge companies turn upside down the management paradigm that has dominated corporate thinking for more than one hundred years. Southwest Airlines is perhaps the most visible practitioner, soaring through economic downturns while its competitors slash their budgets and order massive layoffs, but you can find other pioneers of the new approach in almost every industry and market niche. Their secret: a culture of ownership that allows them to tap into the most underutilized resource in business today–namely, the enthusiasm, intelligence, and creativity of working people everywhere. No one knows more about building a culture of ownership than CEO Jack Stack, who’s been working on one for the past twenty years with his colleagues at SRC Holdings Corporation (formerly Springfield ReManufacturing Corporation). Along the way, they’ve turned their company into what Business Week has called a “management Mecca,” attracting thousands of people representing hundreds of businesses to SRC’s home in Springfield, Missouri. There the visitors learn how to incorporate the ideals and values of SRC’s remarkable corporate culture into their own organizations–and then they go back and do it. Now, in A Stake in the Outcome, Stack offers a master class on creating a culture of ownership, presenting the hard-won lessons of his own twenty-year journey and explaining what it really takes to build for long-term success. The pioneer of “open-book management” (described in the best-selling classic The Great Game of Business), Stack and twelve other managers began their journey in 1982, when they purchased their factory from its struggling parent company. SRC grew 15 percent a year, while adding almost a thousand new jobs, and the company’s stock price rocketed from 10 cents to $81.60 per share. In the process, Stack discovered that long-term success required constant innovation–and that building a culture of ownership involved much more than paying bonuses, handing out stock options, or setting up an employee stock ownership plan. In a successful ownership culture, every employee had to take the fate of the company as personally as an individual owner would. Achieving that level of commitment was extraordinarily difficult, but Stack realized that the payoff would be enormous: a company that was consistently able to outperform the market. A Stake in the Outcome isn’t about theory–it’s about practice. Stack draws from his own successes and failures at SRC to show how any company can teach its employees to think and act like owners, including how to implement an effective equity-sharing program, how to promote continuous learning at every level of the organization, how to fire up employees’ competitive juices, how to broaden the concept of leadership and delegate responsibility for the business, and how to build a workforce that is fast on its feet and ready to take advantage of every opportunity. You’ll also learn about other companies that have succeeded in building cultures of ownership–and the lessons they can teach the rest of us. Written in Jack Stack’s straightforward, witty, no-beating-around-the-bush style, A Stake in the Outcome is like having a one-on-one session with a master entrepreneur and business innovator. It shows managers and executives of companies both large and small how to build a ferociously motivated workforce that is energized and committed to meeting and overcoming the most daunting challenges a company can face.

In the early 1980s, Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation (SRC) in Springfield, Missouri, was a near bankrupt division of International Harvester. That's when a green young manager, Jack Stack, took over and turned it around. He didn't know how to "manage" a company, but he did know about the principal, of athletic competition and democracy: keeping score, having fun, playing fair, providing choice, and having a voice. With these principals he created his own style of management -- open-book management. The key is to let everyone in on financial decisions. At SRC, everyone learns how to read a P&L -- even those without a high school education know how much the toilet paper they use cuts into profits. SRC people have a piece of the action and a vote in company matters. Imagine having a vote on your bonus and on what businesses the company should be in. SRC restored the dignity of economic freedom to its people. Stack's "open-book management" is the key -- a system which, as he describes it here, is literally a game, and one so simple anyone can use it. As part of the Currency paperback line, the book includes a "User's Guide" -- an introduction and discussion guide created for the paperback by the author -- to help readers make practical use of the book's ideas. Jack Stack is the president and CEO of the Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation, in Springfield, Missouri. The recipient of the 1993 Business Enterprise Trust Award, Jack speaks throughout the country on The Great Game Of Business and Open Book Management.

In the early 1980s, Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation (SRC) in Springfield, Missouri, was a near bankrupt division of International Harvester. Today it's one of the most successful and competitive companies in the United States, with a share price 3000 times what it was thirty years ago. This miracle turnaround is all down to one man, Jack Stack, and his revolutionary system of Open-Book Management, in which every employee understands the company's key figures, can act on them and has a real stake in the business. In Stack's own words: 'When employees think, act and feel like owners ... everybody wins.'As a management strategy, 'the great game of business' is so simple and effective that it's been taken up by companies from Intel to Harley Davidson.

Learn all that’s needed to build a fully functional web application from scratch. Key FeaturesDelve deep into the principle behind RESTful APILearn how to build a scalable web application with the RESTful API architecture and Flask frameworkKnow what are the exact tools and methodology to test your applications and how to use themBook Description Python is a flexible language that can be used for much more than just script development. By knowing the Python RESTful APIs work, you can build a powerful backend for web applications and mobile applications using Python. You'll take your first steps by building a simple API and learning how the frontend web interface can communicate with the backend. You'll also learn how to serialize and deserialize objects using the marshmallow library. Then, you'll learn how to authenticate and authorize users using Flask-JWT. You'll also learn how to enhance your APIs by adding useful features, such as email, image upload, searching, and pagination. You'll wrap up the whole book by deploying your APIs to the cloud. By the end of this book, you'll have the confidence and skill to leverage the power of RESTful APIs and Python to build efficient web applications. What you will learnUnderstand the concept of a RESTful APIBuild a RESTful API using Flask and the Flask-Restful extensionManipulate a database using Flask-SQLAlchemy and Flask-MigrateSend out plaintext and HTML format emails using the Mailgun APIImplement a pagination function using Flask-SQLAlchemyUse caching to improve API performance and efficiently obtain the latest informationDeploy an application to Heroku and test it using PostmanWho this book is for This book is ideal for aspiring software developers who have a basic-to-intermediate knowledge of Python programming and who want to develop web applications using Python. Knowledge of how web applications work will be beneficial but is not essential.

Create the future you've always wanted by harnessing the magic inherent in every tarot reading. Jack Chanek guides you to the intersection of tarot and magic, where you'll learn how magic can inform a reading, and how tarot can be used for magical purposes. When used together, you can not only read your future, but also create it. Jack demonstrates how to turn the Wheel of Fortune in your favor through a variety of spells and spreads. He begins by building your foundational skills and showing you how tarot fits into the larger magical worldview. Then he shows you how to incorporate tarot into your workings, including meditations, talismans, and spirit communication. Featuring more than a dozen original tarot spreads, this book encourages you to experiment with these methods and make the magic your own.

Terror Hits Home In the sixth and final installment of Jack Douglas's Quake, one American hero emerges from the ruins of a devastated New York to fight one ruthless terrorist—to the death. . . It's all come down to this. After surviving the the most devastating earthquake ever to hit the U.S. . ..after leading a band of survivors from one end of Manhattan to the other. . .after saving his daughter from nature's wrath and humanity's worst. . .U.S. Attorney Nick Dykstra must go head to head with the 9/11 terrorist who escaped his grasp in the chaos of the quake. As his sworn enemy, Feroz Saeed Alivi, will not stop until Nick and his family are dead and buried—or worse. Even in this moment of crisis, when the shockwaves have triggered a leak at the the Indian Point Nuclear Plant, Alivi will not give up until his unholy game is over. For Nick, it's kill or be killed. . . This is the final showdown that will shake the world to the very core. This is the only way to conquer the ultimate challenge of the QUAKE. 14,400 Words

This is the definitive guide to the Swift programming language and the iOS 9 SDK, and the source code has been updated to reflect Xcode 7 and Swift 2. There’s up-to-date coverage of new Apple technologies as well as significant updates to existing material. You'll have everything you need to create your very own apps for the latest iOS devices. Every single sample app in the book has been rebuilt from scratch using the latest Xcode and the latest 64-bit iOS 9-specific project templates, and designed to take advantage of the latest Xcode features. Assuming little or no working knowledge of the new Swift programming language, and written in a friendly, easy-to-follow style, this book offers a complete soup-to-nuts course in iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch programming. The book starts with the basics, walking through the process of downloading and installing Xcode and the iOS 9 SDK, and then guides you though the creation of your first simple application. From there, you’ll learn how to integrate all the interface elements iOS users have come to know and love, such as buttons, switches, pickers, toolbars, and sliders. You’ll master a variety of design patterns, from the simplest single view to complex hierarchical drill-downs. The art of table building will be demystified, and you’ll learn how to save your data using the iPhone file system. You’ll also learn how to save and retrieve your data using a variety of persistence techniques, including Core Data and SQLite. And there’s much more! What You Will Learn: Everything you need to know to develop your own bestselling iPhone and iPad apps Utilizing Swift playgrounds Best practices for optimizing your code and delivering great user experiences“/li> What data persistence is, and why it’s important Get started with building cool, crisp user interfaces How to display data in Table Views How to draw to the screen using Core Graphics How to use iOS sensor capabilities to map your world How to get your app to work with iCloud and more Who This Book is For:

This is the definitive guide to the Swift programming language and the iOS 9 SDK, and the source code has been updated to reflect Xcode 7 and Swift 2. There's up-to-date coverage of new Apple technologies as well as significant updates to existing material. You'll have everything you need to create your very own apps for the latest iOS devices. Every single sample app in the book has been rebuilt from scratch using the latest Xcode and the latest 64-bit iOS 9-specific project templates, and designed to take advantage of the latest Xcode features. Assuming little or no working knowledge of the new Swift programming language, and written in a friendly, easy-to-follow style, this book offers a complete soup-to-nuts course in iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch programming. The book starts with the basics, walking through the process of downloading and installing Xcode and the iOS 9 SDK, and then guides you though the creation of your first simple application. From there, you'll learn how to integrate all the interface elements iOS users have come to know and love, such as buttons, switches, pickers, toolbars, and sliders. You'll master a variety of design patterns, from the simplest single view to complex hierarchical drill-downs. The art of table building will be demystified, and you'll learn how to save your data using the iPhone file system. You'll also learn how to save and retrieve your data using a variety of persistence techniques, including Core Data and SQLite. And there's much more! What You Will Learn: Everything you need to know to develop your own bestselling iPhone and iPad apps Utilizing Swift playgrounds Best practices for optimizing your code and delivering great user experiences