Modern management is dying under the weight of its own contradictions. The old order is giving way to a new world disorder. The revolution is happening before our eyes. So what now? Bestselling business author Jo Owen has penned a guide to the dazzling and dangerous new world – The Death of Modern Management: How to Lead in the New World Disorder.
In it he explains how the easy certainties of the past are over. Modern management’s simplistic formulas have led to self-defeating conformity. We follow the latest fad but nothing improves because all our competitors are doing the same thing.
Technology promises freedom but delivers slavery.
Power is shifting from producers to consumers, from the West to the East, from shareholders to executives.
Marketing has to make dreams, not just profits.
Smart finance leads to crises not profits.
Managers need to manage, not just consult grids.
Leaders need to make things happen fast. The Death of Modern Management shows readers how to turn risk into opportunity and succeed where others struggle.
E-readers are finally for sale in Malaysia! CHAN SIEW FUN reviews the Hanlin V5 E-reader.
I FIRST SAW AN E-READER ON OPRAH. She gave her blessing, sang praises, and held it up for all the world to see like a proud mama. Now everyone will go out and get one.
This is the nifty gadget naysayers predict will see the end of books.
I wasn’t given the manual for my e-reader, and later found out that it contained a manual inside. What if I did not know how to turn it on in the first place? Perhaps it will also make an interesting read later when I get bored of all the books I have inside.
I happily played around with the keys and soon downloaded some free e-books. I sometimes got into the habit of reading more than one book at a time. With the e-reader, I found I could leave the page of a particular e-book I was reading and jump to the next. When I wanted to resume the first e-book, I only needed to select the title and it would bring me back to the page where I left it at, provided no one else had leafed through it. I could also bookmark the page to be safe as it allowed up to eight bookmarks per e-book.
Should I accidentally turn off the device while reading halfway, it would resume the page when I turn it back on. Holding the power button any longer will turn it on/off completely. Pressing it momentarily is akin to putting it on standby mode.
There are two buttons that allow you to go one page forward or back. Hold it longer to ‘flip’ 10 pages at one go.
It takes about half a second to get to another page, which is like listening to someone tell a story with pauses every so often as the storyteller takes sips of water. Unlike reading a conventional book where you are an active participant at turning the pages, this waiting period can get on your nerves, especially during the exciting bits.
If you are one of those people who like to read endings first, it has a function to bring you straight to the last page. Or the first page, if you realised halfway through that you would like to reread because you cannot remember what that particular story was about.
Aside from the ease of jumping pages, the e-reader I had has another magnificent function: the magnifier. Fonts can be enlarged and read horizontally. If there are pictures in your story, you can adjust the brightness and contrast, but I fail to see the use in that since it’s black and white.
Tired of reading? You can play some music! Or better still, find e-books you like in audio format, convert it into MP3 and play it on this baby. As this is first and foremost an e-reader, do not expect to get high quality sound if you are listening to music.
On the plus side, the battery lifespan would make the Duracell bunny proud. I’m not sure if it’s because I always lock the keyboard when I’m not reading or I only read for short periods every day. It is possible, like all things shiny and new, it is only good at the beginning.
Would I want one?
Of course! It gives me choice. At 32MB in memory and 4GB with an SD card, I can have hundreds of books to change and read as and when I like. I am also inclined to believe I may in some way help Mother Nature if I own an e-reader. But I would still want to have certain books in their traditional forms because nothing beats having the ‘real thing.’
The era of online video has arrived—now make it work for your business.
In the last year, the world of online video exploded. Hollywood got into the game, professional actors and writers joined in, and independent producers looked to find their niche. Now, companies are wide awake to the opportunities for product and brand promotion as well as customer engagement. So how do you want to fit into the new online video universe?
The must-have guide, Get Seen by Steve Garfield, the “Paul Revere of video blogging,” offers a quick and complete toolkit to get you up to speed on the latest that online video and related media have to offer.
• Examines success stories of how companies have used online video
• Presents a series of plans and tools that businesses can follow as they expand onto the social web
• Provides clear step by step directions on how to record, edit, and export videos, where to post them, how to build a community around their content, and what to do to increase views by making it go viral.
If you’re ready to take full advantage of online video’s many benefits, Get Seen is the one resource you need.
Get Seen by Steve Garfield
Steve Garfield
Steve Garfield
Steve Garfield works with and advises Fortune 500 brands, such as AT&T, Kodak, Nokia, and Panasonic, and media outlets CBS, NBC, and PBS. Nationally featured on CNN, Garfield is the Boston correspondent for the pioneering video podcast Rocketboom and a longtime video blogging expert. He lectures on new media at Boston University, Northeastern, and Emerson College. Garfield also serves as an advisor to many of the Web’s early video startups. For more information, please visit: stevegarfield.com/getseen
The era of online video has arrived—now make it work for your business
In the last year, the world of online video exploded. Hollywood got into the game, professional actors and writers joined in, and independent producers looked to find their niche. Now, companies are wide awake to the opportunities for product and brand promotion as well as customer engagement. So how do you want to fit into the new online video universe?
The must-have guide, Get Seen by Steve Garfield, the “Paul Revere of video blogging,” offers a quick and complete toolkit to get you up to speed on the latest that online video and related media have to offer.
• Examines success stories of how companies have used online video
• Presents a series of plans and tools that businesses can follow as they expand onto the social web
• Provides clear step by step directions on how to record, edit, and export videos, where to post them, how to build a community around their content, and what to do to increase views by making it go viral
If you’re ready to take full advantage of online video’s many benefits, Get Seen is the one resource you need.
Islamic Finance Why It Makes Sense by Daub Vicary Abdullah
Though small in comparison with conventional finance, Islamic finance is at the threshold of serious expansion, growing at between 15–20 per cent a year. Yet the wealth potential of Islamic finance is far from being its most attractive feature. What is most compelling about Islamic finance are its ethical principles and strong corporate governance based on Shariah law.
Islamic Finance Why It Makes Sense explains how conventional financial products work—from mortgages and leases to trade finance and insurance—before delving into their Islamic versions.
Daud Vicary Abdullah
Daud Vicary Abdullah has been in the finance and consulting industry for more than 35 years, and has focused solely on Islamic finance since 2002. At Hong Leong Islamic Bank, he was instrumental in transforming an Islamic banking window into a full-fledged Islamic banking subsidiary. Today, he helms DVA Consulting, an Islamic finance consultancy which he established in 2008. He is also a frequent speaker and commentator on matters relating to Islamic finance.
Keon Chee
Keon Chee is senior executive at Heritage Trust Group, an independent trust and fiduciary services company. He obtained an MS in Mathematics at Southern Illinois University and an MBA in Finance from Columbia University (New York). He has held senior positions in financial institutions and has trained many leading financial advisors in Singapore. He has written two definitive books on investment planning and wealth management that are now being used by advisors for professional certification. He is also co-author of the best-selling Make Your Money Work For You (2006).
It’s a Baby Boy! is a very practical science-based tips and guidelines, and stories for moms and dads of baby boys. Including:
Why we need a book just about boys. The very different health issues, genetic predisposition, hard wiring, neurological and biological development of boys from conception that relates to birth issues and unique strengths and weaknesses.
How to understand the core nature of your boy and nourish it through problems of crying, fussing, eating, sleeping, attaching and other key issues during the first 12 months of life.
Warm hearted stories about boys and tips from real moms who have baby boys, and a preview of what’s to come for boys as they become toddlers, preschool kids, pre-pubescent and beyond.
It’s a Baby Girl! is a very practical science based tips and guidelines and stories for moms and dads of baby girls. Including:
Why you need a book just about girls. The very different health issues, genetic predisposition, hard wiring, neurological and biological development of girls, including unique strengths and weaknesses.
How to understand the core nature of your girl and nourish it through problems of crying, fussing, eating, sleeping, attaching and other key issues during the first 12 months of life.
Warm hearted stories about girls and tips from real moms, and a preview of what’s to come for girls as they become toddlers, preschool kids, pubescent and beyond.
Authors’ Biography
Stacie Bering, MD, is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist who has practiced and taught obstetrics and gynecology for twenty-five years in Spokane, Washington, where she skis and travels with her husband, Jeffry, and their grown children Cassie and Zack.
Adie Goldberg, ACSW, MEd, is a board-certified social worker who has been a psychiatric social worker at WomanHealth, an OB-GYN practice, for twenty years and is certified at the Gurian Institute. She lives in Spokane, Washington, with her husband and youngest daughter, Chloe.
Michael Gurian is the founder of the Gurian Institute and one of the pioneers in the boys’ movement. He is the author of The Minds of Boys, The Wonder of Boys, Boys and Girls Learn Differently, and The Purpose of Boys. He lives in Spokane, Washington, with his wife and two daughters.
The Gurian Institute is committed to providing both science-based information and practical and relevant applications for everyday life. The staff of certified trainers helps to build self-sufficiency in communities. To learn more, please visit www.gurianinstitute.com.
In the book Fire and Ice, Sophie Rose is a crime reporter at a major Chicago newspaper and the daughter of Bobby Rose, a charming gentleman and big-time thief. When asked to write an exposé about her notorious father, Sophie quits and goes to work at a small newspaper, covering local personalities such as William Harrington, the 5K runner whose trademark is red socks. Those socks—with Sophie’s business card tucked inside—are practically all that’s found after Harrington is killed near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, seemingly in a brutal polar bear attack.
Sophie heads north to investigate, but danger follows in her wake. After one attempt on her life, she’s assigned brash but sexy Jack MacAlister as a bodyguard. But Sophie and Jack will soon be fighting more than their growing passion for each other. Powerful forces will stop at nothing to prevent the exposure of the sinister conspiracy Sophie and Jack are about to uncover.
About the Author
Julie Garwood
Julie Garwood was raised in Kansas City, Missouri, the sixth of seven children in a large Irish family. She has six sisters: Sharon, Mary Kathleen, Marilyn, Mary, Mary Colette “Cookie”, Joanne and Monica, and one brother: Tom. After having a tonsillectomy at age six, Garwood was a sickly child for years. Because she missed so much school, she did not learn to read as the other children her age did. She was eleven before her mother realized that other children had been doing her homework, and that Garwood was simply unable to read. A math teacher, Sister Elizabeth, devoted the entire summer that year to teaching Garwood how to read, and how to enjoy the stories she was reading. This teacher had such an impact on Garwood’s life that she named her daughter Elizabeth.
While studying to be an R.N., Garwood took a Russian history course and became intrigued by history, choosing to pursue a double major in history and nursing. A professor, impressed by the quality of her essays, convinced Garwood to take a year off of school to write. The result was a children’s book, What’s a Girl to Do?, and her first historical novel, Gentle Warrior.
She married young with Gerry Garwood, they have three children: Gerry Jr., Bryan Michael and Elizabeth, the family resides in Leawood, Kansas. Although Garwood enjoyed her writing, she was not intending to pursue a career as an author. As a young wife and mother she took several freelance writing jobs, and wrote longer stories to amuse herself. After her youngest child started school, Garwood began attending local writers’ conferences, where she soon met an agent. The agent sold both her children’s book and her historical novel, and soon the publisher requested more historical romances.
Garwood’s novels are particularly known for the quirkiness of her heroines, who tend to have an ability to get lost anywhere, clumsiness, and a “charming ability to obfuscate and change the direction of conversations to the consternation, frustration, but eventual acceptance of the other party.” She is not afraid to tackle difficult issues, and one of her books deals with spousal abuse. Her novels are very historically accurate, and Garwood has been known to scour the library at the University of Kansas to find three sources confirming a fact before she includes it in one of her books.
In fifteen years of writing, by 2000 Garwood had penned 15 New York Times Bestsellers with over 30 million copies of her books in print. Despite her success in the historical romance genre, Garwood ventured into a new genre and began writing contemporary romantic suspense novels. Like her historicals, these contemporaries still focus on family relationships, whether between blood relatives or groups of friends who have styled themselves as a family.
Her first contemporary offering, Heartbreaker, has been optioned for film and was serialized in Cosmopolitan magazine.
Garwood admits that she does not read romance novels, primarily so that she does not have to worry about unintentional plagiarism. Instead, she enjoys reading general fiction and mystery novels, but looks forward to the day she retires so that she can catch up on the romance novels written by other authors.
Sonchai Jitpleecheep—John Burdett’s inimitable Royal Thai Police detective with the hard-bitten demeanor and the Buddhist soul—is summoned to the most shocking and intriguing crime scene of his career. Solving the murder could mean a promotion, but Sonchai, reeling from a personal tragedy, is more interested in Tietsin, an exiled Tibetan lama based in Kathmandu who has become his guru.
There are, however, obstacles in Sonchai’s path to nirvana. Police Colonel Vikorn has just named Sonchai his consigliere (he’s been studying The Godfather on DVD): to troubleshoot, babysit, defuse, procure, reconnoiter—do whatever needs to be done in Vikorn’s ongoing battle with Army General Zinna for control of Bangkok’s network of illegal enterprises. And though Tietsin is enlightened and (eerily) charismatic, he also has forty million dollars’ worth of heroin for sale. If Sonchai truly wants to be an initiate into Tietsin’s “apocalyptic Buddhism,” he has to pull off a deal that will bring Vikorn and Zinna to the same side of the table. Further complicating the challenge is Tara: a Tantric practitioner who captivates Sonchai with her remarkable otherworldly techniques.
Here is Sonchai put to the extreme test—as a cop, as a Buddhist, as an impossibly earthbound man—in John Burdett’s most wildly inventive, darkly comic, and wickedly entertaining novel yet.
John Burdett
John Burdett by Jerry Bauer
John Burdett is a former lawyer who lived and worked in Hong Kong for twelve years. For a time, he was employed by the Hong Kong Government. He later worked in private practice. Eventually, Burdett decided to abandon law and pursue a career as a detective novelist.
Burdett now splits his time between France and Bangkok and spends a lot of time researching in the red light areas of Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza.
Sonchai Jitpleecheep—John Burdett’s hard,
bitter Royal Thai Police detective with a Buddhist
soul—is summoned to the most shocking crime
scene of his career. Solving the murder could
mean a promotion, but Sonchai, reeling from a
personal tragedy, is more interested in Tietsin,
an exiled Tibetan lama based in Kathmandu who
has become his guru. And though Tietsin is
enlightened and (eerily) charismatic, he also
has forty million dollars’ worth of heroin for sale.
There are, however, obstacles in Sonchai’s path
to nirvana. Police Colonel Vikorn has just named
Sonchai his consigliore (he’s been studying The
Godfather on DVD): to troubleshoot, baby-sit,
defuse—do whatever needs to be done in
Vikorn’s ongoing battle with Army General
Zinna for control of Bangkok’s illegal
enterprises. Sonchai has to pull off a deal that
will bring Vikorn and Zinna to the same side of
the table. Further complicating the challenge is
Tara: a Tantric practitioner with remarkable other
worldly techniques.
Sonchai is put to the extreme test—as a cop, as a Buddhist, as an impossibly earthbound man—in John
Burdett’s most wildly inventive, darkly comic, and wickedly entertaining novel yet.
In Bailout Nation, Barry Ritholtz, author of the popular finance blog www.ritholtz.com/blog/, deftly mixes financial history with an insider’s knowledge of modern finance to reveal how we’ve arrived at one of the worst economic crises ever. Engaging and informative, this book clearly shows how years of trying to control the economy with easy money has finally caught up with the United States and how the government’s practice of repeatedly rescuing Wall Street—as well as other industries and organizations—has come back to bite them.
Divided into five compelling parts, this timely guide opens with a brief history of bailouts, detailing their particular patterns and unintended consequences. From here, it quickly moves on to reveal the events, individuals, and institutions that have shaped our current situation. You’ll see how various government interventions—in individual companies such as Lockheed during the 1970s, in specific sectors such as banking in the early 1990s, and eventually, entire markets with the rescue of stocks in 2000—opened up a Pandora’s Box. You’ll also discover how the misguided philosophies of many players, from Fed Chairmen and Presidents to Senators and Treasury Secretaries, promoted the massive meltdown that has engulfed our global economy.
Ritholtz leaves no stone unturned, as he breaks down how the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate targeting policies as well as a condition known as moral hazard—the belief that you won’t bear the full consequences of your actions—perpetuated the reckless financial risk taking that has pushed us to the brink. Ritholtz also takes some of the biggest Wall Street firms—along with their enablers, the ratings agencies—to task. Page by page, you’ll learn how the repeal of certain regulations allowed banks to merge into unruly financial behemoths, while unproven investment vehicles, including collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and credit default swaps (CDSs), wreaked havoc on both the credit and housing markets.
The United States has abandoned its capitalist roots and become a Bailout Nation. The implications of this are significant and far-reaching. If you intend on navigating today’s treacherous terrain, it would be wise to understand how we got here and what you need to get ahead. Scathing, but fair, Bailout Nation puts this financial debacle in perspective—through discussions of past miscues and an exploration of solutions being offers a voice of reason during these uncertain economic times.
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