Professional Career Development

After Steve Jobs was unceremoniously dismissed from Apple, he turned his attention to a little-known graphics art company that he owned called Pixar. One day, out of the blue, Jobs called Lawrence Levy, a Harvard-trained lawyer and Silicon Valley executive to whom he had never spoken before, in the hope of persuading Levy to help him get Pixar on the right track. What Levy found in Pixar was a company on the verge of failure. To Pixar and Beyond is the extraordinary story of what happened next.

In Don't Quit Your Day Job, former Google and Twitter executive Aliza Knox delivers hands-on, practical steps for achieving career success. Driven by Knox's four decades working in and leading some of the world's most celebrated firms, and featuring candid accounts of other people's successes and missteps in global tech, consumer goods, healthcare, academia, social services and more, this book is an essential guide to integrating your professional and personal goals to build a fulfilling, complete life.

In 1998, three Harvard Business School graduates - two men and one woman - turned down six-figure salaries at big corporations, bet on themselves, and launched their own new companies. By their 10-year reunion, their audacity had paid huge dividends. They'd made many millions of dollars, created hundreds of jobs and left their mark on the world. The Intelligent Entrepreneur tells the compelling and instructive story of how these three young founders did it.

This book, written by Michael R. Watson, covers a wide range of topics related to artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on the job market, personal life, and society as a whole. Raised by military parents who served in the Air Force, Marines, and Navy, Michael has gained a unique perspective on the importance of adapting to change and being open to new opportunities throughout his life and career. After working in corporate HR and talent acquisition for over 20 years for companies such as Aerotek, Robert Half, Polycom, Western Digital, Workday, Rambus, and Gigamon, Michael made a ...

Cameron Mitchell’s “dish room to boardroom story” began when he was 16-years-old and started working as a dishwasher at a local steakhouse in Columbus, Ohio. Two years later, when Mitchell was working as a line cook during a chaotic shift change, he had an epiphany. He realized he loved the restaurant business and set out to make it his lifelong career. He knew he wanted to be the president of a restaurant company, one day.

Silicon Valley visionary John Chambers shares the lessons that transformed a dyslexic kid from West Virginia into one of the world's best business leaders and turned a simple router company into a global tech titan.

At twenty-eight, fresh from Stanford’s MBA program and steeped in the move-fast-and-break-things ethos of Silicon Valley, Andy Dunn was on top of the world. He was building a new kind of startup—a digitally native, direct-to-consumer brand—out of his Manhattan apartment. Bonobos was a new-school approach to selling an old-school product: men’s pants. Against all odds, business was booming.

It’s never too late to redefine yourself and your priorities. In this guide to changing your career and your life, Jason Tartick, a motivational business speaker, investment banker, life coach and host of the Trading Secrets podcast, shares clear action steps to help you define and achieve your vision of financial, professional, and emotional success. If you’re feeling lost in your pursuit of finding happiness within yourself, your career, or your personal life, The Restart Roadmap is perfect for you.

With over $500 million a year in sales, the Bassett Furniture Company was once the world's biggest wood furniture manufacturer. But beginning in the 1980s, the Bassett company suffered from an influx of cheap Chinese furniture as the first waves of Asian competition hit, and ultimately was forced to send its production offshore to Asia. Only one man fought back. That man is John Bassett III, a descendant of the Bassetts who is now chairman of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co, which employs more than 700 Virginians and has sales of over $90 million.

The start of Home Depot sounds like the beginning of a bad joke: Two Jews and an Italian decide to build a new kind of hardware store... In 1978, Bernie Marcus's livelihood depended on just such a scenario. Having been fired at the age of forty-nine, he teamed up with Arthur Blank and Ken Langone on a bold new endeavor. Their first day in business was so disastrous that the next morning, Marcus's wife wouldn't let him shave because she didn't want a razor in his hands.

From entrepreneur and celebrity hairstylist Jen Atkin comes a smart and spirited guide to finding your voice and creating the life and career you deserve - along with a behind-the-scenes look into Jen’s own wild and wonderful road to success.

What matters most to you? Should you focus on earning a living, pursuing your passions, or devoting yourself to the causes that inspire you? The surprising truth is that you don’t have to choose—and that you’ll find more success if you don’t. That’s the breakthrough message of the TOMS One for One movement. You don’t have to be rich to give back and you don’t have to retire to spend every day doing what you love. You can find profit, passion, and meaning all at once—right now.

As cofounder of KISS, America's number one gold-record award-winning group of all time, Simmons knows the thrill and seduction of power firsthand. But gold records alone don't equal power. The decisions you make once you attain a certain level of success are what separate the pretenders from the pantheon. Inspired by Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince, Simmons offers his unique take on the dynamics of power in every realm of life, from the bedroom to the boardroom, to the world of rock, celebrity, and social media, to politics.

What you're reading here is what I wish someone had told me at the beginning of my career. I hope it's still time for you to change your ways and meet the success you deserve. Every lesson you read has been learned through great sacrifice, wasted years and missed opportunities. I want you to avoid these mistakes. This book answers painful questions like these: - Why do colleagues who are less competent and less motivated than you advance faster in their careers? - Why are other people's ideas accepted while yours are rejected? - A small success of your colleague is celebrated while your ...

We all need to pay bills and keep a roof over our head, but real satisfaction comes when we pursue careers filled with meaning and purpose according to God's plan for our lives. No matter where you're at now, you can find that kind of fulfillment in a career. This audiobook will show you how. Here's a hint: It's less about the kind of work you do, but how you do it and for whom you're doing it.

The Blue Square Method is a philosophy and process for the enlightened fee-for-service professional who is striving to grow on their own terms. Panoramic success requires continual refinement and optimization both personally and professionally. This actionable playbook is designed to put you on a predictable trajectory and ensure you never plateau.

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.

Having a clear knowledge of your business's financial life is important. No one should be in the dark about their overall financial picture. That's a disaster waiting to happen. However, with a perfunctory knowledge of basic accounting principles, including assets and liabilities, creating financial statements, budgeting, and more, you'll be on the road to healthier relationship with your money.

Following in the footsteps of her best-selling Warren Buffett Speaks - written in a conversational style that successfully captures the essence of these business leaders - Janet Lowe reveals the amazing story behind one of the most important new companies of our time by exploring the people and philosophies that have made Google a global phenomenon in less than 15 years.

The first inside account of life within a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, eBoys is the fascinating true story of the six tall men who backed eBay, Webvan, and other billion-dollar start-ups that are transforming the Internet and setting a new pace for the economy - an audible.com audio exclusive!