Foundational introduction to the concept that organizations create major impacts by making small changes.

Waste has plagued almost every industrial-age firm for the past century. In this powerfully argued alternative to conventional cost management thinking, experts H. Thomas Johnson and Anders Bröms assert that any company can avoid the waste that is generated through excessive operating costs in the short run and excessive losses from market instability in the long run. To gain more secure levels of profitability, management must simply change how it thinks about work and how it organizes work. Profit Beyond Measure details how two extremely profitable manufacturers, Toyota and the Swedish truck maker Scania, have rejected the traditional mechanistic mindset of managing by results that generates waste. Johnson and Bröms explain how Toyota and Scania achieve their legendary cost advantage through a revolutionary concept they call managing by means (MBM). Instead of being driven to meet preconceived accounting targets, the production systems of Toyota and Scania are governed by the three precepts that guide all living systems: self-organization, interdependence, and diversity. Amid a wealth of new insights into Toyota's vaunted system, Johnson and Bröms introduce the tools of MBM to show how design, production, and profitability analysis are done to customer order. They demonstrate that by following the principles that emulate life systems, even a lean and profitable company can organize work to greatly lessen its long-term earnings instability and sharply reduce its short-run operating costs. Scania has achieved sixty-five years of financial stability and longevity in the face of fierce competition. Toyota has amassed a market value since 1988 that has rivaled -- or sometimes surpassed -- the American "Big Three" automakers combined. The principles that Johnson and Bröms set forth in Profit Beyond Measure can guarantee the same richer, longer life to any company that applies them.

Ariyanna "Ari" Ramirez has had enough of no love. After a two year relationship filled with more heartbreak than happiness, she is starting over. When she meets handsome, suave, single father, Simeon "Sime" Cartwright, she has no idea that her life is about to change forever. Their romance is one for the ages, but nothing worth having comes easy. Together they face trials and tribulations with an ex who seeks to harm her, after their break up and turmoil from the recent reappearance of the mother of his child, who abandoned her six years ago. Will they be able to make it and live happily ever after, or will they fold under the weight or the world on their shoulders?

A transformational guide to living a life of authenticity and abundance, rooted in love, acceptance, compassion, and kindness. Learn how to discover and embrace your inner power, release and heal the emotional residue from the past, and envision a future of unbounded possibilities that allows your passions and purpose to be fulfilled. Through insight, self-exploration, and step-by-step practical exercises, Powerful Beyond Measure guides you along the journey of lifelong spiritual growth—empowering you to take control of your destiny and create a life filled with joy, health, happiness, and success.

The Sourcebook of Nonverbal Measures provides a comprehensive discussion of research choices for investigating nonverbal phenomena. The volume presents many of the primary means by which researchers assess nonverbal cues. Editor Valerie Manusov has collected both well-established and new measures used in researching nonverbal behaviors, illustrating the broad spectrum of measures appropriate for use in research, and providing a critical resource for future studies. With chapters written by the creators of the research measures, this volume represents work across disciplines, and provides first-hand experience and thoughtful guidance on the use of nonverbal measures. It also offers research strategies researchers can use to answer their research questions; discussions of larger research paradigms into which a measure may be placed; and analysis tools to help researchers think through the research choices available to them. With its thorough and pragmatic approach, this Sourcebook will be an invaluable resource for studying nonverbal behavior. Researchers in interpersonal communication, psychology, personal relationships, and related areas will find it to be an essential research tool.

Harrison Dyer left England to escape his painful past, but a storm at sea sweeps him into a world he never imagined. In the ancient kingdom of Siam, he meets Lamai, an alluring translator with scars of her own. To earn his way home, Harrison agrees to work for Lamai’s employer, a wealthy Portuguese businessman with dark appetites. Abandoned by her father, the half-English, half-Siamese Lamai isn’t sure she fully belongs anywhere. She’s remained in Siam in hopes that her father will one day return, but her position leaves her in an apprehensive state of limbo. Surprisingly to both Lamai and Harrison, their tentative working relationship is a comfort and soon blossoms into a richer, more complicated connection. But when he makes a shocking discovery of abuse and corruption, Harrison must risk his own freedom and a chance at happiness with Lamai for a greater cause. Only if they put their heads—and hearts—together can they finally find the peace and love they’ve been seeking. Sensuality Level: Sensual

Now in paperback, the New York Times bestseller from Race to Nowhere director Vicki Abeles about how our schools can revolutionize learning, prioritize children’s health, and re-envision success for a lifetime. Race to Nowhere, Vicki Abeles’s groundbreaking documentary about our educational system, tapped into a widespread problem in our nation’s schools: From high school to kindergarten, an entire generation of American students is being pressured to perform in ways that make them less intellectually flexible, creative, and responsive to a changing world. Vicki brought home how, as students race against each other to have constantly higher grades, better test scores, and more AP courses than their classmates, they are damaging their own mental and physical health. Now in the New York Times bestseller Beyond Measure, Vicki continues this all-important conversation, seeking out success stories to inspire and instruct those who are eager to create change. We see examples of teachers who have cut the workload in half and seen scores rise; parents who have taken the pressure off of their kids only to find their motivation and abilities rise on their own; schools that have instituted later start times so that the kids are getting the sleep they need able to learn more efficiently. Everyone is aware that the educational system is broken, and Beyond Measure reveals a personal, unique, on-the-ground perspective. From limiting the number of AP courses a college will consider to eliminating the competitive need to “do more than the next kid” and shifting emphasis in the admissions process to essay options over test scores. “With both heart and smarts, Vicki Abeles showcases the courageous communities that are rejecting the childhood rat race and reclaiming health and learning (Maria Shriver).” The result will help students succeed, not just on the race to college—but for life.

When it comes to sizing up America’s public schools, test scores are the go-to metric of state policy makers and anxious parents looking to place their children in the “best” schools. Yet ample research indicates that standardized tests are a poor way to measure a school’s performance. It is time—indeed past time—to rethink this system, Jack Schneider says. Beyond Test Scores reframes current debates over school quality by offering new approaches to educational data that can push us past our unproductive fixation on test scores. Using the highly diverse urban school district of Somerville, Massachusetts, as a case study, Schneider and his research team developed a new framework to more fairly and comprehensively assess educational effectiveness. And by adopting a wide range of measures aligned with that framework, they were able to more accurately capture a broader array of school strengths and weaknesses. Their new data not only provided parents, educators, and administrators with a clearer picture of school performance, but also challenged misconceptions about what makes a good school. With better data, Schneider shows, stakeholders at the federal, state, and local levels can undo the damage of present accountability systems and build greater capacity in our schools. Policy makers, administrators, and school leaders can better identify where assistance is needed. Educators can engage in more evidence-based decision making. And parents can make better-informed choices for their children. Perhaps most importantly, better data can facilitate communication among all these groups, allowing them to take collective action toward shared, concrete goals.

The bestselling author and American icon offers lessons from his own remarkable life in the form of letters to his great-grandaughter The author of The Measure of a Man and one of the most revered actors in the history of Hollywood offers a book that features inspirational advice and personal stories from his extraordinary life. Written in the form of extended letters to his new great-granddaughter, Sidney Poitier offers perspective and wisdom gained from his memories of being a boy in the Bahamas; breaking the race barrier in theater and film during the Civil Rights Era; achieving stardom and success in Hollywood; and as a diplomat and humanitarian. In his role as father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, Poitier shares his experience of the most important passages in life.

A vibrant account of how measurement has invisibly shaped our world, from ancient civilizations to the modern day. From the cubit to the kilogram, the humble inch to the speed of light, measurement is a powerful tool that humans invented to make sense of the world. In this revelatory work of science and social history, James Vincent dives into its hidden world, taking readers from ancient Egypt, where measuring the annual depth of the Nile was an essential task, to the intellectual origins of the metric system in the French Revolution, and from the surprisingly animated rivalry between metric and imperial, to our current age of the “quantified self.” At every turn, Vincent is keenly attuned to the political consequences of measurement, exploring how it has also been used as a tool for oppression and control. Beyond Measure reveals how measurement is not only deeply entwined with our experience of the world, but also how its history encompasses and shapes the human quest for knowledge.