A guide to the best alpine rock climbs in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Lavishly illustrated with maps, topos and photographs

The Challenge Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning. But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? The Study For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great? The Standards Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck. The Comparisons The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good? Over five years, the team analyzed the histories of all twenty-eight companies in the study. After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness -- why some companies make the leap and others don't. The Findings The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include: Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness. The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence. A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology. The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap. “Some of the key concepts discerned in the study,” comments Jim Collins, "fly in the face of our modern business culture and will, quite frankly, upset some people.” Perhaps, but who can afford to ignore these findings?

From the bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, You Are Awesome, and the award-winning, multimillion-hit blog 1000 Awesome Things comes even more of the little things that make us smile every day! Neil Pasricha is back with a collection of hundreds more awesome things from the website, as well as never-before-seen extraordinary moments that deserve celebration: • Letting go of the gas pump perfectly so you end on a round number • When a baby falls asleep on you • When your pet notices you’re in a bad mood and comes to see you • Pulling a weed and getting all the roots with it • When your windshield wipers match the beat of the song you’re listening to • When the hiccups stop • The smooth feeling on your teeth when you get your braces off • Driving from a rough road onto a smooth one • When the person you’re meeting is even later than you are • That guy who helps you parallel park There’s even space for you to write your very own Awesome Things in the back. Because couldn’t we all use (even more) awesome?

Ten years after the worldwide bestseller Good to Great, Jim Collins returns withanother groundbreaking work, this time to ask: why do some companies thrive inuncertainty, even chaos, and others do not? Based on nine years of research,buttressed by rigorous analysis and infused with engaging stories, Collins andhis colleague Morten Hansen enumerate the principles for building a truly greatenterprise in unpredictable, tumultuous and fast-moving times. This book isclassic Collins: contrarian, data-driven and uplifting.

Published annually since 1929, the American Alpine Journal is internationally renowned as the finest of its kind-the world's journal of record for documenting big new routes and remote mountain exploration. This is the reference for anyone planning anything new in the mountains or venturing into remote ranges. This book contains nearly 200 pages of exciting stories about the most important climbs of the year-as told by the climbers themselves; and about 300 photographs, many with route overlays, and 20 locator maps. In continuing celebration of the American Alpine Club's centennial.

There’s nothing like the holidays. They bring out the best, and sometimes the worst, in everyone. Luckily, Neil Pasricha is here to remind us that not only are the holidays great, but there’s actually even more to celebrate than we realize. From Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, to other holidays throughout the year, such as Mother’s Day and Thanksgiving, The Book of (Holiday) Awesome will show you why holidays are…AWESOME. • Making the first footprint in fresh snow • When the in-laws leave • Waking up and realizing it’s Christmas • Just barely wrapping a gift with that tiny scrap of leftover wrapping paper • When they finally stop playing Christmas songs on the radio • Knowing “Kwanzaa” is worth more Scrabble points than “Hanukkah” or “Christmas”

Rather than explain the power of recognition in a typical business book, acclaimed CEO David Novak wrote a fun story that draws on his real-world experiences at Pepsi and Yum! Brands, as well as his personal life. When was the last time you told your colleagues how much you value them? It sounds like a trivial thing in the middle of a busy work day. But as Novak discovered during his years as a hard charging executive, there’s nothing trivial about recognition. It can make a life-or-death difference to any organization, when people see that someone important really notices and appreciates their contributions. The story of O Great One! opens when Jeff Johnson becomes the third-generation CEO of his family business, after the sudden death of his father. The Happy Face Toy Company had many hits in the 1950s and 60s, including Crazy Paste, but its results have been declining for more than a decade. The board has given Jeff just one year to turn the business around, or else they’ll have to sell it to the highest bidder. As Jeff races to save his family’s legacy by getting the company back on track, he meets downtrodden factory workers and an uninspired executive team. Then a birthday gift from his grandson gives Jeff an important insight into why Happy Face lost its culture of innovation and excitement, along with its profitability. He comes up with an idea that seems crazy… But is it crazy enough to work? Whether you’re trying to lead a small department, a Fortune 500 company, a non-profit, or your own family, the story and lessons of O Great One! can help you make everyone around you happier and more effective.

“Exuberantly written and illustrated—a surefire read-aloud hit.” —School Library Journal Based on the simple concept of dreaming big, An Awesome Book! is the inspiring debut work of Los Angeles writer/artist sensation Dallas Clayton. Written in the vein of classic imaginative tales, this is a book for everyone, young and old. This brightly illustrated book works well as a gift for showers, graduations, and other life moments that involve dreaming big. Close your eyes my child, and dream that perfect dream inside your head.

UnAwesome is UnAcceptable. The Book of Business Awesome is designed as two short books put together—one read from the front and the other read from the back when flipped over. Covering key business concepts related to marketing, branding, human resources, public relations, social media, and customer service, The Book of Business Awesome includes case studies of successful businesses that gained exposure through being awesome and effective. This book provides actionable tools enabling readers to apply the concepts immediately to their own businesses. The flip side of the book, The Book of Business UnAwesome, shares the train-wreck stories of unsuccessful businesses and showcases what not to do. Key concepts include the power of peripheral referrals and how to create content for your "third circle" Explains how to re-recruiting your employees and re-court your customers Ensure that your business remains awesome, instead of unawesome, and apply these awesomely effective strategies to your business today.

The #1 New York Times bestseller that has all America talking—with a new afterword on expanding your range—as seen on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS, Morning Joe, CBS This Morning, and more. “The most important business—and parenting—book of the year.” —Forbes “Urgent and important. . . an essential read for bosses, parents, coaches, and anyone who cares about improving performance.” —Daniel H. Pink Shortlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you’ll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world’s top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule. David Epstein examined the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields—especially those that are complex and unpredictable—generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They’re also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can’t see. Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. Failing a test is the best way to learn. Frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The most impactful inventors cross domains rather than deepening their knowledge in a single area. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.