This is a book for managers who know that their organisations are stuck in a mindset that thrives on fashionable business theories that are no more than folk wisdom, and whose so-called strategies that are little more than banal wish lists. It puts forward the notion that the application of uncommon sense - thinking or acting differently from other organisations in a way that makes unusual sense - is the secret to competitive success. For those who want to succeed and stand out from the herd this book is a beacon of uncommon sense and a timely antidote to managerial humbug.

The winning difference daring to be different can make - insights into how organizations can stand out from the herd.

This is a book for managers who know that their organisations are stuck in a mindset that thrives on fashionable business theories that are no more than folk wisdom, and whose so-called strategies that are little more than banal wish lists.It puts forward the notion that the application of uncommon sense - thinking or acting differently from other organisations in a way that makes unusual sense - is the secret to competitive success.The book consists of some 75 short essays and is divided into four parts: winners and losers, strategy and tactics, organisation and management, biases and remedies. Some of the arguments of the book are grounded in recent economic and psychological research, but most of them are the fruit of working with executives who have attended the management development programmes run by the authors at London Business School over the past 30 years. For those who want to succeed and stand out from the herd - and who dare to be different - it is a book full of useful insights and invaluable uncommon sense.

"This is that rarity, a useful book."--Warren Buffett Howard Marks, the chairman and cofounder of Oaktree Capital Management, is renowned for his insightful assessments of market opportunity and risk. After four decades spent ascending to the top of the investment management profession, he is today sought out by the world's leading value investors, and his client memos brim with insightful commentary and a time-tested, fundamental philosophy. Now for the first time, all readers can benefit from Marks's wisdom, concentrated into a single volume that speaks to both the amateur and seasoned investor. Informed by a lifetime of experience and study, The Most Important Thing explains the keys to successful investment and the pitfalls that can destroy capital or ruin a career. Utilizing passages from his memos to illustrate his ideas, Marks teaches by example, detailing the development of an investment philosophy that fully acknowledges the complexities of investing and the perils of the financial world. Brilliantly applying insight to today's volatile markets, Marks offers a volume that is part memoir, part creed, with a number of broad takeaways. Marks expounds on such concepts as "second-level thinking," the price/value relationship, patient opportunism, and defensive investing. Frankly and honestly assessing his own decisions--and occasional missteps--he provides valuable lessons for critical thinking, risk assessment, and investment strategy. Encouraging investors to be "contrarian," Marks wisely judges market cycles and achieves returns through aggressive yet measured action. Which element is the most essential? Successful investing requires thoughtful attention to many separate aspects, and each of Marks's subjects proves to be the most important thing.

Winner of the Gold Medal, Top Sales & Marketing Book of 2017, Top Sales & Marketing Awards You're a talented sales professional, but you face big hairy sales challenges every day and you just can't seem to get anywhere. * Why can't I get time with my prospects and clients? * Why are my benefit-loaded e-mails and phone calls falling on deaf ears? * How do I loosen the stranglehold of an established supplier? * How do I convert more leads into sales? * How do I stand out when my competition claims the exact same benefits? Same old questions, but in today's market they call for different answers. Uncommon Sense shows you how to shift your thinking and behavior to stand out from the pack and achieve bigger, better sales, faster. It's time to dispense with the common nonsense of dusty old selling imperatives (like, elevator pitches, unique value propositions, and Always Be Closing). Stop thinking like a seller, and start thinking like your customers and prospects. Uncommon Sense shows you how to shift the way you sell . . . and the results you get: * Provides a toolkit of practical strategies and tactics that will improve your access to prospects, enrich engagements with your customers, and transform your results. * Features dozens of examples of calls gone seriously wrong, career-changing stories of real salespeople, eye-opening statistics, and tips for thinking your way out of self-defeating behaviors into providing real value for clients. * Presents counter-intuitive sales thinking in bite-sized chunks for the busy salesperson who wants practical advice on specific topics. Whether you're a seasoned sales pro or a novice, a sales manager who wants to launch the team to new levels of performance, or a small business owner struggling with the selling role, Uncommon Sense is the personal sales coach you need to shift your thinking, shift your habits, and shift your performance to new heights.

Five years and more than 100,000 copies after it was first published, it's hard to imagine anyone working in Web design who hasn't read Steve Krug's "instant classic" on Web usability, but people are still discovering it every day. In this second edition, Steve adds three new chapters in the same style as the original: wry and entertaining, yet loaded with insights and practical advice for novice and veteran alike. Don't be surprised if it completely changes the way you think about Web design. Three New Chapters! Usability as common courtesy -- Why people really leave Web sites Web Accessibility, CSS, and you -- Making sites usable and accessible Help! My boss wants me to ______. -- Surviving executive design whims "I thought usability was the enemy of design until I read the first edition of this book. Don't Make Me Think! showed me how to put myself in the position of the person who uses my site. After reading it over a couple of hours and putting its ideas to work for the past five years, I can say it has done more to improve my abilities as a Web designer than any other book. In this second edition, Steve Krug adds essential ammunition for those whose bosses, clients, stakeholders, and marketing managers insist on doing the wrong thing. If you design, write, program, own, or manage Web sites, you must read this book." -- Jeffrey Zeldman, author of Designing with Web Standards

A book used for the "Home and Family Studies" course at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. LDS friendly, it offers checklists, analyses, inventories, ledgers, tips, charts, steps, techniques, Q&As, and much more to help engaged or married couples plan for and enjoy a successful marriage.

Drawing on interviews with 40 winners of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship—the so-called "genius awards"—the insightful study throws fresh light on the creative process.

In Dollars & Uncommon Sense, Army veteran and Certified Financial Planner (TM) Steve Repak shows you why - and how - to use uncommon sense to get your finances on track. When you have finished this groundbreaking new book, you will think and do different things with your money by growing your wealth in ways that most people simply never do.

A reader's companion for Tolstoy's epic novel, War and Peace, inspired by the online book club led by Yiyun Li. For the writer Yiyun Li, whenever life has felt uncertain, War and Peace has been the novel she turns to. In March 2020, as the pandemic tightened its grip, Li and A Public Space launched #TolstoyTogether, a War and Peace book club, on Twitter and Instagram, gathering a community (that came to include writers such as Joyce Carol Oates, Garth Greenwell, and Carl Phillips) for 85 days of prompts, conversation, succor, and pleasure. It was an experience shaped not only by the time in which they read but also the slow, consistent rhythm of the reading. And the extraordinary community that gathered for a moment each day to discuss Tolstoy, history, and the role of art in a time like this. Tolstoy Together captures that moment, and offers a guided, communal experience for past and new readers, lovers of Russian literature, and all those looking for what Li identifies as "his level-headedness and clear-sightedness offer[ing] a solidity during a time of duress.