Publisher: Penguin Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/24/2013
ISBN-13: 9781594205309
ISBN-10: 1594205302

Though there were plenty of great books on the U.S. financial crisis as it was ending, a few years have passed since then, allowing for a broader perspective from former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Blinder. Not only does he explain what happened and why, he also explains the consequences that are still affecting the U.S. and global economies today and will continue to do so in the future; he finishes up with recommendations for avoiding financial catastrophes in the future. Knowledgeable but still accessible, Blinder has created "one of the best books yet about the financial crisis" (Wall Street Journal).

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Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/15/2013
ISBN-13: 9781422144206
ISBN-10: 1422144208

Conscious capitalism -- which refers to businesses who feel as beholden to the environment, their customers, communities, and other stakeholders as they do to making money for their investors -- is the main topic of conversation in this thoughtful history of capitalism by Whole Foods co-CEO John Mackey and economist Raj Sisodia. Along with the history lesson, the authors profile market leaders who follow these principles, like The Container Store, Southwest Airlines, and Nordstrom, among others, revealing the fundamental practices that others can adapt to enable a conscious leadership and business culture. It's "an exceptional guide to best practices in organizational leadership, " says Business World; try It's Not What You Sell, It's What You Stand For by Roy Spence for a similar philosophy.

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Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/02/2013
ISBN-13: 9780547317274
ISBN-10: 0547317271

Unless you follow financial markets closely, you may be wondering what physics has to do with Wall Street; this history of the contributions of mathematicians and physicists to financial modeling will help connect the dots. Starting with Louis Bachelier, a physicist in19th-century Paris whose dissertation explained how probability theory could be used to explain financial markets, and moving on to the more recent men and women who championed and refined his work, this is a diligent analysis of scientific efforts to predict markets. It's also careful to explain the dangers inherent in misusing these models -- and that no one rule can ever truly cover all aspects of an evolving market.

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Publisher: Portfolio/Penguin
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/27/2012
ISBN-13: 9781591845751
ISBN-10: 1591845750

Michael Woodford took over as CEO at Olympus in 2011, having worked at the insular Japanese business for 30 years. Just a short time after, an article in a financial magazine prompted him to look into some suspicious purchases made by the company; after encountering resistance and hostility among the other executives, he was fired. His story -- of his short tenure as CEO and his experience of becoming one of the highest-ranking corporate whistleblowers ever -- is a "fascinating inside look at bare-knuckled corporate governance" (The Economist) and will appeal to readers of Cynthia Cooper's whistleblowing experiences, detailed in Extraordinary Circumstances.

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Publisher: Harper
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/01/2011
ISBN-13: 9780061740404
ISBN-10: 0061740403

This compelling history of the business of beauty combines a dual biography of two legendary founders of the cosmetics industry -- Helena Rubinstein and L'Oréal's Eugène Schueller -- with a gripping story of gender, power, politics, and the industry's 20th-century rise to prominence. Though Rubenstein and Schueller came from similar hardscrabble backgrounds, their ideas of women and beauty -- and their paths to success -- were very different, for while Rubenstein believed makeup should be used to empower women, Schueller thought it should be used to remain attractive to one's spouse. For more on Helena Rubenstein -- and her rivalry with Elizabeth Arden -- try Lindy Woodhead's War Paint.

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Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/25/2011
ISBN-13: 9780312617950
ISBN-10: 031261795X

In 2004, Neville Isdell came out of retirement to take the job of chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola; his five-year tenure as CEO saw improved profits and a burnished reputation for what had been a struggling company. But he'd spent most of his 30-year career at Coca-Cola opening and strengthening markets across the globe, so much of his memoir focuses on his time in the Soviet Union, Africa, the Philippines, and other locations new to the Coca-Cola brand. Portraying himself both as a businessman and a husband and father, Isdell also champions corporate social responsibility and writes in a manner "sure to simultaneously charm and enlighten" (Kirkus Reviews).

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Publisher: Crown Archetype
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/28/2012
ISBN-13: 9780307887924
ISBN-10: 0307887928

Lilly Ledbetter had spent nearly two decades working at a Goodyear plant, mostly in management positions and fighting sexism and harassment, when an anonymous note informed her that she was making 40% less than her male counterparts. The complaint she filed with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission led to a landmark discrimination lawsuit, but it took ten years for the legislation supporting her fight for equal pay to become law; President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act in 2009. Her frank and inspiring memoir relates not only her upbringing in Alabama and her fight to provide a better life for her family but her journey to being a spokeswoman for equal pay, equal rights, and equal treatment in the workplace.

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Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/01/2012
ISBN-13: 9780679445302
ISBN-10: 0679445307

Ferdinand Ward was award-winning historian Geoffrey C. Ward's great-grandfather. He was also a Gilded Age swindler whose pyramid scheme bankrupted President Ulysses S. Grant (among others) and may have contributed to the Panic of 1884. In this fascinating financial history and biography of the "best-hated man in the United States," you'll read of Ferd Ward's beguiling charm and lack of moral code (he even tried to kidnap his own son to get hold of his late wife's estate) and of the Gilded Age's economic growth, which enabled men like Ward to prey on the riches of others.

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