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The Fast: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Promise of Doing Without
by John OakesWith fasting at an all-time high in popularity, here is the first deep exploration into the surprising history and science behind the practice—essential to many religions and philosophies.Whether for philosophical, political, or health-related reasons, fasting marks a departure from daily routine. It involves doing less but doing less in a radical way. Based on extensive historical, scientific, and cultural research and reporting, The Fast illuminates the numerous facets of this act of self-deprivation. John Oakes interviews doctors, spiritual leaders, activists, and others who guide him through this practice—and embarks on fasts of his own—to deliver a book that supplies readers curious about fasting with profound new understanding, appreciation, and inspiration. In recent years, fasting has become increasingly popular for a variety of reasons—from health advocates who see fasting as a method to lose weight or to detox, to the faithful who fast in prayer, to seekers pursuing mindfulness, to activists using hunger strikes as an effective means of peaceful protest. Notable fasters include Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Gandhi, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Cesar Chavez, and a long list of others who have drawn on its power over the ages and across borders and cultures. The Fast looks at the complex science behind the jaw-dropping biological phenomena that occur inside the human body when we fast. Metabolic switching induced by fasting can prompt repair and renewal down to the molecular level; such fasting can provide benefits for those suffering from obesity and diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disorders, and more. Prolonged fasting can serve both to reinvigorate the immune system and to protect it against damage. Beyond the physical experience, fasting can be a great collective unifier, an instant leveler that connects us purely by virtue of being an act accessible to all, and it has been adopted by religions and political movements all over the world for millennia. Fasting is central to holy seasons and days such as Lent (Christianity), Ramadan (Islam), Yom Kippur (Judaism), Uposatha (Buddhism), and Ekadashi (Hinduism). On an individual level, devout ascetics who master self-deprivation to an extreme are believed to be closer to the divine, ascending to enlightenment or even sainthood. Through the ages, fasting in the name of justice—a hunger strike—has signaled purity of intent and action. It&’s a tactic that demands commitment, serves to highlight the cruelty of those in authority, and appeals to shared values: that we&’re united by a common humanity and we deserve to be heard. Advocates who have waged hunger strikes include Gandhi in India, Bobby Sands in Ireland, and the Taxi Workers Alliance in New York City. Fasting reminds us of the virtues of holding back, of not consuming all that we can. Ultimately, this book shows us that fasting is about much more than food: it is about taking control of your life in new and empowering ways and reconsidering your place in the world.
Career Paths For The 21st Century: How to Beat Job Insecurity
by David Oates Jim DurcanThe turbulent changes in corporate culture mean that upwardly mobile managers need more than ever to carve out their own career paths. They must take charge of their personal developement and training needs, because they are unlikely to spend more than a few years in any one company. They have to create, their own continuity of career progression, rather than relying on corporate HR Departments to chart the course for them. This book sets out many developments adversely impacting on career progression - including corporate structural change, cultural change, outsourcing, use of management consultants etc- and then deals with the practical steps that companies and career minded managers are taking to counteract them.
Anti-Jacobitism and the English People, 1714–1746 (Routledge Research in Early Modern History)
by Jonathan OatesIn both 1715 and 1745 there was a major military challenge in Britain to the thrones of George I and George II, posed by Jacobite supporters of the exiled Stuart claimant. This book examines the responses of those loyal to the Hanoverian dynasty, whose efforts have been ignored or disparaged compared to the military perspective or that of the Jacobites.These efforts included those of the clergy who gave loyalist sermons, accompanied the volunteer forces against the Jacobites and even stood up to the Jacobite forces in person. The lords lieutenant organized militia and volunteer forces to support the status quo. Official bodies, such as the corporations, parishes, quarter sessions and sheriffs, organized events to celebrate loyalist occasions and dealt with local Jacobite sympathisers. The press, both national and regional, was uniformly loyal. Finally, both the middling and common people acted, often violently, against those thought to be hostile towards the status quo. The effectiveness of these bodies had limits, but was at times decisive, and showed that the dynasty was not without popular support in its hours of crisis.This volume is essential reading for all those interested in the Jacobite rebellions and the early English Georgian state, church and society.
And Then Life Happens: A Memoir
by Auma ObamaA moving account by Auma Obama about her life in Africa and Europe, and her relationship with her brother, Barack Obama.While her younger brother Barack grew up in the U.S. and Indonesia, Auma Obama's childhood played out at the other end of the world in a remote village in Kenya, the birthplace of the siblings' shared father. Barack and Auma met for the first time in the 1980s, and they built a lasting relationship which lead to travels together in Kenya, research into their family history and finally Auma's support for her brother's political career and eventual bid for the U.S. presidency.Auma spent sixteen years studying and living in Germany, moved to England for love, and gave birth to a daughter there. The tension between her original and chosen worlds and cultures was a constant challenge, and eventually Auma returned to Africa and worked to support young men and women in shaping their futures. In And Then Life Happens, her candid and emotional memoir, Auma shares her own story as well as recollections of and experiences with her famous brother, who says about their first encounter: "I hugged her, we looked at each other, and laughed. I knew right then that I loved her."
Becoming
by Michelle ObamaAn intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WATCH THE EMMY-NOMINATED NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY • OPRAH&’S BOOK CLUB PICK • NAACP IMAGE AWARD WINNER • ONE OF ESSENCE&’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare. In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world&’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.
The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times
by Michelle Obama#1 NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER • In an inspiring follow-up to her acclaimed memoir Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today&’s highly uncertain world. There may be no tidy solutions or pithy answers to life&’s big challenges, but Michelle Obama believes that we can all locate and lean on a set of tools to help us better navigate change and remain steady within flux. In The Light We Carry, she opens a frank and honest dialogue with readers, considering the questions many of us wrestle with: How do we build enduring and honest relationships? How can we discover strength and community inside our differences? What tools do we use to address feelings of self-doubt or helplessness? What do we do when it all starts to feel like too much? Michelle Obama offers readers a series of fresh stories and insightful reflections on change, challenge, and power, including her belief that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deeper truths and new pathways for progress. Drawing from her experiences as a mother, daughter, spouse, friend, and First Lady, she shares the habits and principles she has developed to successfully adapt to change and overcome various obstacles—the earned wisdom that helps her continue to &“become.&” She details her most valuable practices, like &“starting kind,&” &“going high,&” and assembling a &“kitchen table&” of trusted friends and mentors. With trademark humor, candor, and compassion, she also explores issues connected to race, gender, and visibility, encouraging readers to work through fear, find strength in community, and live with boldness. &“When we are able to recognize our own light, we become empowered to use it,&” writes Michelle Obama. A rewarding blend of powerful stories and profound advice that will ignite conversation, The Light We Carry inspires readers to examine their own lives, identify their sources of gladness, and connect meaningfully in a turbulent world.
Javascotia
by Benjamin OblerMelvin Podgorski is young, naïve, American - and a coffee fanatic. It's this passion that leads him from his native Chicago to 1990s Glasgow to scout out the prospects for a US coffee franchise. Looking for an escape from his suffocatingly suburban parents and the tangled wreckage of a divorce, he finds himself floundering in an alien land of Glaswegian dialect and radical student politics. As he becomes increasingly entangled with one particularly charming local and her militant ex-boyfriend, his efforts to keep the past and the present separate are put to the test, and soon his old life in Chicago and his recently found freedom in Glasgow are set for an emotional and catastrophic collision . . . Imbued with dark, mournful notes, dashes of warm humour and the bittersweet tang of learning the hard way, Javascotia combines a feel-good flavour with a deep substance.
Sins as Scarlet: An Inspector Iwata Novel (The Inspector Iwata Novels #2)
by Nicolás Obregón"A dark, brutal ride through the underbelly of LA." —Anthony Horowitz, author of Magpie MurdersIn this follow-up to Nicolás Obregon’s critically acclaimed Blue Light Yokohama, Inspector Iwata returns—in a murder case in his new home of Los Angeles.After a brutal investigation ripped apart his life, Kosuke Iwata quit both his job as a detective with the Tokyo Police Department and his country, leaving Japan for the sunnier shores of Los Angeles, California. But, although he’s determined to leave his past behind, murder still follows him. Having set up shop as a private investigator, Iwata is approached by someone from his old life. Her daughter has been killed and the case has gone cold. Out of loyalty, Iwata agrees to take on the case and reinvestigate the homicide. However, what seems initially like a cold-blooded but simple murder takes a complex turn when a witness, a vagrant, recalls the killer's parting words: “I’m sorry.” From the depths of Skid Row to the fatal expanse of the Sonoran Desert, Iwata tracks the disparate pieces of a mysterious and heartbreaking puzzle. But the more he unearths, the more complex this simple act of murder becomes. Lives untangle, fates converge, and blood is spilled as Inspector Iwata returns.
A Marriage of Fortune: The captivating new historical novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author
by Anne O'Brien'A compelling tale of a family caught up in the turmoil of the Wars of the Roses... Be warned: it's dangerously addictive' TRACY BORMANEngland. 1469.A fortunate marriage will change history.A scandal could destroy everything...Margaret Paston, matriarch of the Paston family, knows that a favourable match for one of her unruly daughters is the only way to survive the loss of their recently acquired Caister Castle. But as the War of the Roses rages on, dangerous enemies will threaten even her best laid plans.Margery Paston, her eldest daughter, has always strived to uphold the Paston name and do her mother proud. But when she loses her heart to a man below her station, she must make a terrible choice: will she betray her family and risk everything for a chance at true love?Anne Haute, first cousin to the Queen, is embroiled in a longstanding betrothal to Sir John Paston, the eldest son and heir to the Paston seat. But despite his promises, Anne can't help but doubt that he will ever keep his word and make her his wife...In the midst of civil war, each of these women must decide: Head or heart? Love or duty? Reputation- or scandal?Praise for A Marriage of Fortune:'Anne O'Brien gets right inside the heads of her medieval characters!' JOANNA HICKSON'Magnificently researched... an enthralling story of strong women and advantageous marriages. I was completely hooked!' CLARE MARCHANTA beautifully researched novel told with understanding, subtlety and a deft touch. Time travel at its best' JOANNA COURTNEY
A Marriage of Fortune: The captivating new historical novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author
by Anne O'Brien'A compelling tale of a family caught up in the turmoil of the Wars of the Roses... Be warned: it's dangerously addictive' TRACY BORMANEngland. 1469.A fortunate marriage will change history.A scandal could destroy everything...Margaret Paston, matriarch of the Paston family, knows that a favourable match for one of her unruly daughters is the only way to survive the loss of their recently acquired Caister Castle. But as the War of the Roses rages on, dangerous enemies will threaten even her best laid plans.Margery Paston, her eldest daughter, has always strived to uphold the Paston name and do her mother proud. But when she loses her heart to a man below her station, she must make a terrible choice: will she betray her family and risk everything for a chance at true love?Anne Haute, first cousin to the Queen, is embroiled in a longstanding betrothal to Sir John Paston, the eldest son and heir to the Paston seat. But despite his promises, Anne can't help but doubt that he will ever keep his word and make her his wife...In the midst of civil war, each of these women must decide: Head or heart? Love or duty? Reputation- or scandal?Praise for A Marriage of Fortune:'Anne O'Brien gets right inside the heads of her medieval characters!' JOANNA HICKSON'Magnificently researched... an enthralling story of strong women and advantageous marriages. I was completely hooked!' CLARE MARCHANTA beautifully researched novel told with understanding, subtlety and a deft touch. Time travel at its best' JOANNA COURTNEY
Animals With Human Voices
by Damen O'BrienIn Animals with Human Voices you will find worms that dream of god, jellyfish weary of immortality, a powerless Superman, some illogical observations on aliens', a lightning conductor tired of lightning and the truth about Elvis. In multi award-winning poet Damen O'Brien's debut collection, his cinematic eye and love of nature deliver poems which are ciphers for the normal concerns of every human: love, life and death and what we leave behind.
A Fanatic Heart: Selected Stories (Fsg Classics Ser.)
by Edna O'BrienIn these selections from twenty years of her best short fiction, Edna O'Brien's A Fanatic Heart pulls the reader into a woman's experience. Her stories portray a young Irish girl's view of obsessive love and its often wrenching pain, while tales of contemporary life show women who open themselves to sexuality, to disappointment, to madness. Throughout, there is always O'Brien's voice—wondrous, despairing, moving—examining passionate subjects that lay bare the desire and needs that can be hidden in a woman's heart.
A Pagan Place: A Novel
by Edna O'BrienA newly reissued edition of this haunting, poetic coming-of-age novel from “one of the great writers...in the English-speaking world” (The New York Times)“O’Brien’s evocative prose shows the chilling hold that history and the dead clamp on the living.” —Paul Gray, Time“O’Brien brings together the earthy and the delicately poetic: she has the soul of Molly Bloom and the skills of Virginia Woolf.” —Ray Sawhill, NewsweekIn A Pagan Place, Edna O’Brien returns to Ireland, the uniquely wonderful, terrible, and peculiar place she once called home. After leaving to join a religious community in Belgium, a young woman remembers her childhood on the western coast of Ireland. She reflects on the rituals of rural life, the people she encountered, and the enchanting beauty of the landscape.This is the Ireland of country villages and barley fields, of mischievous girls and druids in the woods. As the impressions of her former home intensify, her mind turns to the shocking event that led to her departure.
How Not To Be Wrong: The Art of Changing Your Mind
by James O'Brien'Simply Brilliant' THE SECRET BARRISTER'Passionate and brilliantly argued' DAVID OLUSOGA'An admirably personal guide' MARINA HYDE'Smart, analytical, self-aware and important' ALASTAIR CAMPBELLTHE INTIMATE, REVEALING NEW BOOK FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BESTSELLING, PRIZE-WINNING HOW TO BE RIGHT There's no point having a mind if you're not willing to change it James O'Brien has built well over a million loyal listeners to his radio show by dissecting the opinions of callers live on air, every day. But winning the argument doesn't necessarily mean you're right. In this deeply personal book, James turns the mirror on himself to reveal what he has changed his mind about and why, and explores how examining and changing our own views is our new civic duty in a world of outrage, disagreement and echo chambers. He writes candidly about the stiff upper lip attitudes and toxic masculinity that coloured his childhood, and the therapy and personal growth that have led him question his assumptions and explore new perspectives. Laying open his personal views on everything from racial prejudice to emotional vulnerability, from fat-shaming to tattoos, he then delves into the real reasons -- often irrational or unconscious -- he holds them. Unflinchingly honest, revealing and funny, How Not to Be Wrong is a tonic for a world more divided than ever and a personal manifesto for a better way of thinking and living. Because after all, if we can't change our own minds we'll never really be able to change anyone else's.
How They Broke Britain: The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller
by James O'Brien***THE RUNAWAY BESTSELLER, WITH NEW MATERIAL FOR THE PAPERBACK***THE REVEALING, DEFINING ACCOUNT OF THE DARK NETWORK THAT BROKE OUR COUNTRY.Something has gone really wrong in Britain.Our economy has tanked, our freedoms are shrinking, and social divisions are growing. Our politicians seem most interested in their own careers, and much of the media only make things worse. We are living in a country almost unrecognisable from the one that existed a decade ago. But whose fault is it really? Who broke Britain and how did they do it?Bold and incisive as ever, James O'Brien reveals the shady network of influence that has created a broken Britain of strikes, shortages and scandals. He maps the web connecting dark think tanks to Downing Street, the journalists involved in selling it to the public and the media bosses pushing their own agendas. Over ten chapters, each focusing on a particular person complicit in the downfall, James O'Brien reveals how a select few have conspired - sometimes by incompetence, sometimes by design - to bring Britain to its knees.
How To Be Right: … in a world gone wrong
by James O'BrienThe voice of reason in a world that won’t shut up.The Sunday Times BestsellerWinner of the Parliamentary Book AwardsEvery day, James O’Brien listens to people blaming hard-working immigrants for stealing their jobs while scrounging benefits, and pointing their fingers at the EU and feminists for destroying Britain. But what makes James’s daily LBC show such essential listening – and has made James a standout social media star – is the incisive way he punctures their assumptions and dismantles their arguments live on air, every single morning.In the bestselling How To Be Right, James provides a hilarious and invigorating guide to talking to people with unchallenged opinions. With chapters on every lightning-rod issue, James shows how people have been fooled into thinking the way they do, and in each case outlines the key questions to ask to reveal fallacies, inconsistencies and double standards.If you ever get cornered by ardent Brexiteers, Daily Mail disciples or corporate cronies, this book is your conversation survival guide.
Category Management in Purchasing: A Strategic Approach to Maximize Business Profitability
by Jonathan O'BrienApproach purchasing and procurement strategically, effectively and sustainably, with this comprehensive and practical guide to category management.Category Management in Purchasing equips those working in procurement with the tools they need to ensure effective procurement in an ever changing landscape. Combining practical advice and theory, this essential resource is crucial for developing successful purchasing strategies. Covering new technology-driven approaches to category management, this new edition outlines digital transformations and technological advancements, from digital sourcing platforms to new tools and systems.This edition also provides readers with the knowledge to approach complex sourcing situations not only effectively, but also sustainably. Including new guidance on how organizations and businesses can implement sustainability into their procurement strategies, Jonathan O'Brien recontextualizes category management in a time when responsible sourcing is more important than ever. This highly regarded and essential text provides what everyone in procurement needs when striving to make category management a reality.
Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball
by Keith O'BrienNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A captivating chronicle of the incredible story of one of America&’s most iconic, charismatic, and still polarizing figures—baseball immortal Pete Rose—and an exquisite cultural history of baseball and America in the second half of the twentieth century • "Comprehensive, compulsively readable and wholly terrific."—The Wall Street Journal"Long before the inquiry into Ohtani's ties to betting, there was Pete Rose....Charlie Hustle chronicles one of the most polarizing figures in sports."—NPR, All Things Considered&“Baseball biography at its best. With Charlie Hustle, Pete Rose finally gets the book he deserves, and baseball fans get the book we&’ve been craving, a hard-hitting, beautifully-written tale that will stand for years to come as the definitive account of one of the most fascinating figures in American sports history.&”—Jonathan Eig, New York Times bestselling author of King: A LifePete Rose is a legend. A baseball god. He compiled more hits than anyone in the history of baseball, a record he set decades ago that still stands today. He was a working-class white guy from Cincinnati who made it; less talented than tough, and rough around the edges. He was everything that America wanted and needed him to be, the American dream personified, until he wasn&’t.In the 1980s, Pete Rose came to be at the center of one of the biggest scandals in baseball history. He kept secrets, ran with bookies, took on massive gambling debts, and he was magnificently, publicly cast out for betting on baseball and lying about it. The revelations that followed ruined him, changed life in Cincinnati, and forever altered the game.Charlie Hustle tells the full story of one of America&’s most epic tragedies—the rise and fall of Pete Rose. Drawing on firsthand interviews with Rose himself and with his associates, as well as on investigators' reports, FBI and court records, archives, a mountain of press coverage, Keith O&’Brien chronicles how Rose fell so far from being America&’s &“great white hope.&” It is Pete Rose as we've never seen him before.This is no ordinary sport biography, but cultural history at its finest. What O&’Brien shows is that while Pete Rose didn&’t change, America and baseball did. This is the story of that change.
Noah Finds a Panda
by Linda O'BrienIn Noah Finds a Panda, readers will follow the journey of a polar bear named Noah who discovers that success isn’t determined by size or where you come from. Through his adventure, children will learn that what truly matters is what’s in your head and heart. Noah shows that by being true to oneself and embracing individuality, anyone can become the best version of themselves. This heartwarming tale encourages young readers to pursue their dreams and to believe in themselves, no matter their differences.
The Elevated Communicator: How to Master Your Style and Strengthen Well-Being at Work
by Maryanne O'BrienDiscover your communication style and elevate consciousness at work to build trust, strengthen collaboration, relieve stress, and improve well-being. Our work lives revolve around effective communication. It is essential for cultivating trust and team collaboration, as well as strengthening our motivation and well-being at work. And with teams experiencing more anxiety, stress, and burnout than ever before, strong communication skills have never been more essential.The key to this clear and effective communication begins with understanding our own personal communication styles. Bringing our whole and authentic selves to work improves relationships and teamwork. The better we know what drives us, how we impact others, and how our wellbeing impacts our communication, the faster we can close communication gaps to build healthy, successful, and satisfying work lives and more intentional careers. Drawing on more than a decade of original research on communication tendencies and proven mindfulness and habit-formation techniques, Maryanne O&’Brien has developed a proprietary model of communication styles: Expressive, Reserved, Direct, or Harmonious.In The Elevated Communicator, you will find: -A self-assessment to discover your style -An in-depth style profile to strengthen self-awareness and help you play to your strengths -Strategies to manage your communication style under stress -Practices to improve your wellbeing and reduce conflict -Ways to care for your communication style and improve your wellbeing -Methods to flex toward other styles to communicate more effectively with people -Advice on building healthy, trusted, and productive working relationshipsPerfect for fans of StrengthsFinders 2.0 and Gretchen Rubin&’s The Four Tendencies, The Elevated Communicator is a &“refreshing, insightful, and user-friendly&” (Tara Peyerl, executive coach and success director, Salesforce) approach to develop daily practices to spiral up, raise consciousness, inspire accountability, and discover your full potential at work.
Seeding Innovation: The Path to Profit and Purpose in the 21st Century
by Robyn O'BrienBuild and grow a company ready for the next generation of consumers In Seeding Innovation: The Path to Profit and Purpose in the 21st Century, veteran entrepreneur, award winning author, global strategist, speaker, and Rice University Innovation and Entrepreneurship professor, Robyn O’Brien, delivers an insightful and data driven roadmap to authenticity and smart leadership in the face of accelerating technological, environmental, and social change. In the book, you’ll discover how to build resilience, authenticity, market share and purpose into your business plan and move beyond box-ticking, virtue signaling and one-dimensional metrics, in a way that strengthens your business model, enhances your bottom line, attracts investors, fortifies employee retention, and more.With her characteristic candor and attention to data and deep experience on the frontlines of industry change, Robyn explains how you can transform concepts like paradigm blindness, scarcity, imposter syndrome, rejection, and fear to build durable, lasting, and profitable businesses that integrate social and environmental principles, with courage and integrity to drive long term shareholder and stakeholder value.You’ll also discover how to: Develop a purpose-driven product line that holds strong appeal for new generations of consumers and avoids the ruthless practices associated with PR nightmares and externalized costs Build an iconic company that focuses on integrating meaningful change to inspire customers, investors, and employees and that eschews meaningless press releases and virtue signaling Overcome imposter syndrome and naysayers using the S.T.O.P. Protocol ™ Develop supportive scaffolding and a resilient mindset in order to leverage courage and gain market share Build boards (not echo chambers), why equity and governance matters, and how diversity is good for your bottom line Integrate authentic marketing and storytelling into your brand strategy to drive revenue and capture market share Avoid the dangers of silos, fundraising traps and toxic capital and build a model with value-aligned, informed investors. Spot greenwashing, gender washing, and carbon washing, and more importantly, how to avoid them within your own organization and drive change Address headlines around ESG and DEI metrics in order to meet the needs of asset managers and investors, build successful teams and integrate goals that are central to outperformance and higher returns Gen Z and the modern consumer are looking for companies with authenticity—they want transparency and purpose from brands that are future proofing for the planet they’re inheriting. With this changing consumer focus and mindset emerges an urgent need for emotionally intelligent leadership. Along with profitability, 21st century leaders must focus on environmental stewardship, equity and justice, employee retention, recruiting, collaboration, and emerging other key aspects of modern business.
Fuel
by Sean O'Brien'He's one of the best players I've ever played with. As a forward, I'd say he's the best.' Johnny SextonSeán O'Brien does not come from a traditional rugby background. He grew up on a farm in Tullow, far from the rugby hotbeds of Limerick and Cork or the fee-paying schools of Dublin. But as he made his way up through the ranks, it soon became clear that he was a very special player and a very special personality. Now, Seán O'Brien tells the remarkable and unlikely story of his rise to the highest levels of world rugby, and of a decade of success with Leinster, Ireland and the British and Irish Lions.
To the Greatest Heights: Facing Danger, Finding Humility, and Climbing a Mountain of Truth
by Vanessa O'BrienThis riveting and uplifting memoir by Vanessa O&’Brien, record-breaking American-British explorer, takes you on an unexpected journey to the top of the world&’s highest mountains. Long before she became the first American woman to summit K2 and the first British woman to return from its summit alive, Vanessa O&’Brien was a feisty suburban Detroit teenager forced to reinvent her world in the wake of a devastating loss that destroyed her family.Making her own way in the world, Vanessa strove to reach her lofty ambitions. Soon, armed with an MBA and a wry sense of humor, she climbed the corporate ladder to great success, but after the 2009 economic meltdown, her career went into a tailspin. She searched for a new purpose and settled on an unlikely goal: climbing Mount Everest. When her first attempt ended in disaster, she trudged home, humbled but wiser. Two years later, she made it to the top of the world. And then she kept going.Grounded by a cadre of wise-cracking friends and an inimitable British spouse, Vanessa held her own in the intensely competitive world of mountaineering, summiting the highest peak on every continent, and skiing the last degree to the North and South Poles. She set new speed records for the Seven Summits, receiving a Guinness World Record and the Explorers Grand Slam, and finally made peace with her traumatic past. During her attempt on K2, she very nearly gave up. But on the &“savage mountain,&” which kills one out of every four climbers who summit, Vanessa evolved from an adventurer out to challenge herself to an explorer with a high-altitude perspective on a changing world—and a new call to share her knowledge and passion across the globe.Told with heart and humor, Vanessa&’s journey from suburban Detroit to Everest&’s Death Zone to the summit of K2 and beyond, is a transformative story of resilience, higher purpose, and the courage to overcome any obstacle.
Model-Driven Software Systems Development Using the Meta-Artifact Process
by Wayne O'BrienThe importance of architecture for software systems is widely accepted, but the role of architecture in the overall development process is not so clear. Presenting an architecture-centric process, Model-Driven Software Systems Development Using the Meta-Artifact Process makes the role of architecture clear. At its core, this book is about developing software systems and, more specifically, software code. It describes three major innovations for making software, which are combined with five widely used enabling technologies, to provide a complete, hypothesis-driven software development process known as Meta-Artifact Process (MAP). Having complete requirements is essential for making good software and supports the hypothesis-driven MAP.MAP offers properties, qualities, and capabilities that help stakeholders and developers understand and reason about a domain and target systems of interest. MAP, through the central role of the Meta-Artifact and incorporating the view that a computer program is a hypothesis about the requirements, offers new ways to look at systems and their development, even changing the roles of developers and stakeholders.Recommending agile methods wherever appropriate while supporting the OMG Essence standard and working within an overarching architecture, MAP presents ways to ensure that the requirements are complete and correct. It helps to identify likely points during development to form alternative hypotheses about them. Because MAP requires an underlying software development process, it can provide that clarity to existing processes in which the organization’s developers are already proficient.This book provides concrete examples from two broad but diverse areas—Accounting Information Systems in the commercial area and a military command and control system—to show the wide applicability of MAP in both commercial and defense domains.
Ai Weiwei Speaks: with Hans Ulrich Obrist
by Hans Ulrich Obrist'If artists betray the social conscience and the basic principles of being human, where does art stand then?' Ai Weiwei - artist, architect, curator, publisher, poet and urbanist - extended the notion of art and is one of the world's most significant creative and cultural figures. In this series of interviews, conducted over several years with the curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, he discusses the many dimensions of his artistic life, ranging over subjects including ceramics, blogging, nature, philosophy and the myriad influences that have fed into his work. He also talks candidly about his father, his childhood spent in exile and his criticism of the Chinese state. Together, these extraordinary discussions give a unique insight into the outstanding complexity of Ai Weiwei's thought and work, and are an essential reminder of the need for personal, political and artistic freedom.