Capital Projects. What Every Executive Needs to Know to Avoid Costly Mistakes and Make Major Investments Pay Off

Wood in Construction – How to Avoid Costly Mistakes focuses on the basic principles and appropriate use of wood in construction and illustrates how to avoid or minimise problems, to ensure that wood performs as expected when used in a construction application. Based on the author’s extensive experience of manufacturing processes and practical applications in the timber, construction, joinery, shop-fitting and furniture industries, Wood in Construction provides a guide to using wood in building in the real world. It describes the main causes of difficulty when using wood, and shows how to avoid or minimise problems, reducing the difficulties for the architect, engineer or specifier, builder and building owner. Technical enough to explain why things should be done in specific ways, but also practical enough to demonstrate how to use wood correctly and avoid doing the wrong things, this is an invaluable resource for construction specifiers (architects, engineers), carpenters, structural engineers, building surveyors, small/medium sized builders.

Not your average business self-help book, Impact! is a 'total person' development guide that says 'who you are impacts everything you do’. It doesn't focus on what's wrong with you but rather what's right with you so that you can turn your potential into performance. The secret to success and fulfillment-both professionally and personally-is that you should stop trying to 'fit in' and become what others want you to be; that you can become more productive, powerful, and passionate by becoming more of who you were meant to be instead. Why? Because no longer is there any separation between who you are and what you do! With step-by-step strategies and smart insight, you will learn how to have significant positive impact in your life and in your career; you'll learn how to unlock your personal power; live your life with purpose; appreciate your family; identify your greatest gifts and talents; value your failures and learn from them; stand up for yourself; give yourself permission to stand out; and start to ask for what you want. Best of all, you will learn how to be seen, heard and celebrated for being authentic – for being exactly who you are. Serious advice for women who want to live passionate, successful, and happier lives at home and professionally Shows you how to re-engage with yourself, figure out what you want and why you want it, and take charge of your career and life Author Nancy Solomon is an expert in the field of personal development and human potential The key to Impact! lies in knowing yourself intimately, leading your life from the inside out, and using your strengths to become happier and more fulfilled. Impact! shows you who you are, where you're going and how to get there. It also helps you to get out of your own way!

Autism is in the public spotlight now more than ever as new research and information appears almost daily. Although in many ways this is a positive development it also presents challenges to families and practitioners who want to keep up with the latest developments and are left to sift through new information by themselves to see what is credible and relevant for them.Each of us needs a personal research assistant who can determine which information we need to pay attention to and let us know how it might affect our daily work and the children we are living with or serve. Since we each don’t have our own research assistants on staff, I am delighted to recommend this wonderful book by Fred Volkmar and Lisa Wiesner. Both of these talented professional leaders have combined their scientific skills and understanding of the field with great practical experience and ideas about how research can be translated into clinical practice. The result is a book that provides the best and most comprehensive information about recent scientific developments and a splendid practical guide for how they are being implemented and what we are learning in the process. The issues are presented in all of their complexity but translated into language that is clear, direct, and easy to follow. The format also lends itself to understanding the complex issues and their implications through excellent charts, question and answer sections, and chapters that vary from describing diagnostic issues to stating very specifically how to expand and evaluate the services one is receiving. The comprehensive references and lists of additional resources also add greatly to the overall package. As a professional dedicated to understanding scientific advances and helping families and teachers to utilize them most effectively, I am very pleased to have an ally like this book available. I am very grateful to the authors for providing a very credible, practical, and relevant addition to our field to help the many advocates and family practitioners to better understand the exciting new developments and how they can be implemented in our day to day work. Those taking the time to read through this superb volume will find it time well spent that pays back dividends in many different ways. —FOREWORD by Gary B. Mesibov, Ph.D., Professor and Director of TEACCH, Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Everything first-timers need to know to avoid the most common mistakes homebuyers make Written especially for first-timers, this eye-opening guide turns you into an educated consumer, ensuring that the home or condo you buy is both a comfortable place to live and a great investment for the future. Compiled from the experience of hundreds of homebuyers, real estate agents, home builders, and mortgage lenders, it shows you the most common mistakes buyers make and illustrates them in practice so you don't fall into the same traps. Now revised and updated for today's hot real estate market, this invaluable resource covers everything from negotiating with sellers and making the down payment to shopping for the best mortgage and handling the closing. The new Fourth Edition also includes totally up-to-date guidance on using the Internet to find properties, secure financing, and collect important data. If you're thinking about buying a home in this overheated market, don't make these mistakes: Researching selling prices and still overpaying Believing everything your agent tells you Buying into an upscale neighborhood that's moving downscale Underestimating utilities and other costs Allowing your agent to negotiate for you Letting fear get the better of you and not buying at all Written by one of the nation's leading real estate experts and packed with hundreds of valuable tips and suggestions, The 106 Common Mistakes Homebuyers Make, Fourth Edition will give you the confidence–and the wisdom–to buy the right home at the right price.

Stepping Lightly Around the Pitfalls of Estate Planning… Estate planning is one of those unpleasant but really important tasks. Unfortunately, the process is not only hard to get started, it is then easy to make mistakes. Even the most careful and well-intentioned person can slip up along the way. Avoid the pitfalls! The 50 Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes outlines the major mistakes and their consequences in an entertaining way-and then proceeds to tell you exactly how to avoid these mistakes. Delivering practical and helpful information in a light tone, the authors help to make these sometimes difficult conversations a little easier. The book's fifty concise chapters are filled with real-life examples, organized under four key areas of mistakes: The biggest mistake of not planning at all Failing to plan for the possibility of mental incompetency Mistakes made during the estate planning process itself And common mistakes made by executors Written by personal finance and estate planning experts, Jean Blacklock and Sarah Kruger, The 50 Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes and How To Avoid Them is an essential guide for Canadians interested in planning their estates effectively, with minimal stress on their loved ones.

Praise for Living for the Weekday «If you want to have a team where leaders and employees are working hand-in-hand to build a culture of employee engagement, then you need to read this book. I'm confident it will help you become a weekday warrior.» —Jon Gordon bestselling author of The Energy Bus and Soup «In Living for the Weekday, Clint Swindall has rounded out a powerful message. Each individual has a personal responsibility, a singular opportunity to be highly engaged as an employee and, more importantly, highly productive and happy in all aspects of life.»—Barry Malcolm, Managing Director, Scotiabank Bahamas Ltd. «If you want to unlock your potential and the potential of those around you, Living for the Weekday is a must read.» —Mike Crownover, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Valero Energy Corporation «Employee engagement is a two-way street with both employers and employees responsible for creating a positive and productive work environment… Living for the Weekday presents employees with a practical and powerful approach to taking control of their own happiness.»—Roger C. Ahlfeld Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Training, Uno Chicago Grill «Clint Swindall lays out a clear plan that anyone can apply to become more engaged in their work and in their lives.» —Dennis Snow, author of Unleashing Excellence

The most renowned figure in the world of marketing offers the new rules to the game for marketing professionals and business leaders alike In Marketing Insights from A to Z, Philip Kotler, one of the undisputed fathers of modern marketing, redefines marketing's fundamental concepts from A to Z, highlighting how business has changed and how marketing must change with it. He predicts that over the next decade marketing techniques will require a complete overhaul. Furthermore, the future of marketing is in company-wide marketing initiatives, not in a reliance on a single marketing department. This concise, stimulating book relays fundamental ideas fast for busy executives and marketing professionals. Marketing Insights from A to Z presents the enlightened and well-informed musings of a true master of the art of marketing based on his distinguished forty-year career in the business. Other topics include branding, experiential advertising, customer relationship management, leadership, marketing ethics, positioning, recession marketing, technology, overall strategy, and much more. Philip Kotler (Chicago, IL) is the father of modern marketing and the S. C. Johnson and Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management, one of the definitive marketing programs in the world. Kotler is the author of twenty books and a consultant to nonprofit organizations and leading corporations such as IBM, General Electric, Bank of America, and AT&T.

Is a widening “skills gap” in science and math education threatening America’s future? That is the seminal question addressed in The U.S. Technology Skills Gap, a comprehensive 104-year review of math and science education in America. Some claim this “skills gap” is “equivalent to a permanent national recession” while others cite how the gap threatens America’s future economic, workforce employability and national security. This much is sure: America’s math and science skills gap is, or should be, an issue of concern for every business and information technology executive in the United States and The U.S Technology Skills Gap is the how-to-get involved guidebook for those executives laying out in a compelling chronologic format: The history of the science and math skills gap in America Explanation of why decades of astute warnings were ignored Inspiring examples of private company efforts to supplement public education A pragmatic 10-step action plan designed to solve the problem And a tantalizing theory of an obscure Japanese physicist that suggests America’s days as the global scientific leader are numbered Engaging and indispensable, The U.S. Technology Skills Gap is essential reading for those eager to see America remain a relevant global power in innovation and invention in the years ahead.

If higher education is to fulfill its vital social mission, new department leaders must be prepared for their positions and get up to speed on the basics quickly, educating themselves about the role and continuing to learn on the job. In this second edition of his classic resource, Don Chu outlines the proven ideas and strategies new department chairs need in order to do their jobs well. Thoroughly revised and updated, The Department Chair Primer contains information that addresses the current pressures and challenges in higher education and offers practical suggestions for responding to them. Filled with illustrative examples, the book gets straight to the heart of challenges and issues. Each chapter details a particular problem, includes a brief introduction to the topic, and provides tips on how to deal with the situation. Covering a wealth of topics, The Department Chair Primer Explores the chair's role as department leader Offers suggestions for handling stress and conflict Includes information on budgeting, resource management, and development Contains strategies for professional development, people management, and working with challenging personnel Presents ideas for handling department communications, student development, and strategic positioning Written in a concise and accessible manner, The Department Chair Primer is an ideal resource for the busy new department chair.