What Happens Now

What can we know and what should we believe about today's world? What to Believe Now: Applying Epistemology to Contemporary Issues applies the concerns and techniques of epistemology to a wide variety of contemporary issues. Questions about what we can know-and what we should believe-are first addressed through an explicit consideration of the practicalities of working these issues out at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Coady calls for an 'applied turn' in epistemology, a process he likens to the applied turn that transformed the study of ethics in the early 1970s. Subjects dealt with include: Experts-how can we recognize them? And when should we trust them? Rumors-should they ever be believed? And can they, in fact, be a source of knowledge? Conspiracy theories-when, if ever, should they be believed, and can they be known to be true? The blogosphere-how does it compare with traditional media as a source of knowledge and justified belief? Timely, thought provoking, and controversial, What to Believe Now offers a wealth of insights into a branch of philosophy of growing importance-and increasing relevance-in the twenty-first century.

Discover how those who change the world do so with this thoughtful and timely book Why do some changes occur, and others don't? What are the factors that drive successful social and environmental movements, while others falter? How Change Happens examines the leadership approaches, campaign strategies, and ground-level tactics employed in a range of modern social change campaigns. The book explores successful movements that have achieved phenomenal impact since the 1980s—tobacco control, gun rights expansion, LGBT marriage equality, and acid rain elimination. It also examines recent campaigns that seem to have fizzled, like Occupy Wall Street, and those that continue to struggle, like gun violence prevention and carbon emissions reduction. And it explores implications for movements that are newly emerging, like Black Lives Matter. By comparing successful social change campaigns to the rest, How Change Happens reveals powerful lessons for changemakers who seek to impact society and the planet for the better in the 21st century. Author Leslie Crutchfield is a writer, lecturer, social impact advisor, and leading authority on scaling social innovation. She is Executive Director of the Global Social Enterprise Initiative (GSEI) at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, and co-author of two previous books, Forces for Good and Do More than Give. She serves as a senior advisor with FSG, the global social impact consulting firm. She is frequently invited to speak at nonprofit, philanthropic, and corporate events, and has appeared on shows such as ABC News Now and NPR, among others. She is an active media contributor, with pieces appearing in The Washington Post. Fortune.com, CNN/Money and Harvard Business Review.com. Examines why some societal shifts occur, and others don't Illustrates the factors that drive successful social and environmental movements Looks at the approaches, strategies, and tactics that changemakers employ in order to effect widescale change Whatever cause inspires you, advance it by applying the must-read advice in How Change Happens—whether you lead a social change effort, or if you’re tired of just watching from the outside and want to join the fray, or if you simply want to better understand how change happens, this book is the place to start.

Proven pathways for taking ideas to implementation We all have ideas—things we want to do or create—but only some of us will do what it takes to see those ideas come to pass. In Good Idea. Now What? readers will discover some of the essential values and principles that guide successful idea-makers, including the leveraging of mixed environments for creativity, working through resistance and setbacks, developing a practical plan for implementation that works, navigating collaborative opportunities, and communicating your idea to make it truly remarkable. Whether you're just a creative type, or the leader of an organization, you must figure out a creative process and develop an infrastructure for implementing your ideas. Good Idea. Now What? offers systematic advice for moving your ideas to execution. It will show you: The fundamental elements of a good idea Tangible pathways to follow after initial inspiration The importance of branding and its impact on ideas Practical advice for developing a loyal tribe of supporters who will take your idea to a whole new level It's not enough to be inspired. Learn how to follow through on your ideas and discover how great an impact you can have!

One of the toughest lessons every business leader learns is how hard it is to generate sustained growth. Stalled growth is the rule, not the exception–even for the best-managed companies. That's especially true in unpredictable economic environments such as the one we're experiencing today. McKee has a unique understanding of what happens when growth stalls. His firm commissioned a study of 700 companies that had at one time been among the nation's fastest-growing businesses. Developed in concert with Decision Analyst, a leading national research and consulting firm, the study probed areas as diverse as corporate structure, competition, branding, finance, and strategy. The target respondent profile were CEOs, owners, principals, presidents, managing directors or chairmen of the board. In-depth follow-up interviews yielded fascinating stories and personal comments from executives who had been living on the front lines of real-life growth crises. McKee presents compelling knowledge about how and why companies lose their way, and offers practical advice about how they can rekindle growth. When Growth Stalls demonstrates that sluggish growth is generally produced not by mismanagement or strategic blundering but by natural market forces and management dynamics that are often unrecognized–and widespread. The book presents seven characteristics that commonly correlate with stalled growth and what to do about them. Some are external forces to which countless companies have fallen victim: economic upheavals, changing industry dynamics, and increased competition. What McKee points out, however, is how often they catch companies off-guard. More surprising are four subtle and highly destructive internal factors that conspire to keep companies down: lack of consensus among the management team, loss of nerve, loss of focus, and marketing inconsistency. McKee makes the case that, regardless of what's going on outside of an enterprise, it's what's inside that counts.

Praise for What Works «What Works is essential reading for any businesspeople who want to improve their organizations and their own abilities. This is not a tome of pie-in-the-sky, fluffy how-to advice but is an easy read, crammed with great advice—from improving sales ability to learning how to manage people. Not to be missed.» —SHAUN REIN, founder of China Market Research Group and author of The End of Cheap China «Focus, focus, and more focus. That is the incredible theme here of What Works. Robert Cornish and Wil Seabrook hit a true homerun in their message: knowing what you are and what you are not, knowing what works and what doesn't, and knowing when to walk away and when to stay, but hold firm—are the keys to success in business and in life. What Works is more than a sales book. It's as much about the internal sale to your employees and colleagues, as it is to the customer and the prospect. If you want to improve not just your sales, but your business, What Works is a must-read.» —TODD NATENBERG, author of «I just got a job in sales! Now what?» A Playbook for Skyrocketing Your Commissions «Robert Cornish has gone beyond the usual fluff and trendy ideas and concepts and taken what actually works in the world, which is what's most important after all. The book is easy to understand with lots of real life examples, and the ideas are very practical and useable. If you want what you are doing to 'work' or to turn your ideas into effective action: read this book.» —Robert J. Kriegel, PhD, New York Times and BusinessWeek bestselling author; Commentator, NPR's Marketplace; pioneer in sports psychology, Olympic and professional athlete coach «Robert and Wil have written a wonderful no-nonsense playbook for today's CEO. There's no theory here, but rather a collection of bite-sized, pragmatic ways of thinking and doing that you can put into action right away and see immediate results in your business. This is a great one to keep close to your desk to reference often!» —David Hassell, CEO of 15Five «While many business books and theories comb through what it takes to succeed, What Works has taken hard-won knowledge from the trenches—knowledge that has been tested and applied—resulting in practical information that can be used now. Being a successful entrepreneur myself, I know what it takes to succeed, and this book dives into what works in the real world.» —Jon Ferrara, CEO of Nimble.com and founder of GoldMine

So What? gets straight to the point so you can cut through the noise and nonsense of work. Much of what we learn in our formative years is unlearnt in later life. As grown-ups we are often unable to answer the simplest of questions in a clear, direct way, and frequently have no idea why we are doing something. This can lead to crippling inefficiency in business, and goes some way to explaining why so many people spend so much time doing things that have no bearing on the true purpose. by behaving in a genuinely inquisitive way, you can get right to the heart of the matter and save yourself hours, days, and even months of anguish. The questions So what?, Why?, How?, and When? can be hugely effective when applied in the right context, and this book shows you how to use them. Once all the right questions have been posed, there is a final sure-fire method for testing whether something is relevant and helpful. By completing the sentence «Something must be wrong if…», it is simple to work out if you are wasting your time. For example, «Something must be wrong if I don't want to go to work in the morning.» So What? shows you how to become truly inquisitive again. So let the questions roll. Pay attention to what the answers are. Learn from them, and you will immediately improve your prospects of finally getting somewhere in life.