While millions of consumers carry on unaware, powerful companies are racing to gain more knowledge and data than anyone, including any government, has ever had. The goal is to understand consumer behavior and desires, from mundane matters to our most private and intimate affairs. This massive trove of data represents an immense prize for these companies. In economic terms, it is one of the most valuable assets on the planet.In All You Can Pay, Anna Bernasek and D.T. Mongan show how...

You don't care who can access your data because you have nothing to hide. But what if corporations were using that data to control your decisions?As millions of consumers carry on unaware, powerful corporations race to collect more and more data about our behaviors, needs, and desires. This massive trove of data represents one of the most valuable assets on the planet.In All You Can Pay, Anna Bernasek and D. T. Mongan show how companies use what th...

“Anyone interested in understanding what makes our economy work must have this on their bookshelf.” —Mark Zandi, Chief Economist, Moody'sIn The Economics of Integrity, acclaimed financial journalist Anna Bernasek presents a deceptively straightforward argument: that the attributes of trust and integrity, beyond being simply virtuous ideals, are actually the bedrocks of a successful economy and culture. Bernasek has written a big-idea book with the readability of Predictably Irratio...

Ben Horowitz, cofounder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley’s most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, offers essential leadership advice on building and running a startup—practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems business school doesn’t cover, based on his popular ben’s blog.While many people talk about how great it is to start a business, very few are honest about how difficult entrepreneurship is when it comes to running one. ...

Explore the power of the underdog in Malcolm Gladwell's dazzling examination of success, motivation, and the role of adversity in shaping our lives, from the bestselling author of The Bomber Mafia.Three thousand years ago on a battlefield in ancient Palestine, a shepherd boy felled a mighty warrior with nothing more than a stone and a sling, and ever since then the names of David and Goliath have stood for battles between underdogs and giants. David's vict...

Mad Money host Jim Cramer shows you how to invest your savings and turn them into real, lasting wealth.Tired of phony promises about getting rich quickly? How about trying something different? How about going for lasting wealth—and doing it the cautious way? In Get Rich Carefully, Jim Cramer draws on his unparalleled knowledge of the stock market to help you navigate our recovering economy and make big money without taking big risks.In pla...

Private equity firms are snapping up brand-name companies and assembling portfolios that make them immense global conglomerates. They're often able to maximize investor value far more successfully than traditional public companies.How do PE firms become such powerhouses? Learn how, in Lessons from Private Equity Any Company Can Use. Bain chairman Orit Gadiesh and partner Hugh MacArthur use the concise, actionable format of a memo to lay out the five disciplines that PE fir...

Quality. We all make judgments about it every day. Yet articulating a clear definition of quality in an investing context is challenging. This book addresses the challenge, and distills years of practical investing experience into a definitive account of this under-explored investment philosophy.Finance theory has it that abnormal outcomes do not persist, that exceptional performance will soon enough become average performance. Quality investing involves seeking companies with the ...

**The first true insider’s account of private equity, revealing what it takes to thrive among the world’s hungriest dealmakers“Brilliant . . . eloquently takes readers inside the heroic world of private equity . . . [an] essential read.”—ForbesONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Next Big Idea Club**Private equity was once an investment niche. Today, the wealth controlled by its leading firms surpasses the GDP of some nations. Private equity has overtaken inv...

Never waste a crisis.Some businesses—and some people—will emerge from today’s economic tumult stronger and more dominant than when it started. Others will weaken and fade. It all depends on critical choices they make right now.Geoff Colvin, one of America’s most respected business jour-nalists, says even the scariest turbulence has an upside. The best managers know that conventional thinking won’t help them in tough times. They’re taking smart, practical ste...

Axiom Award Gold Medalist for Business TheoryFinance expert, law professor, and fellow overwhelmed consumer Kathryn Judge investigates the surprising ways that middlemen have taken control of the economy at the expense of the rest of us, and provides practical guidance about how to regain control, find more meaning, and contribute to a more sustainable economy.Over the past thirty years, middlemen have built intricate financial and retail e...

The questions investors need to ask . . . The answers corporate America must give about the true facts of corporate performance and value.During the 2001 baseball season, when games were played at Enron Field in Houston, a typical reaction was: “What the hell is Enron and what do they do?” Now we know more about the executives and inner workings of today’s best-known rogue company than we ever imagined. But it turns out that Enron is just the most egregious case of a disturbing tre...