Daily meditations for business and nonprofit leaders focus on different qualities, emotions, and aspirations, from discipline and compassion to impermanence and callousness, sharing uplifting quotes and stories by business figures and artists of diverse faiths.

When the children take charge and make Iris their leader, wonderful changes take effect, such as trampoline sidewalks and raining marshmallows, but to be a good leader Iris may have to make her hardest decision yet.

Disruptive businesses are born every day. Someone has a great idea that offers a better choice in terms of price, convenience, service or functionality, and for a moment, they hold the keys to the remaking of an entire industry. Yet many of these businesses let advantage slip through their hands over time because they fail to realize that the fast pace of technology allows a challenge to come from anywhere - large competitors or startups -- and overtake them in an instant. This is Accelerated Disruption. It is business development moving at the speed of the next technological advancement. Businesses that can understand and control the forces of technology will thrive in the coming years. Those that cannot will find themselves displaced. Accelerated Disruption deals with the following critical startup concepts and more: * Choosing the right industries to innovate * Understanding the concept of pain in an industry and turning it to competitive advantage * Using the strength of conventional wisdom to investigate a disruptive idea and test it under the radar * Getting the best out of your people through smart automation * Turning your customer base into a sophisticated R&D team * Mastering the art of quick-release product improvements * Promoting your idea in the face of industry and investor resistance * Developing a capital strategy that supports your business during critical stages of development Author Eric Lefkofsky, a Chicago entrepreneur who helped found five technology startups worth more than a billion dollars, explains how disruptive businesses are formed, grown and sustained and provides an intellectual and conceptual framework for making your idea a reality.

An organizing manifesto for the twenty-first century, Playbook for Progressives is a must-have for the activist’s tool kit. This comprehensive guide articulates pragmatically what is required in the often mystifying and rarely explained on-the-ground practice of organizing. Here, Eric Mann distills lessons he learned from over forty years as an organizer, as well as from other organizers within the civil rights, labor, LGBT, economic justice, and environmental movements.

The revelation that a long forgotten novel first published anonymously in 1834 is the work of Benjamin Disraeli and his sister Sarah is an exciting literary event. Newly discovered letters between brother and sister prove without doubt that it was written jointly by them. We do not have to look far for the reason for their secrecy. The vividly described election which forms the centrepiece of the story is clearly based on Disraeli's recent experiences as an unsuccessful candidate in two elections at High Wycombe. His political career had a long way to go and the last thing he wanted was to jeopardize it by revealing his motives in the past or his hopes for the future. The hero, Aubrey Bohun, has, like Disraeli, recently returned from mysterious travels in the East, but unlike him has his own castle and an income of £30,000 a year. Bohun obviously contains an element of wish fulfilment and allows the authors to incorporate in the novel elements of wish fulfilment and allows the authors to incorporate in the novel elements of a popular genre known in its day as 'silver fork' fiction – revelations of high life. Although there is much of this and of melodrama too, there is also some splendid social irony. Michael Foot says 'the volume is quite fit to takes its place in the true Disraeli canon and contains many gems which add fresh gleams to the portrait of Disraeli himself.' Two appendixes explain the literary detection that proved the book's authorship and the parallels between the politics of Aubrey Bohun and Disraeli.

Why do people follow a leader, particularly a religious leader? And why, given that Americans are still an overwhelmingly religious people, is the clergy declining in influence? Byron Sherwin argues that what is missing is the perception that religious leaders today are capable of working wonders. Sherwin leads the reader through five periods of Jewish history: the era of biblical prophets, Jesus and first-century Israel; Babylonian rabbis of the third and fourth centuries; the east European Hasidic Masters of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and twentieth century North African rabbis. In all cases, the moral authority of the leaders came primarily from popular belief in their power to work wonders for the people. Sherwin applies history to the current situation. If the clergy is to be re-empowered, to reclaim leadership and authority as holy people, they must reassert the ability to work wonders. This is a book that every member of the clergy and every religious leader should read, ponder and take to heart.

The Inside Story of Politics, Power and the Media. The relationship between those who wield power and those whose job it is to tell us what they are doing has always been fraught with tension. Politicians now expect to be on camera and facing aggressive questions from the moment they open their front door to the moment they return home at night. Everything they say and do is instantly broadcast and dissected on 24-hour rolling news channels, blogs and Twitter. It was not always this way. "Live from Downing Street" takes us on an absorbing journey through the hard-fought battles for the right to tell the public about the decisions taken on their behalf. Parliament once imprisoned those who dared to report what MPs had said. Broadcasters used to be banned by law from debating anything newsworthy and even from covering elections. Since that censorship ended, the two sides have clashed repeatedly. We follow the fluctuations of the power struggle from Walpole to modern times, dwelling in fascinating detail on those who fought back -- Churchill, Wilson, Thatcher and Blair. At the same time we learn of the emergence of the equally charismatic key players from radio and television: the Dimblebys, Day, Frost, Walden, Paxman and Humphrys. Nick Robinson provides a colourful and personal examination of what life is like as the BBC's Political Editor -- a role described in a report for the White House as 'the most important job in British political journalism'. Peppered with informative but witty anecdotes, his account reveals his own considered view of the controversial issue of impartial reporting. "Live from Downing Street" is a gripping story written by someone uniquely placed to add his own perceptive insights and observations.

Over forty premier world religious and scholars, of all major faith traditions, were asked the following: -Who is a figure who inspires your interfaith work? -How does this figure inspire you, and what lessons, applications, and concrete expressions has this inspiration taken in your life? The result is a stunning overview of the interfaith movement, its history, role models and heroes. Historical presentation complements the personal and experiential voice of the authors, making this not only a work for interfaith education but also a resource for spiritual inspiration. --

Thumb through the index of almost any study of the Thatcher years -- biographical, scholarly or journalistic -- and you will come across the name of Sir Alfred Sherman. In her memoirs Lady Thatcher herself pays tribute to Sherman's 'brilliance', the 'force and clarity of his mind', his 'breadth of reading and his skills as a ruthless polemicist'. She credits him with a central role in her achievements, especially as Leader of the Opposition but also after she became Prime Minister. Born in 1919 in London's East End, until 1948 Sherman was a Communist and fought in the Spanish Civil War. But he ended up an indefatigable free-market crusader. The book describes his early relationship with Sir Keith Joseph and his own role in the formation of the Centre for Policy Studies in 1974. Sherman examines the origins and development of 'Thatcherism', but concludes that the Conservative administrations of the 1980s were, for the most part, an 'interlude' and that the post-war consensus remains largely unscathed -- 'we are back to where we started'.

Walter Gordon was a born member of the Canadian Establishment, a senior partner in one of the country's major accounting firms, successful and powerful in the world of business. After considerable persuasion by his close friend Prime Minister Lester Pearson, Gordon left business for politics and became finance minister in the Liberal government in 1963. But Gordon was different from many of his associates--he had an abiding concern for Canada, and for ensuring the independence of its enconomy. He worked to enshrine this perspective in the Liberal Party, the Pearson government and in Canadian politics generally. Walter Gordon: A Political Memoir tells the story of a politician who put principles above personal ambition, who suffered disappointments and defeats, but who always stood out as a man who remained true to his beliefs.