The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives by Katie Couric

What was the tipping point for Malcolm Gladwell? What unscripted event made Meryl Streep who she is? How did Mario Batali cook up his recipe for success? In this inspiration-packed book, Katie Couric reports from the front lines of the worlds of politics, entertainment, sports, philanthropy, the arts, and business—distilling the ingenious, hard-won insights of leaders and visionaries, who tell us all how to take chances, follow our passions, cope with criticism, and, perhaps most important, commit to something greater than ourselves.

Among the many voices to be heard here are financial guru Suze Orman on the benefits of doing what’s right, not what’s easy; director Steven Spielberg on listening rather than being listened to; quarterback Drew Brees on how his (literal) big break changed his life; and novelist Curtis Sittenfeld on the secrets of a great long-term relationship (she suggests marrying someone less neurotic than you); not to mention:

• Michael Bloomberg: “Eighty percent of success is showing up . . . early.”
• Eric Stonestreet: “Remember that the old lady who’s taking forever in line is someone’s grandma.”
• Joyce Carol Oates: “Read widely—what you want to read, and not what someone suggests that you should read.”
• Jimmy Kimmel: “When in doubt, order the hamburger.’”
• Apolo Ohno: “It’s not about the forty seconds; it’s about the four years, the time it took to get there.”
• Madeleine K. Albright: “Never play hide-and-seek with the truth.”

Along the way, Couric reflects on the good advice—and the missteps—that have guided her from her early days as a desk assistant at ABC to her groundbreaking role as the first female anchor of the CBS Evening News. She reveals how the words of Thomas Jefferson helped her deal with her husband’s tragic death from cancer, and what encouraged her to leave the security of NBC’s Today show for a new adventure at CBS.

Delightful, empowering, and moving, The Best Advice I Ever Got is the perfect book for anyone who is thinking about the future, contemplating taking a risk, or daring to make a leap into the great unknown. This book is for all of us, young or old, who want to see how today’s best and brightest got it right, got it wrong, and came out on top.

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The Power of LEO The Revolutionary Process for Achieving Extraordinary Results by Subir Chowdhury

Hailed as "the Quality Prophet" by "BusinessWeek," Subir Chowdhury is the long-established global authority on the critical importance of quality and how to achieve it with Design for Six Sigma (DFSS). Now, he takes it to the next level by showing you how to build quality into the DNA of your entire organization.

In his bestselling book, Chowdhury introduced his next-generation management system--LEO. In The Power of LEO, he describes how continuous focus on quality improvement can revolutionize any process--from manufacturing operations to managerial decision making. The secret is to cease delegating the responsibility of quality to specific teams or departments and permanently lodge it within the core of an organization's culture.

Chowdhury's profoundly simple yet extraordinarily effective management system is based on three basic principles:
Listen--Seek input from all stakeholders within your organization, from suppliers to employees to customers
Enrich--Create new ideas for improvement and solutions for problems using simple techniques
Optimize--Select the best improvement idea or solution, subject it to testing in the real world, and correct all shortcomings

Quality methodologies like Six Sigma and Lean can be highly effective but are used narrowly and by limited personnel within an organization. LEO is the encompassing strategy that can be easily embraced by everyone within an organization, resulting in measurable improvements in your operations, products, and bottom line.

If you're serious about competing in the global marketplace, join Subir Chowdhury on his quest for overall quality and transform your organization from a company that does some things well into an established industry leader.

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