Books with author - Collins

The Challenge:Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning. But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? The Study: For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great? The Standards:Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck. The Comparisons: The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good? Over five years, the team analyzed the histories of all twenty-eight companies in the study. After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness -- why some companies make the leap and others don't. The Findings: The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include: Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness. The Hedgehog Concept: (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence. A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology. The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap. “Some of the key concepts discerned in the study,” comments Jim Collins, "fly in the face of our modern business culture and will, quite frankly, upset some people.” Perhaps, but who can afford to ignore these findings?

"Gail Collins inspires women to embrace aging and look at it with a new sense of hope" in this lively, fascinating, eye-opening look at women and aging in America, by the beloved New York Times columnist (Parade Magazine)"You're not getting older, you're getting better," or so promised the famous 1970's ad--for women's hair dye. Americans have always had a complicated relationship with aging: embrace it, deny it, defer it--and women have been on the front lines of the battle, willingly or not. In her lively social history of American women and aging, acclaimed New York Times columnist Gail Collins illustrates the ways in which age is an arbitrary concept that has swung back and forth over the centuries. From Plymouth Rock (when a woman was considered marriageable if "civil and under fifty years of age"), to a few generations later, when they were quietly retired to elderdom once they had passed the optimum age for reproduction, to recent decades when freedom from striving in the workplace and caretaking at home is often celebrated, to the first female nominee for president, American attitudes towards age have been a moving target. Gail Collins gives women reason to expect the best of their golden years.

1821: Among the thousands of Irish deportees to the Caribbean British Colonies is a 10 year old Irish boy, Art O’Neill. As an Indentured Servant on a sugar plantation in Jamaica, Art gradually acclimatises to the exotic country and the unfamiliar customs of the African slaves.When the new heirs to the plantation arrive from Ireland they resurrect the ghosts of brutal injustices against Art. He bides his time and hides his abhorrence from his new master by channelling his energy into his work. During those years he prospers, he acquires land, he sees his coloured children freed after emancipation as he takes us on a multi-generational historical saga. Eventually Art is promised seven gold coins for seven decades of service. He doubts his master will part with the coins. The morning Art sets out to claim his gratuity, he ignores his sense of foreboding that he may not return home alive. Ireland 1991: One hundred years later a skeleton is discovered beneath a fallen tree on the grounds of Lugdale Estate. By its side is a gold coin minted in 1870. Yseult, the owner of the estate, watches as events unfold, fearful of the long-buried truths that may emerge about her family’s past and its links to the slave trade. As the skeleton gives up its secrets, Yseult realises she too can no longer hide.Inspired by the real story of 2,000 Irish children deported to Jamaica and the statistics that 25% of Jamaican citizens claim Irish ancestry. The Tide Between Us is a powerful novel documenting true historical events and the resilience of the human spirit.

I had a plan to survive my senior year. Too bad Jackson High’s star quarterback BLEW. IT. UP.Last year, I was the most hated girl at my old school. This year, my plan is to lay low, keep to myself and graduate.My plan’s working. Until the day I run into Dax DeLeon.It’s impossible to stay invisible when the most popular guy at school claims I’m his girlfriend.Did I mention his ex—the head cheerleader and the most popular girl in school—wants him back?Boom.Now I’ve got a fake boyfriend.And a target on my back. Again.But what’s scaring me the most…If this thing with Dax is fake—why does being with him feel so real?The Nerd & the Quarterback is a sweet YA romantic comedy about a nerdy bowler, a hot quarterback, a possible case of mistaken identity, a bunny-napping, ransom notes, a failed ransom drop, thievery, and mean girls being mean.But mostly about a boy and a girl learning to trust. *Warning: this book has a romance so sweet you'll get an urge to call your dentist.*A laugh-out-loud Romantic Comedy! Grab your copy today!Previously published as Ali & the Too Hot, Up-to-No Good, Very Beastly BoyThe Jackson High Series:#1 The Nerd & the Quarterback (Ali & Dax, A Fake Boyfriend Romance)#2 The Good Girl & the Bad Boy (Lacey & Grady, An Enemies to Lovers Romance)#3 The Tomboy & the Movie Star (Bernie & Kingsly, A Fish Out-of-Water Romance)#4 The Shy Girl & the Jock Next Door (Shay & TJ, A Best Friends to Lovers Romance)

The Challenge Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning. But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? The Study For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great? The Standards Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck.The Comparisons The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good? Over five years, the team analyzed the histories of all twenty-eight companies in the study. After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness -- why some companies make the leap and others don't. The Findings The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include:Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness. The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence. A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology. The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap.“Some of the key concepts discerned in the study,” comments Jim Collins, "fly in the face of our modern business culture and will, quite frankly, upset some people.” Perhaps, but who can afford to ignore these findings?

Decline can be avoided. Decline can be detected. Decline can be reversed. Amidst the desolate landscape of fallen great companies, Jim Collins began to wonder: How do the mighty fall? Can decline be detected early and avoided? How far can a company fall before the path toward doom becomes inevitable and unshakable? How can companies reverse course? In How the Mighty Fall, Collins confronts these questions, offering leaders the well-founded hope that they can learn how to stave off decline and, if they find themselves falling, reverse their course. Collins' research project—more than four years in duration—uncovered five step-wise stages of decline: Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death By understanding these stages of decline, leaders can substantially reduce their chances of falling all the way to the bottom. Great companies can stumble, badly, and recover. Every institution, no matter how great, is vulnerable to decline. There is no law of nature that the most powerful will inevitably remain at the top. Anyone can fall and most eventually do. But, as Collins' research emphasizes, some companies do indeed recover—in some cases, coming back even stronger—even after having crashed into the depths of Stage 4. Decline, it turns out, is largely self-inflicted, and the path to recovery lies largely within our own hands. We are not imprisoned by our circumstances, our history, or even our staggering defeats along the way. As long as we never get entirely knocked out of the game, hope always remains. The mighty can fall, but they can often rise again.

I didn’t mean to destroy the guitar of Jackson High’s Bad Boy. I swear! Sure, I ran it over with my car…It’s true he’s been my enemy since 10th grade…But it was a total accident.The other bad news? That Bad Boy--the one I just pissed off--Yeah... I’m stuck writing our school’s advice column with him.Only he uses my guilt to trick me into doing his work.For three weeks!Until I find out he lied.Oh, heck no. This bad boy has crossed the wrong girl.I call him out on it. In front of the whole school. Check mate, bad boy.“It feels good to be bad,” he whispers. “I refuse to be the Bonnie to your Clyde,” I lie. A few Bad Boy smiles later and I'm the Bonnie to his Clyde. (I know! I know!)We end up in the principal’s office.And I’m breathing into a paper bag, freaking out about the trouble I’m in. But that’s not the worst part.The worst part is… I’m afraid I’m falling for the bad boy.Warning: this book contains a few mild curse words, a couple of *earth shattering* kisses, guitar abuse (if you are against the abuse of musical instruments, maybe skip the end of chapter 3), twin angst, and an "adorably cute" romance between a good girl and a bad boy.A YA Enemies to Lovers Romantic Comedy! Buy your copy today!*Previously published as Where the Wild Boyfriends AreThe Jackson High Series:#1 The Nerd & the Quarterback (Ali & Dax, A Fake Boyfriend Romance)#2 The Good Girl & the Bad Boy (Lacey & Grady, An Enemies to Lovers Romance)#3 The Tomboy & the Movie Star (Bernie & Kingsly, A Fish Out-of-Water Romance)#4 The Shy Girl & the Jock Next Door (Shay & TJ, A Best Friends to Lovers Romance)

Is city life fencing you in? Break free of the daily grind with off-the-grid solutions for a simpler, stress-free tomorrow. Are you overworked and overcrowded? Do you dream of dropping off the radar? Do you crave the peace of mind that only nature can provide? Fitness and military intelligence expert Gary Collins has helped thousands of people roam free with firsthand advice shared on his popular website. And now he’s here to help you reclaim your independence. Going Off the Grid: The How-To Book of Simple Living and Happiness contains step-by-step instructions for creating your self-sustaining refuge in the untamed wild or the blacktop jungle. Through Collins’ methods, you’ll identify and purge unnecessary stressors from your everyday life. You’ll also learn the basics of off-the-grid living from home construction to energy alternatives, from sewage disposal to internet access.In Going Off the Grid, you’ll discover:How to downsize your current living conditions for a clutter-free futureTechniques for simplifying your hectic schedule so you can enjoy life’s simple pleasuresHow to find the ideal off-the-grid property that will meet your every needCommon types of building techniques and materials for high energy efficiency and insulationFun and informative stories detailing Collins’ off-the-grid nomadic lifestyle and much, much more!Going Off the Grid is your must-have handbook for living outside the city limits. If you like DIY guides, practical expert advice, and bucking societal expectations, then you’ll love Gary Collins’ roadmap to a liberating lifestyle.Buy Going Off the Grid to plan your escape into a new world of possibilities today!

Is city life fencing you in? Break free of the daily grind with off-the-grid solutions for a simpler, stress-free tomorrow. Are you overworked and overcrowded? Do you dream of dropping off the radar? Do you crave the peace of mind that only nature can provide? Fitness and military intelligence expert Gary Collins has helped thousands of people roam free with firsthand advice shared on his popular website. And now he's here to help you reclaim your independence. Going Off the Grid: The How-To Book of Simple Living and Happiness contains step-by-step instructions for creating your self-sustaining refuge in the untamed wild or the blacktop jungle. Through Collins' methods, you'll identify and purge unnecessary stressors from your everyday life. You'll also learn the basics of off-the-grid living from home construction to energy alternatives, from sewage disposal to internet access.In Going Off the Grid, you'll discover:- How to downsize your current living conditions for a clutter-free future- Techniques for simplifying your hectic schedule so you can enjoy life's simple pleasures- How to find the ideal off-the-grid property that will meet your every need- Common types of building techniques and materials for high energy efficiency and insulation- Fun and informative stories detailing Collins' off-the-grid nomadic lifestyle and much, much more!Going Off the Grid is your must-have handbook for living outside the city limits. If you like DIY guides, practical expert advice, and bucking societal expectations, then you'll love Gary Collins' roadmap to a liberating lifestyle. Buy Going Off the Grid to plan your escape into a new world of possibilities today!

Worried that living off the grid means a life without comfort and convenience? Discover how to unplug without sacrificing the joys of the modern world. Wondering if an off the grid lifestyle is right for you? Scared that it'll be too challenging for you and your family to handle? Author and speaker Gary Collins literally wrote the book on how to transition to a life off the grid. After almost a decade of walking the walk, he's sharing his successes and failures alike so you can live the simple life without missing out on creature comforts.Living Off The Grid: What to Expect While Living the Life of Ultimate Freedom and Tranquility is a comprehensive shake-down of what this unique lifestyle looks like in practice. Told through Collins' much-loved conversational tone, you'll see complex subjects distilled into easy-to-apply lessons. Let the book calm your anxiety about taking this next step and find out how easy it can be to live a life of freedom. In Living Off The Grid, you'll discover:Practical day-to-day tips to make off-grid living simpleStrategies for running a business or telecommuting while remaining mostly unpluggedWays to remain socially and professionally connected in your new lifestyleHow to make the most of your newfound freedom and decreased cost of livingMistakes, expensive errors, and bonehead blunders Collins made so you don't have to... and much, much more!Living Off The Grid: What to Expect While Living the Life of Ultimate Freedom and Tranquility is a detailed account of the ins-and-outs of a simplified off-grid existence. If you like practical instruction, time-saving tips, and hard-earned wisdom from a man who's "been there, done that," then you'll love Gary Collins' invaluable guide.Buy Living Off The Grid to embark on an exciting new lifestyle today!

This great value contains all the world maps you need in a budget atlas, for family, study and business use. It offers fully revised, detailed reference maps of the world; a map of the world's countries and physical features; an introductory section with facts on all the countries of the world, including flags, area, population, capital city, languages, religions and currency; a map of the world s time zones; and over 10,000 index entries."