William C. Taylor has 2 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 2 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4★ across 1 ratings. The most-rated is Simply Brilliant.
Simply Brilliant
Summary
There's no such thing as an average or old-fashioned business, just average or old-fashioned ways to do business. In fact the opportunity to reach for extraordinary may be most pronounced in settings that have been far too ordinary for far too long. Far away from Silicon Valley, in familiar, traditional, even unglamorous fields, ordinary people are unleashing extraordinary advances that amaze customers, energize employees, and create huge economic value. Their secret? They understand that the work of inventing the future doesn't belong just to geeks designing mobile apps and virtual-reality headsets or to social-media entrepreneurs hoping to launch the next Facebook. Some of today's most compelling organizations are doing brilliant things in simple settings such as retail banks, office cleaning companies, department stores, small hospitals, and auto dealerships. William C. Taylor, cofounder of Fast Company and best-selling author of Practically Radical, traveled thousands of miles to visit these hotbeds of simple brilliance and unearth the principles and practices behind their success. He offers fascinating case studies and powerful lessons that you can apply to do ordinary things in extraordinary ways regardless of your industry or profession. Consider, for instance, how: Miami Beach's dazzling 1111 Lincoln Road reimagined the humble parking garage as a high-profile public space that hosts weddings, yoga classes, and celebrity gatherings. USAA, the financial-services giant that provides soldiers and their families with insurance and banking products, inspires frontline employees to deliver legendary service by immersing them in military culture. Pal's Sudden Service, a fast-food chain with a cult following, serves up burgers and fries with such speed and accuracy that companies from other industries pay to learn from its astonishing discipline. Lincoln Electric, a manufacturer based in Euclid, Ohio, dominates its ultracompetitive markets with a fierce devotion to quality and productivity. But the key to its prosperity is a share-the-wealth model that gives everybody a sense of security and a piece of the action. It has maintained a strict no-layoff pledge since 1958. As Taylor writes, "The story of this book, its message for leaders who aim to do something important and build something great, is both simple and subversive: In a time of wrenching disruptions and exhilarating advances, of unrelenting turmoil and unlimited promise, the future is open to everybody. The thrill of breakthrough creativity and breakaway performance...can be summoned in all sorts of industries and all walks of life, if leaders can reimagine what's possible in their fields." Simply Brilliant shows you how.
©2016 William C. Taylor (P)2016 Penguin Audio
Practically Radical
Summary
Practically Radical is a manifesto for change and a manual for making it happen in an era when change is the name of the game. Businesspeople everywhere are engaging in a dramatic "rethink" of how they lead, work, and get results. In an age of fierce competition and stubborn recession, the status quo just doesn't cut it. But how do you break new ground when there is so much pressure to do things the same way as everyone else? Using his years of experience and thought leadership in the business world, the cofounder and founding editor of one of the world's most admired business magazines, Fast Company, offers radical ideas and practical advice to help you fix what's wrong with your organization, launch new initiatives with the best chance to succeed, and rethink the logic of leadership itself. Practically Radical goes deep inside twenty-five for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations to find out how they've made remarkable strides in tough circumstances. They include IBM, Zappos, Swatch, the Girl Scouts, Interpol, big-city hospitals, fast-growing banks, and high-flying airlines. These organizations have answered the make-or-break questions facing leaders in every field: Do you see opportunities the competition doesn't see? The most successful organizations embrace one-of-a-kind ideas in a world filled with me-too thinking. Do you have new ideas about where to look for new ideas? Practices that are routine in one field can be revolutionary when they migrate to another field. Are you the most of anything? Companies used to be comfortable in the middle of the road. Today, the middle of the road is the road to ruin. Are you getting the best contributions from the most people? It may be lonely at the top, but change is not a game best played by loners.
©2011 William C. Taylor (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers