First, Break All the Rules

First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham + Curt Coffman is a great book on identifying talent.

Useful links:
www.marcusbuckingham.com
www.curtcoffman.com

Hotel: An American History

Hotel: An American History by Andrew K. Sandoval-Strausz is a wonderful book about the rise of hotels and the hospitality industry in the United States. What an eye-opener! I liked it.

Cleantech Entrepreneurial Community

I found the article Changing the World from the Edge @ http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/may2008/id20080530_606257.htm educational and inspiring.

Useful links:
http://berc.berkeley.edu
http://ceei.berkeley.edu
http://blumcenter.berkeley.edu
www.deloitte.com
http://www.edgeperspectives.typepad.com

Mastering Executricks

I am huge fan of Stanley Bing. Take Stanley Bing's quiz to find out if you're an accomplished trickster @ http://money.cnn.com/quizzes/2008/bing/executricks/index.html

Useful link:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/stanleybing

Lab-grown Pink Diamonds

Gemesis, known for its lab-grown yellow diamonds, has added a new shade to its color palette -- pink; the pink stones will be about 1-2 carats rough, and about 30 percent to 50 percent of that weight once polished. Expect to see cut stones in jewelry stores by early 2009!

Useful links:
www.gemesisdiamondco.com
www.gemesis.com

Social and Environmental Stock Exchange

I found the article, A Stock Exchange for Do-Gooders @ http://www.newsweek.com/id/139436 inspiring. I wish there were more social stock exchanges embracing pragmatic business solutions fighting poverty. Hats off to Celso Grecco!

Useful links:
www.atitudemarketingsocial.com.br
www.bovespasocial.org.br

Influence At Work

(via Wiki) Robert Cialdini is an internationally respected expert in the fields of persuasion, social influence, compliance, negotiation and social norms.

Useful link:
www.influenceatwork.com

Micropower Generation

(via Guardian) According to the Department for Business, Energy and Regulatory Reform (DBERR), British buildings equipped with solar, wind and other micro power equipment could generate as much electricity in a year as five nuclear power stations + a combination of loans, grants and incentives could lead to nearly 10m microgeneration systems being installed by 2020 + such a large scale switch to microrenewable energy could save 30m tonnes of CO2 – the equivalent of nearly 5% of all UK electricity.

Useful link:
www.micropower.co.uk

I would really like to see similar actions in emerging economies of Asia and Africa because micropower generation combined with energy-efficient measures will definitely help towards reducing our carbon emissions.