Pitch Invasion, Barbara Smit

Around three billion people are expected to watch the final of the World Cup. What else do three billion people do together? Today, sport is big business and Adidas and Puma are two of the biggest global brands, paying stars, clubs and competitions to wear their label, dominating everywhere from football stadiums to magazine pages. Pitch Invasion is the history of Adidas and Puma, and you will find out why that is also the story of international sport's politics and the commercial colonisation of events. Adidas were the pioneers of the commercialisation of football and the Olympics, the actual inventors of contemporary forms of sports sponsorship, sports brand-building and sports marketing. This is an insight into the business of sport, that no sports enthusiast should miss.

Talent IQ, Emmett Murray

Talent is a company's most valuable and scarcest resource. Today more than ever the fate of an organization depends on its ability to recruit, retain and where necessary, replace talent. Numerous studies have shown that more than any other factor, the failure of CEO's to surround themselves with talented employees and colleagues, accounted for failure -measured in terms of profits, shareholder equity, customer loyalty, etc. When leaders fail to surround themselves with talent, fail to identify, coach, reward, and retain those who can sustain corporate success, they condemn their organizations to a grim future. What concepts and skills do you need to make the most of your organizations talent? When talented people fail, who really deserves the blame? The book is the result of an extensive 10 year collaborative study of best managers from 983 organizations. This is a very practical book; it may well be the answer..