The incredible true story of the complex and largely forgotten WWII propagandist Sefton Delmer - and what we can learn from him today. In the summer of 1941, Hitler ruled Europe from the Atlantic to the Black Sea. Britain was struggling to combat his powerful propaganda machine, crowing...  more

The incredible true story of the complex and largely forgotten WWII propagandist Sefton Delmer - and what we can learn from him today. In the summer of 1941, Hitler ruled Europe from the Atlantic to the Black Sea. Britain was struggling to combat his powerful propaganda machine, crowing victory and smearing his enemies as liars and manipulators over his frequent radio speeches, blasted out on loudspeakers and into homes. British claims that Hitler was dangerous had little impact against this wave of disinformation. Except for the broadcasts of someone called Der Chef, a German who questioned Nazi doctrine. He had access to high-ranking German military secrets and spoke of internal rebellion. His listeners included German soldiers and citizens, as well as politicians in Washington DC who were debating getting into the war. And--most importantly--Der Chef was a fiction. He was a character created by the British propagandist Thomas Sefton Delmer, a unique weapon in the war. As author Peter Pomerantsev uncovers Delmer's story, he is called into a wartime propaganda effort of his the US response to the invasion of Ukraine. In flashes forward to the present day, Pomerantsev weaves in what he's learning from Delmer as he seeks to fight against Vladimir Putin's tyranny and lies. This book is the story of Delmer and his modern investigator, as they each embark on their own quest to manipulate the passions of supporters and enemies, and to turn the tide of an information war, an extraordinary history that is informing the present before our eyes.

Since ancient times, poets, historians, and philosophers have contemplated warlords' exploits in battle and praised their ability to lead armies toward victory as the "art of the general." Today, this quality is designated military strategy. Military strategy plays a vital role in every...  more

Since ancient times, poets, historians, and philosophers have contemplated warlords' exploits in battle and praised their ability to lead armies toward victory as the "art of the general." Today, this quality is designated military strategy. Military strategy plays a vital role in every conflict, because, as the United States' involvement in the Vietnam conflict showed, when the overarching strategy is weak it is possible to win every battle but still lose a war. Taking inspiration from the greatest military theoreticians of history, such as Sun Tzu, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Carl von Clausewitz, this Very Short Introduction highlights the dynamic relationship between the principal components of strategy: purpose, method, and means. Drawing on paradigmatic examples, from Hannibal's war against Rome to Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz, from the Allies' campaign to overwhelm Hitler's fortress to the terror attacks of September 11, Antulio J. Echevarria II vividly illustrates the factors contributing to the success or failure of military strategy. Echevarria describes the major types of military strategy and their advantages and disadvantages: annihilation and dislocation; attrition and exhaustion; deterrence and coercion; terror and terrorism; targeted killing; and cyber power. He also explores the emerging nano- and bio-genetic technologies and explains how they are affecting today's military strategy. Clear and engaging, this book shows that military strategy is essential for understanding major events of the past and becomes even more critical today, in a world increasingly threatened by weapons of mass destruction, terrorist attacks, and new dimensions of conflict, such as cyberwar and space.

Every organization needs a strategic leader.  This is the leader who steers the organization in times of change while motivating and inspiring their team. Strategic Leadership encourages leaders to focus on tomorrow rather than yesterday.  It explores the nature and origin of strategic...  more

Every organization needs a strategic leader.  This is the leader who steers the organization in times of change while motivating and inspiring their team. Strategic Leadership encourages leaders to focus on tomorrow rather than yesterday.  It explores the nature and origin of strategic leadership, transferable skills, and the art of inspiring others.  It then describes the role of a strategic leader and broad functions of that role such as building and maintaining a team, achieving a common task, and motivating and developing the individual.  It assesses skills needed to be effective, and the seven functions that make up the role of strategic leader.

Everything we know about solving the world's problems is wrong. Out: Plans, experts and above all, leaders. In: Adapting - improvise rather than plan; fail, learn, and try again In this groundbreaking new book, Tim Harford shows how the world's most complex and important problems - including...  more

Everything we know about solving the world's problems is wrong. Out: Plans, experts and above all, leaders. In: Adapting - improvise rather than plan; fail, learn, and try again In this groundbreaking new book, Tim Harford shows how the world's most complex and important problems - including terrorism, climate change, poverty, innovation, and the financial crisis - can only be solved from the bottom up by rapid experimenting and adapting. From a spaceport in the Mojave Desert to the street battles of Iraq, from a blazing offshore drilling rig to everyday decisions in our business and personal lives, this is a handbook for surviving - and prospering - in our complex and ever-shifting world.

Two defense experts explore the collision of war, politics, and social media, where the most important battles are now only a click away. Through the weaponization of social media, the internet is changing war and politics, just as war and politics are changing the internet. Terrorists...  more

Two defense experts explore the collision of war, politics, and social media, where the most important battles are now only a click away. Through the weaponization of social media, the internet is changing war and politics, just as war and politics are changing the internet. Terrorists livestream their attacks, ?Twitter wars? produce real?world casualties, and viral misinformation alters not just the result of battles, but the very fate of nations. The result is that war, tech, and politics have blurred into a new kind of battlespace that plays out on our smartphones. P. W. Singer and Emerson Brooking tackle the mind?bending questions that arise when war goes online and the online world goes to war. They explore how ISIS copies the Instagram tactics of Taylor Swift, a former World of Warcraft addict foils war crimes thousands of miles away, internet trolls shape elections, and China uses a smartphone app to police the thoughts of 1.4 billion citizens. What can be kept secret in a world of networks? Does social media expose the truth or bury it? And what role do ordinary people now play in international conflicts? Delving into the web?s darkest corners, we meet the unexpected warriors of social media, such as the rapper turned jihadist PR czar and the Russian hipsters who wage unceasing infowars against the West. Finally, looking to the crucial years ahead, LikeWar outlines a radical new paradigm for understanding and defending against the unprecedented threats of our networked world.   

What if you could combine the agility, adaptability, and cohesion of a small team with the power and resources of a giant organization? THE OLD RULES NO LONGER APPLY . . . When General Stanley McChrystal took command of the Joint Special Operations Task Force in 2004, he quickly realized that...  more

What if you could combine the agility, adaptability, and cohesion of a small team with the power and resources of a giant organization? THE OLD RULES NO LONGER APPLY . . . When General Stanley McChrystal took command of the Joint Special Operations Task Force in 2004, he quickly realized that conventional military tactics were failing. Al Qaeda in Iraq was a decentralized network that could move quickly, strike ruthlessly, then seemingly vanish into the local population. The allied forces had a huge advantage in numbers, equipment, and training?but none of that seemed to matter. TEACHING A LEVIATHAN TO IMPROVISE It?s no secret that in any field, small teams have many ad­vantages?they can respond quickly, communicate freely, and make decisions without layers of bureaucracy. But organizations taking on really big challenges can?t fit in a garage. They need management practices that can scale to thousands of people.   General McChrystal led a hierarchical, highly disci­plined machine of thousands of men and women. But to defeat Al Qaeda in Iraq, his Task Force would have to acquire the enemy?s speed and flexibility. Was there a way to combine the power of the world?s mightiest military with the agility of the world?s most fearsome terrorist network? If so, could the same principles apply in civilian organizations? A NEW APPROACH FOR A NEW WORLD McChrystal and his colleagues discarded a century of conventional wisdom and remade the Task Force, in the midst of a grueling war, into something new: a network that combined extremely transparent communication with decentralized decision-making authority. The walls between silos were torn down. Leaders looked at the best practices of the smallest units and found ways to ex­tend them to thousands of people on three continents, using technology to establish a oneness that would have been impossible even a decade earlier. The Task Force became a ?team of teams??faster, flatter, more flex­ible?and beat back Al Qaeda. BEYOND THE BATTLEFIELD In this powerful book, McChrystal and his colleagues show how the challenges they faced in Iraq can be rel­evant to countless businesses, nonprofits, and other or­ganizations. The world is changing faster than ever, and the smartest response for those in charge is to give small groups the freedom to experiment while driving every­one to share what they learn across the entire organiza­tion. As the authors argue through compelling examples, the team of teams strategy has worked everywhere from hospital emergency rooms to NASA. It has the potential to transform organizations large and small.

For the 10th anniversary of David Lynch's bestselling reflection on meditation and creativity, here is a new edition featuring the author's exclusive interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.When it first appeared in 2006, David Lynch?s Catching the Big Fish was celebrated for being ?as...  more

For the 10th anniversary of David Lynch's bestselling reflection on meditation and creativity, here is a new edition featuring the author's exclusive interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.When it first appeared in 2006, David Lynch?s Catching the Big Fish was celebrated for being ?as close as Lynch will ever come to an interior shot of his famously weird mind? (Rocky Mountain News) Now for the bestseller?s 10th anniversary, Lynch dives deeper into the creative process and the benefits of Transcendental Meditation with the addition of his exclusive q-and-a interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.The musicians open up to Lynch about their artistry, history, and the benefits they have experienced, artistically and personally, from their decades-long practice of Transcendental Meditation -- a technique that they and their fellow Beatles helped popularize in the 1960s. Catching the Big Fish is a revelation for all want to understand Lynch?s personal vision. And it is equally compelling for any who wonder how they can nurture their own creativity.

Takes you on a tour of the mind and explains the systems that drive the way we think and make choices. This title exposes the extraordinary capabilities -- and also the faults and biases -- of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behaviour.