On What Matters

Download or read book On What Matters written by Derek Parfit and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-09 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Derek Parfit presents the third volume of On What Matters, his landmark work of moral philosophy. Parfit develops further his influential treatment of reasons, normativity, the meaning of moral discourse, and the status of morality. He engages with his critics, and shows the way to resolution of their differences. This volume is partly about what it is for things to matter, in the sense that we all have reasons to care about these things. Much of the book discusses three of the main kinds of meta-ethical theory: Normative Naturalism, Quasi-Realist Expressivism, and Non-Metaphysical Non-Naturalism, which Derek Parfit now calls Non-Realist Cognitivism. This third theory claims that, if we use the word 'reality' in an ontologically weighty sense, irreducibly normative truths have no mysterious or incredible ontological implications. If instead we use 'reality' in a wide sense, according to which all truths are truths about reality, this theory claims that some non-empirically discoverable truths-such as logical, mathematical, modal, and some normative truths-raise no difficult ontological questions. Parfit discusses these theories partly by commenting on the views of some of the contributors to Peter Singer's collection Does Anything Really Matter? Parfit on Objectivity. Though Peter Railton is a Naturalist, he has widened his view by accepting some further claims, and he has suggested that this wider version of Naturalism could be combined with Non-Realist Cognitivism. Parfit argues that Railton is right, since these theories no longer deeply disagree. Though Allan Gibbard is a Quasi-Realist Expressivist, he has suggested that the best version of his view could be combined with Non-Realist Cognitivism. Parfit argues that Gibbard is right, since Gibbard and he now accept the other's main meta-ethical claim. It is rare for three such different philosophical theories to be able to be widened in ways that resolve their deepest disagreements. This happy convergence supports the view that these meta-ethical theories are true. Parfit also discusses the views of several other philosophers, and some other meta-ethical and normative questions.

Download or read book Measure What Matters written by John Doerr and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-04-24 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 New York Times Bestseller Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how the goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth—and how it can help any organization thrive. In the fall of 1999, John Doerr met with the founders of a start-up whom he'd just given $12.5 million, the biggest investment of his career. Larry Page and Sergey Brin had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy, and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. For Google to change the world (or even to survive), Page and Brin had to learn how to make tough choices on priorities while keeping their team on track. They'd have to know when to pull the plug on losing propositions, to fail fast. And they needed timely, relevant data to track their progress—to measure what mattered. Doerr taught them about a proven approach to operating excellence: Objectives and Key Results. He had first discovered OKRs in the 1970s as an engineer at Intel, where the legendary Andy Grove ("the greatest manager of his or any era") drove the best-run company Doerr had ever seen. Later, as a venture capitalist, Doerr shared Grove's brainchild with more than fifty companies. Wherever the process was faithfully practiced, it worked. In this goal-setting system, objectives define what we seek to achieve; key results are how those top-priority goals will be attained with specific, measurable actions within a set time frame. Everyone's goals, from entry level to CEO, are transparent to the entire organization. The benefits are profound. OKRs surface an organization's most important work. They focus effort and foster coordination. They keep employees on track. They link objectives across silos to unify and strengthen the entire company. Along the way, OKRs enhance workplace satisfaction and boost retention. In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations. This book will help a new generation of leaders capture the same magic.

Download or read book What Matters Now written by Gary Hamel and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-01-04 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is not a book about one thing. It's not a 250-page dissertation on leadership, teams or motivation. Instead, it's an agenda for building organizations that can flourish in a world of diminished hopes, relentless change and ferocious competition. This is not a book about doing better. It's not a manual for people who want to tinker at the margins. Instead, it's an impassioned plea to reinvent management as we know it—to rethink the fundamental assumptions we have about capitalism, organizational life, and the meaning of work. Leaders today confront a world where the unprecedented is the norm. Wherever one looks, one sees the exceptional and the extraordinary: Business newspapers decrying the state of capitalism. Once-innovative companies struggling to save off senescence. Next gen employees shunning blue chips for social start-ups. Corporate miscreants getting pilloried in the blogosphere. Entry barriers tumbling in what were once oligopolistic strongholds. Hundred year-old business models being rendered irrelevant overnight. Newbie organizations crowdsourcing their most creative work. National governments lurching towards bankruptcy. Investors angrily confronting greedy CEOs and complacent boards. Newly omnipotent customers eagerly wielding their power. Social media dramatically transforming the way human beings connect, learn and collaborate. Obviously, there are lots of things that matter now. But in a world of fractured certainties and battered trust, some things matter more than others. While the challenges facing organizations are limitless; leadership bandwidth isn't. That's why you have to be clear about what really matters now. What are the fundamental, make-or-break issues that will determine whether your organization thrives or dives in the years ahead? Hamel identifies five issues are that are paramount: values, innovation, adaptability, passion and ideology. In doing so he presents an essential agenda for leaders everywhere who are eager to... move from defense to offense reverse the tide of commoditization defeat bureaucracy astonish their customers foster extraordinary contribution capture the moral high ground outrun change build a company that's truly fit for the future Concise and to the point, the book will inspire you to rethink your business, your company and how you lead.

Download or read book What Matters written by Alison Hughes and published by Orca Book Publishers. This book was released on 2016-09-06 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What happens when one small boy picks up one small piece of litter? He doesn't know it, but his tiny act has big consequences. From the minuscule to the universal, What Matters sensitively explores nature's connections and traces the ripple effects of one child’s good deed to show how we can all make a big difference.

Download or read book Do What Matters Most written by Steven R Shallenberger and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. This book was released on 2021-05-18 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Time management remains a huge challenge for most people. This book shares the habits and processes used by top leaders worldwide to minimize distractions and maximize accomplishments. In researching more than 1,260 managers and executives from more than 108 different organizations, Steve and Rob Shallenberger discovered that 68 percent of them feel like their number one challenge is time management, yet 80 percent don't have a clear process for how to prioritize their time. Drawing on their forty years of leadership research, this book offers three powerful habits that the top 10 percent of leaders use to Do What Matters Most. These three high performance habits are developing a written personal vision, identifying and setting Roles and Goals, and consistently doing Pre-week Planning. And Steve and Rob make an audacious promise: these three habits can increase anyone's productivity by at least 30 to 50 percent. For organizations, this means higher profits, happier employees, and increased innovation. For individuals, it means you'll find hours in your week that you didn't know were there—imagine what you could do! You will learn how acquiring this skillset turned an “average” employee into her company's top producer, enabled a senior vice president to reignite his team and achieve record results, transformed a stressed-out manager's work and home life, helped a CEO who felt like he'd lost his edge regain his fire and passion, and much more. By implementing these simple and easy-to-understand habits, supported by tools like the Personal Productivity Assessment, you will learn how to lead a life by design, not by default. You'll feel the power that comes with a sense of control, direction, and purpose.

Download or read book What Matters Most written by Hyrum W. Smith and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2001-10-09 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an age of unprecedented prosperity and opportunity, there are many who feel that something is missing in their lives. Bestselling author Smith outlines reasons for this dissatisfaction and outlines a powerful formula to help readers identify their deeply held values and live them to the fullest. Illustrations.

Download or read book Essays on Derek Parfit's On What Matters written by Jussi Suikkanen and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2010-01-15 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Essays on Derek Parfit's On What Matters, seven leadingmoral philosophers offer critical evaluations of the central ideaspresented in a greatly anticipated new work by world-renowned moralphilosopher Derek Parfit. Presents critical assessments of what promises to be one of thekey moral philosophy texts of our time Features essays by a team of leading philosophers includingPrinceton's Michael Smith, one of the world's leadingmeta-ethicists Addresses Parfit's central thesis - that the main ethicaltheories can agree on what matters - as well as his defense ofmoral realism