New books this month focus on areas such as decision-making, customer service and business growth.The titles listed below are only a small section of the new additions. If you wish to borrow any of the books listed or find out what other fascinating titles are available, please get in touch!

Big bang disruption: business survival in the age of constant innovation / Larry Downes and Paul Nunes

Location: 658.011.4 DOW

Big Bang Disruption is an alarming look at how quick-to-market innovations are killing established industries. It used to take years for new products and services to dethrone industry leaders. Now any business can be instantly devastated by something better and cheaper. How can you protect yourself, and harness the power of Big Bang Disruption?. In this essential book, Larry Downes and Paul Nunes show how to spot the next big thing. Drawing on extensive research by the Accenture Institute for High Performance and interviews across 30 industries, they give you the tools to take control of your future.

Decisive: how to make better decisions in life and work / Chip and Dan Heath

Location: 658.012.2 HEA

In Decisive, the Heaths, based on an exhaustive study of the decision-making literature, introduce a four-step process designed to counteract these biases. Written in an engaging and compulsively readable style, Decisive takes readers on an unforgettable journey, from a rock star’s ingenious decision-making trick to a CEO’s disastrous acquisition, to a single question that can often resolve thorny personal decisions. Along the way, we learn the answers to critical questions like these: How can we stop the cycle of agonizing over our decisions? How can we make group decisions without destructive politics? And how can we ensure that we don’t overlook precious opportunities to change our course?

Crafting the customer experience for people not like you: how to delight and engage the customers your competitors don’t understand / Kelly McDonald

Location: 658.818 MCD

A "one-size fits all" approach to customer service is no longer viable. Businesses competing on service need to understand and cater to customers' racial, ethnic, religious, generational, and geographic differences in order to meet or exceed customers' service expectations. Crafting the Customer Experience to People Not Like You shows how companies, brands, and products struggling to differentiate themselves in a sea of sameness can foster long-term loyalty and brand preference with exceptional and customized customer service. Also includes consumer insights that will help business leaders deliver a better business experience with every customer.

On the edge: the art of high-impact leadership / Alison Levine

Location: 658.007.1 LEV

On the Edge is an engaging leadership manual that provides concrete insights garnered from various extreme environments ranging from Mt Everest to the South Pole. By reflecting on the lessons learned from her various expeditions, author Alison Levine makes the case that the leadership principles that apply in extreme adventure sport also apply in today's extreme business environments. Both settings require you to be able to make crucial decisions on the spot when the conditions around you are far from perfect. Your survival and the survival of your team depend on it.

The second machine age: work, progress, and prosperity in a time of brilliant technologies / Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAffee

Location: 316.42 BRY

A revolution is under way. Digital technologies—with hardware, software, and networks at their core—will in the near future diagnose diseases more accurately than doctors can, apply enormous data sets to transform retailing, and accomplish many tasks once considered uniquely human. In The Second Machine Age MIT’s Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee—two thinkers at the forefront of their field—reveal the forces driving the reinvention of our lives and our economy. As the full impact of digital technologies is felt, we will realize immense bounty in the form of dazzling personal technology, advanced infrastructure, and near-boundless access to the cultural items that enrich our lives.

Grow the core: how to focus on your core business for brand success / David Taylor

Location: 659.12 TAY

Grow the Core stands conventional wisdom about business growth on its head and provides a proven formula for growing your business in recessionary times. These days, it′s a common belief among business leaders across industry sectors that the best way to grow their businesses is to expand into new markets. In reality, virtually all top–performing companies achieve superior results through a leading position in their core business.

Grow the Core shows you how to focus on your core business for brand success, with a program of eight workouts road-tested by the author's consultancy, the brandgym. The book provides inspiration, practical advice and proven tools for building and strengthening your core business. It is packed with case studies from brandgym clients, including Mars, Friesland Campina, SAB Miller and Danone. The book features exclusive brandgym research, in addition to front–line experience on over one hundred brand coaching projects.