Accountable. Compassionate. Visionary. These are the characteristics of a great leader; and, in "Leading Your Agency to Greatness," two leadership and insurance experts invite you to leap into the pursuit of greatness with both feet. This book empowers you to optimize your company's infrastructure and service, while leaving a leadership legacy within your agency that is worthy of emulation.

And it all begins with self-assessment. How do you rate as an agency leader? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Are you already a superb leader or do you have some work to do? Either way, the...

Japan's economy is the world's third-largest and second-most-sophisticated, accounting for nearly 10% of global economic activity. It has the lowest unemployment rate among leading industrial nations and, at the same time, a large and growing manufacturing presence around the world. Yet it has frequently been portrayed as an economic disaster - an Asian Greece or Argentina - on the verge of collapse and threatening to take down the world economy with it.

This view of Japan, long promulgated by Western media, is utterly wrong.

By using Japan's own plans and metrics,...