Corporate Satire

Nestled among Seattle's skyscrapers, The Zephyr Holdings Building is a bleak rectangle topped by an orange-and-black logo that gives no hint of Zephyr's business. Lack of clarity, it turns out, is Zephyr's defining characteristic. The floors are numbered in reverse. No one has ever seen the CEO or glimpsed his office on the first (i.e., top) floor. Yet every day people clip on their ID tags, file into the building, sit at their desks, and hope that they're not about to be outsourced.

Discussion Materials gives the listener an honest look at Wall Street from someone in the trenches. After graduating from Columbia Business School, Bill Keenan joined Deutsche Bank's investment banking division as an associate where despotic superiors (and the blinking red light of his BlackBerry) instilled low-level terror on an hourly basis. You'll join him in his cubicle on the 44th floor of 60 Wall Street as he scrambles to ensure floating bar charts are the correct shade of orange and all numbers are left-aligned, but whatever you do, don't ask him what any of it means.

The irreverent author of the cult classic Syrup hits his target in this satire on the wages of big capital. In Max Barry's hilarious vision of the near future, the world is run by giant American corporations, and employees take the last names of the companies they work for; The Police and The NRA are publicly traded security firms, and the U.S. government may only investigate crimes if they can bill a citizen directly.

Meet Cartside. Your friendly neighborhood cart-pushers, the epitome of fine young men. But wait. There's something you don't know about these smiling, happy-go-lucky grocery store grunts. They've got a plan. After 5 years of dealing with the same mind-numbing bogus, catering to incompetent managers and snobby-nosed customers - things are about to change. From the haze of bong-smoke and brilliance, comes the greatest idea since the McDonald's small fry: Well, uh.. sorta...

So Much Can Change in Seven Short Years… President Trump and Vice President Facebook scramble in 2023 to hang onto power. Both the man and the corporation have different ideas on how to cling onto control. Meanwhile, in Chinese Detroit, Buckeye Jones, one of the last remaining human journalists, learns the deal President Trump made with China is not a good one. As the world reels from the chaos caused by seven years of lunacy, the survival of humankind depends on an unlikely cast of characters and corporations.

When Scat comes up with an idea for the hottest new soda ever, he's sure he'll retire as the next savvy marketing success story. But in the treacherous waters of corporate America, there are no sure things. Suddenly Scat finds himself scrambling to save not only his idea, but his yet-to-be-realized career. With the help of a scarily beautiful and brainy girl called 6, he sets out on a mission to reclaim the fame and fortune that, time and again, elude him.

Yates is a Futurist. Which is to say he makes a very good living flying around the world dispensing premonitory wisdom, a.k.a. prepackaged bull, to world governments, corporations, and global leadership conferences. He is an optimist by trade and a cynic by choice. He's the kind of man who can give a lecture on successive days to a leading pesticide manufacturer and the Organic Farmers of America, and receive standing ovations at both.

The insure-tech industry has become an overnight sensation and darling of Wall Street. In the span of a decade, the Insure-tech industry has become a 10 billion dollar behemoth. Leading the way is a fast up-start insure-tech plainly named Flushy. In the blink of an eye, Flushy has become the most powerful insure-tech of them all. Flushy set out to up-end the entire insurance industry and become the world’s first insurance carrier to be valued at one trillion dollars.

From the mind of the ultimate corporate gunslinger comes this no-nonsense, real-world Curriculum, designed to augment - if not replace - the more traditional path to achieving mastery of the business universe. Conquer this sharp, practical and often amusing course of study and save $250,000 of wasted business school tuition. The Curriculum is dedicated to the study of business, how it works, and how it can be used against those who don’t know how it works.

Dive into the hilariously cunning world of "How to Get a Promotion Without Deserving One," a must-listen satire by Tom Baker & Paul Evans. This witty exploration of office politics through the eyes of the unforgettable "Chad" will have you laughing, cringing, and nodding in recognition.

Sick of working your way to the top? America's most popular humorist, Dave Barry, shows you the alternate route, giving you tools to become the head of a major corporation in roughly a week. His surefire tips, from what shirt to wear to how to deal with pesky subordinates, will keep you laughing all the way up the corporate ladder.

Taking the company into the 21st century was not going to be easy for Mr. Blue, Jr. His Chief of Staff, B.B. Queen, seemed to be getting with the program, while other sales executives were lagging behind. Faced with constant threats from those challenging his authority and the voice of Mr. Blue, Sr. echoing in his head, he and others find themselves involved in a series of games with plots and twists that keep them all on their toes, everyone vying for the prize. Who will advance? And who will be sent packing?