Command Your Career

By Jonathan Fields

Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt Into Fuel for Brilliance

Jonathan Fields knows the risks-and potential power-of uncertainty. He gave up a six-figure income as a lawyer to make $12 an hour as a personal trainer. Then, married with a 3-month old baby, he signed a lease to launch a yoga center in the heart of New York City. . . the day before 9/11. But he survived, and along the way he developed a fresh approach to transforming uncertainty, risk of loss, and exposure to judgment into catalysts for innovation, creation, and achievement. In business, art, and life, creating on a world-class level demands bold action and leaps of faith in the face of great uncertainty. But that uncertainty can lead to fear, anxiety, paralysis, and destruction. It can gut creativity and stifle innovation. It can keep you from taking the risks necessary to do great work and craft a deeply-rewarding life. And it can bring companies that rely on innovation grinding to a halt. That is, unless you know how to use it to your advantage. Fields draws on leading-edge technology, cognitive science, and ancient awareness-focusing techniques in a fresh, practical, non-dogmatic way. His approach enables creativity and productivity on an entirely different level and can turn the once-tortuous journey into a more enjoyable quest.

By Peter Thiel & Blake Masters

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things. 
Thiel begins with the contrarian premise that we live in an age of technological stagnation, even if we’re too distracted by shiny mobile devices to notice. Information technology has improved rapidly, but there is no reason why progress should be limited to computers or Silicon Valley. Progress can be achieved in any industry or area of business. It comes from the most important skill that every leader must master: learning to think for yourself.
Doing what someone else already knows how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar. But when you do something new, you go from 0 to 1. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. Tomorrow’s champions will not win by competing ruthlessly in today’s marketplace. They will escape competition altogether, because their businesses will be unique. 
Zero to One presents at once an optimistic view of the future of progress in America and a new way of thinking about innovation: it starts by learning to ask the questions that lead you to find value in unexpected places.

By Brené Brown

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is married by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly;...who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly."  -Theodore Roosevelt
Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable or to dare greatly. Based on twelve years of pioneering research, Dr. Brené Brown dispels the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.

Brown explains how vulnerability is both the core of difficult emotions like fear, grief, and disappointment, and the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, empathy, innovation, and creativity. She writes: “When we shut ourselves off from vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.”
Daring Greatly is not about winning or losing. It’s about courage. In a world where “never enough” dominates and feeling afraid has become second nature, vulnerability is subversive. Uncomfortable. It’s even a little dangerous at times. And, without question, putting ourselves out there means there’s a far greater risk of getting criticized or feeling hurt. But when we step back and examine our lives, we will find that nothing is as uncomfortable, dangerous, and hurtful as standing on the outside of our lives looking in and wondering what it would be like if we had the courage to step into the arena—whether it’s a new relationship, an important meeting, the creative process, or a difficult family conversation. Daring Greatly is a practice and a powerful new vision for letting ourselves be seen.

By Gordon Bethune

From Worst to First: Behind the Scenes of Continental's Remarkable Comeback

The numerous anecdotes alone are worth the price of the book . . . most readers will find themselves asking why everyone doesn't run a business as preached by the chief executive of Continental Airlines.-The Washington Post Book World
. . . in an age where managing seems increasingly complicated, some of Bethune's prescriptions are refreshingly straightforward.-Business Week
From Worst to First outlines Gordon Bethune's triumphs . . . about the turnaround he's led at Continental, a perennial basket case that's become an industry darling.-The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
From Worst to First is [Gordon Bethune's] story of Continental Airlines' turnaround under his command . . . The blueprint has worked . . . Fortune magazine named Continental the company that has 'raised its overall marks more than any other in the 1990s.'-The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
All of Gordon Bethune's proceeds from this book will be donated to the We Care Trust, a nonprofit organization that assists Continental Airlines' employees and their families in times of need.

By Daniel H. Pink

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future

The future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind: artists, inventors, storytellers-creative and holistic "right-brain" thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who doesn't.

Drawing on research from around the world, Pink (author of To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others) outlines the six fundamentally human abilities that are absolute essentials for professional success and personal fulfillment--and reveals how to master them. A Whole New Mind takes readers to a daring new place, and a provocative and necessary new way of thinking about a future that's already here.

By Ryan Holiday

Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator

You've seen it all before. A malicious online rumor costs a company millions. A political sideshow derails the national news cycle and destroys a candidate. Some product or celebrity zooms from total obscurity to viral sensation. What you don't know is that someone is responsible for all this. Usually, someone like me. I'm a media manipulator. In a world where blogs control and distort the news, my job is to control blogs-as much as any one person can. 

In today's culture... 
1) Blogs like Gawker, Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post drive the media agenda. 
2) Bloggers are slaves to money, technology, and deadlines. 
3) Manipulators wield these levers to shape everything you read, see and watch-online and off. 

Why am I giving away these secrets? Because I'm tired of a world where blogs take indirect bribes, marketers help write the news, reckless journalists spread lies, and no one is accountable for any of it. I'm pulling back the curtain because I don't want anyone else to get blindsided. I'm going to explain exactly how the media really works. What you choose to do with this information is up to you.

By David D’Alessandro

Career Warfare: 10 Rules for Building a Successful Personal Brand on the Business Battlefield

“A refreshing message…from someone who has fought many corporate wars.” - The New York Times

With the latest stories from D'Alessandro's neverending collection of corporate derring-do and new insight on the global battlefield, the nationally bestselling Career Warfare is more essential than ever when navigating your way to success. 

"D'Alessandro dares to speak the truth. If you don't manage your own reputation, those around you will. This is no theoretical exercise. In corporate America, people talk about you every day. You can affect what they say. 

"With a cut-the-crap sharp eye for the passions, yearnings, and follies that drive every organization, D'Alessandro draws apart the drapes and reveals what it really takes to get ahead in business." - James Carville, author and Democratic Strategist

"With good jobs becoming hard to find, D'Alessandro's sage advice is more timely and important than ever, especially for those who are trying to build their personal brands and enhance their careers at the same time." -Tom Neff, Chairman, U.S., Spencer Stuart

“Smart, strategic, and useful career advice from someone who has actually achieved success in the real world.” ―Harvey Mackay, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive

By David D’Alessandro

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World (Random House Reader's Circle)

This compelling and inspiring book, now in a deluxe paperback edition, shows how one person can work wonders. In Mountains Beyond Mountains, Pulitzer Prize—winning author Tracy Kidder tells the true story of a gifted man who loves the world and has set out to do all he can to cure it.

In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life’s calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. Kidder’s magnificent account takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that “the only real nation is humanity.” At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb “Beyond mountains there are mountains”–as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too.

"Mountains Beyond Mountains unfolds with a force of gathering revelation,” says Annie Dillard, and Jonathan Harr notes, “[Paul Farmer] wants to change the world. Certainly this luminous and powerful book will change the way you see it.”

By Steven Pressfield

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles

A succinct, engaging, and practical guide for succeeding in any creative sphere, The War of Art is nothing less than Sun-Tzu for the soul. What keeps so many of us from doing what we long to do?

Why is there a naysayer within? How can we avoid the roadblocks of any creative endeavor-be it starting a dream business venture, writing a novel, or painting a masterpiece? 

Bestselling novelist Steven Pressfield identifies the enemy that every one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer this internal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success. 

The War of Art emphasizes the resolve needed to recognize and overcome the obstacles of ambition and then effectively shows how to reach the highest level of creative discipline. Think of it as tough love . . . for yourself. 

Whether an artist, writer or business person, this simple, personal, and no-nonsense book will inspire you to seize the potential of your life. 

By Steven Pressfield

Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life's Work

The follow-up to his bestseller The War of Art, Turning Pro navigates the passage from the amateur life to a professional practice. "You don't need to take a course or buy a product. All you have to do is change your mind."--Steven Pressfield. Turning Pro is FREE, but it's NOT EASY. When we turn pro, we give up a life that we may have become extremely comfortable with. We give up a self that we have come to identify with and to call our own. Turning Pro is FREE, but it DEMANDS SACRIFICE. The passage from amateur to professional is often achieved via an interior odyssey whose trials are survived only at great cost, emotionally, psychological and spiritually. We pass through a membrane when we turn pro. It's messy and it's scary. We tread in blood when we turn pro. What we get when we turn pro is we find our power. We find our will and our voice and we find our self-respect. We become who we always were but had, until then, been afraid to embrace and live out.

By Steven Pressfield

Do the Work: Overcome Resistance and Get Out of Your Own Way

"There is an enemy. There is an intelligent, active, malign force working against us. Step one is to recognize this. This recognition alone is enormously powerful. It saved my life, and it will save yours." -- Steven Pressfield. Could you be getting in your way of producing great work? Have you started a project but never finished? Would you like to do work that matters, but don't know where to start? The answer is Do the Work, a manifesto by bestselling author Steven Pressfield, that will show you that it's not about better ideas, it's about actually doing the work. Do the Work is a weapon against Resistance - a tool that will help you take action and successfully ship projects out the door. Picking up where The War of Art and Turning Pro left off, Do the Work takes the reader from the start to the finish of any long-form project--novel, screenplay, album, software piece, you name it. Do the Work identifies the predictable Resistance Points along the way and walks you through each of them. No, you are not crazy. No, you are not alone. No, you are not the first person to "hit the wall" in Act Two. Do the Work charts the territory. It's the stage-by-stage road map for taking your projects from Page One to THE END. 

By Richard H. Thaler Cass R. Sunstein

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Nudge is about choices - how we make them and how we can make better ones. Drawing on decades of research in the fields of behavior science and economics, authors Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein offer a new perspective on preventing the countless mistakes we make -- ill-advised personal investments, consumption of unhealthy foods, neglect of our natural resources -- and show us how sensible "choice architecture" can successfully nudge people towards the best decisions. In the tradition of The Tipping Point and Freakonomics, Nudge is straightforward, informative, and entertaining -- a must read for anyone interested in our individual and collective well-being. 

By Charles Duhigg

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

 In the Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize-winning business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. Distilling vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives that take us from the boardrooms of Proctor & Gamble to sidelines of the NFL to the front lines of the civil rights movement, Duhigg presents a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential. At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. As Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities and our lives. 

By Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha

The Start-up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career

 A blueprint for thriving in you job and building a career by applying the lessons
of Silicon Valley's most innovative entrepreneurs. 

The career escalator is jammed at every level. Unemployment rates are sky-high. Creative disruption is shaking every industry. Global competition for jobs is fierce. The employer-employee pact is over and traditional job security is a thing of the past. 

Here, LinkedIn co-founder and chairman Reid Hoffman and author Ben Casnocha show how to accelerate your career in today's competitive world. The key is to manage your career as if it were a startup business: a living breathing, growing startup of you. 

Why? Startups - and the entrepreneurs who run them - are nimble. They invest in themselves. They build their professional networks. They take intelligent risks. They make uncertainty and volatility work to their advantage. These are the same skills professionals need to get ahead today. 

This book isn't about cover letters or resumes. Instead, you will learn the best practices of Silicon Valley startups, and how to apply these entrepreneurial strategies to your career. 

By Mary Kay Ash

Miracles Happen

Mary Kay Ash, one of America's most dynamic businesswomen, lives her life with simple and timeless principles. Through her uncomplicated formula for success -- God first, family second and career third -- she achieved her dream. She inspired. She motivated. She cared. Mary Kay often said that if you expect great things, great things will happen. So expect results. Expect success. Miracles happen. 

Mary Kay Ash knew when she created her dream company that its success would largely depend on the principles upon which it was founded. In her wisdom, she realized that by building a solid foundation, and never wavering from it, she would distinguish her company and set the stage for women to succeed for decades to come. Mary Kay herself said, "The Company bears my name, but it has a life of its own. The true success if the lives that have changed for the better." Today, the independent sales force wholeheartedly embraces Mary Kay's vision of enriching women's lives. Because she believed that women would understand and support her mission, her legacy will continue to grow, inspiring generations of women around the world to believe that miracles happen.

By Lee LeFever

The Art of Explanation: Making your Ideas, Products, and Services Easier to Understand 

Your guide to becoming an explanation specialist.

You've done the hard work. Your product or service works beautifully - but something is missing. People just don't see the big idea - and it's keeping you from being successful. Your idea has an explanation problem. The Art of Explanation is for business people, educators and influencers who want to improve their explanation skills and start solving explanation problems. 

Author Lee LeFever is the founder of Common Craft, a company known around the world for making complex ideas easy to understand through short animated videos. He is your guide to helping audiences fall in love with your ideas, products or services through better explanations in any medium. 

  • Plan: Learn explanation basics, what causes them to fail and how to diagnose explanation problems.

  • Package: Using simple elements, create an explanation strategy that builds confidence and motivates your audience.

  • Present: Produce remarkable explanations with visuals and media.

The Art of Explanation is your invitation to become an explanation specialist and see why explanation is now a fundamental skill for professionals.

By John Warrilllow

Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You

Run your company. Don't let it run you.

Most business owners started their company because they wanted more freedom-to work on their own schedule, make the kind of money they deserve, and eventually retire on the fruits of their labor. 

Unfortunately, according John Warrillow, most owners find that stepping out of the picture is extremely difficult because their business relies too heavily on their personal involvement. Without them, their company - no matter how big or profitable - is essentially worthless. 

But the good news is that entrepreneurs can take specific steps - no matter what stage a business is in - to create a valuable, sellable company. Warrillow shows exactly what it takes to create a solid business that can thrive long into the future. 

By Richard N. Bolles

What Color is Your Parachute? 2019: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changes

The world's most popular job-search book is updated for 2017, tailoring its long-trusted guidance with up-to-the-minute information and advice for today's job-hunters and career-changers. 

In today's challenging job-market, the time-testing advice of What Color Is Your Parachute? is needed more than ever. Recent grads facing a tough economic landscape, workers laid off mid-career, and people searching for an inspiring work-life change all look to career guru Richard N. Bolles for support, encouragement, and advice on which job-hunt strategies work--and which don't. 

This revised and updated edition combines classic elements like the famed Flower Exercise with updated tips on social media and search tactics. Bolles demystifies the entire job-search process, from resumes to interviewing to networking, expertly guiding job-hunters toward their dream job. 

By Tara Mohr

Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create and Lead

A ground breaking women's leadership expert and popular conference speaker gives women the practical skills to voice and implement the changes they want to see-in themselves and in the world. 

In her coaching and programs for women, Tara Mohr saw how women were "playing small" in their lives and careers, were frustrated by it, and wanted to "play bigger". She has devised a proven way for them to achieve their dreams by playing big from the inside out. Mohr's work helping women play bigger has earned acclaim from the likes of Maria Shriver and Jillian Michaels, and has been featured on the Today show, CNN and a host of other media outlets. In the tradition of Daring Greatly, Playing Big provides real, practical tools to help women quiet self-doubt, identify their callings, "unhook" from praise and criticism, unlearn counterproductive good girl habits and begin taking bold action. While not all women aspire to end up in the corner office, every woman aspires to something. Playing Big fills a major gap among women's career books; it isn't just for corporate women. The book offers tools to help every woman play bigger - whether she's an executive, community volunteer, artist, or stay-at-home mom.

By Dan Schawbel

Promote Yourself: The New Rules for Career Success 

How people perceive you has always been critical to a successful career. Now add in the internet, social media, and the unrelenting hum of 24/7 business, and the ability to brand and promote yourself effectively becomes absolutely essential for young professionals to land the job, earn the raise or get that much deserved promotion. It is only with the ability to promote yourself that managers and executives can see Gen Y workers as invaluable employees, game-changing managers, or the people whose names are synonymous with success.

So how do they stand out and get ahead? 

Drawing on proprietary research and countless interviews with the most dynamic professionals in business today, career guru and founder of Millennial Branding Dan Schawbel takes readers through his step-by-step process of creating unique personal brands and leveraging them to maximum advantage. By basing these brands on the rock-solid foundation of hard, soft, and online skills that are essential to get the job done right and by knowing exactly what managers value, Schawbel provides every reader with the unique skills and message that they'll need to get ahead today and for the rest of their careers. The subtle and amazing effective art of self-promotion is the razor thin difference between success and failure. Dan Schawbel's Promote Yourself is the definitive book on the new rules for building an outstanding career. 

By Suze Orman

The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke 

The world's most trusted expert on money matters answers a generation's cry for help-and gives advice on: Credit Card Debt, Student Loans, Credit Scores, The First Real Job, Buying a First Home, Insurance Facts for Auto, Home, Renters and Health, Financial Issues of the Self-Employed and much more advice that fits the realities of "Generation Broke". 

By Ben Horowitz

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers 

Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, offers essential advice on building and running a startup-practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems business school doesn't cover, based on his popular Ben's Blog. 

While many people talk about how great it is to start a business, very few are honest about how difficult it is to run one. Ben Horowitz analyzes the problems that confront leaders every day, sharing the insights he's gained developing, managing, selling, buying, investing in, and supervising technology companies. A lifelong rap fanatic, he amplifies business lessons with lyrics from his favorite songs, telling it straight about everything from firing friends to poaching competitors, cultivating and sustaining a CEO mentality to knowing the right time to cash in.

Filled with his trademark humor and straight talk, The Hard Thing About Hard Things is invaluable for veteran entrepreneurs as well as those aspiring to their own new ventures, drawing from Horowitz's personal and often humbling experiences.

By Adam M. Grant

Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success

A groundbreaking look at why our interactions with others hold the key to success, from the bestselling author of Originals.

For generations, we have focused on the individual drivers of success: passion, hard work, talent, and luck. But in today's dramatically reconfigured world, success is increasingly dependent on how we interact with others. In Give and Take, Adam Grant, an award-winning researcher and Wharton's highest-rated professor, examines the surprising forces that shape why some people rise to the top of the success ladder while others sink to the bottom. Praised by social scientist, business theorists, and corporate leaders, Give and Take opens up an approach to work, interactions and productivity that is nothing sort of revolutionary.  

By Timothy Ferriss

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

More than 100 pages of new, cutting-edge content.
Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan–there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, or just living more and working less,  The 4-Hour Workweek is the blueprint. 

This step-by-step guide to luxury lifestyle design teaches: 
•How Tim went from $40,000 per year and 80 hours per week to $40,000 per month and 4 hours per week
•How to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want
•How blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs
•How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist
•How to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and frequent “mini-retirements”

By Clayton M. Christensen

How Will You Measure Your Life? 

From the world’s leading thinker on innovation and New York Times bestselling author of The Innovator's Dilemma, Clayton M. Christensen, comes an unconventional book of inspiration and wisdom for achieving a fulfilling life. Christensen’s The Innovator's Dilemma, notably the only business book that Apple’s Steve Jobs said “deeply influenced” him, is widely recognized as one of the most significant business books ever published. Now, in the tradition of Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture and Anna Quindlen’s  A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Christensen’s How Will You Measure Your Life is with a book of lucid observations and penetrating insights designed to help any reader—student or teacher, mid-career professional or retiree, parent or child—forge their own paths to fulfillment.

By Clayton M. Christensen

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference 

The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.

By Meg Jay

The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter--And How to Make the Most of Them Now 

Our "thirty-is-the-new-twenty" culture tells us the twenty-something years don't matter. Some say they are a second adolescence. Others call them an emerging adulthood. Dr. Meg Jay, a clinical psychologist, argues that twenty-somethings have been caught in a swirl of hype and misinformation, much of which has trivialized what is actually the most defining decade of adulthood.

Drawing from a decade of work with hundreds of twenty-something clients and students, The Defining Decade weaves the latest science of the twenty-something years with behind-closed-doors stories from twenty-somethings themselves. The result is a provocative read that provides the tools necessary to make the most of your twenties, and shows us how work, relationships, personality, social networks, identity, and even the brain can change more during this decade than at any other time in adulthood-if we use the time wisely. 

The Defining Decade is a smart, compassionate and constructive book about the years we cannot afford to miss.

By Justin Kerr

How to write an email. (A survival guide to corporate America) 

It's doubtful they're going to list the speed of your promotion or the results of last quarter on your tombstone-but if you're going to show up to work every day why not get rewarded for it as much as possible? How to write an email teaches you the fundamentals that will help you get promoted quickly-and often. 

The biggest mistake new employees make in the corporate world is thinking that hard work is what leads to success. The reality is that some basic and often overlooked behaviors are the real keys to thriving in the workplace. Part survival guide, part corporate myth-buster, How to write an email show you how to raise your profile and make the most of your time in any organization. 

It's aimed at new employees but it's useful for anyone who wants to be great at what they do. 

By Gary Vaynerchuk

#AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur's Take on Leadership, Social Media, and Self-Awareness 

The New York Times bestselling author draws from his popular show #AskGaryVee to offer surprising, often outrageous, and imminently useful and honest answers to everything you've ever wanted to know-and more-about navigating the new world. 

Gary Vaynerchuk-the inspiring and unconventional entrepreneur who introduced us to the concept of crush it-knows how to get things done, have fun, and be massively successful. A marketing and business genius, Gary had the foresight to go beyond traditional methods and use social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to reach an untapped audience that continues to grow. 

#AskGaryVee showcases the most useful and interesting questions Gary has addressed on his popular show. Distilling and expanding on the podcast's most urgent and evergreen themes, Gary presents practical, timely, and timeless advice on marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and everything else you've been afraid to ask but are dying to know. Gary gives you the insights and information you need on everything from effectively using Twitter to launching a small business, hiring superstars to creating a personal brand, launching products effectively to staying healthy-and even buying wine. 

Whether you're planning to start your own company, working in digital media, or have landed your first job in a traditional company, #AskGaryVee is your essential guide to making things happen in a big way. 

By Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson

Rework 

Most business books give you the same old advice: Write a business plan, study the competition, seek investors, yadda yadda. If you're looking for a book like that, put this one back on the shelf.

Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business. Read it and you'll know why plans are actually harmful, why you don't need outside investors, and why you're better off ignoring the competition. The truth is, you need less than you think. You don't need to be a workaholic. You don't need to staff up. You don't need to waste time on paperwork or meetings. You don't even need an office. Those are all just excuses. 

What you really need to do is stop talking and start working. This book shows you the way. You'll learn how to be more productive, how to get exposure without breaking the bank, and tons more counter-intuitive ideas that will inspire and provoke you.

With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, Rework is the perfect playbook for anyone who’s ever dreamed of doing it on their own. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs they hate, victims of "downsizing," and artists who don’t want to starve anymore will all find valuable guidance in these pages.

By Robert B. Cialdini

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Influence, the classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say "yes"-and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding field of influence and persuasion. His thirty-five years of rigorous, evidence-based research along with a three-year program of study on what moves people to change behavior has resulted in this highly acclaimed book. 

You'll learn the six universal principles, how to use them to become a skilled persuader-and how to defend yourself against them. Perfect for people in all walks of life, the principles of Influence will move you toward profound personal change and act as a driving force for your success.

By Paul Coelho

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Influence, the classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say "yes"-and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding field of influence and persuasion. His thirty-five years of rigorous, evidence-based research along with a three-year program of study on what moves people to change behavior has resulted in this highly acclaimed book. 

You'll learn the six universal principles, how to use them to become a skilled persuader-and how to defend yourself against them. Perfect for people in all walks of life, the principles of Influence will move you toward profound personal change and act as a driving force for your success.

By Art Markman PhD

Smart Thinking: Three Essential Keys to Solve Problems, Innovate, and Get Things Done 

Think smart people are just born that way? Think again.

Drawing on diverse studies of the mind, from psychology to linguistics, philosophy, and learning science, Art Markman, Ph.D., demonstrates the difference between "Smart thinking" and raw intelligence, showing readers how memory works, how to learn effectively, and how to use knowledge to get things done. He then introduces his own three-part formula for readers to employ "smart thinking" in their daily lives. 

Smart Thinking gives readers:

  • The means to replace self-limiting habits with new behaviors that foster smart thinking

  • An understanding of the mind itself as well as memory

  • The ability to define and solve problems by finding and applying relevant knowledge

  • Ways to present and process information effectively

By Steve Zaffron, Dave Logan

The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life 

A proven system for rallying all of an organizations' employees around a new vision and ideas for making the vision stick. 

When something at work isn't going smoothly, managers struggle with what part of the problem to tackle first. Do they start with cost reduction? OR should they go for process improvements first? The authors-who have helped hundreds of companies and individuals change and improve-say spend time and money adjusting the systems in which people operate, rather than targeting people and their performance directly. The authors show that it's in fact possible to change everything at once-with a focus on making such transformations permanent and repeatable. 

  • Brand-new Introduction written for the paperback edition

  • Filled with illustrative examples from Northrup Grumman, BHP-Billiton, Reebok, Harvard Business SChool and many others.

  • Two experts in the field show how to make major transformations happen

The book outlines a process for engaging all employees to buy-in to an improved vision of an organization's new and improved future.

By Julia Cameron

The Artist's Way 

The Artist's Way is the seminal book on the subject of creativity. An international bestseller, millions of readers have found it to be an invaluable guide to living the artist's life. Still as vital today-or perhaps even more so-than it was when it was first published one decade ago it is a powerfully provocative and inspiring work. In a new introduction to the book, Julia Cameron reflects upon the impact of The Artist's Way and describes the work she has done during the last decade and the new insights into the creative process that she has gained. Updated and expanded, this anniversary edition reframes The Artist's Way for a new century. 

By Daniel H. Pink

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need

There's never been a career guide like The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need. Told in manga, the Japanese comic book format that's an international sensation, it's a fully illustrated story of a young Everyman just out of college who lands his first job. 

Johnny Bunko is new to the Boggs Corp., and he stumbles through his early months as a working stiff until a crisis prompts him to rethink his approach. Step by step he builds a career, illustrating as he does the six core lessons of finding, keeping and flourishing in satisfying work. A groundbreaking guide to surviving and flourishing in any career, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko is smart, engaging and insightful, and offers practical advice for anyone looking for a life of rewarding work. 

By Bill Burnett & Dave Evans

Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

Designers create worlds and solve problems using design thinking. Look around your office or home - at the tablet or smartphone you may be holding or the chair you are sitting in. Everything in our lives was designed by someone. And every design starts with a problem that a designer or team of designers seeks to solve.

In this book, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans show us how design thinking can help us create a life that is both meaningful and fulfilling, regardless of who or where we are, what we do or have done for a living, or how young or old we are. The same design thinking responsible for amazing technology, products and spaces can be used to design and build your career and your life, a life of fulfillment and joy, constantly creative and productive, one that always holds the possibility of surprise.

By Tom Kelley & David Kelley

Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All

IDEO founder and Stanford d.school creator David Kelley and his brother Tom Kelley, IDEO partner and the author of the bestselling The Art of Innovation, have written a powerful and compelling book on unleashing the creativity that lies within each and every one of us. 

Too often, companies and individuals assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of the "creative types". But two of the leading experts in innovation, design and creativity on the planet show us that each and every one of us is creative. In an incredibly entertaining and inspiring narrative that draws on countless stories from their work at IDEO, the Stanford d.school, and with many of the world's top companies, David and Tom Kelley identify the principles and strategies that will allow us to tap into our creative potential in our work lives, and in our personal lives, and allow us to innovate in terms of how we approach and solve problems. It is a book that will help each of us be more productive and successful in our lives and in our careers. 

By Dale Carnegie

How to Win Friends & Influence People

You can go after the job you want - and get it!
You can take the job you have - and improve it!
You can take any situation - and make it work for you!

Dale Carnegie's rock-solid, time-tested advice has carried countless people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives. One of the most groundbreaking and timeless bestsellers of all time, How to Win Friends & Influence People will teach you:

-Six ways to make people like you
-Twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking
-Nine ways to change people without arousing resentment

And much more! Achieve your maximum potential - a must read for the 21st century with more than 15 million copies sold! 

By Michael R. Bloomberg

Bloomberg by Bloomberg

Brash, aggressive, and supremely self-confident, Michael Bloomberg, the visionary leader of the world's fastest growing media empire, has been hailed as the new standard for what it takes to win in the Information Age. Dismissed from Salomon Brothers in 1981, Bloomberg immediately took his money and acerbic personality and started Bloomberg L.P. Bolstered by a $30 million investment from Merrill Lynch, the company and the man have been sprinting ahead of the pack ever since. 

Only twenty years after founding, he's at the top of his industry. And on June 5, 2001, he added mayoral candidate for New York City to his list of accomplishments and aspirations. If elected, powerhouse Michael Bloomberg will bring his own brand of leadership-and personal style-to the city that never sleeps.

By William Bridges

Managing Transitions

The business world is constantly transforming. When restructures, mergers, bankruptcies, and layoffs hit the workplace, employees and managers naturally find the resulting situational shifts to be challenging. But the psychological transitions that accompany them are even more stressful. Organizational transitions affect people; it is always people, rather than a company, who have to embrace a new situation and carry out the corresponding change. 

A veteran business consultant William Bridges explains, transition is successful when employees have a purpose, a plan, and a part to play. This indispensable guide is now updated to reflect the challenges of today's ever-changing, always-on, and globally connected workplaces. Directed at managers on all rungs of the corporate ladder, this expanded edition of the classic bestseller provides practical, step-by-step strategies for minimizing disruptions and navigating uncertain times. 

By Barbara Mariposa

The Mindfulness Handbook

In this concise, readable book you'll learn useful, do-able skills that you can integrate into every aspect of your life for stress-free success. It will:

  • Give you tools and skills to manage stress, reduce anxiety and deal effectively with the pace and pressure of 21st century living.

  • Demystify the most important aspect of what drives us, our relationships and our decision-making - our feelings.

  • Explain how you can change the way your brain is wired to move effortlessly towards a fulfilling life of clarity, focus and balance.

This short reassuring book is rich in science but low in jargon. IT is underpinned by a model which provides proven solutions for combating stress, anxiety and burnout. The simple, easily learned mindfulness techniques will enable you to rewire your brain and participate fully and enthusiastically with life. 

What makes this book unique is the easy to grasp way it explains key aspects of being human, our awareness of ourselves and our feelings. It shows how to live in the present, how mindfulness works in the brain and how to live a happier life. 

By Sally Helgesen & Marshall Goldsmith

How Women Rise

Ready to take the next step in your career...but not sure what's holding you back?

Leadership expert Sally Helgesen and bestselling leadership coach Marshall Goldsmith have trained thousands of high achievers--men and women--to reach even greater heights. Again and again, they see that women face specific and different roadblocks from men as they advance in the workplace. In fact, the very habit that helped women early in their careers can hinder them as they move up. Simply put, what got you here won't get you there...and you might not even realize your blind spots until it's too late. 

Are you great with the details? To rise, you need to do less and delegate more. 

Are you a team player? To advance, you need to take credit as easily as you share it. 

Are you a star networker? Leaders know a network is no good unless you know how to use it. 

Sally and Marshall identify the 12 habits that hold women back as they seek to advance, showing them why what worked for them in the past might actually be sabotaging their future success. Building on Marshall's classic best seller What Got You Here Won't Get You There, their new book How Women Rise is essential reading for any woman who is ready to advance to the next level. 

By Marshall Goldsmith

What Got You Here Won't Get You There

America's most sought-after executive coach shows how to climb the last few rungs of the ladder. The corporate world is filled with executives, men and women who have worked hard for years to reach the upper levels of management. They're intelligent, skilled, and even charismatic. But only a handful of them will ever reach the pinnacle--and as executive coach Marshall Goldsmith shows in this book, subtle nuances make all the difference. These are small "transactional flaws" performed by one person against another (as simple as not saying thank you enough), which lead to negative perceptions that can hold any executive back. Using Goldsmith's straightforward, jargon-free advice, it's amazingly easy behavior to change. 

Executives who hire Goldsmith for one-on-one coaching pay $250,000 for the privilege. With this book, his help is available for 1/10,000th of the price.

By Greg McKeown

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Have you ever felt the urge to declutter your work life? Do you often find yourself stretched too thin? Do you simultaneously feel overworked and underutilized? Are you frequently busy but not productive? 

If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is the Way of the Essentialist. 

The Way of the Essentialist isn't about getting more done in less time. I't's about getting only the right things done. It is not a time management strategy, or a productivity technique. IT is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution towards the things that really matter. By forcing us to apply a more selective criteria for what is Essential, the disciplined pursuit of less empowers us to reclaim control of our own choices about where to spend our precious time and energy--instead of giving others the implicit permission to choose for us. 

Essentialism is not one more thing - it's a whole new way of doing everything. A must-read for any leader, manager, or individual who wants to do less, but better, and declutter and organize their own lives, Essentialism is a movement whose time has come. 

By Cal Newport

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It's a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship. 

In DEEP WORK, author and professor Cal Newport flips the narrative on impact in a connected age. Instead of arguing distraction is bad, he instead celebrates the power of its opposite. Dividing this book into two parts, he first makes the case that in almost any profession, cultivating a deep work ethic will produce massive benefits. He then presents a rigorous training regimen, presented as a series of four "rules" for transforming your mind and habits to support this skill. 

A mix of cultural criticism and actionable advice, DEEP WORK takes the read on a journey through memorable stories -- from Carl Jung building a stone tower in the woods to focus his mind, to a social media pioneer buying a roundtrip business class ticket to Tokyo to write a book free from distraction in the air -- and no-nonsense advice, such as the claim that most serious professionals should quit social media and that you should practice being bored. DEEP WORK is an indispensable guide to anyone seeking focused success in a distracted world. 

By Tiffany Dufu

Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less

Once the poster girl for doing it all, after she had her first child, Tiffany Dufu struggled to accomplish everything she thought she needed to in order to succeed. Like so many driven and talented women who have been brought up to believe that to have it all, they must do it all, Dufu began to feel that achieving her career and personal goals was an impossibility. Eventually, she discovered the solution: letting go. In Drop the Ball, Dufu recounts how she learned to reevaluate expectations, shrink her to-do list, and meaningfully engage the assistance of others-freeing the space she needed to flourish at work and to develop deeper, more meaningful relationships at home. 

Even though women are half the workforce, they still represent only 18% of the highest level leaders. The reasons are obvious: just as women reach middle management they are also starting families. Mounting responsibilities at work and home leave them with no bandwidth to do what will most lead to their success. Offering new perspectives on why the women's leadership movement has stalled, and packed with actionable advice, Tiffany Dufu's Drop the Ball urges women to embrace imperfections, to expect less of themselves and more from others-only then can they focus on what they truly care about, devote the necessary energy to achieving their goals, and create the type of rich, rewarding life we all desire. 

By Jia Jiang

Rejection Proof

Jia Jiang came to the United States with the dream of being the next Bill Gates. But despite early success in the corporate world, his first attempt to pursue his entrepreneurial dream ended in rejection. Jia was crushed and spiraled into a period of deep self doubt. But he realized that his fear of rejection was a bigger obstacle than any single rejection would ever be, and he needed to find a way to cope with being told no without letting it destroy him. Thus was born his "100 days of rejection" experiment, during which he willfully sought rejection on a daily basis--from requesting a lesson in sales from a car salesman (no) to asking a flight attendant if he could make an announcement on the loud speaker (yes) to his famous request to get Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the shape of Olympic rings (yes, with a viral video to prove it). 

Jia learned that even the most preposterous wish may be granted if you ask in the right way, and shares the secret of successful asking, how to pick targets, and how to tell when an initial no can be converted into something positive. But more important, he learned techniques for steeling himself against rejection and ways to develop his own confidence--a plan that can't be derailed by a single setback. Filled with great stories and valuable insight, Rejection Proof is a fun and thoughtful examination of how to overcome fear and dare to live more boldly.

By Susan Cain

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. IT is to introverts - Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak - that we owe many of the great contributions to society. 

In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts-from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves. 

By Kim Scott

Radical Candor

From the time we learn to speak, we're told that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. When you become a manager, it's your job to say it--and your obligation. 

Author Kim Scott was an executive at Google and then at Apple, where she worked with a team to develop a class on how to be a good boss. She has earned growing fame in recent years with her vital new approach to effective management, Radical Candor.

Radical Candor is a simple idea: to be a good boss, you have to Care Personally at the same time that you Challenge Directly. When you challenge without caring it's obnoxious aggression; when you care without challenging its ruinous empathy. When you do neither it's manipulative insincerity. 

This simple framework can help you build better relationships at work, and fulfill your three key responsibilities as a leader: creating a culture of feedback (praise and criticism), building a cohesive team, and achieving results you're all proud of. Radical Candor offers a guide to those bewildered or exhausted by management, written for bosses and those who manage bosses. Taken from years of experience, and distilled clearly giving actionable lessons to the reader, it shows managers how to be successful while retaining their humanity, finding meaning in their job, and creating an environment where people both love their work and their colleagues. 

By Ray Dailo

Principles: Life and Work

In 1975, Ray Dalio founded an investment firm, Bridgewater Associates, out of his tow-bedroom apartment in New York City. 40 years later, Bridgewater has made more money for its clients than any other hedge fund in history and grown into the 5th most important private company in the United States. 

Along the way, Dalio discovered a set of unique principles that have led to Bridgewater's exceptionally effective culture, which he describes as "an idea meritocracy that strives to achieve meaningful work and meaningful relationships through radical transparency." It is these principles that he believes are the reason behind his success. 

In Principles, Dalio shares what he's learned over the course of his remarkable career. He argues that life, management, economics, and investing can all be systemized into rules and understood like machines. The book's hundreds of practical lessons include Dalio laying out the most effective ways for individuals and organizations to make decisions, approach challenges, and build strong teams. He also describes the innovative tools the firm uses to bring an idea meritocracy to life. Principles offers a clear, straightforward approach to decision-making that Dalio believes anyone can apply, no matter what they're seeking to achieve. 

By Atul Gawande

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

We live in a world of great and increasing complexity, where even the most expert professionals struggle to master the tasks they face. Longer training, ever more advanced technologies—neither seems to prevent grievous errors. But in a hopeful turn, acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gawande finds a remedy in the humblest and simplest of techniques: the checklist. First introduced decades ago by the U.S. Air Force, checklists have enabled pilots to fly aircraft of mind-boggling sophistication. Now innovative checklists are being adopted in hospitals around the world, helping doctors and nurses respond to everything from flu epidemics to avalanches. Even in the immensely complex world of surgery, a simple ninety-second variant has cut the rate of fatalities by more than a third.

In riveting stories, Gawande takes us from Austria, where an emergency checklist saved a drowning victim who had spent half an hour underwater, to Michigan, where a cleanliness checklist in intensive care units virtually eliminated a type of deadly hospital infection. He explains how checklists actually work to prompt striking and immediate improvements. And he follows the checklist revolution into fields well beyond medicine, from disaster response to investment banking, skyscraper construction, and businesses of all kinds.

An intellectual adventure in which lives are lost and saved and one simple idea makes a tremendous difference, The Checklist Manifesto is essential reading for anyone working to get things right.

By Carmine Gallo

Talk Like Ted: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds

Ideas are the currency of the twenty-first century. In order to succeed, you need to be able to sell your ideas persuasively. This ability is the single greatest skill that will help you accomplish your dreams. TED Talks have redefined the elements of a successful presentation and become the gold standard for public speaking. TED―which stands for technology, entertainment, and design―brings together the world's leading thinkers. These are the presentations that set the world on fire, and the techniques that top TED speakers use will make any presentation more dynamic, fire up any team, and give anyone the confidence to overcome their fear of public speaking.

Public speaking coach and bestselling author Carmine Gallo has broken down hundreds of TED talks and interviewed the most popular TED presenters, as well as the top researchers in the fields of psychology, communications, and neuroscience to reveal the nine secrets of all successful TED presentations. Gallo's step-by-step method makes it possible for anyone to deliver a presentation that is engaging, persuasive, and memorable.

Many people have a fear of public speaking or are insecure about their ability to give a TED-worthy presentation. Carmine Gallo's top 10 Wall Street Journal Bestseller Talk Like TED will give them the tools to communicate the ideas that matter most to them, the skill to win over hearts and minds, and the confidence to deliver the talk of their lives.

By Katty Kay

The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance-What Women Should Know

Confidence. We want it. We need it. But it can be maddeningly enigmatic and out of reach. The authors of the New York Times bestseller Womenomics deconstruct this essential, elusive, and misunderstood quality and offer a blueprint for bringing more of it into our lives.

Is confidence hardwired into the DNA of a lucky few, or can anyone learn it? Is it best expressed by bravado, or is there another way to show confidence? Which is more important: confidence or competence? Why do so many women, even the most successful, struggle with feelings of self-doubt? Is there a secret to channeling our inner confidence?

In The Confidence Code, journalists Katty Kay and Claire Shipman travel to the frontiers of neuroscience on a hunt for the confidence gene and reveal surprising new research on its roots in our brains. They visit the world’s leading psychologists who explain how we can all choose to become more confident simply by taking action and courting risk, and how those actions change our physical wiring. They interview women leaders from the worlds of politics, sports, the military, and the arts to learn how they have tapped into this elemental resource. They examine how a lack of confidence impacts our leadership, success, and fulfillment.

Ultimately, they argue, while confidence is partly influenced by genetics, it is not a fixed psychological state. That’s the good news. You won’t discover it by thinking positive thoughts or by telling yourself (or your children) that you are perfect as you are. You also won’t find it by simply squaring your shoulders and faking it. But it does require a choice: less people pleasing and perfectionism and more action, risk taking, and fast failure.

Inspiring, insightful, and persuasive, The Confidence Code shows that by acting on our best instincts and by daring to be authentic, women can feel the transformative power of a life on confidence.

By James Clear

Atomic Habits

No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.

If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.

Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.

Learn how to:
  •  make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
  •  overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
  •  design your environment to make success easier;
  •  get back on track when you fall off course;

...and much more.

Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.

By Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson

The Challenger Sale

What's the secret to sales success? If you're like most business leaders, you'd say it's fundamentally about relationships-and you'd be wrong. The best salespeople don't just build relationships with customers. They challenge them.

The need to understand what top-performing reps are doing that their average performing colleagues are not drove Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson, and their colleagues at Corporate Executive Board to investigate the skills, behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes that matter most for high performance. And what they discovered may be the biggest shock to conventional sales wisdom in decades.

Based on an exhaustive study of thousands of sales reps across multiple industries and geographies, The Challenger Sale argues that classic relationship building is a losing approach, especially when it comes to selling complex, large-scale business-to-business solutions. The authors' study found that every sales rep in the world falls into one of five distinct profiles, and while all of these types of reps can deliver average sales performance, only one-the Challenger- delivers consistently high performance.

Instead of bludgeoning customers with endless facts and features about their company and products, Challengers approach customers with unique insights about how they can save or make money. They tailor their sales message to the customer's specific needs and objectives. Rather than acquiescing to the customer's every demand or objection, they are assertive, pushing back when necessary and taking control of the sale.

The things that make Challengers unique are replicable and teachable to the average sales rep. Once you understand how to identify the Challengers in your organization, you can model their approach and embed it throughout your sales force. The authors explain how almost any average-performing rep, once equipped with the right tools, can successfully reframe customers' expectations and deliver a distinctive purchase experience that drives higher levels of customer loyalty and, ultimately, greater growth.

By Daniel Pink

To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others Human

From the bestselling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind comes a surprising--and surprisingly useful--new book that explores the power of selling in our lives.


According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one in nine Americans works in sales. Every day more than fifteen million people earn their keep by persuading someone else to make a purchase.

But dig deeper and a startling truth emerges:

Yes, one in nine Americans works in sales. But so do the other eight.

Whether we’re employees pitching colleagues on a new idea, entrepreneurs enticing funders to invest, or parents and teachers cajoling children to study, we spend our days trying to move others. Like it or not, we’re all in sales now.

To Sell Is Human offers a fresh look at the art and science of selling. As he did in Drive and A Whole New Mind, Daniel H. Pink draws on a rich trove of social science for his counterintuitive insights. He reveals the new ABCs of moving others (it's no longer "Always Be Closing"), explains why extraverts don't make the best salespeople, and shows how giving people an "off-ramp" for their actions can matter more than actually changing their minds.

Along the way, Pink describes the six successors to the elevator pitch, the three rules for understanding another's perspective, the five frames that can make your message clearer and more persuasive, and much more. The result is a perceptive and practical book--one that will change how you see the world and transform what you do at work, at school, and at home.

By David Allen

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

Since it was first published almost fifteen years ago, David Allen’s Getting Things Done has become one of the most influential business books of its era, and the ultimate book on personal organization. “GTD” is now shorthand for an entire way of approaching professional and personal tasks, and has spawned an entire culture of websites, organizational tools, seminars, and offshoots.
 
Allen has rewritten the book from start to finish, tweaking his classic text with important perspectives on the new workplace, and adding material that will make the book fresh and relevant for years to come. This new edition of Getting Things Done will be welcomed not only by its hundreds of thousands of existing fans but also by a whole new generation eager to adopt its proven principles.

By Lisa Earle McLeod

Selling with Noble Purpose: How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud

Drawing on two decades of consulting with leading sales organizations, sales leadership expert Lisa Earle McLeod reveals how a Noble Sales Purpose (NSP) can drive a team to outstanding sales numbers. Using hard data and compelling field stories, Selling with Purpose explains why salespeople who understand earnestly how they make a difference to customers outperform their more quota-driven counterparts. This book shows executives, managers, and aspiring sales leaders how to find your NSP and create a sales force of True Believers who drive revenue and do work that makes them proud.

    *    Explains why sales organizations with a clearly stated Noble Sales Purpose (NSP) dramatically outperform sales organizations driven by numbers alone
    *    Details how to find your NSP using a simple three-part formula
    *    Shares how to use NSP to make your salespeople more assertive, focused, and profitable

In an era where most organizations believe that money is the only way to motivate salespeople, Selling With Purpose offers a sustainable and exciting alternative.

By Geoffrey A. Moore

Crossing the Chasm

The bible for bringing cutting-edge products to larger markets—now revised and updated with new insights into the realities of high-tech marketing

In Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey A. Moore shows that in the Technology Adoption Life Cycle—which begins with innovators and moves to early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards—there is a vast chasm between the early adopters and the early majority. While early adopters are willing to sacrifice for the advantage of being first, the early majority waits until they know that the technology actually offers improvements in productivity. The challenge for innovators and marketers is to narrow this chasm and ultimately accelerate adoption across every segment.

This third edition brings Moore's classic work up to date with dozens of new examples of successes and failures, new strategies for marketing in the digital world, and Moore's most current insights and findings. He also includes two new appendices, the first connecting the ideas in Crossing the Chasm to work subsequently published in his Inside the Tornado, and the second presenting his recent groundbreaking work for technology adoption models for high-tech consumer markets.

By Aaron Ross

Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into a Sales Machine with the $100 Million Best Practices of Salesforce.com

"Alexander Graham Bell discovered the telephone, Thomas Edison discovered electricity and Aaron Ross discovered the Enterprise Market for Salesforce.com." 
SHELLY DAVENPORT - VP Worldwide Sales at Replicon & ex-VP Corporate Sales at Salesforce.com

Discover the outbound sales process that, in just a few years, helped add $100 million in recurring revenue to Salesforce.com, almost doubling their enterprise growth... with zero cold calls.

This is NOT another book about how to cold call or close deals. This is an entirely new kind of sales bible for CEOs, entrepreneurs and sales VPs to help you build a sales machine.  What does it take for your sales team to generate as many highly-qualified new leads as you want, create predictable revenue, and meet your financial goals without your constant focus and attention? 


LEARN INSIDE

  • How an outbound sales process ("Cold Calling 2.0"), that without cold calls or a marketing budget, can generate a 9% response rate and millions of dollars from cold prospects.

  • The Seven Fatal Sales Mistakes CEOs and Sales VPs (even experienced ones) make time and time again.

  • How outbound sales and selling can be friendly, helpful and enjoyable.

  • How to develop self-managing sales teams, turning your employees into mini-CEOs.

  • And more...

By Leo Babauta

The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential…in Business and in Life

With the countless distractions that come from every corner of a modern life, it's amazing that were ever able to accomplish anything. The Power of Less demonstrates how to streamline your life by identifying the essential and eliminating the unnecessary freeing you from everyday clutter and allowing you to focus on accomplishing the goals that can change your life for the better.

The Power of Less will show you how to: Break any goal down into manageable tasks Focus on only a few tasks at a time Create new and productive habits Hone your focus Increase your efficiency By setting limits for yourself and making the most of the resources you already have, youll finally be able work less, work smarter, and focus on living the life that you deserve.

By David McRaney

You Are Not So Smart: WHy You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction and 46 Other Ways You’re Deluding Yourself

Whether you’re deciding which smartphone to purchase or which politician to believe, you think you are a rational being whose every decision is based on cool, detached logic. But here’s the truth: You are not so smart. You’re just as deluded as the rest of us—but that’s okay, because being deluded is part of being human.

Growing out of David McRaney’s popular blog, You Are Not So Smart reveals that every decision we make, every thought we contemplate, and every emotion we feel comes with a story we tell ourselves to explain them. But often these stories aren’t true. Each short chapter—covering topics such as Learned Helplessness, Selling Out, and the Illusion of Transparency—is like a psychology course with all the boring parts taken out.

Bringing together popular science and psychology with humor and wit, You Are Not So Smart is a celebration of our irrational, thoroughly human behavior.

By Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results

People are using this simple, powerful concept to focus on what matters most in their personal and work lives. Companies are helping their employees be more productive with study groups, training, and coaching. Sales teams are boosting sales. Churches are conducting classes and recommending for their members.

By focusing their energy on one thing at a time people are living more rewarding lives by building their careers, strengthening their finances, losing weight and getting in shape, deepening their faith, and nurturing stronger marriages and personal relationships.

YOU WANT LESS. You want fewer distractions and less on your plate. The daily barrage of e-mails, texts, tweets, messages, and meetings distract you and stress you out. The simultaneous demands of work and family are taking a toll. And what's the cost? Second-rate work, missed deadlines, smaller paychecks, fewer promotions--and lots of stress.

AND YOU WANT MORE. You want more productivity from your work. More income for a better lifestyle. You want more satisfaction from life, and more time for yourself, your family, and your friends.

NOW YOU CAN HAVE BOTH ― LESS AND MORE. In The ONE Thing, you'll learn to * cut through the clutter * achieve better results in less time * build momentum toward your goal* dial down the stress * overcome that overwhelmed feeling * revive your energy * stay on track * master what matters to you The ONE Thing delivers extraordinary results in every area of your life--work, personal, family, and spiritual. WHAT'S YOUR ONE THING?

By Michael Gerber

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It

E-Myth \ 'e-,'mith\ n 1: the entrepreneurial myth: the myth that most people who start small businesses are entrepreneurs 2: the fatal assumption that an individual who understands the technical work of a business can successfully run a business that does that technical work

Voted #1 business book by Inc. 500 CEOs.

An instant classic, this revised and updated edition of the phenomenal bestseller dispels the myths about starting your own business. Small business consultant and author Michael E. Gerber, with sharp insight gained from years of experience, points out how common assumptions, expectations, and even technical expertise can get in the way of running a successful business.

Gerber walks you through the steps in the life of a business—from entrepreneurial infancy through adolescent growing pains to the mature entrepreneurial perspective: the guiding light of all businesses that succeed—and shows how to apply the lessons of franchising to any business, whether or not it is a franchise. Most importantly, Gerber draws the vital, often overlooked distinction between working on your business and working in your business.

The E-Myth Revisited will help you grow your business in a productive, assured way.

By Kim Morgan

The Coach’s Survival Guide

Written by award-winning coach Kim Morgan, this book is aimed at new coaches working in a freelance or self-employed role. It is also a valuable resource for anyone involved in coaching, including trainers of coaches.


The Coach’s Survival Guide is an easy to use, accessible book, grounded in practice and experience and including case studies drawn from real-life practice.  It is rooted in the real world, normalizing the insecurities felt by many coaches and acknowledging the realities of building a coaching business, while addressing the everyday issues that can hinder a coach's performance or confidence.

Kim covers issues such as:

• Dealing with Impostor Syndrome
• Establishing credibility
• Contracting and boundaries
• Coaching dilemmas
• Building your coaching business
• Self-care for coaches

This new book is intended to be a survival guide so that coaches can access instant support for dilemmas that occur in their coaching practice.

By Octavia Goredema

Prep, Push, Pivot: Essential Career Strategies for Underrepresented Women

Advance your career with this insightful playbook for underrepresented women

In Prep, Push, Pivot, award-winning career coach and author Octavia Goredema delivers an indispensable career coaching guide for women looking for a new job, dealing with job loss, pivoting to a new career, or returning to the workforce after an extended absence.

You'll discover practical strategies you can implement at crucial times during your career, ensuring your considerable talents and skills are used to their full potential. In this important book, you'll:

  • Discover your true worth, cement your career values, and carve out a realistic and aspirational career plan

  • Learn how to position yourself for a promotion, navigate a break in your career, and integrate your role as a mother or caregiver with your professional life

  • Deal with monumental career changes, contribute to the development of the women around you, and benefit from an array of professional resources in your journey forward

Perfect for women who are ready to overcome any obstacles that await them, Prep, Push, Pivot is a thoughtful road map to help women chart their professional and personal success.

By David Epstein

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. Failing a test is the best way to learn. Frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The most impactful inventors cross domains rather than deepening their knowledge in a single area. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.

By Amir Levine MD and Rachel Heller, MA

Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find and Keep Love

Discover how an understanding of adult attachment—the most advanced relationship science in existence today—can help us find and sustain love. Pioneered by psychologist John Bowlby in the 1950s, the field of attachment posits that each of us behaves in relationships in one of three distinct ways:

   • Anxious people are often preoccupied with their relationships and tend to worry about their partner's ability to love them back.
   • Avoidant people equate intimacy with a loss of independence and constantly try to minimize closeness.
   • Secure people feel comfortable with intimacy and are usually warm and loving.

Attached guides readers in determining what attachment style they and their mate (or potential mate) follow, offering a road map for building stronger, more fulfilling connections with the people they love.

By Heather Barnfield

FYI: For Your Improvement - Competencies Development Guide

FYI for your improvement "5" edition includes 93 chapters on 67 leadership architect competencies, 19 career stallers and stoppers, and 7 global focus areas referencing the skilled, unskilled, and overused definitions to help identify a need. Supporting development content includes substitution options (substitute a strength for a weakness), compensators (moderate an overused skill), causes for the need, the map (why the skill is important), some remedies (tips), inspiring quotes, and suggested readings.

By Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen

Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well

Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen have spent the past fifteen years working with corporations, nonprofits, governments, and families to determine what helps us learn and what gets in our way. In Thanks for the Feedback, they explain why receiving feedback is so crucial yet so challenging, offering a simple framework and powerful tools to help us take on life’s blizzard of offhand comments, annual evaluations, and unsolicited input with curiosity and grace. They blend the latest insights from neuroscience and psychology with practical, hard-headed advice. Thanks for the Feedback is destined to become a classic in the fields of leadership, organizational behavior, and education.

By Arthur C. Brooks

From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life

At the height of his career at the age of 50, Arthur Brooks embarked on a seven-year journey to discover how to transform his future from one of disappointment over waning abilities into an opportunity for progress. From Strength to Strength is the result, a practical roadmap for the rest of your life.

Drawing on social science, philosophy, biography, theology, and eastern wisdom, as well as dozens of interviews with everyday men and women, Brooks shows us that true life success is well within our reach. By refocusing on certain priorities and habits that anyone can learn, such as deep wisdom, detachment from empty rewards, connection and service to others, and spiritual progress, we can set ourselves up for increased happiness.

Read this book and you, too, can go from strength to strength.

By Adam Morgan and Mark Barden

A Beautiful Constraint: How To Transform Your Limitations Into Advantages, and Why It's Everyone's Business

An inspiring yet practical guide for transforming limitations into opportunities

A Beautiful Constraint: How to Transform Your Limitations Into Advantages And Why It's Everyone's Business Now is a book about everyday, practical inventiveness, designed for the constrained times in which we live. It describes how to take the kinds of issues that all of us face today―lack of time, money, resources, attention, know-how―and see in them the opportunity for transformation of oneself and one's organization's fortunes. The ideas in the book are based on the authors' extensive work as business consultants, and are brought to life in 35 personal interviews from such varied sources as Nike, IKEA, Unilever, the U.S. Navy, Formula One racecar engineers, public school teachers in California, and barley farmers in South Africa. Underpinned by scientific research into the psychology of breakthrough, the book is a practical handbook full of tools and tips for how to make more from less. Beautifully designed and accessible, A Beautiful Constraint will appeal beyond its core business audience to anyone who needs to find the opportunity in constraint.

By Patrick Lencioni

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

After her first two weeks observing the problems at DecisionTech, Kathryn Petersen, its new CEO, had more than a few moments when she wondered if she should have taken the job. But Kathryn knew there was little chance she would have turned it down. After all, retirement had made her antsy, and nothing excited her more than a challenge. What she could not have known when she accepted the job, however, was just how dysfunctional her team was, and how team members would challenge her in ways that no one ever had before.

For twenty years, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team has been engaging audiences with a page-turning, realistic fable that follows the travails of Kathryn Petersen, DecisionTech’s CEO, as she faces the ultimate leadership crisis. She must unite a team in such disarray that it threatens to derail the entire company.

Equal parts leadership fable and business handbook, this definitive source on teamwork by Patrick Lencioni reveals the five behavioral tendencies that go to the heart of why even the best teams struggle. He offers a powerful model and step-by-step guide for overcoming those dysfunctions and getting every one rowing in the same direction.

Today, the lessons in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team are more relevant than ever. This special anniversary edition celebrates one of the best-selling business books of all time with a new foreword from the author that reflects on its legacy and lessons.