Confessions of a Public Speaker


Scott Berkun - 2009
    For managers and teachers -- and anyone else who talks and expects someone to listen -- Confessions of a Public Speaker provides an insider's perspective on how to effectively present ideas to anyone. It's a unique, entertaining, and instructional romp through the embarrassments and triumphs Scott has experienced over 15 years of speaking to crowds of all sizes.With lively lessons and surprising confessions, you'll get new insights into the art of persuasion -- as well as teaching, learning, and performance -- directly from a master of the trade.Highlights include:Berkun's hard-won and simple philosophy, culled from years of lectures, teaching courses, and hours of appearances on NPR, MSNBC, and CNBCPractical advice, including how to work a tough room, the science of not boring people, how to survive the attack of the butterflies, and what to do when things go wrongThe inside scoop on who earns $30,000 for a one-hour lecture and whyThe worst -- and funniest -- disaster stories you've ever heard (plus countermoves you can use)Filled with humorous and illuminating stories of thrilling performances and real-life disasters, Confessions of a Public Speaker is inspirational, devastatingly honest, and a blast to read.

The San Francisco Fallacy: The Ten Fallacies That Make Founders Fail


Jonathan Siegel - 2017
    Most importantly, it's about how to avoid making these same mistakes yourself.In The San Francisco Fallacy, serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist Jonathan Siegel looks at the 10 biggest fallacies that run through startup culture. Over his many years launching companies, he's fallen victim to what he now recognizes as a series of common errors, misconceptions that bedevil startups to this day. But he also learned how to sidestep and surmount many of these challenges.After multiple eight-figure exits and other startup successes, Jonathan began to see the deeper fallacies in which his failures took root. His biggest career successes, on the other hand, seemed to come when he and his teams went against the tide and did everything "wrong."This book is an examination of the popular belief system about startups. At its heart is a series of challenges to years of accumulated startup orthodoxy. What emerges is not just a critique but an inspiring call--to anyone trying to build a successful business--for a broader kind of critical thinking.

Harsh Realities: The Making of Marico


Harsh Mariwala - 2021
    Today, the homegrown Marico is a leading international FMCG giant which recorded an annual turnover of over Rs 8000 crore last year. Their products, like Parachute, Nihar Naturals, Saffola, Set Wet, Livon and Mediker, are market leaders in their categories. This is the story of grit, gumption and growth, and of the core values of trust, transparency and innovation which have brought the company to its current stature. Co-authored by leading management thinker and guru Ram Charan, Harsh Realities is a much-awaited business book by an innovative and clear-headed leader who built a highly professional, competitive business from the ground up.

Fit For Success: Lessons On Achievement And Leading Your Best Life (Renaissance Periodization Book 12)


Nick Shaw - 2020
    

Wander Woman: How High-Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction


Marcia Reynolds - 2010
     These women were jumping jobs regularly, defining and redefining their relationship with the marketplace, constantly questioning their roles as wives and mothers and sisters. Dubbing her subjects "wander women," Reynolds found that the mentoring and personal development resources currently available don't address this audience's needs. They don't want to balance their lives; they want to find peace of mind in the chaos. They don't necessarily want to learn how to gain a seat in the boardroom; they want projects they can run with or businesses they can run on their own. The problem isn't their level of stress; it's about knowing who they are and what they want to accomplish in this one lifetime. Wander Woman explores how generational shifts and changing expectations of working women have fostered a new kind of restlessness among many. Through real-life stories she reveals the hopes and dreams, disappointments and challenges this group of high-achieving women are facing. And, most importantly, she provides exercises and development strategies for readers as they make their journey to peace and finally come to rest with a strong sense of identity and purpose.

What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures


Malcolm Gladwell - 2009
    Now, in What the Dog Saw, he brings together, for the first time, the best of his writing from The New Yorker over the same period. Here you'll find the bittersweet tale of the inventor of the birth control pill, and the dazzling creations of pasta sauce pioneer Howard Moscowitz. Gladwell sits with Ron Popeil, the king of the American kitchen, as he sells rotisserie ovens, and divines the secrets of Cesar Millan, the "dog whisperer" who can calm savage animals with the touch of his hand. He explores intelligence tests and ethnic profiling and why it was that employers in Silicon Valley once tripped over themselves to hire the same college graduate.

Making Habits, Breaking Habits: Why We Do Things, Why We Don't, and How to Make Any Change Stick


Jeremy Dean - 2012
    How long should it take before you stop having to force it and start doing it automatically?The surprising answers are found in Making Habits, Breaking Habits, a psychologist's popular examination of one of the most powerful and under-appreciated processes in the mind. Although people like to think that they are in control, much of human behavior occurs without any decision-making or conscious thought.Drawing on hundreds of fascinating studies, psychologist Jeremy Dean busts the myths to finally explain why seemingly easy habits, like eating an apple a day, can be surprisingly difficult to form, and how to take charge of your brain's natural “autopilot” to make any change stick.Witty and intriguing, Making Habits, Breaking Habits shows how behavior is more than just a product of what you think. It is possible to bend your habits to your will—and be happier, more creative, and more productive.

Be: A No-Bullsh*t Guide to Increasing Your Self Worth and Net Worth by Simply Being Yourself


Jessica Zweig - 2021
    Everyone in marketing is talking “authenticity.” Which means making a personal or professional brand should be simpler than ever, right? What could be easier than “being yourself?” Simple? Sure. But easy? Not so much. Why? Because authenticity is unfiltered, unapologetic, and honest. Authenticity owns its imperfections and takes responsibility for mistakes. It shows up on the good and bad days. In short, authenticity feels scary. No wonder we try to brand ourselves as someone else we think will be more appealing than our real selves. Jessica Zweig founded the SimplyBe. agency to revolutionize an authenticity-first approach to branding. With Be: A No-Bullsh*t Guide to Increasing Your Self Worth and Net Worth by Simply Being Yourself, she shares her most powerful secrets for building authenticity, service, and real connection into your winning brand. “I’m opening up the freakin’ vault to SimplyBe.’s best-in-class, trademarked methodologies, tools, and frameworks for clearing away everything that’s keeping the real you from shining through,” she says, including: • Branding Reinvented—Forget the hacks and tricks, it’s time to learn what personal branding is really about.• Embracing Your Sh*t—All that stuff you think you need to hide? That’s actually your most important resource!• Your Vibe Attracts Your Tribe—Learn to magnetize the people who most want to support you (and they’re out there).• Your Personal Brand Hologram®—SimplyBe.’s universal framework can crystallize your utterly unique brand platform.• The Supernova™—Create winning content with the secret sauce of consistency and clarity.• The Pinnacle Content Framework™—Take the stress out of strategy and find the most direct, effective path toward your goals.• Getting Social Media Right—Stop chasing trends and learn the 10 sustainable, evergreen principles for online connection.• Living Your Brand—Take your authentic personal brand where it matters most: offline and into your relationships, your workplace, and the way you show up in the world.“We are living at an inflection point,” says Jessica Zweig. “For any brand—business or personal—the game is no longer about eyeballs, but engagement. No longer about impressions, but impact. Content is no longer king, clarity is. Your best strategy? Service and generosity. Your best solution? Authenticity.” Here is a powerful guide for connecting with others, changing lives, and moving the world forward as only you can.

Mind Hacking: How to Change Your Mind for Good in 21 Days


John Hargrave - 2015
    A how-to manual for hacking your head.

Succeeding as a Management Consultant


Kris Safarova - 2020
    Readers can view the templates used in consulting studies and how they are used. All the foundational strategy and business analyses tools are taught along with the soft skills and practical tools to solve any business problem. This is the only book of its kind walking the reader step-by-step through a complete consulting study.This book follows an engagement team as they assist a large company in diagnosing and fixing deep and persistent organizational issues over an 8-week assignment. Readers will learn how they successfully navigate a challenging client environment, frame the problem and limit the scope, develop hypotheses, build the analyses and provide the final recommendations.We have placed the explanation of management consulting techniques within a lively and engaging storyline, which allows the reader to truly understand the challenges faced on consulting engagements, connect with the characters, and understand both how and why they debated elements of the study.It is written so that the reader may follow, understand, and replicate a strategic engagement using the same techniques used by the leading firms, such as McKinsey, Bain, and BCG. To make the story realistic and useful, we have worked with one client engagement throughout the book. Using different examples and different clients to explain concepts would have made it difficult for readers to see the data linkages and development of the final recommendations. The client and engagement are fictitious. The data presented are also fictitious, but they are based on actual consulting engagements and the experiences of the author and the contributing McKinsey, BCG, et. al. partners at FIRMSconsulting.com & StrategyTraining.com.

QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life


John G. Miller - 2004
    No organization—or individual—can successfully compete in the marketplace, achieve goals and objectives, provide outstanding service, engage in exceptional teamwork, or develop people without personal accountability.   John G. Miller believes that the troubles that plague organizations cannot be solved by pointing fingers and blaming others. Rather, the real solutions are found when each of us recognizes the power of personal accountability. In QBQ! The Question Behind the Question®, Miller explains how negative, ill-focused questions like “Why do we have to go through all this change?” and “Who dropped the ball?” represent a lack of personal accountability. Conversely, when we ask better questions—QBQs—such as “What can I do to contribute?” or “How can I help solve the problem?” our lives and our organizations are transformed.THE QBQ! PROMISEThis remarkable and timely book provides a practical method for putting personal accountability into daily actions, with astonishing results: problems are solved, internal barriers come down, service improves, teams thrive, and people adapt to change more quickly. QBQ! is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to learn, grow, and change. Using this tool, each of us can add tremendous worth to our organizations and to our lives by eliminating blame, victim-thinking, and procrastination.                                                                                                 QBQ! was written more than a decade ago and has helped countless readers practice personal accountability at work and at home. This version features a new foreword, revisions and new material throughout, and a section of  FAQs that the author has received over the years.

Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All


Tom Kelley - 2013
     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.

Ego Is the Enemy


Ryan Holiday - 2016
    In fact, the most common enemy lies within: our ego. Early in our careers, it impedes learning and the cultivation of talent. With success, it can blind us to our faults and sow future problems. In failure, it magnifies each blow and makes recovery more difficult. At every stage, ego holds us back.The Ego is the Enemy draws on a vast array of stories and examples, from literature to philosophy to history. We meet fascinating figures like Howard Hughes, Katharine Graham, Bill Belichick, and Eleanor Roosevelt, all of whom reached the highest levels of power and success by conquering their own egos. Their strategies and tactics can be ours as well.But why should we bother fighting ego in an era that glorifies social media, reality TV, and other forms of shameless self-promotion?  Armed with the lessons in this book, as Holiday writes, “you will be less invested in the story you tell about your own specialness, and as a result, you will be liberated to accomplish the world-changing work you’ve set out to achieve.”

High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service: Inspire Timeless Loyalty in the Demanding New World of Social Commerce


Micah Solomon - 2012
    Today's customers are a hard bunch to crack. Time-strapped, screen-addicted, value-savvy, and socially engaged, their expectations are tougher than ever for a business to keep up with. They are empowered like never before and expect businesses to respect that sense of empowerment--lashing out at those that don't.  Take heart: Old-fashioned customer service, fully retooled for today's blistering pace and digitally connected reality, is what you need to build the kind loyal customer base that allows you to survive--and thrive. And  High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service  spells out surefire strategies for success in a clear, entertaining, and practical way. Discover:  * Six major customer trends and what they mean for your business  * Eight unbreakable rules for social media customer service  * How to effectively address online complainers and saboteurs on Yelp, Twitter, TripAdvisor, and other forums for user generated content  * The rising power of self-service--and how to design it properly  * How to build a company culture that breeds stellar customer service ? High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service reveals inside secrets of wildly successful customer service initiatives, from Internet startups to venerable brands, and shows how companies of every stripe can turn casual customers into fervent supporters who will spread the word far and wide--online and off.

Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You


Bill Burnett - 2016
    Now in book form for the first time, their simple method will teach you how to use basic design tools to create a life that will work for you.Using real-life stories and proven techniques like reframing, prototyping and mind-mapping, you will learn how to build your way forwards, step-by-positive-step, to a life that’s better by a design of your own making.Because a well-designed life means a life well-lived.