The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense


Suzette Haden Elgin - 1980
    In The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense you'll learn the skills you need to respond to all types of verbal attack. Specific strategies fro your defense include:* Twelve rules of clear, effective interaction* Recognition of five verbal modes--the Placator, Blamer, Distractor, Computer, and Leveler* Tone of voice--make yours bolder and more assertive* Alternative scripts--better approaches to common confrontation* Body language--how it supports what you say* and in special chapters directed to both men and women, the author explains how women have long been the verbal victims of men and what both sexes can do to break this destructive patternWith numerous examples of verbal confrontations and a journal to help you keep track of your progress, The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense will give you the perception you need to deal confidently in any interaction.

Ambedkar's India


B.R. Ambedkar - 2020
    Ambedkar's most prominent speeches on caste and the Indian Constitution. "In the fight for Swaraj, you fight with the whole nation on your side. In fighting caste system, you stand against the whole nation—and that too, your own." Annihilation of Caste is one of Ambedkar's best works in putting together how caste as a system has been eating up the roots of a rich cultural melting pot like India. "Bhakti in religion could lead to salvation. But in politics, Bhakti is a sure road to eventual dictatorship." The Grammar of Anarchy reflects Ambedkar's ideas on how we need to pave the way for Independent India. It reflects his deep love and aspirations for India and its people. "...the sub-divisions [of caste] have lost the open-door character of the class system, and have become self-enclosed units called castes." Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development is an in-depth study of how classes went on to become castes and sub-castes to dot the Indian social system. This powerful narrative is a radical eye-opener.

Unaccountable: Truth and Lies on Parliament Hill


Kevin Page - 2015
    The move fulfilled a Tory campaign promise to deliver greater government transparency and accountability. He was later denounced by the same people who appointed him to scrutinize their spending. When he challenged the government on several issues--most notably about the true costs of the F-35 fighter planes--and publicly claimed the government was misleading Canadians, Page was vilified. He was called "unbelievable, unreliable and incredible" by then-Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. Page's term was not extended and he retired from the civil service.     Page's assessment of the F-35 procurement was proven right, a major embarrassment to the Harper government. But Page's overriding concern is that Parliament does not get the information and analysis it needs to hold the executive (the prime minister and cabinet) to account. Parliament, he argues, is broken, with power centralized in the PMO. The civil service appears cowed, and members of parliament almost never see enough financial analysis to support the policy decisions they make. That was true at various times on the tough-on-crime legislation, new military procurement as well as changes to the Canada Health Transfer and Old Age Security.      In this shocking insider's account, Page argues that democracy is being undermined by an increasingly autocratic government that does not respect facts that run counter to its political agenda. Elected officials need accurate, independently verified data to support the implementation of policies and programs. In Unaccountable, Page tells all Canadians why we should be concerned.

Alive at Work: The Neuroscience of Helping Your People Love What They Do


Daniel M. Cable - 2018
    Cable takes leaders into the minds of workers and reveals the surprising secret to restoring their zest for work.Disengagement isn't a motivational problem, it's a biological one. Humans aren't built for routine and repetition. We're designed to crave exploration, experimentation, and learning--in fact, there's a part of our brains, which scientists have coined "the seeking system," that rewards us for taking part in these activities. But the way organizations are run prevents many of us from following our innate impulses. As a result, we shut down.Things need to change. More than ever before, employee creativity and engagement are needed to win. Fortunately, it won't take an extensive overhaul of your organizational culture to get started. With small nudges, you can personally help people reach their fullest potential.

Sustainable Happiness: Live Simply, Live Well, Make a Difference


Sarah van Gelder - 2015
    So we pile up the stuff, pile on the hours, and end up exhausted and depressed on a planet full of trash. Yes! Magazine has been exploring the meaning of real happiness for 18 years, and in this utterly delightful book, they bring together what thoughtful researchers and thoughtful people have uncovered about achieving happiness that lasts. Each chapter takes a different approach and tackles a different aspect of happiness, but all lead to the same conclusion: it isn t money or things that make us happy, it s the depth of our relationships, the quality of our communities, the contribution we make through the work we do, our ability to enjoy a healthy natural world. The authors discuss the ways that our stories about happiness and well-being define the goals of individuals and society and offer insights readers can use in their own lives to enhance their long-term well-being."

The Truth about Lying: How to Spot a Lie and Protect Yourself from Deception


Stan B. Walters - 2000
    Knowing when to ask the next question, the behaviors that signal when the whole story isn't being told and what questions to ask can help you cut through deception and lying so you can have confidence in your communications.Based on the same methods used by law enforcement professionals, but appropriate for everyday interactions, these skills and techniques can be applied in almost every situation:--hiring a nanny or household worker--working with an employee--talking with a service provider--dealing with a teenager--communicating in a romantic relationshipWithout threats or intimidation, Walters' strategies will improve relationships and communication by teaching how to spot a liar and, more importantly, how to get to the truth.

Yellow Mesquite


John J. Asher - 2014
    Determined to fulfill his dreams as an artist, he hitches out of Separation, Texas, headed for art school and the culture of 1960s New York City. But when the woman with whom he seeks solace from the pain of Darlene’s betrayal winds up pregnant, Harley’s plans—along with his dreams—get derailed. Determined to forge his path, Harley finally makes it to New York, where the art world opens up to him amid his blossoming relationship with Frankie, the first true equal and partner of his life. But Harley can’t leave his past behind as easily as he left Texas. A shocking discovery ignites a bloodlust that makes him risk everything he’s achieved, and propels him on an adrenaline-driven mission of revenge back to Texas, and the seedy underbelly of Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, where he finally confronts the obsession that has crippled his entire life.

Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture


Carrie McLaren - 2009
    The book questions, in the broadest sense, what happens to human beings when their brains are constantly assaulted by advertising and corporate messages. Most people assert that advertising is easily ignored and doesn't have any effect on them or their decision making, but Ad Nauseam shows that consumer pop culture does take its toll.In an engaging, accessible, and graphically appealing style, Carrie McLaren and Jason Torchinsky (as well as contributors such as David Cross, The Onion's Joe Garden, The New York Times's Julie Scelfo, and others) discuss everything from why the TV program CSI affects jury selection, to the methods by which market researchers stalk shoppers, to how advertising strategy is like dog training. The result is an entertaining and eye-opening account of the many ways consumer culture continues to pervade and transform American life.

Better, Simpler Strategy: A Value-Based Guide to Exceptional Performance


Felix Oberholzer-Gee - 2021
    Extreme market volatility, pandemics, industry change, supply-chain disruption. The list of potential threats and strategic challenges seems to be growing exponentially. At the same time, the laborious processes used by many firms to develop a workable strategy often feel overly bureaucratic and behind the curve. There is no question that strategic decision-making has become more challenging and complex. In fact, many companies seem to have given up on strategy altogether. In Better, Simpler Strategy, Harvard Business School professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee provides executives with a simple tool to cut through technological complexity and market uncertainties. The Value Stick, based on proven economic mechanics, is an extraordinarily powerful tool that helps executives decide where to focus their attention and how to deepen their firm's competitive advantage. How does the Value Stick work? It provides a way of measuring two fundamental forces that lead to value creation and capture-the customer's willingness to pay and the employee's willingness to sell their services to the firm. For example, increasing product quality increases a customer's willingness to pay. And firms can redesign work processes or conditions or integrate other benefits (besides income) to lower employees' willingness to sell their services to firms and still retain them. With many examples across industries (based on Harvard Business School case studies), Oberholzer-Gee shows these value dynamics in action and explains how looking at and adjusting these measures using one tool, the Value Stick, enables firms to gauge and improve their strategies and operations. Based on the author's successful strategy course, Better, Simpler Strategy will become every business strategist's must-have guide for making better strategic decisions and gaining competitive advantage"--

HBR's 10 Must Reads on Teams (with featured article “The Discipline of Teams,” by Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith)


Jon R. KatzenbachSteven K. Kramer - 2013
    Yours can beat the odds.If you read nothing else on building better teams, read these 10 articles. We’ve combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you assemble and steer teams that get results.Leading experts such as Jon Katzenbach, Teresa Amabile, and Tamara Erickson provide the insights and advice you need to:• Boost team performance through mutual accountability• Motivate large, diverse groups to tackle complex projects• Increase your teams’ emotional intelligence• Prevent decision deadlock• Extract results from a bunch of touchy superstars• Fight constructively with top-management colleaguesLooking for more Must Read articles from Harvard Business Review? Check out these titles in the popular series:HBR’s 10 Must Reads: The EssentialsHBR’s 10 Must Reads on CommunicationHBR’s 10 Must Reads on CollaborationHBR’s 10 Must Reads on InnovationHBR’s 10 Must Reads on LeadershipHBR’s 10 Must Reads on Making Smart DecisionsHBR’s 10 Must Reads on Managing YourselfHBR’s 10 Must Reads on Strategic Marketing

Quiúbole con... Para hombres


Gaby Vargas - 2006
    for Girls, Vargas and Rosado now reveal the other face of the coin: Qui?bole with... for Guys. Adolescence is a complicated stage of life in which, overnight and without warning, you are faced with uncertainties of all kinds. Here, guys will find the answer to all the questions that keep you up at night, from the physical to the mental changes.

Smart Calling: Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection from Cold Calling


Art Sobczak - 2010
    Take the initiative to read and implement Art's rational principles and you will sell much more and develop a prospect base of potential customers who will call you when they are ready to purchase or graciously take your future calls. This is THE BEST sales text I have read in the past twenty years."--REX CASWELL, PhD, VP, LexisNexis Telephone Sales"You get only one chance to make the right impression in sales. If a top prospect gets a hundred calls a week, you want to be the one he remembers and buys from. Art's proven methods create a unique brand for you and position your offering as the best option. Art's advice isn't just smart, it's priceless."--BOB SILVY, VP, Corporate Marketing, American City Business Journals"Smart Calling effectively enables inside sales reps and organizations to accomplish a top priority--acquiring new customers. Art's pragmatic and actionable techniques will increase productivity, success, and professional satisfaction."--BILL McALISTER, SVP, Inside Sales, McAfee"A must-read, must-own book for anyone who wants to increase their sales right away with less effort and more fun. I'm so sure this book is a winner for anyone who needs to call prospects that I'll personally assure you that your results will increase noticeably after reading it, or I'll send you your money back."--MIKE FAITH, CEO & President, Headsets.com, Inc."If you need to make a first call to anyone, for whatever reason, this book is for you. More than common sense, it's a real-world, no-fluff, simple approach that anyone can use to be successful."--DARCI MAENPA, President, West Coast Chapter, American Teleservices Association; Director, Member Support, Toastmasters International

The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World


Dorie Clark - 2021
    Today's professionals feel rushed, overwhelmed, and perennially behind. So we keep our heads down, focused on the next thing, and the next, without a moment to breathe.How can we break out of this endless cycle and create the kind of interesting, meaningful lives we all seek?Just as CEOs who optimize for quarterly profits often fail to make the strategic investments necessary for long-term growth, the same is true in our own personal and professional lives. We need to reorient ourselves to see the big picture so we can tap into the power of small changes that, made today, will have an enormous and disproportionate impact on our future success. We need to start playing The Long Game.As top business thinker and Duke University professor Dorie Clark explains, we all know intellectually that lasting success takes persistence and effort. And yet so much of the relentless pressure in our culture pushes us toward doing what's easy, what's guaranteed, or what looks glamorous in the moment. In The Long Game, she argues for a different path. It's about doing small things over time to achieve our goals—and being willing to keep at them, even when they seem pointless, boring, or hard.In The Long Game, Clark shares unique principles and frameworks you can apply to your specific situation, as well as vivid stories from her own career and other professionals' experiences. Everyone is allotted the same twenty-four hours—but with the right strategies, you can leverage those hours in more efficient and powerful ways than you ever imagined. It's never an overnight process, but the long-term payoff is immense: to finally break out of the frenetic day-to-day routine and transform your life and your career.

Hourglass Museum


Kelli Russell Agodon - 2010
    Her uniquely true and mystical voice is like a glass of pure water: refreshing, healing, and oh, so necessary."—Nin Andrews"Her poems are an intense vision of the power of art to heal, to help us understand ourselves and our world. Agodon invokes artists as disparate as Kahlo and Cornell, Picasso and Pollock, as a way into the world she creates for us in her deft and musical poems. She brilliantly succeeds."—Wyn CooperKelli Russell Agodon is the author of two previous collections of poetry and lives in Kingston, Washington.

Lifehacker: The Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, and Better


Adam Pash - 2011
    This new edition of a perennial bestseller boasts new and exciting tips, tricks, and methods that strike a perfect balance between current technology and common sense solutions for getting things done. Exploring the many ways technology has changed since the previous edition, this new edition has been updated to reflect the latest and greatest in technological and personal productivity.The new "hacks" run the gamut of working with the latest Windows and Mac operating systems for both Windows and Apple, getting more done with smartphones and their operating systems, and dealing with the evolution of the web. Even the most tried-and-true hacks have been updated to reflect the contemporary tech world and the tools it provides us.Technology is supposed to make our lives easier by helping us work more efficiently. Lifehacker: The Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, and Better, Third Edition is your guide to making that happen!