We depend more than we realize on wishful thinking and romanticized ideas of history. In the new paperback edition of this fascinating book, a book that has appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, Slashdot.org, Lifehacker.com and in The New York Times, bestselling author Scott Berkun pulls the best lessons from the history of innovation, including the recent software and web age, to reveal powerful and suprising truths about how ideas become successful innovations -- truths people can easily apply to the challenges of today. Through his entertaining and insightful explanations of the inherent patterns in how Einstein’s discovered E=mc2 or Tim Berner Lee’s developed the idea of the world wide web, you will see how to develop existing knowledge into new innovations.Each entertaining chapter centers on breaking apart a powerful myth, popular in the business world despite it's lack of substance. Through Berkun's extensive research into the truth about innovations in technology, business and science, you’ll learn lessons from the expensive failures and dramatic successes of innovations past, and understand how innovators achieved what they did -- and what you need to do to be an innovator yourself. You'll discover:Why problems are more important than solutionsHow the good innovation is the enemy of the greatWhy children are more creative than your co-workersWhy epiphanies and breakthroughs always take timeHow all stories of innovations are distorted by the history effectHow to overcome people’s resistance to new ideasWhy the best idea doesn’t often winThe paperback edition includes four new chapters, focused on appling the lessons from the original book, and helping you develop your skills in creative thinking, pitching ideas, and staying motivated."For centuries before Google, MIT, and IDEO, modern hotbeds of innovation, we struggled to explain any kind of creation, from the universe itself to the multitudes of ideas around us. While we can make atomic bombs, and dry-clean silk ties, we still don’t have satisfying answers for simple questions like: Where do songs come from? Are there an infinite variety of possible kinds of cheese? How did Shakespeare and Stephen King invent so much, while we’re satisfied watching sitcom reruns? Our popular answers have been unconvincing, enabling misleading, fantasy-laden myths to grow strong." -- Scott Berkun, from the text"Berkun sets us free to change the world." -- Guy Kawasaki, author of Art of the StartScott was a manager at Microsoft from 1994-2003, on projects including v1-5 (not 6) of Internet Explorer. He is the author of three bestselling books, Making Things Happen, The Myths of Innovation and Confessions of a Public Speaker. He works full time as a writer and speaker, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Forbes magazine, The Economist, The Washington Post, Wired magazine, National Public Radio and other media. He regularly contributes to Harvard Business Review and Bloomberg Businessweek, has taught creative thinking at the University of Washington, and has appeared as an innovation and management expert on MSNBC and on CNBC. He writes frequently on innovation and creative thinking at his blog: scottberkun.com and tweets at @berkun.

    Weinberg shows you exactly how to become a more effective consultant. He reveals specific techniques and strategies that really work.Through the use of vividly memorable rules, laws, and principles -- such as The Law of Raspberry Jam, The Potato Chip Principle, and Lessons from the Farm -- the author shows you how to-- price and market your services-- avoid traps and find alternative approaches-- keep ahead of your clients-- create a special "consultant's survival kit"-- trade improvement for perfection-- negotiate in difficult situations-- measure your effectiveness-- be yourselfYou will also find straightforward advice on marketing your services, including how to-- find clients-- get needed exposure-- set just-right fees-- gain trustThe Secrets of Consulting -- techniques, strategies, and first-hand experiences -- all that you'll need to set up, run, and be successful at your own consulting business.

    This is NOT just another book about how to cold call or close deals. This is an entirely new kind of sales system 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? Predictable Revenue has the answers!

    With Search Inside Yourself, Chade-Meng Tan, one of Google’s earliest engineers and personal growth pioneer, offers a proven method for enhancing mindfulness and emotional intelligence in life and work.Meng’s job is to teach Google’s best and brightest how to apply mindfulness techniques in the office and beyond; now, readers everywhere can get insider access to one of the most sought after classes in the country, a course in health, happiness and creativity that is improving the livelihood and productivity of those responsible for one of the most successful businesses in the world.With forewords by Daniel Goleman, author of the international bestseller Emotional Intelligence, and Jon Kabat-Zinn, renowned mindfulness expert and author of Coming To Our Senses, Meng’s Search Inside Yourself is an invaluable guide to achieving your own best potential.

    This insightful collection of essays explore the business concerns that programmers face during the course of their careers--particularly those programmers who are small independent software vendors.Sink also covers issues like starting your own business, and then performing the hiring, marketing, and finances in a style that programmers understand, sprinkled with a touch of humor.

    A powerful tool for entrepreneurs, businesspeople, authors, and anyone who wants to break out big, the POP! process is a fun, fascinating, strategic approach to making messages Purposeful, Original, and Pithy - to generate instant intrigue and word-of-mouth buzz.

    Go for No! chronicles four days in the life of fictional character Eric Bratton, a call reluctant copier salesman who wakes up one morning to find himself in a strange house with no idea of how he got there. But this house doesn t belong to just anyone! It belongs to him... a wildly successful, ten years in the future version of the person he could become if he learns to overcome his self-limiting beliefs and overcome his fear of failure. Through the dialogue of the two main characters the authors have fashioned an entertaining story to present the key concepts essential to sales success. Readers learn... ...What it takes to outperform 92% of the world s salespeople...That failing and failure are two very different things ...Why it s important to celebrate success and failure ...How to get past failures quickly and move on ...That the most empowering word in the world is not yes... it s NO!Written to be intentionally short and to the point, Go for No! is a quick, fun read with valuable lessons that can change the way you think, sell, and live!

    She will guide you through the rules of creating and using professional gateway documents: resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles. Her advice for job seekers in a variety of settings is both accessible and sound. Best of all, she writes and presents with grace and humor. Brenda is a “must read” and “must consult” for people entering, re-entering, or reconfiguring their place at work." - Susan Gainen, Principal Consultant, Pass the Baton, Minneapolis, MN. "Brenda’s “How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Profile” webinar was EXCELLENT! The information I received was applicable immediately and easily. Using Brenda’s insightful techniques, I transformed my one-dimensional career history into a compelling brand-focused profile that has increased my profile reviews and name search results by 20%!" - Nikki Champagnie, Career Services Professional, Houston, TX. "Many people are beginning to truly understand the strategic networking power of LinkedIn, but it’s surprising how few have adopted good habits when constructing and maintaining their LinkedIn profiles. Personal branding and sending a concise message to people who visit your profile is critical. Brenda Bernstein’s e-book holds key profile strategies and important tips on avoiding networking pitfalls. As a LinkedIn trainer myself, it’s good to know I have a resource like this for my clients to help them after they’ve left my classroom." - Michael Phelps, LinkedIn Trainer, Milwaukee, WI "I just love this new book! It absolutely addresses topics no one else has and that people should be paying attention to. It hits the bulls-eye on making LinkedIn work the way it’s intended! Plus Ms. Bernstein does a great job of conveying important, spot-on points in a clear and engaging manner." - Larry Megugorac, Sales Executive, Brentwood, CA "I have read How to Write a Killer Linkein Profile a few times now, and it has truly alerted me to the power of words, the use and turn of language, and the positioning power that I can master and take advantage of as I transition into my next job opportunity. I appreciated the knowledge and hands-on expertise Ms. Bernstein has laid out in these pages and honestly wanted more at the end of the book." - Luisa Michel, CFA, Columbia University MBA, St. Louis, MO

    Too much information and not enough relevance is a problem that pervades almost all business communication. You see, the way many people communicate is like filling a bucket with jelly, flinging it at their audience, and hoping some of it sticks. It's ineffective, it's irritating and, above all, it's very messy.So what's the answer? More relevance and a lot less jelly. The Jelly Effect teaches you simple, memorable and costless ways to win more attention and more business. Imagine how effective you'd be if you communicated only what was relevant 100 percent of the time. You would be better at talking to others, presenting, networking and selling. You would excel in interviews, meetings and pay-rise discussions. The benefits would be endless.The Jelly Effect shows you how to raise your game to a different level. You'll never fling another bucket of jelly again...PRAISE FOR THE JELLY EFFECT'The most effective, original and insightful book on business communication that I have ever read.' --Dr. Ivan R. Misner, NY Times bestselling author of Truth or Delusion? and founder of Business Network International'Andy Bounds has a totally unique and inspiring way of communicating. He also has this tremendous ability to help others achieve more when they communicate. Every single person he's worked with at npower has found his guidance to be immensely valuable, and to have made a real difference. My advice: read this book - it will help you communicate with, and relate to, people better than ever before.' --Heidi Walton, npower, People Development Manager'They say the definition of genius is the ability to make the complex simple. If that's the case then Andy Bounds is a genius. This book is packed with insight and ideas that make the whole art of communication and connecting with people both easy to understand and apply. Yes, you'll have the occasional B.F.O.( Blinding Flash of the Obvious) moment and wonder why on earth you've never thought of some of the ideas before...truth is we need some one like Andy with his incredibly easy style of writing to wake us up to the obvious. I defy anyone who reads this book and applies the insights to their own business not to see a increase in both their profit and their profile.' --Paul McGee, International speaker and best selling author of S.U.M.O. (Shut Up, Move On)

    This second edition brings you up to date on recent changes in search engine behavior—such as new ranking methods involving user engagement and social media—with an array of effective tactics, from basic to advanced.Comprehend SEO’s many intricacies and complexitiesExplore the underlying theory and inner workings of search enginesUnderstand the role of social media, user data, and linksDiscover tools to track results and measure successRecognize how changes to your site can confuse search enginesLearn to build a competent SEO team with defined rolesGlimpse the future of search and the SEO industry

    To achieve any goal, you need other people to help you do it. -- JUDY ROBINETTAs anyone in business knows, strategic planning is critical to achieving long-term success. In How to Be a Power Connector, super-networker Judy Robinett argues that strategic relationship planning should be your top priority.When you combine your specific skills and talents with a clear, workable path for creating and managing your relationships, nothing will stop you from meeting your goals. With high-value connections, you'll tap into a dynamic power grid of influence guaranteed to accelerate your personal and professional success.Robinett uses her decades of experience connecting the world's highest achievers with one another to help you build high-value relationships. She reveals all the secrets of her trade, including proven ways to:Find and enter the best network ecosystem to meet your goalsReach even the most unreachable people quickly and effectivelyGet anyone's contact information within 30 secondsCreate a 3-D connection that adds value to multiple people at the same timeAccess key infl uencers through industry and community eventsSubtly seed conversation with information about interests and needsUse social media to your best advantageRobinett has based her methods on solid research proving that social groups begin to break up when they become larger than 150 people, and that 50 members is the optimal size for group communication. As such, she has developed what she calls the 5+50+100 method: contact your top 5 connections daily, your Key 50 weekly, and your Vital 100 monthly. this is your power grid, and it will work wonders for your career.Nothing will stop you when you learn How to Be a Power Connector.PRAISE FOR HOW TO BE A POWER CONNECTOR:Unlike many books in this genre, this one is written by a woman who has lived it.. . . Judy Robinett offers guidance on how to form authentic relationships that bring mutual benefits. -- ADAM GRANT, Wharton professor and New York Times bestselling author of Give and TakeHow to Be a Power Connector is like an MBA in networking: an advanced course in finding and developing quality relationships with the people who can make the biggest difference in your professional success. -- IVAN MISNER, founder and chairman of BNITalk about power! Follow Judy Robinett's logical, straightforward, and helpfully detailed advice, and you can be a 'Power Connector' yourself! Great ideas, well presented, with no 'wasted space' in her argument! -- DON PEPPERS, coauthor of Extreme Trust: Honesty as a Competitive AdvantageAbsolutely brilliant. A step-by-step guide to building a network that will be both invaluable to you and just as valuable to those whose lives you will now have the opportunity to touch. I can't imagine a more powerful book for one who truly desires to be a Power Connector. -- BOB BURG, coauthor of The Go-Giver and author of Adversaries into AlliesIn the C-Suite or in your personal life everything comes down to the quality of your relationships. Judy's book helps you attract and maintain the relationships that will get you what you want most. Be a super connector now! -- JEFFREY HAYZLETT, TV host and bestselling author of Running the Gauntlet

    Their lives, like all of ours, are filled with a bewildering blizzard of emails, phone calls, yet more emails, meetings, projects, proposals, and plans. Just staying ahead of the storm has become a seemingly insurmountable task.In this book, we travel inside Emily and Paul's brains as they attempt to sort the vast quantities of information they're presented with, figure out how to prioritize it, organize it and act on it. Fortunately for Emily and Paul, they're in good hands: David Rock knows how the brain works-and more specifically, how it works in a work setting. Rock shows how it's possible for Emily and Paul, and thus the reader, not only to survive in today's overwhelming work environment but succeed in it-and still feel energized and accomplished at the end of the day.YOUR BRAIN AT WORK explores issues such as:- why our brains feel so taxed, and how to maximize our mental resources- why it's so hard to focus, and how to better manage distractions- how to maximize your chance of finding insights that can solve seemingly insurmountable problems- how to keep your cool in any situation, so that you can make the best decisions possible- how to collaborate more effectively with others- why providing feedback is so difficult, and how to make it easier- how to be more effective at changing other people's behavior

    But what stories do you need to tell and how do you tell them?Stories That Stick provides a clear framework of ideals and a concise set of actions for you to take complete control of your own story, utilizing the principles behind the world’s most effective business storytelling strategies.Professional storyteller and nationally-known speaker Kindra Hall reveals the four unique stories you can use to differentiate, captivate, and elevate:the Value Story, to convince customers they need what you provide;the Founder Story, to persuade investors and customers your organization is worth the investment;the Purpose Story, to align and inspire your employees and internal customers; and the Customer Story, to allow those who use your product or service to share their authentic experiences with others.Telling these stories well is a simple, accessible skill anyone can develop. With case studies, company profiles, and anecdotes backed with original research, Hall presents storytelling as the underutilized talent that separates the good from the best in business.Stories That Stick offers specific, actionable steps readers can take to find, craft, and leverage the stories they already have and simply aren’t telling. Every person, every organization has at least four stories at their disposal. Will you tell yours?

    The rules? No marketing budget, no PR stunts, and it must be sustainably successful. No short-term fads.This is not a game of chance. It is a game of skill and strategy.And it begins with a single question: given competing products of equal pricing, promotion, and perceived quality, why does one outsell the others?The answer doesn’t live in the sustainably successful products or services. The answer lives in those who use them.Our goal is to craft a strategy for creating successful users. And that strategy is full of surprising, counter-intuitive, and astonishingly simple techniques that don’t depend on a massive marketing or development budget. Techniques typically overlooked by even the most well-funded, well-staffed product teams.Every role is a key player in this game. Product development, engineering, marketing, user experience, support—everyone on the team. Even if that team is a start-up of one. Armed with a surprisingly overlooked science and a unique POV, we can can reduce the role of luck. We can build sustainably successful products and services that rely not on unethical persuasive marketing tricks but on helping our users have deeper, richer experiences. Not just in the moments while they’re using our product but, more importantly, in the moments when they aren’t.

    They are the struggle to be heard in a world of media noise and clamor. Today, most brand messages and mass appeals for causes are drowned out before they even reach us. But a few consistently break through the din, using the only tool that has ever moved minds and changed behavior—great stories.With insights from mythology, advertising history, evolutionary biology, and psychology, viral storyteller and advertising expert Jonah Sachs takes readers into a fascinating world of seemingly insurmountable challenges and enormous opportunity. You’ll discover how:• Social media tools are driving a return to the oral tradition, in which stories that matter rise above the fray• Marketers have become today’s mythmakers, providing society with explanation, meaning, and ritual• Memorable stories based on timeless themes build legions of eager evangelists• Marketers and audiences can work together to create deeper meaning and stronger partnerships in building a better world• Brands like Old Spice, The Story of Stuff, Nike, the Tea Party, and Occupy Wall Street created and sustained massive viral buzzWinning the Story Wars is a call to arms for business communicators to cast aside broken traditions and join a revolution to build the iconic brands of the future. It puts marketers in the role of heroes with a chance to transform not just their craft but the enterprises they represent. After all, success in the story wars doesn’t come just from telling great stories, but from learning to live them.