Six Thinking Hats


Edward de Bono - 1981
    Meetings are a crucial part of all our lives, but too often they go nowhere and waste valuable time. In Six Thinking Hats, Edward de Bono shows how meetings can be transformed to produce quick, decisive results every time. The Six Hats method is a devastatingly simple technique based on the brain's different modes of thinking. The intelligence, experience and information of everyone is harnessed to reach the right conclusions quickly. These principles fundamentally change the way you work and interact. They have been adopted by businesses and governments around the world to end conflict and confusion in favour of harmony and productivity. 'An inspiring man with brilliant ideas. De Bono never ceases to amaze with his clarity of thought' Richard Branson.Edward de Bono invented the concept of lateral thinking. A world-renowned writer and philosopher, he is the leading authority in the field of creative thinking and the direct teaching of thinking as a skill. Dr de Bono has written more than 60 books, in 40 languages, with people now teaching his methods worldwide. He has chaired a special summit of Nobel Prize laureates, and been hailed as one of the 250 people who have contributed most to mankind

Swipe to Unlock: The Primer on Technology and Business Strategy


Parth Detroja - 2017
    But have you ever wondered how Google makes billions of dollars while providing search, email, and maps for free? How do they figure out which ads perfectly capture your interests? And how do they search the entire internet so quickly, anyway?By answering real-world questions like this, Swipe to Unlock gives you a peek under the hood of the technology you use every day, decodes technologists' weirdest buzzwords, and shows you how technology is changing the society we live in for better or for worse. Unlock the answers you need to become a better-educated consumer, digital citizen, or technology professional.

The Tiny MBA: 100 Very Short Lessons about the Long Game of Business


Alex Hillman - 2020
    Please find the Paperback or Kindle-compatible Ebook at stackingthebricks.com/tinymba/You don't need an MBA or fancy investors to succeed in business. Use the 100 ideas in this tiny book to evaluate your current situation: your advantages, your relationships, your potential choices, and the most likely outcomes.BONUS! If you enjoy The Tiny MBA and want to go deeper on the topics lessons and themes in the book, check out the Tiny MBA Podcast Tour with the author! In each episode, Alex visits with the host of a different podcast or livestream to dig deeper into that hosts favorite pages of the book, and explore specific examples or stories rooted in these lessons.Check it out now at stackingthebricks.com/podcast/ and subscribe to get new episodes every week.

Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People


Marc Gobé - 2001
    The “10 Commandments of Emotional Branding” have become a new benchmark for marketing and creative professionals, emotional branding has become a coined term by many top industry experts to express the new dynamic that exists now between brands and people. The emergence of social media, consumer empowerment and interaction were all clearly predicted in this book 10 years ago around the new concept of a consumer democracy. In this updated edition, Marc Gobé covers how social media helped elect Barack Obama to the White House, how the idea behind Twitter is transforming our civilization, and why new generations are re-inventing business, commerce, and management as we know it by leveraging the power of the web. In studying the role of women as "shoppers in chief, "and defining the need to look at the marketplace by recognizing differences in origins, cultures, and choices, Emotional Branding foresaw the break up of mass media to more targeted and culturally sensitive modes of communications. As the first marketing book ever to study the role of the LGBTQ community as powerful influencers for many brands, Emotional Branding opened the door to a renewed sensitivity toward traditional research that privilege individuality and the power of the margins to be at the center of any marketing strategy. A whole segment in the book looks at the role of the senses in branding and design. The opportunity that exists in understanding how we feel about a brand determines how much we want to buy. By exploring the 5 senses, Emotional Branding shows how some brands have built up their businesses by engaging in a sensory interaction with their consumers. Emotional Branding explores how effective consumer interaction needs to be about senses and feelings, emotions and sentiments. Not unlike the Greek culture that used philosophy, poetry, music, and the art of discussion and debate to stimulate the imagination, the concept of emotional branding establishes the forum in which people can convene and push the limits of their creativity. Through poetry the Greeks invented mathematics, the basis of science, sculpture, and drama. Unless we focus on humanizing the branding process we will lose the powerful emotional connection people have with brands. Critics hailed Emotional Branding as a breakthrough and a fresh approach to building brands. Design in this book is considered a new media, the web a place where people will share information and communicate, architecture a part of the brand building process, and people as the most powerful element of any branding strategy. Most importantly, it emphasizes the need to transcend the traditional language of marketing--from one based on statistics and data to a visually compelling new form of communication that fosters creativity and innovation.

So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love


Cal Newport - 2012
    Not only is the cliché flawed-preexisting passions are rare and have little to do with how most people end up loving their work-but it can also be dangerous, leading to anxiety and chronic job hopping.After making his case against passion, Newport sets out on a quest to discover the reality of how people end up loving what they do. Spending time with organic farmers, venture capitalists, screenwriters, freelance computer programmers, and others who admitted to deriving great satisfaction from their work, Newport uncovers the strategies they used and the pitfalls they avoided in developing their compelling careers.Matching your job to a preexisting passion does not matter, he reveals. Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it.With a title taken from the comedian Steve Martin, who once said his advice for aspiring entertainers was to "be so good they can't ignore you," Cal Newport's clearly written manifesto is mandatory reading for anyone fretting about what to do with their life, or frustrated by their current job situation and eager to find a fresh new way to take control of their livelihood. He provides an evidence-based blueprint for creating work you love.So Good They Can't Ignore You will change the way we think about our careers, happiness, and the crafting of a remarkable life.

Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are


Rob Walker - 2008
    But as Rob Walker demonstrates, this widely accepted misconception has eclipsed the real changes in the way modern consumers relate to their brands of choice. Combine this with marketers' new ability to blur the line between advertising, entertainment, and public space, and you have dramatically altered the relationship between consumer and consumed.

How to Style Your Brand: Everything You Need to Know to Create a Distinctive Brand Identity


Fiona Humberstone - 2015
    But for many entrepreneurs, creating an effective brand can be a challenge. Whether you're a start-up on a lemonade budget, or a seasoned entrepreneur planning on working with a professional, an understanding of the process is essential. In this comprehensive workbook, Fiona Humberstone will walk you through the process of styling your brand. From finding your focus, creating an inspirational vision and unlocking the power of colour psychology; Fiona will help you understand the design details that will make your business irresistible. How to Style Your Brand will ensure you get your branding right, first time. In How to Style Your Brand, Fiona shares with you the secrets behind using colour to create an emotive connection; how to use pattern and illustrations to add character and personality and how to carefully select typefaces that add a distinctive and intentional edge to your designs. We'll examine how to pull all of these elements together to create a remarkable and cohesive design that you can be proud of. I'll encourage you to think big about your business so that you develop the focus and vision to brief a designer with confidence, or feel able to create your own identity. Once you understand the principles behind styling a brand, there is no reason why you can t create something extraordinary for your business. Drawing on her experience from developing hundreds of brand identities for companies worldwide, Fiona's tried and tested framework will give you the clarity, confidence and creative know-how to create a brand identity that wins you work. Packed with more than 60 inspirational examples of some of the best brand identities for small businesses worldwide, How to Style Your Brand is more than a business book.

Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out


Marc Ecko - 2013
    As instructive as it is innovative, Unlabel will empower you to channel your creativity, find the courage to defy convention, and summon the confidence to act and compete in any environment. This visual blueprint will teach you how to grow both creatively and commercially by testing your personal brand against the principles of the Authenticity Formula. Marc Ecko shares the bruising mistakes and remarkable triumphs that reveal the truth behind his success, growing from a misfit kid airbrushing T-shirts in his parents’ garage to the bold creator of two hugely successful branded platforms—Ecko Unltd. and Complex Media. As Ecko explains, it’s not enough to simply merge your inner artist with business savvy, you must understand the anatomy of a brand, starting with its authentic spine. With Unlabel, you will learn how to discover your own voice by overcoming fear and taking action, what it means to deliver on your promises, why failure is essential, how to understand how your product or service makes people feel, and how to recognize if your nostalgia for the past is hampering your ability to envision your future. Unlabel is a bold and honest approach to building an authentic personal brand, growing a bootstrap start-up into a sustainable business.

Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World's Best for Brands in the 21st Century


Jim Aitchison - 1999
    Addresses how advertising works, how brand-building methodologies are changing, how to get an idea, and how copy and art should be crafted. Includes advice from a bevy of advertising masters from the US, UK, Asia, a

Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising


Perry Marshall - 2011
    Advertisers are then taken further than Facebook itself, as Marshall and co-authors provide priceless audience insight, exploring what was happening before visitors click on ads and what needs to happen after--10 seconds later, 10 minutes later and in the following days, and weeks. Updates specific to this edition include: The introduction of ad space in Newsfeeds, Facebook Live, Branded Content and how to profit from it The launch of Facebook's Marketplace where businesses can sell direct to their community The integration of Instagram ads as part of the Facebook platform Tapping into Audience Network to maximize campaigns and increase conversions on all website traffic High-profile case studies from the Golden State Warriors, Jack Daniels, Rosetta Stone, and examples from President Obama's social media campaign for re-election

Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization


Dave Logan - 2008
    I learned about myself and learned lessons I will carry with me and reflect on for the rest of my life.”—John W. Fanning, Founding Chairman and CEO napster Inc.“An unusually nuanced view of high-performance cultures.” —Inc.Within each corporation are anywhere from a few to hundreds of separate tribes. In Tribal Leadership, Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright demonstrate how these tribes develop—and show you how to assess them and lead them to maximize productivity and growth. A business management book like no other, Tribal Leadership is an essential tool to help managers and business leaders take better control of their organizations by utilizing the unique characteristics of the tribes that exist within.

Brand Identity Breakthrough: How to Craft Your Company's Unique Story to Make Your Products Irresistible


Gregory V. Diehl - 2016
    Does yours stand out from the crowd? After a life of exploring the way people exchange value in over 35 countries, Diehl teaches business owners how to have conversations about brand strategy. In Brand Identity Breakthrough, you will learn how to develop a strong business identity by combining your personality and values with the functionality of your products to become irreplaceable to your audience. Whether you lead a growing company, or are just starting a business, Brand Identity Breakthrough will give you a smarter way to think about new product development and business model generation. With undeniable, well-organized logic, it will show you how anyone can sell more, and at higher prices, so long as they give customers exactly what they want. • Learn how to build a unique selling proposition for your product • Learn the best methods for how to sell a product to customers, no matter what you offer. • Overcome the sales learning curve, and sell products in both physical and online marketplaces. Table of Contents Section I: Why Identity Matters This section will help you learn to see your own value, the value of your business, and the value of your products or services from the perspective of your customers. Only then can you begin to fashion your identity appropriately. If you can train yourself to think like your customers, you can get a much better idea of what value you should be focused on creating. 1. Can You Tell a Good Story? 2. When Good Ideas Fail 3. Why Entrepreneurs Fail to See Their Own Value 4. Why Others Fail to See Your Value Section II: Creating Your Brand Identity We don’t always know what makes our own ideas valuable. Failed entrepreneurs are often very close to getting the results they want. In being so close to your own business, you forget what things look like to an outsider, and you can’t present your business in a way which will appeal to what they are specifically looking for. Time to move beyond functional descriptions of your business, and focus on profound change. 5. Uncovering Your Core Values 6. Developing a Unique Selling Proposition 7. Crafting Your Personality Profile 8. Knowing Your Target Audience Section III: Telling Your Story to the World Communication is happening in every shared moment, and in ways that are not always obvious. There are so many other things we take for granted about the messages we send out to the world. By learning how to be a better communicator, you will gain access to a wide new world of opportunities which are only available if you know how to talk in a way that makes others want to listen. 9. How to Sell Who You Are 10. How to Speak with Clarity, Authority, & Authenticity 11. How to Display Your Character Through Writing 12. How to Educate Your Audience Section IV: Brand Identity Case Studies Case Study #1: From Consultant to Concierge with Productized Services Case Study #2: Pre-Seeding a Two-Sided Marketplace for Launch Case Study #3: Turning a Charitable Project into a Profitable Movement Case Study #4: Skyrocketing a Personal Brand through Narrative Focus Case Study #5: Embracing Personality in a Technical Niche Section V: Resources for Prospective Entrepreneurs Appendix 1: Entrepreneurial Terms Defined Appendix 2: 50 Useful Starting Questions for New EntrepreneursAppendix 3: Making Money Online ask them to buy copies as well!"

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World


David Epstein - 2019
     Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you'll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world's top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule.David Epstein examined the world's most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields--especially those that are complex and unpredictable--generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They're also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can't see.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.

Exactly What to Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact


Phil M. Jones - 2017
    Phil M. Jones has trained more than two million people across five continents and over fifty countries in the lost art of spoken communication. In Exactly What to Say, he delivers the tactics you need to get more of what you want.Best-selling author and multiple award-winner Phil M. Jones is highly regarded as one of the world's leading sales trainers.

Do the Work


Steven Pressfield - 2011
    Do the WorkOur enemy is not lack of preparation; it's not the difficulty of the project, or the state of the marketplace or the emptiness of our bank account.The enemy is resistance.The enemy is our chattering brain, which, if we give it so much as a nanosecond, will start producing excuses, alibis, transparent self-justifications and a million reasons why he can't/shouldn't/won't do what we know we need to do.Start before you're ready.