Business Change

In his years as a professional ice-skater, Olympic Gold Medalist Scott Hamilton learned to embrace the mind-set of working hard to "beat" the competition. But it seems competition has gotten a bad rap these days. We've bought in to the belief that it is unfair to participants to rank performance. Yet competition is in fact a good thing because it's about working toward excellence. Finish First is a wake-up call for business leaders, entrepreneurs, spouses, parents, and even students to stop settling for mediocre and strive to go for the win.

The digital age will raise the question of how we humans will stay relevant in the workplace. To stay relevant, we have to be able to excel cognitively, behaviorally, and emotionally in ways that technology can’t. Professor Ed Hess believes that requires us to become hyper-learners: continuously learning, unlearning, and relearning at the speed of change.

The myth of innovation is that brilliant ideas leap fully formed from the minds of geniuses. The reality is that most innovations come from a process of rigorous examination through which great ideas are identified and developed before being realized as new offerings and capabilities. This is not a book by designers for designers; this is a book for creative leaders seeking to infuse design thinking into every level of an organization's products or service to drive new alternatives for business and society.

Traditional hierarchical structures are falling - is your organization ready? Emergent provides a handbook for navigating - and thriving in - the new cultural paradigm. More than a simple DIY for change, this book empowers organizations to diagnose change risk, address current shortcomings, and adapt to the increasing current away from hierarchies to autonomous and interdependent networks.

This powerful book is the ultimate guide on how to create real happiness in your life through finding, cultivating, and activating gratitude no matter what your life circumstances may be...and to do it in a way that will change the trajectory of your life. This book will show you how to make gratitude something you do, not just something you feel, and how to change your life quickly, simply, and permanently as a result. All it takes is one FLIP - that single moment when you decide that you want to stop thinking about the life you should be living and actually start living it!

In 2004 Kentaro Toyama, an award-winning computer scientist, moved to India to start a new research group for Microsoft. Its mission: to explore novel technological solutions to the world's persistent social problems. But after a decade of designing technologies for humanitarian causes, Toyama concluded that no technology, however dazzling, could cause social change on its own.

An empowering guide to help you navigate those times when your life turns upside down and inside out—and the radical shift in consciousness you can access in the process.

From the first tickle of curiosity to an unexpected shift in how we perceive the world, there isn’t a person who hasn’t experienced wonder, and yet the why and how of this profoundly beneficial emotion is only just beginning to be scientifically examined. This inspiring book from thought leader Monica Parker explores the power of wonder to transform the way we learn, develop new ideas, drive social change, and ultimately become better humans.

Every day, we set out to create a better life, a better career, or a better business. We often fail because we fall into old patterns. But what if by devoting just one single, focused hour a week you could make big improvements in your professional life? And what if you knew in advance exactly what to focus on so that you could utterly destroy your old patterns?

Speed wins. And successful people build their lives around “Strategic Sprints”. Discover the power to accelerate your success, and gain total control over your mind, your body, your emotions, your relationships, and your future.

Ditch the labels and embrace positive, healthy practices for eating, exercising, and living an authentic life - your way! Deciding to improve your health, your consciousness, and the world can seem so overwhelming that you don’t know where to begin. Author and actor Alicia Witt isn’t here to dole out lists of dos and don’ts, but she is here to show how adopting the “small changes philosophy” allows you to find balance, eat healthier, and feel better physically and emotionally.

Will to Wild is an instruction manual to adventure. Your guide: enthusiastic outdoorswoman Shelby Stanger. Shelby has been teaching folks how to leap into the unknown since she taught her first surf class over twenty years ago. Over the years, she watched many of her students quit their jobs, end dysfunctional relationships, and move across the country for a healthier work-life balance—all after spending a bit of time in nature. Shelby marveled at the phenomenon. Being outside was changing the lives of her students, her peers, and herself.

Are you struggling to be effective? Does procrastination keep you at bay? Do you wonder what habits you can bring into your life to help you be successful? Diving into aspects such as positive thinking to setting of goals, Top 5 Habits of Highly Effective People dives deeply into the art of adding effective habits into your life that can radically change the way you think, move, as well as vastly improve your chances of succeeding. It also tackles the bad habits that keep these five habits at bay.

Rajiv J. Shah is no stranger to pulling off the impossible, from helping vaccinate 900 million children at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to a high-pressure race against the clock to stop the spread of Ebola. His secret? A big bets philosophy—the idea that seeking to solve problems rather than make incremental improvements can attract the unlikely partners with the power and know-how to achieve transformational change. Part career sweeping memoir, part inspirational playbook, Big Bets offers a master class in decision-making, leadership, and changing the world one bet at a time.

During 2003, the US economy was described by one economist as "nervous, anxious, and waiting." In December, the Dow had topped 10,000 for the first time in a year and a half, and at year's end the markets were up for the first time since 1999. But in the same year, American troops had moved into Iraq, and corporate boards were cutting CEOs at the slightest signs of trouble. Amidst this turmoil Robert Greifeld, a former tech entrepreneur from outside the Wall Street bubble, became CEO of Nasdaq, a position he would hold for the next 13 years.

This isn't just another self-help book. It's the culmination of my amazing wife Sofia and I's life experiences. It's a testament to our challenges and perseverance, and a tangible tool to create real, lasting change in your life. Unravel the truths about controlling your mindset and attitude, avoiding distractions, and setting your life on the path of transformation. My assurance in writing this book stems from a life filled with struggle, resilience, and personal growth. I don't shy away from sharing my setbacks and challenges because I wanted you to get the raw value of these lessons.

The Shibumi Strategy is a little book about a big breakthrough. It tells the story of a hardworking family man who finds himself in crisis when his company closes. Through his struggle, and guidance from unlikely sources, he learns subtle lessons in the form of "personal zen" principles, coming to understand that it is often the involuntary challenge, the setbacks, that harbor the power to transform. When approached as an opportunity - no easy task when simple survival is the first order of business - unforeseen trials can sometimes result in an altogether new lease on life.

In The Easiest Way to Live, you will find the keys to becoming your true self, being in harmony with life and pure in heart, which is a state of essential clarity. You will discover that most of the challenges you face are caused by past patterns and memories that keep replaying in your subconscious and block you from being who you really are. You will find that no problems exist outside of you, and since they are inside of you, you have the ability to take 100 percent responsibility for them and neutralize them.

Accessible and practical, the book draws on research from coaching, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, social psychology, and industrial-organizational psychology to provide the best science-based practices that can be applied in work and life. It presents core coaching skills that anyone can develop and use to improve their own emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and interactions with others. It uses levels of analysis to help listeners think about key concepts first in relation to themselves, and then in 1:1 interactions, group and team dynamics, organizational-level impact, and beyond.

Not as patient as you think you are? Surprised by how quickly you lose your cool when someone shows you an imagined show of disrespect? All we can do in those situations is react. But why do we do what we do? How can we improve our actions? Repeated bad behavior becomes a bad habit. How can we break this vicious cycle? Often we know what’s wrong in our behavior, we even know how could we fix it, but somehow we never take action to change. Some mental triggers stay hidden from our conscious mind. This book bridges the gap between those two by introducing you to gears of human behavior.