Business Development Skills

Imagine walking up to a stranger on the subway and asking them for their seat. What about asking a random person on the street if you could borrow their phone? If the idea makes you squeamish, you're not alone - social psychologists have found that doing these very things makes most of us almost unbearably uncomfortable. But here's the funny thing: even though we hate to ask for help, most people are wired to be helpful. And that's a good thing, because every day in the modern, uber-collaborative workplace, we all need to know when and how to call in the cavalry.

Whether you are in advertising, marketing, management, on sales, or just curious about how to be more influential in everyday life, Yes! shows how making small, scientifically proven changes to your approach can have a dramatic effect on your persuasive powers.

Difficult Conversations teaches you how to handle even the toughest conversations more effectively and with less anxiety. Based on 15 years of work at Harvard Negotiation Project and consultations with thousands of people, the authors answer the question: When people confront the conversations they dread the most, what works? Difficult Conversations walks you through a proven, concrete, step-by-step approach for understanding and conducting tough conversations.

People Skills is a communication-skills handbook that can help you eliminate these and other communication problems. Author Robert Bolton describes the twelve most common communication barriers, showing how these "roadblocks" damage relationships by increasing defensiveness, aggressiveness, or dependency. He explains how to acquire the ability to listen, assert yourself, resolve conflicts, and work out problems with others. These are skills that will help you communicate calmly, even in stressful emotionally charged situations.

Quantum Negotiation is a handbook for getting what you need using a mindset and behaviors based on a refreshingly expansive perspective on negotiation. Rather that viewing every negotiation as an antagonistic and combative relationship, this book shows you how to move beyond the traditional pseudo win-win to construct a deal in which all parties get what they need. By exploring who we are as negotiators in the context of social conditioning, this model examines the cognitive, psychological, social, physical, and spiritual aspects of negotiation to help you produce more sustainable, prosperous, and satisfying agreements.

Are the narcissists in your life making you miserable? Are you worn out by their constant demands for attention, their absolute conviction they are right (even when they’re clearly not), their determination to do whatever they want (regardless of the impact), and their baffling need to control everyone and everything around them? In this thought-provoking, sanity-saving audiobook, Thomas Erikson helps you understand what makes narcissists tick and, crucially, how to handle them without wearing yourself out in the process.

In this eye-opening account, Cal Newport debunks the long-held belief that "follow your passion" is good advice. 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.

The secret to giving better feedback isn't what we say - it's what others hear. Too often, people hear about a past they can't control, not a future they can. That changes with "feedforward" - a radical approach to sharing feedback that unleashes the performance and potential of everyone around us.

The coauthors of the New York Times best-selling Difficult Conversations take on the toughest topic of all: How we see ourselves. Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen have spent the past 15 years working with corporations, nonprofits, governments, and families to determine what helps us learn and what gets in our way. In Thanks for the Feedback, they explain why receiving feedback is so crucial yet so challenging. They blend the latest insights from neuroscience and psychology with practical, hard-headed advice.

Negotiating with a Bully will teach you how to skillfully deal with bullies in different forms and environments. You'll explore the mindset of a bully and understand the motivations and behavior so you can gain an advantage over him or her.

Brilliantly researched, impassioned, and accessible, Presence is filled with stories of individuals who learned how to flourish during the stressful moments that once terrified them. Every listener will learn how to approach their biggest challenges with confidence instead of dread, and to leave them with satisfaction instead of regret.

From two leaders in executive education at Harvard Business School, here are the mental habits and proven strategies you need to achieve outstanding results in any negotiation.

Coach 'Em Way Up teaches listeners to exhibit their best thinking, set a great example, lead, and mentor others to put them on a path to lasting competitive greatness while becoming great people, too. Based on the teachings of legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, listeners get effective leadership strategies for creating a culture of excellence in today's modern workplace. Simply put, Coach 'Em Way Up does for listeners what John Wooden did for decades:

Listeners will turn to The Dictionary Body Language again and again - a body-language bible for anyone looking to understand what their boss really means, interpret whether a potential romantic partner is interested or not, and learn how to put themselves forward in the most favorable light.

Charming, charismatic, and delightful or manipulative, self-serving, and cunning? Psychopaths are both and that’s exactly what makes them dangerous. Best-selling author of the international phenomenon Surrounded by Idiots, Thomas Erikson, reveals how to identify the psychopaths in your life and combat their efforts to control and manipulate. Surrounded by Psychopaths teaches listeners how to deal with psychopaths in their lives by becoming aware of their own behavior and their weaknesses.

Mindfulness at Work Essentials for Dummies explores the many benefits of utilizing mindfulness techniques in the workplace, offering managers, HR professionals, and business people of all levels guidance on how mindfulness can help with the development of core business skills. You'll discover the key concepts of mindfulness and quickly grasp how its implementation in the workplace is a win-win for you, your team, and your organization as a whole.

Since 1966, a self-made man named Jose Silva has spread his message to over 5,000,000 people worldwide. The message: within our minds is the power to solve any problem, overcome any difficulty, and reach a consistent level of dynamic well-being.

Saying the right thing the right way can make the difference between sealing the deal or losing the account, getting a promotion, or getting a pink slip. It's essential to be pitch perfect - to get the right message across to the right person at the right time. In Pitch Perfect, Bill McGowan shows you how to craft the right message and deliver it using the right language - both verbal and nonverbal.

From an era when 'self-help' books had genuine depth, Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People has influenced the world. No book in the self-help category matters more than this one. Learning to relate to people in the ways Carnegie instructs will help you personally as well as professionally. This book is a classic because Carnegie teaches timeless truths in timeless ways. This is a condensation of the original book.

Everyone has had a bad boss. You might have one right now. You might even be one. Bad bosses are a fact of the workplace, whether they’re short-tempered, unclear about expectations, or too disorganized to manage so much as a stapler. But how do you not only survive a difficult boss, but help your career thrive despite them? Written with Erikson's signature humor and warmth, Surrounded by Bad Bosses (and Lazy Employees) will help you deal with the most hopeless managers and employees you can imagine—and keep you entertained along the way.