Business Play

Winning today isn't about beating the competition at the old game. It's about inventing a whole new game - defining a new market category, developing it, and dominating it over time. You can't build a legendary company without building a legendary category. If you think that having the best product is all it takes to win, you're going to lose. In this farsighted, pioneering guide, the founders of Silicon Valley advisory firm Play Bigger rely on data analysis and interviews to understand the inner workings of "category kings".

Steve Jobs tried to stop this moment from ever happening. Google and Microsoft made bids to preempt it. The music industry blocked it time and again. Yet, on a summer's eve in 2011, the whiz-kid CEO of a Swedish start-up celebrated his company's US launch. In the midst of the Apple-Android tech war and a music-label crusade against piracy and illegal downloading, Spotify redrew the battle lines, sent shock waves through Silicon Valley, and got the hardline executives at Universal, Sony, and Warner to sign with its "free-mium" platform.

In Plays Well With Others, Eric Barker dives into these questions, drawing on science to reveal the truth beyond the conventional wisdom about human relationships. Combining his compelling storytelling and humor, Barker explains what hostage negotiation techniques and marital arguments have in common, how an expert con-man lied his way into a twenty-year professional soccer career, and why those holding views diametrically opposed to our own actually have the potential to become our closest, most trusted friends.

The game of life is no longer a level playing field. The old world system that promised fairness and guarantees has shifted, and we find ourselves in an era of uncertainty and rapid change. It is up to us, as individuals, to take control of our own destinies and navigate the complexities of this new landscape. Gone are the days when success was handed to us on a silver platter. The rules have changed, and it is our responsibility to equip ourselves with the knowledge and skills necessary to thrive. We cannot rely on outdated notions of security or expect things to be handed to us.

The how-to playbook for start-ups and established companies on a groundbreaking discipline called category design. Winning today isn't about beating the competition at the old game. It's about inventing a whole new game - defining a new market category, developing it and dominating it over time. You can't build a legendary company without building a legendary category. If you think that having the best product is all it takes to win, you're going to lose.

Too often, the sales process is all about fear. Customers are afraid that they will be talked into making a mistake; salespeople dread being unable to close the deal and make their quotas. No one is happy. Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig offer a better way. Salespeople, they argue, do best when they focus 100 percent on helping clients succeed. When customers are successful, both buyer and seller win. When they aren't, both lose.

Troy Horne here. Your mental-toughness guide! I am here to help parents understand how to help your young athlete navigate this mental-toughness journey. I know where you are, and I know how to help you help your young athlete find their mental toughness.

Kaulius arms you with perspective changes and mindset tools that can help anyone achieve greatness. These techniques have made world champions in multiple sports and helped CEOs and executives dominate in the business world and thrive at home. They can help you flourish too!

In Impact Players, New York Times best-selling author and researcher Liz Wiseman reveals the secrets of these stellar professionals who play the game at a higher level. Drawing on insights from leaders at top companies, Wiseman explains what the most influential players are doing differently, how small and seemingly insignificant differences in how we think and act can make an enormous impact, and why - with a little coaching - this mindset is available to everyone who wants to contribute at their highest level.

Self-awareness is key for new and seasoned leaders who want to avoid micro-managing, handle criticism with grace, and give others the credit they deserve. Maxwell also aims to help current and new managers looking to identify their strengths, become a better learner, and improve listening skills.

NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR CAREER is a real playbook. It’s about how work really works and how you can get work to work for you. It’s about thank you notes and thankless tasks, the energy in meetings and energy vampires, how to pick a boss and how to get a boss to pick you. It’s about being all in (but not bringing your whole self to work—some of you is better left at home) and becoming valuable to your workplace. It’s about participating—with your brain, your skills, your experience, and your willingness to pitch in and offer yourself up for something you may not even know how to do yet.

Take your business to the next level by identifying the opportunities in your simple numbers. Looking for an investment opportunity with the capacity for long-term high yields? Put your business to work for you! Greg Crabtree demystifies common accounting and reveals the growth potential going unnoticed in your balance sheets. Learn how to make decisions based on data you already have to guide your business to be its best, most profitable self.

Are you tired of getting outmaneuvered in business deals? Wish you could read your opponents like a seasoned poker player, knowing when to hold firm, bluff, or walk away? This book is your ultimate guide to mastering negotiation by applying the strategies of professional poker players.

Do you live in constant fear? Do you worry that something terrible is about to happen? Do you have trouble breathing, relaxing, and sleeping? Do you think you're losing control, and that you're going to die? Are you trapped in your own personal hell, and don’t know how to get out? I've been there, and I know what it’s like. Shallow breathing, tension in the gut, chest pains, rapid heartbeat... Every moment is exhausting, crushing, and painful. Anxiety destroys your confidence, your productivity, your relationships, and your ability to enjoy life.

Throughout her career in the super-competitive, male-dominated media industry, Gail Evans, one of the country's most powerful executives, has met innumerable women who tell her that they feel lost in the workplace, almost as if they were playing a game without knowing the directions. In this book, she reveals the secrets to the playbook of success and teaches women at all levels of the organization - from assistant to vice president - how to play the game of business to their advantage.

In User Friendly, Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant reveal the untold story of a paradigm that quietly rules our modern lives: the assumption that machines should anticipate what we need. Spanning over a century of sweeping changes, from women’s rights to the Great Depression to World War II to the rise of the digital era, this audiobook unpacks the ways in which the world has been - and continues to be - remade according to the principles of the once-obscure discipline of user-experience design.

Companies are fighting the wrong battle. The consensus has been to learn the best practices from Big Tech and imitate them. But new paths for growth aren't created by imitation; they're forged by radical differentiation. In Smart Rivals, Harvard Business School professor Feng Zhu and former Bloomberg journalist Bonnie Cao show business leaders how to create new competitive advantages by offering product features and benefits that tech giants and other competitors cannot match.

Sidelined by a potentially career-ending injury, the only thing hockey player Ryan Douglas should be thinking about is his recovery. But after sharing a near-death experience with a spunky brunette, the only thing on his mind is five and a half feet of sexy sarcasm. And he’ll do whatever it takes to get her back in his bed - even if it means playing dirty. Chloe Jacobs is done with fairytales. And men. She’s kissed her share of frogs and what’s it gotten her? Dumped by text - again. The last thing she needs is a pushy, arrogant hockey player testing her resolve.

Told from the viewpoint of a self-described competition junkie, Compete, Play, Win is a look at the psychology behind the competitive drive, a look at the sociological ramifications of acting on competitive impulses, and a book of advice on how to channel those impulses for personal gain in business, sport, and in life.

Organizations that provide opportunities for employees to playfully connect, bond, and build friendships see improvements in retention, engagement, and innovation. Intentional play at work creates a culture that benefits all employees’ physical and mental health and the company’s bottom line. It Pays to Play is a rich resource filled with ideas for play at work—whether in person, hybrid, or remote—and illustrates how the ROI from play is multifaceted and exponential. Learn the ways play can be easily and affordably implemented regardless of your industry.