Great Business

We’ve moved on from antiquated tools like typewriters or checkbooks, but bosses still rely on the same annual performance review process to manage employees the same way they did 70 years ago. It fails our modern hybrid workplaces and it doesn’t improve performance, especially for today’s millennial and Gen-Z workforce. It succeeds only in lowering employee engagement, undermining trust in management, decreasing transparency, and increasing turnover. There must be a way to make work better for all of us. There is.

Leadership development speaker & consultant Andy Ellis is the former CSO of Akamai, where he contributed to the creation of Akamai's billion‑dollar cybersecurity business. He now brings his speaking, consulting, and business knowledge to listeners with 1% Leadership—based on the reality that real-world leadership is messy and complicated; it rarely fits into an acronym or a dogmatic overarching philosophy. Ellis says that there are no “irrefutable laws” of leadership or power; there is no secret.

Most people are blown off-course by unexpected events. Top performers, by contrast, know how to navigate our unpredictable world. Not just that: they know how to thrive in it. You can acquire this essential skill, too. In Mastering Uncertainty, investor and serial entrepreneur Csaba Konkoly and award-winning business author Matt Watkinson reveal the shortcomings of conventional business thinking and the advantages of developing a "probabilistic" mindset that turns uncertainty from a source of fear into an incredible and exciting advantage.

When Mark Rampolla filled a notebook with potential start-up ideas, his wife asked him some tough questions. What about this idea is exciting, beyond the possibility of a profit? How will it fit into a life that makes you and your family happy? How will it change the world? Eventually Mark found his great idea: coconut water. He had seen the developing world use coconut water, but this valuable resource was being discarded in the US. While taking on the beverage industry was a big goal - high-hanging fruit - it was worth the risk.

A dazzlingly original account of the life and thought of Adam Smith, the greatest economist of all time. In Adam Smith, political philosopher Jesse Norman dispels the myths and caricatures, and provides a far more complex portrait of the man. Offering a highly engaging account of Smith's life and times, Norman explores his work as a whole and traces his influence over two centuries to the present day. Finally, he shows how a proper understanding of Smith can help us address the problems of modern capitalism.

A generation of people around the world, from Boston to Bangkok, from New York to New Delhi, are making everyday choices in ways that defy traditional logic. They are judging where and how their clothes were made, not just how they fit. They are thinking global but buying local. They are spending their money and their time, forming loyalties, casting votes, and even enjoying entertainment based increasingly upon their desire to make a positive impact on others and the world around them.

The definitive guide to 21st-century business leadership, The New Extraordinary Leader shook the foundations of leadership as we knew it when it was published in 2002. Since then, we have seen tectonic shifts in the world of business - and this revised and updated edition provides the data and insights you need to address them all. Jack Zenger and Jim Folkman's proprietary 360 feedback assessment of leaders in the real world - how they lead, what works, and what doesn't - provides the data that makes The Extraordinary Leader unique in a crowded field of such books.

Great sexual confidence is one of your most powerful assets. Having it will make you feel secure, strong - and sexy. In this audiobook, by Debs de Vries, one of the U.K's top self-confidence teachers, you'll learn to express your needs and desires in ways that respect and protect you - and others. Debs will show you how to learn the vital skills of thoughtful inquiry so you avoid 'crash and burn' relationships - and you'll also get the low-down on how to nurture yourself to enjoy your unique sensuality.

Wallace Delois Wattles (1860-1911) was a New Thought author who researched the writings of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Ralph Waldo Emerson, and recommended the study of their books to those who wished to understand the monistic theory of the cosmos. Wattles’ "The Science of" Trilogy comprises books on attaining and maintaining good health, creating wealth and being the best that you can be.

Jim Collins' thoroughly researched look at corporate success, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't, offers practical, well-researched advice on how truly great companies differentiate themselves from the merely good. This SUMOREADS Summary & Analysis offers supplementary material to Good to Great to help you distill the key takeaways, review the book's content, and further understand the writing style and overall themes from an editorial perspective. Whether you'd like to deepen your understanding, refresh your memory, or simply decide whether or not this book is for you, SUMOREADS Summary & Analysis is here to help. Absorb everything you need to know in under 20 minutes!

This audiobook is written for great leaders, parents, coaches and mentors who want to become great teachers. The Seven Laws of Learning examines why people like Confucius, Nelson Mandela, Jesus, Winston Churchill, Evita Peron, Mahatma Gandhi and other extraordinary leaders were able to teach new ideas in ways that not only engaged people but persuaded them to use their free will to bring about personal and global change.

Over the past three decades, Professor Larry Smith has become something of a “career whisperer” for his students at the University of Waterloo. His stunning TEDx talk on finding your calling has been viewed by more than six million people and counting. This book captures the best of his advice in a one-stop roadmap for your future. Showcasing his particular mix of tough love and bracing clarity, Smith itemizes all the excuses and worries that are holding you back—and deconstructs them brilliantly.

In The Miracle Manager, Kevin G. Armstrong argues that placing true leaders in management positions has become an epidemic that is destroying businesses. Armstrong, a successful speaker, business owner, advisor, disruptor, and best-selling author, knows first-hand the consequences of mistaking great leadership for effective management. With knowledge gained from 20-plus years of exclusively advising CEOs, business owners, and their management teams, the author presents a revolutionary approach to organizational management.

Whether you're a manager, owner, or employee, Customer Service Training 101 gets you up to speed fast. The completely revised and updated third edition addresses every aspect of face-to-face, phone, online, social media, and self-service interactions. Using scenarios, guidelines, and practice exercises, this inspiring training manual explains what to say and do, what to avoid, and why interactions go astray.

When the athletic shoe graduated from the beaches and croquet courts of the wealthy elite to streetwear ubiquity, its journey through the heart of American life was just getting started. In this rollicking narrative, Nicholas K. Smith carries us through the long 20th century as sneakers became the totem of subcultures from California skateboarders to New York rappers, the cause of gang violence and riots, the heart of a global economic controversy, the lynchpin in a quest to turn big sports into big business, and the muse of high fashion.

Heather E. McGowan and Chris Shipley deliver a guidebook for leaders navigating the uncertainty of a post pandemic world in this sequel to The Adaptation Advantage. Leaders today must acknowledge and respond to the fundamental shifts that lay the foundation for effective leadership: From managing people to enabling success, from viewing peers as competitors to seeing them as collaborators, from applying extrinsic pressure on workers to unlocking intrinsic motivation, and from driving productivity with unquestioned authority to inspiring value creation by leading with empathy.

We're now entering the winter season of the 80-year four season economic cycle. It's during this season that we'll clear the decks with a devastating crash and debilitating deflation. The economy and markets will shed the excesses created during the preceding fall bubble boom season and prepare the soil for new blossoming in innovation and a spring boom. After the blustering bull market of 2009-2015, we are now preparing for a shakeout more painful than anything we've seen before.

Christmas Abbott knows the importance of a badass lifestyle - physically, mentally, and spiritually. The key is balance: using essential daily practices for the mind, body, and soul. The Badass Life is her monthlong program based on building positive daily habits, to help you achieve a higher quality of life and a heightened sense of self-worth.

Scrum is the most successful framework for agile product development, and much has been written about how to follow the Scrum process, but the key to success is in the leadership skills of the product owner. Product Mastery explores the traits of the best product owners, offering an insight into the difference between good and great product ownership and explaining how the best product owners are driven to be successful.

Faced with a software project of epic proportions? Tired of over-committing and under-delivering? Enter the dojo of the agile samurai, where agile expert Jonathan Rasmusson shows you how to kick-start, execute, and deliver your agile projects. Combining cutting-edge tools with classic agile practices, The Agile Samurai gives you everything you need to deliver something of value every week and make rolling your software into production a non-event.