VIBE By Adam Grant

 

Credit: VIBE, Adam Grant 

 Overview

When we vibe with other people, it fuels our happiness and success. Yet building meaningful ties is one of the most pressing problems of our time. As face-to-face interaction gives way to digital screens, communication gets outsourced to AI, and the world becomes more polarized, our loneliness crisis shows no signs of slowing. To reveal how we can forge faster, stronger, and longer bonds, Adam Grant offers groundbreaking studies, expert insights, and myth-busting stories. Filled with the eye-opening takeaways that have brought millions of readers to his books, Vibe teaches us that similarity is not necessary for solidarity, chemistry doesn’t always happen quickly, and closeness doesn’t always take time. Read more here. Credit: Barnes & Noble; Adam Grant.

 

Focal Point By Brian Tracy

 

Credit: Focal Point By Brian Tracy

Overview

The true secret of high achievers is that they know how to find their "focal point," the one thing they should do, at any given moment, to get the best possible results in each area of their lives. 

Bestselling author and motivational speaker Brian Tracy brings together the very best ideas on personal management into a simple, easy-to-use plan. Focal Point helps readers analyze their lives in seven key areas and shows them how to develop focused goals and plans in each.

This best-selling guide provides timeless truths that have been discovered by the most effective people throughout the ages, answering questions like:

In Focal Point, Tracy provides timeless truths that answers questions such as:

- How can I get control of my time and my life?

- How can I achieve maximum career success and still balance my personal life?

- How can I accelerate the achievement of all my goals?

Focal Point shows you how to develop absolute clarity about what they want, and how they can achieve supreme satisfaction, both personally and professionally.

Credit: Focal Point; Brian Tracy International.

Fierce Conversations By Susan Scott

Credit: Fierce Conversations

 Overview

The master teacher of positive change through powerful communication, Susan Scott wants you to succeed. To do that, she explains, you must transform everyday conversations at work and at home with effective ways to get your message across and get what you want. In this guide, which includes a workbook and The Seven Principles of Fierce Conversations, Scott teaches you how to: 

* Overcome barriers to meaningful communication

* Expand and enrich relationships with colleagues, friends, and family

* Increase clarity and improve understanding

* Handle strong emotions on both sides of the table

* Connect with colleagues, customers and family at a deep level

Credit: Fierce Conversations; Fierce Inc.

Lying By Sam Harris

 

Credit: Sam Harris

Overview

Most forms of private vice and public evil are kindled and sustained by lies. Acts of adultery and other personal betrayals, financial fraud, government corruption—even murder and genocide—generally require an additional moral defect: a willingness to lie. In Lying, bestselling author and neuroscientist Sam Harris argues that we can radically simplify our lives and improve society by merely telling the truth in situations where others often lie. He focuses on “white” lies—those lies we tell for the purpose of sparing people discomfort—for these are the lies that most often tempt us. And they tend to be the only lies that good people tell while imagining that they are being good in the process. Credit: Lying; Sam Harris.

The Correspondent By Virginia Evans

Credit: The Correspondent 

Overview

Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime.  Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter. Read more here. Credit: The Correspondent.

Strangers By Belle Burden

 

Credit: Strangers By Belle Burden

 

Overview

It was a great love story, one for the ages. The speed of our beginning and the speed of our ending felt like matching bookends. They both came out of nowhere. He wanted it, he wanted me. And then he didn't.

In March 2020, Belle Burden was safe and secure with her family at their house on Martha's Vineyard, navigating the early days of the pandemic together-building fires in the late afternoons, drinking whisky sours, making roast chicken. Then, with no warning or explanation, her husband of twenty years announced that he was leaving her. Overnight, her caring, steady partner became a man she hardly recognized. He exited his life with her like an actor shrugging off a costume.

In Strangers, Burden revisits her marriage, searching for clues that her husband was not who she always thought he was. As she examines her relationship through a new lens, she reckons with her own family history and the lessons she intuited about how a woman is expected to behave in the face of betrayal. Through all of it, she is transformed. The discreet, compliant woman she once was-someone nicknamed "Belle the Good"-gives way to someone braver, someone determined to use her voice. Read more here. Credit: Strangers; Blackwell's UK.

Good People By Patmeena Sabit

Credit: Good People By Patmeena Sabit

Overview

The Sharaf family is the picture of success. Prosperous, rich, happy. They came to this country as refugees with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. And now, after years of hard work, they live in the most exclusive neighborhood, their growing family attending the most prestigious schools. Zorah, the eldest daughter, is the apple of her father’s eye. When an unthinkable tragedy strikes, everyone is left reeling and the family is thrust into the court of public opinion. There is talk that behind closed doors the Sharafs’ happy household was anything but. Did the Sharaf family achieve the American dream? Or was the image of the model immigrant family just a façade? Read more here. Credit: Penguin Random House.

Humor Me By Chris Duffy

A sense of humor is often the missing piece in what we struggle with these days (personally, professionally, politically, even globally). In HUMOR ME, Chris Duffy sets out to investigate how to make things fun and funny again. He interviewed psychologists, neuroscientists, a Navy SEAL, a Parisian-trained clown, a woman who runs a nursing home in Hong Kong, famous comedians, extremely not famous comedians, a 10-year-old food critic, and a 104-year-old world champion swimmer.

The result is HUMOR ME—a book about how to laugh more every day and how a sense of humor can help you make friends, be healthier physically and mentally, be more creative, and get through hard times. Credit: Chris Duffy Comedy.

Credit: Humor Me By Chris Duffy

The Octopus Organization

Credit: The Octopus Organization

Overview

Large-scale organizational transformations usually don’t work. What originally starts as a way of improving an organization becomes an all-consuming distraction, a value-destroying set of activities that, even as it becomes clear they will fail, must be completed at any cost. But there is a better way: becoming an Octopus Organization.

The octopus is everything you need your organization to be in these turbulent times: extremely smart, endlessly adaptable, and highly resilient. Its eight arms work beautifully in concert, but crucially, each arm can think for itself if it needs to work independently. Your organization can work as intelligently and as beautifully as these amazing creatures, if you change your operating model. Credit: The Octopus Organization. 

Writers Series Welcomes Author Helen Glanville

 

Credit: Writers Series | Guest, Helen Glanville

Meet Helen Glanville

Helen Glanville is an Australian author whose debut memoir, A Second Chance, tells the remarkable true story of love, forgiveness and rebuilding after life’s most difficult chapters. When Helen met her husband, Richard “Geoff” Glanville, he was serving time for one of Australia’s most notorious white-collar crimes. Against the odds, they fell in love, married, and went on to build a life centred on honesty, redemption and service to others.

​She writes with warmth and honesty about resilience, morality and the courage to begin again. Helen's experiences include losing everything in the 2019 bushfires and then finding faith and meaning through each new beginning. Today she speaks about transformation, second chances and the process of turning pain into purpose. Based in Adelaide, Helen continues to share her message that no story is beyond redemption, and that writing can be both a personal and spiritual act of renewal. Credit: Helen Glanville.  

Helen's appearance is also available @ ❤️iHeartRadio.

​

Surrounded By Idiots By Thomas Erikson

 

Credit: Surrounded By Idiots

Overview

You are not alone. After a disastrous meeting with a highly successful entrepreneur, who was genuinely convinced he was ‘surrounded by idiots’, communication expert and bestselling author, Thomas Erikson dedicated himself to understanding how people function and why we often struggle to connect with certain types of people. Surrounded by Idiots is an international phenomenon, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide. It offers a simple, yet ground-breaking method for assessing the personalities of people we communicate with – in and out of the office – based on four personality types (Red, Blue, Green and Yellow), and provides insights into how we can adjust the way we speak and share information. Erikson will help you understand yourself better, hone communication and social skills, handle conflict with confidence, improve dynamics with your boss and team, and get the best out of the people you deal with and manage. He also shares simple tricks on body language, improving written communication, advice on when to back away or when to push on, and when to speak up or shut up. Packed with ‘aha!’ and ‘oh no!’ moments, Surrounded by Idiots will help you understand and communicate with those around you, even people you currently think are beyond all comprehension. Credit: Surrounded By Idiots.

We Can Do Hard Things

 

Credit: We Can Do Hard Things

Every day, Glennon Doyle spirals around the same questions: Why am I like this? How do I figure out what I want? How do I know what to do? Why can’t I be happy? Am I doing this right? The harder life gets, the less likely she is to remember the answers she’s spent her life learning. She wonders: I’m almost fifty years old. I’ve overcome a hell of a lot. Why do I wake up every day having forgotten everything I know?

Glennon’s compasses are her sister, Amanda, and her wife, Abby. Recently, in the span of a single year, Glennon was diagnosed with anorexia, Amanda was diagnosed with breast cancer, and Abby’s beloved brother died. For the first time, they were all lost at the same time. So they turned toward the only thing that’s ever helped them find their way: deep, honest conversations with other brave, kind, wise people. They asked each other, their dearest friends, and 118 of the world’s most brilliant wayfinders: As you’ve traveled these roads—marriage, parenting, work, recovery, heartbreak, aging, new beginnings—have you collected any wisdom that might help us find our way? Read more here. Credit: Penguin Random House.

The Power of Mattering By Zach Mercurio

Credit: The Power of Mattering; Zach Mercurio

 

Overview 

Your people have a fundamental need to be seen, heard, and valued.  Increasingly, people report feeling overlooked, ignored, and underappreciated at work. Simply put, they don't feel like they matter to their leaders or organizations—and it's taking a toll. This hidden epidemic of insignificance is fueling a mental health crisis, intensifying loneliness, and, for organizations, driving disengagement, turnover, and low performance. The good news is that leaders can learn the skills to ensure that everyone around them feels valued and knows how they add value at work. Through a captivating exploration of the emerging science of mattering and drawing from hands-on work in hundreds of diverse industries and organizations, researcher and speaker Zach Mercurio reveals how mattering to others is a fundamental—yet often overlooked—requirement for thriving.

He introduces a simple yet effective framework for making daily interactions with your people more meaningful:

Noticing: the practice of seeing and hearing others
Affirming: the practice of showing people how their unique gifts make a difference
Needing: the practice of showing people they're relied on and indispensable

Filled with practical advice, helpful exercises, and inspiring real-world examples, The Power of Mattering equips leaders at all levels with the tools they need to revitalize their teams—and entire organizations—by showing people that they matter. Credit: The Power of Mattering; Zach Mercurio.

A Generous Life

 

Credit: A Generous Life; David Green with Bill High

Overview

As the founder and CEO of the largest privately owned arts and crafts retailer in the world, David has amassed material wealth, yet has learned the secret of generous living. As someone who gives away half of his profits to charity, lives with integrity and faith, and enjoys the peace of crafting a legacy now, David has found peace and fulfillment.

A Generous Life:

- guides you through ten simple but life-changing action steps
- helps you establish a generous mindset, determine where and how much to give, how to create a family legacy plan, and more
- teaches you how to identify your blessings—friendships, family, work, education, or talents

Credit: A Generous Life; Olive Tree.

The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership

 

Credit: Commitments of Conscious Leadership

Overview

You’ll never see leadership the same way again after reading this book.These fifteen commitments are a distillation of decades of work with CEOs and other leaders. They are radical or provocative for many. They have been game changers for us and for our clients. We trust that they will be for you too.Our experience is that unconscious leadership is not sustainable. It won’t work for you, your team or your organization in the long term. Unconscious leadership can deliver short term results, but the costs of living and leading unconsciously are great.Fear drives most leaders to make choices that are at odds with healthy relationships, vitality and balance. This fear leaves a toxic residue that won’t be as easily tolerated in an increasingly complex business environment.Conscious leadership offers the antidote to fear. These pages contain a comprehensive road map to guide you to shift from fear-based to trust-based leadership.

Once you learn and start practicing conscious leadership you’ll get results in the form of more energy, clarity, focus and healthier relationships. You’ll do more and more of what you are passionate about, and less of what you do out of obligation. You’ll have more fun, be happier, experience less drama and be more on purpose. Your team will get results as well. They’ll be more collaborative, creative, energized and engaged. They’ll solve issues faster, and once resolved the issues won’t resurface. Drama and gossip will all but disappear, and the energy and resources that fueled them will be redirected towards innovation and creativity.Any one of these commitments will change your life. All of them together are revolutionary. 

Leaders who practice the 15 commitments:· End blame and criticism· Speak candidly, openly and honestly, in a way that invites others to do the same· Find their unique genius· Let go of taking everything—especially themselves and their problems—so seriously· Create win for all solutions· Experience a new relationship to time and money where there is always enough. What do you need to bring to the table?Be curious.Sounds so simple, and yet in our experience it’s a skill few have mastered. Most of us are far more interested in being right and proving it, than we are in learning, growing and shifting out of our old patterns. By default we gravitate towards the familiar. We’re asking you to take a chance and explore the unfamiliar. You’ll get scared and reactive. We all do. So what? Just stay curious and let us introduce you to a whole new world of leadership. Credit: 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership; Conscious Leadership Group.

The Cost of Ambition By Miroslav Volf

 

Credit: Barnes and Noble, Miroslav Volf

 Overview

Many people believe that ambition, understood as striving to be better than others, improves us as individuals and advances society. But what if the opposite is true? In The Cost of Ambition, world-renowned theologian and award-winning author Miroslav Volf argues that striving for superiority actually makes us worse. Working his way backward in time, Volf explores what three influential thinkers—Søren Kierkegaard, John Milton, and the apostle Paul—say about the cost of ambition. He also explores what the teachings of Jesus and the stories in Genesis say on the matter. Volf explains that striving to be better than others, though widely accepted as part of modern life, devalues our achievements, the things that surround us, and our relationships because it makes them into mere means to an empty goal. He reveals ambition's negative consequences in all domains of life, showing that it is at odds with the key convictions of Christian faith. Credit: Miroslav Volf, How Striving to Be Better Than Others Makes Us Worse.

Four Thousand Weeks By Olive Burkeman

 

Credit: Four Thousand Weeks

 

The paperback edition of the liberating Sunday Times bestseller is set to enhance readers' lives even further with extra content on how we can all spend our four thousand weeks. The average human lifespan is absurdly, outrageously, insultingly brief- if you live to 80, you have about four thousand weeks on earth. How should we use them best? Of course, nobody needs telling that there isn't enough time. We're obsessed by our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, the struggle against distraction, and the sense that our attention spans are shrivelling. Yet we rarely make the conscious connection that these problems only trouble us in the first place thanks to the ultimate time-management problem- the challenge of how best to use our four thousand weeks.

Four Thousand Weeks is an uplifting, engrossing and deeply realistic exploration of this problem that draws on philosophy, literature and psychology to cover the past, present and future of our battles with time. It goes far beyond practical tips, and its many revelations will transform the reader's worldview. Drawing on the insights of ancient philosophers, Benedictine monks, artists and authors, Scandinavian social reformers, renegade Buddhist technologists and many others, Oliver Burkeman sets out to realign our relationship with time - and in doing so, to liberate us from its grasp. Credit: Four Thousand Weeks; Oliver Burkeman.

Patrimony By Philip Roth

Credit: Patrimony, Philip Roth

Patrimony, a true story, touches the emotions as strongly as anything Philip Roth has ever written. Roth watches as his eighty-six-year-old father—famous for his vigor, charm, and his repertoire of Newark recollections—fights the brain tumor that will kill him. The son, full of love, anxiety, and dread, accompanies his father through each fearful stage of his final ordeal, and, as he does so, discloses the survivalist tenacity that has distinguished his father's long, stubborn engagement with life. Credit: Patrimony, Yiddish Book Center.

Never Eat Alone By Keith Ferrazzi

 

Credit: Never Eat Alone

 

 

 

Overview

The secret, master networker Keith Ferrazzi claims, is in reaching out to other people. As Ferrazzi discovered in early life, what distinguishes highly successful people from everyone else is the way they use the power of relationships—so that everyone wins. In Never Eat Alone, Ferrazzi lays out the specific steps—and inner mindset—he uses to reach out to connect with the thousands of colleagues, friends, and associates on his contacts list, people he has helped and who have helped him. And in the time since Never Eat Alone was published in 2005, the rise of social media and new, collaborative management styles have only made Ferrazzi’s advice more essential for anyone hoping to get ahead in business. Read more here. Credit: Keith Ferrazzi.

Bring Your HUMAN to Work By Erica Keswin

 

Credit: Bring Your HUMAN to Work

 

Bring Your Human to Work:

10 Surefire Ways to Design a Workplace That Is Good for People,

 Great for Business, and Just Might Change the World

As human beings, we are built to connect and form relationships. So, it should be no surprise that relationships must also translate into the workplace, where we spend most of our time! Companies that recognize this will retain the most productive, creative, and loyal employees, and invariably seize the competitive edge. The most successful leaders are those who actively form quality relationships with their employees, who honor fundamental human qualities--authenticity, openness, and basic politeness--and apply them day in and day out. Paying attention and genuinely caring about the effects people have on one another other is key to developing a winning culture where people perform at the top of their game and want to work.  As a workplace strategist and business coach, Erica Keswin has spent over 20 years working with top business leaders and executives to build successful organizations that honor relationships. Credit: Bring Your HUMAN to Work; Porchlight Books.