The CEO Refresher Recommended Reading

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Recommended Reading
Leading is learning ... and learning faster! Here are several new releases and excerpts, the latest refresher book reviews and the best business books and resources - and there are many more in the archives!

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The CEO Refresher Reviewers

BEST BOOKS

	The Smart Swarm by Peter Miller

	Open Leadership by Charlene Li

	Exceptional Service Exceptional Profit by Leonardo Inghilleri and Micah Solomon

	Anywhere by Emily Nagle Green

	Taming the Search-and-Switch Customer by Jill Griffin

	Upstarts! by Donna Fenn

	I Love You More Than My Dog by Jeanne Bliss

	Just Listen by Mark Goulston

	MASTER LEADERS by George Barna

	Maestro by Roger Nierenberg

	The Power of Strategic Commitment by Josh Leibner, Gershon Mader and Alan Weiss

	Strategic Customer Service by John A. Goodman

	Chaotics by Philip Kotler and John A. Caslione

	Take Their Breath Away by Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson

	Marketing Metrics in Action by Laura Patterson

	Leadership RE:Vision by Jim Seybert

	Running with the Rhinos by Christian Warren

	Human Sigma by John H. Fleming and Jim Asplund

	Radical Careering by Sally Hogshead

	Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins by Annette Simmons

	Customer Service Made Easy by Paul Levesque

	Big Vision, Small Business by Jamie S. Walters

	Hit the Ground Leading! by Angela Mondou

	Chief Customer Officer by Jeanne Bliss

	The Must-Have Customer by Robert Gordman with Armin Brott

	Exceptional Selling by Jeff Thull

	The Innovation Killer by Cynthia Rabe

	The Laws of Lifetime Growth: by Dan Sullivan and Catherine Nomura

	Pop! Stand Out in Any Crowd! by Sam Horn

	Kiss Theory Good Bye by Bob Prosen

The Best Books
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001

The Best Business Books
of All Time!

refresherbooks

	The New Experts: Win Today's Newly Empowered Customers at Their 4 Decisive Moments by Robert H. Bloom Robert Bloom, a veteran CEO and respected authority on business strategy, tells readers how to win customers who no longer care where they buy. It explains how to give customers what they want when it matters most to them - at their 4 Decisive Moments during the purchase progression: the Now-or-Never Moment, Make-or-Break Moment, Keep-or-Lose Moment, and the highly profitable Multiplier Moment. The book turns today's most serious business challenge into a business-building advantage by providing a no- or low-cost solution to reduce costly customer churn and increase profitable customer conversion, retention, and referral.

	Rethinking Risk: How Companies Sabotage Themselves and What They Must Do Differently by Joseph W. Koletar Rethinking Risk gives you a sobering, from-the-trenches account of real-life organizational risk. Packed with examples, interviews, and the eyewitness perspective of a seasoned risk management consultant and former high-ranking FBI professional, this fascinating page-turner is complete with suspenseful plots, behind-the-scenes detective work, and much-needed advice on how to deal with risks before they escalate—or prevent problems from happening in the first place.

	The Smart Swarm: How Understanding Flocks, Schools, and Colonies Can Make Us Better at Communicating, Decision Making, and Getting Things Done by Peter Miller Based on extensive globe-trotting research, this lively tour from National Geographic reporter Peter Miller introduces thriving throngs of ant colonies, which have inspired computer programs for streamlining factory processes, telephone networks, and truck routes; termites, used in recent studies for climate-control solutions; schools of fish, on which the U.S. military modeled a team of robots; and many other examples of the wisdom to be gleaned about the behavior of crowds-among critters and corporations alike. (Fascinating read and one of the best of the year! ed.)

	The Social Media Survival Guide: Everything You Need to Know to Grow Your Business Exponentially with Social Media by Sherrie Ann Madia and Paul Borgese The guide provides critical insights into shaping programs and policies for integrating social media for internal and external stakeholder groups, along with handling demands for social media tools, and a clear, concise approach to minimizing corporate exposure while maximizing opportunity in the marketplace by engaging employees and consumers in exciting new ways.

	Wander Woman: How High-Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction by Marcia Reynolds Wander Woman explores how generational shifts and changing expectations of working women have fostered a new kind of restlessness among many. Through real-life stories she reveals the hopes and dreams, disappointments and challenges this group of high-achieving women are facing. And, most importantly, she provides exercises and development strategies for readers as they make their journey to peace and finally come to rest with a strong sense of identity and purpose.

	Stick Out Your Balance and Cough: Best Practices for Long-Term Business Health by Gary W. Patterson Gary Patterson details the proven methods he's used to successfully treat companies of all sizes across a range of industries. Using the FiscalDoctor's Best Practices, the high-growth company you own, manage or direct can avoid unnecessary increased expenses, revenue shortfalls, employee layoffs, missed bonuses or broken dreams.

	Generations, Inc.: From Boomers to Linksters - Managing the Friction Between Generations at Work by Meagan Johnson and Larry Johnson How do you manage the confluence of Woodstock Nation and the Facebook Generation—and everything in between? Authors Meagan Johnson and Larry Johnson are walking examples of this challenge. A father-and-daughter consulting team whose points of view only sometimes coincide, they have developed powerful solutions to many of the seemingly intractable problems of intergenerational conflict.

	It's Not Just Who You Know: Transform Your Life (and Your Organization) by Turning Colleagues and Contacts into Lasting, Genuine Relationships by Tommy Spaulding In this candid, revealing book, Tommy expands upon the principles that Dale Carnegie outlined 75 years ago, and shows us how to take them one step further to accomplish the impossible in our lives and careers. To invite others to be genuine partners in our lives and success, Tommy explains, you have to first be interested in other people. It’s not just who you know, or what they can do for you, but what you can do for them. Motives matter. Establishing a deeper connection is about authenticity, not manipulation. Reciprocity, not selfishness. Every relationship is a two-way street; we never know when a chance encounter can change the direction of our life.

	Make Work Great: Super Charge Your Team, Reinvent the Culture, and Gain Influence One Person at a Time by Edward G. Muzio Whether you are a mid-level manager or a senior executive, Make Work Great offers the blueprint for building a positive, motivating, and productive workplace in any kind of organization. In this definitive guide fortoday’s multicultural, decentralized business environment, Ed Muzio, award-winning author, internationally recognized workplace improvement expert, and consultant, delivers state-of-the-art analysis, advice and guidance, and scores of team-building and motivation exercises that you andyour staff can do in ten minutes a day--without disrupting routines or interrupting important business.

	Nice Teams Finish Last: The Secret to Unleashing Your Team's Maximum Potential by Brian Cole Miller Don't rock the boat. Don't make waves. Don't offend anyone. There's a palpable feeling that clouds many team meetings and keeps them from being productive: over-politeness. And while the conflict that naturally exists in most organizations hasn't gone away, it manifests itself in passive-aggression, mediocrity, and a molasseslike inability to get anything done. Nice Teams Finish Last provides the antidote to this all-too-common tendency, giving managers, team leaders and members, and facilitators the practical support they need to battle "the nice trap" and start getting results!

	The Experience Effect: Engage Your Customers with a Consistent and Memorable Brand Experience by Jim Joseph Whether it's online, offline, or at the retail level, The Experience Effect shows you how to link your advertising, packaging, website, messaging and more to create a memorable and appealing experience for customers. When all these elements come together to form a seamless experience, the customer is left with a feeling of satisfaction that ultimately builds loyalty. Jim Joseph calls this ideal combination the "experience effect," and in this book he shows how any business can create one for its brand.

	Bright Triumphs from Dark Hours: Turning Adversity Into Success by David Heenan Bright Triumphs From Dark Hours examines the lives of ten extraordinary people who overcame great adversity in their personal or professional lives by applying winning strategies that guided them out of the darkness of near-defeat and into the light of success. In these inspiring stories Heenan identifies key strategies that helped each person stay upbeat in the swirling vortex of tough times. The final chapter outlines these practices in greater detail and explains how they can be used to create personal roadmaps to negotiate life's darkest hours - from which come its greatest successes, its brightest triumphs.

	The On-Demand Brand: 10 Rules for Digital Marketing Success in an Anytime, Everywhere World by Rick Mathieson The most successful campaigns of late have spoken to consumers in a way that's interesting and engaging beyond the scope of the product itself (e.g., Burger King's Subservient Chicken site) or possess shock-value (e.g., Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty) or provide entertainment beyond the scope of the hard sell. Through persuasive arguments and Q &A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas.

	No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline by Brian Tracy Each of the 21 chapters in this book shows you how to be more disciplined in one aspect of your life, with end-of-chapter exercises to help you apply the “no excuses” approach to your own life. With these guidelines, you can learn how to be more successful in everything you do—instead of wistfully envying others who you think are just “luckier” than you. A little self-discipline goes a long way...so stop making excuses and read this book!

	Marketing in the Moment: The Practical Guide to Using Web 3.0 Marketing to Reach Your Customers First by Michael Tasner Web marketing consultant Michael Tasner has written the definitive practical guide to driving maximum value from next-generation Web, online, mobile, and social marketing. Drawing from his innovative marketing techniques, Tasner has written the first book on what he calls Web 3.0 marketing. Tasner helps marketers, entrepreneurs, and managers move beyond hype and high-level strategy to proven tactics and successful ground-level execution.

	Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead by Charlene Li Charlene Li (the coauthor of the blockbusting bestseller Groundswell) offers the next step resource that shows leaders how to tap into the power of the social technology revolution and use social media to be "open" while maintaining control. By embracing social media, leaders can transform their organizations to become more effective, decisive, and ultimately more profitable in this new era of openness in the marketplace. (Leaders must let go to gain more, and Charlene provides an excellent roadmap! ed.)

	Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit: The Secrets of Building a Five-Star Customer Service Organization by Leonardo Inghilleri and Micah Solomon Leonardo Inghilleri and Micah Solomon reveal the secrets of providing online and offline customer service so superior it nearly guarantees loyalty. Their anticipatory customer service approach was first developed at The Ritz-Carlton as well as at Solomon's company Oasis, and has since proven itself in count less companies around the globe—from luxury giant BVLGARI to value-sensitive auto parts leader Carquest, and everywhere in between. (One of the best of the year! ed.)

	Leadership Secrets of Hillary Clinton by Rebecca Shambaugh Few understand better than Hillary Clinton what it's like to fight uphill battles. Yet, despite her uncanny tendency to draw fire, she has achieved remarkable success, working her way up from first lady to U.S. Secretary of State. Leadership Secrets of Hillary Clinton examines Clinton's leadership techniques and explains how to get results by putting them to work in your own environment. Rebecca Shambaugh breaks down Clinton's powerful leadership style into easy-to-understand parts, each of which is imperative for successfully leading an organization through periods of intense change.

	Anywhere: How Global Connectivity is Revolutionizing the Way We Do Business by Emily Nagle Green Welcome to the world of ubiquitous connectivity. Anywhere is the next business revolution, a sea-change that will allow businesses to reach five billion customers, many of them in untapped global markets. In Anywhere, Emily Nagle Green, CEO of Yankee Group Research, explains the rapidly unfolding changes in connectivity—and presents the first strategic guide for remaking businesses now to take advantage of this “anywhere, anytime…” revolution. Excellent and one of the best of the year! (ed.)

	How the Best Leaders Lead: Proven Secrets to Getting the Most Out of Yourself and Others by Brian Tracy How the best leaders lead people is the book's core topic. Tracy talks about real world leadership and delivers nuclear-powered ideas for being the best leader you can be. The world sorely needs better leaders. Brian's book fills that need well, guiding you with "seven basic responsibilities of leadership" to be your best. (Mark LaMoure)

	The Gettysburg Approach to Writing and Speaking Like a Professional by Philip A. Yaffe Effective writing and speaking are critical for all students and professionals in this challenging and competitive world. Professional level writing and speaking depend on only a handful of easy-to-understand principles. The Gettysburg Approach goes straight to the foundations, defines these principals and explains how to apply them. Through a variety of examples and simple exercises, this exceptional guide will help anyone sharpen their skills and rapidly learn to write and speak clearly, concisely, and persuasively.

	The Earth's Best Story: A Bittersweet Tale of Twin Brothers Who Sparked an Organic Revolution by Ron Koss and Arnie Koss The Earth's Best Story is a bittersweet tale about the founding of Earth's Best Baby Foods twenty-five years ago. Told through the dual narrative of each brother, this is not a business tome, although it is rich in entrepreneurial lessons and know-how. Rather, it's more like a "how to," “how not to,” and “how they did it” memoir. It's personal, it's intense, it's inspirational, and it's full of reflections and tales of wonder and woe.

	Happiness at Work: Maximizing Your Psychological Capital for Success by Jessica Pryce-Jones Pryce-Jones explains what psychological capital and happiness at work are and how you can go about getting more of both. Along the way, she demystifies the latest research, illustrating her findings with a fascinating array of over 80 revealing interviews with people all over the world: business leaders and politicians, particle physicists and philosophers, sheep farmers and bankers, to name just a few. The result is a unique strategy with five components that build your happiness at work and help you to achieve your potential.

	Robert's Rules of Innovation: A 10-Step Program for Corporate Survival by Robert F. Brands with Martin J. Kleinman Innovation, the key to your company's survival, must be encoded in your corporate DNA. It is an imperative—because you can bet your competitors are going at Innovation full-throttle. Robert's Rules of Innovation chronicles decades' worth of collective, invaluable experience contributed by Innovation guru Robert Brands and his international network of Innovate-For-Success experts. Get passionate about creativity. Prepare to unleash your team's abilities. Create the next home-run new product. Read a review by Jeff Lindsay.

	The Risk Takers: 16 Women and Men Who Built Great Businesses Share Their Entrepreneurial Strategies For Success by Renee Martin and Don Martin The Risk Takers is about ordinary people, all with good ideas, who faced daunting challenges, but took a leap of faith and started their own business. The book tells the stories of the personal and professional journeys of sixteen fascinating men and women who built hugely successful, multimillion dollar companies. They started with very little, opted to strike out on their own, and struggled with disappointment and failure. Yet, they overcame adversity and through persistence and resiliency determined their own destiny. Great read!

	Seizing the White Space: Business Model Innovation for Growth and Renewal by Mark W. Johnson Johnson lays out an eminently practical framework that identifies the four fundamental building blocks that make business models work. In a series of in-depth case studies, he goes on to vividly illustrate how companies are using innovative business models to seize their white space and achieve transformational growth by fulfilling unmet customer needs in their current markets; serving entirely new customers and creating new markets; and responding to tectonic shifts in market demand, government policy, and technologies that affect entire industries.

	The Lean Machine: How Harley-Davidson Drove Top-Line Growth and Profitability with Revolutionary Lean Product Development by Dantar P. Oosterwal Packed with little-known details about how the company came to reinvent the way it designs new products, and a broad overview of the fertile corporate climate that made it possible, The Lean Machine uncovers the power of Knowledge-Based Product Development to achieve predictable, positive results, without having to continually fix late-breaking problems and full-blown crises. It's a formula for outstanding success that can be replicated or adapted to fit your own company's needs.

	BUSINESS TOOLS??? – Executive Guide to What Social Media Tools work for Business and Why by Blaine W. Millet and Clayton N. Loges This excellent ebook provides a practical overview of what Social Media really is and how it is relevant to those who run businesses. The authors present a description and explanation of the key “tools” of social media and which ones are best for business, an introduction to the “mind shift” that must take place to effectively use Social Media in a business and a dozen key “take-away’s” that can change your business starting today. You can get a copy of the ebook free for a limited time by visiting their website. Enjoy!

	Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton Marcus Buckingham, coauthor of the national bestseller First, Break All the Rules, and Donald O. Clifton, Chair of the Gallup International Research & Education Center, have created a revolutionary program to help readers identify their talents, build them into strengths, and enjoy consistent, near-perfect performance. At the heart of the book is the Internet-based StrengthsFinder® Profile, and the book contains a unique identification number that allows you access to the StrengthsFinder Profile on the Internet. With profound insights on how to turn talents into strengths, Now, Discover Your Strengths is one of the most useful business books ever written. We have added it to The CEO Refresher's Best Books of All Time! (ed.)

	When Turtles Fly: Secrets of Successful People Who Know How To Stick Their Necks Out by Nikki Stone Along with anecdotes from her own dramatic journey, Olympic gold medalist Nikki Stone has compiled a treasure trove of compelling stories to illustrate each step on the path to success. She’s gathered humorous, heartwarming and hugely inspirational tales from some of today’s most brilliant business leaders, scientists, soldiers, inventors, philanthropists, musicians, athletes and entrepreneurs…a host of people whose very names epitomize achievement. An excellent read! Great work Nikki!

	Career GPS: Strategies for Women Navigating the New Corporate Landscape by Ella L.J. Edmondson Bell Ph.D., with Linda Villarosa Drawing from her work as a consultant to some of the country's most prestigious Fortune 100 companies, Dr. Bell helps readers succeed at every level in a dynamic corporate marketplace. Career GPS combines Dr. Bell's academic knowledge and expertise with dozens of heartfelt first-person stories from smart women who rose through the ranks. Here is a book that will guide women of all cultures, ages, and levels of experience to their career goals. An excellent read!

	Master Your Debt by Jordan E. Goodman, with Bill Westrom Master Your Debt recommends many pioneering strategies as it lays out an innovative plan for achieving the elusive goal of financial success. The book is filled with helpful web sites, toll free numbers, associations and government agencies, and vetted companies and services to help you implement this advice. In today's volatile economy, getting out of debt is the key to surviving and thriving, and author Jordan Goodman provides you with the strategies and tools to live debt free.

	Tools for Project Management, Workshops and Consulting: A Must-Have Compendium of Essential Tools and Techniques by Nicolai Andler This book is a unique reference work and guide for those wanting to learn about or who are active in the fields of consulting, project management and problem solving in general. It presents cookbook-style access to most important skills, including a rating of each tool in terms of applicability, ease of use and effectiveness. It is a comprehensive compendium of essential tools and techniques.

	Leadership by Marshall Goldsmith, John Baldoni and Sarah McArthur Packed with real-life examples, research-based assessments, and probing analyses, The AMA Handbook of Leadership's brisk, stimulating articles give you a broad perspective on new leadership challenges and strategies - including some refreshingly contrarian opinions and observations. Browse the book for a thorough overview or pick the best possible ideas for you and your organization.

	Complicit: How Greed and Collusion Made the Credit Crisis Unstoppable by Mark Gilbert The credit crunch is affecting every investor and every consumer, every industry and every government program, yet few people truly understand how it happened. Subprime mortgages have been center stage, but behind the scenes a conspiracy of greed among bankers, investors, rating agencies and regulators has imperiled everyone’s financial future. We need to know what went wrong and how to change the practices that led to this calamity. Bloomberg columnist Mark Gilbert shows how Wall Street’s tolerance for extremes made the global credit crunch both foreseeable and inevitable. He offers a blow-by-blow account of what went wrong and what lessons need to be learned from the crisis.

	Leadership Under Pressure: Tactics from the Frontline by Bob Stewart In Leadership under Pressure, Col. Bob Stewart draws on his experiences in the army and in business, using those experiences to illustrate the key attributes of a leader. In this timely and personal view of leadership, readers learn how to maintain morale in tough times, deal with a crisis, show courage to colleagues, and lead others by example. Having served in Northern Ireland and Bosnia, where he was British battalion commander, he has faced life and death situations and the toughest decisions any leader can make. Great stories and excellent insights. (ed.)

	Y-Size Your Business: How Gen Y Employees Can Save You Money and Grow Your Business by Jason Ryan Dorsey Jason Ryan Dorsey, The Gen Y Guy®, presents a step-by-step methodology for best employing Gen Y without investing a lot of time or money. A member of Gen Y himself he delivers an insider's view of his generation as well as more than fifty cost-effective, ready-to-use strategies that deliver immediate measurable results. Dorsey collected these creative strategies from the frontlines of business during his work with executives, managers, and entrepreneurs in businesses large and small around the world. He shows you exactly how to attract the best Gen Y employees, quickly develop their workplace skills, and then unlock their performance, motivation, and loyalty.

	Lead Your Boss: The Subtle Art of Managing Up by John Baldoni Brimming with examples and insights, Lead Your Boss guides you through the subtle yet highly effective leadership style of managing up. It's a powerful new approach that relies on initiative, resilience, empathy, courage, and other positive traits to bring people together-your boss, your peers, and your team-for the benefit of all.

	The Communication Problem Solver: Simple Tools and Techniques for Busy Managers by Nannette Rundle Carroll Managers need top-flight communication skills to keep their staffs productive and collaborative. But often, those who manage lack the ability to get things back on track once miscommunication occurs. This book helps readers analyze their communication skills and challenges and explains how they can use simple problem-solving techniques to resolve the people issues that derail productivity at work. This no-nonsense guide is packed with practical tools to help any manager be immediately effective, as well as a handy list of common communication problems and corresponding solutions.

	The Integration Imperative by Suzanne C. Lowe When it comes to competing effectively, achieving financial success and delivering optimal client service, professional and B2B firms keep looking for the Holy Grail in all the wrong places. The real Holy Grail can be found by ensuring that marketing and business development are integrated into every function. The Integration Imperative summarizes three structural and cultural frameworks that professional- and B2B service firms can employ to achieve new effectiveness in marketing and business development, and ultimately, improve the firm's value to clients.

	The Surprising Solution: Creating Possibility in a Swift and Severe World by Bruce Piasecki With their disproportionate power, big businesses now wield a tremendous ability to shape our social landscape, and the author impresses the importance of “Social Response Capitalism,” an approach that emphasizes a business's “social brand” as well as the price and quality of their product or service. The Surprising Solution describes the revolution in business in which the corporations that can best address environmental and social issues by creating superior products will thrive and profit in this new world.

	Leadershift: Reinventing Leadership for the Age of Mass Collaboration by Emmanuel Gobillot Leadershift is about adapting and changing traditional models of leadership in response to the influence of mass collaboration, a form of collective action which occurs when large numbers of people work independently on a single project. Mass collaboration requires a form of leadership that is prepared to let go of the experience, expertise and control it holds precious. Emmanuel Gobillot describes how to adapt traditional leadership roles, and presents the tools necessary to succeed in this new age.

	Girl on Top: Your Guide to Turning Dating Rules into Career Success by Nicole Williams Nicole Williams is the tell-it-like-it-is career expert who you wish could fight your work battles for you. But with her ingenious approach-taking the tactics used to land a man and applying them to your career-you'll be able to handle any work situation and come out on top. Here, Nicole introduces twenty tried-and-true dating rules such as "Don't Give Away the Milk for Free" and "Don't Waste the Pretty" and reveals how they can be applied just as effectively in the office. Nicole's keen insight and candid advice will teach you how to recognize the good guys from the bad, win the kudos of those who matter, and create the career of your dreams.

	Who Turned Out the Lights?: Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson We don't know exactly what the price of gas will be by the time you have this book in your hands, but whether it's high, low, or somewhere in between, the fact of the matter is just the same: this country faces a huge, complicated, and scary energy problem. Not only is it huge, complicated, and scary, it's daunting for most of us because it's nearly impossible to understand unless you're some kind of full-time energy wonk. We all recognize symptoms such as soaring gas prices and pricey home heating oil. But when it comes to the disease -- what's causing the country's energy problems and how to cure them -- that's another story entirely. Confused R Us is more like it.

	The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs - How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience by Carmine Gallo Apple CEO Steve Jobs’s wildly popular presentations have set a new global gold standard—and now this step-by-step guide shows you exactly how to use his crowd-pleasing techniques in your own presentations. Communications expert Carmine Gallo has studied and analyzed the very best of Jobs’s performances, offering point-by-point examples, tried-and-true techniques, and proven presentation secrets that work every time. With this revolutionary approach, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to sell your ideas, share your enthusiasm, and wow your audience the Steve Jobs way.

	Taming the Search-and-Switch Customer: Earning Customer Loyalty in a Compulsion-to-Compare World by Jill Griffin Customer loyalty strategies have turned a whole new page. Have you? Today's customers typically begin their selection process by using Internet search engines, which provide an endless array of choices, as well as the ability to compare everything—price, delivery, product specifications—at the click of a mouse. Businesses unprepared to address this new breed of buyer are losing market share by the minute. In Taming the Search-and-Switch Customer, customer loyalty expert Jill Griffin addresses this storm of change head-on. She examines the relentless, new selling landscape and offers practical advice for winning customer loyalty.

	Upstarts! How GenY Entrepreneurs are Rocking the World of Business and 8 Ways You Can Profit from Their Success by Donna Fenn Upstarts examines and analyzes this entrepreneurial revolution to reveal eight critical lessons every entrepreneur and marketer must learn. Fenn describes a generation of entrepreneurs that is highly collaborative and team-oriented. It’s quick and alert when it comes to new technologies. It’s hell-bent on changing the world. And it’s totally impatient with outmoded business models. The sooner you adapt to the new way of business, the greater chance you have to grow and profit in the years ahead.

	International Communications Strategy : Developments in Cross-Cultural Communications, PR and Social Media by Silvia Cambie and Yang-May Ooi International Communications Strategy is about the cross-cultural challenges currently facing PR practitioners. Providing information on alternative communication approaches as well as cross-cultural case-studies and examples, International Communications Strategy will give readers points of reference and ideas to use every time they are asked to provide strategic communication guidance to senior management or clients.

	MASTER LEADERS by George Barna In MASTER LEADERS, best-selling author and researcher George Barna gives you the opportunity of a lifetime to sit down with 30 of the world’s most respected leaders as they provide intriguing answers to some of the toughest questions and challenges facing leaders today. Based on personal interviews and never before published conversations with “the greats” (including Seth Godin, Patrick Lencioni, Colleen Barrett, Ken Blanchard, Ben Carson, Tony Dungy, Newt Gingrich, and many others). MASTER LEADERS offers 16 essential leadership keys to help you honor God, strengthen and equip others, and manage a high-functioning team. The way you view leadership will never be the same.

	Full of Bull: Unscramble Wall Street Doubletalk to Protect and Build Your Portfolio by Stephen T. McClellan In Full of Bull, you’ll learn how to look for analysts’ favoritism and blind spots; how to react appropriately to upgrades, downgrades, and price targets; and to recognize what company announcements really mean. Drawing on his immense body of experience analyzing top companies, McClellan shows you how to systematically evaluate a company’s prospects yourself and choose investments based on principles that work. This is exactly the kind of objective, focused guidance you won’t be getting from your broker!

	The World According to Twitter by David Pogue New York Times technology columnist David Pogue has tapped into the brilliance of his half-million followers on Twitter by posting a different, thought-provoking question every night. Out of 25,000 tweets, Pogue has gathered the very best 2,524 into this irresistible, clever, laugh-out-loud funny book. It's a very interesting social networking experiment.

	Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone by Mark Goulston Over his career as an organizational consultant, relationship counselor, and hostage-negotiation trainer, Dr. Goulston has found what works, consistently, to reach all kinds of people in any type of situation. He discovered that the counter-intuitive step of listening is the real key to getting through and influencing others. In this very engaging work, he demonstrates through a wide range of workplace and relationship-related scenarios, how mirroring what others are feeling naturally works to break down barriers and open the way to winning their attention, trust and cooperation. It's an excellent read!

	Maestro: A Surprising Story About Leading by Listening by Roger Nierenberg The author, a veteran conductor, is the creator of The Music Paradigm, a unique program that invites people to sit inside a professional symphony orchestra to think about leadership and communication in an entirely new way. The book is a parable of how a rising executive facing tough challenges befriends an orchestra conductor and experiences a most profound transformation. There are many very powerful insights here that the best leaders can apply to take their teams to a new level of harmony and excellence. Highly recommended and one of the best of the year!

	The Other Kind of Smart: Simple Ways to Boost Your Emotional Intelligence for Greater Personal Effectiveness and Success by Harvey Deutschendorf The author is an Emotional Intelligence (EI) coach, and in this book uses the the techniques of storytelling, quotes and exercises to show readers how to apply the principles of EI at work and in life. It's an excellent read and a very useful guide to develop stress tolerance, cultivate empathy, increase flexibility, boost assertiveness, resolve problems successfully, and overcome self-limiting barriers to achieve one's true potential. Congratulations Harvey, great work!

	I Love You More Than My Dog: Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad by Jeanne Bliss In her first book Chief Customer Officer Jeanne Bliss established herself as a foremost authority and advocate of customer experience, focus and profitability. She challenged the C-Suite to go beyond "lip service to passionate action", and provided the road map to make it so. In I Love You More Than My Dog she explores how only an elite number of businesses have achieved a level of customer devotion she's called "beloved" - with passionate, loyal and vocal customers and advocates that sustain their business even in tough times. It's an exciting, edgy and captivating read driven by Jeanne's passion and 'soul', and filled with examples that will thrill you with what's possible! It's guaranteed to "twist your head" and have you take a very good look in the mirror to consider your values, choose your "story," and understand the five key decisions that lead to a "beloved" level of customer devotion. It's brilliant, and one of the very best of the year! (ed.)

	No: The Only Negotiating System You Need for Work and Home by Jim Camp In his previous business best-seller, *Start with No,* Camp challenged the prevailing win-win school of negotiation made famous by “getting to yes” and its imitators. His big idea, then and now, is that negotiating based on feel-good emotions, assumptions, and compromises will get you demolished at the negotiation table. Camp’s “No” method takes an ethical, unemotional, highly structured, and disciplined approach to any type of negotiation, and provides a step-by-step way to achieve the best possible outcome for your side every time.

	The Hamster Revolution for Meetings: How to Meet Less and Get More Done by Mike Song, Vicki Halsey and Tim Burress The best-selling authors of *The Hamster Revolution* are at it again, this time with a book that tackles the most wearisome and wasteful practice in business: meetings. Through engaging, lively, and witty dialogue featuring the harried “businesshamster” Iris and a productivity coach she meets on a delayed flight, this fast-paced book packs tips, tools, and tricks into a 90-minute read that’s guaranteed to give readers a new outlook on time—and help them stop spinning their wheels in meetings.

	Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand The U.S. economy is in shambles. Government intervention into the economy is increasing by the day. Americans are alarmed and desperate for answers: What caused the crisis? What is the solution? That might sound like a description of today's world, but in fact it's sketch of the world of Ayn Rand's 1957 classic novel Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand died more than a quarter of a century ago, yet her name appears regularly in discussions of our current economic turmoil. Pundits including Rush Limbaugh and Rick Santelli urge listeners to read her books, and her magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged, is selling at a faster rate today than at any time during its 51-year history.

	Now What?: 90 Days to a New Life Direction by Laura Berman Fortgang In Now What? pioneering life coach Laura Berman Fortgang shares the process that she has used so successfully to help hundreds of clients make major changes in their lives. Whether it's moving on from a dead end job, discovering an entirely new creative outlet, or answering the age old question "What am I meant to do with my life?" this book provides a clear and infinitely practical 90-day program that can help you make major changes in your life. Full of inspiring and empowering exercises and tools, this book guides readers-day by day and step by step-through a 90-day process that will lead to true life satisfaction and fulfillment.

	The Power of Strategic Commitment: Achieving Extraordinary Results Through Total Alignment and Engagement by Josh Leibner, Gershon Mader and Alan Weiss This outstanding book shows readers how to improve strategic processes and execution by engaging the support of managers, employees, boards, suppliers, investors and all stakeholders, outlining the key factors that determine commitment, and powerful ways to build buy-in and alignment. The authors offer a blueprint for moving beyond compliance towards that magical point where every initiative is embraced by every employee at all levels. This is indeed one of the very best of the year!

	STOP Organizationitis by Don Burnstine Through a series of working sessions Burnstine outlines his "Expectation Agreement" approach to resolving conflict and contention within organizations. Following the procedure outlined in the book a simple half-hour of honest discussion and respectful behaviour can resolve days, weeks, months, or even years of unproductive and unresponsive behaviour. This is a quick and easy read that will give you new tools to improve workplace relationships and productivity. Great work Don!

	Young Guns: The Fearless Entrepreneur's Guide to Chasing Your Dreams and Breaking Out on Your Own by Robert Tuchman In Young Guns", Tuchman shows readers how to start out on a business venture, how to gain a client base, how to keep those clients, and what they need to sacrifice along the way in order to succeed. He reveals the myths and realities about starting a business when you're young. Filled with real-life examples of entrepreneurs under 35 who have made it to the top, this is the book that will show readers how to go for the gold and lead a passionate, daring and successful life.

	On The Firm by Philip Bryer Philip Bryer’s first novel, None Of Your Business, introduced Johnson and detailed his growing frustration at the antics of teambuilding geeks, clipboard-toting buffoons, and micro-managing corporate bullshitters. Seeking revenge, Johnson aimed high and resorted to comic sabotage. In the sequel, On The Firm, Johnson finds himself occupying a semi-official role for Her Majesty’s Government with a brief to develop his talents and carry out a campaign of subversion against Britain’s competitors in the international marketplace. Excellent work Philip! It's provocative, a little outrageous and highly entertaining! (ed.)

	Why Loyalty Matters: The Groundbreaking Approach to Rediscovering Happiness, Meaning and Lasting Fulfillment in Your Life and Work by Timothy Keiningham and Lerzan Aksoy with Luke Williams In Why Loyalty Matters, renowned loyalty experts Timothy Keiningham and Lerzan Aksoy draw from the most comprehensive study of loyalty ever conducted, the landmark Ipsos Loyalty Study, to show why loyalty is critical to our happiness as individuals and our success as a society.

	I Hate People!: Kick Loose from the Overbearing and Underhanded Jerks at Work and Get What You Want Out of Your Job by Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon I Hate People! is a witty, counter-intuitive, and irreverent turn on the classic workplace self-help book that will show you how to identify the Ten Least Wanted--the people you hate--while revealing the strategies to neutralize them. The authors also will teach you how to carve out more time for yourself by becoming a "Soloist"-- one of those bold individuals daring to work alone or collaborate with a handful of other talented people ... while artfully deflecting the rest.

	Counter Clockwise by Ellen Langer If we could turn back the clock psychologically, could we also turn it back physically? For more than thirty years, award-winning social psychologist Ellen Langer has studied this provocative question, and now has a conclusive answer: opening our minds to what’s possible, instead of clinging to accepted notions about what’s not, can lead to better health at any age. Scientifically riveting and practically empowering, Counterclockwise holds enormously exciting implications for our general health—including vision, old age, cancer, weight, and heart health—as well as for our fundamental happiness.

	Rebuilding Your Life After Redundancy - The New Life Network Handbook by Janet Davies Rebuilding your life after redundancy - the trauma of redundancy currently haunts thousands of people every working day and the media is full of reports about people who are worried about their job security and how to re-invent their careers in today's uncertain and demanding times. Would you know how to rebuild your life if your old career disappeared? If you need a book that will put redundancy into perspective, give some sensible advice and guidance, provide follow-up resources and contacts and do all this without being patronising - this is it. It's also useful if you want to change career or jump out of your box".

	Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success by Claire Shipman and Katty Kay Veteran journalists Claire Shipman and Katty Kay marshal the evidence to show how women's management style is ideally suited to the new business world, resulting in more profitable companies with happier employees. They also show how women can use this power to get what they really want -more time and freedom in their jobs without falling off the professional ladder. Most women will happily trade some responsibility and some cash for more time-that's the new currency. Shipman and Kay give personal accounts from their own lives-the mistakes as well as the triumphs-and they share the stories of women around the country who have carved out great work-life scenarios. Above all they stay positive, encouraging, and humorous.

	Luck by Design: Certain Success in an Uncertain World by Richard E Goldman In 1975 Richard Goldman invested $3,000 into the stock of a three-store retail company - Men's Wearhouse - and helped build it into one of the most successful retailing enterprises in North America. Part memoir and part handbook on leadership, In Luck by Design Goldman offers his wisdom and experiences in trusting your intuition, living with integrity and creating the life you were meant to live. It is a very 'refreshing' read - it's personal, filled with poignant stories and engaging in the values and principles he presents. As I was reading the book, the thought - "a life well lived" - came to mind often. It's a very positive legacy. Thank you Richie for a excellent book!

	Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Al Switzler and Ron McMillan Learn how to keep your cool and get what you want when emotions flare. When stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong, you have three choices: Avoid a crucial conversation and suffer the consequences; handle the conversation badly and suffer the consequences; or read Crucial Conversations and discover how to communicate best when it matters most. This wise and witty guide gives you the tools you need to step up to life's most difficult and important conversations, say what's on your mind, and achieve positive outcomes.

	Reinvention: How to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life by Brian Tracy It's not until you deal with the dissatisfactions of the present that you can move onward and upward to create the wonderful future that is possible for you. In Reinvention, Brian Tracy reveals how every one of us is engineered for success, and with the right focus, can re-make ourselves and put an end to the chronic stress, unhappiness, and dissatisfaction we might feel in our careers and lives. This unique, life-altering book gives readers an interactive series of exercises they can use to focus on what they really want for themselves.

	Luxury Strategy: Break the Rules of Marketing to Build Luxury Brands by Jean-Noel Kapferer and Vincent Bastien The Luxury Strategy analyses in depth the essence of luxury, highlights its managerial implications and rationalizes the highly original methods - often very far from the usual marketing strategies - used to transform small family businesses such as Ferrari, BMW, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Chanel, Armani or Ralph Lauren into worldwide successes. Luxury experts Jean-Noel Kapferer and Vincent Bastien unveil how in any market, including B to B, a company can learn from luxury strategies to differentiate itself profitably.

	Strategic Customer Service by John A. Goodman Companies that strategically align customer service with their overall corporate strategy can transcend typical good business to become a profitable word-of-mouth machine that will transform the bottom line. The author draws on over thirty years of research for companies such as 3M, American Express, Chik-Fil-A, USAA, Coca-Cola, FedEx, GE, Cisco Systems, Neiman Marcus, and Toyota. Filled with proven strategies and eye-opening case studies, this book challenges many aspects of conventional wisdom using hard data and reveals how any organization can earn more loyalty, win more customers...and improve their financial bottom line.

	Brand Immortality: How Brands Can Live Long and Prosper by Hamish Pringle and Peter Field Brand Immortality is a health manual for brands that seek immortality. Full of examples drawn from household brands, it examines how the nature of brands has changed over time and continues to evolve, and the implications this has for marketing. It identifies the factors that are essential to a brand's long term survival -- especially those which defend and strengthen a brand's place in the hearts and minds of consumers.

	Chaotics: The Business of Managing and Marketing in the Age of Turbulence by Philip Kotler and John A. Caslione We have entered into an entirely new era, an age of increasingly frequent and intense periods of turbulence in the global economy. Unlike past recessions, today’s crises have precipitated a need for businesses to develop a new mindset, one that takes into account intermittent periods of disturbance, allowing them to thrive while under the constant threat of chaos. Complete with metrics and measurements, Chaotics outlines a powerful new system for managing waves of uncertainty affecting customers, employees, and other stakeholders. (The best of the year so far! ed.)

	Five Deadly Sins CEO Make in Sales by Jim Lewis Whether you are the CEO of a small company with only one salesperson or you manage thousands, it's very likely that you have committed at least one of the sins described in this book. Don't worry; you are not alone. The logic that leads senior executives to commit these sins over and over makes sense and is pervasive. This book is based on the work and experience of the author, who admits to having committed all five sins. Fortunately, he found out soon enough to be able to help others avoid the same fate. The story is short, enlightening, and provocative.

	Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time by Joel Comm with, Ken Burge In Twitter Power, Internet marketing and Web innovation expert Joel Comm shows businesses and marketers how to integrate Twitter into their existing marketing strategies to build a loyal following among Twitter members, expand awareness for their product or service, and even handle negative publicity due to angry or disappointed consumers. The book also presents case studies of companies on the forefront of the Twitter movement, to help reader's develop their own social networking strategies. (Hey, after reading this I signed up and am following Joe on Twitter! Great work!)

	The Sticking Point Solution: 9 Ways to Move Your Business from Stagnation to Stunning Growth InTough Economic Times by Jay Abraham Businesses can plateau, stall, or stagnate...without the owners or key executives even realizing it. The purpose of The Sticking Point Solution is to help entrepreneurs and executives recognize the ways in which their businesses may be stuck, and to then give them tools for getting unstuck and enjoying exponential growth. The results: freedom from stagnation and stalling; new levels of profitability and success; and a much greater sense of control and pleasure from running the enterprise.

	Experiential Marketing: A Practical Guide to Interactive Brand Experiences by Shaz Smilansky Author Shaz Smilansky offers practical advice and guidance to help you every step of the way with your experiential marketing campaigns. She shows how to set objectives, target markets, bring your message to life, and measure the results. She reveals how to maximise brand experience by careful selection of venue and activity, and how to evaluate and gauge the effectiveness of the whole experiential marketing process. Combining practical insight and experience with practitioner interviews and international case studies, Experiential Marketing will provide a robust platform for you to develop and measure your own brand experience plans.

	A Class with Drucker: The Lost Lessons of the World's Greatest Management Teacher by William A. Cohen In A Class with Drucker, Cohen shares many of Drucker’s teachings that never made it into his countless books and articles, ideas that were offered to his students in classroom or informal settings. Cohen expands on Drucker’s lessons with personal anecdotes about his teacher’s personality, lack of pretension, and interactions with students and others. He also shows how Drucker’s ideas can be applied to the real-world challenges managers face today. Enlightening and intriguing, this book will enable anyone to gain from the timeless wisdom of the inspiring man himself.

	Take Their Breath Away: How Imaginative Service Creates Devoted Customers by Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson This ingenious, real-world guide explores a variety of exciting, creative customer experience ideas using examples from remarkable customer-centric organizations. The key to a successful enterprise is value-added service, but the secret to great customer service is surprising customers with a value-unique experience. Take Their Breath Away™ provides ideas and insights for all who want to create a stunning, mind-blowing customer experience.

	Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken: Transform Your Life with the Power of Authenticity by Mike Robbins “Authenticity is enjoying a new sense of freedom to be who you really are - yourself, natural and without a mask.” In Be Yourself, Everyone Else Is Already Taken, Robbins offers five powerful principles of authenticity and then provides action plans, exercises, resources, and anecdotes that demonstrate how to apply these principles on a daily basis in your life. Written for people who want to enhance, expand, and deepen, their lives, their work, and their relationships, this book is brimming with inspiration and practical help.

	Think Like a Champion: An Informal Education in Business and Life by Donald J. Trump, with Meredith McIver Donald J. Trump is the very definition of the American success story, continually setting standards of excellence while expanding his passionate interests in real estate, gaming, sports, and entertainment, which include runaway hits The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice. He is one of the most recognizable and credible “brands” in the world. His newest book is a personally selected collection of never-before-published engaging pieces that reflect his philosophy of how to achieve lasting personal and business success.

	Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath Why do some ideas thrive while others die? And how do we improve the chances of worthy ideas? In this indispensable guide, we discover that sticky messages of all kinds – from the infamous “kidney theft ring” hoax to a coach’s lessons on sportsmanship to a vision for a new product at Sony – draw their power from the same six traits. Provocative, eye-opening, and often surprisingly funny, Made to Stick shows us the vital principles of winningideas – and tells us how we can apply these rules to making our own messages stick.

	Greater Than Yourself: The Ultimate Lesson of True Leadership by Steve Farber Steve Farber is a masterful and engaging story teller, and if you appreciate a little mystery, guitar playing and jamming with your leadership principles you will certainly enjoy this quick read. Farber shows that the goal of a genuine leader is to help others — teammates, employees, and colleagues — become more capable, confident, and accomplished than they are themselves. Through the actions of a forward-thinking and extraordinarily successful CEO, Farber reveals the three keys to achieving this: Expand Yourself, Give Yourself, and Replicate Yourself. Great work Steve, and an excellent follow-up to The Radical Leap. (ed.)

	Marketing Metrics in Action: Creating a Performance-Driven Marketing Organization by Laura Patterson Talk about marketing accountability has become almost commonplace. And most marketing executives get it. They understand the need to know the numbers. The real question is, Which numbers? Marketing Metrics in Action answers those questions and addresses those problems with a balance of sound theory and technique and practical application. The author, a veteran of marketing on both sides, the client side and the consultant side, explains how you need to make marketing metrics work for you. It provides wise counsel for identifying which metrics matter most to your organization and practical guidance for putting all the sophisticated marketing tools to profitable use in your company.

	Strategic Acceleration: Succeed at the Speed of Life by Tony Jeary Tony’s latest book details a methodology that will help you get clear, stay focused, and efficiently execute relevant, high-value activities... thereby getting you the results, and success, you really want.... faster! It's about developing a clear vision, outlining priorities and objectives, and tackling goals with a real sense of urgency and focus. Once understood and deployed, Strategic Acceleration will have a powerful, long-term positive influence on the results and success that so many people want. This is on of the best of the year! (ed.)

	The Moneymakers: How Extraordinary Managers Win in a World Turned Upside Down by Anne-Marie Fink When real money is at stake, it tends to clarify the mind, and for over a decade, Anne-Marie Fink has had literally billions of dollars resting on her assessments of companies. As an equity analyst and professional investor, she has been charged with understanding whether businesses are solid, long-term moneymakers–or rotten tomatoes–before investing with them. This is an excellent read for all CEOs and business owners who want to 'get it right!' It's one of the best of the year!

	Leadership RE: Vision by Jim Seybert A go-to book for any leader, whether in the church or business world, Leadership RE:Vision provides daily meditations written to help leaders think through their problems and challenges from a fresh perspective. It’s about looking at your leadership habits from a new perspective and using a different set of standards to measure the success of your efforts. In Leadership RE:Vision, Jim Seybert challenges conventional leadership thinking, sets a fresh context for leaders’ actions, and calls for a new direction of principled leadership!

	Investing in a Sustainable World: Why Green Is the New Color of Money on Wall Street by Matthew J. Kiernan Investing in a Sustainable World offers clear proof, through facts, figures, and hard documentation, that “going green” leads directly to better stock market performance...and that investors and companies who ignore it will, in fact, lose money. The book reveals the most powerful global megatrends—from the ongoing focus on emerging markets to natural resource depletion—which are transforming the very basis on which companies will compete, and offers an approach to sustainability-enhanced investing beneficial to both investors and companies.

	Big Vision, Small Business from Jamie S. Walters and Ivy Sea In these tumultuous and challenging times many formerly employed individuals will need to chart a new course as entrpreneurs - self-employed or creating small businesses. Jamie Walters is a visionary and your wise counsel and we have her book listed as one of the very best of all time! Big Vision, Small Business resonates today more than ever, and it will help you face your issues with greater clarity and positive momentum. Please allow yourself to be inspired and create your future with confidence and on purpose.

	Sales 2.0: Improve Business Results Using Innovative Sales Practices and Technology by Anneke Seley and Brent Holloway Driven by an explosion of online products and changing customer buying preferences, Sales 2.0 is the marriage of Web 2.0 technologies with innovative sales processes. The book shows readers how to redeploy their sales teams for greater bottom-line results and reveals all the differences between Sales 2.0 and traditional selling. Through real world case studies, readers will learn how industry leaders achieved phenomenal results and a competitive advantage. Applicable to sales teams in any industry, Sales 2.0 presents the future of sales today.

	SKIRTS in the Boardroom: A Woman's Survival Guide to Success in Business & Life by Marshawn Evans SKIRTS in the Boardroom is designed to equip women with the strategies necessary to combine confidence and compassion, style and substance, and, of course, beauty and brains. A must-have for all women looking to maximize their professional potential, SKIRTS in the Boardroom offers refreshing and inspiring business advice that is savvy, sensible, straightforward – and long overdue!

	The Cult of the Customer: Create an Amazing Customer Experience That Turns Satisfied Customers Into Customer Evangelists by Shep Hyken Shep Hyken shows how to design a strategy that leads both customers and employees through five distinct cultural phases – from "uncertainty" to "amazement." By presenting dozens of case studies that show how great companies made this journey, Hyken identifies the critical internal and external changes that allowed them to build a Cult of the Customer – and shows how you can do it too. Hyken’s message is both powerful and timely: the happier your customers and employees are, the more successful your company will be. The Cult of the Customer is your guide to creating a customer-focused culture that turns satisfied customers into customer evangelists.

	Running with the Rhinos by Christian D. Warren Through the metaphor of the magnificent rhino, Warren invites leaders to live a bold and courageous life and create a future without sacrificing their integrity, ideals, or humanity. Based on the premise that there is a leader in everyone, Warren uses the strong and fiercely independent rhino as an unlikely guide to leadership principles that include vision, understanding, inspiration, power, endurance, conviction, support and heart. Running with the Rhinos is an outstanding resource of leadership and one of the very best books of the year!

	101 Boardroom Problems and How to Solve Them by Eli Mina Eli Mina has firsthand experience in dealing with the myriad of problems that boards face. Here he shows readers how to identify board dysfunctions and the damage they inflict, deal with boardroom problems with confidence, increase the likelihood of their board achieving the right decisions, minimize or eliminate flawed decisions, and make a board more credible and trustworthy with its community and stakeholders. This is an easy-to-use guide to help you bring order and sense to any boardroom and enable the best possible decision-making.

	The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner Despite the best efforts of educators, our nation's schools are dangerously obsolete. Instead of teaching students to be critical thinkers and problem-solvers, we are asking them to memorize facts for multiple choice tests. An education manifesto for the twenty-first century, The Global Achievement Gap is provocative and inspiring. It is essential reading for parents, educators, policymakers, business leaders, and anyone interested in seeing our young people succeed as employees and citizens.

	The Amaryllis Way by Derrick Mueller Leadership books come in all forms today, but some of the best are stories that convey important truths. Derrick Mueller combines his loves for gardening and leadership development in a compelling story about how leaders train other leaders. His eight-step methodology provides a beautiful picture of the heart of leadership. (Marvin Brubacher). The Amaryllis Way is a most mindful and engaging story of nurturing and caring leadership, and growing leaders of leaders. It's an essential read today! (ed.)

	The Age of Speed: A Strategy for Thriving in a More-Faster-Now World by Vince Poscente Is our 24/7, CrackBerry, more-faster-now culture eating us alive or setting us free? For everyone feeling trampled by the speed of life and business, author Vince Poscente reveals why harnessing the power of speed is the ultimate solution for our time-starved era. The Age of Speed shows this and other groundbreaking revelations at work with case studies drawn from renegade companies such as Netflix, Geico, and Nintendo. With smart personal revelations, addictively clever pop science, practical case studies, and a fresh voice, The Age of Speed is a fast, fun read.

	Leading with Kindness: How Good People Consistently Get Superior Results by William F. Baker and Michael O'Malley Being kind is a crucial attribute of some of the world's most successful business leaders - whose success is anchored in their integrity, credibility, vision, insight, inclusion, and fairness. And kindness is not some intangible quality that one either "has" or doesn't, it is a combination of quantifiable, learnable, and refinable traits and skills. Leading with Kindness identifies six ingredients of kindness - compassion, integrity, gratitude, authenticity, humility, and humor that are absolutely essential to powerful leadership.

	The Heart of Humor by Raju Mandhyan Raju Mandhyan, author of The Heart of Public Speaking is your guide on an adventure to experience "practical tools and suggestions to dispense humor on demand." More praise: "Clear, sensitive and a delight! Through vivid stories and accessible strategies, Mandhyan wittily persuades how anyone can and should churn out humor for a more vibrant existence." “Full of fun and foibles that make you ponder, explore and grow!” Thanks Raju (ed.)

	THE INTEGRITY DIVIDEND: Leading By The Power Of Your Word by Tony Simons Simons has found that employees who believe that their managers can be counted on to keep their word, show deeper commitment to the business, leading to lower employee turnover and superior customer service - which in turn results in higher profitability. Behavioral integrity also increases the strength and efficiency of relationships with customers, suppliers, and unions. All of these improvements can be expected to show up on the bottom line as “the integrity dividend.

	Becoming an Extraordinary Manager: The 5 Essentials for Success by Len Sandler Nearly all managers dream of being inspiring leaders who elicit the most from their people. But while they may understand the skills needed to manage their teams, very few know how to put their knowledge into practice. Now, any manager can get exceptional results and make an important contribution to the organization. Becoming an Extraordinary Manager focuses not just on "understanding" principles of good management, but on taking action. Lively in style and thorough in content, this is the book that gives every manager a complete guide to avoiding the ordinary and becoming the best.

	Managing Thought: How Do Your Thoughts Rule Your World? by Mary J. Lore Managing Thought serves as an indispensable guide to those who want to change the way they think and improve their lives. The book takes the power of positive thinking to a new level and provides a step-by-step guide to managing our thoughts to become more creative, inspired, balanced and "on purpose." It's an illuminating and yet very actionable work and one of the best of the year!

	100% Leadership: Guidelines for Successful Leaders by Gabriel Hevesi There is no recipe for success. If there were, we would all use it and it would cease to be effective. Yet, there are many roads that can lead to success. The secret is to choose the right road for your organization among all options. It takes skilled judgment to apply the right method at the right time, under the right circumstances. Using sound judgment, we know when to act, when to coach, and when to delegate. 100% Leadership provides checkpoints for day-to-day decisions and actions. It is a very comprehensive and very readable leadership handbook.

	Toy Box Leadership: Leadership Lessons from the Toys You Loved as a Child by Ron Hunter and Michael E. Waddell What can LEGOS teach you about building your business through connection? How can Slinky Dog demonstrate the value of patience when you're growing your organization? What has every little boy learned from his Little Green Army Men that he can use in business strategy? Whether you are an executive, a manager, or a parent, in Toy Box Leadership you'll you will find the toy box a great place for lessons to successfully influence and lead others. Very enjoyable read! ed.

	Relevance: Making Stuff That Matters by Tim Manners After years studying remarkable companies and speaking to some of the most influential leaders, Tim Manners has proposed a solution to the marketing woes of many brands. Stop worrying about demographics, fads, and cutting-edge advertising. Instead, focus on relevance. Manners shares how the best of the best create solutions to their customers' problems and help them live happier lives. The principles? Insight, Innovation, Investment, Design, Experience and Value -all accountable to the happiness of people who would buy your brands.

	The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook: When It All Comes Together by Jeana Wirtenberg, David Lipsky, and Bill Russell Building an organization’s commitment to sustainability is not just a means to enhancing the health, diversity, and strength of the world’s ecosystems but a financially and socially sound best practice as well. Collecting the wisdom of an outstanding network of experts, the editors help readers understand what sustainability means and how they can implement it in their organizations. The book includes metrics to measure efforts in promoting an environmentally responsible organization, and presents models, tools, case studies and examples from a wide range of companies to bring the concept to life. A very timely resource indeed!

	Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play: Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship by Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig This book shares the unique FranklinCovey Sales Performance Group methodology to transform a sales culture with clarity, authenticity, and emotional intelligence. Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig argue that salespeople 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. It's no longer sufficient to get clients to buy—a salesperson must also help the client reduce costs, increase revenues, and improve productivity, quality, and customer satisfaction.

	Unleashing the Power of Rubber Bands by Nancy Ortberg Unleashing the Power of Rubber Bands is an engaging and insightful look into the qualities, attributes, and practices that turn ordinary leaders into extraordinary ones. Nancy Ortberg's unique twist on vision casting; managing tensions; nurturing healthy conflict; motivating those around you; fostering creativity, passion, and trust is unlike anything you've ever read before! At times challenging, at times candid, but always inspiring, Unleashing the Power of Rubber Bands will bring out the best in even the most seasoned leaders. (Nancy's stories and faith will engage and inspire, and this is one of the best of the year! ed.)

	Influence: Science and Practice by Robert B. Cialdini Robert B. Cialdini concisely explores six strategies that persons with good and/or bad intentions can use in influencing others to do something or not to do it. These strategies are authority, commitment and consistency, liking, reciprocation, scarcity, and social proof. Whether you wish to understand what shapes you own personal decisions or need to persuade in a job or business, this very interesting book is indispensable.

	Five Hidden Mistakes CEOs Make; How to Unlock the Secrets that Drive Growth and Profitability by Tom Northup Five Hidden Mistakes CEOs Make is essential reading for business owners, senior executives, and entrepreneurs seeking to rise above the status quo. As the former CEO of three successful businesses, author Tom Northup is a results-oriented executive who understands how to build successful organizations. In this book, he reveals expert insight and proven methods readers can use to improve competitive advantage, innovate in their marketplace, and build sustainable growth and profitability year after year.

	The Age Curve: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Storm by Kenneth W. Gronbach This groundbreaking book lets you in on the best ways to position your business to roll with changing populations of consumers - including how to succeed despite the looming challenges posed by the relatively small Generation X, and leverage the explosive opportunities afforded by massive young Generation Y. With its simple yet profound insights (along with eye-opening examples of companies who succeeded or failed spectacularly in leveraging or weathering the demographic storm), The Age Curve will forever change the way you look at your business, and how you perceive the generational impact on the entire commercial (and political!) landscape.

	Left on Red: How to Ignite, Leverage and Build Visionary Organizations by Bill Glynn Left on Red reveals how visionary thinkers and risk-takers build great companies. Bill Glynn provides an insider's view into some of the world's coolest deals in a refreshingly politically incorrect, intelligent manner. Google, Apple, and YouTube are the products of leaders who break the old rules of business to bring their radical ideas to life. Armed with a wealth of examples and innovative insights, Glynn shows entrepreneurs and executives how to navigate a business landscape often littered with great ideas and innovators who are unprepared to lead.

	Management Gurus: Lessons from the Best Management Books of All Time from Soundview Executive Book Summaries Since 1978, Soundview Executive Book Summaries has offered its subscribers condensed versions of the most relevant and influential business books published each year. The company has won acclaim as the definitive selection service for business book readers. These summaries distill thousands of pages about leadership, strategy, crisis management, organizational behavior, and more—perfect for busy executives and students. An excellent read!

	The Granularity of Growth: How to Identify the Sources of Growth and Drive Enduring Company Performance by PatrickViguerie, Sven Smit and Mehrdad Baghai While growth is a top priority for companies of all sizes, it can be extremely difficult to create and maintain—especially in today's competitive business environment. In order to achieve this goal, you need to think through the growth challenges your organization faces and follow a detailed approach that will allow you to uncover, understand, and capture potential growth opportunities.

	Outsmart!: How to Do What Your Competitors Can't by Jim Champy This concise, fast-paced book shows how you can achieve breakthrough growth by consistently outsmarting your competition. Champy reveals the surprising, counterintuitive lessons learned by companies that have achieved super-high growth for at least three straight years. Drawing on the strategies of some of today’s best “high velocity” companies, he identifies eight powerful ways to compete in even the roughest marketplace. Excellent book and one of the best of the year!

	Becoming a Resonant Leader: Develop Your Emotional Intelligence, Renew Your Relationships, Sustain Your Effectiveness by Annie McKee, Richard E. Boyatzis and Frances Johnston What distinguishes great leaders? Exceptional leaders capture passion. They lead for real: from the heart, smart and focused on the future, and with a commitment to being their very best. The authors share vivid, real-life stories illuminating how people can develop emotional intelligence, build resonance, and renew themselves. Reflecting twenty years of longitudinal research and practical wisdom with executives and leaders around the world, this new book is organized around a core of experience-tested exercises. These tools help you articulate your strengths and values, craft a plan for intentional change, and create resonance with others.

	The Accidental Entrepreneur: The 50 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Starting a Business by Susan Urquhart-Brown Like many business owners, Susan-Urquhart Brown never expected to end up as an entrepreneur. Launching her own business spoke to her passions, but she soon realized there was much more to being a successful owner than she ever expected. In The Accidental Entrepreneur, she takes all the mystery out of going solo. For those who are just beginning to consider starting a venture as well as those who want to take their organization to the next level, she offers advice on what works and what doesn’t. It's an excellent read!

	The AMA Guide to Management Development by Daniel R. Tobin, Margaret Pettingell Management development is a crucial task for every enterprise. This book gives readers the guidance they need to make sure that both current and future managers have the abilities their organizations need to prosper. Based on the set of managerial competencies specially developed by the American Management Association for a new core management curriculum, The AMA Guide to Management Development provides readers with a comprehensive understanding of how to continually develop managers throughout their entire organization.

	The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable by Robert H. Thompson Drawing on the leadership theories in the management classic The Leadership Challenge, Robert Thompson effortlessly incorporates these ideas into a fable of leadership and growth. Based on a company's three-day offsite meeting, we follow this tale of transition through the eyes of two former rival pharmaceutical companies creating a joint sales strategy. The characters ultimately learn how to adopt the five practises that form The Leadership Challenge. This is a very enjoyable and entertaining read that will also inspire!

	The Leadership Challenge by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner This leadership classic continues to be a bestseller after three editions and twenty years in print. It is the gold standard for research-based leadership, and the premier resource on becoming a leader. This new edition, with streamlined text, more international and business examples, and a graphic redesign, is more readable and accessible than ever before. We have added The Leadership Challenge to our lists of The Best Books of 2008 and The Best Business Books of All Time! It's a superb handbook for contemporary leaders!

	The Secret of Transitions: How to Move Effortlessly to Higher Levels of Success by Jim Manton Manton's own deeply moving personal journey of transitions is a thread that runs through this book like a novel you can't put down. He teaches principles with electrifying, dramatic stories of life and death in the combat zone of Viet Nam, intriguing martial arts learning experiences, real-world stories of personal courage and growth, and unsolvable workplace dilemmas solved through transitioning techniques all readers can use. Jim Manton draws on his many years as a top high-tech executive as well as his current work as a career coach to give the reader a true handbook for success in this rapidly-changing world ... a book that shows you how to make your transitions yourself - with vision, skill, and purpose.

	A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative by Roger Von Oech This is the 25th anniversary edition of the creativity classic by Dr. Roger von Oech. The book has been stimulating creativity in millions of readers, translated into eleven languages, and used in seminars around the world. Now Roger von Oech's fully illustrated and updated volume is filled with even more provocative puzzles, anecdotes, exercises, metaphors, cartoons, questions, quotations, stories, and tips designed to systematically break through your mental blocks and unlock your mind for creative thinking. This new edition will attract an entire new generation of readers with updated and mind-stretching material.

	The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation by A.G. Lafley and Ram Charan Over the past seven years, Procter & Gamble has tripled profits; significantly improved organic revenue growth, cash flow, and operating margins; and averaged earnings per share growth of 12 percent. How? A. G. Lafley and his leadership team have integrated innovation into everything P&G does and created new customers and new markets. Through eye-opening stories A. G. Lafley and Ram Charan show how P&G and companies such as Honeywell, Nokia, LEGO, GE, HP, and DuPont have become game-changers. Innovation is not a separate, discrete activity but the job of everyone in a leadership position and the integral, central driving force for any business that wants to grow organically and succeed on a sustained basis.

	The Milkshake Moment: Overcoming Stupid Systems, Pointless Policies and Muddled Management to Realize Real Growth by Steven S. Little The Milkshake Moment is that instant in time when the 21st century “organizational person” realizes they are allowed to do the right thing even though that may contradict the “systems” already in place. Through this one potent illustration, Little lays groundwork for the irrefutable proposition that “stupid systems, pointless policies, and muddle management,” are the greatest barriers to any organization’s future success. This one will "twist your head" and get you to re-think your "rules." Time to unleash the creativity of your people! (ed.)

	Value Creation by Ron Strauss and William Neal The authors demonstrate a measurement system that allows the brand owner to measure brand value and brand equity and diagnose a brand’s strengths and weaknesses in the marketplace. Ron Strauss and Bill Neal each bring 35-plus years of in-the-trenches marketing and marketing research observations and experiences with some of the world’s leading companies. Their ideas and concepts are new and powerful, and are sure to stimulate much thought and discussion on the part of practitioners, academics and students. Best of all, Neal and Strauss show the reader how to improve performance in a way that is understandable and actionable.

	Executive Stamina: How to Optimize Time, Energy, and Productivity to Achieve Peak Performance by Marty Seldman and Joshua Seldman In Executive Stamina, you'll find hundreds of tips and tools that will help you maximize your career potential, while maintaining your health, staying in touch with your values, and avoiding costly tradeoffs in your personal life. It starts by learning how to align your career ambitions with your core values, commitments, current priorities, and long-term goals. You'll learn to determine what is most important to you, whether your schedule is actually aligned with your priorities, and how to find your career sweet spot. It's an excellent resource.

	The Breakthrough Imperative by Mark Gottfredson and Steve Schaubert Knowing what to do and in what sequence can be an overwhelming challenge. Nearly every CEO and general manager today is expected by his stakeholders to achieve new breakthroughs in performance. Despite the intensity of these pressures, despite the high expectations and short time frames, a number of CEOs and general managers turn in truly exceptional results. The managers who succeed do so because they have a firm handle on the fundamentals of their business. Where are they today? Where do they need to go? And how will they get there?

	Hug Your People: Hire, Inspire and Recognize Your Employees to Achieve Remarkable Results by Jack Mitchell "Giving great personalized customer service has always been the foremost goal in my family, but one thing we never lose sight of is that you can't possibly deliver great service if you don't treat your own associates right." So says Jack Mitchell, CEO of his family's astoundingly successful chain of clothing stores. In Hug Your People, he shares his secrets for creating happy employees, secrets as simple as they are revolutionary. (Thanks Jack!)

	The Integrated Enterprise Excellence System: An Enhanced, Unified Approach to Balanced Scorecards, Strategic Planning, and Business Improvement by Forrest W. Breyfogle III Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) introduces a new organizational governance system that integrates analytics with innovation. This book discusses how the application of IEE methods, tools and techniques can overcome the enterprise management challenges of the twenty-first century and the limitations of traditional business measurement systems. If you are familiar with Lean and Six Sigma you will be very impressed with how the author takes it beyond. (ed.)

	How To Talk To Customers Create a Great Impression Every Time with MAGIC by Diane Berenbaum and Tom Larkin Every once in a while, we as consumers have a truly wonderful experience as a customer of a company. These interactions leave us feeling so positive about our purchase, our relationships with the company, and ourselves that we say, “The experience was magic!” From LL Bean to American Century Investments to Nordstrom there are a select few organizations—some that you have heard of and some that you haven't—that serve their customers at world-class levels day in and day out. How to Talk to Customers outlines how world-class companies Make A Great Impression on the Customer every time with every customer. Just as important, the book shows how these wonderfully positive instances of customer contact create the key to long-term success: customer and employee loyalty.

	The IT Value Stack: The Boardroom Guide to It Leadership by Ade McCormack Successful IT value realisation is a cloudy subject. This in part contributes to the overall dissatisfaction many organisations have with IT. This book tackles the subject of IT value realisation head on. Most importantly it provides a model to help CIOs and business leaders maximize the return on their IT investment. This book is based on the author’s IT Value Stack methodology, which helps business leaders take control of their IT investment. Boardroom-bound CIOs will also find this book of value. As will those that advise on strategic business-IT matters.

	Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures by Dan Roam Used properly, a simple drawing on a humble napkin is more powerful than Excel or PowerPoint. It can help crystallize ideas, think outside the box, and communicate in a way that people simply "get". Dan Roam argues that everyone is born with a talent for visual thinking, even those who swear they can't draw. The Back Of The Napkin proves that thinking with pictures can help anyone discover and develop new ideas, solve problems in unexpected ways, and dramatically improve their ability to share their insights. This book will help readers literally see the world in a new way.

	Ask for It: How Women Can Use the Power of Negotiation to Get What They Really Want by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever Ask for It explains why it’s essential to ask (men do it all the time) and teaches you how to ask effectively, in ways that feel comfortable to you as a woman. Whether you currently avoid negotiating like the plague or consider yourself hard-charging and fearless, Babcock and Laschever’s compelling stories of real women will help you recognize how much more you deserve.

	Pearls, Politics, & Power: How Women Can Win and Lead by Madeleine M. Kunin Pearls, Politics, and Power is a call to action for new political engagement and leadership from the women of America. Informed by conversations with elected women leaders from all levels, former three-term Vermont Governor and Ambassador to Switzerland Madeleine M. Kunin asks: What difference do women make? What is the worst part of politics, and what is the best part? What inspired these women to run, and how did they prepare themselves for public life?

	The Expert's Edge: Become the Go-To Authority People Turn to Every Time by Ken Lizotte An action-ready program of proven success strategies, this easy-to-follow game plan can turn any level of entrepreneur into the must-have expert that prospects and media seek out before all others. You raise your profile, expand demand for your services, and increase your profits. Just follow the “Five Pillars of Thoughtleading”: publish articles and books; speak regularly to groups and companies;. inspire with “fresh” thinking; attract ongoing media attention; and leverage the Internet creatively.

	What To Do When You Become The Boss by Bob Selden This is an exceptional handbook for the new manager. It's comprehensive - covering leading and managing, managing your team, managing upwards and sideways, managing your meetings and managing yourself. It's an extremely valuable off-the-shelf personal management development training course, with very relevant case studies and actionable insights all based on the most contemporary and sound leadership values and principles. A very unique and engaging feature is the opportunity to use the book according to your preferred approach to learning. Selden has "put it all together" in one of the best management handbooks I have ever read. This should be required reading for all new managers and a required "refresher" for everyone else.

	Outsmart the MBA Clones: The Alternative Guide to Competitive Strategy, Marketing, and Branding by Dan Herman Dr. Dan Herman is breaking new ground and old saws with his book, Outsmart the MBA Clones. The book cracks the secret of companies that have been immensely successful for many years, are adored by their customers, and yet are not imitated by competitors. This position, coined "Unfair Advantage" by Dr. Herman, provides companies with their own private monopoly. This is a must read for anyone who thinks strategically about their business, and it will "twist your head" to see strategy, marketing and branding in a new and refreshing light. Excellent work Dan!

	Myself and Other More Important Matters by Charles Handy The author of The Age of Unreason, The Empty Raincoat, and The Elephant and the Flea shares more of his bestselling brand of wisdom concerning the big choices we have to make in life. The well-known business guru draws on the lessons of his own life to help us map out the main stages of our lives, and shows us how to navigate through the tough decisions we have to make at every phase. He gives us his personal thoughts on life's big questions and turning points, mining his own experience to tell us what he's learned along the way. This is a very interesting and enjoyable read.

	The Open Brand: The When Push Comes to Pull in a Web-Made World by Kelly Mooney and Nita Rollins Push marketing tactics have been superseded by new forms of influence. These include the creating, sharing and influencing behaviors of an online population no longer content merely to consume, and the potent pairing of digital notoriety and network effects, which has given rise to the icitizenry. The authors illuminate a new business imperative - to open up to consumer involvement in a brand's messages and offerings. The essential consumer experiences are On-demand, Personal, Engaging, and Networked experiences, representing the chief values of the web-made world. (Wow! ed.)

	Moose on the Table: A Novel Approach to Communications @ Work by Jim Clemmer Failed communications are crippling workplaces across the globe – sapping energy from staff and weakening entire organizations. Jim Clemmer calls this breakdown the Moose-on-the-Table. Just like dysfunctional families, many teams find it easier to avoid tough conversations. But rarely do problems get better when left unaddressed. Rather, the moose grow larger, breed, and increase the size of the herd. How many moose are lurking in your organization? How do you know? What are you doing to reduce the moose? Great work Jim! (ed.)

	The Source of Leadership: Eight Drivers of the High-impact Leader by David M. Traversi David Traversi identifies and instructs how to develop eight personal drivers, energies deep within - presence, clarity (of thought, emotion, and behavior), openness, intention, personal responsibility, intuition, creativity, and connected communication - each of which drives several of the traits and functions of the effective leader. The leader who develops these personal energies will achieve maximum effectiveness as a leader, as well as a deep sense of contentment and fulfillment as a person. With the burgeoning trend toward seeking a deeper grounding personally as a means of performing better professionally, The Source of Leadership is the early "defining voice" of this new trend in the leadership area.

	EPIC Change: How to Lead Change in the Global Age by Timothy R. Clark Dr. Timothy R. Clark unveils the "Power Curve of Change" framework and EPIC system for change management (Evaluate, Prepare, Implement, Consolidate) for leaders who are charged to lead high-stakes change initiatives in their organizations. Epic Change presents a strategic-level road map, along with tactical level tools, for the every-day needs of leaders who must respond to all types of adaptive challenge to remain competitive. It represents a comprehensive, research-based program for leaders who want to develop the indispensable competency of leading change in a permanently and profoundly different age.

	What the Customer Wants You to Know: How Everybody Needs to Think Differently About Sales by Ram Charan This book defines a new approach to selling — which Charan calls value creation selling. It will enable you to: gain a deeper knowledge of your customer’s problems; understand how your customer’s company really makes decisions; help your customer improve margins and drive revenue growth; connect sales with other key functions such as finance and manufacturing; come up with new customized offerings; make price much less of an issue. VCS differentiates you from the competition, paving the way to better pricing, better margins, and higher revenue growth, built on win-win relationships that deepen over time. All good stuff! (ed.)

	Speak to Win: How to Present with Power in Any Situation by Brian Tracy The ability to speak with confidence and deliver winning presentations can accelerate your career, earn people’s great respect, and enable you to achieve your greatest -- even most impossible-seeming goals. But what many people don't realize is that anyone can learn to be a great speaker, just as easily as they can learn to drive a car or ride a bike! As one of the world’s premier speakers and personal success experts, Brian Tracy is the ideal instructor. Brimming with unbeatable strategies for winning people over every time, Tracy lets readers in on his most powerful presentation secrets in this indispensable handbook.

	Kaizen and the Art of Creative Thinking - The Scientific Thinking Mechanism by Shigeo Shingo Once again Dr. Shigeo Shingo will amaze you. Along with Taiichi Ohno, Dr. Shingo co-developed TPS (LEAN) with his deep understanding of how to improve the overall process of production. Dr. Shingo reveals how he taught Toyota and other Japanese companies the art of identifying and solving problems. Many companies in the West are trying to emulate Lean but few can do it. Why not? Possibly, because we in the West do not recognize, develop and support the creative potential of every worker in solving problems. Toyota makes all employees problem solvers. Dr. Shingo gives you the tools to do it. Fascinating book (ed.)

	One Foot out the Door: How to Combat the Psychological Recession That's Alienating Employees and Hurting American Business by Judith M. Bardwick As many as two-thirds of our employees are either actively looking for new jobs or merely going through the motions at their current jobs. This phenomenon, identified by renowned author Judith M. Bardwick as "the psychological recession," can have a devastating effect on a company’s financial health. Using hard numbers and current studies that prove the direct connection between a company’s financial performance and its employees’ commitment, this book is a wake-up call to organizations desperately needing to restore the broken spirits at the heart of their companies, and enhance their bottom lines.

	Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync? by Seth Godin Meatball Sundae has the absolute worst book cover I have ever seen however, content rules and Seth never fails to enlighten and poke you into the new era of marketing. It's the definitive guide to the fourteen trends no marketer can afford to ignore. It explains what to do about the increasing power of stories, not facts; about shorter and shorter attention spans; and about the new math that says five thousand people who want to hear your message are more valuable than five million who don’t. (Please read that last sentence again!) Godin doesn’t pretend that it’s easy to get your products, marketing messages, and internal systems in sync. But he’ll convince you that it’s worth the effort.

	Something Really New: Three Simple Steps to Creating Truly Innovative Products by Denis J. Hauptly From an electronic hotel kiosk that provides return airline boarding passes for guests, to something as mundane as the evolution of the toaster, the book provides entertaining, illuminating examples that show how to determine what customer needs aren’t being met, using simple methods to arrive at revolutionary conclusions. For example, "What is a product really used for?" The question may seem elementary, but the right answer is far from obvious. This and other key questions demonstrate how readers can move beyond mere market research to get to the root of real innovation.

	Launching a Leadership Revolution: Mastering the Five Levels of Influence by Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward Utilizing an abundance of historical examples, the authors have developed a unique 5-step plan that charts a course for creating and maintaining strong leadership in any organization.The plan guides the reader through the "Five Levels of Influence": Learning - a leader must be able to learn from anyone; Performing - perservere through failure to find success; Leading - extend your ability by expanding your team; Developing Leaders - learn to trust your people; Develop Leaders who Develop Leaders - create a legacy. This book is full of prescriptive advice, quotes and anecdotes that illustrate their principles.

	Human Sigma: Creating Value at the Employee - Customer Encounter by John H. Fleming and Jim Asplund The groundbreaking methodology Six Sigma changed the face of manufacturing quality. Now, HumanSigma is poised to do the same for sales and service. It incorporates cutting-edge research in the neurosciences and behavioral economics — including brain imaging research into customer’s emotional connections to the companies they love — with proven techniques for improving workforce performance and revenues generated from existing customers. This practical handbook appeals to senior leaders and line managers alike who are looking for a way to dramatically increase productivity, retain high value customers, and enhance organizational performance.

	It's Not About the Coffee: Leadership Principles from a Life at Starbucks by Howard Behar Howard Behar, former President of Starbucks International, has written a most sincere and concise manifesto of leadership for this age. You will enjoy this little book and I'm sure you will relate to the stories of leading and learning of how Starbucks has become such an incredible institution in our world today. It is about the coffee, and it is about creative leadership, important principles and values. The one contribution that most inspires is Yes as the most powerful word in the world. "Yes is freeing and inspiring. It means permission. It means possibility. Saying yes makes you feel good." Thank you Howard - you've done great work!

	The Innovative Leader: How to Inspire Your Team and Drive Creativity by Paul Sloane How can you transform your people from cubicle dwellers into innovation warriors? How can you turn your complacent organization into a powerhouse of invention and entrepreneurial achievement? How can you replace a culture of comfortable incremental progress into one of hungry adventure? Paul Sloane is a recognized expert on innovation, lateral thinking and leadership, and his book is an adventure. It's about two hundred pages of "bite-sized chunks" that will twist your head to see what is possible. So, do as the author suggests and "start biting and start the revolution." Thanks Paul! (ed.)

	Negotiation Genius: How to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Brilliant Results at the Bargaining Table and Beyond by Deepak Malhotra and Max Bazerman Whether you’ve “seen it all” or are just starting out, Negotiation Genius will dramatically improve your negotiating skills and confidence. Drawing on decades of behavioral research plus the experience of thousands of business clients, the authors take the mystery out of preparing for and executing negotiations—whether they involve multimillion-dollar deals or improving your next salary offer. It gives you detailed strategies that work in the real world even when the other side is hostile, unethical, or more powerful. When you finish it, you will already have an action plan for your next negotiation. You will know what to do and why.

	The Engine of America: The Keys to Small Business Success From Entrepreneurs Who Have Made It by Hector V. Barreto Former administrator of the Small Business Administration Hector Barreto and veteran journalist Bob Wagman reveal the winning business strategies of CEOs from 50 companies. For all those starting or growing their own small business, the wisdom, experience, and counsel of these successful leaders provides inspirational and thoughtful advice on making it as an entrepreneur. Some of those sharing their stories have grown their businesses from the most humble of beginnings into corporate giants. Others may not be instantly recognizable, but what they have in common is success.

	How to Become a Marketing Superstar: Unexpected Rules That Ring the Cash Register by Jeffrey Fox Jeffrey Fox has written many excellent books and his “How to Become a Marketing Superstar” is one of my all time favourites. This is a quick study that every CEO should read before every single marketing presentation from this day forward. And if you’re in marketing making those presentations, you should read it weekly and then once again before you present anything to your CEO, especially if she’s read it lately.

	Keeper of The Flame: How to Inspire Others on the Cusp of Change by Mike Lipkin The author says it all: "In the New Normal, it's not good enough just being excellent. Excellence merely gives you the right to play. On the Cusp-of-Change, you have to be Brilliant. You have to be A Keeper of The Flame: Someone who goes first; Someone with a heightened awareness of her impact on others; someone who is her own best coach; someone in total sync with her environment; Someone embedded with the authority of both competence and character; Someone who inspires others to be their Personal Best; Someone like you. Someone like the person you will become. Or Someone like the person you need to rediscover." Please allow yourself to be inspired! (ed.)

	Focus on the Good Stuff: The Power of Appreciation by Mike Robbins Focus on the Good Stuff shows you how you can dramatically enhance the quality of your life and relationships by focusing on what you’re grateful for, who you appreciate, and all the good stuff around you. The book is filled with action items, ideas, and practices that help you bring more appreciation into your life, thus giving you a deep sense of peace, satisfaction, and gratitude. The above link will take you to the first chapter of the book.

	There Is No Box by Steve Coats and Tom Heuer There is No Box describes the internal attributes that were most consistent among those who went out on a limb and stepped up to find imaginative, innovative, even groundbreaking growth opportunities. Rather than providing another look at the tasks or activities that you must do to produce change, this book focuses on what you must have, in order to let go of your self-imposed box of limitations and discover, produce and lead growth. There is No Box clarifies those attributes that you must have in order to do what it takes to change and grow your piece of the world.

	Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes by Mark Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne Mark Penn shows readers how to identify the microtrends that can transform a business enterprise, tip an election, spark a movement, or change your life. In today's world, small groups can have the biggest impact. Penn identifies more than seventy microtrends in religion, leisure, politics, and family life that are changing the way we live. It's fascinating reading with insights on every page.

	Tales of People Who Get It by Avil Beckford Tales of People Who Get It is based on the ideas, actions and beliefs that were uncovered in interviews of 34 successful individuals from Canada, the United States, Sweden, Switzerland, Jamaica and South Africa. It is a practical, interesting and instructive guide of actual experiences in overcoming difficult challenges and achieving success. Avil Beckford identifies several common qualities in the stories and presents them as her 'ItnessPoints" - a wonderful concept. Do you have it? Read this book and you just might 'get it!' (ed.)

	The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams by Deepak Chopra Seven chapters and seven laws. Deepak Chopra explains the laws of pure potentiality, giving, karma, least effort, intention and desire, detachment, and dharma and includes suggestions on how to apply these fundamental, natural principles if one is truly searching for purpose and a satisfying life. Timeless wisdom and serenity. (ed.)

	Work Like You're Showing Off: The Joy, Jazz, and Kick of Being Better Tomorrow Than You Were Today by Joe Calloway After twenty-six years of studying and working with top performers, Calloway shares the key factors for creating success without pulling any punches. Work Like You're Showing Off advises you to stop talking and start doing. Be focused, productive, and above all else, intentional in your pursuit of happiness. Showoffs go "all in" and call everyone else's bluff with the confidence that their capability and productivity will speak for itself. In the author's words, "Let's be too much. I'm in. How about you?" This book will inspire. (ed.)

	People Savvy: For Sales Professionals by Gregory Stebbins, Ed.D. This is quite an incredible guide to earning customer trust and creating lifelong relationships. In the words of the author, "When customers experience you as someone who has their best interests at heart, they will come to trust and rely on you as a valuable ally in their career." People Savvy is most mindful, well researched and full of proven 'street-wise' techniques to be 'of service.' The author has very generously made the full first chapter available to viewers. Click through the text link above for a most enlightening adventure. This is a very good book! (ed.)

	The Voice of Authority 10 Communication Strategies Every Leader Needs to Know by Dianna Booher Dianna Booher has written over 40 books and this one in my opinion, is her best ever. She is a renowned expert in communications and has put it all together in a focused, insightful, "head twisting", candid and practical guide to getting it 'right.' Is it correct? Is it complete? Is it clear? Is it purposefully unclear? Are you credible? Does your communication make you look competent? This book is an excellent guide to applying the most effective communications strategies.

	None of your Business by Philip Bryer Johnson soon found out that the corporate world involved too many things that didn't have anything to do with work at all. Things like company 'fun days', outward bound team-building events, psychometric testing, diversity audits, motivational tools and other associated bulls*t. None of your Business* is a comic novel which features a rich succession of incompetents, bullies, oddballs and idiots who lead to Johnson becoming increasingly unhinged and reckless. As disillusion takes a grip, Johnson's thoughts turn to revenge. (A very entertaining read. ed.)

	Business As Unusual My Entrepreneurial Journey, Profits with Principles by Anita Roddick Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, is one of the most outspoken, controversial, provocative and inspiring entrepreneurs of modern times. She was more than slightly ahead of her time in creating an ethical business and challenging the industry status quo at every turn. Her journey was not without many major challenges and her stories of how she navigated through troubled waters are absolutely fascinating. Roddick's passion and principles will inspire - and she exemplifies vision, integrity, courage and humanity in business.

	Radical Careering: 100 Truths to Jumpstart Your Job, Your Career, and Your Life by Sally Hogshead Do you have a career worth loving? Sally Hogshead redefines "Careering" as taking action to become the most powerful, valuable and fulfilled version of yourself and Radical Careering will definitely inspire you to kick your career into high gear. It's an extremely entertaining, engaging, energizing and edgy handbook that reaches in, twists your head, gives you a swift kick in the pants and inspires you to create your no-compromises future. This is a most unique and exceptional book, enjoy! (ed.)

	Watch This, Listen Up, Click Here: Inside the $300 Billion Business Behind the Media You Constantly Consume by David Verklin and Bernice Kanner The billion-dollar advertising and marketing industry is undergoing phenomenal changes. In Watch This, Listen Up, Click Here, Verklin and Kanner expose the inner workings of the media, marketing, and advertising industries. Readers will learn why their favorite shows get cancelled, why Oprah gives away cars, and how money, people, politics, and new technologies are transforming TV, the Internet, radio, magazines, and other media people consume every day.

	Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success by Penelope Trunk It's okay to move back in with your parents. And it's okay to work at a string of menial jobs or even take off to Asia for a year. Why? Because eventually these seeming detours will lead not only to a great career but a great life as well. Penelope Trunk gives anything but standard advice to help the new workforce succeed on their own terms in any industry. Trunk asserts that a take-charge attitude and fresh perspective are the only ways to make it in today's job market. These 45 tips will get you thinking bigger, acting bolder, and blazing trails you never thought possible. This is one of the best of the year! (ed.)

	401 Proven Ways to Retain Your Best Employees by Gregory P. Smith International business consultant and author Gregory P. Smith is making waves as one of the nation's top employee retention experts. His new book provides practical solutions to promote high employee retention in your workplace. 401 Proven Ways to Retain Your Best Employees provides a wealth of information, tips, advice, and case studies that allow for quick reference and practical application.

	Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: How to Use Your Own Stories to Communicate With Power and Impact by Annette Simmons People float in an ocean of data and disconnected facts that can often overwhelm them with choices. A meaningful story can feel like a life preserver that tethers you to something safe and important - at the very least, to a trace of humanity. Filled with enlightening anecdotes, this practical guide gives readers the tools they need to persuade, inspire, and influence others through the power of story. This is an exceptional work, and one of the best of the year!

	Hidden in Plain Sight: How to Find and Execute Your Company's Next Big Growth Strategy by Erich Joachimsthaler This is a most mindful work! The author presents a "demand-first innovation and growth methodology that begins with an understanding of the day-to-day behaviours and unmet needs of customers. It's an "outside-in" approach to identify untapped customer needs and then develop sweet-spot solutions to satisfy them. Get this one on your agenda fast to discover the growth opportunities that are right in front of you. (ed.)

	Master Scheduling by John F. Proud Building on the four cornerstones of a manufacturing business - customers, products, resources, and suppliers - by the unifying power of vision and competence, you will learn that master scheduling is a competency like engineering, financial management, and logistics. Another step on the journey to business excellence from Oliver Wight International (ed.)

	Customer Service Made Easy by Paul Levesque This excellent book is an instructional manual for creating a customer-focused culture in any business - and becoming a 'flashpoint business' - the place that's always jumping with turbocharged workers and lines of delighted customers, where employee and customer excitement catch fire and fuel each other. This is a must read for anyone who wants to go beyond lip service to customer service to make it real! Great work Paul! (ed.)

	The Innkeeper Tales Modern-Day Canterbury Tales to Entertain, Enlighten & Empower by John L. Herman Jr. This collection of stories is told by business travelers whiling away a long day, stranded at The Abacrombie by an early spring blizzard. With Herman (the real-life Abacrombie owner) keeping the food and conversations going, each traveler tells a story drawn from his own life. This is a very engaging and entertaining read. Perhaps a visit to Baltimore is in order to contribute to the conversation. (ed.)

	Visionaries The 20th Century's 100 Most Important Inspirational Leaders by Satish Kumar and Freddie Whitefield Visionaries brings together the lives and works of a hundred great men and women who offer inspiration, hope, and healing. Their influence helped bring to an end colonialism and imperialism, apartheid, and authoritarian regimes, and they also helped foster the resurgence of an ecological, holistic, and spiritual vision that increasingly resonates in the world today. Fascinating and inspiring! (ed.)

	Executive Intelligence: What All Great Leaders Have by Justin Menkes Executive Intelligence is indeed a breakthrough in the science of leadership, identifying the critical-thinking skills and the rigor of the thinking process common to the most successful leaders in business. Menkes argues that what star leaders do is not magic, and their accomplishments are made possible by specific, identifiable skills that can be measured - and learned. He provides an excellent and very useful summary of the specific individual skills that comprise Executive Intelligence in terms of tasks, people, and oneself. This is one of the best books of the year!

	The Definitive Drucker by Elizabeth Haas Edersheim For sixteen months before his death, Elizabeth Haas Edersheim was given unprecedented access to Peter Drucker, widely regarded as the father of modern management. At Drucker's request, Edersheim, a respected management thinker in her own right, spoke with him about the development of modern business throughout his life-and how it continues to grow and change at an ever-increasing rate.This is a celebration of this extraordinary man and his life's work, as well as a unique opportunity to learn from Drucker's final business lessons how to strategize, compete, and triumph in any market.

	The Woman Road Warrior: A Woman's Guide to Business Travel by Kathleen Ameche Kathleen Ameche debunks travel myths and demonstrates concrete ways to solve every kind of on-the-road challenge. She presents practical and time-tested-yet up-to-the-minute-tips for today's business professionals: Travelers of all levels of experience, from the new college graduate to the veteran road warrior, will benefit. The Woman Road Warrior shows you how to be at your most productive while staying sane, healthy, and in control on the road.

	Happy Hour is 9 to 5: Learn How to Love Your Job, Create a Great Business and Kick Butt at Work by Chief Happiness Officer Alexander Kjerulf This book is about happiness at work. About loving your job - or finding one you can love. Because today, happiness at work is no longer a luxury - it's essential. People are discovering, that when they love their jobs, they are more productive, creative and motivated. They're also happier in life. Similarly, happy companies find they are more efficient, innovative and make more money than their unhappy competitors. (This one will challenge you to greatness! ed.)

	Measure What Matters Reconnecting Marketing To Business Goals by Laura Patterson Laura Patterson, co-founder of VisionEdge Marketing presents a comprehensive metrics framework that marketing professionals and company executives can use to ensure marketing is tightly connected to business goals, and provides an approach marketers can employ to demonstrate marketing’s contribution.

	The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't by Robert I. Sutton The author builds on the ideas he first set forth in his landmark Harvard Business Review essay of the same name to show managers how hiring mean-spirited employees--no matter how talented or qualified--can be a costly mistake. This outstanding book includes a self test - signs that your inner-jerk is rearing its ugly head, the calculaton of the annual costs of one asshole, the dirty dozen asshole actions, and how to enforce the no asshole rule. This is a must read for anyone who has had to endure assholes at work, which I'm sure is just about everyone. (ed.)

	Hit the Ground Leading! by Angela Mondou The best of the year! This is an action-packed, head-twisting, edgy and powerful handbook that will show you how to lead your own adventure and turn your plans into reality. This is one of the best leadership guides of all time and a must read for all of your leaders of the future! (ed.)

The CEO Refresher Archives - Refresher Reviews Reviews of interesting and important books. All are recommended as we only feature those we think are valuable.

The CEO Refresher Archives - Recommended Reading Highlights, press releases and excerpts of new and important books on business, leadership and strategy.

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