The Optimism Advantage. 50 Simple Truths to Transform Your Attitudes and Actions into Results

An inspiring yet practical guide for transforming limitations into opportunities A Beautiful Constraint: How to Transform Your Limitations Into Advantages And Why It's Everyone's Business Now is a book about everyday, practical inventiveness, designed for the constrained times in which we live. It describes how to take the kinds of issues that all of us face today—lack of time, money, resources, attention, know-how—and see in them the opportunity for transformation of oneself and one's organization's fortunes. The ideas in the book are based on the authors' extensive work as business consultants, and are brought to life in 35 personal interviews from such varied sources as Nike, IKEA, Unilever, the U.S. Navy, Formula One racecar engineers, public school teachers in California, and barley farmers in South Africa. Underpinned by scientific research into the psychology of breakthrough, the book is a practical handbook full of tools and tips for how to make more from less. Beautifully designed and accessible, A Beautiful Constraint will appeal beyond its core business audience to anyone who needs to find the opportunity in constraint. The book takes the reader on a journey through the mindset, method and motivation required to move from the initial «victim» stage into the transformation stage. It challenges us to: Examine how we've become path dependent—stuck with routines that blind us from seeing opportunity along new paths Ask Propelling Questions to help us break free of those paths and put the most pressing and valuable constraints at the heart of our process Adopt a Can If mentality to answer these questions—focused on «how,» not «if» Access the abundance to be found all around us to help transform constraints Activate the high-octane mix of emotions necessary to fuel the tenacity required for success We live in a world of seemingly ever-increasing constraints, driven as much by an overabundance of choices and connections as by a scarcity of time and resources. How we respond to these constraints is one of the most important issues of our time and will be a large determinant of our progress as people, businesses and planet, in the future. A Beautiful Constraint calls for a more widespread capability for constraint-driven problem solving and provides the framework to achieve that.

The marketer's guide to modernizing platforms and practices Marketing in the digital era is a whole new game: it's fundamentally about competing on the customer experience. Marketers must integrate a complex set of technologies to capture the customer's digital body language—and thereby deliver the right experiences, at the right times, via the right channels. This approach represents a formidable technological and practical challenge that few marketers have experience with. The methods that enable marketers to meet this challenge are emerging from an unexpected place: the world of software development. The Agile methodologies that once revolutionized software development are now revolutionizing marketing. Agile provides the foundation for alignment between the marketing and product management sides. It can unleash a whole array of new marketing opportunities for growth hacking as well as for «baking» marketing directly into your products or services. Beyond that, as a discipline it can serve as a bridge to strategic alignment, positioning the chief marketing officer alongside the chief product officer as the two primary drivers of the business. Written by a premier practitioner of modern marketing, this book will provide you with: Insights on the evolution of product development and management in the organization—and why marketing must partner with them in the new era An understanding of Agile methods and their application to marketing A plan for integrating Agile with your traditional methods Tactics to drive alignment with product management A pathway to becoming the steward of customer experience Rich with examples, case studies, illustrations, and exercises drawn from the author's wide-ranging experience (from startups to a top global technology company), The Agile Marketer will help you transform marketing in your organization, in spirit and practice—and help realize its critical roles in product management and the customer experience.

A lifesaver for those drowning in the demands of leadership Leadership Hacks is the business leader’s guide to getting things done. Over the years, the leader’s role has expanded to encompass more duties, more responsibility and more accountability – yet we’re still stuck with the same 24 hours in every day. The evolving business environment leaves many of us struggling to achieve against constantly shifting priorities, competitors and deadlines, and we are forever expected to do more with less. Is it even possible to make a real impact? Yes! This book shows you how to sort through the madness and get back to getting results. Identify your major speed bumps, and let the action-focused discussion gives you practical workarounds that will streamline your day and help you make things happen. Covering hacks at personal, one-on-one, and team levels, this book is packed with tips, tricks and advice that will help you eliminate the distractions and harness technology; communicate effectively, delegate clearly and coach confidently; and make meetings and missions that matter for your team. You’ll achieve greater results, open the channels of communication and look like a rock star to those still struggling with the daily deluge. Identify what distractions slow you down Fast-track your productivity to do more in less time Streamline delegation so your people perform faster Re-route meetings into productive conversations Learn the communication and technology shortcuts that get faster results Leaders are recognised for their results, but judged by their impact. Don’t let yourself fall victim to ever-mounting demands. Leadership Hacks shows you how to hack your day, shift your approach, boost your communication and start making your way to the top.

Get your entire life on track with an accelerated trajectory Your Trajectory Code is a guide to understanding why you are where you are, and not where you want to be – and how to change it. Once you understand what the trajectory code is, you can gain an accelerated understanding of yourself and others, including family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and anyone else. You'll be able to recognize how tiny 1% adjustments can significantly change your trajectory for the rest of your life. Your inner dialogue guides you along your trajectory, and this book will teach you the five fundamental types of people in your consciousness, and how they can either accelerate your rate of success or derail you straight into a trajectory of misery. We all have the opportunity to make decisions and guide what line or path we follow in life. One trajectory takes you toward greater accomplishments, while the other moves you in the direction of mediocrity and complacency. Understanding the trajectory code and line is what separates winners from losers, and Your Trajectory Code shows you how. Gain a deeper understanding of yourself and others Make tiny adjustments that have a big impact Discover who in your life might hold you back Steer your trajectory toward achievement and success The path of your life is not predetermined. You have control, and it's never to late to make the changes that could bring you greater happiness. Have you settled for «good enough» long enough? Are you ready to rock the boat? Your Trajectory Code is the key to figuring out what needs to change, and how to change it to point your trajectory skyward.

How to use Strategic Learning to rapidly respond to change and gain a sustainable advantage over your competitors What's even harder than creating a breakthrough strategy? Making it stick. As companies are fighting to survive in a tough economy, this new book by Willie Pietersen demonstrates the power of the Strategic Learning process, a four-step dynamic cycle guaranteed to create and sustain winning performance. Adopted by a wide range of corporations and not-for-profit organizations, the Strategic Learning process builds on eight years of practicing, adapting and honing the original concepts Pietersen first introduced in Reinventing Strategy to explain how organizations can generate superior insights about their customers and competitors, craft a Winning Proposition, focus on a vital few key priorities, create buy-in throughout the organization and achieve success – again and again. Teaches organizations to make smarter decisions that help them win customers and earn superior profits Explains how to instill a culture of openness, learning, and courage that can face and respond to the constantly changing business environment Is a tool that can benefit leaders at all levels, in organizations both large and small, global and domestic, for-profit and not-for-profit Author Willie Pietersen, a former president of Tropicana and Seagram USA, is a professor of management at Columbia Business School, and the author of Reinventing Strategy, from Wiley Strategic Learning shows you how your business or nonprofit organization can develop better, more effective strategies for long-term competitive advantage.

Leadership strategies grounded in reality and focused on results Recent polls show that 71% of workers think about quitting their jobs every day. That number would be shocking-if people actually were quitting. Worse, they go to work, punching time clocks and collecting pay checks, while completely checked out emotionally. In Reality-Based Leadership, expert Fast Company blogger Cy Wakeman reveals how to be the kind of leader who changes the way people think about and perceive their circumstances-one who deals with the facts, clarifies roles, gives clear and direct feedback, and insists that everyone do the same-without drama or defensiveness. Filled with dynamic examples, innovative tools, and diagnostic tests, this book shows you how to become a Reality-Based Leader, revealing how to: Uncover destructive thought patterns with yourself and others Diffuse drama and lead the person in front of you Stop managing and start leading, empowering others to focus on facts and think for themselves Equipped with a facts-based, confident approach, you will free yourself from the frustrations you face at work and transform yourself into a Reality-Based Leader, with the ability to liberate and inspire others.

A blueprint for reinventing the core of your business Value in the next phase of the digital era will go to those companies that don't just try digital but also scale it. Digital@Scale examines what it takes for companies to break through the gravitational pull of their legacy organizations and capture the full value of digital. Digging into more than fifty detailed case studies and years of McKinsey experience and data, the authors, along with a group of expert contributors, show how companies can move beyond incremental change to transform the business where the greatest value is generated—at its core. The authors provide practical insights into the three pillars of digital transformations that successfully scale: reinventing the business model, building out a business architecture from the customer back into the organization, and establishing an 'amoeba' IT and organizational foundation that learns and evolves. This is the ideal guide for all leaders who recognize the power and promise of a digital transformation.

A revised and updated guide to bridging relationship creationwith relationship capitalization Relationship Economics isn't about taking advantage of friends or coworkers to get ahead. It's about prioritizing and maximizing a unique return on strategic relationships to fuel unprecedented growth. Based on the author's global speaking and consulting engagements, Relationship Economics reveals that success comes from investing in people for extraordinary returns. This revised and updated version explains the three major types of relationships—personal, functional, and strategic—and how to focus each to fuel enterprise growth. It introduces new concepts in relationship management, including the exchange of Relationship Currency, the accumulation of Reputation Capital, and the building of Professional Net Worth. These are the fundamental measures of business relationship, and once you understand them, you'll be able to turn your contacts into better executions, performance, and results. «David Nour is the definitive expert on strategic relationships. He has captured practical, pragmatic, and timely insights in Relationship Economics and has been a valuable resource to my sales transformation efforts.» —RANDY SEIDL, Senior VP, Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking, Americas, HP «Although many understand the importance of relationships, the quantifiable and strategic values of relationships are often underemphasized. David Nour has done just that in?Relationship Economics.» —CRAIG LEMASTERS, President and CEO, Assurant Solutions «If a man is judged by the company he keeps, David Nour's Relationship Economics provides a systematic approach to building value in that judgment. The concepts reach well beyond networking to building lasting and productive relationships.» —DENNIS SADLOWSKI, former president and CEO, Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc.

Using the ancient Inuit whale hunt as a metaphor for big sales, Whale Hunting gives you a clear nine-phase model for successfully finding, landing, and harvesting whale-sized sales accounts—the kind of sales that transform your business. Here, you’ll learn how to turn the dangerous endeavor of selling to large companies and big contracts into a strategy for continued success and growth. Stop wasting time with little accounts and start landing monster accounts.

The acclaimed authors of The Book of Luck are back with some brilliant ideas for bringing more happiness into your life. The Book of Happiness is more than just a practical guide to improving your happiness levels. It's a complete makeover, aimed at putting a spring in your step, and a permanent lift to your spirits. We all know happiness is a state of mind, but few of us know how to improve our share of it. Many people think that happiness just comes out of nowhere. Not so. The reality is you can create your own happiness by choosing what you do, what you say, where you go, what you remember, who and what you surround yourself with, what you think and what you listen to. The Book of Happiness kicks off with a Happiness Questionnaire to give you an instant snapshot of your current state of mind. Once you have scored yourself, you will learn the areas you need to focus on. There is a workbook to complete at each key stage, as well as stirring anecdotes, tips and happy thoughts to keep you going. Just remember: it only takes 21 days to get rid of an unwanted habit and to acquire a new one. Isn't it about time you got the happiness habit?