Many people are frustrated with their work. They feel their talents are untapped and consequently they are unable to move forward in their careers. While professional coaching could help, it is a luxury too expensive for the majority of people. In Take Charge of Your Talent, Don Maruska and Jay Perry make talent development easy and accessible to people of all backgrounds. By combining their years of professional experience as CEOs and professional coaches, they offer three keys and various exercises to help people not only unlock their talents but elevate their work performances and overall satisfaction if life.
In How to Present, certified speaking professional Michelle Bowden demystifies the art of delivering a clear and compelling message to which the target audience responds positively. She breaks the process into three phases: analysis, design, and delivery. Presentations fall flat when presenters focus on what they have to say, without addressing what the audience wants and needs to hear. They fail to convince when they are unclear on where their audience is, where they want them to be, and how to get them there. Bowden explains how to understand an audience, how to structure a message to reach it, and how to deliver the message in a confident, consistent manner. She debunks persistent myths about public speaking, substituting sound advice about warming up mind, body, and voice, so that every presentation produces positive results.
When seeking the best plan for running a company, management theories abound. Many organizations work with consultants and adopt one management methodology after another, but fail to derive the expected benefits. After spending over 30 years in management consulting and in management roles at Fortune 100 companies, Karen Phelan came to the realization that many popular management theories are wrong. In I’m Sorry I Broke Your Company, Phelan tries to debunk conventional business wisdom and offers alternatives to theories that do not work.
In Managing Projects, Lou Russell employs a four-phase project management model: define, plan, manage, and review, to illustrate the nuts and bolts of project management. She prefaces the discussion with a review of the relevant terminology, distinguishing between tasks, projects, and processes. She then devotes a chapter to each of the four phases, followed by chapters dealing with the problems of change associated with projects and the basics of a project management office (PMO) for coordinating multiple projects. The book closes with a review of the basic principles of project management, including a list of ten important principles to keep in mind on any project.
Resilience is defined as the ability to persevere and adapt when faced with challenges—being able to bend with pressure instead of breaking under it. Beyond adaptability, resilience also manifests as the ability to let go and learn to grow when mistakes are made. In Resilience, Liggy Webb provides fundamental strategies that can help people navigate the challenges they face in their lives. She discusses ten strategies for developing resilience with helpful tips and techniques for tackling difficult circumstances. The book is filled with real-life examples of people who have faced down dire circumstances, often beyond their control, and bounced back—sometimes happier and healthier than before.
Outlaw by Trent Leyshan is for salespeople who are trying to navigate the ever-changing commercial world with fewer resources and more demands on their time. Changing technology and consumers have led to major changes in sales strategies, but many salespeople have not evolved to meet today’s new challenges. Those who recognize the need to change often do not have the tools necessary to bring about that change. Sales leaders, or outlaws, have mastered the techniques and tools needed to succeed in today’s sales environment.
In a culture flush with social media sound bites and email blasts, many business leaders and entrepreneurs have forgotten the most innate and powerful means of connecting with other people: telling stories. The power of storytelling lies in its ability to take data and analysis and distill it into a form that is easily understood, remembered, and shared. While data is important in building credibility and justifying decisions, its importance is often exaggerated. And, while data may convince people that something is true, a well-told story is what makes the data resonate with people’s emotions and drives them to action. In Power Stories, Valerie Khoo demonstrates how entrepreneurs can use this subtle and underutilized marketing tool to build an arsenal of eight power stories that can influence customers, attract loyal employees, promote media attention, persuade investors, and build an unforgettable brand.
