“Best Reads” – our recommendations…

“The Alchemist” – Combining magic, mysticism, wisdom and wonder into an inspiring tale of self-discovery, The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations.

Paulo Coelho’s masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago’s journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life’s path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams.

“101 Ways To Say Thank You”  by Kelly Browne – With this book, you have the option of choosing formal or funny. A great little book to have handy when you want to make the “thank you” special and memorable.  It is also priced in a way that you can also say thank you with a book on thanking…love that.  Give it as a gift to yourself or others.  But do remember to say “thank you”.

“The Art of Happiness”  by Dalai Lama XIV, Howard C. Cutler – Nearly every time you see him, he’s laughing, or at least smiling. And he makes everyone else around him feel like smiling. He’s the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, a Nobel Prize winner, and an increasingly popular speaker and statesman. What’s more, he’ll tell you that happiness is the purpose of life, and that “the very motion of our life is towards happiness.” How to get there has always been the question. He’s tried to answer it before, but he’s never had the help of a psychiatrist to get the message across in a context we can easily understand. Through conversations, stories, and meditations, the Dalai Lama shows us how to defeat day-to-day anxiety, insecurity, anger, and discouragement. Together with Dr. Cutler, he explores many facets of everyday life, including relationships, loss, and the pursuit of wealth, to illustrate how to ride through life’s obstacles on a deep and abiding source of inner peace.

“The Artist’s Way” by Julie Cameron, is the seminal book on the subject of creativity and realizing our dreams and purpose. An international bestseller, millions of readers have found it to be an invaluable guide to living a fulfilled life. Still, as vital today—or perhaps even more so—than it was when it was first published one decade ago, it is a powerfully provocative and inspiring work. In a new introduction to the book, Julia Cameron reflects upon the impact of The Artist’s Way and describes the work she has done during the last decade and the new insights into the creative process that she has gained. Updated and expanded, this anniversary edition reframes The Artist’s Way for a new century.

“The Beginners Guide to Apologizing”  by Collin Parks. Don’t let the cover of this book put you off the positive effects of apologizing. This book contains proven steps and strategies on how to draft, finalize and execute and well-crafted apology that will no doubt touch the heart of the person on the receiving end of the apology. Here’s an inescapable fact: An apology probably shows vulnerability, but that is considered a positive quality and doesn’t mean that you have accepted failure or such similar notion. It only means that your values and conscience are clear and you have the courage to accept and your mistake. Have no doubt that it takes immense courage and the right values for a person to come out and accept his mistake and apologize. And this is usually difficult because humans are ego – drive creatures by nature and to overcome the ego and take the step forward to own up to your mistake is a great thing to do.

“Business Performance Excellence”  by Jeffry T. Luftig and Steven M. Ouellette is the complete model, integrating revolutionary new techniques with tried and tested approaches, covering the strategic, financial, systems, and human factors. The comprehensive case studies and worked examples presented can be applied to your business whatever your industry, benefiting your bottom line. Detailed coverage includes:

“How to Book Meetings”   by J. H. Hood. Have you just been asked to chair a meeting, or take the minutes, or set up a meeting agenda? Need some help? Would samples of an agenda or minutes be useful? What about some techniques for chairing a meeting or dealing with difficult people? Then this “How to …” book is for you. In it you will find:

• how to decide whether there should be meeting
• how to set up the agenda
• the importance of setting timeframes in the agenda—and sticking to them
• how to make sure that time is not wasted and the important items are covered
• how to chair the meeting
• how to stop time wasters and to make sure you spend the right time on the right topics
• how the minute taker can collect the right information during the meeting
• how to write the minutes
• how to get the best out of the participants
• how to deal with difficult people

“How to Win Friends and Influence People”  by Dale Carnegie. For more than sixty years the rock-solid, time-tested advice in this book has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives.

Three fundamental techniques in handling people

• The six ways to make people like you
• The twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking
• The nine ways to change people without arousing resentment

“Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked”  by Adam Alter. Best new book out there on the way we are using technology – it is remarkable, valuable and eye-opening. “One of the most mesmerizing and important books I’ve read in quite some time. Alter brilliantly illuminates the new obsessions that are controlling our lives and offers the tools we need to rescue our businesses, our families, and our sanity.” —Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take.

Welcome to the age of behavioral addiction—an age in which half of the American population is addicted to at least one behavior. We obsess over our emails, Instagram likes, and Facebook feeds; we binge on TV episodes and YouTube videos; we work longer hours each year, and we spend an average of three hours each day using our smartphones. Half of us would rather suffer a broken bone than a broken phone, and Millennial kids spend so much time in front of screens that they struggle to interact with real, live humans.  

“The Leadership Journey”  By Gary Burnison (Author), Ken Blanchard (Afterword) charts a course through four critical areas of being a great leader. This book brings world-renown people and talent development expertise to bear in a discussion about ‘good’ versus ‘great’ leadership. Successful leadership at any level is about getting results, but how do the best of the best manage to consistently deliver bigger and better things? This book shares the ‘secret sauce’ of successful leadership and provides an actionable framework for discovering—and developing—your own leadership skills and potential. By distilling the broad and complex topic of leadership into highly accessible points and discussions, The Leadership Journey is a perfect traveling companion for everyone along the leadership path.

“Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead”  by Sheryl Sandberg. In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg reignited the conversation around women in the workplace.

Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook and coauthor of Option B with Adam Grant. In 2010, she gave an electrifying TED talk in which she described how women unintentionally hold themselves back in their careers. Her talk, which has been viewed more than six million times, encouraged women to “sit at the table,” seek challenges, take risks, and pursue their goals with gusto.

Lean In continues that conversation, combining personal anecdotes, hard data, and compelling research to change the conversation from what women can’t do to what they can. Sandberg provides practical advice on negotiation techniques, mentorship, and building a satisfying career. She describes specific steps women can take to combine professional achievement with personal fulfillment, and demonstrates how men can benefit by supporting women both in the workplace and at home.

Written with humor and wisdom, Lean In is a revelatory, inspiring call to action and a blueprint for individual growth that will empower women around the world to achieve their full potential.

“Let’s Stop Meeting Like This: Tools to Save Time and Get More Done”  by Dick Axelrod, Emily Axelrod – Ugh—meetings. They’re where productivity goes to die, right? There has to be a better way. According to leading consultants Dick and Emily Axelrod, there is.

The Axelrods outline a flexible and adaptable system used to run truly productive meetings in all kinds of organizations—meetings where people create concrete plans, accomplish tasks, build connections, and move projects forward. They show how to design every aspect of a meeting so that real work actually gets done. Those who have adopted this system will never go back. Neither will you.

“Power Thoughts: 365 Daily Affirmations”  by Louise Hay.  A year’s worth of positive affirmations, to be read in no particular order, will help create a new way of thinking, acting, and feeling.  These Power Thoughts help you shift and change from negative to positive in easy and supporting ways.

“The Shadow Effect“  by Debbie Ford. Be uplifted by the power that is hidden beneath the surface of your conscious mind. Take this emotionally gripping, visually compelling journey into your mysterious shadow self the hiding place for your most disliked thoughts, emotions, and impulses and discover how by embracing your worst fears, you can step into your greatest self. Be transformed by Debbie Ford, the #1 New York Times best-selling author and internationally acclaimed expert on the human shadow, as well as some of the most brilliant and evolutionary thinkers of the 21st century. Be inspired to uncover the wisdom in your wounds, the blessings in your misfortunes, and the gifts that are waiting to be claimed where you may least expect them . . . in the dark

“Speak Like a CEO: Secrets for Commanding Attention and Getting Results”  by Suzanne Bates – An award-winning news anchor presents methods for better communication in any business environment

During her 20 years in broadcasting, award-winning news anchor Suzanne Bates conducted more than 10,000 interviews, during which she witnessed business leaders, politicians, and celebrities at their best and worst.

• Reveals the secrets for communicating in any situation
• Describes simple techniques for acing speeches, presentations, media interviews, Q&A sessions, business meetings, and more
• Outlines self-improvement plans that can easily be customized to your needs
• Shares secrets from top leaders, including Mario Cuomo’s technique for overcoming stage fright and Colin Powell’s secret for projecting authenticity

“Think and Grow Rich”  – the original versions renewed and revised.  By Napoleon Hill and Ross Cornwell

Unlike most versions of Napoleon Hill’s famous book, this edition restores his masterpiece to its original form and intent. It includes essential material on how to thrive in challenging economic times that was taken out of later versions but is incredibly relevant today. This is the only edition of Think and Grow Rich! that is fully annotated and indexed, providing key details about Dr. Hill’s life and times, his lifelong research, and the leaders of business and industry he studied to glean the invaluable principles of success you’ll discover here.

“Working Together: Producing Synergy by Honoring Diversity”  edited by Angeles Arrien A stellar list of contributors bring a variety of perspectives to establish one central theme: diversity is an advantage to be utilized, not a problem to be solved. Themselves representing a wide range of cultural, national, and vocational perspectives, the contributors examine how diversity creates new possibilities for working together in our projects, our organizations, and our lives. Working Together reveals diversity as a rich resource to meet the challenges of our changing times, an unparalleled opportunity to bring together a multiplicity of gifts for a common purpose.