Whether we love our jobs or not, the amount of work on our plate has reached unsustainable levels. We start each workday anxious about how we will get it all done, and which important tasks will have to be sacrificed again so we can keep our heads above water. We often respond to our out-of-control to-do lists by focusing on being more efficient trying to get more done in less time.According to Josh Davis, Ph.D., we're going about it the wrong way. The answer is not to get more done faster, but rather to create the conditions for at least two awesome hours of peak productivity each day.Neuroscience and psychology research is revealing what those conditions are. Drawing on this research, Davis explains that our minds operate according to complex factors that, when leveraged the right way, can make us truly effective. Davis shows us five deceptively simple strategies to create the conditions for incredible productivity and to restore sanity and balance to our lives: Maximize the moments in our day when we are between tasks, intentionally choosing what to tackle next Schedule tasks based on their cognitive and emotional demands Learn how to direct attention Feed and move our bodies for short-term benefit Identify how our environment affects our focus and alertness We are capable of impressive feats of comprehension, motivation, and performance when our psychological and biological systems are functioning optimally. Two Awesome Hours will show us how to be our most productive every day.

#131 The Case of the Two-Cent CandyYears ago, I wrote about a retail store in the Palo Alto environs a good one, which had a box of two-cent candies at the checkout. I subsequently remember that "little" parting gesture of the two-cent candy as a symbol of all that is Excellent at that store. Dozens of people who have attended seminars of mine from retailers to bankers to plumbing-supply-house owners have come up to remind me, sometimes 15 or 20 years later, of "the two-cent candy story," and to tell me how it had a sizable impact on how they did business, metaphorically and in fact.Well, the Two-Cent Candy Phenomenon has struck again with oomph and in the most unlikely of places.For years Singapore's "brand" has more or less been Southeast Asia's "place that works." Its legendary operational efficiency in all it does has attracted businesses of all sorts to set up shop there. But as "the rest" in the geographic neighborhood closed the efficiency gap, and China continued to rise-race-soar, Singapore decided a couple of years ago to "rebrand" itself as not only a place that works but also as an exciting, "with it" city. (I was a participant in an early rebranding conference that also featured the likes of the late Anita Roddick, Deepak Chopra, and Infosys founder and superman N. R. Narayana Murthy.)Singapore's fabled operating efficiency starts, as indeed it should, at ports of entry the airport being a prime example. From immigration to baggage claim to transportation downtown, the services are unmatched anywhere in the world for speed and efficiency.Saga . . . Immigration services in Thailand, three days before a trip to Singapore, were a pain. ("Memorable.") And entering Russia some months ago was hardly a walk in the park, either. To be sure, and especially after 9/11, entry to the United States has not been a process you'd mistake for arriving at Disneyland, nor marked by an attitude that shouted "Welcome, honored guest."Singapore immigration services, on the other hand:The entry form was a marvel of simplicity. The lines were short, very short, with more than adequate staffing.The process was simple and unobtrusive.And:The immigration officer could have easily gotten work at Starbucks; she was all smiles and courtesy.And:Yes!Yes!And . . . yes!There was a little candy jar at each Immigration portal!The "candy jar message" in a dozen ways:"Welcome to Singapore, Tom!! We are absolutely beside ourselves with delight that you have decided to come here!"Wow!Wow!Wow!Ask yourself . . . now:What is my (personal, department, project, restaurant, law firm) "Two-Cent Candy"?Does every part of the process of working with us/me include two-cent candies?Do we, as a group, "think two-cent candies"?Operationalizing: Make "two-centing it" part and parcel of "the way we do business around here." Don't go light on the so-called substance but do remember that . . . perception is reality . . . and perception is shaped by two-cent candies as much as by that so-called hard substance.Start: Have your staff collect "two-cent candy stories" for the next two weeks in their routine "life" transactions. Share those stories. Translate into "our world." And implement.Repeat regularly.Forever.(Recession or no recession you can afford two cents.)(In fact, it is a particularly Brilliant Idea for a recession you doubtless don't maximize Two-Cent Opportunities. And what opportunities they are.)

Here is the bestselling guide that created a new game plan for marketing in high-tech industries. Crossing the Chasm has become the bible for bringing cutting-edge products to progressively larger markets. This edition provides new insights into the realities of high-tech marketing, with special emphasis on the Internet. It's essential reading for anyone with a stake in the world's most exciting marketplace.

Transform Your Workplace!Imagine a company where people are excited about coming to work and giving their best efforts every day. In this innovative and engrossing business parable, Harry Paul and Ross Reck show managers at all levels how they can immediately and easily increase productivity by tapping into the discretionary effort of the people who work for them. Starting from the most basic aspect of business reality that people intentionally regulate the amount of effort they put into their jobs based upon how they feel they're being treated the authors point out that the most important part of the job of every manager, team leader, supervisor, and executive is to treat people in such a way that they become excited about applying all their discretionary effort toward performing their jobs.At the book's center is the story of Nancy Kim, a human resources director at a magazine that is struggling with all the problems associated with unhappy employees low productivity and morale along with high absenteeism and turnover. After she openly challenges the CEO's new management-by-the-numbers system, she's charged with turning the situation around immediately. Filled with real-world studies, Instant Turnaround! shows anyone how to turn the workplace into a destination a place where working hard feels like hardly working because it's engaging, enjoyable, and fulfilling.

Thirty-nine of America's most successful business leaders share the most important decisions of their careers and the life and career lessons they hold for us all. When former CEO Harlan Steinbaum decided to buy back his retail drug chain with his partners, his life changed dramatically. The personal impact that this one business decision this "tough call" had on Steinbaum made him wonder if others had experienced similar kinds of defining moments in their own careers. To find out, he reached out to some of the most successful people in the country leaders from companies such as Verizon, Chrysler, ESPN, Ogilvy & Mather, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, WellPoint, and Panera Bread Company to pinpoint the career-defining decisions that were integral to their success. The result is Tough Calls from the Corner Office, a treasure trove of rich business wisdom, stories of tough decisions and hard-won victories, and lessons from a lifetime of achievement in the world of business.Tough Calls from the Corner Office offers inspiring stories, lessons, principles, strategies, ideas, and solutions drawn from every stage in a successful career, from early key choices to the final leave-taking from the world of work. Given unprecedented access to such visionaries as Union Square Hospitality Group's Danny Meyer, ESPN's Bill Rasmussen, Build-A-Bear's Maxine Clark, and Let's Make a Deal's Monty Hall, Steinbaum shares their experiences, told in their own words, so that others may learn from them. In a time when many people are at professional crossroads, Tough Calls from the Corner Office offers inspiration and the confidence to believe that tough decisions can be the first step to extraordinary success.

Today we all face more impossible challenges than ever before. But flash foresight lets you transform the impossible into the possible, revealing hidden opportunities and allowing you to solve your biggest problems before they happen. Daniel Burrus is one of the world's leading forecasters, corporate strategists, and visionaries. Over the past quarter century, he has established a reputation worldwide for his exceptional record of accurately predicting the future of technological change and its direct impact on the business world."Wouldn't it be amazing if you could predict the future and be right?" writes Burrus. "You can: all you have to do is leave out the parts you could be wrong about! And the amazing thing is, when you know where to look, there's more than enough you can be right about to make all the difference."From small businesses to multinationals, individual careers to entire industries, Flash Foresight looks at how Burrus's seven radical flash foresight "triggers" have transformed dozens of careers, fortunes, and lives. Both engaging and enlightening, Flash Foresight provides an easy-to-implement blueprint for applying the same strategies to your own business, enabling you to see the invisible and do the impossible.In the past, flash foresight was useful. Today, as the pace of technological change accelerates almost beyond the point of comprehension, it's an imperative.

The media coach and Emmy Award-winning correspondent Bill McGowan shares his secrets of pitch-perfect communications, showing readers how to communicate with confidence.During the pivotal moments of our lives, results are often determined not only by our actions but by our words as well. Saying the right thing the right way can make the difference between sealing the deal or losing the account, advancing your career or suffering a demotion. During these moments, it's important to be pitch perfect to use precisely the right tone to convey the right message to the right person at the right time. Such pitch-perfect moments are crucial in our personal and professional journeys. In Pitch Perfect, the renowned media coach Bill McGowan shows you how to craft just the right message. Along the way, McGowan lays out his Seven Principles of Persuasion, including: The Scorsese Principle: Hold your audience's attention with visual images. Direct the film that plays in your listener's mind. The No-Tailgating Principle: Avoid verbal fender-benders and career-wrecking moments by maintaining a safe talking distance. When in doubt, stop talking and listen. The Pasta-Sauce Principle: Cure boredom by boiling down your message, making it as rich and brief as possible. In Pitch Perfect, you'll learn how to overcome all these communication pitfalls. The Seven Principles of Persuasion are as easy to learn, implement, and master as they are effective. The right language both verbal and nonverbal can make you more confident, persuasive, and certain. It can stir people to listen closely to your every word and to remember you long after you've left the room.

Seeing is believing . . . The Smash Hit SuperFreakonomics is now Bigger and Better SuperFreakonomics was an instant New York Times bestseller that caused a media uproar, continuing the amazing success begun with the groundbreaking, worldwide sensation Freakonomics.With the Illustrated Edition, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner bring alive their smart thinking and great storytelling with an explosion of visual evidence, including: A by-the-numbers tally of a high-priced call girl's career, and a tracking sheet from an intensive survey of Chicago street prostitutes. A visual quiz that lets you pit your memory against the memory of a chess grand master. Images of the hurricane-killing machine and other geo-engineering inventions described in SuperFreakonomics. A look into whether doctors are better at saving lives in TV dramas or in real hospitals. Whether probing the intricacies of sex change oper-ations, the effectiveness of child car seats, or what really motivates people to do good, the Illustrated Edition of SuperFreakonomics employs photographs, drawings, and graphs that will lead readers to see the world in a bold, fresh way.

The New One Minute Manager offers a way for you to succeed sooner with less stress in changing times both at work and at home.Based on the original book The One Minute Manager that helped millions of people around the world in organizations large and small, this new version of the classic story deals with a new world.The book will help you find meaning in your work and inspire you to discover new ways to help your organization adapt and prosper.The New One Minute Manager is a concise, easily read story that reveals three very practical secrets: One Minute Goals, One Minute Praisings, and One Minute Re-Directs, the new third secret.The story is based on studies in the behavioral sciences and medicine that support why these apparently simple methods work so well with so many people. And by the book's end, you will know how to apply what you discover to your own situation and enjoy the benefits.

The quintessential self-made man, master of brand identity, New York Times bestselling author, and award-winning executive KISS's Gene Simmons shares his manifesto for business success.KISS did not become one of the most successful rock bands in history by accident. Long before he first took the stage, Gene Simmons had a clear-cut operating plan for the business. Over the past forty years, KISS has sold more than 100 million CDs and DVDs worldwide and manages 5,000 licensed merchandise items from comic books and coffins to action figures and video games. The band received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2014 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to KISS, Simmons's lucrative ventures include two hit reality shows, a professional sports team, a restaurant chain, and a record label. A recipient of the Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award, this brilliant executive runs all of his businesses on his own no personal assistant, few handlers, and as little red tape as possible.In Me, Inc., Simmons gives aspiring entrepreneurs the critical tools they need to succeed. He discusses how to build a solid business strategy, harness the countless tools available in the digital age, educate yourself, and be the architect for the business entity that is you. Inspired by The Art of War, Me, Inc. is organized around thirteen specific, easy-to-understand principles for success "The Art of More" drawn from Simmons's own triumphs and failures. From finding the confidence necessary to get started, to surrounding yourself with the right people, to knowing when to pull the plug and when to double-down, these principles can help you attain the freedom and wealth of your dreams.

What if there were a clear set of instructions to help you bring your best ideas to lifeAs with a recipe, you could take a compelling idea and with concrete steps, transform it into something extraordinary. As a professor at Stanford University, Tina Seelig has dedicated her career to teaching the practice of moving from imagination to implementation. In Insight Out, she welcomes you into her classroom and crisply defines the core concepts of imagination, creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship, presenting an elegant and much-needed model she calls the "Invention Cycle." This new approach enables you to see obstacles as opportunities, inspire others to share your vision, and ultimately bring more ideas to fruition. Filled with surprising research, examples from her Stanford classroom, and stories from around the world—Silicon Valley to San Quentin State Prison, rural Pakistan to the North Pole—Insight Out offers essential and unexpected strategies that will help bring even the slightest flicker of an idea to life. Equally useful for students, educators, entrepreneurs, and would-be innovators in all fields, this is an essential road map for anyone who wants to get ideas out of their head and into the world.

Strategy is about identifying why your business matters, not just analysing the competition. Cynthia Montgomery reveals how leaders can embrace the crucial role of The Strategist to really define and drive the objectives and advantages to power their companies forward. Cynthia Montgomery teaches the globally-renowned EOP (Entrepreneur, Owner, President) course at Harvard Business School, one of Harvard’s most oversubscribed executive courses. Participants are all seasoned executives, owners, CEOs, or COOs of privately held companies who pay tens of thousands of dollars to attend, with the goal of learning how to be more effective leaders and how to make their companies more successful. Montgomery’s course teaches them a totally new way to understand leadership, a way that fuses leadership with strategy. Her approach calls for a reset of current thinking about both. She shows that strategy is not just a tool for outwitting the competition – it is the most powerful means a leader has for shaping a firm itself. Montgomery takes the readers through the paces of her world-renowned course, teaching them how to develop the skills and sensibilities that living strategy and real leadership demand. No other book marries strategy and leadership in the same way – a way readers will find challenging, intriguing, and ultimately, inspiring.

By the bestselling author of The One Minute Manager, a business parable that teaches organizations to cope successfully with change. Every day organizations around the world launch change initiatives – often big, expensive ones - designed to improve the status quo. Yet 50 to 70 percent of these change efforts fail. A few perish suddenly, but many die painful, protracted deaths that drain the organization's resources, energy and morale. So, Who or what is killing change? That's what you'll find out in this delightful whodunit. The story features a Columbo-style detective named Agent who's investigating the murder of yet another Change. One by one, Agent interviews thirteen prime suspects, including a myopic leader named Vision; a chronically tardy manager named Urgency; an executive named Communication whose laryngitis makes communication all but impossible; and several other dubious characters. The suspects are sure to sound familiar, and you're bound to relate them to your own workplace. In the end, Agent solves the case in a way that will inspire you to become an effective Change Agent in your own organization.

7 simple steps to flawless negotiations A successful negotiation results in a win-win agreement for both parties. But where do you start if you’re up against people or organisations with conflicting objectives? Or people who are just downright difficult? Getting what you want requires determination and tact. You need to be assertive but know when to compromise. We’ll help you refine your persuasive skills through verbal and non-verbal communication. We’ll show you how to identify and understand the key issues, distinguish between needs and interests and come to an agreement that benefits everyone. With our 7 simple steps you’ll be a pro in no time.

7 simple steps to help you find your perfect job Kickstart your job applications and get the job you want. If you’re new to the job market, back for a restart, or want a change of scene, we’ll help you target what you want and show you how to get there. The job market is tougher than ever, and making a great first impression is everything. We’ll debunk the myths of applying for jobs, help get your CV into shape and prepare you for the interview. Just make sure you get there on time (that bit’s up to you).

In ‘Eyes Wide Open’ Noreena Hertz does for decision-making what Daniel Kahneman did for thinking. ? Why should you be wary of experts? ? Are emails destroying your ability to think? ? How do you know which sources of information are credible? ? Whose advice should you trust? ‘Eyes Wide Open’ will help you through the data deluge and show you how to make better and smarter decisions. By weaving together cutting-edge research with real-world examples from Hollywood to Harry Potter, NASA to World War II spies, Hertz constructs a path to more astute and empowered decision-making in ten clear steps. With razor-sharp insight and an instinct for thought-provoking storytelling, she offers counterintuitive, effective guidance for making better choices—whether you are a businessperson, a professional, a patient, or a parent. ‘Eyes Wide Open’ is a game-changing book that empowers readers to become confident and wise decision-makers —savvy to how our emotions and habits can trip us up.

The leadership secrets that experts and top professionals use. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Leadership. Includes how to: ? Understand and develop your leadership style ? Identify strategic goals for your department ? Motivate and manage teams of all sizes ? Build a culture of results and responsibility ? Lead the way out of a crisis

The communication secrets that experts and top professionals use. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Communication. Includes how to: ? Use body language to build rapport with anyone ? Deal with clients and colleagues at all levels ? Get what you want in sales or negotiation ? Excel in meetings and presentations ? Master email and written communication

The interview secrets that experts and top professionals use. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Interviews. Includes how to: ? Research the needs of the employer ? Focus the interview on your strengths ? Use body language to impress ? Deal with difficult questions ? Negotiate the perfect package

The people management secrets that experts and top professionals use. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of People Management Includes how to: ? Build a business-like relationships with your direct reports ? Set clear targets and monitor them ? Understand different personality types and how to manage them ? Deliver criticism and compliments in the right way ? Mentor your employees to produce fantastic results

The secrets that experts and top professionals use to get things done. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Getting Things Done. Includes how to: ? Get more done in less time ? Manage upwards, downwards and sideways ? Under-promise and over-deliver ? Overcome difficult people and issues ? Deliver projects on time and on budget