"We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
- Will Durant
Essential Reads for Entrepreneurial Growth
Curated Books for Your Success
Tired of not knowing enough about what you're trying to do or even what you need to do to launch your business?
At L2, we believe the key to unlocking your full potential lies in a life full of intentional learning. In the Psychology of Selling, Brian Tracy states that reading for simply 30 minutes a day will give you the ability to double your income in just 1 year. Luck would have it that being an Entrepreneur means you are a salesperson and Sales is just one of the many hats you have to wear during your daily grind.
We've compiled the following list to help you grow in whichever direction you need help with. We all have natural strengths and weaknesses and the truth is we need to continually develop to stay ahead of the curve.
Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
Robert T. Kiyosaki
Milestones
In the quarter century that has passed since Rich Dad Poor Dad was first published — 25 years since April 8, 1997 — so many things in our world have changed. But the one thing that has not changed is the pressing need for and the power of financial education. Money is still a mainstay of our lives, like it or not, and technology has brought both speed and innovations to the world of money. In an ever-changing world, we can all still get smarter when it comes to money… and learn as much as we can to secure our future.
Still the One… #1
In many ways, the messages of Rich Dad Poor Dad, messages that were challenged and criticized 25 ago, are more meaningful, relevant, and important today than ever. Rich Dad Poor Dad...
Explodes the myth that you need to earn a high income to become rich
Challenges the belief that your house is an asset
Shows parents why they can't rely on the school system to teach their kids about money
Defines once and for all an asset and a liability
Teaches you what to teach your kids about money for their future financial success
April of 2022 marks a 25-year milestone for the personal finance classic Rich Dad Poor Dad that still ranks as the #1 Personal Finance book of all time. And although 25 years have passed since Rich Dad Poor Dad was first published, readers will find that very little in the book itself has changed — and for good reason. While so much in our world is changing a high speed, the lessons about money and the principles of Rich Dad Poor Dad haven’t changed. Today, as money continues to play a key role in our daily lives, the messages in Robert Kiyosaki’s international bestseller are more timely and more important than ever.
While there is a milestone to commemorate — and a new section in the book on Why Milestones Are Important — preserving the integrity of the original content is testimony to the fact that this book has truly stood the test of time. The sidebars throughout the book (that were updated for the 20-year anniversary edition) have been updated again, but the core principles that parents and grandparents — those who embraced Robert’s story and messages 25 years ago — are sharing them with new generations who have found that its timeless wisdom and no-nonsense lessons can be applied to anyone’s life and their vision for a future that includes taking control of their finances.
People of all cultures and countries celebrate milestones. We use them to measure time, mark progress, reflect on the lessons we’ve learned, and celebrate accomplishments… and they give meaning to our life’s journey. They are a way that we integrate past, present, and future… looking back at where we started, where we are today… and the promise of all that the future can hold.
Today Rich Dad Poor Dad consistently ranks among bestsellers around the world in the categories of Personal Finance, Parenting, and Investing, has been translated into 38 languages, and has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.
Rich Dad Poor Dad is Robert's story of growing up with two dads — his real father and the father of his best friend, his rich dad — and the ways in which both men shaped his thoughts about money and investing. The book explodes the myth that you need to earn a high income to be rich and explains the difference between working for money and having your money work for you.
Publication Date:
Apr 1, 1997
Edition:
25th Anniversary
ISBN:
978-1612681139
Change the Culture, Change the Game: The Breakthrough Strategy for Energizing Your Organization and Creating Accountability for Results
Roger Connors, Tom Smith
A fully revised and updated installment from the bestselling author of The Oz Principle Series.
Change the Culture, Change the Game joins their classic book, The Oz Principle, and their recent bestseller, How Did That Happen?, to complete the most comprehensive series ever written on workplace accountability. Based on an earlier book, Journey to the Emerald City, this fully revised installment captures what the authors have learned while working with the hundreds of thousands of people on using organizational culture as a strategic advantage.
Publication Date:
Jan 4, 2011
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-1591845393
Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Leif Babin
Combat, the most intense and dynamic environment imaginable, teaches the toughest leadership lessons, with absolutely everything at stake. Jocko Willink and Leif Babin learned this reality first-hand on the most violent and dangerous battlefield in Iraq. As leaders of SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser, their mission was one many thought impossible: help U.S. forces secure Ramadi, a violent, insurgent-held city deemed “all but lost.” In gripping, firsthand accounts of heroism, tragic loss, and hard-won victories, they learned that leadership―at every level―is the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails.
Willink and Babin returned home from deployment and instituted SEAL leadership training to pass on their harsh lessons of self-discipline, mental toughness and self-defense learned in combat to help forge the next generation of SEAL leaders. After leaving the SEAL Teams, they launched a company, Echelon Front, to teach those same leadership principles to leaders in businesses, companies, and organizations across the civilian sector. Since that time, they have trained countless leaders and worked with hundreds of companies in virtually every industry across the U.S. and internationally, teaching them how to develop their own high-performance teams and most effectively lead those teams to dominate their battlefields.
Since it’s release in October 2015, Extreme Ownership has revolutionized leadership development and set a new standard for literature on the subject. Required reading for many of the most successful organizations, it has become an integral part of the official leadership training programs for scores of business teams, military units, and first responders. Detailing the resilient mindset and total focus principles that enable SEAL units to accomplish the most difficult combat missions, Extreme Ownership demonstrates how to apply them to any team or organization, in any leadership environment. A compelling narrative with powerful instruction and direct application, Extreme Ownership challenges leaders everywhere to fulfill their ultimate purpose: lead and win.
Publication Date:
Oct 20, 2015
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-1250183866
Multipliers, Revised and Updated: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smart
Liz Wiseman
A revised and updated edition of the acclaimed Wall Street Journal bestseller that explores why some leaders drain capability and intelligence from their teams while others amplify it to produce better results.
We’ve all had experience with two dramatically different types of leaders. The first type drains intelligence, energy, and capability from the people around them and always needs to be the smartest person in the room. These are the idea killers, the energy sappers, the diminishers of talent and commitment. On the other side of the spectrum are leaders who use their intelligence to amplify the smarts and capabilities of the people around them. When these leaders walk into a room, light bulbs go off over people’s heads; ideas flow and problems get solved. These are the leaders who inspire employees to stretch themselves to deliver results that surpass expectations. These are the Multipliers. And the world needs more of them, especially now when leaders are expected to do more with less.
In this engaging and highly practical book, leadership expert Liz Wiseman explores these two leadership styles, persuasively showing how Multipliers can have a resoundingly positive and profitable effect on organizations—getting more done with fewer resources, developing and attracting talent, and cultivating new ideas and energy to drive organizational change and innovation.
In analyzing data from more than 150 leaders, Wiseman has identified five disciplines that distinguish Multipliers from Diminishers. These five disciplines are not based on innate talent; indeed, they are skills and practices that everyone can learn to use—even lifelong and recalcitrant Diminishers. Lively, real-world case studies and practical tips and techniques bring to life each of these principles, showing you how to become a Multiplier too, whether you are a new or an experienced manager. This revered classic has been updated with new examples of Multipliers, as well as two new chapters one on accidental Diminishers, and one on how to deal with Diminishers.
Just imagine what you could accomplish if you could harness all the energy and intelligence around you. Multipliers will show you how.
Publication Date:
Jun 15, 2010
Edition:
2nd
ISBN:
978-0062699176
Managing the Unmanageable: How to Motivate Even the Most Unruly Employee
Anne Loehr, Jezra Kaye
Who changed the rules of business?
It's a different game now. In an increasingly globally diverse workforce, it's vitally important that leaders understand their team inside and out. This takes a new toolbox of skills for the 21st century. Today you need winning strategies to avoid the costly pitfalls of high turnover, low morale and poor collaboration, not to mention the cost of missed deadlines and incomplete projects.
Managing the Unmanageable will give you practical tips and proven techniques to show you how to:
Understand what's driving your unmanageable employee.
Evaluate the costs and benefits of turning him around.
Enroll her in that effort, and help her become a valued member of your team.
Guide all your employees to greater innovation, cooperation, and effectiveness.
Communicate effectively with each of the three generations in today's workplace
Publication Date:
Jul 15, 2011
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-1601631619
Crucial Accountability: Tools for Resolving Violated Expectations, Broken Commitments, and Bad Behavior
Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, David Maxfield
Behind the problems that routinely plague our organizations and families, you'll find individuals who are either unwilling or unable to deal with broken promises. Colleagues break a rule, coworkers miss a deadline, friends fail to live up to commitments (or just plain behave badly), and nobody says a word. Nobody holds anyone accountable. With repeated infractions, individuals become increasingly upset until they finally do speak their minds, but they do so poorly--often creating whole new sets of problems. Research proves that mishandled disappointments aren't just morale killers, they're institution killers--diminishing organizational performance by 20 to 50 percent and accounting for up to 90 percent of all divorces. Everyone knows how to run for cover, or, if sufficiently provoked, step up to problems in a way that causes a real ruckus.
Crucial Accountability teaches you how to deal with violated expectations in a way that solves the problem at hand without harming the relationship--and, in fact, even strengthens it. Broken promises, missed deadlines, poor behavior--they don't just make others' lives miserable; they can sap up to 50 percent of organizational performance and account for the vast majority of divorces. Crucial Accountability offers the tools for improving relationships in the workplace and in life and for resolving all these problems--permanently.
Publication Date:
Aug 26, 2004
Edition:
2nd
ISBN:
978-0071829311
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High
Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, Emily Gregory
This New York Times bestseller and business classic has been fully updated for a world where skilled communication is more important than ever.
The book that revolutionized business communications has been updated for today’s workplace. Crucial Conversations provides powerful skills to ensure every conversation―especially difficult ones―leads to the results you want. Written in an engaging and witty style, it teaches readers how to be persuasive rather than abrasive, how to get back to productive dialogue when others blow up or clam up, and it offers powerful skills for mastering high-stakes conversations, regardless of the topic or person.
This new edition addresses issues that have arisen in recent years. You’ll learn how to:
Respond when someone initiates aCrucial Conversationwith you
Identify and address the lag time between identifying a problem and discussing it
Communicate more effectively across digital mediums
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 poorly and suffer the consequences; or apply the lessons and strategies of Crucial Conversations and improve relationships and results.
Whether they take place at work or at home, with your coworkers or your spouse, Crucial Conversations have a profound impact on your career, your happiness, and your future. With the skills you learn in this book, you'll never have to worry about the outcome of a Crucial Conversation again.
Publication Date:
Jun 18, 2002
Edition:
3rd
ISBN:
978-1260474183
The Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Leif Babin
In THE DICHOTOMY OF LEADERSHIP, Jocko and Leif dive even deeper into the unchartered and complex waters of a concept first introduced in Extreme Ownership: finding balance between the opposing forces that pull every leader in different directions.
Here, Willink and Babin get granular into the nuances that every successful leader must navigate. Mastering the Dichotomy of Leadership requires understanding when to lead and when to follow; when to aggressively maneuver and when to pause and let things develop; when to detach and let the team run and when to dive into the details and micromanage. In addition, every leader must:
Take Extreme Ownership of everything that impacts their mission, yet utilize Decentralize Command by giving ownership to their team.
Care deeply about their people and their individual success and livelihoods, yet look out for the good of the overall team and above all accomplish the strategic mission.
Exhibit the most important quality in a leader―humility, but also be willing to speak up and push back against questionable decisions that could hurt the team and the mission.
With examples from the authors’ combat and training experiences in the SEAL teams, and then a demonstration of how each lesson applies to the business world, Willink and Babin clearly explain THE DICHOTOMY OF LEADERSHIP―skills that are mission-critical for any leader and any team to achieve their ultimate goal: VICTORY.
Publication Date:
Sep 25, 2018
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-1250195777
The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization
Jon R. Katzenbach, Douglas K. Smith
The definitive classic on high-performance teams
The Wisdom of Teams is the definitive work on how to create high-performance teams in any organization. Having sold nearly a half million copies and been translated into more than fifteen languages, the authors’ clarion call that teams should be the basic unit of organization for most businesses has permanently shaped the way companies reach the highest levels of performance. Using engaging case studies and testimonials from both successful and failed teams ranging from Fortune 500 companies to the U.S. Army to high school sports the authors explain the dynamics of teams both in great detail and with a broad view.
Their conclusions and prescriptions span the familiar to the counterintuitive:
Commitment to performance goals and common purpose is more important to team success than team building.
Opportunities for teams exist in all parts of the organization.
Real teams are the most successful spearheads of change at all levels.
Working in teams naturally integrates performance and learning.
"Team endings” can be as important to manage as "team beginnings.”
Wisdom lies in recognizing a team’s unique potential to deliver results and in understanding its many benefits development of individual members, team accomplishments, and stronger companywide performance. Katzenbach and Smith’s comprehensive classic is the essential guide to unlocking the potential of teams in your organization.
Publication Date:
Jan 1, 1992
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-1633691063
The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround
Freddy Balle, Michael Balle
The Gold Mine: a Novel of Lean Turnaround deftly weaves together the technical and human pieces of implementing lean manufacturing in an engaging story that readers will find both compelling and instructive. Authors Freddy and Michael Ballé have produced the first integrated and systematic approach to a set of ideas that have maximized value and minimized waste throughout the world. At the heart of the Gold Mine is Bob Woods, a curmudgeonly sensei coaxed out of retirement by his son Mike to help boyhood friend Phil Jenkinson save his struggling company. Despite terrific products and a backlog of orders, Phil's company cannot generate enough cash from its operations to pay its bills. And so Mike enlists Bob to help his pal fix this crisis.
"You're trying to deal with your mess as if it was a technical problem," Bob tells Phil. "Move this machine here, change this design there, which it is to some extent, but it's all about people. You have a leadership problem not just a production or business problem." As Phil begins to tackle the key challenges necessary to improve his company's operations, he comes to understand the deeper points of lean. Readers will also draw powerful insights from his journey.
The Gold Mine presents all the key lean principles, ranging from well-known ideas such as pull and flow, to lesser-known yet equally important principles such as jidoka and heijunka. The book also reveals lean as a system using a realistic story to show how the principles are interrelated and how they lead to useful tools such as kanban or 5S.
Publication Date:
Jan 1, 2005
Edition:
2nd
ISBN:
978-0974322568
What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful
Marshall Goldsmith, Mark Reiter
America’s most sought-after executive coach shows how to climb the last few rungs of the ladder.
The corporate world is filled with executives, men and women who have worked hard for years to reach the upper levels of management. They’re intelligent, skilled, and even charismatic. But only a handful of them will ever reach the pinnacle -- and as executive coach Marshall Goldsmith shows in this book, subtle nuances make all the difference. These are small "transactional flaws" performed by one person against another (as simple as not saying thank you enough), which lead to negative perceptions that can hold any executive back. Using Goldsmith’s straightforward, jargon-free advice, it’s amazingly easy behavior to change.
Executives who hire Goldsmith for one-on-one coaching pay $250,000 for the privilege. With this book, his help is available for 1/10,000th of the price.
Publication Date:
Jan 9, 2007
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-1401301309
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Simon Sinek
Over a decade ago, Simon Sinek started a movement that inspired millions to demand purpose at work, to ask what was the WHY of their organization. Since then, millions have been touched by the power of his ideas, and these ideas remain as relevant and timely as ever.
START WITH WHY asks (and answers) the questions:
why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others?
Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike?
Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over?
People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers had little in common, but they all started with WHY. They realized that people won't truly buy into a product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the WHY behind it. START WITH WHY shows that the leaders who have had the greatest influence in the world all think, act and communicate the same way—and it's the opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.
Publication Date:
Jan 1, 2009
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-1591846444
The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime
MJ DeMarco
Has the "settle-for-less" financial plan become your plan for wealth? That sounds something like this:
Graduate from college, get a good job, save 10% of your paycheck, buy a used car, cancel the movie channels, quit drinking expensive Starbucks mocha lattes, save and penny-pinch your life away, trust your life-savings to Wall Street, and one day, when you are oh, say, 65 years old, you can retire rich.
Since you were old enough to hold a job, you've been hoodwinked to believe that wealth can be created by blindly trusting in the uncontrollable and unpredictable markets: the housing market, the stock market, and the job market. This soul-sucking, dream-stealing dogma is "The Slowlane" - an impotent FINANCIAL GAMBLE that dubiously promises wealth in a wheelchair.
Accept the Slowlane as your financial roadmap and your financial future will blow carelessly asunder on a sailboat of HOPE: HOPE you can get a job and keep it, HOPE the stock market doesn't tank, HOPE for a robust economy, HOPE, HOPE, and HOPE. Is HOPE really the centerpiece of your family's financial plan?
Drive the Slowlane and you will find your life deteriorate into a miserable exhibition about what you cannot do, versus what you can. For those who don't want a lifetime subscription to mediocrity, there is an alternative; an expressway to extraordinary wealth capable of burning a trail to financial freedom faster than any road out there. And shockingly, this road has nothing to do with jobs, 401(k), mutual funds, or a lifestyle of miserly living and 190 square foot tiny houses. Just some of what you will learn:
Why jobs, 401(k)s, mutual funds, and 40-years of mindless frugality will never make you rich young.
Why most entrepreneurs fail and how to immediately put the odds in your favor.
The real law of wealth: Leverage this and wealth has no choice but to be magnetized to you.
The leading cause of poorness: Change this and you change everything.
How the rich really get rich - and no, it has nothing to do with a paycheck or a 401K match.
The mathematics of wealth and how any "Joe Schmo" can tap into real wealth real fast.
Why the guru's sacred deities - compound interest and indexed funds - are impotent wealth accelerators.
Why popular guru platitudes like "do what you love" and "follow your passion" will most likely keep you poor, not rich.
And 250+ more poverty busting distinctions...
Demand more. Change lanes and find your explosive wealth accelerator. Hit the Fastlane, crack the code to wealth, and find out how to live rich for a lifetime.
Publication Date:
Jan 1, 2011
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-0984358106
UNSCRIPTED: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship
MJ DeMarco
Build A Business That Goes Beyond Paying Bills—It Changes Your Life.
Life. Liberty. And the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship. It is waking up in the morning and pinching yourself black-and-blue that OMG, this is my life, and it is freaking awesome. You live in your dream house, but there's no mortgage. No alarm clock, no boss, no bills. No claims on the day's time other than what you choose. It is making more money before breakfast than you made for an entire week at your last job. It is a crazy expensive car parked in your garage, a victorious symbol that your dreams no longer sleep in fantasies, but are awake with reality.
Make no mistake, this life exists. I know, because it has been mine for nearly 20 years. And in a few short years, it can be yours as well. Better, you won't need 5 tedious decades of soul-suffocating frugality, thankless jobs, and patient investing with our trusted friends on Wall Street. Unfortunately, you have been SCRIPTED to believe that such a life is out of your reach, or only possible for a certain type of person; someone with a certain college degree, a certain amount of VC funding, or a certain LinkedIn network of connected friends from Stanford. I am here to tell you, that none of it is true.
While I have been entrepreneur most of my life, I am no one special. You won't read about me over at Tech Crunch or in some Silicon Valley newsletter. While I have been an internet entrepreneur since the old "you've got mail" AOL days, I have never been funded by venture capitalists, I have never had a payroll with more than 5 people on it, and I have never studied computer science at school. Despite this, I am able to create profitable businesses that create the type of UNSCRIPTED life described above. We are talking five- and six-figure monthly profits with valuations in the millions. Although I have had two successful exits, do not let that scare you; it is just a welcome side effect of the process.
Make no mistake, UNSCRIPTED is not about some trendy new marketing tactic that becomes ineffectively overused within months. It's not about stock-market fairy tales and depriving yourself of life's luxuries; Amazon already has a gazillion books on such trash. UNSCRIPTED was written to change your life. It was written for you if life has become hopeless and dissatisfying. It is for you if your weekday is held hostage by the bribery of its paycheck.
It is for you if you are sick of the suck and tired of the tiresome: the breakroom gossip, the office politics, the managerial butt-kissing, and whatever else boils when multiple human beings are tossed in a box and tasked with corporate minutia. It is for you if you yearn for the creative autonomy to pursue work that matters. It is for you if you have X-ray vision and can see what your parents cannot; that life's formulaic, scripted template has become dated and flawed.
But most importantly, UNSCRIPTED is for you if you have been an aspiring entrepreneur far too long, someone who cannot turn a corner, turn a break, or turn a profit. Someone who might already own a business, but like a job, it just steals time and barely keeps the bill-paying treadmill moving until next month. So, if you are ready for the challenge, get ready for a sh*t-your-pants revelation that everything you have been taught is bullsh*t. Legendary bullsh*t. Paradigm shift? Heck no. The problem is the paradigm itself. You have allowed the paradigm to set the rules, call the shots, and dictate the decisions. The problem is, you have allowed ordinary thinking preached by ordinary people to produce exactly that; an ordinary life. The paradigm shift is realizing the paradigm is sh*t. Start leading life, instead of life leading you.
Publication Date:
May 23, 2017
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-0984358168
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk!
Al Ries, Jack Trout
There are laws of nature, so why shouldn't there be laws of marketing?
As Al Ries and Jack Trout—the world-renowned marketing consultants and bestselling authors of Positioning—note, you can build an impressive airplane, but it will never leave the ground if you ignore the laws of physics, especially gravity. Why then, they ask, shouldn't there also be laws of marketing that must be followed to launch and maintain winning brands? In The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Ries and Trout offer a compendium of twenty-two innovative rules for understanding and succeeding in the international marketplace. From the Law of Leadership, to The Law of the Category, to The Law of the Mind, these valuable insights stand the test of time and present a clear path to successful products. Violate them at your own risk.
Publication Date:
Jan 1, 1993
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-0887306662
The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness
Morgan Housel
Doing well with money isn't necessarily about what you know. It's about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people.
Money – investing, personal finance, and business decisions – is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world people don't make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together.
In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to make better sense of one of life's most important topics.
Publication Date:
Sep 8, 2020
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-0857199096
The Infinite Game
Simon Sinek
From the New York Times bestselling author of Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last, a bold framework for leadership in today’s ever-changing world.
How do we win a game that has no end? Finite games, like football or chess, have known players, fixed rules and a clear endpoint. The winners and losers are easily identified. Infinite games, games with no finish line, like business or politics, or life itself, have players who come and go. The rules of an infinite game are changeable while infinite games have no defined endpoint. There are no winners or losers—only ahead and behind. The question is, how do we play to succeed in the game we’re in? In this revelatory new book, Simon Sinek offers a framework for leading with an infinite mindset.
On one hand, none of us can resist the fleeting thrills of a promotion earned or a tournament won, yet these rewards fade quickly. In pursuit of a Just Cause, we will commit to a vision of a future world so appealing that we will build it week after week, month after month, year after year. Although we do not know the exact form this world will take, working toward it gives our work and our life meaning. Leaders who embrace an infinite mindset build stronger, more innovative, more inspiring organizations. Ultimately, they are the ones who lead us into the future.
Publication Date:
Oct 14, 2019
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-0735213500
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You
John C. Maxwell
The fully revised and updated 25th Anniversary Edition of Maxwell's New York Times bestseller provides clear guidance on how to become an effective leader in today's world.
You'll learn the key principles of successful leadership such as vision, influence, responsibility and commitment. It highlights ways to set goals for yourself and your team while maintaining emotional balance during difficult times. Each law is backed up by inspiring and practical examples from Maxwell's personal experience.
John Maxwell has gone through every word of this book and updated it for the next generation of leaders, adding new insights to these timeless laws and incorporating lessons learned since he originally wrote the book. He removed dated stories and replaced them with fresh ones that apply to today’s world of business.
What he didn't change are the powerful leadership truths that have been helping people become better leaders for the last quarter century. This is still the best book on leadership people can buy, whether they want to:
Learn leadership on their own,
Develop as leaders in a group, or
Teach leadership to others as a mentor.
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is essential reading for anyone looking to better understand what it takes to be a great leader and achieve success in their chosen profession.
Publication Date:
May 16, 2024
Edition:
25th Anniversary
ISBN:
978-1400236169
Sales EQ: How Ultra High Performers Leverage Sales-Specific Emotional Intelligence to Close the Complex Deal
Jeb Blount
The New Psychology of Selling
The sales profession is in the midst of a perfect storm. Buyers have more power―more information, more at stake, and more control over the sales process―than any time in history. Technology is bringing disruptive change at an ever-increasing pace, creating fear and uncertainty that leaves buyers clinging to the status quo. Deteriorating attention spans have made it difficult to get buyers to sit still long enough to “challenge,” “teach,” “help,” give “insight,” or sell “value.” And a relentless onslaught of “me-too” competitors have made differentiating on the attributes of products, services, or even price more difficult than ever.
Legions of salespeople and their leaders are coming face to face with a cold hard truth: what once gave salespeople a competitive edge―controlling the sales process, command of product knowledge, an arsenal of technology, and a great pitch―are no longer guarantees of success. Yet this is where the vast majority of the roughly $20 billion spent each year on sales training goes. It’s no wonder many companies are seeing 50 percent or more of their salespeople miss quota.
Yet, in this new paradigm, an elite group of top 1 percent sales professionals are crushing it. In our age of technology where information is ubiquitous and buyer attention spans are fleeting, these superstars have learned how to leverage a new psychology of selling―Sales EQ―to keep prospects engaged, create true competitive differentiation, as well as shape and influence buying decisions. These top earners are acutely aware that the experience of buying from them is far more important than products, prices, features, and solutions.
In Sales EQ, Jeb Blount takes you on an unprecedented journey into the behaviors, techniques, and secrets of the highest earning salespeople in every industry and field. You’ll learn:
How to answer the 5 Most Important Questions in Sales to make it virtually impossible for prospects to say no
How to master 7 People Principles that will give you the power to influence anyone to do almost anything
How to shape and align the 3 Processes of Sales to lock out competitors and shorten the sales cycle
How to Flip the Buyer Script to gain complete control of the sales conversation
How to Disrupt Expectations to pull buyers towards you, direct their attention, and keep them engaged
How to leverage Non-Complementary Behavior to eliminate resistance, conflict, and objections
How to employ the Bridge Technique to gain the micro-commitments and next steps you need to keep your deals from stalling
How to tame Irrational Buyers, shake them out of their comfort zone, and shape the decision making process
How to measure and increase you own Sales EQ using the 15 Sales Specific Emotional Intelligence Markers
And so much more!
Sales EQ begins where The Challenger Sale, Strategic Selling, and Spin Selling leave off. It addresses the human relationship gap in the modern sales process at a time when sales organizations are failing because many salespeople have never been taught the human skills required to effectively engage buyers at the emotional level. Jeb Blount makes a compelling case that sales specific emotional intelligence (Sales EQ) is more essential to success than education, experience, industry awareness, product knowledge, skills, or raw IQ; and, sales professionals who invest in developing and improving Sales EQ gain a decisive competitive advantage in the hyper-competitive global marketplace.
Sales EQ arms salespeople and sales leaders with the tools to identify their most important sales specific emotional intelligence developmental needs along with strategies, techniques, and frameworks for reaching ultra-high performance and earnings, regardless of sales process, industry, deal complexity, role (inside or outside), product or service (B2B or B2C).
Publication Date:
Mar 20, 2017
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-1119312574
Crack the Funding Code: How Investors Think and What They Need to Hear to Fund Your Startup
Judy Robinett
Crack the Funding Code demystifies the world of angel investing, venture capital, and corporate funding and lays out a strategic pathway for any entrepreneur to secure funding fast.
Lack of funding is one of the biggest reasons small businesses fail. In 2016 in the United States alone, more than 31 percent of small business owners reported that they could not access adequate capital, and the lack of capital prevented them from growing the business/expanding operations, increasing inventory, or financing increased sales.
This book will show you how to find the money, create pitches that attract investors, and then structure fair, ethical deals that will bring them new sources of outside capital and invaluable professional advice. Crack the Funding Code gives you the broader perspective on:
how funding works,
how investors think,
and what they need to hear to put their money where your mouth is.
Every entrepreneur who reads this book will get easy-to-follow deal checklists, a roadmap of where and how to locate the best funding resources and top business mentors for their industry or geographical location, and a step-by-step process to create pitches that make their idea or business irresistible.
Publication Date:
Feb 5, 2019
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-0814439838
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Stephen R. Covey
The 7 Habits have become famous and are integrated into everyday thinking by millions and millions of people.
Why? Because they work!
With Sean Covey’s added takeaways on how the habits can be used in our modern age, the wisdom of the 7 Habits will be refreshed for a new generation of leaders. They include:
Habit 1: Be Proactive
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Habit 3: Put First Things First
Habit 4: Think Win/Win
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
Habit 6: Synergize
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
This beloved classic presents a principle-centered approach for solving both personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and practical anecdotes, Stephen R. Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity—principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.
One of the most inspiring and impactful books ever written, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has captivated readers for nearly three decades. It has transformed the lives of presidents and CEOs, educators and parents—millions of people of all ages and occupations. Now, this 30th anniversary edition of the timeless classic commemorates the wisdom of the 7 Habits with modern additions from Sean Covey.
Publication Date:
Aug 15, 1989
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-2133487538
Traffic Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Filling Your Websites and Funnels with Your Dream Customers
Russell Brunson
Master the evergreen traffic strategies to fill your website and funnels with your dream customers in this timeless book from the $100M entrepreneur and co-founder of the software company ClickFunnels.
The biggest problem that most entrepreneurs have isn't creating an amazing product or service; it's getting their future customers to discover that they even exist.
Every year, tens of thousands of businesses start and fail because the entrepreneurs don't understand this one essential skill: the art and science of getting traffic (or people) to find you. And that is a tragedy. Traffic Secrets was written to help you get your message out to the world about your products and services. I strongly believe that entrepreneurs are the only people on earth who can actually change the world. It won't happen in government, and I don't think it will happen in schools. It'll happen because of entrepreneurs like you, who are crazy enough to build products and services that will actually change the world. It'll happen because we are crazy enough to risk everything to try and make that dream become a reality.
To all the entrepreneurs who fail in their first year of business, what a tragedy it is when the one thing they risked everything for never fully gets to see the light of day. Waiting for people to come to you is not a strategy. Understanding exactly WHO your dream customer is, discovering where they're congregating, and throwing out the hooks that will grab their attention to pull them into your funnels (where you can tell them a story and make them an offer) is the strategy.
That's the big secret. Traffic is just people. This book will help you find YOUR people, so you can focus on changing their world with the products and services that you sell.
Publication Date:
Mar 26, 2020
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-1401957902
Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling
Michael Port
Kick off the cycle of success with serious self-promotion that works
Book Yourself Solid is a handbook for self-promotion that translates into results. We tend to think of "busy" as the equivalent of "successful"―but that's not always the case. The key lies in what you're busy doing. Success means spending your time doing work that gets you closer to your goals, and the critical driving force behind that success is self-promotion. This book shows you how to promote more than just your skills―you need to sell your reputation, your service, your very self. It starts with laying a foundation so potential clients know you can give them what they want and need. How do people see you, and how does that diverge from what you would like them to think? Once you know where you are, you can map out a plan for getting where you need to be, and this book shows you how to build the reputation you need to be the go-to person in your field―and keep the business coming in long-term.
Book Yourself Solid has been one of the most popular marketing books in the world for service-based businesses since its initial release in 2006. This new third edition includes updated and expanded strategies, techniques, and skills to help you get more clients and increase your take-home profits.
Build a solid foundation for a stellar public image
Enhance your reputation for trust and credibility
Perfect your pitch and pricing to attract higher-caliber clients
Adopt the six core strategies that will keep you booked solid
Spending just a small amount of time on self-promotion is an investment. You build a reputation that attracts high-quality clients, which boosts your profits, your track record, and your reputation, which in turn attracts even more high-quality clients. Book Yourself Solid shows you how to kick off this cycle of success, and maintain it for the long term.
Publication Date:
Oct 30, 2017
Edition:
3rd
ISBN:
978-1119431220
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
James Clear
Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results
No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving - every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, listeners will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.
Learn how to:
Make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy)
Overcome a lack of motivation and willpower
Design your environment to make success easier
Get back on track when you fall off course
And much more
Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits - whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.
Publication Date:
Oct 16, 2018
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-0735211292
12 Months to $1 Million: How to Pick a Winning Product, Build a Real Business, and Become a Seven-Figure Entrepreneur
Ryan Daniel Moran
This is the road map to a seven-figure business . . . in one year or less.
The word "entrepreneur" is today's favorite buzzword, and any aspiring business owner has likely encountered an overwhelming number of so-called "easy paths to success." The truth is that building a real, profitable, sustainable business requires thousands of hours of commitment, grit, and hard work.
It's no wonder why more than half of new businesses close within six years of opening, and fewer than 5 percent will ever earn more than $1 million annually.
12 Months to $1 Million condenses the startup phase into one fast-paced year that has helped hundreds of new entrepreneurs hit the million-dollar level by using an exclusive and foolproof formula. By cutting out the noise and providing a clear and proven plan, this roadmap helps even brand-new entrepreneurs make decisions quickly, get their product up for sale, and launch it to a crowd that is ready and waiting to buy.
This one-year plan will guide you through the three stages to your first $1 million:
The Grind (Months 0-4): This step-by-step plan will help you identify a winning product idea, target customers that are guaranteed to buy, secure funding, and take your first sale within your first four months.
The Growth (Months 5 - 8): Once you're in business, you will discover how to use cheap and effective advertising strategies to get your product to at least 25 sales per day, so you can prove you have a profitable business.
The Gold (Months 9-12): It's time to establish series of products available for sale, until you are averaging at least 100 sales per day, getting you closer to the million-dollar mark every single day.
Through his training sessions at Capitalism.com, Ryan Daniel Moran has helped new and experienced entrepreneurs launch scalable and sustainable online businesses. He's seen more than 100 entrepreneurs cross the seven-figure barrier, many of whom go on to sell their businesses. If your goal is to be a full-time entrepreneur, get ready for one chaotic, stressful, and rewarding year. If you have the guts to complete it, you will be the proud owner of a million-dollar business and be in a position to call your own shots for life.
Publication Date:
May 5, 2020
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-1948836951
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It
Chris Voss
A former international hostage negotiator for the FBI offers a new field-tested approach to high-stakes negotiations - whether in the boardroom or at home.
After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined the FBI, where his career as a hostage negotiator brought him face-to-face with a range of criminals, including bank robbers and terrorists. Reaching the pinnacle of his profession, he became the FBI's lead international kidnapping negotiator.
Never Split the Difference takes you inside the world of high-stakes negotiations and into Voss' head, revealing the skills that helped him and his colleagues succeed where it mattered most: in saving lives. In this practical guide, he shares the nine effective principles - counterintuitive tactics and strategies - you, too, can use to become more persuasive in both your professional and personal lives.
Life is a series of negotiations you should be prepared for: buying a car, negotiating a salary, buying a home, renegotiating rent, deliberating with your partner. Taking emotional intelligence and intuition to the next level, Never Split the Difference gives you the competitive edge in any discussion.
Publication Date:
May 17, 2016
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-0062407801
The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months
Brian P. Moran
The guide to shortening your execution cycle down from one year to twelve weeks.
Most organizations and individuals work in the context of annual goals and plans; a twelve-month execution cycle. Instead, The 12 Week Year avoids the pitfalls and low productivity of annualized thinking. This book redefines your "year" to be 12 weeks long. In 12 weeks, there just isn't enough time to get complacent, and urgency increases and intensifies. The 12 Week Year creates focus and clarity on what matters most and a sense of urgency to do it now. In the end more of the important stuff gets done and the impact on results is profound.
Explains how to leverage the power of a 12 week year to drive improved results in any area of your life
Offers a how-to book for both individuals and organizations seeking to improve their execution effectiveness
Authors are leading experts on execution and implementation
Turn your organization's idea of a year on its head, and speed your journey to success.
Publication Date:
May 20, 2013
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-1118509234
The Psychology of Selling
Brian Tracy
Brian Tracy, one of the top professional speakers and sales trainers in the world today, found that his most important breakthrough in selling was the discovery that it is the "Psychology of Selling" that is more important than the techniques and methods of selling.
Tracy's classic audio program, The Psychology of Selling, is the best-selling sales training program in history and is now available in expanded and updated book format for the first time. Salespeople will learn:
"the inner game of selling"
how to eliminate the fear of rejection
how to build unshakeable self-confidence
Salespeople, says Tracy, must learn to control their thoughts, feelings, and actions to make themselves more effective.
Publication Date:
Jul 16, 2006
Edition:
1st
ISBN:
978-0785288060
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