Creative Careers

What is genius? The word evokes iconic figures like Einstein, Beethoven, Picasso, and Steve Jobs, whose cultural contributions have irreversibly shaped society. Yet Beethoven could not multiply. Picasso couldn’t pass a fourth grade math test. And Jobs left high school with a 2.65 GPA. The Hidden Habits of Genius explores the meaning of this contested term, and the unexpected motivations of those we have dubbed "genius" throughout history, from Charles Darwin and Marie Curie to Leonardo Da Vinci and Andy Warhol to Toni Morrison and Elon Musk.

UCLA psychologist and organizational consultant Dr. Robert Maurer provides a simple and proven effective technique for making major changes with minimal disruption. Applying the operational concept of kaizen - small, continual improvements - to common management challenges, managers can drive major improvements with a series of well-planned techniques for boosting quality, innovation, sales, and morale.

In one of the only books of its kind, a veteran design consultant offers the tools for success gained from nearly 30 years of developing corporate and brand identity programs. Readers will discover the most effective formats for design briefs, how to structure the best possible team, what distinguishes a great design brief from an adequate one, how to use the brief in project tracking, as a measuring tool, and as a means of getting approval for a design solution; and much, much more.

Creating for your own pleasure - whether you're writing a novel, composing songs, or painting a landscape - can seem pointless. It's tempting to focus on pursuing money and fame rather than the process itself. But as Srini Rao warns, creating then turns into a chore that can harm your self-esteem and suck the pleasure out of life rather than being a source of joy.

In every industry, there are companies that take off. They effortlessly hire talented people, attract loyal customers, create cool products and make lots of money. These companies seem to stand out and scale up quickly with support from investors, partners and the media. Sadly, most companies don't perform this way. Most entrepreneurs aren't building anything of value. They work hard, make sacrifices, struggle, dream, plan and strive, but in the end, it doesn't pay off. This audiobook sets out a method for building a business that becomes a valuable asset.

"Your story is your life," says Loehr. As human beings, we continually tell ourselves stories: of success or failure; of power or victimhood; stories that endure for an hour, or a day, or an entire lifetime. We have stories about our work, our families and relationships, our health; about what we want and what we're capable of achieving.

As a technology pioneer at MIT and as the leader of three successful start-ups, Kevin Ashton experienced firsthand the all-consuming challenge of creating something new. Now, in a tour-de-force narrative 20 years in the making, Ashton leads us on a journey through humanity's greatest creations to uncover the surprising truth behind who creates and how they do it.

The Second City has launched the careers of celebrated comic performers such as Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert and produced award-winning content. But it's the actual improvisational process developed and honed over the years by The Second City that has become its legacy. Players master an ability to cocreate in ensembles using philosophies that celebrate a "yes, and" approach.

In The Power of Value Selling: The Gold Standard to Drive Revenue and Create Customers for Life, sought-after trainer and sales leader Julie Thomas delivers an exciting new take on buyer-centric selling to modern buyers. In the book, you'll learn value-based selling techniques to become a trusted business advisor who instills confidence in buying decisions despite unpredictable business environments.

Create the Future is an exciting guidebook for disruptive thinking, innovation, and change, paired with The Innovation Handbook, an updated version of the award-winning book, Exploiting Chaos. The bestseller is loaded with the same tactics, tools, and frameworks that Gutsche's team uses to accelerate 700 of the world's most powerful brands, billionaires, CEOs, and NASA.

W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne changed the field of strategy and the language of business with their path-breaking "blue ocean strategy", a model for creating uncontested markets that unlock new demand and new opportunities for growth. This audiobook brings together three of their classic blue ocean strategy articles, all first published in Harvard Business Review. This collection is the ideal start, or refresher, for creating more blue oceans.

The Family Board Meeting is a carefully designed, easy-to-follow strategy for creating quality time with your children. It takes only a few minutes to plan your first Board Meeting, and it's guaranteed to be a ton of fun for both you and your child!

Lawrence Armstrong’s vision for competitive excellence is animated by investing in and caring about the development of the whole person and their surrounding community. Under his creative, layer-based approach, Ware Malcomb has become a global leader in the industrial building sector—one of the world’s most successful and admired businesses of its kind.

How to Be Happier is Vol. 1 of a series about personal transformation. It is part of a set of audiobooks that will help you to achieve long lasting change and success in your life in a wide variety of areas. It is meant to be a blueprint to help you recognize ways that you can find more joy and happiness in your day-to-day living...and then use that new sense of joy to go on to create an actionable plan for achieving various goals in your life.

"Energetic Selling and Marketing" is not just a powerful business book. It’s an energetic experience. One that will change your business and life in ways you could not even imagine. In this revolutionary book, Lenka Lutonska, a pioneer of Business Energetics, will support you with this. You will explore the energetic nature of your business, and learn how to harmonize the five areas of your energy - and your business - to open brand new pathways to the success you desire.

Can you succeed in business when your strength is more about sensitivity than swagger? If you’re moved by meaning, more than manipulation? In other words: Can you succeed while still being you? Christine Kane is living proof that the answer is yes. Far too many of us have swallowed the notion that business owners have to be a certain way to be successful - strategy-obsessed, data-driven, and relentlessly aggressive.

In this book, Melissa Perri explains how laying the foundation for great product management can help companies solve real customer problems while achieving business goals. By understanding how to communicate and collaborate within a company structure, you can create a product culture that benefits both the business and the customer. You'll learn product management principles that can be applied to any organization, big or small.

James M. Sweeney is a serial entrepreneur who started multiple companies that sold for billions, changed healthcare in America, and saved countless lives. Today, he mentors startup founders and other professionals in the art of failing your way to success. In this book, he will show you how to reframe anxiety and uncertainty into excitement for new beginnings. You will also learn the timeless wisdom of holding three crucial traits in balance: vision, humility, and the no-quit gene.

Extraordinary organizations have extraordinary cultures. Fully engaged team members find personal meaning in their jobs—and in the company. Driven by a sense of purpose, they feel responsible, and accountable, for results. Personal development becomes the primary driver of organizational growth, leading to significant improvements in retention, quality, and profitability. In the wake of the Great Resignation, it’s more apparent than ever that an engaging culture is the ultimate competitive advantage.

In Homeless to Billionaire, Andres Pira presents 18 principles for attracting wealth, creating opportunity, and celebrating self-discovery. Inspired by his own massive life changes, Pira details his business journey from telemarketer to one of Thailand’s best-known billionaires. Using his mentors like Bryan Tracy, Jack Canfield, and Bob Proctor, Pira puts proven knowledge into action, innovating along the way, using his own employees and clients; through failure and success, the 18 Principles are forged.