Success Biographies

Courageous, insightful, brave, and characteristically authentic, Let Love Have the Last Word shares Common’s own unique and personal stories of the people and experiences that have led to a greater understanding of love and all it has to offer. It is a powerful call to action for a new generation of open hearts and minds, one that is sure to resonate for years to come.

No one sees baseball like Joe Maddon. He sees it through his trademark glasses and irrepressible wit. Raised in the “shot and beer” town of Hazleton, PA, and forged by 15 years in the minors, Maddon over 19 seasons in Tampa Bay, Chicago, and Anaheim has become one of the most successful, most colorful, and most quoted managers in Major League Baseball. He is a workplace culture expert, having engineered two of the most stunning turnarounds in the past quarter century.

If you’re looking to be inspired by someone who has truly made the most of life’s opportunities, then listen to this remarkable story of one of today’s most well-known celebrities. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is best known as a former professional wrestler who later came to dominate Hollywood with a series of blockbuster movies. His powerful on-screen presence and strong physique give the impression that he effortlessly reached global success, yet Dwayne faced a series of challenges and setbacks as he rose to the top.

Your starting point doesn’t determine your destination. Turn your struggles into stepping stones for success. Dakota James Bailey’s From Foster Care to Millionaire is a raw and inspiring memoir of triumph over adversity. Growing up in foster care, working grueling factory shifts, and being labeled a “troublemaker,” Dakota seemed destined for failure. Instead, he built a multimillion-dollar company and a thriving real estate portfolio, proving that resilience and determination can rewrite any story.

Adam Braun began working summers at hedge funds when he was just 16 years old, sprinting down the path to a successful Wall Street career. But while traveling as a college student, he met a young boy begging on the streets of India. When Braun asked the boy what he wanted most in the world, he simply answered, "A pencil." This small request became the inspiration for Pencils of Promise, the organization Braun would leave a prestigious job at Bain & Company to start with just $25 at the age of 24.

In her debut audiobook of inspiration, poet Najwa Zebian shares her revolutionary concept of home - the place of safety where you can embrace your vulnerability and discover your self-worth. It's the place where your soul feels like it belongs, where you are loved for who you are. Building your home inside yourself - and never experiencing inner homelessness again - begins here.

The Work is the story of how one young man traced a path through the world to find his life’s purpose. Wes Moore graduated from a difficult childhood in the Bronx and Baltimore to an adult life that would find him at some of the most critical moments in our recent history: as a combat officer in Afghanistan; a White House fellow in a time of wars abroad and disasters at home; and a Wall Street banker during the financial crisis.

The rock star of public speaking. Vusi Thembekwayo has been called many things. Join him in his inspiring journey from the township to the top echelons of South African business, to becoming one of youngest directors of a listed company and CEO of a boutique investment firm. As a Dragons' Den judge and a sought-after public speaker across the globe, Vusi doesn't just talk business - he lives it. Now you can learn the secret of his success and how to shape your own destiny.

Donald Thornton was a ditchdigger who wanted more for his six daughters. "I love you better than I love life," he assured his children. "But I'm not always gonna be around to look after you, and no man's gonna come along and offer to take care of you, because you ain't light-skinned. That's why you gotta be able to look after yourselves. And for that you gotta be smart."

For years, people have been asking Ezekiel “Zeke” Emanuel, the brash, outspoken, and fiercely loyal eldest brother in the Emanuel clan, the same question: What did your mom put in the cereal? Middle brother Rahm is the mayor of Chicago, erstwhile White House chief of staff, and one of the most colorful figures in American politics. Youngest brother Ari is a Hollywood super-agent, the real-life model for the character of Ari Gold on the hit series Entourage.

Mike Hayes has lived a lifetime of once-in-a-lifetime experiences. He has been held at gunpoint and threatened with execution. He’s jumped out of a building rigged to explode, helped amputate a teammate’s leg, and made countless split-second life-and-death decisions. He’s written countless emails to his family, telling them how much he loves them, just in case those were the last words of his they’d ever read. Outside of the SEALs, he’s run meetings in the White House Situation Room, negotiated international arms treaties, and developed high-impact corporate strategies.

Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw is an inspirational and truly intersectional memoir from global humanitarian and disability-justice advocate Eddie Ndopu—a queer, Black wheelchair user. Ndopu’s incredible story begins with his childhood being raised by a single mother fleeing Apartheid South Africa before rocketing through every boundary put in front of him—because of his disability, his ethnicity, and his sexuality—to eventually hold official positions at both the United Nations and the World Economic Forum.

It’s never too late to start again—and these women prove it. This powerful collection of true stories celebrates women over 50 who chose reinvention. Whether starting businesses, embracing creativity, or taking courageous leaps into new lives, they rewrote the rules of what’s possible later in life. Or indeed midlife. You’ll meet women who changed direction not in spite of age, but because of it. They turned experience into strength. Loss into action. Longing into impact. Each story in It’s Not Too Late is a reminder: You are not invisible. You are not too late. And you are far from finished.

Unlimited” is an empowering story of an ordinary life suffocated by unrealised potential that unfolds as an extraordinary journey of personal transformation. The author's life story is marked by a pivotal decision at the age of 15, when he turned away from his boyhood dream of becoming a professional football player in England. Instead, he succumbed to cigarettes and alcohol, and often chose the easier road. For two decades, he carried the weight of "I could have", until, at 34, he embarked on a radical shift.

Longtime Dollar General CEO Cal Turner, Jr. shares his extraordinary life as heir to the company founded by his father Cal Turner, Sr. and his grandfather, a dirt farmer turned Depression-era entrepreneur. Cal's narrative is at its heart a father-son story, from his childhood in Scottsville, Kentucky, where business and family were one, to the triumph of reaching the Fortune 300 - at the cost of risking that very father/son relationship. Cal shares how the small-town values with which he was raised helped him guide Dollar General from family enterprise to national powerhouse.

Autobiography covers Morrissey's life from his birth until the present day.

In this inspiring book, US Olympian and hockey star Kendall Coyne shares the grit and determination it took to break down barriers and achieve her dreams against tremendous odds, encouraging young people to follow their passions and never give up.

As the son that worked by his dad’s side, Brian Proctor was often asked what it was like to grow up as Bob Proctor’s son. In My Father Knew the Secret, Brian answers that question by sharing stories, lessons, and deeply personal experiences, in an easy-to-listen conversation that lets you into the private world of Bob Proctor. You will find many benefits within this audiobook as you learn from behind-the-scenes wisdom and strength.

As little girls, we dream of one day becoming a ballerina, a doctor; or a lawyer. We dream of having it all - a wonderful husband, beautiful children, a dog, the perfect house with a picket white fence. You know, the classic fairy-tale that most little girls fantasize about with their friends. This might not be your story, but is definitely mine. Maybe you can relate to some things or none at all. The end result of this story is an unhealthy, unhappy relationship that mutates into abuse.

Get ready to transform yourself for success with Dr. Danny Brassell’s latest Book-of-the-Month Club selection! Dr. Danny Brassell, America's Leading Reading Ambassador, shares inspiring stories of triumph over adversity that reveal how ordinary people achieve extraordinary things - and how you can too. Through 50 captivating stories of success against all odds, this book reveals the universal principles that drive extraordinary achievement. From humble beginnings to lasting legacies, each chapter illuminates timeless lessons about: The power of unwavering determination Finding opportunity...