The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work

What really sets the best managers above the rest? It’s their power to build a cadre of employees who have great inner work livesconsistently positive emotions; strong motivation; and favorable perceptions of the organization, their work, and their colleagues. The worst managers undermine inner work life, often unwittingly.

As Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer explain in The Progress Principle, seemingly mundane workday events can make or break employees’ inner work lives. But it’s forward momentum in meaningful workprogressthat creates the best inner work lives. Through rigorous analysis of nearly 12,000 diary entries provided by 238 employees in 7 companies, the authors explain how managers can foster progress and enhance inner work life every day.
[Read more…]

Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity

When Hugh MacLeod was a struggling young copywriter living in a YMCA, he started to doodle on the backs of business cards while sitting at a bar. Those cartoons eventually led to a popular blog-gapingvoid.com-and a reputation for pithy insight and humor, in both words and pictures.MacLeod has opinions on everything from marketing to the meaning of life, but one of his main subjects is creativity. How do new ideas emerge in a cynical, risk-averse world? Where does inspiration come from? What does it take to make a living as a creative person?Ignore Everybody expands on MacLeod's sharpest insights, wittiest cartoons, and most useful advice. For example:-Selling out is harder than it looks. Diluting your product to make it more commercial will just make people like it less.-If your plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail. Nobody suddenly discovers anything. Things are made slowly and in pain.-Don't try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether. There's no point trying to do the same thing as 250,000 other young hopefuls, waiting for a miracle. All existing business models are wrong. Find a new one.-The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to be yours. The sovereignty you have over your work will inspire far more people than the actual content ever will.After learning MacLeod's forty keys to creativity, you will be ready to unlock your own brilliance and unleash it on the world.

Time Management Success Made Simple

One of the world's most widely known business speakers and a leading authority on the development of human potential and personal effectiveness, Brian Tracy addresses more than 250,000 people each year in corporations large and small, all over the world, on the subjects of strategy, management, personnel selection, hiring, firing, and motivating people. He has worked in 22 different businesses, often starting at the bottom and moving up to the executive suite. He is the founder of Brian Tracy International and is the author of numerous bestselling books and has produced more than 300 audio and video programs.

Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success

A stunning new approach to how individuals can not only change their lives for the better in the workplace, but also their lives away from the office, including (but not limited to) finding ways to improve one's working relationship with others, one's overall health, outlook on life, and so on.

For example, why is it that 95% of all diet attempts fail? Why do New Year's Resolutions last no more than a few days? Why can't people with good intentions seem to make consistent and positive strides in the way they want to improve their careers, financial fitness, physical fitness, and so on?
[Read more…]