First Business

Things are going badly for the Clan in this new SF novel of the Merchant Princes, the immensely popular series by Charles Stross. Locked in a vicious civil war for control over the kingdom of Niejwein, their army is bottled up inside a fortress under siege in two parallel universes at once. Duke Angbard, the Clan's leader, has been laid low by a stroke: plotters are already conspiring in readiness for the deadly dance to come.

In The Extra 2%, financial journalist and sportswriter Jonah Keri chronicles the remarkable story of one team's Cinderella journey from divisional doormat to World Series contender. By quantifying the game's intangibles, they were able to deliver to Tampa Bay an American League pennant. This is an informative and entertaining case study for any organization that wants to go from worst to first.

It is estimated that we make approximately 35,000 decisions every day. Right now, there is at least one decision we can make that will have a powerful ripple effect across all aspects of our life. But One Decision isn't about taking one overwhelming big step; it's about starting with a single, important step that we have the choice to make every day: the decision to be authentic. To be you, and to do so without doubt, without second-guessing, without worry or anxiety.

Business partnerships are wonderfully complex entities. As with all relationships, they are vulnerable and subject to fallibility. If you think the fact that one in every two marriages in the United States ends in divorce (that's one every 36 seconds!) is unbelievable, then consider this: The number is significantly higher for business partnerships; about 70 percent of them fail. As a business partnership relationship coach, my mission is to help flip this fail/succeed ratio.

So many leadership and compassion books seek to remind leaders to "behave human" and treat those around them with care. But the truth is that leaders are human. They're not playing at being human or calling forth their humanity on demand. Their struggle in marrying leadership and compassion stems from leaders ignoring self-care-the lack of compassion toward their subordinates is just a symptom. Human First, Leader Second introduces leaders to the practice of self-compassion through a six-step framework.

Everything you've ever wanted to know about publishing but were too afraid to ask is right here in this funny, candid guide by acclaimed author Courtney Maum. Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer's Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book has over 150 contributors from all walks of the industry, including internationally best-selling authors Anthony Doerr, Roxane Gay, Garth Greenwell, Lisa Ko, R. O. Kwon, Rebecca Makkai, and Ottessa Moshfegh, alongside cult favorites Sarah Gerard, Melissa Febos, Mitchell S. Jackson, and Mira Jacob.

A Smithsonian Magazine Best History Book of 2024 A Library Journal Selection for Best Nonfiction of 2024 A Next Big Idea Book Club Must-Read for April “Aarathi Prasad’s Silk: A World History is a love song to this protean material. . . . Beautiful [and] fascinating.” —Wall Street Journal...

In this candid and personal account, Vineet Nayar—HCLT's celebrated CEO—recounts how he defied the conventional wisdom that companies must put customers first, then turned the hierarchical pyramid upside down by making management accountable to the employees, and not the other way around.

Give your hard work a voice and amplify your impact by communicating in a way that makes people want to listen and respond—storytelling with you will help you do it.

The familiar adage that “It’s a jungle out there” applies to sellers and sales organizations now more than ever. Competitors are hungry for business; decision makers are wary of change; and the market is crowded with products and services that are barely distinguishable from one another. Meanwhile, the tried-and-true sales methods of the past are simply no longer effective in a world where customers aren’t sure whom to trust.

From the multi-award-winning performer, author, and activist, a comprehensive program for addressing mental and physical health—and encouraging communities to do the same—featuring a conversation between the author and Lauren Von Der Pool, “…one of the people who has played an important...

This updated 2025 2-in-1 audiobook bundle is your shortcut to real results—designed to cut years off your learning curve and help you start earning passive income in weeks, not decades.

By the New York Times’s Global Economics Correspondent, an extraordinary journey to understand the worldwide supply chain—exposing both the fascinating pathways of manufacturing and transportation that bring products to your doorstep, and the ruthless business logic that has left local...

From a businessman who is extraordinarily humble yet is considered one of the world's most visionary, The First Billion Is the Hardest is both a riveting account of a life spent pulling off improbable triumphs and a report back from the front of the global energy and natural-resource wars - of vital interest to anyone who has a stake in America's future.

This book is for first-time startup founders in the B2B space. Maybe you’re a software engineer, product manager, salesperson, doctor, or lawyer building your first startup. My bet is that although you’re an expert at your technical skill, you yourself recognize that there’s a lot to learn when it comes to building a product, marketing it to a specific audience and overall running a company.

David Rakoff's best-selling collection of autobiographical essays, Fraud, established him as one of today's funniest and most insightful writers. Now, in Don't Get Too Comfortable, Rakoff moves from the personal to the public, journeying into the land of unchecked plenty that is contemporary America. Rarely have greed, vanity, selfishness, and vapidity been so mercilessly and wittily skewered.

Giving a speech about someone is hard. Giving a funny speech that people are actually going to pay attention to is even harder. In How to Write a Funny Speech for a Wedding, Bar Mitzvah, Graduation & Every Other Event You Didn't Want to Go to in the First Place, Leifer and Mitchell will teach you how to write the perfect speech so you can look awesome, make some people laugh, and get it over with. Quick and easy to use, this book is broken into short chapters full of priceless tips and advice.

Patagonia, named by Fortune in 2007 as the coolest company on the planet, has earned a reputation as much for its ground-breaking environmental and social practices as for the quality of its clothes. In this exceptionally frank account, Chouinard and Stanley recount how the company and its culture gained the confidence, by step and misstep, to make its work progressively more responsible, and to ultimately share its discoveries with companies as large as Wal-Mart or as small as the corner bakery.

*A WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER!* Read the book that has inspired thousands of people around the world to pursue their Plan A—making bold career moves, launching dream businesses, fleeing toxic relationships, and silencing the naysayers. Feel like you’re always settling for Plan B? Have...

Winning new customers is the number one challenge 80 percent of entrepreneurs face—and a big reason half of small businesses fail within five years. In Buyer First, Carole Mahoney—who once struggled to pay bills and is now a top sales coach and influencer—says the reason so many of us are bad at selling is, well, we think selling is bad. Mahoney shares her revolutionary sales-success formula that draws on data from 2.2 million professional sellers, plus solid research on the psychology of decision-making and behavior change