Small Leadership

Over more than 20 years in business, Bronwyn Reid has seen time and time again how winning one initial contract with a “big name” can be the spark that lets a small company realize its potential growth. But as Bronwyn knows from firsthand experience, becoming a supplier to a large company isn’t easy - and there’s a lot to know and do. But almost everything that has been written about the small business/big business relationship is from the big company point of view.

Positive Leadership shows how to reach beyond ordinary success to achieve extraordinary effectiveness, spectacular results, and what Kim Cameron calls “positively deviant performance” - performance far above the norm. Citing a wide range of research in organizational behavior, medical science, and psychology as well as real-world examples, Cameron shows that to achieve exceptional success, leaders must emphasize strengths rather than simply focus on weaknesses.

How do you develop products that people will actually use and buy? This practical guide shows you how to validate product and company ideas through customer development research - before you waste months and millions on a product or service that no one needs or wants. With a combination of open-ended interviewing and fast and flexible research techniques, you’ll learn how your prospective customers behave, the problems they need to solve, and what frustrates and delights them

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.

Author and entrepreneur Mick Spencer offers entrepreneurs an inspiring new road map to success - one that runs against nearly everything you've ever been taught about business. In this book, Spencer presents a solid case that analysis paralysis and endless "preparation" won't get you anywhere - you have to take that leap and do what you really want to do. He challenges you to get outside your comfort zone and, although intimidating, his approach forces you to learn "on the go" and focus on what you can do rather than what you can't.

Scott Wozniak leverages his decades of brand-building experience within some of America’s most-loved companies to show you how to create world-class customer experience. After years of battle-tested work, Scott realized that there was a set of systems that all the great brands used to create raving fans. He captured these practices in an engine diagram, a simple tool to help leaders become legends. If you use this approach, you can build a Customer Experience Engine that will create those same kinds of raving fans that always seem to dominate dinner-party conversations and water-cooler chats.

In this accessible guide, franchise expert Rick Grossmann and franchise attorney Michael J. Katz impart decades-worth of insight and advice on what it takes to make your franchise operation successful. Grossmann and Katz share expert tutorials, tricks of the trade, and access to sample franchise documents, checklists, and questionnaires designed to get you organized, support you through the process, and get your new franchise off the ground.

The best entrepreneurs balance brilliant business ideas with a rigorous commitment to serving their customers' needs. If you read (or listen) to nothing else on entrepreneurship and start-ups, listen to these 10 articles by experts in the field. We've combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you build your company for enduring success.

Mark Siebert, franchise expert and author of Franchise Your Business, flips his script from franchising your existing business to offer entrepreneurs a comprehensive guide to succeeding as franchisees. The Franchisee Handbook tells listeners how to take a systematic approach to assess and invest in franchise opportunities, so they end up with the right fit for their entrepreneurial style. Sharing tales from the trenches and real-world anecdotes from successful franchises, Siebert lays out everything you need to know before signing with well-known franchises.

The pressure to generate big ideas can feel overwhelming. We know that bold innovations are critical in these disruptive and competitive times, but when it comes to breakthrough thinking, we often freeze up. Instead of shooting for a $10-billion payday or a Nobel Prize, the most prolific innovators focus on Big Little Breakthroughs - small creative acts that unlock massive rewards over time. By cultivating daily micro-innovations, individuals and organizations are better equipped to tackle tough challenges and seize transformational opportunities.

Through dozens of interviews with M&A leaders at the biggest Silicon Valley acquirers—as well as attorneys, bankers, and founders who have been through the trenches—Exit Right delivers the hard-earned lessons that lead to successful exits. From negotiation to valuation to breaking down a term sheet, managing legal costs, and handling emotional turbulence—this unparalleled guide covers every critical aspect of a technology startup sale.

Koch shows how to maximize success in your career and life by using the proven principle that 80 percent of changes in the world result from the most powerful 20 percent of actions and ideas. He'll show how to use your own powerful "20 percent spike" - your most creative ideas and unique skills - to measure the amount of value you bring to your employer, clients, or customers. For most people, there is a huge disparity between their intrinsic value and the compensation they receive for their efforts.

Learn the NASA Astronaut mindset to solve problems, provide leadership in the face of adversity, and never give up on the pursuit of your wildest dreams. Mike Massimino achieved his dream of exploring space—now he distills stories and insights from NASA into an actionable guide to accomplish...

Author Amber Richards owned and operated a single-person home-cleaning business for three years. She shares tips and advice she wishes someone had shared with her before starting up the business. With transparency to both mistakes and successes, this audiobook is packed with useful information and strategies from someone who actually worked in the business.

The emphasis is not focused on practical cleaning tips, although there is a chapter about products in general.

As anyone in business knows, strategic planning is critical to achieving long-term success. In How to Be a Power Connector, super-networker Judy Robinett argues that strategic relationship planning should be your top priority.

The definitive account of India’s biggest start-up that redefined ecommerce, entrepreneurship and the way we shop and live.

A unique and significant guide to selling more books through personal appearances and online interviews, brimming with information and resources as well as tips and ideas from nearly two dozen author-speaker professionals.The most powerful tool in your book promotion toolkit is your personality. The fact is that personality sells books.

Decía Betrand Russell que "la mejor prueba de que algo puede hacerse es que antes alguien ya lo hizo". Por eso las personas inteligentes aprenden de la experiencia de los demás. En el audiolibro encontrarás reflexiones y frases sobre el desarrollo personal, sobre la gestión de empresas y equipos, pero también sobre la vida misma. Personajes como Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, Robert Kiyosaki, Richard Branson, John C. Maxwell, Steve Jobs, Jack Welch, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, Brian Tracy...

In 1986, fresh out of college, Paul Downs opened his first and last business: a small company that built custom furniture. With no idea how to run a business or how to build custom furniture, Downs spent a year teaching himself the business, and in 1987 he hired his first employee. That was when things got complicated.

In Victory, best-selling author Brian Tracy applies to business and personal success the same concepts that have helped great leaders triumph in military campaigns throughout history. Using military examples throughout, he provides ambitious, success-oriented listeners with a practical template for reaching their own potential for greatness. This is an indispensable strategic field guide from America's foremost expert on achievement.