These are books we have found particularly interesting in all aspects of our business and personal work.
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This book was in part instrumental in the start of The Business Shed and The Music Shed.
The Art of Possibility offers a set of breakthrough practices for creativity in all human enterprises. Infused with the energy of their dynamic partnership, the book joins together Ben's extraordinary talent as a mover and shaker, teacher, and communicator, with Rosamund Stone Zander's genius for creating innovative paradigms for personal and professional fulfillment. In lively counterpoint, the authors provide us with a deep sense of the powerful role that the notion of possibility can play in every aspect of our lives.
The Zanders' deceptively simple practices are based on two premises: that life is composed as a story ("it's all invented") and that, with new definitions, much more is possible than people ordinarily think. The book shifts our perspective with uplifting stories, parables, and anecdotes from the authors' personal experiences as well as from famous and everyday heroes. From "Giving an A," to the mysterious "Rule Number 6," to "Leading from Any Chair" - the account of Ben's stunning realization that the conductor/leader's power is directly linked to how much greatness he is willing to grant to others-each practice offers an opportunity for personal and organizational transformation.
The Art of Possibility is "as applicable in the workplace as it is in an intimate relationship.
The Art of War is a Chinese military treatise that was written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it has long been praised as the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time.
The Art of War is one of the oldest books on military strategy in the world. It is the first and one of the most successful works on strategy and has had a huge influence on Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, and beyond. Sun Tzu was the first to recognize the importance of positioning in strategy and that position is affected both by objective conditions in the physical environment and the subjective opinions of competitive actors in that environment. He taught that strategy was not planning in the sense of working through a to-do list, but rather that it requires quick and appropriate responses to changing conditions. Planning works in a controlled environment, but in a competitive environment, competing plans collide, creating unexpected situations.
Intuition is not some magical property that arises unbidden from the depths of our mind. It is a product of long hours and intelligent design, of meaningful work environments and particular rules and principles. This book shows us how we can hone our instinctive ability to know in an instant, helping us to bring out the best in our thinking and become better decision-makers in our homes, offices and in everyday life.
Just as he did with his revolutionary theory of the tipping point, Gladwell reveals how the power of blink' could fundamentally transform our relationships, the way we consume, create and communicate, how we run our businesses and even our societies.You'll never think about thinking in the same way again.
Who Moved My Cheese? is an amusing and enlightening story of four characters who live in a maze and look for cheese to nourish them and make them happy. Cheese is a metaphor for what you want to have in life - whether it is a good job, a loving relationship, money or a possession, health or spirital peace of mind. And the maze is where you look for what you want - the organisation you work in, or the family or community you live in.
This profound book from bestselling author, Spencer Johnson, will show you how to anticipate change, adapt to change quickly, enjoy change and be ready to change quickly again and again. Discover the secret for yourself and learn how to deal with change, so that you suffer from less stress and enjoy more success in your work and in life. Written for all ages, this story takes less than an hour to read, but its unique insights can last for a lifetime.
Here is the unassuming little book that charmed its way up the bestseller lists and now has over 1.2 million copies in print.
Children's Letters to God reveals the surprising pleasures and provocations of what happens when kids decide to send a letter off to their maker. Whether posing a question, begging a favor, or expressing doubt or joy, these letters are notable for their refreshing directness, unexpected humor, and startling clarity of thought. It's like seeing the world through a child-s bright eyesseyes untouched by cynicism, eyes brimming with innocence, wonder, and curiosity.
Choral Concepts provides a concise and practical introduction to choral techniques and conducting for potential choral conductors. The author-America's premier choral conductor, mentored by Robert Shaw-brings 43 years of teaching and workshop experience to this book.
Don Neuen details almost everything any conductor needs to know about dealing with singers. From latin pronunciation to rehearsal planning to tone production to ensemble seating arrangements, this text absolutely has it all, including the most to-the-point discussion of physical conducting technique I've ever heard or read.
It doesn't matter if you're working with a band, orchestra, chamber ensemble, or choir - if you're going to conduct, do yourself (and your ensemble) a favour - read this book.
Here is THE modern classic cookery course indispensable to every kitchen, now magnificently illustrated and completely revised and updated.
Delia Smith's Complete Illustrated Cookery Course contains more than a hundred stunning new photographs that will inspire you to rush into the kitchen and start cooking: many of the classic Delia recipes, from crunchy Roast Potatoes to Christmas Pudding, are here in full colour and spectacular detail. In addition there are new step-by-step colour photographs illustrating basic techniques, such as the making of chutney, marmalade, omelettes and bread.
In Developing the Leader Within You, John Maxwell examines the difference between leadership styles and outlines principles for inspiring, motivating, and influencing others.
These principles can be used in any organisation to foster integrity and self- discipline and bring about a positive change. "Developing a Leader within You" also allows readers to examine how to be effective in the highest calling of leadership, by understanding the five characteristics that set "leader managers" apart from "run of the mill managers."
In the Developing the Leader Within You Workbook, John Maxwell examines the differences between leadership styles, outlines specific ways each reader can apply principles for inspiring, motivating, and influencing others. These principles can be used in any organization to foster integrity and self-discipline and bring a positive change.
Developing the Leader Within You Workbook also allows readers to discover how to be effective in the highest calling of leadership by understanding the five characteristics that set "leader managers" apart from "run-of-the-mill managers."
In this companion to the bestseller, John Maxwell shows readers how to develop the vision, value, influence, and motivation required of successful leaders.
Every new project (or career or relationship) starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point - really hard, really not fun.
At this point you might be in a Dip, which will get better if you keep pushing, or a Cul-de-Sac, which will never get better no matter how hard you try. The hard part is knowing the difference and acting on it.
According to marketing guru and best-selling author Seth Godin, what sets successful entrepreneurs (and pop stars and weight lifters and car salesmen) apart from everyone else is their ability to give up on Cul-de-Sacs while staying motivated in Dips.
The Dip is a short, entertaining book that helps you do just that. It will forever alter the way you think about success.
Dynamics of the Singing Voice, by Meribeth Bunch, is designed as a reference text for teachers of singing, singers, choral conductors and organists, speech and voice therapists, laryngologists and other health professionals, psychologists and those in linguistics.
It discusses the physiological, psychological, musical and emotional aspects of the voice, particularly as they relate to singing but also to speaking. Important features of this work are the clear illustrations, the broad coverage of the topic and the extensive bibliography.
The book provides a greater understanding of how the voice works and the many factors involved in singing as well as an objective discussion of singing without reference to specific techniques.
Emotional Intelligence is a groundbreaking bestseller that redefines intelligence and success. Does IQ define our destiny?
Daniel Goleman argues that our view of human intelligence is far too narrow, and that our emotions play major role in thought, decision making and individual success. Self-awareness, impulse control, persistence, motivation, empathy and social deftness are all qualities that mark people who excel: whose relationships flourish, who are stars in the workplace.
With new insights into the brain architecture underlying emotion and rationality, Goleman shows precisely how emotional intelligence can be nurtured and strengthened in all of us.
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's famous investigations of "optimal experience" have revealed that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called "flow".
Durinfg flow, people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life. In this new edition of his groundbreaking classic work, Csikszentmihalyi demonstrates the ways this positive state can be controlled, not just left to chance.
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience teaches how, by ordering the information that enters our consciousness, we can discover true happiness and greatly improve the quality of our lives.
This book answers the most obvious, the most important, yet the most difficult question about human history: why history unfolded so differently on different continents. Geography and biography, not race, moulded the contrasting fates of Europeans, Asians, Native Americans, sub-Saharan Africans, and aboriginal Australians.
An ambitious synthesis of history, biology, ecology and linguistics, Guns, Germs and Steel is one of the most important and humane works of popular science.
Semler turned his family's business, the aging Semco corporation of Brazil, into the most revolutionary business success story of our time. By eliminating uneeded layers of management and allowing employees unprecedented democracy in the workplace, he created a company that challenged the old ways and blazed a path to success in an uncertain economy.
This groundbreaking book draws on medicine, Eastern wisdom, and the latest research on learning and creativity.
In The Mozart Effect Don Campbell reveals how exposure to sound and music has a profound lifelong effect on health, learning, and behavior, and points the way to a healthier, more harmonious lifestyle.
The Mozart Effect includes two dozen specific exercises plus sound-based approaches to over fifty conditions ranging from migraines to substance abuse.
Critically acclaimed soprano Janet Williams has put together a step by step guide to help classical singers conquer nerves, incorporate the four essential elements of optimal performance, and win auditions in as little as 30 days.
Nail Your Next Audition includes exercises and worksheets for performance enhancing strategies to be incorporated into the singer's daily practice routine.
As business reinvents itself at broadband speed, what makes leaders effective has inevitably been transformed. Old assumptions and old modes no longer hold; a new style of leadership that works has emerged amidst the chaos of change.
This new leader excels in the art of relationship, the singular expertise which the changing business climate renders indispensable. Excellence is being defined in interpersonal terms as companies have stripped out layers of managers, as corporations merge across national boundaries, and as customers and suppliers redefine the web of connection.
Bestselling author Daniel Goleman argues that emotionally intelligent leaders are now 'must-haves' for business today. But many readers have been left with, So now what do I do? The New Leaders answers that question by laying out the map for transforming leadership in individuals, in teams and organizations.
The Present is an engaging story of a young man's journey to adulthood, and his search for The Present, a mysterious and elusive gift he first hears about from a great old man. This Present, according to the old man, is "the best present a person can receive."
Later, when the young boy becomes a young man, disillusioned with his work and his life, he returns to ask the old man, once again, to help him find The Present. The old man responds, "Only you have the power to find The Present for yourself."
So the young man embarks on a tireless search for this magical gift that holds the secret to his personal happiness and business success.It is only after the young man has searched high and low and given up his relentless pursuit that he relaxes and discovers The Present--and all of the promises it offers.
The Prophet is a brilliant man's philosophy on love, marriage, joy and sorrow, time, friendship and much more. Originally published in 1923 - translated into more than 20 languages.
Kahlil Gibran, poet, philosopher, and artist was born in Lebanon, in 1883, and received his primary education in Beruit before emigrating with his parents to Boston in 1895. In 1989 he returned to Lebanon to continue his studies in Arabic before returning to Boston in 1903. In 1912 he settled in New York City and devoted himself to writing (both in Arabic and English) and to painting. Gibran died in 1931.
Improving the performance of your employees involves one of the hardest challenges in the known universe: changing the way they think.
In constant demand as a coach, speaker, and consultant to companies around the world, David Rock has proven that the secret to leading people (and living and working with them) is found in the space between their ears. "If people are being paid to think," he writes, "isn't it time the business world found out what the thing doing the work, the brain, is all about?"
Supported by the latest groundbreaking research, Quiet Leadership provides a brain-based approach that will help busy leaders, executives, and managers improve their own and their colleagues' performance. Rock offers a practical, six-step guide to making permanent workplace performance change by unleashing higher productivity, new levels of morale, and greater job satisfaction.
Confronting and solving problems is a painful process, which most of us attempt to avoid. Avoiding resolution results in greater pain and an inability to grow both mentally and spiritually.
Drawing heavily on his own professional experience, Dr M. Scott Peck, a psychiatrist, suggests ways in which facing our difficulties - and suffering through the changes - can enable us to reach a higher level of self-understanding.
The Road Less Travelled is a book that can show you how to embrace reality and yet achieve serenity and a richer existence. Hugely influential, it has now sold over six million copies - and has changed many people's lives round the globe. It may change yours.
Singing and Teaching Singing: A Holistic Approach to Classical Voice is a highly personal and accessible approach to the world of the singer and the teacher, written by an internationally renowned singing teacher, researcher, lecturer, and educator.
Drawing on her experiences as a singer with some of the world’s leading opera companies, the author has developed a teaching technique specifically focusing on voice in the areas of classical and opera singing. Interspersed with the concepts and components of Chapman’s methods are vignettes from her life and career. The author’s style is conversational and vibrant and her teaching unfolds logically and in a step-by-step fashion.
Throughout, she stresses the importance of flexibility, partnership, and ongoing learning. Case studies, examples, and exercises further highlight her writing.
Highly readable, Singing and Teaching Singing: A Holistic Approach to Classical Voice is an ideal resource for successful development and management of the classical voice.
Six Thinking Hats is a de Bono classic, used by businessmen worldwide to develop techniques of creative thinking in the boardroom.
"The Six Hats" method aims to make the fullest use of everyone's intelligence, experience and information. De Bono has comprehensively updated his bestselling text for this new edition.
Richard Miller is renowned as an expert on the voice.
In The Structure of Singing, by combining the physical, technical, and artistic aspects of singing, the author applies current findings in medicine, acoustics, phonetics, and speech therapy to the singer's needs.
The text demonstrates the scientific basis of exercises and vocalises, covering all major areas of vocal technique.
Thick Face is the shield. Thick faced people have the ability to put self-doubt aside. They refuse to accept the limitations that others impose on them, or the limitations we commonly impose on ourselves.
Black Heart is a shield. It is the ability to take action without regard to how the consequences will affect others. A black heart is ruthless but not necessarily evil.
Thick Face, Black Heart is about learning to balance both shields and when and how to use them.
The Tipping Point is the biography of an idea, and the idea is quite simple: that many of the problems we face - from murder to teenage delinquency to traffic jams - behave like epidemics.
They aren't linear phenomena in the sense that they steadily and predictably change according to the level of effort brought to bear against them. They are capable of sudden and dramatic changes in direction. Years of well-intentioned intervention may have no impact at all, yet the right intervention - at just the right time - can start a cascade of change. Many of the social ills that face us today, in other words, are as inherently volatile as the epidemics that periodically sweep through the human population: little things can cause them to "tip" at any time and if we want to understand how to confront and solve them we have to understand what those "tipping points" are.
In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell explores the ramifications of this. Not simply for politicians and policy-makers, his method provides a way of viewing everyday experience and seeking to enable us to develop strategies for everything from raising a child to running a company.
In 1987, an IRA bomb buried Gordon Wilson and his twenty-year-old daughter beneath five feet of rubble. Gordon alone survived. And forgave. He said of the bombers, "I have lost my daughter, but I bear no grudge. . . . I shall pray, tonight and every night, that God will forgive them."
His words caught the media's ear--and out of one man's grief, the world got a glimpse of grace.
Grace is the church's great distinctive. It's the one thing the world cannot duplicate, and the one thing it craves above all else--for only grace can bring hope and transformation to a jaded world.
In What's So Amazing About Grace? award-winning author Philip Yancey explores grace at street level. If grace is God's love for the undeserving, he asks, then what does it look like in action? And if Christians are its sole dispensers, then how are we doing at lavishing grace on a world that knows far more of cruelty and unforgiveness than it does of mercy?
In his most personal and provocative book ever, Yancey offers compelling, true portraits of grace's life-changing power. He searches for its presence in his own life and in the church. He asks, How can Christians contend graciously with moral issues that threaten all they hold dear?
And he challenges us to become living answers to a world that desperately wants to know, What's So Amazing About Grace?
