Best Seller Podcast

T.A. Laser, author of Organization Culture Killers: How Leaders Build Cultures of Success, capitalized on her experience in senior leadership to write this, her first, book. Laser says her book is geared towards future leaders, including millennials, because they don’t know the pitfalls to avoid when it comes to leadership. She adds there’s a big disconnect as companies aren’t doing a good job of building leaders. Laser says that the biggest mistakes companies are making is not defining their expectations or building strong foundations capable of withstanding a culture of success. While no one incident or individual can kill a culture, not aligning the expectations for success can definitely kill the ability to succeed. She emphasizes, “Your culture delivers your success.”

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Makarand Utpat, author of How to Kickstart Your Digital Marketing: The Ultimate Guide to Build Your Brand, Dominate Social Media, Publish Compelling Content, Drive Traffic and Close More Deals talks about the building blocks for successful digital marketing. Utpat says people need to focus on the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ by building, engaging and converting. He adds that when building a website, you have to look at smart marketing for the front end and smart retention on the back end, including having a good call to action. The content on your website has to be designed to match the conversations that are going on in the minds of the consumers. Utpat also says, “Your brand is equivalent to your story.”

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Dr. Rachel MK Headley, author of iX Leadership: Create High-Five Cultures and Guide Transformations wrote a book that tackles both leadership and culture from a completely different perspective. Headley incorporates elements of her scientific background as a former Operational Science Officer at NASA, and applies it to leadership types that can be found in any industry. She takes an in-depth look at the different ways employees think and react to change and how to lead them all towards the same goals. That type of leadership is what helps mold the culture for each organization. Headley says that the tricky thing about culture is that people think it’s about “ping-pong and beers in the fridge.” She adds, “It’s more about designing a space that the people you want to work for you can feel comfortable.” The book is a problem solving manual that happens to be labeled ‘leadership’ and Headley says, “At the end of the day, you have to figure out what kind of culture you want to work for and what kind of culture you want to work in.” It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach for anyone.

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Jill Griffin, author of Follow These Leaders: Wisdom and Mentorship from the Voices of Success decided to write a book that details personal stories of triumph from her vast network of contacts. Griffin’s book is a compilation of advice from colleagues, acquaintances, and even a few strangers detailing the best piece of career, or life, advice they’ve ever been given, who gave it to them, and how that advice enhanced their lives. Griffin says, “You don’t have to be late in your career to give advice,” as people tend to associate experience with good advice. She says the pearls of wisdom shared in this book are “invaluable” and hopes to open up readers to seek advice from mentors in various levels of expertise and experiences.

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Technology is at the forefront of everything we do and it affects every aspect of our lives, personally and professionally. David Fergusson, author of The transHuman Code: How To Program Your Future says the book acts as an invitation for anyone who wants to take control of how they will use technology in their own future. Fergusson says he co-wrote the book, along with Carlos Moreira, because they feel there’s a need for individuals and organizations alike to understand what the future will be like and how humans will interact with all of the changes that will come. He adds that the book examines some of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead and encourages people to ask questions about not just the future of technology, but how we interface with it.

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Positivity is in scarce supply these days due to a number of factors – from social media, to lack of sleep, a poor diet and exercise regime and even electronics. All of these constantly bombard us with ‘fake’ messaging and short-term stopgaps that keep our own positivity from reaching its full potential. Brian Hazelgren, author of Positive People Make Things Happen! wrote a book that focuses on enhancing our individual positivity, not by fixing everything, but by putting us in a position to elevate our PQ – or Positivity Quotient. Hazelgren believes happiness is a choice and he wrote the book after going through some personal issues. He started by writing positive affirmations, which was the genesis for the book. His goal is to give people a ‘training system’ so that each individual can find their own level of positivity within them, that they may not be aware they possess.

Hazelgren also discusses the negative impact social media can have on positivity as many use those same platforms to mask the challenges they’re facing. However, he also points out that everyone can change their negative attitudes at any time by applying some of the book’s ten tenets, among them: trying to see the good in every situation and attempting to find even one positive aspect within a bad situation.

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Brandon Steiner, author of Living on Purpose: Stories About Faith, Fortune and Fitness That Can Lead You to An Extraordinary Life, is best known for his sports memorabilia and collectibles business, Steiner Sports. However, he wrote this book to encourage readers to do good and look past the “money grab” – which he labels as financial success, and also learn to focus on their faith, fortune and fitness, all of which often take a backseat. Steiner says the book is mainly for people in their forties (or thirties) because people aren’t prepared for the next stage of their lives. He says to think of being in your forties as ‘halftime’ when you go to the locker room and assess what’s working and what’s not in order to make the necessary adjustments as you enter the next phase of your life. Steiner emboldens readers to resolve their disappointments, which he deems as “kryptonite.” He adds, “Resolving your disappointments sets your mind free for the big dreams and opportunities.”

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Allison Shapira, author of Speak with Impact: How to Command and Influence Others, says she wanted to write a book that took her public speaking methodology to a wider audience. Shapira noticed many books in the marketplace that talked about public speaking, but few walked readers through the process of writing, practicing, and delivering a speech in a short amount of time. She says the book is aimed at busy professionals who don’t feel they have the time to fully prepare to speak publicly. However, public speaking doesn’t have to be in front of a large audience. Shapira defines it as, ‘any time you speak to one or more people’ in order to achieve a goal. She works with multiple c-suite executives as well as leadership teams and emerging leaders to perfect their communication skills and take them to the next level. So whether it’s an interview, a conference call, or a presentation, we are always engaging in a form of public speaking.

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Theresa Rose, author of Mindful Performance: How to Powerfully Impact Profitability, Productivity, and Purpose, wrote the book to help people navigate the landscape of their work life, home life, and the increased stress they’re experiencing. In this fast-paced world, people are feeling overwhelmed, overworked, and over-medicated and they’re searching for something that simplifies their lives. Rose argues that the use of technology has had a snowball effect in people losing their center. This fueled her to write a book with the goal of helping people find their cores again and move into a greater state of power and performance. The book tells readers how to achieve mindfulness, which Rose defines as “being fully present right now, paying attention to what’s happening inside and outside and being able to make intentional choices and take purposeful action with power and focus.”

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Anthony Iannarino, author of Eat Their Lunch: Winning Customers Away From Your Competitors, wrote the book to teach others how to create greater value, become more strategic, and how to make people think better, and make better decisions about running their business. Iannarino felt that, while there are plenty of books about sales, no one had taken the time to list the steps on how to gain customers by taking them away from your competition. He says that while it seems cutthroat, it’s actually not. Instead, he sees it more as a takeaway because you still have to win their hearts and minds. Iannarino says that the first step in playing the game is having mindshare, someone to engage and share new ideas with, and someone to show others where the gaps are. Make it worth their time because “time is the single-most finite non-renewable resource any of us have.”

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