Transform your connections and leadership with five research-backed humor tactics to master authentic workplace comedy, boost team engagement, and lead with laughter.

Discover the secret weapon that transforms relationships, boosts creativity, and enhances leadership: humor. The Laughter Factor reveals how laughter isn't just a source of joy—it's a powerful tool for connection and success. Whether you're a leader, teacher, salesperson, or simply someone seeking stronger relationships, this book equips you with five humor tactics to captivate, connect, and inspire.

With decades of experience as a comedian and keynote speaker, author Adam Christing shares his proven methods to make humor work for anyone, anywhere. These five fundamental humor strategies include:

• Surprise—Use the power of the unexpected to delight and captivate.
• Poke—Master the art of self-deprecating humor and gentle teasing.
• In-Jokes—Foster bonds through shared laughter and unique moments.
• Wordplay—Enhance your wit with clever banter and sharp language.
• Amplify—Turn ordinary stories into extraordinary, memorable moments.

Humor is your ticket to breaking barriers, fostering trust, and standing out in personal and professional settings. From boosting your leadership presence to lightening tense situations, The Laughter Factor is your ultimate guide to wielding humor as a force for good.

The future is uncertain, and yet we must act. This groundbreaking framework helps leaders transform chaos into clarity, build organizational resilience, and create positive change in turbulent times.

The world we once described as volatile and uncertain has shifted into something far more chaotic: BANI, or brittle, anxious, nonlinear, and incomprehensible. In Navigating the Age of Chaos, Jamais Cascio, the originator of the visionary BANI framework, unpacks the tools and perspectives needed to navigate our increasingly turbulent era.

Joined by coauthors Bob Johansen and Angela F. Williams, Cascio provides real-world examples, practical strategies, and rich insights to help leaders, organizations, and individuals not just survive but thrive in the chaos. This book will help readers recognize, adapt to, and excel in a world changing with unprecedented speed and intensity.

Breaking down the BANI framework, readers will discover how to tackle each aspect of a BANI world:

• Brittle-Recognize fragility in systems and strategies to build resilience.
• Anxious-Address widespread anxiety with empathy and attentiveness.
• Nonlinear-Navigate unpredictable scenarios with adaptive, improvisational thinking.
• Incomprehensible-Find clarity in overwhelming complexity through webs of connection.
• Positive BANI-Reframe chaos into actionable opportunities for growth.

As a definitive guide to understanding and harnessing the power of the BANI framework, this book equips readers with the knowledge to reshape challenges into pathways for innovation and success.

A renowned researcher takes readers inside the hunt for Wall Street's biggest frauds, revealing the forensic techniques that catch corporate criminals in the act.

The world of business runs on trust, but that trust is routinely broken. From stock market manipulation to accounting fraud, corporate executives and Wall Street insiders find endless, creative ways to cheat the system. With engaging stories and compelling data analysis, Erik Lie reveals how these schemes work and how to catch them.

Through real cases such as Martha Stewart's insider trading, Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, and the LIBOR rate-fixing scandal, readers will learn the following:

• Two powerful methods for detecting systematic fraud using data
• How cheaters leave behind telltale statistical patterns
• Why some of Wall Street's biggest frauds persisted for years despite red flags
• The role of whistleblowers, journalists, and researchers in exposing deception

Packed with intriguing examples and whimsical illustrations, this eye-opening guide shows how anyone can help expose corporate misconduct hiding in plain sight.

From bestselling progressive talk show host Thom Hartmann comes an urgent autopsy of American democracy, showing how plutocrats, political cowardice, and systemic rot built the perfect runway for Trump's authoritarian ascent.

The Last American President rips open America's wounded democracy to expose a terrifying truth: Donald Trump isn't an anomaly—he's the inevitable product of a system engineered to fail. This searing investigation reveals how a man forged by childhood trauma, pathological narcissism, and calculated cruelty didn't hijack democracy—he was handed the keys by those who should have been its guardians.

Hartmann uncovers the unholy alliance between Trump's damaged psyche and America's rotted institutions. From Fred Trump's brutal parenting to Roy Cohn's lessons in shamelessness, from a Republican Party that traded principles for power to billionaire donors who treated democracy as a profit center, this book exposes the assembly line that manufactured an authoritarian.

But this is about more than Trump's past—it's about America's future. As climate catastrophe accelerates and fascism spreads globally, Hartmann reveals the nightmare scenario: a second Trump term that doesn't just end American democracy but also triggers irreversible planetary damage. Through meticulous research and unflinching analysis, he shows how political cowardice and corporate greed created the perfect storm that could extinguish humanity's last chance at survival.

This isn't just political commentary—it's a last-minute alarm sounding before the point of no return.

This candid business biography reveals how bestselling author, speaker, and business consultant Ken Blanchard revolutionized management by leading with love and service.

Ken Blanchard transformed modern leadership theory through unlikely means-by catching people doing things right. Written like a novel with warmth and humor, this authorized biography reveals how a mediocre student who was told he "couldn't write" became a bestselling author and a globally renowned management expert.

Through extensive access to personal papers, letters, and interviews spanning six decades, Martha Lawrence paints an intimate portrait of the man behind The One Minute Manager and dozens of other influential books. From his early days coaching Cub Scouts to building a worldwide training organization, Blanchard demonstrated that nice guys can finish first by focusing on serving rather than being served.

During pivotal moments-his sister's tragic death, losing his home to wildfire, economic downturns threatening his company-Blanchard's optimistic leadership philosophy was tested. Yet his unwavering commitment to bringing out the best in others while leading with love created a lasting legacy that continues to influence organizations globally.

More than just a business biography, this book shows an American success story of someone who achieved greatness not through ruthless ambition but by genuinely caring about people and helping them reach their full potential. Blanchard's story offers an inspiring road map for anyone seeking to lead with both results and relationships in mind.

Winner of The BookFest Award for Best Nonfiction Book in Business Leadership – Professional Growth.

Break free from perfectionism and finish your creative projects. This unconventional guide shows you how to overcome creative blocks and finally complete your work through strategic imperfection.

The world is full of creative people. So why do some get their ideas out in the world while others don't? Why are some incredibly prolific while others struggle with deadlines or can't complete projects? In this book, Jason F. McLennan-a master in “getting stuff done”-shares secrets to boosting productivity, innovation, and personal success. By adopting his “¾ baked” philosophy and the key lessons that surround it, readers will be able to dramatically increase their output while also keeping their creative juices flowing.

McLennan's recipe for creative success includes the following ideas:

• Look forward to failure
• Discover the power of feedback
• Learn to become a “trim tab”
• Harness the power of momentum to drive creativity

We've all heard the phrase “the perfect is the enemy of the good.” Perfection is often what holds so many people back. Trying to reach it means that nothing much can get completed, and inspiration itself is often blocked as people either procrastinate or endlessly self-edit. By chasing perfection, it remains elusively further away.

The world is full of half-baked ideas-but almost no perfect ones. With The Magic of Imperfection, readers will learn how to seriously amp up what they do, how fast they do it, and simultaneously how well it gets done.

Transform your leadership. Unlock your team's potential.

In today's rapidly evolving workplace, traditional management is no longer enough. Drawing from three decades of global executive coaching expertise, Damian Goldvarg offers a proven approach to leadership that creates trust, engagement, and measurable results.

This valuable guide breaks down essential coaching competencies, inspired by the International Coaching Federation, into actionable frameworks you can implement immediately. Discover how to accomplish the following:

• Create psychological safety that empowers innovation
• Master the art of active listening and powerful questioning
• Transform conflict into productive collaboration
• Lead virtual teams with confidence and clarity
• Develop strategic thinking that prepares your organization for the future

Through real-world examples from global organizations, Goldvarg provides a roadmap for evolving from manager to coach-leader. Whether you're a seasoned executive or emerging leader, these proven techniques will help you build the collaborative, high-performing teams needed to thrive in our complex business landscape.

Don't just manage. Coach. Lead. Transform.

The workforce crisis is here-and retaining your best employees is no longer optional.

In Targeting Turnover, Dick Finnegan draws on decades of experience and groundbreaking data to reveal a stark truth: the US is running out of workers. As baby boomers retire and birthrates fall, the only sustainable path forward is to keep the good employees you already have.

This book offers a proven, research-backed strategy for doing just that-by building trust between employees and their immediate supervisors.

Forget one-size-fits-all solutions like pay and perks. The top predictor of retention and engagement is whether employees trust their boss. Yet most first-line leaders have never been trained-or held accountable-for building that trust.

Finnegan delivers a call to action: make employee retention an executive-driven priority and equip your leaders to lead differently.

You will learn how to do the following:

• Use stay interviews and practical tools to reduce turnover
• Hold managers accountable for engagement and retention
• Understand the real costs of attrition-and how to reverse them
• Apply forecasting and metrics to drive leadership behavior

At a time when there are fewer workers and more complex employee needs, Targeting Turnover gives leaders the tools to stabilize teams, improve performance, and face the workforce future with confidence.

“What’s wrong with nice?!” A simple and powerful question. It demands we interrogate the unspoken rules that shape our lives, often without our realizing it.

“It costs nothing to be nice!” What a travesty of logic. Niceness is not free—it comes at a steep price. It’s a velvet glove over an iron fist, stifling dissent, prioritizing comfort over progress, and conditioning us to accept the status quo. Niceness is one of the most insidious social constructs, keeping us compliant, silent, and complicit in inequity. If we don’t question it, we stay exactly where power wants us—agreeable, easy to manage, and stuck.

The Price of Nice is about breaking free. Amira Barger deconstructs our cultural obsession with niceness, exposes its hidden costs, and offers a practical framework for real change. With sharp analysis and personal insight, she helps readers disrupt the narratives that keep them stuck and reclaim their power.

Guided by four dimensions rooted in social psychology—think, feel, do, revisit—this book offers immediate, adaptable practices for creating change. Because breaking free isn’t only what you know—it’s what you do next.

If you're tired of “good enough,” this book will challenge you, change you, and call you to more.

The billion-dollar employee engagement industry has failed workers. This guide shows the data-driven alternative: measuring and improving employee well-being for lasting results.

For years, companies have trumpeted employee engagement as the lifeblood of success, weaving grand promises of thriving workplaces and soaring performance. Yet, Gallup's data shatters this façade: a mere 30 percent of US workers and 21 percent globally are engaged today, dismal figures essentially unchanged for over a decade. This rather damning reality exposes a commitment not just half-hearted but utterly disingenuous. Perfunctory surveys, dusted off once or twice a year, vanish into the void, sparking no meaningful change, while ineffective or toxic managers sidestep accountability with ease. The fallout is a workforce drowning in disillusionment, tethered to a metric that's broken beyond repair. In The Power of Employee Well-Being, Mark C. Crowley unveils a revolutionary vision, proving well-being ignites fierce commitment, unleashes boundless productivity, and forges workplaces where people and profits thrive.

Why Well-Being Matters
Drawing on a University of Oxford study of 17 million workers, Crowley urges leaders to abandon flawed engagement metrics and champion well-being. Far from a soft idea, it drives results. Gallup, Harvard, and London School of Economics studies show organizations prioritizing well-being gain 27 percent higher profitability, lower turnover, and better customer satisfaction. Yet, with three-quarters of US professionals facing burnout and a 74 percent surge in mental health–related leave (2023–2024), the crisis is urgent. Crowley highlights belonging-feeling valued, respected, and connected-as well-being's core, yet 94 percent of leaders overlook this vital driver.

A Practical Roadmap
Building on his trailblazing book Lead from the Heart, Crowley delivers a concise, actionable guide for busy managers to cultivate well-being and unlock team potential. Through practical strategies, he equips leaders to meet workers' core needs: caring leadership, manageable workloads, emotional support, growth opportunities, and fair treatment. Unlike hollow wellness programs, debunked by Oxford research, Crowley's methods reshape daily team experiences. His insights, forged over decades as a leader and researcher, are anchored by formidable data, including a British Telecom study linking well-being to higher sales and customer satisfaction.

A Leadership Revolution
With a foreword by Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, a four-time New York Times bestselling author, The Power of Employee Well-Being is a clarion call to reject superficial fixes and ignite a leadership revolution. Crowley brilliantly distills complex ideas into a vital guide for busy managers. With 52 percent of workers willing to take a 20 percent pay cut for better well-being, stakes are high. This is the essential playbook for leaders to build thriving workplaces where retention soars and teams excel.