More Than Money

Jamey Stegmaier knows crowdfunding. He's a veteran of seven successful Kickstarter campaigns (and counting) that have raised over $3.2 million, and he's the proprietor of the widely read Kickstarter Lessons blog. In this book he offers a comprehensive guide to crowdfunding, demonstrating that it can be a powerful way for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses by building community and putting their customers first.

This book includes over forty stories of inspiring successes and sobering disasters. Stegmaier uses these examples to demonstrate how to (and how not to) prepare for a campaign, grow a fan base, structure a pitch, find new backers, and execute many other crucially important “nuts and bolts” elements of a successful crowdfunding project.

But Stegmaier emphasizes that the benefits of crowdfunding are much more about the “crowd” than the “funding.” He shows that if you treat your backers as people, not pocketbooks—communicate regularly and transparently with them, ask their opinions, attend to their needs—they'll become advocates as well as funders, exponentially increasing your project's chances of succeeding.

If management theories and systems (think: "Management by Objectives" and "Process Optimization") are the religion, consultants are the high-priests. With years as a top Fortune 100 executive and, yes, management consultant, Karen Phelan exposes the whole game. Takeaway: consultants have forgotten that business are made up of real people, not numbers. Empathy, not MBA's, is the real future of management.It’s the People, Stupid! Karen Phelan is sorry. She really is. She tried to do business by the numbers—the management consultant way—developing measures, optimizing processes, and quantifying performance. The only problem is that businesses are run by people. And people can’t be plugged into formulas or summed up in scorecards. Phelan dissects a whole range of consulting treatments for unhealthy companies and shows why they’re essentially fad diets: superficial would-be fixes that don’t result in lasting improvements and can cause serious damage. With a mix of clear-eyed business analysis, heart-wrenching stories, and hard-won lessons for both consultants and the people who hire them, this book is impossible to put down and impossible to ignore. Karen Phelan and other consultants may have “broken” your company, but she’s eager to make amends. “Finally, an author challenging our broken management models who has credibility—she has been there. Karen Phelan not only explains why the emperor—our sacred ways of managing—has no clothes but provides us with insightful alternatives that promise to add real value to our organizations and the people that make them function.” —Dean Schroeder, award-winning coauthor of Ideas Are Free “Funny, irreverent, and outrageous, this book is making a deeply serious point: talking to actual people and figuring out how to help them work together better is what’s going to make organizations stronger, not another PowerPoint presentation.” —Rosina L. Racioppi, President and CEO, Women Unlimited, Inc.

From the authors of Leadership and Self-Deception (over 2 million copies sold) comes a new edition of this bestseller that has been thoroughly revised to more effectively address the diversity, equity, and inclusion challenges that plague our communities and hinder our organizations.

What if conflicts at home, at work, and in the world stem from the same root cause? What if we systematically misunderstand that cause? And what if, as a result, we unwittingly perpetuate the very problems we think we are trying to solve?

The Anatomy of Peace uses a fictional story of an Arab and a Jew—both of whom lost their fathers at the hands of the other's cousins—to powerfully show readers the way to transform conflict. We learn how they come together, how they help parents and children come together, and how we too can find our way out of the personal, professional, and social conflicts that weigh us down.

The fourth edition includes revisions and new materials and resources that increase its relevance and usefulness at a time of deeply entrenched divisions throughout society. Additionally, it includes new detailed discussions of the pattern of dehumanization that lies at the heart of today's most pressing struggles with prejudice and discrimination—challenges that cannot be solved until the origins of bias and discrimination are properly understood and addressed. The new edition is a unique and vital resource for combatting racism and prejudice in their many manifestations.

This is the first book on influencing others that is aimed squarely at introverts, who make up half of the U.S. population. Jenifer Kahnweiler demonstrates how introverts, who get their energy from within, can be the most effective influencers of all by playing to their natural strengths rather than by trying to use traditional, extrovert-based influencing methods.Introverts may feel powerless in a world where extroverts seem to rule, but there's more than one way to have some sway. Jennifer Kahnweiler proves introverts can be highly effective influencers when, instead of trying to act like extroverts, they use their natural strengths to make a difference. Kahnweiler identifies six unique strengths of introverts and includes a Quiet Influence Quotient (QIQ) quiz to measure how well you're using these six strengths now. Then, through questions, tools, exercises, and powerful real-world examples, you will increase your mastery of these strengths.

• The first book to identify six unique strengths that can make introverts powerful influencers
• Includes quizzes, exercises, and worksheets for putting quiet influencer methods into practice on a daily basis
• Features interviews with and examples of real-life quiet influencers
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• Companion online product: Quiet Influence Quotient (QIQ) Self-Assessment
  

Introverts may feel powerless in a world where extroverts seem to rule, but theres more than one way to have some sway. As Jennifer Kahnweiler proves in this much-needed book, introverts can be highly effective influencers when, instead of trying to act like extroverts, they use their natural strengths. Kahnweiler shows how you can use those strengths to challenge the status quo, provoke new ways of thinking, effect change, and inspire others to move forward.

Kahnweiler identifies six unique strengths introverts have:

• Taking Quiet Time: The periods of solitude that introverts crave provide them with a powerful source of creativity and self-awareness.
• Preparation: Careful preparation, which makes introverts feel more comfortable, also makes them very knowledgeable and able to anticipate objections.
• Writing: Introverts preference for writing over speaking enables them to influence others through deep, authentic, well-developed arguments.
• Engaged Listening: Introverts are great listenerstheyd rather listen than talkwhich is a crucial skill for establishing rapport and mutual understanding.
• Focused Conversation: Introverts dont like small talk, but they excel at the serious, purpose-driven, one-on-one interactions vital for winning people over.
• Thoughtful Use of Social Media: Oversharing doesnt appeal to introverts online any more than it does offline, so they naturally use social media in a thoughtful, and more effective, way.

Kahnweiler includes a Quiet Influence Quotient quiz to measure how well youre using these six strengths now. Then, through questions, tools, exercises, and real-world examples, she helps you increase your mastery of these strengths. Quiet Influence is the must-have guide to deeper insight and greater impact that introverts have been waiting for and that extroverts can learn from.

Why do teams settle for bad ideas or kill good ones? Popular consultant B. Kim Barnes's unique process of constructive debate shows how teams can create better ideas and outcomes by eliminating obstacles to honest discussion, creativity, and collaboration.

In too many organizations, great ideas and unusual solutions can be suppressed, ignored, or attacked. Departments defend their turf, and people choose what is safe over what is better. Bad ideas move forward and good ideas die, which can lead to disastrous results—financial or otherwise.

Luckily, there is a workable path out of this dysfunction. Kim Barnes's process of constructive debate shows how to establish conditions that encourage the free exchange, discussion, and development of ideas and eliminate conditions that prevent potentially useful ideas from getting heard. By using this tested model, any company or team can improve outcomes and bring out everyone's best ideas.

A constructive debate is one in which a diverse group of individuals can express their ideas, engage others in building on and improving them, explore ideas deeply, and challenge one another's positions in a fair and productive way. In this book, you'll learn a set of behaviors you can model and encourage and a process you can facilitate, lead, or support your client in leading. In this time, where opinions can be tribal and differences can lead to unconstructive conflict, it's important to find ways to build robust ideas through a thoughtful, fair, and inclusive approach.

Politicians apologizing, celebrities needing to apologize, and business leaders failing at the attempt fill today's headlines. In fact, we all have occasion to apologize. But we don't need more apologies, says John Kador. We need more effective ones that restore strained relationships, create possibilities for growth, and generate better outcomes for all.
Effective Apology challenges you to think about the fundamental value of an apology, to you and the receiver, as it explores in detail the key dimensions—what Kador calls the Five Rs—of a wholehearted apology, one that heals and renews. Kador also offers advice on how to accept or reject an apology, ten apology dos and don'ts, and a quiz to test your Apology Quotient.

The willingness to apologize signals strength, character, and integrity—real leadership is impossible without it. With over 70 examples of the good, the bad, and the ineffective apology in action, no other book combines such a practical, how-to approach with a rich analysis of what it takes to make apology work in the real world.