Best Books of 2023 – The Financial Times and The EconomistShortlisted for Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year 2023‘Important, timely, instructive and entertaining’ – Daniel Kahneman, bestselling author of Thinking, Fast and Slow'Entertaining . . . compelling . . . there are lessons here for managers of all stripes' – The EconomistMegaproject expert Bent Flyvbjerg and bestselling author Dan Gardner reveal the secrets to successfully planning and delivering ambitious projects on any scale.Nothing is more inspiring than a big vision that becomes a triumphant new reality. Think of how Apple’s iPod went from a project with a single employee to an enormously successful product launch in eleven months. But such successes are the exception. Consider how London’s Crossrail project delivered five years late and billions over budget. More modest endeavours, whether launching a small business, organizing a conference, or just finishing a work project on time, also commonly fail. Why?Understanding what distinguishes the triumphs from the failures has been the life’s work of Oxford professor Bent Flyvbjerg. In How Big Things Get Done, he identifies the errors that lead projects to fail, and the research-based principles that will make yours succeed:- Understand your odds. If you don’t know them, you won’t win.- Plan slow, act fast. Getting to the action quick feels right. But it’s wrong.- Think right to left. Start with your goal, then identify the steps to get there.- Find your Lego. Big is best built from small.- Master the unknown unknowns. Most think they can’t, so they fail. Flyvbjerg shows how you can.Full of vivid examples ranging from the building of the Sydney Opera House to the making of Pixar blockbusters, How Big Things Get Done reveals how to get any ambitious project done – on time and on budget. Read more

________________________________Can a good company become a great one? If so, how?After a five-year research project, Jim Collins concludes that good to great can and does happen. In this book, he uncovers the underlying variables that enable any type of organisation to make the leap from good to great while other organisations remain only good. Rigorously supported by evidence, his findings are surprising - at times even shocking - to the modern mind.Good to Great achieves a rare distinction: a management book full of vital ideas that reads as well as a fast-paced novel. It is widely regarded as one of the most important business books ever written. Read more

Best Books of the Year – The Financial Times and The EconomistShortlisted for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award 2023World expert Bent Flyvbjerg and bestselling author Dan Gardner reveal the secrets to successfully planning and delivering ambitious projects on any scale.‘Important, timely, instructive and entertaining’ – Daniel Kahneman, bestselling author of Thinking, Fast and SlowNothing is more inspiring than a big vision that becomes a triumphant new reality. Think of how Apple’s iPod went from a project with a single employee to an enormously successful product launch in eleven months. But such successes are the exception. Consider how London’s Crossrail project delivered five years late and billions over budget. More modest endeavours, whether launching a small business, organizing a conference, or just finishing a work project on time, also commonly fail. Why?Understanding what distinguishes the triumphs from the failures has been the life’s work of Oxford professor Bent Flyvbjerg. In How Big Things Get Done, he identifies the errors that lead projects to fail, and the research-based principles that will make yours succeed:Understand your odds. If you don’t know them, you won’t win.Plan slow, act fast. Getting to the action quick feels right. But it’s wrong.Think right to left. Start with your goal, then identify the steps to get there.Find your Lego. Big is best built from small.Master the unknown unknowns. Most think they can’t, so they fail. Flyvbjerg shows how you can.Full of vivid examples ranging from the building of the Sydney Opera House to the making of the latest Pixar blockbusters, How Big Things Get Done reveals how to get any ambitious project done – on time and on budget.'Entertaining . . . compelling . . . there are lessons here for managers of all stripes' – The Economist Read more

Discover the secrets of upside-down management and doing the right thing with James Timpson's The Happy Index.With over 2,000 locations across the UK and overseeing multiple operations daily for the past two decades, it’s fair to say that the CEO of the family-owned Timpson business knows a thing or two about running a successful company.What makes James Timpson’s approach to collaboration, profit and success is simple: let the people you hire run your business.That might seem like a simple concept to a CEO, manager or director but if you think about the hundreds of meetings, hours lost from your day by responding to emails, signing off on projects and more, you will notice that you are still working in a traditional, top-down mindset. Doing this means the team you work with only see themselves as a cog in the machine instead of the trusted, valued colleagues that they are.The Happy Index is structured into lessons that will equip you and the people you work with, with the tools and tactics to re-evaluate the ways you manage your business. Offering insight into the ways in which James has overseen the family business, he firmly believes that you will see the benefits of working with an upside-down mindset, not only for financial success but also your team’s wellbeing and happiness.Really, though, it’s easy. Turn up on time. Trust your team. Do your work.James Timpson's book 'The Happy Index' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 12-02-2024. Read more

10th Anniversary edition * Completely revised and updated * over 800,000 copies sold ARE YOU TEMPTED TO GO TO BUSINESS SCHOOL? SAVE YOUR MONEY AND READ THE PERSONAL MBA INSTEAD.This bestselling business classic gives you everything you need to transform your business and your career.An MBA at a top business school is an enormous investment in time and cash. And if you don't want to work for a consulting firm or an investment bank, the chances are it simply isn't worth it.The Personal MBA gives you simple mental models for every subject that's key to commercial success. From the basics of products and marketing to the nuances of teamwork and systems, this book distils everything you need to know to take on the MBA graduates and win.'File this book under: NO EXCUSES' Seth Godin'No matter what they tell you, an MBA is not essential. If you combine reading this book with actually trying stuff, you'll be far ahead in the business game' Kevin Kelly, founder of Wired Read more

THE HUGE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERA former FBI hostage negotiator offers a field-tested approach to negotiating - effective in any situation. 'Riveting' Adam Grant'Stupendous' The Week'Brilliant' Guardian____________________________After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined the FBI, where his career as a kidnapping negotiator brought him face-to-face with bank robbers, gang leaders and terrorists. Never Split the Difference takes you inside his world of high-stakes negotiations, revealing the nine key principles that helped Voss and his colleagues succeed when it mattered the most - when people's lives were at stake.Rooted in the real-life experiences of an intelligence professional at the top of his game, Never Split the Difference will give you the competitive edge in any discussion.____________________________PRAISE FOR NEVER SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE'Such a great book that is relevant to more than just FBI negotiations: it's relevant to my relationship with my partner, to my business, to everything in between.' Steven Bartlett, entrepreneur and host of the Diary of a CEO podcast'It's rare that a book is so gripping and entertaining while still being actionable and applicable.' Inc.'A business book you won't be able to put down.' Fortune Read more

From the creator of Valuetainment, the #1 YouTube channel for entrepreneurs, and “one of the most exciting thinkers” (Ray Dalio, author of Principles) in business today, comes a practical and effective guide for thinking more clearly and achieving your most audacious professional goals.Both successful entrepreneurs and chess grandmasters have the vision to look at the pieces in front of them and anticipate their next five moves. In this book, Patrick Bet-David “helps entrepreneurs understand exactly what they need to do next” (Brian Tracy, author of Eat That Frog!) by translating this skill into a valuable methodology. Whether you feel like you’ve hit a wall, lost your fire, or are looking for innovative strategies to take your business to the next level, Your Next Five Moves has the answers. You will gain: CLARITY on what you want and who you want to be. STRATEGY to help you reason in the war room and the board room. GROWTH TACTICS for good times and bad. SKILLS for building the right team based on strong values. INSIGHT on power plays and the art of applying leverage. Combining these principles and revelations drawn from Patrick’s own rise to successful CEO, Your Next Five Moves is a must-read for any serious executive, strategist, or entrepreneur. Read more

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER‘A monumental, gripping book … Outstanding’ SUNDAY TIMES‘Noise may be the most important book I've read in more than a decade. A genuinely new idea so exceedingly important you will immediately put it into practice. A masterpiece’Angela Duckworth, author of Grit‘An absolutely brilliant investigation of a massive societal problem that has been hiding in plain sight’Steven Levitt, co-author of FreakonomicsFrom the world-leaders in strategic thinking and the multi-million copy bestselling authors of Thinking Fast and Slow and Nudge, the next big book to change the way you think. We like to think we make decisions based on good reasoning – and that our doctors, judges, politicians, economic forecasters and employers do too. In this groundbreaking book, three world-leading behavioural scientists come together to assess the last great fault in our collective decision-making: noise.We all make bad judgements more than we think. Noise shows us what we can do to make better ones. Read more

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'A lively read that provides a practical step-by-step guide to founding a business.' The Financial Times It's time to leapfrog the only hurdle between you and a million-dollar company.More people than ever want to be their own boss, but venturing forward with your own business can be hugely intimidating. Are you investing effort in ideas that have no basis in customer demand? Are you shying away from even considering starting your own business? Noah Kagan knew this feeling all too well, but has since discovered how to banish the one simple thing holding aspiring entrepreneurs back, to become a 7-figure founder.MILLION DOLLAR WEEKEND offers an into-the-deep-end process for overcoming fear and perfectionism and making the business of your dreams a reality. Step-by-step, Noah shows what it takes to oust fear and build the "ask muscle", and shares practical advice that every entrepreneur needs to master. By demystifying what it takes to start a business, turning risk into realistic action and fear into fun, this is the beginning of your journey to successful entrepreneurship.And the best part? You can kickstart this process in a weekend. Read more

Have you ever found yourself struggling with information overload? Have you ever felt both overworked and underutilised? Do you ever feel busy but not productive? If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is to become an Essentialist. In Essentialism, Greg McKeown, CEO of a Leadership and Strategy agency in Silicon Valley who has run courses at Apple, Google and Facebook, shows you how to achieve what he calls the disciplined pursuit of less. Being an Essentialist is about a disciplined way of thinking. It means challenging the core assumption of ‘We can have it all’ and ‘I have to do everything’ and replacing it with the pursuit of ‘the right thing, in the right way, at the right time'.By applying a more selective criteria for what is essential, the pursuit of less allows us to regain control of our own choices so we can channel our time, energy and effort into making the highest possible contribution toward the goals and activities that matter. Using the experience and insight of working with the leaders of the most innovative companies and organisations in the world, McKeown shows you how to put Essentialism into practice in your own life, so you too can achieve something great. Read more

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'A marvel of insight and practicality' Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit____________________________How do you build and sustain a great team?The Culture Code reveals the secrets of some of the best teams in the world - from Pixar to Google to US Navy SEALs - explaining the three skills such groups have mastered in order to generate trust and a willingness to collaborate. Combining cutting-edge science, on-the-ground insight and practical ideas for action, it offers a roadmap for creating an environment where innovation flourishes, problems get solved, and expectations are exceeded.____________________________'There are profound ideas on every single page, stories that will change the way you work, the way you lead, and the impact you have on the world. Highly recommended, an urgent read.' Seth Godin, author of Linchpin'Truly brilliant . . . Read it immediately' Adam Grant, author of Originals'Well told stories, with actionable lessons' Financial Times Read more

From bestselling author Robert Greene comes a brilliant distillation of the strategies of war that can help us gain mastery in the modern world. Spanning world civilisations, and synthesising dozens of political, philosophical, and religious texts, The 33 Strategies of War is a comprehensive guide to the subtle social game of everyday life. Based on profound, timeless lessons, it is abundantly illustrated with examples of the genius and folly of everyone from Napoleon to Margaret Thatcher and Hannibal to Ulysses S. Grant, as well as diplomats, captains of industry and Samurai swordsmen. Read more

Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly BestsellerThe secret to leading growth is your mindsetSnowflake CEO Frank Slootman is one of the tech world's most accomplished executives in enterprise growth, having led Snowflake to the largest software IPO ever after leading ServiceNow and Data Domain to exponential growth and the public market before that. In Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity, he shares his leadership approach for the first time.Amp It Up delivers an authoritative look at what it takes to transform an organization for maximum growth and scale. Slootman shows that most leaders have significant room to improve their organization's performance without making expensive changes to their talent, structure, or fundamental business model―and they don’t need to bring in an army of consultants to do it. What they do need is to align people around what matters and execute with urgency and intensity every day.Leading for unprecedented growth means declaring war on mediocrity, breaking the status quo, and making conflicted choices daily, all with a relentless focus on the mission. Amp It Up provides the first principles to guide that change, and the tactical advice for organizing a company around them.Perfect for executives, entrepreneurs, founders, managers, and leaders of all kinds, Amp It Up is a must-read resource for anyone who seeks to unleash the growth potential of a company and scale it to heights they never thought possible. Read more

What will your 100-year life look like?A new edition of the international bestseller, featuring a new preface'Brilliant, timely, original, well written and utterly terrifying' Niall FergusonDoes the thought of working for 60 or 70 years fill you with dread? Or can you see the potential for a more stimulating future as a result of having so much extra time? Many of us have been raised on the traditional notion of a three-stage approach to our working lives: education, followed by work and then retirement. But this well-established pathway is already beginning to collapse - life expectancy is rising, final-salary pensions are vanishing, and increasing numbers of people are juggling multiple careers. Whether you are 18, 45 or 60, you will need to do things very differently from previous generations and learn to structure your life in completely new ways.The 100-Year Life is here to help.Drawing on the unique pairing of their experience in psychology and economics, Lynda Gratton and Andrew J. Scott offer a broad-ranging analysis as well as a raft of solutions, showing how to rethink your finances, your education, your career and your relationships and create a fulfilling 100-year life. · How can you fashion a career and life path that defines you and your values and creates a shifting balance between work and leisure?· What are the most effective ways of boosting your physical and mental health over a longer and more dynamic lifespan?· How can you make the most of your intangible assets - such as family and friends - as you build a productive, longer life?· In a multiple-stage life how can you learn to make the transitions that will be so crucial and experiment with new ways of living, working and learning?Shortlisted for the FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award and featuring a new preface, The 100-Year Life is a wake-up call that describes what to expect and considers the choices and options that you will face. It is also fundamentally a call to action for individuals, politicians, firms and governments and offers the clearest demonstration that a 100-year life can be a wonderful and inspiring one. Read more

What’s the difference between your competitor and your enemy? You know who your competitors are. You keep tabs on them regularly, and can list them calmly, along with their strengths and weaknesses. But your enemies are a whole other matter. They’re the haters and the doubters who said you’d never make it, the ones who stomped on your dreams. When you think about your enemies, you get emotional. You feel like you won’t let anything―or anyone―stop you. In Choose Your Enemies Wisely, Patrick Bet-David, #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author, founder of Valuetainment, and host of The PBD Podcast, shows how to harness that emotion to turbocharge your business, dominate this year, and grow for generations after. But first, you need to choose your enemies wisely. Bet-David has spent years perfecting the system that led to the knockout success of his own financial services company. Now, Bet-David shares the secret behind this system: his 12 Business Building Blocks, which will teach you how to seamlessly blend emotion and logic in your business plan. Both a practical document for achieving goals and the fuel needed to fire up yourself and your team, this plan goes beyond the “how” and digs deeper into the “why”: not only how you’ll get funding, but why you need long-term vision; why you must build a culture that makes employees want to run through walls; why you have to know the enemy you’re out to prove wrong. Straightforward and simple, the steps in this book will lead you to move the levers that create exponential growth and lasting success. Read Choose Your Enemies Wisely if you are a visionary, dreamer, and big thinker. Where you are now in your business journey doesn’t matter. By following Bet-David’s plan, you will set up your business for sustainable success and accomplish your most audacious goals. Read more

Being deprived of social gatherings revealed just how important they are; to connect with others, collaborate, share ideas and create moving, life-affirming experiences.___________________________If there's one thing lockdown showed us, it's that time together is a gift we've too often taken for granted.In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker shows us how to ensure that however we meet, it's a truly transformative experience. An expert on organizing successful gatherings whether in conference centres, crisis zones or her living room, Parker sets forth a human-centred approach to gathering that can help us create meaningful, memorable moments - large and small, for work and play.The result is a book full of exciting real-world ideas that will forever alter the way you look at your next business meeting, dinner party and garden barbecue.___________________________'Hosts of all kinds, this is a must-read!' Chris Anderson, creator of TED'Priya Parker has created both an art and a science to gathering in ways that can bring joy and fulfilment to any meeting' Deepak Chopra'A long overdue and urgent manifesto' Seth Godin, New York Times bestselling author of This is Marketing Read more

Property Investment for BeginnersOverviewOver the past 20 years, property investment has provided an excellent opportunity for ambitious, free-thinking investors to grow their wealth and reclaim their financial independence.These investors have achieved their success in spite of the great financial crisis, a global pandemic, and the first serious outburst of inflation we’ve seen for forty years. And so can you.Property Investment for Beginners is a step-by-step guide that will take you from property beginner to putting down an offer on your first buy-to-let in just four-weeks. You’ll learn how to:- set your investment goals and build a team around you- value residential property and model your likely returns- finance deals and use leverage to build wealth faster- choose where to invest and find good property deals- carry out property viewings and succeed in negotiationsYou don’t need an MBA or a masters degree in finance. Anyone can pursue a passion for property and learn how to build a portfolio, generate a second income and enjoy greater financial security.Whether you’re looking at property as a way to plan for retirement or replace the income from your day job, this book will give you the knowledge you need to get started in property today.List of ChaptersWeek One : Learning the basicsChapter 1 - Why invest in property?Chapter 2 - Rental yield calculationsChapter 3 - Capital growthChapter 4 - Using leverage to enhance returnsChapter 5 - The effect of compoundingWeek Two : Getting yourself set upChapter 6 - Setting your property goalsChapter 7 - Pick the right tax structureChapter 8 - Introduction to deal financingChapter 9 - Build a team around youChapter 10 - Gathering your resourcesWeek Three : Finding property dealsChapter 11 - Choosing where to investChapter 12 - Narrowing it down furtherChapter 13 - How to value a propertyChapter 14 - Modelling potential returnsChapter 15 - Using a property sourcerWeek Four : Viewings and negotiationsChapter 16 - How to arrange viewingsChapter 17 - What to do during viewingsChapter 18 - Refining your modellingChapter 19 - Offers and negotiationsChapter 20 - The conveyancing processAbout the AuthorRobert Heaton is a property investor, writer and qualified actuary.He blogs about property investment and property investing at his website. Read more

Best Books of the Year – The Financial Times and The EconomistShortlisted for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award 2023World expert Bent Flyvbjerg and bestselling author Dan Gardner reveal the secrets to successfully planning and delivering ambitious projects on any scale.‘Important, timely, instructive and entertaining’ – Daniel Kahneman, bestselling author of Thinking, Fast and SlowNothing is more inspiring than a big vision that becomes a triumphant new reality. Think of how Apple’s iPod went from a project with a single employee to an enormously successful product launch in eleven months. But such successes are the exception. Consider how London’s Crossrail project delivered five years late and billions over budget. More modest endeavours, whether launching a small business, organizing a conference, or just finishing a work project on time, also commonly fail. Why?Understanding what distinguishes the triumphs from the failures has been the life’s work of Oxford professor Bent Flyvbjerg. In How Big Things Get Done, he identifies the errors that lead projects to fail, and the research-based principles that will make yours succeed:Understand your odds. If you don’t know them, you won’t win.Plan slow, act fast. Getting to the action quick feels right. But it’s wrong.Think right to left. Start with your goal, then identify the steps to get there.Find your Lego. Big is best built from small.Master the unknown unknowns. Most think they can’t, so they fail. Flyvbjerg shows how you can.Full of vivid examples ranging from the building of the Sydney Opera House to the making of the latest Pixar blockbusters, How Big Things Get Done reveals how to get any ambitious project done – on time and on budget.'Entertaining . . . compelling . . . there are lessons here for managers of all stripes' – The Economist Read more

Have you ever found yourself struggling with information overload? Have you ever felt both overworked and underutilised? Do you ever feel busy but not productive? If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is to become an Essentialist. In Essentialism, Greg McKeown, CEO of a Leadership and Strategy agency in Silicon Valley who has run courses at Apple, Google and Facebook, shows you how to achieve what he calls the disciplined pursuit of less. Being an Essentialist is about a disciplined way of thinking. It means challenging the core assumption of ‘We can have it all’ and ‘I have to do everything’ and replacing it with the pursuit of ‘the right thing, in the right way, at the right time'.By applying a more selective criteria for what is essential, the pursuit of less allows us to regain control of our own choices so we can channel our time, energy and effort into making the highest possible contribution toward the goals and activities that matter. Using the experience and insight of working with the leaders of the most innovative companies and organisations in the world, McKeown shows you how to put Essentialism into practice in your own life, so you too can achieve something great. Read more

Winner of the International Book Awards for General Business Winner of the Readers' Favorite International Book Award for Non-Fiction Business It's been over a decade since Verne Harnish's best-selling book Mastering the Rockefeller Habits was first released. Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) is the first major revision of this business classic which details practical tools and techniques for building an industry-dominating business. This book is written so everyone 'from frontline employees to senior executives 'can get aligned in contributing to the growth of a firm. Scaling Up focuses on the four major decision areas every company must get right: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash. The book includes a series of new one-page tools including the updated One-Page Strategic Plan and the Rockefeller Habits ChecklistTM, which more than 40,000 firms around the globe have used to scale their companies successfully 'many to $10 million, $100 million, and $1 billion and beyond 'while enjoying the climb! Read more