Think And Grow Rich

What genius lies asleep in your brain? This is the question asked of us by Napoleon Hill. Originally published in 1937, and selling more than 60 million copies worldwide, Hill's Think and Grow Rich is the classic motivational book. Inspired by Andrew Carnegie, Hill studied the work and lives of some of the most successful people of the Industrial Era including Ford, Wrigley, Eastman, Rockefeller, Edison, Woolworth, Burbank, Morgan, and Firestone as well as three United States Presidents. From his 20 plus years of research into the characteristics of what launched these individuals into greatness and wealth, Hill developed his 13 universal principles, meant to inspire any individual to a richer, fuller life. The true genius of his writing is the simple way in which he explains that wealth comes from seeing your goal in your mind and making it happen, no matter what.

Think and Grow Rich reveals the money-making secrets of history's rich and famous, including: Henry Ford, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Edison and John D. Rockefeller.

This wealth creation classic, with a new introduction explaining the “great universal truth” famously alluded to by Hill, will give you the belief to follow your dreams and reach your goals.

Sincerely,

-Michael Force

Win Friends & Influence People

This grandfather of all people-skills books was first published in 1937. It was an overnight hit, eventually selling 15 million copies. How to Win Friends and Influence People is just as useful today as it was when it was first published, because Dale Carnegie had an understanding of human nature that will never be outdated. Financial success, Carnegie believed, is due 15 percent to professional knowledge and 85 percent to "the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership, and to arouse enthusiasm among people."

He teaches these skills through underlying principles of dealing with people so that they feel important and appreciated. He also emphasizes fundamental techniques for handling people without making them feel manipulated. Carnegie says you can make someone want to do what you want them to by seeing the situation from the other person's point of view and "arousing in the other person an eager want." You learn how to make people like you, win people over to your way of thinking, and change people without causing offense or arousing resentment. 

Sincerely,

-Michael Force

21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership

If you've never read The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, you've been missing out on one of the best-selling leadership books of all time. If you have read the original version, then you'll love this new expanded and updated one. 

Internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author John C. Maxwell has taken this million-seller and made it even better: 

Every Law of Leadership has been sharpened and updated
Seventeen new leadership stories are included
Two new Laws of Leadership are introduced
New evaluation tool will reveal your leadership strengths-and weaknesses
New application exercises in every chapter will help you grow

Why would Dr. Maxwell make changes to his best-selling book?   

"A book is a conversation between the author and reader," says Maxwell. "It's been ten years since I wrote The 21 Laws of Leadership. I've grown a lot since then. I've taught these laws in dozens of countries around the world. This new edition gives me the opportunity to share what I've learned."

Sincerely,

-Michael Force

The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People

 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change was a groundbreaker when it was first published in 1990, and it continues to be a business bestseller with more than 10 million copies sold. Stephen Covey, an internationally respected leadership authority, realizes that true success encompasses a balance of personal and professional effectiveness, so this book is a manual for performing better in both arenas. His anecdotes are as frequently from family situations as from business challenges. Before you can adopt the seven habits, you'll need to accomplish what Covey calls a "paradigm shift"--a change in perception and interpretation of how the world works.

Covey takes you through this change, which affects how you perceive and act regarding productivity, time management, positive thinking, developing your "proactive muscles" (acting with initiative rather than reacting), and much more. This isn't a quick-tips-start-tomorrow kind of book. The concepts are sometimes intricate, and you'll want to study this book, not skim it. When you finish, you'll probably have Post-it notes or hand-written annotations in every chapter, and you'll feel like you've taken a powerful seminar by Covey. 

Sincerely,

-Michael Force

The 4-Hour Workweek

 He has spent more than five years learning the secrets of the New Rich, a fast-growing subculture who has abandoned the “deferred-life plan” and instead mastered the new currencies—time and mobility—to create luxury lifestyles in the here and now.

Whether you are an overworked employee or an entrepreneur trapped in your own business, this book is the compass for a new and revolutionary world. Join Tim Ferriss as he teaches you:

• How to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want 
• How blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs 
• How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist
• How to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and freuent "mini-retirements"
• What the crucial difference is between absolute and relative income
• How to train your boss to value performance over presence, or kill your job (or company) if it’s beyond repair
• What automated cash-flow “muses” are and how to create one in 2 to 4 weeks
• How to cultivate selective ignorance—and create time—with a low-information diet
• What the management secrets of Remote Control CEOs are 
• How to get free housing worldwide and airfare at 50–80% off 
• How to fill the void and create a meaningful life after removing work and the office

You can have it all—really.

Sincerely,

-Michael Force

The Marketing Gurus

As the editor of Soundview Executive Book Summaries, which distills business books into 5,000-word recaps, Murray offers 17 such summaries of marketing books published in the last 15 years. It's arguably a narrow range for the best "of all time"—even with big names like Regis McKenna and Sergio Zyman on board. Each book summary begins with a quick summation, often making redundant the introductions written especially for the collection. And though the condensed versions manage to extract the key ideas from each text, some authors fare better than others.

Faith Popcorn's unique voice survives compression, for example, much better than Seth Godin's does. The selected books are sequenced to suggest a broader argument that runs from connecting with customers to marketing in the 21st century, but the actual connections between the various works are largely unstated. Unless you're completely new to marketing research, chances are you've come across at least one of these books already, but Soundview's summaries are a good introduction for those with no background.

Sincerely,

-Michael Force

Permission Marketing

Godin, a business whiz kid who does direct marketing for Yahoo!, asks a provocative question: Does advertising work? He cites example after example of recent misguided campaigns, a "waste jamboree" of traditional ads aimed at consumers who no longer care. There's an "infoglut" out there, he says, of ads in myriad media whose only power is to "interrupt" people's lives. Godin's professional journey to his current status as a guru of online promotion began with his work for such industry bigs as Prodigy and AOL.

Now, he specializes in direct-mail campaigns online, where he takes advantage of the interactive nature of the technology. Using traditional terms such as reach and frequency to define his efforts, he moves further, into the touchy-feely area of "permission marketing," his term for developing a personal relationship with consumers, where they actually enjoy receiving correspondence. On tape, Godin's message is winning because of his youthful attitude: self-assured, at times cocky, but always sensible.

Sincerely,

-Michael Force

The Sales Gurus

Insightful and easy-to-read summaries of eighteen books from some of the best minds in sales. There are dozens of sales books published each year, each with a different message. How can readers get new information and keep up with trends without reading each and every one of them? Soundview Executive Book Summaries has developed a reputation for being the premier business book selection service in the country. Each month they summarize the best recently published business books so that readers can stay current on the latest books out there and quickly glean strategies and ideas that will give them an edge.

Drawing on their exhaustive catalog of summaries, Soundview follows up The Marketing Gurus and The Management Gurus with The Sales Gurus. This book offers readers synopses of eighteen sales books from the top experts in the field, including Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, and Brian Tracy. Each book is represented by a Soundview summary featuring main points, key examples, best quotes, and more. Several of the summaries are brand new and have never been made available to Soundview subscribers.

Sincerely,

-Michael Force

Tribes

Short on pages but long on repetition, this newest book by Godin (Purple Cow) argues that lasting and substantive change can be best effected by a tribe: a group of people connected to each other, to a leader and to an idea. Smart innovators find or assemble a movement of similarly minded individuals and get the tribe excited by a new product, service or message, often via the Internet (consider, for example, the popularity of the Obama campaign, Facebook or Twitter). Tribes, Godin says, can be within or outside a corporation, and almost everyone can be a leader; most are kept from realizing their potential by fear of criticism and fear of being wrong.

The book's helpful nuggets are buried beneath esoteric case studies and multiple reiterations: we can be leaders if we want, tribes are the way of the future and change is good. On that last note, the advice found in this book should be used with caution. Change isn't made by asking permission, Godin says. Change is made by asking forgiveness, later. That may be true, but in this economy and in certain corporations, it may also be a good way to lose a job.

Sincerely,

-Michael Force