"A guide not just for overcoming the obstacles that hold us back-but for using them for great benefit The great Athenian orator Demosthenes was born with a crippling speech impediment and was robbed of his inheritance by cruel guardians. Samuel Zemurray was a poor roadside fruit peddler pitted against the behemoth United Fruit Company. Ulysses S. Grant found himself stuck across the Mississippi river, desperately trying to break into the impenetrable...

"Jenny Blake, bestselling author of Life After College and former career development program manager at Google, shows how to move into your next career phase by leveraging what you already do well. Now, more than ever, we need to navigate career changes deftly and frequently. The average employee tenure in America is just four or five years, and even those job roles often change dramatically within that time frame. Our economy demands that we create...

"Have you ever known that you needed to make a change, but felt unable to do anything about it? Have you ever felt like you aren't where you are supposed to be, and wondered how the people around you managed to find their purpose in life? After realizing that his well-paying, prestigious job was actually making him miserable, Adam "Smiley" Poswolsky started asking these big questions: How do you actually find meaning in the workplace? How do you find...

"This is a manifesto about ideas. Big ideas, small ideas, and outlandish ideas. Ideas that innovate, ideas that disrupt markets, and especially ideas that irritate. More than ideas, though, Mad Genius is about how ideas are born and the role they play in entrepreneurial thinking. This is a manifesto for managers who want to become leaders and leaders, who want to blow up mediocrity. Because whether you work in a traditional business, a nonprofit service...

"More women than ever are starting businesses -- side businesses, home-based businesses, hobby businesses and small businesses," says Wright. "With increasing social media platforms and online tools, it's never been easier. But there are also many challenges and questions that come along with starting a business. By giving these women a step-by-step plan, they're able to take the guesswork out of running a business and have the confidence to make...

In his years as a professional ice-skater, Olympic Gold Medalist Scott Hamilton learned to embrace the mind-set of working hard to "beat" the competition. But it seems competition has gotten a bad rap these days. We've bought into the belief that it is unfair to participants to rank performance. Yet competition is in fact a good thing because its about working toward excellence. Finish First is a wake-up call for business leaders, entrepreneurs, spouses,...