Decision-Making & Problem Solving

The guru to the gurus at last shares his knowledge with the rest of us....

Ray Dalio, one of the world's most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he's developed, refined, and used over the past 40 years....

The book that revolutionized business communications has been updated for today's workplace. Crucial Conversations provides powerful skills to ensure every conversation - especially difficult ones - leads to the results you want....

From the best-selling author of Thinking in Bets comes a toolkit for mastering the skill of quitting to achieve greater success....

Have you ever found yourself stretched too thin? Do you simultaneously feel overworked and underutilized? Are you often busy but not productive?...

The host of EconTalk Russ Roberts offers a guide to decision-making when you can't crunch the numbers....

Transitions are a critical time for leaders. In fact, most agree that moving into a new role is the biggest challenge a manager will face....

In his landmark best seller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us....

Build is full of personal stories, practical advice and fascinating insights into some of the most impactful products and people of the 20th century....

How do we play to succeed in the game we’re in? In this revelatory new audiobook, Simon Sinek offers a framework for leading with an infinite mindset....

From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot, from organizing one's inbox to understanding the workings of human memory, Algorithms to Live By transforms the wisdom of computer science into strategies for human living....

Overthinking isn't a personality trait. It's the sneakiest form of fear. It steals time, creativity, and goals. It's the most expensive, least productive thing companies invest in without even knowing it. And it's an epidemic....

From the best-selling author of The Black Swan and one of the foremost thinkers of our time, a book on how some things actually benefit from disorder. Taleb’s message is revolutionary: What is not antifragile will surely perish....

From the author of Expecting Better, an economist's guide to the early years of parenting....

Poker champion turned business consultant Annie Duke teaches you how to get comfortable with uncertainty and make better decisions as a result....

Since the original publication of Nudge more than a decade ago, the title has entered the vocabulary of businesspeople, policy makers, engaged citizens, and consumers everywhere....

In this perennial best seller, embraced by organizations and industries worldwide, globally preeminent management thinkers W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne challenge everything you thought you knew about the requirements for strategic success....

Why is it so hard to make lasting changes in our companies, in our communities, and in our own lives? The primary obstacle is a conflict that's built into our brains, say Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the critically acclaimed best seller Made to Stick....

With straight talk and practical solutions, Jared Tendler brings a new voice to trading psychology. In The Mental Game of Trading, he busts myths about emotions, greed, and discipline, and shows you how to look past the obvious to identify the real reasons you're struggling....

From the bestselling author of You Are Not So Smart comes a brain-bending investigation of why some people never change their minds—and others do in an instant....

Innovation expert Clayton Christensen shows how even the most outstanding companies can do everything right - yet still lose market leadership....

Filled with hundreds of specific examples and organized into a coherent framework of practical concepts that can be applied by managers and entrepreneurs at all levels, Built to Last provides a master blueprint for building organizations....

In this book you'll find all the tools, strategies, and techniques you need to improve your memory....

He knows how to win. More, he knows the many ways - subtle, brutal, often self-inflicted - we lose. As the most trusted mental coach in the world of sports, Trevor Moawad has worked with many of the most dominant athletes and the savviest coaches....

Developing and implementing a strategy is the central task of a leader. A good strategy is a specific and coherent response to - and approach for - overcoming the obstacles to progress. A good strategy works by harnessing and applying power where it will have the greatest effect....

In Quit, Duke teaches you how to get good at quitting. Drawing on stories from elite athletes like Mount Everest climbers, founders of leading companies like Stewart Butterfield, the CEO of Slack, and top entertainers like Dave Chappelle, Duke explains why quitting is integral to success, as well as strategies for determining when to hold 'em, and when to fold 'em, that will save you time, energy, and money. 

Why do some people avoid risk at all costs, while others embrace it? How do you know when to take a chance or when to walk away? And what happens after a risk pays off handsomely, crashes miserably, or lands in the muddy middle of life? The Risk Paradox explores the stories of more than 100 notable risk-takers, in business and life. This unprecedented study provides fascinating, intimate views on risk and its meaning—before, during, and after the plunge. 

We are often told that the secret to success is hard work, determination and hours of practice. But in a fast-changing world, what if the really crucial skill is knowing when to stick at something and when to change track and walk away? Quit makes the under-appreciated case for quitting and also shows you how to get really good at it. Drawing on stories from elite athletes to Everest climbers, comedians to musicians, Annie Duke (who left a successful poker career) explains why learning to quit well is often crucial to success. 

 In You're the Leader. Now What?, Dr. Richard Winters, a Mayo Clinic emergency physician, executive coach, and director of leadership development for the Mayo Clinic Care Network, uses proven frameworks, practical tactics, and real-life experience to help you become a more effective leader as you face your thorniest organizational challenges. 

Prototyping is a way to test an idea to see if it can be successful before investing too much time and too many resources. But it's not only designers who "prototype" as they work. A skateboarder tries a new trick; that's a prototype experience. A chef experiments with a new dish and new ingredients; that's a prototype experience, too. Once a prototype is made, the creator gains knowledge about what worked and what didn't, what should be used again and what should be trimmed from the experience.

What if we lived in a world that revolved around quality of life, rather than economic winners and losers? In Person to Person, Joeri Torfs and Pim Ampe describe this world and chart a clear path toward it. Grounded in research and rooted in reality, the world they describe is neither a utopia nor a fantasy. They present an environment that incentivizes goodness, fairness, sustainability, and freedom. It begins with the individual and moves toward our collaborative relationships. 

HR by Design is the playbook for developing creative and human-focused solutions to everyday human resources (HR) challenges. The book first provides a thorough overview of design thinking and various stories from successful HR professionals on how they solve HR-related problems in their day-to-day lives. Jodi Brandstetter utilizes a current challenge most HR professionals are facing to show how design thinking can be the best methodology for the HR industry. By the end of the book, you will have a better understanding of design thinking.

In no other time in recent history have leaders in every industry and on every continent grappled with so many changes that have independently and simultaneously undermined their ability to lead. The Prepared Leader encapsulates more than two decades of the authors' research to convey how it has positioned them to navigate through the distinct challenges of today and tomorrow. Their insights have implications for every leader in every industry and every worker at every level.

How is it that some leaders win brilliantly and repeatedly, while others struggle to reach their full potential? Over a decade, Robert Jordan and Olivia Wagner set out to answer this question, interviewing thousands of leaders and matching top executives with struggling or high-growth organizations, learning first-hand what separated the rockstars from the rest. In Right Leader Right Time they identify four unique leadership styles that when applied to the right role at the right time, skyrocket success for both the leader and the organization.

The COVID-19 pandemic provided extraordinary challenges and opportunities, but the reality of being in business is that you are consistently confronting obstacles. This compilation of interviews from peer experts was created to bring you the advice you need exactly when you need it. This book is your firsthand introduction to 48 trusted experts who understand you and your business’s needs because they are business owners, entrepreneurs, and CEOs themselves. They want to see you succeed and grow—and graciously share their knowledge so you can take it and make it work for you.

Whether you’re a middle manager or a first-time leader, a business owner, a creative, or a parent struggling with why things don’t work out for you, Failure Leaves Clues will give you a fresh perspective. Change your business, projects, and relationships with this 90-day system. Through storytelling, podcaster and former chief creative officer Brian Gahan dives into the failure side of goals, projects, and desires, and shares a mindset that will teach you how to work with failure and its clues. 

In spring 2018, England cricket had a performance problem. The Test team hadn’t won a Test match overseas for nearly two years. Recently crushed in the Ashes, England teams were world ranked 5th, 4th and 2nd across the three formats. The England and Wales Cricket Board approached Ed Smith, asking him to bring in a whole new philosophy. Over the next three years, England’s teams won 7 out of 10 completed matches—better than England had ever performed in the board’s history. Making Decisions shares Ed’s approach to finding success.

Managing during a crisis is much easier if your organization has a foundation that supports, rather than diverts, time and resources from your response to the pandemic. Emerging successfully is much more likely if the foundation you have built speeds up your actions rather than slows them down. It all comes down to good common sense. If you go into a crisis in a strong position, you are much more likely to handle it well, be resilient, and emerge strong. If you go into a crisis weak or off balance, you will have a much bigger challenge and may be lucky to merely survive.

Psychologist Woo-kyoung Ahn devised a course at Yale called “Thinking” to help students examine the biases that cause so many problems in their daily lives. It quickly became one of the university’s most popular courses. Now, for the first time, Ahn presents key insights from her years of teaching and research in a book for everyone. She shows how “thinking problems” stand behind a wide range of challenges, from common, self-inflicted daily aggravations to our most pressing societal issues and inequities. 

In The Upside of Uncertainty, INSEAD professor Nathan Furr and entrepreneur Susannah Harmon Furr provide a sweeping guide to embracing uncertainty and transforming it into a force for good. Drawing from hundreds of interviews, along with pioneering research in psychology, innovation, and behavioral economics, Nathan and Susannah provide dozens of tools—including mental models, techniques, and reflections—for seeing the upside of uncertainty, developing a vision for what to do next, and opening ourselves up to new possibilities.