by Al Ries
Rating: 4.0 ⭐
• 11 recommendations ❤️
There are laws of nature, so why shouldn't there be laws of marketing? As Al Ries and Jack Trout—the world-renowned marketing consultants and bestselling authors of Positioning —note, you can build an impressive airplane, but it will never leave the ground if you ignore the laws of physics, especially gravity. Why then, they ask, shouldn't there also be laws of marketing that must be followed to launch and maintain winning brands? In The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing , Ries and Trout offer a compendium of twenty-two innovative rules for understanding and succeeding in the international marketplace. From the Law of Leadership, to The Law of the Category, to The Law of the Mind, these valuable insights stand the test of time and present a clear path to successful products. Violate them at your own risk.
by Austin Kleon
Rating: 4.0 ⭐
• 2 recommendations ❤️
You don’t need to be a genius, you just need to be yourself. That’s the message from Austin Kleon, a young writer and artist who knows that creativity is everywhere, creativity is for everyone. A manifesto for the digital age, Steal Like an Artist is a guide whose positive message, graphic look and illustrations, exercises, and examples will put readers directly in touch with their artistic side.
by Ryan Holiday
Rating: 4.0 ⭐
• 7 recommendations ❤️
You've seen it all before. A malicious online rumor costs a company millions. A political sideshow derails the national news cycle and destroys a candidate. Some product or celebrity zooms from total obscurity to viral sensation. What you don’t know is that someone is responsible for all this. Usually, someone like me. I’m a media manipulator. In a world where blogs control and distort the news, my job is to control blogs—as much as any one person can. IN TODAY’S CULTURE…Blogs like Gawker, BuzzFeed, and The Huffington Post drive the media agenda. Bloggers are slaves to money, technology, and deadlines. Manipulators wield these levers to shape everything you read, see, and hear— online and off. Why am I giving away these secrets? Because I’m tired of a world where blogs take indirect bribes, marketers help write the news, reckless journalists spread lies, and no one is accountable for any of it. I’m going to explain exactly how the media really works. What you choose to do with this information is up to you.
by Brené Brown
Rating: 4.4 ⭐
• 14 recommendations ❤️
The #1 New York Times bestseller. More than 2 million copies sold!Look for Brené Brown’s new podcast, Dare to Lead, as well as her ongoing podcast Unlocking Us !From thought leader Brené Brown, a transformative new vision for the way we lead, love, work, parent, and educate that teaches us the power of vulnerability. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. ”— Theodore RooseveltEvery day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable or to dare greatly. Based on twelve years of pioneering research, Brené Brown PhD, MSW, dispels the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.Brown explains how vulnerability is both the core of difficult emotions like fear, grief, and disappointment, and the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, empathy, innovation, and creativity. She writes: “When we shut ourselves off from vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.”Daring Greatly is not about winning or losing. It’s about courage. In a world where “never enough” dominates and feeling afraid has become second nature, vulnerability is subversive. Uncomfortable. It’s even a little dangerous at times. And, without question, putting ourselves out there means there’s a far greater risk of getting criticized or feeling hurt. But when we step back and examine our lives, we will find that nothing is as uncomfortable, dangerous, and hurtful as standing on the outside of our lives looking in and wondering what it would be like if we had the courage to step into the arena—whether it’s a new relationship, an important meeting, the creative process, or a difficult family conversation. Daring Greatly is a practice and a powerful new vision for letting ourselves be seen.
From one of the most provocative entrepreneurs of our time, Marc Ecko reveals his formula for building an authentic brand or business in a compelling how-to guide that’s perfect to “educate the next generation of dreamers” ( Kirkus Reviews ).As instructive as it is innovative, Unlabel empowers you to channel your creativity, find the courage to defy convention, and summon the confidence to act and compete in any environment.This visual blueprint teaches you how to grow both creatively and commercially by testing your personal brand against the principles of the Authenticity Formula.Marc Ecko shares the bruising mistakes and remarkable triumphs that reveal the truth behind his success, growing from a misfit kid airbrushing T-shirts in his parents’ garage to the bold creator of two hugely successful branded platforms—Ecko Unltd. and Complex Media. As Ecko explains, it’s not enough to simply merge your inner artist with business savvy, you must understand the anatomy of a brand, starting with its authentic spine.With Unlabel , you will discover your own voice by overcoming fear, take action and deliver on your promises, understand why failure is essential, learn how your product or service makes people feel, and recognize if your nostalgia for the past is hampering your ability to envision your future.Unlabel provides a bold and honest approach to building an authentic personal brand, and a roadmap for growing a bootstrap start-up into a sustainable business.
by Gary Vaynerchuk
Rating: 3.9 ⭐
• 2 recommendations ❤️
The New York Times bestselling author and social media expert returns with hard-won advice on how to connect with customers and beat the competition by mastering social media marketingWhen managers and marketers outline their social media strategies, they often plan for the "right hook"-their next highly anticipated sale or campaign that's going to put the competition out for the count. Even companies committed to jabbing-patiently engaging with customers to build the relationships so crucial to successful social media campaigns-still yearn to land the powerful, bruising swing that will knock out their opponent or their customer's resistance in one tooth-spritzing, killer blow. Right hooks, after all, convert traffic to sales. They easily show results and ROI. Except when they don't.In the same passionate, street-wise style readers have come to expect, Gary Vaynerchuk is on a mission to improve marketers' right hooks by changing the way they fight to make their customers happy, and ultimately to compete. Thanks to the massive change and proliferation in social media platforms in the last four years, the winning combination of jabs and right hooks is different now. Communication is still key, but context matters more than ever. It's not just about developing high-quality content, but developing high-quality content perfectly adapted to specific social media platforms and mobile devices-content tailor-made for Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Tumblr. A mash-up of the best elements of Crush It! and The Thank You Economy with a 2013 spin, here is a blueprint to social media marketing strategies that really works.
by Austin Kleon
Rating: 4.1 ⭐
• 6 recommendations ❤️
In his New York Times bestseller Steal Like an Artist, Austin Kleon showed readers how to unlock their creativity by “stealing” from the community of other movers and shakers. Now, in an even more forward-thinking and necessary book, he shows how to take that critical next step on a creative journey—getting known. Show Your Work! is about why generosity trumps genius. It’s about getting findable, about using the network instead of wasting time “networking.” It’s not self-promotion, it’s self-discovery—let others into your process, then let them steal from you. Filled with illustrations, quotes, stories, and examples, Show Your Work! offers ten transformative rules for being open, generous, brave, productive. In chapters such as You Don’t Have to Be a Genius; Share Something Small Every Day; and Stick Around, Kleon creates a user’s manual for embracing the communal nature of creativity— what he calls the “ecology of talent.” From broader life lessons about work (you can’t find your voice if you don’t use it) to the etiquette of sharing—and the dangers of oversharing—to the practicalities of Internet life (build a good domain name; give credit when credit is due), it’s an inspiring manifesto for succeeding as any kind of artist or entrepreneur in the digital age.
Do you live in constant fear? Do you worry that something terrible is about to happen? Do you have trouble breathing, relaxing, and sleeping? Do you think you’re losing control, and that you’re going to die? Are you trapped in your own personal hell, and don’t know how to get out? I’ve been there, and I know what it’s like. Shallow breathing, tension in the gut, chest pains, rapid heartbeat... Every moment is exhausting, crushing, and painful. Anxiety destroys your confidence, your productivity, your relationships, and your ability to enjoy life. The worst part is the obsessive hopelessness – the gnawing sense that you’ll never feel happy again. Fear no more. You can put an end to your suffering. You can start living again. And it’s not as hard as you think... Play It Away covers my entire journey: what caused my anxiety, the “A-ha!” moment that lead to my cure and how I got my life back. In this book, you’ll learn: - The key breakthrough that allowed me to enjoy life again (page 27) - My step-by-step plan for healing anxiety without drugs (page 47) - How I turned non-stop worrying into background noise (page 95) - My unusual technique for stopping panic attacks (page 100) - Why “anchors” fuel anxiety, and how to remove them (page 49) - How I finally started sleeping well again (page 85) - Three common nutrient deficiencies that amplify anxiety (page 114) - How to boost productivity and have guilt-free fun (page 70) # # # Actual Reader Feedback “After reading your book, everything clicked for me… There are so many parts in it that I can relate to; the anxious feeling from coffee, lack of sleep, too much time spent on my laptop/iPhone, and so many other things… I can’t explain how nice it was to know that someone finally understood AND has solutions to change those feelings… The answers I’ve been searching for and asking doctors about for almost the last 3 years, you were able to summarize in one book.” “As someone who has been racking his brain trying to figure out where I went wrong, reading this was a gigantic breath of fresh air.” “I'm a developer who’s been struggling with burnout for a long time. I read your book in a single sitting. The only feedback I've got is THANK YOU! I'm so appreciative of your words because they validate what I've been feeling deep down all this time.” “I’m going to implement this stuff on my own, even though I don’t feel like I struggle with anxiety. I just think this can help me be a happier, more fun person.” “I’ve become so isolated and miserable... Somewhere along the way I ended up working every second I could, thinking it made me feel better... I can’t remember the last time I did something fun and not felt bad about doing so... This is what I needed to hear to save my life.” “Charlie's transformation through the rediscovery of his own innate play nature stands as an example available to all of us. Access your own unique play capacities and infuse them into your life! It works!” - Stuart Brown, M.D., bestselling author of Play
Brandon Stanton’s new book, Humans—his most moving and compelling book to date—shows us the world.Brandon Stanton created Humans of New York in 2010. What began as a photographic census of life in New York City, soon evolved into a storytelling phenomenon. A global audience of millions began following HONY daily. Over the next several years, Stanton broadened his lens to include people from across the world. Traveling to more than forty countries, he conducted interviews across continents, borders, and language barriers. Humans is the definitive catalogue of these travels. The faces and locations will vary from page to page, but the stories will feel deeply familiar. Told with candor and intimacy, Humans will resonate with readers across the globe—providing a portrait of our shared experience.