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The secret to success in business and life is creating meaningful connections. There is no better example of the pivotal role relationships play than the Customer Advisory Board (CAB), a group of handpicked customers who provide feedback and advice on products and strategy to a company’s executive team.

In BUILD A WORLD-CLASS CUSTOMER ADVISORY BOARD: How To Create Deeper Relationships And Validate Strategies, customer advisory board expert Irene Yam illustrates how companies can leapfrog the competition by listening to their customers. The book explains the secrets to creating an effective CAB.

The proven strategies and advice in this book will enable companies to build better brands, elevate business, and stay competitive

Irene Yam is a recognized customer advisory board expert. After working for 24 years in technology start-ups and fast-growing companies like Riverbed, EMC, Joyent, Workspot, and RingCentral, what came naturally to her was building human connections between customers and executives during Customer Advisory Board Meetings. She now runs her own CAB consulting company.

Identify the real problem. Don’t waste time and money solving the wrong problem.

Consistently create ideas. Make your business recession-proof and competition-proof.

Grow your business. Solve the tough problems holding you back.

Leading in today’s world is difficult, and it is not getting easier. To compete and be profitable in today’s marketplace, you need big, creative solutions and you need them now. Just as you follow a recipe to cook a great meal, there is a recipe to create great ideas. Create in a Flash is based on Dr. Roger Firestien’s 40 years helping companies unleash the innovation of their workforce. Roger’s clients include AT&T, SC Johnson, Disney, Hilton, NASA and over 600 other organizations big and small, including corporations, government, universities and churches.

Roger L. Firestien, PhD, has presented programs on innovation to over 600 organizations around the world including Fortune 500 corporations, government agencies, universities, associations, and religious institutions.

His expert views on creativity have been covered in Fast Company, Forbes, Investor’s Business Daily, Inc. and The New York Times.

He is Associate Professor Emeritus at the Center for Applied Imagination at Buffalo State University, President of Innovation Resources, Inc., a founding member of the Buffalo Society for Creativity in Medical Education, and guest lecturer at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, NY.

In DISABILITY IS HUMAN: The Vital Power Of Accessibility In Everyday Life, Stephanie W. Cawthon, PhD, draws upon more than twenty five years of experience as a professional educator and researcher to dispel myths and raise expectations about disabled people. Cawthon brings the energy and insights from her popular presentations and workshops in nearly every industry — where she has empowered, encouraged, and supported thousands of people in the journey toward greater access.

Stephanie W. Cawthon, PhD is an internationally renowned author, researcher, and consultant who brings relatable insights and real-world skills to her mission that – when we tap the power of accessibility – we ensure disabled people can thrive and succeed.

Dr. Cawthon’s groundbreaking research has been funded by over $50 million in federal and other grants. In 2023 she founded the National Disability Center for Student Success at The University of Texas at Austin, where she is a tenured Professor of Educational Psychology.

She brings a lived experience to her work. In addition to her congenital hearing loss, she has several mental health and physical disabilities that have a significant impact on her ability to engage in important life activities.

Dr. Cawthon earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Stanford University and her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER 

USA TODAY BESTSELLER

In a world characterized by constant change, individuals and organizations need to pivot to adapt. In EVERYTHING CONNECTS:  Cultivating Mindfulness, Creativity, And Innovation For Long-term Value. Entrepreneur, thought leader, and innovator Faisal Hoque shows how to thrive in the environment of change in which we live and work.

The book – a revision of the first edition of EVERYTHING CONNECTS – includes new material on changes due to the pandemic, mindfulness and resiliency, all designed to help leverage and thrive in the flickering environment of change. These additional topics add substance to the seminal focus of the original edition, and further the core message that everything has a relationship to everything else, resulting in a powerful synergy.

Part philosophy, part business, and part history, this book is a kaleidoscopic view of the way humans―by being able to think out of the box―have been able to achieve greatness for themselves, their organizations, and the world at large.

Faisal Hoque is an accomplished entrepreneur, senior executive, author, thought leader, public speaker, and advisor to management teams and BODs with more than 25 years of cross-industry success. He is the founder of SHADOKA, NextChapter, and other companies; they focus on enabling sustainable and transformational changes.

To create change, to adapt, and to innovate in organizations requires teamwork. Typically, teams are brought together because of their experiences, functional expertise, and background. Yet, they often don’t have a formal understanding and knowledge of how to work together as a team, particularly in high-stakes situations like innovation.

In FIRE UP INNOVATION: Sparking And Sustaining Innovation Teams, innovation consultant and strategist Helene Cahen provides a roadmap to support a journey of learning and a practice of new thinking and risk-taking. The book, with its multi-color energizing design, contains the keys to a self-guided journey to understanding one’s own creativity and developing innovation techniques, language, and tools to collaborate and innovate with others more easily and successfully.

Helene (pronounced “L N”) Cahen, MS, is an innovation strategist, trainer, facilitator, and speaker with over 20 years of experience helping companies navigate innovation challenges. She is the founder and principal consultant at Fire Up Innovation Consulting (previously Strategic Insights), where she guides Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, and non-profits to understand innovation, create innovative new products/services, build effective teams, and support a user-centered culture.

Cahen has been a facilitator and lecturer for the Haas School of Business and is now coaching in their Executive Program. She was also the vice president of innovation for a startup and worked in and for package goods corporations in the beginning of her career. She is in demand as a speaker on the topic of design thinking and creativity, and recently did a TEDx talk on high-performance collaboration for teams.

Trained in creative problem solving and design thinking, Cahen received an MS in Creativity and Change Leadership from the Center for Applied Imagination at the State University of New York (SUNY) Buffalo. She also has a business degree from Sciences Po Paris, a prestigious French business school.

The workplace can be intimidating for introverts and people with low self-confidence, which can lead them to place artificial limits on themselves. In HIGH IMPACT AT LOW DECIBELS: How Anxiety-Filled Introverts (And Others) Can Thrive In The Workplace, former corporate executive Mike Schiller shares how to succeed in the workplace, as told by a self-described anxiety-filled introvert who navigated that world, moving from technical roles to management to executive leadership.

Schiller advises being aware of anxieties, figuring out how to mitigate them so that they don’t become derailers, and learning how to make them work to one’s advantage. Challenges don’t have to be limitations; instead, they can provide a diversity of experience and thought. Filled with practical advice, this book shows anxiety-filled introverts (anxiety-filled extroverts too) how they can thrive in the workplace, as told by one of their own.

Mike Schiller has more than 30 years of experience at Fortune 500 companies, both as a technical expert and as an executive-level leader, and most recently was vice president and chief information security officer at Texas Instruments. He is currently president of Onward Consulting, specializing in information security and audit consulting. Schiller is a graduate of Texas A&M University and has spent more than 20 years working in the IT audit and information security fields. He is an anxiety-filled introvert and enjoys helping others with similar challenges succeed.

In today’s complex, ambiguous world of work, leaders can’t rely on data and models alone. The difference between good and bad decisions often rests on intuition. In INTUITION AT WORK: Using Your Gut Feelings To Get Ahead, executive coach Jessica Pryce-Jones shares how intuition helps senior leaders and their teams arrive at important decisions, explains what intuition is, what forms it takes, and how to be more attentive to its cues.

The benefits of intuitive decision-making, as detailed in the stories and exercises in INTUITION AT WORK, will result in greater responsiveness, flexibility, and improved organizational performance.

Jessica Pryce-Jones started her career in finance where she learned about numbers, strategy and leadership. After ten years in the corporate world, she completed a psychology degree – she wanted to understand why some of her bosses were brilliant and others were dismal. Those insights launched a new career facilitating, coaching, designing interventions and writing.

Clients include multinationals in healthcare, professional services, FMCG, banking, creative, education, manufacturing, publishing and engineering industries as well as the public and not-for-profit sectors.

She has written two previous books, Happiness at Work: Maximizing Your Psychological Capital for Success and Running Great Meetings & Workshops for Dummies.

The qualities that make for a successful military career – such as loyalty, preparation and attention to detail – are essential to success in the private sector. In LESSONS FROM THE ADMIRAL: Naval Wisdom And Sea Stories For Leaders, retired naval flight officer Mark C. Fava, distills his experiences as an aide to a Navy admiral into actionable steps that can be implemented in almost business situation.

Just as Fava has used the lessons he learned from the Admiral to excel, these lessons are applicable to anyone trying to succeed and get promoted, regardless of their profession. He says, “I wrote this book for anyone who has ever worn a military uniform and enjoys a good sea story, and especially for anyone who wants to grow in their career – military or civilian.” Today he mentors others about what senior leaders look for when identifying people as future leaders deserving of promotions and roles of greater responsibility.

For all those in business or the military who want to excel as an employee, manager, lawyer, military profession, and ultimately a leader, LESSONS FROM THE ADMIRAL provides the necessary insight and foundation to succeed.

Mark C. Fava is a career aviation lawyer and retired naval flight officer. He is a prolific writer and entertaining speaker. Fava retired from the US Navy as a Captain having commanded three units, including an aviation squadron. He has been a law firm partner and a corporate executive lawyer. He has written numerous articles, including “What I Learned from the Judge” in the SC Lawyer and “Steering Through a Crisis: Lawyers as Leaders” in The Washington Lawyer. As a law school adjunct professor, he has also taught aviation law and legal writing.

#1 WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER

USA TODAY BESTSELLER

Transformational leaders will leverage positive change

In a world of explosive change and transformation, leaders at all levels―from heads of state and global corporations to entrepreneurs and gig economists―will offer the best opportunity for leveraging change and transforming our lives for the better. This includes how we work, play, govern ourselves, and consider and plan for our collective futures.

This thought-provoking book invites you to explore the intersection of transformational leadership, systemic thinking, and experiential learning―all required to survive and thrive the tsunami of changes and disruptions caused by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, and misinformation trends.

Faisal Hoque is an accomplished entrepreneur, senior executive, author, thought leader, public speaker, and advisor to management teams and BODs with more than 25 years of cross-industry success. He is the founder of SHADOKA, NextChapter, and other companies; they focus on enabling sustainable and transformational changes.

In REINVENT: Navigating Business Transformation In A Hyperdigital Era, entrepreneur, innovator, and advisor with more than twenty-five years of cross-industry success, Faisal Hoque, makes the argument for reinvention – from the changing nature of consumers to shifting workforce priorities to the necessity for greater organizational security. Hoque introduces ideas, concepts, and a comprehensive framework (LIFTS — learn, investigate, formulate, take off, and study) to help position organizations to reap the benefits of business and digital transformation.

The skills and mindset taught in the book will equip transformational leaders to manage ongoing change and adjust to the upheavals that are taking place everywhere.

Faisal Hoque is the founder of SHADOKA, NextChapter, and other companies that focus on enabling sustainable and transformational changes. Throughout his career, he has developed over 20 commercial business and technology platforms and worked with public and private sector giants such as the US Department of Defense, GE, MasterCard, American Express, Northrop Grumman, CACI, PepsiCo, IBM, Home Depot, Gartner, and JPMorgan Chase. He is a 3 time winning Founder and CEO of Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ awards

People train longer, specialize more, use ever-advancing technologies and still manage to solve the wrong problems. Why? Because they have been taught that when they face problems big or small, their initial impression/definition/hunch of what they think is the problem really is the problem, notes renowned innovation consultant Roger L. Firestien, PhD, in SOLVE THE REAL PROBLEM: Because What You Think Is The Problem Is Usually Not The Problem.

With all the information that they have at their fingertips, people still misdiagnose illnesses, create educational programs that don’t help students, sink millions into business plans that never get off the ground, and overlook simple details that cost time, energy and lives. “We have been taught to find answers to problems, not to question the problem itself,” says Firestien.

Roger L. Firestien, PhD, has presented programs on innovation to over 600 organizations around the world including Fortune 500 corporations, government agencies, universities, associations, and religious institutions.

His expert views on creativity have been covered in Fast Company, Forbes, Investor’s Business Daily, Inc. and The New York Times.

He is Associate Professor Emeritus at the Center for Applied Imagination at Buffalo State University, President of Innovation Resources, Inc., a founding member of the Buffalo Society for Creativity in Medical Education, and guest lecturer at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, NY.

The world of consumer marketing has done an excellent job of understanding audiences and shaping stories to make a connection. But while storytelling advice abounds, storytelling in corporate settings is lacking.

In STRATEGIC STORYTELLING: Why Some Stories Drive Your Success At Work But Others Don’t, corporate storytelling specialist Anjali Sharma, Managing Director of Narrative: The Business of Stories, provides a framework for crafting stories that have the power to change outcomes for both individuals and organizations. This type of storytelling ensures an understanding of one’s audience.

Packed with insights and real-world examples, this book will teach corporate professionals how to tell a strategic story and strategic narrative to drive change throughout the organization.

Anjali Sharma is the founder of Narrative: The Business of Stories and is one of the most sought-after keynote speakers trusted by international brands seeking guidance on finding, developing, and using their stories to make a dynamic change happen.

Sharma works with private and government organizations to determine what their individual and unique business challenges are, and by incorporating story skills, she crafts individualized solutions to help solve those challenges. She has helped companies to increase staff engagement and performance, increase client satisfaction and sales, define company values and effectively position brands by embedding story skills into their organizations.

Sharma has spoken on the topic of storytelling in Russia, Japan, US, London, Africa, UAE, Australia, India, China and almost all the Southeast Asian countries. She is trusted by brands such as LinkedIn, Airbnb, Bytedance, TikTok, and Meta.

Leaders of B2C and B2B organizations – irrespective of size, geography and industry sector – need a tried-and-tested approach to improve their customer experience. To stay ahead of the competition and meet the evolving demands of empowered, values-driven customers, organizations need to embrace the age of the customer and implement multi-channel strategies. The key lies in values-driven organizational alignment designed for an organization’s unique situation, all underpinned by a customer experience mindset and the ‘human touch’.

In SUPERCHARGING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: How Organizational Alignment Drives Performance, customer experience and business transformation experts Alan Williams and Dave Stubberfield provide a methodology and framework that has successfully been adopted by large and small companies, across sectors.

Alan Williams, Founder & MD, SERVICEBRAND GLOBAL Ltd, coaches progressive leaders of service sector organizations, internationally, to deliver values-driven service for sustained performance.

With more than 20 years’ senior management experience in demanding customer service environments, Williams’ rare mix of extensive operations and coaching experience enables him to create and implement holistic SERVICEBRAND® strategies for sustainable impact. He has applied this approach as a consultant and in senior leadership roles for global blue-chip organizations as well as smaller entrepreneurial companies.

Dave Stubberfield is Director & Principal Consultant, Carter Consultancy. With over a decade’s worth of experience in business transformation, has been involved with and managed complex and comprehensive projects to improve a variety of businesses with a customer-centric focus. By empowering people from the ground up and gaining total sponsorship from senior leaders, Stubberfield ensures complete coverage of the transformation across the organization. He applies his expertise in continuous improvement, customer experience and change management to create bespoke implementation solutions for businesses of all sizes and reach their goals, embedding and sustaining these methodologies.

Traditional notions of executive presence and influence are rapidly falling by the wayside. In their place, a new type of leader is emerging, one with a bold mission who empowers others through unwavering passion and a commitment to serve. A major paradigm shift is apparent: The old rules of influence don’t work anymore.

In THE NEW RULES OF INFLUENCE: How To Authentically Build Trust, Drive Change, And Make An Impact, executive coach Lida Citroën provides a handbook for business professionals, content creators, community leaders, entrepreneurs, social activists, and anyone who aspires to leadership. Citroën provides examples of real people with real struggles and ideas, people who tend to be unheard or afraid to speak up, underrepresented voices who’ve found strength in the New Rules to confidently share their gifts with others – in business, politics, social activism, and more. “You’ll be encouraged to push past what you think and have been taught about how we authentically build trust and drive change. You’ll learn your why, focus on your who, and then get going with your how,” says Citroën.

Lida Citroën is an award-winning branding and reputation management expert who designs and enhances the identities of executives, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders globally. As CEO and founder of LIDA360, LLC, Citroën is sought-after for her knowledge of personal brand development, reputation management, leadership communication, and online positioning.

As a professional keynote speaker and presenter, Citroën’s popular TEDx talk and multiple courses on LinkedIn Learning showcase her empowering delivery style and message. She regularly presents business workshops on reputation management, personal branding, executive presence, leadership communication, and using social media to self-promote, helping employees and leaders build a personal brand that supports the business.

The 2020 pandemic was more than a major health event. It was an economic, social, cultural, and geo-political event as well. The result is that existing fractures widened. There was an absence of leadership. In THE SILENT REBELLION: Becoming A Modern Leader, leadership expert Chris Lewis and business coach Inez Robinson-Odom address the most pressing challenges facing leaders today. They reveal that those who choose to quietly rebel can make a difference as a modern leader.

Chris Lewis is founder of TEAM LEWIS, a global marketing consultancy that campaigns for commercial and community causes. He is the author of Too Fast to Think, and co-author of The Leadership Lab and The Infinite Leader. He is based in London.

Inez Robinson-Odom works in media, education, executive coaching and social justice. She is vice president of professional development for TEAM LEWIS, and is based in San Diego, California.

What separates competent leaders from true visionaries? This question is vital for those who wish to leave a positive legacy on their clients, customers, employees, and society. In THE STRATEGY LEGACY: How To Future-Proof A Business And Leave Your Mark, strategy and leadership expert Alex Brueckmann argues that great leaders are distinguished by their ability to combine strategy with organizational identity, focusing not only on what they do, and why, but beyond.

Brueckmann’s goal is to help leaders understand business strategy as the number one driver of both corporate culture and commercial success. “I would like you to approach strategy by decoupling the topic from the metaphorical ivory towers of corporate functions and put strategy at the heart of your organization’s identity,” he says.

Whether a corporate leader, an entrepreneur, or a startup founder, readers of THE STRATEGY LEGACY will be equipped to boost their business and leave a positive impression across the board.

Alex Brueckmann is an executive thought partner, strategy facilitator, speaker, and author of Secrets Of Next Level Entrepreneurs: 11 Powerful Lessons To Thrive In Business And Lead A Balanced Life. He talks about the power of strategy and identity, transformation leadership, purpose, impact, and legacy. Brueckmann has impacted thousands of business leaders across the world, from multinationals to start-ups.

He is an alumnus of EBS European Business School (Germany), and holds certificates in change management, leadership, finance, organizational development, and strategy from INSEAD (France), and Harvard Business School (USA).

Why Didn’t I Think of That?

…we’ve all asked the question one time or another. The answer is almost always the same. When we miss opportunities, it’s because we’re not looking for problems to solve.

Why Didn’t I Think of That? is a short story we can all relate to, shedding an eye-opening light on our classic approaches to work and problem solving.

You’ll discover how to innovate on demand, develop more options, and implement ideas that make a difference.

Creativity is a skill. Just like you learned how to ride a bicycle, you can learn how to be creative. In Why Didn’t I Think of That? you will learn how to turn on your creativity at will instead of waiting for ideas to happen.

Roger L. Firestien, PhD, has presented programs on innovation to over 600 organizations around the world including Fortune 500 corporations, government agencies, universities, associations, and religious institutions.

His expert views on creativity have been covered in Fast Company, Forbes, Investor’s Business Daily, Inc. and The New York Times.

He is Associate Professor Emeritus at the Center for Applied Imagination at Buffalo State University, President of Innovation Resources, Inc., a founding member of the Buffalo Society for Creativity in Medical Education, and guest lecturer at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, NY.