Showing results by narrator "Fleet Cooper" in All Categories

Two continents at war, the Three Kingdoms and Ishara, are divided by past bloodshed. When an outside threat arises - the reawakening of a powerful ancient race that wants to remake the world - the two warring nations must somehow set aside generational hatreds and form an alliance to fight their true enemy. 

Two continents at war: the Three Kingdoms and Ishara have been in conflict for a thousand years. But when an outside threat arises - the reawakening of a powerful ancient race that wants to remake the world - the two warring nations must somehow set aside generations of hatred to form an alliance against a far more deadly enemy. 

Two continents at war, the Three Kingdoms and Ishara, have been in conflict for a thousand years. But when an outside threat arises - the reawakening of a powerful ancient race that wants to remake the world - the two warring nations must somehow set aside generations of hatred to form an alliance against a far more deadly enemy.

You read a lot these days about research showing that practicing gratitude - making a deliberate point of being grateful for the good things in your life - has all sorts of benefits for happiness and well-being. These articles usually end with a call to start a gratitude journal to reap the full benefits of being thankful. There’s nothing wrong with that. But we should keep in mind gratitude’s other, arguably even more important purpose: strengthening our relationships with those we rely on.

I used to wake up, stumble over to my phone, and immediately get lost in a stream of pointless notifications. This digital haze continued throughout the day, keeping me from accomplishing important tasks. I was distracted, anxious, and ineffective as a leader. I knew I had to change but could not seem to break free from the behaviors that kept me locked into the same cycle. This problem is not unusual.

Reach your financial goals and reduce the stress in your life with this audiobook of biblical principles by the New York Times best-selling author of The Blessed Life.  

If you want your team to be effective, you need meeting ground rules - and you need agreement about how to use them. Many teams that have ground rules don’t regularly use them. But having rules in place that you consistently enforce can significantly improve how your team solves problems and makes decisions.

Mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and resilience are the “must have skills” for modern leaders - yet many professionals are too stressed to know where to start. Creating Mindful Leaders provides deep insights and easy practices based in neuroscience, brain training, and positive psychology to help professionals thrive in the “age of disruption”. Written by a COO turned successful tech entrepreneur, the book provides a roadmap to greater health, happiness, and performance. It speaks to every professional wanting to reduce stress, achieve greater success, and enjoy life more. 

As is the case with so many musicians, the life of Warren Zevon was blessed with talent and opportunity yet also beset by tragedy and setbacks. Raised mostly by his mother with an occasional cameo from his gangster father, Warren had an affinity and talent for music at an early age. After an impromptu performance in the right place at the right time, a record deal landed on the lap of a teenager who was eager to set out on his own and make a name for himself. But of course, where fame is concerned, things are never quite so simple. 

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a negotiation doesn’t go your way. Perhaps a customer pushed for a steeper discount than you wanted to give, or a potential client went with a competitor’s approach to a project. In the face of a disappointment - one where you might appear to be the “loser” - how do you save face? How do you make sure your reputation isn’t damaged and the relationship with your counterpart is intact?

With the possible exception of Sesame Street’s Oscar the Grouch, very few of us have the luxury of being able to be completely and utterly ourselves all the time at work. The rest of us are called upon to perform what psychologists call "emotional labor" - the effort it takes to keep your professional game face on when what you’re doing is not concordant with how you feel. We do this outside the office too, but it is perhaps more important at work .

Some people just can’t seem to get enough of work. They stay late at the office, check their email at all hours, and even put in time on the weekends. If your manager keeps this sort of schedule, do you have to also? How do you set the right expectations and boundaries? What can you do to make sure you don’t look like a slacker in comparison?

Wei Song noticed the fashion models first. Preening in chiffon-and-lace gowns, they flanked the entrance to Shanguang Jewelers’ flagship store on Nanjing Road. A vintage Eagle roadster was parked nearby, with a dozen well-heeled men and women clustered around it. Song could see many more people inside the store, sipping champagne. Many were trying on watches.

Discussions of influence are almost always focused on messages and information, the assumption being that the best route to drive people’s actions is to get them to understand the course of action that is best for them and then to pursue it.

Most people recognize that execution is a critical skill and strive to perform it well, but they may a) underestimate how important it is to their career advancement or b) not realize that you can improve on execution without working longer hours.

The Old Course at St. Andrews is to golfers what St. Peter's is to Catholics or the Western Wall is to Jews: hallowed ground, the course every golfer longs to play - and master. In 1983 George Peper was playing the Old Course when he hit a slice so hideous that he never found the ball. But in looking for it, he came across a For Sale sign on a stone town house alongside the famed eighteenth hole. Two months later he and his wife, Libby, became the proud owners of 9A Gibson Place.

Profiled on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, Iranian-born scholar Vali Nasr has become one of America's leading commentators on current events in the Middle East, admired and welcomed by both media and government for his "concise and coherent" analysis (Wall Street Journal). In this "smart, clear and timely" book (Washington Post), Nasr brilliantly dissects the political and theological antagonisms within Islam. He provides a unique and objective understanding of the 1,400-year bitter struggle between Shias and Sunnis, and sheds crucial light on its modern-day consequences—from the nuclear posturing of Iran's President Ahmadinejad to the recent U.S.-enabled shift toward Shia power in Iraq and Hezbollah's continued dominance in Lebanon.

In both our social and professional interactions, we commonly focus on managing the impressions that others form of us, especially when these others do not know us well.

Procrastination comes in many disguises. We might resolve to tackle a task, but find endless reasons to defer it. We might prioritize things we can readily tick off our to-do list - answering emails, say - while leaving the big, complex stuff untouched for another day. We can look and feel busy, while artfully avoiding the tasks that really matter. And when we look at those rolling, long-untouched items at the bottom of our to-do list, we can’t help but feel a little disappointed in ourselves.

Think back to the last team project you participated in at work. How did the person running the project lead the group? Did they lead by presenting a plan and using their authority to insist that others follow along?