The Infinite Game

Imagine a world where almost everyone wakes up inspired to go to work. This is not a crazy, idealised notion. In many successful organisations, great leaders are creating environments in which teams trust each other so deeply that they would put their lives on the line for each other. Yet other teams, no matter what incentives are offered, are doomed to infighting, fragmentation and failure. Why? Today's workplaces tend to be full of cynicism, paranoia and self-interest.

Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their successes over and over? People like Martin Luther King, Jr.; Steve Jobs; and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they all started with why. Their natural ability to start with why enabled them to inspire those around them and to achieve remarkable things.

Influence, the classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say yes - and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding field of influence and persuasion. His 35 years of rigorous, evidence-based research, along with a three-year program of study on what moves people to change behavior, has resulted in this highly acclaimed book. You'll learn the six universal principles, how to use them to become a skilled persuader - and how to defend yourself against them.

During the final three years of the Obama administration, Richard Stengel, the former editor of Time magazine and an Under Secretary of State, was the single person in government tasked with unpacking, disproving, and combating both ISIS's messaging and Russian disinformation. Then, in 2016, as the presidential election unfolded, Stengel watched as Donald Trump used disinformation himself, weaponizing the grievances of Americans who felt overlooked. In fact, Stengel quickly came to see how all three players had used the same playbook: ISIS sought to make Islam great again....

The routine traffic stop that ends in tragedy. The spy who spends years undetected at the highest levels of the Pentagon. The false conviction of Amanda Knox. Why do we so often get other people wrong? Why is it so hard to detect a lie, read a face or judge a stranger's motives? Through a series of encounters and misunderstandings - from history, psychology and infamous legal cases - Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual adventure into the darker side of human nature, where strangers are never simple and misreading them can have disastrous consequences.

Find Your Why is the follow up to Start with Why, the global best seller and the subject of the third most watched TED Talk of all time. With Start With Why, Simon Sinek inspired a movement to build a world in which the vast majority of us can feel safe while we are at work and fulfilled when we go home at night. Now, along with two of his colleagues, Peter Docker and David Mead, Sinek has created a guide to the most important step any business can take: finding your why.

We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help your company persevere through economic challenges and continue to grow even as your competitors stumble. This audiobook will inspire you to get your company ready before a downturn strikes, learn the right lessons from previous recessions, minimize pain while cutting costs and managing risk, foster a healthy organizational culture during anxious times, and seize the opportunity to innovate and reinvent your business.

Thousands of years ago, one of the shrewdest economists, thinker and philosopher Chanakya, wrote a policy manual that helped groom Chandragupta Maurya to power. This treatise, called Chanakya Neeti, dealt with a variety of subjects, including war, strategy, international relations, fiscal policies and life in general. Best-selling author Virender Kapoor unravels the secret to living a successful life by interpreting Chanakya’s lessons for a 21st-century listener.   

Our attention has never been as overwhelmed or in demand as it is today; we've never been so busy while accomplishing so little, and we've grown uncomfortable with boredom and a lack of stimulation and distraction. In Hyperfocus, Chris Bailey - described by TED.com as 'the most productive man you could ever hope to meet' - provides profound insights into how we can best manage our attention. He reveals how the brain switches between two mental modes - hyperfocus, our deep concentration mode, and scatterfocus, our creative, reflective mode - and how the surest path to being our most creative and efficient selves at work is to combine them both. 

In Indistractable, Eyal reveals the hidden psychology driving us to distraction. He describes why solving the problem is not as simple as swearing off our devices: Abstinence is impractical and often makes us want more. Eyal lays bare the secret of finally doing what you say you will do with a four-step, research-backed model. Indistractable reveals the key to getting the best out of technology, without letting it get the best of us.

Gandhi's nonviolent struggles against racism, violence and colonialism in South Africa and India had brought him to such a level of notoriety and adulation that when asked to write an autobiography midway through his career, he took it as an opportunity to explain himself. He feared the enthusiasm for his ideas tended to exceed a deeper understanding of his quest for truth rooted in devotion to God. 

Jim Simons is the greatest moneymaker in modern financial history. His record bests those of legendary investors, including Warren Buffett, George Soros and Ray Dalio. Yet Simons and his strategies are shrouded in mystery. The financial industry has long craved a look inside Simons' secretive hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies, and veteran Wall Street Journal reporter Gregory Zuckerman delivers the goods. After a legendary career as a mathematician and a stint breaking Soviet codes, Simons set out to conquer financial markets with a radical approach.

Your organization's culture is the key to its success. Strategic planning is essential. People's competencies should be measured and their weaknesses shored up. People crave feedback. These may sound like basic truths of our work lives today. But actually, they're lies. As Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall show in this provocative, inspiring book, there are some big lies - distortions, faulty assumptions, wrong thinking - running through our organizational lives.

As Scott Galloway puts it, by the time you hit your mid-20s sh*t gets real. Life becomes stressful. Even the smart, the hardworking and the elite can feel lost in a chaotic, noisy and unpredictable world. As a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, the debate in Galloway's MBA class often veers away from business strategy to the challenging issue of life strategies. Which is why Galloway, in his signature take-no-prisoners style, has developed a dynamic formula for a life well lived.

The CEO of The Walt Disney Company shares the ideas and values he has used to reinvent one of the most beloved companies in the world, and inspire the people who bring the magic to life. In 2005, Robert Iger became CEO of The Walt Disney Company during a difficult time. Morale had deteriorated, competition was more intense, and technology was changing faster than at any time in the company's history. Twelve years later, Disney is the largest, most respected media company in the world counting Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox among its properties.