For a lucky few, light conversation at parties and social events is a breeze. For the rest of us, there is Carol Fleming (bestselling author of It's the Way You Say It), who breaks even the shortest bit of small talk into an understandable process that anyone can master.

Much of your personal success hinges on the effectiveness of your personal communication skills. Whether or not new doors are opened to you may depend on how well you can meet one of life's most frustrating social challenges--starting and developing conversations with strangers, aka "small talk." Small talk is usually considered to be a light, pleasant, and safe verbal exchange, which allows people the time and association to get a sense of each other. It consists of introductions, exchange of personal information and interests when meeting new people and searching for a topic of mutual interest. According to Carol Fleming, conversationalist-extraordinaire, the business of small talk means:
-Bringing people together
-Facilitating understanding
-Finding friendships, building trust and maintaining relationships
-Developing your business
-Exposing you to different points of view
This book teaches you the concrete skills of social behavior, and promises to increase your understanding of what small talk is and what it does, while revealing the rituals and strategies for developing conversation. You may not think you have the "gift of gab," but Carol Fleming will convince you that you can master the fine art of small talk in all your business and social encounters.

The Serving Leader
Five Powerful Actions to Transform Your Team, Business, and Community, 10th Anniversary Edition, Revised and Expanded

It's people who make organizations great, so how can leaders best help their people achieve that greatness? As Ken Jennings and John Stahl-Wert show in this new edition of their bestseller, you can't just demand greatness—you have to inspire it. The most effective leaders don't just stand in front of their people, they stand behind them too. As one of the characters in the book notes, “You qualify to be first by putting other people first.” This concept sounds paradoxical, but it leads to extraordinary outcomes—and The Serving Leader shows precisely how and why.

While Jennings and Stahl-Wert use a compelling fictional story to outline the basics of Serving Leadership, all the characters in it are based on real people, the organizations depicted are based on real organizations—and the results they achieved are what really happened. This edition features a new foreword by Ken Blanchard, a new introduction, and a new chapter checking back in with Mike, the main character, to see what he has learned in the twelve years since he embraced Serving Leadership

On one level this is the most practical guide available to implementing Serving Leadership; on a deeper level, it is a book about the personal journey of growth that real leadership requires. Great organizations are great because they're filled with people who freely choose to do their very best. It's a maddeningly simple concept yet stunningly hard to execute. Jennings and Stahl-Wert show leaders how to earn that kind of commitment.

The Serving Leader
Five Powerful Actions to Transform Your Team, Business, and Community, 10th Anniversary Edition, Revised and Expanded

It's people who make organizations great, so how can leaders best help their people achieve that greatness? As Ken Jennings and John Stahl-Wert show in this new edition of their bestseller, you can't just demand greatness—you have to inspire it. The most effective leaders don't just stand in front of their people, they stand behind them too. As one of the characters in the book notes, “You qualify to be first by putting other people first.” This concept sounds paradoxical, but it leads to extraordinary outcomes—and The Serving Leader shows precisely how and why.

While Jennings and Stahl-Wert use a compelling fictional story to outline the basics of Serving Leadership, all the characters in it are based on real people, the organizations depicted are based on real organizations—and the results they achieved are what really happened. This edition features a new foreword by Ken Blanchard, a new introduction, and a new chapter checking back in with Mike, the main character, to see what he has learned in the twelve years since he embraced Serving Leadership

On one level this is the most practical guide available to implementing Serving Leadership; on a deeper level, it is a book about the personal journey of growth that real leadership requires. Great organizations are great because they're filled with people who freely choose to do their very best. It's a maddeningly simple concept yet stunningly hard to execute. Jennings and Stahl-Wert show leaders how to earn that kind of commitment.

This long awaited 2nd edition of a classic title expands and deepens the story of Mike Wilson, an unlikely servant leader.


At a time of increasing concern about ethics at the top, The Serving Leader makes the case for an approach to leadership that is both more moral and more effective than the ruthless, anything-for-the-bottom-line approach that has brought disgrace-and often ruin- to many once-mighty organizations. "Serving leaders" lead by serving others, not by using them. As one of the characters in the book notes, "A leader qualifies to be first by putting other people first." It sounds paradoxical, but it works-and The Serving Leader shows precisely how and why.

While Ken Jennings and John Stahl-Wert use a parable to outline the basics of servant leadership, all the people in it are based on real people, the organizations depicted are based on real organizations-and the results they achieved are what really happened. On one level The Serving Leader is the most practical guide available to implementing servant leadership; on a deeper level, it is a book about the personal journey of growth that real leadership requires.

This 2nd edition features a new foreword by Ken Blanchard, a new introduction by the authors, and a new chapter checking back in with Mike, the main character, to see what he has learned 12 years after he embraced servant leadership.

People have moved away from Mother Earth, bringing heartache, pain, and other maladies of the modern age. The “self-help” movement claims to offer peace and fulfillment to individuals, but this solitary approach takes us only so far. Ultimately, it is in communion with our fellow beings and the natural world that we are made whole. We need to leave the path of Me and follow the path of We.

This poetic, evocative story presents the meditations of an ancient Anasazi tribesman who rejects his family and sets off on a journey through the desert. He walks seven paths, each teaching a lesson symbolized by an element of the natural world: light, wind, water, stone, plants, animals, and, finally, the unity of all beings with the Creator. The Seven Paths reveals a source of wisdom, restoration, and renewal familiar to native people but lost to the rest of us, seven elements among nature that combine to mend human hearts.

Discover the Healing Power of the Wilderness People have moved away from Mother Earth, bringing heartache, pain, and other maladies of the modern age. The “self-help” movement claims to offer peace and fulfillment to individuals, but this solitary approach takes us only so far. Ultimately, it is in communion with our fellow beings and the natural world that we are made whole. We need to leave the path of Me and follow the path of We. This poetic, evocative story presents the meditations of an ancient Anasazi tribesman who rejects his family and sets off on a journey through the desert. He walks seven paths, each teaching a lesson symbolized by an element of the natural world: light, wind, water, stone, plants, animals, and, finally, the unity of all beings with the Creator. The Seven Paths reveals a source of wisdom, restoration, and renewal familiar to native people but lost to the rest of us, seven elements among nature that combine to mend human hearts.

Based on the Native American tradition of a life journey being a "walking," this work focuses on the seven paths of life with which one must become familiar in order to overcome conflict and obstacles towards a heart at peace.

“A valuable call to action for small shareholders to change the ways big corporations do business.”
—Robert Reich, former US Secretary of Labor

Want to make misbehaving corporations mend their ways? You can! If you own their stock, corporations have to listen to you. Shareholder advocate Andrew Behar explains how to exercise your proxy voting rights to weigh in on corporate policies—you only need a single share of stock to do it. If you've got just $2,000 in stock, Behar shows how you can go further and file a resolution to directly address the board of directors. And even if your investments are in a workplace-sponsored 401(k) or a mutual fund, you can work with your fund manager to purge corporations from your portfolio that don't align with your values. Illustrated with inspiring stories of individuals who have gone up against corporate Goliaths and won, this book informs, inspires, and instructs investors how to unleash their power to change the world.

“A valuable call to action for small shareholders to change the ways big corporations do business.”
—Robert Reich, former US Secretary of Labor

Want to make misbehaving corporations mend their ways? You can! If you own their stock, corporations have to listen to you. Shareholder advocate Andrew Behar explains how to exercise your proxy voting rights to weigh in on corporate policies—you only need a single share of stock to do it. If you've got just $2,000 in stock, Behar shows how you can go further and file a resolution to directly address the board of directors. And even if your investments are in a workplace-sponsored 401(k) or a mutual fund, you can work with your fund manager to purge corporations from your portfolio that don't align with your values. Illustrated with inspiring stories of individuals who have gone up against corporate Goliaths and won, this book informs, inspires, and instructs investors how to unleash their power to change the world.

Most individual shareholders do not realize that if they own as little as $2,000 worth of stock in a corporation they can challenge its destructive practices just like big institutional investors do. Andy Behar provides an accessible handbook that shows exactly how it's done.


Corporations are the most powerful entities on the planet. Unfortunately, many have had a long record of unprecedented and unbridled environmental degradation, social transgressions, and governance secrecy. Since by law they are beholden to their shareholders, some philanthropic trusts, pension funds, and other institutional investors have used shareholder advocacy to press for changes in corporate policy. But individual investors have largely been silent, thinking themselves powerless. They're not!

The Shareholder Action Guide is designed to inform, inspire, and instruct investors in how to exercise their power to effect meaningful change on critical issues including climate change, food toxicity, executive compensation, worker's rights, sustainability, and much more. Owners of as little as $2,000 worth of stock in a publicly traded corporation have the power to be heard. This book is a call to action designed to build a movement of active investors. Behar shows investors exactly how to stop abdicating their power and “own what they own.”

Executives, investors, and the business press routinely chant the mantra that corporations are required to “maximize shareholder value.” In this pathbreaking book, renowned corporate expert Lynn Stout debunks the myth that corporate law mandates shareholder primacy. Stout shows how shareholder value thinking endangers not only investors but the rest of us as well, leading managers to focus myopically on short-term earnings; discouraging investment and innovation; harming employees, customers, and communities; and causing companies to indulge in reckless, sociopathic, and irresponsible behaviors. And she looks at new models of corporate purpose that better serve the needs of investors, corporations, and society.

“Shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world.”
—Jack Welch

Executives, investors, and the business press routinely chant the mantra that corporations are required to “maximize shareholder value.” In this pathbreaking book, renowned corporate expert Lynn Stout debunks the myth that corporate law mandates shareholder primacy. Stout shows how shareholder value thinking endangers not only investors but the rest of us as well, leading managers to focus myopically on short-term earnings; discouraging investment and innovation; harming employees, customers, and communities; and causing companies to indulge in reckless, sociopathic, and irresponsible behaviors. And she looks at new models of corporate purpose that better serve the needs of investors, corporations, and society.

In this radical debunking of pervasive myths about how corporations and investors behave, UCLA professor and legal celebrity Lynn Stout shows how-contrary to entrenched belief-"shareholder primacy" is not mandated by corporate law and actually harms shareholders themselves.

Women are a huge, uniquely receptive but still underutilized audience for a whole range of social and political causes, not just “women's issues.” In The She Spot, Lisa Witter and Lisa Chen, top executives in the nation's largest public interest communications firm, explain why women's enormous potential is still largely untapped. Citing examples from both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, they offer specific, detailed advice—much of which flies in the face of conventional wisdom—on how to better connect with women and advance your mission.

Offers concrete, field-tested advice for helping nonprofits, social advocacy organizations, and political campaigns connect more effectively with women Includes examples from both the for-profit and non-profit sectors Written by top executives from the largest public interest communication firm in the country The secret to changing the world is hidden in plain sight—in fact, it’s half the population. Women vote more, volunteer more, and give to more charities than men do. They control over half of the total wealth in America. Corporations have long recognized the growing power of woman and have been targeting them for years. The She Spot is a practical and provocative primer showing how nonprofits and social change organizations can do it too. Lisa Witter and Lisa Chen reveal surprising insights into women’s real social priorities (for example, in one poll only 7% of women identified “protecting reproductive choice," supposedly the women’s issue, as a top priority for Congress). They describe four core principles—care, control, connect, and cultivate—for designing messages that will resonate with women of all ages and backgrounds. And using case histories from companies like Home Depot, T-Mobile and Kellogg’s as well as nonprofits like MoveOn.org, The American Lung Association and The Environmental Defense Fund, they explain precisely how to put these four principles into practice. This book makes the case that simply painting your marketing campaign “pink” and calling it a day will miss the mark with most women. Witter and Chen show that you can expand your outreach to connect with women in addition to men—think both/and, not either/or. You’ll raise more money and recruit more supporters for your cause. In the end, those who hit the “She Spot” claim the power to create a better, brighter world for all of us.

In this practical, provocative and inspiring guide, Lisa Witter and Lisa Chen of public relations powerhouse Fenton Communications offer social change organizations key recommendations for leveraging the untapped power of women for positive change through fundraising, advocacy and the ballot box.

A Simple yet Profound Shift

Seeing people as people is an idea so simple you'll swear you've heard it a million times but so profound you'll never stop learning from it. Kimberly White discovered it in a chain of nursing homes whose leaders, nurses, and housekeepers saw their patients, not as tasks to be ticked off a to-do list, but as valuable human beings.
White helps you to this transformative shift with warm encouragement, insightful guidance, and powerfully moving, true accounts of extraordinary human goodness.

A Simple yet Profound Shift

Seeing people as people is an idea so simple you'll swear you've heard it a million times but so profound you'll never stop learning from it. Kimberly White discovered it in a chain of nursing homes whose leaders, nurses, and housekeepers saw their patients, not as tasks to be ticked off a to-do list, but as valuable human beings.
White helps you to this transformative shift with warm encouragement, insightful guidance, and powerfully moving, true accounts of extraordinary human goodness.