Products

The Transformational Consumer

They are the most valuable, least understood customers of our time. They buy over $4 trillion in life-improving products and services every year. If you serve their deeply human need to continually improve their lives, they will eagerly engage with your brand at a time when most people are tuning out corporate messages.

They are Transformational Consumers, and no one knows them like Tara-Nicholle Nelson. Her Transformational Consumer insights powered her work at MyFitnessPal, which grew from 40 million to 100 million users in her time there.

Nelson takes readers on a hero's journey to connecting with customers in ways both profitable and transformational. After going inside the brains, emotions, and behaviors of Transformational Consumers, Tara issues a call to adventure: a rallying cry to leaders to shift their focus from simply making products to solving their customers' problems.

Nelson uses stories and cases studies from every industry to guide readers through this journey in five stages, shedding light on how to rethink their customers, their products and services, their marketing, their competition, and even their culture.

The key to growing a business today is not building an app or getting new social media followers. The key is engaging people over and over again by triggering their deep, human desire for growth and transformation.

When a company reorients every initiative to serve Transformational Consumers, it kick-starts a lifelong love affair with its customers—a love affair that results in unprecedented revenue growth, product innovation, and employee engagement.

The Transformational Consumer

They are the most valuable, least understood customers of our time. They buy over $4 trillion in life-improving products and services every year. If you serve their deeply human need to continually improve their lives, they will eagerly engage with your brand at a time when most people are tuning out corporate messages.

They are Transformational Consumers, and no one knows them like Tara-Nicholle Nelson. Her Transformational Consumer insights powered her work at MyFitnessPal, which grew from 40 million to 100 million users in her time there.

Nelson takes readers on a hero's journey to connecting with customers in ways both profitable and transformational. After going inside the brains, emotions, and behaviors of Transformational Consumers, Tara issues a call to adventure: a rallying cry to leaders to shift their focus from simply making products to solving their customers' problems.

Nelson uses stories and cases studies from every industry to guide readers through this journey in five stages, shedding light on how to rethink their customers, their products and services, their marketing, their competition, and even their culture.

The key to growing a business today is not building an app or getting new social media followers. The key is engaging people over and over again by triggering their deep, human desire for growth and transformation.

When a company reorients every initiative to serve Transformational Consumers, it kick-starts a lifelong love affair with its customers—a love affair that results in unprecedented revenue growth, product innovation, and employee engagement.

Millions of consumers are actively seeking to unlock their potential and looking for businesses that can help. Tara-Nicholle Nelson shows companies how to create a two-way love affair with these “transformational consumers.”


The members of a massive and growing customer group are highly engaged with one subject: changing their own behavior to be healthier, wealthier, and wiser. Unlike the average consumer, these people are eager and excited to connect with businesses-if they'll help them make these very difficult changes. Nelson calls these people “transformational consumers.”

This book helps leaders understand these consumers, learn the business of behavior change, and rethink their products, services, marketing, and companies to meet the demands of this hypergrowth, trillion-dollar-plus transformational consumer market. Through revealing examples and case studies, Nelson details seven shifts that businesses must make to engage transformational consumers: change what you sell, change your business model, change how you define “your customer,” change your marketing, change your metrics, change how you define “the competition,” and change your culture. The companies that successfully reorient to reach and engage transformational consumers will escape the problem of disengagement and will continue to thrive, no matter how many new social media channels, distracting apps, or competitors they face.

No organizational leaders can succeed in today's fast evolving and highly connected world on their own. To succeed, today's leaders must not only optimize all their own faculties—mental sharpness, emotional depth, imagination, and creativity—but also utilize the full capacities of those around them in a collaborative and creative manner.

The prestigious contributors to this volume draw on psychology, sociology, neuroscience, social networking theory, organizational change theory, myths and traditions, and actual experiences to discover how leaders today achieve transformational results. The Transforming Leader offers an overview of what transformational leadership is, how it works, and how it is evolving. In doing so it reframes the challenge of leading in today's interdependent, unpredictable world.

No organizational leaders can succeed in today’s fast evolving and highly connected world on their own. To succeed, today’s leaders must not only optimize all their own faculties—mental sharpness, emotional depth, imagination, and creativity—but also utilize the full capacities of those around them in a collaborative and creative manner. The prestigious contributors to this volume draw on psychology, sociology, neuroscience, social networking theory, organizational change theory, myths and traditions, and actual experiences to discover how leaders today achieve transformational results. The Transforming Leader offers an overview of what transformational leadership is, how it works, and how it is evolving. In doing so it reframes the challenge of leading in today’s interdependent, unpredictable world.

Based on three years of study into the topic of transformational leadership, this is a definitive guide to becoming a leader for positive change. The best, most original thinking from psychologists, business leaders, religious leaders, organizational experts, and academics are brought together in this life-changing volume.

From the novice to the most experienced and senior project manager, triple constraint issues are at the core of the most crucial decisions about a project. The Triple Constraints in Project Management explores the triangle of time, cost, and performance that bounds the universe within which every project must be accomplished – and shows how controlling the hierarchy of constraints can mean the difference between success and failure on virtually any project.

From the novice to the most experienced and senior project manager, triple constraint issues are at the core of the most crucial decisions about a project. The Triple Constraints in Project Management explores the triangle of time, cost, and performance that bounds the universe within which every project must be accomplished – and shows how controlling the hierarchy of constraints can mean the difference between success and failure on virtually any project.

You Work with a Bunch of Liars—Learn What to Do About It Sure, everyone tells little white lies now and then, but real deception in the workplace is a poison that can destroy relationships, careers, and companies. Carol Kinsey Goman, a leading workplace body language expert, combines her own experiences with the latest research to identify fifty subtle physical and vocal cues that will enable you to spot destructive workplace lies. She analyzes the role we play in supporting lies—how our own vanities, desires, self-deceptions, and rationalizations allow us to be duped. And once you detect a lie, she provides tactical advice on how to respond, whether the liar is above, below, or on the same level as you—even if it’s your boss. “Lying in the workplace causes huge problems for business—the proper people do not get promoted, profits are generally compromised, wrong steps are made, and much more. This book should be a best seller.” —Robert L. Dilenschneider, President and CEO, The Dilenschneider Group, and author of Power and Influence and A Briefing for Leaders “After 30 years in the training and development industry, I have come to trust Goman’s expertise in body language and nonverbal cues in the workplace. I would recommend this book to any leader working to improve culture and effective communication within his or her organization.” —Margie Mauldin, President, Executive Forum “Goman’s book sheds light on a phenomenon in business that too many of us prefer to [pretend] doesn't exist: deception. A must-read for emerging and established leaders alike.” —JD Schramm, EdD, Director, Mastery in Communication Initiative, Stanford University Graduate School of Business

You Work with a Bunch of Liars—Learn What to Do About It

Sure, everyone tells little white lies now and then, but real deception in the workplace is a poison that can destroy relationships, careers, and companies. Carol Kinsey Goman, a leading workplace body language expert, combines her own experiences with the latest research to identify fifty subtle physical and vocal cues that will enable you to spot destructive workplace lies. She analyzes the role we play in supporting lies—how our own vanities, desires, self-deceptions, and rationalizations allow us to be duped. And once you detect a lie, she provides tactical advice on how to respond, whether the liar is above, below, or on the same level as you—even if it's your boss.

Lying can cause irreparable financial, psychological, and emotional damage in an organization, yet liars also know that we're terrible at recognizing their deceit. Goman's book is a simple primer to help anyone spot lies before they do harm.

Lies aren't good in general, but in the workplace they're especially poisonous. They can destroy employee engagement and productivity, undermine teamwork, increase stress, ruin people's livelihoods, and even bring down entire companies.

It's critical to catch workplace lies before they snowball into something catastrophic, but most of us have no clue about how to spot a liar. And the workplace setting adds another layer of complexity. At what point do you report a liar? If you decide to take action, what exactly should you do? And what if the liar is your boss?

In this entertaining and needed book, leading workplace body language expert Carol Kinsey Goman combines her own experiences with the latest research to provide a comprehensive guide to spotting, exposing, and minimizing workplace lies. Goman looks at the high cost of workplace deception for individuals and organizations, why people tell lies at work, and the kinds of lies they tell. She offers fifty ways that body language and vocal cues can help you spot a liar and explains how our own vanities, desires, self-deceptions, and rationalizations allow us to be duped.

Once you spot a lie, she provides tactical advice on how to respond, whether the liar is above, below, or on the same level as you. And Goman explains how to make sure your own body language doesn't inadvertently make you seem untrustworthy and what leaders at all levels can do to reduce lies and encourage candor.

Some workplace lies are a polite and positive part of professional life (“I'd be delighted to come to that meeting”). But Goman focuses on truly destructive lies and shows how you can prevent them from wreaking havoc on individuals and organizations.

What do you do when the biggest threat to your project is your boss? It's not that your boss is out to get you. In fact, bosses generally mean well. But clueless leadership from a well-intentioned boss can sometimes cause more damage than a criminal mastermind tying your project to the railroad tracks.

The Unwritten Rules of Managing Up provides refreshingly practical and candid insight into the best practices and techniques that project managers have successfully used for decades to manage a wide variety of senior-level stakeholders—ranging from perfectly competent and pleasant to downright dysfunctional and inept. 

While managing up is an incredibly valuable skill for virtually any type of boss (not just the difficult ones), the book includes recommendations for managing six particularly challenging—and common—types of senior leaders. They are the bombastic Tornado, who takes over meetings without realizing it; the Wishful Thinker, who regularly asks the impossible; the Clueless Chameleon, who can't quite decide what he or she really wants (but still holds you responsible for delivering it); the MIA Boss, who is just not around enough; the Meddlesome Micromanager, who hovers and insists you complete a task his or her way; and the Naked Emperor, who falls in love with his or her own crazy ideas. Brownlee also offers basic techniques to use with any boss, even a great one.

This book is not just for professionals seeking to enhance their workplace effectiveness but also for senior leaders interested in addressing their blind spots and coaching others toward a more collaborative, results-focused leadership approach.

What do you do when the biggest threat to your project is your boss? It's not that your boss is out to get you. In fact, bosses generally mean well. But clueless leadership from a well-intentioned boss can sometimes cause more damage than a criminal mastermind tying your project to the railroad tracks.

The Unwritten Rules of Managing Up provides refreshingly practical and candid insight into the best practices and techniques that project managers have successfully used for decades to manage a wide variety of senior-level stakeholders—ranging from perfectly competent and pleasant to downright dysfunctional and inept. 

While managing up is an incredibly valuable skill for virtually any type of boss (not just the difficult ones), the book includes recommendations for managing six particularly challenging—and common—types of senior leaders. They are the bombastic Tornado, who takes over meetings without realizing it; the Wishful Thinker, who regularly asks the impossible; the Clueless Chameleon, who can't quite decide what he or she really wants (but still holds you responsible for delivering it); the MIA Boss, who is just not around enough; the Meddlesome Micromanager, who hovers and insists you complete a task his or her way; and the Naked Emperor, who falls in love with his or her own crazy ideas. Brownlee also offers basic techniques to use with any boss, even a great one.

This book is not just for professionals seeking to enhance their workplace effectiveness but also for senior leaders interested in addressing their blind spots and coaching others toward a more collaborative, results-focused leadership approach.

“This is a must-read for bosses and subordinates alike, as it exposes our flaws but teaches us how we can work together to achieve our common goals.”
-Ellen Coulter, President, The Advantage Software Company


What do you do when the biggest threat to your project is your boss? It's not that your boss is out to get you. In fact, bosses generally mean well. But clueless leadership from a well-intentioned boss can sometimes cause more damage than a criminal mastermind tying your project to the railroad tracks.

Lucky for you, the best project managers have got "managing up" down to a fine science. The reason is that project managers are often outside consultants with no formal position in the organization they're working for, putting them at a double disadvantage. Learn how tried-and-tested techniques from the discipline of project management can be used to manage five main "types" of difficult bosses. Dana Brownlee, certified Project Management Professional, has repeatable, reliable techniques based on years of project consulting, which apply to each of these difficult boss types. Your boss will be eating right from your hand in no time.

It may be hard to believe in an era of Walmart, Citizens United, and the Koch brothers, but corporations are on the decline. The number of American companies listed on the stock market dropped by half between 1996 and 2012. In recent years we've seen some of the most storied corporations go bankrupt (General Motors, Chrysler, Eastman Kodak) or disappear entirely (Bethlehem Steel, Lehman Brothers, Borders).

Gerald Davis argues this is a root cause of the income inequality and social instability we face today. Corporations were once an integral part of building the middle class. He points out that in their heyday they offered millions of people lifetime employment, a stable career path, health insurance, and retirement pensions. They were like small private welfare states.

The businesses that are replacing them will not fill the same role. For one thing, they employ far fewer people—the combined global workforces of Facebook, Yelp, Zynga, LinkedIn, Zillow, Tableau, Zulily, and Box are smaller than the number of people who lost their jobs when Circuit City was liquidated in 2009. And in the “sharing economy,” companies have no obligation to most of the people who work for them—at the end of 2014 Uber had over 160,000 “driver-partners” in the United States but recognized only about 2,000 people as actual employees.

Davis tracks the rise of the large American corporation and the economic, social, and technological developments that have led to its decline. The future could see either increasing economic polarization, as careers turn into jobs and jobs turn into tasks, or a more democratic economy built from the grass roots. It's up to us.

It may be hard to believe in an era of Walmart, Citizens United, and the Koch brothers, but corporations are on the decline. The number of American companies listed on the stock market dropped by half between 1996 and 2012. In recent years we've seen some of the most storied corporations go bankrupt (General Motors, Chrysler, Eastman Kodak) or disappear entirely (Bethlehem Steel, Lehman Brothers, Borders).

Gerald Davis argues this is a root cause of the income inequality and social instability we face today. Corporations were once an integral part of building the middle class. He points out that in their heyday they offered millions of people lifetime employment, a stable career path, health insurance, and retirement pensions. They were like small private welfare states.

The businesses that are replacing them will not fill the same role. For one thing, they employ far fewer people—the combined global workforces of Facebook, Yelp, Zynga, LinkedIn, Zillow, Tableau, Zulily, and Box are smaller than the number of people who lost their jobs when Circuit City was liquidated in 2009. And in the “sharing economy,” companies have no obligation to most of the people who work for them—at the end of 2014 Uber had over 160,000 “driver-partners” in the United States but recognized only about 2,000 people as actual employees.

Davis tracks the rise of the large American corporation and the economic, social, and technological developments that have led to its decline. The future could see either increasing economic polarization, as careers turn into jobs and jobs turn into tasks, or a more democratic economy built from the grass roots. It's up to us.