Life becomes less complicated as we grow as communicators. There’s often more we can do to improve our interactions than we realize.

We don’t have to live with regret about what we could have said or how we should have listened. This timely, timeless bravery manual teaches which risks to take and how to engage in ways that don’t cost us our personal peace.

Michelle’s tips read like a heartfelt conversation with a trusted friend—one who happens to have decades of experience coaching people from all walks of life. When we fall into sneaky, fear-based patterns, we’re robbed of the joy of communicating skillfully and confidently. Readers of Communicate with Courage learn how to overcome four hidden challenges:

• Hiding: Avoiding risks we need to take to realize our potential
• Defining: Needing to be right rather than approachable and open
• Rationalizing: Shielding ourselves from honest feedback, conflict, apologizing, asking for help, negotiating, and other scary but potentially rewarding Pro Moves
• Settling: Accepting "good enough" instead of stretching toward better outcomes

Through riveting real-life stories and practical exercises, Gladieux’s compassionate guidance builds self- and other-awareness in a wide variety of settings. This transformative approach has garnered national acclaim, earning the book eleven literary awards, including the following:

• Best Book Nonfiction, Outstanding Education – Independent Author Network
• Nonfiction 1st Place and Best Book Nonfiction – PenCraft Book Awards
• Nonfiction in Leadership/Think Differently Winner – Goody Book Awards
• Bronze Nonfiction Award – Readers’ Favorite Awards
• Communications Nonfiction Gold Prize – Global eBook Awards
• Nonfiction Book of the Year, Grand Prize – Independent Author Network

Whether you aim to improve work relationships or experience deeper personal connections, Communicate with Courage offers tools to make interactions easier and more enjoyable.

“Communicate with Courage is life-changing. Gladieux’s extraordinary empathy shines through with relatable examples from diverse worlds, from music to business to sports. You’ll read this book more than once. It will transform your relationship with yourself and other people.”
—Dr. Jillian Ihsanullah, leadership researcher

Confront the psychological blocks that are holding you back-and become a fearless and peerless communicator.

Life becomes less complicated as we grow as communicators. There's often more we can do to improve our interactions than we realize. We don't have to live with regret about what we could have said or how we should have listened. This timely, timeless bravery manual teaches which risks to take and how to engage in ways that don't cost us our personal peace.

Michelle's tips read like a heartfelt conversation with a trusted friend-one who happens to have decades of experience coaching people from all walks of life. When we fall into sneaky, fear-based patterns, we're robbed of the joy of communicating skillfully and confidently. Readers of Communicate with Courage learn how to overcome four hidden challenges:

• Hiding: Avoiding risks we need to take to realize our potential
• Defining: Needing to be right rather than approachable and open
• Rationalizing: Shielding ourselves from honest feedback, conflict, apologizing, asking for help, negotiating, and other scary but potentially rewarding Pro Moves
• Settling: Accepting "good enough" instead of stretching toward better outcomes

Through riveting real-life stories and practical exercises, Gladieux's compassionate
guidance builds self- and other-awareness in a wide variety of settings. This transformative approach has garnered national acclaim, earning the book eleven literary awards, including the following:

• Best Book Nonfiction, Outstanding Education – Independent Author Network
• Nonfiction 1st Place and Best Book Nonfiction – PenCraft Book Awards
• Nonfiction in Leadership/Think Differently Winner – Goody Book Awards
• Bronze Nonfiction Award – Readers' Favorite Awards
• Communications Nonfiction Gold Prize – Global eBook Awards
• Nonfiction Book of the Year, Grand Prize – Independent Author Network

Whether you aim to improve work relationships or experience deeper personal connections, Communicate with Courage offers tools to make interactions easier and more enjoyable.

“Communicate with Courage is life-changing. Gladieux's extraordinary empathy shines through with relatable examples from diverse worlds, from music to business to sports. You'll read this book more than once. It will transform your relationship with yourself and other people.”
-Dr. Jillian Ihsanullah, leadership researcher

As a response to the increasing violence in our culture, the widening ideological divides, and the growing gap in economic well-being, there is greater awareness that a deeper sense of community is desperately needed. But even as we acknowledge the need to build community, the dominant on-the-ground practices about how to engage people, civically and organizationally, remain essentially unchanged. We still believe community is built with better messaging, more persuasion, and social events for people to get to know each other better. All of which is naïve.

In this new edition, Block draws on a decade of putting these ideas into practice to emphasize what has worked and extract those thoughts that were nice but had no durability. He explores how technology, instead of bringing us together, has driven us into more isolation. New examples show that community building can be a more powerful way to address social problems than more traditional policies and programs. And encouragingly, Block insists this is really simple, once we decide it is essential. He offers a way of thinking that creates an opening for authentic communities to exist and details what each of us can do to make that happen.

As a response to the increasing violence in our culture, the widening ideological divides, and the growing gap in economic well-being, there is greater awareness that a deeper sense of community is desperately needed. But even as we acknowledge the need to build community, the dominant on-the-ground practices about how to engage people, civically and organizationally, remain essentially unchanged. We still believe community is built with better messaging, more persuasion, and social events for people to get to know each other better. All of which is naïve.

In this new edition, Block draws on a decade of putting these ideas into practice to emphasize what has worked and extract those thoughts that were nice but had no durability. He explores how technology, instead of bringing us together, has driven us into more isolation. New examples show that community building can be a more powerful way to address social problems than more traditional policies and programs. And encouragingly, Block insists this is really simple, once we decide it is essential. He offers a way of thinking that creates an opening for authentic communities to exist and details what each of us can do to make that happen.

The expanded and revised edition of Community tackles the hysteric rise of isolation and fear in a digitally interconnected world.

In the second edition of Community, author Peter Block offers practical advice and uplifting stories as a way to reject the increasing pull towards isolation and fear of the stranger in a new world of constant connection. This book explores the benefits of community and belonging to foster social change and reconciliation. As we continue to find new ways of being in constant connection with each other through technology, our workplaces are depopulated and we face growing trends of fundamentalism and nationalism, our fear of the stranger deepens. Block challenges this mindset and proves that community and the structure of belonging has the power to bring about positive social change when supported by the frameworks of compassion, equity and respect for the other. Backed by extensive research, this updated and expanded edition illuminates successful stories of community building as a form of healing. Covering stories about political gridlocks, poverty, people of faith, to institutional life, this revolutionary book offers a compelling argument of why we need community now more than ever.

This updated bestseller shows leaders how to transform fragmentation into authentic community with new workplace applications and proven strategies for today’s divided world.

With increasing violence, widening ideological divides, and growing economic inequality, a deeper sense of community is desperately needed. Yet typical ways of engaging people civically and organizationally remain unchanged. In Community, Peter Block explores how authentic community can emerge from fragmentation and offers practical steps to foster transformation.

This updated third edition draws on decades of implementing Block’s ideas and includes the following:

• New stories and examples demonstrating community building as a more powerful approach to social problems than traditional policies and programs
• Expanded resources and a discussion guide designed for classroom and training program use
• A new closing chapter covering broader implications of the book’s ideas for organizational transformation
• Fresh content exploring the creative economy’s relationship to belonging and social capital’s role in authentic engagement
• Updated examples showing how community principles apply to today’s workplace and virtual world challenges

From neighborhood councils transforming local engagement to organizations shifting from competitive to cooperative cultures, Block demonstrates how simple positive change can be once we decide it’s essential. Whether readers are community leaders, organizational consultants, or concerned citizens, this book provides the framework and tools to move from fragmentation to connection, from isolation to belonging.

This updated bestseller shows leaders how to transform fragmentation into authentic community with new workplace applications and proven strategies for today’s divided world.

With increasing violence, widening ideological divides, and growing economic inequality, a deeper sense of community is desperately needed. Yet typical ways of engaging people civically and organizationally remain unchanged. In Community, Peter Block explores how authentic community can emerge from fragmentation and offers practical steps to foster transformation.

This updated third edition draws on decades of implementing Block’s ideas and includes the following:

• New stories and examples demonstrating community building as a more powerful approach to social problems than traditional policies and programs
• Expanded resources and a discussion guide designed for classroom and training program use
• A new closing chapter covering broader implications of the book’s ideas for organizational transformation
• Fresh content exploring the creative economy’s relationship to belonging and social capital’s role in authentic engagement
• Updated examples showing how community principles apply to today’s workplace and virtual world challenges

From neighborhood councils transforming local engagement to organizations shifting from competitive to cooperative cultures, Block demonstrates how simple positive change can be once we decide it’s essential. Whether readers are community leaders, organizational consultants, or concerned citizens, this book provides the framework and tools to move from fragmentation to connection, from isolation to belonging.

This updated bestseller shows leaders how to transform fragmentation into authentic community with new workplace applications and proven strategies for today’s divided world.

With increasing violence, widening ideological divides, and growing economic inequality, a deeper sense of community is desperately needed. Yet typical ways of engaging people civically and organizationally remain unchanged. In Community, Peter Block explores how authentic community can emerge from fragmentation and offers practical steps to foster transformation.

This updated third edition draws on decades of implementing Block’s ideas and includes the following:

• New stories and examples demonstrating community building as a more powerful approach to social problems than traditional policies and programs
• Expanded resources and a discussion guide designed for classroom and training program use
• A new closing chapter covering broader implications of the book’s ideas for organizational transformation
• Fresh content exploring the creative economy’s relationship to belonging and social capital’s role in authentic engagement
• Updated examples showing how community principles apply to today’s workplace and virtual world challenges

From neighborhood councils transforming local engagement to organizations shifting from competitive to cooperative cultures, Block demonstrates how simple positive change can be once we decide it’s essential. Whether readers are community leaders, organizational consultants, or concerned citizens, this book provides the framework and tools to move from fragmentation to connection, from isolation to belonging.

A compass for leaders lost in the paradoxical space between attention to people and attention to results—with Compassionate Accountability you don't have to choose!

Sadly, compassion and accountability are too often in tension-leaders feel they have to pick one or the other. But solely prioritizing accountability can create toxic work environments that drive away good talent. On the other end of the spectrum, being too nice can compromise performance and productivity.

Finding harmony between compassion and accountability is the ultimate catalyst for improved results and a thriving workplace.

The solution is recognizing that compassion and accountability are not opposites. In fact, accountability is an element of compassion. Compassionate Accountability is the process of building connection while getting results. This book shows how this foundational mindset, philosophy, and way of living can lead to a thriving organizational culture. It covers such topics as these:

• Why you can't practice compassion without accountability
• How to turn on the three switches of the compassion mindset—and the predictable damaging consequences when they're turned off
• The key role Compassionate Accountability plays in a healthy leadership culture
• Six areas to focus on to start building your culture of Compassionate Accountability
• Five common barriers to compassion for leaders—and how to overcome them

Plus, readers will find real case examples of how organizations have adopted Compassionate Accountability, along with quizzes and self-assessments to help them learn and apply the concepts.

Leaders seeking a renewed sense of fulfillment in their roles and increased leadership impact will find inspiration, guidance, and a road map for cultural transformation.

A compass for leaders lost in the paradoxical space between attention to people and attention to results—with Compassionate Accountability you don't have to choose!

Sadly, compassion and accountability are too often in tension-leaders feel they have to pick one or the other. But solely prioritizing accountability can create toxic work environments that drive away good talent. On the other end of the spectrum, being too nice can compromise performance and productivity.

Finding harmony between compassion and accountability is the ultimate catalyst for improved results and a thriving workplace.

The solution is recognizing that compassion and accountability are not opposites. In fact, accountability is an element of compassion. Compassionate Accountability is the process of building connection while getting results. This book shows how this foundational mindset, philosophy, and way of living can lead to a thriving organizational culture. It covers such topics as these:

• Why you can't practice compassion without accountability
• How to turn on the three switches of the compassion mindset—and the predictable damaging consequences when they're turned off
• The key role Compassionate Accountability plays in a healthy leadership culture
• Six areas to focus on to start building your culture of Compassionate Accountability
• Five common barriers to compassion for leaders—and how to overcome them

Plus, readers will find real case examples of how organizations have adopted Compassionate Accountability, along with quizzes and self-assessments to help them learn and apply the concepts.

Leaders seeking a renewed sense of fulfillment in their roles and increased leadership impact will find inspiration, guidance, and a road map for cultural transformation.

A compass for leaders lost in the paradoxical space between attention to people and attention to results-with Compassionate Accountability you don't have to choose!

Sadly, compassion and accountability are too often in tension-leaders feel they have to pick one or the other. But solely prioritizing accountability can create toxic work environments that drive away good talent. On the other end of the spectrum, being too nice can compromise performance and productivity.

Finding harmony between compassion and accountability is the ultimate catalyst for improved results and a thriving workplace.

The solution is recognizing that compassion and accountability are not opposites. In fact, accountability is an element of compassion. Compassionate Accountability is the process of building connection while getting results. This book shows how this foundational mindset, philosophy, and way of living can lead to a thriving organizational culture. It covers such topics as these:

• Why you can't practice compassion without accountability
• How to turn on the three “switches” of the compassion mindset-and the predictable damaging consequences when they're turned off
• The key role Compassionate Accountability plays in a healthy leadership culture
• Six areas to focus on to start building your culture of Compassionate Accountability
• Five common barriers to compassion for leaders-and how to overcome them

Plus, readers will find real case examples of how organizations have adopted Compassionate Accountability, along with quizzes and self-assessments to help them learn and apply the concepts.

Leaders seeking a renewed sense of fulfillment in their roles and increased leadership impact will find inspiration, guidance, and a road map for cultural transformation.

From purchasing pay-per-view pornography to smoking pot, many so-called Muslim terrorists prove by their actions that they aren't motivated by devotion to religion, Leena Al Olaimy argues. So why do they really turn to violence, and what does that tell us about the most effective way to combat terrorism?

Al Olaimy sets the stage by providing a quick, thoughtful grounding in the birth of Islam in a barbaric Game of Thrones–like seventh-century Arabia, the evolution of fundamentalist thought, and the political failures of the postcolonial period. She shows that terrorists are motivated by economic exclusion, lack of opportunity, social marginalization, and political discrimination. This is why using force to counter terrorism is ineffective—it exacerbates the symptoms without treating the cause. Moreover, data shows that military interventions led to the demise of only 12 percent of religious terrorist groups.

Combining compelling data with anecdotal evidence, Al Olaimy sheds light on unorthodox and counterintuitive strategies to address social woes that groups like ISIS exploit. For example, she describes how Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has decreased terrorism while paradoxically becoming more overtly religious. Or how Mechelen, the city with Belgium's largest Muslim population, adopted integration policies so effective that not one of its 20,000 Muslims left to join ISIS. Using religion, neuroscience, farming, and even love, this book offers many inspiring examples and—for once—an optimistic outlook on how we can not just fight but prevent terrorism.

From purchasing pay-per-view pornography to smoking pot, many so-called Muslim terrorists prove by their actions that they aren't motivated by devotion to religion, Leena Al Olaimy argues. So why do they really turn to violence, and what does that tell us about the most effective way to combat terrorism?

Al Olaimy sets the stage by providing a quick, thoughtful grounding in the birth of Islam in a barbaric Game of Thrones–like seventh-century Arabia, the evolution of fundamentalist thought, and the political failures of the postcolonial period. She shows that terrorists are motivated by economic exclusion, lack of opportunity, social marginalization, and political discrimination. This is why using force to counter terrorism is ineffective—it exacerbates the symptoms without treating the cause. Moreover, data shows that military interventions led to the demise of only 12 percent of religious terrorist groups.

Combining compelling data with anecdotal evidence, Al Olaimy sheds light on unorthodox and counterintuitive strategies to address social woes that groups like ISIS exploit. For example, she describes how Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has decreased terrorism while paradoxically becoming more overtly religious. Or how Mechelen, the city with Belgium's largest Muslim population, adopted integration policies so effective that not one of its 20,000 Muslims left to join ISIS. Using religion, neuroscience, farming, and even love, this book offers many inspiring examples and—for once—an optimistic outlook on how we can not just fight but prevent terrorism.

Islamist terrorism is not about religion, says Leena Al Olaimy, an Arab Muslim, Dalai Lama Fellow, and social entrepreneur. She identifies the economic, social, and political factors that are its true driving forces and offers innovative strategies to address them that have proven far more effective than military interventions alone.


Sixteen years ago during Ramadan, Leena Al Olaimy was a senior at New York University volunteering at Ground Zero. Ironically, she, a practicing Muslim, was assigned to distribute food to the rescue workers. Angered by what her religion had come to represent, and at those brandishing their perverted version of it, she embarked on lifelong research into the root of extremism.

While terrorism experts are unlikely to reach a consensus on the instigators, nor discover an algorithm explaining violent extremism; there is one common thread present through the narratives of terrorists. In some shape or form, they have all suffered from social, economic, or political exclusion. Most critically, this creates an inner turmoil, resulting in the delusion that martyrdom can bring glory. Yet throughout history, many marginalized peoples have not retaliated with such senseless violence, so what inner and outer enabling conditions drive individuals who have radicalized in the name of Islam? And more importantly, what solutions lie in our personal power to address them? This book examines these questions through a spiritual lens, reflecting on absolutism, moral humility, and the potential ‘fundamentalist' in all of us, including the perils of justifying a “noble pursuit” using immoral means; and the parallels between interpretations of scripture to justify violence, with interpretations of scripture to vilify religion. Current counter-terrorism measures are counterproductive. This book offers creative, evidence-based solutions to remedy the consequences of counter-terrorism policies that exacerbate exclusion. Al Olaimy argues there is a way to better invest in peace as individuals, entrepreneurs, policy-makers, and civil society.

Proven, Profitable, and Sustainable

For the past fifty years, leaders in the business world have believed that their sole responsibility is to maximize profit for shareholders. But this obsessive focus was a major cause of the abuses that nearly sunk the global economy in 2008. In this analytically rigorous and eminently practical book, Bruno Roche and Jay Jakub offer a more complete form of capitalism, one that delivers superior financial performance precisely because it mobilizes and generates human, social, and natural capital along with financial capital. They describe how the model has been implemented in live business pilots in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere. Recent high-profile books like Capital in the Twenty-First Century have exposed financial capitalism's shortcomings, but this book goes far beyond by describing a well-developed, field-tested alternative.

Proven, Profitable, and Sustainable

For the past fifty years, leaders in the business world have believed that their sole responsibility is to maximize profit for shareholders. But this obsessive focus was a major cause of the abuses that nearly sunk the global economy in 2008. In this analytically rigorous and eminently practical book, Bruno Roche and Jay Jakub offer a more complete form of capitalism, one that delivers superior financial performance precisely because it mobilizes and generates human, social, and natural capital along with financial capital. They describe how the model has been implemented in live business pilots in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere. Recent high-profile books like Capital in the Twenty-First Century have exposed financial capitalism's shortcomings, but this book goes far beyond by describing a well-developed, field-tested alternative.

Milton Friedman's “financial capitalism” business model, which focuses exclusively on maximizing returns to shareholders, has caused tremendous harm to people, planet, and even profits, argue Mars, Inc., executives Bruno Roche and Jay Jakub. They advocate a detailed, field-tested alternative that takes a broader view and enables businesses to do well while doing good.


For the past fifty years, the business world has been dominated by the Milton Friedman “financial capitalism” economic model, which preaches that it is the “sole social responsibility of business to maximize profit for distribution to shareholders.” This one-dimensional focus represents a grossly incomplete view of reality-businesses need to pay attention to many other factors if they are to thrive and endure-and has resulted in increasing global economic dysfunction, widening inequality, and environmental destruction.

In this new book, Roche and Jakub offer a new model that is built around detailed metrics to measure and track performance in all forms of capital, including social, human, and natural, as well as financial. And this is not simply theory: the model has been extensively field-tested in live business pilots in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere. It is delivering superior measurable performance across the different forms of capital, including generating more profit than a profit maximization approach. Recent high-profile books like Capital in the Twenty-First Century have exposed the shortcomings of today's financial capitalism model, but this book goes far beyond by describing a well-developed, proven alternative.

Very little solid evidence exists that microloans make a dent in long-term poverty. Sadly, evidence does exist for negligence, corruption, and methods that border on extortion. Part exposé, part memoir, and part financial detective story, this is the account of a one-time true believer whose decade in the industry turned him into a heretic. Hugh Sinclair worked with several microfinance institutions around the world. He couldn’t help but notice that even with a booming $70 billion industry on their side, the poor didn’t seem any better off. Exorbitant interest rates led borrowers into never-ending debt spirals, and aggressive collection practices resulted in cases of forced prostitution, child labor, suicide, and nationwide revolts against the microfinance community. Sinclair weaves a shocking tale of a system increasingly focused on maximizing profits—particularly once large banks got involved. He details his discovery of several scandals, one of the most disturbing involving a large African microfinance institution of questionable legality that charged interest rates in excess of 100 percent per year and whose investors and supporters included some of the most celebrated leaders of the microfinance sector. Sinclair’s objections were first met with silence, then threats, attempted bribery, and a court case, and eventually led him to become a principal whistleblower in a sector that had lost its soul. Microfinance can work—Sinclair describes moving experiences with several ethical and effective organizations and explains what made them different. But without the fundamental reforms that Sinclair recommends here, microfinance will remain an “investment opportunity” that will leave the poor with hollow promises and empty pockets.