As November nears an end, our collective focus shifts towards the holiday season and gearing up for a successful 2016. It’s a time of giving and unwinding, making books a favourite seasonal indulgence. Here are excerpts and more information on some of the most-talked about end-of-year releases*:
Leadership:
Cheryl Cran | The Art of Change Leadership: Driving Transformation In a Fast-Paced World
The Art of Change Leadership represents a major milestone in the study of change leadership. An approachable yet thorough guide for leaders and team members that illustrates how to increase speed and agility during times of intense technological innovation and fast change, this resource focuses on the ways in which you, as an individual, can harness your unique abilities to lead cultural change and personal leadership in a positive and proactive way. Through eleven comprehensive chapters, explore the need for increased human brain speed, how to improve your focus, the body/mind connection, agility within a team setting, improving productivity, communication with your team, and more.
An Excerpt:
“Many Generation Ys will live at home until the average age of 35; they are willing to live at home longer until they find a company that they truly want to work for. Gen Y are either staying home longer until they find work they love or they are working at what they want but it doesn’t quite pay enough for them to move out. The implication for organizations is that they must shift from creating an environment in which they assume people need to work to one in which people want to work. We need to transform the workplace and the culture to include the viewpoints and ideas of Generation Y and to be engaging for all of the generations. Generation Ys are not the reason companies need to transform; the reason for the transformation imperative is technology, and Generation Y happens to be the generation infiltrating the workplace that has been born with technology as a part of their life since birth. Generation X or Baby Boomer parents taught Generation Ys to do what they love, to ask for what they want, and that life is too short to be in one job for life. Because of this, Generation Ys show up at work and want the workplace to segue to their lives; they want it to be fun, to be collegial, to be creative, and to have the ability to enjoy life while having a career. The art of change leadership includes the ability to adapt to the Generation Y influence and to incorporate their ideas as well as their creative solutions for driving transformation forward.”
Embark on a wondrous, eclectic journey with this rough-and-tumble field journal, packed with inspiration and activities from around the globe. Page by page, you’ll be challenged to write, rip, make and share as you escape your comfort zone and pay it forward. Wherever you are—in your living room or in Nepal—the result is a vibrant record of your adventures, a deeply personal gallery of shared surprises, hidden treasures, sudden epiphanies, meaningful connections and lasting changes.
Your guide on this journey is Bruce Poon Tip, the founder of international adventure travel company G Adventures and author of the international bestseller Looptail, an Inc. Top Ten Business Book of 2013. Full of simple, playful prompts and eye-opening visuals, and brimming with worldly wisdom, healthy irreverence and a sense of boundless possibility, this is a trip that just might change your life.
An Interview on the Book:Non Fiction, Released: October 27, 2015
Hockey:
Ron MacLean | Hockey Towns: Untold Stories from the Heart of Canada
When you first meet Ron MacLean, he asks where you’re from, and he always comes back with a story. No one has crossed this country more than MacLean. In his 28 years on Hockey Night in Canada and now as host of Rogers’ Hometown Hockey, Ron has met fascinating people from coast to coast and has great stories to tell. Now, in this new book, MacLean is back, with brand new tales from across the country.
An Excerpt:
“After that little pep talk, and thanks to Paul Henderson, Canada came out and won the series. They held their flank on the Russian front. And then, thirty years later in Salt Lake City, Utah, Canada was off to another slow start — hammered by Sweden, they barely beat Germany and then tied the Czechs, their rec- ord 1–1–1. When Theo Fleury was levelled in front of the net by Czech player Roman Hamrlík, it was the last straw for the Great One, and he did something he rarely does. He went public.
“You talk about we’re not a skating team, we can’t move the puck, we have no finesse. That’s crazy. We outskated them into the ground, third period. There should have been four or five penalties, blatant penalties. And [there] should have been two or three suspensions. Am I hot? Yes, I’m hot, ’cause I’m tired of people taking shots at Canadian hockey. When we do it, we’re hooligans. When Europeans do it, it’s okay because they’re not tough or they’re not dirty. That’s a crock of crap.”
The team would end up with a gold medal for the first time in fifty years. And at those same Olympics, the Canadian women’s team won gold for the first time ever. As she came off the ice after the win, Hayley Wickenheiser, the undisputed face of Canadian hockey, was more than a little fired up. “You know what? The Americans had our flag on the floor of their dressing room, and now I want to know if they want us to sign it! I am so happy!”
It’s usually hard to put these feelings into words, but Esposito, Gretzky, and Wickenheiser are the best of the best. They embody the Canadian spirit — play fair, play to win and don’t mess with our hockey.”
Non Fiction, Released: October 20, 2015
Management:
Dr. Joseph Michelli| Driven to Delight: Delivering World-Class Customer Experience the Mercedes-Benz Way
Filled with exclusive front-seat insights from Mercedes-Benz employees, eye-opening testimonials from passionate Mercedes-Benz fans, and solid nuts-and-bolts advice for creating your own consumer-aligned road map, Driven to Delight will help you retool your strategies, reignite your customers, and refuel your team for the long haul.
This is the story of how an organization became Driven to Delight. It reveals the action plan Mercedes-Benz USA used to catapult the company to first place rankings in national customer satisfaction studies while at the same time growing sales and profits. With unprecedented access to company personnel, customer experience expert Joseph Michelli charts the journey the company took and identifies the all-important keys to driving delight in any customer-based organization.
Acclaim:
“A powerful and inspiring look ‘inside the tent’ of Mercedes-Benz that will help you learn how large companies make big changes in short timespans.”
–Guy Kawasaki, Chief Evangelist of Canva and author of The Art of the Start 2.0
“I can’t remember having read a more compelling example of how great luxury brands aren’t just made but are nurtured. Driven to Delight offers essential lessons on the direct and undeniable relationship between how much you value and respect your customers and how they reward you for that consideration.”
–Mike Jackson, Chairman, CEO, and President, AutoNation
“Kudos to Steve Cannon and Joseph Michelli. Steve is the rare CEO who is brutally honest―in a public forum― about his own iconic organization’s growing pains. Joseph’s ability to present a compelling case study is unparalleled. If Driven to Delight can’t convince you of the bottom line benefits of balancing service and technology to differentiate from your competition, your days are numbered.”
—Doug Lipp, International business consultant and bestselling author of Disney U
Non Fiction, Release Date: December 8, 2015
Sports:
Jay Onrait | Number Two: More Short Tales from a Very Tall Man
Get ready for more story time with everyone’s favourite Canadian sportscaster, Jay Onrait! Pull up a chair, open a bag of ketchup chips, and join Jay as he reminisces about the times he . . .
– explored the squalid world of medical marijuana;
– made a mess of himself on the road to Pittsburgh;
– got upstaged on live TV by comedy legend Martin Short;
– rode a Street Dragon through the laneways of Sochi;
– shared a drink with Jay-Z and was then asked to leave;
And much, much more!
An Interview on the Book:Non Fiction, Released: October 27, 2015
Cheryl Cran | The Art of Change Leadership: Driving Transformation In a Fast-Paced World
Bruce Poon Tip | Do Big Small Things
| Hockey Towns: Untold Stories from the Heart of Canada
Dr. Joseph Michelli| Driven to Delight: Delivering World-Class Customer Experience the Mercedes-Benz Way
Jay Onrait | Number Two: More Short Tales from a Very Tall Man