Whatever Works

2020 Foreword Indie Award Winner in the “Career” Category An internationally renowned psychologist shows us how overlooked factors in our work days-our physical environments, our unconscious habits, and even traits like our faces and voices-have the power to make or break our careers. In Whatever Works: The Small Cues That Make a Surprising Difference in our Success at Work—and How to Create a Happier Office, Thalma Lobel, one of the world's leading experts on human behavior, explores groundbreaking psychological research on job performance, satisfaction, and creativity. Lobel goes beyond obvious considerations like salary, title, and company culture to shed light on the hidden factors-often unrecognized, counterintuitive, or invisible-that have profound effects on how well we can do our jobs and how happy we are at work. Did you know that just doodling in a certain way can increase your creativity? That looking at something green for forty seconds will improve your attention? That crossing your legs similarly to an interviewer could get you the job? That the mere presence of a smartphone on your desk can lessen your performance, even if it's turned off? That being in a warmer room makes you more likely to want to conform with the group, affecting your decision-making? These are the invisible factors that nudge our behavior on a daily basis, and combined, have a real and significant bearing on our success-or failure-at work. In today's competitive market, where even tiny differences can be decisive, for both employees and organizations, exploiting such factors can make all the difference. The more you know about the subtle elements that can help or hinder you on the job, the better equipped you can be to take control and navigate today's competitive work world. Helpful for anyone from individual employees to managers to leaders of large organizations, Whatever Works shares valuable insights and practical takeaways to transform your professional life.

Gender equality is a moral and a business imperative. But unconscious bias holds us back and de-biasing minds has proven to be difficult and expensive. Behavioral design offers a new solution. Iris Bohnet shows that by de-biasing organizations instead of individuals, we can make smart changes that have big impacts—often at low cost and high speed.

A gorgeously illustrated collection of contemporary prayers, affirmations, and meditations for anyone in need of guidance, reassurance, and peace. Everyone has little moments of frustration, fear, or sadness, often littered throughout the day. Whether you are religious, spiritual, or just in need of some support, it is often in these small moments, as much as in the big ones, that we would benefit from the presence of a higher power. This open-minded book has simple prayers and meditations to help you connect. The prayers are nondenominational and encourage you, no matter your creed, to take a moment, breathe, and reconnect with the support that is out there, waiting for you. As a conceptual artist, Hannah Burr has used her art to stand in for a deity or higher power, providing accessible and beautiful pieces to help you on your spiritual journey. Take Contemporary Prayers to Whatever Works with you on the go or keep it by your bedside. This versatile book is designed to be a spiritual companion whenever you need a little inner harmony.

"A major contribution . . . on the behavior of common stocks in the United States." --Financial Analysts' Journal The consistently bestselling What Works on Wall Street explores the investment strategies that have provided the best returns over the past 50 years--and which are the top performers today. The third edition of this BusinessWeek and New York Times bestseller contains more than 50 percent new material and is designed to help you reshape your investment strategies for both the postbubble market and the dramatically changed political landscape. Packed with all-new charts, data, tables, and analyses, this updated classic allows you to directly compare popular stockpicking strategies and their results--creating a more comprehensive understanding of the intricate and often confusing investment process. Providing fresh insights into time-tested strategies, it examines: Value versus growth strategies P/E ratios versus price-to-sales Small-cap investing, seasonality, and more

A mother-daughter legal scholar team “offers unabashedly straightforward advice in a how-to primer for ambitious women . . . [A]ttention-grabbing revelations” (Debora L. Spar, The New York Times Book Review) What Works for Women at Work is a comprehensive and insightful guide for mastering office politics as a woman. Authored by Joan C. Williams, one of the nation’s most-cited experts on women and work, and her daughter, Rachel Dempsey, this unique book offers a multi-generational perspective into the realities of today’s workplace. Often women receive messages that they have only themselves to blame for failing to get ahead. What Works for Women at Work tells women it’s not their fault. Based on interviews with 127 successful working women, over half of them women of color, What Works for Women at Work presents a toolkit for getting ahead in today’s workplace. Distilling over thirty-five years of research, Williams and Dempsey offer four crisp patterns that affect working women. Each represents different challenges and requires different strategies—which is why women need to be savvier than men to survive and thrive in high-powered careers. Williams and Dempsey’s analysis of working women is nuanced and in-depth, going beyond the traditional one-size-fits-all approaches of most career guides for women. Throughout the book, they weave real-life anecdotes from the women they interviewed, along with advice on dealing with difficult situations such as sexual harassment. An essential resource for any working woman. “Many steps beyond Lean In (2013), Sheryl Sandberg’s prescription for getting ahead . . . .[F]illed with street-smart advice and plain old savvy about the way life works in corporate America.” —Booklist, starred review) “A playbook on how to transcend and triumph.” —O, The Oprah Magazine

This book reviews the full coaching outcome research literature to examine the arguments and evidence behind the use of executive coaching. Erik de Haan presents the definitive guide to what works in coaching and what changes coaching brings about, both for individual coaches and for organisations and commissioners. Accessibly written and based on contemporary quantitative research into coaching effectiveness, this book considers whether we know that coaching works, and, if so, whom it works for, and what it offers to those involved. What Works in Executive Coaching considers the entire body of academic literature on quantitative research in executive and workplace coaching, assessing the significant results and explaining how to apply them. Each chapter contains direct applications to coaching practice and clearly evaluates the evidence, defining what really works in executive coaching. Alongside its companion volume Critical Moments in Executive Coaching, this book is an essential guide to evidence-based effectiveness in coaching. It will be a key text for all coaching practitioners, including those in training.

Yong Zhao shines a light on the long-ignored phenomenon of side effects of education policies and practices, bringing a fresh and perhaps surprising perspective to evidence-based practices and policies. Identifying the adverse effects of some of the “best” educational interventions with examples from classrooms to boardrooms, the author investigates causes and offers clear recommendations. “A highly readable and important book about the side effects of education reforms. Every educator and researcher should take its lessons to heart.” —Diane Ravitch, New York University “A stunning analysis of the problems encountered in our efforts to improve education. If Yong Zhao has not delivered the death blow to naive empiricism, he has at least severely wounded it.” —Gene V. Glass, San José State University “This book is a brilliantly written analysis of well-known educational change efforts followed by a concrete call for action that no policymaker, researcher, teacher, or education reform advocate should leave unread.” —Pasi Sahlberg, University of New South Wales, Sydney “Nothing less than the future of the republic is dealt with in this wonderful and crucial book about the field of educational research and policy.” —David C. Berliner, Arizona State University

Whatever Works for You: A Working Womans Guide to Surviving a Busy Life While Maintaining Peace is a semi-autobiographical view into author Deborah McVay-McKinneys busy life. She offers guidance for the working woman who seeks balance while accomplishing everything on her to-do list and maintaining a career, home, and family. Filled with organizational tips and advice-and dotted with humor and history-this entertaining how-to reference manual reveals that living a successful, balanced life is simpler than people realize. In these busy, stressful times, people want to feel like they have a life beyond work as well as good ideas to help them accomplish this goal. The author cites many different types of women who inspire her thoughts on surviving in todays world. When they are overwhelmed, overcommitted, faced with uncertainties, and just plain stressed-as many of these women are on a daily basis-their strength comes from knowing they are not alone. The common thread in each of their lives is a strong sense of faith. Planning a vacation, managing the holiday season, accomplishing weekly chores, and sorting the paper piles are explained in easy to follow steps, along with checklists and planning pages, to gain an organized, stress-free life. In Whatever Works for You, McVay-McKinney encourages readers to find personal time, gain a renewed sense of value, and depend more upon faith to achieve a balanced, peaceful life.