Succeeding When You're Supposed to Fail: The 6 Enduring Principles of High Achievement
New! Coming out December 27, 2011
In Countless studies, psychologists have discovered a surprising fact:
For decades they assumed that people who face adversity—a difficult childhood, career turbulence, sudden bouts of bad luck—will succumb to their circumstances. Yet over and over again they found a significant percentage are able to overcome their life circumstances and achieve spectacular success.
How is it that individuals who are not “supposed” to succeed manage to overcome the odds? Are there certain traits that such people have in common? Can the rest of us learn from their success and apply it to our own lives?
In Succeeding When You’re Supposed to Fail, Rom Brafman, psychologist and coauthor of the bestselling book Sway, set out to answer these questions. In a riveting narrative that interweaves compelling stories from education, the military, and business and a wide range of groundbreaking new research, Brafman identifies the six hidden drivers behind unlikely success. Among them:
- The critical importance of the Limelight Effect—our ability to redirect the focus of our lives to the result of our own efforts, as opposed to external forces
- The value of a satellite in our lives—the remarkable way in which a consistent ally who accepts us unconditionally while still challenging us to be our best can make a huge difference
- The power of temperament—people who are able to tunnel through life’s obstacles have a surprisingly mild disposition; they don’t allow the bumps in the road to unsettle them
“From the business world to the battlefield, this book will take you inside the moments that differentiate success from failure. One of the most engaging books I have read in the last decade.” — Tom Rath, author of StrengthsFinder 2.0
“Some ‘high risk’ kids who are supposed to fail instead turn out to shine with success. The secret of this amazing resilience has been scientifically investigated by psychologists. Now Rom Brafman brings you the three secrets of resilience in the stories of these amazing people who ‘tunnel through adversity’ and into success. Now these secrets can be yours. This book will change lives.” — John M. Gottman, Ph.D., coauthor of The Seven Principles For Making Marriage Work
Sway: The Irressistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
Why do perfectly rational people make irrational decisions? We interviewed experts and collected stories from the realms of psychology, economics, sports, politics, aviation, jurisprudence, anthropology, and corporate management to distill the psychological forces that sway our behavior.
"A breathtaking book that will challenge your every thought, Sway hovers above the intersection of Blink and Freakonomics." — Tom Rath, coauthor of the New York Times #1 bestseller How Full Is Your Bucket?
Click: The Forces Behind How We Fully Engage with People, Work, and Everything We Do
We all know that feeling. You meet someone new, and whether it’s romantic or not, there’s a certain spark in the air. The conversation feels effortless. There’s a common language, a common worldview. Maybe the jokes flow easily or we share a passion. You hit it off. You just click.
This book is about that moment. How and why do we click? Is that click predictable? What can we do to foster it? Are some people just natural clickers, able to form connections more easily? What can the business world learn from clicking—vis-à-vis team building, online relationships, and marketing campaigns?
In its simplest terms, clicking can be defined as an immediate, deep, and meaningful connection with another person or with the world around us.
Drawing on findings from social psychology, organizational behavior, communications, and neurobiology, we explore the five accelerators--vulnerability, proximity, resonance, similarity, and safe place--that lead to clicking, the personality type that's most likely to click with others, and the research explores the magical and long-lasting quality of these clicking encounters. Our journey takes us to the realms of romantic attraction, workplace connections, sports, politics, standup comedy, and even fashion.
"Serious research explained with interesting real-life stories and presented in a short concise format. I think you'll click with it too." — Inc