Inspiring stories about extraordinary people, and the qualities and actions that make them truly great.'

What are the origins of greatness? Few other questions have caused such intense debate, controversy, and diversity of opinions. In recent years, a large body of research has accumulated that suggests that the origins of greatness are extraordinarily complex. Instead of talent or practice, it's talent and practice. Instead of nature or nature, it's nature via nurture. Instead of practice, it's deliberate practice. Instead of the causes of greatness in general, it's the determinants of greatness specific to a field. The Complexity of Greatness brings together a variety of perspectives and the most cutting-edge research on genes, talent, intelligence, expertise, deliberate practice, creativity, prodigies, savants, passion, and persistence. A variety of different domains are represented, including science, mathematics, expert memory, acting, visual arts, music, and sports. This book demonstrates that the truth about greatness is far more nuanced, complex, and fascinating than any one viewpoint or paradigm can possibly reveal. Indeed, it suggests that the time has come to go beyond talent or practice. Greatness is much, much more.

Great is no longer good enough. Beyond Great delivers a powerful new playbook of 9 core strategies to thrive in a post-COVID world where all the rules of the game are being re-written. Beyond Great answers to two fundamental questions which face business leaders today in a world shaped by daunting and disruptive technological, economic, and social change. First, what is outstanding performance in this new volatile era? Second, how do we build competitive advantage in a world with new and often uncertain rules? Supported by years of research and hands-on consulting practice, this book presents a comprehensive framework for building a high performing, resilient, adaptive, and socially responsible global company. The book begins by taking an incisive look at these disruptive forces transforming globalization, including economic nationalism; the boom in data flows and digital commerce; the rise of China; heightened public concerns about capitalism and the environment; and the emergence of borderless communities of digitally connected consumers. Distilled from the study of hundreds of companies and interviews with dozens of business leaders, the authors have distilled nine core strategies – the new winning playbook of the 21st century. Beyond Great argues that business leaders today must lead with a new kind of openness, flexibility and light-footedness, constantly layering in new strategies and operational norms atop existing ones to allow for "always-on" transformation. Leaders must master a whole new set of rules about what it takes to be "global," becoming shapeshifters adept at handling contradiction, multiplicity, and nuance. This book will show them how.

The juvenile, or two-year-old, racing careers of Colin, Man o War, Ruffian and Landaluce provide the foundation and focus for discussing the question of thoroughbred greatness and its measure. These four thoroughbreds were arguably the best juvenile runners of the twentieth century. Close on their hooves, pun intended, however, were the colts Sysonby and Secretariat and the fillies First Flight, La Prevoyante and Personal Ensign. The latter five runners are honorably mentioned and also compared in the book. As in The Greatest Horse of All: A Controversy Examined, basic statistics are used informally to provide readers a basis for their own studies in thoroughbred data comparison and evaluation. The author realizes that many people avoid mathematical ideas like the plague. Therefore, he has minimized statistical usage to its most common elements, and he explains these thoroughly for the uninitiated as the book progresses. Only two of the ten chapters use statistics to any degree. The text also includes seven figures and two tables to aid in understanding the statistical concepts. If one feels remotely comfortable with eight-grade mathematics concepts, one will have no problem with this material. Relative to the statistical comparisons, two novel concepts are discussed. These pertain to addressing the so-called era effect. Many racing fans continue to argue that horses from different eras cannot justly be compared. A strong case against this argument is presented from at least two standpoints. First, a device is described and suggested to scientifically test and compare the true relative speeds of two racing surfaces. Second, an inverse use of the well-known t test for comparing the differences between two or more data sets is presented. The text demonstrates how using this inverse test can equitably adjust earlier era data so that it may be fairly compared with later era data.

This book is based on my 30+ years of elite athlete/corporate executive coaching. It speaks about the psychology of performance.

In life there are a few major questions. Among them are, "What do we gain?" "What's new?" and "What's the point?" This book creatively uses the Book of Ecclesiastes--where these questions often pop up--to investigate how we question, what we question, and why we question. Along the way you will encounter some of history's great questioners: Socrates, Soren Kierkegaard, Virginia Woolf, Friedrich Nietzsche, G. K. Chesterton, and others, though they may appear in unexpected ways. Something Beyond Nothing? is an experiment in finding and making meaning that focuses on the unpredictable journey of living with questions. Taking the awkwardness of Ecclesiastes as a cue, Brian Niece's odd book is a mix of storytelling, theological analysis, poetic meditation, philosophical investigation, drama, and biblical interpretation. Herein is nonfiction and fiction--with no clear line between the two--suggesting that our modes of meaning may be as significant as the meaning they lead us to. What's more, if there is something beyond nothing, it may not be quite like what we think we know. And the God we don't yet know may surprise us.

This book is not a science fiction but a motivational book that is written to cautiontize us not to leave a misplace life as arrows in the quiver of the Lord. Many people today found themselves misplaced because of different reason, for example, because of bitterness, arrogance, or eagerness to achieve something, or because of desire. The book is written to remind us, of the qualities that we have as arrows in the hands of God, and it explains the reason why David says, in Psalm 127:3-4 ?Children are like arrows in the quiver of the Lord. Today some even live their marriages, and destroy all the good that they had built for many years simply because of a misplaced heart. People divorce, commit suicide or murder simply because of a misplace heart. Some live complicated lives simply because they have lost their mandate in life, and a result, they fail to live fulfilling lives like arrows, but instead they live like boomerang, always striving hard to find identity, exposure and breakthrough but always coming back to the same position in life, a position of striving and not succeeding. This book will help you to understand the value and significant of being an arrow in the quiver of the Lord, and why it is import to remain in the right quiver of the Lord and not any other quiver. The book outlines characteristics of an arrow, and it explains how to rise beyond people?s expectations, perceptions and the recommendations of this world, so that one should not find himself misplaced in life living a trying life instead of a triumphing life.