Client Books

The Financial Times and Schroders 2023 Business Book of the Year

A revolutionary guide that will transform your relationship with failure, from the pioneering researcher of psychological safety. We used to think of failure as the opposite of success. Now, we’re often torn between two “failure cultures”: one that says to avoid failure at all costs, the other that says fail fast, fail often. The trouble is that both approaches lack the crucial distinctions to help us separate good failure from bad. As a result, we miss the opportunity to fail well. Outlining the three archetypes of failure—basic, complex, and intelligent—Amy showcases how to minimize unproductive failure while maximizing what we gain from flubs of all stripes. She illustrates how we and our organizations can embrace our human fallibility, learn exactly when failure is our friend, and prevent most of it when it is not. With vivid, real-life stories from business, pop culture, history, and more, Edmondson gives us specifically tailored practices, skills, and mindsets to help us replace shame and blame with curiosity, vulnerability, and personal growth.

Winner of the Thinkers50 2019 Breakthrough Idea Award

“The Fearless Organization is a modern masterpiece — useful, timeless, and a delight to read. Amy Edmondson’s weave of studies, stories, and insights from her decades of research shows why psychological safety is the key ingredient for creating high-performing, humane, and resilient workplaces.”

—Robert Sutton, Stanford Professor and coauthor of Scaling Up Excellence

“Amy Edmondson has devoted 20 years to understanding psychological safety in organizations — and in this timely, important book she shares what she’s learned. This is a book that every leader should read and heed.”

—Daniel H. Pink, author of WHEN and DRIVE

“Psychological safety will not only be desirable but absolutely necessary as organizations become more complex…. This book makes the case through a thorough review of relevant research and illustrates all of its main points through powerful stories from a broad variety of organizations.”

—Edgar H. Schein, Professor Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management and author with Peter Schein of Humble Leadership: The Power of Relationships, Openness and Trust

“Walker has not shied away from the difficult work that must be done: unlearning deeply embedded cultural habits that undermine healthy connections among people of different races. Based on research from neuroscience to sociology, Walker provides nuanced and actionable insights on how to move forward. She takes what is a very complex and emotionally charged subject and makes it accessible through her stories of working with White and Black professionals in both clinical and organizational settings.”

–Linda A. Hill, Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

“As a skilled therapist with a wealth of examples, Maureen Walker helps us to see how power acts in complex ways in our racialized lives. Her book, like the foundational relational-cultural theory that she helped to create, will resonate with readers. Open it anywhere and you will find stories that can inspire us to end, or at least interrupt, customary silences on race.”

–Peggy McIntosh, senior research scientist and former associate director, Wellesley Centers for Women

“Amy Edmondson’s Teaming is an instant classic—a brilliantly conceived, beautifully written, and highly informative guide to the critical but often mismanaged process of collaboration. Whether in hospitals, factories, or space shuttles, she shows how rapid adjustment and teaming produce success, and why failure is just a step along the way.”

–Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Think Outside the Building: How Advanced Leaders Can Change the World One Smart Innovation at a Time

“Edmondson offers. . . compelling new paradigms for team performance in the 21^st century.”

–Douglas R. Conant, TouchPoints.

“The eye of this business-school professor for interesting stories is sharp and he offers illuminating explanations of why India and China work in the ways that they do.”

—The Economist

“Khanna delivers a dense but lively blend of anecdotes and analysis. He shows how entrepreneurial spirit is transforming both these countries not only economically but strengthening ties between the two.”

—Newsweek

“…an objective and insightful comparison of China and India.”

—Foreign Affairs

Winner of the 2018 Bronze Medal in International Business / Globalization, Axiom Business Book Awards

“An interesting and informative book full of practical lessons for any internationally ambitious organization.”

―Richard N. Cooper, Foreign Affairs

“In The Language of Global Success, Tsedal Neeley courageously deconstructs the greatest challenge that global companies face: language. Her breakthrough research and insights into ways people adapt to change demonstrate what is required to integrate multiple cultures and languages into a unified organization required for sustained success.”

—Bill George, former chair and CEO of Medtronic and author of Discover Your True North

Teach Up! shows the power of positive teacher-student relationships and high academic expectations to help ALL students reach their full potential. “Teaching up” is about adopting a growth-based mindset and iterative practice to cultivate meaningful learning opportunities—the ones that set kids up for success beyond school, as talented and confident human beings.

“Venola Mason provides readers with an important blueprint for how to build authentic relationships, provide instructional rigor and cultural relevance for all students that is essential reading for every educator. This book is practical, insightful, and offers powerful anecdotes that will help educators Teach Up!”

— Tyrone Howard, director, UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children & Families and author, Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools and All Students Must Thrive.

A new vision for learning that prepares our students to succeed in the changing society and workforce of tomorrow. Today’s students must be equipped with the skills to be competitive in the workforce and society of tomorrow. How can we empower our students to be adaptable, collaborative, and independent so that they may prosper and succeed in this increasingly technological age?

Better Off After College is a step-by-step guide for families who want to enjoy all of the benefits of a college degree – with less anxiety and without taking too much debt. Written by two higher education experts, the book provides clear explanations and insider tips for how families can make smart savings decisions, maximize their financial and merit aid, and avoid over-borrowing.

“This is an inspiring book that every divorced parent should have on their night table, and every therapist who works with divorcing families should have it in their office. Judith Ruskay Rabinor offers both a professional and personal model of co-parenting that nurtures emotional connection with oneself, as well as emotional communication with one’s ex. Her work is based on a deep understanding of the importance of maintaining healthy attachment bonds, for the sake of both children and parents, alike.”

―Diana Fosha, PhD, founder and director of the AEDP Institute

Utilizing insights from attachment theory and research in neuroplasticity, accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy (AEDP) clinicians help clients unearth, explore and process core feelings in order to transform anxiety and defensiveness into long-lasting, positive change.

Financial planning expert Melissa Phipps uses her own story of regaining her footing after unanticipated financial distress to illustrate how anyone can do the same.

“Thanks to Karen Propp for her timely schooling in the finer points of authoring a trade publication.”

— Michael Arthur

“You need to own your career, on your own terms, and also see what your career can do for others. This book shows you how.”

— Adam Grant

“It is seldom that I read a book about leadership and get excited; this one did that to me. The author has found values and aspects of leadership that have worked well for long term execution of strategies. For Boards and CEOs, this is a great book.”

—Leif Johansson, Astrazeneca

“A must read for leaders who want to develop an edge by building a resilient organization for competitive advantage. Beer’s views and recommendations are based on extensive research.”

—Ram Charan, What the CEO Wants You to Know

“Customers are harder to pin down than we think, and they must be listened to more carefully. For that insight alone, this book should be welcomed.”

—The Financial Times

“For marketing managers who are interested in thinking deeply about their products/brands and their relationship with their customers, this book is a must buy.

—AMA Book Review

To succeed, we must consciously seek to increase our objectivity―seeing and accepting things as they are without projecting our mental models, fears, background, and personal experiences onto them. This way, we not only avoid costly cognitive errors, but open ourselves to engage new cultures, new markets, and new opportunities. In The Objective Leader, Thornton draws on her original research, as well as her years of experience as a manager and entrepreneur, to offer proven strategies for identifying limiting and unproductive ways of thinking and creating powerful new mental models that ensure continued success.

“…a harrowing story that invites the reader to experience the thrill and danger of the Sixties from a place of safety and acceptance. It’s the story of hundreds of thousands of women; our lives were huge experiments.”

— Tristine Rainer, Director, Center for Autobiographic Studies

“I owe deep gratitude to Karen Propp for her wisdom and editorial insights into my story.”

–Sondra Helene

“In addition to the questions of marriage, this is a portrait of late-stage cancer that makes quietly clear how precious any extra time with a loved one can be.”

–Kirkus Review

Benjamin Franklin Awards silver medal for Home and Garden Books

Dr. Diane Lewis, MD, describes in cogent, nuanced terms how we are polluting our drinking water and why this puts a cloud over our children’s future, increasing their risk for diseases as diverse as diabetes, autism and cancer. Then she gives us a surprisingly easy way to fix the problem by working together to chart a happier, healthier course forward for our families with no extra time or money by changing the way we steward our yards.

Shore Line Recall presents a moving collection of photographs, writings, and drawings of the Boston Harbor Islands contributed by artist Freedom Baird and by visitors to the islands during her artist residency, summer 2018. As a way of adapting to rising seas, Baird has assembled a community’s impressions, experiences, and memories of these storied but vulnerable islands.