If we choose to trust unconditionally, how many lives could we change? When Pastor Bruce Deel took over the Mission Church in the 30314 zip code of Atlanta, he had orders to shut it down. The church was old and decrepit, and its neighborhood--known as "Better Leave, You Effing Fool," or "the Bluff," for short--had the highest rates of crime, homelessness, and incarceration in Georgia. Expecting his time there to only last six months, Deel was not prepared for what happened next. One Sunday, he was approached by a woman he didn't know. "I've been hooking and stripping for fourteen years," she said. "Can you help me?" Soon after, Bruce founded an organization called City of Refuge rooted in the principle of radical trust. Other nonprofits might drug test before offering housing, lock up valuables, or veto a program giving job skills and character references to felons as "a liability." But Bruce believed the best way to improve outcomes for the marginalized and impoverished was to extend them trust, even if that trust was violated multiple times--and even if someone didn't yet trust themselves. Since then, City of Refuge has helped over 20,000 people in Atlanta's toughest neighborhood escape the cycles of homelessness, joblessness, and drug abuse. Of course, trust alone can't overcome a broken system that perpetuates inequality. Presenting an unvarnished window into the lives of ex-cons, drug addicts, human trafficking survivors, and displaced souls who have come through City of Refuge, Trust First examines the context in which Bruce's Atlanta neighborhood went downhill--and what City of Refuge chose to do about it. They've become a one-stop-shop for transitional housing, on-site medical and mental health care, childcare, and vocational training, including accredited intensives in auto tech, culinary arts, and coding. While most social services focus on one pain point and leave the burden on the poor to find the crosstown bus that'll serve their other needs, Bruce argues that bringing someone out of homelessness requires treating all of their needs simultaneously. This model has proven so effective that a dozen new chapters of City of Refuge have opened in the US, including in California, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, Texas, and Georgia. More than a narrative about a single place in time, this radical primer for behavioral change belongs on every leader's shelf. Heartfelt, deeply personal, and inspiring, Trust First will break down your assumptions about whether anyone is ever truly a lost cause. Bruce will donate a portion of his proceeds from Trust First to the charitable organization City of Refuge.

Trust First: A True Story About the Power of Giving People Second Chances

Business & Money

Grace, Sara

Deel, Bruce

Management & Leadership

Optimism Press

Summer Rayne Oakes, an urban houseplant expert and environmental scientist, is the icon of wellness-minded millennials who want to bring nature indoors, according to a New York Times profile. Summer has managed to grow 1,000 houseplants in her Brooklyn apartment (and they're thriving!) Her secret? She approaches her relationships with plants as intentionally as if they were people. Everyone deserves to feel the inner peace that comes from taking care of greenery. Beyond the obvious benefits--beauty and cleaner air--there's a strong psychological benefit to nurturing plants as a path to mindfulness. They can reduce our stress level, lower our blood pressure, and improve our overall outlook. And they offer a rare opportunity to find joy by caring for another living being. When Summer Rayne Oakes moved to Brooklyn from the Pennsylvania countryside, she knew that bringing nature indoors was her only chance to stay sane. She found them by the side of the road, in long-forgotten window boxes, at farmers' markets, and in local garden shops. She found ways to shelve, hang, tuck, anchor, secure, and suspend them. She even installed a 150-foot expandable hose that connects to pipes under her kitchen sink, so she only has to spend about a half-hour a day tending to her plants--an activity that she describes as a "moving meditation." This is Summer's guidebook for cultivating an entirely new relationship with your plant children. Inside, you'll learn to: • Pause for the flowers and greenery all around you, even the ones sprouting bravely between cracked pavement • Trust that your apartment jungle offers you far more than pretty décor • See the world from a plant's perspective, trading modern consumerism for sustainability • Serve your chlorophyllic friends by learning to identify the right species for your home and to recreate their natural habitat (Bonus: your indoor garden won't die!) When we become plant parents, we also become better caretakers of ourselves, the people around us, and our planet. So, let's step inside the world of plants and discover how we can begin cultivating our own personal green space--in our homes, in our minds, and in our hearts.

How to Make a Plant Love You: Cultivate Green Space in Your Home and Heart

Self-Help

Oakes, Summer Rayne

Personal Transformation

Product Description 
“This book is a breakthrough. It’s beautifully written, perfectly timed and heralds a new way forward. I’m buying a dozen copies to share with friends and colleagues.” -Seth Godin, Founder of altMBA and author of The Practice If you let go of hierarchy, chaos will reign...or so many leaders believe. But when leaders find the courage to distribute rather than hoard power, creativity multiplies, trust deepens, and inclusivity expands... and a new kind of order emerges. \nA few rare leaders have learned to embrace a new organizational shape and mindset: Constellations. Organizations designed as constellations are dynamic and flexible networks of distinct yet interwoven individuals. Each member of the team feels like a singular star and is also connected to others to form something greater. That is how Visa reimagined how we pay for things, how Wikipedia beat the richest company in the world and how Barack Obama and his grassroots team revolutionized political campaigning. These leaders did what most leaders dread – they gave away power.\nBarzun brilliantly layers lessons across history and industries with his own experiences as an internet entrepreneur, political organizer, and US ambassador to the United Kingdom and Sweden. 
The Power of Giving Away Power shows how the Constellation mindset shines in some of the most impactful organizations and innovations the world has ever known. And it encourages us all to recognize, as Barzun writes, "the power we can create by seeing the power in others" — and making the leap to lead. Together. 
 Review 
“He can indeed make his constellation theory sound appealing… 
The Power of Giving Away Power is surprisingly (and refreshingly) nonpartisan.”\nThe Wall Street Journal\n“Bravo. These are ideas that can heal and inspire in a time when we are suspicious, tribal, at each others’ throats.” \nKen Burns, Documentary Filmmaker\n“Matthew Barzun might well be the first modest man to write a great book on leadership. This is a gift."\nRichard Thaler, Nobel Prize Laureate and co-author of 
Nudge\n"This is the manifesto we need right now. Barzun shows that sharing power, counterintutively, magnifies everyone's impact and helps leaders get more done."\nCharles Duhigg, Author of 
The Power of Habit and 
Smarter Faster Better\n"A brilliant challenge to conventions that have held back organizations for decades and a crisp playbook for making distributed leadership work for everyone."\nTed Sarandos, Co-CEO and Chief Content Officer, Netflix\n“A gift. This is certainly the path to the collective leadership we need to tackle today’s challenges and shape a better future.”\nWendy Kopp, Founder, Teach For America\n"Fun, informative, and mind-expanding for everyone, whether you're leading a business, a country, or a family." \nDanny Meyer, CEO of the Union Square Hospitality Group\n"A remarkable book about creating order without control and freedom without chaos, from an original and counterintuitive leader and thinker."\nDaniel H. Pink, Author of 
When, 
Drive, and 
To Sell Is Human\n“An engaging, compelling, and welcome rebuttal to the distressingly widespread win/lose theories of leadership.” 
 - 
Drew Faust, President Emerita, Harvard University\n"Unexpected encounters! Barzun introduces you to people and ideas you never knew but should if you really care about leadership." \nVint Cerf, Internet Pioneer\n“An extraordinary book about human flourishing, about linking ourselves properly to the best bits of ourselves and of others to move mountains. Enlightening and brain reviving.”\nAlain de Botton, Author of 
How Proust Can Change Your Life\n"Anyone who seeks to be a better, stronger, wiser and more effective leader would do well to read this collection of engaging stories about the power of empowering others."\nMichael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and Mayor of New York, 2002-2013\n"Delightfully paradoxical and deeply insigh

The Power of Giving Away Power: How the Best Leaders Learn to Let Go

Barzun, Matthew

How would you like to be judged for the rest of your life by the worst thing you've ever done? We all think we are compassionate just like we all think we are honest.&nbsp; But true compassion is not innate. Compassion for others, especially those that we don't know or understand, must be learned. Our lack of compassion is perhaps most extreme in the exercise of criminal justice, where a person's entire life, worth, and character are judged through the myopic lens of a single act. But no one, says Steinberg, should be reduced to their worst moment.&nbsp; The Courage of Compassion, is a&nbsp;powerful memoir from veteran public defender and founder of The Bail Project about how we can reimagine justice through compassion.&nbsp;Steinberg shares her journey as a public defender, representing people at precisely that time in their lives -- their own worst moment. She recounts the heart-wrenching stories of her clients and invites us to interrogate our fears and beliefs about justice and punishment. Lastly, Steinberg reveals moments when she questioned her own capacity for compassion, as well as her ability to fight for better, more humane justice from within a system that is riddled holes and seemingly interminable problems.&nbsp; A gritty tale about confronting injustice and challenging ourselves to rediscover our shared humanity, The Courage of Compassion is an invitation to join Steinberg as she explores what it will take to move beyond our current justice paradigm. The criminal justice system reflects a history and power structure, but it also mirrors how we come into society and show up for one another. As she writes, the quest to improve this system will only truly begin "when we can finally see in the faces of those ensnared and imprisoned in our legal system, ourselves. And when we can see our children, in their children."

The Courage of Compassion: A Journey from Judgment to Connection

Biographies & Memoirs

Steinberg, Robin

Leaders & Notable People

An inspirational call to build deep business and personal relationships as the foundation of a meaningful life and purposeful collaborations, drawing from the wisdom of legendary partnerships including Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Ben and Jerry, Desmond and Leah Tutu, and the collective who saved humanity by closing the ozone hole. Our individualistic society has created an environment of fear, division, and domination, which has crushed our ability to relate meaningfully to each other and diminished our capacity to innovate and collaborate. Jean Oelwang, president and founding CEO of Virgin Unite, has been on a decade-long exploration to find out how to nurture relationships with depth and purpose.&nbsp; Deep connections shape who we are and have a profound ripple effect on everything we do, supporting us to achieve more, withstand anything, and amplify impact. Those enduring partnerships are the foundation of a meaningful life as well as the backbone of any successful organization and collaboration. From hundreds of interviews with sixty great partnerships, ranging from business partners, to friends, to life partners, who have made a profound difference, Oelwang offers new insight into how to build relationships that matter. She identifies six core principles including the all-important virtues that connect great partners, the daily rituals that they use to stay in sync, and the skills that allow them to disagree respectfully and productively. &nbsp; Packed with wisdom to nourish the relationships that give us strength and meaning, Partnering is a profound call-to-action to forge partnerships in service of a greater purpose.

Partnering: Forge the Deep Connections That Make Great Things Happen

Oelwang, Jean

Business Culture

Essential lessons in hospitality for every business, from the former co-owner of legendary restaurant Eleven Madison Park. Will Guidara was twenty-six when he took the helm of Eleven Madison Park, a struggling two-star brasserie that had never quite lived up to its majestic room. Eleven years later, EMP was named the best restaurant in the world. How did Guidara pull off this unprecedented transformation? Radical reinvention, a true partnership between the kitchen and the dining room-and memorable, over-the-top, bespoke hospitality. Guidara's team surprised a family who had never seen snow with a magical sledding trip to Central Park after their dinner; they filled a private dining room with sand, complete with mai-tais and beach chairs, to console a couple with a cancelled vacation. And his hospitality extended beyond those dining at the restaurant to his own team, who learned to deliver praise and criticism with intention; why the answer to some of the most pernicious business dilemmas is to give more-not less; and the magic that can happen when a busser starts thinking like an owner. Today, every business can choose to be a hospitality business-and we can all transform ordinary transactions into extraordinary experiences. Featuring sparkling stories of his journey through restaurants, with the industry's most famous players like Daniel Boulud and Danny Meyer, Guidara urges us all to find the magic in what we do-for ourselves, the people we work with, and the people we serve.

Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect

Guidara, Will

Professionals & Academics

Will Guidara

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