It has never been more apparent just how volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) the world is. With all the adversity and challenge we face in today’s world, leaders need to cultivate more inner resilience and learn to lead in a new way – a way that focuses on relational authority rather than positional authority. Resilience and relational authority (AKA – bringing out the best in everyone around us) require winning our inner game of leadership much more than our outer game. Uns...

While most of us have grown up being taught that the letter “I” has no place in the word “team,” teams are wholly made up of individual advantages that contribute to the collective power of the group.In Individual Influence, authors Brian and Mary Smith go far beyond this axiom, making a persuasive case that even a company or team of individual players is still an “Individual” at its core—expressing the collective influence of all those who play a role in it. Thus, there i...

THE “I ” IN TEAM SERIES, BOOK 3It’s time to contemplate the accountability that comes from your greatest responsibility: Influence.Not all leaders have fancy titles or high-paying jobs. Every human has the power to influence and, therefore, is primed to be a leader. By coming to terms with our ability to affect others with our energies, words, and actions, we begin to grow in claiming this responsibility instead of remaining blind.Smith and...

Our influence is our greatest responsibility. And our greatest gift.We are influenced by every person and interaction we have, and, in turn, we influence everyone and everything around us. We all have a choice about what to do with our influence: Will we leave a negative impact on others or use our influence to become a shining beacon of positivity?Smith and Griffin upskill readers with tools to stay humble, lead themselves and the people around them well, ...

Within the last few years, COVID-19, environmental disasters, the housing affordability crisis, increased homelessness, and inflation have brought poverty in the United States into sharper focus. Gaining an understanding of poverty necessitates not only an examination of macro trends and patterns, but also insights into people's everyday experiences at the micro-level. This reader brings together key topics such as food, housing, and health insecurities; spatial and environmental inequalit...

In recent years, Civil War veterans have emerged from historical obscurity. Inspired by recent interest in memory studies and energized by the ongoing neorevisionist turn, a vibrant new literature has given the lie to the once-obligatory lament that the postbellum lives of Civil War soldiers were irretrievable. Despite this flood of historical scholarship, fundamental questions about the essential character of Civil War veteranhood remain unanswered. Moreover, because work on veterans has ...

This edited collection highlights how people connected with friends and family, students and colleagues, and leaders and communities, in their quest to persevere during the pandemic. The chapters describe how people enjoyed their passions for the arts in new and unexpected ways, given the restrictions of COVID-19 safety protocols, and how scripted and reality television programming helped them escape, however briefly, from the traumas of the pandemic, the racial injustice, the political ma...

Over the past 20 years, Matthew Kelly has seen more of the world than most presidents and more of the Church than most bishops. Now, in this unique and timely book, he proposes that Catholicism is not a lifeless set of rules and regulations , but a way of life designed by God to help each person reach his or her full potential. With remarkable insight, Kelly dispels dozens of myths that surround the rejection of Catholicism today and provides a profound and practical vision of what will le...

Do you ever feel that if you weren’t so busy you would be happier, healthier, more effective, more fulfilled . . . and maybe even a better person? Once every twenty-five years or so, a book comes along that perfectly identifies our common search and struggle for happiness, and teaches us how to find lasting fulfillment in a changing world. This is that book. Not since M. Scott Peck published The Road Less Traveled have we experienced a voice as refreshing and authentic as Matthew Kelly’s. ...

How well do you know Jesus? I think about this often, and I always come to the same realization. I don't know Jesus anywhere near as well as I would like to know him. The desire is there, but life gets in the way. There are times when I seem to be making great progress, and other times when I wonder if I know him at all. But I always arrive back at the same inspiring and haunting idea: If there is one person that we should each get to know in a deeply personal way, it is Jesus – the carpen...

Do you believe it's possible to be happier than you have ever been before? Not for fleeting moments, but consistently? Bestselling author Matthew Kelly believes it is possible—and in his latest book, The Biggest Lie, he explains how. We all want to be happy and live life to the fullest, but the answer isn't found in the world's definition of happiness. Modern culture is constantly feeding us lies, and these lies affect you more than you know. The lies that affect you the most, however, are...

"Just be yourself!” People say it all the time, but how do we actually live it? For more than a decade Matthew Kelly has been helping people discover the best-version-of-themselves. Now, in Perfectly Yourself, he addresses the opportunities and obstacles that we encounter once we decide to ask life’s big questions: Who am I? What am I here for? Focusing on nine powerful and practical lessons, Kelly shows us how to find lasting happiness in a changing world. We all have an insatiable need t...