Erik Wahl, an internationally-recognized graffiti artist who has been inspiring audiences with his art, continues to capture minds as author of The Spark and the Grind: Ignite the Power of Disciplined Creativity. With subject matter that appeals to those who spend their days negotiating in boardrooms or brainstorming in coffee shops, this book explains why creativity and the grind must coexist to bring about true change.

“This is the first truth you have to understand about creative endeavors: the spark comes to life at the expense of the grind. You will always run into problems when your efforts stop at the initial spark because rarely is the first spark the hottest, most potent spark. This was clearly true with Edison, who went on to win more than a thousand patents—including the iconic lightbulb—by working eighteenhour days most of his life and famously finding “’10,000 ways that won’t work.’” –Erik Wahl

Thought leader and keynote speaker Josh Linkner is also a two-time New York Times best-selling author. His latest book Hacking Innovation: The New Growth Model from the Sinister World of Hackers not only educates the reader about the seldom-infiltrated world of hackers but explains how his immersive experience in this world led him to “providing a new framework for innovation, reinvention, and transformation…” With this book Linkner asks and answers the question, “What if hacking approaches could be redirected for productive means?” heightening the reader’s curiosity that continues to the very end of the book.

“Hackers are a global fascination, with cybercrime representing our single biggest threat to national security. But putting their sinister motives aside, the dark, underworld of hackers contains some of the most creative minds on the planet. What if hacking approaches could be redirected for productive means? How can we harness the positive attributes of hacking to drive meaningful outcomes in our companies, careers, and communities?”– Josh Linkner

She is known as a trailblazer, once referred to by CNN as the “female Jerry McGuire.” Having spent twenty years as one of the few female sports agents in the industry it is safe to say that CEO and speaker Molly Fletcher knows a little about being Fearless At Work: Achieve Your Potential by Transforming Small Moments into Big Outcomes. In this, her latest of four books, Fletcher uses the inspiration and wisdom drawn from sports figures and business leaders to support her notion that with the choice made to conquer fear, doors will open to new opportunities and a “new outlook rooted in a sense of mission and purpose.”

“Fear is like a virus that moves within corporate culture, infecting our ability to innovate and make progress as individuals and members of teams…Fear creates a world we don’t love, with triggers that serve to keep us trapped. Fear keeps us from realizing that there can be more. More energy, more contentment, more joy. Fearlessness is the way to get across that gap, a bridge to the lives we want to have.” —Molly Fletcher

The way in which companies communicate with clients has changed drastically over the past few years. Both commendations and complaints have taken their places in the very public settings of social media, a shift from the privately-shared emails and snail mail that once dominated the sector. Speaker Jay Baer, whose Convince & Convert blog was named the world’s leading content marketing blog by the Content Marketing Institute, addresses these changes in his book Hug Your Haters: How to Embrace Complaints and Keep Your Customers. Named one of the top three business books of 2016 by Strategy: Business Magazine, Baer uses his extensive knowledge of social media throughout the book’s pages to educate its readers on how to manage the new “spectator sport” of online customer service. It includes case studies from around the world and anecdotes filled with humor and inspiration to help create a thorough understanding of current and future customer service framework.

“As author and consultant Dave Kerpen says, “If a customer calls you on the phone to complain, surely you wouldn’t hang up on them. And not responding in social media is akin to hanging up on them, only worse, because there are actually other people watching and listening.” –Jay Baer

For speaker Neil Pasricha, happiness and awesomeness appear to go hand-in-hand. International bestseller The Happiness Equation: Want Nothing + Do Anything = Have Everything followed his New York Times bestseller The Book of Awesome and continues to expose readers to an alternative way of looking at the small joys in our lives: they actually aren’t small at all. He also shares in his latest book how small numbers- “4 simple words that block all criticism; 3 S’s of Success; 3 B’s of creating space”- lead to big changes in our lives, with happiness being proved attainable in all facets of our personal and professional lives.

“There is nothing more satisfying than being loved for who you are and nothing more painful than being loved for who you're not but pretending to be.” –Neil Pasricha

Amazon is arguably the world’s most innovative and disruptive company; as one of its leaders there during the formative years, John Rossman was a witness to it all from the start. With almost thirty years of technology strategy, design and implementation experience Rossman is a well-sought after speaker who shares his expertise on digital disruption with audiences around the world. That same expertise is also shared in black and white through The Amazon Way: 14 Leadership Principles Behind the World’s Most Disruptive Company. Rossman includes in its pages personal stories from his days at Amazon, clearly conveying lessons learned during his tenure spent with the company that grew from start-up to global industry force in just twenty years.

“Sometimes execution is poor, and that is a performance issue. Sometimes the idea is just not quite the right idea, and so you learn, adjust, and move forward.” –John Rossman

HGTV co-founder Susan Packard worked diligently, relentlessly, behind the scenes to make build Scripps Networks into an entity with a market value of over $10 billion. Honored as “Woman of the Year” by Women in Cable and Telecommunications (WICT) and numerous times as one of “The Most Influential Women in Cable” by CableWorld magazine, Packard was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame in 2008. In her book New Rules of the Game: 10 Strategies for Women in the Workplace she is leader turned teacher, coach, mentor, perhaps even friend, sharing an abundance of relatable, inspirational and thought-provoking snippets from her career in a male-dominated industry.

“You don’t forsake any of your womanhood to employ gamesmanship. But, as you will see, I’m asking you to think, and act, more like an athlete. This means showing up with confidence on the playing field and having a winning spirit. It means composure. Mental fortitude. It means loving the game called business and being fueled by the raw adrenaline of winning. It means thinking like a winner.” –Susan Packard

As a former Wide Receiver in the NFL and current president of The Game Changers, Inc., Eric Boles understands what it takes to rise above change and uncertainty, mustering the necessary strength and discipline to overcome unforeseen challenges and “unleash the same power again and again.” In his book Moving to Great: Unleashing Your Best in Life and Work he addresses the question, “What if you could be your best more often?” Boles has taken his vast amount of knowledge acquired over the years as consultant and executive coach with companies such as Starbucks, Microsoft, Boeing and the U.S. Air Force and translated it into a step-by-step approach usable in just about any part of our lives.

"Most of us get glimpses of the greatness within us, but these glimpses are few and far between. Moving to Great offers a proven and powerful way to unleash our best, more of the time." –Eric Boles