Dan Sullivan

Speaker, consultant, strategic planner, and coach

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Book Recommendations:

DS

Recommended by Dan Sullivan

In our age of increasing distractions, Kary has discovered a process to close the gap between dreaming and doing. If you're committed to creating a bigger future, this book will stretch your thinking. (from Amazon)

Wall Street Journal and USA Today Best Seller Human knowledge once doubled every thousand years.Today, it's every twelve hours. No wonder we can't keep up! Welcome to the Attention Economy-where you are the product. In this digital landscape, they keep score with eyeballs and eardrums. Your attention-even for a few seconds-translates into cold, hard cash they're willing to manipulate and even hack you for. The truth is, you're getting hacked every day, and you don't even realize it. A hack is when someone or something gains unauthorized access to a computer or a system. Want to know something scary? People can be hacked. It happens millions of times a day. Your focus is the prize-and they'll hack you to get it. Does this sound familiar? You cleared your schedule, woke up early, and informed your family and friends you're unreachable. An entire day dedicated to finally working on your dream. Buzz. Ring. Beep. Five minutes in, another disruption. Notifications flash across your screen. Focus. Where were you? Your phone vibrates. Now you crave a distraction and the dopamine fix. Scroll. Scroll. Who are you kidding? Productivity plummets. Morale declines. Your dream gets sidelined and sabotaged-yet again. Unless you're Unhackable. Better than money, power, or connections-Unhackable is the new secret weapon of super achievers-the ones who live their dreams. Kary Oberbrunner made it his mission to discover if humans could become Unhackable. After a six-year exploration of neurobiology, art, science, technology, education, athletics, the military, and business, he emerged with an answer-the unmistakable elixir behind all idea achievement and productivity. This book reveals that answer in 30 daily missions. Discover how to create a life you love defined by freedom, finances, and fulfillmenttap into your hidden ability for superhuman focus to get more done in far less timeorganize your life around "flow"-where you feel your best and perform your bestwake up every day thrilled to live your dream Ditch the hype. Tap into hope. Science fiction has blurred into science fact. Time to become Unhackable. Award-winning author and international entrepreneur Kary Oberbrunner makes high performance, productivity, and goal achievement a breeze for busy professionals struggling to maintain laser focus in a world riddled with distraction.

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Recommended by Dan Sullivan

Having coached and trained over 13,000 entrepreneurs, I know the challenges they face. This book is a must for any business owner and their management team. Traction provides a powerful, practical, and simple system for running your business. (from Amazon)

OVER 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD! Do you have a grip on your business, or does your business have a grip on you? All entrepreneurs and business leaders face similar frustrations—personnel conflict, profit woes, and inadequate growth. Decisions never seem to get made, or, once made, fail to be properly implemented. But there is a solution. It's not complicated or theoretical.The Entrepreneurial Operating System® is a practical method for achieving the business success you have always envisioned. More than 170,000 companies have discovered what EOS can do. In Traction, you'll learn the secrets of strengthening the six key components of your business. You'll discover simple yet powerful ways to run your company that will give you and your leadership team more focus, more growth, and more enjoyment. Successful companies are applying Traction every day to run profitable, frustration-free businesses—and you can too. For an illustrative, real-world lesson on how to apply Traction to your business, check out its companion book, Get A Grip.

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Recommended by Dan Sullivan

Each version of the internet brings uncertainty and opportunity. Some cling to fear and hide. Outliers take action and create. Kary Oberbrunner and Lee Richter provide a clear path for leveraging these new emerging capabilities and confidently taking action. (from Amazon)

The World Is About to Change. Will You Be Ready or Get Left Behind? The biggest revolution in history is unfolding right before our eyes. The new internet is upon us, blending two worlds-digital and physical. Today's dreams are tomorrow's reality. Science fiction is now science fact-made possible through blockchain technology. Welcome to Web3, where everything changes. Global changes like economies, currencies, governments, and education. And personal changes like identity, sex, communication, and health. This book is a simple map to help you navigate the noise and discern between hype and hope. With unbiased expertise, the authors unpack the pros and cons of the metaverse, NFTs, virtual reality, augmented reality, cryptocurrencies, and much more. Discover how to: Save time by identifying practical use cases for cutting-edge technology.Create unending wealth by turning your ideas into protected digital assets. Stay relevant by developing a customized metaverse strategy.Decide what technology to accept or reject by integrating your values. Learn the facts. Leverage the knowledge. Create your bigger and better future, starting today.

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Recommended by Dan Sullivan

The title of this book, LAUNCH, is uniquely appropriate because Jeff Walker is the pioneer innovator of online marketing launches, as well as the online marketing industry’s foremost teacher. The careers of thousands of successful online entrepreneurs have already been launched by Jeff’s extraordinarily practical concepts, structures, strategies, tools, and processes. LAUNCH is a must read for all marketers---the go-to handbook for making money selling anything on the Internet. (from Amazon)

The start of everything is critically important—and every truly successful product or business starts with a successful launch. Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs put all their focus into "getting the doors open" without giving much thought to creating a great launch. However since 1996, Jeff Walker has been obsessed with creating hugely successful launches in our increasingly digital world. During those years, Jeff has created an unbroken string of amazing successes for himself and his clients. Operating tiny businesses in an almost underground society—they've collectively done over $400 million in sales. Launch is the "how to" manual for using Jeff's formula to follow their path of success—to create a product or business launch that gives you nearly-instant momentum, sales, and positioning.

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Recommended by Dan Sullivan

A New Kind of Science book cover

by Stephen Wolfram·You?

Starting from a collection of simple computer experiments illustrated by striking computer graphics Stephen Wolfram shows in this landmark book how their unexpected results force a whole new way of looking at the operation of our universe. Wolfram uses his approach to tackle a remarkable array of fundamental problems in science, from the origins of apparent randomness in physical systems, to the development of complexity in biology, the ultimate scope and limitations of mathematics, the possibility of a truly fundamental theory of physics, the interplay between free will and determinism, and the character of intelligence in the universe.

DS

Recommended by Dan Sullivan

Peter Watson's hugely ambitious and stimulating history of ideas from deep antiquity to the present day—from the invention of writing, mathematics, science, and philosophy to the rise of such concepts as the law, sacrifice, democracy, and the soul—offers an illuminated path to a greater understanding of our world and ourselves.

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Recommended by Dan Sullivan

The Lucifer Principle is a revolutionary work that explores the intricate relationships between genetics, human behavior, and culture to put forth the thesis that "evil" is a by-product of nature's strategies for creation and that it is woven into our most basic biological fabric. In a sweeping narrative that moves lucidly among sophisticated scientific disciplines and covers the entire span of the earth's, as well as mankind's, history, Howard Bloom challenges some of our most popular scientific assumptions. Drawing on evidence from studies of the most primitive organisms to those on ants, apes, and humankind, the author makes a persuasive case that it is the group, or "superorganism," rather than the lone individual that really matters in the evolutionary struggle. But, Bloom asserts, the prominence of society and culture does not necessarily mitigate against our most violent, aggressive instincts. In fact, under the right circumstances the mentality of the group will only amplify our most primitive and deadly urges. In Bloom's most daring contention he draws an analogy between the biological material whose primordial multiplication began life on earth and the ideas, or "memes," that define, give cohesion to, and justify human superorganisms. Some of the most familiar memes are utopian in nature - Christianity or Marxism; nonetheless, these are fueled by the biological impulse to climb to the top of the hierarchy. With the meme's insatiable hunger to enlarge itself, we have a precise prescription for war. Biology is not destiny; but human culture is not always the buffer to our more primitive instincts we would like to think it is. In these complex threads of thought lies the Lucifer Principle, and only through understanding its mandates will we be able to avoid the nuclear crusades that await us in the twenty-first century.

DS

Recommended by Dan Sullivan

Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think (Exponential Technology Series) book cover

by Peter H. Diamandis, Steven Kotler·You?

Providing abundance is humanity’s grandest challenge—this is a book about how we rise to meet it. Providing abundance is humanity’s grandest challenge—this is a book about how we rise to meet it. We will soon be able to meet and exceed the basic needs of every man, woman and child on the planet. Abundance for all is within our grasp. This bold, contrarian view, backed up by exhaustive research, introduces our near-term future, where exponentially growing technologies and three other powerful forces are conspiring to better the lives of billions. An antidote to pessimism by tech entrepreneur turned philanthropist, Peter H. Diamandis and award-winning science writer Steven Kotler. Since the dawn of humanity, a privileged few have lived in stark contrast to the hardscrabble majority. Conventional wisdom says this gap cannot be closed. But it is closing—fast. The authors document how four forces—exponential technologies, the DIY innovator, the Technophilanthropist, and the Rising Billion—are conspiring to solve our biggest problems. Abundance establishes hard targets for change and lays out a strategic roadmap for governments, industry and entrepreneurs, giving us plenty of reason for optimism. Examining human need by category—water, food, energy, healthcare, education, freedom—Diamandis and Kotler introduce dozens of innovators making great strides in each area: Larry Page, Steven Hawking, Dean Kamen, Daniel Kahneman, Elon Musk, Bill Joy, Stewart Brand, Jeff Skoll, Ray Kurzweil, Ratan Tata, Craig Venter, among many, many others.

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Recommended by Dan Sullivan

The Road to Serfdom (The Collected Works of F.A. Hayek) book cover

by F. A. Hayek·You?

A classic work in political philosophy, intellectual history and economics, The Road to Serfdom has inspired and infuriated politicians and scholars for half a century. Originally published in 1944, it was seen as heretical for its passionate warning against the dangers of state control over the means of production. For Hayek, the collectivist idea of empowering government with increasing economic control would lead not to a utopia but to the horrors of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. This new edition includes a foreword by series editor and leading Hayek scholar Bruce Caldwell explaining the book's origins and publishing history and assessing common misinterpretations of Hayek's thought. Caldwell has also standardized and corrected Hayek's references and added helpful new explanatory notes. Supplemented with an appendix of related materials and forewords to earlier editions by the likes of Milton Friedman, and Hayek himself, this new edition of The Road to Serfdom will be the definitive version of Friedrich Hayek's enduring masterwork.

DS

Recommended by Dan Sullivan

The Lonely Crowd isconsidered by many to be the most influential book of the twentieth century. Its now-classic analysis of the “new middle class” in terms of inner-directed and other-directed social character opened exciting new dimensions in our understanding of the psychological, political, and economic problems that confront the individual in contemporary American society. The 1969 abridged and revised edition of the book is now reissued with a new foreword by Todd Gitlin that explains why the book is still relevant to our own era. “As accessible as it is acute, The Lonely Crowd isindispensable reading for anyone who wishes to understand American society. After half a century, this book has lost none of its capacity to make sense of how we live.” —Todd Gitlin Praise for the earlier editions: "One of the most penetrating and comprehensive views of the twentieth-century urban American you're likely to find." —Commonweal "Brilliant and original." —Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

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Recommended by Dan Sullivan

Here is a searing account-probably the best yet published-of life in the underclass and why it persists as it does. Theodore Dalrymple, a British psychiatrist who treats the poor in a slum hospital and a prison in England, has seemingly seen it all. Yet in listening to and observing his patients, he is continually astonished by the latest twist of depravity that exceeds even his own considerable experience. Dalrymple's key insight in Life at the Bottom is that long-term poverty is caused not by economics but by a dysfunctional set of values, one that is continually reinforced by an elite culture searching for victims. This culture persuades those at the bottom that they have no responsibility for their actions and are not the molders of their own lives. Drawn from the pages of the cutting-edge political and cultural quarterly City Journal, Dalrymple's book draws upon scores of eye-opening, true-life vignettes that are by turns hilariously funny, chillingly horrifying, and all too revealing-sometimes all at once. And Dalrymple writes in prose that transcends journalism and achieves the quality of literature.

DS

Recommended by Dan Sullivan

The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality is a book written by Austrian economist Ludwig Von Mises and first published in 1956. The book is a critique of the anti-capitalist mindset that was prevalent in the mid-twentieth century. Mises argues that this mentality is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of capitalism and the free market. He contends that capitalism is not a system of exploitation, but rather a system of voluntary exchange that benefits all parties involved. Mises also addresses the common criticisms of capitalism, such as the idea that it leads to inequality and that it is inherently unstable. He argues that these criticisms are misguided and that capitalism is the best system for promoting individual freedom and prosperity. The book is divided into three parts. The first part examines the anti-capitalistic mentality and its origins. The second part analyzes the economic and social consequences of this mentality, including the rise of socialism and the decline of individualism. The final part offers a defense of capitalism and a critique of socialism. Overall, The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality is a thought-provoking and insightful critique of the anti-capitalist mindset. It is a must-read for anyone interested in economics, politics, and the role of capitalism in society.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

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Recommended by Dan Sullivan

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF TIME’S 100 MOST INFLUENTUAL PEOPLE IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE The noted inventor and futurist’s successor to his landmark book The Singularity Is Near explores how technology will transform the human race in the decades to come Since it was first published in 2005, Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near and its vision of an exponential future have spawned a worldwide movement. Kurzweil's predictions about technological advancements have largely come true, with concepts like AI, intelligent machines, and biotechnology now widely familiar to the public. In this entirely new book Ray Kurzweil brings a fresh perspective to advances toward the Singularity—assessing his 1999 prediction that AI will reach human level intelligence by 2029 and examining the exponential growth of technology—that, in the near future, will expand human intelligence a millionfold and change human life forever. Among the topics he discusses are rebuilding the world, atom by atom with devices like nanobots; radical life extension beyond the current age limit of 120; reinventing intelligence by connecting our brains to the cloud; how exponential technologies are propelling innovation forward in all industries and improving all aspects of our well-being such as declining poverty and violence; and the growth of renewable energy and 3-D printing. He also considers the potential perils of biotechnology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence, including such topics of current controversy as how AI will impact employment and the safety of autonomous cars, and "After Life" technology, which aims to virtually revive deceased individuals through a combination of their data and DNA. The culmination of six decades of research on artificial intelligence, The Singularity Is Nearer is Ray Kurzweil’s crowning contribution to the story of this science and the revolution that is to come.

DS

Recommended by Dan Sullivan

In this provocative book one of the most brilliant scholars of religion today dismantles distorted religious “histories” offered up by Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and other contemporary critics of religion and advocates of atheism. David Bentley Hart provides a bold correction of the New Atheists’s misrepresentations of the Christian past, countering their polemics with a brilliant account of Christianity and its message of human charity as the most revolutionary movement in all of Western history. Hart outlines how Christianity transformed the ancient world in ways we may have forgotten: bringing liberation from fatalism, conferring great dignity on human beings, subverting the cruelest aspects of pagan society, and elevating charity above all virtues. He then argues that what we term the “Age of Reason” was in fact the beginning of the eclipse of reason’s authority as a cultural value. Hart closes the book in the present, delineating the ominous consequences of the decline of Christendom in a culture that is built upon its moral and spiritual values.

DS

Recommended by Dan Sullivan

In this groundbreaking book, Tim Harford, the Undercover Economist, shows us a new and inspiring approach to solving the most pressing problems in our lives. When faced with complex situations, we have all become accustomed to looking to our leaders to set out a plan of action and blaze a path to success. Harford argues that today’s challenges simply cannot be tackled with ready-made solutions and expert opinion; the world has become far too unpredictable and profoundly complex. Instead, we must adapt. Deftly weaving together psychology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, physics, and economics, along with the compelling story of hard-won lessons learned in the field, Harford makes a passionate case for the importance of adaptive trial and error in tackling issues such as climate change, poverty, and financial crises—as well as in fostering innovation and creativity in our business and personal lives. Taking us from corporate boardrooms to the deserts of Iraq, Adapt clearly explains the necessary ingredients for turning failure into success. It is a breakthrough handbook for surviving—and prospering— in our complex and ever-shifting world.

DS

Recommended by Dan Sullivan

The definitive sequel to New York Times bestseller How the Scots Invented the Modern World is a magisterial account of how the two greatest thinkers of the ancient world, Plato and Aristotle, laid the foundations of Western culture—and how their rivalry shaped the essential features of our culture down to the present day. Plato came from a wealthy, connected Athenian family and lived a comfortable upper-class lifestyle until he met an odd little man named Socrates, who showed him a new world of ideas and ideals. Socrates taught Plato that a man must use reason to attain wisdom, and that the life of a lover of wisdom, a philosopher, was the pinnacle of achievement. Plato dedicated himself to living that ideal and went on to create a school, his famed Academy, to teach others the path to enlightenment through contemplation. However, the same Academy that spread Plato’s teachings also fostered his greatest rival. Born to a family of Greek physicians, Aristotle had learned early on the value of observation and hands-on experience. Rather than rely on pure contemplation, he insisted that the truest path to knowledge is through empirical discovery and exploration of the world around us. Aristotle, Plato’s most brilliant pupil, thus settled on a philosophy very different from his instructor’s and launched a rivalry with profound effects on Western culture. The two men disagreed on the fundamental purpose of the philosophy. For Plato, the image of the cave summed up man’s destined path, emerging from the darkness of material existence to the light of a higher and more spiritual truth. Aristotle thought otherwise. Instead of rising above mundane reality, he insisted, the philosopher’s job is to explain how the real world works, and how we can find our place in it. Aristotle set up a school in Athens to rival Plato’s Academy: the Lyceum. The competition that ensued between the two schools, and between Plato and Aristotle, set the world on an intellectual adventure that lasted through the Middle Ages and Renaissance and that still continues today. From Martin Luther (who named Aristotle the third great enemy of true religion, after the devil and the Pope) to Karl Marx (whose utopian views rival Plato’s), heroes and villains of history have been inspired and incensed by these two master philosophers—but never outside their influence. Accessible, riveting, and eloquently written, The Cave and the Light provides a stunning new perspective on the Western world, certain to open eyes and stir debate. Praise for The Cave and the Light “A sweeping intellectual history viewed through two ancient Greek lenses . . . breezy and enthusiastic but resting on a sturdy rock of research.”—Kirkus Reviews “Examining mathematics, politics, theology, and architecture, the book demonstrates the continuing relevance of the ancient world.”—Publishers Weekly “A fabulous way to understand over two millennia of history, all in one book.”—Library Journal “Entertaining and often illuminating.”—The Wall Street Journal

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Recommended by Dan Sullivan

A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, and we forget how provocative and challenging its ideas once were—and still are. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is that kind of book. When it was first published in 1962, it was a landmark event in the history and philosophy of science. Fifty years later, it still has many lessons to teach. With The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn challenged long-standing linear notions of scientific progress, arguing that transformative ideas don’t arise from the day-to-day, gradual process of experimentation and data accumulation but that the revolutions in science, those breakthrough moments that disrupt accepted thinking and offer unanticipated ideas, occur outside of “normal science,” as he called it. Though Kuhn was writing when physics ruled the sciences, his ideas on how scientific revolutions bring order to the anomalies that amass over time in research experiments are still instructive in our biotech age. This new edition of Kuhn’s essential work in the history of science includes an insightful introduction by Ian Hacking, which clarifies terms popularized by Kuhn, including paradigm and incommensurability, and applies Kuhn’s ideas to the science of today. Usefully keyed to the separate sections of the book, Hacking’s introduction provides important background information as well as a contemporary context.  Newly designed, with an expanded index, this edition will be eagerly welcomed by the next generation of readers seeking to understand the history of our perspectives on science.

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Recommended by Dan Sullivan

Why have large-scale schemes to improve the human condition in the twentieth century so often gone awry? James C. Scott analyzes diverse failures in high-modernist, authoritarian state planning-collectivization in Russia, the building of Brasilia, compulsory ujamaa villages in Tanzania, and others-and uncovers conditions common to all such planning disasters. What these failures teach us, he argues, is that any centrally managed social plan must recognize the importance of local customs and practical knowledge if it hopes to succeed.

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Recommended by Dan Sullivan

Selected by the Times Literary Supplement as one of the "hundred most influential books since the war" How can we benefit from the promise of government while avoiding the threat it poses to individual freedom? In this classic book, Milton Friedman provides the definitive statement of his immensely influential economic philosophy—one in which competitive capitalism serves as both a device for achieving economic freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom. The result is an accessible text that has sold well over half a million copies in English, has been translated into eighteen languages, and shows every sign of becoming more and more influential as time goes on.