Synopsis: Drawing on more than 150,000 interviews collected by Gallup over the previous 25 years, Marcus Buckingham developed the thesis for his message that is changing the way the world approaches life and work. Want to know what you are supposed to do with your life? The process this toolkit teaches will empower you to enjoy higher satisfaction and performance in life and work.

The revolutionary toolkit includes: - DVD with a high energy film that reveals how and why you must discover and prioritize your strengths. It also includes access to a wealth of downloadable resources. - Interactive Book with insightful exercises and tried-and-true life wisdom to help you uncover the location of your most powerful and unchanging talents - Memo-pad that becomes your companion to completing the task of revealing your strengths using everyday experiences.

Why Advisor Pathways recommends this toolkit:

Have you ever wondered how other people seem to fall into the perfect career for them? Their career is their passion and love what they do. They don’t have to force themselves to work every morning, simply wishing for retirement one day so they can do something else. This toolkit may arguable give you the best advice you’ll ever get: 1. Don’t expect your firm to discover your passion and help build your business around.

Synopsis: An instant classic, this phenomenal bestseller dispels the myths about starting your own business. Small business consultant and author Michael E. Gerber, with insight gained from years of experience, points out how common assumptions, expectations, and even technical expertise can get in the way of running a successful business.

Gerber walks you through the steps in the life of a business – from entrepreneurial infancy through adolescent growing pains to the mature entrepreneurial perspective and shows how to apply the lessons of franchising to any business, whether or not it is a franchise. Most importantly, Gerber draws the vital, often overlooked distinction between working on your business and working in your business. The E-Myth refers to the fatal assumption that if you understand the technical work of a business, you understand a business that does technical work. But these are two totally different things and failure to recognize is this concept has led to the downfall of many, many small businesses.

Why Advisor Pathways recommends this:

Again, another classic business read that any small business owner needs to read. This book is a great asset if you, as an Advisor, think you have what is takes to become a success business owner simply because you are a great financial Advisor and have a wonderful relationship with your clients. Regardless of the type of business you run, it is important to realize that common mistakes are prevalent in any industry.

Synopsis: Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long term mediocrity or worse into long term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great?  These are the questions that Jim Collins attempts to answer in this book and his research findings are intriguing.

After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness – why some companies make the leap and others don’t, including:

• The attributes of level 5 leaders: Self-effacing, reserved, even shy, compared to the big personality celebrity types often profiled by the media, these leaders  are a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.
• First who...then what: Instead of beginning by setting a vision and strategy as you would expect, these leaders first found the right people, made sure they were in the right positions, got rid of the wrong people, and then began to move forward.
• Confront the Brutal Facts (But Never Lose Faith): these leaders maintained unwavering faith that they would prevail in the end, regardless of difficulties and, at the same time, have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of their reality instead of ignore them

Why Advisor Pathways recommends this:

Synopsis: Kathryn Peterson, newly appointed CEO of DecisionTech, faces the ultimate leadership crisis: uniting a team that is in such disarray that it threatens to bring down the entire company.  Throughout the story, the five dysfunctions that go to the very heart of why teams – even the best ones – often struggle are revealed:

Dysfunction #1: Absence of Trust
Dysfunction #2: Fear of Conflict
Dysfunction #3: Lack of Commitment
Dysfunction #4: Avoidance of Accountability
Dysfunction #5: Inattention to Result

Why AP recommends this:

Advisors Pathways has always, and continues to, help Advisors develop their businesses through the implementation of a team. And effective teamwork has always been a large component in the success of many large practices in the financial services industry.

Synopsis: As Jim and Tony demonstrate in their groundbreaking bestseller, managing energy, not time, is the key to enduring high performance as well as to health, happiness, and life balance. Their training system is grounded in twenty-five years of working with great athletes to help them perform more effectively under brutal competitive pressures.

Their program will help you:

• Mobilize 4 key sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual
• Balance energy expenditure with intermittent energy renewal
• Expand capacity in the same systemic way that elite athletes do
• Create highly specific, positive energy management rituals

Why Advisor Pathways recommends this book:

One of the components to effective coaching is the development of skills and practices. If, however, the person being coached cannot devote themselves completely to these new practices, the expected outcome will be very difficult to achieve. Although most of us will tend to focus on time management when we incorporate new activities, it is important to understand the concept of energy expenditure and, in doing so, you can harness the ability to achieve greater success in life, professionally and personally.

Synopsis:  In this New York Times Best Seller, Chris provides the motivation and Henry provides the science.  The reader will discover how to put off 70% of the normal problems we associate with the aging process: weakness, sore joints and bad balance, as well as eliminate 50% of serious illness and injury.

The authors explain how to adapt and active retirement and become functionally younger every year for the next 5 to 10 years, the result being a life lived with new found vitality and pleasure.  They outline why you should be doing the things you already know you should be doing – that is, daily vigorous exercise, making healthy eating choices, and staying close to family and friends - but with a foundation based on the laws of biology and evolution. 

" I highly recommend the book "Younger Next Year" for Men or Women. Advisors today dealing directly with an aging population, this book can be an excellent resource to use not only for yourself but also if you are trying to relate to aging clients on a higher level."
- James Werry, former President and CEO of GMP Capital Corp.

Why Advisor Pathways recommends this book:

To oversimplify the thesis, our brains and bodies have evolved so that the behaviours our ancestors used to survive: physical activity and closeness to members of the tribe or clan, sends positive signals to our basic biological system with the message that life is good.