What drives creativity in the world’s most innovative companies such as Google, Nike, Apple and Microsoft? How is creativity and talent harnessed to lead these global businesses? Timo Kiuru, an internationally recognized creative director and public speaker, ventured on a mission to discover the answers to these questions. Timo reached out to numerous innovation experts with decades of experience in leading creative teams and companies, and asked them to share their stories. He captured their valuable insights and advice for this book. What turned out to be the common thread in all the conversations was their ability to see that something special in a person. It became clear that the essence of leadership is in the skill to nurture people’s individual growth. This book is about more than business: it’s about the experiences that make us who we are, the challenges that bring out the best in us. It helps us to see the connections between raw talent, creativity and business leadership. Because that’s how we turn potential into superpower. Timo Kiuru is a global creative director on a mission to change how creativity is seen in business. He travels the world to speak to professional audiences about innovation, leadership and change and writes books about creativity. Timo was recognized with the global 40 Under 40 industry award in Texas in 2016 and Speaker of the Year honorary award in 2019 in Helsinki. With this book, he wants to inspire people to seek more specialness everywhere. Don’t dance like no one is watching – dance how you want to, even if everyone is watching. Audiobook and e-book: © Laine Publishing & Word Audio Publishing

Every Friday is 'special day' in Charlie's class at school, when everybody takes in something special to show the rest of the class. Charlie can never find anything special enough to take, until one day he has to look after his baby sister.

“There's no writer alive like de Botton” (Chicago Tribune), and now this internationally heralded author turns his attention to the insatiable human quest for status—a quest that has less to do with material comfort than love. Anyone who’s ever lost sleep over an unreturned phone call or the neighbor’s Lexus had better read Alain de Botton’s irresistibly clear-headed new book, immediately. For in its pages, a master explicator of our civilization and its discontents explores the notion that our pursuit of status is actually a pursuit of love, ranging through Western history and thought from St. Augustine to Andrew Carnegie and Machiavelli to Anthony Robbins. Whether it’s assessing the class-consciousness of Christianity or the convulsions of consumer capitalism, dueling or home-furnishing, Status Anxiety is infallibly entertaining. And when it examines the virtues of informed misanthropy, art appreciation, or walking a lobster on a leash, it is not only wise but helpful.

Can an unlikely discovery heal two broken people? Dear Princess: A cheating husband pens a letter of regret to his young daughter, puts it in a bottle and sets it adrift in the Atchafalaya River. Months later, a foreign correspondent looking for peace finds the bottle stuck in a Cypress tree. Little does he know he’ll soon meet the young girl and her mother… and face one of the most difficult decisions of his life.

These three novels from "a compelling storyteller" (Nora Roberts) show what happens when three independent women meet three irresistibly sexy men and reluctant souls take their chance on love.

If it’s fate, it must be love... right? Three coincidental meetings with a handsome stranger convince Charlotte their relationship could be fate—but coincidence and love are two very different things. Charlotte has floated along in life, averse to romance, buoyed by her parents’ dreams, haunted by her traumatic past. She confuses complacency with happiness in all aspects of her life, and fear of change keeps her from venturing too far from her comfort zone. Avery enters Charlotte’s life when she most needs it, igniting a passion in her that she thought was dead. Caught up in the idea of fate, she clings to her relationship with Avery. Soon, everything begins to crumble. Charlotte must decide what’s worth more: Staying with the familiar, or leaping blindly into the unknown.

Something Special, Something Rare presents outstanding short fiction by Australia’s finest female writers. These are tales of love, secrets, doubt and torment, the everyday and the extraordinary. A sleepy town is gripped by delusory grief after the movie being filmed there wraps and leaves. A lingering heartbreak is replayed on Facebook. An ordinary family walks a shaky line between hopelessness and redemption. Brilliant, shocking and profound, these tales will leave you reeling in ways that only a great short story can. Kate Grenville * Mandy Sayer * Penni Russon * Favel Parrett * Tegan Bennett Daylight * Sonya Hartnett * Isabelle Li * Gillian Essex * Brenda Walker * Gillian Mears * Fiona MacFarlane * Joan London * Karen Hitchcock * Charlotte Wood * Tara June Winch * Cate Kennedy * Alice Pung * Anna Krien * Delia Falconer * Rebekah Clarkson ‘This collection is a fantastic line-up of some of Australia’s best writers who simply happen to be women ... the themes explored are as wide-ranging and eclectic as the writers.’ —Sunday Age ‘All the stories here justify that use of “out-standing” in the collection’s subtitle. If pushed to choose one standout, for me it is Favel Parrett’s ‘Lebanon’, which in its three pages manages to convey more emotion than some stories do in 300 ... This beautiful meditation on loss and belonging evokes the Australian tyranny of distance and is a fine example what the short-story form can achieve.’ —The Australian ‘Perfect fodder for a Sunday arvo on the couch, these charming, funny, touching short stories from well-known Australian female writers are what winter was made for.’ —Cosmopolitan ‘A wonderful selection ... the strength of the collection is that it doesn’t define the Australian woman writer as a particular situation and includes writers from various social and cultural backgrounds.’ —Artshub

Nathan Walker is a Criminal Lawyer passionate about two things; his job, and his fiancé, Angelique. That's it. The two have been getting through life's roller coasters as one, and when life takes a turn for the worse, Nathan and Angelique expect their relationship to stay solid. Struggling with a life altering situation, Nathan crosses paths with Casey Green a Social Worker who realizes she needs him as much as he needs her emotionally, and physically. Caught in the middle of a love triangle with him on top, and with Love and life at each end, Nathan needs to step up and be both a man and a father! With the rebirth of life and affection, Nathan is pushed to his breaking point, again, where he is then, left with nothing, or so he thinks. His life was always missing something he just didn't know what it was, until...

The money jar that Rosa, Mama, and Grandma filled with their coins will be emptied to buy Rosa whatever she wants for her birthday. But what can Rosa choose that special enough-unless it's a gift they can all enjoy!

If you’re dead already, can you die again? Elspeth’s been summoned from limbo. Her new assignment? Track down the culprit in the mysterious death of a student at Clearwell High. And incidentally, uncover the identity of the new drug dealer prowling the halls. Only one problem—the body she has to co-inhabit has a different agenda. Elizabeth just wants to be prom queen, marry Prince Charming, and graduate with perfect posture. Both girls, alive and dead, will have their separate worlds rocked before the killer is unveiled. Nothing is as it seems. No one can be trusted. Being dead has never been so dangerous.