Business and professional tips at your bookshelf (IANS Books This Weekend)

Be it practical, straightforward advice to improve your work conditions or a few business tools you should know to succeed. IANS Books this Weekend is determined to give you a heavy dose of advice. Take a look:

1. Book: How to be Confident and Assertive at Work; Author Suzanne and Conard Potts; Publisher: Robinson; Pages: 210; Price: Rs.299

This book gives practical and straightforward advice and actual words to use when dealing with situations that the average person finds difficult to handle.

Like a good friend, it will enable you to be valued for who you are, to ask for what you are entitled to, and to say 'no' when you have the right to do so. You will be able to stand up for yourself and handle difficult situations calmly and successfully, and you will discover how to have your opinions and ideas heard and respected.

It provides step-by-step guidance on how to deal with the most common situations and issues that you are likely to face during your working life - including speaking at meetings and presentations, managing other people and your boss, handling appraisals and interviews, and even asking for a raise!

2. Book: The Big 100: Author: Jeremy Kouradi; Publisher: John Murray Learning; Pages: 223; Price: Rs.350

The world is full of business ideas. But how do you know which are the best ones? And how do you find time to read them?

This book offers you the best business tools, concepts and strategies from the top business brains on the planet. Each one is expertly summarised so that you can quickly discover the insights which are driving the most successful people in all walks of life.

3. Book: How to Help an Elephant Make a U-turn; Author: G.K. Jayaram; Publisher: Maven; Pages: 263; Price: Rs.500

The author offers the "3+5 Transcendent Leadership Model" as the most effective way of creating leaders who will help organisations, corporations and societies swiftly execute transformational change. He shows why and how the new breed of leaders will inspire action from followers at every level of an organisation.

Illustrated and enlivened throughout by insights from the leading lights of the business world, this step-by-step guide will help you become a transcendent leader.

4. Book: Make Change Work For You; Author: Scott Steinberg; Publisher: Piatkus; Pages: 303; Price: Rs.399

Finding the courage to embrace change and take chances is the only way to succeed. But while business, culture and competitive landscapes have fundamentally changed, basic principles and best practices for succeeding and future-proofing both yourself and your organisation have not.

With a mix of compelling stories, research from the social sciences and psychology and real-world insights, this book reveals the 10 new rules that will enable you reignite your career, rekindle your creativity and fearlessly innovate your way to success.