What is a meaningful life, and how do we make one? How do certain communities foster closeness, fulfillment, happiness, and energy?
In Flourish, bestselling author and leading culture expert Daniel Coyle trains his eye on the groups and people who demonstrate exceptional connectivity, presence, and dynamism. He draws on research and original reporting—taking us inside an unlikely brotherhood of thirty-three men who were trapped in a Chilean mine, a tiny Michigan deli that blossomed into a $90 million ecosystem of businesses, an inventive Dutch soccer team that revolutionized the sport as we know it, and a disconnected Paris district that remade itself into a tight-knit neighborhood—to reveal the principles and practices that ignite and sustain thriving. He finds that flourishing groups do two things: They make meaning (creating deep connections) and build community (forging a common good).
Through captivating real-world stories, rigorous scientific studies, and firsthand accounts, Coyle reveals what sets some groups apart—and offers you the tools and insights to flourish in your own life.
Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.
Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.
Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since.
Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.
Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?
Katherine Parker doesn’t just dream of rowing in the Olympics. She has a carefully crafted plan. With a strict training schedule, a meticulous diet, and no one else in her boat to slow her down, she’s as good as gold.
Then her boyfriend breaks up with her at the starting line of a big race and Kath comes in dead last. She’s swiftly kicked off the team and out of the Olympic Training Center—the only place she’s ever felt at home.
With one shot to win back her spot, Kath returns to her hometown to train with a new coach. The upside? Coach Adrian is hot. The downside? Instead of letting Kath follow her own training regimen, Adrian pushes her outside her comfort zone, urging her to try new things and let go of control.
With her Olympic dreams on the line, Kath will have to choose: stick to her perfect plan, or find out if the key to winning—and happiness—is to embrace the part of rowing that makes it fun, one sweaty, sexy training session at a time.
Mackenzie Allen Philip's youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant THE SHACK wrestles with the timeless Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain? The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him.
In a time defined by nonstop disruptions, when jobs vanish overnight, industries evolve in months, and yesterday’s rules no longer apply, AQ—the Agility Quotient—is the intelligence you need to handle change, uncertainty, and the unknown. The good news is that, with the right toolkit, you can grow your agility and learn to navigate a world of increasing instability.
In our hectic days filled with long hours, endless emails, and tedious virtual meetings, it’s hard to stay connected to the higher purpose of work – to see past the grind and embrace what we’re really trying to achieve.
In this engaging and illuminating book, Japanese Buddhist monk Shoukei Matsumoto offers a fresh take on what it means to find satisfaction at work. Presented in the form of an imagined conversation between a Western businessperson and a temple priest, this far-ranging exploration covers everything from embracing simplicity and communicating with clarity to the importance of daily rituals, insights on avoiding burnout, and even what it means to be a good ancestor. Along the way, you’ll discover ancient wisdom and contemporary ideas – all thoughtfully presented in the context of modern daily life.