National Bestseller

For readers of Outliers, Atomic Habits, and Deep Work, comes a game-changing approach to unlocking your greatness, using a secret strategy that’s vaulted business titans and creative geniuses to the top of their profession.

We’ve long been taught there are two ways to succeed–either talent or practice. In Decoding Greatness, award-winning social psychologist Ron Friedman illuminates a powerful third path–one that has launched icons in a wide range of fields, from artists, writers, and chefs, to athletes, inventors, and entrepreneurs: reverse engineering.

To reverse engineer is to look beyond what is evident on the surface and find a hidden structure. It’s the ability to taste an intoxicating dish and deduce its recipe, to listen to a beautiful song and discern its chord progression, to watch your favorite film and grasp its narrative arc.

“Clear, concise, and backed by science” (Daniel Pink, author of When), Decoding Greatness marries “alluring stories and illuminating studies” (Adam Grant, author of Think Again) of top performers–from Agatha Christie to Andy Warhol, Barack Obama, to Serena Williams–with groundbreaking research on pattern recognition and skill acquisition. You’ll learn how to take apart acheivements you admire, pinpoint precisely what makes them work, and apply that knowledge to develop novel ideas and products that are uniquely your own.

Bursting with unforgettable stories and actionable strategies, Decoding Greatness is an indispensable guide to learning from the best, upgrading your skills, and sparking breakthrough ideas.

For readers of Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel Pink, and Freakonomics, comes a captivating and surprising journey through the science of workplace excellence.

Why do successful companies reward failure? What can casinos teach us about building a happy workplace? How do you design an office that enhances both attention to detail and creativity?

In The Best Place to Work, award-winning psychologist Ron Friedman, Ph.D. uses the latest research from the fields of motivation, creativity, behavioral economics, neuroscience, and management to reveal what really makes us successful at work. Combining powerful stories with cutting edge findings, Friedman shows leaders at every level how they can use scientifically-proven techniques to promote smarter thinking, greater innovation, and stronger performance.

Among the many surprising insights, Friedman explains how learning to think like a hostage negotiator can help you diffuse a workplace argument, why placing a fish bowl near your desk can elevate your thinking, and how incorporating strategic distractions into your schedule can help you reach smarter decisions. Along the way, the book introduces the inventor who created the cubicle, the president who brought down the world’s most dangerous criminal, and the teenager who single-handedly transformed professional tennis-vivid stories that offer unexpected revelations on achieving workplace excellence.

Brimming with counterintuitive insights and actionable recommendations, The Best Place to Work offers employees and executives alike game-changing advice for working smarter and turning any organization-regardless of its size, budgets, or ambitions-into an extraordinary workplace.