Audiobooks narrated by Allan Robertson

Character Matters: And Other Life Lessons from George Herbert Walker Bush

Former Chief of Staff to President George H.W. Bush and New York Times bestselling author of THE MAN I KNEW, Jean Becker shares touching and pivotal life lessons from a leader that left a mark on people's hearts and souls. As America heads into what promises to be a tumultuous 2024 presidential election year, Character Matters will be a good reminder of the importance of character when defining true leadership. Colleagues, friends, and family will share their often very personal stories of what they learned from watching and listening to President Bush, including former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Secretary of State James A. Baker; stand-up comedian Dana Carvey; "Queen of Country" star Reba McEntire; American columnist for The New York Times Maureen Dowd; American novelist Brad Meltzer; presidential biographer Jon Meacham; former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom John Major; former Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney; Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; the Oak Ridge Boys and best-selling author Christopher Buckley; and of course his grandchildren. Character Matters will illustrate how George Bush never stopped showing us the way to lead by example.

Jean Becker (Author), Allan Robertson, Barbara Benjamin-Creel, Cynthia Barrett, Dan Quayle, George Dvorsky, James Baker, James Edward Thomas, Jamie Renell, Jean Becker, Jon Meacham, TBD, Widdi Turner (Narrator)

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Charlie Brown's Christmas Miracle: The Inspiring, Untold Story of the Making of a Holiday Classic

Discover the inspiring, unknown, against-all-odds story of how the classic animated holiday special A Charlie Brown Christmas almost never made it on to television. Professor and cultural historian Michael Keane reveals much in this nostalgia-inducing book packed with original research and interviews. Keane compellingly shows that the ultimate broadcast of the Christmas special-given its incredibly tight five-month production schedule and the decidedly unfavorable reception it received by the skeptical network executives who first screened it-was nothing short of a miracle. Keane explains why the show, despite its technical shortcomings, has become an uplifting and enduring triumph embraced by millions of families every Christmas season, even more than fifty years after its premiere. This gripping and joyful behind-the-scenes story of how the creators of A Charlie Brown Christmas struggled to bring the program to life will also help readers (and loyal fans) understand how America's favorite Christmas special changed our popular culture forever. Keane masterfully weaves the momentous events of 1965 (the turbulent year of the program's production) into his story, providing critical context for a profound new understanding of the program's famous climactic scene, Linus's spot-lit soliloquy answering the question repeatedly posed by Charlie Brown-"Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"

Michael Keane (Author), Allan Robertson (Narrator)

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The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series

The definitive, behind-the-scenes look at the most popular sitcom of the last decade, The Big Bang Theory, packed with all-new, exclusive interviews with the producers and entire cast. The Big Bang Theory is a television phenomenon. To the casual viewer, it's a seemingly effortless comedy, with relatable characters tackling real-life issues, offering a kind of visual comfort food to its millions of dedicated fans. But the behind-the-scenes journey of the show from a failed pilot to a global sensation is a fascinating story that even the most die-hard fans don't know in its entirety. THE BIG BANG THEORY: THE DEFINITIVE, INSIDE STORY OF THE EPIC HIT SERIES is a riveting, entertaining look at the sitcom sensation, with the blessing and participation of co-creators Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, executive producers Steve Molaro and Steve Holland, as well as Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Melissa Rauch, Mayim Bialik, and more. Glamour senior editor Jessica Radloff, who has written over 150 articles on the series (and even had a cameo in the finale!), gives readers an all-access pass to its intrepid producing and writing team and beloved cast. It's a story of on-and-off screen romance told in hilarious and emotional detail, of casting choices that nearly changed everything (which even some of the actors didn't know until now), of cast members bravely powering through personal tragedies, and when it came time to announce the 12th season would be its last, the complicated reasons why it was more difficult than anyone ever led on. Through hundreds of hours of interviews with the sitcom's major players, Radloff dives into all this and much more. The book is the ultimate celebration of this once-in-a-generation show and a must-have for all fans.

Jessica Radloff (Author), Abhay Ahluwalia, Allan Robertson, Anna Williford, Fleet Cooper, Jessica Radloff, Suehyla Young (Narrator)

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Seven Disciplines of A Leader

One of the great values of Seven Disciplines of a Leader is its reliance on a comprehensive and integrated set of guiding principles that are easy to understand and apply at all levels of the organization. Jeff Wolf, recognized as one of the country's top thought leaders in leadership development, managerial effectiveness, and organization productivity, has helped hundreds of leaders dramatically improve their performance using the same techniques contained in the book. Seven Disciplines of a Leader delivers four major benefits for a leader: Build and sharpen your core leadership skills Enhance your market position and reputation by attracting and retaining the best talent, leading to healthy revenue growth Improve your decision making, interpersonal relations, and teamwork Assist you in becoming a highly effective and dynamic leader, leading to increased employee engagement, enhanced customer service, and a strong bottom line Consider this book a working manual organized into three sections: an overview of effective leadership; the Seven Disciplines of highly effective leaders; and eleven practices that sustain the Seven Disciplines. Takeaways at the end of each chapter allows for the opportunity to evaluate personal leadership styles through exercises driving home one or more of the chapter's main points sharpening these skills in a practical way. These takeaways help to apply the very same methodology to an entire range of issues at work. Its like having your own personal executive coach! By the time you finish Seven Disciplines of a Leader you will have improved your leadership skills many times over and be prepared to sustain them over time

Jeff Wolf (Author), Allan Robertson (Narrator)

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Catching Lightning in a Bottle: How Merrill Lynch Revolutionized the Financial World

In 1939 Charles E. Merrill and Winthrop H. Smith came up with a radical idea for investing: democratize the stock marketing and bring Wall Street to Main Street. Together they created a company that would earn the trust of small investors by putting their clients interest first. To achieve this they set down a series of guidelines for employees that came to be known as the Principles. While the rest of Wall Street scoffed, Merrill and Smith put their idea into action. Merrill Lynch expanded capital markets and fueled the growth of the American economy after World War II. In 1974, Winthrop H. Smith Jr. came to work for the company that his late father had co-led for 21 years, starting in the bull pen as an entry-level investment banking associate. He rose steadily, working not only in investment banking but also in marketing, human resources, finance, and sales management. But in 2001, Smith chose to end his successful Wall Street career in its 28th year for one simple compelling reason. He believed that the new CEO, E. Stanley ONeal, did not understand the Principles, nor did he appreciate the nurturing culture and valuesknown collectively as Mother Merrillthat has made the firm one of the most successful and respected companies in the world. Without these in place, Smith was sure the company would falter. He was right. Catching Lightening in a Bottlethe first history of Merrill Lynchtraces its impact on the world of finance from the day Charlie Merrill opened his one-man shop in 1914 to the final shareholder meeting prior to its acquisition by Bank of America in 2008.

Winthrop H. Smith (Author), Allan Robertson (Narrator)

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Mortuary Confidential: Undertakers Spill the Dirt

When the casket reached the front of the sanctuary, there was a loud cracking sound as the bottom fell out. And with a thump, down came Father Iggy. From shoot-outs at funerals to dead men screaming and runaway corpses, undertakers have plenty of unusual stories to tell-and a special way of telling them. In this macabre and moving compilation, funeral directors across the country share their most embarrassing, jaw-dropping, irreverent, and deeply poignant stories about life at death's door. Discover what scares them and what moves them to tears. Learn about rookie mistakes and why death sometimes calls for duct tape. Enjoy tales of the dearly departed spending eternity naked from the waist down and getting bottled and corked-in a wine bottle. And then meet their families-the weepers, the punchers, the stolidly dignified, and the ones who deliver their dead mother in a pickup truck. If there's one thing undertakers know, it's that death drives people crazy. These are the best 'bodies of work' from America's darkest profession.

Kenneth Mckenzie, Todd Harra (Author), Allan Robertson, Susan Larkin (Narrator)

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Broken Windows, Broken Business: The Revolutionary Broken Windows Theory: How the Smallest Remedies

Now revised and updated, this "inspired, impactful, and important" book shows how to achieve the ultimate success by rectifying the small problems that can sink a business (Stephen R, Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People). Once every few years a book comes along with an insight so penetrating, so powerful-and so simply, demonstrably true-that it instantly changes the way we think and do business. Such a book is Broken Windows, Broken Business, a breakthrough in management theory that can alter the destiny of countless companies striving to stay ahead of their competition. In this vital work, author Michael Levine offers compelling evidence that problems in business, large and small, typically stem from inattention to tiny details. Social psychologists and criminologists agree that if a window in a building is broken and left unrepaired, soon thereafter the rest of the windows will be broken-and the perception will build that crime in that neighborhood is out of control. The same principle applies to business. Drawing on real-world corporate examples, from JetBlue's decision to give fliers what they really want-leather seats, personal televisions, online ticketing - to Google's customer-based strategy for breaking out of the pack of Internet search engines, to business-to-business firms' successes and failures, Levine proves again and again how constant vigilance and an obsession with detail can make or break a business or a brand. With tips and advice on changing any business to one that dots its i's, crosses its t's, and attracts more clients, Broken Windows, Broken Business goes straight to the heart of what makes all enterprises successful-the little things that mean a lot.

Michael Levine (Author), Allan Robertson (Narrator)

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30-Day Heart Tune-Up: A Breakthrough Medical Plan to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease

A fully updated and revised edition of The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up, featuring a step-by-step program to optimize your cardiovascular health, boost your energy, slim your waistline, and heat up your sex life-plus sixty delicious recipes. Cardiovascular disease is America's #1 killer, and while most doctors focus on lowering cholesterol and blood pressure they are overlooking the real culprits: arterial plaque and poor gut health. The good news is that everyone-regardless of size, genetics, gender, or age-can treat arterial plaque, improve their overall health, and prevent heart attacks and strokes with The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up. Inside, you'll discover: - A delicious, heart-healthy diet designed to supercharge your heart health - Exercises to improve circulation and strengthen your entire cardiovascular system - Creative and effective techniques for stress management - A customized supplement plan - Cutting-edge science on the fascinating ways the bacteria in your gut can affect the health of your heart. This fully revised and updated edition of The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up includes the latest science on the surprising connections between your gut and your heart as well as tons of new information on reducing cardiovascular risk factors like obesity, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, and chronic inflammation through diet and exercise, it will help you get healthy-and stay healthy-for life.

Steven Masley (Author), Allan Robertson (Narrator)

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Getting Started in Finding a Financial Advisor

Getting Started in Finding a Financial Advisor explores the important relationship between an investor and their financial advisor. If you want to know where you (and most importantly, your finances) stand, you need to be proactive and ask the right questions of anyone giving you financial advice. There is a high cost of being too trusting. This book is examines how people to interview potential candidates and check the credentials of six key advisorsbrokers, money managers, insurance agents, lawyers, tax preparers, and real estate agentsand how to understand what can happen if the institution or the advisor ends up in financial or legal difficulty. Among the topics discussed are how to interview professionals, how to check references, what credentials really mean and which are important, how to maintain control in professional relationships, and much more.

Charles A. Jaffe (Author), Allan Robertson (Narrator)

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Pearls of Wisdom: Little Pieces of Advice (That Go a Long Way)

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! In this 'sage, valuable volume' (Publishers Weekly), First Lady Barbara Bush shares the best of her advice to family, staff, and close friends. First Lady Barbara Bush was famous for handing out advice. From friends and family to heads of state and Supreme Court justices, and certainly to her staff, her advice ranged from what to wear, what to say or not say, and how to live your life. She especially loved visiting with students of all ages, from kindergartners to college graduates. When she turned 80, she owned up to all her advice-giving and explained it this way: After all, in 80 years of living, I have survived 6 children, 17 grandchildren, 6 wars, a book by Kitty Kelly, two presidents, two governors, big Election Day wins and big Election Day losses, and 61 years of marriage to a husband who keeps jumping out of perfectly good airplanes. So, it's just possible that along the way I've learned a thing or two. At the end of the day, she taught all of us some valuable lessons. As First Lady, she made a point of cuddling a baby with AIDS and hugging a young man who was HIV positive and whose family had rejected him, showing us by example the importance of compassion and the myth of fear. As a mother, she made sure we all knew that your children must come first, and one of the most important things you can do is to read to them. As a friend and mentor, she showed that you had to be true to yourself, and even at the end of her life, she taught us how to die with grace. Full of Barbara Bush's trademark wit and thoughtfulness, Pearls of Wisdom is a poignant reflection on life, love, family, and the world by one of America's most iconic -- and beloved -- public figures.

Barbara Bush (Author), Allan Robertson, Brian Troxell, Brittany Wilkerson, Cara Reid, Kevin Stillwell, Nicholas Tecosky, Suehyla El Attar, Suehyla El-Attar, Susan Larkin (Narrator)

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Lake of the Ozarks: My Surreal Summers in a Vanishing America

Beloved TV host Bill Geist pens a reflective memoir of his incredible summers spent in the heart of America in this New York Times bestseller. Before there was 'tourism' and souvenir ashtrays became 'kitsch,' the Lake of the Ozarks was a Shangri-La for middle-class Midwestern families on vacation, complete with man-made beaches, Hillbilly Mini Golf, and feathered rubber tomahawks. It was there that author Bill Geist spent summers in the Sixties during his school and college years working at Arrowhead Lodge-a small resort owned by his bombastic uncle-in all areas of the operation, from cesspool attendant to bellhop. What may have seemed just a summer job became, upon reflection, a transformative era where a cast of eccentric, small-town characters and experiences shaped (some might suggest 'slightly twisted') Bill into the man he is today. He realized it was this time in his life that had a direct influence on his sensibilities, his humor, his writing, and ultimately a career searching the world for other such untamed creatures for the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, and CBS News. In LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Emmy Award-winning CBS Sunday Morning Correspondent Bill Geist reflects on his coming of age in the American Heartland and traces his evolution as a man and a writer. He shares laugh-out-loud anecdotes and tongue-in-cheek observations guaranteed to evoke a strong sense of nostalgia for 'the good ol' days.' Written with Geistian wit and warmth, LAKE OF THE OZARKS takes readers back to a bygone era, and demonstrates how you can find inspiration in the most unexpected places.

Bill Geist (Author), Allan Robertson, Bill Geist (Narrator)

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Connecting the Dots: Leadership Lessons in a Start-up World

Legendary Silicon Valley visionary and one of the world's greatest business leaders, John Chambers shares the playbook and philosophy that transformed Cisco into a global tech titan and now inspire a new generation of leaders. With numerous start-ups moving from zero to a billion to bankruptcy in a matter of years, it's clear that sustaining a business in the digital age is no walk in the park. Over 20 years, John Chambers transformed a company with 400 employees and one toaster-sized product (a router) into a tech giant that's the backbone of the Internet. Along the way, he's outlasted and outmaneuvered practically every rival that ever tried to take Cisco on-Nortel, Lucent, Alcatel, IBM, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard, to name a few-and turned more than 10,000 employees into millionaires, more than any company in history. When Chambers stepped down as executive chairman in December of 2017, he left a company that didn't just shape the first Internet era but is leading the next wave of innovation in areas from cyber-security to self-driving cars. Now, in collaboration with award-winning journalist Diane Brady, Chambers shares the stories and strategies that helped his company win again and again through multiple market shifts. Posing a unique mode of thought proven to attain success, the message of this book is clear; it is not the biggest or the richest players who win, but the ones who are able to stay ahead of the trend by connecting the dots. Both enlightening and practical, this is essential reading to inspire a new generation of leaders.

John Chambers (Author), Allan Robertson (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Allan Robertson