The Obvious: All You Need to Know in Business. Period.

The secrets to success in business arent secrets at all. Theyre obvious, so obvious that theyve mostly been taken for granted or ignored -- until now.

Weve all read the business allegories, the "how I did it" success stories, and yes, there's good advice to be found in their pages. But nowhere is the advice as pure, as simple, as elegant, as it is in The Obvious. Former CEO James Dale has compiled ingenious words to live by, lucid truths as likely to be found in a fortune cookie as an MBA textbook. And the beauty of it is, regardless of the job -- from sales rep to department head to CEO -- the same principles yield the same results, and theyre always effective. While all of Dale's advice is, well, obvious, it's implementation isnt. In The Obvious, Dale shares ways in which any businessperson can carry out these simple lessons and achieve success.

• Show up.
• Dont be a jerk.
• Simple is better than complicated.
• Tell the truth. (It's so rarely used, it's like a secret weapon.)
• Bosses are not all idiots.
• Dont look backward. There's nothing there.
• Forgive and forget (or at least one out of two).
• Trust someone besides yourself.
• Start over tomorrow, but dont do it the same way.

Entertaining, compelling, and commonsensical, The Obvious is all you need to know. Period.

James Dale is the former president and CEO of advertising agency W.B. Doner & Co., whose clients included British Petroleum, Chiquita, Coca Cola, John Hopkins University, and the Baltimore Sun. The cowriter of Bullies, Tyrants, and Impossible People: How to Beat Them Without Joining Them, among other books, Dale is the co-founder of the business consulting firm Richlin/Dale LLC. He lives in Maryland with his wife and they are the parents of three children.