Cool Friends Sorted Alphabetically

Angus, Jeff

Author of Management by Baseball: The Official Rules for Winning Management in Any Field

Applegate, Jane

Entrepreneur and author of 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business

Ariely, Dan

Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University and author of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions

Arussy, Lior

Author of Passionate and Profitable: Why Customer Strategies Fail and Ten Steps To Do Them Right

Ayan, Jordan

Author of Aha!—10 Ways to Free Your Creative Spirit and Find Your Great Ideas

Balter, Dave

Founder of BzzAgent and coauthor of Grapevine: The New Art of Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Barletta, Martha

Author of Marketing to Women: How to Understand, Reach and Increase Your Share of the World’s Largest Market Segment

Barletta, Marti (No. 2)

Founder/CEO of The TrendSight Group and author of PrimeTime Women™: How to Win the Hearts, Minds, and Business of Boomer Big Spenders

Bayley, Stephen

Coauthor of Life’s a Pitch … How to Be Businesslike with Your Emotional Life and Emotional with Your Business Life

Bayley, Stephen (No. 2)

Well-known authority on design and coauthor with Terence Conran of Design: Intelligence Made Visible

Beckström, Rod

Co-founder of Global Peace Networks and coauthor of The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

Bedbury, Scott

Author of A New Brand World: 8 Principles for Achieving Brand Leadership in the 21st Century

Bernasek, Anna

Author of The Economics of Integrity: From Dairy Farmers to Toyota, How Wealth Is Built on Trust and What That Means for Our Future

Birchard, Bill

Author of Nature’s Keepers: The Remarkable Story of How the Nature Conservancy Became the Largest Environmental Organization in the World

Bridges, William

Author of Creating You & Co: Learn to Think Like the CEO of Your Own Career

Brodsky, Norm

Coauthor of The Knack: How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up

Brogan, Chris

Coauthor, with Julien Smith, of Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust

Brown, Mary

Coauthor with Carol Orsborn of BOOM: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer—the Baby Boomer Woman

Burlingham, Bo

Author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose to be Great Instead of Big

Carbone, Lou

Lou Carbone, author of Clued In: How To Keep Customers Coming Back Again and Again

Castronova, Edward

Author of Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games

Clark, Maxine

Founder, Chief Executive Bear, and Chairman of Build-A-Bear Workshop® and author of The Bear Necessities of Business: Building a Company with Heart

Colson, Kathleen

Co-founder and CEO of the BOMA Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that works to develop new opportunities for education, capacity-building, and entrepreneurial innovation in northern Kenya

Coram, Robert

Author of Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War

Covert, Jack and Todd Sattersten

Coauthors of The 100 Best Business Books of All Time: What They Say, Why They Matter, and How They Can Help You

Coyle, Dan

Author of The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How.

Coyle, Dan (No.2)

Author of The Talent Code and The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills

Cramer, Kathryn

Coauthor of Change the Way You See Everything Through Asset-Based Thinking

Crossland, Ron

Coauthor of The Leadership Experience: From Individual Success to Organization Significance

Culbert, Sam

Coauthor of Don’t Kill the Bosses! Escaping the Hierarchy Trap

Daniels, Aubrey

Chairman of Aubrey Daniels International and coauthor of Measure of a Leader: An Actionable Formula for Legendary Leadership

Davis, Stan

Author of Future Wealth

Donlan, Vicki

Founder of Women’s Business Boston and author of Her Turn: Why It’s Time for Women to Lead in America

Dychtwald, Maddy

Coauthor of Influence: How Women’s Soaring Economic Power Will Transform Our World for the Better

Farber, Steve

Author of The Radical Leap: A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership

Farmiloe, Brett and Zach Hubbell

Pursue the Passion: Brett Farmiloe and Zach Hubbell are on a roadtrip to find people passionate about their work along with Jay Whiting and Noah Pollack

Farson, Richard

Coauthor of Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins: The Paradox of Innovation

Finder, Joseph

Author of Killer Instinct, Company Man, Paranoia, and more

Fisher, Helen

Author of The First Sex

Florida, Richard

Author of The Rise of the Creative Class and The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent

Frank, Ze

Artist, consultant, teacher, humorist, and maker of “stuff”

Freedman, Dave

Coauthor of A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder—How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place

Fried, Jason

Founder and president of 37signals and coauthor of Defensive Design for the Web

Froggatt, Cynthia

Author of Work Naked: Eight Essential Principles for Peak Performance In The Virtual Workplace

Gartner, John

Author of The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (a Little) Craziness and (a Lot of) Success in America

Gibson, Rowan and Peter Skarzynski

Coauthors of Innovation to the Core: A Blueprint for Transforming the Way Your Company Innovates

Godin, Seth

Author of Unleashing the Ideavirus

Godin, Seth (No. 2)

Author of Small Is the New Big

Godin, Seth (No. 3)

Marketing guru and author of nine books, the latest of which is The Dip: The Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)

Gouillart, Francis

Francis Gouillart is the co-author (with Venkat Ramaswamy) of The Power of Co-Creation: Build It With Them To Boost Growth, Productivity and Profits

Heath, Dan

Coauthor with his brother, Chip, of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Helgesen, Sally

Author of The Web of Inclusion: A New Architecture for Building Great Organizations

Helgesen, Sally (No. 2)

Author of Thriving in 24/7: Six Strategies for Taming the New World of Work

Helgesen, Sally (No. 3)

Coauthor of The Female Vision: Women’s Real Power at Work

Herz, J.C.

Author of Joystick Nation: How Video Games Ate Our Quarters, Won Our Hearts, and Rewired Our Minds

Hessan, Diane

President and CEO of Communispace, one of the fastest growing social networking companies in the U.S.

Hewlett, Sylvia

President of the Center for Work-Life Policy and author of Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success

Hiam, Michael

Author of Who the Hell Are We Fighting? The Story of Sam Adams and the Vietnam Intelligence Wars

Hill, Dan

Founder of Sensory Logic, Inc., and author of Body of Truth and Emotionomics: Winning Hearts and Minds

Hogshead, Sally

Author of Radical Careering: 100 Truths to Jumpstart Your Job, Your Career, and Your Life

Huba, Jackie and Ben McConnell

Authors of Creating Customer Evangelists and Citizen Marketers: When People Are the Messageand the blog Church of the Customer

Hunt, Tara

Author of The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business

Hurst, Mark

Founder of the user experience consulting firm Creative Good and author of Bit Literacy: Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overload

Jackson, Eric

Author of The PayPal Wars: Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of the Planet

Jacobs, Jane

Author of The Nature of Economies and The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Jensen, Rolf

Rolf Jensen, author of The Dream Society: How the Coming Shift from Information to Imagination Will Transform Your Business

Johnson, Lisa

Coauthor, with Andrea Learned, of Don’t Think Pink: What Really Makes Women Buy—And How to Increase Your Share of This Crucial Market

Kador, John

Author of Effective Apology: Mending Fences, Building Bridges, and Restoring Trust

Kanter, Rosabeth

Former editor of Harvard Business Review and author of America the Principled: 6 Opportunities for Becoming a Can-Do Nation Once Again

Kaputa, Catherine

Author of U R a Brand! How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success

Kawasaki, Guy

Entrepreneur, blogger, and author of Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition

Keillor, Garrison

Host of Public Radio’s A Prairie Home Companion and author of many books, most recently A Christmas Blizzard

Kelley, David

Founder and CEO of IDEO, one of America’s premier design firms.

Kelley, Tom

General Manager of IDEO, and author of The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm

Kelley, Tom (No. 2)

General Manager of IDEO and coauthor of The Ten Faces of Innovation

Kelly, Eamonn

Author of Powerful Times: Rising to the Challenge of Our Uncertain World

Kelly, Kevin

Kevin Kelly is the author of What Technology Wants

Kelly, Matthew

Founder and president of Floyd Consulting and author of The Dream Manager

Kjerulf, Alex

Chief Happiness Officer and author of Happy Hour is 9 to 5: How to Love Your Job, Love Your Life, and Kick Butt at Work

Kohlrieser, George

Author of Hostage at the Table and coauthor of Care to Dare

Krupp, Fred

President of the Environmental Defense Fund and coauthor of Earth: The Sequel—The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming

Kunde, Jesper

Author of Corporate Religion

Kurzweil, Ray

Renowned futurist and author of The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

Learned, Andrea

Coauthor of Don’t Think Pink and author of the blog Learned on Women and e-book 9 on Marketing

Levine, Eliot

Author of One Kid At A Time: Big Lessons From A Small School

Lichtenberg, Ronna

Author of It’s Not Business, It’s Personal

Lindstrom, Martin

Chairman of Buyology Inc., New York, and BRAND sense Agency, London, and author of Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy

Lipman-Blumen, Jean

Author of The Allure of Toxic Leaders: Why We Follow Destructive Bosses and Corrupt Politicians—and How We Can Survive Them

Littky, Dennis

Co-director of the Big Picture Company and director of The Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center in Providence, R.I.

Littky, Dennis (No.2)

Co-founder and co-director of Big Picture Learning, which runs The Met School and College Unbound

Locke, Chris

Coauthor of The Cluetrain Manifesto

Maeda, John

Founder of the Simplicity Consortium at the MIT Media Lab and author of The Laws of Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life

Maister, David

Author of Managing the Professional Service Firm

Mann, Howard

A founder of Sideshow Digital and author of Your Business Brickyard: Getting back to the basics to make your business more fun to run

May, Matthew

Author of In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing

McLagan, Pat

Author of Change Is Everybody’s Business and coauthor of The Age of Participation

Michaels, Ed

Former leader of McKinsey & Company’s War for Talent Practice and coauthor of The War for Talent

Micklethwait & Wooldridge

Coauthors of A Future Perfect

Moore, John

Author of the Brand Autopsy blog and Tribal Knowledge: Business Wisdom Brewed from the Grounds of Starbucks Corporate Culture

Moore, Kenny

Coauthor of The CEO and the Monk: One Company’s Journey to Profit and Purpose

Morgan, Carol

Coauthor, with Doran J. Levy, Ph.D., of Marketing To The Mind Set Of Boomers And Their Elders: Using Psychographics And More To Identify And Reach Your Best Targets

Morgan, Nick

Communications coach and author of Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma

Movius, Hal

Author of Built to Win: Creating a World-Class Negotiating Organization

Nissanoff, Daniel

Author of FutureShop: How the New Auction Culture Will Revolutionize the Way We Buy, Sell, and Get the Things We Really Want

Palmer, Stephanie

Author of Good in a Room: How to Sell Yourself (and Your Ideas) and Win Over Any Audience

Panos Stauber, Joy

Creative Director & Designer for Stauber Brand Studio

Pascale, Richard

Coauthor of The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World’s Toughest Problems

Pfeffer, Jeffrey

Coauthor, with Bob Sutton, of Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management

Pine, Joe and Jim Gilmore

Co-founders of Strategic Horizons LLP and coauthors of Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want

Pink, Dan

Author of Free Agent Nation

Pink, Dan (No. 2)

Author of A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age

Pipher, Mary

Author of Writing to Change the World

Popcorn, Faith

Coauthor of EVEolution

Postrel, Virginia

Author of The Substance of Style

Raeder, Bill

President of National Braille Press, a nonprofit Braille publishing company

Reichheld, Fred

Author of The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth

Rheingold, Howard

Author of Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution

Ridderstråle, Jonas and Kjell Nordström

Coauthors of Karaoke Capitalism: Management for Mankind

Roam, Dan

Dan Roam is the founder and president of Digital Roam Inc., and the author of
The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures

Roberts, Kevin

Author of Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands

Rosener, Judy

Author of America’s Competitive Secret: Women Managers

Rubin, Harriet

Author of Soloing: Realizing Your Life’s Ambition

Ryan Madson, Patricia

Author of Improv Wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up

Sanders, Tim

Author of Love is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends

Schein, Ed

Organizational culture consultant and author of Helping: How to Offer, Give, and Receive Help

Schrage, Michael

Author of Serious Play

Scoble, Robert

Author of the scobleizer blog and coauthor of Naked Conversations

Scott, David Meerman

Author of World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories

Setty, Rajesh

Author of Beyond Code: Learn to Distinguish Yourself in 9 Simple Steps

Shapiro, Stephen (No. 2)

Author of Personality Poker: The Playing Card Tool for Driving High-Performance Teamwork and Innovation

Shapiro, Steve

Author of Goal-Free Living

Silverstein, Michael

Coauthor, with Neil Fiske, of Trading Up: The New American Luxury

Strock, James

Author of Serve to Lead: Your Transformational 21st Century Leadership System

Sull, Donald

Author of Made In China: What Western Managers Can Learn From Trailblazing Chinese Entrepreneurs

Sutton, Robert

Author of Weird Ideas That Work: 11 1/2 Practices for Promoting, Managing, and Sustaining Innovation

Sutton, Robert (No.2)

Coauthor with Huggy Rao of Scaling Up Excellence: Getting More Without Settling for Less

Tannen, Deborah

Author of You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation

Tapscott, Don

Founder of think tank New Paradigm and coauthor of Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything

Taylor, Bill (No. 2)

Bill Taylor is the author of Practically Radical

Taylor, Bill and Polly LaBarre

Coauthors of Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win

Thaler, Richard

Professor of Economics and Behavioral Science at the Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago, and coauthor of Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Tomasko, Bob

Author of Bigger Isn’t Always Better: The New Mindset for Real Business Growth

Trunk, Penelope

Author of Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success

Underhill, Paco

Author of Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping

Vienne, Veronique

Author of The Art of Doing Nothing: Simple Ways to Make Time for Yourself

Warner, Bill

Serial entrepreneur who founded Avid and Wildfire, he now works with nonprofits including FutureBoston and Move With Freedom, and helps entrepreneurs with start-ups

Warner, Fara

Author of The Power of the Purse: How Smart Businesses Are Adapting to the World’s Most Important Consumers—Women

Waterman, Robert

Coauthor of In Search of Excellence, and author of The Renewal Factor and What America Does Right: Learning from Companies That Put People First

Waters, Robyn

Founder of consulting firm RW Trend and author of The Hummer and the Mini: Navigating the Contradictions of the New Trend Landscape

Weil, Debbie

Author of The Corporate Blogging Book: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know to Get It Right

Weinberger, David

Author of Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web

Whalin, George

Founder of Retail Management Consultants and author of Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best Independent Stores In America

Whiteley, Sharon

Sharon Whiteley, CEO of ThirdAge and coauthor of The Old Girls’ Network

Willett Bird, Susan

The founder and Chief Futurist of Wf360

Wolaner, Robin

Founder of Parenting magazine and author of Naked in the Boardroom: A CEO Bares Her Secrets So You Can Transform Your Career

Wolfe, David

Coauthor of Ageless Marketing: Strategies for Reaching the Hearts and Minds of the New Customer Majority

Women Gurus Network

Sally Helgesen, Marti Barletta, and Susan Willett Bird speak about Women Gurus Network, the consortium of female gurus they have founded

Wood, John

Author of Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur’s Odyssey to Educate the World’s Children

Yastrow, Steve

Author of Brand Harmony: Achieving Dynamic Results by Orchestrating Your Customer’s Total Experience

Yastrow, Steve (No. 2)

Founder of Yastrow & Co. and author of We: The Ideal Customer Relationship

Zander, Rosamund and Benjamin Zander

Authors of The Art of Possibility