Upgrade: Taking Your Work and Life from Ordinary to Extraordinary

The 7 Key Principles to achieving YOUR business and life goals

What could a graffiti artist, eminent neurologist, star athlete, celebrity chef, fashion designer, rocket scientist, and Grammy Award-winning musician possibly have in common?

In this groundbreaking new book, Rana Florida shares their formula, giving you the tools to achieve unimaginable success in work and life. Upgrade gathers the best practices, not just from CEOs and business executives but from entrepreneurs, innovative thinkers, and creative leaders.

Upgrade includes interviews with Sir Ken Robinson, Dan Pink, Mark Cuban, Andre Agassi, Kenny Scharf, Zaha Hadid, Governor Martin O'Malley, Tory Burch, Tim Brown, and many other leading figures. Despite this cast's vastly different backgrounds and skills, Florida's research concludes that there are seven key principles to achieving your business and life goals:

• Envision the future
• Find your passion
• Get creative
• Design your time
• Collaborate
• Take risks
• Embrace failure

Unfortunately, this is exactly what the majority of us don't do. Instead of developing a real strategy to upgrade and optimize our lives, too many of us just slog through life in a state of "managed dissatisfaction."

But it's never too late to envision an entirely different future--or to actively upgrade your life. It's not about finding more time, money, or resources. Anyone can do it.

This smart and entertaining guide delves deep into each principle, giving you the insights, tools, and inspiration to take your life from ordinary to extraordinary.

Praise for Upgrade

"Why ride in coach, when you can upgrade? A must-read for a better journey through life."
Don Tapscott, bestselling author, Wikinomics and Grown Up Digital

"Upgrade is an a-ha book that will change how you look at life's challenges and give you tools to upgrade your life."
Touré, cohost of MSNBC's The Cycle

"Read Upgrade for its stories, examples, and strategies and get ready to live the life you always wanted."
Frank Toskan, founder, M.A.C. Cosmetics

"Creative and innovative strategies to upgrade your work and life, with seven simple principles."
Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com, Inc., and New York Times bestselling author of Delivering Happiness

"Rana's perspective on business and life is a fresh new take, breaking the traditional corporate mold. Upgrade is a must-read for anyone not buying into the conventional wisdom."
Ali Velshi, CNN Chief Business Correspondent; anchor, CNN-I World Business Today; and host, CNN Your Money

"Upgrade welcomes you to take a fresh approach to everything you do to get the most out of work and life."
Nelly Furtado, Grammy Award-winning musician

"If I'm going to listen to anyone's good advice about how to improve my approach to work and life, it's Rana's."
Kate Betts, contributing editor, TIME, and columnist, The Daily Beast

"Rana's voice is refreshing--as real as a memoir and a great vessel for this self-help and business book wrapped up in one easily-digestible package."
Paper Magazine

"A very interesting book."
Business Learning Solutions

Rana Florida writes the Huffington Post column "Your Startup Life" and is a regular HGTV contributor. CEO of Creative Class Group, a consulting firm serving such clients as BMW, Starwood, IBM, Philips, Zappos, and Johnson & Johnson, she has appeared on The Today Show and in The New York Times. Florida previously served as Senior Director of Communications and Marketing at HMSHost (Host Marriott Services), a $2 billion dollar international organization in the travel industry working with hundreds of brands, such as Starbucks, Tumi, and Kenneth Cole. She was also Vice President of Corporate Communications for the world's largest producer of live family entertainment, Feld Entertainment, which owns Disney on Ice, Disney Live, the Doodlebops, and many other brands.