Stepping Up

A guide to solving problems presents seven principles that enable individuals to be their own agents of change.

'Written with such love and heart. Sarah has done an exceptional job of marrying her trademark comedy with deep and raw emotion. I loved it!' GIOVANNA FLETCHER FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE UNMUMSY MUM Beth has never stuck at anything. She's quit more jobs and relationships than she can remember and she still sleeps in her childhood bedroom. It's not that she hasn't tried to grow up, it's just that so far, the only commitment she's held down is Friday drinks at the village pub. Then, in the space of a morning, her world changes. An unspeakable tragedy turns Beth's life upside down, and she finds herself guardian to her teenage niece and toddler nephew, catapulted into an unfamiliar world of bedtime stories, parents' evenings and cuddly elephants. Having never been responsible for anyone - or anything - it's not long before she feels seriously out of her depth. What if she's simply not up to the job? With a little help from her best friend Jory (purely platonic, of course ...) and her lovely, lonely next-door neighbour, Albert, Beth is determined that this time she's not giving up. It's time to step up. This is a story about digging deep for strength you never knew you had and finding magic in things that were there all along. 'STEPPING UP is a heart-blasting triumph of a novel - wise, witty and wonderfully human.' Isabelle Broom 'Stop EVERYTHING and read this! Funny, tender and beautifully observed. Loved, loved, LOVED it!' Cathy Bramley 'A moving and beautifully-told tale of parenthood but not as you know it. I just loved it.' Gillian McAllister Early readers love STEPPING UP! ***** 'Simply excellent . . . A true emotional rollercoaster.' ***** 'It had me laughing out loud, on a bus no less, crying and laughing. This book is a tonic! I read it in one go. I was rooting for Beth the whole way through!!' ***** 'An emotional rollercoaster to keep you turning the pages. . .Perfect for curling up with; perfect for a bedtime read; perfect for a book group; just perfect.' ***** 'This book needs all the stars! It made me laugh, it made me cry and I just want to start it all over again.' ***** 'Funny, heartbreaking and totally relatable, it makes you feel all the feels!'

What's the most courageous thing you've ever done?

Stuttering teen boy goes to basketball camp, finds hidden talents and strengths

As a child, Sarah Robb O’Hagan dreamed she could be a champion. Her early efforts failed to reveal a natural superstar, but she refused to settle for average. Through dramatic successes and epic fails, she studied how extraordinary people in sports, entertainment and business set and achieve extremely personal goals. Sarah became an executive at Virgin Atlantic and Nike, and despite being fired twice in her twenties, she went on to become the global president of Gatorade and of Equinox—as well as a wife, mother, and endurance athlete. In every challenging situation, personal or professional, individuals face the pressure to play it safe and conform to the accepted norms. But doing so comes with heavy costs: passions stifled, talents ignored, and opportunities squelched. The bolder choice is to embrace what Sarah calls Extreme You: to confidently bring all that is distinctive and relevant about yourself to everything you do. Inspiring, surprising, and practical, Extreme You is her training program for becoming the best version of yourself.

Stepping Up explains an elegantly simple yet entirely practical approach to making positive choices at work and in life. Timothy Dobbins, a leading executive coach, a Fellow at the Warton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and a former Episcopal priest, advocates stepping up, or taking responsibility, even if it means having a difficult conversation with a colleague or experiencing the discomfort of making tough decisions, especially at work. Dobbins' approach to the workplace is based on his experiences over the past 16 years helping senior executives and CEOs make the decisions that have made their own companies more humane and more profitable.