#1 New York Times Best Seller Named a Best Book of 2017 by Barnes & Noble and Amazon From Facebook’s COO and Wharton’s top-rated professor, the #1 New York Times best-selling authors of Lean In and Originals: a powerful, inspiring, and practical book about building resilience and moving forward after life’s inevitable setbacks. After the sudden death of her husband, Sheryl Sandberg felt certain that she and her children would never feel pure joy again. “I was in ‘the void,’” she writes, “a vast emptiness that fills your heart and lungs and restricts your ability to think or even breathe.” Her friend Adam Grant, a psychologist at Wharton, told her there are concrete steps people can take to recover and rebound from life-shattering experiences. We are not born with a fixed amount of resilience. It is a muscle that everyone can build. Option B combines Sheryl’s personal insights with Adam’s eye-opening research on finding strength in the face of adversity. Beginning with the gut-wrenching moment when she finds her husband, Dave Goldberg, collapsed on a gym floor, Sheryl opens up her heart—and her journal—to describe the acute grief and isolation she felt in the wake of his death. But Option B goes beyond Sheryl’s loss to explore how a broad range of people have overcome hardships including illness, job loss, sexual assault, natural disasters, and the violence of war. Their stories reveal the capacity of the human spirit to persevere . . . and to rediscover joy. Resilience comes from deep within us and from support outside us. Even after the most devastating events, it is possible to grow by finding deeper meaning and gaining greater appreciation in our lives. Option B illuminates how to help others in crisis, develop compassion for ourselves, raise strong children, and create resilient families, communities, and workplaces. Many of these lessons can be applied to everyday struggles, allowing us to brave whatever lies ahead. Two weeks after losing her husband, Sheryl was preparing for a father-child activity. “I want Dave,” she cried. Her friend replied, “Option A is not available,” and then promised to help her make the most of Option B. We all live some form of Option B. This book will help us all make the most of it.
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“Narrator Elisa Donovan’s palpable empathy adds to her authentic delivery of this profound and personal audio. With relaxed pacing and conversational phrasing, she makes the pathos and advice unfold with unfailing grace…The heartfelt wisdom in this audio, along with Donovan’s sensitive performance, make it a high-impact listen for people suffering from all manner of loss and trauma. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
Sheryl Sandberg is chief operating officer at Facebook. Prior to working at Facebook, she was vice president of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google and chief of staff at the United States Treasury Department. She lives in Northern California with her husband and children.
Adam Grant is a New York Times bestselling author and an organizational psychologist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he has been the top-rated professor for seven straight years. His books have sold more than two million copies and been translated into thirty-five languages. He has been recognized as one of the world’s ten most influential management thinkers and Fortune’s 40 under 40, and has been honored with distinguished scientific achievement awards from the American Psychological Association and the National Science Foundation. He received his BA degree from Harvard and his PhD from the University of Michigan.
Elisa Donovan is an American actress, writer, and producer. She has appeared in numerous television and feature films, including A Night at the Roxbury. She has also starred in several web series for TheWB.com and NBC.