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Immediately after graduating from college, Jaime Briganti had her sights set on her career, despite her parents' encouragement to continue her education.

“My mom and dad have always pushed me,” she says. “You need to go get your Master’s, you need to do this, you need to do that. I think everybody hears that.”

Two years ago, Microsoft made a huge investment, giving Barnes and Noble $300 million for a stake in the Nook business. Just last week, Barnes and Noble bought out Microsoft for $125 million, effectively costing Microsoft half their investment in under 24 months.

Both big and small deals get made in business every day. So, how do you effectively influence decision-makers to move your own agenda forward?

Though the title of the book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, may seem quaint, the advice in the book is still relevant today. Originally published in 1936, Dale Carnegie's book has been described as a “working handbook on human relations.” It's not so much about how to “make friends” as it is to understand how people think and change your own actions so that people respond to you favorably.

In his 2008 book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi investigates what makes an experience or task particularly satisfying. He describes the ideal state of work, which he calls “flow.”

His description of flow is very similar to the idea of an athlete being in “the zone.” People in the zone describe it as being fully engaged in an activity to the point of ignoring all distractions because they are so absorbed.