Books By The Founder
Fail Smart – A bold manifesto on the power of failure as a catalyst for growth. This book challenges conventional thinking, showing how setbacks can be leveraged for learning, resilience, and ultimate success. https://amzn.eu/d/2kxiJKj
Grumpy, And Proud – A candid, humorous, and unapologetic reflection on embracing one's inner curmudgeon. This book celebrates the wisdom of experience, the freedom of speaking one's mind, and the value of standing firm in a world obsessed with people-pleasing. https://amzn.eu/d/2BrgZJM
Dumb by Design – A cutting critique of the modern education system, exposing how it suppresses ambition, critical thinking, and real-world preparedness. This book calls for a radical transformation in teaching, learning, and leadership. https://amzn.eu/d/d2xPTMK
Schools Aren’t Startups – A reality check for education reformers who attempt to run schools like tech startups. This book explores why quick-fix, business-driven models fail in education and what truly works in building sustainable, effective learning environments. https://amzn.eu/d/iF4Ofl2
Oliver’s Story – A compelling historical romance that takes readers on a journey of love, growth, and self-discovery. Through Oliver’s struggles and triumphs, this novel explores resilience, destiny, and the pursuit of meaning. https://amzn.eu/d/iLasIO4
Fake It, Take It, and Make It - A darkly motivational blueprint for outsmarting limits, owning your ambition, and turning audacity into advantage. This book is your unapologetic guide to playing bold, rising fast, and making it count. https://a.co/d/1RtSHxv
While You Slept, They Took Over - a brutal wake-up call for teachers and school leaders trapped in performative busyness and professional autopilot. With wit, wisdom, and a 0430 battle plan, this book arms you to reclaim 546 hours a year and lead with unapologetic clarity, edge, and purpose. https://a.co/d/58OZF0a
Youth Is Wasted On The Youth - a no-holds-barred manifesto that drags the truth into the light, slaps the delusion out of your screen-soaked mind, and rebuilds your worldview brick by brutal brick. It’s the unapologetic blueprint for young people, parents, teachers, and coaches who are done playing nice and ready to raise lions, not lambs. https://amzn.eu/d/5B5Odxk
Grit to Glory - it’s a mirror, a weapon, and a wake-up call. With 61 punch-packed chapters, it arms you with brutal truths, unshakable principles, and blueprint-style strategies to master your mindset, discipline your habits, and lead the life you were born for — no fluff, no apologies, just forward. https://a.co/d/1QShkOO
Outstanding by Design - the ultimate reboot for Cambridge teachers—equipping educators with mindset, mastery, and mission to transform lessons, inspire learners, and lead with legacy. This is your full-throttle upgrade to Cambridge excellence, classroom impact, and unapologetic educational leadership. https://amzn.eu/d/buhHIob
First Words, First Care (CEFR A1–A2) – Level 1: A complete beginner-level Medical English book designed for frontline staff, interns, and support workers in hospitals and clinics. Covers greetings, forms, basic questions, and polite workplace communication—perfect for first steps into healthcare English. https://amzn.eu/d/0cvXwf9
Comfort Through Conversation (CEFR B1) – Level 2: This intermediate-level book helps medical staff build confidence in handling patient interactions, complaints, and instructions. Ideal for nurses, carers, and reception staff who need to speak clearly, calmly, and competently in daily situations. https://amzn.eu/d/gd7HcQF
Explain to Empower (CEFR B2) – Level 3: A professional-level resource for teaching medical explanations, procedures, and patient education with clarity and accuracy. Perfect for clinicians and trainers preparing learners for real-world conversations and confident communication. https://amzn.eu/d/8hNEkRg
The Language of Leadership in Medicine (CEFR C1) – Level 4: An advanced-level book for senior nurses, trainers, and healthcare professionals navigating high-stakes clinical communication. Covers leadership, ethics, intercultural dialogue, and crisis language for those ready to lead with words that matter. https://amzn.eu/d/2j61vx7
Character Over Curriculum: the bold, brutally honest PSHE blueprint for schools and youth leaders who dare to teach identity, ambition, and integrity louder than grades or filters. With 36 catalytic chapters, it's a full curriculum reboot that rebuilds character from the inside out — for the ones who refuse to shrink to fit. https://amzn.eu/d/iod1nU8
1SiB: One School in a Book is the definitive step-by-step manual for founding a purpose-driven, Cambridge-aligned school from the ground up. From land selection to inspection readiness, it equips educational entrepreneurs with every tool, policy, and framework needed to build a school that lasts. https://amzn.eu/d/1xOGUb0
Speak to Move is a powerful 4-level English series designed for global logistics professionals. From beginner to leader, it equips learners with the language to operate, instruct, and lead with confidence across borders. https://a.co/d/7Ap1X8O
Detention Level Jokes: A darkly hilarious survival guide for educators — loaded with skits, fake CPD, and jokes they’ll never put in the staff bulletin. Read it when the Wi-Fi goes down and your soul gives up. https://a.co/d/dgWQUjo
Love, Lust, Lies: A soul-stripping, raw manifesto for those done performing for love, acceptance, or peace. Love. Lust. Lies. dismantles the masks we wear and helps readers reclaim the truth they were never allowed to speak. https://a.co/d/3xrLFOD
Eye on the Patient: A Veterinary Introduction to Ophthalmology (Book One): A practical, motivational introduction to veterinary ophthalmology for students, new vets, and general practitioners. Eye on the Patient is Book One of the Veterinary Ophthalmology Trilogy—designed to inspire clinical confidence and elevate everyday eye care. https://a.co/d/9fzdQb9
The Veterinary Ophthalmology Blueprint: A Clinical and Surgical Handbook for Practitioners (Book Two): A definitive guide for veterinary clinicians navigating the complexity of eye care in practice. From diagnostics to surgery, this book delivers structure, clarity, and confidence at every clinical turn. https://a.co/d/8dCTxRr
The Surgical Eye is your clinical and procedural blueprint for mastering ophthalmic surgery. From mindset to mastery, it equips vets, trainers, and teams with the skills, SOPs, and theatre tools that matter most. https://a.co/d/3IEPOx6
Echoes From The Edge: A funeral for mediocrity. Echoes from the Edge is your final warning shot from the future—you either rise now or rot forever. https://a.co/d/5eBagPZ
The Silence Between the Sentences is not a book of poems—it’s a resurrection disguised as a collection. Where ambition burns out, grief carves deep, and grace fights back, this book cuts, confronts, and rebuilds. https://a.co/d/dJkzzXh
Born to Command: A brutally honest teen leadership playbook that combines street-sharp psychology with school-aligned principles. Born to Command helps teens turn silence into strength and uncertainty into unshakable influence. https://a.co/d/ay92yuM
Teacher Fuel – CPD 101 Blueprint: The ready-to-use CPD blueprint for schools that want to build powerful teachers and powerful culture. 56 career and CPD conversations to transform the staffroom — and the learning. https://amzn.eu/d/1P2U5JB
Blue Diamond Empire Thinking: A global blueprint for building leadership-first schools, networks, and education movements that outlast trends and shape markets. Blue Diamond Empire Thinking is the definitive model for leaders ready to build and scale what comes next. https://a.co/d/0ORso9m
Energy English – Oil, Gas & Energy – (L1-4 CEFR A1-C1): Complete Edition (Levels 1-4) is the all-in-one training system for English across the global energy industry. With just under 1600 pages and full model answers, it transforms English from classroom theory into jobsite reality. https://amzn.eu/d/fG3dPpZ
Energy English – First Words, First Care: Level One (A1–A2) is the foundation course (Book 1) for safety-focused, real-world English in the energy sector. With 24 CEFR-aligned lessons and full model answers, it builds immediate confidence for new learners in high-risk workplaces. https://amzn.eu/d/9CZThhU
Energy English – Comfort Through Conversation (B1) is Book 2 in the Energy English series — designed to help intermediate learners lead toolbox talks, follow safety checklists, and speak clearly in daily site situations. Includes 24 CEFR B1 lessons with full model answers and industry-ready communication tools. https://amzn.eu/d/fyvz2MD
Energy English – Explain to Empower (B2) is Book 3 in the Energy English series, designed for professionals who need to explain faults, lead handovers, and deliver updates with confidence. Featuring 24 CEFR B2 lessons and full model answers, it trains the language of control, trust, and technical fluency. https://amzn.eu/d/g04h9yi
Energy English – The Language of Leadership in Energy (C1) is Book 4 of the Energy English series — built for supervisors, auditors, and site leaders managing teams, meetings, and crises in English. With 24 CEFR C1 lessons and full model answers, this is English for command, clarity, and control. https://amzn.eu/d/b2qpQ8h
Storm Season: A brutally honest, life-saving survival manual for teens. Storm Season helps young people navigate mental storms, emotional traps, family tension, and social chaos with the tools no one else gave them. https://amzn.eu/d/d05v78m
The Deal Changed. I Didn’t: This is the book for anyone who stayed loyal to an agreement that someone else silently rewrote. Whether you were ghosted, gaslit, discarded, or demoted in someone’s priorities, this book is not about moving on — it’s about seeing clearly.
Care to Talk – OET Test Prep: Care to Talk is a no-fluff, strategic guide to Band A performance on the OET — across all four sub-tests and all 12 professions. It trains clarity under pressure, fluency with purpose, and the kind of test-clinic crossover that earns real respect. https://amzn.eu/d/4uuJW5p
Between Rice & Rules: is your unfiltered survival guide to Vietnam—where culture, chaos, and contradiction collide. Whether you’re staying thirty days or three years, this book gives you the truth most people won’t, and the tools you desperately need. https://amzn.eu/d/0Qj33Vd
Cuss Class: From the author of “Fail Smart” and “Youth Is Wasted on the Youth,” comes a no-fluff, high-voltage guide to real-world English. Cuss Class is your verbal survival manual — decoding swears, slang, sarcasm and self-defence with style. https://amzn.eu/d/90lt8S0
The Wolves We Follow: A forensic dissection of the rogue archetypes we admire and the cultural seduction of power. The Wolves We Follow is a dark, strategic, and psychologically disturbing blueprint for anyone who wants to lead without losing their soul. https://amzn.eu/d/1BhJebc
From Sofa to CEO: “From Sofa to CEO” is your no-BS blueprint for building income, impact, and independence — without followers, funding, or fluff. This isn’t a dream journal. It’s a weaponised system for escaping wage slavery from your Wi-Fi connection. https://amzn.eu/d/dmh08G6
ChatGPT in Education: delivers a plug-and-play AI leadership blueprint for schools, universities, and MATs, designed for immediate execution and cultural transformation. This is your inspection-proof, policy-aligned Operating Manual to lead AI integration with authority, confidence, and zero excuses. https://amzn.eu/d/8m3Kt0H
Congratulations, You’re Now the Enemy: The Principal’s Survival Playbook: Carl Halford writes leadership and education playbooks that strip away the fluff and arm readers with practical, battle-tested strategies. His works blend Ofsted/DfE alignment with global leadership realities, giving leaders the clarity, confidence, and tactical edge to thrive under pressure. https://amzn.eu/d/aiofOJ6
Reference Rebellion: Exposes the silent career-killer hiding in plain sight — outdated references. Carl Halford tears down the broken hiring system and replaces it with a future-proof model that values who you are becoming, not who you once were. https://amzn.eu/d/hORPgM0
The Full Published Kindle List: Explore my full Kindle collection of transformational titles — written to provoke thought, sharpen leadership, and empower action across education, life, and legacy.
Carl Halford
CHKZ
