THE SHORT LIST
AVAILABLE NOW
The Short List Named Gold Winner of the 2025 Nonfiction Book Awards!
We’re thrilled to share that The Short List: How to Drive Business Development by Focusing on the People Who Matter Most has been named the Gold Winner of the 2025 Nonfiction Book Awards! A heartfelt thank-you to the Nonfiction Authors Association for this honor, and to our readers for embracing the book’s message and putting it into action in your own lives and work.
Resources from The Short List
Meet the Author:
David Ackert
David is Co-Founder and CEO of Ackert, Inc. and its subsidiary, PipelinePlus. He is a highly regarded business development thought leader. Over the past two decades, David has pioneered revenue acceleration programs for hundreds of professional services firms around the globe.
He is the founder of several technology platforms including the PipelinePlus software suite. His programs are winners of “Your Honor Awards” in both the U.S. and Canada and have been featured in NLJ’s “Technologies on the Rise.” David regularly keynotes at partner retreats and speaks at industry conferences. He also serves as a guest lecturer at USC’s Marshall School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, and at the UCLA School of Law.
David is the bestselling author of The Short List: How to Drive Business Development by Focusing on the People Who Matter Most, published by Greenleaf. The book is a Gold Winner of the 2025 Nonfiction Book Award. His work has been published and quoted across several business books and media over the years, including the Los Angeles Times, the National Review, the Daily Journal, the Wall Street Journal, Above the Law, Attorney at Work, The Recorder, and the Los Angeles Business Journal. His Market Leaders Podcast has won several JD Supra Reader’s Choice Awards.
David volunteers as a Big Brother with the Big Brothers and Sisters program in Los Angeles. He is also the co-founder of Voices in Harmony, a mentoring organization that has worked with at-risk youth around the globe. He co-produced and appeared in the documentary film, “After Kony: Staging Hope,” chronicling mentoring programs he helped to design and facilitate for former child soldiers in Northern Uganda. The film was used as part of an awareness-raising campaign that raised millions of dollars for health and education in underserved Ugandan communities. David’s charitable work earned the “Difference Maker” award from one of his alma maters, Ithaca College.
David holds a master’s in psychology and is a Fellow at the College of Law Practice Management.
Steven M. Martini
Partner at Withum & President of ProVisors
This book is spot on in showing people to effectively use their time to develop the right relationships to build their businesses. As a Business Development partner at Withum and President of Provisors (a nationwide networking organization) I build relationships for a living, I still gather tips and ideas from David Ackert.
Brian Napack
Executive Chairman
2U
With The Short List, David Ackert has delivered the essential guidebook for business development results. Every rainmaker knows that their success is built on the strategic cultivation of a small network of deep, high-impact relationships. As he has done for decades as a C-suite coach and advisor, David lays out a clear, actionable roadmap for growing and maintaining your own high performing network. The Short List should be on every ambitious business leader’s desk.
Julia Bennett
Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
With so many options and opinions about how to ignite a successful practice, it can be hard to know which tactics to employ. With “The Short List,” David takes the guess work out of where to start. He offers practical guidance about how to anchor your business development efforts in strengthening the relationships that bring both joy and opportunity.
Justin Portaz
Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer
Jenner & Block
A clear, achievable roadmap to focused growth and faster success. The Short List removes complexity from client development, unlocks opportunity, and is, ultimately, a guide to greater personal fulfillment.
Samantha McKenna
CEO
#samsales Consulting
The Short List is perfect for those who value a strategic approach to sales. It transforms the dated high-volume prospecting methods into a refined system focused on high-value opportunities. With David Ackert’s relatable tone, compelling research, and clear step-by-step guidance, this book is a must-have for anyone who resonates with the idea of a high quality, buyer-first approach.
Concepts from The Short List
