Management: leadership and motivation Books

Book SynopsisSteve Arneson, one of America’s top leadership coaches, offers a complete blueprint for designing your own personal leadership development program—an approach proven successful in Steve’s work with executives at Fortune 500 companies like AOL, PepsiCo, and Capital One. Most of these ideas cost nothing to implement, nor do they require elaborate processes or infrastructure—they’re open to anyone with the desire to become a better leader. The fifty concise, to-the-point chapters are entirely self-contained and can be read in any order and at any pace—you can choose a chapter that speaks to a particular challenge or one that just seems intriguing. If you manage people, you owe it to yourself and your team to keep growing and developing as a leader. Bootstrap Leadership shows you how.

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Book SynopsisThe story of how and why womenâs full participation in leadership matters is still seemingly a well-kept secret. To have the future we all want, women must play a more robust role in setting priorities and allocating resources.Evidence from around the world validates the findings of the United Nations General Assembly in 1995, which set a baseline of at least 30% women at the table as a prerequisite for genuine partnership and lasting, positive change in the international arena. We see the same phenomena in the business world. More women as corporate officers and members of boards of directors results in stronger financial performance. At 30% representation, we see concrete, positive outcomes for everyone not just women including increased shareholder value, more flexible management approaches, a broader definition of success, and better bottom lines. More women at the table means more progress for all of us. Get started on a win-win women-led strategy to bring about the leadership balance we all need. You will gain a clear understanding of how and why Women Lead the Way, and receive practical, road-tested tactics to help you and other women step up and into leadership.

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Book SynopsisThe 8 Dimensions of Leadership is the first book to explore leadership through the lens of Inscapeâs third generation DiSC model of human behavior. This title is designed to paint an inclusive picture of the varied approaches that make for strong leadership. It primarily focuses on the interpersonal realm of leadership and helps readers identify which of the eight approaches comes most naturally to them.Sugerman, Scullard and Wilhelm show readers how to determine which of the eight DiSC dimensions aligns best with their leadership approach: Pioneering, Energizing, Affirming, Inclusive, Humble, Deliberative, Resolute or Commanding. The authors explore the strengths and weaknesses of each style in depth. But they also emphasize that any single-dimensional approach to leadership is incomplete. Itâs not enough to just build on your strengths. To be truly effective you need to incorporate all eight dimensions into your leadership approach. This book will give readers new, scientifically-based insights into what makes them tick as leaders and show them how they can continue to hone their skills.

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Book SynopsisFor any CEO who wants to achieve and sustain superior shareholder value growth. All chief executives want to deliver superior returns for their shareholders, however only a few have been able to do so on a sustainable basis. Beliefs, Behaviors, and Results profiles how the best Fortune 200 CEOs have been able to outperform their peers and sustain superior shareholder returns by institutionalizing a set of beliefs and behaviors in their organizations. Through the words and case examples of these leading chief executives, the authors capture the five core principles that have transformed the performance of some of the world's best corporations. Readers will learn how the CEOs of these companies united their organizations around a common definition of winning, how they helped their managers capture a greater share of market profits, and how they established a culture where all managers think and act like entrepreneurial owners. Readers will learn how the best executives: ; Look at markets differently to identify new profitable growth opportunities; Develop strategic innovations that are at least as valuable as new product innovations in driving shareholder value growth; Establish a reinvestment advantage that is difficult for competitors to match; Sustain superior performance over time In addition, the reader will learn the:; Common mistakes that prevent most management teams from maximizing profitable growth and shareholder value; Specific actions that all senior managers can take to materially change sustainable performance of their corporationTrade Review"If you want to improve your business, this is the book to read. The ideas developed by the authors have worked everywhere I've seen them applied." James M. Kilts, prior Chairman and CEO of Gilliette, CEO and President of Nabisco, and President of Kraft USA -- -James M. Kilts, prior Chairman and CEO of Gilliette, CEO and President of Nabisco, and President of Kraft USA -- 20130326"In Beliefs, Behaviors, and Results, the authors show how they have helped my organization and many others establish the strategies and capabilities that are critical to driving and sustaining superior performance." Don Knauss, Chairman and CEO, The Clorox Company -- -Don Knauss, Chairman and CEO, The Clorox Company -- 20130326"Many organizations operate with inconsistent and confused beliefs which produce ineffective behaviors and suboptimal outcomes. This book helps define the process for significantly improving results by strategically focusing on productive beliefs and behavior. These concepts contributed to our success at BB&T." John Allison, prior Chairman and CEO, BB&T; Chairman of the CATO Institute -- -John Allison, prior Chairman and CEO, BB&T; Chairman of the CATO Institute -- 20130326"Gillis, Mergy, and Shalleck have a very clear vision of what's most important in leading and managing a business, and how that's achieved. Their analysis is insightful and their conclusions instructive and practically useful. This is a high-value read for any current or future business leader who wants to do it rightto take good care of all the enterprise's constituencies and achieve the ultimate goal: delivering sustainable economic profit growth." Miles D. White, Chairman and CEO, Abbott Laboratories -- -Miles D. White, Chairman and CEO, Abbott Laboratories -- 20130326"A terrific blueprint for setting the tone at the top in pursuit of superior performance in both the customer markets and the capital markets in a synergistic and enduring fashion." Douglas R. Conant, former President, CEO and Director, Campbell Soup Company; New York Times bestselling author of TouchPoints -- -Douglas R. Conant, former President, CEO and Director, Campbell Soup Company; New York Times bestselling author of TouchPoints -- 20130326"Real progress is made though tackling the important issues successfully. Leaders who have embraced the concepts and principles in Beliefs, Behaviors, and Results have repeatedly shown how lasting this transformation can be." Travis Engen, former CEO, Alcan and ITT Industries -- -Travis Engen, former CEO, Alcan and ITT Industries -- 20130326

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Book SynopsisNavigating lifeâs challenges on your own isnât just lonely, it is also counterproductive to personal growth and development. Whether you are looking to develop your leadership skills or to grow as a person, you need long-term feedback, support, and encouragement. For the past thirty-five years Bill George and Doug Baker have found this in what they call a True North Group, a small, diverse collection of individuals who meet on a regular basis to explore their lives and develop their self-awareness, self-compassion, authenticity, and EQ. Unlike a typical affinity group such as a book club or prayer group, the purpose of True North groups is to help its members succeed in their work and in their lives by providing a consistent environment in which personal development is not just possible, but the aim. In this desperately needed new book George and Baker have uncovered a new secret to success in work and life. They demonstrate why these small groups are the vital link to both leadership and personal development, and adapting an established five-stage team-building format, show exactly how to form a new group or transform an existing group into a True North Group. They provide a wealth of practical resources, including advice on selecting members, suggested topics for the first twelve meetings, techniques to evaluate group satisfaction, and much more. For the millions of people who are searching for greater meaning and intimacy in their lives, this book will help them to grow as leaders and as human beings and to stay on course to their True North.

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Book SynopsisâœPersonal presenceâ is hard to define, but we know it when we see it. Someone walks into a room and people step aside. Heads turn. Conversation opens up to include them. Theyâre in charge of themselves and any situation. Itâs not a question of status symbols or position. Personal presence involves genuine character and relationship issues. Itâs not who you are itâs how you are, how you present yourself, how you act. Dianna Booher, an award-winning consultant to Fortune 500 companies, shows how anyone can master the skills and attitudes that will enable them to become compelling leaders and communicate with credibility and power.

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Book SynopsisWeâve all had those perfect moments when events that could never be predicted, let alone controlled, remarkably seem to guide us along our path. Carl Jung called this phenomena âœsynchronicityâ â âœa collaboration between persons and events that seems to enlist the cooperation of fate.â In this book, Joseph Jaworski argues that the right state of mind will make you the kind of person who can enlist the cooperation of fate and take advantage of synchronicity, creating the conditions for âœpredictable miracles.â If you are tired of being the victim of circumstances, this book will teach you to be the kind of person who creates your own circumstances. Jaworski shares the story of his own escape from an inauthentic life and his journey into a world filled with possibility. He maps out the inner path of leadership for those who feel the call to achieve their full potential, using his own life story to teach readers a greater truth. He examines the fundamental shifts of mind that free us to seek out the power of synchronicity. After reading this book, you will discover your own power to help those realities unfold. You will learn to âœlistenâ to realities that want to emerge in this world and acquire the courage to help them be born.

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Book SynopsisThe Secret introduced people around the world to a profound yet seemingly contradictory concept: to lead is to serve. With that as the foundation Great Leaders Grow takes the next step, showing leaders how to ensure that theyâll be able to effectively serve throughout their careers. The Secretâs protagonist, Debbie Brewster, now an accomplished leader herself, becomes a mentor to Blake, her former mentorâs son. She teaches him not just how to lead, but emphasizes the critical importance of continually learning and developing his leadership abilities throughout his career. She identifies four areas in which every leader must continue to GROW - Gain Knowledge (of themselves, others, their industry and the field of leadership); Reach Out to Others, both formally and informally; Open their World, at work and outside of work; and Walk toward Wisdom (through self-evaluation, feedback, counsel and over time). This book is for any leader in any organization that needs more and better leaders faster. Its blueprint for culture transformation is a simple yet revolutionary path to sustainable achievement.

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Book SynopsisThe first edition introduced the newly emerging field called Positive Organizational Scholarship. Rather than focusing on organizational dysfunction, Positive Organizational Scholarship looks at organizations that are functioning at an unusually high level. Learning from such successful groups about what they did right forms the backbone of the strategy, because strategies that capitalize on the positive tend to produce life-giving, flourishing outcomes in organizations.The four strategies discussed in the first edition included the cultivation of positive climate, positive relationships, positive communication, and positive meaning. Each strategy is explained and illustrated. In this revised edition, the author will add the following materials: Chapter 1: Outlining three outcomes associated with positive leadership and one more example.Chapter 2: Adding some empirical findings linking attributes of climate with physiological benefits.Chapter 3: A brief discussion of temporary encounters with positive or negative outcomes.Chapter 4: Additional research on the results of the positive-to-negative-communication-ratio.Chapter 5: Elaboration on the issue of meaningfulness in work.Chapter 6: More ideas for implementation

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Book SynopsisâœThere are two birds, two sweet friends, who dwell in the self-same tree,â says the ancient Indian scripture the Upanishads. The first bird, dwelling on the lower part of the tree, lives âœin sorrow and anxiety.â Unable to see beyond the branches it hops around compulsively indulging its appetites, eating every fruit, sweet and sour. The other bird, higher up, can see the whole tree and the wider worldâthis perspective puts it in touch with its innate sense of being, the quality of existence that it shares in common with all other living beings and the natural world. Content, it âœlooks on in compassionate silenceâ at the other bird. Ram Nidumolu's provocative book on business leadership uses this allegory from Indian scripture to highlight why many businesses are distrusted by the public and contribute to social ills like environmental destruction, wealth inequality and climate change: they mimic the bird on the lower branch. But can business, compassion, and stewardship really coexist? Ram's surprising insight is to hearken back to the earliest Indian philosophical texts to reclaim their lessons for acting in accordance with our connection to Being. He outlines a four-part framework for what he calls being-centered leadership and offers examples of this kind of leadership in action, from companies such as Harley Davidson, Timberland, Puma, Pepsi and many others. It is time, he writes, to âœlook up from our rickety perch on the lower branch of a storm-tossed tree and begin the journey to the higher branch.â

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Book SynopsisLeaders struggle every day to have influence, battle stress, and create the future. Each day seems to spawn three problems for every one that gets solved. New initiatives fail, senior managers and investors grow impatient, and direct reports can chafe at feedback. Steven Snyder has a message for junior leaders and CEO's alike - this is all perfectly normal and part of the job. The myth of the perfectly confident, unflappable, and poised leader is just that - a myth. Snyder builds on more than 30 years as an executive, CEO, and academic to provide a blueprint for growing through adversity. He has studied nearly 100 senior executives to distill what really matters most in becoming a great leader. His main takeaway is that the struggle never goes away, and real growth only becomes possible when leaders become willing to learn. Snyder then digs into fifteen key strategies for mastering the art of struggle, from understanding the inevitable tensions, to practicing accountability and emotional centering.To be sure, Snyder does not promise any magic pill or quick fixes - the process of becoming a great leader is a lifetime journey. There may be no perfect leaders - but readers of this book will learn how to achieve greatness in the struggle.

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Book SynopsisOur leadership models are stuck in an Industrial Age, top-down mentality. But in our complex, data-drenched, 24/7 world, there is simply too much information coming from too many different directions too quickly for any one leader or group to stay on top of it. Hierarchy is breaking down everywhere - why should leadership be any different?Inspired by the peer-to-peer model of computing used in social networking and crowdsource technologies, Mila Baker shows a new way to lead. Organizations, she says, must become networks of "equipotent" nodes of power-peer leaders. The job of the leader is now to set the overall goals and direction and optimize the health of that network, not tell it what to do. In these organizations, leadership roles shift rapidly to fit the needs of any given situation. Information flows freely so those who need it can find it easily and act on it immediately. Feedback becomes an organic part of the workflow, enabling rapid course corrections. Baker shows how companies like Gore and Herman Miller have achieved long-term success practicing these principles and provides a structure that any organization can adapt to build flexibility, resiliency, and accountability.

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Book SynopsisAs a leader, your strengths can work against you. Many leaders know this on some intuitive level, but they tend not to accept it in practice. And the tools used to assess managers are not equipped to pick up on overplayed strengths. Nowhere in most assessments is there language or diagnostics that can reveal when someone is overdoing itâwhen more is not better.The authors help trace individuals' leadership behavior back to the "crooked thinking" and "trigger points" that can throw it off kilter. They identify four different overarching qualities of leadership and describe the damage that results when each is taken to an extreme, and how to get them back in balance. This work offers a practical psychology of leadershipâa better way for leaders to get a reading on their performance, one that is truer to the realities of managerial work.

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Book SynopsisThis short, easy-to-read fable reveals the five habits that underlie leadership character and that determine leadersâ success â and teaches leaders how to develop these habits.Like Mark Millerâs previous books, this one follows the life, learning, and influence of Debbie Bruster. Here she finds herself mentoring Blake Brown, the son of her former mentor. Rather than answer Blakeâs questions about leadership directly, Debbie introduces him to other leaders, each of whom shares a unique perspective on what really makes a leader successful. As Blake puts the pieces together, he discovers his problem is not one of skills but of character, that leadership is more about the heart of the leader than the head or hands. In fact, Miller summarized these traits with the acronym HEART: Hunger for Wisdom, Expect the Best, Accept Responsibility, Respond with Courage, and Think Others First. With the help of his new friends and mentors, Blake is able to build a plan to transform his heart. The good news for all of us: leadership is not just the purview of the few â it is within reach for millions of aspiring leaders around the world. This book is the road map they need to get their lives and careers on track.

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Book SynopsisTurn Strategy into Performance!In todayâs world of rapid, disruptive change, strategy canât be separate from execution - it has to emerge from execution. You have to continually adjust your strategy to fit new realities. But if your organization isnât set up to be fast on its feet, you could easily go the way of Blockbuster or Borders.Laura Stack shows you how to quickly drive strategic initiatives and get great results from your team. Her LEAD Formula outlines the Four Keys to Successful Execution: the ability to Leverage your talent and resources, design an Environment to support an agile culture, create Alignment between strategic priorities and operational activities, and Drive the organization forward quickly. She includes a leadership team assessment, group reading guides, and bonus self-development resources. Stack will equip you with the knowledge, skills, and inspiration to help you hit the ground running!

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Book SynopsisThe recent emphasis on positive leadership has revolutionized traditional approaches to leading and managing. Producing extraordinarily high performance, generating positively deviant resultsâresults that are dramatically better than normalâand creating remarkable vitality in the workplace are the most frequent consequences of positive leadership. Empirical research by Kim Cameron has confirmed these outcomes, but the lingering question is âœhow?â What specifically can leaders do to practice positive leadership? This book provides five proven practicesâtools and techniquesâfor practicing positive leadership. These tools and techniques have been confirmed as highly successful in leading individual employees and organizations to attain extraordinarily high levels of flourishing and effectiveness. They build on and supplement Kim Cameronâs previous book, Positive Leadership, which outlined the theory but, in the interest of brevity, omitted details about implementation. Developmental exercises and action activities associated with each positive practice are provided in the book to help the practices become instantly implementable.

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Book SynopsisWhy being radically connected with society is not just the right thing to do, it is an imperative for a company's bottom line Based on John Browne's decades of experience as one of the world's most successful and innovative CEOs, with research by McKinsey & Company, Connect is a practical manifesto that redefines the role of business in society. Through insightful analysis and vivid storytelling--ranging from ancient China, Andrew Carnegie and the Homestead Strike of the late nineteenth century, to oil spills and privacy issues emanating from the technology of the twenty--first--Connect explores the recurring rift between business and society and proposes a way in which companies can prosper by connecting with the world around them. There is an enormous prize for leaders who engage creatively and constructively with society, and who make its needs part of their company's business model. The evidence presented in Connect shows that the value of radical connection amounts to 30 percent of corporate earnings. The shares of companies that connect outperform those of competitors by 2 percent every year, amounting to a performance boost of 20 percent over a decade. Connect rejects stale ideas about corporate social responsibility disconnected from commercial activity and from the needs of real people. It identifies four tenets of "connected leadership," a radical new paradigm that shows how companies and executives can thrive by close engagement with society.Trade Review"A timely and provocative discussion of big business and its uncertain future." --Kirkus Reviews

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Book SynopsisGold Nautilus Book Award WinnerRealize your fullest leadership potential, claim your boldest vision, and prioritize the well-being of your team and world with this new science-based approach to leadership.   Boundless Leadership provides a complete and systematic roadmap to finding meaning in your work, realizing your full leadership potential, and inspiring your team with resilience, innovation, compassion and confidence. Contemplative psychotherapist Joe Loizzo, MD, PhD, and executive advisor Elazar Aslan, MBA, PCC, offer a new science-based vision of leadership that prescribes disciplines of mind, heart, and body to help leaders cultivate clarity, compassion and fearlessness for themselves and throughout their organization.   Boundless Leadership offers accessible, real world applications to bring ease to leading oneself and others, and provides examples from the authors'' experience with clients, including CEOs of multi-billion-dollar businesses, entrepreneurs and managers trying to balance the complex challenges of work and life in our interdependent age. Each section includes a range of practices based on neuropsychology and contemplative science, including guided meditations to improve focus and awareness, cultivate empathy and compassion, and build fearlessness and flow. Each section also offers a practical application to ease daily challenges, including clarifying intentions for better decision-making, improving accountability and responsibility for better team collaboration, and embodying purpose to optimize impact on one’s organization and society at large. Boundless Leadership is especially needed during this explosion of remote working and provides advice and guidance to remain productive and joyful when your work environment is in flux. Whether you''re a CEO, manager, team leader, consultant, coach, social entrepreneur or community activist, this book offers the tools you need to clarify your vision, lead others, and ignite positive change in the world--giving you a much needed advantage in today’s fast-paced digital age.

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Book SynopsisAwaken the Courageous Leader Inside You True leaders inspire us with their confidence, dedication, and track record of achievement—but does their success arise from innate gifts, or qualities that we all can develop? "Each of us, no matter what our title or job, can become an effective leader by cultivating the same essential attributes found in the classic hero’s journey," says Eric Kaufmann. With The Four Virtues of a Leader, this top executive coach presents a must-read guide to help you awaken and amplify the fundamental competencies that every successful leader embodies. Through his interaction and study of some of today’s top executives and innovators, Kaufmann has identified the four cornerstones of good leadership: Focus that combines self-awareness with vision; Courage to move toward what you’d rather avoid; Grit for persevering through fatigue and discouragement toward your long-term goals; and the Faith to overcome doubt and stay fully committed to your work. Here he shares powerful insights and field-tested guidance to help you develop these qualities, including: • Four key questions to keep you on track: What am I creating? What am I avoiding? What am I sustaining? What am I yielding? • How to recognize fear as the gatekeeper to your true power • Employing effective communication and genuine empathy to improve your relationship with your team • Using mindfulness and meditation to instill leadership qualities at the neurological level • Training yourself to consistently make better decisions that always serve your ultimate goals "The hero’s journey challenges you to leave your comfort zone and become a different person—and a better leader," writes Eric Kaufmann. With The Four Virtues of a Leader, he invites you to embark upon a time-honored path of personal evolution to become the inspirational leader you were meant to be.

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Book SynopsisAs featured in the hit HBR Article "A 10 Year Study Reveals What Great Executives Know and Do" Rising to Power is a time tested, wisdom-packed guide for executives desiring to be exceptional leaders as they navigate their ascent to the highest levels of their organization. Nearly two-thirds of all leaders entering executive roles lack sufficient understanding of what is required and are unprepared for what they will face, which explains why 50 percent of them fail within the first eighteen months. For decades we have known that failure rates among transitioning executives are too high, causing exorbitant costs, damaged organizations, and stalled careers. Still, little has changed in the way organizations prepare leaders to assume executive positions. Three-fourths of new executives say their organization did not adequately prepare them for the executive office. It doesn't have to be this way. If you are an executiveor you're aspiring to be oneand considering how you will navigate the ascent in your organization, Rising to Power will serve you like no other resource can. Odds are high you have watched a promising executive fail on their way up. Like many, you scratched your head, wondering, "Why didn't they see that coming?" Now you're hoping not to be the next one that falls. Rising to Power will guide you on a predictable journey of ascent, through the transitional moments and issues most common in executive failure. It will bolster your confidence, open your eyes, deepen your insight, and if you let it, reveal your own proclivities for failure that you may not even recognize. Based on a ten-year longitudinal study, Rising to Power offers a profoundly new way of looking at an executive's rise in an organization, and offers an approach to significantly increase your odds of success.

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Book SynopsisThis master class on leadership, written by one of America's most prominent and successful health-care executives, enables readers at any career stage to learn the leadership strategies that deliver personal, interpersonal, and organizational success. In Learning to Lead, Ron Williams provides practical, tested leadership advice for readers searching for a new career, professionals looking for proven management solutions, and executives seeking to transform their organizations. Developed from Williams's own personal and professional journey, these strategies emerge boldly from his engaging stories, outlined with practical steps for readers to accomplish goals such as- * Improving career focus * Avoiding professional pitfalls, wrong turns, and wasted effort * Overcoming interpersonal challenges and conflicts * Building and leading an effective team * Prioritizing and solving problems from multiple perspectives * Developing a leadership voice and mastering communication * Casting a vision and changing the culture of an organization After finishing Learning to Lead, readers will be well equipped to take the next step to success in their personal and professional leadership journeys.

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Book SynopsisBooks like StrengthsFinder 2.0 have helped leaders discover their strengths - but they stop there. The Sindells argue that focusing only on your best abilities neglects a vital development opportunity. They show how to identify hidden strengths that can be quickly elevated into full strengths with attention and focus. Working mainly on your strengths can ultimately make you weaker, they argue - you need to continually add new skills, not rely on what youâre already good at. And while most people assume that means they should try to turn their weaknesses into usable skills, the Sindells say that it takes too much time and effort - the ROI just isnât there. Itâs in the neglected middle skills, neither strengths nor weaknesses, that the most potent development opportunities lie. Theyâre close enough to being strengths that putting your energy there can offer a powerful payoff. Using assessments, exercises, and case studies, the Sindells help you identify your most promising middle skills and create a plan to turn them into strengths. In todayâs work environment, not growing and stretching yourself translates into lack of innovation, stagnation, and obsolescence. Relying upon strengths is like relying upon training wheels - at a certain point you need to take them off in order to improve and grow.

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Book SynopsisStories have power. They move people in a way that facts and figures canât. Many leaders use stories as a tool, but leadership development expert Tim Tobin says most have no idea what tale their own leadership is telling. He shows how, by thinking of your career as a narrative - with a plot, characters, and an arc - you can increase your awareness of yourself as a leader and become more effective, insightful, and inspiring. Using story as both a metaphor and a process for self-development, Tobin offers activities and questions that help you better understand your own leadership and how others perceive it. What is the plot of your leadership story - your overall goals and purpose? Who are the main characters and what roles do they play? How have the settings of your story influenced it? What are the conflicts that you need to resolve to move towards the ending you intend? Once you have a thorough grasp of your leadership story, Tobin gives detailed advice on communicating it - when, where, and how. Taking control of your leadership story enables you to more consciously shape the impact you have in the world. Youâll be better equipped to make decisions, choose actions that tell the story you want to tell, and ensure that you become the kind of leader you want to be.

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Book SynopsisWhat do the best leaders have in common? As president of MAP, John Manning should know. MAP has helped tens of thousands of top executives accelerate their leadership and management performance. Manning says the answer is one word: discipline. But for Manning, discipline has a very specific meaning. All leaders have scores of things they could do. But a disciplined leader is one who identifies and focuses on the Vital Few: the 20 percent of activities that will drive 80 percent of the results. And the results that are most important are those tied to the organizationâs most precious asset: its people.The Disciplined Leader offers fifty-two succinct lessons to help you home in on your own Vital Few in three critical areas: leading yourself, leading your team, and leading your organization. Each lesson comes with recommended tactics and practical âœTake Action!â tips for implementing it, so there are literally hundreds of pieces of must-know, time-tested advice here. The chapters are self-contained, so you can read them in any order and come back to the ones that resonate with you - your own Vital Few! This is a hands-on, nuts-and-bolts guide to leadership practice thatâs built to inspire action, drive change, and achieve results.

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Book SynopsisAs organizations grow, the demands on leadership change. The same old moves wonât cut it any more. In Chess Not Checkers, Miller tells the story of Blake Brown, newly appointed CEO of a company troubled by poor performance and low morale. Nothing Blake learned from his previous job seems to help him deal with the issues he now faces. The problem, his new mentor points out, is Blake is playing checkers - he needs to play chess or heâs going to lose. The early days of an organization are like checkers: a quick game with mostly interchangeable pieces. Everybody does a little bit of everything, the leader included, and things are so frantic you just have to react as fast as you can. But as the organization expands, you canât just keep jumping from activity to activity. You have to think strategically, look ahead, leverage every employeeâs specific talents. Thatâs chess. And this approach creates unprecedented levels of performance. Adapting four strategies from the game of chess, Miller reveals four moves high-performance organizations make. They bet on leadership, act as one, win the heart, and excel at execution. Chess Not Checkers is an accessible and easily applied guide to help leaders elevate their own leadership and the performance of their entire team.

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Book SynopsisMost change efforts fail because most change methods are built to deal with single challenges in a nice, neat, linear way. But leaders know that today, pressures for change don't come at you one at a time; they come all at once. It's like riding a roller coaster: sudden drops, jarring turns, anxious climbs into the unknown. Drawing on his years of experience at the Center for Creative Leadership and Columbia University, Bill Pasmore offers a four-part model and four mindsets that allow leaders to deal with multiple changes simultaneously without drowning in the churn. The first step, Pasmore says, is to Discover which external pressures for change are the most necessary to address. The key here is to think fewer - step away from the buffet of possibilities and pinpoint the highest-impact options. Then you need to Decide how many change efforts your organization can handle. Here the mindset is to think scarcer - you have only so many people and so many resources, so how do you best use them? Once you've figured that out, it's time to Do - and here you want to think faster. Streamline processes and engage in rapid prototyping so you can learn quickly and cost-effectively. The last step is to Discern what worked and what didn't, so think smarter - develop metrics, identify trends, and make sure learnings are disseminated throughout the organization.For each stage of the process, Pasmore offers detailed advice, practical tools, and real-world examples. This book is a comprehensive guide to navigating change the way it happens now.

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Book SynopsisBeholden to accepted assumptions about people and organizations, too many enterprises waste human potential. Robert Quinn shows how to defy convention and create organizations where people feel fully engaged and continually rewarded, where both individually and collectively they flourish and exceed expectations. The problem is that leaders are following a negative and constraining âœmental mapâ that insists organizations must be rigid, top-down hierarchies and that the people in them are driven mainly by self-interest and fear. But leaders can adopt a different mental map, one where organizations are networks of fluid, evolving relationships and where people are motivated by a desire to grow, learn, and serve a larger goal. Using dozens of memorable stories, Quinn describes specific actions leaders can take to facilitate the emergence of this organizational cultureâhelping people gain a sense of purpose, engage in authentic conversations, see new possibilities, and sacrifice for the common good. The book includes the Positive Organization Generator, a tool that provides 100 real-life practices from positive organizations and helps you reinvent them to fit your specific needs. With the POG you can identify and implement the practices that will have the greatest impact on your organization. At its heart, the book helps leaders to see new possibilities that lie within the acknowledged realities of organizational life. It provides five keys for learning to be "bilingual"--speaking the conventional language of business as well as the language of the positive organization. When leaders can do this, they are able to make real and lasting change.

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Book SynopsisWhen it comes to evaluating a firm, leadership matters. We know that financial outcomes can predict about 50 percent of a firmâs market value. Intangibles like strategy, brand, talent, R&D, innovation, risk, and so on account for the rest. But leadership underlies them all. And despite how important we know it is, weâve been forced to rely on subjective and unreliable ways to measure its impact - until now.In this landmark book, leadership scholar, author, and consultant Dave Ulrich proposes a "leadership capital index" - a Moodyâs or Standard and Poorâs rating for leadership. Drawing on research from investors and business leaders, and synthesizing the work of dozens of consulting firms and leadership experts, Ulrich analyzes two broad domains, each comprising five factors. The individual domain includes personal qualities, strategic prowess, execution proficiency, interpersonal skills, and fit between the leaderâs style and the organizationâs market promises. The organizational domain encompasses a leaderâs ability to create customer-focused cultures, manage talent, demand accountability, use information to gain competitive advantage, and set up work processes to deal with change. Ulrich details rigorous metrics and methods for evaluating leaders on each of these factors. The result is a groundbreaking book that will be of vital interest not only to equity and debt investors but also to boards of directors, executive teams, human resource and leadership development professionals, government and ratings agencies - and of course to leaders themselves.

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Book SynopsisEveryone knows collaboration creates high performing teams and organizations - and with today's diverse, globalized workforce it's absolutely crucial. Yet it often doesn't happen because people and groups typically believe that the problem is always outside: the other team member, the other department, the other company. Bestselling author Ken Blanchard and his coauthors use Blanchard's signature business parable style to show that, in fact, if collaboration is to succeed it must begin with you.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThe Courage WayLeadership demands courage. You have to make good decisions while balancing inevitable tensions and knowing when to take risks. You need to keep your values in sight regardless of the pressures around you. At its core, leadership is a daily, ongoing practice, a journey toward becoming your best self and inviting others to do the same.And that''s where The Courage Way comes in. It''s a guide to leadership that shows how to access and draw upon courage in all that you do. It has its roots in the work of Parker J. Palmer, who in fifty years of teaching, speaking, and writing has explored the human spirit--what he has called "the inner landscape"--and its role in life and leadership.Shelly Francis identifies key ingredients needed to cultivate courage, the most fundamental being trust--in ourselves and in each other. She describes how to build trust through the Center for Courage & Renewal''s Circle of Trust approach, centered around eleven "touchstones," poetic and practical operating guidelines for holding the meaningful conversations vital to trust building. Each chapter features true stories of how leaders have overcome challenges and strengthened their organizations through touchstones such as "Extend invitation, not demand"; "No fixing, saving, advising, or correcting"; and "When the going gets rough, turn to wonder."This graceful and inspiring book is a guide to courageous leadership and a journey of self-discovery. As Francis writes, "Courage is not only in you--it is you. In your moments of courage, that''s when you meet your true self."

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisOver the next decade, today’s connected world will be explosively more connected. Anything that can be distributed will be distributed: workforces, organizations, supply webs, and more. The tired practices of centralized organizations will become brittle in a future where authority is radically decentralized. Rigid hierarchies will give way to liquid structures. Most leaders—and most organizations—aren’t ready for this future. Are you? It’s too late to catch up, but it’s a great time to leapfrog. Noted futurist Bob Johansen goes beyond skills and competencies to propose five new leadership literacies—combinations of disciplines, practices, and worldviews—that will be needed to thrive in a VUCA world of increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. This book shows how to (1) forecast likely futures so you can “look back” and make sure you’re prepared now for the changes to come, (2) use low-risk gaming spaces to work through your concerns about the future and hone your leadership skills, (3) lead shape-shifting organizations where you can’t just tell people what to do, (4) be a dynamic presence even when you’re not there in person, and (5) keep your personal energy high and transmit that energy throughout your organization. This visionary book provides a vivid description of the ideal talent profile for future leaders. It is written for current, rising star, and aspiring leaders; talent scouts searching for leaders; and executive coaches seeking a fresh view of how leaders will need to prepare. To get ready for this future, we will all need new leadership literacies.

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