The Performance Pipeline: Getting the Right Performance at Every Level of Leadership


Stephen Drotter - 2011
    It is filled with lessons and examples from the author's 40 years of experience, and shows how to set performance standards, make sure the right work is being done, and remove performance barriers. It also illustrates how leaders can make the transition to the next level and achieve full performance. This audiobook gives leaders in any industry an advantage over the competition.

The Five Temptations of a CEO: A Leadership Fable


Patrick Lencioni - 1998
    Author Patrick Lencioni--noted screenplay writer and sought-after executive coach -- deftly tells the tale of a young CEO who, facing his first annual board review, knows he is failing, but doesn't know why. "This book provides extraordinary insight into the pitfalls that leaders face when they lose sight of the true measure of success: results. This model is required reading for my staff." --Eric Schmidt, chairman of the board and CEO, NovellAny executive can learn how to:recognize the mistakes that leaders can make avoid errors before they occur and much more! Refreshingly original and utterly compelling, the story of this executive (written to be read in one sitting) will be enjoyed, remembered, and reread for years to come. It serves a timeless and potent reminder that success as a leader can come down to practicing a few simple behaviors--behaviors that are painfully difficult for each of us to master."Lencioni delivers a provocative message: CEOs mainly have themselves to blame when things go wrong. If you're a CEO (or any manager for that matter), do you have the courage to face the blame? Doing so could change your future-for the better." --Dr. Jerry Porras, coauthor, Built to Last; professor, Stanford School of BusinessYou won't find any dry management rhetoric in this razor-sharp novelette. Apply these riveting lessons in leadership with the self-assessment at the end of the book. It will change your career!

The Leadership Challenge


James M. Kouzes - 1987
    This new edition includes the latest research and case studies, and offers inspiring new and relevant stories of real people achieving extraordinary results.

Getting to Yes with Yourself: (and Other Worthy Opponents)


William Ury - 2015
    Over the years, Ury has discovered that the greatest obstacle to successful agreements and satisfying relationships is not the other side, as difficult as they can be. The biggest obstacle is actually our own selves—our natural tendency to react in ways that do not serve our true interests.But this obstacle can also become our biggest opportunity, Ury argues. If we learn to understand and influence ourselves first, we lay the groundwork for understanding and influencing others. In this prequel to Getting to Yes, Ury offers a seven-step method to help you reach agreement with yourself first, dramatically improving your ability to negotiate with others.Practical and effective, Getting to Yes with Yourself helps readers reach good agreements with others, develop healthy relationships, make their businesses more productive, and live far more satisfying lives.

Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change


William Bridges - 2003
    When restructures, mergers, bankruptcies, and layoffs hit the workplace, employees and managers naturally find the resulting situational shifts to be challenging. But the psychological transitions that accompany them are even more stressful. Organizational transitions affect people; it is always people, rather than a company, who have to embrace a new situation and carry out the corresponding change. As veteran business consultant William Bridges explains, transition is successful when employees have a purpose, a plan, and a part to play. This indispensable guide is now updated to reflect the challenges of today's ever-changing, always-on, and globally connected workplaces. Directed at managers on all rungs of the corporate ladder, this expanded edition of the classic bestseller provides practical, step-by-step strategies for minimizing disruptions and navigating uncertain times.

Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World


Bob Johansen - 2009
    What future forces will affect a leaders ability to lead in the next year, 5 years, 10 years?

Jack Welch and the 4 E's of Leadership: How to Put Ge's Leadership Formula to Work in Your Organizaion


Jeffrey A. Krames - 2002
    Jack Welch and the 4 E's of Leadership delivers a thought-provoking and in-depth analysis of this signature model. Pragmatic and handson, it explains how the model helped Welch to consistently spot 4e leaders--individuals with energy, the ability to inspire others, and the talent to consistently make the difficult decisions and meet financial goals.Jack Welch and the 4 E's of Leadership reveals how the 4e model helped GE's best and brightest eliminate bureaucracy, hire and promote energetic people, find new ways to increase the organization's customer-centricity, and more. Beyond the nuts and bolts of the 4e model, however, it outlines a step-by-step blueprint anyone can follow to stock an organization with performance-ready leaders and leaders-in-training.Examples include:How to recognize and encourage each of the 4e's--Energy, Energizers, Edge, and ExecuteLeadership theories of Drucker, Senge, and others, and how they support and validate Welch's 4e modelSeven rules for successfully driving change, and leveraging it to gain long-term competitive advantageLeadership lessons of the 4e all-star executive teamValuable implementation insights on virtually every page, along with a 4e leader to-do listJack Welch is universally recognized as the greatest CEO of his era. In Jack Welch and the 4 E's of Leadership, bestselling author Jeffrey A. Krames examines Welch's seminal 4e leadership model and provides a penetrating and uncompromising look at how to recognize and develop authentic leaders.

The Definitive Drucker: Challenges for Tomorrow's Executives -- Final Advice from the Father of Modern Management


Elizabeth Haas Edersheim - 2006
    The assumptions built into business today are not accurate."-Peter DruckerFor sixteen months before his death, Elizabeth Haas Edersheim was given unprecedented access to Peter Drucker, widely regarded as the father of modern management. At Drucker's request, Edersheim, a respected management thinker in her own right, spoke with him about the development of modern business throughout his life-and how it continues to grow and change at an ever-increasing rate.The Definitive Drucker captures his visionary management concepts, applies them to the key business risks and opportunities of the coming decades, and imparts Drucker's views on current business practices, economic changes, and trends-many of which he first predicted decades ago. It also sheds light onto issues such as why so many leaders fail, the fragility of our economic systems, and the new role of the CEO. Drucker's insights are divided into five main themes that the modern organization needs to, as Drucker would say, "create tomorrow" byConnecting with customersInnovating without abandoning what worksDeveloping lasting partnershipsCreating and retaining knowledge workersEstablishing disciplined decision makingDrucker's penetrating questions, posed to those seeking his advice, helped business, corporate, and political leaders throughout the 20th century to see their work in a new perspective, and create phenomenal innovation. Edersheim's extensive interviews with some of these luminaries, including Warren Bennis, Ram Charan, Bill Gates, George Gallup, Jr. and A.G. Lafley offer compelling commentary on Drucker's vast influence.Delivering keen analysis and revealing insights into business, The Definitive Drucker is a celebration of this extraordinary man and his life's work, as well as a unique opportunity to learn from Drucker's final business lessons how to strategize, compete, and triumph in any market.

Manager 3.0: A Millennial's Guide to Rewriting the Rules of Management


Brad Karsh - 2013
    The generation that was raised in an age of instant communication, questioning authority and traditions, and Ritalin has begun tearing down the corporate ladder, communicating on the fly, and bringing play to work. But even with all the exciting potential that lies ahead for these creative, bold thinkers, it will all be for not if they cannot effectively bridge the gap between the hierarchical management style of senior executives and the casual, more collaborative approach of their peers.In Manager 3.0, the first-ever management guide written exclusively for the Millennial generation, readers will learn how to master crucial skills such as dealing with difficult people, delivering constructive feedback, and making tough decisions--while gaining insight into the four generations--yes, four!--currently in the workplace and how they can successfully bring out the best in each.Packed with interviews and examples from companies like Zappos, Groupon, Southwest Airlines, and Google, this invaluable, one-of-a-kind resource will help these promising new managers connect with and encourage the unique talents of the generations around them, while also developing an effective leadership style of their own.

How to Become a Great Boss: The Rules for Getting and Keeping the Best Employees


Jeffrey J. Fox - 2002
    If you're a boss, or hope to become one, or have a less-than-great boss, then this is the book that could change your career--and your life. In times like these, being a great boss can be harder than ever. If you want surprising and useful advice on how to handle the tough stuff--from having to fire a long-time employee to being a new boss with a demoralized team--the stories, observations, and advice contained in this gem of a book will set your feet in the right direction. And if you just want advice on living up to the legend who preceded you in the job, or even ways to emulate someone who was a great boss to you, Jeffrey Fox has gathered anecdotes from some of the mightiest and most respected bosses in America. The bestselling author who brought you How to Become CEO and How to Become a Rainmaker knows the territory about which he speaks. Fox is the master of the counterintuitive angle. For every boss who has implied "I know what's best, that's why I'm the boss," Fox counsels, "Listen to Phonies, Fools, and Frauds" and "Don't Check Expense Accounts." His stories from bosses who have cared equally for employees' lives and the bottom line will inspire you to see that profit counts, but so do camaraderie, motivation, and a great place to work. In a time of considerable corporate downsizing, it's more important than ever for bosses to surround themselves with motivated employees. Jeffrey Fox's How to Become a Great Boss will have a place on the shelves of top brass everywhere who want to remain leaders of their pack.

Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis


Bill George - 2009
    The former CEO of Medtronic draws from his own in-the-trenches experience and lessons from leaders (representing an array of companies) who have weathered tough economic storms. With straight talk and clear directions, George shows leaders specifically what they must do to become strong leaders and survive any crisis. His seven lessons include: Face Reality, Starting with Yourself; Never Waste a Good Crisis; and Be Aggressive: This is Your Best Chance to Win in the Market. Seven Lesson for Leading in Crisis is a survival kit for anyone in a leadership position.A concise handbook for applying proven leadership lessons in tough times Written by Bill George one of America's most trusted business leaders and author of True North and Authentic LeadershipOffers realistic actions leaders can take to put their companies on the right long-term path Seven Lesson for Leading in Crisis gives leaders a solid strategy for staying the course.

Move: How Decisive Leaders Execute Strategy Despite Obstacles, Setbacks, and Stalls


Patty Azzarello - 2017
    Whatever your needed transformation may be: a new initiative, a new market, a new product, your fresh strategy is up against a powerful foe: an organization's tendency to stay very busy and completely engaged what it's already doing. This book shows you how to cut through resistance and get your team engaged and proactively doing the new thing! Author Patty Azzarello draws on over twenty-five years of international business management experience to identify the chronic challenges that keep organizations from decisively executing strategy, and to give you a practical game plan for breaking through. Leaders tend to assume that stalls in execution are inevitable, unchanging parts of the workplace—but things can change. At the heart of every execution problem is the fact that there simply are not enough people doing what the business needs. This guide shows you how to get your entire organization on board—remove the fear, excuses, and hurdles—and uphold the new pursuit against distractions and dissent. No transformation can succeed without suitable engagement from the whole organization, but building engagement can be difficult, uncomfortable, and tentative. This book shows you how to get it done. Get your organization to embrace and personally commit to the new work Remove obstacles and passive aggressive attacks that block progress Defend new strategic initiatives against short term pressures to revert to "business as usual" Sustain momentum and the desire to move forward Make sure no one is ever asking, 'Are we still doing this?' Inertia isn't just a law of the universe, it's a law in the workplace that can be a major obstacle to making things happen. The great thing about inertia is that it cuts two ways: a body at rest remains at rest, but a body in motion remains in motion. People love to finish things. Move shows you how to make successful execution the new norm—starting today.

It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy


D. Michael Abrashoff - 2002
    New York Times BestsellerWhen Captain Abrashoff took over as commander of USS Benfold, it was like a business that had all the latest technology but only some of the productivity. Knowing that responsibility for improving performance rested with him, he realized he had to improve his own leadership skills before he could improve his ship. Within months, he created a crew of confident and inspired problem-solvers eager to take the initiative and responsibility for their actions. The slogan on board became "It's your ship," and Benfold was soon recognized far and wide as a model of naval efficiency. How did Abrashoff do it? Against the backdrop of today's United States Navy, Abrashoff shares his secrets of successful management including: See the ship through the eyes of the crew: By soliciting a sailor's suggestions, Abrashoff drastically reduced tedious chores that provided little additional value.Communicate, communicate, communicate: The more Abrashoff communicated the plan, the better the crew's performance. His crew eventually started calling him "Megaphone Mike," since they heard from him so often.Create discipline by focusing on purpose: Discipline skyrocketed when Abrashoff's crew believed that what they were doing was important.Listen aggressively: After learning that many sailors wanted to use the GI Bill, Abrashoff brought a test official aboard the ship-and held the SATs forty miles off the Iraqi coast. From achieving amazing cost savings to winning the highest gunnery score in the Pacific Fleet, Captain Abrashoff's extraordinary campaign sent shock waves through the U.S. Navy. It can help you change the course of your ship, no matter where your business battles are fought.

Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders: The Three Essential Principles You Need to Become an Extraordinary Leader


Rajeev Peshawaria - 2011
    He knows precisely what makes the difference between those who are simply bosses and those who are superior leaders, and between those who continue to rise to the top levels and those who get stuck along the way.In this lively and remarkably empowering book, Peshawaria offers readers the opportunity to experience the highest level of leadership training available in the world. Introducing the three core principles he has observed are the foundation of the best leadership––that great leaders clearly define their purpose and values; that nobody can motivate another person because everyone comes premotivated; and that a leader’s job is not to directly produce results but to create the conditions that will harness the energy of others—he details his unique and proven program for achieving leadership excellence. Sharing a wealth of illuminating stories, from those of Mulally’s achievement at Ford and Mack’s at Morgan Stanley, to how Harvey Golub and Ken Chenault successfully restored American Express to long-term sustainable growth, how Neville Isdell turned the Coca-Cola Company around, and the continuing prowess of Jeff Bezos in growing Amazon.com, he first reveals how extraordinary leaders marshal and sustain the level of energy in themselves that is required and how they enlist a core group of proficient co-leaders. He then outlines how to harness the energy and talents of those at all levels of an organization, igniting their motivation by following his RED guidelines for addressing their core needs concerning their Role, their work Environment, and their career Development. Finally, he introduces his unique Brains, Bones, and Nerves framework for: developing a clear strategy for competitive advantage (the Brains); crafting an optimal organizational structure (the Bones); and fostering a highly cooperative and motivated company culture (the Nerves). Filled with specific tips about the vital questions to ask and simple but powerful steps to follow, Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders is a manager’s essential tool kit for long-term superior performance.

Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best... and Learn from the Worst


Robert I. Sutton - 2010
    Dr. Sutton reveals new insights that he's learned since the writing of Good Boss, Bad Boss. Sutton adds revelatory thoughts about such legendary bosses as Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs, A.G. Lafley, and many more, and how you can implement their techniques. If you are a boss who wants to do great work, what can you do about it? Good Boss, Bad Boss is devoted to answering that question. Stanford Professor Robert Sutton weaves together the best psychological and management research with compelling stories and cases to reveal the mindset and moves of the best (and worst) bosses. This book was inspired by the deluge of emails, research, phone calls, and conversations that Dr. Sutton experienced after publishing his blockbuster bestseller The No Asshole Rule. He realized that most of these stories and studies swirled around a central figure in every workplace: THE BOSS. These heart-breaking, inspiring, and sometimes funny stories taught Sutton that most bosses - and their followers - wanted a lot more than just a jerk-free workplace. They aspired to become (or work for) an all-around great boss, somebody with the skill and grit to inspire superior work, commitment, and dignity among their charges. As Dr. Sutton digs into the nitty-gritty of what the best (and worst) bosses do, a theme runs throughout Good Boss, Bad Boss - which brings together the diverse lessons and is a hallmark of great bosses: They work doggedly to "stay in tune" with how their followers (and superiors, peers, and customers too) react to what they say and do. The best bosses are acutely aware that their success depends on having the self-awareness to control their moods and moves, to accurately interpret their impact on others, and to make adjustments on the fly that continuously spark effort, dignity, and pride among their people.