The 24-Carrot Manager


Adrian Gostick - 2002
    Providing strategies and solutions for the managers of today, this book offers answers for improving employee commitment and profitability by strategically acknowledging employee effort. How is it done? The deceptively simply answer: with carrots.

A CEO Only Does Three Things: Finding Your Focus in the C-Suite


Trey Taylor - 2020
    Many owners and CEOs think they have to be involved in every aspect of their business. They spend valuable brainpower on low-priority decisions. Before long, they're overworked and burned out.Instead of doing everything, it's time to focus on the right things.A CEO Only Does Three Things zeroes in on the three pillars of business: culture, people, and numbers. Steeped in twenty-plus years of practical knowledge, training, and consulting with some of the world's largest companies, this indispensable guide shows how to articulate the right culture for your business, hire people with the right mindsets, and inspire your teams to produce optimal results.Hundreds of CEOs have used Taylor's methods to create fulfilled, efficient, professional lives, and you can join them. Learn how to focus on the work you love-and avoid CEO burnout.

Virtual Culture: The Way We Work Doesn’t Work Anymore, a Manifesto


Bryan Miles - 2018
    Despite instant communication and collaboration through wireless computers and smartphones, employers needlessly rent or own office space. Bryan Miles has a reality check for you: the future of business is virtual, and it’s going to take more than technology upgrades for you to upgrade your workplace environment. In VIRTUAL CULTURE, visionary entrepreneur Bryan Miles champions the benefits of remote working, which will save your company tons of money and create an atmosphere of trust between you and your employees. Productivity comes from people completing their tasks in a timely, professional, adult manner, not from mandatory daily attendance in a sea of cubicles and offices. When you recognize and respect your employees’ time inside and outside work hours, giving them the freedom to work from home, you will retain amazing talent and create a result-oriented virtual culture as a forward-thinking employer that embraces the future of work.

Riding Shotgun: The Role of the COO


Nathan Bennett - 2006
    In fact, it has been argued that the number two position is the toughest job in a company. COOs are typically the key individuals responsible for the delivery of results on a day-to-day, quarter-to-quarter basis. They play a critical leadership role in executing the strategies developed by the top management team. And, in many cases, they are being groomed to be—or are actually being tested as—the firm's CEO-elect. Despite all this, the COO role has not received much attention.Riding Shotgun: The Role of the COO provides a new understanding of this little-understood role. The authors—a scholar and a consultant—develop a framework for understanding who the COO is, why a company would want to create this position, and the challenges associated with successful performance in the COO role. Drawing heavily on a number of first-person accounts from CEOs and other top executives in major corporations, the authors have developed a set of strategies or principles to inform individuals who aspire to serve in such a position. The executives who share their experiences in this book are from some of the most established and important companies in today's economy: AirTran; American Standard Companies; Amgen; Adobe Systems, Inc.; Autodesk, Inc; eBay; Heidrick & Struggles; InBev; Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company; Mattel, Inc; Motorola; PepsiCo; Raytheon Company; Starbucks; and many others. Excerpts from the Book:On focusing on success"The primary goal I set for myself on how I define what success looks like for me is am I working at a company that matters? Am I working with somebody who I think affects positive change? Am I providing a benefit to my family? Am I enjoying myself? Why would I put a limitation on my enjoyment? There is an old view on Wall Street that says, 'They love you until they don't.' I am going to stay happy until I am not."—Dan Rosensweig, COO Yahoo!On the relationship between the CEO and COO"Deep down, you have to trust each other and you have to like each other. If you don't like each other, and/or don't trust each other, it may work, kind of, but it will be at a fifty percent level at best."—Craig Weatherup, Director, Starbucks, and former Chairman, PepsiOn the challenges of transitioning into the COO role"If you can't conceptualize the strategic objectives or help drive that or participate in that, I don't think you are going to succeed. But, equally, if you can't translate that into an executable plan, you are not going to succeed either."—Shantanu Narayen, COO, Adobe SystemsAdditional Quotes:"Miles & Bennett tackle an important and drastically under-researched area: the role, personalities, fit and success factors of COOs. We've seen several COOs who have been total winners, but it's striking how different the models of success can be depending on role, personal competencies, business situation/cycle/type, team strengths, and CEO strengths. The authors have done a very nice job of tying all of this together."—Jim Williams, Partner, Texas Pacific Group"The lessons reported in this book will be very useful to Boards, Heads of Human Resources and CEOs as they consider succession planning and organizational design."—Dale Morrison, President & Chief Executive Officer, McCain Foods Limited"The job of COO is becoming more important as companies and their boards look internally for succession alternatives. One question they face: Will the organization continue to run as the number 2 becomes the number 1? Riding Shotgun will help answer this and many more questions about the COO role in today's corporate structure."—John Berisford, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, The Pepsi Bottling Group"The COO plays a critical leadership role in most businesses, but its particularly true in the natural resources

All I Need to Know about Manufacturing I Learned in Joe's Garage: World Class Manufacuring Made Simple


William B. Miller - 1993
    All I Need to Know About Manufacturing I Learned in Joe's Garage: World Class Manufacturing Made Simple

Winning with Accountability: The Secret Language of High-Performing Organizations


Henry J. Evans - 2008
    It is that simple. For over 10 years, Henry Evans has worked with hundreds of organizations around the world, teaching and building accountability. This book offers that same guidance to you, your colleagues and your team to reach new levels of excellence and success. In Winning with Accountability, Henry offers a step-by-step guide to help any organization improve performance by creating a culture of accountability. The strategies in this book are simple, easy to implement...and the results are immediate! It should be required reading for every member of every team. Read, enjoy, and win with accountability!

Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into a Sales Machine with the $100 Million Best Practices of Salesforce.com


Aaron Ross - 2011
    This is NOT just another book about how to cold call or close deals. This is an entirely new kind of sales system for CEOs, entrepreneurs and sales VPs to help you build a sales machine. What does it take for your sales team to generate as many highly-qualified new leads as you want, create predictable revenue, and meet your financial goals without your constant focus and attention? Predictable Revenue has the answers!

Delegating Work (HBR 20-Minute Manager Series)


Harvard Business Review - 2014
    But it's not easy to do. Delegating Work quickly walks you through the fundamentals of: Establishing a productive environment Assigning the right work to the right people Conducting an effective hand-off meeting Monitoring without micromanaging Don't have much time? Get up to speed fast on the most essential business skills with HBR's 20-Minute Manager series. Whether you need a crash course or a brief refresher, each book in the series is a concise, practical primer that will help you brush up on a key management topic. Advice you can quickly read and apply, for ambitious professionals and aspiring executives--from the most trusted source in business. Also available as an ebook.

Be Amazing or Go Home: Seven Customer Service Habits That Create Confidence with Everyone


Shep Hyken - 2017
    In fact, amazement is a habit that anyone can master--and Shep Hyken knows the tricks to making it your own.In Be Amazing or Go Home, Shep shares the secrets behind making his motto "Always Be Amazing!" an everyday lifestyle and shows how you too can become exceptional in business and in life. Drawing on the routines of incredible people, Shep demonstrates simple practices that can elevate your game, including: Showing up ready to amazing Being proactive Craving feedback Taking responsibility Embracing authenticity Focusing on excellence Turning misery into magic Once you master these habits, you'll be able to create trust, build stronger relationships, make sales, advance your career, and more. Now is the time to step out of the ordinary and step into amazing.

Flawless Execution: Use the Techniques and Systems of America's Fighter Pilots to Perform at Your Peak and Win the Battles of the Business World


James D. Murphy - 2005
    At Mach 2, the instrument panel of an F-15 is screaming out information, the horizon is a blur, the wingman is occupied, the jet is hanging on the edge -- and yet fighter pilots routinely handle the stress. It's not much different in today's unforgiving business world. One slipup and your company is bankrupt before your employees know what hit them.What works on the squadron level for F-15 pilots will also work for your marketing team, sales force, or research and development group. By analyzing the work environment and attacking its centers of gravity in parallel, you'll begin to utilize the Plan-Brief-Execute-Debrief-Win cycle that will rapidly impact your business's future success. U.S. fighter squadrons have been using this program for nearly fifty years to reduce their mistake rate, cut casualties and equipment losses, and rack up an envious victory record. Now, with Flawless Execution, your business can too.

Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service


Kenneth H. Blanchard - 1992
    Just having satisfied customers isn't good enough anymore. If you really want a booming business, you have to create Raving Fans."This, in a nutshell, is the advice given to a new Area Manager on his first day--in an extraordinary business book that will help everyone, in every kind of organization or business, deliver stunning customer service and achieve miraculous bottom-line results.

Do Better Work: Finding Clarity, Camaraderie, and Progress in Work and Life


Max Yoder - 2019
     Share before you’re ready. Get more agreements. Have difficult conversations. These are a few of the practical but profound ideas Lessonly CEO Max Yoder shares in Do Better Work. No matter your rank or role, if you want to see more understanding, accountability, and progress on your team, these stories and examples are for you. Praise for Do Better Work: “Devastatingly effective, and a must-read for business leaders with a soul. Do Better Work is the modern manual for how to align company success and personal growth.” Jay Baer, New York Times bestselling author of Youtility and co-author of Talk Triggers “The best books pop lightbulbs over our heads that feel so obvious we wonder why we didn't realize them all along. This book does that. An essential read for any 21st-century leader." Coco Brown, CEO and founder of The Athena Alliance “Our world needs a style of leadership that puts people at the center, and I can think of no better guide than the lessons contained in this book.” Scott Dorsey, former CEO of ExactTarget/Salesforce Marketing Cloud “Practical advice with a soul and a deep understanding of how humans connect and work together.” Nataly Kogan, founder of Happier @ Work and author of Happier Now

The Trusted Advisor


David H. Maister - 1998
    Green and Robert M. Galford to bring us the essential tool for all consultants, negotiators, and advisors.In today's fast-paced networked economy, professionals must work harder than ever to maintain and improve their business skills and knowledge. But technical mastery of one's discipline is not enough, assert world-renowned professional advisors David H. Maister, Charles H. Green, and Robert M. Galford. The key to professional success, they argue, is the ability to earn the trust and confidence of clients. To demonstrate the paramount importance of trust, the authors use anecdotes, experiences, and examples -- successes and mistakes, their own and others' -- to great effect. The result is an immensely readable book that will be welcomed by the inexperienced advisor and the most seasoned expert alike.

The Education of an Accidental CEO: Lessons Learned from the Trailer Park to the Corner Office


David C. Novak - 2007
    He sold encyclopedias door to door, worked as a hotel night clerk, and took a job as a $7,200-a-year advertising copywriter with the hopes of maybe one day becoming a creative director. Instead, he became head of the world's largest restaurant company at the ripe old age of forty-seven. While David never went to business school, he did learn from the greatest of teachers--experience--and plenty of other very smart people as well: Magic Johnson on the secret to teamwork, Warren Buffett on what he looks for in the companies he buys, John Wooden on ego, and Jack Welch on one thing he'd do over. Now he wants to share with you what he discovered about getting ahead and getting noticed; motivating people and turning businesses around; building winning teams and running a global company of nearly one million people; and always staying true to yourself. "The Education of an Accidental CEO" is filled with David Novak's street-smart wisdom: From his formative years...- Walking through your anxieties- Avoiding the poison of stereotypes- Staying "right-sized" - Breaking through the clutter From his years as an ad executive and chief marketing officer ...- How not to roll over like Fluffy the dog- Seeing yourself as a brand- When to pull the plug on the Super Bowl As the COO of Pepsi Cola and then as president of KFC and Pizza Hut ...- Why a gold watch can have less value than a floppy rubber chicken- Knowing when "the answers are in the building"- Knowing when to do nothing- What it takes to revitalze a company And as CEO of Yum! Brands, Inc. ...- How to "shock the system"- How to avoid the slow-no's- Managing two up and two down David Novak's ideas for building an entire culture around reward and recognition--getting everyone from division presidents to dishwashers to buy into recognizing the achievements of others--is studied by other companies and discussed here in great detail. Whether you are the CEO of a global conglomerate or a budding entrepreneur, there is something here that will help you get where you want to go.

The One Thing You Need to Know About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success


Marcus Buckingham - 2005
    Clifton) in print, Cambridge-educated Buckingham is considered one of the most respected business authorities on the subject of management and leadership in the world. With The One Thing You Need to Know, he gives readers an invaluable course in outstanding achievement -- a guide to capturing the essence of the three most fundamental areas of professional activity. Great managing, leading, and career success -- Buckingham draws on a wealth of applicable examples to reveal that a controlling insight lies at the heart of the three. Lose sight of this "one thing" and even the best efforts will be diminished or compromised. Readers will be eager to discover the surprisingly different answers to each of these rich and complex subjects. Each could be explained endlessly to detail their many facets, but Buckingham's great gift is his ability to cut through the mass of often-conflicting agendas and zero in on what matters most, without ever oversimplifying. As he observes, success comes to those who remain mindful of the core insight, understand all of its ramifications, and orient their decisions around it. Buckingham backs his arguments with authoritative research from a wide variety of sources, including his own research data and in-depth interviews with individuals at every level of an organization, from CEO's to hotel maids and stockboys. In every way a groundbreaking book, The One Thing You Need to Know offers crucial performance and career lessons for business people at all career stages.