Book picks similar to
Collaborating for Change: Appreciative Inquiry by David L. Cooperrider


appreciative-inquiry
work-library
coaching-and-team-psychology
work-and-business-related

Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes


Mark J. Penn - 2007
    One million people can create new market for a business, spark a social movement, or effect political change. In 1996, a microtrend identified by Penn ("soccer moms") was crucial in re-electing President Clinton. With years of experience as one of world's most highly regarded pollsters, Mark Penn identifies the new microtrends sweeping the world: *Single women by choice: More often than ever before, they aren't waiting for Mr. Right. They are raising children by themselves and buying their own homes.*Splitters: A growing number of middle-class residents are shuttling between two homes, creating new communities and dynamics in the real estate market.*Sun Haters: Environmentalists, skin cancer survivors, and parents concerned about the impact the sun is having on our health.*Philo-semites: A growing number of people want to date Jewish men and women.*Classical Music Dads: Older men who are fathers in their 40's and 50's and taking on a larger role in the nurturing of their children and becoming an important factor in consumer culture for kids. Penn highlights everything from religion to politics, from leisure pursuits to relationships. MICROTRENDS will take the reader deep into the worlds of polling, targeting, and psychographic analysis, reaching tantalizing conclusions through engaging analysis.

Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community


Robert D. Putnam - 2000
    This seemingly small phenomenon symbolizes a significant social change that Robert Putnam has identified in this brilliant volume, which The Economist hailed as "a prodigious achievement."Drawing on vast new data that reveal Americans' changing behavior, Putnam shows how we have become increasingly disconnected from one another and how social structures--whether they be PTA, church, or political parties--have disintegrated. Until the publication of this groundbreaking work, no one had so deftly diagnosed the harm that these broken bonds have wreaked on our physical and civic health, nor had anyone exalted their fundamental power in creating a society that is happy, healthy, and safe.Like defining works from the past, such as The Lonely Crowd and The Affluent Society, and like the works of C. Wright Mills and Betty Friedan, Putnam's Bowling Alone has identified a central crisis at the heart of our society and suggests what we can do.

The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community, and Everyday Life


Richard Florida - 2002
    Weaving storytelling with masses of new and updated research, Richard Florida traces the fundamental theme that runs through a host of seemingly unrelated changes in American society: the growing role of creativity in our economy. Just as William Whyte's 1956 classic The Organization Man showed how the organizational ethos of that age permeated every aspect of life, Florida describes a society in which the creative ethos is increasingly dominant. Millions of us are beginning to work and live much as creative types like artists and scientists always have-with the result that our values and tastes, our personal relationships, our choices of where to live, and even our sense and use of time are changing. Leading the shift are the nearly 38 million Americans in many diverse fields who create for a living-the Creative Class. The Rise of the Creative Class chronicles the ongoing sea of change in people's choices and attitudes, and shows not only what's happening but also how it stems from a fundamental economic change. The Creative Class now comprises more than thirty percent of the entire workforce. Their choices have already had a huge economic impact. In the future they will determine how the workplace is organized, what companies will prosper or go bankrupt, and even which cities will thrive or wither.

Only Humans Need Apply: Winners and Losers in the Age of Smart Machines


Thomas H. Davenport - 2016
    It’s not only blue-collar jobs at stake. Millions of educated knowledge workers—writers, paralegals, assistants, medical technicians—are threatened by accelerating advances in artificial intelligence. The industrial revolution shifted workers from farms to factories. In the first era of automation, machines relieved humans of manually exhausting work. Today, Era Two of automation continues to wash across the entire services-based economy that has replaced jobs in agriculture and manufacturing. Era Three, and the rise of AI, is dawning. Smart computers are demonstrating they are capable of making better decisions than humans. Brilliant technologies can now decide, learn, predict, and even comprehend much faster and more accurately than the human brain, and their progress is accelerating. Where will this leave lawyers, nurses, teachers, and editors?In Only Humans Need Apply, Thomas Hayes Davenport and Julia Kirby reframe the conversation about automation, arguing that the future of increased productivity and business success isn’t either human or machine. It’s both. The key is augmentation, utilizing technology to help humans work better, smarter, and faster. Instead of viewing these machines as competitive interlopers, we can see them as partners and collaborators in creative problem solving as we move into the next era. The choice is ours.

15 Minutes Coaching: A "Quick & Dirty" Method for Coaches and Managers to Get Clarity About Any Problem (Tools for Success Book 2)


Shmaya David - 2009
    (2nd. Ed Jan 2014) In as little as 15 minutes you will understand what the source of the problem is, and devise quick action-steps to take in order to begin and improve the situation (Free automated toll inside). The book will teach you how to use a very simple, yet effective tool, the "Double-Lens System". Using it you can quickly get to the bottom of situations and analyzing the roots of a problem. Then you will learn to use several simple questions that will help develop a quick fix, and will get things going in the right direction. While not intended as a substitute to a full coaching process, this method is effective in helping clients to zero-in on their most pressing issues and move from pain to action. The same method is also an effective lead-conversion tool that can be used in coaching and consulting sales-situations. Included in the book you will find a link for a free download of an automated version of the double-lenses system. You can use this as it is, or customize it to your own needs. The book was written with the same principles of "quick solutions" described in it. It is a short, easy to read manuscript that will take you less than an hour to read and master. Need to know more? Read below the reviews of people which already read it. Click the "Buy Now" button and get to solving problems – quickly!

8 Things We Hate About IT: How to Move Beyond the Frustrations to Form a New Partnership with IT


Susan Cramm - 2010
    Instead, you get endless rules and regulations, not to mention processes, projects, and technologies that deliver too little, too late, for too much. It's frustrating!How to build a relationship that puts you firmly in control and produces the business results you need? In The 8 Things We Hate About IT, Susan Cramm provides the answers.Start by understanding differences between operational and IT managers - in backgrounds, personality, pressures, and incentives. Cramm explains how differences prevent operational managers and IT from communicating what, why, and how they do what they do.Citing case studies and stories, the author then presents practical strategies for overcoming the difficulty. These include seeing things from your IT partners' perspective, developing a single version of 'truth,' and assuming accountability for IT just as you've done for management of your firm's financial and human resources.Brutally honest, provocative, and filled with sound advice, this book reveals that the key to solving the IT problem is decidedly un-IT: it's a deeper understanding of human behavior, including how to apply your leadership skills to the world of IT.

The 80/20 Manager: Ten ways to become a great leader


Richard Koch - 2012
    Now he shows managers how to use the Principle to achieve exceptional results at work - without stress or long hours.

X-Teams: How To Build Teams That Lead, Innovate, And Succeed


Deborah G. Ancona - 2007
    Based on years of research examining teams across many industries, Ancona and Bresman show that traditional team models are falling short, and that what’s needed--and what works--is a new brand of team that emphasizes external outreach to stakeholders, extensive ties, expandable tiers, and flexible membership.The authors highlight that X-teams not only are able to adapt in ways that traditional teams aren’t, but that they actually improve an organization’s ability to produce creative ideas and execute them—increasing the entrepreneurial and innovative capacity within the firm. What’s more, the new environment demands what the authors call “distributed leadership,” and the book highlights how X-teams powerfully embody this idea.

Chief Of Staff: The Strategic Partner Who Will Revolutionize Your Organization


Tyler Parris - 2015
    Chief of Staff: The Strategic Partner Who Will Revolutionize Your Organization presents the results of his research in a clear and practical way. To help business leaders explore the value that a chief of staff offers as a trusted advisor and “chief get-it-done officer,” Parris presents three “pivots” to consider: Organization dynamics Most commonly reported benefits of the role (for leaders, chiefs of staff, and organizations) Deliverables that chiefs of staff most commonly manage for leaders He also explores the history and current context for the role, provides guidelines for how to find and hire the right candidate, suggests ways to make the most of the first 90–100 days, and offers advice on how to develop the role over time.As several of the CEOs Parris interviewed point out, even if you never hire a chief of staff, the thought process that goes into considering the possibility can be a useful exercise in finding strengths and gaps in your current team or approach—and can help you lead more effectively.

Co-Active Coaching: Changing Business, Transforming Lives


Laura Whitworth - 1998
    Published in more than ten languages now, this book has been used as the definitive resource in dozens of corporate, professional development and university-based coaching programs as well as by thousands of individuals looking to elevate their communication, relationship and coaching skills. This fully revised third edition of Co-Active Coaching has been updated to reflect the expanded vision of the newly updated Co-Active Model and coaching course curriculum at The Coaches Training Institute, the training organization founded and run by the authors for 20 years. The third edition emphasizes evoking transformational change in the client and extends the use of the Co-Active Model into leadership management and its effectiveness throughout organizations. This edition also contains an on-line Coach's Toolkit (replacing the CD of the second edition), several new coaching demonstrations and more than 35 updated exercises, questionnaires, checklists and reproducible forms.

Lean Out


Dawn Foster - 2016
    But for all its commercial success, it proposed a model of feminism that was individualistic and unthreatening to capital.In her powerful debut work Lean Out, acclaimed journalist Dawn Foster unpicks how the purportedly feminist message of Sandberg’s book neatly exempts patriarchy, capitalism and business from any responsibility for changing the position of women in contemporary culture. It looks at the rise of a corporate ‘1% feminism’, and at how feminism has been defanged and depoliticised at a time when women have borne the brunt of the financial crash and the gap between rich and poor is widening faster than ever. Surveying business, media, culture and politics, Foster asks whether this ‘trickledown’ feminism offers any material gain for women collectively, or acts as mere window-dressing PR for the corporations who caused the financial crash. She concludes that ‘leaning out’ of the corporate model is a more effective way of securing change than leaning in.

Coach Wooden's Leadership Game Plan for Success: 12 Lessons for Extraordinary Performance and Personal Excellence


John Wooden - 2009
    This unique tutorial introduces you to his core fundamentals of success as a leader and reinforces them with examples, exercises, quizzes, and quotations. You'll learn how toCreate a relationship of respect and camaraderie with those you leadRemain alert to opportunity, threats, trends, and changesAct with confi dence--but never arrogancePractice moderation and balance in all that you doBe a model of poise, grace, and reason--especially under pressureCoach Wooden's Leadership Game Plan for Success drives home Mr. Wooden's trademark 12 Lessons in Leadership and his famous Pyramid of Success.When you base your leadership style and substance on Coach's straightforward attitudes, values, and principles, you'll lead your team and business to success the Wooden way.

Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions


John C. Norcross - 2012
    But not if you know the 5-step formula that works whether you’re trying to stop smoking or start recycling. Dr. John C. Norcross, an internationally recognized expert, has studied how people make transformative, permanent changes in their lives. Over the past thirty years, he and his research team have helped thousands of people overcome dozens of behavioral ailments. Now his cutting-edge, scientific approach to personal improvement is being made available in this indispensable guide. Unlike 95 percent of self-help books, the Changeology plan has a documented track record of success. Whether you want to quit overeating or drinking, or end depression, debt, and relationship distress, Dr. Norcross gives you the tools you need to change what you want within 90 days. Changeology shows you: *¦ How to define your goals and get started in a new direction * How to pump up your motivation and prepare for self-change * How to prevent relapses into old patterns * How to master the skills that will help you sustain change * How to personalize your journey with Check Yourself assessments and an inter- active website, www.ChangeologyBook.com. Whatever your goal or resolution, you can use Changeology to achieve a life filled with greater health and happiness.

Networking Is a Contact Sport: How Staying Connected and Serving Others Will Help You Grow Your Business, Expand Your Influence -- or Even Land Your Next Job


Joe Sweeney - 2010
    Networking.In this New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA TODAY bestseller, master networker Joe Sweeney shares his networking secrets from a long and successful career as a business owner, sports agent and executive and investment banking consultant. His first secret: master networkers are focused on giving, not getting.With today’s difficult economy and uncertain workplace, networking has never been more important. Sweeney’s simple but effective 5/10/15 networking plan will give you a leg up in the current job market, help you stay employed, or, if you’ve been laid off, find your next job. The cliché that who you know is more important than what you know has never been truer. Sweeney illustrates his insights with dozens of helpful examples from his own life (along with a few fascinating insider sports stories).With special sections on networking for women and minorities, insights into the usefulness (and handicaps) of social networking sites, how to get (and why you need) a wingman and profiles of other master networkers, Networking Is a Contact Sport is a practical and essential guide for anyone who wants to get ahead in today’s economy.

A Season on the Mat: Dan Gable and the Pursuit of Perfection


Nolan Zavoral - 1998
    One pair of hands--reaching up and out, as if to seize their observer--belonged to Danny Mack Gable, the greatest figure in the history of American wrestling. Gable's place in the university's pantheon was earned through his remarkable coaching career; for the past twenty-one years, Dan Gable's Iowa Hawkeyes have dominated wrestling to an extent rarely seen in any sport. In "A Season on the Mat," award-winning reporter Nolan Zavoral explores Iowa's storied wrestling program and Gable's record of excellence in an unprecedented, intimate look at the man and his methods. Gable grew up in Waterloo, Iowa, and quickly became a wrestling legend in a place where there was no higher aspiration. He charged through his high school years unbeaten--64-0--and then won 117 straight matches at Iowa State University before losing, in a shocking upset, in the NCAA finals of his senior year. Gable used the memory of that defeat as a spur to greater glory in the 1972 Olympics, when he won the gold medal by winning six matches in which he was not only unbeaten but unscored upon. But as great as his accomplishments were as a wrestler, they pale next to what he has achieved as a coach. In the twenty one years Gable has been head coach, his teams have won the Big 10 title every year and the NCAA championship fifteen times.As Gable approached the 1996-97 season, he was a mere shell of his usual, vigorous self. A dozen back and knee surgeries had reduced his proud athlete's walk to that of a stooped, shambling old man. Hecould no longer get down with his wrestlers and demonstrate holds and escapes. But with speculation rife about whether this season would be his last, Gable persevered--despite a midseason hip replacement operation--aiming toward the NCAA championship to be held in Cedar Falls, Iowa, right next door to Waterloo, where Gable had spent his wrestling youth."A Season on the Mat" chronicles this dramatic season, in which Gable led his team--far from his most talented--to the national title. Zavoral takes the reader behind the scenes, into the stifling heat of the wrestling room where young men from places like Rock Falls, Iowa, or Philip, South Dakota, sacrifice everything they have just to be a part of the Hawkeye program. We watch strongwilled athletes like Mike Mena, whose struggle to make weight almost cost him a shot at the national championship; Lincoln McILravy, who overcame persistent severe headaches to win his third national title in his four-year career; and all the other wrestlers who contributed to a record-breaking performance at the NCAAs, scoring the most points in collegiate wrestling history.But most important, we see the man behind the Gable legend. From his difficult upbringing, interrupted by the tragedy of his sister's brutal murder, through the single defeat that haunts him to this day, to the ups and downs of his phenomenal coaching career, Gable has come to symbolize to many all that is special about this demanding, elemental sport. Part biography, part chronicle, part portrait of this unique subculture, "A Season on the Mat" is the best and most thorough look at one of the most important and most overlooked figures in American athletics.