Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less


Greg McKeown - 2011
    It’s about getting only the right things done.  It is not  a time management strategy, or a productivity technique. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution towards the things that really matter.  By forcing us to apply a more selective criteria for what is Essential, the disciplined pursuit of less empowers us to reclaim control of our own choices about where to spend our precious time and energy – instead of giving others the implicit permission to choose for us.Essentialism is not one more thing – it’s a whole new way of doing everything. A must-read for any leader, manager, or individual who wants to learn who to do less, but better, in every area of their lives, Essentialism  is a movement whose time has come.

Emotional Vampires at Work: Dealing with Bosses and Coworkers Who Drain You Dry


Albert J. Bernstein - 2012
    These people try your patience, sap your energy, and add an entirely unhealthy dynamic to workplace productivity. The bestselling author of Emotional Vampires and Dinosaur Brains shows you how to spot and deal effectively with these dysfunctional elements in the workplace:ANTISOCIALS, who crave excitement in all its forms, including aggression If your boss or a coworker is trying to push you around . . . Learn that the most important battle to fight with a bully is in your own mind.HISTRIONICS, who believe that what it looks like is more important than what it is If your boss thinks any problem can be solved with a motivational seminar . . . Learn how to get a manager wannabe to actually manage.NARCISSISTS, who believe that the universe revolves around them If your CEO makes Louis XVI look like Gandhi . . . Learn techniques that diplomats have used throughout history to teach infantile monarchs to act like grown-ups.OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVES, who can't seem to see the forest for the trees If there is absolutely no task that your boss considers too small to micromanage . . . Learn to be a Control-Freak Whisperer by seeing your boss's fear rather than your own irritation.PARANOIDS, who think they've found the simple truths that explain everything If you work in a place where you can't get ahead unless you drink the Kool-Aid . . . Learn how to recognize a toxic belief system before it poisons you.VAMPIRE CULTURES: when vampires get promoted to positions of power, they remake organizations in their own image . . . Learn the 15 warning signs that tell you to get out before sunset.PRAISE FOR EMOTIONAL VAMPIRES: We love so much about this book! A great complement to Dealing with People You Can't Stand, it goes beyond dealing with the merely difficult behavior to the truly pathological. Bernstein offers believable examples and useful descriptions. This is the book to recommend when the topic of truly horrible behavior comes up! -- Dr. Rick Kirschner and Dr. Rick Brinkman, authors of the international bestseller Dealing with People You Can't StandThis book equips individuals with the tools to identify and defend against a wide array of emotional vampires at work. It offers well-developed tactics for navigating the most difficult people in any organization. -- Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster, bestselling authors of Working with You Is Killing Me and Mean Girls at WorkIt's amazing how one manipulative, territorial, or otherwise self-serving boss or employee can make the lives of everyone around miserable. In Emotional Vampires at Work, Albert Bernstein offers concrete, step-by-step guidance to manage life around these misfits. You'll learn to take care of your and your valued colleagues' needs, while contributing your best to your organization--with maturity and sanity. -- Nancy Ancowitz, author of Self-Promotion for Introverts

Take the Stairs: 7 Steps to Achieving True Success


Rory Vaden - 2012
    But as popular speaker and strategist Rory Vaden explains, we live in an "escalator world"-one that's filled with shortcuts, quick fixes, and distractions that make it all too easy to slide into procrastination, compromise, and mediocrity. What seems like an easier path is really much harder in the end-and, most important, it won't take you where you want to go.How do successful people stay focused and achieve results? This lively and insightful guide presents a simple program for taking the stairs-that is, for overcoming the temptations of quick fixes and procrastination, conquering creative avoidance, and transcending personal setbacks in order to tackle the work that leads to real success.Whatever your goals are, Rory Vaden's proven approach will get you there-one stair at a time.

Professional Services Marketing: How the Best Firms Build Premier Brands, Thriving Lead Generation Engines, and Cultures of Business Development Success


Mike Schultz - 2009
    A necessary addition to your reading." --David Maister, author of Managing the Professional Service Firm"Professional Services Marketing will certainly become the bible of the field in short order! Without a doubt, the most useful compendium of marketing insight for the practicing professional services firm executive...BRAVO!" --Leonard A. Schlesinger, President, Babson College, and coauthor of The Service Profit Chain"It's no longer sufficient to be a good 'expert for hire'--you need a brand and a powerful marketing engine behind you. Professional Services Marketing is a gold mine of research based strategies, best practices, and specific techniques that will help you consistently win in the client marketplace and outshine your competition. It's thoughtful, funny, and filled with the how-to so often missing in business books." --Andrew Sobel, coauthor of Clients for Life"Schultz and Doerr offer tactics and information in an easy-to-read, concise, and enjoyable format. Professional Services Marketing should be a required resource in every professional marketer's tool box!" --R. Granville Loar, Executive Director, Association for Accounting Marketing"This book is an excellent resource for anyone involved in professional services. It is especially timely in our current challenging economic conditions, and the ideas and guidance are relevant for the better times to come as well." --Josh Lee, Partner, Monitor Group"Smart. Practical. Comprehensive. This is the one book that won't collect dust on my shelf." --Kevin McMurdo, Chief Marketing Officer, Perkins Coie"Professional Services Marketing is the first book to directly address the challenges of the professional services marketer. This book is filled with practical wisdom and research on best practices and processes specifically for this industry. A must-read for anyone in a professional services firm!" --Paul Dunay, Global Director of Integrated Marketing, BearingPoint

Alive at Work: The Neuroscience of Helping Your People Love What They Do


Daniel M. Cable - 2018
    Cable takes leaders into the minds of workers and reveals the surprising secret to restoring their zest for work.Disengagement isn't a motivational problem, it's a biological one. Humans aren't built for routine and repetition. We're designed to crave exploration, experimentation, and learning--in fact, there's a part of our brains, which scientists have coined "the seeking system," that rewards us for taking part in these activities. But the way organizations are run prevents many of us from following our innate impulses. As a result, we shut down.Things need to change. More than ever before, employee creativity and engagement are needed to win. Fortunately, it won't take an extensive overhaul of your organizational culture to get started. With small nudges, you can personally help people reach their fullest potential.

Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work


Steven Kotler - 2017
    Over the past decade, Silicon Valley executives like Eric Schmidt and Elon Musk, Special Operators like the Navy SEALs and the Green Berets, and maverick scientists like Sasha Shulgin and Amy Cuddy have turned everything we thought we knew about high performance upside down. Instead of grit, better habits, or 10,000 hours, these trailblazers have found a surprising short cut. They're harnessing rare and controversial states of consciousness to solve critical challenges and outperform the competition.New York Times bestselling author Steven Kotler and high performance expert Jamie Wheal spent four years investigating the leading edges of this revolution—from the home of SEAL Team Six to the Googleplex, the Burning Man festival, Richard Branson’s Necker Island, Red Bull’s training center, Nike’s innovation team, and the United Nations’ Headquarters. And what they learned was stunning: In their own ways, with differing languages, techniques, and applications, every one of these groups has been quietly seeking the same thing: the boost in information and inspiration that altered states provide.Today, this revolution is spreading to the mainstream, fueling a trillion dollar underground economy and forcing us to rethink how we can all lead richer, more productive, more satisfying lives. Driven by four accelerating forces—psychology, neurobiology, technology and pharmacology—we are gaining access to and insights about some of the most contested and misunderstood terrain in history. Stealing Fire is a provocative examination of what’s actually possible; a guidebook for anyone who wants to radically upgrade their life.

The First 90 Days in Government: Critical Success Strategies for New Public Managers at All Levels


Peter H. Daly - 2006
    Each will confront special challenges--from higher public profiles to a greater number of stakeholders to volatile political environments--that will make their transitions even more challenging than in the business world. Now Michael D. Watkins, author of the best-selling book The First 90 Days, applies his proven leadership transition framework to the public sector. Watkins and co-author Peter H. Daly address the crucial differences between the private and public sectors that go to the heart of how success and failure are defined, measured, and rewarded or penalized. This concise, practical book provides a roadmap to help new government leaders at all levels accelerate their transitions by overcoming nine transition challenges, ranging from clarifying expectations to defining goals to building a team to managing personal stress. The authors also offer detailed strategies for avoiding major "transition traps." Zeroing in on the challenges facing new government leaders, Getting Up to Speed in Government is an indispensable guide for anyone seeking to lead and succeed in the public sector.

Andy & Me: Crisis and Transformation on the Lean Journey


Pascal Dennis - 2005
    The situations, characters and plant politics will ring true with many readers.In a cool, readable style, Andy & Me follows Tom's relationship with Andy Saito, a reclusive, retired Toyota guru whom Tom persuades to help save his plant through the teaching of the legendary Toyota Production System (TPS).On this journey, the reader learns that TPS is more than just a collection of tools; it entails a new way of thinking and behaving. Though Tom finds success -- both in his plant and in his personal life -- he learns from Andy that successful improvement is "endless and eternal."

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!

Around the Corner to Around the World: A Dozen Lessons I Learned Running Dunkin Donuts


Robert Rosenberg - 2020
    Throughout all the chaos, you need a mentor that has seen a business through the ins and outs and can offer guidance that will exponentially tip the odds in your favor to succeed.Robert Rosenberg took over as CEO of Dunkin’ Donuts in 1963, 13 years after the first restaurant was founded by his father William. In his remarkable 35-year run, he grew the company from $10 million in sales to over $2 billion with more than 3,000 outlets. Through his tenure, Robert learned important lessons on running and scaling a family business.Rosenberg shares his insider perspective on all the dramatic highs and lows that are part of the Dunkin’ Donuts story to guide you to your own success story.In Around the Corner to Around the World, Rosenberg helps you as he:Distills the characteristics of a successful company through all phases of growth.Provides a new perspective on the dramatic story behind the rise of one of the world’s most iconic brands.Tells the first-hand account and essential lessons learned from the tenure of one of the most successful CEO runs in modern business history.Reveals some of the dramatic and surprising plot turns in the story of Dunkin’s rise to global prominence.Around the Corner to Around the World tells a compelling story of lessons gleaned over a 35-year career building a small business into the iconic Dunkin' brand it has become.The harrowing twists and turns and sometimes existential threats to the business will enlighten anyone starting or running a business.

The Power of Presence: Unlock Your Potential to Influence and Engage Others


Kristi Hedges - 2011
    But what is this secret quality they exude, exactly? Executive and CEO coach Kristi Hedges demystifies this elusive trait, revealing that leadership presence is the intersection of outward influencing skills and internal mental conditioning. Using her I-Presence model, the author shows how anyone-regardless of position or personality-can strengthen their impact. Readers will learn how to build trust as the foundation for leadership, eschew perfectionism for authenticity, banish limiting thoughts and behaviors, and galvanize their team through visionary, inspiring communications. Stellar technical knowledge, a strong work ethic, excellent presentation skills-none of these tangible traits puts people on the career fast track as readily as a compelling presence. Filled with profiles of leaders with powerful presence and the latest neuroleadership research translated into actionable habits, this authoritative guide puts a little-understood, but potentially game-changing, tool within everyone's reach.

QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life


John G. Miller - 2004
    No organization—or individual—can successfully compete in the marketplace, achieve goals and objectives, provide outstanding service, engage in exceptional teamwork, or develop people without personal accountability.   John G. Miller believes that the troubles that plague organizations cannot be solved by pointing fingers and blaming others. Rather, the real solutions are found when each of us recognizes the power of personal accountability. In QBQ! The Question Behind the Question®, Miller explains how negative, ill-focused questions like “Why do we have to go through all this change?” and “Who dropped the ball?” represent a lack of personal accountability. Conversely, when we ask better questions—QBQs—such as “What can I do to contribute?” or “How can I help solve the problem?” our lives and our organizations are transformed.THE QBQ! PROMISEThis remarkable and timely book provides a practical method for putting personal accountability into daily actions, with astonishing results: problems are solved, internal barriers come down, service improves, teams thrive, and people adapt to change more quickly. QBQ! is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to learn, grow, and change. Using this tool, each of us can add tremendous worth to our organizations and to our lives by eliminating blame, victim-thinking, and procrastination.                                                                                                 QBQ! was written more than a decade ago and has helped countless readers practice personal accountability at work and at home. This version features a new foreword, revisions and new material throughout, and a section of  FAQs that the author has received over the years.