Sears distils over 20 years’ experience as a management consultant and coach into six simple conversational structures that cover every management situation. A natural storyteller with a great narrative gift, Sears delivers his message in an entirely unique manner – as a work of business fiction. In this compelling and highly instructive tale you can follow the journey of newly promoted Operations Manager Sam Mitchell as he faces the everyday pressures and challenges of managing a team, and then relate his experiences to real life scenarios in your workplace. Conversation #1 – What can you do about that? Conversation #2 – Who should really own this? Conversation #3 – How should we be behaving? Conversation #4 – Who’s really doing this? Conversation #5 – Where are we heading? Conversation #6 – How are we doing?   This highly practical guide concludes with a simple how-to chapter, explaining why and how each conversation works, and when to use them, as well as providing accompanying tips and techniques. The Six Conversations of a Brilliant Manager is an instantly-applicable and hugely powerful toolkit for every manager and HR department looking to get the very best out of their people.

    When Wiggins had to pull out of the defence of his yellow jersey, attention moved to Chris Froome, who had finished as runner-up the year before. Could he bring about back-to-back victories for the UK and for Team Sky? With team principal Sir Dave Brailsford at the helm, the levels of expectation were high. Nothing less than a win would do. Embedded within the team was top sportswriter David Walsh, who had been covering the sport for four decades. As the man who had done more than any other journalist to reveal the lies of Lance Armstrong, he has the reputation for exposing the dark secrets that cycling would want to keep hidden. His inside story, from how Team Sky prepared for the Tour de France through to Froome's emphatic victory, is supported by insights from all the key members of the team, and provides a definitive account of a dramatic race that gripped cycling fans around the world.

    Some complex problems simply do not have "solutions." The key to being an effective leader is being able to recognize and manage such problems. Polarity Management presents a unique model and set of principles that will challenge you to look at situations in new ways. Also included are exercises to strengthen your skills, and case studies to help you begin applying the model to your own unsolvable problems.

    However, the rational model ignores the inherent complexity and ambiguity of real-world organizations and their environments. In this landmark volume, Karl E Weick highlights how the `sensemaking′ process shapes organizational structure and behaviour. The process is seen as the creation of reality as an ongoing accomplishment that takes form when people make retrospective sense of the situations in which they find themselves.

    To create lasting change we have to learn to work fluidly with two distinct, fundamental drives that are in tension: power—the single-minded desire to achieve one’s solitary purpose; and love—the drive towards unity.  They are seemingly contradictory but in fact complimentary. As Martin Luther King put it, “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic.” Using revealing stories from complex situations he has been involved in all over the world—the Middle East, South Africa, Europe, India, Guatemala, the Philippines, Australia, Canada and the United States—Kahane reveals how to dynamically balance these two forces. Just as when we are toddlers we learn to shift from one foot to the other to move ourselves forward, so we can learn to shift back and forth between power and love in order to move society forward.

    The 60 cyclists who left Paris to ride through the night to Lyons that first July had little idea they were pioneers of the most famous of all bike races, which would reach its centenary as one of the greatest sporting events on earth. Geoffrey Wheatcroft's masterly history of the Tour de France's first hundred years is not just a hugely entertaining canter through some great Tour stories; nor is it merely a homage to the riders whose names—Coppi, Simpson, Mercx, Armstrong—are synonymous with the event's folly and glory. Focusing too on the race's role in French cultural life, it provides a unique and fascinating insight into Europe's 20th century.

    You can become a wildly successful coach on your own terms. It’s time to transcend the inner voice that screams, “Who the f*ck am I to do this work?!” It's time to stop hiding and step fully into the successful coach you are called to be. I’ve shown hundreds of warrior coaches how to serve clients, make a difference, and make a great living – all while staying true to themselves. I learned how to build an impactful and profitable coaching business without torturing myself or following someone else’s blueprint, and so can you. Your future clients are counting on you! In this book, you’ll learn: Why many new coaches fail to create a sustainable and profitable business. The inside-out approach to finding and enrolling clients who are dying to work with you. How to price your coaching in a way that is abundant, sustainable, and honorable. Why joy, inspiration, and grace are critical to your business strategy. How to step courageously into the coach you were born to be… right now!

     Great coaches realize something that others do not: every moment matters! You must be intentional about everything you do. Whether you are coaching your local youth soccer team, leading your high school football program, or competing for an NCAA championship, Every Moment Matters will give you the tools and strategies to become the coach you always wished you had, and the coach today's athletes are craving. Get ready to have your best season ever!

    Financial collapse, climate change, resource depletion, and a growing gap between rich and poor are but a few of the signs. Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer ask, why do we collectively create results nobody wants? Meeting the challenges of this century requires updating our economic logic and operating system from an obsolete “ego-system” focused entirely on the well-being of oneself to an eco-system awareness that emphasizes the well-being of the whole. Filled with real-world examples, this thought-provoking guide presents proven practices for building a new economy that is more resilient, intentional, inclusive, and aware.

    Prior to the tournament, a statistician calculated the Bulldogs as a 200-to-1 shot to win. But as fascinating as what Butler accomplished was how they did it. Underdawgs tells the incredible and uplifting story. Butler’s coach, 33-year-old Brad Stevens, looked so young he was often mistaken for one of the players, but he had quickly become one of the best coaches in the nation by employing the “Butler Way.” This philosophy of basketball and life, adopted by former coach Barry Collier, is based on five principles: humility, passion, unity, servanthood, and thankfulness. Even the most casual observer could see this in every player, on the court and off, from NBA first-round draft pick Gordon Hayward to the last guy on the bench. Butler was coming off a great 2009–10 regular season, but its longtime existence on the periphery of major college basketball fostered doubt as March Madness set in. But after two historic upsets, one of top-seeded Syracuse and another of second-seeded Kansas State, and making it to the Final Four, the Bulldogs came within the diameter of a shoelace of beating the perennial leaders of college basketball: the Duke Blue Devils. Much more than a sports story, Underdawgs is the consummate David versus Goliath tale. Despite Duke’s winning the championship, the Bulldogs proved they belonged in the game and, in the process, won the respect of people who were not even sports fans.

    I can't tell you how many times I have pulled the book off the shelf to get some direction in creating my own questions. It has been a great asset in helping me have meaningful and directed conversations at a critical time in my new job. And it has saved me precious time. - Great book!?Marlene Lockwood, Group Leader, St. Helen's Hospital, Deer Park, CaliforniaCommunication within many organizations has been reduced to email, electronic file transfer, and hasty sound bytes at hurried meetings. More and more, people appear to have forgotten the value of wisdom gained by ordinary conversations.But, at different times in history, conversation has been regarded as an art form - a crucial component of human relations. Conversation has the power to solve a problem, heal a wound, generate commitment, bond a team, generate new options, or build a vision. Conversations can shift working patterns, build friendships, create focus and energy, cement resolve.The Art of Focused Conversation convincingly restores this most human of attributes to prime place within businesses and organizations, and demonstrates what can be accomplished through the medium of focused conversation. The first Part describes the theory and background of the conversation method, which has been effectively used for group consensus making in: 1) problem solving; 2) troubleshooting; 3) coaching; 4) research and 5) interpretation of data. It also discusses how to prepare a conversation, how to lead a conversation, and what the common mistakes are. Part two then provides 100 sample conversations designed for use in many different situations, including: 1) reviewing and evaluating; 2) preparation and planning; 3) coaching, and mentoring; 4) data and media interpretation; 5) decision making; 6) managing and supervising; and 7) personal reflection and group celebrations.Developed, tested, and extensively used by professionals in the field of organizational development, The Art of Focused Conversation is an invaluable resource for all those working to improve communications in firms and organizations."This book is absolutely fabulous. I started it last night, used a whole bunch of stuff

    It is the start of an ambitious attempt to become perhaps the first person ever to circumnavigate the planet using only a bicycle and boats. With a list of seven challenges to guide him (but no real map), he heads east towards Asia and Australia. The Sydney Opera House is his goal. The story follows Chris as he tackles snowy mountain passes in Turkey, wades across rivers in Tajikistan, eats strange cheeses in Mongolia, and meets with incredible kindness just about everywhere he goes. He lives a simple life - sleeping in a tent, talking to his bike, consuming a really unbelievable number of biscuits, and all the time stubbornly refusing to have anything whatsoever to do with motor vehicles (or escalators). But can he overcome all of the visa deadlines, the breakdowns, the bad roads, the headwinds, the kamikaze kangaroos, and the surprisingly frequent danger of being distracted by members of the opposite sex, to successfully pedal all of the way to Sydney?

    The secret is in the system. Wellpreneurs who find clients online have a system in place that failing wellpreneurs don’t. This system brings more of the right people to your website, and turns them into paying clients. It’s this proven, step-by-step system you’ll learn in this book. Wellpreneur is a guide to nailing your niche and finding more clients online, written just for wellness entrepreneurs. If you’re a health coach, yoga teacher, personal trainer, nutritionist or other wellness professional, you’ll: - Get total clarity on your target market, so you know exactly who you’re serving (and why). - Learn the proven five-step Organic Growth System to attract ideal prospects to your website and turn them into paying clients. - Peek inside the businesses of successful wellpreneurs, to learn how they grew profitable wellness businesses online. - Streamline your online marketing, so you can spend less time marketing, and more time doing work you love! About the Author Amanda Cook is a digital marketer, award winning health coach, and host of The Wellpreneur Podcast, one of the top business podcasts on iTunes, reaching over 10,000 wellness entrepreneurs each month. She has interviewed more than 100 successful wellness entrepreneurs about how they built healthy businesses online, and has spoken at events on five continents. Her work has appeared in The Huffington Post UK, The Sunday Telegraph, Natural Health Magazine, MindBodyGreen, TinyBuddha and Copyblogger. Amanda teaches wellness entrepreneurs around the world to grow their business through digital marketing in her Wellpreneur Marketing Bootcamp, and lives in London and Hong Kong.

    So do professors, facilitators and all changemakers. The challenge is how. Liberating Structures are novel, practical and no-nonsense methods to help you accomplish this goal with groups of any size.Prepare to be surprised by how simple and easy they are for anyone to use. This book shows you how with detailed descriptions for putting them into practice plus tips on how to get started and traps to avoid. It takes the design and facilitation methods experts use and puts them within reach of anyone in any organization or initiative, from the frontline to the C-suite.Part One: The Hidden Structure of Engagement will ground you with the conceptual framework and vocabulary of Liberating Structures. It contrasts Liberating Structures with conventional methods and shows the benefits of using them to transform the way people collaborate, learn, and discover solutions together.Part Two: Getting Started and Beyond offers guidelines for experimenting in a wide range of applications from small group interactions to system-wide initiatives: meetings, projects, problem solving, change initiatives, product launches, strategy development, etc.Part Three: Stories from the Field illustrates the endless possibilities Liberating Structures offer with stories from users around the world, in all types of organizations –– from healthcare to academic to military to global business enterprises, from judicial and legislative environments to R&D.Part Four: The Field Guide for Including, Engaging, and Unleashing Everyone describes how to use each of the 33 Liberating Structures with step-by-step explanations of what to do and what to expect.Discover today what Liberating Structures can do for you, without expensive investments, complicated training, or difficult restructuring. Liberate everyone’s contributions –– all it takes is the determination to experiment.

    From exercises to help you put your worries into perspective, to relaxation methods for when anxiety attacks, Dr Aaron Balick shows you how to feel more at ease and sustain a sense of calm