Conversational Capacity: The Secret to Building Successful Teams That Perform When the Pressure Is on


Craig Weber - 2013
    Craig Weber provides managers and team leaders with the communication tools they need to ensure that the team remains on track even when dealing with its most troublesome issues, responds to tough challenges with greater agility and skill, and performs brilliantly in circumstances that incapacitate less disciplined teams.Craig Weber is an international consultant specializing in team and leadership development.

Outlearning the Wolves: Surviving and Thriving in a Learning Organization


David Hutchens - 1998
    Yet, it is fair to say that the central message of this deceptively simple tale is almost as radical today as it was when Pegasus first published it 10 years ago. As Fritz observes, it is still the rare organization that appreciates the insight that the sheep in the story discover: "Individual learning, good as it is, does not necessarily translate into organizational learning. The learning must become collective." That is why this book continues to be such an important resource for innovators determined to confront the wolves of complacency in their organizations by stimulating people s natural desire to creatively improve their results-together.

Boards That Deliver: Advancing Corporate Governance from Compliance to Competitive Advantage


Ram Charan - 2005
    Ram Charan, expert in corporate governance and best-selling author, packs this book with useful tools and techniques to take boards and their companies to a higher level of performance. Charan puts his finger on a growing problem for boards: the disconnect between directors' efforts and their results. The added time and attention boards invest is not translating into better governancea that is, governance that adds value to the business. Boards That Deliver gets beyond the rhetoric of corporate governance reform. It captures the tried-and-true practices used by high-performance boards. In contrast to experts who base prescriptions on number-crunching exercises, Charan identifies the real problems that drain directors' time and suppress their best judgmentsa and explains clearly and succinctly how boards can solve those problems. These battle-tested solutions help boards achieve what rules and regulations alone cannota to get succession right, refine a winning strategy, and design a rational CEO compensation package.Good governance requires leadership. Boards That Deliver is the no-nonsense guide for directors and CEOs who are rising to the leadership challenge to make their boards a competitive advantage.

The Elephant Catchers: Key Lessons for Breakthrough Growth


Subroto Bagchi - 2013
    Those who hunt Rabbits are rarely able to rope in Elephants. Many organizations, even those that may have a brilliant start, falter in their attempts to achieve transformational growth in their later phases. In The Elephant Catchers, Subroto Bagchi distils his years of on-the-ground learning to explore why this happens and what such organizations and their people must do to climb to the next level and beyond. Through a combination of engaging anecdotes from his experiences as co-founder and subsequently Chairman of Mindtree Ltd and insightful stories from our everyday world, Bagchi demonstrates a crucial point: Organizations with real ambition to get to the top need to embrace the idea of scale and then ensure that it systematically pervades every aspect of its functioning. In doing this, he leads you to evaluate: Is your organization's infrastructure designed to evolve and ultimately mimic the simultaneity of a living organism? Are you constantly nurturing and renewing your brand identity or letting it stagnate and decay? Does your sales force have as many hunters as it has farmers or is it dominated by a grizzly who just waits for the salmon to land in its mouth? In a fiercely competitive environment, are you really stepping 'out of the box' and learning from unusual sources? Are leaders in your organization truly building capacity or merely solving problems?Practical advice on real issues, from how to deal with consultants to the question of succession, words of caution on strategy traps and M&A's and invaluable insights into a whole range of growth-related issues - The Elephant Catchers has it all. Engaging, wise and thoroughly accessible, this book is a must-read for everyone in every organization seeking breakout success.

Letters from Leaders: Personal Advice For Tomorrow's Leaders From The World's Most Influential People


Henry O. Dormann - 2009
    Dormann—founder, chairman, and editor-in-chief of LEADERS magazine, whose circulation is limited to such leading figures. Here, he brings together the first-ever exclusive collection of wisdom and inspiration addressed to young people from the world’s most influential people—advice on leadership, goal achievement, public service, and life journeys. Letters from Leaders is a beautifully designed book comprising nearly eighty letters from those who have done so much to shape our world today—from Muhammad Ali to four U.S. Presidents, Mikhail Gorbachev, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand and King Abdullah II of Jordan, and the Dalai Lama; from Cathie Black to T. Boone Pickens, Muriel Siebert, and Donald Trump. The letters, some as facsimile reproductions of handwritten originals, are each introduced with a biographical note by Dormann. As put so aptly by Dormann in his introduction, “All kings and queens, presidents, Nobel Laureates, chairmen and chairwomen, CEOs, and world leaders have one thing in common: They want what they have achieved to be useful and to be handed over to a younger generation. . . . The leaders in these pages have ‘lived’ and now offer their experiences as a treasure to ambitious and open minds—those who want to be something in life.”

Leading Change: The Argument For Values-Based Leadership


James O'Toole - 1995
    . .Mr. O'Toole puts soul and values squarely back into a vital topic, leadership."--Tom Peters The New York Times Book Review"A deeply philosophical and eminently practical study of leadership as change."--James MacGregor BurnsPulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner, and author of LeadershipCurrent management philosophy advocates an outmoded Machiavellian approach to running organizations: Leaders are told in countless books that they can only accomplish their goals by being tough, manipulative, dictatorial, or paternalistic as the situation requires.In Leading Change, noted management theorist James O'Toole proposes a provocative new vision of leadership in the business world--a vision of leadership rooted in moral values and a consistent display of respect for all followers. As O'Toole brilliantly demonstrates, values-based leadership is not only fair and just, it is also highly effective in today's complex organizations.When leaders truly believe that their prime goal is the welfare of their followers, they get results. The finest leaders--from political giants like Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln to contemporary CEOs like Max De Pree and James Houghton--have always shared leadership with their followers. They create organizations that encourage change and self-reevaluation; they foster an atmosphere of open-mindedness and fresh thinking, in which assumptions can be challenged and goals reassessed. Grounded in the ideas of moral philosophy, Leading Change powerfully transcends the standard how-to management primer to define a challenging new approach to leadership. As O'Toole so persuasively argues, growth and change are possible, indeed necessary, and they will be effected by individuals who have the stature and the courage to lead morally. This important book, at once thought-provoking and totally practical, is bound to take its place as one of the landmark business volumes of our times."Jim O'Toole has written the essential work for organizations to survive and thrive in today's changing world. His intellectually penetrating thinking shows us how the sometimes conflicting problems we wrestle with--often in piecemeal fashion--fit together to form a complete picture, even as the picture itself continues to change. His message is so critical to the very existence of every organization that any leader who fails to heed his advice condemns his or her company to mediocrity and/or early death. It's that basic."--Warren Bennis Professor and founding chairman of the Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California Author of An Invented Life and Why Leaders Can't Lead

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.

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.

Care to Dare: Unleashing Astonishing Potential Through Secure Base Leadership


George Kohlrieser - 2012
    It shows you how you can unleash astonishing potential by building the trust, delivering the change, and inspiring the focus that underpins sustainable high performance.From extensive interviews with executives from all over the world, as well as from surveys with more than a thousand executives, the book reveals the nine characteristics that Secure Base Leaders display on a daily basis. The research shows that a primary difference between a successful leader and a failed leader is the presence or absence of secure bases in his or her life.Care to Dare will take you on a journey where you will discover your own secure bases, past and present, and determine how you can be a secure base for other people in your life at work and at home.

Basic Business Communication


Raymond V. Lesikar - 1979
    This latest edition examines current technologies including wireless, Net meeting, and Web-based research. A stimulating CDROM features video clips demonstrating good and bad communication, useful writing templates, and more.

Managing by Values: How to Put Your Values Into Action for Extraordinary Results


Kenneth H. Blanchard - 1996
    This timely book suggests instead a "Fortunate 500" list, based on the quality of service available to customers and the quality of life accessible to employees. Managing by Values shows how all stakeholders in a company can win based on their commitment to a common purpose and a set of shared values emphasizing stability, continuity, and growth, all in an ethical context. More than a "must read," this book is a "must do" that shows organizations, owners, managers, and employees how to create and apply a plan to ensure they survive - and thrive.

The Secret of the Seven Seeds: A Parable of Leadership and Life


David Fischman - 2002
    In this fascinating and instructive book, he reveals his personal story through the fictional character Ignacio Rodriguez. Ignacio is 40-something stressed-out entrepreneur who is utterly overwhelmed--he is at risk for a heart attack, is losing money at his business--where employee morale is at an all-time low, and has no time or energy for his family. At first, he ignores these problems, thinking that if he only works harder, things will all get better. Predictably, his life quickly gets out of control. His doctor recommends that he try meditation to regain balance in his life. Ignacio--who is skeptical--finds a spiritual guide, who helps Ignacio heal by finding his path in the secret of the seven seeds. The seven seeds represent the path to success and balance in life: self-knowledge, meditation, egolessness, service to others, goodness, balance, and freedom.

The Real Thing: Truth and Power at the Coca-Cola Company


Constance L. Hays - 2004
    With fresh insights and a penetrating eye, New York Times reporter Constance L. Hays examines a century of Coca-Cola history through deft portraits of the charismatic, driven men who used luck, spin, and the open door of enterprise to turn a beverage with no nutritional value into a remedy, a refreshment, and an international object of consumer desire. The rise of Coke is also a catalog of carbonation, soda fountains, dynastic bottling businesses, global expansion, and outsize promotional campaigns, not all of which succeeded. By examining relationships at every level of the company, Hays reveals the psyche of a great American corporation–and also tells a larger story about business and this nation’s culture.

Coach: The A. L. Williams Story


Art Williams - 2006
    Williams and it "ragtag army of part-timers" took on a Goliath-sezed insurance industry.

Executive Power: Use the Greatest Collection of Psychological Strategies to Create an Automatic Advantage in Any Business Situation


David J. Lieberman - 2008
    This book contains specific, carefully formulated psychological tactics that can be applied to any business situation, with any person. This book offers readers the opportunity to use the most important psychological tools governing human behavior, not just to level the playing field, but to create an automatic advantage in today's business world. The book will arm the reader with the tactics to: * Get back any customer you've lost. * Find out who in your company is loyal to you and who is not. * Get any group of people to get along and work as a team. * Turn a lazy worker into an ambitious go-getter. * Fire anyone easily, without an argument or even a difficult conversation. * Dilute the impact of negative publicity quickly. * Collect money owed, no matter how long it's been overdue. * Inspire your client, colleague, or boss to go along with your idea or plan. * Manage the unmanageable-get any employee to fall in line with the company line.