Semper Fi: Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way


Dan Carrison - 1998
    Marine Corps has been a paragon of world-class leadership, excelling in the areas of motivation, training, and management. Semper Fi -- which since its hardcover publication has become a best-selling, business leadership classic -- shows readers how to adapt these proven practices for their own organizations. Semper Fi goes behind the scenes to pinpoint what works for the USMC, showing readers how to create a training and management culture that brings out the best in all their employees. The book gives readers tough, practical tips for: * inspiring individual initiative * rewarding hard work * encouraging loyalty * working with limited resources * dealing with change * "leading the troops"" at every level of the organization. "This is not," according to Dan Rather, "one of those mumbo-jumbo, pseudo-philosophical books on leadership. Semper Fi is a book you will actually USE, read, and refer to again and again."

The Skilled Facilitator: A Comprehensive Resource for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, and Coaches


Roger Schwarz - 2002
    The book is a classic work for consultants, facilitators, managers, leaders, trainers, and coaches--anyonewhose role is to facilitate and guide groups toward realizing theircreative and problem-solving potential. This thoroughly revisededition provides the essential materials for anyone that workswithin the field of facilitation and includes simple but effectiveground rules for group interaction. Filled with illustrativeexamples, the book contains proven techniques for starting meetingson the right foot and ending them positively and decisively. Thisimportant resource also offers practical methods for handlingemotions when they arise in a group and offers a diagnosticapproach for identifying and solving problems that can underminethe group process

Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work


Chip Heath - 2013
    The four principles that can help us to overcome our brains' natural biases to make better, more informed decisions -- in our lives, careers, families and organizations.In Decisive, Chip Heath and Dan Heath, the bestselling authors of Made to Stick and Switch, tackle the thorny problem of how to overcome our natural biases and irrational thinking to make better decisions, about our work, lives, companies and careers.    When it comes to decision making, our brains are flawed instruments.  But given that we are biologically hard-wired to act foolishly and behave irrationally at times, how can we do better?  A number of recent bestsellers have identified how irrational our decision making can be.  But being aware of a bias doesn't correct it, just as knowing that you are nearsighted doesn't help you to see better.  In Decisive, the Heath brothers, drawing on extensive studies, stories and research, offer specific, practical tools that can help us to think more clearly about our options, and get out of our heads, to improve our decision making, at work and at home.

You Can't Fire Everyone: And Other Lessons from an Accidental Manager


Hank Gilman - 2011
     Plenty of managers never asked, expected, or trained to be put in charge of other people. But when it happens, these accidental bosses often find that learning to manage is like learning to swim by being dropped into the deep end of the pool. Hank Gilman knows what that's like. As a top editor for "Fortune, Newsweek," and the "Boston Globe," he has helped nurture some outstanding talent. His success can be attributed largely to his management style, which allows him to treat his employees like, well, humans, while holding them accountable. But he was far from a natural when it was time to take charge. Gilman shares the lessons he's learned-through trial and error-during his two decades as a manager in one of the craziest businesses on the planet. Writing in a warm but no-nonsense voice, he offers straight-up advice on the ins and outs of hiring, firing, motivating, and dealing with cranky superstars. Gilman argues that your employees should always come first-and that managing down, as opposed to managing up, will ultimately lead to a successful career as a boss.

HBR's 10 Must Reads 2016: The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year from Harvard Business Review (with bonus McKinsey Award–Winning article "Profits Without Prosperity”) (HBR’s 10 Must Reads)


Harvard Business Review - 2015
    With authors from Marcus Buckingham to Herminia Ibarra and company examples from Google to Deloitte, this volume brings the most current and important management conversations to your fingertips.This book will inspire you to:• Tap into the new technologies that are changing the way businesses compete• Fuel performance by redesigning your organization’s practices around feedback• Learn techniques to move beyond intuition for better decision making• Understand why your strategy execution isn’t working—and how to fix it• Lead with authenticity by moving beyond your comfort zone• Transform your physical office space to promote creativity and productivityThis collection of best-selling articles includes:• “Reinventing Performance Management,” by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall• “The Transparency Trap,” by Ethan Bernstein• “Profits Without Prosperity,” by William Lazonick• “Outsmart Your Own Biases,” by Jack B. Soll, Katherine L. Milkman, and John W. Payne• “The 3-D Printing Revolution,” by Richard D’Aveni• “Why Strategy Execution Unravels—and What to Do About It,” by Donald Sull, Rebecca Homkes, and Charles Sull• “The Authenticity Paradox,” by Herminia Ibarra• “The Discipline of Business Experimentation,” by Stefan Thomke and Jim Manzi• “When Senior Managers Won’t Collaborate,” by Heidi K. Gardner• “Workspaces That Move People,” by Ben Waber, Jennifer Magnolfi, and Greg Lindsay• “Digital Ubiquity: How Connections, Sensors, and Data Are Revolutionizing Business,” by Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani

Finerman's Rules: Secrets I'd Only Tell My Daughters About Business and Life


Karen Finerman - 2013
    Or as her mother used to say, "I buy my girls Calvin Klein clothes... Then when they graduate from college, they have to figure out how to pay for them themselves." In order to keep herself in Calvin, Karen went to work on Wall Street.As a woman working in finance she noticed numerous ways that she and her female colleagues sabotaged themselves both professionally and personally. Why were her friends unable to bring the same logic they applied at work to personal decisions? Why did they often let personal baggage undermine them in the office in a way that her male colleagues never did? A classic illustration is that women tend to Poll (Do I look good in these shoes?) rather than Decide, often giving too much weight to the input from a random stranger rather than rely on their own gut.Covering three major topics (Career, Money, Love), Finerman's Rules serves up unvarnished advice about getting ahead in your career, overcoming failure, meeting your ideal mate, and navigating the challenges of work-life balance. Most importantly, she offers the reader a crash course in taking control of her financial destiny. Or as Karen puts it, "You wouldn't let a man tell you where to live, how to vote, or what to wear. Then tell me why 80 percent of women have a man in charge of their money?"

HBR's 10 Must Reads on Collaboration (with featured article “Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership,” by Daniel Goleman and Richard Boyatzis)


Harvard Business School Press - 2013
    We’ve combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you work more productively with people on your team, in other departments, and in other organizations.Leading experts such as Daniel Goleman, Herminia Ibarra, and Morten Hansen provide the insights and advice you need to:• Forge strong relationships up, down, and across the organization• Build a collaborative culture• Bust silos• Harness informal knowledge sharing• Pick the right type of collaboration for your business• Manage conflict wisely• Know when not to collaborateLooking for more Must Read articles from Harvard Business Review? Check out these titles in the popular series:HBR’s 10 Must Reads: The EssentialsHBR’s 10 Must Reads on CommunicationHBR’s 10 Must Reads on InnovationHBR’s 10 Must Reads on LeadershipHBR’s 10 Must Reads on Making Smart DecisionsHBR’s 10 Must Reads on Managing YourselfHBR’s 10 Must Reads on Strategic MarketingHBR’s 10 Must Reads on Teams

The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It


Kelly McGonigal - 2012
     More than forty-four percent of Americans admit to losing sleep over stress. And while most of us do everything we can to reduce it, Stanford psychologist and bestselling author Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., delivers a startling message: Stress isn’t bad. In The Upside of Stress, McGonigal highlights new research indicating that stress can, in fact, make us stronger, smarter, and happier—if we learn how to embrace it. The Upside of Stress is the first book to bring together cutting-edge discoveries on the correlation between resilience—the human capacity for stress-related growth—and mind-set, the power of beliefs to shape reality. As she did in The Willpower Instinct, McGonigal combines science, stories, and exercises into an engaging and practical book that is both entertaining and life-changing, showing you:how to cultivate a mind-set to embrace stresshow stress can provide focus and energyhow stress can help people connect and strengthen close relationshipswhy your brain is built to learn from stress, and how to increase its ability to learn from challenging experiences McGonigal’s TED talk on the subject has already received more than 7 million views. Her message resonates with people who know they can’t eliminate the stress in their lives and want to learn to take advantage of it. The Upside of Stress is not a guide to getting rid of stress, but a guide to getting better at stress, by understanding it, embracing it, and using it.

Essentials of Contemporary Management


Gareth R. Jones - 2003
    Jones and George are dedicated to the challenge of "Making It Real" for students. The authors present management in a way that makes its relevance obvious even to students who might lack exposure to a "real-life" management context. This is accomplished thru a diverse set of examples, and the unique, and most popular feature of the text, the "Manager as a Person" Chapter 2. This chapter discusses managers as real people with their own personalities, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and problems and this theme is carried thru the remaining chapters. This text also discusses the importance of management competencies--the specific set of skills, abilities, and experiences that gives one manager the ability to perform at a higher level than another in a specific context. The themes of diversity, ethics, globalization, and information technology are integrated throughout.

The Pomodoro Technique


Francesco Cirillo - 2006
    The Wall Street Journal says the method can “help anyone to focus.”The new version of the Pomodoro Technique includes a chapter on how to make the Technique work for you. Readers will also learn how to predict the time it takes to complete a task, monitor their productivity and set personal goals.Having fun with time management might seem like an oxymoron to some but it’s actually possible with the Pomodoro Technique!

Instant Rapport


Michael Brooks - 1989
    The national bestseller that shows how anyone can master the proven scientific techniques of neurolinguistic programming (NLP) and forge instant relationships, instant chemistry, instant intimacy at will--now with a special chapter on sexual rapport! Trains the reader to control others' perceptions, dissolve communication barriers, create more intimate relationships, negotiate more effectively, and more.

Stick Together: A Simple Lesson to Build a Stronger Team


Jon Gordon - 2021
    The authors guide individuals and teams on an inspiring journey to show them how to persevere through challenges, overcome obstacles, and create success together.Stick Together follows Coach David, a high school basketball coach looking to motivate his team for the new season. The team members are given sticks with words written on them and tasked with a number of missions:To find another player with the same word written on their stick To explain why that word is important for a team to be their best To render their sticks unbreakable As the players work together to complete their tasks, they discover how to make their team stronger and create an unbreakable bond. Perfect for student athletes and teams in all industries including business, education, healthcare, and nonprofit, and for readers of all ages, Stick Together will resonate with anyone looking to improve their team performance and excel in a group environment.