Book picks similar to
The Elephant in the Room: How Relationships Make or Break the Success of Leaders and Organizations by Diana McLain Smith
leadership
communication
class
work-and-business-related
Fearless Leadership: How To Overcome Behavioral Blind Spots And Transform Your Organization
Loretta Malandro - 2009
Loretta Malandro has developed a groundbreaking behavior-based methodology that is used around the globe to create top-performing leaders and high-performance organizations. It is based on a simple but profound concept: In order to change your organization, you must be willing to alter your behavior and help others make the choice to change their behavior. This means demanding 100% accountability from your people--and yourself.In today's ultra-competitive business environment, a new leadership approach is needed. Fearless Leadership takes you step by step through the process of raising behavioral standards that directly impact the bottom line. You will learn the secrets behind:Confronting the blind spots that sabotage successOvercoming the success-strangling "need to be right"Eliminating silo mentality and building committed partnershipsEnding compliance and gaining full support and alignmentTalking straight and confronting difficult situations head onBuilding a culture of 100% accountabilityToo many people in leadership positions attempt to enact change through systemic means, such as restructuring or altering processes. The secret to real and lasting change lies in changing behavior--how people work together. Change the level of ownership and performance of people and you will transform your organization.Leaders who are able to act courageously when faced with uncertainty or fear, take bold stands, and engage with people in very real ways are those who generate great and long-lasting results. Fearless Leadership shows you how.
Leadership Lessons of the Navy Seals: Battle-Tested Strategies for Creating Successful Organizations and Inspiring Extraordinary Results
Jeff Cannon - 2002
Built around inspiring stories from both the military and business worlds, Leadership Lessons of the Navy SEALS outlines a step-by-step approach to boosting morale and increasing productivity in any business organization.
Rituals for Work: 50 Ways to Create Engagement, Shared Purpose, and a Culture That Can Adapt to Change
Kursat Ozenc - 2019
Rituals are powerful tools: they reinforce good habits, motivate personal and professional achievement, create a common bond between co-workers and build shared values; they can transform an organization's culture and provide a foundation to achieve common goals. Focusing on real-world examples, this book takes a practical approach to the power and benefits of workplace rituals. This insightful guide presents 50 creative rituals, from business and management to design and personal development. Specific case studies highlight the use of rituals and their positive impact to real-world organizations, while vivid visuals allow us to feel their energy and emotion.A ritual is only effective when its purpose is clearly defined. This book goes beyond simple analysis to provide actual recipes for individual rituals designed to promote specific habits, change negative behaviors, and instill values. Each ritual can be adapted to achieve a multitude of goals and tailored to fit your organization or team's specific needs.● Change behaviors, form positive habits, and assign meaning to shared goals● Build shared values, foster innovation, and encourage strong teamwork● Deal with conflicts effectively and engage others to work on resolutions● Learn the fundamental concepts of ritual-building and share your knowledge with your teamAn informative and inspirational resource for executives, managers, team leaders, and employees of every level, Rituals for Work provides a blueprint for building a culture of engagement, innovation, and shared purpose for organizations of all sizes, across industries.
The soft edge: where great companies find lasting success
Rich Karlgaard - 2014
These factors remain critical, especially given today's unprecedented business climate. But Rich Karlgaard--Forbes publisher, entrepreneur, investor, and board director--takes a surprising turn and argues that there is now a third element that's required for competitive advantage. It fosters innovation, it accelerates strategy and execution, and it cannot be copied or bought. It is found in a perhaps surprising place--your company's values.Karlgaard examined a variety of enduring companies and found that they have one thing in common; all have leveraged their deepest values alongside strategy and execution, allowing them to fuel growth as well as weather hard times. Karlgaard shares these stories and identifies the five key variables that make up every organization's "soft edge"Trust: Northwestern Mutual has built a $25 million dollar revenue juggernaut on trust, the foundation of lasting success. Learn how to create an environment that engenders trust and propels high performance.Smarts: In most technical fields your formal education quickly becomes out of date. How do you keep up? Learn how the Mayo Clinic, Stanford University women's basketball team, and others stay on top by relentlessly pursuing an advantage through smarts.Teamwork: Since collaboration and innovation are a must in the global economy, effective teamwork is vital. Learn how global giant FedEx stays focused and how nimble Nest Labs relies on lean teams with cognitive diversity.Taste: Clever product design and integration are proxies for intelligence because they make customers feel smart. But taste goes further into deep emotional engagement. Specialized Bicycles calls it "the elusive spot between data truth and human truth." How can you consistently make products or services that trigger these emotional touch points?Story: Companies that achieve lasting success have an enduring and emotionally appealing story. What's your company's story? How do you tell it your way? Gain the ability to create a powerful narrative in a world where outsiders often exercise the louder voice.
Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge
Etienne Wenger - 2002
Every leader knows this to be true, yet few have systematic methods for converting organizational knowledge into economic value. This book argues that communities of practice--groups of individuals formed around common interests and expertise--provide the ideal vehicle for driving knowledge-management strategies and building lasting competitive advantage. Written by leading experts in the field, Cultivating Communities of Practice is the first book to outline models and methods for systematically developing these essential groups. Through compelling research and company examples, including DaimlerChrysler, McKinsey & Company, Shell, and the World Bank, authors Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William M. Snyder show how world-class organizations have leveraged communities of practice to drive strategy, generate new business opportunities, solve problems, transfer best practices, develop employees' professional skills, and recruit and retain top talent. Underscoring the new central role communities of practice are playing in today's knowledge economy, Cultivating Communities of Practice is the definitive guide to fostering, designing, and developing these powerful groups within and across organizations.
The Invisible Employee: Realizing the Hidden Potential in Everyone
Adrian Gostick - 2006
It is the magic of a form of human engagement that allows you to see and your employees to be seen. Whether you are looking for a few good tips to keep a good thing going or need to recapture the very essence of a productive workplace, The Invisible Employee provides valuable lessons nestled among the pages of a clever and compelling story. A good read and a wise thesis." --Stephen C. Lundin, bestselling coauthor of Fish! "Gostick and Elton's simple-to-understand and teachable approach of setting and supporting core values and recognizing and celebrating those behaviors can be a very effective management technique for creating a committed and engaged workforce of 'visible employees.' This is a culture no organization can afford to be without." --Michael R. Losey, past president and CEO, Society for Human Resource Management, and Secretary General, World Federation of Personnel Management Associations"The basic principles detailed in The Invisible Employee are simple yet profound: (1) setting a guiding vision, (2) seeing employees supporting that vision, and (3) praising and celebrating that behavior. Restaurants do not sell merchandise that people can take home, we only sell memories. Engaging our entire staff by using these principles helps Friendly's provide great memories for our guests." --John L. Cutter, CEO and President, Friendly Ice Cream Corporation"The Invisible Employee is a very inventive and original book. Combining facts that will surprise you and a fable that will fascinate you, Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton have crafted a book that educates and entertains. The Invisible Employee is a wonderful read with a powerful message, and I highly recommend it to leaders at all levels." --Jim Kouzes, coauthor of The Leadership Challenge
Strategic Thinking Skills
Stanley K. Ridgley - 2012
Professor Ridgley has crafted these 24 lectures as an accessible way to engage with thinking that will help you think-and act-more strategically in business and in your own life, whether you're the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or you're preparing to embark on a new career path.These lectures are loosely organized around several key topics central to effective strategic thinking, including: principles of conflict (in which you'll follow the development of strategic theory from its roots in great military campaigns to its modern applications in business); competitive intelligence (which plays an increasingly important role in strategic thinking); and tools of strategy and analysis (which can aid your understanding of the forces that shape our future and can help you make sense of a rapidly changing world).Central to these lectures are the tools and tricks that strategic thinkers have used to better approach problems and seek lasting solutions. Among those you'll learn how to use are the indirect approach (which offers you a much greater utility in achieving your objectives without approaching your opponent head-on); the value chain (a method that divides your team or organization into its value - producing activities so you can better inform yourself on its internal strengths and weaknesses; and the four actions framework (in which you ask yourself four questions to challenge your established logic in an effort to gain a stronger competitive advantage).
How Stella Saved the Farm: A Tale About Making Innovation Happen
Vijay Govindarajan - 2011
Written by the authors of the New York Times bestselling Reverse Innovation: Create Far From Home, Win Everywhere, the story resonates in organizations of all types—public sector, private sector, and social sector, from mammoth corporations to small organizations employing just a few dozen people.The parable is about a farm in trouble. Bankruptcy, or the grim prospect of being acquired by a hostile competitor, threaten. The farm succeeds only if the team pulls together and innovates.The main characters in the story—Stella, Deirdre, Bull, Mav, Einstein, Rambo, Maisie, and Andrea—are all like people you know, maybe even yourself. The tale includes an unexpected leadership challenge, an ambitious call to action, a bold idea, countless internal obstacles and conflicts, fears, joys, triumphs, and even a love interest.It's a story that can be enjoyed by anyone. How Stella Saved the Farm delivers eight simple lessons to guide innovation initiatives to success. It prepares business leaders to avoid some of innovation's most toxic myths, teaches how to build the right kind of team, and shows how to learn quickly from experience.
Tribe of Millionaires: What if one choice could change everything?
David Osborn - 2019
Traveling to a tropical island with the mysterious "Tribe of Millionaires," Ethan finds his whole approach to business and life shifting with each lesson.The more time Ethan spends with the enigmatic members of the tribe, the more he comes to realize that the answers he seeks are, as they are for all of us, hidden in plain sight.
Leading with Questions: How Leaders Find the Right Solutions by Knowing What to Ask
Michael J. Marquardt - 2005
Throughout the book, he demonstrates how effective leaders use questions to encourage participation and teamwork, foster outside-the-box thinking, empower others, build relationships with customers, solve problems, and much more. Based on interviews with twenty-two successful leaders who "lead with questions," this important book reveals how to determine which questions will lead to solutions in today's complicated business world.
No: The Only Negotiating System You Need for Work and Home
Jim Camp - 2007
- Out of the blue your best customer demands a huge discount--or else he takes his business elsewhere. - You think you finally have a buyer for your home, but then at the last minute she demands that you pay for new landscaping of the yard--or no deal. There are plenty of other properties for sale, and she says she'll walk. - Your son is having trouble in school, and you have to think about how to deal with his "my way or the highway" teacher. When confronted with these--and innumerable other--day-to-day negotiating challenges at work and in your personal life, most people start to guess about how much they should give up in compromise to make the other side happy ("I'll just meet them halfway, and we can put this problem to bed"). Jim Camp has a better way for you to negotiate: "NO." Saying "no" is not about being hard-nosed or intransigent. Rather, it stops everyone in their tracks, clears the air, and allows you to get at what the real issues are. It is a proven and an amazingly effective system that avoids unwarranted assumptions, needless compromises, and wild guesses, showing: - How to stop being needy, banishing emotional responses such as "I must keep this customer's business" or "I have to sell this house now," and start focusing on what you can control--yourself- Why in a negotiation the two worst things to hear are "yes" and "maybe"- How to get to the heart of the issue through the art and science of asking great questions- How to find out who the real "decider" is and stop negotiating with the unqualified We live in a compromise- and assumption-based world, but Jim Camp flips conventional wisdom on its head and in the process makes you a more effective negotiator with clients, customers, spouses, kids, neighbors, and coworkers. Through Camp's system you'll find that "no" is just the start of the negotiation, not the end of it. With it, you'll get everything you want and you'll build solid relationships with those you negotiate with.
Speaker, Leader, Champion: Succeed at Work Through the Power of Public Speaking, Featuring the Prize-Winning Speeches of Toastmasters World Champions
Jeremey Donovan - 2014
They also include a special section of insights and advice for readers who aspire to become serious public speaking competitors."Speaker, Leader, Champion demystifies what makes a presentation extraordinary. This engaging, actionable book will teach you how to go from appreciating a powerful speech to delivering one yourself."--Adam Grant, professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take"Whether you present in the boardroom, classroom, or lunchroom, the guidance will help you become a more confident, authentic, and engaging speaker."--Matt Abrahams, strategic communication lecturer at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and author of Speaking Up Without Freaking Out"To change the world, you need to lead. To lead, you need to communicate. To communicate, you need this book."--Presiyan Vasilev, 2013 World Champion of Public Speaking"This book translates the secret sauce of public speaking into easy-to-use tips."--Zoe Chance, assistant professor of marketing at the Yale University School of Management
How to Invest Your Time Like Money
Elizabeth Grace Saunders - 2015
Unlike others, who create the false hope that if only you worked harder, faster, longer, and smarter, you could do everything you want and make everyone happy, time coach Elizabeth Grace Saunders introduces a process to better manage your limited time so you can focus on what’s important. Her method will help you avoid letting everyday pressures and demands get in the way. Using proven techniques and exercises based on the principles of personal finance, readers will learn to identify their time debt, create a balanced budget, build a base schedule, maximize their time ROI, and identify a process to get back on track—and stay there.
Saved from Success: How God Can Free You from Culture’s Distortion of Family, Work, and the Good Life
Dale Partridge - 2018
What he found challenged everything he believed about "the good life" and equipped him to rebuild an even better life based on God's timeless design. Filled with scripture and practical application, Saved from Success is the book millions of burned-out and bedraggled Christians have been waiting for.
Dual Transformation: How to Reposition Today's Business While Creating the Future
Scott D. Anthony - 2017
Blending case studies from global organizations like Adobe,Johnson & Johnson, and Aetna, first-hand reflections from leaders like FordCEO Mark Fields, as well behind-the-scenes insights from the authors' ownexperiences, this book will guide executives through the journey of becomingthe next version of themselves, allowing them to own the future, rather than bedisrupted by it.