The Opposable Mind


Book Description

If you want to be as successful as Jack Welch, Larry Bossidy, or Michael Dell, read their autobiographical advice books, right? Wrong, says Roger Martin in The Opposable Mind. Though following best practice can help in some ways, it also poses a danger. By emulating what a great leader did in a particular situation, you'll likely be terribly disappointed with your own results. Why? Your situation is different. Instead of focusing on what exceptional leaders do, we need to understand and emulate how they think. Successful businesspeople engage in what Martin calls integrative thinking, creatively resolving the tension in opposing models by forming entirely new and superior ones. Drawing on stories of leaders as diverse as AG Lafley of Procter & Gamble, Meg Whitman of eBay, Victoria Hale of the Institute for One World Health, and Nandan Nilekani of Infosys, Martin shows how integrative thinkers are relentlessly diagnosing and synthesizing by asking probing questions including: What are the causal relationships at work here? and What are the implied trade-offs? Martin also presents a model for strengthening your integrative thinking skills by drawing on different kinds of knowledge including conceptual and experiential knowledge. Integrative thinking can be learned, and The Opposable Mind helps you master this vital skill.




Management and Leadership - Simple Steps to Win, Insights and Opportunities for Maxing Out Success


Book Description

The one-stop-source powering Management and Leadership success, jam-packed with ready to use insights for success, loaded with all the data you need to decide how to gain and move ahead. An one-of-a-kind book, based on extensive research, this reveals the best practices of the most successful Management and Leadership knowledge mavens, those who are adept at continually innovating and seeing opportunity where others do not. This is the first place to go for Management and Leadership innovation, in today's knowledge-driven business environment, professionals face particular challenges as their purpose is to discover or develop new concepts, products, or processes; the pressure to perform is intense. This title is the entryway to a single source for innovation. BONUS: Included with the book come numerous real-world Management and Leadership blueprints, presentations and templates ready for you to download and use. This book addresses the crucial issue of Management and Leadership adoption by presenting the facts to move beyond general observation. The model underpinning this book has been used as a predictive decision tool, tracking thousands of innovations for over more than a decade. And...this all-encompassing analysis focuses on key areas of future Management and Leadership growth.




On Leadership


Book Description

In this series of lectures, previously unpublished in English, andhere translated from a French reconstruction and interpretation bynoted scholar Thierry Weil, leading organizational scholar JamesMarch uses great works of literature to explore the problems ofleadership. Uses great works of literature to explore the problems ofleadership, for example War and Peace, Othello, and DonQuixote. Presents moral dilemmas related to leadership, for example thebalance between private life and public duties, and between theexpression and the control of sexuality. Encourages readers to explore ideas that are sometimessubversive and unpalatable but may allow organizations to adapt ina rapidly changing world.




The Art of Action


Book Description

What do you want me to do? This question is the enduring management issue, a perennial problem that Stephen Bungay shows has an old solution that is counter-intuitive and yet common sense. The Art of Action is a thought-provoking and fresh look at how managers can turn planning into execution, and execution into results. Drawing on his experience as a consultant, senior manager and a highly respected military historian, Stephen Bungay takes a close look at the nineteenth-century Prussian Army, which built its agility on the initiative of its highly empowered junior officers, to show business leaders how they can build more effective, productive organizations. Based on a theoretical framework which has been tested in practice over 150 years, Bungay shows how the approach known as 'mission command' has been applied in businesses as diverse as pharmaceuticals and F1 racing today. The Art of Action is scholarly but engaging, rigorous but pragmatic, and shows how common sense can sometimes be surprising.




Lift


Book Description

Just as the Wright Brothers combined science and practice to finally realize the dream of flight, Ryan and Robert Quinn combine research and personal experience to demonstrate how to reach a psychological state that elevates us and those around us to greater heights of achievement, integrity, openness, and empathy. It's the psychological equivalent of aerodynamic lift, and it is the fundamental state of leadership. This book draws on recent advances in positive psychology and organizational science to describe four questions that, when asked in any situation, will help us experience the fundamental state of leadership. Engaging personal stories illustrate how the Quinns and others have applied these concepts at work, at home, and in the community. --




No Bullsh!t Leadership


Book Description

What makes a truly exceptional leader? Discover the practical, fail-proof tools that will help you to fine-tune your leadership skills, solidify respect among your workforce, and ensure your company’s lasting success. When Martin G. Moore was asked to rescue a leading energy corporation from ever-increasing debt and a lack of executive accountability, he faced an uphill battle. Not only had he never before stepped into the role of CEO; he also had no experience in the rapidly evolving energy sector. Relying on the practical leadership principles he had honed throughout his thirty-three-year career, he overhauled the company’s culture, redefined its leadership capability, and increased earnings by a compound annual growth rate of 125 percent. In No Bullsh!t Leadership, Moore outlines these proven leadership principles in a clear, direct way. He sweeps away the mystical fog surrounding leadership today and lays out the essential steps for success. Moore combines this tangible advice with honest, real-world examples from his own career to provide a no-nonsense look at the skills a true leader possesses. Moore’s principles for no bullshit leadership focus on: Creating value by focusing only on the things that matter most Facing conflict, adversity, and ambiguity with decisiveness and confidence Setting uncompromising standards for behavior and performance Selecting and developing great people Making those people accountable, and empowering them to do their best Setting simple, value-driven goals and communicating them relentlessly Though the steps aren’t easy, they are guaranteed, if implemented, to lift your leadership–and your organization–to a higher level. Wherever you are in your career, No Bullsh!t Leadership will help you develop the skills and form the habits needed to become a no bullshit leader.




Managing for People Who Hate Managing


Book Description

Professional success, more often than not, means becoming a manager. Yet nobody prepared you for having to deal with messy tidbits like emotions, conflicts, and personalities—all while achieving ever-greater goals and meeting ever-looming deadlines. Not exactly what you had in mind, is it? Don't panic. Devora Zack has the tools to help you succeed and even thrive as a manager. Drawing on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Zack introduces two primary management styles—thinkers and feelers—and guides you in developing a management style that fits who you really are. She takes you through a host of potentially difficult situations, showing how this new way of understanding yourself and others makes managing less of a stumble in the dark and more of a walk in the park. Her enlightening examples, helpful exercises, and lifesaving tips make this book the new go-to guide for all those managers looking to love their jobs again.




Kick Some Glass (PB)


Book Description

The rule-smashing guide for motivated working women who want to stop following someone else’s rules and take charge of their own success.You leaned in like a palm tree in a hurricane. You cracked the confidence code. You’re determined not to be a nice girl, but a #GirlBoss. You’ve learned you can’t have it all, but you still try anyway. You know all of this. You’ve read the books, downloaded the apps, vision boarded and journaled your way to oblivion and back, to no avail. Whether you’re stuck in middle management, stalled in mid-career, or mulling over a major career change, sometimes the proverbial glass ceiling feels very real indeed—a barrier keeping you from fulfilling your potential. Unlike other books, which focus on fixing you, Kick Some Glass empowers you to break through your glass ceiling and guides you toward understanding your context and uncovering what you really want, what your definition of success is, what your values are, and how to set the goals to reach your potential.This is no one-size-fits-all career guide. It’s a top-to-bottom, inside-out, do-it-yourself makeover with the focus completely on you. In each chapter, you’ll be asked to evaluate specific parts of your work life, home life, personal strengths and weaknesses, past history and present obstacles, both internal and external, so you can:•Live your intention and design a meaningful life at any stage•Identify the underlying values that are the core of your being•Get comfortable with your personal power and understand what it means•Uncover the conscious and subconscious mental models that are holding you back•Take calculated risks through planful action with a clear direction•Let go of things you cannot control or change•Become more resilient, adaptable, and self-aware•Make the choices and tradeoffs necessary to fulfill your goals•Decide if it’s time to reinvent your career—and prepare for your next move•Find that elusive work-life balance that’s right for you•Create your own definition of success—and make it happen for youBest of all, you’ll be able to map out a career course for yourself that is based on your own definition of success, play and win by your own rules, and pay it forward by busting down doors for the next generation of women.In the end, this book will help you uncover who you truly are and approach your professional life in ways that are authentic and most meaningful to you—and no one else. After all, only you hold the answers. It’s time to Kick Some Glass.




The Making of a Manager


Book Description

Instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller! Congratulations, you're a manager! After you pop the champagne, accept the shiny new title, and step into this thrilling next chapter of your career, the truth descends like a fog: you don't really know what you're doing. That's exactly how Julie Zhuo felt when she became a rookie manager at the age of 25. She stared at a long list of logistics--from hiring to firing, from meeting to messaging, from planning to pitching--and faced a thousand questions and uncertainties. How was she supposed to spin teamwork into value? How could she be a good steward of her reports' careers? What was the secret to leading with confidence in new and unexpected situations? Now, having managed dozens of teams spanning tens to hundreds of people, Julie knows the most important lesson of all: great managers are made, not born. If you care enough to be reading this, then you care enough to be a great manager. The Making of a Manager is a modern field guide packed everyday examples and transformative insights, including: * How to tell a great manager from an average manager (illustrations included) * When you should look past an awkward interview and hire someone anyway * How to build trust with your reports through not being a boss * Where to look when you lose faith and lack the answers Whether you're new to the job, a veteran leader, or looking to be promoted, this is the handbook you need to be the kind of manager you wish you had.




Oversubscribed


Book Description

Don't fight for customers, let them fight over you! Have you ever queued for a restaurant? Pre-ordered something months in advance? Fought for tickets that sell out in a day? Had a hairdresser with a six-month waiting list? There are people who don't chase clients, clients chase them. In a world of endless choices, why does this happen? Why do people queue up? Why do they pay more? Why will they book months in advance? Why are these people and products in such high demand? And how can you get a slice of that action? In Oversubscribed, entrepreneur and bestselling author Daniel Priestley explains why…and, most importantly, how. This book is a recipe for ensuring demand outstrips supply for your product or service, and you have scores of customers lining up to give you money. Oversubscribed: Shows leaders, marketers, and entrepreneurs how they can get customers queuing up to use their services and products while competitors are forced to fight for business Explains how to become oversubscribed, even in a crowded marketplace Is full of practical tips alongside inspiring examples to alter our mindsets and get us bursting with ideas Is written by a successful entrepreneur who's used these ideas to excel in the ventures he has launched