Academic Leadership

Richard Branson is a well-known international entrepreneur, and his lessons in life and in business have served as an inspiration for all who dream of pursuing careers in business and seek to make names for themselves in the competitive world around them. In this audiobook, you will learn about Branson, his different businesses, and lessons he learned along the way that you can integrate in your daily life.

Despite Jack Ma's massive influence in China and in the global tech world, his inspirational rags-to-riches story is relatively unknown to the general American public. Never Give Up: Jack Ma in His Own Words is a comprehensive guide to the inner workings of arguably the most prominent figure in the global tech world in the past 20 years - comprised entirely of Ma's own thought-provoking and candid quotes.

We all have a lot to learn from the diary of a teacher named Esmé Raji Codell, an educator who has struggled to maintain individuality in the face of bureaucracy and whose defiant stand against mediocrity will reverberate in companies as well as classrooms everywhere.

Although there are more women in higher education than ever before—and increasingly in leadership positions—their paths to success are more difficult than those paved for men. Nine Guiding Principles for Women in Higher Education is a concise and accessible resource aimed at helping women faculty succeed in their academic careers. Karyn Z. Sproles offers guidance, humor, and courage to women in higher education, paying particular attention to those with children and women of color.

What makes a company great? Management trends come and go. Economic conditions fluctuate, and market demands shift. Corporations restructure and new owners take over. The one constant, the one enduring truth, is that people define the character of a company. They always have and always will. Motivated, passionate people make the difference between ho-hum mediocrity and extraordinary performance. That's the message from Peter W. Schutz, former CEO of Porsche AG and author of this new book.

Few organizations solve as many impossible problems as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and nobody knows more about leading rocket scientists to unlikely breakthroughs than Adam Steltzner. As the phase lead and development manager for EDL (entry, descent, and landing) of the Curiosity rover to Mars, Steltzner spearheaded the creation of one of engineering's wackiest kluges - the sky crane, which allowed the heaviest rover in the history of space exploration to land on Mars unscathed.

The year was 1983. A cotton trader, still in his early thirties, began to dream big. His aspiration was to become an 'industrialist'. The venture he was about to embark on was uncharted territory for him. He knew nothing about cement, limestone or anything remotely associated with it. In the era of Licence Raj, where everything from production to consumption was controlled by the government, Narotam Sekhsaria saw the huge potential in cement and its role in a growing nation.

This powerful collection of stories reveals how the world's leading women in business have overcome some of life's biggest challenges to reach the top of their professions. This is an audiobook written for every current and aspiring leader, revealing the things that leaders rarely talk about; the behind-the-scenes struggles. The women in these stories are powerful, internationally diverse and have impressive leadership accomplishments.

In a compilation of fascinating stories, Dr. Jim Webb shares a view of visionary leaders who defied the odds to create extraordinary, lasting results in diverse environments. While guiding listeners on a journey through some of the world’s finest institutions and the influencers who produced and directed radical improvements, he shines a light on a variety of these exceptional leaders. Innovators Who Changed the World profiles the history of those who created, built, and guided organizations and people through transformation and changed the world in the process.

We Took the Risk dives into the personal journeys of 25 executives who, through their own combination of traits, took on the challenges of an early US renewable energy industry. Far from being a self-improvement book or a glorified “who’s who” run down, this book provides a backdrop by which to juxtaposition your own career journey. Author Tom Weirich lets you view the beginnings of the industry as if you were there, lock in step with these entrepreneurial leaders, as they sift through decisions that would forever impact the trajectory of renewables in the US.

One of the most influential figures of our time, Elon Musk is the most talked about man in America who isn’t running for president (yet!). In The Leadership Genius of Elon Musk, veteran business journalist Dennis Kneale chronicles Musk’s extraordinary journey, presenting him as a beacon of inspiration. Musk’s unparalleled success as an innovator and entrepreneur is not just a testament to his genius, but a playbook for those daring to dream big.

Harpreet Grover and Vibhore Goyal met in college and then spent the next decade of their lives building a company before exiting successfully. One way to tell their story is this: they had a dream, they followed it and, then, through perseverance, they made it come true. But that’s not really the truth. Like everything in life - at least everything worth having - it wasn’t that simple. There was blood, sweat and tears, there was loss of capital, loss of friendship and even a loss of faith along the way.

Freeman A. Hrabowski III, the outspoken president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and coauthors Philip J. Rous and Peter H. Henderson probe the way senior leaders, administrators, staff, faculty, and students facilitate academic success by cultivating an empowering institutional culture and broad leadership for innovation. They examine how shared leadership enables an empowered campus to tackle tough issues by taking a hard look in the mirror, noting strengths and weaknesses while assessing opportunities and challenges.

Ken Chenault’s life confounds stereotypical presumptions about and expectations for a Black American man. Born in Mineola, New York, to a dentist and a hygienist as the civil rights movement began to gather steam, much of his childhood and early adult years unfolded in a modest middle-class setting during the political and social tumult of the 1960s—the Vietnam War, the struggle for racial equality, the fight for women’s rights, the rise of the counterculture. Though he was partly informed by these inescapable influences, even then, Chenault displayed an independence of thought.

Sandra Lindsay immigrated to the United States from Jamaica with ambitions of becoming a nurse and living the American Dream. In December 2020, she became the first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and was subsequently honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In First in Line Lindsay lays out her triumphs and setbacks as a single mother and working student who overcomes barriers. Her beginnings as a four-dollar-an-hour grocery store worker fortified her with the resilience to persevere over decades to become an executive at a globally recognized nationally known healthcare system.

白手起家创立了深圳华为技术有限公司，踏进“世界巨人俱乐部”的任正非，看起来就是一个其貌不扬的“老工人”，却会让世界跨国巨头们寝食难安，本有声书为您揭示这其中的缘由。…… 白手起家創立了深圳華為技術有限公司，踏進「世界巨人俱樂部」的任正非，看起來就是一個其貌不揚的「老工人」，卻會讓世界跨國巨頭們寢食難安，本有聲書為您揭示這其中的緣由。

Essential Leadership Lessons from the Thin Blue Line is just that—lessons learned the old-fashioned way through trial and error, studying, hard work, and experience while on our nation's front lines to serve and protect. Dean Crisp spent decades leading people where a single misstep could cost a life. Faced with the daily challenges of a police chief, Dean threw himself into learning all he could about effective leadership and applying those lessons in his departments. He shares those hard-won lessons in this book.

Join Nyimpini Mabunda on his journey from his childhood in an apartheid-era homeland to the CEO's office at one of the world's best-known businesses. In a career spanning Procter & Gamble, Nando's, Diageo, Boston Consulting Group, Vodacom and General Electric in South Africa, the UK and Uganda, Mabunda shows why he strives for continuous and active improvement of his business acumen and leadership skills.

In “The Trail to Success: A City Manager on Leadership, Management, and Civic Empowerment" Howard W. Brown Jr. shares his inspiring journey from a first generation college student to one of the youngest and few Black city managers in the nation. This memoir is not just a chronicle of Brown's rise, but also a candid account of the challenges he faced along the way. From a youthful marriage and subsequent divorce, raising two children, financial struggles, multiple relocations, to the relentless scrutiny of the media, Brown's journey was far from easy.

Ken Pasternak’s distinguished career as a banker, management consultant, executive educator, author, and keynote speaker has provided a wealth of experience with people and organizations internationally. In this book, he shares some of the most memorable stories from his wide-ranging travels and his many encounters with celebrities, and draws out truths that still apply today in both life and business. From leadership to life skills, culture to kindness, these are stories that will make you laugh and make you think, and might just change your perspective on life.