Business Leadership Management

The new question: Ten years after the worldwide bestseller Good to Great, Jim Collins returns to ask: Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty, even chaos, and others do not? In Great by Choice, Collins and his colleague, Morten T. Hansen, enumerate the principles for building a truly great enterprise in unpredictable, tumultuous, and fast-moving times. The new study: Great by Choice distinguishes itself from Collins’s prior work by its focus on the type of unstable environments faced by leaders today.

Customers can be a mystery. Despite the availability of more data than ever before, everyone, from the CEO to salespeople in the field, struggles to understand who their customers really are, what they want, why they lose them, and how to regain them. To crack the case, start thinking like a market detective. David Scott Duncan shows how in his entertaining story of Tazza, a fictional chain of cafes with declining sales and leaders urgently seeking to understand why.

"Silos" are organizations' vertical structures—but the word has become synonymous with barriers to workplace effectiveness and connotes deep political infighting. Silos devastate organizations, kill productivity, push good people out the door, and jeopardize the achievement of corporate goals. They cause stress, exasperation, and disappointment by forcing employees to fight bloody, unwinnable battles with people who should be teammates.

Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. But a closer look at research on the world’s top performers shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule. David Epstein examined the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields—especially those that are complex and unpredictable—generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel.

It's been over a decade since Verne Harnish's best-selling book Mastering the Rockefeller Habits was first released. Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't is the first major revision of this business classic. In Scaling Up, Harnish and his team share practical tools and techniques for building an industry-dominating business.

Risk is a regular part of business, but knowing which risks to take and when to step back is often unclear. Whether you're assessing a new opportunity for innovation or thinking about your long-term strategy in an unsteady economy, you need to know the best way to proceed while ensuring that your company is financially secure and thriving. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the 10 most important ones to help you determine which risks are worth taking and mitigate those your company - and your industry at large - are already facing.

They say you shouldn't ask your mom whether your business is a good idea, because she loves you and will lie to you. This is technically true, but it misses the point. You shouldn't ask anyone if your business is a good idea. It's a bad question, and everyone will lie to you at least a little. As a matter of fact, it's not their responsibility to tell you the truth. It's your responsibility to find it, and it's worth doing right.

Difficult people are the worst part of a manager's job. Whether it comes from direct reports or people above, outbursts, irrational demands, griping, and other disruptions need to be dealt with - and it's your responsibility to do it. Leading the Unleadable turns this dreaded chore into a straight forward process that gently, yet effectively, improves behaviors.

Slay narcissists—the ultimate bullies—in negotiations by following this simple formula—developed by one of the top 1 percent of attorneys in the nation—a proven method to take you from victim to victory, without backlash!

In 212 Leadership, Mac Anderson shares 10 of the elements that can help to transform your leadership skills, along with some of his favorite quotes on the elements of leadership. You'll gain insight into the qualities and characteristics of great leaders. History has identified many qualities and characteristics of great leaders, and, of course, no person embodies them all.

Being a CEO at any of the world’s largest companies is among the most challenging roles in business. Billions, and even trillions, are at stake—and the fates of tens of thousands of employees often hang in the balance. Yet, even when “can’t miss” high-achievers win the top job, very few excel. For those who shoulder the burden of being the one on whom everyone counts, a manual for excellence is sorely needed. To identify the 21st century’s best CEOs, the authors of CEO Excellence started with a pool of over 2,400 public company CEOs.

To become a millionaire, you have to think like one. The Millionaire Mind shows you how. Also available: The Millionaire Next Door.

In Reality-Based Leadership, expert Fast Company blogger Cy Wakeman reveals how to be the kind of leader who changes the way people think about and perceive their circumstances - one who deals with the facts, clarifies roles, gives clear and direct feedback, and insists that everyone do the same - without drama or defensiveness. Filled with dynamic examples and innovative tools, this book shows you how to become a reality-based leader.

In this absorbing tale, you watch the timeless principles of servant leadership unfold through the story of John Daily, a businessman whose outwardly successful life is spiraling out of control. He is failing miserably in each of his leadership roles as boss, husband, father, and coach. To get his life back on track, he reluctantly attends a week-long leadership retreat at a remote Benedictine monastery.

Renowned executive coaches and global leadership strategists Jane Hyun and Audrey S. Lee offer lessons on the vital skill of “flexing” - the art of switching leadership styles to more effectively lead people who are different from you, allowing managers to successfully manage the multicultural workers of today and tomorrow. Flex offers a proactive strategy for managers to navigate and leverage diversity effectively in this new global economy....

Managers could learn a lot from a message echoed by generations of dairy farmers: "Contented cows give better milk." This book is not, repeat, not a management tome. In this fully revised and expanded edition to a book which absolutely, positively makes the case that treating people right is one of the best things any business can do for its bottom line, Contented Cows Still Give Better Milk offers sound, practical advice for those who know that their reputation as an employer is as important as bandwidth.

Ben Horowitz, a leading venture capitalist, modern management expert, and New York Times best-selling author, combines lessons both from history and from modern organizational practice with practical and often surprising advice to help executives build cultures that can weather both good and bad times. What You Do Is Who You Are explains how to make your culture purposeful by spotlighting four models of leadership and culture-building.

Drawing on her extensive experience, Jamie proposes a new role for Agile projects: the Agile business analyst. She details 30 achievable ways that such a role will increase relevance, quality and overall business value, and provide business users with crucial support. This second edition has expanded to include new Agile methods that have emerged or gained prominence since the first edition.

Managing stress comes down to understanding - and solving - what therapist Megan Bruneau calls the stress equation. According to Bruneau, stress is the result of thinking that your perceived responsibilities are greater than your perceived capacity to take them on. In this workshop, Bruneau tells us how to change those perceptions to manage stress, whether it originates at the office or elsewhere. From understanding that you can’t do everything yourself to taking time to boost your mood, Bruneau identifies concrete ways to help you de-stress and handle life’s messiness.

Finding ways to express yourself effectively in tense situations, from negotiations with a potential client to thorny discussions with a colleague, is the key to career success. In this workshop, communications expert Phil Jones shares how three key traits - curiosity, empathy, and courage - have the power to transform any encounter into a meaningful conversation and getting what you want. You'll explore excerpts from three surprising titles that forever changed how Phil approaches complex conversations....