Great Business

Is your company run by a team with no name? At the top of every organization chart lies a myth - that a Senior Management Team makes a company's critical decisions. The reality is that critical decisions are typically made by the boss and a small group of confidants - a "team with no name" - outside of formal processes. Meanwhile, other members of the management team wonder why they weren't in the room or even consulted ahead of time.

The old delineation of technology buyer and vendor is obsolete. There is a new definition for the technology elite - and you find them across industries and geographies. The 17 case studies and four guest columns spread through The New Technology Elite bring out the elite attributes in detail. Every organization will increasingly be benchmarked against these elite - and soon will be competing against them.

In this follow-up guide to The Great Workplace, experts from Great Place to Work Institute, Inc. reveal the most common excuses managers use for why they can't create a great workplace. Authors Jennifer Robin and Michael Burchell poke holes in every single excuse. Whether the reasons involve the organization's leadership, employees, environment, or any other factor, the authors explain that if managers lead people properly, they can create a great workplace. The authors explore how managers can interrupt their own negative thought patterns and instead create lasting change.

Innovate!: How Great Companies Get Started in Terrible Times is first and foremost a source of true inspiration based on history. But it goes much further than that. It captures the lessons of these great innovative individuals and companies that began in the worst economic times, identifying the philosohies, strategies, and essential keys to success during your own challenging economic times.

From one of the most respected names in business and leadership, a rare look at the specifics of how great leaders achieve "common purpose" and success within their organizations.

The Talent War explores how US Special Operations Forces assess, select, and develop their world-class talent. You'll learn how to adopt a talent mindset, the single greatest weapon you can possess in the war for talent. When your organization reflects this mindset, you will hire, train, and develop the right people and put them in the best positions to make decisions that allow you to retake the advantage and win the war.

How to Be a Fierce Competitor is the definitive “how-to” guide for understanding how to spot opportunity and then capitalize on it. This practical resource for business leaders and managers shows exactly how the savvy few who rise to the top stay focused and alert.

Jim Collins' thoroughly researched look at corporate success, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't, offers practical, well-researched advice on how truly great companies differentiate themselves from the merely good. This SUMOREADS Summary & Analysis offers supplementary material to Good to Great to help you distill the key takeaways, review the book's content, and further understand the writing style and overall themes from an editorial perspective. Whether you'd like to deepen your understanding, refresh your memory, or simply decide whether or not this book is for you, SUMOREADS Summary & Analysis is here to help. Absorb everything you need to know in under 20 minutes!

Basing his work on interviews with 100 top executives of diverse companies (ranging from the American Red Cross to the Walt Disney Internet Group), the head of a New York public relations firm confirms a survey finding that experience greatly contributes to leadership ability.

Most businesses have a cessation plan (a plan that leads to a business ceasing to exist), while very few have succession plans (a plan that leads to a business not only continuing, but thriving after the founder exits). In Always End with the Beginning in Mind, Donald takes you on a journey that resulted in a successful business continuation, and will give a founder of a business the steps necessary for a succession plan to actually succeed. A well-thought out and properly executed succession plan is a classic win-win.

High performance has always required shrewd strategy and superb execution. 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 - 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.

Any of us may be called to lead, for a short time or a longer one, in a large or small group, and almost all of us are capable. I wrote this book with leaders of all kinds of organizations in mind, not just CEOs of corporations, but rather anyone who finds themselves in a position of leadership. This includes department heads, scout leaders, heads of not-for-profits, work group leaders, church leaders, school principals - literally anyone who finds themselves in a position of leadership, for whatever timeframe, at whatever stage of an organization’s development.

Too many of us feel trapped by work that doesn't allow us to live our purpose, feed our passions, or use our gifts. We fantasize about starting our own business, but we're told this will mean going deeply into debt, spending years working 80 hours a week, and coping with the relentless pressure to grow. Eco-Bags founder Sharon Rowe says there's another way: go tiny. She is here to show you how. Tiny isn't a size - it's a state of mind. Like a tiny house, a tiny business is built on maintaining a laser focus on what is absolutely essential to you.

Gone are the days of leading through fear and control. Now more than ever, workplaces need to be people-focused, and Leaders Assemble is the guide to making that shift. Whether you're an aspiring, new, or established leader, this audiobook covers the essentials of great coaching, leadership, and simply being a good human in the workplace. This audiobook is for everyone, not just leaders, offering insights into what a healthy, inclusive, and safe work environment should feel like.

I help motivate people by always looking for a solution on how to achieve success or solve a problem and by always being positive. Life is not too short; life is extremely valuable. There are so many “how-to” books out there that involve time, energy, money, resources, memberships, coaches, etc., that you can become intimidated by it all, and you will not follow through. Jarrett makes the process simple and fun. It’s so nice to see how simple it can be to take control.

Scrum is the most successful framework for agile product development, and much has been written about how to follow the Scrum process, but the key to success is in the leadership skills of the product owner. Product Mastery explores the traits of the best product owners, offering an insight into the difference between good and great product ownership and explaining how the best product owners are driven to be successful.

Dig deep and you will find the most compelling argument for working together: Happiness. In business there are always unique individual achievers, but pull down the veil and you'll often find someone alongside them. Michael Eisner does just that in Working Together. Using his own collaboration with Frank Wells at Disney as a launching point for examining other famously successful partnerships, Eisner offers us an intimate and deeply personal look at some of the most rewarding business partnerships.

Design thinking is not a new idea. Companies like Apple and Amazon constantly apply the design thinking philosophy from developing new products to design services to serve their customers better. It is a time-tested strategy, and now you can apply it in your business to achieve spectacular outcomes.

Thirty years ago, Roger Fisher and Bill Ury wrote the groundbreaking book Getting to Yes. It established the mutual gains approach to negotiation, or what the popular media likes to call "win-win negotiation". But there are few, if any, negotiating situations in which everyone can get everything they want. In reality, most people want to win at win-win negotiation. And the way to win is to come up with a proposed agreement that is "good" for the other side and "great" for you.

On the most fundamental level, leaders must bring divergent groups together and forge a consensus on a path forward. But what makes that possible? Humility - a deep regard for the dignity of others - is the key, says distinguished leadership educator Marilyn Gist. Leadership is a relationship, and humility is the foundation for all healthy relationships. Leader humility can increase engagement and retention. It inspires and motivates.