Leadership Culture

Do you feel out of your depth when setting objectives for your team? Ah, the annual ritual of objective-setting! Loved by so few, undertaken by so many. Do you get a slight knot in the pit of your stomach, just thinking about it? Most managers dread it because they're not 100 percent sure of what they're supposed to do. Promoted with little training, they're just supposed to know how to design objectives. Know how to develop soft skills. Sure it's easy, right? On top of that, there’s the niggling feeling that the process doesn’t make much of a difference.

This book first introduces gentelligence as a powerful business strategy, and shows why it is critical for the future of work. It then presents a practical guide and a call to action for leaders of all ages to unlock the potential strengths of each generation. Listeners will learn how an intergenerational workforce can be reframed as a profound business opportunity, and discover how gentelligence can help them win the talent war, create strong, diverse teams, and build adaptable cultures that will flourish in an era of rapid change.

Everything you think you know about culture is wrong! Most leaders would agree culture is the most important thing in business, yet few can define what it is or explain how to create a healthy culture that blows by the competition. Veteran business culture advisor Greg Cagle reveals exactly how culture gets created and the critical role leaders play in shaping it. Drawing on decades of in-the-trenches experience and leveraging real-world examples, he shares the 4 Dimensions of Culture that drive success across the 3 Core Functions of business that every leader faces.

In the modern workplace, conflict has become a dirty word. After all, conflict is antithetical to teamwork, employee engagement, and a positive company culture. Or is it? The truth is that our teams and organizations require conflict to get things done. But we avoid conflict and build up conflict debt by deferring and dodging the difficult decisions. Our organizations are paying the price - becoming less productive, less innovative, and less competitive.

In helping Walt Disney create “The Happiest Place on Earth”, Van France and his team started a business revolution in 1955 that eventually became the Disney University - the employee training and development program that powers one of the most famous brands on earth. Disney U examines how Van France's timeless company values and leadership expertise have turned into a training and development dynasty: the Disney U. The book reveals the heart of the Disney culture and describes the company's values and operational philosophies that support the world-famous Disney brand.

In the hospitality space, Three and Jackie Carpenter know full well the importance of leading teams who are loyal, engaged, and happy. Working in an industry where customer expectations are at an extreme, Three and Jackie have applied a mindset of treating employees like customers. They've developed a five-step roadmap to creating positive employee experiences and company cultures where connection is the crux of the team's success.

The digital age will raise the question of how we humans will stay relevant in the workplace. To stay relevant, we have to be able to excel cognitively, behaviorally, and emotionally in ways that technology can’t. Professor Ed Hess believes that requires us to become hyper-learners: continuously learning, unlearning, and relearning at the speed of change.

Kathy Caprino guides women to take the reins in their careers by identifying and overcoming the seven most damaging power gaps holding them back and accessing new levels of internal and external power to propel you forward to the success you want and deserve. The business world has been forever changed by the important progress and contributions that women have made. Yet, with only 38 percent of manager roles and 22 percent of C-suite positions being held by women, women continue to struggle to achieve the reward, respect, and authority they have earned.

Are you feeling less engaged, less committed and more skeptical at work? Do you find yourself isolated? Or are you caught in the middle of co-workers’ interpersonal conflicts? If so, you may be experiencing the confidence-busting, commitment-breaking, energy-draining patterns consistent with broken trust. We’ve all been there, but few of us know how to rebuild that trust. Dennis and Michelle Reina have spent their careers researching and measuring workplace trust.

Bina Venkataraman sees the way forward. A journalist and former adviser in the Obama White House, she helped communities and businesses prepare for climate change, and she learned firsthand why people don’t think ahead - and what can be done to change that. In The Optimist’s Telescope, she draws from stories she has reported around the world and new research in biology, psychology, and economics to explain how we can make decisions that benefit us over time.

At 211 degrees, water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils. And with boiling water comes steam. And steam can power a locomotive. The one extra degree makes the difference. This simple analogy reflects the ultimate definition of excellence. Because it's the one extra degree of effort, in business and life, that can separate the good from the great. The stories in 212 Service reflect real-life examples of companies that have taken their customer service to the next degree.

Focusing on culture eliminates ineffective patterns, sets a more positive course, and then perpetuates that course - all on its own. That's the beauty of leading a culture instead of just a company, and that is exactly what The Culture Fix is designed to show you. In just 90 days, Will Scott pulls apart nine deeds in order to bring your company's culture alive and into a thriving, driven organism that goes beyond the four walls of your building.

We've decided by consensus that consensus is good. In In Defense of Troublemakers, psychologist Charlan Nemeth argues that this principle is completely wrong: left unchallenged, the majority opinion is often biased, unoriginal, or false. It leads planes and markets to crash, causes juries to convict innocent people, and can quite literally make people think blue is green. In the name of comity, we embrace stupidity. We can make better decisions by embracing dissent. Dissent forces us to question the status quo, consider more information, and engage in creative decision-making.

Evidence shows culture drives fiscal performance. It's no secret that a toxic work culture can drive away employees and drive down profits. Creating a dynamic work culture that promotes both employee and business growth is key to ensuring an organization's success. However, culture is a moving target and hard to get right. In Great Mondays, brand strategist Josh Levine introduces a proven formula for building and managing a workplace culture that maximizes employee engagement, performance, and retention for long-term business success.

Microsoft President Brad Smith operates by a simple core belief: When your technology changes the world, you bear a responsibility to help address the world you have helped create. This might seem uncontroversial, but it flies in the face of a tech sector long obsessed with rapid growth and sometimes on disruption as an end in itself. While sweeping digital transformation holds great promise, we have reached an inflection point. The world has turned information technology into both a powerful tool and a formidable weapon.

Committed Teams: Three Steps to Inspiring Passion and Performance is based on a deceptively simple philosophy: set a direction, try to stay on track, and make adjustments when necessary. Easy to do? Hardly - especially when the typical workday is time-crunched, stressful, and deadline-driven. Drawing on research done at the Wharton School of Business, the authors reveal how to deliver results under these tough conditions.

We are living in an epidemic of disengagement and despair that calls us to action. Awakening Compassion at Work answers the call, showing us new ways to enliven the humanity of work and in so doing address the suffering of the world and create an innovative, optimistic, and engaged workforce.

Successful leaders build and maintain productive, mutually-beneficial relationships - inside and outside of their organizations. They purposefully shape workplace culture that retains talent, cultivates innovation and supports the organization's goals. And they achieve excellence in teamwork and organizational execution - the nuts and bolts of collaborative action that actually produces desired results.

Imagine a world where personal and professional growth are combined, where improving your relationships and owning your strengths at work translate directly into the rest of your life. Creating a company culture like that is not a dream. Through personal stories and real-life conversations, Jonathan Raymond takes you into the room with managers and employees where real culture change happens and shows you a new kind of employee mentoring where each person gets the real-time feedback, support, and clear boundaries we all need.

There's so much more to the role of culture in business than etiquette and local customs. Recognizing its importance - and providing a clear-eyed look at how it works in real-life scenarios - is why Riding the Waves of Culture became essential learning when it was first published in 1997.