Leadership Development

We’re all born with a certain “imprint” for work that makes us come alive. This is your "Sparketype®," your DNA-level driver of work that lets you know, deep down, you’re doing what you’re here to do. Work that motivates you, fills you with purpose and, fully-expressed in a healthy way, becomes a main-line to meaning, flow, performance, and joy. Put another way, work that “sparks” you.

To elevate, leaders need to approach their development differently. They need Vertical Development. Now more than ever, leaders are faced with constant and dramatic change. They need to elevate their capacity to operate effectively amidst stress, pressure, uncertainty, and complexity.

So many women hit their 40s or 50s and realize: It's time for a career change. Maybe you're yearning to try something new, or you're sensing that layoffs are coming and you need a backup plan. Perhaps you paused or downsized your career to raise children, and you're ready to rejoin the workforce. How do you reboot, relaunch, return to, or reinvent a career at age 40? Or 50? Or 60? And how can you create a career and life that will provide you with purpose and financial security for years to come?

In this revised and expanded edition of his groundbreaking Thinkertoys, creativity expert Michael Michalko reveals life-changing tools that will help you think like a genius. From the linear to the intuitive, this comprehensive handbook details ingenious creative-thinking techniques for approaching problems in unconventional ways. Through fun and thought-provoking exercises, you'll learn how to create original ideas that will improve your personal life and your business life.

Based upon research of what successful teams do to overcome severe odds, Do Big Things presents an intuitive, seven-step process that equips teams with how to quickly and consistently operate in a manner necessary for success. Filled with practical tools and engaging stories of teams today, Do Big Things equips leaders with “the how” to quickly identify and activate the behaviors needed to achieve more than you or your team ever thought possible.

Jim VandeHei’s high school guidance counselor laid it out clearly: VandeHei wasn’t cut out for college. In 1990, you could find him proving the counselor’s case emphatically, preferring beer to books and delivering pizzas to mapping out career plans. He attended a two-year school before smuggling himself into the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where after a year he had racked up a 1.4 GPA and was on the verge of getting the boot.

The profession of Agile Coaching is, in a word, confusing. Bob Galen has written Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching to help alleviate the confusion. The book centers on the Agile Coaching Growth Wheel as the competency and skill maturity model to baseline your agile coaching skills against. Its core goal is to “raise the bar” as to what true excellence looks like and to help you establish a personal development and growth plan. Consider this book that maps to coaching badassery, personal growth, and client service.

How are you supposed to tell someone that they're not meeting expectations without crushing their spirit? Regular feedback, when delivered skillfully, can turn average performers into the hardest workers and stars into superstars. Yet many see it as an awkward chore: Recent studies have revealed 37 percent of managers dread giving feedback, and 65 percent of employees wish their managers gave more feedback. This trail-blazing new model eliminates the guesswork.

This audio is a synthesis of Stephen R. Covey's two-day interactive and intensive workshop on leadership. In this audio program Dr. Covey teaches managers and leaders how to define their contributions, develop greater influence, leverage hidden resources, give constructive feedback, and unleash the full potential of their team against critical priorities.

Despite the countless seminars, courses, and management books designed to hone good leaders, over 79% of employees leave their jobs due to poor leadership. Why is this happening? Award-winning executive consultant Chris Mefford and retired, high-ranking US Navy SEAL trainer Kyle Buckett argue that organizations need more than just leaders. They need successful teams. Mefford and Buckett are passionate about how our leadership model has failed and spotlight a new work culture that actually works.

Part manifesto and part playbook, Wisdom @ Work ignites an urgent conversation about ageism in the workplace, calling on us to treat age as we would other type of diversity. In the process, Conley liberates the term elder from the stigma of elderly and inspires us to embrace wisdom as a path to growing whole, not old. Whether you've been forced to make a mid-career change, are choosing to work past retirement age, or are struggling to keep up with the millennials rising up the ranks, Wisdom @ Work will help you write your next chapter.

It’s never too late to redefine yourself and your priorities. In this guide to changing your career and your life, Jason Tartick, a motivational business speaker, investment banker, life coach and host of the Trading Secrets podcast, shares clear action steps to help you define and achieve your vision of financial, professional, and emotional success. If you’re feeling lost in your pursuit of finding happiness within yourself, your career, or your personal life, The Restart Roadmap is perfect for you.

In a world of constant change, leadership skills are among the most critical to the survival and development of organizations. However, the acquisition and development of effective leadership often become a sort of a "grail quest". The very definition of leadership is debatable. For some, it is the ability of an individual to lead or lead other individuals or organizations to achieve certain goals. For others, it is foremost the ability to influence. The nuances of the definitions of leadership are numerous and reflect, above all, their results rather than their very nature.

A legacy work from the multimillion copy best-selling author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - hailed as the #1 Most Influential Business Book of the Twentieth Century - The 3rd Alternative introduces a breakthrough approach to conflict resolution and creative problem solving.

An accessible guide to the principles of success by one of the most respected and sought-after motivational speakers of our time. In the tradition of Og Mandino and Zig Ziglar, this inspirational guide uses a wide variety of subjects, from “Achievement” to “Worry”, to bring clarity, information, and motivation to listeners. In The ABCs of Success - the first trade book ever published by this master of motivation and prosperity - Proctor goes beyond the simple laws of success and attraction.

In leadership as in life, only practice makes perfect. Habits are powerful. They can lock us into negative behaviors (like snacking and smoking) or train us to act automatically in ways that benefit us (such as putting on a seat belt). Routines quietly undergird large portions of what we do and how we function. Habit formation can speed success in the workplace as well - even in complex areas like leadership. The Leader Habit spotlights 22 essential leadership abilities, breaking them down into a series of small, learnable behaviors.

Every day brings us a crushing wave of demands: a barrage of texts, emails, interruptions, meetings, phone calls, tweets, blogs - not to mention the high pressure challenges of our jobs - that can be overwhelming and exhausting. The sheer number of distractions can threaten our ability to think clearly, make good decisions, and accomplish what matters most, leaving us worn out and unfulfilled.

Your brand is the stories people share about you when you're not in the room, and it's these brand stories that determine if people buy from you, employ you, work for you, or invest in you. When the stakes are that high, wouldn't you want to take control of it? In Magnetic Stories, business storytelling expert Gabrielle Dolan reveals how you, too, can create and share stories that stick.

In this empowering guide for women who are tired of being told “just be yourself,” host of the chart-topping The Influencer Podcast and business coach Julie Solomon teaches you how to shake off outdated ideas of what is possible and use your newfound confidence to make anything you want happen. In this book, you will learn how to overcome self-loathing, feel good about yourself, and gain the confidence to accept and love yourself for who you are.

Whether you just started your first entry-level job, run the entire company, or just feel trapped by your condo association bylaws, it’s time to it’s time to learn how to get big things done and make a lasting impact. From local government to the White House, Harvard to the world of venture capital, Marina Nitze and Nick Sinai have taken on some of the world’s most challenging bureaucracies—and won. Now, they bring their years of experience to you, teaching you strategies anyone can use to improve your organization through their own stories and those of fellow bureaucracy hacker.