Leadership Motivation

Companies everywhere face two major challenges today: getting noticed and getting paid. To confront these obstacles, Bharat Anand examines a range of businesses around the world, from The New York Times to The Economist, from Chinese Internet giant Tencent to Scandinavian digital trailblazer Schibsted, and from talent management to the future of education.

Is success simply a matter of money and talent? Or is there another reason why some people and organizations always land on their feet, while others, equally talented, stumble again and again? There’s a fundamental principle at work—the vital but previously unexamined factor called confidence—that permits unexpected people to achieve high levels of performance through routines that activate talent. Confidence is the new theory and practice of success, explaining why success and failure are not mere episodes but self-perpetuating trajectories

Are you frustrated with a lack of results at work? Have you hit a wall? Are you uninspired, stuck in a rut, feeling underappreciated? Well, good news: your success is not up to your boss, your manager, your employees, or the economy. It's up to YOU. Business is never bad, people are just bad at being in business. If that makes you mad, this book is for you. Larry Winget hacks through the bad advice given in most business books.

Ask better questions, and you will get better results. Top business coach Mark Moses has identified four critical questions every business leader should explore on their journey to business and life success.

David Novak learned long ago that you can't lead a great organization of any size without getting your people aligned, enthusiastic, and focused relentlessly on the mission. But how do you do that? There are countless leadership books, but how many will actually help a Taco Bell shift manager, a Fortune 500 CEO, a new entrepreneur, or anyone in between? Over his 15 years at Yum! Brands, Novak has developed a trademarked program he calls Taking People with You.

People are drawn to, and influenced by, leaders who communicate authentically, connect with people, and have immediate impact. So how do you become one? How can you learn to “own the room?” This book will help you develop your leadership presence. The authors offer a simple and compelling framework as well as practices for developing your "signature voice." Wherever you sit in an organization, you can develop presence if you are able to do two things well: demonstrate your authentic value and distinction; and connect to others in a positive way.

The world often falls short of how we'd like it to be, and our ability to make even just a little difference can seem limited. Sometimes it feels like you need to be a super-hero to achieve anything meaningful. But what if by re-conceiving what you do, you could change the world for the better? In The Regenerative Life, Carol Sanford shows you how to fundamentally change the roles you play in society, enabling you to do more than you ever believed possible.

What if charisma could be taught? For the first time, science and technology have taken charisma apart, figured it out, and turned it into an applied science: In controlled laboratory experiments, researchers could raise or lower people's level of charisma as if they were turning a dial.

"Your story is your life," says Loehr. As human beings, we continually tell ourselves stories: of success or failure; of power or victimhood; stories that endure for an hour, or a day, or an entire lifetime. We have stories about our work, our families and relationships, our health; about what we want and what we're capable of achieving.

You will never look at people the same way again - including yourself - after this lively look at how we make character judgments. Drawing on cutting-edge social science research as well as their own work with Fortune 500 executives, members of Congress, and Nobel Prize winners, authors Matt Kohut and John Neffinger demystify the process we use to size each other up.

Consider Jason your spirit guide, offering strategies for honing in on what makes you weird, recognizing when feedback is just another form of procrastination, and how to stop with social media already. There's a specific set of strategies and exercises that can help you prioritize your life over your business, by identifying your MMM (Minimum Monthly Magic) number. He also offers examples from his own life (how he got out of $124K worth of debt, escaped the pressure to have a big wedding, and has thrived on social media by primarily ignoring it).

Hardly anyone gets it right the first time, but many of us are crippled by indecision and fear of failure. The desire to get it right can inhibit us from getting started. In this book Rob Moore, the best-selling author of Money, shows that the quickest way to perfect is starting right now and improving as you go. This book will show you how to launch your business or idea, begin the next phase of your career and overcome self-doubt - right away. Get perfect later; get started now.

In The One-Life Solution, Dr. Henry Cloud, consultant, bestselling author of the Boundaries series and Integrity, and clinical psychologist, examines the workplace. He demonstrates how our failure to maintain a unified life with good boundaries at the office not only blurs the line between the professional and the personal but leaves us less equipped to deal with the problems of today's workplace.

Demand is exceeding our capacity. The ethic of "more, bigger, faster" exacts a series of silent but pernicious costs at work, undermining our energy, focus, creativity, and passion. Nearly 75 percent of employees around the world feel disengaged at work every day. The Way We're Working Isn't Working offers a groundbreaking approach to reenergizing our lives so were both more satisfied and more productive, on the job and off.

There is no higher accolade than being recognized as someone who helps others perform at their best. Every day we’re faced with a future that seems more daunting than the day before. The problems appear bigger than ever but so do the opportunities. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and alone in the face of such cataclysmic change. That’s why we’re only as good as the potentiators we purposefully place in our lives. They are the everyday superheroes whose superpower is to enable us to perform at our best. In turn, we need to intentionally play that role for other people.

HBR Guide to Crafting Your Purpose debunks three misconceptions about purpose at work: that purpose is found, that you have only one, and that it remains the same over time. Packed with tips and advice for how you can cultivate more meaning in your life and at work, this book teaches you how to endow everything you do with purpose each day.

In nearly every industry, smart machines are replacing human labor. It's not just factory jobs - automated technologies are handling people's investments, diagnosing illnesses, and analyzing written documents. If we humans are going to endure, Edward Hess and Katherine Ludwig say we're going to need a dose of humility. We need to be humble enough to let go of the idea that "smart" means knowing the most, using that information quickest, and making the fewest mistakes. Smart machines will always be better than we are at those things.

This is the go-to guide on working with anyone in your office - from the difficult or negative to the toxic and destructive - whether they are your manager, a team member, or someone who’s just waiting out the clock. Chock-full of useful advice that will make your workday happier and more productive.

Drawing from nearly three decades of her own operational and leadership experience at big Fortune 500 companies like Disney and JP Morgan Chase, as well as small startups, Trish reveals powerful life and leadership lessons about resilience, grit, and the indomitable strength of the human spirit. Whether you’re an executive, an entrepreneur, or a regular individual trying to live with greater care and purpose, From Stuck to Unstoppable is a holistic and customizable roadmap to creating change— even (perhaps especially) when it gets hard.

Forget about building a business - businesses fail and fade into oblivion. Start a revolution instead. James Watt started a rebellion against tasteless mass market beers by founding BrewDog, now one of the world’s best-known and fastest growing craft breweries, famous for beers, bars, and crowdfunding. In this smart, funny book, he shares his story and explains how you too can tear up the rule book and start a company on your own terms. It’s an anarchic, DIY guide to entrepreneurship - and a new manifesto for business.