Leadership Problems

Creativity, new ideas, innovation - in any age they are keys to success. Yet, as Stanford Professor Robert Sutton explains, the standard rules of business behaviour and management are precisely the opposite of what it takes to build an innovative company. We are told to hire people who will fit in; to train them extensively; and to work to instil a corporate culture in every employee. In fact, in order to foster creativity, we should hire misfits, goad them to fight and pay them to defy convention and undermine the prevailing culture.

One of the nation's leading psychologists asks why today's corporate leaders desire but reject creative solutions - and finds some surprising conclusions.

For decades, Alan Siegel and Irene Etzkorn have championed simplicity as a competitive advantage and a consumer right. Consulting with businesses and organizations around the world to streamline products, services, processes and communications, they have achieved dramatic results.

Hailed as "the female Jerry Maguire" by CNN, sports-agent-turned-entrepreneur Molly Fletcher reveals the winning secrets of fearless world-class achievers. Molly Fletcher knows a thing or two about making trades. As a sports agent, she's negotiated on behalf of champions such as Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz and seven-time PGA TOUR winner Matt Kuchar. As a top-tier speaker and consultant, she's helped energize companies worldwide.

In these turbulent times, companies can be forced to pivot on a dime to meet new market challenges. But how do you know which move to make? How do you hit on the solution to what’s threatening your bottom line? Ali Davachi draws from his decades of experience turning around companies to detail his innovative and proven system to creating positive change. In addition, Davachi walks the listener through common obstacles that hold businesses back from effectively confronting new challenges—and shows them how to create meaningful transformation that’s both powerful and profitable.

Through the exploration of robust cases and stories packed with deep insight and vital science, this extraordinary collection explores how we can adapt our notions of value, markets, and models of cooperation and collective action to create a world where economies and businesses excel, all people thrive, and nature flourishes.

Ori Brafman and management consultant Judah Pollack dramatically demonstrate how even the best and most efficient organizations - from Fortune 500 companies to today's US Army - can become more innovative by allowing a little unstructured space and "contained chaos" into their planning and decision-making. Through their consulting work, they realized that while structure and hierarchy are essential both in large corporations and small groups, too much of either can stifle creativity.

Work With Me is the timely collaboration of two of the world's foremost authorities on gender relations. Barbara Annis, world-renowned expert on gender issues in the workplace, and John Gray, author of the number-one relationship book of all time, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, team up to resolve the most stressful and confusing challenges facing men and women at work.

Data Leadership for Everyone is a game-changing book for anyone who believes in the power of data and is ready to create revolutionary change in their organization. Whether you're a C-suite executive, a manager, or an individual contributor, this book will propel your career by unlocking the mystery of how raw data transforms into real outcomes.

A New York Times best-selling author reveals how to find the right words for every situation. Whether you are making a budget request, interviewing for a job, ending a relationship, or talking to children about divorce, the crux of success in those and other crucial situations is planned, effective communication.

Most problems are fairly easy: they have a few likely potential root causes. The most important problems often have hundreds or thousands of potential root causes within very complex systems. Such problems are hard problems, and are highly resistant to guessing, brainstorming, or problem-solving methodologies that require conjuring a list of possible causes. Great problem-solvers are armed with a set of behaviors that allows them to avoid guessing.

The Unfinished Leader is a modern handbook for recognizing, facing, and inspiring others to expose the real issues that underlie paradoxes in modern organizations. Leaders must first recognize situations they will never be able to "solve" and understand how to confront the barriers - in their own heads and their organizations - that push them toward seeking ultimate solutions that don't exist. Leading through complexity requires giving up the illusion of control, consistency, and closure, while embracing the reality of being permanently "unfinished".

In this eye-opening handbook, the internationally noted speaker, economics expert, and bestselling author, Noreen Hertz, reveals the extent to which the biggest decisions in our lives are often made on the basis of flawed information, weak assumptions, corrupted data, insufficient scrutiny of others, and a lack of self-knowledge. To avert such disasters, Hertz persuasively argues, we need to become empowered decision-makers, capable of making high-stakes choices and holding accountable those who advise us.

Karen Phelan is sorry. She really is. She tried to do business by the numbers-the management consultant way- developing measures, optimizing processes, and quantifying performance. The only problem is that businesses are run by people. And people can't be plugged into formulas or summed up in scorecards.

The Dealmaker's Ten Commandments contains a practical, no-nonsense methodology for negotiating deals, managing your time, and handling crisis all at the highest level. Peppered with entertainment industry war stories, The Dealmaker's Ten Commandments has been forged in the white-hot crucible of brutal transactional combat.

Managing a business is never easy, but you can turn the daunting job into something more bearable. Find out how with the help of this audiobook. This audiobook touches on many topics such as correcting mistakes, eliminating waste, generating ideas, and boosting employee morale. Sure, you can find plenty of free advice on how to carry out those tasks. However, it’s rare to encounter an approach that’s applicable to all of them. One of the best things about this audiobook is how it highlights teamwork.

With magazines such as Computerworld, PCWorld, and Macworld, Patrick McGovern's company, International Data Group (IDG), quickly became a global powerhouse with information technology publications in nearly 100 countries. The story of IDG's astonishing success has been a source of inspiration for entrepreneurs all around the world. Future Forward shows you how to apply McGovern's principles to your own organization.

No one understands better than Joseph Michelli how businesses create and leverage world-class customer experiences. In The Airbnb Way, he shows how innovative leaders have managed to build an unique brand by inspiring and engaging a community of hospitality entrepreneurs - a feat unparalleled in the shared economy.

Project management is an essential skill for anyone who needs to get things done in any organisation, and is absolutely critical for anyone leading strategic change. In Lead Successful Projects, the Penguin Business Expert guide, Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, introduces a simplified but strategic approach to project management developed over the last 20 years coaching executives, managers and MBAs. Learn how to break down your project into manageable elements, define smart goals and meet them in this concise and practical guide to project success.

Written for leaders, aspiring leaders, and anyone who makes a difference in the lives of others, author and leadership expert Tim Irwin, PhD, examines how failures of character common to even the most capable individuals—including deficits in authenticity, humility, self-management, and courage—repeatedly lead to downfall.