Management Problem Solving

Who makes the important decisions in your organization? Strategy, product development, budgeting, compensation - such key decisions typically are made by company leaders. That's what bosses are for, right? But maybe the boss isn't the best person to make the call. That's the conclusion Dennis Bakke came to, and he used it to build AES into a Fortune 200 global power company with 27,000 people in 27 countries.

The Risk-Driven Business Model will help you manage risk better by showing how the key choices you make in designing your business models either increase or reduce two characteristic types of risk - information risk, when you make decisions without enough information, and incentive-alignment risk, when decision makers' incentives are at odds with the broader goals of the company. Leaders who understand how the structure of their business model affects risk have the power to create wealth, revolutionize industries, and shape a better world.

It is taken for granted in the knowledge economy that companies must employ the most talented performers to compete and succeed. Many firms try to buy stars by luring them away from competitors. But Boris Groysberg shows what an uncertain and disastrous practice this can be.

A rapid and massively disruptive shift from centralized to distributed organizations has already begun. But current leadership practices were designed for large centralized organizations, making them increasingly obsolete. Bob Johansen, who has been projecting future trends from Silicon Valley since 1968, outlines five literacies leaders need to develop to cope with this brave new world.

When a manager is pressed to find a project manager for an important client, he looks to Rhett Sero, our to-be hero. He introduces Rhett to Heda Heldenmacher, a noted project management consultant. Designed to increase success, this book is for accidental and new project managers, beginning project management learners, and those exploring project management careers or looking for a refresher. Told in the form of a business fable, concepts are put in everyday terms and stories make it more memorable.

With the stresses of school, exams, relationships, and friendships, it can all feel overwhelming sometimes. According to the American Psychological Association, teens are 15% more likely than adults to report that stress impacts their physical health and 9% more likely to report an impact on their mental health.

Harvard University professor and U.S. Intelligence Science Board member J. Richard Hackman reveals how to make teams more effective in solving hard, complex problems in intelligence work and other challenging, high-pressure areas.

Health-care organizations cry out for a tool to decrease untoward events and bridge the communication gap between professional clinician teams and clients. Discover how to guide your team to creatively problem-solve, build emotional and social intelligence, increase workplace safety and employee retention, and guarantee client satisfaction with the results-don’t-lie Improv to Improve Healthcare system.

Scott Page, a leading thinker, writer, and speaker whose ideas and advice are sought after by corporations, nonprofits, universities, and governments around the world, makes a clear and compellingly pragmatic case for diversity and inclusion. He presents overwhelming evidence that teams that include different kinds of thinkers outperform homogenous groups on complex tasks, producing what he calls "diversity bonuses".

Inside this ultimate business guide, you’ll join international best-selling author and sought-after leadership consultant Irma Parone as she reveals a proven action plan for leveling up your organization and applying WINX to your business challenges.

For many organizations, the word strategy conjures up endless ideas, concepts, and tools - while the intent is correct, the awful reality is most companies do not have a simple, common definition of strategy or a simple approach to make the big decisions. Too many PowerPoints, not enough one pagers that can be put into practice. The lack of a common approach to strategy frustrates executives, creates conflict where there is none, fast-tracks dubious alternatives, lengthens decision-making, and hampers the quality of the decisions that finally emerge.

Every one of us gets anywhere in life due to three things: someone observes us, forms an opinion about us, and decides to give us an opportunity...or not. Likewise, we do the same thing with others. People have played this essential role in our lives, and we play it in the lives of those around us - and no matter how skilled we’ve become, we can play it even better.

You might've talked about innovation with your IT department or software development agency lately and the words "design thinking" were surely mentioned. So what is it? Just another piece of business jargon to add to your arsenal or a useful tool? Or maybe even an overestimated hype? Nowadays every organization or business runs into a myriad of problems as business models become increasingly more complex. Globalization and advances in communication and technology, all add up to creating unique opportunities but also new challenges that are not easy to solve applying the old tested methods.

Do motivation and "how-to's" really work? Almost never! Why? There is something missing. In his newest results-getting book, If How To's Were Enough We Would All Be Skinny, Rich & Happy, Brian Klemmer explores what is missing and the real reason why most people do not succeed. The secret is found in seven paradigms that will change the course of your life. They are the basis of Klemmer & Associates' hugely popular series of experiential leadership seminars.

People issues. They seemingly arise out of nowhere and just don't go away. It's critical that managers handle them right. As a manager, you need to know so many things about managing people, but you don't even know what to ask! The Decisive Manager can help. With examples of typical situations that managers encounter and advice on how to handle them, it's an easy-to-use guide for people managers and has information on hiring to firing, and everything in between.

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.

Let’s face it, as an entrepreneur or small business owner, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of growing your empire. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all guidebook for people who are just starting out to follow. But the truth is, no matter what kind of business you are building if you don’t have a solid foundation in place, the storms that will inevitably come could cause you to lose everything you’ve worked for.

High-level executives, it turns out, are often the least able to diagnose—much less solve—an organization's systemic problems. Hans Norden draws on a wealth of experience in in-house change management to help both established and up-and-coming C-suite leaders analyze the problems and create authentic, sustainable solutions. In The Root Cause, listeners will learn how executing change initiatives requires a different form of leadership than routine operations. Norden shows leaders a way to solve the seemingly unsolvable problems—and prevent more from arising in the future.

How do you blow up your company's growth? Start with high quality training. Follow that up with thoughtful coaching by managers who refuse to rescue and value learning experiences. Implementing this proven algorithm creates a thinking company that generates exponential growth. Author Jill Young shares her vast experience in helping entrepreneurs discover and celebrate the creation of thinkers in their company, identify gaps in their system, and close those gaps.

Wrestling with fear doesn't have to be a negative experience. This book offers an approach to life that unlocks a new way of thinking and being in the world, one that leads directly through the center of the anxieties we seek to avoid. Written in the style of an owner's manual, a guide to being human, Burkett focuses on areas of pain and anxiety as they tend to manifest for modern people: feelings of unworthiness, and issues surrounding sex, money, failure, and even death.