Motivation Behavior

In the wake of economic downturn, foreign competition, spiking oil prices, and even war, American business throughout this decade has been thrust into crisis. To improve their performance, corporations everywhere have adopted a wide range of tools and techniques, yet many continue to struggle. Going Lean points to a better way.

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.

Leading with heart, authenticity, and purpose, Thomas Vozzo provides a clear path to a new bottom line—including 55 rules to break—bringing The Homeboy Way to life as the perfect antidote to the massive tidal currents of social injustice and inequities. By every traditional measurement of success, Vozzo was a clear winner. Then, through a series of fateful events, Vozzo landed as CEO of Homeboy Industries, the most successful gang intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program in the country, founded by Jesuit priest Greg Boyle.

How to Be Human in a Technical World is a powerful account for the technically minded who want to change their behavior and their lives, but don’t know where to start. The first step, asserts author Karine Leblanc, is to increase their emotional intelligence and learn her recipe for success with the Six Magic Skills. Full of real-life stories, research, practical tools, and action steps, this book is the solution to every analytically minded left-brain thinker who desires more from their career, their relationships, and their life.

Could you lose weight if you put $20,000 at risk? Would you finally set up your billing software if it meant that your favorite charity would earn a new contribution? If you’ve ever tried to meet a goal and came up short, the problem may not have been that the goal was too difficult or that you lacked the discipline to succeed. From giving up cigarettes to increasing your productivity at work, you may simply have neglected to give yourself the proper incentives.

In Why Smart Executives Fail, Sydney Finkelstein uncovers - with startling clarity and unassailable documentation - the causes regularly responsible for major business breakdowns. Why Smart Executives Fail relates the stories of great business disasters and demonstrates that there are specific, identifiable ways in which many businesses regularly make themselves vulnerable to failure.

9 Deadly Self-Sabotaging Behaviors is a self-help book written to help you get proven tips that can help you handle destructive and constructive criticism. It discusses procrastination, self-objectification, impatience, self-neglect, self-criticism, perfectionism, resistance to change, and distrust as nine deadly self-sabotaging behaviors you need to avoid. It is a must-have for anyone trying to do more without shooting themselves in the foot.

The Big Moo is a simple audiobook in the tradition of Fish and Don't Sweat the Small Stuff. Instead of lecturing you, it tells stories that stick to your ribs and light your fire. It will help you to create a culture that consistently delivers remarkable innovations.

In this timely and essential guide, McKinsey alumni Gaurav Bhatnagar and Mark Minukas present a proven approach to workplace anxiety that reduces stress, boosts well-being, and overcomes blocks that get in the way of success. It begins with changing our relationship with fear and then developing strategies that improve outlook and performance, leading to greater profits, sustainable growth, and personal rewards. It’s only possible with a culture of unfear.

Once upon a time, a clan of meerkats lived in the Kalahari, a region in Southern Africa. After years of steady growth, a drought has sharply reduced the clan's resources, and deadly vulture attacks have increased. As things keep getting worse, the harmony of the clan is shattered. The executive team quarrels about possible solutions, and suggestions from frontline workers face a soul-crushing response: "That's not how we do it here!"

Most companies talk about excellence, but what does excellence really mean? What specific attitudes and practices lead to excellence? Drawing on years of study and decades of experience, authors Harry Paul, John Britt, and Ed Jent have zeroed in on five core qualities of excellence. In this entertaining and enlightening book, they tell how to give and be your best in each of these five critical dimensions and foster excellence in your organization and in your life.

What if you didn’t have to change everything in your career to change your life at work? There’s a fresh answer to help you make better career decisions without resorting to the drastic measures of changing careers, finding a new job, starting a business, or bowing to an early and unwanted retirement - and without settling or sacrificing your health, family life, and well-being. Darcy Eikenberg shares simple, practical ways to reset how you think, revise what you say, and rescue your career without quitting, feeling stuck, or changing everything in your life.

Paul Williams and Andreas Krebs take a no-punches-held look at the stories we tell ourselves about business success. The rags-to-riches tale is tempting, but we don’t have to search far to see that most organizations rise for a time, only to experience a dramatic fall from grace. Just look at some of the companies that used to be household names: Nokia, AOL, Pan Am, Woolworth, and Blockbuster. The Illusion of Invincibility examines the why of success and failure. It’s a smart, funny, and radical look at how to build and sustain a great organization.

Trampled by Unicorns: Big Tech's Empathy Problem and How to Fix It explores how technology has progressed humanity's most noble pursuits, while also grappling with the origins of the industry's destructive empathy deficit and the practical measures Big Tech can take to self-regulate and make it right again. Author Maëlle Gavet examines the tendency for many of Big Tech's stars to stray from their user-first ideals and make products that actually profoundly damage their customers and ultimately society.

Change-Friendly Leadership: How to Transform Good Intentions into Great Performance is a simple affirmation that successful organizational change involves - requires, in fact - the active, willful participation of the people affected by the change. In the change approach prescribed here, the friendly factor is not just a play on words; it is the very foundation for effectively engaging people's heads, hearts, and hopes.

“You don’t have to turn into a corporate drone to kick ass in the working world,” says inspirational speaker Tania Katan. After more than ten years of smuggling creativity into the business sector, Katan is here to tell you that any task or pursuit can be a creative one. You just need to be willing to defy conformity and be ready to conjure imagination anywhere, at any time. That’s where Creative Trespassing comes in.

We judge people in business the same way we judge those in our personal lives. We listen to what they say, watch how they behave, and take note of the results of their actions. Success is ultimately built on a foundation of character, communication, and trust. To accomplish our goals, people must believe in us. The Power of Reputation offers business people an action plan for creating the kind of reputation that generates trust, inspires confidence, and paves the way for lasting success.

In addition to his work as an entrepreneur, corporate executive, and consultant, for the last 16 years August Turak worked alongside the Trappist monks of Mepkin Abbey, watching firsthand as they undertook new enterprises and sustained an incredibly successful business practice. Service and selflessness are at the heart of this 1,500-year-old monastic tradition’s remarkable business success, an ancient though immensely relevant economic model that preserves what is positive and productive about capitalism while transcending its ethical limitations and internal contradictions.

Before you can lead change, you must first learn to communicate effectively.Sync or Swim will help you: break through apathy and cynicism to inspire teamwork; empower and energize frustrated colleagues; and create an engaging work environment.

Most people spend the majority of their lives at work, and many not happily. Here's a way to find your inner spirit - what you truly desire to do in life - this book illuminates the path leading you to ultimately achieving your goals. Hansen will help you get there through exercises such as building a great resume, nailing the interview, and knowing whether or not to accept a particular job offer when it comes along.