Motivation Behavior

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.

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.

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.

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.

John C. Maxwell thinks there's no such thing as business ethics. There's only ethics. Maxwell asserts there's one ethical standard for all behavior, and you might be surprised by what it's based on.

Based on Norman Vincent Peale's classic best seller, and written in cooperation with the Peale Center, this program provides a practical way for each of us to develop the 10 traits of a positive thinker, which can turn defeatist behavior into productive actions, overcoming the toughest of challenges with powerful, positive results.

We all have to work with people we can't stand to be around. Our challenge is to find creative ways to handle these difficult people. In the fable Make Difficult People Disappear, the skills and strategic plan needed to change your mindset are told through a clear, concise story. By first understanding the four main personality types in the workplace, commander, organizer, relater, and entertainer, listeners can then devise effective strategies for diffusing unproductive and damaging behavior.

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!"

For 20 years, Great Place to Work has published its gold-standard list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, which appears first in Fortune magazine. But its latest research shows that what was good enough to be a “great” workplace 10 or 20 years ago is not good enough now. Even at the best workplaces, leaders can - and must - do better. The vital differentiator for companies now is their people - all their people.

Imagine walking up to a stranger on the subway and asking them for their seat. What about asking a random person on the street if you could borrow their phone? If the idea makes you squeamish, you're not alone - social psychologists have found that doing these very things makes most of us almost unbearably uncomfortable. But here's the funny thing: even though we hate to ask for help, most people are wired to be helpful. And that's a good thing, because every day in the modern, uber-collaborative workplace, we all need to know when and how to call in the cavalry.

In the new edition of this fascinating book, a book that has appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, Slashdot.org, Lifehacker.com and in the New York Times, best-selling author Scott Berkun pulls the best lessons from the history of innovation, including the recent software and web age, to reveal powerful and surprising truths about how ideas become successful innovations - truths people can easily apply to the challenges of today.

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.

The Guiding Purpose Strategy is a stimulating deep dive into the transformational power of purpose. Looking through the lens of contemporary brand management, The Guiding Purpose Strategy provokes fresh thinking, illustrates through case studies, and offers a hands-on framework to start your very own path toward finding your inner why.

As a manager, it’s your role to achieve the highest possible return on the physical, emotional, and mental efforts your people put forth. It’s not just a return on investment ...it’s a return on energy. But how are you supposed to light a fire under each employee when studies find that most of them are working at only a fraction of their potential?

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.

Maverick marketing whiz Mike Veeck offers you his simple, no-fail formula for business success!

Drawing on his own experience and the success stories of clients and others who have benefited from his philosophy, Veeck shows how fun, creativity, and passion can bring out the best in an organization and an individual.

The "Fun Is Good" philosophy applies to everyone, whether you're the CEO or lower on the totem pole.