Organizational Development Leadership

Everyone, at some point in their life, will be asked to be a leader. Leadership skills are highly sought after by employers and are also essential to lasting success in business and life. But the problem with most leadership books is that they are just common knowledge, taken from other writers and not useful. This book presents proven skills and qualities that are tried and tested to help you develop into your greatest potential as a leader. Become more than just “the boss" people follow only because they have to. Instead master the ability to inspire and lead people.

Leadership isn't something you're born with or gifted as a reward for an abundance of charisma; true leadership stems from core skills that can be learned. Get more of the leadership ideas you want, from the authors you trust, with HBR's 10 Must Reads on Leadership (Vol. 2). We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you maximize your own and your organization's performance.

The workplace is going through a large-scale transition with digitization, automation, and acceleration. Critical skills and expertise are imperative for companies and their employees to succeed in the future, and the most forward-thinking companies are being proactive in adapting to the shift in the workforce. Kelly Palmer, Silicon Valley thought leader from LinkedIn, Degreed, and Yahoo, and David Blake, cofounder of ed-tech pioneer Degreed, share their experiences and describe how some of the smartest companies in the world are making learning and expertise a major competitive advantage.

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

Decades of research demonstrates that we often have an over-inflated sense of self and are rarely as good as we believe. Perfectly Confident is the first book to bring together the best psychological and economic studies to explain exactly what confidence is, when it can be helpful, and when it can be destructive in our lives.

Tom Kelley, author of The Art of Innovation and the general manager of IDEO, the world-famous design firm, illuminates the strategies IDEO used to beat the devil's advocate and drive creativity throughout the organization.

Competition is moving beyond industry to ecosystem. Are you ready? In the shift from pipeline to platform, value is no longer created by your company's product or process alone - it's created through interactions. And the strategy you used to become an industry leader won't help you compete in an evolving and complex ecosystem. If you listen to nothing else on platforms and ecosystems, listen to these 10 articles by experts in the field.

In Mastering Civility, Christine Porath shows how people can enhance their influence and effectiveness with civility. Combining scientific research with fascinating evidence from popular culture and fields such as neuroscience, medicine, and psychology, this audiobook provides managers and employers with a much-needed wake-up call, while also reminding them of what they can do right now to improve the quality of their workplaces.

Every day outstanding organizations do things and promote values that ensure they will retain customers, grow revenues, increase market share, and build their reputations. Informed by his own commitment to the concept of personal accountability and enlivened by compelling true stories from exceptional organizations, in this insightful and accessible audiobook John Miller identifies the principles and behaviors that distinguish such organizations from the pack and provides listeners with ways to integrate them into their own work.

How does one become a CEO? Many people know they want to climb the corporate ladder, but don't have a clue about how to ascend that ladder without losing their grip. In this insightful, controversial program, Jeffrey J. Fox offers solid, practical advice and recommendations on how to fulfill your ambition to better yourself, to be a contributor, to make a difference, to grow professionally, and to be more successful.

Jennifer Kahnweiler offers a five-step process that will enable introverts and extroverts to work together harmoniously and achieve more than they ever could on their own. The process can be precarious. The key, Kahnweiler says, is to remember that these relationships are most successful when opposites stop emphasizing their differences and use approaches that focus them both on moving toward results.

We're in the midst of a revolution. Quantum leaps in technology are enabling organizations to observe and measure people's behavior in real time, communicate internally at extraordinary speed, and innovate continuously. These new, software-driven technologies are transforming the way companies interact with their customers, employees, and other stakeholders.

In Applied Empathy, Michael Ventura, CEO and founder of Sub Rosa, a design firm that finds creative solutions for iconic brands and institutions such as GE, Nike, Citibank, Nikon, and Warby Parker and also West Point and the White House, offers entrepreneurs and executives a radical new business book and way forward. Applied Empathy presents real strategies, based on Sub Rosa’s design work as well as the popular class Ventura and his team have taught at Princeton University, on how to make lasting connections and evolve your business internally (your employees, culture, and product/services) as well as externally (your brand, consumers, and value).

We've all been taught that we must suppress or avoid emotions at work, but this inevitably leads to a loss in productivity, diminished creativity, and crushing job dissatisfaction. Research shows 85 percent of us avoid communicating crucial workplace problems upward, and many of us who are employed are actively looking for a different job. What's going on?

We struggle making decisions, and most times, we just wish someone would make them for us. What if that could all change, and you could master the decisions you face in your life? In Making Accountable Decisions, Sam Silverstein presents ways to approach our life's decisions and how we interact and affect others. He does this by focusing on the most substantial decisions in our lives, how they impact us, and what decisions we can make to add value and meaning.

This newly revised edition demonstrates how action learning can be used to address today's increasingly complex organizational challenges. Packed with extensive enhancements, including new international case studies, and more strategies to introduce and maintain action-learning programs within an organization, Optimizing the Power of Action Learning delivers an innovative and fresh perspective - making it a must-have for any organization looking to heighten competitive advantage and sustain success.

Results and relationships—managers and leaders no longer have to prioritize one over the other to build a culture of exceptional accountability. You don’t have to choose between being the hard-charging task master and being the easy-going people pleaser. By expanding your awareness to create deliberate intentions, take informed actions, and be responsible for your impact, you can achieve better business outcomes and experience greater satisfaction in doing so.

As our workloads expand, attention has never been more valuable. Or more difficult to keep. In Can I Have your Attention?, Curt Steinhorst shows business leaders how to cut through the noise and get their employees back to work. Curt has spent years helping Fortune 500 companies overcome distraction and achieve focus. With technology creating endless opportunities to "improve productivity", people spend so much time responding to the interruptions that they've lost the ability to focus and do their jobs.

Every leader and manager strives for success. The problem is, success relies on change and change is difficult. As you know, change affects people differently, which is why organizational change usually fails and why using a method that includes everyone’s needs is critical. The HST Model for Change presents a unique and comprehensive approach to the people side of organizational development.

If you find yourself getting fed up and frustrated with a colleague whose incompetence is driving you crazy, a boss who gets angry when you're not a mind reader, or an employee who habitually challenges your authority, chances are you're caught in an emotional trap in the workplace. Quit complaining and do something!