Organizational Leadership

When we think of leaders, we often imagine lone, inspirational figures lauded for their behaviors, attributes, and personal decisions, and leadership books often reinforce that view. However, this approach ignores a leader's mission to empower others. Applying decades of behavioral science research, Don A. Moore and Max H. Bazerman offer a passionate corrective to this view, casting today's organizations as decision factories in which effective leaders are decision architects, enabling those around them to make wise, ethical choices consistent with the organization's highest values.

It’s undeniable that we’re entering a new era of remote work. While many leaders seek to run business as usual, why settle for the usual when remote teams allow us to work even better? The research shows that employees are more productive and engaged when they have the freedom to work from anywhere.

The Fieldbook is an intensely pragmatic guide. It shows how to create an organization of learners where memories are brought to life, where collaboration is the lifeblood of every endeavor, and where the tough questions are fearlessly asked. The stories here show that companies, businesses, schools, agencies, and even communities can undo their “learning issues” and achieve superior performance. If ever a work gave meaning to the phrase hands-on, this is it.

Trust is the basis for all that we do as leaders and as organizations. Employees who trust their employers are more productive and creative. Businesses that earn their customers' trust maintain better relationships and reap better results. Meanwhile, breaches of trust between companies and the public are becoming more frequent—and more costly. If you read (or listen to) nothing else on trust, listen to these ten articles.

Does your organization manage complexity by making things more complicated? If so, you are not alone. According to The Boston Consulting Group's fascinating Complexity Index, business complexity has increased sixfold during the past 60 years. And, all the while, organizational complicatedness - that is, the number of structures, processes, committees, decision-making forums, and systems - has increased by a whopping factor of 35.

Virtual working - also known as remote working, telecommuting, flexible working, or homeworking - is an important and growing trend in the global employment landscape. Its popularity has increased due to globalization and outsourcing. However, unlocking the benefits of virtual work depends largely on the organizational culture, management, and leadership to support it. Virtual Leadership identifies the challenges of virtual work and explains how to develop the facilitative leadership mindset to effectively manage people remotely.

Patagonia, named by Fortune in 2007 as the coolest company on the planet, has earned a reputation as much for its ground-breaking environmental and social practices as for the quality of its clothes. In this exceptionally frank account, Chouinard and Stanley recount how the company and its culture gained the confidence, by step and misstep, to make its work progressively more responsible, and to ultimately share its discoveries with companies as large as Wal-Mart or as small as the corner bakery.

A sweeping leadership framework to institute clear and intentional actions throughout your organization so that people of all racial backgrounds are empowered to lead, collaborate, and excel at work.

In Strategic, New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Rich Horwath delivers an incisive roadmap to help leaders at all levels think, plan, and act strategically to navigate every business challenge they face. The book offers business leaders a proven framework—the Strategic Fitness System—containing dozens of tools, techniques, and checklists to confidently master every area of the business, from designing market-winning strategies to shaping the organization's culture.

Every employee at every level wants to feel seen, heard, and respected. If we don’t feel safe, we can’t be our best selves or do our most creative work. This is why leaders must ensure psychological safety for everyone in their team. Whether you’re a manager, CEO, or entrepreneur, The Psychological Safety Playbook is the guide you need to lead your team to the highest levels of performance and innovation.

Thirty years ago, Roger Fisher and Bill Ury wrote the groundbreaking book Getting to Yes. It established the mutual gains approach to negotiation, or what the popular media likes to call "win-win negotiation". But there are few, if any, negotiating situations in which everyone can get everything they want. In reality, most people want to win at win-win negotiation. And the way to win is to come up with a proposed agreement that is "good" for the other side and "great" for you.

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.

For decades Tom Peters has been preaching the gospel of putting people first, and in today's rapidly changing business environment, this message is more important than ever. With his unparalleled expertise and inimitable charisma, Peters provides a roadmap for you and your organization to thrive amidst the tech tsunami, and he has a lot of fun doing it. The Excellence Dividend is an important new book from one of today’s greatest business thinkers.

From award-winning columnist and journalist Gillian Tett comes a brilliant examination of how our tendency to create functional departments - silos - hinders our work and how some people and organizations can break those silos down to unleash innovation.

Employees are your company's most important asset. Attracting the best, getting them to do their best work, and keeping them in the organization are critical to your company's success. 1,001 Ways to Engage Employees gives you all the powerful tools you need.

Every business leader today should be asking themselves these questions. Systems and processes have been skewed too long in favor of some at the expense of others, and things are changing - fast. How to Be an Ally shows how to take personal responsibility for driving change that's good for people - and for business.

The "Step Up, Step Back" approach suggests leaders need to step up and do more than they typically do in the early stages of the change - in specific ways and at specific times; and then step back and do less than they typically do in the later stages of the change - again, in specific ways, at specific times. The result is not only change that sticks, but empowered, motivated managers who can get on with delivering change, without needing ongoing input or cover from leaders.

We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you combat new competitors and define the best strategy for your company. With insights from leading experts including Michael E. Porter, A. G. Lafley, and Clayton M. Christensen, this book will inspire you to: choose a strategy that meets the demands of your competitive environment; identify the signals of disruption and take steps to avoid it; understand lean methodology and how it is changing business; and more.

Whether you're a manager, owner, or employee, Customer Service Training 101 gets you up to speed fast. The completely revised and updated third edition addresses every aspect of face-to-face, phone, online, social media, and self-service interactions. Using scenarios, guidelines, and practice exercises, this inspiring training manual explains what to say and do, what to avoid, and why interactions go astray.

Drawing on case studies, many from client companies, the authors show how to establish clear expectations and manage the unmet expectations that inevitably occur. And they offer a positive, principled way that engages hearts and minds. This book can help people at every level---from senior executives to front-line workers---enjoy greater productivity, profitability, and job satisfaction.