Performance Management Leadership

Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB) is making a comeback and has made it to the top of the list of most adopted management tools among executives in leading global organizations. As we enter an unprecedented era of economic unpredictability, disruptive technologies, globalization, and fierce competition, companies are increasingly finding themselves in search of money to invest in new initiatives which have caused a resurgence in ZBB as a tool of choice among executives.

How can your organization increase its agility, alignment, and accountability to improve performance? Developing performance management capabilities means changing the way people are empowered to make better decisions. It requires a transition from a restrictive, command-and-control approach to a management style that includes more participants in the performance-management process.

In looking for help and understanding on how to build an organization and to select and manage your people, a good place to start would be to look for an organization that did that exceptionally well. Cintas is a great American success story, and Bob Kohlhepp was an important part of that success for 50 years. He began his career as controller but quickly moved up to ultimately become CEO and then chairman. He was a key part of building Cintas from $1.6 million in sales in 1967 to more than $7 billion today.

Leadership Isn't for Cowards offers straightforward steps to leading courageously and practical tips for driving performance. Courageous leadership means toughening your approach by being rigorous in the application of your values through the company culture. It means confronting and challenging people, and not letting them get away with being less than you know they can be.

Many companies try to save money and underestimate the importance of project management. You know better than anyone else that project management is more than just quickly briefing your team during work. Even startups with small budgets invest in a project manager (PM) because it's no longer a secret that a skilled project manager can save companies 28 times more money since their output is more reliable.

Inspired Manufacturing Leadership answers the question of how to systematically incorporate Kaizen, metric management, problem solving, people development, culture change, and many more improvement efforts into one cohesive system of implementation. It reveals to leaders how to effectively and systematically challenge all processes having them to become predictable and repeatable. Once implemented, it facilitates the achievement of breakthrough results.

As a leader, you face tough choices every day. The stakes are high, and a lack of clarity - with yourself, your team, and organizational focus - can be devastating. Debra Van Cleve’s The Clarity Effect: Simple Leadership Principles to Create a Culture of Purpose, Passion, and Performance provides business strategies and hands-on exercises, so you can elevate your leadership style, achieve high-performance teams, and create long-term organizational success.

There are three kinds of employees: Some are saints: they're always accountable. Some are sinners: they're never accountable. But most are save-ables: sometimes they make good choices; sometimes they don't. What makes the difference? Leadership Without Excuses has the answers. Jeff Grimshaw and Gregg Baron help you put an end to the save-ables' poor choices and excuse-making - and convert them into saints. The secret is to communicate clear and credible expectations, create compelling consequences, and lead conversations grounded in reality.

We’re in the middle of the most significant transformation in work in over a century. Whether it’s remote work, the rise of burnout and “quiet quitting,” or the changing values and priorities of employees, leading an organization has never been more complex. But through all this, a single factor remains the core driver of fulfilled, high-performing teams—their belief that their work has meaning. In Meaningful Work, Wes Adams and Tamara Myles leverage the science of positive psychology to show leaders why and how to make meaning the cornerstone of leadership practice.

The US military in general, and its many elite organizations in particular, possesses a culture of high performance. Courage to Execute outlines the six basic principles that operate at the foundation of high performance, which include leadership, organization, communication, knowledge, experience, and discipline, known together as LOCKED. When all are practiced effectively, teamwork emerges. But the most elusive quality that's at the heart of all elite military teams, the element that organizations and businesses desire to perform more efficiently and effectively, is trust.

A powerful book that shows the step-by-step evolution of a new kind of global technology powerhouse, The Lenovo Way is an indispensable guide for leaders and managers who deal with strategy, innovation, branding, and HR at any kind of company. It also tells the remarkable story of how two women from very different backgrounds rose to become leaders in Lenovo's journey to the top.

As president and CEO of Scripps Health, one of America's most prestigious health systems, Chris Van Gorder presided over a dramatic turnaround, catapulting Scripps from near bankruptcy to a dominant market position. While hospitals and health systems nationwide have laid people off or are closing their doors, Scripps is financially healthy, has added thousands of employees (even with a no-layoff philosophy), and has developed a reputation as a top employer. What are the secrets to this remarkable story?

This isn’t just another career book. Elite Performance for Managers is a guide that delivers on its promise to revolutionize your professional journey. Talbot A. Stark uses his unique triad of experience in international finance, the US military, and Silicon Valley to share life-changing knowledge that challenges you to be accountable for your career and take control of your destiny.

Leveraging her lifelong passion for high performance, Agnes Cserhati – a globally acclaimed performance coach and leadership expert – has distilled decades of experience working with some of the world's top leaders into the 12 key principles that unlock the secret to high performance. With razor-sharp precision, alongside her unrivalled ability to cut to the chase, Cserhati reveals actionable insights that will inspire, challenge, and motivate you to accelerate your success. Master pivotal shifts and strategies that distinguish exceptional leaders and reframe your perspective on success.

Exception to the Rule links ancient wisdom with contemporary science on high performance, teamwork, and engagement. Building an organizational culture based on classical virtues - of trust, compassion, courage, justice, wisdom, temperance and hope - is both strategically smart and a better way to live. Exception to the Rule walks you through the steps of helping everyone in your organization focus on character defined by virtue.

In a globalized world, where multinational companies have extensive power over millions of people, building positive organizational performance requires global leaders with virtues. Organizations, especially multinational ones, may be crucial engines of social and economic progress; global leaders' virtues and character strengths may be strong drivers of such an endeavor. Drawing on the Positive Organizational Scholarship movement, this book aims to provide a holistic approach to the virtues of leaders.

"For many years I struggled to lead in a difficult environment. My colleagues seemed to thrive on conflict. I sure didn't. I tried to be a servant, but I couldn't compete with their charisma and intensity." Whether you lead in a church or the marketplace, you probably relate to Tom Harper's desire to serve with strength. This book is the result of his three-year search through the Bible for wisdom on how to establish authority, overcome resistance, develop boldness, and manage conflict.

Many organisations are diverse – but that doesn’t make them inclusive. Many teams are made up of high-performing individuals – but that doesn’t turn them into high-performing teams. Many leaders work hard and take care of their people – but that doesn’t mean they’re great leaders. Let Go Leadership will show you how to share power, harness the diversity of your teams and become a better, more inclusive leader, so that you can realise the untapped potential within your organisation.

Why uncover your hidden talents? Because knowing how to uncover the talents you didn’t know you have and turning them into new skills will help you move away from competencies of the past that can hinder your career and will help you achieve higher levels of performance. Drawing from decades of experience in executive leadership development as C-Suite officers and consultants, we describe 16 essential leadership tools in simple, concrete, and behavior-based language that will enable you to distinguish what areas of skill and expertise you can naturally call upon....

Life is about choices. Where you live, the schools you attend, your career path, who you marry - all affect your success and satisfaction. Many of these choices are dichotomous. If I live here, I can’t live there. If I attend this university, I can’t also go to that one. Leaders often see their workplace strategy as an equally “this or that” choice.