Workplace Leadership

Why do some team members not get along? What is the best way to get new teams and ad-hoc teams to maximize their performance in the least amount of time? How can meetings be designed to achieve useful outcomes? Teams are the source of problem-solving and innovation that today’s organizations need to survive and thrive in an increasingly complex and challenging marketplace. Teamwork is hard because there is no magic formula or step-by-step procedure to ensure results.

Collaborative intelligence, or CQ, is a measure of our ability to think with others on behalf of what matters to us all. It is emerging as a new professional currency at a time when the way we think, interact, and innovate is shifting. In the past, "market share" companies ruled by hierarchy and top-down leadership. Today, the new market leaders are "mind share" companies, where influence is more important than power, and success relies on collaboration and the ability to inspire.

In the modern workplace, conflict has become a dirty word. After all, conflict is antithetical to teamwork, employee engagement, and a positive company culture. Or is it? The truth is that our teams and organizations require conflict to get things done. But we avoid conflict and build up conflict debt by deferring and dodging the difficult decisions. Our organizations are paying the price - becoming less productive, less innovative, and less competitive.

This audiobook is a step-by-step guide for any individual, group, or company actually to create a Code of Honor specific to their team. Blair SInger’s titles are designed as a "how-to" series to empower individuals to succeed in the world of business and finance. Team Code of Honor is critical to this series because its processes bridge all facets of business, investment, entrepreneurship, and even personal life.

In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, corporate America has doubled down on its public intentions to be more inclusive and equitable. Yet beyond the pledges it is difficult to see which system changes make a real difference. In From Intention to Impact, Malia Lazu draws on her background as a community organizer, her corporate career as a bank president, and now her experience as a leading DEI consultant to explain what has been holding organizations back and what they need to do better.

Effective leadership comes down to implementing everyday, common-sense practices to help organizations thrive - and yet so many leaders are still missing these fundamental principles from their personal and professional lives. Renowned business experts Ken Blanchard and Randy Conley disclose the simple truths about leadership they have gathered over their long and distinguished careers to help bring common sense into common practice.

Institutions remain essential to human flourishing. They are the means by which communities thrive, individual vocations are fulfilled, and society is changed for the good. As a result, we all need to learn how to work effectively within institutions. That is just what Gordon Smith provides. He unpacks the core of institutional intelligence - the wisdom of working effectively within an organization. At the same time, he explains how team leaders, directors, executives, board members, key stakeholders, and employees can avoid what is often their greatest source of stress on the job,

The authors discuss the current research on unconscious bias and insider-outsider dynamics and focus on how to translate that current research into best practice for leaders. SET for Inclusion follows the stories of three diverse characters in a large modern organization - a top executive, a middle manager, and an individual contributor. Each of these characters is working to make inclusiveness real, to provide tangible benefits for them as individuals and for the organization.

If you cut off a spider's leg, it's crippled; if you cut off its head, it dies. But if you cut off a starfish's leg it grows a new one, and the old leg can grow into an entirely new starfish. The Starfish and the Spider argues that organizations fall into two categories: "spiders", which have a rigid hierarchy, and "starfish", which rely on the power of peer relationships.

Ten years of research uncover the secret source of growth and profit...Those who center their business on improving people’s lives have a growth rate triple that of competitors and outperform the market by a huge margin. They dominate their categories, create new categories, and maximize profit in the long term. Pulling from a unique 10 year growth study involving 50,000 brands, Jim Stengel shows how the world's 50 best businesses have a cause and effect relationship between financial performance and their ability to connect.

This is a book about work choices and life choices, and the critical points, or defining moments, at which the two become one. A refreshing antidote to traditional feel-good, inspirational business ethics, it examines the right-versus-right conflicts that every business manager faces and presents an unorthodox yet practical way for you to think about and resolve them.

Traditional business structures love stability and predictability. Yet many organizations believe the two essential ingredients for long-term success are creativity and innovation. Kirsten May and Alex Varricchio, founders of the marketing agency UpHouse, call the relationship between these two opposing expectations the Proximity Paradox - the belief that those who are closest to a subject are best-qualified to innovate for it, when, in reality, intense proximity limits creativity.

This audiobook teaches people at all levels - from entry-level associates to top executives - that it's up to them to help promote and preserve a winning culture of collaboration. The authors show that busting silos and bringing people together is an inside-out process that involves your heart (your character and intentions), your head (your beliefs and attitudes), and your hands (your actions and behaviors).

In the modern workplace, employees collaborate. Managers are expected to be effective team leaders and employees are expected to be valued teammates. But many teams struggle. Being part of a struggling team can be unpleasant, but it can also hurt your career and waste company resources.

This transformative new era requires a radically different approach to leadership. The tactics put in place to reduce risk, drive success, and make us feel safe in the past are now the very things creating vulnerability today. In Leadering, Nancy Giordano provides clarity and urgency around what 21st century stewardship demands as exponential technologies and changing societal expectations converge to shape a better next. This audiobook challenges us to shift our outdated thinking and adopt the mindset we need to build the future we all want.

Leading Inclusion is not a how to book; it’s a how to be book—one that educates, challenges, and empowers you and your C-suite and board colleagues to lead a diverse workforce effectively. You’ll learn the historical facts that created the racial inequities and systemic injustices that show up in the workplace, even today. Leading Inclusion shows the importance of taking the pulse of all your employees, so you can identify meaningful actions to build an inclusive, respect-first organizational culture.

What are the forces that are reshaping the relationship between the two? What can we all do to strengthen the relationship between purpose and profit as entrepreneurs, managers, employees, consumers, and investors? Backed by cutting-edge research, Purpose and Profit provides answers to these fundamental questions that are increasingly defining the business landscape all around the world.

In helping Walt Disney create “The Happiest Place on Earth”, Van France and his team started a business revolution in 1955 that eventually became the Disney University - the employee training and development program that powers one of the most famous brands on earth. Disney U examines how Van France's timeless company values and leadership expertise have turned into a training and development dynasty: the Disney U. The book reveals the heart of the Disney culture and describes the company's values and operational philosophies that support the world-famous Disney brand.

Enchantment, as defined by bestselling business guru Guy Kawasaki, is not about manipulating people. It transforms situations and relationships. It converts hostility into civility and civility into affinity. It changes the skeptics and cynics into the believers and the undecided into the loyal. Enchantment can happen during a retail transaction, a high-level corporate negotiation, or a Facebook update.

Who changed the rules of business? It's a different game now. In an increasingly globally diverse workforce, it's vitally important that leaders understand their team inside and out. This takes a new toolbox of skills for the 21st century. Today you need winning strategies to avoid the costly pitfalls of high turnover, low morale, and poor collaboration, not to mention the cost of missed deadlines and incomplete projects.