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02.01.12
First Look: Leadership Books for February 2012Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in February. Collaborate: The Art of We by Dan Sanker
Good Idea. Now What? How to Move Ideas to Execution by Charles T. Lee
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
Your Best Just Got Better: Work Smarter, Think Bigger, Make More by Jason W. Womack
Make Up Your Mind: A Decision Making Guide to Thinking Clearly and Choosing Wisely by Hal Mooz
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273  Build your leadership library with these specials on over 120 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities. “Every reader finds himself. The writer's work is merely a kind of optical instrument that makes it possible for the reader to discern what, without this book, he would perhaps never have seen in himself.” — Marcel Proust
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:02 AM
01.01.12
First Look: Leadership Books for January 2012Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in January. What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation by Gary Hamel
Smart Trust: Creating Prosperity, Energy, and Joy in a Low-Trust World by Stephen M.R. Covey and Greg Link with Rebecca R. Merrill
The Shaping of an Effective Leader: Eight Formative Principles of Leadership by Gayle D. Beebe
Amplified Leadership: 5 Practices to Establish Influence, Build People, and Impact Others for a Lifetime by Dan Reiland
Taking People With You: The Only Way to Make Big Things Happen by David Novak
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 120 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities. "He that loves a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counselor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter. By study, by reading, by thinking, one may innocently divert and pleasantly entertain himself, as in all weathers, as in all fortunes." — Isaac Barrow
Posted by Michael McKinney at 02:26 PM
12.25.11
Best Leadership Books of 2011
WE HAVE more recorded information about leadership now than at any other time in history. Most of it deals with the surface turbulence, which is important but not complete. In all of this information there is the sense too, that perhaps we have lost the wisdom we need and that maybe some new thing will help us to avoid what we already know and don’t want to do. For the most part, it’s still business-as-usual within the same framework—control. It’s hard to give up fundamental beliefs even though they really aren’t working for us anymore. These books speak to our need to rethink our core thinking, beliefs and motivations—to do the uncomfortable. We could all benefit from daily reflection. Reflecting on what we believe, who we are in relation to those we serve, and what it means to do what we do. It’s time to rediscover true leadership—to rethink our fundamental assumptions. Leadership matters now more than ever. Consider: Harnessing the Power of Reflective Thinking In Your Organization by Daniel Patrick Forrester
From Values to Action: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership by Harry M. Kraemer
Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck—Why Some Thrive Despite Them All by Jim Collins and Morten Hansen
Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters by Richard Rumelt
Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril by Margaret Heffernan
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Take the Lead: Motivate, Inspire, and Bring Out the Best in Yourself and Everyone Around You by Betsy Myers
Practically Radical: Not-So-Crazy Ways to Transform Your Company, Shake Up Your Industry, and Challenge Yourself by William C. Taylor
Better Under Pressure: How Great Leaders Bring Out the Best in Themselves and Others by Justin Menkes
What to Ask the Person in the Mirror: Critical Questions for Becoming a More Effective Leader and Reaching Your Potential by Robert Steven Kaplan
From Bud to Boss: Transition to Remarkable Leadership by Kevin Eikenberry and Guy Harris
Advocacy: Championing Ideas and Influencing Others: Championing Ideas and Influencing Others by John A. Daly
Lead with Purpose: Giving Your Organization a Reason to Believe in Itself by John Baldoni
If You Will Lead: Enduring Wisdom for 21st-Century Leaders by Doug Moran
Biographies: Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul by Howard Schultz with Joanne Gordon
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
Decision Points by George W. Bush
My Life in Leadership: The Journey and Lessons Learned Along the Way by Frances Hesselbein
Related Interest: Best Leadership Books of 2010
Best Leadership Books of 2009
Posted by Michael McKinney at 03:28 PM
12.01.11
First Look: Leadership Books for December 2011Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in December. 360 Degrees of Influence: Get Everyone to Follow Your Lead on Your Way to the Top by Harrison Monarth
Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World's Greatest Companies by Jim Stengel
World Changers: 25 Entrepreneurs Who Changed Business as We Knew It by John A. Byrne
Screw Business As Usual by Richard Branson
Shake the World: It's Not About Finding a Job, It's About Creating a Life by James Marshall Reilly
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 120 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:09 AM
11.01.11
First Look: Leadership Books for November 2011Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in November. Lead with Purpose: Giving Your Organization a Reason to Believe in Itself by John Baldoni
Everyone Leads: Building Leadership from the Community Up by Paul Schmitz
People Follow You: The Real Secret to What Matters Most in Leadership by Jeb Blount
Creative People Must Be Stopped: 6 Ways We Kill Innovation (Without Even Trying) by David A Owens
The Radical Leap Re-Energized: Doing What You Love in the Service of People Who Love by Steve Farber
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 120 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities. Jacqueline Kennedy on JFK: "He’d read walking, he’d read at the table, at meals, he’d read after dinner, he’d read in the bathtub, he’d read—prop open a book on his desk—on his bureau—while he was doing his tie. You know, he’d just read a little, he’d open some book I’d be reading, you know, just devour it. He’d really read all the times you don’t think you have time to read."
Posted by Michael McKinney at 11:30 AM
10.06.11
Stimulus Package 4 - Free Book: Up, Down, or Sideways Here’s a stimulus package to get you thinking. It’s a package designed to serve as a catalyst to help you to find ways to make things work and get things done. While you might think of it as a piece of good fortune, don’t think of it as a bailout. You’ve still got to do the inside work.
In partnership with Mark Sanborn, we are giving away three autographed copies of Up, Down, or Sideways: How to Succeed When Times are Good, Bad, or In Between. Up, Down, or Sideways answers the question: What should we consistently do to ensure present and future success?  On Tuesday, October 11, 2011 we will randomly select three recipients to receive a free copy. We will contact you by e-mail for your address. Related Interest: Are You Up, Down, or Sideways
Up, Down, or Sideways web site.
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Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:27 AM
10.02.11
First Look: Leadership Books for October 2011Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in October. Up, Down, or Sideways: What You Must Always Do to Succeed When Times Are Good, Bad, or in Between by Mark Sanborn
The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential by John C, Maxwell
Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck--Why Some Thrive Despite Them All by Jim Collins and Morten Hansen
Practical Genius: The Real Smarts You Need to Get Your Talents and Passions Working for You by Gina A Rudan
Demand: Creating What People Love Before They Know They Want It by Adrian Slywotzky with Karl Weber
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 120 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:05 AM
09.01.11
First Look: Leadership Books for September 2011Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in September. True North Groups: A Powerful Path to Personal and Leadership Development by Bill George and Doug Baker
The Anywhere Leader: How to Lead and Succeed in Any Business Environment by Mike Thompson
StandOut: The Groundbreaking New Strengths Assessment from the Leader of the Strengths Revolution by Marcus Buckingham
Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney
Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance by Jonathan Fields
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 120 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities. NEW EDITION: How: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything by Dov L. Seidman NEW EDITION: Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High - Second Edition by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler
Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:50 AM
08.01.11
First Look: Leadership Books for August 2011Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in August. Advocacy: Championing Ideas and Influencing Others: Championing Ideas and Influencing Others by John A. Daly
Elephant in the Room: How Relationships Make or Break the Success of Leaders and Organizations by Diana McLain Smith
The Innovator's Manifesto: Deliberate Disruption for Transformational Growth by Michael Raynor
The Success Gurus: 17 Lessons in Greatness from the Best Minds in Business by Andrew Clancy
Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn by Cathy N. Davidson
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 120 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities. “The first law of skillful reading is merely an application of the Law of Relative Importance. You must perceive, first of all, the total offerings of the printed matter; then you must appraise these.” — Walter Pitkin, The Art of Rapid Reading
Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:50 AM
07.01.11
First Look: Leadership Books for July 2011Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in July. The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice by Todd Henry
I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 by Douglas Edwards
Growth or Bust: Proven Turnaround Strategies to Grow Your Business by Mark Faust
Elements of Influence: The Art of Getting Others to Follow Your Lead by Terry R. Bacon
Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters by Richard Rumelt
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 120 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities. “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” — W. Fusselman
Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:54 AM
06.01.11
First Look: Leadership Books for June 2011Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in June. The Benevolent Dictator: Empower Your Employees, Build Your Business, and Outwit the Competition by Michael Feuer with Dustin Klein
If You Will Lead: Enduring Wisdom for 21st-Century Leaders by Doug Moran
Car Guys vs. Bean Counters: The Battle for the Soul of American Business by Bob Lutz
Power Genes: Understanding Your Power Persona--and How to Wield It at Work by Maggie Craddock
The Professional: Defining the New Standard of Excellence at Work by Subroto Bagchi
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 120 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities. “We read to know we are not alone.” —C.S. Lewis
Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:16 AM
05.01.11
First Look: Leadership Books for May 2011Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in May. What Makes Business Rock: Building the World's Largest Global Networks by Bill Roedy with David Fisher
Better Under Pressure: How Great Leaders Bring Out the Best in Themselves and Others by Justin Menkes
Leadership is Dead: How Influence is Reviving It by Jeremie Kubicek
TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments by Douglas R Conant and Mette Norgaard
The Little Book of Leadership Development: 50 Ways to Bring Out the Leader in Every Employee byScott J. Allen and Mitchell Kusy
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 155 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities. “To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries.” —A C Grayling, Financial Times
Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:24 PM
04.01.11
First Look: Leadership Books for April 2011Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in April. Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler
The Corner Office: Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons from CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed by Adam Bryant
From Values to Action: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership by Harry M. Kraemer
Idea Man: A Memoir by Paul Allen
Put Your Mindset to Work: The One Asset You Really Need to Win and Keep the Job You Love by Paul G. Stoltz and James Reed
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 155 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:56 AM
03.01.11
First Look: Leadership Books for March 2011Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in March. Poke the Box by Seth Godin
Tell to Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story by Peter Guber
Brainsteering: A Better Approach to Breakthrough Ideas by Kevin P. Coyne and Shawn T. Coyne
Ten Steps Ahead: What Separates Successful Business Visionaries from the Rest of Us by Erik Calonius
Everything Is Obvious: *Once You Know the Answer by Duncan Watts
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 155 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities. NEW EDITION:  
“My early and invincible love of reading, I would not exchange for the treasures of India.” —Edward Gibbon, Memoirs of My Life and Writings
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:08 AM
02.01.11
First Look: Leadership Books for February 2011Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in February. As One by Marhdad Baghai and James Quigley
Split-Second Persuasion: The Ancient Art and New Science of Changing Minds by Kevin Dutton
My Life in Leadership: The Journey and Lessons Learned Along the Way by Frances Hesselbein
Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership by John Hamm
From Bud to Boss: Transition to Remarkable Leadership by Kevin Eikenberry and Guy Harris
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 155 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities. NEW EDITIONS: Rubies in the Orchard: The POM Queen's Secrets to Marketing Just About Anything by Lynda Resnick and Francis Wilkinson is now in paperback. The excellent Fierce Leadership: A Bold Alternative to the Worst "Best" Practices of Business Today by Susan Scott is also available in paperback. Read the Leading Blog review. "“When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before.” —Cliff Fadiman
Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:50 AM
01.01.11
First Look: Leadership Books for January 2011Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in January. Practically Radical: Not-So-Crazy Ways to Transform Your Company, Shake Up Your Industry, and Challenge Yourself by William C. Taylor
The Great Workplace: How to Build It, How to Keep It, and Why It Matters by Michael Burchell and Jennifer Robin
Change the Culture, Change the Game: The Breakthrough Strategy for Energizing Your Organization and Creating Accountability for Results by Roger Connors and Tom Smith
Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader by Linda A. Hill and Kent L. Lineback
Outrageous Fortunes: The Twelve Surprising Trends That Will Reshape the Global Economy by Daniel Altman
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 160 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities. "The first thing naturally when one enters a scholar's study or library, is to look at his books. One gets the notion very speedily of his tastes and the range of his pursuits by a glance round his book-shelves." —Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894), The Poet at the Breakfast Table. VIII.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:45 PM
12.25.10
Best Leadership Books of 2010
A crisis exposes character or the lack of it. Our reaction is important. Our recent history requires a response; a correction; a change in the status quo. If we are thinking more-of-the-same or merely upping our game then we are destined to fail again. On the other hand if we are looking to change our games or approach, then we have a way forward. The way forward will mean reviewing a lot of overly familiar ideas like, “self-awareness is critical to a good leader” because those are the things we forgot or were maybe never taught. While books about these ideas can seem boring they can, if we let them, take us to a higher level. But they require introspection and often more attention than we may think we have time for. But what is the alternative? As reading goes, the books listed here may not be as exciting as how-can-I-leverage-other-people’s-money nor are they going to be paradigm-shifting as in why-hasn’t-somebody-thought-of-this-before. However, while many of the ideas are not new, they can be life-changing. Some of the books listed below help to reacquaint us with ideas that we might have consciously or unconsciously decided that we would get back to when we had the time. Others help us to better understand the connected world we live in. One helps to explain the artistry of leadership. Some, while exploring the lives of others, help to provide a context for all of it. The big lesson for all of us: nothing—leadership, capitalism, society—can be sustained forever in a culture of get—with a mindset of always more. But that’s a tough lesson to act on. When faced with the daily business of life, the ideas of give and service seem so vapid—intangible—naive. Give. Easy to say. Much harder to live. You Already Know How to Be Great by Alan Fine
Driven to Lead: Good, Bad, and Misguided Leadership by Paul R. Lawrence
Serve to Lead: Your Transformational 21st Century Leadership System by James M Strock
Leading Outside the Lines: How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your Team, and Get Better Results by Jon R. Katzenbach and Zia Khan
The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown and Lang Davison
The Executive and the Elephant: A Leader's Guide for Achieving Inner Excellence by Richard L. Daft
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence by Tom Peters
Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face—and What to Do About It by Richard S. Tedlow
The Why of Work: How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win by David Ulrich and Wendy Ulrich
The Mentor Leader: Secrets to Building People and Teams That Win Consistently by Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker
Artistry Unleashed: A Guide to Pursuing Great Performance in Work and Life by Hilary Austen
The Truth about Leadership: The No-fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You Need to Know by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
Bury My Heart at Conference Room B: The Unbeatable Impact of Truly Committed Managers by Stan Slap
Biographies: Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Life in Leadership by Warren Bennis with Patricia Ward Biederman
Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia by Michael Korda
Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow
Related Interest: Best Leadership Books of 2009
Best Leadership Books of 2008
Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:03 PM
12.01.10
First Look: Leadership Books for December 2010Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in December. Shockproof: How to Hardwire Your Business for Lasting Success by Debra Jacobs, Garrett Sheridan and Juan Pablo González
Leadership Rules: How to Become the Leader You Want to Be by Chris Widener
Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals by Heidi Grant Halvorson
Faster Cheaper Better: The 9 Levers for Transforming How Work Gets Done by Michael Hammer and Lisa Hershman
The Soul of Leadership: Unlocking Your Potential for Greatness by Deepak Chopra
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 160 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities. "If you want people to read a book, tell them it is overrated." —Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:11 AM
11.01.10
First Look: Leadership Books for November 2010Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in November. Decision Points by George W. Bush
The Talent MastersWhy Smart Leaders Put People Before Numbers by Bill Conaty and Ram Charan
Good for Business: The Rise of the Conscious Corporation by Andrew Benett, Ann O'Reilly, Cavas Gobhai and Greg Welch
Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution by Robert Simons
Montgomery: Lessons in Leadership from the Soldier's General by Trevor Royle
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 160 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 02:24 PM
10.01.10
First Look: Leadership Books for October 2010Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in October. Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down by John P. Kotter and Lorne A. Whitehead
It's a Jungle in There: Inspiring Lessons, Hard-Won Insights, and Other Acts of Entrepreneurial Daring by Steven Schussler
The Laws of Charisma: How to Captivate, Inspire, and Influence for Maximum Success by Kurt W. Mortensen
The Intangibles of Leadership: The 10 Qualities of Superior Executive Performance by Richard Davis
The Leader's Guide to Radical Management: Reinventing the Workplace for the 21st Century by Stephen Denning
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 NEW EDITIONS: Scott Eblin's The Next Level is now available in a second edition and contains a lot of new content such as new executive interviews, Coachable Moments, Data Points, an expanded Situations Solutions Guide and more to equip new and existing executive leaders. Build your leadership library with these specials on over 160 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:44 AM
09.01.10
First Look: Leadership Books for September 2010Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in September. Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best ... And Learn from the Worst by Robert I. Sutton
Power: Why Some People Have It—and Others Don't by Jeffrey Pfeffer
Management? It's Not What You Think! by Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand and Joseph Lampel
Reality-Based Leadership: Ditch the Drama, Restore Sanity to the Workplace, and Turn Excuses into Results by Cy Wakeman
Defy Gravity: Propel Your Business to High-Velocity Growth by Rebel Brown
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 "An ordinary man can … surround himself with two thousand books … and thenceforward have at least one place in the world in which it is possible to be happy." —Augustine Birrell (1850-1933)
Build your leadership library with these specials on over 160 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:58 AM
08.01.10
First Look: Leadership Books for August 2010Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in August. The Executive and the Elephant: A Leader's Guide for Achieving Inner Excellence by Richard L. Daft
Driven to Lead: Good, Bad, and Misguided Leadership by Paul R. Lawrence
The Truth About Leadership: The No-fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You Need to Know by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
SuperCompetent: The Six Keys to Perform at Your Productive Best by Laura Stack
Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Life in Leadership by Warren Bennis with Patricia Ward Biederman
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 "A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking." — Jerry Seinfeld, Comedian
Build your leadership library with these specials on over 160 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:03 AM
07.01.10
First Look: Leadership Books for July 2010Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in July. Appreciative Leadership: Focus on What Works to Drive Winning Performance and Build a Thriving Organization by Diana Whitney, Kae Rader and Amanda Troston-Bloom
The Learning Layer: Building the Next Level of Intellect in Your Organization by Steven D. Flinn
Driven: A How-to Strategy for Unlocking Your Greatest Potential by Razi Imam
All Hands on Deck: 8 Essential Lessons for Building a Culture of Ownership by Joe Tye
The Intangibles of Leadership: The 10 Qualities of Superior Executive Performance by Richard Davis
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 160 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:18 AM
06.14.10
Stimulus Package 3 - Free Book: Everyone Communicates, Few Connect Here’s a stimulus package to get you thinking. It’s a package designed to serve as a catalyst to help you to find ways to make things work and get things done. While you might think of it as a piece of good fortune, don’t think of it as a bailout. You’ve still got to do the inside work.
In partnership with Thomas Nelson Publishers, we are giving away five copies of Everyone Communicates, Few Connect by John Maxwell. Everyone Communicates, Few Connect asks are you just talking or are you connecting. Connecting is the ability to identify with people and relate to them in a way that increases your influence with them. To be successful, Maxwell says, you must work with others. To do that at your absolute best, you must learn to connect.  On Monday, June 21, 2010 we will randomly select five recipients to receive a free copy.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 11:43 AM
06.01.10
First Look: Leadership Books for June 2010Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in June. Lead Like Ike: Ten Business Strategies from the CEO of D-Day by Geoff Loftus
Work Your Strengths: A Scientific Process to Identify Your Skills and Match Them to the Best Career for You by Chuck Martin with Richard Guare and Peg Dawson
The Why of Work: How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win by David Ulrich and Wendy Ulrich
Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh
Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Elizabeth Wiseman with Greg Mckeown
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Build your leadership library with these specials on over 160 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:52 AM
05.02.10
First Look: Leadership Books for May 2010Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in May. The Stress Effect: Why Smart Leaders Make Dumb Decisions--And What to Do About It by Henry L. Thompson
The Wisdom of Bees: What the Hive Can Teach Business about Leadership, Efficiency, and Growth by Michael O'Malley
Getting Change Right: How Leaders Transform Organizations from the Inside Out by Seth Kahan
Heroic Leadership: Leading with Integrity and Honor by William A. Cohen
No Excuses! The Power of Self-Discipline by Brian Tracy
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Francis Bacon offered this advice on reading: "Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention." Build your leadership library with these specials on over 160 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 04:26 AM
04.01.10
First Look: Leadership Books for April 2010Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in April. Plugged: Dig Out and Get the Right Things Done by Krissi Barr and Dan Barr
The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown and Lang Davison
Get Rid of the Performance Review! How Companies Can Stop Intimidating, Start Managing--and Focus on What Really Matters by Samuel A. Culbert with Lawrence Rout
Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality by Scott Belsky
Leading Outside the Lines: How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your Team, and Get Better Results by Jon R. Katzenbach and Zia Khan
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273 Someone once wrote, “A person who has not disciplined themselves to read has narrowed their freedom to choose between ideas. They are confined to what they hear. They are at the mercy of the propagandist. They have limited their freedom to think.” Build your leadership library with these specials on over 160 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:02 AM
03.01.10
First Look: Leadership Books for March 2010Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in March. The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence by Tom Peters
Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently by John C. Maxwell
Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face--and What to Do About It by Richard S. Tedlow
The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life by Robin Sharma
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273
Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:07 AM
Build Your Leadership LibraryBuild your leadership library with these specials on over 180 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:06 AM
02.01.10
First Look: Leadership Books for February 2010Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in February. The Right Fight: How Great Leaders Use Healthy Conflict to Drive Performance, Innovation, and Value by Saj-nicole Joni and Damon Beyer
Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back if You Lose It by Marshall Goldsmith
Reflections on Leadership and Career Development: On the Couch with Manfred Kets de Vries by Manfred Kets de Vries
How the Best Leaders Lead: Proven Secrets to Getting the Most Out of Yourself and Others by Brian Tracy
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273
Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:52 AM
01.01.10
First Look: Leadership Books for January 2010Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in January. Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street by Jim Wallis
Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin
Outstanding! 47 Ways to Make Your Organization Exceptional by John G. Miller
Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice by Edited by Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana
No More Excuses: The Five Accountabilities for Personal and Organizational Growth by Sam Silverstein
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:00 AM
12.25.09
Best Leadership Books of 2009
As we reflect on the year 2009 – the financial crisis and the accompanying recession – we know that out of the chaos, we must relearn some basics and not return to business as usual. Shortcuts are out. The Harvard Center for Public Leadership's 2009 National Leadership Index reveals that 69% of Americans think we have a leadership crisis in the country. Another 67% believe that "unless we get better leaders, the United States will decline as a nation." Over half (52%), believe that business leaders generally work to benefit themselves. Only 25% of Americans agree or strongly agree that business leaders or news media leaders share their values. And this isn’t just an American phenomenon. As Pogo Possum observed, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” The tendency is to catch our breath and just work harder. But we have to hit reset and work differently—to incorporate the larger picture; to not be so insular in our behavior. The Financial Times management columnist Stefan Stern remarked, “The reason why so many people want to get back to ‘business as usual’ is that that is what they do best. In fact, it may be all that they can do.” Overcoming inertia is going to be the challenge. Back to basics. This doesn’t mean safe and boring or watered-down. These are bedrock principles that work. It’s when we try to take shortcuts that we get derailed. Consultant icon Tom Peters who has a reputation for being cutting-edge, has been relentlessly preaching the simple basics that work. And work globally. Basics are the new cutting-edge. The present environment reminds us that leadership must exist at all levels. Everyone has a part to play. Sound principles take you through good times and bad. Business (and individuals) will have to focus more on training both on the job and off so that sound values and principles become everyday practice. The books selected for the best leadership books published in 2009 help us to think differently; to incorporate lasting values; to answer the question, “How do we best lead?” Managing by Henry Mintzberg
Lead Your Boss: The Subtle Art of Managing Up by John Baldoni
Walk the Walk: The #1 Rule for Real Leaders by Alan Deutschman
The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life by Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan
The Upside of the Downturn: Ten Management Strategies to Prevail in the Recession and Thrive in the Aftermath by Geoff Colvin
Know What You Don't Know: How Great Leaders Prevent Problems Before They Happen by Michael A. Roberto
How Did That Happen? Holding People Accountable for Results the Positive, Principled Way by Roger Connors and Tom Smith
Greater Than Yourself: The Ultmate Lesson of True Leadership by Steve Farber
Lift: Becoming a Positive Force in Any Situation by Ryan W Quinn and Robert E Quinn
Fierce Leadership: A Bold Alternative to the Worst "Best" Practices of Business Today by Susan Scott
The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson with Lou Aronica
Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
The biographies selected here more than just life stories; they are great histories as well. Vanderbilt was a man of enormous accomplishments. At the time of his death he owned five percent of America's wealth. And while there are lessons to be learned from the life of Vanderbilt, he is in many respects, not a model to follow. Still, The First Tycoon is a page-turner that captures well the people he worked with and the culture he operated within, making it a worthwhile history of the rise of American corporate capitalism. Cooper’s biography of one of the nation's most controversial leaders, Woodrow Wilson, is an authoritative, in-depth look at a complicated and fascinating man. It also serves as a great political history that is still relevant today. The bicentennial year of Lincoln’s birth saw the release of many books about the 16th president. A. Lincoln is an engaging narrative and one of the best. Lincoln, says White, continues to fascinate us "because he eludes simple definitions and final judgments." The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J. Stiles
Woodrow Wilson: A Biography by John Milton Cooper Jr.
A. Lincoln: A Biography by Ronald C. White Jr.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:01 AM
12.01.09
First Look: Leadership Books for December 2009Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in December. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
The Intuitive Mind: Profiting from the Power of Your Sixth Sense by Eugene Sadler-Smith
Inner Excellence: Achieve Extraordinary Business Success through Mental Toughness by Jim Murphy
The Leadership Illusion: The Importance of Context and Connections by Tony Hall and Karen Janman
8 Ways to Great: Peak Performance on the Job and in Your Life by Doug Hirschhorn
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273  NEW EDITIONS: Ira Chaleff's classic, The Courageous Follower is now available in a third edition. It has been updated and includes a new chapter, “The Courage to Speak to the Hierarchy.” The Secret: What Great Leaders Know—And Do by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller has been released in a new revised and updated second edition. The popular Leadership and Self-Deception has been revised throughout to make the story more readable and compelling and is available next month.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:00 AM
11.01.09
First Look: Leadership Books for November 2009Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in November. Derailed: Five Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Failures of Leadership by Tim Irwin
Design of Business: How Design Thinking Creates Competitive Advantage by Roger L. Martin
Everything Counts: 52 Remarkable Ways to Inspire Excellence and Drive Results by Gary Ryan Blair
Grow from Within: Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation by Robert Wolcott and Michael J. Lippitz
You Are What You Choose: The Habits of Mind that Really Determine How We Make Decisions by Scott de Marchi and James T. Hamilton
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273
Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:57 PM
10.01.09
First Look: Leadership Books for October 2009Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in October. Lead Your Boss: The Subtle Art of Managing Up by John Baldoni
The Upside of Turbulence: Seizing Opportunity in an Uncertain World by Donald Sull
Your Next Move: The Leader's Guide to Successfully Navigating Major Career Transitions by Michael Watkins
Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
The Unforced Error: Why Some Managers Get Promoted While Others Get Eliminated by Jeffrey A. Krames
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273
Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:59 AM
09.01.09
First Look: Leadership Books for September 2009Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in September. Managing by Henry Mintzberg
True Compass: A Memoir by Edward M. Kennedy
The Leap: How 3 Simple Changes Can Propel Your Career from Good to Great by Rick Smith
Walk the Walk: The #1 Rule for Real Leaders by Alan Deutschman
Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis by Bill George
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:11 AM
08.02.09
First Look: Leadership Books for August 2009Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in August. How Did That Happen? Holding People Accountable for Results the Positive, Principled Way by Roger Connors and Tom Smith
The Essential Bennis by Warren Bennis
Leadershift: Reinventing Leadership for the Age of Mass Collaboration by Emmanuel Gobillot
Fearless Leadership: How to Overcome Behavioral Blindspots and Transform Your Organization by Loretta Malandro
Clever: Leading Your Smartest, Most Creative People by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273
Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:45 AM
07.01.09
First Look: Leadership Books for July 2009Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in July. Why Loyalty Matters: The Groundbreaking Approach to Rediscovering Happiness, Meaning and Lasting Fulfillment in Your Life and Work by Timothy Keiningham and Lerzan Aksoy with Luke Williams
The Cost of Bad Behavior: How Incivility Is Damaging Your Business and What to Do About It by Christine Pearson and Christine Porath
Performance Intelligence at Work: The 5 Essentials to Achieving The Mind of a Champion by Julie Ness Bell and Robin Pou
Preparing for Leadership: What It Takes to Take the Lead by Donna J. Dennis Ph.D. with Debbie Meola
The Golden Rules for Managers: 119 Incredible Lessons for Leadership Success by Frank McNair
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273
Posted by Michael McKinney at 01:02 AM
06.01.09
First Look: Leadership Books for June 2009Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in June. The Introverted Leader: Building on Your Quiet Strength by Jennifer B. Kahnweiler
The Power to Lead: Lessons in Creating Your Unique Masterpiece by Gregg Thompson and Bruna Martinuzzi
How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life by John C. Maxwell
The Silver Lining: An Innovation Playbook for Uncertain Times by Scott D. Anthony
The Upside of the Downturn: Ten Management Strategies to Prevail in the Recession and Thrive in the Aftermath by Geoff Colvin
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:36 AM
05.01.09
First Look: Leadership Books for May 2009Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in May. Management Rewired: Why Feedback Doesn't Work and Other Surprising Lessons from the Latest Brain Science by Charles S. Jacobs
Training Camp: What the Best Do Better Than Everyone Else by John Gordon
The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World by Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky and Alexander Grashow
The Inspiring Leader: Unlocking the Secrets of How Extraordinary Leaders Motivate by John Zenger, Joseph Folkman and Scott Edinger
How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In by Jim Collins
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273
Posted by Michael McKinney at 01:46 AM
04.01.09
First Look: Leadership Books for April 2009Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in April. Leading in Times of Crisis: Navigating Through Complexity, Diversity and Uncertainty to Save Your Business by David L. Dotlich, PhD, Peter C. Cairo, PhD and Stephen H. Rhinesmith
Leadership Beyond Reason: How Great Leaders Succeed by Harnessing the Power of Their Values, Feelings, and Intuition by Dr. John Townsend
The Adversity Paradox: An Unconventional Guide to Achieving Uncommon Business Success by J. Barry Griswell and Bob Jennings
The Firefly Effect: Build Teams That Capture Creativity and Catapult Results by Kimberly Douglas
Inspire! Why Customers Come Back by James Champy
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273
Posted by Michael McKinney at 05:54 AM
03.16.09
Stimulus Package 2 - Free Book: Greater Than Yourself Here’s a stimulus package to get you thinking. It’s a package designed to serve as a catalyst to help you to find ways to make things work and get things done. While you might think of it as a piece of good fortune, don’t think of it as a bailout. You’ve still got to do the inside work.
We are giving away five copies of Greater Than Yourself by Steve Farber. Greater Than Yourself is based on the premise that great leaders become great because they cause others to be greater than they are. GTY is a one-on-one development process where you choose to help someone become more capable, competent, and accomplished than you are. For a chance to get a copy, leave a comment on this post telling us who you have selected for your Greater Than Yourself project and we will randomly select five recipients on Monday, March 23, 2009. The opportunity to participate in this Stimulus Package will close on Friday, March 20, 2009. Related Interest: Take the Greater Than Yourself Challenge
UPDATE: Five respondents have been chosen at random. Thanks for participating.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:44 PM
03.02.09
First Look: Leadership Books for March 2009Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in March. Strategic Acceleration: Succeed at the Speed of Life by Tony Jeary
Greater Than Yourself: The Ultmate Lesson of True Leadership by Steve Farber
Problem Solving 101: A Simple Book for Smart People by Ken Watanabe
The Deciding Factor: The Power of Analytics to Make Every Decision a Winner by Larry E. Rosenberger and John Nash with Ann Graham
Inside Rupert's Brain by Paul La Monica
For bulk orders call 1-800-423-8273
Posted by Michael McKinney at 01:28 AM
02.16.09
The 100 Best Business Books of All Time The books were chosen based on three general criteria:
The resulting list is wide-ranging. You’ll find included on the list, books from Peter Drucker to the fictional work of Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go. All of the books included have been thoughtfully considered. Of course, no list of books is without detractors. You won’t agree with every book on the list. But that’s really the value of a book. It is a personal thing that can speak to each one of us in a different way depending on where we are at and what we are faced with. I often find that the value of a book can be the books that it leads you to. Through a book's bibliography you can both dissect the author’s thinking and build on it. A book like The 100 Best Business Books of All Time can help you find a gem of an idea in unexpected places. Some books are so poorly titled they don’t draw you in or seem so off-point. Some have a great single point that is hopelessly shrouded in fluff that you never see it. Covert and Sattersten have done a lot of the initial leg-work for you. The short reviews are organized into twelve categories. They are well written and try to flush out the benefit of the book being reviewed. They are followed by links to books of similar thought to help you find additional advice on a relevant topic. They say that reading about work, business, or leadership can change you – change the way you relate to other people, can change the way you see the world, can change the way you think about your career and the story-line of your life. This book can certainly help you to achieve your goals by helping you to navigate through the jungle of ideas available to locate that specific piece of the puzzle needed to complete your picture. The Management Gurus: Lessons from the Best Management Books of All Time
Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:35 AM
02.09.09
Books About Abraham LincolnOn the occassion of 200th Anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth on February 12, we have assembled a list of some of the better books about Lincoln: Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times by Donald T. Phillips
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography by William Lee Miller
President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman by William Lee Miller
Lincoln Speaks to Leaders: 20 Powerful Lessons for Today's Leaders from America's 16th President by Gene Griessman and Pat Williams
 A. Lincoln: A Biography by Ronald C. White Jr.
Looking for Lincoln: The Making of an American Icon by Peter W. Kunhardt, Philip B. Kunhardt III and Peter W. Kunhardt Jr.
Abraham Lincoln's Extraordinary Era: The Man and His Times by Karen Kostyal
Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief by James M. McPherson
Posted by Michael McKinney at 01:19 AM
02.02.09
First Look: Leadership Books February 2009Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in February. The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan: How to Take Charge, Build Your Team, and Get Immediate Results by George B. Bradt, Jayme A. Check and Jorge E. Pedraza
The 100 Best Business Books of All Time: What They Say, Why They Matter, and How They Can Help You by Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten
Know What You Don't Know: How Great Leaders Prevent Problems Before They Happen by Michael A. Roberto
How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer
Succession: Are You Ready? (Memo to the Ceo) by Marshall Goldsmith
Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:22 AM
01.01.09
First Look: Leadership Books January 2009Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in January. The Soul of a Leader: Character, Conviction, and Ten Lessons in Political Greatness by Waller R. Newell
Strengths-Based Leadership by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie
The Tyranny of Dead Ideas: Letting Go of the Old Ways of Thinking to Unleash a New Prosperity by Matt Miller
The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson with Lou Aronica
You Can't Order Change: Lessons From the Turnaround at Boeing by Peter S. Cohan
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:03 AM
12.25.08
Best Leadership Books of 2008 Our selections for the best leadership books published in 2008 are listed below. The are more books every year written than one can possibly make use of. Here at LeadershipNow we try to help you find those books that will resonate with you and thus be the most useful to you. Anne Lamott wrote in her classic, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, a wonderful statement on the importance of reading. "For some of us, books are important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die. They are full of all the things that you don’t get in real life—wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. And quality of attention: we may notice amazing details during the course of a day but we rarely let ourselves stop and pay attention. An author makes you notice, makes you pay attention, and this is a great gift. My gratitude for good writing is unbounded." Followership: How Followers Are Creating Change and Changing Leaders by Barbara Kellerman
Crucibles of Leadership: How to Learn from Experience to Become a Great Leader by Robert J. Thomas
Leading with Kindness: How Good People Consistently Get Superior Results by William F. Baker and Michael O'Malley
The Ten Commandments for Business Failure by Donald R. Keough
Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin
A Sense of Urgency by John P. Kotter
Axiom: Powerful Leadership Proverbs by Bill Hybels
Enough. True Measures of Money, Business, and Life by John C. Bogle
The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation by A.G. Lafley and Ram Charan
Lead By Example: 50 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Results by John Baldoni
The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need - and What We Can Do About It by Tony Wagner
Here are a few biographies that we found had the power to correct, inspire and motivate. Myself and Other More Important Matters by Charles Handy
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder
Inside Drucker's Brain by Jeffrey A. Krames
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:22 AM
12.01.08
First Look: Leadership Books December 2008Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in December. Reward Systems: Does Yours Deliver? (Memo to the CEO) by Steve Kerr
Wargaming for Leaders: Strategic Decision Making from the Battlefield to the Boardroom by Mark L. Herman, Mark D. Frost and Robert Kurz
The Leadership Code: Five Rules to Lead by Dave Ulrich, Norm Smallwood and Kate Sweetman
Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and Business of Life by David Allen
The Toyota Leaders: An Executive Guide by Masaaki Sato
Posted by Michael McKinney at 03:47 AM
11.28.08
Stimulus Package 1 - Free Book: The Truth About YouHere’s a stimulus package to get you thinking. It’s a package designed to serve as a catalyst to help you to find ways to make things work and get things done. While you might think of it as a piece of good fortune, don’t think of it as a bailout. You’ve still got to do the inside work.
In partnership with Thomas Nelson Publishers, we are giving away five copies of The Truth About You by Marcus Buckingham. The Truth About You focuses on how you set your career up right—how do you start in such a way that you can push the world toward the best of you; learning to express the best of who you are. It incorporates a candid 20-minute enhanced DVD (a reworking of the effective Trombone Player Wanted film); an interactive book, which takes up where the film leaves off; and a reMemo Pad, a way of using the raw material of your week to clearly identify your strengths and weaknesses. It’s a great gift for any young person to help clarify their direction and find meaning in life. For a chance to get a copy, leave a comment on this post and we will randomly select five recipients on Friday, December 5, 2008. Related Interest: Marcus Buckingham and The Truth About You
Push Yourself Within Your Comfort Zone
UPDATE: Five respondents have been chosen at random. Thanks for participating.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:05 AM
11.11.08
The Wisdom of the Flying Pig FREE Download Following our review of Jack Hayhow's The Wisdom of the Flying Pig, he is graciously making a copy of the eBook available free to readers of this blog. To take advantage of this free offer:
1. Go to Jack Hayhow’s website 2. Click “Add to Cart” button at the top of the page 3. Enter Discount Code: L8N1B 4. Fill out a short informational form and then the eBook will be emailed to you. Get a copy for yourself now ... and pass it on!
Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:11 AM
11.02.08
Leadership Books: November 2008Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in November. There's No Elevator to the Top: A Leading Headhunter Shares the Advancement Strategies of the World's Most Successful Executive by Umesh Ramakrishnan
Making a Difference by Being Yourself: Using Your Personality Type at Work and in Relationships by Gregory E. Huszczo
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
Strategic Alliances: Three Ways to Make Them Work (Memo to the CEO) by Steve Steinhilber
Call Me Ted by Ted Turner with Bill Burke
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:39 PM
10.01.08
Leadership Books: October 2008Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in October. Inside Drucker's Brain by Jeffrey A. Krames
Performance Leadership: The Next Practices to Motivate Your People, Align Stakeholders, and Lead Your Industry by Frank Buytendijk
High Altitude Leadership: What the World's Most Forbidding Peaks Teach Us About Success by Chris Warner and Don Schmincke
The Maxwell Daily Reader: 365 Days of Insight to Develop the Leader Within You and Influence Those Around You by John C. Maxwell
Lead By Example: 50 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Results by John Baldoni
Posted by Michael McKinney at 01:29 AM
09.26.08
Richard Branson: There Is No Reverse Gear On This Thing There are many ways to run a successful company. What works once may never work again. What everyone tells you never to do may just work, once. There are no rules. You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over, and it’s because you fall over that you learn to save yourself from falling over. It’s the greatest thrill in the world and it runs away screaming at the first sight of bullet points….So all I can do for you now is map the territory I’ve seen. The good news is, I’ve covered a lot of territory.And he has. You will find great stories in here about how things came to be and almost didn’t. He covers a wide range of interrelated topics: people, getting the brand right, delivering on the brand, learning from mistakes, innovation, the value of entrepreneurs and leadership, the wider responsibility of business and his thoughts on success. Here are a few excerpts with common themes that can be applied in any context: A manager should basically be a considerate person who is as interested in the switchboard operator and the person who cleans the lavatories as he or she is in the fellow managers. In my view, a boss who is willing to party with all of their people—and pay attention to their personal concerns—has the markings of a great leader.Branson says the stakes have never been higher. No one in business can unmake anything. The first law of entrepreneurial business is “there is no reverse gear on this thing.” He shows how Virgin is trying to get it right and hopes you find inspiration in it. His book will definitely get your mind moving in new directions.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 03:14 PM
09.08.08
Our Performances Matter: The Encore EffectWhat is the encore effect? It is delivering what you do so well that you are asked to do it again and again. It’s people wanting more of what you do best. No matter what we do, we are showcasing who we are and what we care about. As we go through our day we can either deliver an average performance or a remarkable one. A remarkable performance keeps them coming back for more.Mark Sanborn, author of The Encore Effect, believes “Our performances matter. They can have a powerful impact on those around us. As parents, our performance shapes and influences our children. As employees and managers, our performance can make our company better, move a project forward, spark ideas among colleagues, and influence customers.”  How can each of us make our own performance bigger, better, and bolder? How can we make what we do consistently remarkable and thereby make a difference in our sphere of influence? Mark Sanborn offers five steps for making your performance remarkable; for bring your best self to whatever you are doing: Passion: Passion is the fuel that drives our life’s purpose. Our passion for what we do pulls others along. “Nobody likes to be driven by someone else; it feels like being pushed. But when someone can show us how to be bigger on the inside—in our attitude and mind-set—that can help attract or pull us toward what we can become. Prepare: How remarkable performance begins. “Each of us is creating our future right now. Whether the future is five minutes from now or five years, it is determined by our preparation—or lack of it.” Be a remarkable performance waiting to happen. Practice: “There are no perfect violinists—or salespeople, executives, teachers, or parents for that matter. But deliberate practice is what distinguishes those who excel from those who get by.” Perform: Be the performance. “One hallmark of a remarkable performance is authenticity.” Be yourself. Engage your audience by giving them your attention. “To create the Encore Effect, you shouldn’t be focused on your own happiness or success, but on the happiness and success of others.” Polish: The difference is in the details. “There are lots of details that matter when it comes to creating a remarkable performance.” Keep polishing what you do. Sanborn is no stranger to remarkable performances and he continues to polish his life’s work. He also highlights some pitfalls that we need to avoid along the way like arrogance, fear and impatience. Most importantly, Sanborn points to the real goal of remarkable performances—helping others to achieve their own remarkable performances. “Remarkable performers see in others what they have discovered in themselves—the ability to reach unexplored and unanticipated levels of performance. They inspire others through their own performances, instruct others through their teaching, and help others improve through their encouragement." Pass this title along to others—young and old. It contains a simple idea that taken to heart, can make a big difference.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 02:33 PM
09.01.08
Leadership Books: September 2008Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in September. A Sense of Urgency by John P. Kotter
The Encore Effect: How to Achieve Remarkable Performance in Anything You Do by Mark Sanborn
The Spider's Strategy: Creating Networks to Avert Crisis, Create Change, and Really Get Ahead by Amit S. Mukherjee
On Leadership: Essential Principles for Success by Donald J. Palmisano
The Truth About You: Your Secret to Success by Marcus Buckingham
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:04 AM
08.27.08
5 Leadership Lessons: Axiom: Powerful Leadership Proverbs  Values Need Heat: When you heat up a value, you help people change states. Want to jolt people out of business as usual? Heat up innovation. Want to untangle confusion? Heat up clarity. Want to eradicate miserliness? Heat up generosity! New “states” elicit new attitudes, new aptitudes, and new actions. It’s not rocket science. It’s just plain chemistry. Which is a lot about heat….Over time, sufficiently hot values will utterly define your culture.
 DNA Carriers: Great leaders take the time to explain to their team what they feel deeply about—what issues they would take a bullet for and why. Then great leaders show their staff members how to live out that DNA. They appeal to the employee’s desire to be part of something very cool and than make a hero out of each one who rises to the occasion. Sure, the final decision rests in the hands of the employee—“Will I or won’t I live out all that it means to be part of this organization?”—but effective leaders challenge and inspire their staff to become bona fide DNA carriers.
 No Eleventh-Hour Surprises Please: One of the most harmful things a colleague can do to a leader is to toss an eleventh-hour surprise in his or her lap. Last-minute grenades ask an otherwise proactive person to become reactive, a well-paced problem solver to become a firefighter, and a long-term planner to focus all energies only on the next twenty-four hours. “I want an environment that helps keep blood pressure stable, the nuttiness quotient low, and fire drills and soap operas to a minimum. Please, no eleventh-hour surprises.”
  Speed of the Leader, Speed of the Team: Leaders must never expect from others anything more than they are willing to deliver themselves. They should never expect higher levels of commitment, creativity, persistence, or patience than what they themselves manifest on a regular basis.
 Pay Attention to Greetings and Goodbyes: Everyone who works for a highly motivated leader carries with them a low-grade concern that that leader is going to use them and then toss them out. They worry that aside from getting the leader’s agenda done, they’re not at all necessary. Deep down, they simply want to know that they’re more than just a cog in someone else’s wheel. I make it a habit to do a personal, enthusiastic, genuine, warm, highly relational, look-you-in-the-eye greeting to every single person sitting around the table before I even think about starting the meeting.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:24 AM
08.01.08
Leadership Books: August 2008Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in August. The PITA Principle: How to Work With (and Avoid Becoming) a Pain in the Ass by Robert Orndorff and Dulin Clark
The Accountable Leader: Developing Effective Leadership Through Managerial Accountability by Brian Dive
Leading with Kindness: How Good People Consistently Get Superior Results by William F. Baker and Michael O'Malley
Leadership and the Sexes: Using Gender Science to Create Success in Business by Michael Gurian with Barbara Annis
How the Wise Decide: The Lessons of 21 Extraordinary Leaders by Aaron Sandoski and Bryn Zeckhauser
Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:29 AM
07.28.08
What Is Your Plan For Personal Growth?You won’t grow to your potential without a plan. You’ll get older, but not better. Experience guarantees nothing. Growth is intentional. If you are not growing you’re just putting in time. Waiting.Crucibles of Leadership by Robert Thomas, is an important book that asks, “What is your personal learning strategy?” A PLS is “a highly individual plan for leveraging hard-won insights about learning from adversity and using practice to improve performance.”  We all have crucibles, but it’s what we do with them that is important. Thomas writes that crucibles “are like trials or tests that corner individuals and force them to answer questions about who they are and what is really important to them.” Crucibles become valuable when we intentionally mine them for lessons that make us more effective, aware and integrated. Warren Bennis points out in the foreword that the self-awareness we should gain is “the kind of deeper understanding of self that then turns outward rather than inward and results in better understanding of others and the organizations that matter to us.” Thomas says that we have to change our approach to learning. We shouldn’t wait for just the right moment to arrive, but learn in the moment—in real time—to, as he writes, “learn while doing.” Preparation is essential to learning. In order to take advantage of our crucibles, we must develop a Personal Learning Strategy (PLS). Thomas introduces a framework for crafting a PLS complete with exercises to help you properly move through each step. It begins with a little introspection—understanding why you want to lead, what motivates you to do so and understanding how you learn. Then you need to access your capability in three core areas: adaptive capacity, engaging others through shared meaning, and integrity. From here you can see areas where you need to improve and strengthen in order to reach your leadership goals. Now you can assign behaviors to each of these areas that you can consciously practice at work and at home. He suggests that you “scan your landscape at work and at home, and identify those instances and roles out of your comfort zone that will allow you to stretch into new behaviors, perspectives, and leadership capabilities.” Organizations too, can tap into the power of a PLS by adopting an experience-based approach to their leadership development program. Organizations need to recognize the importance of crucible experiences and provide the resources people need to extract insight from them in addition to the regular technical and skills training people should be receiving. Most often those resources involve creating a process that links the two learning opportunities together. One important note on a trap that people and organizations sometimes fall into in their zeal to develop character and leadership, Thomas writes, “We create enough pressures to perform that we don’t need to invent new ones just so that we can accelerate leader development. The trick is to harness the crucibles that life sets in motion so the opportunity for learning is not squandered.” Life gives us enough opportunities to learn, but often, we just need help getting the lesson we should be getting from it. Accomplished leaders say that experience is their best teacher. They learned their most meaningful and important leadership lessons—lessons that they’ve integrated into their own leadership style—through crucibles. These were critical events and experiences, times of testing and trial, failure more often than grand success, that grabbed them by the lapels and demanded to know “What do you stand for?” and “What are you going to do?” A situation arose that did not respect age, gender, generation, nationality, talent, or charisma; all it asked was that the person step up and be someone or do something they’d never been or done before.Having a Personal Learning Strategy is a way of thinking about and looking at life that allows you to proactively grow from what life throws at you, rather than being knocked out by it. You need a Personal Learning Strategy.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 02:06 PM
07.01.08
Leadership Books: July 2008Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in July. Six Disciplines Execution Revolution: Solving the One Business Problem That Makes Solving All Other Problems Easier by Gary Harpst
Beyond the Babble: Leadership Communication That Drives Results by Bob Matha and Macy Boehm
The Way of Innovation: Master the Five Elements of Change to Reinvent Your Products, Services, and Organization by Kaihan Krippendorff
Executive Warfare: Pick Your Battles and Live to Get Promoted Another Day by David D'Alessandro
Getting Organized at Work: 24 Lessons for Setting Goals, Establishing Priorities, and Managing Your Time by Kenneth Zeigler
Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:00 AM
06.27.08
The Offsite: A Fable to Internalize With our birds-eye view of the offsite and its main participants, we can see the mental struggles and the ah-ha experiences of the personalities as they begin to view leadership as a way of thinking and a choice that each individual must make. They begin by facing their reality and then learn to see a new way to get from where they are to where they want to be. They begin to see real leadership as helping people to discover what matters to them and helping them to connect to it. “Leadership is about people. Leadership is how you get management done. Leaders stretch others, not stress others.” Through the offsite seminar leader Charlie, Thompson presents the Five Practices of Exemplary Leaders this way: Your credibility matters so … Model the Way. How? Clarify values by finding your voice and affirming shared ideals. Set the example by aligning actions with shared values. Your voice matters so … Inspire a Shared Vision. How? Envision the future by imagining exciting and ennobling possibilities. Enlist others in a common vision by appealing to shared aspirations. Your action matters so … Challenge the Process. How? Search for opportunities by seizing the initiative and by looking outward for innovative ways to improve. Experiment and take risks by constantly generating small wins and learning from experience. Your gift matters so … Enable Others to Act. How? Foster collaboration by building trust and facilitating relationships. Strengthen others by increasing self-determination and developing competence. Your gratitude matters so … Encourage the Heart. How? Recognize contributions by showing appreciation for individual excellence. Celebrate the values and victories by creating a spirit of community. This is the kind of book you need to give to everyone on your team and to those your team interacts with. If you’ve read The Leadership Challenge (the new 4th edition will be out in paperback in August), then it’s a good reminder, if you haven’t, then it’s a great introduction. Either way, you’ll find Thompson’s story a quick read, but packed full of thoughts and concepts you’ll want to reflect on and internalize. Leadership is a way of life that takes a conscious choice to build-in to everything you do, from wherever you sit. This is a great place to begin. 
Posted by Michael McKinney at 02:35 PM
06.02.08
To Engineer Is Human Todd’s review of To Engineer Is Human was a book I had never read. It was such a well crafted synopsis that I quickly went out and got the book. He extracted the following idea from the book that caught my attention: Much lip service is given to accepting failure in business as natural phase in the learning process, yet internalizing the idea seems a little more difficult. Shareholders don’t show sympathy for failed products. Customers expect their product to arrive when promised and in pristine condition. Most of the other books featured in these pages detail the workings of successful companies, while Petroski’s book tells a more complicated tale of failure, one in which business practitioners can find wisdom. The most important lesson has to be appreciating failure as a learning opportunity. Failure is common. Not learning from failure forces companies to repeat the same mistakes again. In engineering, that repetition can cost lives; in business, our livelihood.Henry Petrosky wrote that “no one wants to learn by mistakes, but we cannot learn enough from successes to go beyond the state of the art.” The core of the problem would seem to be the stakeholder's failure – or certainly their reluctance – to take the long view. If the rest of the reviews are anything like Todd’s review, the book should be a good read and a valuable reference tool.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 03:35 PM
06.01.08
Leadership Books: June 2008Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in June. Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman
Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life by Stewart D. Friedman
Ethics for the Real World: Creating a Personal Code to Guide Decisions in Work and Life by Ronald A. Howard and Clinton D. Korver
Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge by Cass R. Sunstein
The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company by Joseph Michelli
Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:50 AM
05.29.08
Change the Way You See Yourself Asset-based thinking is a way of looking at yourself that emphasizes what is working in your life and the strengths you possess. It is a way of freeing yourself from negative and unproductive thinking. It allows you to focus on what you can do and not what you can’t do (as often seems to be our default mode of thinking). They write that with asset-based thinking, “you use surprise, serendipity, and even setbacks to make the journey more interesting and more worthwhile. You are more confident in who you are, where you are going, and how to get there.” In the section on power they invite us to look at it in a new way. Authors Kathryn Cramer and Hank Wasiak write: When it comes to power, most people think of accumulating material wealth, status, authority, knowledge, and expertise. These are potent external sources of power. AS such, they provide you with control over a vast array of resources – from money, to land, to market share, to intellectual property. While building large reservoirs of external power may be useful, it is not enough for getting results. There is another source of power equally important and often more vital to your leadership and success.  Leadership sage Warren Bennis once said, “A point of view is worth 50 IQ points.” He knew That when you live by the power of your convictions you stand taller, sit straighter, and speak more confidently. You raise the level of your game. Others know you as a “force of nature” – someone who will not be deterred and who doesn’t give up. Related Reading: Asset-Based Thinking
Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:40 AM
05.02.08
Leadership Books: May 2008Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in May. It's Our Ship: The No-Nonsense Guide to Leadership by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff
Good Guys and Bad Guys: Behind the Scenes with the Saints and Scoundrels of American Business (and Everything in Between) by Joe Nocera
Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It: No Schedules, No Meetings, No Joke--the Big Idea That's Already Transforming the Way We Work by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson
The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company by David A. Price
A Global Life: My Journey among Rich and Poor, from Wall Street to the World Bank by James D. Wolfensohn
Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:58 AM
04.23.08
How To Have Just Enough Anxiety Balance comes from a right attitude and a proper perspective. Dealing with anxiety is no different. The success of great leaders is all about creating the right level of anxiety for growth and performance. It is their uncommon ability to create just enough tension—within themselves and their organizations—that unleashes the human energy that drives powerful leadership, accelerated growth, and winning companies.What’s wrong with having too much or too little anxiety? RR: Too much anxiety comes from negative thinking. When we feel too much anxiety, we attack change. We become combative or controlling as we try to ease the pain we feel. Too little anxiety is grounded in contentment. When we feel too little anxiety, we avoid change. We value the status quo and believe everything will be okay as long as everything stays the same. If your company is going through tough times like a bad economy or a merger, you definitely don’t want too little anxiety. What exactly is “just enough anxiety”? RR: The right level of anxiety gives individuals and organizations an emotional charge that helps us thrive in an uncertain world. As we allow ourselves to experience anxiety as our natural response to change, and learn to modulate it, we’re able to live in the world as it is instead of struggling to make it what we want it to be. And as we get better at living with just enough anxiety, it becomes the energy that drives us forward, stretches us, and challenges us to be better tomorrow than we are today. How can leaders manage anxiety instead of letting it manage them? RR: It starts with self awareness. Leaders who understand what makes them anxious are better able to increase or decrease their anxiety, as needed to create just enough. But, more than that, it has to do with how they relate to change and uncertainty. By admitting what they can and can’t control, they’re able to take charge of their lives while remaining open to the unexpected. They’re at home in uncharted territory. Instead of seeing anxiety as the enemy, they recognize it as their natural companion on the path of change. 
Rosen has placed on his web site a questionnaire to help you determine if you are a Just Enough Anxiety Leader. Download a PDF of chapter 1: It's Time To Evolve
Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:30 AM
04.21.08
Maxwell’s Lessons Learned From a Lifetime of Leading Leadership is the willingness to put oneself at risk. Leadership is the passion to make a difference with others. Leadership is being dissatisfied with the current reality. Leadership is taking responsibility while others are making excuses. Leadership is seeing the possibilities in a situation while others are seeing the limitations. Leadership is the readiness to stand out in a crowd. Leadership is an open mind and an open heart. Leadership is the ability to submerge your ego for the sake of what is best. Leadership is evoking in others the capacity to dream. Leadership is inspiring others with a vision of what they can contribute. Leadership is the power of one harnessing the power of many. Leadership is your heart speaking to the hearts of others. Leadership is the integration of heart, head, and soul. Leadership is the capacity to care, and in caring, to liberate the ideas, energy, and capacities of others. Leadership is the dream made reality. Leadership is above all, courageous. The list makes a good yardstick.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:35 AM
04.01.08
Leadership Books: April 2008 Leadership Gold: Lessons I've Learned from a Lifetime of Leading by John C. Maxwell
The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation by A.G. Lafley and Ram Charan
Leadership the Hard Way: Why Leadership Can't Be Taught - And How You Can Learn It Anyway by Dov Frohman with Robert Howard
Relevance: Hitting Your Goals by Knowing What Matters by David Apgar
Beyond Ego: Influential Leadership Starts Within by Art Horn
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:04 AM
03.26.08
Making the Impossible Possible Bill Strickland’s life changed, when as a boy in a Pittsburgh ghetto, a teacher took the time to show him that he mattered and allowed him to see himself in a new way. (An integral part of any leader’s job.) As a result, he became open to opportunities and created at 19 what became the Manchester-Bidwell Center, the now famous arts-education and job-training center for disadvantaged kids and adults. This extraordinary school was built on Strickland’s belief that “all of us have the potential to make our dreams come true, and that one of the greatest obstacles blocking us from realizing that potential is that we believe, or are told, that things we want most passionately are impractical, unrealistic, or somehow beyond our reach.” He convincingly demonstrates his belief that: Each one of us, no matter who our parents are, where we live, how much education we have, or what kinds of connections, abilities, and opportunities life may have offered us, has the potential to shape our lives in ways that will bring us the meaning, purpose, and success we long for….I want everyone who comes to this book, no matter what their age or accomplishments or the circumstances of their lives, to rethink their assumptions about what is and isn’t possible in their lives, and to convince themselves that they have not only the right but also the responsibility, and the capacity, to dream big and to make those dreams come true.Strickland narrates his successes and failures, obstacles and opportunities, his thinking and rethinking, as he went about to create the success he has achieved. It’s a fascinating story. While he has dedicated his life to helping other people, he denies the do-gooder label. He writes, “I didn’t do any of it out of selflessness. I did it to be myself. I did it to enrich my own life, to deepen the quality and meaning of my own experience. I did it because it was a part of what I had to do if I genuinely wanted to be me.” How often have we been burdened by self-defeating assumptions? Strickland writes that “once we accept the idea that poverty is, essentially, the acceptance of meager possibility, we can’t deny that all of us are in some fashion poor. We all suffer some form of poverty—poverty of imagination, or courage, or vision, or will. We allow ourselves to be limited by our fears—fear of failure, fear of change, fear of being criticized or of looking like a fool.” This isn’t another see-what-I-did self-help book. It’s a book that invites introspection. Read it and learn from his experience and thinking.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 02:41 PM
03.17.08
In Leadership, Context Is Everything This of course, makes perfect sense, but what makes no sense is how often it isn’t applied. We tend to plow along the way we have always done things without regard to our current situation. Palmer writes, “Success or failure can often depend on modifying leadership styles to suit a different context.” While there is no single style of leadership that works in every situation, there are basic principles of leadership that apply universally. Palmer explains some of those principles such as integrity, execution, good judgment, innovation, communication and people skills among others. The core of the book provides practical, well-heeled advice on applying basic leadership principles in a variety of contexts. He discusses execution and the pros and cons of specific contexts such as top down, crisis leadership, partnership of peers, academic, entrepreneurial organizations, non-profits, government, and the military. He includes a great deal of his personal experience and interviews with thoughtful people in each of these areas. When leading “partners and peers who have relatively narrow specializations,” Palmer points out, “leaders need a broad view. In other words, they must be generalists who know a good deal about many things. One of the problems in today’s society is that we develop more and more people with narrowly specialized knowledge…. The best subject from an educational standpoint for a leader is the study of history. Reading biographies is also particularly helpful…. The best education, for instance, for a businessperson is a strong liberal arts undergraduate program and then a graduate business program.” In the end, he concludes, it’s all about people.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:12 PM
03.14.08
Good Followers Make the Best Leaders Yet we still, as Barbara Kellerman states in her important new book, Followership, overestimate the importance of leadership and underestimate the importance of followership. She argues that, “thinking leadership without thinking followership is not merely misleading, it is mistaken.” Why? The context of leadership has changed. First, leaders have been demystified, in part by modern media, which demands grist for its mill 24/7; and in part by the modern culture, in which figures of authority are no longer exalted or even so much respected. Second, because the line between the leader and the led has been blurred, the led have been emboldened.She points out that much of this is cyclical. I would agree. It’s hard for human beings to find balance. Consequently, we continually find ourselves reacting to someone else’s excessive behavior. While we have spent a great deal of time distinguishing between types of leaders, we have not done the same with followers. Kellerman spends a good portion of the book explaining followers. She describes four types: Bystanders, Participants, Activists, and Diehards. She writes: “Followers are us. This does not, of course, mean that all of us follow all of the time—sometimes we lead. But all of us follow some of the time. It’s the human condition.” She advocates that followers not try to become something else, but more importantly that they change their response to their rank, their response to their superiors and to the situation at hand. She emphasizes:
Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:06 AM
03.02.08
Leadership Books: March 2008Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in March. Five Future Strategies You Need Right Now (Memo to the CEO) by George Stalk with John Butman
Outsmart! How to Do What Your Competitors Can't: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by James Champy
The Breakthrough Imperative: How the Best Managers Get Outstanding Results by Mark Gottfredson and Steve Schaubert
The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable by Robert H. Thompson
Rocking the Boat: How to Effect Change Without Making Trouble by Debra E. Meyerson
Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:57 PM
02.01.08
Leadership Books: February 2008Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in February. Followership: How Followers Are Creating Change and Changing Leaders by Barbara Kellerman
Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky
Myself and Other More Important Matters by Charles B. Handy
The Powers to Lead: Soft, Hard, and Smart by Joseph S. Nye
Why Should the Boss Listen to You? The Seven Disciplines of the Trusted Strategic Advisor by James E. Lukaszewski
Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:05 AM
01.01.08
Leadership Books: January 2008Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in January. Bounce! Failure, Resiliency, and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success by Barry J. Moltz
Ultimate Leadership: Winning Execution Strategies for Your Situation by Russell E. Palmer
Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery by Garr Reynolds
Leadership Lessons: 10 Keys to Success in Life and Business by Greg J. Swartz
It Starts With One: Changing Individuals Changes Organizations by J. Stewart Black and Hal B. Gregersen
Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:22 AM
12.25.07
Best Leadership Books of 2007 Our selection for the best leadership books published in 2007 are listed below. Learning for the successful person, is a lifelong journey. No book or conference is an end in itself. They should encourage you to dig deeper and more often. These titles do not necessarily represent popularity in terms of numbers of books sold. In a few cases they did not get the recognition they deserved. But all of the titles selected will contain ideas relevant and compelling to leaders at all levels and contexts. The authors all addressed the question, “How can I create the environment and perform in a way that leads to consistently successful outcomes?” But more than that, they deal with the real success of a leader: the creating of a leadership economy if you will—a place where leaders are developed at all levels and in all areas of life. These books will help you on your journey. True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership by Bill George and Peter Sims
What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith with Mark Reiter
How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything...in Business (and in Life) by Dov L. Seidman
Measure of a Leader by Aubrey C. Daniels and James E. Daniels
Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls by Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis
The Leaders We Need: And What Makes Us Follow by Michael Maccoby
The Future of Management by Gary Hamel
egonomics: What Makes Ego Our Greatest Asset (or Most Expensive Liability) by David Marcum and Steven Smith
Five Minds for the Future by Howard Gardner
Leaders at All Levels: Deepening Your Talent Pool to Solve the Succession Crisis by Ram Charan
Remarkable Leadership: Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One Skill at a Time by Kevin Eikenberry
The Halo Effect ... and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers by Phil Rosenzweig
Again, we have selected a few biographies. As a category, they shape minds and ideas in ways that no other type of business book can. It's a good idea to always be working through a biography of some kind. It gives motivation for much needed self-reflection. To learn vicariously, is perhaps the best way to learn most things. The Education of an Accidental CEO: Lessons Learned from the Trailer Park to the Corner Office by David Novak with John Boswell
Bo's Lasting Lessons: The Legendary Coach Teaches the Timeless Fundamentals of Leadership by Bo Schembechler and John U. Bacon
The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World by Randall E. Stross
Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:19 AM
12.12.07
Paul Johnson’s Heroes: Lessons for Today's Leaders In the troubled times which followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars, caused by lower wages, unemployment and higher food prices, the term became abusive. When ever the Duke of Wellington made his appearance, a certain kind of London mob (there were many different kinds) would shout: “No heroes! We want no heroes!” For the self-conscious proletariat, the “Man on Horseback” was a political enemy. They threw stones through the windows of Apsley House, the duke’s London residence. He had the windows boarded up but refused to replace the glass, as a reminder to people of how volatile was popularity an dhow fickle the crowd, applauding him as a hero one moment, detesting him the next.Consider too, Genghis Khan was “reviled for nearly a millennium as the archetypal mass murderer and rapist, despoiler, arsonist and ravager” yet “since the collapse of the Soviet empire in Central Asia, has become there a state-sponsored hero, especially in Azerbaijan and Mongolia.” “No people in history were more in need of heroes than the Hebrews.” And so Johnson begins his examples with the judges Deborah, Judith and Sampson leading to their greatest hero, King David. Continuing on, his survey of heroes spans almost 3000 years of Western history and ranges from, Alexander and Julius Caesar, to the unlikely Mae West and Marilyn Monroe, to Lincoln and Churchill, to Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II. Here are some of his comments from the book:
First, an absolute independence of mind, which springs from the ability to think everything through for yourself, and to treat whatever is the current consensus on any issue with skepticism. Second, having made up your mind independently, the ability to act resolutely and consistently. Third, to be able to ignore or reject everything the media throws at you, provided you remain convinced you are doing right. And finally, to act with personal courage at all times, regardless of the consequences to yourself. Who are your heroes?
Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:36 AM
12.10.07
5 Leadership Lessons: Great Advice from Accidental CEO, David NovakWhile Yum Brands chairman and CEO David Novak calls himself an accidental CEO, his rise to the top, while perhaps not planned, was no accident. His advancement speaks to the power of right choices made throughout life based on the knowledge gained from cultivating lessons from life and seeking out advice. His memoir, The Education of an Accidental CEO, is written in the first person and full of advice that we can all gain from reading. Nothing here is earth-shaking or new, but it is helpful to see the successful working of these principles in the life of someone who took them to heart. Here are a few of the lessons we can take away: I don’t think as a leader that you just go tell people to do something. I believe you plant the seeds and share with them what you know and let them draw their own conclusions—which may even be better than your own.
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that you never get promoted until most people in your company can already see you in the position. [Former chairman of PepsiCo, Wayne Calloway], took me aside and said to me, “David, I have no doubt that one day you are going to end up running something. So why don’t you just focus on what you need to do today in order to be ready when you get there.”
I can’t stress enough the essential nature of really hearing what someone has to say even if it is totally contradictory to your own beliefs….It’s something that I have to constantly remind myself of, and others, to do to this day. [Coach Wooden told him], “Most leaders have enough ego as it is, so you don’t need anyone around to inflate it any further.
 One of the greatest failures to execute is the lack of follow-up. This seems obvious, yet very few companies place as much emphasis on accountability as they do on figuring out what they want to get done.
Self discovery is the key to learning, whether it’s learning how to do something new or better or learning something about yourself. You can tell the same thing to people a thousand times, but they don’t really own it until they discover it for themselves.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:55 AM
12.02.07
Leadership Books: December 2007Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in December. Leaders at All Levels: Deepening Your Talent Pool to Solve the Succession Crisis by Ram Charan
The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking by Roger L. Martin
Big Think Strategy: How to Leverage Bold Ideas and Leave Small Thinking Behind by Bernd H. Schmitt
EPIC Change: How to Lead Change in the Global Age by Timothy R. Clark
Jacked Up: Inside Welch's Communication Revolution at GE by Bill Lane
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:01 AM
11.28.07
Integrative Thinking: The Opposable MindIn examining how exemplary leaders think, he found an approach that was common to many, that he has termed integrative thinking. Integrative thinking is: The ability to face constructively the tension of opposing ideas and, instead of choosing one at the expense of the other, generate a creative resolution of the tension in the form of a new idea that contains elements of the opposing ideas but is superior to each.In other words, integrative thinking examines problems as a whole, taking note of the complexities that exist and embrace the tension between opposing ideas to create new alternatives that take advantage of many possible solutions. Is integrative thinking necessary for all problems? No. For some problems there is an easy solution. Some problems benefit from breaking them down to a single manageable issue and nailing the solution. These are generally simple, linear cause and effect problems. But there are those problems that stem from multiple avenues of causation and nonlinear relationships between cause and effect. For example, when you find yourself faced with win/lose solutions, problems to which there is no apparent solution or issues for which all of the solutions are choices between bad alternatives, then integrative thinking becomes necessary. It’s easy to get into the destructive rut of thinking that money is the solution to most problems. School boards are notorious for claiming that their hands are tied because they lack the money they want. They cripple themselves. What they really need are creative solutions. Education is a complex issue and has for too long been subject to tunnel-vision problem solving. They need integrative thinking. Einstein opined that we should make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. Too often we try to make complex issues too simple and leave ourselves with too few options based on our limited point-of-view. If we instead embrace complexity and learn to deal with it, we might find more and better solutions. Martin writes, “More salient features make for a messier problem. But integrative thinkers don’t mind the mess. In fact they welcome it, because the mess assures them that they haven’t edited out features necessary to the contemplation of the problem as a whole. They welcome complexity because they know the best answers arise from complexity.” In The Opposable Mind, Martin clearly illustrates this thinking process in action by dissecting varied examples from both business and interpersonal situations. Martin claims that we are all born with an opposable mind—the ability to hold two conflicting ideas or models in constructive tension. “We can use that tension to think our way through to a new and superior idea….Opposing models, in fact, are the richest source of new insight into a problem. We learn nothing from someone who sees the problem exactly as we do.” Related Posts:  Roger Martin on Assertive Inquiry
How to Develop Integrative Thinking
Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:45 AM
11.21.07
How to Change AnythingGod grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.The authors of Influencer: The Power to Change Anything claim that they can show you how to change anything. Well, nearly everything. They suggest that most of the time we cop out. We comfort ourselves with the Serenity Prayer and move on. Maybe it’s not the courage we lack but the skills to change the things we can.  What that means is, if you want to effect change, then while casting a vision is important (that is, what you want people to achieve), what you need to focus on is behaviors—what you specifically want people to do. If you determine the foundational behaviors upon which everything you want changed stands, and change those things, then everything else changes with it. Here are some points to consider:
Influencer presents a model that organizes influence in to 6 general strategies and clearly explains how to make use of these strategies in your own change issues. They write, “Ineffective influencers compensate for their weak influence repertories by putting a megaphone to the one source they’ve already put into place.” If you feel you have to turn up the volume to get people to listen, it’s not them it’s you. Work on your strategy. This book will show you how. Influencer is brought to you by the same group that produced such great books as Crucial Confrontations and Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 11:53 AM
11.19.07
Reframing Conflict “So I come and try to put myself in your shoes: How do you see it? How can I help you see it in a way that will be helpful to you, where you can go forward? I’m not telling you what to do; I’m not fighting with you.” “I have to get on your side, understand what you’re thinking about; what you’re worried about—your concerns, your interests—and how I can help you deal with your side.” Fisher adds: “Negotiation is recognizing that it’s not just the other side that has the problem but that we have a problem together. When you negotiate, you want to understand each other’s perceptions. How do you see it? How do I see it? How do we change it from adversarial to side by side, so that we’re both working on this?”
Posted by Michael McKinney at 05:03 PM
11.14.07
Optimizing LuckIn a world of rapidly changing conditions, luck often seems to be the determining factor in the success of the best organizations. According to authors Thomas Meylan and Terry Teays, luck is something that can be optimized and built into your culture. While the chapter on leadership could have benefited from some more rigorous thought, they do outline six behaviors and procedures you can implement to amplify your natural abilities to succeed in any environment. First, and most importantly, they stress the importance of hiring the right people. Look for people with sufficient skills and experience to do the job, aptitudes that will contribute positively to the organization and people with a passion for the kind of work you are hiring them for. (Seek staff reaction to the new person.) “If you don’t have the time to work through a hiring process that gets you the right people, how are you possibly going to have time to deal with all the misfits you end up with?” Secondly, multiply your strengths through the power of delegation – or just let people do their job. If you have hired the right people with the right skill set, then you should be able to trust them to accomplish the task. “Without trust, delegation doesn’t happen. What you get instead is the making of assignments that you either micromanage or snatch back to do yourself.” Third, become adaptable through the “master process of continuous habit management.” This consists of being alert to changes, continuously trying new things until you get the results you want, converting successful behaviors into personal habits and organizational procedures, and discarding obsolete habits when you realize it’s time to create new ones.  Fifth, promote prompt and accessible communication to all who need it. Knowledge is the raw material you use to drive a business, it must reach everyone, whether it is good or bad news. “Without good communication habits, your organization may be too slow to take advantage of a surprise opportunity and end up not getting there first.” Finally, build a system for recognizing and rewarding people that perform beyond their job description. “Your method of rewarding employees should encourage the behavior you want your employees to show.” The key passage is this: Differences in levels of success often come down to differences in personal habits. People employ decades-old systems of habits to get through the day. However, most people put no special thought into developing these systems. They pick up a few tricks from mom and dad and a few teachers and a lot from their peers, while growing up and going through school. And that’s where their habit-developing effort stops.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:10 AM
11.12.07
Finding the Difference Makers in Your OrganizationStories about people who have gone above and beyond inspire us to be better than we are now. These stories of people who make a difference can help others to see themselves and their work in new ways. Stories help people to disconnect from the moment and project themselves in to a new place where things are possible. He suggests that we make a conscious effort to look for and collect the stories of those people that go above and beyond and know when to break the rules in order to make a difference. Then retell them over and over to make them a part of the organization’s culture. The stories should have a behavior-oriented point and help people to connect their situation to that of the heroes in the story. “Finding your heroes and recognizing their behavior is key because recognized and rewarded behavior is repeated.” Here are several ways he suggests we go about finding heroes in our organizations:
Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:43 AM
11.09.07
You Are There: Peter Drucker's Classroom"Everything you see here was as it happened that day, except, You Are There…. What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times—and you were there."   In one such chapter entitled, People Have No Limits, Even After Failure, he records Drucker’s problem with Lawrence Peter’s infamous Peter Principle from the 1968 book of the same name: "In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence." Cohen writes: Peter [Drucker] said, We have no right to ask people to take on jobs that will defeat them, no right to break good people. We don’t have enough good young people to practice human sacrifice.” The selection of the right person for the right job was the manager’s responsibility. But even more importantly, the notion that people rise to their levels of incompetence was dangerous to the organization.Cohen ends each chapter with a useful Drucker Lesson Summary. Even Drucker aficionados will gain something new here. William Cohen also publishes the Journal of Leadership Application newsletter.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 01:19 PM
11.01.07
Leadership Books: November 2007Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in November. Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls by Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis
The Leaders We Need: And What Makes Us Follow by Michael Maccoby
Heroes: From Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to Churchill and de Gaulle by Paul Johnson
Rapid Transformation: A 90-day Plan for Fast and Effective Change by Behnam Tabrizi
A Class With Drucker: The Lost Lessons of the World's Greatest Management Teacher by William A. Cohen
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:17 AM
10.29.07
How To Get Great Ideas: Lessons for Brainstorming
Hurson notes that studies have shown that the last third of a brainstorming session usually results in the best ideas. He calls it the miracle of the third third. “You’ll have a greater chance of coming up with that one brilliant idea if you get all the way to the third third than you will if you stop at the first “right” idea.” He writes: The first third of the session tends to produce mundane, every-one-has-thought-of-them-before ideas. These are the early thoughts that lie very close to the surface of our consciousness. They tend not to be new ideas at all but recollections of old ideas we’ve heard elsewhere. They are essentially reproductive thoughts.He says, “Brainstorming is like cholesterol—there’s good and bad, and most people have only experienced the bad.” We have all experienced brainstorming like this: There’s no separation of the different ideas of thinking going on. Creative, idea-generating thinking is being stopped cold by critical, judgmental think. Ideas are being killed before they’re fully articulated.He adds, that “Bad brainstorming is binary; ideas are either good or bad. Good brainstorming is full of maybes." The biggest issue we face in creative thinking is our own patterns of thought that keep us on the straight and narrow. We hold ourselves back because of personal notions of what is right and wrong and what will and won’t work. There’s no magic pill to conquer this. It takes a conscious effort. He suggests though that “Generating long lists of ideas flushes those early ideas out of your head so you can make room for new ones.” Tim Hurson is a founding partner of thinkx intellectual capital. It is a global consultancy for productive thinking and innovation.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:53 AM
10.24.07
Making Leadership Development Part of Organizational StrategyMichael Maccoby states in his book The Leaders We Need, that “In any business, good leadership may be the most essential competitive advantage a company can have.” Linking leadership and strategy then, would seem to be an organizational imperative. The link between business strategy and leadership-development strategy is not haphazard, but specific and deliberate and omnipresent. The link is part of the philosophy of the organization that “permeates all organizational levels and is applicable to all employees.” In this way, an organization can keep the leadership-development strategy relevant to each business unit and to the overall business strategy in general. For example: PepsiCo’s leadership-development strategy is grounded in the belief that strong leaders are needed to be successful in the marketplace.Using senior executive to teach emerging leaders is an effective two-way street where both benefit. One of the surprising findings of this project was the degree to which senior executives practice the concept of leading by teaching. At PepsiCo, Paul Russell, vice president of executive learning & development, speaks of “the magic of leaders developing leaders.” According to Russell, the missing adult-learning principle is that “people learn best when they get to learn from someone they really want to learn from.” Russell notes that “at PepsiCo, the ‘teachers’ our executives want to learn from are our own senior leaders. They are world class, widely respected, and have proven that they can do it here!”
Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:26 AM
10.19.07
The Impending Leadership Vacuum The study reports that the most vulnerable companies are those in the industrial sector and those operating in the Asia Pacific region. Yet the impending leadership crisis is a worldwide issue. Driving the problem is the retirement of baby boomers and rapid growth in Asia. Baby boomers will drain companies of valuable knowledge when they retire, while multinational firms need to find people to lead their businesses in booming markets such as India and China. The crisis doesn’t end there. “Not only are companies concerned with their current leadership capacity,” the study says, “they are confronted by their inability to develop future leadership talent. Over 75 percent of companies indicate building leadership talent is a significant challenge.” Fifty-two percent of the human resources executives interviewed said their organizations may be unable to rapidly develop skills to meet current or future business needs. The report concludes: Creating an adaptable workforce requires more than a series of HR programs….It requires the ability to identify experts and foster an environment where knowledge and experience travel beyond traditional organizational boundaries. It calls for a talent model that can help companies recruit, develop and retain valued segments of the employee population….The human resources organization, by itself, cannot be expected to shoulder this entire effort. True, the HR function needs to take a lead role in providing strategic guidance on workforce issues and designing human capital programs that can enhance workforce effectiveness. However, the entire executive suite needs to play a role in improving workforce performance. This may involve providing functional expertise, taking joint responsibility for executing human capital programs or simply setting a positive example for employees within their organizations. Without this unified commitment, all bets are off….The key to building that kind of workforce lies with the leadership of the organization, facilitated in large part by HR. In this timely and valuable book, he states that we focus on the wrong people for the wrong reasons and thus we fail to recognize and develop emerging leaders. He constructed a guide to correctly identify leadership talent early-on, called the CEO Nucleus. We’ll take a closer look at what Charan has to say on this important issue as we approach the book’s December 21 release date.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:12 AM
10.12.07
Leading When Things Aren’t Going Your WayIn Bo’s Lasting Lessons, authors Bo Schembechler and John Bacon relate a story from Bo’s early days coaching. He learned a lesson about leading when the heat is on from his boss from his boss and mentor Ara Paraseghian that he carried with him the rest of his life. Here's that excerpt:The following season, 1956, I left Doyt [Perry] 
and Bowling Green—with his blessings—to become an assistant for Ara Parseghian at Northwestern University.
Ara was not a big ego guy, he was great with players, he was a wonderful motivator, and he understood the game so well he could come up with things no one else had thought of. He was probably the most imaginative coach I’d ever seen, always adapting his plays to his players instead of the other way around like most coaches do. Heck, we used to call his practice field “The Laboratory,” because that’s where he’d try every trick in the book on Mondays, testing this and experimenting with that, just to see what might work that Saturday. Before Ara arrived, Northwestern hadn’t had a winning season in five years, but in his first year Northwestern went 4-4-1, and everyone was encouraged. But in Ara’s second season, 1957, everything went to hell. We lost nine games—every single game we played! For a coach, that’s just about the most difficult situation you have to face. We could keep our opponents down to one or two touchdowns, but we couldn’t score for our lives. And I was working with the offense! Losing creates all kinds of other problems too—poor morale, nagging injuries, lackluster effort. The players were spending more time in the PR office than in the weight room. It was just a mess. I never experienced anything like that in all my years of coaching—and thank God for that. I learned an awful lot from Ara in my first year at Northwestern, but I learned a heckuva lot more from him that second season, when he lost ‘em all. And what I learned was how a real leader leads when things aren’t going his way. Ara treated the staff as though we were winning every game. He never gave the slightest inclination that we were the problem. He not once blamed any assistant or any player fro any loss we suffered that year. NOT ONCE. “Stick with it, guys, and we’ll get through this,” he’d tell us. “We’re going to be okay.” We all kept busting our butts for Ara, working past midnight, doing everything we could to get that guy a victory. I’m not saying there wasn’t some bitching among the players. When you’re losing every game, every player thinks he deserves more playing time. But I promise you this: There was a whole lot less bitching on that team than I’ve heard on teams that won half their games—and there was absolutely no, but no, bickering among the coaches. And that wasn’t even the most impressive thing Ara did that year. Stu Holcomb was Northwestern’s athletic director, and his son Chip was a backup quarterback on the varsity. In the middle of this losing streak, Stu kept cranking up the pressure for Ara to start his son. At one of our staff meetings, Ara laid the situation on the table. Then he asked us point-blank: “What do you think?” The thing is, there wasn’t anybody on the staff pounding on the table to make a quarterback change just because we were losing. We knew there had to be a ton of pressure on Ara to put Stu’s son in, but our quarterback wasn’t the problem. And that’s exactly what we told him when he asked us. He just nodded. Another coach—maybe most coaches—would have caved in to their boss just to save their hides. But Ara held firm. He didn’t change quarterbacks, or even consider doing it. And every one of us who walked out of the coaches room that day felt the same way I did: Ara Parseghian is a stand-up guy. He’s a leader. I want to work for this guy! And that’s why that losing season didn’t break Ara’s back: Because he’s a confident guy, and he knew he could coach. His staff remained dedicated to him and his program the entire season. You’d think my two years at Northwestern would have been a horrible experience, but it wasn’t. It was a great experience, because Ara had put together a stellar staff—they’re all still good friends of mine, especially Alex Agase—but mostly, it was because Ara was there. The result? Put this down: Ara Parseghian lost every game that year, but the next year his team went 5-4—Northwestern’s first winning season in eight years. When Ara took the Notre Dame job five years later, in 1963, he left Evanston as one of only three coaches in the last century of Northwestern football to post a winning record. And of course, from there he won two national titles and Coach of the Year at Notre Dame. Don’t tell me he didn’t deserve it. But that 0-9 year? He didn’t get any rewards for that, but let me tell you: THAT was the most impressive year of his coaching career.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 11:02 AM
10.08.07
5 Leadership Lessons: Bo's Lasting Lessons If you have to make a decision they’re not going to like, it’s better to tell them why you’re doing what you’re doing. They still won’t like it but they’ll always appreciate being told instead of being left in the dark. And if you don’t tell them why, they’ll feel abandoned, and start coming up with all kinds of crazy conspiracy theories.
You start cutting corners for this guy or that situation, and before you know it, you’re spending all your time playing judge and jury, deliberating over every little incident, when you should be leading your team. It’s painful sometimes, but you create a lot fewer headaches for everyone, including the players, when you simply stick to your guns.
If you don’t have leadership inside the ranks, you’re not going to be successful, because you will spend too much time policing that small things yourself, and create an “us against them” environment.
If you’re a leader, your ultimate responsibility is the training of your people, because every job requires training. If it’s a job worth paying someone, it’s a job worth training. And it’s your job to make sure they’re trained well. Make your training as close to the real thing as possible. Sounds easy, but from what I’ve seen, not many companies do. You get what you emphasize. Plain and simple.
 If you do not like people, you will not take the time to get to know them, and if you don’t get to know them, you will have no idea what scares them, what inspires them, what motivates them. If you don’t listen to what your people have to say, you will not know when they have a problem with you—and you will not know when you have a problem with them, either. You cannot lead if you cannot listen. Even if you’re doing everything else right, if one of your people comes to you with a good idea—or a personal problem—and it just goes in one ear and out the other, YOU WILL FAIL. You can have a tremendous impact as a leader just by taking a little time. Your people have to know that their value to you and your organization is not determined just by what they do, but by who they are. I can’t make it any clearer than that.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:01 PM
10.05.07
When is it Time to Move On? Faced with a new merger that would change the culture of the organization, Lagomasino, then chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Private Bank, had to make a tough decision to step down at the top of her game and move on. Here are some of her thoughts on the process: This is the toughest lesson, I think; after you devote yourself to a company and to a lifelong career, and you’ve been very successful—as I have been lucky enough to be—to be able to say, “We’ve come to the point where you need to step down.” This is the time when you have to know when to fold them.
Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:04 AM
10.01.07
Leadership Books: October 2007Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in October. The Future of Management by Gary Hamel
The Mindful Leader: Ten Principles for Bringing Out the Best in Ourselves and Others by Michael Carroll
Results That Last: Hardwiring Behaviors That Will Take Your Company to the Top by Quint Studer
Launching a Leadership Revolution: Mastering the Five Levels of Influence by Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward
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This belief is fundamental to PepsiCo’s two-pronged HR approach, which includes a career-growth model and a talent-management model for leadership development. This two pronged approach aligns with corporate strategic initiatives, which in turn link with the organization’s sustainable competitive advantage.