First Look: Leadership Books for July 2025

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in July 2025 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

G.O.A.T. Wisdom: How to Build a Truly Great Business—From the Founders of Beekman 1802 by Dr. Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell

Have you ever wanted to create a business that's not only good but great? Have you ever felt as though you're destined to do something bigger and more significant with your life? If so, you should know that you don't need millions in funding, a marketing department, or influencer status. If you have an idea, the determination to bring it to life, a deep and abiding belief in your product, and a devotion to your customers, you already have the humble starting point behind one of the world's fastest-growing and most beloved brands: Beekman 1802. In this book, for the first time, Ridge and Kilmer-Purcell present the twelve principles that made the biggest difference in their entrepreneurial journey, and show how these principles are relevant for anyone ready to defy the odds and grow a brand that matters.

Flow Leadership: Unleash the Power of People, Purpose, and Performance by Gaelle Devins

In Flow Leadership, Gaëlle Devins―experienced executive and founder of FlowFusion―delivers a groundbreaking approach to unlocking the full potential of your team. This book introduces the 3P Assessment & Model, a powerful framework built on years of hands-on leadership, workshops, and academic research, helping leaders balance the three essential elements of high-performing teams: People, Purpose, and Performance. When these three forces align, they create a sustained state of FLOW@WORK―where individuals, teams, and entire organizations thrive. Gaëlle Devins explains how to ensure the people you lead at work feel their best, are at their best, and produce their best work.

The Science of Leadership: Nine Ways to Expand Your Impact by Jeffrey Hull and Margaret Moore

This book presents a game-changing synthesis of 50 years of leadership research as a comprehensive guide for seasoned and aspiring leaders, and anyone who wants to help their boss become a better leader. Authors Jeffrey Hull and Margaret Moore, translate academic research and their extensive experience in leading and coaching into a practical, self-coaching roadmap for your own growth in these times of exponential change and disruption. This book organizes the science of leadership (15,000+ studies and articles showing what improves individual, team, and organizational performance) into nine capacities which build upon each other. Each capacity is brought to life by real-life stories, a science overview, practices, and ways to deal with overuse.

The Emotionally Intelligent Team: Building Collaborative Groups that Outperform the Rest by Vanessa Urch Druskat

Great teams can sometimes feel like magic. So much so that it can be hard to pin down why they work so well. But such dynamics are explainable—and replicable. And at their heart is emotional intelligence. While much has been written about the power of emotional intelligence at the individual level, little has been said about the benefits of this concept for groups. And it's not as simple as putting a number of emotionally intelligent people together and expecting them to work cohesively. Instead, leaders need to build a team culture around agreed-upon norms and habits. This book combines thirty years of research and team development to present a model for building and leading emotionally intelligent teams.

Blindspotting: How To See What's Holding You Back as a Leader by Martin Dubin

As leaders, we all hit a point when things stop going well. A problem emerges that we think we can handle but discover we can't. The tools that got us this far somehow stop working. We don't understand; what are we missing? What we don't see is what we can't see: we have blindspots. It's a known fact that we're often not great judges of ourselves, even when we think we are. Sometimes we're simply unaware of a behavior or trait that's causing problems. Other times, where we see normal, effective behavior, others see tremendous deficits. Bottom line: until we uncover these blindspots, we can’t move forward or deliver on our goals as leaders. The good news is that you can learn to do your own blindspotting. Blindspotting provides a framework for understanding six types of blindspots.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

* * *
“You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well. And I mean that last "well" in both senses. You have to be good at reading, and read good things.”

* * *
Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.

 

Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:02 AM
Permalink | Comments (0) | Books

10 Books You Should Read This Summer 2025

SUMMER begins today. It’s time to select a few books to make you think and supercharge your leadership.

The top summer reading list for leaders this year includes books on systems thinking, personal growth, self-knowledge, and psychological distancing for better decision-making. This year, we’ve also added a few books for the entrepreneur.

Here are ten suggestions for creating your reading plan.

  On Character: Choices That Define a Life by General Stanley McChrystal - (May 2025)

How to measure a life? After a career of service, retired four-star general Stanley McChrystal had much to contemplate. He pondered his successes and failures, his beliefs and aspirations, and asked himself, Who am I, really? And more importantly, who have I become? When I die, how will I be measured? In the end, McChrystal came to a conclusion as simple as it was profound: the reality of who we are cannot be recorded in dates or accomplishments. It is found in our character—the most accurate, and last full measure, of who we choose to be. On Character offers McChrystal’s blueprint for living with purpose and integrity, challenging us to examine not just our deeds but who we become through them.

  The Systems Leader: Mastering the Cross-Pressures That Make or Break Today's Companies by Robert E. Siegel - (June 2025)

A groundbreaking blueprint for mastering “cross-pressures” in a rapidly changing world, teaching leaders to execute and innovate, think locally and globally, and project ambition and statesmanship alike—from a Stanford Business School lecturer and consultant to some of the biggest and most innovative CEOs. Part of the problem is that these challenges, while acutely felt, are rarely articulated in a way that makes them graspable and actionable. Robert E. Siegel has witnessed the impact of these cross-pressures from different perspectives. As a lecturer in management at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, an operator, a venture capitalist, and a consultant, he sees countless teams of managers, at all sorts of companies, struggling to lead their companies into the future.

  Lean Learning: How to Achieve More by Learning Less by Pat Flynn - (June 2025)

Navigate the chaos of information overload and supercharge your efficiency with Lean Learning, a groundbreaking guide that reveals a counterintuitive approach to success: winning by learning less. From an early age, we’re taught that more is better. More money, more information, more skills. But times have changed. What was once valuable has now become a burden, and if information alone were the answer, we’d all be exactly where we want. In today’s fast-moving world, the difference between success and failure is not in what you know but in what you do with what you know. Lean Learning equips you with the tools to do just that, propelling you towards your goals with greater efficiency, purpose, and results.

  Firm Feedback in a Fragile World: How to Build a Winning Culture with Critical Conversations by Jeff Hancher - (June 2025)

Turn dreaded workplace feedback into opportunities for growth and trust with Firm Feedback in a Fragile World, your guide to fostering stronger teams and a thriving workplace through effective, confident communication. “We need to talk.” It’s a phrase that can fill us with dread. For many, the statement signals conflict or criticism. But what if it didn’t? What if feedback and conversations in your workplace inspired growth, built trust, and created thriving teams? In Firm Feedback in a Fragile World, Jeff Hancher redefines how we approach feedback in the workplace. Combining relatable stories, research, and practical tools, Hancher offers a roadmap to turn feedback from a source of tension into a powerful leadership tool. As a military veteran, corporate leader, and leadership coach, he provides actionable insights that help leaders and employees alike navigate feedback with confidence and clarity.

  Go One More: Find the Clarity to Make Intentional, Life-Changing Choices by Nick Bare - (June 2025)

Stop holding yourself back and make a powerful impact by taking control of your life and transforming your mindset around health, relationships, and success. Growth doesn't happen overnight; it's a choice. You must wake up every day and choose growth. These decisions compound over time, and with ruthless consistency, the outcomes are life-changing. Whether training for a marathon, leading a family, or starting a business, being intentional with everything we do is essential for success. Nick Bare shares a simple philosophy for helping people tap into the clarity and resolve they need to keep progressing: go one more.

  G.O.A.T. Wisdom: How to Build a Truly Great Business--From the Founders of Beekman 1802 by Dr. Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell - (July 2025)

Have you ever wanted to create a business that's not only good but great? Have you ever felt as though you're destined to do something bigger and more significant with your life? If so, you should know that you don't need millions in funding, a marketing department, or influencer status. If you have an idea, the determination to bring it to life, a deep and abiding belief in your product, and a devotion to your customers, you already have the humble starting point behind one of the world's fastest-growing and most beloved brands: Beekman 1802. In this book, for the first time, Ridge and Kilmer-Purcell present the twelve principles that made the biggest difference in their entrepreneurial journey, and show how these principles are relevant for anyone ready to defy the odds and grow a brand that matters

  The Science of Leadership: Nine Ways to Expand Your Impact by Jeffrey Hull and Margaret Moore - (July 2025)

The Science of Leadership: Nine Ways to Expand Your Impact presents a game-changing synthesis of 50 years of leadership research as a comprehensive guide for seasoned and aspiring leaders, and anyone who wants to help their boss become a better leader. Authors Jeffrey Hull and Margaret Moore, leadership coaches and leaders of the Institute of Coaching, translate academic research and their extensive experience in leading and coaching into a practical, self-coaching roadmap for your own growth in these times of exponential change and disruption. This book organizes the science of leadership (15,000+ studies and articles showing what improves individual, team, and organizational performance) into nine capacities which build upon each other. Each capacity is brought to life by real-life stories, a science overview, practices, and ways to deal with overuse. These capacities are organized into three levels with increasing complexity: Self-Oriented, Other-Oriented and System-Oriented.

  Blindspotting: How To See What's Holding You Back as a Leader by Martin Dubin - (July 2025)

As leaders, we all hit a point when things stop going well. A problem emerges that we think we can handle but discover we can't. The tools that got us this far somehow stop working. We don't understand; what are we missing? What we don't see is what we can't see: we have blindspots. It's a known fact that we're often not great judges of ourselves, even when we think we are. Sometimes we're simply unaware of a behavior or trait that's causing problems. Other times, where we see normal, effective behavior, others see tremendous deficits. Bottom line: until we uncover these blindspots, we can’t move forward or deliver on our goals as leaders. Blindspotting provides a framework for understanding six types of blindspots, then takes you inside coaching sessions with profoundly relatable leaders going through the process of learning to recognize their own blindspots. Along the way, you get the practical guidance you need to identify and manage those same blindspots in yourself, unlocking high performance and great leadership.

  Scaling Innovation: How Smart Companies Architect Profitable Growth by Madhavan Ramanujam and Eddie Hartman - (August 2025)

The brutal truth: most startups and scale-ups don't fail because of bad products. They fail because they never figure out how to grow fast―and profitably. Some chase market share at all costs, burning cash on customers who won't pay enough to sustain the business. Others over-monetize too soon, pushing away the customers they need to reach scale. Still others obsess over customer loyalty, missing larger markets and monetization potential. And then there are those who assume a great product will sell itself, only to realize too late that pricing, packaging, positioning and value selling matter just as much. The true winners take a different approach. They adopt a Profitable Growth Mindset, refusing to choose between market expansion and monetization―instead, they dominate both. Instead of relying on instinct or momentum.

  Distancing: How Great Leaders Reframe to Make Better Decisions by L. David Marquet and Michael A. Gillespie - (August 2025)

Be yourself. Be fully present. Be in the moment. This is a message we hear constantly. While this may be beneficial some of the time, the biggest obstacle to making wiser decisions that actually drive lasting success is ourselves. Being fully immersed in our own limited point of view biases our decisions toward defending our previous actions and maintaining our self-image. We need to exit our me-here-and-now self and get an outside perspective that sees us and the situation we are in objectively. We need a coach. This book shows us how to become our own coach by using a mental technique called psychological distancing.

For Entrepreneurs

  Founders, Keepers: Why Founders Are Built to Fail, and What it Takes to Succeed by Richard Hagberg and Tien Tzuo with Gabe Weisert - (June 2025)

Based on decades of empirical research and data, Founders, Keepers gives founders a practical roadmap for navigating the inevitable challenges that come with startup growth. It’s a brutal paradox—the same founder attributes required to put a startup in motion will invariably blow it up. The difference between success and failure lies in the personal journey that every founder must pursue to avoid their own worst impulses. Steeped in nearly forty years of research in leadership psychology, Founders, Keepers begins with the same personality assessment Rich Hagberg, a psychologist and executive management coach, gives his clients. Hagberg and Tien Tzuo, founder and CEO of Zuora, help founders build a Swiss Army knife of practical tools that will give them a much better chance of making it to the next level of success.

  From Founder to Future: A Business Roadmap to Impact, Longevity, and Employee Ownership by John Abrams - (June 2025)

From Founder to Future is an essential guide for mission-driven leaders seeking to reshape their businesses for inclusivity, longevity, and positive impact. Whether you're a retiring owner planning your exit, a young entrepreneur building for the future, or an employee working in a purpose-driven business, this book offers a blueprint for creating enduring, values-driven enterprises in the emerging regenerative economy. Learn how to transition leadership, implement shared ownership, and preserve your organization's core values—setting the stage for your business to thrive for generations to come. This visionary but practical handbook offers mission-driven business owners a roadmap for ensuring their company's lasting impact, building leadership internally, and fostering participatory management.

  Soul Venture: A True Life and Death Journey Into the Startup Culture by Ashwin Gulati - (January 2025)

Soul Venture isn't your typical business book—it's a wake-up call. In this gripping exploration, Ashwin Gulati dismantles the myths, ambitions, and raw realities that drive an entrepreneurial culture where 97% of start-ups are destined to fail. When Jensen Huang, co-founder of the $2 trillion tech giant Nvidia, admits he wouldn’t go through it again, it makes you wonder: Why would you? So why do entrepreneurs keep lining up? Why do venture capitalists continue to encourage them? What exactly isn’t working? Soul Venture turns the conventional wisdom upside down: It’s not just about business—it’s about you.

* * *
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Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:18 AM
Permalink | Books

First Look: Leadership Books for June 2025

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in June 2025 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

The Systems Leader: Mastering the Cross-Pressures That Make or Break Today's Companies by Robert E. Siegel

A groundbreaking blueprint for mastering “cross-pressures” in a rapidly changing world, teaching leaders to execute and innovate, think locally and globally, and project ambition and statesmanship alike—from a Stanford Business School lecturer and consultant to some of the biggest and most innovative CEOs. Part of the problem is that these challenges, while acutely felt, are rarely articulated in a way that makes them graspable and actionable. Robert E. Siegel has witnessed the impact of these cross-pressures from different perspectives. As a lecturer in management at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, an operator, a venture capitalist, and a consultant, he sees countless teams of managers, at all sorts of companies, struggling to lead their companies into the future.

The Dark Pattern: The Hidden Dynamics of Corporate Scandals by Guido Palazzo and Ulrich Hoffrage

From the creators of the theory of ethical blindness comes an investigation into how corporate scandals happen, revealing the common pattern behind them and how your organization can avoid them. Too often, the stories of corporate scandals are narrated like Hollywood movies in which once-celebrated CEOs are unmasked as sociopaths and ultimately convicted for their crimes. What we fail to realize, however, is that most bad things are done by average people with honorable values and without bad intentions.

Lean Learning: How to Achieve More by Learning Less by Pat Flynn

Navigate the chaos of information overload and supercharge your efficiency with Lean Learning, a groundbreaking guide that reveals a counterintuitive approach to success: winning by learning less. From an early age, we’re taught that more is better. More money, more information, more skills. But times have changed. What was once valuable has now become a burden, and if information alone were the answer, we’d all be exactly where we want. In today’s fast-moving world, the difference between success and failure is not in what you know but in what you do with what you know. Lean Learning equips you with the tools to do just that, propelling you towards your goals with greater efficiency, purpose, and results.

Founders, Keepers: Why Founders Are Built to Fail, and What it Takes to Succeed by Richard Hagberg and Tien Tzuo with Gabe Weisert

Based on decades of empirical research and data, Founders, Keepers gives founders a practical roadmap for navigating the inevitable challenges that come with startup growth. It’s a brutal paradox—the same founder attributes required to put a startup in motion will invariably blow it up. The difference between success and failure lies in the personal journey that every founder must pursue to avoid their own worst impulses. Steeped in nearly forty years of research in leadership psychology, Founders, Keepers begins with the same personality assessment Rich Hagberg, a psychologist and executive management coach, gives his clients. Hagberg and Tien Tzuo, founder and CEO of Zuora, help founders build a Swiss Army knife of practical tools that will give them a much better chance of making it to the next level of success.

Firm Feedback in a Fragile World: How to Build a Winning Culture with Critical Conversations by Jeff Hancher

Turn dreaded workplace feedback into opportunities for growth and trust with Firm Feedback in a Fragile World, your guide to fostering stronger teams and a thriving workplace through effective, confident communication. “We need to talk.” It’s a phrase that can fill us with dread. For many, the statement signals conflict or criticism. But what if it didn’t? What if feedback and conversations in your workplace inspired growth, built trust, and created thriving teams? In Firm Feedback in a Fragile World, Jeff Hancher redefines how we approach feedback in the workplace. Combining relatable stories, research, and practical tools, Hancher offers a roadmap to turn feedback from a source of tension into a powerful leadership tool. As a military veteran, corporate leader, and leadership coach, he provides actionable insights that help leaders and employees alike navigate feedback with confidence and clarity.

Go One More: Find the Clarity to Make Intentional, Life-Changing Choices by Nick Bare

Stop holding yourself back and make a powerful impact by taking control of your life and transforming your mindset around health, relationships, and success. Growth doesn't happen overnight; it's a choice. You must wake up every day and choose growth. These decisions compound over time, and with ruthless consistency, the outcomes are life-changing. Whether training for a marathon, leading a family, or starting a business, being intentional with everything we do is essential for success. Nick Bare shares a simple philosophy for helping people tap into the clarity and resolve they need to keep progressing: go one more.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

* * *
“You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well. And I mean that last "well" in both senses. You have to be good at reading, and read good things.”

* * *
Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.

 

Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:46 AM
Permalink | Books

First Look: Leadership Books for May 2025

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in May 2025 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Another Way: Building Companies That Last…and Last…and Last by Dave Whorton with Bo Burlingham

Dave Whorton went on a journey to find a better way to build companies, a way focused on long-term stability and steady growth, funded through profitability; a way in which leaders were committed to a purpose beyond personal wealth generation, to putting their people first, and to setting up their companies to endure. He calls these companies "Evergreen." Another Way combines Whorton's inspiring story with his Evergreen 7Ps framework, designed to guide more entrepreneurs and business leaders to follow his path. Full of revelations, practical advice, and real-world examples of companies going Evergreen, Another Way is as instructive as it is inspiring at showing capitalism at its best.

The Power of Mattering: How Leaders Can Create a Culture of Significance by Zach Mercurio

Increasingly, people report feeling overlooked, ignored, and underappreciated at work. Simply put, they don't feel like they matter to their leaders or organizations—and it's taking a toll. This hidden epidemic of insignificance is fueling a mental health crisis, intensifying loneliness, and, for organizations, driving disengagement, turnover, and low performance. Zach Mercurio reveals how mattering to others is a fundamental—yet often overlooked—requirement for thriving. He introduces a simple yet effective framework for making daily interactions with your people more meaningful: Noticing: the practice of seeing and hearing others, Affirming: the practice of showing people how their unique gifts make a difference, and Needing: the practice of showing people they're relied on and indispensable

On Character: Choices That Define a Life by General Stanley McChrystal

How to measure a life? After a career of service, retired four-star general Stanley McChrystal had much to contemplate. He pondered his successes and failures, his beliefs and aspirations, and asked himself, Who am I, really? And more importantly, who have I become? When I die, how will I be measured? In the end, McChrystal came to a conclusion as simple as it was profound: the reality of who we are cannot be recorded in dates or accomplishments. It is found in our character—the most accurate, and last full measure, of who we choose to be. On Character offers McChrystal’s blueprint for living with purpose and integrity, challenging us to examine not just our deeds but who we become through them.

Reinventing the Leader: How to Change Yourself to Change Your Company by Gui Loureiro and Carlos E. Marin

An inspiring, practical book by Gui Loureiro, Regional CEO overseeing Walmex, Walmart Canada, and Walmart Chile, and his executive leadership coach Carlos Marin that shows how even the most successful leaders must be open to personal change in order to transform their company. Reinventing the Leader is the turbulent story of how it happened that’s especially relevant in this age of globalization. Gui learns from Carlos that to change the company he must first transform his own leadership style. Written from the dual perspectives of a CEO and his leadership coach, this candid book provides an insightful blueprint for any organization’s success. Today’s leaders are expected to inspire by sharing a vision based on purpose, not just profits. Loureiro and Marin’s enlightening account of self-discovery and business reinvention defines a fresh new approach to leadership for the future.

The 7 Commitments of a Great Team by Jon Gordon

From Jon Gordon comes a powerful new fable on what it takes to build a truly great team. Through engaging storytelling, real-world lessons, and actionable insights, Gordon reveals the seven commitments that great teams must make to build trust, foster connection, overcome adversity, and achieve extraordinary success. Whether you're a business leader, coach, entrepreneur, or team member, this book will inspire you to commit, lead with purpose, and build a team that wins, thrives, and leaves a lasting impact.

The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future by Keach Hagey

In The Optimist, the Wall Street Journal reporter Keach Hagey presents the most detailed account yet of Altman’s rise, from his precocious childhood in St. Louis to his first, failed startup experience; his time as legendary entrepreneur Paul Graham’s protégé and successor as head of Y Combinator, the start-up accelerator where Altman became the premier power broker in Silicon Valley; the founding of OpenAI and his recruitment of a small yet superior team; and his struggle to keep his company at the cutting edge while fending off determined rivals, including Elon Musk, a former friend and now Altman’s bitter opponent. Hagey delivers a nuanced, balanced, revelatory account of the individual who is leading us into what he himself has called “the intelligence age.” Altman is a figure out of Isaac Asimov or Neal Stephenson. Or he is the author himself: if it feels as though we have all collectively stepped into a science fiction short story, it is Altman who is writing it.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

* * *
“You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well. And I mean that last "well" in both senses. You have to be good at reading, and read good things.”

* * *
Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.

 

Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:35 AM
Permalink | Comments (0) | Books

First Look: Leadership Books for April 2025

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in April 2025 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

The Psychology of Leadership: Timeless principles to perfect your leadership of individuals, teams… and yourself! by Sébastien Page

The Psychology of Leadership offers a fresh take on leadership through the lens of groundbreaking research in positive, sports, and personality psychology. Leaders will develop what feels like mind-reading abilities for interpreting workplace personalities, hidden motivations, and group dynamics. They will learn how to inspire their organization to move mountains, improve their ability to listen, communicate and, when necessary, persuade. Along the way they will dramatically improve their own mindset and resilience.

Master Your Mindset: Live a Meaningful Life by Michael Pilarczyk

In Master Your Mindset, bestselling author Michael Pilarczyk reveals a life-changing approach that has helped countless individuals transform their lives. His unique method combines powerful insights with real-life examples, showing you how to break free from limiting beliefs and reach your most ambitious goals. This book offers more than just advice―it provides a clear, actionable, and repeatable 12-step strategy to help you master your mindset and create lasting success in every area of life. With Master Your Mindset, you'll have the tools to break free from limiting beliefs and take control of your personal and professional success. A practical, life-changing guide to unlocking your full potential―whether you seek personal fulfillment, professional success, or deeper inner peace and meaning in life.

The Relationship-Driven Leader: Strengthening Connections to Enhance Productivity and Wellness at Work by Karen Bridbord

In today’s dynamic business environment, the success of any organization is deeply rooted in the quality of its internal relationships. Psychologist and organizational behavior expert Dr. Karen Bridbord offers a revolutionary guide to career success and advancement, regardless of your industry, your company’s size, or your role. This groundbreaking book sheds light on how nurturing strong work relationships can lead to unmatched productivity and greater overall wellness throughout the organization and among its staff. The Relationship-Driven Leader explores the profound influence of everyday interactions on team experience and team performance. Bridbord emphasizes the importance of “micro-moments” in leadership to spark significant improvements. This book empowers you to take the first step toward becoming the leader everyone aspires to work with by enhancing your leadership skills, boosting workplace productivity, and mastering innovative conflict-management techniques. By focusing on well-being through relationship-building, you can create a healthier, more engaged, and more productive team.

Running the Gauntlet: Proven Strategies for High-Growth Leaders by Meg Thomas Crosby and Howard Cleveland

Written for leaders of high-growth companies, a framework for predicting and overcoming obstacles to scale successfully. Growth is hard. CEOs must constantly evolve to make it through the gauntlet of never-ending challenges. This book is written for leaders like you who recognize that success depends upon harnessing your people’s strengths to build a high-functioning and resilient organization. In Running the Gauntlet, the duo of veteran strategic advisors shows you how to predict and prepare for the challenges you’ll encounter as your company moves through four stages of growth, how to use key levers to proactively drive organizational growth including sharpening focus, calibrating culture, strengthening leadership, and elevating talent, how to evolve your role as CEO as the organization becomes larger and more complex and how to avoid the pitfalls that derail growth.

Detach: Ditch Your Baggage to Live a More Fulfilling Life by Bob Rosen

Our lives are guided by our attachments. When they’re healthy, they offer us security, pleasure, and validation. But for many of us, something has gone awry. We’re distracted and sabotaged by these attachments, like control, perfection, or success, which morph into internal conversations that undermine our best selves—ultimately inhibiting our ability to live a full, happy life. The antidote to the poison of unhealthy attachments? Trading them in for positive aspirations. Rooted in a blend of Western and Eastern psychology, supported by research, and told through the stories of real people from all walks of life who have overcome their own self-sabotage, Detach walks readers through the ten unhealthy attachments many of us carry, as well as the ten positive aspirations we can use to combat each one of them.

Conquering Crisis: Ten Lessons to Learn Before You Need Them by Admiral William H. McRaven

Throughout his 40-year career, Admiral McRaven has experienced every manner of calamity imaginable. From managing failed hostage rescues to responding to student unrest, McRaven has learned how to successfully navigate crises—those moments that push the limits of your experience and challenge your confidence, when leadership skills alone may not be enough. Conquering Crisis provides a new set of tools for facing these stressful moments with poise. It breaks crises down into five phases assess, report, contain, shape, and manage—and provides concrete steps to come out the other side stronger. With incredible personal stories, thought-provoking parables, and memorable lessons, Admiral McRaven sheds light on the ways we can rise to the occasion in times of crisis and act as leaders, no matter the situation.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

* * *
“You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well. And I mean that last "well" in both senses. You have to be good at reading, and read good things.”

* * *
Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.

 

Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:00 PM
Permalink | Comments (0) | Books

First Look: Leadership Books for March 2025

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in March 2025 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

You're the Boss: Become the Manager You Want to Be (and Others Need) by Sabina Nawaz

as our job expands, the added pressure to perform corrupts our actions, and our increased power will blind us to the impact of those actions. Even the most well-intentioned manager can quickly become the boss nobody wants to work for. You’re the Boss is your executive coach in book form. It offers a fresh, evidence-based framework for managing pressure and power with grace and intelligence. Nawaz’s potent, proven strategies guide you to anticipate the unavoidable hazards of leadership without changing who you are, based on over two decades of coaching and in-depth research into the psychology of behavior and relationships. Discover a powerful way to manage yourself and others, navigate working relationships, and communicate effectively. Become the boss you want to be—and others need—while experiencing less stress and greater impact.

Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World by Anne-Laure Le Cunff

Life isn’t linear, and yet we constantly try to mold it around linear goals: four-year college degrees, ten-year career plans, thirty-year mortgages. What if instead we approached life as a giant playground for experimentation? Based on ancestral philosophy and the latest scientific research, Tiny Experiments provides a desperately needed reframing: Uncertainty can be a state of expanded possibility and a space for metamorphosis. Neuroscientist and entrepreneur Anne-Laure Le Cunff reveals that all you need is an experimental mindset to turn challenges into self-discovery and doubt into opportunity. Readers will replace the old linear model of success with a circular model of growth in which goals are discovered, pursued, and adapted—not in a vacuum, but in conversation with the larger world.

More Human: How the Power of Ai Can Transform the Way You Lead by Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter with Marissa Afton and Rob Stembridge

Humans have always been good at inventing tools that change the way we live and work—though not always good at adapting to those changes. Will the power of AI create a new era of robotic, impersonal efficiency, or will it catalyze a renaissance, redefining leadership and the world of work? So far, that question has mostly prompted a wave of anxiety about the disappearance of jobs and the loss of humanness in our work lives. AI has the power to transform leadership for the better—the key is in how leaders use it. By delegating tasks to AI and using it to augment skills and behaviors, leaders have an opportunity to unlock a truly human experience of work while enhancing organizational performance. The AI-augmented leader moves beyond a focus on the technology itself to constantly probe how it can enhance and deepen the core qualities of human-centered leadership: awareness, wisdom, and compassion. In this way, AI can help leaders and organizations become more human.

The Next Conversation: Argue Less, Talk More by Jefferson Fisher

No matter who you’re talking to, The Next Conversation gives you immediately actionable strategies and phrases that will forever change how you communicate. Jefferson Fisher, trial lawyer and one of the leading voices on real-world communication, offers a tried-and-true framework that will show you how to transform your life and your relationships by improving your next conversation. The Next Conversation will give you practical phrases that will lead to powerful results, from breaking down defensiveness in a hard talk with a family member to finding your own assertive voice at the boardroom conference table. Your every word matters, and by controlling how you communicate every day, you will create waves of positive impact that will resonate throughout your relationships to last a lifetime.

Conflict Resilience: Negotiating Disagreement Without Giving Up or Giving In by Robert Bordone and Joel Salinas M.D.

Conflict is getting the better of us. From our homes and community centers to C-Suites and Congress, disagreements are happening everywhere, with increasing frequency, and are being treated like zero-sum games that allow little margin for error and even less room for productive conversations. Conflict Resilience is not another book about conflict resolution, nor is it about problem solving. Conflict Resilience combines practical applications of advanced conflict management and study of the human brain to teach anyone how to turn conflict and negotiation into an act of union. This book provides the most cutting-edge and scientifically-grounded tools for driving agreement when possible and for empowering you to disagree better when the differences cut deep and the relationships matter most. This is a chance to bring people together, and an invitation to radically transform how we interact with our friends and families, our co-workers, our students, and our neighbors—anyone with whom we find ourselves in disagreement.

Radical Listening: The Art of True Connection by Christian van Nieuwerburgh and Robert Biswas-Diener

In our distracted, divisive world, the transformative power of true listening has never been more essential. Radical Listening is a revolutionary guide to mastering this vital skill from renowned experts Christian van Nieuwerburgh and Robert Biswas-Diener. Moving beyond simply hearing words, their groundbreaking framework teaches you to actively co-create meaning and connection. Though we spend nearly three hours a day on the receiving end of communication, listening is frequently neglected. We're bombarded by data, digital distractions, and a culture that celebrates talkers over listeners. Radical Listening provides the antidote, equipping you with six core competencies: Noticing, Quieting, Accepting, Acknowledging, Questioning, and Interjecting.

The Super Upside Factor: Asymmetric Principles that Will 10X Your Life by Daniel Kang

In The Super Upside Factor, Daniel Kang draws on his experience as a venture capitalist at Softbank Vision Fund and a Y Combinator-backed founder to adapt asymmetric principles for personal and professional life. He offers a clear framework for maximizing luck and generating outsized returns―what he calls Super Upsides. Through vivid, real-life experiments, Kang demonstrates how he put these principles into practice―from securing a book deal writing just 15 minutes a day; to recovering from a spiralling plane as a pilot; to raising millions by betting on pivotal career shift. Backed by decision science research and personal experimentations, the book strikes a balance between theory and practical advice, guiding readers to identify and optimize skewed life bets. Beyond the tactical elements, Kang explores the human side of applying these principles, including discussions on mental health, emotional struggles, and even tactically quitting.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

* * *
“You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well. And I mean that last "well" in both senses. You have to be good at reading, and read good things.”

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:56 PM
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First Look: Leadership Books for February 2025

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in February 2025 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Rethinking Work: Seismic Changes in the Where, When, and Why by Rishad Tobaccowala

We have a choice. We can either be reactive and struggle to adjust to transformational events on the fly, or we can be proactive and control the narrative—reinventing work to align with the evolving environment. Futurist Rishad Tobaccowala has had a highly successful career because he has anticipated and capitalized on emerging trends. In Rethinking Work, Rishad outlines the reasons why being proactive in this era of unprecedented change is the only way organizations will survive and thrive. Schools, banks, law firms, startups, medical offices—every sector will be affected by the current or soon-to-be-emerging trends and events that Rishad describes in this invaluable guide.

Win the Inside Game: How to Move from Surviving to Thriving, and Free Yourself Up to Perform by Steve Magness

Striving is in our nature. We all want to perform at our best when it matters most. But in today's world, many of us feel lost, isolated, and overwhelmed. We're paralyzed by fear of failure and crippled by insecurities. We know we’re capable of more, yet no matter how hard we try, we feel stuck. We’ve been sold the wrong path to success and personal fulfillment. Renowned performance scientist and bestselling author Steve Magness reveals a new path to sustainable success. In Win the Inside Game, Magness argues that excellence and fulfillment are not mutually exclusive; we can and should seek both. When we measure our worth by our achievements, cement our identities to our careers, and sacrifice our well-being in the pursuit of external validation, it backfires. We default to survival mode, protecting and defending ourselves instead of being free to fulfill our potential.

Leading Giants: A Leader's Guide to Maximum Influence by Dave Durand

It is clear that leaders carry a unique burden. They are guardians, protectors, providers, judges, helpers, servants, counselors, and friends—and only a Giant can be all those at one time. Leaders live and die with the actual results they create, and those results are created with and through the people they lead. Dave Durand spent 35 years founding, leading, and selling companies with more than a billion dollars in combined sales. Having led hundreds of thousands of people, he distills leadership influence in usable terms. Leading Giants illuminates the Four Superpowers of a Leader. By learning to serve as a firm but compassionate leader in the face of challenges, you will do the right things, the right way, and reap the benefits. Because life and business are full of good people engaging in destructive behavior, influencing people away from vice and into virtue is the key to peace, prosperity, and profits..

Perseverance > Endurance: Lead with Resilience. Grow Through Adversity. Win Together. by Blayne Smith and Brandon Young

Doubt crushes leaders daily—from GMs of Fortune 500 companies to small business owners across America, leaders nearly unanimously express doubt and fear in the face of adversity. This makes sense because adversity pushes us beyond our training and our comfort zones. We cannot simply put our heads down and endure. Instead, learn that adversity is an opportunity for transformation. When faced with circumstances beyond our capabilities, we must grow to meet those challenges by persevering and becoming the person the situation requires. Perseverance > Endurance empowers leaders to gain clarity of their challenges, apply sound leadership principles, and lead their teams to victory by embracing the five factors of perseverance: Change, Uncertainty, Acceptance, Choice, and Growth.

How to Get Along with Anyone: The Playbook for Predicting and Preventing Conflict at Work and at Home by John Eliot and Jim Guinn

The average American worker spends 156 hours a year engaged in the kind of moderate to intense workplace conflict that adversely impacts both performance and health. Managers spend twenty-six percent of their time addressing and resolving conflicts on their team—the equivalent of chewing up one full workday each week. But what if it didn’t need to be like this? What if there was a way to spend less time in stressfully interpersonal interactions and more time on the things that really matter? Because our responses are ingrained byproducts of the subcortex in action, they are predictable. If you can predict how someone will behave in a given circumstance, you can formulate a game plan. The secret is knowing which of the five patterns someone is wired to use when smacked by a stressor. You’ll learn the formula for identifying your coworkers’ and loved ones’ conflict styles and how to use this information to foster better communication and more effective, collaboration.

Masters of Uncertainty: The Navy SEAL Way to Turn Stress into Success for You and Your Team by Rich Diviney

For Navy SEALs, success isn’t only a result of relentless training in shooting, skydiving, or combat—though they are experts at those things. The real secret is that they use their innate human capabilities to turn the stress of uncertain and complex situations to their advantage. In more than two decades of leading, training, and coaching top performers, Rich Diviney (founder of the SEALs’ “Mind Gym”) discovered that while most elite individuals and teams are masters of preparation, it’s how they react when things don’t go according to plan that separates the best from the rest. They are Masters of Uncertainty.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

* * *
“You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well. And I mean that last "well" in both senses. You have to be good at reading, and read good things.”

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:30 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for January 2025

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in January 2025 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Mindmasters: The Data-Driven Science of Predicting and Changing Human Behavior by Sandra Matz

There are more pieces of digital data than there are stars in the universe. This data helps us monitor our planet, decipher our genetic code, and take a deep dive into our psychology. As algorithms become increasingly adept at accessing the human mind, they also become more and more powerful at controlling it, enticing us to buy a certain product or vote for a certain political candidate. Some of us say this technological trend is no big deal. Others consider it one of the greatest threats to humanity. But what if the truth is more nuanced and mind-bending than that? In Mindmasters, Columbia Business School professor Sandra Matz reveals in fascinating detail how big data offers insights into the most intimate aspects of our psyches and how these insights empower an external influence over the choices we make. With passion and clear-eyed precision, Matz shows us how to manage psychological targeting and redesign the data game. Mindmasters is a riveting look at what our digital footprints reveal about us, how they're being used—for good and for ill—and how we can gain power over the data that defines us.

Reset: How to Change What's Not Working by Dan Heath

Changing how we work can feel overwhelming. Like trying to budge an enormous boulder. We’re stifled by the gravity of the way we’ve always done things. And we spend so much time fighting fires—and fighting colleagues—that we lack the energy to shift direction. But with the right strategy, we can move the boulder. In Reset, Heath explores a framework for getting unstuck and making the changes that matter. The secret is to find “leverage points”: places where a little bit of effort can yield a disproportionate return. Then, we can thoughtfully rearrange our resources to push on those points.

Inspire: The Universal Path for Leading Yourself and Others by Adam Galinsky

Whether you’re a leader, a member of a team, a spouse, or a parent, this engaging and rigorous exploration unpacks the science of inspiration. Through compelling stories, fascinating research, and practical tips for addressing the common dilemmas we face daily, Inspire reveals how all of us, regardless of status or circumstance, can be more inspiring more often. Social psychologist and leadership expert Adam Galinsky has spent three decades building a method for determining when we are inspiring versus infuriating, and where various leaders—presidents, CEOs, coaches, teachers, parents, and a wealth of others—currently land on that spectrum. .

Essential: How Distributed Teams, Generative AI, and Global Shifts Are Creating a New Human-Powered Leadership by Christie Smith and Kelly Monahan

In an era where the foundational elements of business are being disrupted, Essential emerges as a crucial guide for leaders navigating the profound changes reshaping industries and markets worldwide. This book, penned by a team of seasoned business and leadership strategists, offers a radical and necessary perspective on management transformation, emphasizing the importance of human-centered leadership in meeting the full potential of the technology age. Essential is not just a book; it's a roadmap for 21st-century leaders facing existential challenges in a rapidly evolving global market. Perfect for managers, executives, directors, founders, entrepreneurs, and any business leader aiming to steer their organization towards success in a transformed landscape, this book provides the tools and insights needed to lead with conviction and humanity. Whether you're looking to redefine your leadership approach, adapt to the transformed market, or leave a lasting legacy, this book offers a compelling case for why now is the time for a leadership reinvention.

Employment Is Dead: How Disruptive Technologies Are Revolutionizing the Way We Work by Deborah Perry Piscione and Josh Drean

Business is on the cusp of a profound transformation. Conventional work models are failing to adapt to the evolving needs and expectations of the modern workforce. Simultaneously, the emergence of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, coupled with web3 innovations, including the metaverse and decentralized work models, is unlocking a new realm of possibilities. It raises the question: Is the era of traditional employment over? The tools of tomorrow will amplify human potential, from collaborating in virtual spaces through digital avatars, to managing transactions transparently on blockchain. Those who embrace these technologies—and the ways people want to work—will unleash unprecedented levels of productivity and innovation. But those who don't risk losing out on the best talent, and even becoming obsolete.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

* * *
“You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well. And I mean that last "well" in both senses. You have to be good at reading, and read good things.”

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 02:40 PM
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10 Books You Should Read This Winter 2024

THE WINTER months are the perfect time for a little binge-reading. While I can’t promise that any of the titles suggested are cozy reads, they will get you fired up.

Personally, I would start with Productive Failure and Mindshift. Like The Illusion of Innovation by Elliott Parker, they will get you thinking in new ways and set you up for the others.

Use this list to create your own winter reading plan. Here are ten suggestions to begin the new year intentionally.

  On Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century by Tony Blair - (September 2024)

The leadership manual Tony Blair wishes he had when he became prime minister, with personal insights and global examples that show aspiring leaders how to go from talking about change to making change. Sir Tony Blair learnt the precepts of governing the hard way: by leading a country for over ten years. In that time he came to understand that there were certain key characteristics of successful government that he wished he had known when he started. Now Sir Tony has written the manual on political leadership that he would have wanted back in 1997, sharing the insights he has gained from his personal experience and from observing other world leaders at first hand, both while he was in office and since, through his Institute’s work with political leaders and governments globally.

  Mindshift: Ignite Change, Inspire Action, and Innovate for a Better Tomorrow by Brian Solis - (October 2024)

Every company needs leaders who can spot and seize on opportunities at a moment’s notice. Every organization needs leaders who can rally teams together around new opportunities. Those who can see important, emerging trends foresee the coming disruption and harness those forces, translate them into actionable insights and motivation to fuel their company’s march into the future rather than ignoring or running or hiding from opportunities. In Mindshift Brian Solis draws on his experience of leading initiatives that drive innovation and business transformation to deliver the empowering message that this is the time to change the world for the better. And that change starts with you. In this book, you’ll discover why legacy leadership continues to miss the mark and fail to adequately account for change and innovation, causing people to miss the winds of opportunity or threats of disruption until it’s too late. Let this inspire, not frustrate you.

  Productive Failure: Unlocking Deeper Learning Through the Science of Failing by Manu Kapur - (October 2024)

Written by a leading global expert on human cognition, productive failure, and learning methods, Productive Failure shows you how to design the experience of failing. Research shows that repeated experiences of intriguing, constructive failure can help students (and our own children, and anyone else we lead) develop creativity and learn more deeply. When carefully curated, failure can become a signal for learning, not the noise detracting from it. The result? Learners gain a lifelong readiness to push themselves outside of their comfort zones, using setbacks as launchpads for learning and innovation. The evidence-based principles in this book are powerful, not only in formal schooling contexts, but also for anyone taking charge of and designing their own lifelong learning.

  Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering by Malcolm Gladwell - (October 2024)

Twenty-five years after the publication of his groundbreaking first book, Malcolm Gladwell returns with a brand-new volume that reframes the lessons of The Tipping Point in a startling and revealing light. Through a series of riveting stories, Gladwell traces the rise of a new and troubling form of social engineering. He takes us to the streets of Los Angeles to meet the world’s most successful bank robbers, rediscovers a forgotten television show from the 1970s that changed the world, visits the site of a historic experiment on a tiny cul-de-sac in northern California, and offers an alternate history of two of the biggest epidemics of our day: COVID and the opioid crisis. Revenge of the Tipping Point is Gladwell’s most personal book yet. With his characteristic mix of storytelling and social science, he offers a guide to making sense of the contagions of modern world. It’s time we took tipping points seriously.

  The Power of Culture: An Economist Edge Book (The Economist Edge Series) by Laura Hamill - (November 2024)

A revelatory new book showing how organizations need to be proactive about their culture—and how they can achieve that vital goal. Organizational culture, though, can be a tricky thing to understand and master. The Power of Culture tackles this head-on, exploring what culture is, and why it matters; how it needs to be aligned with strategy and values; and how to understand it, change it, and make it a reality. Told through real stories and examples and using the author's Intentional Culture Circle as a guide, this new book helps everyone at work to be more aware of culture and how to find opportunities to use it for growth and success.

  Reset: How to Change What's Not Working by Dan Heath - (January 2025)

Changing how we work can feel overwhelming. Like trying to budge an enormous boulder. We’re stifled by the gravity of the way we’ve always done things. And we spend so much time fighting fires—and fighting colleagues—that we lack the energy to shift direction. But with the right strategy, we can move the boulder. In Reset, Heath explores a framework for getting unstuck and making the changes that matter. The secret is to find “leverage points”: places where a little bit of effort can yield a disproportionate return. Then, we can thoughtfully rearrange our resources to push on those points. The book investigates mysteries: Why the middle is the roughest part of a change effort. Why inefficiency can sometimes accelerate progress. Why getting “buy-in” is the wrong way to think about change.

  Essential: How Distributed Teams, Generative AI, and Global Shifts Are Creating a New Human-Powered Leadership by Christie Smith and Kelly Monahan - (January 2025)

In an era where the foundational elements of business are being disrupted, Essential: How Distributed Teams, Generative AI, and Global Shifts are Creating a New Human-Powered Leadership emerges as a crucial guide for leaders navigating the profound changes reshaping industries and markets worldwide. Whether you're looking to redefine your leadership approach, adapt to the transformed market, or leave a lasting legacy, this book offers a compelling case for why now is the time for a leadership reinvention. Dive into this essential resource and begin your journey towards leading with greater impact and humanity in the business world of today and tomorrow.

  Inspire: The Universal Path for Leading Yourself and Others by Adam Galinsky - (January 2025)

Two kinds of leaders populate the world: those who inspire and those who infuriate. Which will you be? Whether you’re a leader, a member of a team, a spouse, or a parent, this engaging and rigorous exploration unpacks the science of inspiration. Through compelling stories, fascinating research, and practical tips for addressing the common dilemmas we face daily, Inspire reveals how all of us, regardless of status or circumstance, can be more inspiring more often. Social psychologist Adam Galinsky shows how inspiring leaders can fill us with a wellspring of hope and possibility as they guide us to become better versions of ourselves. In contrast, infuriating leaders disappoint and annoy, fueling seething cauldrons of rage. But both types of leaders are deeply connected—together, they represent a universal continuum that is rooted in the very architecture of the human brain. This means that inspiring leaders aren’t born—instead, we can inspire or infuriate in any given moment through our behavior, words, or presence.

  Employment Is Dead: How Disruptive Technologies Are Revolutionizing the Way We Work by Deborah Perry Piscione and Josh Drean - (January 2025)

With disruptive technologies on the horizon, traditional employment models are becoming outdated. How will your organization adapt to the evolving landscape of work? Business is on the cusp of a profound transformation. Conventional work models are failing to adapt to the evolving needs and expectations of the modern workforce. Simultaneously, the emergence of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, coupled with web3 innovations, including the metaverse and decentralized work models, is unlocking a new realm of possibilities. It raises the question: Is the era of traditional employment over?

  Rethinking Work: Seismic Changes in the Where, When, and Why
Rishad Tobaccowala - (February 2024)

A sea change is occurring—a change so monumental that it is making us re-invent the traditional ideas of where work is done, when work is done, why work is done, and even what work itself is. We have a choice. We can either be reactive and struggle to adjust to transformational events on the fly, or we can be proactive and control the narrative—reinventing work to align with the evolving environment. Schools, banks, law firms, startups, medical offices—every sector will be affected by the current or soon-to-be-emerging trends and events that Rishad describes in this invaluable guide. Learn to thrive in a world where the who, what, why, where, when and how of work will be transformed: Who will people work for? What will organizations look like? Why will people work? Where will people work? When will people work? How will leadership change?

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:38 PM
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The Best Leadership Books of 2024

THE titles listed below, published in 2024, improve our self-awareness regarding relationships and communication the sine qua non of leadership and provide us with a wider perspective on innovation and the changes taking place around us.

 

Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
by Charles Duhigg

(Random House, 2024)

Come inside a jury room as one juror leads a starkly divided room to consensus. Join a young CIA officer as he recruits a reluctant foreign agent. And sit with an accomplished surgeon as he tries, and fails, to convince yet another cancer patient to opt for the less risky course of treatment. In Supercommunicators, Charles Duhigg blends deep research and his trademark storytelling skills to show how we can all learn to identify and leverage the hidden layers that lurk beneath every conversation. Communication is a superpower, and the best communicators understand that whenever we speak, we're actually participating in one of three conversations: practical (What’s this really about?), emotional (How do we feel?), and social (Who are we?). If you don’t know what kind of conversation you’re having, you’re unlikely to connect. (Blog Post)

Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict
by William Ury

(Harper Business, 2024)

One of the world’s top experts in the field, Ury has worked on conflicts ranging from boardroom battles to labor strikes, from the US partisan divide to family feuds, from wars in the Middle East, Colombia and Ukraine to helping the US and USSR avoid nuclear disaster. Now, in Possible, he helps us tackle the seemingly intransigent problems facing us. In Possible, Ury argues conflict is natural. In fact, we need more conflict, not less—if we are to grow, change, evolve and solve our problems creatively. While we may not be able to end conflict, we can transform it—unleashing new, unexpected possibilities. (Blog Post)

The Illusion of Innovation: Escape "Efficiency" and Unleash Radical Progress
by Elliott Parker

(Ideapress Publishing, 2024)

There's a problem with innovation inside of big companies. And it's not what you think. Corporations are better managed than ever, but they're less capable of delivering the breakthroughs that change our world for the better. Big companies are too often focused on efficiency instead of resiliency. They're optimized for safety and predictability, for maintenance of the status quo. Their focus on capital efficiency leads them to engage in an illusion of innovation: activity that feels like innovation but leads to value destruction, not progress.

Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI
by Ethan Mollick

(Portfolio, 2024)

Something new entered our world in November 2022 — the first general purpose AI that could pass for a human and do the kinds of creative, innovative work that only humans could do previously. Wharton professor Ethan Mollick immediately understood what ChatGPT meant: after millions of years on our own, humans had developed a kind of co-intelligence that could augment, or even replace, human thinking. Through his writing, speaking, and teaching, Mollick has become one of the most prominent and provocative explainers of AI, focusing on the practical aspects of how these new tools for thought can transform our world. In Co-Intelligence, Mollick urges us to engage with AI as co-worker, co-teacher, and coach. He assesses its profound impact on business and education, using dozens of real-time examples of AI in action. Co-Intelligence shows what it means to think and work together with smart machines, and why it's imperative that we master that skill.

Cultures of Growth: How the New Science of Mindset Can Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations
by Mary C. Murphy Ph.D.

(Simon & Schuster, 2024)

In Cultures of Growth, Dweck’s protégé, Mary Murphy, a social psychologist at both Stanford and Indiana University, shows that mindset transcends individuals. A growth mindset culture can transform any group, team, or classroom to reach breakthroughs while also helping each person achieve their potential. Create environments where people want to be, where everyone can thrive and achieve their potential, both individually and together. In a world where success seems reserved for a chosen few, Cultures of Growth unveils a radically different approach to creating organizations that inspire learning, growth, and success at all levels. (Blog Post)

Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future
by Mike Maples Jr and Peter Ziebelman

(PublicAffairs, 2024)

The breakthrough concepts of Pattern Breakers come from the observations of Mike Maples Jr., a seasoned venture capitalist, who noticed something strange. Start-ups like Twitter, Twitch, and Lyft had achieved extraordinary success despite their disregard for “best practices.” In contrast, other startups deemed highly promising often failed, even when they seemed to do everything right. Pattern-breaking success, they reveal, demands a different mindset and actions to harness developments others miss or that may, at first, seem crazy. Maples and Ziebelman vividly illustrate an unexpected world where chaos is welcome, naysayers are a positive signal, movements galvanize believers—but one that ultimately change the future. They challenge us to rethink how to transcend the ordinary and achieve the extraordinary. (Blog Post)

Habits of a Peacemaker: 10 Habits to Change Our Potentially Toxic Conversations into Healthy Dialogues
by Steven T. Collis

(Shadow Mountain, 2024)

Most people have experienced the slippery slope of dialogue that descends into -polarized argument. We yell at each other. We gaslight. We twist one -another’s words and meanings. We embrace facts that support our conclusions and ignore those that don’t. Or we sit in silence, afraid to discuss anything of substance. If how you treat others matters to you, this book offers powerful new habits that can give you the confidence to engage in dialogue about hard topics while building and strengthening relationships. Steven T. Collis, one of the world’s leading experts on civil -discourse, reveals ten practical habits that can help you navigate the potential minefields of hard topics and leave you and those you converse with feeling thoughtful and productive. (Blog Post)

The Seven Frequencies of Communication: The Hidden Language of Human Connection
by Erwin Raphael McManus

(Arena Publishing, 2024)

In The Upside of Disruption renowned disruption thinker and best-selling author Terence Mauri delivers a compelling set of mindset shifts for today's unique leadership challenges. In the book, you'll find the future-ready insights and tools you need to lead for today and prepare your organization for tomorrow. The author explains why so many of us continually overestimate the risks of bold decisions while underestimating the downsides of standing still for too long in an increasingly complex and volatile world. You'll learn about the upside of disruption and how to turn it into a tailwind for laser-like focus and strategic courage. (Blog Post)

The Upside of Disruption: The Path to Leading and Thriving in the Unknown
by Terence Mauri

(Wiley, 2024)

In The Upside of Disruption renowned disruption thinker and best-selling author Terence Mauri delivers a compelling set of mindset shifts for today's unique leadership challenges. In the book, you'll find the future-ready insights and tools you need to lead for today and prepare your organization for tomorrow. The author explains why so many of us continually overestimate the risks of bold decisions while underestimating the downsides of standing still for too long in an increasingly complex and volatile world. You'll learn about the upside of disruption and how to turn it into a tailwind for laser-like focus and strategic courage. (Blog Post)

How Leaders Learn: Master the Habits of the World's Most Successful People
by David Novak with Lari Bishop

(Harvard Business Review Press, 2024)

When you put learning at the center of everything you do, you grow your career, your leadership, your relationships, and your joy and fulfillment in life. But even for people who are naturally curious and interested in solving problems, being an effective learner who can turn their learning into action takes insight and practice. With infectious enthusiasm and optimism, David Novak shows you how to master active learning. This compilation of wisdom and practical habits from Novak's life and from some of the most successful leaders in the world—CEOs from many industries, military and political leaders, sports greats, experts, and coaches—is your active-learning practice manual. Chapter by chapter, Novak and his all-star roster of leaders share how they've climbed to the highest levels in their fields.

The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead from the Inside Out
by Dana Maor, Hans-Werner Kaas, Kurt Strovink and Ramesh Srinivasan

(Portfolio, 2024)

When the pressure is on, many of the world’s top CEOs turn to McKinsey & Company to reinvent themselves and their organizations. The Journey of Leadership brings the experience of one of the world’s most influential consulting firms right to your fingertips. This book is the first-ever explanation of McKinsey’s step-by-step approach to transforming leaders both professionally and personally, including revealing lessons from its legendary CEO leadership program, The Bower Forum, which has counseled more than five hundred global CEOs over the past decade. It is a journey that helps leaders hone the psychological, emotional, and, ultimately, human attributes that result in success in today’s most demanding top job.

Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race that Will Change the World
by Parmy Olson

(St. Martin's Press, 2024)

In November of 2022, a webpage was posted online with a simple text box. It was an AI chatbot called ChatGPT, and was unlike any app people had used before. Behind the scenes, battles for control and prestige between the world’s two leading AI firms, OpenAI and DeepMind, who now steers Google's AI efforts, has remained elusive - until now. In Supremacy, Olson, tech writer at Bloomberg, tells the astonishing story of the battle between these two AI firms, their struggles to use their tech for good, and the hazardous direction they could go as they serve two tech Goliaths whose power is unprecedented in history. The story focuses on the continuing rivalry of two key CEOs at the center of it all, who cultivated a religion around their mission to build god-like super intelligent machines: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Demis Hassabis, the CEO of DeepMind.

 

Biographies:

Elliott Parker writes, “Biographies and history books are more likely to teach first principles and to generate more ideas about what to do differently than a typical business case study.” He adds, “And often, the further you look outside your immediate context, the more likely your mind is to be stretched to find creative solutions.” Here are some of the best from 2024.

 

Reagan: His Life and Legend
by Max Boot

(Liveright, 2024)

With its revelatory insights, Reagan: His Life and Legend is no apologia, depicting a man with a good-versus-evil worldview derived from his moralistic upbringing and Hollywood westerns. Providing fresh examinations of “trickle-down economics,” the Cold War’s end, the Iran-Contra affair, as well as a nuanced portrait of Reagan’s family, this definitive biography is as compelling a presidential biography as any in recent decades.

Risks and Returns: Creating Success in Business and Life
by Wilbur Ross

(Regnery, 2024)

Whether you’re interested in Ross’s experiences as a neighbor of John Lennon in the legendary Dakota apartment building, celebrating with Sir Richard Branson on his private island, or his tumultuous time in Washington, you will find Risks and Returns to be a candid reflection of a life lived at the pinnacle of Wall Street, New York, and Palm Beach society, and the Trump administration. Above all, anyone driven to find career success will learn from Ross’s life the strategies and mentality to achieve it.

Henry V: The Astonishing Triumph of England's Greatest Warrior King
by Dan Jones

(Viking, 2024)

Henry V reigned over England for only nine years and four months and died at the age of just thirty-five, but he looms over the landscape of the late Middle Ages and beyond. The victor of Agincourt, he is remembered as the acme of kingship, a model to be closely imitated by his successors. William Shakespeare deployed Henry V as a study in youthful folly redirected to sober statesmanship. For one modern medievalist, Henry was, quite simply, “the greatest man who ever ruled England.”

 

Posted by Michael McKinney at 11:40 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for December 2024

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in December 2024 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

The Entrepreneurial Mindset Advantage: The Hidden Logic That Unleashes Human Potential by Gary G. Schoeniger

In this groundbreaking book, internationally acclaimed author and entrepreneurial mindset expert Gary Schoeniger combines insights gleaned from hundreds of everyday entrepreneurs with cutting-edge research to create a practical how-to guide that not only shows us how to be more innovative and entrepreneurial in our own lives but also how to unlock the untapped entrepreneurial potential in others. Ultimately, The Entrepreneurial Mindset Advantage shows us how a subtle shift in our perspective can make a big difference in our lives. While this book will certainly benefit those who want to start a business, it looks beyond new venture creation to expose the entrepreneurial mindset as a teachable framework for thinking that has become essential for individuals and organizations to adapt and thrive in today's rapidly changing world.

Momentum: How to Avoid Going in the Wrong Direction: Maximize Clarity, Manage Distractions, and Minimize Resistance by Sam Silverstein

Momentum is magnetic. People want to be with, work with, and build relationships with people who have momentum. But what is it, exactly? Renowned author, speaker, consultant, and coach Sam Silverstein has the surprising answer. Momentum is constant, conscious movement toward your goal that is in alignment with your purpose and mission. This goal is always connected with what we are called to do in the service of others. In his simple but powerful step-by-step strategy, Silverstein shows you how to identify what you should be acting on and create continuous progress on your goals and in your life. You will attract others to your mission, and you will create transformative influence in the events you encounter and the lives of the people around you.

Still Standing: What It Takes to Thrive and Innovate in a Messy World by Cherry Rose Tan

In a world of disruption and uncertainty, Still Standing emerges as a beacon of resilience, offering the essential strategies for navigating the pressures of building and leading our organizations into the future. Still Standing is not just a book; it's a tactical roadmap for businesses and their leaders, who are determined to create everyday resilience in the face of constant change. Whether you're seeking to enhance your leadership skills, navigate the challenges of business, or manage workplace burnout and wellbeing, this book offers the insights and strategies needed to thrive and innovate in these uncertain times. Join Cherry Rose Tan in exploring the three capabilities that will empower you to not just survive, but flourish in the competitive world of business and innovation.

Outsmart the Learning Curve: How Ordinary People Can Achieve Extraordinary Success by Joe Sipher

Are you ready to transform your life and achieve extraordinary success? Outsmart the Learning Curve reveals the secrets of how ordinary people can overcome obstacles, acquire new skills rapidly, and reach their full potential. Whether you're a recent grad, a mid-career professional seeking change, or simply striving for continuous improvement, this book is your roadmap to personal and professional growth. Unlike many self-development books that focus on world-class performers, Outsmart the Learning Curve celebrates the growth and transformation of ordinary people, offering relatable inspiration and attainable strategies for readers from all walks of life. Outsmart the Learning Curve doesn't just tell you what to do—it shows you how to do it, with actionable advice on experiential learning, personality development, and overcoming self-doubt.

HBR Daily Leader: Everyday Wisdom for Exceptional Leadership by Harvard Business Review

HBR Daily Leader provides 365 days' worth of insights and inspiration, an easy and enjoyable way to make your professional development a regular habit. Every page offers something new, whether it's an insight to spark your thinking, a quote to inspire you, or a question to reflect on. And each day presents you with an opportunity to take on topics such as communicating effectively, managing your time, expanding your influence, and cultivating new skills. Elevate your leadership practice and presence with wisdom drawn from the best of Harvard Business Review.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:15 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for November 2024

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in November 2024 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Five Generations at Work: How We Win Together, For Good by Rebecca Robins and Patrick Dunne

Five Generations at Work explores how to maximise the dynamics of our generational diversity to create more collaborative and competitive organisations. An energising and pragmatic read, this book unpacks six years of research and work with organisations and individuals who are taking progressive action to lead from lenses versus labels, evidencing the value of generational diversity. For the first time in history, we have up to five generations at work. In the context of a world in flux and polycrisis, our diversity is a powerful force multiplier for good, if we debunk the stereotypes and know how to unlock it.

Trust Matters More Than Ever: 40 Proven Tools to Lead Better, Grow Faster & Build Trust Now! by David Horsager

Can I trust you? With mounting international tensions, economic collapses, family divisions, and political discord, trust is in short supply. Without it, cultures deteriorate, productivity fades, and resources are wasted. Many recognize the current lack of trust, but few know how to address it. David Horsager has been pioneering trust solutions for decades and now offers this essential guide for leaders. It includes 40 Trust Tools built on his proven 8-Pillar Framework—equipping you to solve your biggest challenges with trust.

The Power of Culture: An Economist Edge Book (The Economist Edge Series) by Laura Hamill

All organizations have a culture, whether they acknowledge it or not—and whether it's helping or hindering them. Get it right, and culture can be a positive force for good. Get it wrong, and culture can be a negative force, becoming toxic and undermining performance and reputations. In short, culture matters. Organizational culture, though, can be a tricky thing to understand and master. The Power of Culture tackles this head-on, exploring what culture is, and why it matters; how it needs to be aligned with strategy and values; and how to understand it, change it, and make it a reality.

Stay at Risk and Live Forever: Lessons from a Life of Curiosity, Grit, and Reinvention by Byron Wien and Taylor Becker

Byron Wien, a legendary figure on Wall Street, shares his profound insights and life lessons in Stay at Risk and Live Forever. Co-authored by Taylor Becker, this memoir provides a unique blend of personal anecdotes and professional wisdom from Wien's decades-long career. Known for his famous "Ten Surprises" and "Life's Lessons" lists, Wien guides readers through the complexities of investment strategy, risk management, and lifelong learning.

Never Lead Alone: 10 Shifts from Leadership to Teamship by Keith Ferrazzi

In today’s volatile, fast-paced, and decentralized business environment, even the most talented leaders can’t succeed alone—they need to mobilize the full potential of the team. The world’s highest-performing organizations understand they need more than leadership to win—they need teamship. Teamship is a profound shift from today’s hierarchical model to sharing the load among a team that elevates one another and the organization to achieve exponential results.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

* * *
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Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:41 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for October 2024

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in October 2024 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

The Skills-Powered Organization: The Journey to the Next-Generation Enterprise by Ravin Jesuthasan and Tanuj Kapilashrami

As the world navigates the rapid and disruptive effects of AI, climate change, and geopolitical conflicts, the world of work, too, needs to change. Jobs are giving way to skills as the currency of work to ensure a more agile, resilient, and flexible enterprise that cannot just respond but must thrive in the face of these challenges. This pivot from jobs to skills will require us to rethink everything we know about work. Building on his bestselling book Work without Jobs, Ravin Jesuthasan returns, this time with coauthor Tanuj Kapilashrami, an international human resources leader, to provide the framework organizations need to thrive in a world demanding perpetual reinvention.

Productive Failure: Unlocking Deeper Learning Through the Science of Failing by Manu Kapur

Written by a leading global expert on human cognition, productive failure, and learning methods, Productive Failure shows you how to design the experience of failing. Research shows that repeated experiences of intriguing, constructive failure can help students (and our own children, and anyone else we lead) develop creativity and learn more deeply. When carefully curated, failure can become a signal for learning, not the noise detracting from it. The result? Learners gain a lifelong readiness to push themselves outside of their comfort zones, using setbacks as launchpads for learning and innovation. The evidence-based principles in this book are powerful, not only in formal schooling contexts, but also for anyone taking charge of and designing their own lifelong learning.

Say What They Can't Unhear: The 9 Principles of Lasting Change by Tamsen Webster

Change isn’t an easy sell. And, in business, pivoting in a new direction requires teams to work together cooperatively. You need to say what they can’t unhear. This compact and actionable guide will get you thinking differently about where change comes from and how to initiate it. By introducing and exploring nine “persuasion proverbs,” Webster highlights the behavioral, cognitive, and psychological principles that underpin lasting change, and offers a powerful alternative to the standard tactics of influence and persuasion.

The Age of Outrage: How to Lead in a Polarized World by Karthik Ramanna

Outrage is everywhere—on the left and on the right—and many companies have found themselves in the crosshairs. GoFundMe was pressured to cut off funding to protesting truckers in Ottawa. Facebook and other tech companies have been accused of manipulating elections in many countries and by many parties. People are angry with the world—in some cases, rightfully so—and now view companies as they do governments, as targets of their wrath and potential forces for social change. Managing outrage has moved from being an occasional leadership challenge, like handling a PR crisis, to a necessary and critical leadership capability, like strategic thinking or financial acumen. Based on his popular University of Oxford leadership course and case studies on organizations such as IKEA, Nestlé, the Vatican, and others, Karthik Ramanna offers practical steps to make sense of the outrage, work with relevant stakeholders to progress through it, and emerge stronger for it.

Pivot or Die: How Leaders Thrive When Everything Changes by Gary Shapiro

As CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, owner and producer of CES, Gary Shapiro has had a front row seat to the launch of nearly every recent major technology. He's seen tech companies rise and fall, and bankrupt entrepreneurs become billionaires. After more than four decades in the industry, he knows that leaders who make it in the tech world have one thing in common: they know how to pivot. Drawing upon detailed case studies, economic theory, and personal experience, Pivot or Die offers a behind-the-scenes look at the development of innovative technology and business strategies. Along the way, Shapiro offers a "pivot" framework for leaders in technology and beyond to stay flexible and agile.

The Seven Frequencies of Communication: The Hidden Language of Human Connection by Erwin Raphael McManus

The Seven Frequencies of Communication is a groundbreaking revelation of the hidden language that connects humanity. As a renowned speaker, award-winning author, and coach with a global impact, McManus distills his vast experience in the world of communication into a brand-new understanding of how we speak, hear, and change each other. McManus creates a fresh and vibrant system of seven unique frequencies that liberate us to communicate most effectively. Are you a Maven, a Seer, a Commander, a Professor, a Healer, a Challenger, or a Motivator? When you unlock your frequency, you unleash your potential. The Seven Frequencies of Communication is for everyone who wants their message to be heard. Whether you are a leader, a parent, a CEO, a speaker, a coworker, or a friend—this book is for you.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

* * *
“You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well. And I mean that last "well" in both senses. You have to be good at reading, and read good things.”

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:09 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for September 2024

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in September 2024 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Dynamic Drive: The Purpose-Fueled Formula for Sustainable Success by Molly Fletcher

This isn’t just another self-help theory: Dynamic Drive is your practical guide to unlocking your true potential. Through her decades of experience working with top athletes and peak performers across industries, renowned keynote speaker and leadership expert Molly Fletcher has created a proven formula backed by research that outlines the seven keys to sustainable success. The truth is fulfillment doesn’t come from setting and accomplishing goals in isolation. It comes from Dynamic Drive—a holistic approach that connects all parts of you with your purpose and allows you to engage in meaningful growth, both personally and professionally.

The Upside of Disruption: The Path to Leading and Thriving in the Unknown by Terence Mauri

In The Upside of Disruption renowned disruption thinker and best-selling author Terence Mauri delivers a compelling set of mindset shifts for today's unique leadership challenges. In the book, you'll find the future-ready insights and tools you need to lead for today and prepare your organization for tomorrow. The author explains why so many of us continually overestimate the risks of bold decisions while underestimating the downsides of standing still for too long in an increasingly complex and volatile world. You'll learn about the upside of disruption and how to turn it into a tailwind for laser-like focus and strategic courage.

The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead from the Inside Out by Dana Maor, Hans-Werner Kaas, Kurt Strovink and Ramesh Srinivasan

When the pressure is on, many of the world’s top CEOs turn to McKinsey & Company to reinvent themselves and their organizations. The Journey of Leadership brings the experience of one of the world’s most influential consulting firms right to your fingertips. This book is the first-ever explanation of McKinsey’s step-by-step approach to transforming leaders both professionally and personally, including revealing lessons from its legendary CEO leadership program, The Bower Forum, which has counseled more than five hundred global CEOs over the past decade. It is a journey that helps leaders hone the psychological, emotional, and, ultimately, human attributes that result in success in today’s most demanding top job.

Habits of a Peacemaker: 10 Habits to Change Our Potentially Toxic Conversations into Healthy Dialogues by Steven T. Collis

Most people have experienced the slippery slope of dialogue that descends into -polarized argument. We yell at each other. We gaslight. We twist one -another’s words and meanings. We embrace facts that support our conclusions and ignore those that don’t. Or we sit in silence, afraid to discuss anything of substance. If how you treat others matters to you, this book offers powerful new habits that can give you the confidence to engage in dialogue about hard topics while building and strengthening relationships. Steven T. Collis, one of the world’s leading experts on civil -discourse, reveals ten practical habits that can help you navigate the potential minefields of hard topics and leave you and those you converse with feeling thoughtful and productive.

The Art of Changing Course: A 3-Step Strategy to Get Unstuck and Solve Your Real Problems by Chris Ruden

Learn the foolproof framework to take back control and create immediate and lasting change. Getting stuck in life is a guarantee. Staying stuck is a choice. In The Art of Changing Course, amputee, diabetic record-holding powerlifter, and renowned motivational speaker and author Chris Ruden provides a clear-cut process that walks readers through digestible, actionable stages to get unstuck, allowing you to rise beyond simple awareness of the desire to change and become the person you truly want to be. Backed by numerous psychological principles, management techniques, and organizational change theories, The Art of Changing Course focuses on helping readers make three distinct shifts: from subconscious to conscious, conscious to communicated, and finally, communicated to broadcasted.

Leading Through: Activating the Soul, Heart, and Mind of Leadership by Kim B. Clark, Jonathan R. Clark and Erin E. Clark

Generative AI and the remote-work revolution show us every day that we're in a new era. The rules and norms have changed—and so must leadership. And yet, coercive bureaucracy, hierarchy, and control—old ways of thinking and working—are still with us, a deep-seated and powerful legacy. We are living through a profound transition from an old, industrial era to a new one that is digital, transparent, and complex. In this important new book by former dean of Harvard Business School Kim Clark, written with his business school professor son, Jonathan, and management consultant daughter, Erin, the dynamic struggle between two competing paradigms of leadership is compellingly illustrated: an old paradigm that involves control and power over people versus a new one that enables and inspires power through people.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

* * *
“You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well. And I mean that last "well" in both senses. You have to be good at reading, and read good things.”

* * *
Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas.

 

Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:55 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for August 2024

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in August 2024 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Leading Yourself: Find More Joy, Meaning, and Opportunities in the Job You Already Have (Despite Imperfect Bosses, Weird Economies, Lethargic Coworkers, Annoying Systems, and Too Many Deliverables) by Elizabeth Lotardo

An engaging guide to owning and elevating your work experience. With tips, watchouts, and funny stories, Leading Yourself will give you the encouragement and tactics to up-level your career, even if you aren't in your dream job. You'll learn to manage your self-talk, find meaning in the mundane, optimize your time at work, and build relationships with the people who matter.

The Ethical Imperative: Leading with Conscience to Shape the Future of Business by Andrew Cooper

In an era marked by increasing profiteering and inequality, The Ethical Imperative offers a compelling alternative vision―one where companies champion the collective prosperity of employees, shareholders, and communities. Cooper leverages academic studies and research to challenge the status quo. He exposes the critical threat of public disengagement from businesses and institutions, urging a departure from outdated, profit-only models that harm corporations, consumers, and communities alike.

Smart Rivals: How Innovative Companies Play Games That Tech Giants Can't Win by Feng Zhu and Bonnie Yining Cao

Companies are fighting the wrong battle. The consensus has been to learn the best practices from tech giants and then imitate them. But new paths for growth aren't created by imitation; they're forged by radical differentiation. In Smart Rivals, Harvard Business School professor Feng Zhu and former Bloomberg journalist Bonnie Yining Cao show business leaders how to create competitive advantages by offering product features and benefits that tech giants and other competitors cannot match in the digital/AI age.

Fierce Resilience: Combatting Workplace Stress One Conversation at a Time by Edward Beltran / Foreword by Susan Scott

Technology, isolation, and increasing demands for productivity are making the workplace a hotbed for stress—it's no surprise employees are abandoning traumatic workplaces in unprecedented numbers. Ed Beltran, the CEO of a powerhouse leadership communication company, believes the antidote to stressed-out workplaces starts with conversation. This is no ordinary self-help book. The transformative process of fierce resilience goes well beyond developing mere coping skills. It helps people take control of their emotional health, become more resilient, and build organizations with resilience as a core part of their DNA.

Elevate Your Excellence: The Power of Doing Ordinary Things Extraordinarily Well by Dave Anderson

How you do anything is how you do everything. Great performance, whether at work or at home, starts with the little things: making your bed, organizing your closet, maintaining your yard, shooting a basketball, closing a deal. Elevate Your Excellence offers a foolproof approach to improve the often-neglected everyday disciplines like hydration, sleep quality, and mindset maintenance that can make all the difference in generating high-quality performance. Anderson encourages readers to make simple and immediately actionable tweaks to begin doing ordinary things extraordinarily well to transform their lives.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:55 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for July 2024

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in July 2024 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Lead Boldly: How to Coach Others to Greatness (The Transformational Coach) by Hugh Blane

In Lead Boldly, peak performance coach Hugh Blane shares his three guiding principles for converting human potential into inspired performance. He does this by providing a detailed road map for transforming a leader’s results at work and home in unprecedented ways. Lead Boldly makes the compelling case that there are vast levels of untapped potential in every corner and cubicle of organizations. Because of unparalleled stress, burnout, disengagement, and continual distraction, employers are sitting on a treasure trove of potential but have, until Lead Boldly, lacked the keys to developing the mindset and skill set to unlock it.

Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future by Mike Maples Jr and Peter Ziebelman

The breakthrough concepts of Pattern Breakers come from the observations of Mike Maples Jr., a seasoned venture capitalist, who noticed something strange. Start-ups like Twitter, Twitch, and Lyft had achieved extraordinary success despite their disregard for “best practices.” In contrast, other startups deemed highly promising often failed, even when they seemed to do everything right. Pattern-breaking success, they reveal, demands a different mindset and actions to harness developments others miss or that may, at first, seem crazy. Maples and Ziebelman vividly illustrate an unexpected world where chaos is welcome, naysayers are a positive signal, movements galvanize believers—but one that ultimately change the future. They challenge us to rethink how to transcend the ordinary and achieve the extraordinary.

Uncommon: Simple Principles for an Extraordinary Life by Mark Divine

From former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, father, and New York Times bestselling author Mark Divine comes Uncommon—an inspirational book following Mark Divine's trademark warrior monk philosophy that will lead you to the summit of personal development. To be common is to be an everyday person. It's to do the things that you are expected to do, whether that's what your parents want for you, or your employer, or your spouse, et cetera. But if you want to be more than you are, more than you think you can be, then you need to recognize and learn from your mistakes to lead a life of excellence.

The Art of Encouragement: How to Lead Teams, Spread Love, and Serve from the Heart by Jordan Montgomery / Foreword by John C. Maxwell

Supercharge the wellbeing and productivity of everyone around you using the power of encouragement. In The Art of Encouragement, renowned performance coach and keynote speaker Jordan Montgomery delivers a captivating story designed to walk the reader through a dramatic journey of heartfelt, easy-to-understand lessons about encouragement and its many facets. The author compels you to take action by showing you that you're fully equipped and ready to implement encouragement within your own organization, team, family, and community.

From Conflict to Convergence: Coming Together to Solve Tough Problems by Robert Fersh and Mariah Levison

In From Conflict to Convergence, two expert collaborative problem solvers deliver an incisive, hands-on guide to de-escalating conflict and constructively engaging with those you disagree with to find better solutions to problems. In this book full of real-life stories and examples, you'll find a collection of tried and tested strategies you can employ immediately as you negotiate and navigate your most seemingly intractable conflicts. You'll learn how finding what the authors call “higher ground” can advance your interests even when facing people and groups you think you have little in common with and how this can set the stage for longer term cooperation.

The Soil of Leadership: Cultivating the Conditions for Transformation by Britt Yamamoto

In The Soil of Leadership, Dr. Britt Yamamoto presents a unique and memorable perspective on leadership that challenges conventional wisdom for guiding others. Inviting us to “dig where we stand,” The Soil of Leadership seamlessly weaves evocative metaphors and captivating narratives from Dr. Yamamoto’s life as both a sustainable farmer and organizational leader. Through these vivid examples, he illuminates the profound notion that genuine leadership doesn’t solely emerge from visible accomplishments; rather, it thrives within the hidden roots that allow our true potential to flourish.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:59 AM
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10 Books You Should Read This Summer 2024

SUMMER is here.

The summer is a perfect time to explore new ideas and perspectives to challenge your thinking and expand your potential.

Create a summer reading plan. Try a book you usually don’t pick up. Wally Bock offers his advice on this here. Here are ten suggestions for books released this year to inspire you and help grow your leadership.

  Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg - (February 2024)

Come inside a jury room as one juror leads a starkly divided room to consensus. Join a young CIA officer as he recruits a reluctant foreign agent. And sit with an accomplished surgeon as he tries, and fails, to convince yet another cancer patient to opt for the less risky course of treatment. In Supercommunicators, Charles Duhigg blends deep research and his trademark storytelling skills to show how we can all learn to identify and leverage the hidden layers that lurk beneath every conversation. (Blog Post)

  Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict by William Ury - (February 2024)

In Possible, Ury argues conflict is natural. In fact, we need more conflict, not less—if we are to grow, change, evolve and solve our problems creatively. While we may not be able to end conflict, we can transform it—unleashing new, unexpected possibilities. With this groundbreaking book, international negotiator William Ury shares a new “path to possible”—time-tested practices that will help readers unlock their power to constructively engage and transform conflict. (Blog Post)

  How Leaders Learn: Master the Habits of the World's Most Successful People by David Novak with Lari Bishop - (June 2024)

When you put learning at the center of everything you do, you grow your career, your leadership, your relationships, and your joy and fulfillment in life. But even for people who are naturally curious and interested in solving problems, being an effective learner who can turn their learning into action takes insight and practice. David Novak shows you how to master active learning. This compilation of wisdom and practical habits from Novak's life and from some of the most successful leaders in the world—CEOs from many industries, military and political leaders, sports greats, experts, and coaches—is your active-learning practice manual.

  The Venture Mindset: How to Make Smarter Bets and Achieve Extraordinary Growth by Ilya Strebulaev and Alex Dang - (May 2024)

Inspired by venture capitalists’ unique way of thinking, The Venture Mindset offers a transformative playbook for delivering results in a rapidly changing world from a top Stanford professor and a technology executive. Venture capitalists are known for their extraordinary ability to spot opportunities. They know how to identify emerging trends, how to bring new industries into being, and when to hold them and when to fold. Their unique mindset has made them the force behind world-changing companies such as Amazon, Google, Moderna, SpaceX, and Zoom. Combining their insight and extensive experience, they present nine distinct principles that will help you make better decisions, transform your business, and achieve remarkable results, no matter your industry. (Blog Post)

  Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future by Mike Maples Jr and Peter Ziebelman - (July 2024)

A radical set of new ideas for how entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate leaders can use the pattern-breaking mindset to dominate the future. Pattern-breaking success, the authors, demands a different mindset and actions to harness developments others miss or that may, at first, seem crazy. Pattern Breakers is filled with firsthand storytelling about initial interactions with some of the most transformative start-ups of recent times. Maples and Ziebelman vividly illustrate an unexpected world where chaos is welcome, naysayers are a positive signal, movements galvanize believers—but one that ultimately change the future. They challenge us to rethink how to transcend the ordinary and achieve the extraordinary.

  The Way of the Champion: Pain, Persistence, and the Path Forward by Paul Rabil / Foreword by Bill Belichick - (May 2024)

The Way of The Champion is the synthesis of everything Paul Rabil learned on his path to becoming one of the greatest lacrosse players of all time. But this is not merely a sports book. It is a guide to embodying a champion's mindset—in sports, in business, and in relationships. According to Rabil, “No one is born to be a champion. It can only be earned—through equal parts philosophy, execution, and sheer determination. I've won and lost championships, business deals, and relationships. I've learned that our best moments come after we've faced our most devestating defeats—when we choose to rise with unwavering resolve. That's the way of the champion."

  High Road Leadership: Bringing People Together in a World That Divides by John C. Maxwell - (May 2024)

John C. Maxwell, tackles the problem of our divided world in his latest book High Road Leadership. “Today it is causing people to fall—into disputes, frustration, anger, and despair. His solution is to expose the problems of taking the low and middle roads when interacting with others and teach people how to instead take the high road. Leaders who practice high road leadership value all people, do the right things for the right reasons, take accountability for their actions, and place people above their own agenda. Maxwell teaches the principles and practices of high-road leadership that can increase anyone’s influence and help them make their world a better place.

  The Problem with Change: And the Essential Nature of Human Performance by Ashley Goodall - (May 2024)

Drawing on two decades spent leading HR organizations at Deloitte and Cisco, Ashley Goodall reveals why change is not the same as improvement, and how, by prioritizing team cohesion (instead of reshuffling teams at will), by using real words (rather than corporate-speak), by sharing secrets (not mission statements), by fixing only the things that are truly broken (instead of moving fast and breaking everything in sight, and more, leaders at every level can create the stability that people need to thrive.

  Leadership from Bad to Worse: What Happens When Bad Festers by Barbara Kellerman - (March 2024)

Nothwithstanding her personal opinions, Leadership from Bad to Worse is a valuable look at how leadership that is bad, invariably, inexorably, gets worse—unless it is somehow, by someone or something, stopped or slowed. The process of going from bad to worse tends to be steady, as opposed to hasty. But once bad burrows in, it digs in. It digs in deeper and then deeper, making it difficult finally to extract or excise without getting rid of whoever and whatever is involved. Knowing that bad leadership can be checked before it corrupts is knowing that bad and then worse can be, if not completely precluded, then sometimes short-circuited.

  Extraordinary Transformation: An Entrepreneurial Blueprint for Leaders Who Seek Transformational Growth in Any Organization by Nido Qubein - (May 2024)

Many business leaders have repeatedly asked Nido Qubein to chronicle how a small college in North Carolina rose to national attention and grew substantially in spite of the Great Recession of 2008 and the coronavirus in 2020. The author demonstrates his respect for the academy as he leads his team to nurture a God, family, and country university focused on providing the perfect balance between intellectual discovery and practical life skills. You'll find a long list of useful strategies that can be successfully implemented in any enterprise and you'll find yourself thinking differently about some processes and preparing distinctively for some new initiatives.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 11:57 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for June 2024

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in June 2024 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

On the Edge: How Successful Gamblers Think and What It Tells Us About Navigating Risk by Nate Silver

In the bestselling The Signal and the Noise, Nate Silver showed how forecasting would define the age of Big Data. Now, in this timely and riveting new book, Silver investigates “the River,” the community of like-minded people whose mastery of risk allows them to shape—and dominate—so much of modern life. These professional risk-takers—poker players and hedge fund managers, crypto true believers and blue-chip art collectors—can teach us much about navigating the uncertainty of the twenty-first century.

Good Judgment: Making Better Business Decisions with the Science of Human Personality by Richard Davis

In Good Judgment, Dr. Davis explains what the science of personality is and how it works, and how all of us can use it to improve our working relationships, careers, and lives. Whether you’re a novice manager looking to hire your first assistant, a board member in need of the ideal CEO, an angel investor trying to choose between two different startups, or a new parent selecting a pediatrician, understanding the science of personality and how to utilize it is the key to exercising good judgment—at work and in life.

Beyond the Sea: Leading with Love from the Nuclear Navy to the White House and Healthcare by Robert "Navy Bob" Roncska

Robert Roncska offers insights into the transformation of positive cultures that turned sour and negative cultures that became renowned. When he assumed command of the USS Texas, the ship ranked at the bottom of its squadron and faced recurring safety issues. Through innovative strategies, he successfully transformed the culture, propelling his submarine's ranking and retention from last place to first place in the Pacific Fleet within a remarkable two-year period. Starting with a loving and people-centric approach, Roncska laid the groundwork of trust, standards, and purpose. In this book, he presents a roadmap that leaders can adapt to any industry, empowering readers to create high-quality relationships and elevate their organization's performance beyond expectations.

How Leaders Learn: Master the Habits of the World's Most Successful People by David Novak with Lari Bishop

When you put learning at the center of everything you do, you grow your career, your leadership, your relationships, and your joy and fulfillment in life. But even for people who are naturally curious and interested in solving problems, being an effective learner who can turn their learning into action takes insight and practice. With infectious enthusiasm and optimism, David Novak shows you how to master active learning. This compilation of wisdom and practical habits from Novak's life and from some of the most successful leaders in the world—CEOs from many industries, military and political leaders, sports greats, experts, and coaches—is your active-learning practice manual. Chapter by chapter, Novak and his all-star roster of leaders share how they've climbed to the highest levels in their fields.

The AI-Savvy Leader: Nine Ways to Take Back Control and Make AI Work by David De Cremer

The AI transformation is underway, but where are the leaders who will ensure their companies implement AI successfully and responsibly? Up until now, leaders have largely ceded their role in the AI transformation, pushing strategy formulation out to tech teams and leaving investment decisions to groups that don't have a full view of the organization or its goals. A generation of AI transformation failures awaits if leaders don't connect their use of AI to their strategies. This book helps leaders take control of the wildly rapid deployment of AI across organizations. Clearly and concisely, it focuses on the nine actions leaders need to take in order to successfully preside over the transition to a more AI-centric future that will lead to growth for all—companies and workers—and avoid the kinds of mistakes that author David De Cremer has seen many early adopters make.

The Gouge! How to Be Smarter Than the Situation You Are In by Admiral Bob Harward

The Gouge, in military parlance, is what you really need to know in order to be smarter than the situation you are in. As a US Navy SEAL, who became a Vice Admiral, Bob Harward lived by the Gouge and used it as a guiding principle for leadership and day-to-day life. More specifically, his success in his military and corporate careers was predicated on the people who worked with him, and for him. Now, he is sharing it with the world. In this book, he uses life stories to illustrate how anyone can use the Gouge, not only for their own well-being but also for any organization or community. At its foundation, it is your personal contract with people and humanity. In this book, Harward boils all of this down into the Gouge philosophy and its key ingredients: on how to move yourself and the people around you forward, using the best information and experienced based knowledge, so that you too can live by the Gouge.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:15 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for May 2024

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in May 2024 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

High Road Leadership: Bringing People Together in a World That Divides by John C. Maxwell

The world’s most influential leadership expert, John C. Maxwell, tackles the problem of our divided world in his latest book High Road Leadership. “Today it is causing people to fall—into disputes, frustration, anger, and despair. His solution is to expose the problems of taking the low and middle roads when interacting with others and teach people how to instead take the high road. Leaders who practice high road leadership value all people, do the right things for the right reasons, take accountability for their actions, and place people above their own agenda. In his trademark communication style, Maxwell teaches the principles and practices of high-road leadership that can increase anyone’s influence and help them make their world a better place.

Ask: Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You for Unexpected Breakthroughs In Leadership and Life by Jeff Wetzler

Ask leads to smarter decisions, more creative solutions, and deeper relationships. Too often, we don’t find out what’s truly on others’ hearts and minds because we don’t know how to ask the right questions in the right ways. Co-founder of Transcend and former international business consultant and Teach for America executive Jeff Wetzler wants to show you how to fix that. In Ask, he brings you a powerful method called The Ask Approach™, based on a simple premise: that tapping into what other people truly think, know, and feel is a game-changing superpower.

The New CEO: Lessons from CEOs on How to Start Well and Perform Quickly (Minus the Common Mistakes) by Ty Wiggins

Becoming a CEO is a high-stakes moment, whether it's your first, second, or third time in the seat. What you say and how you act in your early days as CEO sets the tone for how you'll be perceived for years to come. Yet, until now, few CEOs have shared their stories on what worked, what didn't, and what they wish they'd done differently. In The New CEO, Dr. Ty Wiggins, an experienced leadership advisor specializing in CEO transitions, explains how to land well as a new CEO, accelerate your impact, and unlock the most affirming experience of your career.

The Mentally Strong Leader: Build the Habits to Productively Regulate Your Emotions, Thoughts, and Behaviors by Scott Mautz

Scott Mautz defines mental strength as the ability to self-regulate emotions, thoughts, and behaviors to achieve exceptional outcomes, despite adversity. It’s the leadership superpower of our times. Mentally strong leaders are confident and in control of themselves and their environment; they have endurance, are disciplined, and external stressors make their decision-making sharper. They’re a safe port in a storm for their team. The Mentally Strong Leader gives readers a mental exercise plan to become such a leader. Readers will walk away with a menu of over 50 proven tools they can choose from to build a tailored set of habits in six areas that will make them mentally stronger

Bosses, Coworkers, and Building Great Work Relationships (HBR Work Smart Series) by Harvard Business Review

I'm not here to make work friends. Or am I? Managers, peers, work friends, mentors, frenemies, annoying people, romantic interests, your boss's boss, and so on. We probably spend more hours with our coworkers than with anyone else. So even if they're not all perfect, it's worth building connections with them that will provide you with support, help you network and learn, and keep your career moving forward.

Rise faster with quick reads, real-life stories, and expert advice. The HBR Work Smart Series features the topics that matter to you most in your early career, including being yourself at work, collaborating with (sometimes difficult) colleagues and bosses, managing your mental health, and weighing major job decisions. Other titles in this series include Authenticity, Identity, and Being Yourself at Work, Experience, Opportunity, and Developing Your Career, and Writing, Presenting, and Communicating with Confidence

The Venture Mindset: How to Make Smarter Bets and Achieve Extraordinary Growth by Ilya Strebulaev and Alex Dang

Inspired by venture capitalists’ unique way of thinking, The Venture Mindset offers a transformative playbook for delivering results in a rapidly changing world from a top Stanford professor and a technology executive. Venture capitalists are known for their extraordinary ability to spot opportunities. They know how to identify emerging trends, how to bring new industries into being, and when to hold them and when to fold. Their unique mindset has made them the force behind world-changing companies such as Amazon, Google, Moderna, SpaceX, and Zoom. Stanford Professor Ilya Strebulaev has devoted two decades to studying VCs’ counterintuitive approaches to decision-making and the reasons behind the successes and failures of corporate innovations. Alex Dang has witnessed up close how VCs’ thinking and mechanisms can create successful businesses at companies like Amazon and McKinsey. Combining their insight and extensive experience, they present nine distinct principles that will help you make better decisions, transform your business, and achieve remarkable results, no matter your industry.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:40 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for April 2024

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in April 2024 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing by Laura Mae Martin

Google’s Executive Productivity Advisor offers insights on how to make the “new way of work” work for you, providing actionable steps to optimize your productivity, accomplish more, prevent burnout, and cultivate a harmonious work-life balance. Every day, tens of thousands of Google employees, from executives to interns, rely on Laura Mae Martin’s tips and best practices for how to make the most of their time. Now, with Uptime, Laura brings her unique approach to productivity and well-being to anyone who wants to be more effective and experience “calm accomplishment,” whether at work, at school, or in their own personal lives.

Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick

Something new entered our world in November 2022 — the first general purpose AI that could pass for a human and do the kinds of creative, innovative work that only humans could do previously. Wharton professor Ethan Mollick understood that humans had developed a kind of co-intelligence that could augment, or even replace, human thinking. Through his writing, speaking, and teaching, Mollick has become one of the most prominent and provocative explainers of AI, focusing on the practical aspects of how these new tools for thought can transform our world. In Co-Intelligence, Mollick urges us to engage with AI as co-worker, co-teacher, and coach. He assesses its profound impact on business and education, using dozens of real-time examples of AI in action. Co-Intelligence shows what it means to think and work together with smart machines, and why it's imperative that we master that skill.

Mentorship Unlocked: The Science and Art of Setting Yourself Up for Success by Janice Omadeke

What is a mentor? Why is having a mentor crucial to success? Or how do you make sure that you're a good mentor? In Mentorship Unlocked: The Science and Art of Setting Yourself Up for Success, veteran entrepreneur and innovator Janice Omadeke delivers an insightful discussion of mentorship, including what it is, how to find a qualified mentor, and how to make mentorship work for you. In the book, she explores the mentorship advice that helped her start a groundbreaking company after studying entrepreneurship and strategic management at MIT and Harvard. You’ll find practical steps you can take to build your own plan for finding the right mentor for you, or for becoming someone else’s trusted advisor.

Think This, Not That: 12 Mindshifts to Breakthrough Limiting Beliefs and Become Who You Were Born to Be by Josh Axe

Perhaps you're busy but still feel empty. Maybe things haven't turned out how you'd hoped, and life seems stale and unfulfilling. What if you could wake up every morning excited about your purpose, knowing you're fulfilling your greatest potential? A more meaningful life is within your reach, and it starts in one place: your mind. Living with a mindset of false narratives will keep you stuck, locked in a prison of unpursued dreams and goals. But cultivating a new mindset based on what is actually true will set you free—free to start exploring and growing beyond the limits you thought you had. In Think This, Not That, Dr. Josh Axe unpacks the top twelve mental barriers holding people back from realizing their potential and becoming the greatest version of themselves, and contrasts each one with a new empowering mindset.

The Generous Leader: 7 Ways to Give of Yourself for Everyone’s Gain by Joe Davis

Leading successfully in a world full of disruption means building more than technical skills. Yes, you must deliver results, but to run a successful business you need people—and people today want leaders who can and will work to see beyond themselves and only the bottom line—you must learn to lead with your heart. Being vulnerable with your staff is intimidating, but when connecting with people not only will you grow as a leader and a person, but your business will grow as well. Bringing your authentic self to your leadership takes courage and commitment, but you reap profound benefits from heart-led generous acts. This book presents 7 ways to give of yourself for everyone’s gain. As you build your skills with the guidance from this trusted reference, success will spread from your generosity to the people you work with, to your organization, to your own career and even society. There is no more powerful leader than a generous leader.

Awaken Your Potential: 10 Ways to Unlock Greatness by Chad L. Reyes

Today’s institutions are facing a serious, global crisis that threatens to destroy how we work, live, serve, and play. No, it’s not a health or financial crisis; it’s a leadership crisis. Organizations around the world are lacking effective, competent leaders who know how to make a significant personal investment in both their organization and the people within it. More importantly, this generation of leaders isn’t awakening the untapped potential within their teams. That is a problem—perhaps the problem—that leads us into dull, dreary workdays and wholly ineffective, unsatisfying work. It’s time to change that. Leaders aren’t born; they’re equipped!

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:21 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for March 2024

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in March 2024 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport

Our current definition of “productivity” is broken. It pushes us to treat busyness as a proxy for useful effort, leading to impossibly lengthy task lists and ceaseless meetings. We’re overwhelmed by all we have to do and on the edge of burnout, left to decide between giving into soul-sapping hustle culture or rejecting ambition altogether. But are these really our only choices? From the aggressive rethinking of workload management, to introducing seasonal variation, to shifting your performance toward long-term quality, Slow Productivity provides a roadmap for escaping overload and arriving instead at a more timeless approach to pursuing meaningful accomplishment. The world of work is due for a new revolution. Slow productivity is exactly what we need.

Think Remarkable: 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference by Guy Kawasaki with Madisun Nuismer

In Think Remarkable, tech titan Guy Kawasaki teams up with Madisun Nuismer, producer of the Remarkable People podcast, to share invaluable knowledge from more than 40 years of working with game-changing organizations such as Apple, Canva, Google, Mercedes Benz, and Wikipedia, and delivers insights from a collection of amazing interviews that'll kick you into high gear and get you ready to start showing the world your best, most amazing self. Together the authors show you how to lead a fulfilling life by drawing on insights from working closely with some of the world's most remarkable people.

Cultures of Growth: How the New Science of Mindset Can Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations by Mary C. Murphy Ph.D.

In Cultures of Growth, Dweck’s protégé, Mary Murphy, a social psychologist at both Stanford and Indiana University, shows that mindset transcends individuals. A growth mindset culture can transform any group, team, or classroom to reach breakthroughs while also helping each person achieve their potential. Create environments where people want to be, where everyone can thrive and achieve their potential, both individually and together. In a world where success seems reserved for a chosen few, Cultures of Growth unveils a radically different approach to creating organizations that inspire learning, growth, and success at all levels.

Leadership from Bad to Worse: What Happens When Bad Festers by Barbara Kellerman

Leadership from Bad to Worse is about how leadership that is bad, invariably, inexorably, gets worse--unless it is somehow, by someone or something, stopped or slowed. The process of going from bad to worse tends to be steady, as opposed to hasty. But once bad burrows in, it digs in. It digs in deeper and then deeper, making it difficult finally to extract or excise without getting rid of whoever and whatever is involved. Bad leadership is a social disease. But unlike diseases that are physical or psychological, it remains at the margins of our collective concerns. Leadership from Bad to Worse is, then, a corrective. Knowing that bad leadership can be checked before it corrupts is knowing that bad and then worse can be, if not completely precluded, then sometimes short-circuited.

The Score That Matters: Growing Excellence in Yourself and Those You Lead by Ryan Hawk and Brook Cupps

People love to keep score. Managers keep score of a range of business metrics: market share, revenue, profit margin, growth rate. In our personal lives, social media has us keeping score by likes and followers. Offering both descriptive and prescriptive advice and anecdotes, The Score That Matters will help you unlock true fulfillment and happiness by discovering your purpose, identifying your values, and creating critical behaviors and living them faithfully every day in all aspects of your life.

Shine: How Looking Inward Is the Key to Unlocking True Entrepreneurial Freedom by Gino Wickman and Rob Dube

Entrepreneurs often have a burning need to succeed. But that same relentless brilliance that propels you in your career can take a toll on your teams, personal relationships, and even your health. Gino Wickman, bestselling author of Traction, teams up with mindfulness expert Rob Dube to help readers strike a crucial balance between those inner and outer worlds while taking your success to new heights. In Shine, they share 10 disciplines to help you stay sharp and energetic without burning out. You’ll learn to: Set boundaries in your work life (without compromising productivity) that allow you to become a better leader and better person; Practicable sustainable ways to reset your energy and recognize burnout and stress before they happen; Tap into a flow state to harness unbridled creativity, think clearly, and move through your career and life with ease.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:34 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for February 2024

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in February 2024 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Learned Excellence: Mental Disciplines for Leading and Winning from the World's Top Performers by Eric Potterat and Alan Eagle

Learn how to perform at your very best, from the psychologist who has advised elite military operators, Olympic medalists, big wave surfers, neurosurgeons, cliff divers, first responders, Cirque du Soleil acrobats, professional athletes and coaches, Fortune 500 business executives, and CIA analysts. Learned Excellence is a comprehensive and practical guide to the mental disciplines of high performance, from the expert who developed the US Navy SEALs mental toughness curriculum and has worked with thousands of top athletes, elite military personnel, business executives, and first responders. These stars perform across a wide variety of fields, but they all have something in common: when they are at work they know how to think clearly, stay focused, and shrug off setbacks under very high levels of stress.

Never Not Working: Why the Always-On Culture Is Bad for Business—and How to Fix It by Malissa Clark

The always-on, hustle culture creates an unhealthy, counterproductive relationship with work. Many workers believe that to compete with other top talent, they must embrace a culture that rewards long hours and a constant connection to work. Businesses and society endorse busyness, overwork, and extreme commitment as the most valued traits in workers. Sometimes that endorsement is explicit, as when Elon Musk told X/Twitter employees to work "long hours at high intensity" or get fired. More often it's an implicit contract, a buildup of organizational and cultural norms and the adoption of new technologies that make it easy to tether people to work. Either way, this workaholic behavior is unhealthy and counterproductive for workers and for organizations. It's time to fight back.

Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World by Alison Taylor

Today's headlines teem with employee unrest over racial injustice, communities infuriated by corporate environmental impacts, staff anxiety over surveillance, public outrage over corruption in business, and discoveries of child labor in supply chains. We've traveled far and fast from the old world of business ethics, where black-and-white concerns about bribery and fraud could be addressed via rules and processes. Simply maximizing shareholder value while not breaking the law is no longer a tenable approach, but we've never been so confused about what it means to do the right thing—and why it's so important.

Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg

Come inside a jury room as one juror leads a starkly divided room to consensus. Join a young CIA officer as he recruits a reluctant foreign agent. And sit with an accomplished surgeon as he tries, and fails, to convince yet another cancer patient to opt for the less risky course of treatment. In Supercommunicators, Charles Duhigg blends deep research and his trademark storytelling skills to show how we can all learn to identify and leverage the hidden layers that lurk beneath every conversation. Communication is a superpower and the best communicators understand that whenever we speak, we’re actually participating in one of three conversations: practical (What’s this really about?), emotional (How do we feel?), and social (Who are we?). If you don’t know what kind of conversation you’re having, you’re unlikely to connect.

Uncommon Greatness: Five Fundamentals to Transform Your Leadership by Mark Miller

Virtually every problem can be traced back to one root cause: leadership. Far too many leaders are struggling, merely maintaining the status quo and unable to find the way forward. What these leaders need is a fresh take on how to unlock their full potential. Uncommon Greatness is the key many leaders have been searching for their entire career. This book will reframe much of what you know about traditional leadership theory and practice, challenge some of your deeply held assumptions, and provide scores of practical and concrete ideas you can use today. Former Vice President of High Performance Leadership at Chick-fil-A, Inc., Mark Miller believes it’s possible for all leaders to lead at a higher level and increase their impact on the world.

Making Waves: A Woman's Rise to the Top Using Smarts, Heart, and Courage by Lisa Lutoff-Perlo with Sarah McArthur

Follow the incredible career journey of Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, from her stories as an ambitious young woman to President and CEO of Celebrity Cruises to Vice Chairman for External Affairs at Royal Caribbean Group. A shining testament to the value of being an authentic leader and never sacrificing your integrity, Lutoff-Perlo details the ins and outs of her extraordinary 40-year career. Along the way, she ultimately transformed and redefined relaxed luxury cruising with the launch of the bold, innovative Edge Series ships in 2018, which drove unprecedented demand for Celebrity Cruises and propelled the brand’s financial performance. She climbed the corporate ladder from the very bottom and overcame countless obstacles to reach the top of the cruise industry.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 11:13 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for January 2024

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in January 2024 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

All In: How Great Leaders Build Unstoppable Teams by Mike Michalowicz

It’s never been harder building successful teams. With challenges of work-from-anywhere, flex-schedule and generational divides, business leaders bend over backwards searching for solutions that work. They’ve tried everything from food perks and ping pong tables to endless team-building exercises and training—but nothing sticks. Now, in his long-awaited book for leaders at all levels, bestselling author Mike Michalowicz reveals his proven formula to build an unstoppable team for any work environment.

Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings by Steven G. Rogelberg

There are an estimated 200-500 million 1:1 meetings held each day around the world, but are they run as transformatively as they could be? Or are they just talk? In Glad We Met Rogelberg helps us maximize the potential of these crucial conversations. 1:1s are arguably one of the most critical meeting types for the success of team members, managers, coaches, teams, and organizations. The best managers recognize that 1:1s are not an add-on to their role as a manager. Conducting 1:1s successfully are foundational to being a manager. At the same time, these meetings are the core of a direct report's experience and development at work, including how well they engage and attach to their role, perceive the effectiveness of their manager, and envision their future at the organization.

Optimal: How to Sustain Personal and Organizational Excellence Every Day by Daniel Goleman and Cary Cherniss

There are moments when we achieve peak performance: An athlete plays a perfect game; a business has a quarter with once-in-a-lifetime profits. But these moments are often elusive, and for every amazing day, we may have a hundred ordinary and even unsatisfying days. Fulfillment doesn’t come from isolated peak experiences, but rather from many consistent good days. So how do we sustain performance, while avoiding burnout and maintaining balance? In Optimal, Daniel Goleman and Cary Cherniss reveal how emotional intelligence can help us have a great day, any day. They explain how to set a realistic, attainable goal of feeling satisfied that you’ve had a productive day — to consistently work at your ‘optimal’ level. Based on research of how hundreds of people build the inner architecture of having a good day, they sketch what an optimal state feels like, and show how emotional intelligence holds the key to our best performance.

The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking: Leading Your Organization into the Future by Michael D. Watkins

Michael D. Watkins presents an actionable new framework to help aspiring leaders learn to think strategically—a set of skills more necessary than ever in a world of constant change. Pattern recognition. Systems perspective. Mental agility. Structured problem-solving. Visioning. Political savvy. For every good leader who has mastered of one of these disciplines is a great leader who knows and has mastered all of them. Watkins presents the six disciplines that separate the great from the good. Developed over the course of his storied career, Watkins’ approach to strategic thinking—"a set of mental disciplines leaders use to recognize potential threats and opportunities, establish priorities, and mobilize themselves and their organizations to envision and enact promising paths forward”—is the model followed by some of today’s most successful first-time CEOs and new business leaders.

The Goodwill Jar: Reflections on Leadership and Legacy by Nick O. Rowe

Sometimes it seems that too many people are suffering from a crisis of identity, not sure what they stand for or what they want to do with their lives. The Goodwill Jar answers this problem. It teaches that when we focus on the good, offer the benefit of the doubt, and open our hearts to love, we can all live a richer life full of meaningful relationships. After all, humans are social creatures. Imagine what kind of world we would live in if everyone shared the goal of leaving others better than we found them. Follow the path of a typical person as they navigate the relationships that occur in every stage of life, from childhood to the grave. It starts with the foundational values of our youth, proceeds through those tumultuous teen years, on to early adulthood, mid-life, and finally ends at retirement. Every choice builds a legacy. Our leadership foundation begins when we are very young, setting the core values that drive choices for the rest of our lives. Once you know how to fill the goodwill jar of others, you can’t help but to live with a full goodwill jar yourself.

The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder by Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao

Every organization is plagued by destructive friction. Yet some forms of friction are incredibly useful, and leaders who attempt to improve workplace efficiency often make things even worse. Drawing from seven years of hands-on research, The Friction Project by bestselling authors Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao teaches readers how to become “friction fixers.” Sutton and Rao kick off the book by unpacking how skilled friction fixers think and act like trustees of others’ time. They provide friction forensics to help readers identify where to avert and repair bad organizational friction and where to maintain and inject good friction. Then their help pyramid shows how friction fixers do their work, from reframing friction troubles they can’t fix right now, so they feel less threatening, to designing and repairing organizations. The heart of the book digs into the causes and solutions for five of the most common and damaging friction troubles: oblivious leaders, addition sickness, broken connections, jargon monoxide, and fast and frenzied people and teams.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 04:11 PM
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The Best Leadership Books of 2023

THE titles listed below—published in 2023—capture many of the key themes and trends organizations are wrestling with. In a time of great uncertainty, courage, empathy, love, and a passion to improve the status quo now and forever are required. These titles address how it can be done and how others are doing it. How many have you read?

 

Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential
by Matt Higgins

(William Morrow, 2023)

Executive fellow at Harvard Business School, Guest Shark on Shark Tank, and famed angel investor Matt Higgins reveals the counterintuitive formula for a life of perpetual growth that has been practiced for thousands of years by military leaders and serial entrepreneurs alike—forget the Plan B and burn the boats. From Sun Tzu to Julius Caesar, the ancient Israelites to Zelensky, there’s a bold and highly effective tactic seen throughout history—when leaders want to motivate their troops for success, they destroy all opportunities for retreat, and go all-in on the mission. They burn their boats; it’s win or perish, and the clarity of sheer desperation propels them to victory. (Blog Post)

The Creative Act: A Way of Being
by Rick Rubin

(Penguin Press, 2023)

Many famed music producers are known for a particular sound that has its day. Rick Rubin is known for something else: creating a space where artists of all different genres and traditions can home in on who they really are and what they really offer. He has made a practice of helping people transcend their self-imposed expectations in order to reconnect with a state of innocence from which the surprising becomes inevitable. Over the years, as he has thought deeply about where creativity comes from and where it doesn’t, he has learned that being an artist isn’t about your specific output, it’s about your relationship to the world. Creativity has a place in everyone’s life, and everyone can make that place larger. In fact, there are few more important responsibilities. The Creative Act is a beautiful and generous course of study that illuminates the path of the artist as a road we all can follow.

How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between
by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner

(Currency, 2023)

Nothing is more inspiring than a big vision that becomes a triumphant, new reality. Think of how the Empire State Building went from a sketch to the jewel of New York’s skyline in twenty-one months, or how Apple’s iPod went from a project with a single employee to a product launch in eleven months. These are wonderful stories. But most of the time big visions turn into nightmares. Remember Boston’s “Big Dig”? Almost every sizeable city in the world has such a fiasco in its backyard. In fact, no less than 92% of megaprojects come in over budget or over schedule, or both. More modest endeavors, whether launching a small business, organizing a conference, or just finishing a work project on time, also commonly fail. Why?

Culture Is the Way: How Leaders at Every Level Build an Organization for Speed, Impact, and Excellence
by Matt Mayberry

(Wiley, 2023)

Former NFL Pro, world-renowned keynote speaker, and management consultant Matt Mayberry delivers an incisive and hands-on blueprint to employee engagement and peak productivity. In the book, you'll explore how leaders, at every level, can build a workplace culture that drives organizational excellence and unleashes the full potential of every employee. You’ll also learn: how to build a culture where people can become the best version of themselves and transform organizational performance, five common roadblocks that prevent leaders from using culture to get the best from their people and how to overcome them, and how to implement your playbook for cultural excellence across your entire organization. (Blog Post)

The Art of Clear Thinking: A Stealth Fighter Pilot's Timeless Rules for Making Tough Decisions
by Hasard Lee

(St. Martin's Press, 2023)

In The Art of Clear Thinking, Hasard Lee distills what he’s learned during his career flying some of the Air Force’s most advanced aircraft. With gripping firsthand accounts from his time as a fighter pilot and fascinating turning points throughout history, Hasard reveals powerful decision-making principles that can be used in business and in life. Hasard has used and taught these techniques across the full spectrum of human endeavors and proven their effectiveness in both the cockpit and the boardroom. Those who have already benefited include CEO’s, astronauts, CIA agents, students, parents, and many others. The Art of Clear Thinking is a book that will change how you interact with the world around you. (Blog Post)

Positive Chaos: Transform Crisis into Clarity and Advantage
by Dan Thurmon

(Page Two, 2023)

Chaos does not have to be confusing or debilitating. You can reach new goals, grow, and make meaningful contributions in life and in business even in the throes of change and unpredictability. Positive Chaos will help you to learn to understand and embrace chaos, rise above the noise, and be truly proactive, helpful, and fulfilled. (Blog Post)

Going on Offense: A Leader’s Playbook for Perpetual Innovation
by Behnam Tabrizi

(Ideapress Publishing, 2023)

Going on Offense is a powerful resource for anyone looking to transform their organization and their people into a perpetual innovator. Based on a comprehensive seven-year study from Stanford University, Going on Offense provides an insider view into the drivers of success and challenges in 26 organizations—including industry giants like Apple, Tesla, Amazon, Microsoft, and Starbucks—along with actionable advice on replicating their winning approaches. In addition, the book highlights the similarities and differences among their five cultures, which, interestingly, mirror the five icons of industry who are leading or led them: Steve Jobs (Apple), Elon Musk (Tesla), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), and Howard Schultz (Starbucks). Explore the challenges of once-innovative tech giants like Facebook and Google and the factors behind their struggles. Delve into the reasons behind an organization's decline through in-depth analysis and real-world examples. Going on Offense analyzes these cases and offers a practical playbook for companies and individuals looking to transform into a winning mindset.

The Leap to Leader: How Ambitious Managers Make the Jump to Leadership
by Adam Bryant

(Harvard Business Review Press, 2023)

The chasm separating managers from leaders is widening as the skills required to be an effective leader grow in number and complexity. But you're ambitious. You want to cross that chasm. And your organization needs you to cross it in order to join its bench of stars who will lead with empathy and humanity and ground the organization's strategies in a meaningful, mission-driven, and purposeful way. The Leap to Leader is your trusted playbook for making the biggest jump of your career. You'll learn from more than a hundred successful leaders who share their powerful insights and compelling stories of how to make the leap, along with practical strategies and tactics for building a loyal following, moving up quickly to broaden your impact, and making the subtle but crucial mindset shifts that are required to lead others effectively.

Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything Is Changing – Including You
by Brad Stulberg

(HarperOne, 2023)

From social disruptions like economic recessions, pandemics, and new technologies to individual disruptions like getting married, career transitions, and becoming a parent, we undergo change and transformation—both good and bad—regularly. Change is not the exception, it’s the rule. Yet we endlessly fight it, often viewing it as a threat to our stability and sense of self. Master of Change flips this script on its head and offers a path for embracing and even growing from life’s constant instability. Brad Stulberg, sustainable excellence expert, coach, and bestselling author of The Practice of Groundedness, offers a new model that describes change as an ongoing cycle of order, disorder, and reorder—yes, we return to stability, but that stability is somewhere new. Drawing on modern science, ancient wisdom, and daily practice, Stulberg offers concrete principles for developing a mindset called rugged flexibility, along with habits and practices to implement it.

Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well
by Amy C. Edmondson

(Atria Books, 2023)

We used to think of failure as the opposite of success. Now, we’re often torn between two “failure cultures”: one that says to avoid failure at all costs, the other that says fail fast, fail often. The trouble is that both approaches lack the crucial distinctions to help us separate good failure from bad. As a result, we miss the opportunity to fail well. After decades of award-winning research, Amy Edmondson is here to upend our understanding of failure and make it work for us. In Right Kind of Wrong, Edmondson provides the framework to think, discuss, and practice failure wisely. Outlining the three archetypes of failure—basic, complex, and intelligent—Amy showcases how to minimize unproductive failure while maximizing what we gain from flubs of all stripes. She illustrates how we and our organizations can embrace our human fallibility, learn exactly when failure is our friend, and prevent most of it when it is not. This is the key to pursuing smart risks and preventing avoidable harm.

Mind Shift: It Doesn't Take a Genius to Think Like One
by Erwin Raphael McManus

(Convergent Books, 2023)

Throughout his thirty years of work as a mindset expert and leadership coach, Erwin Raphael McManus has been obsessed with these questions: Why do some people succeed despite having all the odds stacked against them? How do others achieve the unthinkable, only to watch their lives slip away? Are there mental structures for failure and success? McManus has come to realize that too many of us have “near-life” experiences. We almost pursue our dreams. We almost make the decision that changes everything. We are always one choice away. In Mind Shift, McManus brings together twelve mental frameworks that have helped some of the most accomplished people on earth create internal structures of success.

Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes
by Morgan Housel

(Portfolio, 2023)

Every investment plan under the sun is, at best, an informed speculation of what may happen in the future, based on a systematic extrapolation from the known past. Same as Ever reverses the process, inviting us to identify the many things that never, ever change. With his usual elan, Morgan Housel presents a master class on optimizing risk, seizing opportunity, and living your best life. Through a sequence of engaging stories and pithy examples, he shows how we can use our newfound grasp of the unchanging to see around corners, not by squinting harder through the uncertain landscape of the future, but by looking backwards, being more broad-sighted, and focusing instead on what is permanently true.

 

Biographies:

Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World
by Ginni Rometty

(Harvard Business Review Press, 2023)

Former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty recounts in Good Power, her groundbreaking path from a challenging childhood to becoming the CEO of IBM and one of the world's most influential business leaders. With candor and depth, Rometty shares milestones from her life and career while redefining power as a way to drive meaningful change in positive ways for ourselves, our organizations, and for the many, not just the few—a concept she calls "good power." Rometty's "memoir with purpose" combines the experiences that defined her life—personal hurdles, high-stakes decisions, passionate advocacy—with the actionable advice of a coaching session to highlight lessons that shape authentic leadership. Behind-the-scenes stories and practical guidance offer us a blueprint for how we can all use good power to advance our careers, inspire our teams, improve our companies, and create healthier societies. (Blog Post)

An Ordinary Man: The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford
by Richard Norton Smith

(Harper, 2023)

From the preeminent presidential scholar and acclaimed biographer of historical figures including George Washington, Herbert Hoover, and Nelson Rockefeller comes this eye-opening life of Gerald R. Ford, whose presidency arguably set the course for post-liberal America and a post-Cold War world. For many Americans, President Gerald Ford was the genial accident of history who controversially pardoned his Watergate-tarnished predecessor, presided over the fall of Saigon, and became a punching bag on Saturday Night Live. Yet as Richard Norton Smith reveals in a book full of surprises, Ford was an underrated leader whose tough decisions and personal decency look better with the passage of time. (Blog Post)

Elon Musk
by Walter Isaacson

(Simon & Schuster, 2023)

From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the question: are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:06 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for December 2023

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in December 2023 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Brave Together: Lead by Design, Spark Creativity, and Shape the Future with the Power of Co-Creation by Chris Deaver and Ian Clawson

How did Apple overcome a culture of secrecy? How did Pixar out-innovate Disney? Why do companies kill creativity? Does Shark Tank teach us something about the way we pursue success that isn't true? We've been told that working harder and smarter is the only way to succeed in business and life. But it's not true. Hustle culture is causing burnout and pain in our lives, making us feel divided. What if instead we focused on working creatively with others? And asked How can we shape cultures people love? There is hope in co-creation. Brave Together is a deep exploration into how we can live and lead as co-creators, filled with unexpected stories, powerful principles, and a future-oriented framework.

Mindstuck: Mastering the Art of Changing Minds by Michael McQueen

We’re told you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. But what if this is not true? Having spent the past two decades helping Fortune 500 brands and leaders embrace the changes they’d rather fight or ignore, Michael McQueen understands what it takes to change even the most stubborn minds. But persuading others is getting harder and harder. In our ideology-driven and polarized age, certainty has taken the place of curiosity and open-mindedness has given way to obstinance. Drawing on the latest discoveries in disciplines ranging from neuroscience to behavioral economics, McQueen suggests that we are too often using nineteenth- and twentieth-century techniques to change twenty-first-century minds—and are wondering why it’s not working. What we need is an upgrade in our understanding of what it really takes to influence others.

Moonshot: A NASA Astronaut’s Guide to Achieving the Impossible by Mike Massimino

Learn the NASA Astronaut mindset to solve problems, provide leadership in the face of adversity, and never give up when pursuing your wildest ambitions. Mike Massimino achieved his dream of exploring space. Now he distills stories and insights from NASA into an actionable guide to accomplish your biggest goals. Mike reveals how to make possible the seemingly impossible—on Earth. Written with characteristic wit and a big heart, Mike identifies ten hard-earned lessons of spaceflight and his other life experiences, including: One in a Million Is Not Zero, The Thirty-Second Rule, Be Amazed, Know When to Pivot. We all have our own personal “moon shots” we’d like to take in life, but as mission control will tell you, doing one big thing really means getting a thousand little things right along the way.

Choose Your Enemies Wisely: Business Planning for the Audacious Few by Patrick Bet-David with Greg Dinkin

What’s the difference between your competitor and your enemy? You know who your competitors are. You keep tabs on them regularly, and can list them calmly, along with their strengths and weaknesses. But your enemies are a whole other matter. They’re the haters and the doubters who said you’d never make it, the ones who stomped on your dreams. When you think about your enemies, you get emotional. You feel like you won’t let anything—or anyone—stop you. In Choose Your Enemies Wisely, Patrick Bet-David shows how to harness that emotion to turbocharge your business, dominate this year, and grow for generations after. But first, you need to choose your enemies wisely.

The Seven Games of Leadership: Navigating the Inner Journey of Leaders by Paolo Gallo

A fresh take on assessing your priorities – both professionally and personally – to ensure you are in the best position to make a positive difference to the people and places around you, and in the process to transform your own life. The disruptive moment in which we find ourselves living demands that we are our own agents of change. The Seven Games of Leadership is a guide for readers through seven key phases of personal and professional development, with the aim not of climbing a corporate ladder but of finding true and lasting satisfaction in what they do. It encourages the realization that revolutionary change is not about destroying the current status quo, but about co-designing and rebuilding different paths for individuals to thrive, and go on to have a positive impact on society at large.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:41 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for November 2023

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in November 2023 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes by Morgan Housel

Every investment plan under the sun is, at best, an informed speculation of what may happen in the future, based on a systematic extrapolation from the known past. Same as Ever reverses the process, inviting us to identify the many things that never, ever change. With his usual elan, Morgan Housel presents a master class on optimizing risk, seizing opportunity, and living your best life. Through a sequence of engaging stories and pithy examples, he shows how we can use our newfound grasp of the unchanging to see around corners, not by squinting harder through the uncertain landscape of the future, but by looking backwards, being more broad-sighted, and focusing instead on what is permanently true.

The Heart of Innovation: A Field Guide for Navigating to Authentic Demand by Matt Chanoff, Merrick Furst, Daniel Sabbah and Mark Wegman

Books on innovation mostly focus on how to nurture innovative cultures and brainstorm ideas. The Heart of Innovation is the first popular book to concretely delve into what innovations really are and how to create them. Many attempts at innovation fail because customers turn out to be indifferent. The key to success is to uncover unmet authentic demand; what customers cannot be indifferent to. Through fresh case studies, ranging from how SoulCycle revolutionized the fitness industry, to how IBM built an $8 billion business on the Web, to a single mother ending abuse in a slum in Africa, The Heart of Innovation explores how authentic demand is often hidden or taken for granted.

The Communication Code: Unlocking Every Relationship, One Conversation at a Time by Jeremie Kubicek and Steve Cockram

Healthy communication is essential in any professional or personal relationship. When the lines of communication are frayed or broken, the resulting drama, unnecessary conflict, and inefficiency often lead to 'dropping the ball'. Better communication yields better results. It's a no-brainer―honest conversations build deeper, more productive relationships. It may seem simple in theory, but healthy communication is one of the most challenging things to master in practice. The Communication Code helps you set up conversations and communication in a way that creates a win-win scenario for everyone involved.

The Geek Way: The Radical Mindset that Drives Extraordinary Results by Andrew McAfee

What is “being geeky?” It’s being a perennially curious person, one who's not afraid to tackle hard problems and embrace unconventional solutions. McAfee shows how the geeks have created a new culture based around four norms: science, ownership, speed, and openness. The geek way seems odd at first. It's not deferential to experts, fond of planning and process, afraid of mistakes, or obsessed with "winning." But it explains everything from why Montessori babies turn out to be creative tinkerers to how newcomers are disrupting industry after industry (and still just getting started). When all four norms are in place, a culture emerges that is freewheeling, fast-moving, egalitarian, evidence-driven, argumentative, and autonomous. Why does the geek way work so much better?

Lead Through Anything: Harness Purpose, Vitality, and Agility to Thrive in the Face of Unrelenting Change by Dustin Seale and Ed Manfre

The logical, inspirational, and simplified approach you need to lead through unprecedented chaos―and help your teams and organizations thrive In today’s world of near-constant disruption, every leader faces a slew of conflicting demands involving employees of different generations, cultures, and age groups; one of history’s tightest labor markets; and never-ending geopolitical, climate, financial, and health challenges. Lead Through Anything provides simple, tested and actionable strategies to help you continually level-up your impact as an individual, manager, and leader.

Areté: Activate Your Heroic Potential by Brian Johnson

In Areté, Brian Johnson integrates ancient wisdom, modern science, and practical tools to, as per the sub-title of the book, help you win the ultimate game of life and fulfill your destiny. What Brian has developed is much more than a bunch of coping mechanisms for the over-stressed modern person; although that would be an improvement for most of us. He's developed a training program for the soul. Commit to this training and you will gain the ability to transmute your biggest problems, your darkest days, into unstoppable courage, endless enthusiasm, and an unshakable faith in the future. This book will change your life.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:09 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for October 2023

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in October 2023 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things by Adam Grant

We live in a world that’s obsessed with talent. We celebrate gifted students in school, natural athletes in sports, and child prodigies in music. But admiring people who start out with innate advantages leads us to overlook the distance we ourselves can travel. We underestimate the range of skills that we can learn and how good we can become. We can all improve at improving. And when opportunity doesn’t knock, there are ways to build a door. Hidden Potential offers a new framework for raising aspirations and exceeding expectations.

Mind Shift: It Doesn't Take a Genius to Think Like One by Erwin Raphael McManus

Throughout his thirty years of work as a mindset expert and leadership coach, Erwin Raphael McManus has been obsessed with these questions: Why do some people succeed despite having all the odds stacked against them? How do others achieve the unthinkable, only to watch their lives slip away? Are there mental structures for failure and success? McManus has come to realize that too many of us have “near-life” experiences. We almost pursue our dreams. We almost make the decision that changes everything. We are always one choice away. In Mind Shift, McManus brings together twelve mental frameworks that have helped some of the most accomplished people on earth create internal structures of success.

Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader's Guide to Solving Hard Problems by Frances Frei and Anne Morriss

Speed has gotten a bad name in business, much of it deserved. When Facebook made "Move fast and break things" an informal company motto, it fueled a widely held belief that we can either make progress or take care of people, one or the other. That a certain amount of wreckage is the price we have to pay for inventing the future. Leadership experts Frances Frei and Anne Morriss argue that this belief is deeply flawed—and that it keeps you from building a great company. Helping executives and entrepreneurs solve their toughest problems over the past decade, Frei and Morriss learned that the trade-off between speed and excellence is false. The best leaders solve hard problems with fierce urgency while making their organizations—employees, customers, and shareholders—even stronger. They move fast and fix things.

Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations by Ron Shaich

Ron Shaich, founder and former CEO of Panera Bread, is a business visionary who has been part of building three iconic restaurant brands: Au Bon Pain, Panera Bread, and now Cava. How did Shaich succeed repeatedly in such a notoriously tough industry? By discovering today what will matter tomorrow and never hesitating to undertake sweeping transformations in order to get the job done. He offers clear-headed lessons for the entire life cycle of an enterprise, from bootstrapping a startup to going public to managing large companies to selling a business. And the relevance of his message doesn't end in the boardroom. Telling yourself the truth, knowing what really matters, and getting it done is the path to creating and sustaining a meaningful life, a market-leading business, and even a healthier society.

Leadership Revolution: The Future of Developing Dynamic Leaders by Lori Mazan

In Leadership Revolution, executive coach Lori Mazan delivers an exciting new approach to leadership development tailor-made for the 21st century. Drawing on lessons learned from coaching top executives for 25 years, you’ll learn how to attract and retain talent by accelerating and individualizing their professional growth and how to re-think leadership in the new remote and hybrid work environment. An invaluable and practical strategy guide for leadership and talent development, Leadership Revolution is the perfect resource for managers, executives, coaches, and other business leaders looking for proven ways to shape the next generation of leaders in their firms.

Leading with Vulnerability: Unlock Your Greatest Superpower to Transform Yourself, Your Team, and Your Organization by Jacob Morgan

How do some of the world's top leaders unlock the potential of others, create trust, and lead through change? Jacob started out with one basic question: Is vulnerability the same for leaders as it is for everyone else? It turns out that it's not. On August 20, 1991, Hollis Harris, the CEO of struggling Continental Airlines told his 42,000 employees to pray for the future of the company. The next day he was fired. What Hollis did was vulnerable, but it was not leadership. While vulnerability cripples some leaders, others tap into it and use it as a superpower. Vulnerability alone makes leaders seem incompetent. Competence on its own makes it hard for leaders to connect with their people. The key is to develop both competence and vulnerability, what Jacob calls "The Vulnerable Leader Equation."

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 11:50 AM
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10 Books to Get You Back to Work – Fall 2023

THE FALL EQUINOX arrives on September 23. Time to turn the page. Temperatures begin to drop. The days get shorter. And as plant life slows down and the leaves change color, we should make the time to reflect and take stock of where we are and where we need to go. A good book helps us to do just that.

Here are ten books to help you get back into the world of work and make plans for an improved future:

  How Trust Works: The Science of How Relationships Are Built, Broken, and Repaired by Peter H. Kim - (August 2023)

When our trust is broken, and when our own trustworthiness is called into question, many of us are left wondering what to do. We barely know how trust works. How could we possibly repair it? In How Trust Works, Dr. Kim draws on this research and the work of other social scientists to reveal the surprising truths about how relationships are built, how they are broken, and how they are repaired. Dr. Kim’s work shows how we are often more trusting than we think and how easily our trust in others can be distorted.

  Decisions about Decisions: Practical Reason in Ordinary Life by Cass R. Sunstein - (August 2023)

How do we decide how we decide? We make such decisions all the time. If you trust your doctor, you might decide to follow a simple rule for medical decisions: Do whatever your doctor suggests. If you like someone a lot, and maybe love them, but are not sure whether you want to marry them, you might do this: Live with them first. Some of these strategies are wise. They prevent error. They improve your emotional well-being. Some of these strategies are foolish. They lead you in the direction of terrible mistakes. They prevent you from learning. They might make you miserable. Decisions about Decisions explores how people do, and should, make decisions about decisions.

  Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well by Amy C. Edmondson - (September 2023)

We used to think of failure as the opposite of success. Now, we’re often torn between two “failure cultures”: one that says to avoid failure at all costs, the other that says fail fast, fail often. The trouble is that both approaches lack the crucial distinctions to help us separate good failure from bad. As a result, we miss the opportunity to fail well. With vivid, real-life stories from business, pop culture, history, and more, Edmondson gives us specifically tailored practices, skills, and mindsets to help us replace shame and blame with curiosity, vulnerability, and personal growth. You’ll never look at failure the same way again.

  Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson - (September 2023)

From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the question: are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?

  The Unlocked Leader: Dare to Free Your Own Voice, Lead with Empathy, and Shine Your Light in the World by Hortense le Gentil - (September 2023)

The most effective leaders are “human leaders:” leading with empathy, vulnerability, and authenticity. But many still adhere to the outdated myth that leaders must be “superhero leaders: infallible, unflappable, and fearless." Tragically, their innate ability to inspire remains locked within, blunting their impact. In The Unlocked Leader veteran executive leadership coach Hortense le Gentil explains how superhero leaders can become effective human leaders.

  Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things by Adam Grant - (October 2023)

We live in a world that’s obsessed with talent. We celebrate gifted students in school, natural athletes in sports, and child prodigies in music. But admiring people who start out with innate advantages leads us to overlook the distance we ourselves can travel. We underestimate the range of skills that we can learn and how good we can become. We can all improve at improving. And when opportunity doesn’t knock, there are ways to build a door. Hidden Potential offers a new framework for raising aspirations and exceeding expectations.

  Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader's Guide to Solving Hard Problems by Frances Frei and Anne Morriss - (October 2023)

Speed has gotten a bad name in business, much of it deserved. When Facebook made "Move fast and break things" an informal company motto, it fueled a widely held belief that we can either make progress or take care of people, one or the other. That a certain amount of wreckage is the price we have to pay for inventing the future. Leadership experts Frances Frei and Anne Morriss argue that this belief is deeply flawed—and that it keeps you from building a great company. Helping executives and entrepreneurs solve their toughest problems over the past decade, Frei and Morriss learned that the trade-off between speed and excellence is false. The best leaders solve hard problems with fierce urgency while making their organizations—employees, customers, and shareholders—even stronger. They move fast and fix things.

  Mind Shift: It Doesn't Take a Genius to Think Like One by Erwin Raphael McManus - (October 2023)

Throughout his thirty years of work as a mindset expert and leadership coach, Erwin Raphael McManus has been obsessed with these questions: Why do some people succeed despite having all the odds stacked against them? How do others achieve the unthinkable, only to watch their lives slip away? Are there mental structures for failure and success? McManus has come to realize that too many of us have “near-life” experiences. We almost pursue our dreams. We almost make the decision that changes everything. We are always one choice away. In Mind Shift, McManus brings together twelve mental frameworks that have helped some of the most accomplished people on earth create internal structures of success.

  Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes by Morgan Housel - (November 2023)

Every investment plan under the sun is, at best, an informed speculation of what may happen in the future, based on a systematic extrapolation from the known past. Same as Ever reverses the process, inviting us to identify the many things that never, ever change. With his usual elan, Morgan Housel shows how we can use our newfound grasp of the unchanging to see around corners, not by squinting harder through the uncertain landscape of the future, but by looking backwards, being more broad-sighted, and focusing instead on what is permanently true. By doing so, we may better anticipate the big stuff, and achieve the greatest success, not merely financial comforts, but most importantly, a life well lived.

  Lead Through Anything: Harness Purpose, Vitality, and Agility to Thrive in the Face of Unrelenting Change by Dustin Seale and Ed Manfre - (November 2023)

The logical, inspirational, and simplified approach you need to lead through unprecedented chaos―and help your teams and organizations thrive. Lead Through Anything provides simple, tested and actionable strategies to help you continually level-up your impact as an individual, manager, and leader. It walks you through the process of developing a leadership mentality that balances three key elements to achieve sustainable success.

And be sure to include some fiction in your reading. Neurologist Richard Restak suggests for memory’s sake, we should be reading more fiction. He has observed over decades of treating patients for memory loss, that fiction requires active engagement with the text, starting at the beginning and working through to the end unlike non-fiction which you can read in chunks. Fiction requires extended attention and the ability to remember what happened at every stage of the story.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:55 AM
Permalink | Comments (0) | Books

First Look: Leadership Books for September 2023

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in September 2023 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well by Amy C. Edmondson

We used to think of failure as the opposite of success. Now, we’re often torn between two “failure cultures”: one that says to avoid failure at all costs, the other that says fail fast, fail often. The trouble is that both approaches lack the crucial distinctions to help us separate good failure from bad. As a result, we miss the opportunity to fail well. After decades of award-winning research, Amy Edmondson is here to upend our understanding of failure and make it work for us. In Right Kind of Wrong, Edmondson provides the framework to think, discuss, and practice failure wisely. Outlining the three archetypes of failure—basic, complex, and intelligent—Amy showcases how to minimize unproductive failure while maximizing what we gain from flubs of all stripes. She illustrates how we and our organizations can embrace our human fallibility, learn exactly when failure is our friend, and prevent most of it when it is not. This is the key to pursuing smart risks and preventing avoidable harm.

Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything Is Changing – Including You by Brad Stulberg

From social disruptions like economic recessions, pandemics, and new technologies to individual disruptions like getting married, career transitions, and becoming a parent, we undergo change and transformation—both good and bad—regularly. Change is not the exception, it’s the rule. Yet we endlessly fight it, often viewing it as a threat to our stability and sense of self. Master of Change flips this script on its head and offers a path for embracing and even growing from life’s constant instability. Brad Stulberg, sustainable excellence expert, coach, and bestselling author of The Practice of Groundedness, offers a new model that describes change as an ongoing cycle of order, disorder, and reorder—yes, we return to stability, but that stability is somewhere new. Drawing on modern science, ancient wisdom, and daily practice, Stulberg offers concrete principles for developing a mindset called rugged flexibility, along with habits and practices to implement it.

Fast Forward: 5 Power Principles to Create the Life You Want in Just One Year by Wendy Leshgold and Lisa McCarthy

Discover how leaders from the world’s most successful companies are dealing with stress, pressure, and constant change—and still thriving. Backed by psychological research and brain science, Fast Forward’s 5 Power Principles have helped more than 100,000 professionals achieve extraordinary success and happiness. As they have excelled, so have their businesses and teams. For the first time, authors Wendy Leshgold and Lisa McCarthy share their proven system along with compelling stories from the people who have made their boldest ambitions a reality. Fast Forward will help you and your teams create the life you want this year and every year.

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson

From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter. For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the question: are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?

The Unlocked Leader: Dare to Free Your Own Voice, Lead with Empathy, and Shine Your Light in the World by Hortense le Gentil

The most effective leaders are “human leaders:” leading with empathy, vulnerability, and authenticity. But many still adhere to the outdated myth that leaders must be “superhero leaders: infallible, unflappable, and fearless." Tragically, their innate ability to inspire remains locked within, blunting their impact. In The Unlocked Leader veteran executive leadership coach Hortense le Gentil combines real life stories, rigorous research, and practical tools to explain how superhero leaders can become effective human leaders. You’ll discover: How to identify the mental obstacles that stand between you and leadership authenticity, and sap your energy and impact - your mindtraps. How to confront your fears and escape those traps by operating a mindshift. Practical strategies to better connect with yourself and others - a mindbuild.

Belonging Rules: Five Crucial Actions That Build Unity and Foster Performance by Brad Deutser

Leaders have an unprecedented opportunity to overcome the great disconnect between employers and employees by inviting individuals to become part of something bigger than themselves—to belong. The need to belong is innate and enduring, yet often elusive. Genuine belonging requires a bold approach, one that offers both depth and credibility to the work required from leaders whose organizations are craving a sense of connection, security, and acceptance. Belonging Rules offers nuanced, direct guidance for navigating both the pre-existing and ever-evolving social and organizational demands of today’s workplace. The five rules within, based on extensive research and application, create a framework to dissect and decode the complex, complicated, and controversial issues of the modern workforce.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:10 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for August 2023

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in August 2023 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

The Secret of Culture Change: How to Build Authentic Stories That Transform Your Organization by Manoel Amorim, Jay B. Barney and Carlos Julio

Data indicates that most strategic efforts to change a company’s culture fail. So how do companies succeed in this endeavor? A top strategy professor and two highly successful CEOs found that, in companies that had successfully changed their culture, leaders had taken dramatic actions that embodied the new cultural values. These actions inspired stories that became company legends, repeated in every department and handed on to new employees. Through compiling and analyzing 150 stories from business leaders who have achieved change, they identified 6 attributes that every successful culture change story has in common

Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive by Greg Harden

Greg Harden changes lives. This is why hundreds of world-class athletes, doctors, lawyers, teachers, business leaders, college students, and professionals from all walks of life have come to him for advice and direction--including 7-time Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady, 23-time Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps, Heisman Trophy winners Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson, CEOs of major companies, and championship coaching staffs from all over the world. Harden teaches his students how to practice, train, and rehearse to give 100 percent, 100 percent of the time, and challenges them by asking: If you don't believe in yourself, why should I believe in you? Champions aren't born. They're built. Greg Harden spent over 30 years building them at the University of Michigan and gained national recognition when 60 Minutes Sports profiled him as "Michigan's Secret Weapon."

How Trust Works: The Science of How Relationships Are Built, Broken, and Repaired by Peter H. Kim

When our trust is broken, and when our own trustworthiness is called into question, many of us are left wondering what to do. We barely know how trust works. How could we possibly repair it? Peter H. Kim, the world’s leading expert in the rapidly growing field of trust repair, has conducted over two decades of groundbreaking research to answer that question. In How Trust Works, he draws on this research and the work of other social scientists to reveal the surprising truths about how relationships are built, how they are broken, and how they are repaired. He shows how we are often more trusting than we think and how easily our trust in others can be distorted. He illustrates these insights with accounts of some of the most striking and well-known trust violations that have occurred in modern times and unveils the crucial secrets behind when and why our attempts to repair trust are effective, and which breaches of confidence are just too deep.

Decisions about Decisions: Practical Reason in Ordinary Life by Cass R. Sunstein

Here is one of the most fundamental questions in human life: How do we decide how we decide? We make such decisions all the time. If you trust your doctor, you might decide to follow a simple rule for medical decisions: Do whatever your doctor suggests. If you like someone a lot, and maybe love them, but are not sure whether you want to marry them, you might do this: Live with them first. Some of these strategies are wise. They prevent error. They improve your emotional well-being. Some of these strategies are foolish. They lead you in the direction of terrible mistakes. They prevent you from learning. They might make you miserable. Decisions about Decisions explores how people do, and should, make decisions about decisions. It aims to see what such decisions are, to explore how they go right, and see where they go wrong.

The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life by Steven Bartlett

Steven Bartlett has never been one to follow conventional rules. He’s achieved extraordinary success and emerged as one of the greatest marketing minds of our time by doing things differently. But there is a method to his maverick style. Between founding and running a global digital marketing agency, investing in over forty companies, creating a hit podcast, and launching a venture fund for minority businesses, Bartlett has learned valuable lessons about success and failure, discovering a set of principles that he uses to guide him on his journey from strength to strength. In The Diary of a CEO, he presents these thirty-three fundamental laws that will ensure excellence and help you take real steps toward achieving your most daring goals.

The End of Leadership as We Know It: What It Takes to Lead in Today's Volatile and Complex World by Steve Garcia and Dan Fisher

Maximize your leadership impact with the latest insights and research from the field of adaptive leadership. In The End of Leadership as We Know It, a team of veteran executive and leadership strategists delivers an expert analysis of the ten most common errors leaders make when attempting to address disruption and concrete strategies for avoiding them. In the book, you’ll find ways to apply the latest research in adaptive leadership and complexity to your own leadership style and achieve the impact you seek to have on your business, your followers, and yourself. The authors explain how to rethink the essence of leadership during times of flux and show you how to deal with unpredictable situations.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 05:42 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for July 2023

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in July 2023 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

The Leap to Leader: How Ambitious Managers Make the Jump to Leadership by Adam Bryant

The chasm separating managers from leaders is widening as the skills required to be an effective leader grow in number and complexity. But you're ambitious. You want to cross that chasm. And your organization needs you to cross it in order to join its bench of stars who will lead with empathy and humanity and ground the organization's strategies in a meaningful, mission-driven, and purposeful way. The Leap to Leader is your trusted playbook for making the biggest jump of your career. You'll learn from more than a hundred successful leaders who share their powerful insights and compelling stories of how to make the leap, along with practical strategies and tactics for building a loyal following, moving up quickly to broaden your impact, and making the subtle but crucial mindset shifts that are required to lead others effectively.

Compassionate Accountability: How Leaders Build Connection and Get Results by Nate Regier

Leaders don't have to choose between relationships and results! Sadly, compassion and accountability are too often in tension —leaders feel they have to pick one or the other. But solely prioritizing accountability can create toxic work environments that drive away good talent. On the other end of the spectrum, being too nice can compromise performance and productivity. Finding harmony between compassion and accountability is the ultimate catalyst for improved results and a thriving workplace. The solution is recognizing that compassion and accountability are not opposites. In fact, accountability is an element of compassion. Compassionate Accountability is the process of building connection while getting results.

Leading through Disruption: A Changemaker’s Guide to Twenty-First Century Leadership by Andrew Liveris

In Leading Through Disruption, Andrew Liveris provides a new leadership paradigm for resilience and agility in a rapidly changing world. This book is a must-read guide for leaders in various sectors who are keen on not only ensuring current success, but protecting the planet’s future for everyone. Liveris, who was recently chosen to lead the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Organizing Committee and is former Chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company, presents a variety of powerful tools that will enable you to tackle any problem quickly and responsively, with an eye to creating a more equitable, sustainable future.

Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work by Bill Schaninger, Bryan Hancock and Emily Field

If you're thinking of cutting your midlevel managers in the new world of work, think again. "Middle manager." The term evokes a bygone industrial era in which managers functioned like cogs in a vast bureaucratic machine. In recent decades, midlevel managers became a favorite target for the chopping block—underappreciated, often considered a superfluous layer of the organization. Not only does this outdated perspective need to change, but the future demands it. In Power to the Middle, McKinsey thought leaders Bill Schaninger, Bryan Hancock, and Emily Field call for a profound reimagining of managers and their roles. They explain how middle managers are uniquely positioned close to the ground but with a crucial connection to company strategy, enabling them to guide their organizations through periods of rapid and complex change, as well as to help shape the new world of work.

The Flexible Method: Prepare To Prosper In The Next Global Crisis by James Burstall

James Burstall runs one of the most successful TV production companies in the UK. But during his tenure at Argonon he has had to deal with a variety of existential crises. Through them all, he's managed to guide his team out the other side successfully. Whether it's been the credit crunch or terror attacks. Recessions. Natural disasters. Pandemics. The TV industry has felt the strain of these recurring events like all of us. And each time, James has put strategies in place in order to be prepared for the next time something like this happens: because it will happen again. In 16 concise lessons, hard won from real-world experience, this book uses practical examples to demonstrate how we can turn disasters into opportunities. Though painful, shock events can actually be good for us. It is possible to turn venom into rocket fuel! We can survive crises and thrive.

Decisions about Decisions: Practical Reason in Ordinary Life by Cass R. Sunstein

Here is one of the most fundamental questions in human life: How do we decide how we decide? We make such decisions all the time. If you trust your doctor, you might decide to follow a simple rule for medical decisions: Do whatever your doctor suggests. If you like someone a lot, and maybe love them, but are not sure whether you want to marry them, you might do this: Live with them first. Some of these strategies are wise. They prevent error. They improve your emotional well-being. Some of these strategies are foolish. They lead you in the direction of terrible mistakes. They prevent you from learning. They might make you miserable. Decisions about Decisions explores how people do, and should, make decisions about decisions. It aims to see what such decisions are, to explore how they go right, and see where they go wrong.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:16 AM
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10 Books You Should Read This Summer 2023

CARY GRANT enjoyed reading—often in the evenings with a scotch. He was inclined to read biographies, current affairs, and self-help books.

As a parent dedicated to learning, he especially loved reading to his daughter Jennifer. She remembers, “I can still feel the perfect ease of our Hampton summer days, swimming, boating, tennis, reading, and backgammon by the pool with burgers. Divine.” He told his daughter, “One must always be careful with books and treasure them.”

The summer is a perfect time to relax and read, taking time to reflect. Also, as Wally Bock suggests, take the time to pick up something you’ve always wanted to read, something fun to read, and perhaps re-read a book that will help you to reconnect. Here are ten suggestions for books to inspire you and help to grow your leadership.

  The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin - (January 2023)

Music producer Rick Rubin has thought deeply about where creativity comes from and where it doesn’t, he has learned that being an artist isn’t about your specific output, it’s about your relationship to the world. Creativity has a place in everyone’s life, and everyone can make that place larger. In fact, there are few more important responsibilities.

  Finding the Way: The Entrepreneur's Tale by Cap Treeger - (January 2023)

In this fictional account of an entrepreneur's rollercoaster ride to the top, Cap Treeger crafts a series of dynamic, well-drawn lessons for anyone that wants to start or build a business.

  Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World by Ginni Rometty - (March 2023)

Former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty her groundbreaking path from a challenging childhood to becoming the CEO of IBM and one of the world's most influential business leaders. With candor and depth, Rometty shares milestones from her life and career while redefining power as a way to drive meaningful change in positive ways for ourselves, our organizations, and for the many, not just the few—a concept she calls "good power."

  An Ordinary Man: The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford by Richard Norton Smith - (April 2023)

From the preeminent presidential scholar and acclaimed biographer of historical figures including George Washington, Herbert Hoover, and Nelson Rockefeller comes this eye-opening life of Gerald R. Ford, whose presidency arguably set the course for post-liberal America and a post-Cold War world.

  The Wisdom of the Bullfrog: Leadership Made Simple (But Not Easy) by Admiral William H. McRaven - (April 2023)

The Wisdom of the Bullfrog draws countless experiences from Admiral McRaven’s incredible life, including crisis situations, management debates, organizational transitions, and ethical dilemmas, to provide readers with the most important leadership lessons he has learned over the course of his forty years of service.

  Generation Why: How Boomers Can Lead and Learn from Millennials and Gen Z by Karl Moore - (May 2023)

This book helps managers understand the postmodern worldview held by generation Z and younger millennials, how it influences their behaviour at work, and how they want to be led in the workplace.Karl Moore takes a practical and down-to-earth approach to understanding what drives millennials and generation Z and how the education system they were brought up in has informed their worldview.

  Positive Chaos: Transform Crisis into Clarity and Advantage by Dan Thurmon - (June 2023)

From discovering how credibility stems from vulnerability, to why being honest about what you don’t yet know can empower others to feel more confident and capable of contributing, you will learn how to improve yourself while becoming a better leader.

  The Leap to Leader: How Ambitious Managers Make the Jump to Leadership by Adam Bryant - (July 2023)

The Leap to Leader is your trusted playbook for making the biggest jump of your career. You'll learn from more than a hundred successful leaders who share their powerful insights and compelling stories of how to make the leap, along with practical strategies and tactics for building a loyal following, moving up quickly to broaden your impact, and making the subtle but crucial mindset shifts that are required to lead others effectively.

  Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work by Bill Schaninger, Bryan Hancock and Emily Field - (July 2023)

In recent decades, midlevel managers became a favorite target for the chopping block—underappreciated, often considered a superfluous layer of the organization. Not only does this outdated perspective need to change, but the future demands it.

  Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything Is Changing—Including You by Brad Stulberg - (July 2023)

Stulberg offers a new model that describes change as an ongoing cycle of order, disorder, and reorder—yes, we return to stability, but that stability is somewhere new. He offers concrete principles for developing a mindset called rugged flexibility, along with habits and practices to implement it.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:53 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for June 2023

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in June 2023 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Leading with Significance: How to Create a Magnetic, People-First Culture by Joey Havens

Can a magnetic culture elevate you to unparalleled performance? Absolutely! And your journey to a magnetic culture starts by recognizing that good culture simply isn't enough to drive top performance. With uncertainty swirling around every corner in the world today, team members are reevaluating their workplaces and walking out as they look past hollow promises and perks that are a mere temporary bandage. People are searching for teams with purpose, a compelling vision, and a sense of belonging where they can pursue their full potential and live their lives to the fullest. In Leading with Significance, Joey Havens breaks through the limiting barriers of common culture theory and shows, with great transparency, the real human emotions that elevate a culture to one that is genuine, enduring, and magnetic.

The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way You Think About Growth by Tiffani Bova

In the war for customer acquisition, businesses invest millions of dollars to improve customer experience. They deliver packages faster, churn out new products, and endlessly revamp their UI, often putting greater strain on employees for diminishing returns. According to Tiffani Bova, this siloed focus on customer experience – without considering the impact on your staff – actually hinders growth in the long run. The most successful companies adopt an Experience Mindset that strengthens both employee experience (EX) and customer experience (CX) at the same time.

Positive Chaos: Transform Crisis into Clarity and Advantage by Dan Thurmon

In Positive Chaos, Dan Thurmon helps you better understand the true nature of chaos, including the positive aspects that you can harness to learn, grow, and excel. Using illuminating findings from a first-of-its-kind study, 2022 State of Chaos in the Workplace, Thurmon reveals the current impact of chaos experienced by the workforce and shares effective strategies and leadership attributes for succeeding in chaotic times. From discovering how credibility stems from vulnerability, to why being honest about what you don’t yet know can empower others to feel more confident and capable of contributing, you will learn how to improve yourself while becoming a better leader. Chaos does not have to be confusing or debilitating. Positive Chaos will help you to learn to understand and embrace chaos, rise above the noise, and be truly proactive, helpful, and fulfilled.

The Choice Point: The Scientifically Proven Method to Push Past Mental Walls and Achieve Your Goals by Joanna Grover and Jonathan Rhodes

When we choose to go to the gym at 6am, keep running that marathon, or stay up late to study, we are making conscious, value-based decisions that help us fulfill our goals. But even though we know that daily good choices add up to healthy routines and strong results, these days it’s just too easy to surrender to negative thoughts and old habits. How can we not? Enter Functional Imagery Training (FIT). Grounded in science, FIT helps us lengthen our Choice Point: that moment when we say to ourselves, “Am I going to make the healthy decision, or am I going to choose to take an action that I know will undermine my success?” Merging mindfulness, motivational interviewing, and cognitive behavioral therapy into a user-friendly model—the first non-academic book of its kind—The Choice Point grants us control of the decisions that define us.

Rewired: The McKinsey Guide to Outcompeting in the Age of Digital and AI by Eric Lamarre, Kate Smaje and Rodney Zemmel

In Rewired, the world’s most influential management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, delivers a road-tested, how-to manual their own consultants use to help companies build the capabilities to outcompete in the age of digital and AI. Many companies are stuck with digital transformations that are not moving the needle. There are no quick fixes but there is a playbook. The answer is in rewiring your business so hundreds, thousands, of teams can harness technology to continuously create great customer experiences, lower unit costs, and generate value. It’s the capabilities of the organization that win the race.

How to Work with (Almost) Anyone: Five Questions for Building the Best Possible Relationships by Michael Bungay Stanier

Have you ever had the experience of working with someone and they just didn't “get” you? They do all the things that wind you up, put you off and drive you nuts. And have you ever worked with someone and you just didn't “get” them? You couldn't figure out what made them tick, and you know you were underwhelming as a manager and leader for them. Of course, you have. We all have. Why do those experiences keep happening? Particularly when we’ve also experienced the opposite: great working relationships that soar. In How To Work with (Almost) Anyone, Michael Bungay Stanier shares a tested process that sets up working relationships for the best possible success. It shows you how to communicate about who you are and what brings out the best and the worst in you. It gives you the tools to talk with your colleagues about how you operate, and to set a social contract for how you’ll work together (not just what you’ll be working on). It teaches you how to keep relationships strong and healthy, clear and clean.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:48 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for May 2023

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in May 2023 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

 

Generation Why: How Boomers Can Lead and Learn from Millennials and Gen Z by Karl Moore

Perhaps more than ever before, young people entering the workforce are searching for meaning and authenticity in their careers. This book helps managers understand the postmodern worldview held by generation Z and younger millennials, how it influences their behaviour at work, and how they want to be led in the workplace. Karl Moore takes a practical and down-to-earth approach to understanding what drives millennials and generation Z and how the education system they were brought up in has informed their worldview. Focusing on listening, purpose, reverse mentoring, feedback, and how people relate to each other in the workplace, Generation Why provides the essential tools for effectively working with millennials and generation Z and unlocking their full professional potential.

Beyond Disruption: Innovate and Achieve Growth without Displacing Industries, Companies, or Jobs by W. Chan Kim and Renée A. Mauborgne

Blue Ocean Strategy forever changed how the world thinks about strategy. Now W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne offer up a bold, new idea that will transform how we all think about innovation and growth. Disruption dominates innovation theory and practice. But disruption, for all its power, is destructive—displacing jobs, companies, and even entire industries. Are we missing an alternative approach to innovation and growth? In Blue Ocean Strategy, the authors, reveal another way to innovate and grow. Beyond Disruption redefines and expands the existing view of innovation by introducing a new approach, nondisruptive creation, that is free from the destructive displacement that happens when innovators set out to disrupt.

Culture Shock: An unstoppable force has changed how we work and live. Gallup's solution to the biggest leadership issue of our time. by Jim Clifton and Jim Harter

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an awakening that shocked the world — a structural change in how and where people work and live. One thing we now know for certain: Nothing is going back to normal. How organizations adapt to this culture shock will determine whether they thrive or even survive and whether U.S. and global productivity will go up or down. The immediate danger is that most employees will now operate more like independent contractors or gig workers than employees who are loyal and committed to your organization. The risk grows as your workforce’s mentality continues to shift from my life at work to my life at home. It may become nearly impossible to create a culture of committed team members and powerful relationships at work. How will you maintain your customers’ commitment when you’re struggling to create a culture of dedicated employees who build and strengthen relationships with those customers?

10x Is Easier Than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy

Dan Sullivan, the world's leading coach for highly successful entrepreneurs, wants you to know that achieving 10X growth is exponentially easier than striving for 2X growth. Most find this idea confusing at first because simply imagining 10X growth causes them to think they need to do 10X more work to achieve it. However, being a 10X entrepreneur is nothing like what most people think. 10X is not the outcome; it's a counterintuitive process you can apply every time you want exponential growth in your life and business. To make 10X possible, you must focus on expanding what Dan defines as your four most important freedoms—time, money, relationship, and purpose.

The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams by Seth Godin

What if we could create the best job someone ever had? What if we had that job? The workplace has undergone a massive shift. Remote work and economic instability have depressed innovation and left us disconnected and disengaged. Paychecks no longer buy loyalty, happiness, and effort. Alarmed managers are responding with harsh top-down edicts, layoffs, surveillance and mandatory meetings. Workers are responding by quiet quitting and working their wage. There is a better answer, a human answer, and it is within everyone’s reach. Godin brings us a powerful vision of how we can change the course. The choice is simple: either we keep treating people as disposable, and join in the AI-fueled race to the bottom—or we come together to build a significant organization that enrolls, empowers, and trusts everyone to deliver their best work, no matter where they are.

The Search: Finding Meaningful Work in a Post-Career World by Bruce Feiler

Unprecedented numbers of Americans are quitting their jobs, rethinking their routines, breaking away from stifling expectations. We're still living through the Great Resignation and quiet quitting. The most suffocating iron cage of all is the premise that each of us must have a career. We must follow a linear path of success, locking into a dream early, always climbing higher, never stopping until we reach the top. Few ideas have created more misery, squandered more human potential, or ruined more relationships. Feiler resolved to help us all imagine better. After dismantling the three lies about work, Feiler lays out the one truth: that each of us must write our own story. Showing that the people who are happiest at work don’t climb, but dig, Feiler introduces the six questions to ask in a workquake that allow us to perform a meaning audit, tapping into our truest selves and our deepest hopes to create the meaning we crave and the success we deserve.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:12 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for April 2023

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in April 2023 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

 

The Wisdom of the Bullfrog: Leadership Made Simple (But Not Easy) by Admiral William H. McRaven

The title “Bullfrog” is given to the Navy SEAL who has served the longest on active duty. Admiral McRaven was honored to receive this honor in 2011 when he took charge of the United States Special Operations Command. When McRaven retired in 2014, he had 37 years as a Navy SEAL under his belt, leading men and women at every level of the special operations community. During those four decades, Admiral McRaven dealt with every conceivable leadership challenge, from commanding combat operations—including the capture of Saddam Hussein, the rescue of Captain Phillips, and the raid for Osama bin Laden. THE WISDOM OF THE BULLFROG draws on these and countless other experiences from Admiral McRaven’s incredible life, including crisis situations, management debates, organizational transitions, and ethical dilemmas, to provide readers with the most important leadership lessons he has learned over the course of his forty years of service.

Grace Under Pressure: Leading Through Change and Crisis by John Baldoni

Grace Under Pressure: Leading Through Change and Crisis focuses on three things leaders need to do when change and adversity strike: take care of their people, take care of themselves, and prepare for the future. And they must do it all with a sense of grace—calmly, collectedly, and compassionately. He shares his expertise here, focusing on how leaders need to prepare for change by focusing on what matters most—their people. Among the themes Baldoni explores are fear and loss as well as empathy, resilience, and hope. This book also provides a roadmap for leaders seeking to create community as they meet the coming challenges with dignity and grace.

An Ordinary Man: The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford by Richard Norton Smith

From the preeminent presidential scholar and acclaimed biographer of historical figures including George Washington, Herbert Hoover, and Nelson Rockefeller comes this eye-opening life of Gerald R. Ford, whose presidency arguably set the course for post-liberal America and a post-Cold War world. For many Americans, President Gerald Ford was the genial accident of history who controversially pardoned his Watergate-tarnished predecessor, presided over the fall of Saigon, and became a punching bag on Saturday Night Live. Yet as Richard Norton Smith reveals in a book full of surprises, Ford was an underrated leader whose tough decisions and personal decency look better with the passage of time.

The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears into Your Leadership Superpower by Morra Aarons-Mele

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illnesses in the world. But in our workplaces, anxiety has been a hidden problem—there in plain sight but ignored. Until now. The Anxious Achiever is a book with a mission: to normalize anxiety and leadership. As leadership expert and self-proclaimed anxious achiever Morra Aarons-Mele argues, anxiety is built into the very nature of leadership. It can—and should—be harnessed into a force for good. Inspired by the popular podcast of the same name, The Anxious Achiever is filled with personal stories, research-based insights into mental health, and lots of practical advice.

Awaken Your Genius: Escape Conformity, Ignite Creativity, and Become Extraordinary by Ozan Varol

We say some people march to the beat of a different drummer. But implicit in this cliché is that the rest of us march to the same beat. We sleepwalk through life, find ourselves on well-worn paths that were never ours to walk, and become a silent extra in someone else’s story. Extraordinary people carve their own paths as leaders and creators. They think and act with genuine independence. They stand out from the crowd because they embody their own shape and color. We call these people geniuses—as if they’re another breed. But genius isn’t for a special few. It can be cultivated. This book will show you how. You’ll learn how to discard what no longer serves you and discover your first principles—the qualities that make up your genius. You’ll be equipped to escape your intellectual prisons and generate original insights from your own depths. You’ll discover how to look where others don’t look and see what others don’t see.

The Microstress Effect: How Little Things Pile Up and Create Big Problems--and What to Do about It by Rob Cross and Karen Dillon

There's a force we encounter every day that we aren't aware of—and it threatens to derail otherwise promising careers and lives: microstress. This hidden epidemic of small moments of stress has insidiously infiltrated both our work and our personal lives with invisible but devastating effects. Microstress doesn't trigger the normal stress response in our brains to help us deal with it. Instead, it embeds itself in our minds and accumulates daily, one microstress on top of the other. Unregistered microstress weighs us down, damages our physical and emotional health, and contributes to a decline in our well-being. What's more, microstress is baked into our lives. The source is seldom a classic antagonist, such as a demanding client or a jerk boss. Instead, it comes from the people with whom we are closest: our friends, family, and colleagues. The good news is that once you understand microstress, you can fight back.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:40 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for March 2023

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in March 2023 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

 

The Four Workarounds: Strategies from the World's Scrappiest Organizations for Tackling Complex Problems by Paulo Savaget

We constantly encounter complex problems at home, in our places of work, and in society at large. Even if we had all the time and money in the world, sometimes no good solution can be found. So, what should we do, especially when we can’t wait? The answer: a workaround. The Four Workarounds shows how seemingly intractable problems―from public urination to the challenges of delivering lifesaving medicine to remote communities―were addressed using unconventional tactics. Some of the world’s biggest and most admired companies are already using Savaget’s research to transform the ways they do business. And these same lessons can also revolutionize the ways we approach the challenges we all encounter every day of our lives.

The 16 Undeniable Laws of Communication: Apply Them and Make the Most of Your Message by John C. Maxwell

How can you overcome fear or ineffectiveness as a speaker? Learn the Laws of Communication! In The 16 Undeniable Laws of Communication, John C. Maxwell shares everything he’s learned from a lifetime of communication. Learn how to: Speak from conviction, Prepare your content and yourself for speaking, Find and use your personal and communication strengths, Focus on your audience and connect, Tell better stories, Read the room and create energy and anticipation, Add value to people, and Inspire people to take action

Culture Rules: The Leader's Guide to Creating the Ultimate Competitive Advantage by Mark Miller

Culture Rules is a clarion call for leaders around the world. The pandemic has magnified the essential role that culture plays in an organization’s health, vitality, and sustainability—some passed the test with flying colors while others are seeing with fresh eyes, deeply rooted issues and challenges within their culture. Most important, this book is not just another compilation of case studies. Culture Rules makes the case for why leaders should invest their time and energy on building culture and gives them three simple, actionable rules they must play by if they want to stay in the game and win!

Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World by Ginni Rometty

Former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty recounts in Good Power, her groundbreaking path from a challenging childhood to becoming the CEO of IBM and one of the world's most influential business leaders. With candor and depth, Rometty shares milestones from her life and career while redefining power as a way to drive meaningful change in positive ways for ourselves, our organizations, and for the many, not just the few—a concept she calls "good power." Rometty's "memoir with purpose" combines the experiences that defined her life—personal hurdles, high-stakes decisions, passionate advocacy—with the actionable advice of a coaching session to highlight lessons that shape authentic leadership. Behind-the-scenes stories and practical guidance offer us a blueprint for how we can all use good power to advance our careers, inspire our teams, improve our companies, and create healthier societies.

Mixed Signals: How Incentives Really Work by Uri Gneezy

Incentives send powerful signals that aim to influence behavior. But often there is a conflict between what we say and what we do in response to these incentives. The result: mixed signals. Consider the CEO who urges teamwork but designs incentives for individual success, who invites innovation but punishes failure, who emphasizes quality but pays for quantity. Employing real-world scenarios just like this to illustrate this everyday phenomenon, behavioral economist Uri Gneezy explains why incentives often fail and demonstrates how the right incentives can change behavior by aligning with signals for better results.

Magic Words by Jonah Berger

Marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Jonah Berger’s cutting-edge research reveals how six types of words can increase your impact in every area of life: from persuading others and building stronger relationships, to boosting creativity and motivating teams. Almost everything we do involves words. Words are how we persuade, communicate, and connect. They’re how leaders lead, salespeople sell, and parents parent. They’re how teachers teach, policymakers govern, and doctors explain. Even our private thoughts rely on language. But certain words are more impactful than others. They’re better at changing minds, engaging audiences, and driving action. What are these magic words, and how can we take advantage of their power?

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:33 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for February 2023

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in February 2023 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

 

Culture Is the Way: How Leaders at Every Level Build an Organization for Speed, Impact, and Excellence by Matt Mayberry

Former NFL Pro, world-renowned keynote speaker, and management consultant Matt Mayberry delivers an incisive and hands-on blueprint to employee engagement and peak productivity. In the book, you'll explore how leaders, at every level, can build a workplace culture that drives organizational excellence and unleashes the full potential of every employee. You’ll also learn: how to build a culture where people can become the best version of themselves and transform organizational performance, five common roadblocks that prevent leaders from using culture to get the best from their people and how to overcome them, and how to implement your playbook for cultural excellence across your entire organization.

Upshift: Turning Pressure into Performance and Crisis into Creativity by Ben Ramalingam

With over two decades’ experience both observing and interpreting how people channel disaster into opportunity in the most extreme circumstances and environments on Earth, Ben Ramalingam has a unique vantage point from which to identify the key principles that can enable anyone to use stress as an opportunity for change. In Upshift, Ramalingam distils this expertise into an insightful, powerful, and engaging book that will show you how to reframe your set responses to stress and pressure and instead use them to harness the potential they hold not just for improving your work, your relationships, and your mindset, but for transforming them.

Come Up for Air: How Teams Can Leverage Systems and Tools to Stop Drowning in Work by Nick Sonnenberg

“There just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done!” Sound familiar? Forget the old concepts of time management and the hustle culture of working until you burn out. You and your entire team can get more done, in far fewer hours, with the right blueprint. Come Up for Air is that blueprint. Through years of building a leading efficiency consulting business, Nick Sonnenberg has discovered the primary reason why so many teams are overwhelmed. It’s not because they don’t have enough time, managers expect too much of their employees, or there aren’t enough people. The problem is that everyone is drowning in unnecessary work and inefficiencies that prevent them from focusing on the work that drives results. In Come Up for Air, you’ll discover the CPR® Business Efficiency Framework, a proven system for leaders, managers, and teams to maximize their performance and reduce overwhelm by using the right tools in the right way, at the right time.

Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential by Matt Higgins

Executive fellow at Harvard Business School, Guest Shark on Shark Tank, and famed angel investor Matt Higgins reveals the counterintuitive formula for a life of perpetual growth that has been practiced for thousands of years by military leaders and serial entrepreneurs alike—forget the Plan B and burn the boats. From Sun Tzu to Julius Caesar, the ancient Israelites to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, there’s a bold and highly effective tactic seen throughout history—when leaders want to motivate their troops for success, they destroy all opportunities for retreat, and go all-in on the mission. They burn their boats; it’s win or perish, and the clarity of sheer desperation propels them to victory.

Real-Time Leadership: Find Your Winning Moves When the Stakes Are High by David Noble and Carol Kauffman

The best leaders, in the biggest moments, know how to read the situation, respond in the most effective way possible, and move forward. You can, too. Leadership coaching legends David Noble and Carol Kauffman show you how with their innovative new framework—MOVE—which equips you with the tactics you need to slow down high-stakes situations before they speed you up. You'll learn to master the moment, generate response options, and quickly evaluate those options before acting. As you get better and better at using the framework, you'll find you can recognize these moments as they arrive, like a great athlete who can read the field as a play unfolds or a great conductor who anticipates what's needed to deliver a great performance..

Intrinsic Motivation: Learn to Love Your Work and Succeed as Never Before by Stefan Falk

Intrinsic motivation―doing a thing for its inherent satisfaction rather than external rewards―is the key to success and satisfaction in any endeavor. A legendary performance coach shares his simple, proven, and fun methods for cultivating and keeping it. As more of us work remotely and the frequency of our in-person contact decreases, this desire for connection and trust has only become more important; the social drive is so strong that our body temperature drops when we feel excluded. To satisfy our psychological needs in today’s professional world, we must pursue them consciously and purposefully―but unfortunately, most of us don't know how to do so effectively. Instead, we waste our time on ineffective coping strategies that often make us feel even worse. The true solution to becoming happier, healthier, and more productive is to become intrinsically motivated.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:53 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for January 2023

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in January 2023 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

 

When Everyone Leads: How The Toughest Challenges Get Seen And Solved by Ed O’Malley and Julia Fabris McBride

Leadership is engaging others to solve daunting challenges. Those challenges appear in our professional lives, in our communities, our families―and they seem unsolvable, beyond our ability to see what needs to be done or outside our capacity to make the changes needed. They are not. Because, leadership is an activity―small actions taken in moments of opportunity. And as you start to look around, you can begin to see more of those moments, seize the opportunity in those moments. Most importantly, you can help others see those opportunities too.

Disruptable: Break Away From Ordinary by Allan Young

When was the last time you pushed yourself beyond your comfort zone and dared to fail? In Disruptable, Allan Young shows you how embracing your different, getting outside your comfort zone, observing the impossible, daring to fail, and taking purposeful action will set you on a path of intentional personal disruption that will change your world forever. If you are ready to face your fears and embrace your failures, you can also enjoy the freedom of limitless growth.

Finding the Way: The Entrepreneur's Tale by Cap Treeger

A tale of mentorship, hard truths, and the path to success. In this fictional account of an entrepreneur's rollercoaster ride to the top, Cap Treeger crafts a series of dynamic, well-drawn lessons for anyone that wants to start or build a business. The hero of the story, Ren, is fired up with ambition and has a strategic dream in place to build his own startup from the ground up, but he has a lot to learn about how this particular sector of the business world works. Ren's journey guides readers through numerous factors necessary for success, including building a solid team with strategic placement of individuals in carefully selected roles appropriate to their skill sets and crafting the all-important business model. Ren navigates the daunting process with grace and hands readers an account loaded with insight-rendering Finding the Way, told in a straightforward and reader-friendly manner, a valuable gem amidst business-building literature.

Into the Metaverse: The Essential Guide to the Business Opportunities of the Web3 Era by Cathy Hackl

Essential reading for any executive, Into the Metaverse, will reshape how you think about the internet and its place for those who want to lead successful businesses, today and into the future. If the internet was first used to connect us to information, and then developed into a social media forum to connect people, then Web3, which connects people, places and things, will help enable the successor state to today's mobile internet - the Metaverse. It will bring together and merge our physical and digital lives, and - in the same way that social media upended our lives and our businesses - the Metaverse will shake things up even more. Into the Metaverse is the essential business guide to understanding the ground-breaking technologies that enable this monumental shift and the opportunities it presents from a business and societal perspective.

The Power of Potential: How a Nontraditional Workforce Can Lead You to Run Your Business Better by Tom D'Eri

Why so much hoopla over a successful car wash? Roughly 80 percent of Rising Tide’s workforce consists of people with autism. While part of the success comes from their mission, that doesn’t explain the excellence that permeates every aspect of the business: service quality, customer experience, teamwork, management, and organizational design. The Power of Potential tells the inspiring, surprising reason why: The wash’s excellence isn’t in spite of their unusual workforce, but because of it. Thanks to their unconventional staff, the Rising Tide team was able to discover and correct common problems that typically fly under the radar in businesses. By spotting and correcting these hidden problems, any business, with any kind of workers, can achieve unexpected wins and leave average behind. The common problems include: You Hire Based on Interviews, You Think Great Talent Is the Secret to a Great Business, Your Managers Are “Good Enough,” and You Fire Your Worst Employees. To our surprise, solving the four problems changed who we were as a company. The result was four unexpected wins that added up to a culture of excellence—but leadership is needed to reinforce what matters.

Leading in a Non-Linear World: Building Wellbeing, Strategic and Innovation Mindsets for the Future by Jean Gomes

Leading in a Non-Linear World leads readers through a groundbreaking set of science-based strategies to help them face rising demand, uncertainty and change posed by disruptive technologies and seismic shifts in globalisation. The book shows how our mindset, more than our knowledge and expertise, has the potential to be our greatest asset in facing the future. Jean Gomes reviews the latest brain research revealing that our mindset is the interplay of feeling, thinking, and seeing, and how we can build it to significantly increase our wellbeing and performance.

New Edition of Classic Leadership Book:

In the new seventh edition of The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations, best-selling leadership authors and business scholars James Kouzes and Barry Posner deliver an essential strategic playbook for effective leadership. The most trusted source of leadership wisdom, updated to address today's realities.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:11 AM
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The Best Leadership Books of 2022

The titles listed below—published in 2022—reflect a need to get realigned with solid leadership practices and thinking.

 

Smart Growth: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company
by Whitney Johnson

(Harvard Business Review Press, 2022)

Growth is the goal. Helping people develop their potential—enabling them to articulate and become the self they want to be, are capable of being, and that best serves them and others in the short and long term—is what we as individuals and leaders strive toward. But how do we grow? It turns out it happens in a predictable way, which means we can understand where we are in our growth and chart a way forward. In this compact, complete guide, Whitney Johnson dives more deeply than ever into the S Curve of Learning so that you can envision how growth happens and direct yourself and others in your organization to create a culture that fosters it. The growth and learning journey comes in three phases: the Launch Point, the Sweet Spot, and Mastery. Compelling examples of successful people will show you when and why growth is slow, how to keep going, what to do when growth and learning are almost too fast to keep up with, and how to leap from one growth journey to another. (Blog Post)

The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists
by Richard P. Rumelt

(PublicAffairs, 2022)

What passes for strategy in too many businesses, government agencies, and military operations is a toxic mix of wishful thinking and a jumble of incoherent policies. Richard P. Rumelt’s breakthrough concept is that leaders become effective strategists when they focus on challenges rather than goals, pinpointing the crux of their pivotal challenge—the aspect that is both surmountable and promises the greatest progress—and taking decisive, coherent action to overcome it. (Blog Post)

Trust and Inspire: How Truly Great Leaders Unleash Greatness in Others
by Stephen M.R. Covey

(Simon & Schuster, 2022)

We have a leadership crisis today, where even though our world has changed drastically, our leadership style has not. Most organizations, teams, schools, and families today still operate from a model of “command and control,” focusing on hierarchies and compliance from people. But because of the changing nature of the world, the workforce, work itself, and the choices we have for where and how to work and live, this way of leading is drastically outdated. Stephen M.R. Covey has made it his life’s work to understand trust in leadership and organizations. He offers a simple yet bold solution: to shift from this “command and control” model to a leadership style of “trust and inspire.” People don’t want to be managed; they want to be led. Trust and Inspire is a new way of leading that starts with the belief that people are creative, collaborative, and full of potential. (Blog Post)

Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making
by Tony Fadell

(Harper Business, 2022)

After building the iPod, the iPhone, and co-founding Nest, Tony Fadell’s latest venture is an investment firm called Future Shape. They call themselves “mentors with money.” Their aim is to not only provide funding but help when founders really need it. Build is an incredible opportunity to learn how to start, grow, and exit a business from someone who has been through it all. Obviously, he didn’t do everything right along the way, but he did learn from it, and he shares the lessons with us. (Blog Post)

CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest
by Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller and Vikram Malhotra

(Scribner, 2022)

From the world’s most influential management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, an insight-packed, revelatory look at how the best CEOs do their jobs based on extensive interviews with today’s most successful corporate leaders—including chiefs at Netflix, JPMorgan Chase, General Motors, and Sony. Being a CEO at any of the world’s largest companies is among the most challenging roles in business. Billions, and even trillions, are at stake—and the fates of tens of thousands of employees often hang in the balance. Yet, even when “can’t miss” high-achievers win the top job, very few excel. Thirty percent of Fortune 500 CEOs last fewer than three years, and two out of five new CEOs are perceived to be failing within eighteen months. For those who shoulder the burden of being the one on whom everyone counts, a manual for excellence is sorely needed. (Blog Post)

A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness
by Roger L. Martin

(Harvard Business Review Press, 2022)

Over a stellar career, Roger Martin has advised the CEOs of some of the world's most successful companies. From the beginning, he noted that almost every executive he talked to had a "model"—a framework or way of thinking that guided their strategy and activities. But these models tended to become automatic, so much so that when one didn't work, the typical response was just to apply it again—with greater enthusiasm. Martin took a fresh, critical approach to helping. When company leaders came to him with fundamental questions—How do you decide where to play and how to win? What is the key to shaping and changing corporate culture? How can you design a successful, sustainable innovation process?—his first response was to break the spell of the current model with a memo articulating a new way to think about the problem at hand and a more powerful and effective way to successfully overcome it. (Blog Post)

Build for Tomorrow: An Action Plan for Embracing Change, Adapting Fast, and Future-Proofing Your Career
by Jason Feifer

(Harmony, 2022)

The moments of greatest change can also be the moments of greatest opportunity. Adapt more quickly and use the power of change to your advantage with this guide from the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine and host of the Build for Tomorrow podcast. We experience change in four phases. The first is panic. Then we adapt. Then we find a new normal. And then, finally, we reach the phase we could not have imagined in the beginning, the moment when we realize that we wouldn’t go back. Build for Tomorrow is designed to accelerate that process—to help you lessen your panic, adapt faster, define the new normal, and thrive going forward. (Blog Post)

The 6 Types of Working Genius: A Better Way to Understand Your Gifts, Your Frustrations, and Your Team
by Patrick M. Lencioni

(Matt Holt, 2022)

The 6 Types of Working Genius is the fastest way to help people identify the type of work that brings them joy and energy, and avoid work that leads to frustration and burnout. Beyond the personal discovery and instant relief that Working Genius provides, the model also gives teams a remarkably simple and practical framework for tapping into one another’s natural gifts. In classic Lencioni fashion, Pat brings his model to life in a page-turning fable that is as relatable as it is compelling. He tells the story of Bull Brooks, an entrepreneur, husband, and father who sets out to solve his own frustration at work and stumbles into a new way of thinking that changes the way he sees his work, his team, and even his marriage. In addition to this book, Lencioni and the Table Group have created a 10-minute assessment that helps individuals quickly identify their gifts and apply this model to themselves and their teams. (Blog Post)

Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People)
by Amy Gallo

(Harvard Business Review Press, 2022)

Work relationships can be hard. The stress of dealing with difficult people dampens our creativity and productivity, degrades our ability to think clearly and make sound decisions, and causes us to disengage. We might lie awake at night worrying, withdraw from work, or react in ways we later regret—rolling our eyes in a meeting, snapping at colleagues, or staying silent when we should speak up. In Getting Along, workplace expert and Harvard Business Review podcast host Amy Gallo identifies eight familiar types of difficult coworkers—the insecure boss, the passive-aggressive peer, the know-it-all, the biased coworker, and others—and provides strategies tailored to dealing constructively with each one. (Blog Post)

Why Managers Matter: The Perils of the Bossless Company
by Nicolai J Foss and Peter G Klein

(PublicAffairs, 2022)

It’s tempting to be seduced by futurist fantasies where every company has the culture of a startup, and where employees in wacky, whimsical office settings, liberated from hierarchies and bosses that oppress them, are the foundation for breakthrough performance. “Get real,” warn Nicolai J. Foss and Peter G. Klein. These fads ironically lead to micromanaging and, often, to disaster. Companies and societies, they show, need authority and hierarchy to coordinate work, including creative work. And, counterintuitively, they illustrate how the creative use of authority and hierarchy helps companies to be more agile and flexible, enabling educated, motivated people and teams to thrive. And not a moment too soon: they provide evidence that global challenges such as the proliferation of artificial intelligence, economic disruption, empowered knowledge workers, and black swan events such as the pandemic actually make hierarchy and the job of the manager more important than ever. (Blog Post)

Ideaflow: The Only Business Metric That Matters
by Jeremy Utley and Perry Klebahn

(Portfolio, 2022)

We all want great ideas, but few actually understand how they’re born. Innovation doesn’t come from a sprint or a hackathon--it’s a result of maximizing ideaflow. Jeremy Utley and Perry Klebahn of Stanford’s renowned Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (aka the “d.school”) offer a proven strategy for coming up with great ideas by yourself or with your team, and quickly determining which are worthy. Perhaps you have experienced low ideaflow. Have you been in that quiet conference room, with a half-filled whiteboard, and an unmet business target?. With the proven system in this book, entrepreneurs, managers, and leaders will learn how to tap into surprising and valuable ideas on demand and fill the creative pipeline with breakthrough ideas. (Blog Post)

Decisions Over Decimals: Striking the Balance between Intuition and Information
by Paul F. Magnone, Christopher J. Frank and Oded Netzer

(Wiley, 2022)

Agile decision making is imperative as you lead in a data-driven world. Amid streams of data and countless meetings, we make hasty decisions, slow decisions, and often no decisions. Uniquely bridging theory and practice, Decisions Over Decimals breaks this pattern by uniting data intelligence with human judgment to get to action – a sharp approach the authors refer to as Quantitative Intuition (QI). QI raises the power of thinking beyond big data without neglecting it and chasing the perfect decision while appreciating that such a thing can never really exist. Successful decision-makers square critical thinking with open-mindedness by blending information, intuition, and experience.

The Human Side of Innovation: The Power of People in Love with People
by Mauro Porcini

(Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2022)

It is in part a memoir by one of the world’s leading designers—the first chief design officer at both 3M and Pepsi. But even more, it is a manifesto for a genuine, authentic, and deeply humanistic approach to design, one that aims to create personal and social value first and financial and economic value afterward. Putting people first requires what Porcini calls unicorns: people who are in love with people, who have a genuine fire in them to create meaningful solutions for actual human beings. In this book, he describes them, celebrates them, and details their superpowers so you can find them, hire them, grow them, and retain them.

Executive Presence: Step Into Your Power, Convey Confidence, & Lead With Conviction
by Joel A. Garfinkle

(JAG Press, 2022)

Executive presence matters. When 400 CEOs were asked how they choose next-level leaders, 89% of them said they looked for one critical trait-executive presence. This quality is crucial for professional success. In Executive Presence, Joel Garfinkle shows you how to step into your power, convey confidence, and lead with conviction. As you rise in your organization, your executive presence must keep pace with your growth. The higher the stakes, the more you need that power and presence. (Blog Post)

 

BIOGRAPHY

The President's Man: The Memoirs of Nixon's Trusted Aide
by Dwight Chapin

(William Morrow, 2022)

From Richard Nixon’s “You-won’t-have-Nixon-to-kick-around-anymore” 1962 gubernatorial campaign through his world-changing trips to China and the Soviet Union and epic downfall, Dwight Chapin was by his side. As his personal aide and then Deputy Assistant in the White House Chapin was with him in his most private and most public moments. He traveled with him, assisted, advised, strategized, campaigned and learned from America’s most controversial president. As Bob Haldeman’s protege, Chapin worked with Henry Kissinger in opening China—then eventually went to prison for Watergate although he had no involvement in it. It’s a story that ranges from Coretta Scott King to Elvis Presley, from the wonder of entering a closed Chinese society to the Oval Office, and concludes with startling new insights and conclusions about the break-in that brought down Nixon’s presidency. (Blog Post)

Becoming FDR: The Personal Crisis That Made a President
by Jonathan Darman

(Random House, 2022)

Becoming FDR traces the riveting story of the struggle that forged Roosevelt’s character and political ascent. Soon after contracting polio in 1921 at the age of thirty-nine, the former failed vice-presidential candidate was left paralyzed from the waist down. He spent much of the next decade trying to rehabilitate his body and adapt to the stark new reality of his life. By the time he reemerged on the national stage in 1928 as the Democratic candidate for governor of New York, his character and his abilities had been transformed. He had become compassionate and shrewd by necessity, tailoring his speeches to inspire listeners and to reach them through a new medium—radio. Tracing the physical, political, and personal evolution of the iconic president, Becoming FDR shows how adversity can lead to greatness, and to the power to remake the world. (Blog Post)

A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland
by Troy Senik

(Simon & Schuster/Threshold Editions, 2022)

Featuring a wealth of in-depth research and newly uncovered details, A Man of Iron explores the remarkable life and extraordinary career of Grover Cleveland—one of America’s most unusual presidents and the only one to serve two non-consecutive terms. Grover Cleveland’s political career—a dizzying journey that saw him rise from obscure lawyer to president of the United States in just three years—was marked by contradictions. A politician of uncharacteristic honesty and principle, he was nevertheless dogged by secrets from his personal life. A believer in limited government, he pushed presidential power to its limits to combat a crippling depression, suppress labor unrest, and resist the forces of American imperialism. A headstrong executive who alienated Congress, political bosses, and even his own party, his stubbornness nevertheless became the key to his political appeal. The most successful Democratic politician of his era, he came to be remembered most fondly by Republicans. (Blog Post)

12 Notes: On Life and Creativity
by Quincy Jones

(Abrams Image, 2022)

12 Notes is a self-development guide that will affirm that creativity is a calling that can and should be answered, no matter your age or experience. Drawing from his own life, and those of his many creative collaborators past and present, Quincy Jones presents readers with lessons that are hardworking and accessible, yet speak to the passion of self-expression. He includes sections as deep as how to transform grief into power, and as practical as how to set goals and articulate intentions through daily affirmations. Weaving his story throughout, Jones lets readers in on his own creative process, as well as the importance of letting honesty, hard work, and good relationships drive your career. (Blog Post)

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 11:00 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for December 2022

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in December 2022 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

 

How to Calm Your Mind: Finding Presence and Productivity in Anxious Times by Chris Bailey

When productivity expert Chris Bailey discovered that he had become stressed and burnt out because he was pushing himself too hard, he realized that before he could continue to give advice on productivity, he needed to learn how to rein things in and take a break. Productivity advice works—and we need it now more than ever—but it’s just as vital that we also develop our capacity for calm. By finding calm and overcoming anxiety, we don’t just feel more relaxed and at ease—we invest in the missing piece that leads our efforts to become sustainable over time. We build a deeper, more expansive reservoir of energy to draw from throughout the day, and have greater mental resources at our disposal to do good work and live a meaningful life.

Make It Count: Ensuring When Life Expires Your Legacy Lives On by Hunter Ballew

Make It Count came about after a serious and unfortunate incident. Hunter was chasing his dreams, moving from serving in the US Marine Corps for six years, to working as a full-time Firefighter and EMT, to exploring entrepreneurship. He was contemplating his move from the fire department to live his passion of owning a business when it happened ― his friend and former partner at the fire department, Jordan, was killed in a tragic car crash. The incident struck Hunter deeply as he realized that Jordan, who had made such a mark on the lives of those who knew him, wasn't going to be around to do that anymore. His life had unexpectedly ended at the young age of 30, and he had run out of time — no more memories made with his wife and newborn daughter, no more time with his family and friends, no more chances to fulfill his dreams. So that's when Hunter decided to practice one of the dominating principles he teaches in his new book: help others realize the importance of making the most of the time they're given and building a legacy that will last.

Better Humans, Better Performance: Driving Leadership, Teamwork, and Culture with Intentionality by Peter Rea, James Stoller, and Alan Kolp

Build a sustainable high-performance culture around the seven classical virtues. Virtue is more than a word: It’s a way for us all to live, a way to flourish as human beings. And when applied to organizational life, virtue serves to enhance engagement, strengthen teamwork, and foster success in business. Better Humans, Better Performance connects the classical virtues―Trust, Compassion, Courage, Justice, Temperance, Wisdom, and Hope

Leveling Up: 12 Questions to Elevate Your Personal and Professional Development by Ryan Leak

Whether you're a leader of ten, a hundred, or many more, there's no one more important to lead than yourself. If you're not leading yourself, why would anyone else want to follow you? Ryan Leak speaks to thousands of leaders every year, and he has learned that the most successful people have taken ownership of their own development—and in order to realize your potential, you need to fully understand yourself. Being a great leader is not about having all the answers but asking the right questions—and that starts with careful introspection and inviting others to tell you what they see in you. Leveling Up helps you focus on the person you're becoming and think about the goals you want to accomplish

The Bold Ones: Innovate and Disrupt to Become Truly Indispensable by Shawn Kanungo

Disruption for disruption's sake isn't a smart strategy when you're seeking ways to accelerate your career and become truly indispensable. In The Bold Ones, you'll discover it's more about being bold than disruptive: being simultaneously confident enough to challenge industries, yet practical enough to recreate them. Internationally celebrated disruption strategist Shawn Kanungo offers a playbook for individuals who know they need to become bolder to push their careers and companies forward―but don't know how to innovate: You'll learn where to start, what to do, and how to break through with your ideas. Distilling lessons learned from some of the world's most extraordinary disruptors, The Bold Ones presents eight unconventional pillars to success.

Wise Decisions: A Science-Based Approach to Making Better Choices by Sheila Ohlsson and James E. Loehr

Every 15 minutes, each of us can make ten or more small decisions. Some of them are relatively inconsequential, while others can change the course of our lives. What if you could improve all of your decisions, across the board, and start to build a healthier, more productive, and meaningful life? In Wise Decisions: A Science-Based Approach to Making Better Choices, a team of accomplished industry experts delivers an evidence- and research-based blueprint for making the best decisions you can with the information you have. You’ll learn to make the targeted, repeated investment of energy required to turn your decision-making process into one informed by reason, emotion, intuition, and science.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:48 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for November 2022

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in November 2022 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

 

The Tao of Alibaba: Inside the Chinese Digital Giant That Is Changing the World by Brian A Wong

If you took the economic might of Amazon, and added the penetration of Facebook, the ubiquity of Google, and the cultural significance of YouTube, you might have something starting to resemble Alibaba. Commonly mischaracterized as a kind of Chinese eBay for businesses, Alibaba and its interlinked network of products and services have exploded into global markets, disrupting conventional businesses and creating previously unimaginable opportunities for millions of small businesses worldwide. This book reveals the Tao of Alibaba—the company’s “secret sauce”—a consciously cultivated ethos and spirit that has enabled Alibaba to weather tough times and setbacks, and persist toward a common mission. It is a blueprint of the company’s management philosophy, crystalized into the most important elements that have driven its success, and it provides a road map for how to incorporate these principles into any organization’s operations.

Smarter Collaboration: A New Approach to Breaking Down Barriers and Transforming Work by Heidi K. Gardner and Ivan A. Matviak

Based on their research with thousands of executives from around the world, the authors share deep insights on how to implement smarter collaboration and avoid the potential pitfalls. They also help leaders troubleshoot thorny challenges like misaligned incentives, collaboration overload, and unintended consequences on diversity and inclusion. Complete with how-tos and cases, the book concludes with inspiring examples of groups harnessing smarter collaboration to tackle society's biggest challenges such as saving the oceans, eradicating diseases, and tackling global warming. Smarter Collaboration is the essential guide for forward-thinking leaders to transform their organizations, reshape the way they work, and increase impact and success.

Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon by William D. Cohan

In a masterful re-appraisal of a company that once claimed to “bring good things to life,” pre-eminent financial journalist William D. Cohan argues that the incredible story of GE’s rise and fall is not only a paragon, but also a prism through which we can better understand American capitalism. Beginning with its founding, innovations, and exponential growth through acquisitions and mergers, Cohan plumbs the depths of GE's storied management culture, its pioneering doctrine of shareholder value, and its seemingly hidden blind spots, to reveal that GE wasn't immune from the hubris and avoidable mistakes suffered by many other corporations. In Power Failure, Cohan punctures the myth of GE, exploring in a rich narrative how a once-great company wound up broken and in tatters—a cautionary tale for the ages.

Civility Rules! Creating A Purposeful Practice Of Civility by Shelby Joy Scarbrough

Civility Rules! offers an opportunity to learn about the history, substance, and significance of civility through the lens of George Washington’s “Rules of Civility.” Drawing on personal experience, real-life examples, and a foundational belief that civility is integral to a democratic society, author Shelby Scarbrough shares how we might work toward a more perfect union by building a personal practice of civility. Civility is not an archaic concept of manners and politeness but rather a crucial component of a functioning democracy. Shelby shows us how―with conscientious practice and patience―we can each contribute to the preservation of our democracy, one interaction at a time.

Leading Through Inflation: And Recession and Stagflation by Ram Charan and Geri Willigan

This book will be your guide to avoiding the hazards of inflation while positioning your company to thrive when the business cycle stabilizes. It provides Ram’s down-to-earth recommendations and real-world examples to help you navigate a landscape that may be new to you. As you learn to lead through inflation, you will be better prepared for recession and stagflation as well. You will know how to protect your cash, your customers, and your capital investments. Your psychology will shift from anxiety and fear to optimism and excitement as you define the path to a reimagined future.

The Burnout Challenge: Managing People’s Relationships with Their Jobs by Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter

Burnout is among the most significant on-the-job hazards facing workers today. It is also among the most misunderstood. Citing a wealth of research data and drawing on illustrative anecdotes, The Burnout Challenge shows how organizations can change to promote sustainable productivity. Maslach and Leiter provide useful tools for identifying the signs of employee burnout, most often exhaustion, cynicism, and ineffectiveness. They also advise managers on assembling and interpreting worker self-evaluation surveys, which can reveal workplace problems and potential solutions. And when it comes to implementing change, Maslach and Leiter offer practical, evidence-driven guidance. The key, they argue, is to begin with less-taxing changes that employees nonetheless find meaningful, seeding the ground for more thorough reforms in the future.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:08 AM
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10 Books to Get You Back to Work – Fall 2022

SUMMER is over. It’s time to take stock of where you are and prepare now to improve your leadership.

Books have the power to break the inertia in our lives—help us to shift gears—to see in a new way. These titles can help us to recalibrate the structures in our lives to defeat inertia and raise our standards.

Here are ten books to help you get back to work ... better.

  The 6 Types of Working Genius: A Better Way to Understand Your Gifts, Your Frustrations, and Your Team
by Patrick M. Lencioni - (September 2022)

  Why Managers Matter: The Perils of the Bossless Company
by Nicolai J Foss and Peter G Klein - (October 2022)

  Decisions Over Decimals: Striking the Balance between Intuition and Information
by Paul F. Magnone, Christopher J. Frank and Oded Netzer - (October 2022)

  Ideaflow: The Only Business Metric That Matters
by Jeremy Utley and Perry Klebahn - (October 2022)

  A New Kind of Diversity: Making the Different Generations on Your Team a Competitive Advantage
by Tim Elmore - (October 2022)

  Build for Tomorrow: An Action Plan for Embracing Change, Adapting Fast, and Future-Proofing Your Career
by Jason Feifer - (September 2022)

  Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People)
by Amy Gallo - (September 2022)

  Leadership Two Words at a Time: Simple Truths for Leading Complicated People
by Bill Treasurer - (September 2022)

  You're the Leader. Now What? Leadership Lessons from Mayo Clinic
by Richard Winters - (September 2022)

  Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away
by Annie Duke - (October 2022)

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:44 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for October 2022

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in October 2022 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

 

Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away by Annie Duke

Business leaders, with millions of dollars down the drain, struggle to abandon a new app or product that just isn’t working. Governments, caught in a hopeless conflict, believe that the next tactic will finally be the one that wins the war. And in our own lives, we persist in relationships or careers that no longer serve us. Why? According to Annie Duke, in the face of tough decisions, we’re terrible quitters. And that is significantly holding us back. In Quit, Duke teaches you how to get good at quitting. Drawing on stories from elite athletes like Mount Everest climbers, founders of leading companies like Stewart Butterfield, the CEO of Slack, and top entertainers like Dave Chappelle, Duke explains why quitting is integral to success, as well as strategies for determining when to hold em, and when to fold em, that will save you time, energy, and money.

Why Managers Matter: The Perils of the Bossless Company by Nicolai J Foss and Peter G Klein

It’s tempting to be seduced by futurist fantasies where every company has the culture of a startup, and where employees in wacky, whimsical office settings, liberated from hierarchies and bosses that oppress them, are the foundation for breakthrough performance. “Get real,” warn Nicolai J. Foss and Peter G. Klein. These fads ironically lead to micromanaging and, often, to disaster. Companies and societies, they show, need authority and hierarchy to coordinate work, including creative work. And, counterintuitively, they illustrate how the creative use of authority and hierarchy helps companies to be more agile and flexible, enabling educated, motivated people and teams to thrive. And not a moment too soon: they provide evidence that global challenges such as the proliferation of artificial intelligence, economic disruption, empowered knowledge workers, and black swan events such as the pandemic actually make hierarchy and the job of the manager more important than ever.

Decisions Over Decimals: Striking the Balance between Intuition and Information by Paul F. Magnone, Christopher J. Frank and Oded Netzer

Agile decision making is imperative as you lead in a data-driven world. Amid streams of data and countless meetings, we make hasty decisions, slow decisions, and often no decisions. Uniquely bridging theory and practice, Decisions Over Decimals breaks this pattern by uniting data intelligence with human judgment to get to action – a sharp approach the authors refer to as Quantitative Intuition (QI). QI raises the power of thinking beyond big data without neglecting it and chasing the perfect decision while appreciating that such a thing can never really exist. Successful decision-makers square critical thinking with open-mindedness by blending information, intuition, and experience.

When Women Lead: What They Achieve, Why They Succeed, and How We Can Learn from Them by Julia Boorstin

Yes, women faced massive social and institutional headwinds, and struggled with double standards and what psychologists call “pattern matching.” Yet those who thrived, Boorstin found, shared key commonalities that made them uniquely equipped to lead, grow businesses, and navigate crises. They were highly adaptive to change, deeply empathetic in their management style, and much more likely to integrate diverse points of view into their business strategies, filling voids that their male counterparts had overlooked for generations. By utilizing those strengths, they had invented new business models, disrupted industries, and made massive profits along the way. Featuring new interviews with Katrina Lake, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jenn Hyman, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Lena Waithe, Shivani Siroya, Julia Collins, and more, When Women Lead is a radical blueprint for the future of business, and our world at large.

Irresistible: The Seven Secrets of the World's Most Enduring, Employee-Focused Organizations by Josh Bersin

In this leadership book, renowned industry analyst Josh Bersin introduces a new way to think about organizational design, employee engagement, and employee development. Distilled from decades of research and management theory into seven practical yet profound management principles, Bersin outlines how business leaders can create enduring companies that thrive with improved customer satisfaction, employee retention, and business agility. Leaders of irresistible companies understand that by unleashing the power of the human spirit, their companies can go faster and farther than their competitors by empowering people and creating employee-centric cultures. If you can make your company—large or small—irresistible, your employees will contribute, innovate, and grow more than you thought possible.

Ideaflow: The Only Business Metric That Matters by Jeremy Utley and Perry Klebahn

We all want great ideas, but few actually understand how they’re born. Innovation doesn’t come from a sprint or a hackathon--it’s a result of maximizing ideaflow. Jeremy Utley and Perry Klebahn of Stanford’s renowned Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (aka the “d.school”) offer a proven strategy for coming up with great ideas by yourself or with your team, and quickly determining which are worthy. Perhaps you have experienced low ideaflow. Have you been in that quiet conference room, with a half-filled whiteboard, and an unmet business target?. With the proven system in this book, entrepreneurs, managers, and leaders will learn how to tap into surprising and valuable ideas on demand and fill the creative pipeline with breakthrough ideas.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 05:56 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for September 2022

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in September 2022. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Build for Tomorrow: An Action Plan for Embracing Change, Adapting Fast, and Future-Proofing Your Career by Jason Feifer

The moments of greatest change can also be the moments of greatest opportunity. Adapt more quickly and use the power of change to your advantage with this guide from the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine and host of the Build for Tomorrow podcast. We experience change in four phases. The first is panic. Then we adapt. Then we find a new normal. And then, finally, we reach the phase we could not have imagined in the beginning, the moment when we realize that we wouldn’t go back. Build for Tomorrow is designed to accelerate that process—to help you lessen your panic, adapt faster, define the new normal, and thrive going forward. And it arrives as we all, in some way, have felt a shift in our lives. The pandemic forced a moment of collective change, and we are still being forced to make new plans and adjustments to our lives, families, and careers. Many of us will never go back, continuing to work from home, demanding higher wages, or starting new businesses.

The Unexpected Leader: Discovering the Leader Within You by Jacqueline M. Baker

The best leaders aren’t all found in one particular discipline, functional group, or silo. They’re found across the organizational and cultural spectrums, helping others realize their true potential through both ordinary and heroic acts of inspiration and encouragement. In The Unexpected Leader: Discovering the Leader Within You, Jacqueline M. Baker delivers an insightful and compelling exploration of how to define, refine, and elevate your leadership potential. You’ll absorb lessons from other real-life leaders and actualize the leader within you by learning to meet the demands of a rapidly changing workplace with a brand-new approach to leadership development. In the book, you’ll find examples of how stellar leadership can be found anywhere and everywhere—and in anyone—and discover new strategies for implementing the latest leadership techniques in a culturally and demographically diverse workforce.

Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better by Woo-kyoung Ahn

Psychologist Woo-kyoung Ahn devised a course at Yale called “Thinking” to help students examine the biases that cause so many problems in their daily lives. It quickly became one of the university’s most popular courses. In Ahn’s class, students examine “thinking problems”―like confirmation bias, causal attribution, and delayed gratification―and how they contribute to our most pressing societal issues and inequities. Now, for the first time, Ahn presents key insights from her years of teaching and research in a book for everyone. Thinking 101 is a book that goes far beyond other books on thinking, showing how we can improve not just our own daily lives and tackle real-world problems through better awareness of our biases but also the lives of everyone around us. It is, quite simply, required reading for everyone who wants to think―and live―better.

Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People) by Amy Gallo

Work relationships can be hard. The stress of dealing with difficult people dampens our creativity and productivity, degrades our ability to think clearly and make sound decisions, and causes us to disengage. We might lie awake at night worrying, withdraw from work, or react in ways we later regret—rolling our eyes in a meeting, snapping at colleagues, or staying silent when we should speak up. In Getting Along, workplace expert and Harvard Business Review podcast host Amy Gallo identifies eight familiar types of difficult coworkers—the insecure boss, the passive-aggressive peer, the know-it-all, the biased coworker, and others—and provides strategies tailored to dealing constructively with each one.

Show the Value of What You Do: Measuring and Achieving Success in Any Endeavor by Patricia Pulliam Phillips and Jack J. Phillips

In an era of evidence-based inquiry, people need to be able to demonstrate the value of their projects credibly. But how do you do that when there isn’t an obvious measure connected to the project, like increased sales? In their new book Patti and Jack Phillips, the cofounders of ROI Institute, show how you can adopt the same methodology used by more than 6,000 organizations in seventy countries to evaluate large institutional initiatives. By following their six-step process, you can build a case for any project, process, or intervention, even so-called soft programs. The authors explain how to link your project to a meaningful business outcome, make sure your project will actually influence that outcome, identify metrics that will show if you’re making progress, collect and analyze data, and use the results to build support.

The 6 Types of Working Genius: A Better Way to Understand Your Gifts, Your Frustrations, and Your Team by Patrick M. Lencioni

The 6 Types of Working Genius is the fastest way to help people identify the type of work that brings them joy and energy, and avoid work that leads to frustration and burnout. Beyond the personal discovery and instant relief that Working Genius provides, the model also gives teams a remarkably simple and practical framework for tapping into one another’s natural gifts. In classic Lencioni fashion, Pat brings his model to life in a page-turning fable that is as relatable as it is compelling. He tells the story of Bull Brooks, an entrepreneur, husband, and father who sets out to solve his own frustration at work and stumbles into a new way of thinking that changes the way he sees his work, his team, and even his marriage. In addition to this book, Lencioni and the Table Group have created a 10-minute assessment that helps individuals quickly identify their gifts and apply this model to themselves and their teams.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 03:01 PM
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First Look: Leadership Books for August 2022

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in August 2022. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Unlock Your Potential: The Ultimate Guide for Creating Your Dream Life in the Modern World by Jeff Lerner

Is there an alternative to the "system of systems" we live in: school, college (debt), job, different job, more different jobs, 401K/pension, retire (hopefully but probably not)? And if there is an alternative can it really work for everyone regardless of where they currently are in the system? Is there something else out there that works equally well for the 18-year-old deciding whether or not to go to college, the 45-year-old questioning his/her career path, the 65-year-old who is way short of being able to retire, and anyone else feeling dazed and confused in the modern world? In Unlock Your Potential, author and entrepreneur Jeff Lerner answers those questions with a resounding YES! He shows readers how the failings of our education, employment, and retirement systems have opened doors most people didn't even know exist. And, most important, he'll show YOU how to step through those doors—where they exist, how they work, what it takes to go through them, and what's on the other side.

Wild Problems: A Guide to the Decisions That Define Us by Russ Roberts

Algorithms and apps analyze data and tell you how to beat the traffic, what books to buy, what music to listen to, and even who to date—often with great results. But what do you do when you face the big decisions of life—the "wild problems" of who to marry, whether to have children, where to move, how to forge a life well-lived—that can’t be solved by measurement or calculation? In Wild Problems, beloved host of EconTalk Russ Roberts offers puzzled rationalists a way to address these wild problems. He suggests spending less time and energy on the path that promises the most happiness, and more time on figuring out who you actually want to be. He draws on the experience of great artists, writers, and scientists of the past who found creative ways to navigate life’s biggest questions. And he lays out strategies for reducing the fear and the loss of control that inevitably come when a wild problem requires a leap in the dark.

Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems by Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis

Life is full of paradoxes. How can we each express our individuality while also being a team player? How do we balance work and life? How can we improve diversity while promoting opportunities for all? How can we manage the core business while innovating for the future? For many of us, these competing and interwoven demands are a source of conflict. Since our brains love to make either-or choices, we choose one option over the other. We deal with the uncertainty by asserting certainty. There's a better way. In Both/And Thinking, Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis help readers cope with multiple, knotted tensions at the same time. Drawing from more than twenty years of pioneering research, they provide tools and lessons for transforming these tensions into opportunities for innovation and personal growth.

I Wish I'd Known This: 6 Career-Accelerating Secrets for Women Leaders by Brenda Wensil and Kathryn Heath

Professional women are subject to blind spots—obstacles that can minimize career potential, impact, or advancement. Some women end up drifting instead of driving through their careers, going it alone instead of building a posse, and leaving their “reputationality” (that special something we are known for) to chance. Authors and executive coaches Brenda Wensil and Kathryn Heath have spent decades coaching more than 800 women and working with women executives, middle managers, and professionals across industries and age groups. In this book, they outline six challenges women commonly face on their professional journeys and map a way to accelerate through them for higher-impact careers.

True North: Leading Authentically in Today's Workplace - Emerging Leader Edition by Bill George and Zach Clayton

In True North: Emerging Leader Edition, renowned leadership expert Bill George and Millennial tech entrepreneur Zach Clayton issue the challenge to emerging leaders—from Gen X to Millennials and Gen Z—to lead their organizations authentically through never-ending crises to make this world a better place for everyone. The authors offer practical strategies and techniques to become an authentic leader and reveal how you can navigate your own path to success. They draw on extensive information from a diverse collection of inspirational real-life leaders and combine it with invaluable advice on everything from personal values to crisis leadership and self-awareness. The Emerging Leader Edition is filled with dramatic stories of how successful leaders such as Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Merck’s Ken Frazier to PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi and General Motors’ Mary Barra, and emerging leaders like OneTrust’s Kabir Barday and Rent the Runway’s Jenn Hyman, overcame great challenges to build highly successful organizations.

The Art of the Tale: Engage Your Audience, Elevate Your Organization, and Share Your Message Through Storytelling by Steven James and Tom Morrisey

Unleash the power of storytelling to transform your talks, speeches, and presentations—whether your audience is a boardroom of executives, a classroom of students, or an auditorium full of eager listeners. Everyone, regardless of their background and training, can improve their storytelling abilities. But what is a story? How can you tell it in a way that delights and informs your listeners? Take a journey into the keys to great storytelling with two of the country’s top experts on story presentation and speech writing. In The Art of the Tale, expert storytellers Steven James and Tom Morrisey team up and tap into their lifetimes of experience to show you how to prepare stellar presentations, tell stories in your own unique way, adapt your material to different groups of listeners, and gain confidence in your ability as a speaker.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:07 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for July 2022

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in July 2022. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

 

Inside Out: Elite Performance from Within by Charlie Unwin

In any high-pressure environment, from special operations to the operating theatre, you can divide people into two groups - those who control their performance from the inside out, and those whose performance is controlled from the outside in. In Inside Out, Charlie Unwin, one of the world's leading performance psychologists, explains the techniques that enable the elite to perform at their best under immense pressure. It reveals how they think, prepare and perform, taking you inside the highly unpredictable modern battlefield, the chaos of the catwalk, the operating theatre, the stadium, the maximum-security prison and the opera house. Whatever the challenge, whether life-or-death, or simply chasing a promotion at work, we are all susceptible to becoming 'outside in' - when you start paying more attention to the thought of not messing up than the process of doing something well. The 'Inside Out' method helps you gain control so that you can have a greater impact. It's about mindset, learning new skills, maintaining confidence and sustaining great results over time.

Why Innovation Fails: And How to Succeed in Seven Steps by Joachim De Vos

Exploring the dos and don’ts of sustainable corporate innovation, this book explains the most frequently made mistakes and highlights the most common pitfalls in the innovation process. To remain successful, organizations must be able to respond effectively to the fast pace of change or even stay one step ahead of it. To make this possible, it is crucial to look at the future in the right way. This means embracing uncertainty, seizing opportunities and recognizing threats in good time. Through the author's insightful and knowledgeable text, you will gain greater insight into the technological evolutions of the next 10 years and discover how this insight can be turned into a concrete approach that will build future-proof and successfully innovating companies and organisations.

Driving Results: Six Lessons Learned from Transforming An Iconic Company by Gary A. Garfield

In Driving Results: Six Lessons Learned from Transforming an Iconic Company, now-retired Bridgestone CEO Gary Garfield delivers an incisive and eye-opening road map of how to transform any organization, department, or group. Through a series of massive changes, Garfield drove record results while the CEO. By sharing his learnings on driving change in this insightful book, you’ll learn how you can use the six essential elements to drive results through change at your organization or with your team.

The Upside of Uncertainty: A Guide to Finding Possibility in the Unknown by Nathan Furr and Susannah Harmon Furr

In The Upside of Uncertainty, INSEAD professor Nathan Furr and entrepreneur Susannah Harmon Furr provide a sweeping guide to embracing uncertainty and transforming it into a force for good. Drawing from hundreds of interviews, along with pioneering research in psychology, innovation, and behavioral economics, Nathan and Susannah provide dozens of tools—including mental models, techniques, and reflections—for seeing the upside of uncertainty, developing a vision for what to do next, and opening ourselves up to new possibilities.

The Metaverse: And How it Will Revolutionize Everything by Matthew Ball

From the leading theorist of the Metaverse comes the definitive account of the next internet: what the Metaverse is, what it will take to build it, and what it means for all of us. The term “Metaverse” is suddenly everywhere, from the front pages of national newspapers and the latest fashion trends to the plans of the most powerful companies in history. It is already shaping the policy platforms of the US government, the European Union, and the Chinese Communist Party. But what, exactly, is the Metaverse? As pioneering theorist and venture capitalist Matthew Ball explains, it is a persistent and interconnected network of 3D virtual worlds that will eventually serve as the gateway to most online experiences, and also underpin much of the physical world. For decades, these ideas have been limited to science fiction and video games, but they are now poised to revolutionize every industry and function, from finance and healthcare to education, consumer products, city planning, dating, and well beyond.

Ignite a Shift: Engaging Minds, Guiding Emotions and Driving Behavior by Stephen McGarvey

The ability to persuade and influence is the cornerstone of success. In Ignite a Shift, internationally acclaimed speaker Stephen McGarvey explores the subtleties of effective communication and highlights the essential fact that thinking impacts emotions which drive behavior. It is the quintessential guide to communication, positive persuasion and influencing with integrity. It reveals the proven techniques that the world's most effective leaders are using to motivate themselves and others to excel professionally and personally.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 03:01 PM
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10 Books You Should Read This Summer

HER FATHER was an Olympic athlete, and her mother a physical education instructor. And unlike her siblings, Grace Kelly preferred reading to physical activity. Although her father was well-read, her proclivity to read didn’t always sit well with her father. He wanted her to be more athletic.

At school, she was encouraged to read widely. And she did. And we should too.

For me, reading some fiction is like taking a walk. It provides a diversion that gives your mind a chance to think through what you’ve been reading and learning. Especially for leaders, reading outside the normal leadership fare helps to provide you with context for your leadership. Reading fiction, histories, and biographies builds empathy and provide insights into human nature.

While I like just about everything from David Baldacci, like his latest Dream Town, I also like to go back and read classics from authors like John Steinbeck.

Wally Bock recommends that we take this time to read something we’ve always wanted to read, something to read for fun, and something we’ve never read about or that really stretches our brain. He even provides a helpful, downloadable sheet to help organize our list.

With a few extra hours of daylight, the summer is an ideal time to relax and read. Listed below are ten books released this year that will entertain, make you think, and improve your leadership. Pick at least three and take some time to make yourself better this summer.

The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists
by Richard P. Rumelt

The 6 Types of Working Genius: A Better Way to Understand Your Gifts, Your Frustrations, and Your Team
by Patrick M. Lencioni

Team Emotional Intelligence 2.0: The Four Essential Skills of High Performing Teams
by Jean Greaves and Evan Watkins

Smart Growth: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company
by Whitney Johnson

The President's Man: The Memoirs of Nixon's Trusted Aide
by Dwight Chapin

Watergate: A New History
by Garrett M. Graff

12 Notes: On Life and Creativity
by Quincy Jones

Emotion By Design: Creative Leadership Lessons from a Life at Nike
by Greg Hoffman

The Power of One More: The Ultimate Guide to Happiness and Success by Ed Mylett

Don't Trust Your Gut: Using Data to Get What You Really Want in Life
by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

And I can’t leave out Build. If you’re looking for business or career wisdom, this is the book to turn to now.
Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making by Tony Fadell

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:22 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for June 2022

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in June 2022. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

 

The Power of One More: The Ultimate Guide to Happiness and Success by Ed Mylett

In The Power of One More, you'll: • Learn why you're closer to your dreams and goals than you think and why using The Power of One More strategies will help you cross the finish line in whatever race you're running; • Understand the psychology and science of how to use The Power of One More in every part of your life will help you solve problems and achieve levels of success you never thought possible; • Discover time-tested and unique solutions to challenges that will remove the mental roadblocks you've been battling for years

Good Arguments: How Debate Teaches Us to Listen and Be Heard by Bo Seo

Drawing insights from its strategies, structure, and history, Seo teaches readers the skills of competitive debate, and in doing so shows how they can improve their communication with friends, family, and colleagues alike. He takes readers on a thrilling intellectual adventure into the eccentric and brilliant subculture of competitive debate, touching on everything from the radical politics of Malcom X to Artificial Intelligence. Seo proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that, far from being a source of conflict, good-faith debate can enrich our daily lives. Indeed, these good arguments are essential to a flourishing democracy, and are more important than ever at time when bad faith is all around.

7 Rules of Power: Surprising—but True—Advice on How to Get Things Done and Advance Your Career by Jeffrey Pfeffer

Is power the last dirty secret or the secret to success? Both. While power carries some negative connotations, power is a tool that can be used for good or evil. Don’t blame the tool for how some people used it. If fully understood and harnessed effectively, power skills and understanding become the keys to increasing salaries, job satisfaction, career advancement, organizational change, and, happiness. In 7 Rules of Power, Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, provides the insights that have made both his online and on-campus classes incredibly popular—with life-changing results often achieved in 8 or 10 weeks. Rooted firmly in social science research, Pfeffer’s 7 rules provide a manual for increasing your ability to get things done, including increasing the positive effects of your job performance.

Building Trust: Exceptional Leadership in an Uncertain World by Darryl Stickel

In Building Trust: Exceptional Leadership in an Uncertain World, Darryl Stickel, one of the world’s foremost experts on trust, outlines his groundbreaking Trust Unlimited blueprint for building trust. Stickel moves away from the traditional approach of influencing people’s willingness to trust—the con artist’s tactic—to employing one or more of ten levers, which leaders can “pull” to close the gap between how much they are trusted and how much they should be. This approach also makes them more trustable and increases trust where it is deficient. Detailed case studies provide examples of his Trust Unlimited model in action.

The Unfair Advantage: How You Already Have What It Takes to Succeed by Ash Ali and Hasan Kubba

What is the difference between a startup that makes it, and one that crashes and burns? Behind every story of success is an unfair advantage. But an Unfair Advantage is not just about your parents' wealth or who you know: anyone can have one. An Unfair Advantage is the element that gives you an edge over your competition. This groundbreaking book shows how to identify your own Unfair Advantages and apply them to any project. Drawing on over two decades of hands-on experience, Ash Ali and Hasan Kubba offer a unique framework for assessing your external circumstances in addition to your internal strengths. Hard work and grit aren't enough, so they explore the importance of money, intelligence, location, education, expertise, status, and luck in the journey to success. From starting your company, to gaining traction, raising funds, and growth hacking, The Unfair Advantage helps you look at yourself and find the ingredients you didn't realize you already had, to succeed in the cut-throat world of business.

Leading Lightly: Lower Your Stress, Think with Clarity, and Lead with Ease by Jody Michael

Leading lightly is about looking at what you do through a radical new lens. It’s a way to powerfully transform your performance, make better decisions, gain greater self-awareness, and develop the capacity to manage your work and life with enduring ease and clarity. An alternative to the everyday stress, pace, challenges, and burdens that weigh you down, Leading Lightly shows you how to shift your mindset, live lighter, and optimize your effectiveness. Part leadership, part mental fitness, part health and wellness guide, this book empowers you to work at your best and operate at your fullest potential.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:54 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for May 2022

Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in May 2022. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

 

The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists by Richard P. Rumelt

What passes for strategy in too many businesses, government agencies, and military operations is a toxic mix of wishful thinking and a jumble of incoherent policies. Richard P. Rumelt’s breakthrough concept is that leaders become effective strategists when they focus on challenges rather than goals, pinpointing the crux of their pivotal challenge—the aspect that is both surmountable and promises the greatest progress—and taking decisive, coherent action to overcome it. Rumelt defines the essence of the strategist’s skill with vivid storytelling, from how Elon Musk found the crux that propelled the success of SpaceX to how the American military came to grips with the weaknesses of its battle strategy. Musk’s core challenge, for example, was rocket reusability. His intense focus on the soft landing of SpaceX’s rockets enabled them to be used again—radically reducing the cost of putting a pound in orbit. Musk’s strategy was not based on how value is created or how to position SpaceX in its industry. It was a design foraction, the mental maneuver that focuses energy on what really made a difference through understanding the crux and creating an effective response that led to breakthrough.

The Earned Life: Lose Regret, Choose Fulfillment by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter

“We are living an earned life when the choices, risks, and effort we make in each moment align with an overarching purpose in our lives, regardless of the eventual outcome.” That’s the definition of an earned life. But for many of us, that pesky final phrase is a stumbling block: “regardless of the eventual outcome.” Not being attached to the outcome goes against everything we’re taught about achievement and fulfillment in modern society. But now, in his most personal and powerful work to date, world-renowned leadership coach Marshall Goldsmith offers a dazzling but simple approach that accommodates both our persistent need for achievement and the inescapable “stuff happens” unfairness of life. Goldsmith implores readers to avoid the Great Western Disease of “I’ll be happy when. . . .” He offers practical advice and exercises aimed at helping us shed the obstacles, especially the failures of imagination, that prevent us from creating our own fulfilling lives. With this book as their guide, readers can close the gap between what they plan to achieve and what they actually get done—and avoid the trap of existential regret, the kind that reroutes destinies and persecutes our memories. Packed with illuminating stories from Goldsmith’s legendary career as a coach to some of the world’s highest-achieving leaders as well as reflections on his own experiences, The Earned Life is a road map for ambitious people seeking a higher purpose.

From Conflict to Courage: How to Stop Avoiding and Start Leading by Marlene Chism

Unresolved workplace conflict wastes time, increases stress, and negatively affects business outcomes. But conflict isn’t the problem, mismanagement is. Leaders unintentionally mismanage conflict when they fall into patterns of what Marlene Chism calls “the Three As:” aggression, avoidance, and appeasing. “These coping mechanisms are ways human beings avoid the emotions that come with conflict, but in the end it’s all avoidance,” says Chism. In this book she shows how to fearlessly deal with conflict head-on by expanding your conflict capacity. Conflict capacity is a combination of three elements. The foundation is the Inner Game—the leader’s self-awareness, values, discernment, and emotional integrity. The Outer Game is the skills, tools, and communication techniques built on that foundation. Finally, there’s Culture—the visible and invisible structures around you that can encourage or discourage conflict.

Disrupting the Game: From the Bronx to the Top of Nintendo by Reggie Fils-Aimé

Reggie Fils-Aimé, retired President and Chief Operating Officer of Nintendo of America Inc., shares leadership lessons and inspiring stories from his unlikely rise to the top. Although he’s best known as Nintendo's iconic President of the Americas-immortalized for opening Nintendo’s 2004 E3 presentation with, “My name is Reggie, I'm about kicking ass, I'm about taking names, and we're about making games”-Reggie Fils-Aimé’s story is the ultimate gameplan for anyone looking to beat the odds and achieve success. Learn from Reggie how to leverage disruptive thinking to pinpoint the life choices that will make you truly happy, conquer negative perceptions from those who underestimate or outright dismiss you, and master the grit, perseverance, and resilience it takes to dominate in the business world and to reach your professional dreams.

To Risk It All: Nine Conflicts and the Crucible of Decision by Admiral James Stavridis USN

At the heart of Admiral James Stavridis’s training as a naval officer was the preparation to lead sailors in combat, to face the decisive moment in battle whenever it might arise. In To Risk it All, he offers up nine of the most useful and enthralling stories from the US Navy’s nearly 250-year history, and draws from them a set of insights that we can all put to use when confronted with fateful choices. Conflict. Crisis. Risk. These words have a distinct meaning in a military context that we hope will never apply identically in our own lives. But at the same time, as Admiral Stavridis shows with great clarity, many lessons are universal. To Risk it All is filled with thrilling and heroic exploits, but it is anything but a shallow exercise in myth burnishing. Every leader in this book has real flaws, as all humans do, and the stories of failure, or at least the decisions that have been defined as such, are as crucial as the stories of success. In the end, when this master class is concluded, we will be better armed for hard decisions both expected and not.

The Power of Conflict: Speak Your Mind and Get the Results You Want by Jon Taffer

Most people try their best to avoid conflict. Bar Rescue host Jon Taffer understands that. Conflict can have negative results. It’s easy to think that the key to a happy workplace or marriage is to avoid conflict. In reality, that’s not the case—the key is to argue smarter. Enter the Toolkit for Getting Conflict Right. Taffer’s approach is focused on deliberate conflict—otherwise known as “conflict with a purpose.” There are selective and strategic ways to have difficult conversations, and when doing so, to stay aware of your objectives rather than escalating tension unnecessarily. As Taffer explains, “The key is to act affirmatively, constructively, and productively.” Eliminating conflict isn’t always the answer; inevitably there will be times when it will arise. Engaging in conflict can be a way to clear the air, and get to the bottom of issues that, once resolved, can strengthen friendships, ease tensions at work, and address problems before they have a chance to bubble over.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

Build your leadership library with these specials on over 28 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:15 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for April 2022

Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in April 2022. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

 

Love + Work: How to Find What You Love, Love What You Do, and Do It for the Rest of Your Life by Marcus Buckingham

You've long been told to "Do what you love." Sounds simple, but the real challenge is how to do this in a world not set up to help you. Most of us actually don't know the real truth of what we love—what engages us and makes us thrive—and our workplaces, jobs, schools, even our parents, are focused instead on making us conform. Sadly, no person or system is dedicated to discovering the crucial intersection between what you love to do and how you contribute it to others. In this eye-opening, uplifting book, Buckingham shows you how to break free from this conformity—how to decode your own loves, turn them into their most powerful expression, and do the same for those you lead and those you love.

A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness by Roger L. Martin

Over a stellar career, Roger Martin has advised the CEOs of some of the world's most successful companies. From the beginning, he noted that almost every executive he talked to had a "model"—a framework or way of thinking that guided their strategy and activities. But these models tended to become automatic, so much so that when one didn't work, the typical response was just to apply it again—with greater enthusiasm. Martin took a fresh, critical approach to helping. When company leaders came to him with fundamental questions—How do you decide where to play and how to win? What is the key to shaping and changing corporate culture? How can you design a successful, sustainable innovation process?—his first response was to break the spell of the current model with a memo articulating a new way to think about the problem at hand and a more powerful and effective way to successfully overcome it.

Productive Tensions: How Every Leader Can Tackle Innovation’s Toughest Trade-Offs (Management on the Cutting Edge) by Christopher B. Bingham and Rory M. McDonald

Why is leading innovation in today’s dynamic business environment so distressingly hit-or-miss? More than 90 percent of high-potential ventures don’t reach their projected targets. Surveys show that 80 percent of executives consider innovation crucial to their growth strategy, but only 6 percent are satisfied with their innovation performance. Should leaders aim for Steve Jobs-level genius, shower their projects with resources, or lean in to luck and embrace uncertainty? None of the above, say Christopher Bingham and Rory McDonald. Drawing on cutting-edge research and probing interviews with hundreds of leaders across three continents, in Productive Tensions Bingham and McDonald find that the most effective leaders and successful innovators embrace the tensions that arise from competing aims: efficiency or flexibility? consistency or change? product or purpose? Bingham and McDonald spotlight eight critical tensions that every innovator must master, and they spell out, with dozens of detailed examples of both success and failure, how to navigate them.

Reach: Create the Biggest Possible Audience for Your Message, Book, or Cause by Becky Robinson

Cut through the noise and create the biggest possible audience for your work. This book offers a proven method for expanding your reach online so you can make a meaningful difference for others. Anyone who makes the bold decision to put their ideas out into the world wants to reach as many people as possible. Unfortunately, too many think it’s a question of numbers—the more people you can get in front of, the better. But true reach is about expanding your audience while making a meaningful and enduring difference that has a lasting impact. Reach provides a clear and structured approach to creating a successful online presence that will create the biggest possible impact for any message. Becky Robinson shares a framework to cultivate followers that requires four commitments: value, consistency, endurance, and generosity. When you make these four commitments, you’ll deliver memorable content on a regular basis while keeping the long-term view in mind and being committed to helping and sharing with others.

Make No Small Plans: Lessons on Thinking Big, Chasing Dreams, and Building Community by Elliott Bisnow, Brett Leve, Jeff Rosenthal and Jeremy Schwartz

In 2008, with no event production experience and two college degrees between the four of them, Elliott Bisnow, Brett Leve, Jeff Rosenthal, and Jeremy Schwartz became business partners and set out to build a global events company. With passion and tenacity, they began cold calling as many inspiring company founders as they could and tried to convince them to attend their first event. In the beginning, only nineteen people said yes. Since then, they have grown Summit into a global community with events all over the world, hosting luminaries including Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Shonda Rhimes, Brené Brown, Kendrick Lamar, and Al Gore. In 2013, the Summit founders acquired Powder Mountain, the largest ski resort in the United States, with a dream of building a mountaintop town of the future. In Make No Small Plans, they reveal the triumphs, mistakes, and cornerstone lessons from their journey, which began during the Great Recession and continues today.

Radically Human: How New Technology Is Transforming Business and Shaping Our Future by Paul Daugherty and H. James Wilson

In their groundbreaking book, Human + Machine, Accenture technology leaders Paul R. Daugherty and H. James Wilson showed how leading organizations use the power of human-machine collaboration to transform their processes and their bottom lines. Now, as AI continues to rapidly impact both life and work, those companies and other pioneers across industries are tipping the balance even more strikingly toward the human side with technology-led strategy that is reshaping the very nature of innovation. In Radically Human, Daugherty and Wilson show this profound shift, fast-forwarded by the pandemic, toward more human—and more humane—technology. Artificial intelligence is becoming less artificial and more intelligent. Instead of data-hungry approaches to AI, innovators are pursuing data-efficient approaches that enable machines to learn as humans do. Instead of replacing workers with machines, they're unleashing human expertise to create human-centered AI. In place of lumbering legacy IT systems, they're building cloud-first IT architectures able to continuously adapt to a world of billions of connected devices. And they're pursuing strategies that will take their place alongside classic, winning business formulas like disruptive innovation.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

Build your leadership library with these specials on over 28 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.”

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 05:13 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for March 2022

Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in March 2022. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

 

Take Charge of You: How Self Coaching Can Transform Your Life and Career by David Novak and Jason Goldsmith

What if the most powerful coach that could help you reach your own potential was actually...yourself? Take Charge Of You teaches you the secrets to self-coaching. Everyone could use a good coach to help them reach their full potential. Unfortunately, there just aren't enough good ones to go around, and the ones that exist are often too expensive or sought-after for most of us to even consider hiring them. But that doesn't mean you should go without! Your life is too important to leave your personal growth and professional development up to chance. Take Charge of You helps you define for yourself what you want out of life and give yourself what you need to succeed.

Leading to Greatness: 5 Principles to Transform your Leadership and Build Great Teams by Jim Reid

Leading to Greatness is a hands-on how-to leadership development program designed to guide leaders to self and organizational excellence. By applying five core leadership principles top-level executives will be primed to take their organizations and teams into the future. Principle 1: Define a crystal-clear understanding of values and purpose―and never deviate. Principle 2: Recognize core strengths and align them with passion. Principle 3: Identify and engage the right people and get them in the right seats; no leader excels at everything. Principle 4: Learn to manage energy―not time―to become fully engaged in life (and thus, leadership). Principle 5: Develop a consistent inner discipline to achieve exceptional results. Author Jim Reid combines his decades of top-level leadership and coaching experience with the best research and science available to deliver to leaders a practical and actionable plan that when consistently applied in one’s life becomes a transformative experience.

Leading Wisely: Becoming a Reflective Leader in Turbulent Times by Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Discover true leadership with this actionable guide from a world renowned leadership expert, psychoanalyst, and executive coach. In Leading Wisely: Becoming a Reflective Leader in Turbulent Times, renowned leadership expert, psychoanalyst and executive coach Manfred Kets De Vries delivers an insightful and unique exploration of what it means to lead with wisdom. The book demonstrates that exclusive reliance on knowledge, data, and information yields a superficial leadership style lacking in depth and discernment. What's more important in the wisdom equation is possessing humility, judgment, empathy, compassion, and night vision.

Promotions Are So Yesterday: Redefine Career Development. Help Employees Thrive by Julie Winkle Giulioni

The time-honored tradition of defining career development exclusively in terms of promotions, moves, and title changes is dead. Beyond, between, and besides the climb up the positional ladder, there are many other ways that employees can―and want to―grow. However, many organizations still operate under the notion that promotions are the only option for career development, leaving employees disengaged, managers frustrated, and the business disadvantaged in its efforts to retain talent. The good news is that career development is so much more than promotions alone, and managers are in a powerful position to redefine career development and create positive results for their employees and their organizations in this area. In Promotions Are So Yesterday, Julie Winkle Giulioni offers you a new approach for developing your employees' careers and helping them thrive in a company when promotions are not readily available. Discover an easy-to-apply framework of seven alternative dimensions of development that will engage your employees―dynamic opportunities for growth that are completely within your control as a manager.

CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest by Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller and Vikram Malhotra

From the world’s most influential management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, an insight-packed, revelatory look at how the best CEOs do their jobs based on extensive interviews with today’s most successful corporate leaders—including chiefs at Netflix, JPMorgan Chase, General Motors, and Sony. Being a CEO at any of the world’s largest companies is among the most challenging roles in business. Billions, and even trillions, are at stake—and the fates of tens of thousands of employees often hang in the balance. Yet, even when “can’t miss” high-achievers win the top job, very few excel. Thirty percent of Fortune 500 CEOs last fewer than three years, and two out of five new CEOs are perceived to be failing within eighteen months. For those who shoulder the burden of being the one on whom everyone counts, a manual for excellence is sorely needed.

Connectable: How Leaders Can Move Teams From Isolated to All In by Ryan Jenkins and Steven Van Cohen

Feelings of loneliness among employees are on the rise with 72% of global workers suffering from it. This sense of isolation is contributing to a real and growing mental health problem that affects both individuals and organizations. In Connectable, you’ll learn how tackling the issue of worker loneliness head on can transform an isolated workforce into one that’s happier, more engaged, and more productive. With more than a decade of experience spent helping companies lessen worker loneliness, Ryan Jenkins and Steven Van Cohen distill their methodology, showing you what’s causing today’s loneliness, the role inclusion plays in solving it, and how you can decrease loneliness and increase belonging, engagement, and performance with employees at every level―including yourself.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

Build your leadership library with these specials on over 28 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.”

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:11 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for February 2022

Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in February 2022. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

 

The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward by Daniel H. Pink

Everybody has regrets, Daniel H. Pink explains in The Power of Regret. They’re a universal and healthy part of being human. And understanding how regret works can help us make smarter decisions, perform better at work and school, and bring greater meaning to our lives. Drawing on research in social psychology, neuroscience, and biology, Pink debunks the myth of the “no regrets” philosophy of life. And using the largest sampling of American attitudes about regret ever conducted as well as his own World Regret Survey—which has collected regrets from more than 15,000 people in 105 countries—he lays out the four core regrets that each of us has. These deep regrets offer compelling insights into how we live and how we can find a better path forward.

Simple Truths of Leadership: 52 Ways to Be a Servant Leader and Build Trust by Ken Blanchard and Randy Conley

Leadership legend and bestselling author Ken Blanchard and trust expert and thought leader Randy Conley present this carefully curated collection of fifty-two essential leadership principles that are easy to implement and practice. Effective leadership is an influence process where leaders implement everyday, commonsense approaches that help people and organizations thrive. Yet somehow, many of these fundamental principles are still missing from most workplaces. In Simple Truths of Leadership, legendary servant leadership expert Ken Blanchard, whose books have sold millions of copies worldwide, and his colleague Randy Conley, known and recognized for his many years of thought leadership and expertise in the field of trust, share fifty-two Simple Truths about leadership that will help leaders everywhere make commonsense leadership common practice.

Bridge the Gap: Breakthrough Communication Tools to Transform Work Relationships From Challenging to Collaborative by Jennifer Edwards and Katie McCleary

Human beings are born to connect―but in today’s increasingly polarized world, we’re losing sight of the importance of building and maintaining professional relationships. And that’s bad for business. In Bridge the Gap, two prominent Fortune 500 coaches explore how your biology and biography define and refine your behavior in relationships where you struggle to connect. Focusing on personal responsibility and awareness, meta-cognition, and curiosity, they provide a reliable and replicable framework to enhance open communication. And they illuminate the inner workings of the human brain and mind, and how they impact the way you connect, communicate, and collaborate.

Pitch Like Hollywood: What You Can Learn from the High-Stakes Film Industry by Peter Desberg and Jeffrey Davis

From impromptu elevator pitches to full-board presentations, sales and marketing professionals face an “audience” daily―often with make-or-break consequences. As the person delivering the performance, you need to know you have a great script and are able to maintain composure throughout. In Pitch Like Hollywood, we learn how to up our game substantiall ―no matter what business we’re in―by incorporating elements of a classic Hollywood pitch: driving emotion, piquing curiosity, and ultimately winning over decision makers with powerful persuasion and performance. They take us on an insider’s tour of the entire process, from defining the fundamentals to designing effective presentation strategies to overcoming stage fright.

Competing in the New World of Work: How Radical Adaptability Separates the Best from the Rest by Keith Ferrazzi, Kian Gohar and Noel Weyrich

You've shed antiquated systems and processes. You went all-in on digital. Your teams settled into new, often better, ways of doing things. But did your organization change enough to stay competitive in the post-pandemic world? Did you fully leverage the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to leap forward and grow stronger? Are you shaping the new environment to your advantage? If not, it's not too late to learn from the best. New York Times #1 bestselling author Keith Ferrazzi, along with coauthors Kian Gohar and Noel Weyrich, shows leaders how to shape their organizations and practices to remain competitive in a new, post-pandemic context.

The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley by Jimmy Soni

Today, PayPal’s founders and earliest employees are considered the technology industry’s most powerful network. Since leaving PayPal, they have formed, funded, and advised the leading companies of our era, including Tesla, Facebook, YouTube, SpaceX, Yelp, Palantir, and LinkedIn, among many others. As a group, they have driven twenty-first-century innovation and entrepreneurship. Their names stir passions; they’re as controversial as they are admired. In building what became one of the world’s foremost companies, they faced bruising competition, internal strife, the emergence of widespread online fraud, and the devastating dot-com bust of the 2000s. Their success was anything but certain. In The Founders, award-winning author and biographer Jimmy Soni explores PayPal’s turbulent early days. With hundreds of interviews and unprecedented access to thousands of pages of internal material, he shows how the seeds of so much of what shapes our world today—fast-scaling digital start-ups, cashless currency concepts, mobile money transfer—were planted two decades ago. He also reveals the stories of countless individuals who were left out of the front-page features and banner headlines but who were central to PayPal’s success.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

Build your leadership library with these specials on over 28 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.”

* * *
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter for additional leadership and personal development ideas.

 

Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:08 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for January 2022

Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in January 2022. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

 

Win from Within: Build Organizational Culture for Competitive Advantage by James Heskett

There is significant evidence that an effective organizational culture provides a major competitive edge―higher levels of employee and customer engagement and loyalty translate into higher growth and profits. Many business leaders know this, yet few are doing much to improve their organizations’ cultures. They are discouraged by misguided beliefs that an executive’s tenure and an organization’s attention span are too short for meaningful transformation. James Heskett provides a roadmap for achievable and fast-paced culture change. He demonstrates that an effective culture supplies the trust that makes managing change of all kinds easier. It provides a foundation on which changes in strategy can be based, and it’s a competitive edge that can’t easily be hacked or copied.

Beyond Digital: How Great Leaders Transform Their Organizations and Shape the Future by Paul Leinwand and Mahadeva Matt Mani

Two world-renowned strategists detail the seven leadership imperatives for transforming companies in the new digital era. Digital transformation is critical. But winning in today's world requires more than digitization. It requires understanding that the nature of competitive advantage has shifted—and that being digital is not enough. In Beyond Digital, Paul Leinwand and Matt Mani from Strategy&, PwC's global strategy consulting business, take readers inside twelve companies and how they have navigated through this monumental shift: from Philips's reinvention from a broad conglomerate to a focused health technology player, to Cleveland Clinic's engagement with its broader ecosystem to improve and expand its leading patient care to more locations around the world, to Microsoft's overhaul of its global commercial business to drive customer outcomes. Other case studies include Adobe, Citigroup, Eli Lilly, Hitachi, Honeywell, Inditex, Komatsu, STC Pay, and Titan.

Smart Leadership: Four Simple Choices to Scale Your Impact by Mark Miller

Escape the mediocrity that ensnares so many in business and become a better, more effective leader. Have you ever wondered what it would take to be a better leader, or achieve your wildest dreams, or make a bigger difference in the world? The answer lies in the choices you make: about everything from how you spend your time to the way you view the world. Smart Leadership is the latest essential business title from internationally bestselling author of Win the Heart and Chess Not Checkers. In this book, he shares the four research-based “smart choices” the best leaders make to scale their influence and results.

Hero on a Mission: A Path to a Meaningful Life by Donald Miller

Donald Miller shares the plan that led him to turn his life around. There are four characters in every story: The victim, the villain, the hero, and the guide. These four characters live inside us. If we play the victim, we’re doomed to fail. If we play the villain, we will not create genuine bonds. But if we play the hero or guide, our lives will flourish. The hard part is being self-aware enough to know which character we are playing. In this book, Donald will use his own experiences to help you recognize if the character you are currently surfacing is helping you experience a life of meaning. He breaks down the transformational, yet practical, plan that took him from slowly giving up to rapidly gaining a new perspective of his own life’s beauty and meaning, igniting his motivation, passion, and productivity, so you can do the same.

Smart Growth: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company by Whitney Johnson

Growth is the goal. Helping people develop their potential—enabling them to articulate and become the self they want to be, are capable of being, and that best serves them and others in the short and long term—is what we as individuals and leaders strive toward. But how do we grow? It turns out it happens in a predictable way, which means we can understand where we are in our growth and chart a way forward. In this compact, complete guide, Whitney Johnson dives more deeply than ever into the S Curve of Learning so that you can envision how growth happens and direct yourself and others in your organization to create a culture that fosters it. The growth and learning journey comes in three phases: the Launch Point, the Sweet Spot, and Mastery. Compelling examples of successful people will show you when and why growth is slow, how to keep going, what to do when growth and learning are almost too fast to keep up with, and how to leap from one growth journey to another.

Becoming a Master Communicator: Balancing New School Technology with Old School Simplicity by Renée Marino

Becoming a Master Communicator, by Renée Marino-communication coach, Broadway actress, and star of Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys film-is a guide for those looking to have clear and authentic communication with others by using digital technology as a tool—but not the only tool. Smartphones and computers make everyday communication incredibly convenient. However, when used as an individual’s sole source of connection, it can make one forget real human contact and interaction are incredibly vital, thus causing unnecessary misunderstandings. Through personal stories and easily applicable practices, Renée Marino explains how to become a master communicator in personal and professional settings by knowing when to use digital technology and when to put the devices down to have a direct conversation.

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The Best Leadership Books of 2021

The political environment in the United States as elsewhere is driven by fear-based narratives. And that feeds our approach in society at large. It leads to short-term thinking. That’s not the way to lead. Leadership is about hope.

Former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi wrote, “the fundamental role of a leader is to look for ways to shape the decades ahead, not just react to the present, and to help others accept the discomfort of disruptions to the status quo.”

Leaders are dealers in hope. Many of the books listed below help us to do just that. Others were included because they help us to think differently, opening us up to potential we might not have considered. The books listed below help us to build the right foundation from which we can lead others. When we get it right on the inside, we can do right on the outside.

 

The CEO Test: Master the Challenges That Make or Break All Leaders
by Adam Bryant and Kevin Sharer

(Harvard Business Review Press, 2021)

Despite all the effort through the years to understand what it takes to be an effective leader, the challenges of leadership remain enormously difficult and elusive; even today, most CEOs don't last five years in the job. The demands to deliver at a consistently high level can be unforgiving. These challenges are brought into their highest and sharpest relief in the corner office, but they are hardly unique to chief executives. All leaders face their own version of these tests, and the authors draw on the distilled wisdom, stories, and lessons from hundreds of chief executives to show how every aspiring leader can master these challenges and lead like a CEO. These foundational leadership skills will make all aspiring executives more effective in their roles today and lift the trajectory of their careers. (Blog Post)

The Power of Pressure: Why Pressure Isn't the Problem, It's the Solution
by Dane Jensen

(Collins, 2021)

What’s the most pressure you’ve ever been under? How did you react? What helped? What didn’t? Over the past five years, Dane Jensen has asked these questions of thousands of high performers—from Olympic gold medalists to Navy SEALs, politicians, executives and busy parents. What has emerged from these conversations is that while everyone’s experiences under pressure are unique, pressure follows patterns and develops in predictable ways. If we can recognize the patterns, we can improve our ability to sidestep the biological traps that can sabotage us—and use the energy that accompanies pressure to thrive. (Blog Post)

Never Enough: A Navy SEAL Commander on Living a Life of Excellence, Agility, and Meaning
by Mike Hayes

(Celadon Books, 2021)

Mike Hayes has lived a lifetime of once-in-a-lifetime experiences. He has been held at gunpoint and threatened with execution. He’s jumped out of a building rigged to explode, helped amputate a teammate’s leg, and made countless split-second life-and-death decisions. He’s written countless emails to his family, telling them how much he loves them, just in case those were the last words of his they’d ever read. Outside of the SEALs, he’s run meetings in the White House Situation Room, negotiated international arms treaties, and developed high-impact corporate strategies. In Never Enough, Mike Hayes recounts dramatic stories and offers battle- and boardroom-tested advice that will motivate readers to do work of value, live lives of purpose, and stretch themselves to reach their highest potential. (Blog Post)

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know
by Adam Grant

(Viking, 2021)

Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn, but in a rapidly changing world, there's another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn. In our daily lives, too many of us favor the comfort of conviction over the discomfort of doubt. We listen to opinions that make us feel good, instead of ideas that make us think hard. We see disagreement as a threat to our egos, rather than an opportunity to learn. We surround ourselves with people who agree with our conclusions, when we should be gravitating toward those who challenge our thought process. The result is that our beliefs get brittle long before our bones. We think too much like preachers defending our sacred beliefs, prosecutors proving the other side wrong, and politicians campaigning for approval--and too little like scientists searching for truth. Intelligence is no cure, and it can even be a curse: being good at thinking can make us worse at rethinking. The brighter we are, the blinder to our own limitations we can become. (Blog Post)

Be Where Your Feet Are: Seven Principles to Keep You Present, Grounded, and Thriving
by Scott O'Neil

(St. Martin's Essentials, 2021)

When we're moving at 115 MPH, we rarely see the wall coming. But it comes for all of us and when it does, we grasp for lessons, for meaning, for purpose. Each moment (good or bad) and each win or loss, provides us an opportunity to learn, and if we choose to take it, that opportunity can change our lives-and the world- for the better. The human spirit craves connection. Authenticity. Belonging. Touch. Gratitude. Purpose. We need to make our interactions count. Whether it's the death of a friend, loss of a job, a bad break-up or the isolation of Covid-19, those who manage to be where their feet are will grow, stretch and emerge stronger, smarter and more prepared as we find peace and gratitude in the pause. (Blog Post)

Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change
by April Rinne

(Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2021)

A world in flux calls for a new mindset, one that treats constant change and uncertainty as a feature, not a bug. Flux helps readers open this mindset—a flux mindset—and develop eight “flux superpowers” that flip conventional ideas about leadership, success, and well-being on their heads. They empower people to see change in new ways, craft new responses, and ultimately reshape their relationship to change from the inside out.

Rogue Waves: Future-Proof Your Business to Survive and Profit from Radical Change
by Jonathan Brill

(McGraw-Hill Education, 2021)

At this moment, rogue waves are forming under your business. Emerging technologies, changing demographics, the data economy, automation, and other trends-the undercurrents of radical, systemic change-are crashing into each other. When they converge, they’ll produce sea changes that sink companies and wash away entire industries overnight. If your competitor can’t ride out the next wave and you can, you win. In Rogue Waves, Jonathan Brill-a renowned expert on resilient growth and decision making under uncertainty-shows you how to prepare your business to survive and thrive through the most radical upheavals.

Provoke: How Leaders Shape the Future by Overcoming Fatal Human Flaws
by Geoff Tuff and Steven Goldbach, Illustrated by Tom Fishburne

(Wiley, 2021)

In Provoke, renowned strategy consultants and best-selling authors Geoff Tuff and Steven Goldbach deliver an insightful exploration of how people tend to act tentatively in the face of uncertainty and provide the tools we need to do things differently. Tuff and Goldbach offer up a compelling argument for the proposition that taking a "wait and see" approach is the exact opposite of what helps visionary leaders change the world. Drawing on principles from business and behavioral economics, the book shows readers from all walks of life how to provoke action as a mechanism to advance.

Beyond Collaboration Overload: How to Work Smarter, Get Ahead, and Restore Your Well-Being
by Rob Cross

(Harvard Business Review Press, 2021)

The dilemma is that we all need to collaborate more to create effective organizations and vibrant careers for ourselves. But conventional wisdom on teamwork and collaboration has created too much of the wrong kind of collaboration, which hurts our performance, health and overall well-being. In Beyond Collaboration Overload, Babson professor Rob Cross solves this paradox by showing how top performers who thrive at work collaborate in a more purposeful way that makes them 18-24% more efficient than their peers. Good collaborators are distinguished by the efficiency and intentionality of their collaboration—not the size of their network or the length of their workday.

The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, Regain It
by Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta

(PublicAffairs 2021)

Trust is the most powerful force underlying the success of every business. Yet it can be shattered in an instant, with a devastating impact on a company’s market cap and reputation. How to build and sustain trust requires fresh insight into why customers, employees, community members, and investors decide whether an organization can be trusted. Based on two decades of research and illustrated through vivid storytelling, Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta examine the economic impact of trust and the science behind it, and conclusively prove that trust is built from the inside out.

Open Strategy: Mastering Disruption from Outside the C-Suite
by Christian Stadler, Julia Hautz, Kurt Matzler, and Stephan Friedrich von den Eichen

(The MIT Press 2021)

Why are some of the world’s most successful companies able to stay ahead of disruption, adopting and implementing innovative strategies, while others struggle? It’s not because they hire a new CEO or expensive consultants but rather because these pioneering companies have adopted a new way of strategizing. Instead of keeping strategic deliberations within the C-Suite, they open up strategic initiatives to a diverse group of stakeholders—front-line employees, experts, suppliers, customers, entrepreneurs, and even competitors. Open Strategy presents a new philosophy, key tools, step-by-step advice, and fascinating case studies—from companies that range from Barclays to Adidas—to guide business leaders in this groundbreaking approach to strategy.

Impact Players: How to Take the Lead, Play Bigger, and Multiply Your Impact
by Liz Wiseman

(Harper Business 2021)

In every organization there are Impact Players—those indispensable colleagues who can be counted on in critical situations and who consistently receive high-profile assignments and new opportunities. Whether they are on center stage or behind the scenes, managers know who these top players are, understand their worth, and want more of them on their team. While their impact is obvious, it’s not always clear what actually makes these professionals different from their peers. Wiseman explains what the most influential players are doing differently, how small and seemingly insignificant differences in how we think and act can make an enormous impact, and why—with a little coaching—this mindset is available to everyone who wants to contribute at their highest level.

Unfear: Transform Your Organization to Create Breakthrough Performance and Employee Well-Being
by Gaurav Bhatnagar and Mark Minukas

(McGraw-Hill Education, 2021)

Fear and uncertainty have been undermining performance and well-being in the workplace for as long as we have had workplaces. Here’s a little-known fact of business: mismanaged fear is responsible for almost all of the dysfunction that most organizations experience. While fear can drive short-term results, it does so at the cost of high employee burnout and turnover. It also undermines long-term business performance. But we can’t eradicate it entirely; it is inherent to the human condition. Winning organizations aren’t fear-free; they know how to reframe fear into opportunities for learning and growth. They create resilient cultures of unfear.

The Eight Paradoxes of Great Leadership: Embracing the Conflicting Demands of Today's Workplace
by Tim Elmore

(HarperCollins Leadership, 2021)

Tim Elmore helps leaders of all kinds navigate increasingly complex, rapidly changing environments, as well as manage teams who bring a range of new demands and expectations to the workplace that haven’t been seen even one generation prior. Tim offers counter-intuitive paradoxes that, when practiced, enable today’s leader to differentiate themselves and better connect with their team and customers. The book furnishes ideas that equip leaders to inspire team members in a way a paycheck never could. Having trained hundreds of thousands of young professionals to develop into leaders—Dr. Elmore shares the secrets of next generation leaders who have practiced the unique paradoxes outlined in this book and inspired their team members in a way that a paycheck never could.

 

Emerging Theme:

Considering the current state of our private and public discourse, it is not surprising that the quality of grace has surfaced. Grace is a way of looking at life but is only made virtuous when we act on it.

John Baldoni wrote a book about it in 2019 (Blog Post), and he offered this year a series of reflections on finding moments of grace in 2020. (Blog Post). At the end of the year, Korn Ferry CEO Gary Burnison releases The Five Graces of Life and Leadership. Burnison breaks down the grace perspective into five elements: gratitude, resilience, aspiration, courage, and empathy. Grace is easy to demonstrate with friends and loved ones, but it is hard, but all the more necessary, when the person before us is not on the same page or puts us in a difficult position.

 

Biographies:

Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell
by Jason L Riley

(Basic Books, 2021)

Thomas Sowell is one of the great social theorists of our age. In a career spanning more than a half century, he has written over thirty books, covering topics from economic history and social inequality to political theory, race, and culture. His bold and unsentimental assaults on liberal orthodoxy have endeared him to many readers but have also enraged fellow intellectuals, the civil-rights establishment, and much of the mainstream media. The result has been a lack of acknowledgment of his scholarship among critics who prioritize political correctness.

Hot Seat: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company
by Jeff Immelt with Amy Wallace

(Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, 2021)

In Hot Seat, Immelt offers a rigorous and raw interrogation of himself and his tenure, detailing for the first time his proudest moments and his biggest mistakes. The most crucial component of leadership, he writes, is the willingness to make decisions. But knowing what to do is a thousand times easier than knowing when to do it. Perseverance, combined with clear communication, can ensure progress, if not perfection, he says. That won’t protect any CEO from second-guessing, but Immelt explains how he’s pushed through even the most withering criticism: by staying focused on his team and the goals they tried to achieve. Jeff Immelt and his co-author Amy Wallace have written a very readable, inside look at Immelt’s 16 years as CEO of GE. There are many lessons and takeaways to be found inside. (Blog Post)

Play Nice But Win: A CEO's Journey from Founder to Leader
by Michael Dell with James Kaplan

(Portfolio, 2021)

In 1984, soon-to-be college dropout Michael Dell hid signs of his fledgling PC business in the bathroom of his University of Texas dorm room. Almost 30 years later, at the pinnacle of his success as founder and leader of Dell Technologies, he found himself embroiled in a battle for his company’s survival. What he’d do next could ensure its legacy—or destroy it completely. Play Nice But Win is a riveting account of the three battles waged for Dell Technologies: one to launch it, one to keep it, and one to transform it.

My Life in Full: Work, Family, and Our Future
by Indra Nooyi

(Portfolio, 2021)

For a dozen years as one of the world’s most admired CEOs, Indra Nooyi redefined what it means to be an exceptional leader. The first woman of color and immigrant to run a Fortune 50 company — and one of the foremost strategic thinkers of our time — she transformed PepsiCo with a unique vision, a vigorous pursuit of excellence, and a deep sense of purpose. Now, in a rich memoir brimming with grace, grit, and good humor, My Life in Full offers a firsthand view of Nooyi’s legendary career and the sacrifices it so often demanded.

Made From Scratch: The Legendary Success Story of Texas Roadhouse
by Kent Taylor

(Simon & Schuster, 2021)

In Made From Scratch, the late business maverick Kent Taylor tells the legendary story of Texas Roadhouse and in the process reveals its recipe for success: embracing unorthodox business practices. Because isn’t it a little unusual for a company to do almost no advertising? Is it wild to give away free peanuts and rolls and keep prices low, even as costs rise, or to keep the menu basically the same since it opened? Does it fly in the face of reason to prohibit coats and ties at headquarters and to have a CEO who dressed like he was part of the landscaping crew? (Blog Post)

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First Look: Leadership Books for December 2021

Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in December 2021. Don't miss out on other great new and future releases not listed here.

 

Fixed. How to Perfect the Fine Art of Problem Solving by Amy E Herman

With Amy Herman’s Fixed., we now have access to what the FBI, NATO, the State Department, Interpol, Scotland Yard, and many more organizations and their leaders have been using to solve their most intractable problems. Demonstrating a powerful paradigm shift for finding solutions, Herman teaches us to see things differently, using art to challenge our default thinking and open up possibilities otherwise overlooked. Her unexpected, insightful, and often delightful methodology is sought after by leaders and professionals for whom failure is catastrophic. Luckily for us, these tactics work— no matter the problem’s scale or complexity.

The Five Graces of Life and Leadership by Gary Burnison

Five simple qualities that captures the essence of outstanding leadership today. In today’s world, leadership is all about establishing community and connectivity so everyone can be part of something bigger than themselves. To have the grace to create this kind of leadership, we need greater self-awareness and genuine connection to others. In The Five Graces of Life and Leadership, CEO of the celebrated consulting firm Korn Ferry delivers a meaningful and thought-provoking exploration of leadership, emphasizing the five kinds of grace that leaders absolutely must have to lead their teams in today’s evolving workscape. In the book, you’ll learn how to the best leaders make their teams feel comforted, safe, and secure that they’re headed in the right direction.

10 Leadership Virtues for Disruptive Times: Coaching Your Team Through Immense Change and Challenge by Tom Ziglar

Tom Ziglar shares ten leadership virtues that are essential for coaching employees through immense change and creating an environment of maximum potential and productivity. Delivering cutting-edge new research, wisdom gleaned from experience, and poignant insights from his work at Zig Ziglar Corp, Tom Ziglar identifies the communication styles that will keep everyone on the same page, regardless of their working environment. He also emphasizes the importance of closing the "empathy gap" between management and staff in order to create a more connected team that operates to its fullest potential--and how developing each team member's unique dreams, goals, and abilities sets up the company for success.

Winning on Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customers byFred Reichheld with Darci Darnell and Maureen Burns

Great leaders embrace a higher purpose to win. The Net Promoter System shines as their guiding star. Few management ideas have spread so far and wide as the Net Promoter System (NPS). Since its conception almost two decades ago by customer loyalty guru Fred Reichheld, thousands of companies around the world have adopted it—from industrial titans such as Mercedes-Benz and Cummins to tech giants like Apple and Amazon to digital innovators such as Warby Parker and Peloton. Now, Reichheld has raised the bar yet again. In Winning on Purpose, he demonstrates that the primary purpose of a business should be to enrich the lives of its customers. Why? Because when customers feel this love, they come back for more and bring their friends—generating good profits. This is NPS 3.0 and it puts a new take on the age-old Golden Rule—treat customers the way you would want a loved one treated—at the heart of enduring business success.

Compassionate Leadership: How to Do Hard Things in a Human Way by Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter with Moses Mohan and Marissa Afton

A global pandemic, economic volatility, natural disasters, civil and political unrest. From New York to Barcelona to Hong Kong, it can feel as if the world as we know it is coming apart. Through it all, our human spirit is being tested. Now more than ever, it's imperative for leaders to demonstrate compassion. But in hard times like these, leaders need to make hard decisions—deliver negative feedback, make difficult choices that disappoint people, and in some cases lay people off. How do you do the hard things that come with the responsibility of leadership while remaining a good human being and bringing out the best in others? Most people think we have to make a binary choice between being a good human being and being a tough, effective leader. But this is a false dichotomy. Being human and doing what needs to be done are not mutually exclusive. In truth, doing hard things and making difficult decisions is often the most compassionate thing to do.

Change Proof: Leveraging the Power of Uncertainty to Build Long-term Resilience by Adam Markel

When we think of resilience, we think of being able to “roll with the punches” and “bounce back” after uncertainty or change. But resiliency expert and bestselling author Adam Markel encourages you to aim higher. In Change Proof, he shows you how to truly, actually embrace change―to find the creative opportunity in uncertainty, as opposed to simply riding it out or reacting to it. In Change Proof, Markel demonstrates that this kind of resilience―thriving versus surviving―is a skill you can cultivate, both personally and professionally. Using case studies, current research, and real-life anecdotes from his work as an executive mentor, Markel clearly lays out the fundamentals of the required mind shift―how to change your relationship with change.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

Build your leadership library with these specials on over 28 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.

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First Look: Leadership Books for November 2021

Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in November 2021. Don't miss out on other great new and future releases not listed here.

 

The Eight Paradoxes of Great Leadership: Embracing the Conflicting Demands of Today's Workplace by Tim Elmore

Become a next generation leader—rich in emotional and social intelligence and orchestrating outstanding collaborative results—by mastering these eight status quo-shattering paradoxes. The Eight Paradoxes of Great Leadership unpacks the fresh strategies and new mindset required today from a next generation leader. Author Dr. Tim Elmore helps leaders of all kinds navigate increasingly complex, rapidly changing environments, as well as manage teams who bring a range of new demands and expectations to the workplace that haven’t been seen even one generation prior.

Lead with We: The Business Revolution That Will Save Our Future by Simon Mainwaring

By leading with “we”—putting the collective above the individual, holding the sum above the parts, and emphasizing the importance of the role that everyone plays—you can not only help solve the escalating challenges of today but also unlock extraordinary growth for your business, and abundance on our planet. Timely and compelling, this book’s message is simple: The future of profit is people’s purpose, aligned. Lead With We not only examines why we must all conduct business differently in order to grow in today’s market, but provides the how—concrete steps any reader, wherever they find themselves in the business hierarchy, can take toward success.

Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us by Brian Klaas

Does power corrupt, or are corrupt people drawn to power? Are entrepreneurs who embezzle and cops who kill the result of poorly designed systems or are they just bad people? Are tyrants made or born? If you were suddenly thrust into a position of power, would you be able to resist the temptation to line your pockets or seek revenge against your enemies? Based on deep, unprecedented research from around the world, Corruptible will challenge your most basic assumptions about becoming a leader and what might happen to your head when you get there. It also provides a roadmap to avoiding classic temptations, suggesting a series of reforms that would facilitate better people finding a path to power—and ensuring that power purifies rather than corrupts.

The Generation Myth: Why When You're Born Matters Less Than You Think by Bobby Duffy

Millennials, Baby Boomers, Gen Z—we like to define people by when they were born, but an acclaimed social researcher explains why we shouldn't. Boomers are narcissists. Millennials are spoiled. Gen Zers are lazy. We assume people born around the same time have basically the same values. It makes for good headlines, but is it true? Bobby Duffy has spent years studying generational distinctions. In The Generation Myth, he argues that our generational identities are not fixed but fluid, reforming throughout our lives. Based on an analysis of what over three million people really think about homeownership, sex, well-being, and more, Duffy offers a new model for understanding how generations form, how they shape societies, and why generational differences aren’t as sharp as we think.

The Leader's Mind: How Great Leaders Prepare, Perform, and Prevail by Jim Afremow and Phil White

The Leader's Mind taps into the same tips and techniques honed by top-tier athletes, such as how to get in a "zone," thrive on a team, and stay humble, to become a champion at work and the ultimate team player at home. Stop struggling with the expectations you face at work and at home by fundamentally changing the way you process what’s happening in your life. The mental edge that sets elite athletes apart outlined in this book will help you become the champion leader you want to be.

Twelve and a Half: Leveraging the Emotional Ingredients Necessary for Business Success by Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk explores the twelve essential emotional skills that are integral to his life—and business—success and provides today’s (and tomorrow’s) leaders with critical tools to acquire and develop these traits. For decades, leaders have relied on “hard” skills to make smart decisions, while dismissing the importance of emotional intelligence. Soft skills like self-awareness and curiosity aren’t quantifiable; they can’t be measured on a spreadsheet and aren’t taught in B-schools or emphasized in institutions. We’ve been taught that emotional intelligence is a “nice to have” in business, not a requirement. But soft skills can actually accelerate business success, Gary Vaynerchuk argues. For analytical minds, it’s challenging to understand how to get “better” at being self-aware, curious, or empathetic—or even why it’s important to try.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

Build your leadership library with these specials on over 28 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:53 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for October 2021

Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in October 2021. Don't miss out on other great new and future releases not listed here.

 

Risk: A User's Guide by Stanley McChrystal and Anna Butrico

In this book, General McChrystal offers a battle-tested system for detecting and responding to risk. Instead of defining risk as a force to predict, McChrystal and coauthor Anna Butrico show that there are in fact ten dimensions of control we can adjust at any given time. By closely monitoring these controls, we can maintain a healthy Risk Immune System that allows us to effectively anticipate, identify, analyze, and act upon the ever-present possibility that things will not go as planned. McChrystal illustrates how these ten factors are always in effect, and how by considering them, individuals and organizations can exert mastery over every conceivable sort of risk that they might face.

Boss Brain: Unlock Your Entrepreneurial Instincts by Tra Williams

You were born to be an entrepreneur. You were taught to be an employee. Aspiring entrepreneurs are instinctively driven to be the master of their own fate and to explore the limits of their potential. But most hear two conflicting voices in their heads: an optimistic voice telling them all the reasons they should start a business, and a second voice-one that fears uncertainty-telling them all the reasons they should remain someone else's employee. Millions of future business owners feel trapped by those voices-like they are meant for something more but are stuck where they are.

Play Nice But Win: A CEO's Journey from Founder to Leader by Michael Dell with James Kaplan

From Michael Dell, renowned founder and chief executive of one of America’s largest technology companies, the inside story of the battles that defined him as a leader. Play Nice But Win is a riveting account of the three battles waged for Dell Technologies: one to launch it, one to keep it, and one to transform it. For the first time, Dell reveals the highs and lows of the company's evolution amidst a rapidly changing industry—and his own, as he matured into the CEO it needed. With humor and humility, he recalls the mentors who showed him how to turn his passion into a business; the competitors who became friends, foes, or both; and the sharks that circled, looking for weakness. What emerges is the long-term vision underpinning his success: that technology is ultimately about people and their potential.

Open Strategy: Mastering Disruption from Outside the C-Suite by Christian Stadler, Julia Hautz, Kurt Matzler, and Stephan Friedrich von den Eichen

Why are some of the world’s most successful companies able to stay ahead of disruption, adopting and implementing innovative strategies, while others struggle? It’s not because they hire a new CEO or expensive consultants but rather because these pioneering companies have adopted a new way of strategizing. Instead of keeping strategic deliberations within the C-Suite, they open up strategic initiatives to a diverse group of stakeholders—front-line employees, experts, suppliers, customers, entrepreneurs, and even competitors. Open Strategy presents a new philosophy, key tools, step-by-step advice, and fascinating case studies—from companies that range from Barclays to Adidas—to guide business leaders in this groundbreaking approach to strategy.

Impact Players: How to Take the Lead, Play Bigger, and Multiply Your Impact by Liz Wiseman

In every organization there are Impact Players—those indispensable colleagues who can be counted on in critical situations and who consistently receive high-profile assignments and new opportunities. Whether they are on center stage or behind the scenes, managers know who these top players are, understand their worth, and want more of them on their team. While their impact is obvious, it’s not always clear what actually makes these professionals different from their peers. Liz Wiseman reveals the secrets of these stellar professionals who play the game at a higher level. Drawing on insights from leaders at top companies, Wiseman explains what the most influential players are doing differently, how small and seemingly insignificant differences in how we think and act can make an enormous impact, and why—with a little coaching—this mindset is available to everyone who wants to contribute at their highest level.

Unfear: Transform Your Organization to Create Breakthrough Performance and Employee Well-Being by Gaurav Bhatnagar and Mark Minukas

Fear and uncertainty have been undermining performance and well-being in the workplace for as long as we have had workplaces. Here’s a little-known fact of business: mismanaged fear is responsible for almost all of the dysfunction that most organizations experience. While fear can drive short-term results, it does so at the cost of high employee burnout and turnover. It also undermines long-term business performance. But we can’t eradicate it entirely; it is inherent to the human condition. Winning organizations aren’t fear-free; they know how to reframe fear into opportunities for learning and growth. They create resilient cultures of unfear.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

Build your leadership library with these specials on over 28 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:13 AM
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Elon Musk: In His Own Words

ELON MUSK is a polarizing figure. In part, because he thinks differently than most people. At a 2017 World Government Summit, he once told an audience, “Some people think I’m an alien.” His raw ideas may sound irrational, but in time they seem obvious — even to his critics. Editor Jessica Easto has compiled his thoughts in Elon Musk: In His Own Words.

Easto has organized the book into three parts: Getting Started, Growth, and Wit, Wisdom, and Personal Values. Here are several:

☙ I think I would make far fewer mistakes [if I were to go back in time and talk to my 20-year-old self], like, “Here’s a list of all the dumb things you’re about to do. Please do not do them.” It’d be a very long list.

☙ Do you have the right axioms, are they relevant, and are you making the right conclusions based on those axioms? That’s the essence of critical thinking, and yet it is amazing how often people fail to do that. I think wishful thinking is innate in the human brain. You want things to be the way you wish them to be, and so you tend to filter information that you shouldn’t filter.

☙ I do think a good framework for thinking is physics, you know, the first principles reasoning. What I mean by that is boil things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from there as opposed to reasoning by analogy. Through most of our life, we get through life by reasoning by analogy, which essentially means kind of copying what other people do with slight variations. And you have to do that, otherwise mentally you wouldn’t be able to get through the day. But when you want to do something new, you have to apply the physics approach. Physics has really figured out how to discover new things that are counterintuitive, like quantum mechanics; it’s really counterintuitive.

☙ A lot of times people think creating companies is going to be fun. I would say it’s not. It’s really not that fun. There are periods of fun, and there are periods where it’s just awful. Particularly if you’re the CEO of the company, you actually have a distillation of all the worst problems in the company. There’s no point in spending your time on things that are going right, so you only spend your time on things that are going wrong.... I think you have to feel quite compelled to do it and have a fairly high pain threshold.

☙ It’s better to approach this [building a company] from the standpoint of saying—rather than you want to be an entrepreneur or you want to make money—what are some useful things that you do that you wish existed in the world?

☙ Fundamentally, if you don’t have a compelling product at a compelling price, you don’t have a great company.

☙ Things move as fast as the least lucky and least competent supplier. Any natural disaster you care to name—all of those things have happened to our suppliers. The factory has burned down, there’s been an earthquake, there’s been a tsunami, there’s been massive hail, there’s been a tornado, the ship sank, there was a shoot-out at the Mexican border—no kidding. That delayed trunk carpet.

☙ If we don’t succeed, then we will be certainly pointed to as a reason why people shouldn’t even try for these things. So I think it’s important that we do whatever is necessary to keep going.

☙ Always take the position that you are, to some degree, wrong, and your goal is to be less wrong over time.

☙ You should actually take the approach that the constraints that you are given are guaranteed to be some degree wrong.… The counterpoint would be that they're perfect [which is never].... Question your constraints. It does not matter if the person handing you those constraints won a Nobel Prize—even Einstein was wrong some of the time.

☙ I have no problem with negative feedback, nor do I have a problem with critical reviews. If I had a problem with critical reviews, I would spend all my time battling critical reviews. There have been hundreds of negative articles—hundreds—and yet I’ve only spoken out a few times. I don’t have a problem with critical reviews, I have a problem with false reviews.

☙ The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur.

☙ As you get older, your obligations increase. And once you have a family, you start taking risks not just for yourself but for your family as well. It gets much harder to do things that might not work out. So now is the time to do that—before you have those obligations. I would encourage you to take risks now; do something bold. You won’t regret it.

☙ I just want to emphasize that sometimes—in fact, most of the time—I get way too much credit or attention for what I do. I’m just the visible element. But the reason those companies are successful is because we have extremely talented people at all levels that are making it happen.

☙ Honestly, I really am just trying to do the most amount of good with the time that I have on this earth. And, you know, not always succeeding, but that’s the goal.

☙ Really should be a rule that oatmeal-raisin cookies can’t look too much like choc chip. Doppelgänger cookie trickery!

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:47 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for September 2021

Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in September 2021. Don't miss out on other great new and future releases not listed here.

 

The Art of Statistics: How to Learn from Data by David Spiegelhalter

In The Art of Statistics, world-renowned statistician David Spiegelhalter shows readers how to derive knowledge from raw data by focusing on the concepts and connections behind the math. Drawing on real world examples to introduce complex issues, he shows us how statistics can help us determine the luckiest passenger on the Titanic, whether a notorious serial killer could have been caught earlier, and if screening for ovarian cancer is beneficial. The Art of Statistics not only shows us how mathematicians have used statistical science to solve these problems — it teaches us how we too can think like statisticians. We learn how to clarify our questions, assumptions, and expectations when approaching a problem, and — perhaps even more importantly -- we learn how to responsibly interpret the answers we receive.

Beyond Collaboration Overload: How to Work Smarter, Get Ahead, and Restore Your Well-Being by Rob Cross

Most organizations have created always-on work contexts that are burning people out and hurting performance rather than delivering productivity, innovation and engagement. Collaborative work consumes 85% of employees' time and is drifting earlier into the morning, later into the night, and deeper into the weekend. The dilemma is that we all need to collaborate more to create effective organizations and vibrant careers for ourselves. But conventional wisdom on teamwork and collaboration has created too much of the wrong kind of collaboration, which hurts our performance, health and overall well-being.

Provoke: How Leaders Shape the Future by Overcoming Fatal Human Flaws by Geoff Tuff and Steven Goldbach, Illustrated by Tom Fishburne

In Provoke: How Leaders Shape the Future by Overcoming Fatal Human Flaws, renowned strategy consultants and best-selling authors Geoff Tuff and Steven Goldbach deliver an insightful exploration of how people tend to act tentatively in the face of uncertainty and provide the tools we need to do things differently. Tuff and Goldbach offer up a compelling argument for the proposition that taking a "wait and see" approach is the exact opposite of what helps visionary leaders change the world. Drawing on principles from business and behavioral economics, the book shows readers from all walks of life how to provoke action as a mechanism to advance.

The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World by Dorie Clark

Your personal goals need a long-term strategy. Just as CEOs who optimize for quarterly profits often fail to make the strategic investments necessary for long-term growth, the same is true in our own personal and professional lives. We need to reorient ourselves to see the big picture so we can tap into the power of small changes that, made today, will have an enormous and disproportionate impact on our future success. We need to start playing The Long Game. Everyone is allotted the same twenty-four hours — but with the right strategies, you can leverage those hours in more efficient and powerful ways than you ever imagined. It's never an overnight process, but the long-term payoff is immense: to finally break out of the frenetic day-to-day routine and transform your life and your career.

My Life in Full: Work, Family, and Our Future by Indra Nooyi

For a dozen years as one of the world’s most admired CEOs, Indra Nooyi redefined what it means to be an exceptional leader. The first woman of color and immigrant to run a Fortune 50 company — and one of the foremost strategic thinkers of our time — she transformed PepsiCo with a unique vision, a vigorous pursuit of excellence, and a deep sense of purpose. Now, in a rich memoir brimming with grace, grit, and good humor, My Life in Full offers a firsthand view of Nooyi’s legendary career and the sacrifices it so often demanded.

Radical Product Thinking: The New Mindset for Innovating Smarter by Radhika Dutt

Iteration rules product development, but it isn’t enough to produce dramatic results. This book champions Radical Product Thinking, a systematic methodology for building visionary, game-changing products. When we iterate without a clear vision or strategy, our products become bloated, fragmented, and driven by irrelevant metrics. They catch “product diseases” that often kill innovation. Radical Product Thinking (RPT) gives organizations a repeatable model for building world-changing products. The key? Being vision-driven instead of iteration-led. Radhika Dutt guides readers through the five elements of the methodology (vision, strategy, prioritization, execution and measurement, and culture) to develop a clear process for translating vision into reality, and turning RPT skills into muscle memory.

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Build your leadership library with these specials on over 28 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.

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First Look: Leadership Books for August 2021

Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in August 2021. Don't miss out on other great new and future releases not listed here.

A Minute to Think: Reclaim Creativity, Conquer Busyness, and Do Your Best Work by Juliet Funt

Do you wish you could stop the mayhem of work and life and just take a minute? Do you sense you could contribute more if there were a little more room in the day? Does busyness deprive you and your burnt-out team of the oxygen your talents need to catch fire? Many have felt that way, yet taking a pause has seemed impossible—until now. Juliet shows all of us how to reclaim time for thinking and make room for what truly matters. Whether you are an individual trying to build a more sane and humane flow of daily work, a team that wants new levels of efficiency and effectiveness, or an entire organization changing your culture toward thoughtfulness, this book will lead you there.

Rogue Waves: Future-Proof Your Business to Survive and Profit from Radical Changeby Jonathan Brill

Will the next rogue wave sink your ship―or will you choose to profit from it? At this moment, rogue waves are forming under your business. Emerging technologies, changing demographics, the data economy, automation, and other trends―the undercurrents of radical, systemic change―are crashing into each other. When they converge, they’ll produce sea changes that sink companies and wash away entire industries overnight. If your competitor can’t ride out the next wave and you can, you win. In Rogue Waves, Jonathan Brill―a renowned expert on resilient growth and decision making under uncertainty―shows you how to prepare your business to survive and thrive through the most radical upheavals.

Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change by April Rinne

Discover eight powerful mindset shifts that enable leaders and seekers of all ages to thrive in a time of unprecedented change and uncertainty. Being adaptable and flexible have always been hallmarks of effective leadership and a fulfilling life. But in a world of so much—and faster-paced—change, and an ever-faster pace of change, flexibility and resilience can be stretched to their breaking points. The quest becomes how to find calm and lasting meaning in the midst of enduring chaos. A world in flux calls for a new mindset, one that treats constant change and uncertainty as a feature, not a bug. Flux helps readers open this mindset—a flux mindset—and develop eight “flux superpowers” that flip conventional ideas about leadership, success, and well-being on their heads. They empower people to see change in new ways, craft new responses, and ultimately reshape their relationship to change from the inside out.

Too Proud to Lead: How Hubris Can Destroy Effective Leadership and What to do About It byBen Laker, David Cobb and Rita Trehan

Too Proud to Lead provides essential advice on how to avoid that hubristic behavior that can endanger businesses, as well as cope with arrogant overconfidence in others in the workplace. Laying out the dangers of arrogant overconfidence for both individuals and organizations, Too Proud To Lead explores the economic and psychological costs of hubristic behaviour and argues for a new approach to leadership in order to avoid the pitfalls of hubris. The authors reveal exactly how confidence can sour into overconfidence--and why it can happen to anyone. With this easily-absorbed book, packed with checklists and key insights, readers acquire the essential arsenal of tools for understanding, identifying, anticipating and coping with hubris, in both themselves and in the workplace, leading to better lives and sustained success for years to come.

The Power of Pressure: Why Pressure Isn't the Problem, It's the Solution by Dane Jensen

Be energized, but not overwhelmed. What’s the most pressure you’ve ever been under? How did you react? What helped? What didn’t? Over the past five years, Dane Jensen has asked these questions of thousands of high performers—from Olympic gold medalists to Navy SEALs, politicians, executives and busy parents. What has emerged from these conversations is that while everyone’s experiences under pressure are unique, pressure follows patterns and develops in predictable ways. If we can recognize the patterns, we can improve our ability to sidestep the biological traps that can sabotage us—and use the energy that accompanies pressure to thrive.

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Build your leadership library with these specials on over 28 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.

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“Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. Without books, the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are engines of change, windows on the world and lighthouses erected in the sea of time. They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print.”

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 06:27 AM
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10 Books You Should Read This Summer

LIKE HIS MOTHER Rose, John Kennedy believed that reading constituted the most important instrument of knowledge. JFK‘s advisor Ted Sorensen said he read widely on history, biography, and politics. “But he had little interest in abstract theories. He primarily sought truths upon which he could act and ideas he could use in his office.”

Reading gives us a chance to reflect on our lives, grow our knowledge, and become more creative. Never threatened by opposing views, Kennedy welcomed new and even controversial perspectives. He stated in the Saturday Review magazine in October 1960:

If this nation is to be wise as well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries. These libraries should be open to all—except the censor. We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors. For the Bill of Rights is the guardian of our security as well as our liberty.

With a few extra hours of daylight, the summer is an ideal time to relax and read. Listed below are ten books released this year that will entertain, make you think, and improve your leadership. Pick at least three and take some time to make yourself better this summer.*

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know
by Adam Grant

To think again may make us uncomfortable. But rethinking can also help us find solutions to old problems, deepen our perspective, release us from inherited dogma and other people’s opinions, and understand how our closely held values relate and are applied to our changing environment. As JFK advised in the statement above, our challenge is to listen to others and to rethink those deeply held ideas and beliefs that tend to divide us—especially those ideas that we have blindly accepted from others.

The CEO Test: Master the Challenges That Make or Break All Leaders
by Adam Bryant and Kevin Sharer

This book discusses seven tests that all leaders face in one form or another. Their goal in writing the book is “to start conversations, not end them, and to provide guidance and frameworks to help refine your thinking and strategies on the aspects of leadership that matter most.”

Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment
by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein

Wherever there is judgment, there is noise. Noise is a hidden force that clouds our judgment and undermines our decisions. It is variability in judgments that should be identical. We can make better choices by reducing both noise and bias by following the prescriptions offered here.

How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be
by Katy Milkman

Change comes most readily when you turn an uphill battle into a downhill one. You will learn methods for identifying and overcoming common barriers to change, such as impulsivity, procrastination, and forgetfulness. This book will help you reshape your environment and improve your trajectory by utilizing fresh starts and cues, building flexible habits, and more.

Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success
by Ron Friedman

We are told to work smarter, not harder. Friedman will show you how. By reverse engineering what has worked for others, we can unlock patterns that will work in our own lives. How do you take apart a work you admire, enabling you to extract its formula and unleash your own creative juices?

Grace Notes: Leading in an Upside-Down World
by John Baldoni

Baldoni reflects on the practical application of grace. Over the course of the last year, he has collected his thoughts on the response to the pandemic and its implications. These notes touch on many elements of what it means to be a good citizen, a friend, and a leader. A quick read but plenty to meditate on.

Be Where Your Feet Are: Seven Principles to Keep You Present, Grounded, and Thriving
by Scott O’Neil

Instead of looking for balance, learn to be where your feet are. Finding balance is “like aspiring to be in the middle.” On the other hand, “being present, focused, committed, and hardworking at home and at work is the path to finding success and fulfillment.”

The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, A Temptation, and The Longest Night of the Second World War
by Malcolm Gladwell

Gladwell asks, “How is it that, sometimes, for any number of unexpected and random reasons, technology slips away from its intended path?” The Bomber Mafia held to their belief. “They persisted, even in the face of technology’s inevitable misdirection, even when abandoning their dream offered a quicker path to victory, even when Satan offered them all the world if only they would renounce their faith. Without persistence, principles are meaningless. Because one day your dream may come true. And if you cannot keep that dream alive in the interim, then who are you?”

High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out
by Amanda Ripley

When the conversation changes from a discussion of ideas to a battle between good and evil—you’re good they’re bad—then the game changes, and we feel increasingly certain of our own superiority and, at the same time, more and more mystified by the other side. It doesn’t have to be this way. You can rehumanize the other side, restore your curiosity, and break free from outrage.

Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less
by Leidy Klotz

The pressure is always to have more. So we keep adding more and more. We add tasks, commitments, and possessions while neglecting to subtract any. Ironically, the secret to having more is to subtract. Make a “To Don’t” list. The summer is an excellent time to ask yourself what you could take away to have more.

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*If you struggle to read or doubt the immense payoff for doing so, you might pick up Jeff Brown and Jesse Wisnewski’s Read to Lead: The Simple Habit That Expands Your Influence and Boosts Your Career (August 2021).

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:04 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for July 2021

Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in July 2021. Don't miss out on other great new and future releases not listed here.

The Power of Clarity: Unleash the True Potential of Workplace Productivity, Confidence, and Empowerment by Ann Latham

According to a Fortune 500 study, as much as 80% of working time is lost to tiresome meetings, unclear expectations, difficult decisions, and other wasteful delays. Overcoming the lack of clarity behind this waste - on both an individual and organizational basis - would reap huge rewards. In The Power of Clarity, Ann Latham exposes the unrecognized confusion and explains how to eliminate it. This fascinating guide to workplace productivity and effectiveness draws upon extensive research and case studies to demonstrate how you can get better results in far less time while also increasing confidence and commitment.

The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, Regain It by Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta

Trust is, however, an elusive, even mushy, concept. Creating and sustaining trust does not, Sandra Sucher and Shalene Gupta show, come from "reputation-building" and PR but by being the "real deal," creating products, services, and technologies that work, having good intentions, treating people fairly, and taking responsibility for all the impacts an organization creates, whether intended or not. Then, through a framing of how to think through the elements of trust - competence, motives, means, impact - combined with in-depth stories from twenty years of research we emerge with a new understanding of the business, economic and societal importance of trust and how to regain it once lost. How to, in short, bridge the gap from where you are to where you should be.

Persuade: The 4-Step Process to Influence People and Decisions by Andres Lares and Jeff Cochran with Shaun Digan

In Persuade: The 4-Step Process to Influence People and Decisions, accomplished sales, negotiation, and influence experts Andres Lares, Jeff Cochran, and Shaun Digan PhD deliver a concise and insightful take on how to transform your ability to persuade others regardless of the setting. Persuade is perfect for executives, managers, entrepreneurs, and other business leaders and will earn a place in the libraries of any professional who negotiates or influences on a regular basis. It is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to improve their persuasion or deal-making abilities.

The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World by Adrian Wooldridge

Meritocracy: the idea that people should be advanced according to their talents rather than their birth. While this initially seemed like a novel concept, by the end of the twentieth century it had become the world's ruling ideology. How did this happen, and why is meritocracy now under attack from both right and left? In The Aristocracy of Talent, esteemed journalist and historian Adrian Wooldridge looks outside western cultures and shows what transformative effects it has had everywhere it has been adopted, especially once women were brought into the meritocratic system. He also shows how meritocracy has now become corrupted and argues that the recent stalling of social mobility is the result of failure to complete the meritocratic revolution. Rather than abandoning meritocracy, he says, we should call for its renewal.

Digital for Good: Raising Kids to Thrive in an Online World by Richard Culatta

When it comes to raising children in a digital world, every parent feels underprepared and overwhelmed. We worry that our children will become addicted to online games, be victims of cyberbullying, or get lost down the rabbit hole of social media. We warn them about all the things they shouldn't do online, but we don't do nearly enough to teach them the skills of digital well-being. It's time to start a new conversation. In Digital for Good, EdTech expert Richard Culatta argues that technology can be a powerful tool for learning, solving humanity's toughest problems, and bringing us closer together. He offers a refreshingly positive framework for preparing kids to be successful in a digital world—one that encourages them to use technology proactively and productively—by outlining five qualities every young person should develop in order to become a thriving, contributing digital citizen.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

Build your leadership library with these specials on over 28 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 02:40 PM
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First Look: Leadership Books for June 2021

Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in June 2021. Don't miss out on other great new and future releases not listed here.

Be Where Your Feet Are: Seven Principles to Keep You Present, Grounded, and Thriving by Scott O'Neil

When we're moving at 115 MPH, we rarely see the wall coming. But it comes for all of us and when it does, we grasp for lessons, for meaning, for purpose. Each moment (good or bad) and each win or loss, provides us an opportunity to learn, and if we choose to take it, that opportunity can change our lives—and the world—for the better. The human spirit craves connection. Authenticity. Belonging. Touch. Gratitude. Purpose. We need to make our interactions count. Whether it's the death of a friend, loss of a job, a bad break-up, or the isolation of Covid-19, those who manage to be where their feet are will grow, stretch and emerge stronger, smarter, and more prepared as we find peace and gratitude in the pause. In Be Where Your Feet Are, this CEO of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils offers his own story of grief and healing, and shares his most valuable lessons in what keeps him present, grounded, and thriving as a father, husband, coach, mentor, and leader.

Change How Organizations Achieve Hard-to-Imagine Results in Uncertain and Volatile Times by John P. Kotter with Vanessa Akhtar and Gaurav Gupta

Transform your organization with speed and efficiency using this insightful new resource. Incremental improvement is no longer sufficient in helping organizations navigate the complexity, uncertainty and volatility of today’s world. In Change: How Organizations Achieve Hard-to-Imagine Results in Uncertain and Volatile Times, authors John P. Kotter, Vanessa Akhtar, and Gaurav Gupta explore how to create non-linear, dramatic change in your organization. You’ll discover the emerging science of change that teaches us about how to build organizations – from businesses to governments – that change and adapt rapidly.

Upstanding: How Company Character Catalyzes Loyalty, Agility, and Hypergrowth by Frank A. Calderoni

In his career as an executive at IBM, Cisco, and now as CEO of Anaplan, Frank A. Calderoni discovered that character is just as vital for companies as it is for individuals. In Upstanding: How Company Character Catalyzes Loyalty, Agility, and Hypergrowth, the author explores the powerful link between corporate strategy, company culture, and individual character, and how activating this link is essential to realizing strong company character—and an essential ingredient for organizations to achieve hypergrowth, agility, and loyalty. This innovative resource features real-life examples of how today’s most successful companies are building upstanding character while increasing employee engagement, happiness, and performance.

Collision Course: Carlos Ghosn and the Culture Wars That Upended an Auto Empire by Hans Greimel and William Sposato

In Japan it's called the "Ghosn Shock"—the stunning arrest of Carlos Ghosn, the jet-setting CEO who saved Nissan and made it part of a global automotive empire. Ghosn spent two decades building a colossal partnership between Nissan and Renault that looked like a new model for a global business, but the alliance's shiny image fronted an unsteady, tense operation. Culture clashes, infighting among executives and engineers, dueling corporate traditions, and government maneuvering constantly threatened the venture. Expertly reported, Collision Course explores the complex suspicions around what and who was really responsible for Ghosn's ouster. It explains how economics, history, national interests, cultural politics, and hubris collided, crumpling the legacy of arguably the most important foreign businessman ever to set foot in Japan.

Work Better Together: How to Cultivate Strong Relationships to Maximize Well-Being and Boost Bottom Lines by Jen Fisher and Anh Phillips

For years, companies have been implementing programs that promote social responsibility and improve employee health, both of which benefit the financial bottom line. Now it’s time to focus on positive social interactions and relationships in the workplace. In Work Better Together, two experts from Deloitte explain how working remotely, over-relying on digital communication, and always being “on” is fast-increasing feelings of isolation and burnout―and how a work culture driven by quality relationships can reverse these trends. Work Better Together walks you through the process of implementing change and fueling a much-needed corporate movement towards humanity in the workplace.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

Build your leadership library with these specials on over 28 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:22 AM
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First Look: Leadership Books for May 2021

Here's a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in May 2021. Don't miss out on other great new and future releases not listed here.

Anxiety at Work: 8 Strategies to Help Teams Build Resilience, Handle Uncertainty, and Get Stuff Done by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton

Have you ever dreaded Sunday night, got a pit in your stomach on the way to work, or had your heartbeat speed up at the sound of your boss’s voice? If so, you may have had anxiety at work. In this empathetic and wise guide, executive coaches and gurus of gratitude Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton explore the causes of workplace stress and anxiety and the management practices that have proven successful in reducing tension and cultivating calm. In today’s volatile, fast-paced, and ever-changing global climate, organizations and their employees are under more pressure than ever to perform. Anxiety at Work shows how everyone at all levels can work together to build an environment that fosters camaraderie, productivity, and calm.

Wellbeing at Work by Jim Clifton and Jim Harter

What if the next global crisis is a mental health pandemic? It is here now. One-third of Americans have shown signs of clinical anxiety or depression, and the current state of suffering globally has risen significantly. The mental health pandemic manifests everywhere, not least in your workplace. As organizations around the world face health and social crises, as well as economic uncertainty, acknowledging and improving wellbeing in your workplace is more critical than ever. Increasingly, leaders and managers must support mental health and cultivate resilience in employees — not just increase engagement and performance. Based on more than 100 million Gallup global interviews, Wellbeing at Work shows you how to do just that.

Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire by Brad Stone

Almost ten years ago, Bloomberg journalist Brad Stone captured the rise of Amazon in his bestseller The Everything Store. Since then, Amazon has expanded exponentially, inventing novel products like Alexa and disrupting countless industries, while its workforce has quintupled in size and its valuation has soared to well over a trillion dollars. Jeff Bezos’s empire, once housed in a garage, now spans the globe. Between services like Whole Foods, Prime Video, and Amazon’s cloud computing unit, AWS, plus Bezos’s ownership of The Washington Post, it’s impossible to go a day without encountering its impact. We live in a world run, supplied, and controlled by Amazon and its iconoclast founder. Definitive, timely, and revelatory, Stone has provided an unvarnished portrait of a man and company that we couldn’t imagine modern life without.

Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance by Erica Dhawan

The definitive guide to communicating and connecting in a hybrid world. Humans rely on body language to connect and build trust, but with most of our communication happening from behind a screen, traditional body language signals are no longer visible -- or are they? In Digital Body Language, Erica Dhawan, a go-to thought leader on collaboration and a passionate communication junkie, combines cutting edge research with engaging storytelling to decode the new signals and cues that have replaced traditional body language across genders, generations, and culture. In real life, we lean in, uncross our arms, smile, nod and make eye contact to show we listen and care. Online, reading carefully is the new listening. Writing clearly is the new empathy. And a phone or video call is worth a thousand emails. Digital Body Language will turn your daily misunderstandings into a set of collectively understood laws that foster connection, no matter the distance. Dhawan investigates a wide array of exchanges―from large conferences and video meetings to daily emails, texts, IMs, and conference calls―and offers insights and solutions to build trust and clarity to anyone in our ever changing world.

Workparent: The Complete Guide to Succeeding on the Job, Staying True to Yourself, and Raising Happy Kids by Daisy Dowling

An all-in-one resource for every working mother and father. Sure, there are plenty of parenting books out there. But as working moms and dads, we've never had a trusted, go-to guide all our own—one that coaches us on how to do well at work, be the loving and engaged parents we want to be, and remain true to ourselves in the process. Enter Workparent. Whether you're planning a family, pushing for promotion during your kids' teenage years, or at any phase in between, Workparent provides all the advice and assurance you'll need to combine children and career in your own, authentic way. Written by Daisy Dowling, a top executive coach, talent expert, and working mom, Workparent answers all of your questions and feels like a good talk with your favorite mentor.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

Build your leadership library with these specials on over 28 titles. All titles are at least 40% off the list price and are available only in limited quantities.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 07:12 AM
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