Our nation is still reeling from the 346 fatalities suffered on two flights of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes, the first in May 2017 and the second in March 2019. These are just one of the series of costly and deadly consequences of defective products described in this book. Besides the Boeing 737 planes, the examples of bad products include automobiles, electrical energy networks, pipelines, bridges and other large structures, banks, drinkable water, and financial services. While the immediate or proximate causes of the disasters have been bad design or bad production, the root or underlying causes have been bad corporate management and business cultures caused by corporate leaders. The final five chapters provide short essays on product design, production, quality control, management, and culture and what the leaders of our private companies and government agencies might do to reduce the pitfalls that have led to so many defective products and their dire consequences.
The definitive playbook for driving impact as a middle manager Leading from the Middle: A Playbook for Managers to Influence Up, Down, and Across the Organization delivers an insightful and practical guide for the backbone of an organization: those who have a boss and are a boss and must lead from the messy middle. Accomplished author and former P&G executive Scott Mautz walks readers through the unique challenges facing these managers, and the mindset and skillset necessary for managing up and down and influencing what happens across the organization. You’ll learn the winning mindset of the best middle managers, how to develop the most important skills necessary for managing from the middle, how to create your personal Middle Action Plan (MAP), and effectively influence: Up the chain of command, to your boss and those above them Down, to your direct reports and teams who report to you Laterally, to peers and teams you have no formal authority over Anyone in an organization who reports to someone and has someone reporting to them must lead from the middle. They are the most important group in an organization and have a unique opportunity to drive impact. Leading from the Middle explains how.
Nothing masks issues and robs an organization of its full potential like success That's right! Most successful, growth-hungry companies begin to miss their projections or worse, not because demand is low or conditions are difficult, but simply because they don't know how to predict, nurture, or even maintain their own growth and success. At each stage of growth, natural problems are glossed over in the scramble to expand, making the organization vulnerable to chaos, no matter how strong or expert its leaders. Most leaders feel isolated, pressured to build on earlier success and maintain total control – the perfect recipe for the 12 most common and critical mistakes to show up and slow or kill growth. Kirk Dando, leadership and growth expert, CEO of Dando Advisors, calls these roadblocks the "12 Warning Signs of Success," and has helped leaders across industries predict, prepare, and avoid them at every stage of growth. Predictive Leadership is rich with real-world stories, prescriptive advice on how to scale your business and limit the drama so you can unlock the growth and success you desire. Maybe you had the right idea but hired the wrong person. Maybe you're running into a leadership bottleneck, having trouble getting your team aligned, unknowingly incentivizing failure, or losing sight of your core values. Dando, known in leadership circles as the "Company Whisperer," has encountered every one of these obstacles himself, as a C-level executive in a high-growth billion-dollar business. He knows firsthand that these moments of truth determine whether you can lead your company to become a strong, mature, and financially sustainable organization, or drift toward an uncertain future.
The dangerous work of leading change--somebody has to do it. Will you put yourself on the line? To lead is to live dangerously. It's romantic and exciting to think of leadership as all inspiration, decisive action, and rich rewards, but leading requires taking risks that can jeopardize your career and your personal life. It requires putting yourself on the line, disrupting the status quo, and surfacing hidden conflict. And when people resist and push back, there's a strong temptation to play it safe. Those who choose to lead plunge in, take the risks, and sometimes get burned. But it doesn't have to be that way say renowned leadership experts Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky. In Leadership on the Line, they show how it's possible to make a difference without getting "taken out" or pushed aside. They present everyday tools that give equal weight to the dangerous work of leading change and the critical importance of personal survival. Through vivid stories from all walks of life, the authors present straightforward strategies for navigating the perilous straits of leadership. Whether you're a parent or a politician, a CEO or a community activist, this practical book shows how you can exercise leadership and survive and thrive to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Finalist for the 2015 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Best business book of the week from Inc.com The author of Power, Stanford business school professor, and a leading management thinker offers a hard-hitting dissection of the leadership industry and ways to make workplaces and careers work better. The leadership enterprise is enormous, with billions of dollars, thousands of books, and hundreds of thousands of blogs and talks focused on improving leaders. But what we see worldwide is employee disengagement, high levels of leader turnover and career derailment, and failed leadership development efforts. In Leadership BS, Jeffrey Pfeffer shines a bright light on the leadership industry, showing why it’s failing and how it might be remade. He sets the record straight on the oft-made prescriptions for leaders to be honest, authentic, and modest, tell the truth, build trust, and take care of others. By calling BS on so many of the stories and myths of leadership, he gives people a more scientific look at the evidence and better information to guide their careers. Rooted in social science, and will practical examples and advice for improving management, Leadership BS encourages readers to accept the truth and then use facts to change themselves and the world for the better.
Top-flight leaders aren't born. They learn by bad example. Poor leadership habits spawn new generations of poor leaders. Or they create enough discomfort that the leader figures out how to do it right. That has been the experience of author Hans Finzel and many others. In this leadership classic Hans describes the ten most common leadership faux pas: and • The top-down attitude and • Dirty delegation and • Putting paperwork before peoplework and • Communication chaos and • The absence of affirmation and • Missing the culture clues and • No room for mavericks and • Success without successors and • Dictatorship in decision-making and • Failure to focus on the future "Solid concepts. Great quotes. Good stories. Hans Finzel has combined sophisticated leadership theory with practical principles to teach us how to lead. Read this book today and become a better leader tomorrow." Leith Anderson, Pastor, Wooddale Church, Eden Prairie, Minnesota "This is one of the most practical books on leadership I have in my own library. If you are serious about becoming a better leader, you will want to read this book." John C. Maxwell, Author, Speaker, and Founder The INJOY Group "Hans' book is a leader's mirror. . . you'll see yourself in previously unrevealed ways and learn what it takes to 'get presentable' for effective leadership for His glory." Joseph M. Stowell, President, Moody Bible Institute
Leadership Talk In this day and age, we talk about leadership and more and more books are available on the subject than ever before. The single keyword 'leadership' offers up more than 640 million search results on Google alone, and via the internet we can access leadership courses (like mine on Udemy.com) and online information more quickly and easily than ever before. We have more management consultants than ever before in the history of the world. Yet we have a severe lack of leadership in most areas of government, business, and even non-profit organizations. So why is that? It is a lack of follow-through... plain and simple. We all gorge ourselves on leadership conferences, webinars, books, and so on, but how much do we actually put into practice? Does Practice Make Perfect? This book is about putting what we learn into practice, and that is a hallmark of leadership fundamentals. Whenever we feel frustrated or life seems to be spinning out of control, we need to get back to the fundamentals; to the basics of why we're living. What is your purpose and mission? Is it based on the fundamentals of living a selfless life as a service-minded person? In Volume 2 of the Why Leadership Sucks series, Miles delves further into the pain, pitfalls, and challenges of leadership and encourages perseverance with practical, action steps based on his real-world, in-the-trenches leadership experience. Feeling Out of Control? "Life and people aren't out to get you, but your approach to life and approach to people are." At times when our lives feel out of control, we need to get back to the basics of life and leadership. We can get so distracted by things in life that we forget about what is seminally true. It is always about the fundamentals: fundamentals in work, life, sports, faith, and relationships. We can easily allow ourselves to become distracted by all kinds of things that really don't matter, and most of the time a return to the fundamentals brings us back into balance and promotes peace in our lives. What You Can Expect That's what this book is about. If you feel that things are out of control, either in your own leadership or in that of others around you, this book is for you. If you just want to learn more about servant leadership fundamentals, this book is also for you. It is my hope and belief that this book will help you get back to the fundamentals of life and leadership. These are the things that really matter in life, and life should not be focused on the things that distract us from the purpose of living a selfless life. It's Laid Out in 4 Simple Parts Part 1: To serve or not to serve. The choice is indeed a tough one. Part 2: Leggo my ego. Addresses the challenge of needing an ego to lead but having that harnessed so it is not unwieldy. Part 3: The danger of persona non grata. You don't want to be the unwelcome person, do you? Part 4: Fierce competition steamrolls ahead. Organization competition is heating up and show no signs of slowing. Will you ride the wave or be pulled under by the currents? Get Volume 2 now to decrease your stress and frustration with leadership. The wisdom in these pages is genuinely worth far more than the simple investment you will make. Pick up your copy of the book by clicking the BUY NOW button at the top of the page.
From the ill-fated dot-com bubble to unprecedented merger and acquisition activity to scandal, greed, and, ultimately, recession -- we've learned that widespread and difficult change is no longer the exception. By outlining the process organizations have used to achieve transformational goals and by identifying where and how even top performers derail during the change process, Kotter provides a practical resource for leaders and managers charged with making change initiatives work.
Want to be a better boss? A big ego, the need to control, an unwillingness to handle conflict ... these common leadership pitfalls inevitably create predictable workplace perils, including high turnover, low employee morale, and reduced productivity. In Pitfalls & Possibilities, Karen Main illustrates the impact poor leadership has on our teams and organizations while offering important guidance for supervisors, managers, or anyone new to leading a team. Follow Avery Daniels and Jon Ailey, two new bosses who encounter some of the most common pitfalls associated with leading a team. With the help of some seasoned mentors and leadership training, Avery and Jon learn a variety of skills and approaches that transform how they coach, mentor, and guide their teams to success. It's a realistic portrait of the endless possibilities leaders can inspire. You'll want to make Pitfalls & Possibilities required reading for your management program and gift a copy to every leader in your organization.
George Kohlrieser—an international leadership professor, consultant, and veteran hostage negotiator—explains that it is only by openly facing conflict that we can truly progress through the most difficult business challenges. In this provocative book, he reveals how the proven techniques and psychological insights used in hostage negotiation can be applied successfully to any personal or business relationship. Step by step, he outlines the seven key factors that anyone can use to remove the blocks that stand in the way of resolving tough problems and shows how business leaders, in particular, can develop and access the skills they need to create trust and a positive mind-set in their companies.
