The author delivers an absorbing groundbreaking inquiry into the psychological roots of corporate culture--what makes a business leader succeed or fail, turn a faltering company around, or drive a successful one into the ground.
Prisoners of the White House looks at the isolation experienced by presidents of the United States in the White House, a habitat almost guaranteed to keep America's commander in chief far removed from everyday life. The authors look at how this is emerging as one of the most serious dilemmas facing the American presidency. As presidents have become more isolated, the role of the presidential pollster has grown. Ken Walsh has been given exclusive access to the polls and confidential memos received by presidents over the years, and has interviewed presidential pollsters directly to gain their unique perspective. Prisoners of the White House gets inside the bubble and punctures the mythology surrounding the presidency.
Prisoners of Myth is the first comprehensive history of the Tennessee Valley Authority from its creation to the present day. It is also a telling case study of organizational evolution and decline. Building on Philip Selznick's classic work TVA and the Grass Roots (1949), a seminal text in the theoretical study of bureaucracy, Erwin Hargrove analyzes the organizational culture of the TVA by looking at the actions of its leaders over six decades--from the heroic years of the New Deal and World War II through the postwar period of consolidation and growth to the time of troubles from 1970 onward, when the TVA ran afoul of environmental legislation, built a massive nuclear power program that it could not control, and sought new missions for which there were no constituencies. The founding myth of multipurpose regional development was inappropriately pursued in the 1970s and '80s by leaders who became "prisoners of myth" in their attempt to keep the TVA heroic. A decentralized organization, which had worked well at the grass roots, was difficult to redirect as the nuclear genii spun out of control. TVA autonomy from Washington, once a virtue, obscured political accountability. This study develops an important new theory about institutional performance in the face of historical change.
Make Every Step Count on Your Leadership Journey How did American Military leaders in the brutal POW camps of North Vietnam inspire their followers for six, seven, or eight years to remain committed to the mission, resist a cruel enemy, and return home with honor? What leadership principles engendered such extreme devotion, perseverance, and teamwork? In this powerful and practical book, Lee Ellis, a former Air Force pilot, candidly talks about his five and a half years of captivity and the fourteen key leadership principles behind this amazing story. As a successful executive coach and corporate consultant, he helps leaders of Fortune 500 companies, healthcare executives, small business owners, and entrepreneurs utilize these same pressure-tested principles to increase their personal and organizational success. In Leading with Honor: Leadership Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton, you will learn: - an approximately 250-word description of the book as you'd like to see posted online, keeping in mind that this should be enticing to consumers ? ? ? Courageous lessons from POW leaders facing torture in the crucible of captivity. How successful teams are applying these same lessons and principles. How to implement these lessons using the Coaching sessions provided in each chapter. In the book's Foreword, Senator John McCain states, "In Leading with Honor, Lee draws from the POW experience, including some of his own personal story, to illustrate the crucial impact of leadership on the success of any organization. He highlights lessons and principles that can be applied to every leadership situation." This book is ideal for individual or group study as a personal development, coaching, human resource development, or executive training resource.
Based on interviews with hundreds of teachers, teacher advocates, union leaders, and others, Hess identifies the challenges teachers face, seeks concrete and workable solutions, and offers recommendations to put those solutions in place. A uniquely practical and inspiring book, The Cage-Busting Teacher is for educators who want to shape the schools and systems in which they work. "The Cage-Busting Teacher is filled with practical ideas on how teachers can lead outside of the classroom to create school environments where they are free to do their best work. This book is a must-read for all teachers and school leaders."
Winner of the University of San Diego Outstanding Leadership Book Award 2012! Shortlisted for the British Psychological Society Book Award 2011! Shortlisted for the CMI (Chartered Management Institute) Management Book of the Year Award 2011–2012! According to John Adair, the most important word in the leader's vocabulary is "we" and the least important word is "I". But if this is true, it raises one important question: why do psychological analyses of leadership always focus on the leader as an individual – as the great "I"? One answer is that theorists and practitioners have never properly understood the psychology of "we-ness". This book fills this gap by presenting a new psychology of leadership that is the result of two decades of research inspired by social identity and self-categorization theories. The book argues that to succeed, leaders need to create, champion, and embed a group identity in order to cultivate an understanding of 'us' of which they themselves are representative. It also shows how, by doing this, they can make a material difference to the groups, organizations, and societies that they lead. Written in an accessible and engaging style, the book examines a range of central theoretical and practical issues, including the nature of group identity, the basis of authority and legitimacy, the dynamics of justice and fairness, the determinants of followership and charisma, and the practice and politics of leadership. The book will appeal to academics, practitioners and students in social and organizational psychology, sociology, political science and anyone interested in leadership, influence and power.
This timely book expands on Viktor Frankl's seminal Man's Search for Meaning, examining the book's concepts in depth and widening the market for them by introducing an entirely new way to look at work and the workplace. Alex Pattakos, a former colleague of Frankl's, brings the search for meaning at work within the grasp of every reader using simple, straightforward language. The author distills Frankl's ideas into seven core principles: Exercise the freedom to choose your attitude; Realize your will to meaning; Detect the meaning of life's moments; Don't work against yourself; Look at yourself from a distance; Shift your focus of attention; and Extend beyond yourself. By demonstrating how Dr. Frankl's key principles can be applied to all kinds of work situations, Prisoners of Our Thoughts opens up new opportunities for finding personal meaning and living an authentic work life.
This is the leadership book you have to read: a barn-storming new take on what makes a versatile, integrated, and effective leader Using stories and examples from the lives of leaders, from the sports stadium to the White House to the office of the CEO, Nicholson shows vividly how the capacity of leaders to see what others do not see frames their actions and allows them to transform, build, destroy, or stabilize. Leaders fail through lack of insight—into themselves and into the worlds they inhabit. The strategic challenge of leadership is to find the right balance between impact and versatility and the successful crafting of an identity that merges the leader and the surrounding culture or 'zeitgeist.' Leaders covered in the book include: George Bush, Tony Blair, George S Patton, Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, Josef Stalin, Hannibal, Elizabeth I, Nelson Mandela, Edith Cowan, Abraham Lincoln, Mohandas Gandhi, Henry Ford, Ernest Shackleton, Barack Obama, Robert Maxwell, JFK, Pope John XXIII, Margaret Thatcher, and Samuel Pepys. This book resonates with insights and searching questions on the nature of human leadership. It will be an invaluable guide to managers, consultants, and people everywhere.
Mass incarceration. In recent years it's become clear that the size of America's prison population is unsustainable -- and isn't needed to protect public safety. In this remarkable bipartisan collaboration, the country's most prominent public figures and experts join together to propose ideas for change. In these original essays, many authors speak out for the first time on the issue. The vast majority agree that reducing our incarcerated population is a priority. Marking a clear political shift on crime and punishment in America, these sentiments are a far cry from politicians racing to be the most punitive in the 1980s and 1990s. Mass incarceration threatens American democracy. Hiding in plain sight, it drives economic inequality, racial injustice, and poverty. How do we achieve change? From using federal funding to bolster police best practices to allowing for the release of low-level offenders while they wait for trial, from eliminating prison for low-level drug crimes to increasing drug and mental health treatment, the ideas in this book pave a way forward. Solutions promises to further the intellectual and political momentum to reform our justice system.
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.