Elephant in the Room. How Relationships Make or Break the Success of Leaders and Organizations

Leading the Virtual Workforce How Great Leaders Transform Organizations in the 21st Century Praise for Leading the Virtual Workforce «Strong leadership in the best of times is difficult to achieve, but in today's rapidly changing business environment, leaders are tested in many new ways. Once again, Lojeski has a fresh take on what it takes to lead today's widely dispersed workforce.» —Ellen Pearlman, former editor-in-chief, CIO Insight magazine «Karen Lojeski has distilled the essence of the leader's role in 'managing' virtual teams. Her very relevant case stories illustrate that to be successful, the authentic leader must be able to create context and a collaborative lexicon for virtual knowledge sharing and must work diligently to build the social capital that is so vital to the success of virtual work groups. Karen's key contribution in this and her previous book, Uniting the Virtual Workforce, is the 'discovery' and clear articulation of her theory of the Virtual Distance Index, which leaders can use to measure and manage the process of virtual teamwork.» —Dave Davison, Chairman, Virtual Visuals Inc. «I agree entirely with Karen when she says that today, more than ever, effective leaders are desperately needed. She skillfully defines the dislocation and demarcation of leaders from followers through the 'Virtual Distance,' and yet paradoxically calls leaders to 'stoke the flames of innovation and cooperation in a complex, interwoven world.' This gives rise to her exploration of the Virtual Distance Leader. As Karen points out, the twenty-first-century leader must, amidst the conditions of pressure, change, and transformation, bring human endeavor and action to value and meaning for others.» —Adrian Machon, Director, Executive & Leadership Development, GlaxoSmithKline

The Elephant In The Room A financial fable filled with lessons for building long-term wealth «What most people don't understand, and what usually turns out to be the elephant in the room, is their behavior. It affects everything in your life, including the way you earn, spend, and save.» —Aunt Katherine Michael Davidson and his wife, Jennifer, knew what they wanted from life and had some pretty good financial habits, but they were far from prepared for the future. Despite a healthy income and successful career, Michael—who's facing down thirty, with a wife who also works, and two kids—can't seem to accumulate any savings, and the family continues to live from paycheck to paycheck. Frustrated by his situation, Michael seeks the advice of a person who, in his eyes, has found a way to overcome this challenge—his now comfortably retired Aunt Katherine. What follows is a series of conversations in which Michael discovers that some fundamental concepts, all under his control, can put his family in a better financial position. Engaging and informative, The Elephant in the Room follows the fictional weekly meetings—based on the real-world experiences of financial advisors and employees from First Command Financial Planning—between Michael and Aunt Katherine as they discuss the elements that guide their financial behavior and prepare a plan to achieve his family's financial objectives. A refreshing look at what it really takes to secure your financial future, The Elephant in the Room contains insights and advice that will put you on the path to prosperity.

DISCOVER THE PROVEN PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES THAT MAKE GREAT LEADERS GREAT When some people hear the words «positive leadership» they roll their eyes because they think we're talking about Pollyanna positive, where life is full of unicorns and rainbows. But the truth is that we are not positive because life is easy. We are positive because life can be hard. As a leader, you will face numerous obstacles, negativity, and tests. There will be times when it seems as if everything in the world is conspiring against you and your vision seems more like a fantasy than a reality. That's why positive leadership is essential! Positive leadership is not about fake positivity. It is the real stuff that makes great leaders great. The research is clear. Being a positive leader is not just a nice way to lead. It's the way to lead if you want to build a great culture, unite your organization in the face of adversity, develop a connected and committed team and achieve excellence and superior results. There is a power associated with positive leadership and you can utilize the framework, stories, and practices in this book to start benefiting yourself and your team with it today!

The most trusted source of leadership wisdom, updated to address today's realities The Leadership Challenge is the gold-standard manual for effective leadership, grounded in research and written by the premier authorities in the field. With deep insight into the complex interpersonal dynamics of the workplace, this book positions leadership both as a skill to be learned, and as a relationship that must be nurtured to reach its full potential. This new sixth edition has been revised to address current challenges, and includes more international examples and a laser focus on business issues; you'll learn how extraordinary leaders accomplish extraordinary things, and how to develop your leadership skills and style to deliver quality results every time. Engaging stories delve into the fundamental roles that great leaders fulfill, and simple frameworks provide a primer for those who seek continuous improvement; by internalizing key insights and putting concepts into action, you'll become a more effective, more impactful leader. A good leader gets things done; a great leader aspires, inspires, and achieves more. This book highlights the differences between good and great, and shows you how to bridge the chasm between getting things done and making things happen. Gain deep insight into leadership's critical role in organizational health Navigate the shift toward team-oriented work relationships Motivate and inspire to break through the pervasive new cynicism Leverage the electronic global village to deliver better results Business is evolving at an increasingly rapid rate, and leaders must keep pace with the changes or risk stagnation. People work differently, are motivated differently, and have different expectations today—business as usual is quickly losing its effectiveness. The Leadership Challenge helps you stay current, relevant, and effective in the modern workplace.

A proven model to create high-performing, high-trust organizations Globally, there has been a decline in trust over the past few decades, and only a third of Americans believe they can trust the government, big business, and large institutions. In The Decision to Trust, Robert Hurley explains how this new culture of cynicism and distrust creates many problems, and why it is almost impossible to manage an organization well if its people do not trust one another. High-performing, world-class companies are almost always high-trust environments. Without this elusive, important ingredient, companies cannot attract or retain top talent. In this book, Hurley reveals a new model to measure and repair trust with colleagues managers and employees. Outlines a proven Decision to Trust Model (DTM) of ten factors that establish whether or not one party will trust the other Filled with original examples from Daimler, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, QuikTrip, General Electric, Procter and Gamble, AzKoNobel, Johnson and Johnson, Whole Foods, and Zappos Reveals how leaders in Asia, Europe, and North America have used the DTM to build high-trust organizations Covering trust building in teams, across functions, within organizations and across national cultures, The Decision to Trust shows how any organization can improve trust and the bottom line.

New breakthrough thinking in organizational learning, leadership, and change Continuous improvement, understanding complex systems, and promoting innovation are all part of the landscape of learning challenges today's companies face. Amy Edmondson shows that organizations thrive, or fail to thrive, based on how well the small groups within those organizations work. In most organizations, the work that produces value for customers is carried out by teams, and increasingly, by flexible team-like entities. The pace of change and the fluidity of most work structures means that it's not really about creating effective teams anymore, but instead about leading effective teaming. Teaming shows that organizations learn when the flexible, fluid collaborations they encompass are able to learn. The problem is teams, and other dynamic groups, don't learn naturally. Edmondson outlines the factors that prevent them from doing so, such as interpersonal fear, irrational beliefs about failure, groupthink, problematic power dynamics, and information hoarding. With Teaming, leaders can shape these factors by encouraging reflection, creating psychological safety, and overcoming defensive interpersonal dynamics that inhibit the sharing of ideas. Further, they can use practical management strategies to help organizations realize the benefits inherent in both success and failure. Presents a clear explanation of practical management concepts for increasing learning capability for business results Introduces a framework that clarifies how learning processes must be altered for different kinds of work Explains how Collaborative Learning works, and gives tips for how to do it well Includes case-study research on Intermountain healthcare, Prudential, GM, Toyota, IDEO, the IRS, and both Cincinnati and Minneapolis Children's Hospitals, among others Based on years of research, this book shows how leaders can make organizational learning happen by building teams that learn.

Develop the qualities of strategic leadership and become an active contributor to the short- and long-term success of your organization Today's organizations face two daunting challenges: 1. How to create new sources of competitive advantage to sustain long-term growth, and 2. How to engage leaders at every level of the organization so that they are more proactive and forward-looking in their area of responsibility. The Art of Strategic Leadership uses a unique approach to examine what it means to be a strategic leader. Instead of focusing on the skills, behaviors, and tools found in typical books on strategic leadership, the authors shed light on the attributes and qualities necessary to lead strategic change and help transform a business. Strategic leadership is what modern leadership is all about. Organizations expect leaders to anticipate and be proactive more than ever before. In this book, the authors draw on their vast experience working directly with leaders at all levels and use an intriguing narrative to explain this inside-out approach to understanding strategic leadership. The narrative follows the journey of how one manager discovered these critically important qualities. You will experience first-hand how these values and attributes manifest in the lives of realistic leaders; how they orchestrate long-term strategic change needed for the organization to compete and survive and actively shape the future while delivering short-term results. The Art of Strategic Leadership provides the content that will help you informally assess and reflect on your own strategic leadership qualities—those that are strengths and those that indicate areas you need to develop. It will guide you as you incorporate these values and qualities into your own leadership style and become a more effective catalyst for change. This book will help you in the following ways: Develop a more proactive, forward-thinking approach to leadership Approach strategy from both short- and long-term perspectives Adopt the core values and principles of a strategic leader Model the qualities exhibited by powerful leaders Strategic leaders serve as powerful examples to others in the organization. Their qualities and traits spread rapidly to those around them, empowering people at every level to take a more active role in meeting the demands of the future. The Art of Strategic Leadership will help you deepen and broaden your understanding of the core qualities of strategic leadership, leaving you better equipped to lead yourself and your team to a better place and create greater value for customers, owners, and employees.

From one of the most respected names in business and leadership, a rare look at the specifics of how great leaders achieve «common purpose» and success within their organizations. What is common purpose? It is that rare, almost-palpable experience that happens when a leader coalesces a group, team or community into a creative, dynamic, brave and nearly invincible we. It happens the moment the organization's values, tools, objectives and hopes are internalized in a way that enables people to work tirelessly toward a goal. Common purpose is rarely achieved. But Kurtzman has observed that when a leader is able to bring it about, the results are outsized, measurable and inspiring. Based on Kurtzman's all-new interviews with more than 50 leaders, including Ron Sargent, Ilene Lang, Micky Arison, Simon Cooper, Joel Klein, Janet Field, Steve Wynn, Shivan Subramaniam, Michael Dell, Richard Boyatzis, Tom Kelley, Michael Milken, and Warren Bennis Contains research on leadership Kurtzman has conducted during his years at The New York Times, the Harvard Business Review, Booz & Company, as well as with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mercer, and Korn/Ferry Based on all new interviews with some of the most dynamic, successful, and enduring leaders, Common Purpose sheds new light on the meaning of leadership, the crucial qualities of leaders, and most importantly, how to lead.

An innovative communication method for making change happen in any organization Getting Change Right presents a new view of leadership communication that says change doesn't flow top-down, bottom-up, or sideways, but inside-out. This is how change spreads through a complex system successfully-the other options are force or failure. Based on years of experience with organizations around the world, change expert Kahan presents a new model of communication, one that moves from a transactional view of information exchange to a collaborative construction of shared understanding. When the right people are having the right conversations and interactions, then they act in concert even though the situations they confront independently are impossible to predict or coordinate. This dynamic practitioner's guide to implementing change Presents the innovative co-creation communication model for creating change Reveals how communicating with a company's most valuable players is at the heart of organizational change Draws on the author's wealth of experience with Fortune 100 companies, leading government agencies, and associations Getting Change Right offers business insights and field-tested, practical techniques that can be put to work immediately.

The proven model that offers powerful and elegant strategies for leaders How Great Leaders Think: the Art of Reframing uses compelling, contemporary examples to show how more complex thinking is the key to better leadership. Leaders who understand what's going on around them see what they need to do to achieve the results they want. Bolman and Deal's influential four-frame model of leadership and organizations—developed in their bestselling book, Reframing Organizations: Artistry Choice and Leadership—offers leaders an accessible guide for understanding four major aspects of organizational life: structure, people, politics, and culture. Tapping into the complexity enables leaders to decode the messy world in which they live, see more options, tell better stories, and find strategies that are more effective. Case examples of leaders like Jeff Bezos at Amazon, Howard Schultz at Starbucks, Tony Hsieh at Zappos, Ursula Burns at Xerox, and the late Steve Jobs at Apple provide concrete lessons that readers can put to use in their own leadership. The book's lessons include: How to use structural tools to organize teams and organizations for better results How to build motivation and morale by aligning organizations and people How to map the terrain and build a power base to navigate the political dynamics in organizations How to develop a leadership story that shapes culture, provides direction, and inspires commitment to excellence