The Executive and the Elephant

Explore diversity, equity, and inclusion that goes beyond unconscious bias and explores the ideas and tools needed to achieve these goals In The Elephant and the Mouse, award-winning speaker and diversity and inclusion expert Laura Liswood delivers a thought-provoking and insightful new business guide that explores workplace diversity and offers new ideas for gaining the real benefits from your diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. The Elephant and the Mouse refers to the dynamic in organizations that are roadblocks to consciously inclusive success. The Elephant, often dominant group leadership, knows little about the experiences of the Mouse, the non-dominant groups, while the Mouse knows so much more about the Elephant. In diverse workplaces, these two groups live in different worlds. Success will come only if everyone works in a true meritocracy. You learn what may be easy for some to do in their career is much harder for others to do. In this book, which builds upon Liswood's groundbreaking book, The Loudest Duck, you'll explore the powerful case for diversity, equity, and inclusion and the often-overlooked risks posed by a homogeneous workforce. You will learn the hard truths about why many DE&I efforts fail, millions of dollars are wasted, and why organizations confuse efforts with outcomes. You'll consider new ways of leading others, with a strong emphasis on tactics and strategies employed by successful Elephant and Mouse leaders, including women leaders. The book also includes: Realistic explanations for the slow progress in diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice in society and organizations Examinations of the concept and myths of meritocracy and how to conduct a Meritocracy Stress Test on your firm How organizations often have an illusion of inclusion but find their efforts not creating the inclusive, equitable teams they say they want How safety efforts can provide a roadmap for diversity missions An exploration of both the human interventions and non-human roles of technology in DE&I initiatives, including the use of people analytics to de-bias organizations What tools are needed to go beyond awareness of unconscious bias to de-bias processes and what traits the new Elephant and Mouse leader has An indispensable resource for managers, executives, and other business leaders who seek to recreate truly diverse, inclusive, and equitable organizations, The Elephant and the Mouse is also a must-read for human resources professionals, individuals who want successful careers in diverse teams, and anyone involved in the hiring, retaining, and promoting processes. This book offers a way to move beyond traditional diversity efforts towards more modern practices that embrace—and profit from—the differences between people.

Become the real deal and you’ll become the leader you’re meant to be. If you want to make change in your organization and in your world, and advance your own career, you need to become a person who can effectively influence others to take action. When looking to bring about organizational change of any kind, the main skill required is influence. Nothing will help your cause more than being able to effectively influence others to take action. Become the Real Deal presents a modern and practical approach to leadership that yields unlimited dividends for leaders at all levels. Author Connie Dieken calls these dividends your Return on Influence® (ROI). You’ll discover your own Centers of Influence through a series of visual dashboards and learn how to capitalize on these Centers of Influence to become the powerful, purposeful authority you’re meant to be. Readers will learn how to override personal influence-killing tendencies, such as narcissism, anxiety, long-windedness, silence, social fa?ades, and invisibility. Connie Diekenis the country’s foremost Fortune 500 communication coachan executive coach to the world’s top brands, an Emmy award winning former TV news anchor, reporter, and inductee of the Radio/Television Broadcasters Hall of Fame. For anyone seeking to be the “real deal,” this book uncovers the strengths and skills you need to gain influence and lead your organization to success.

Targeted analytics to address the unique opportunities in hospitality and gaming The Analytic Hospitality Executive helps decision makers understand big data and how it can drive value in the industry. Written by a leading business analytics expert who specializes in hospitality and travel, this book draws a direct link between big data and hospitality, and shows you how to incorporate analytics into your strategic management initiative. You'll learn which data types are critical, how to identify productive data sources, and how to integrate analytics into multiple business processes to create an overall analytic culture that turns information into insight. The discussion includes the tools and tips that help make it happen, and points you toward the specific places in your business that could benefit from advanced analytics. The hospitality and gaming industry has unique needs and opportunities, and this book's targeted guidance provides a roadmap to big data benefits. Like most industries, the hospitality and gaming industry is experiencing a rapid increase in data volume, variety, and velocity. This book shows you how to corral this growing current, and channel it into productive avenues that drive better business. Understand big data and analytics Incorporate analytics into existing business processes Identify the most valuable data sources Create a strategic analytic culture that drives value Although the industry is just beginning to recognize the value of big data, it's important to get up to speed quickly or risk losing out on benefits that could drive business to greater heights. The Analytic Hospitality Executive provides a targeted game plan from an expert on the inside, so you can start making your data work for you.

A comprehensive guide to success in the changing HR leadership role THREE is the definitive guidebook for thriving in the ever-changing role of HR leadership. Itis written for high potential HR emerging executives who want to accelerate their effectiveness and business impact, and for the bosses, peers, colleagues, friends, coaches, mentors, and teachers who want to assist them in doing so. Centered around three critical and complementary aspects of the role, this book explores leadership philosophy, HR's evolving role in today's organizations, and the future of HR and effective organizations to help emerging HR leaders find and establish their place in the field. The interplay between leadership and HR competencies is clearly laid out, and lessons learned from CHROs and other HR leaders, as well as academic thought leaders, form the basis of authoritative coverage of crucial components of effective HR leadership, now and in the future. The discussion simplifies the relationship between business strategy and human capital strategy; balances the «what,» «who,» and «when» of HR leader development, and explores the themes, trends, and implications emerging in the HR field. You'll learn how to lead change, master the art of the question, build leadership and talent, create a performance culture, understand Boardroom dynamics, and learn tips and techniques from over one hundred of the very best HR leaders. The book begins with a comprehensive self-assessment, and each chapter ends with a self-assessment specific to that chapter. Also, a wealth of tools and checklists are included to help you start immediately applying what you've learned. HR leaders are under more pressure than ever to deliver high quality people-related solutions quickly and effectively, but they often don't have the broad foundational experience and perspective to effectively do so. This book provides the solution in the form of comprehensive examination and practical implementation of the critical components of the HR leadership role. Develop a personal leadership philosophy, and behaviors for success Embody the changing HR role to make people and organizations more effective Ask the right questions and effectively engage other leaders Create a performance-driven culture and anticipate critical resistance points Anticipate and prepare for the future of work, organizations, and HR to ensure you remain relevant Today's organizations demand a broader array of cross-functional and cross-organizational perspectives to address complex multi-dimensional challenges and orchestrate practical solutions. THREE is the emerging HR leader's guide to acquiring the mindset and skillset required for success.

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.

A systematic look at how relationships determine the success of leaders and their enterprises, along with tools to help strengthen and change them Since time immemorial, relationships have determined the fate of leaders. But today they are more critical to success than ever. No longer can leaders count on long time horizons or sloppy competition to make up for the inefficiencies that poor relationships create. Leaders must make decisions and take actions quickly and well with others, even those with whom they share very little?perhaps not even a time zone. This new world puts relationships at the center of what leaders must understand and master to succeed. Uses in-depth observational studies and clinical research to explore how relationships at the top of organizations work, develop, and change Shows how to understand, strengthen, and transform these relationships, so they can withstand the most intense pressures and conflicts This important book features a Foreword by Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline.

It's the Subtleties that Matter! What is the real difference between competent leader and extraordinary executive? Is it pedigree, experience, intelligence? The answer is yes…and much more. Exceptional leadership hinges on a complex interaction between individual psychology and unique business needs. At the top rung of the ladder, where the dynamics are most complicated, subtle adjustments in style can produce outstanding results. In his new book, The Intangibles of Leadership, Management Psychologist Richard Davis, Ph.D., uncovers patterns in the attributes that truly distinguish those who succeed at the top. What he found was that extraordinary leaders possess certain characteristics that fall between the lines of existing leadership models, yet are fundamental to executive success. Davis explains each of these qualities, the people who exemplify them, how to detect them in others, and most importantly, how to develop the subtle characteristics that will enable them to stand out from the pack. Learn why… It's often better to aim for silver than for gold Playing hard to get attracts people to you It's important to have a slightly inflated view of your abilities Your peripheral vision is so important It's ok to get angry with your team So many extraordinary executives have gone through crises early in their lives

Maximize your chances to get promoted to the executive level As predictable career paths have become extinct in most organizations, managers aspiring to the C-level job are left to their own devices to determine how to advance their careers. Even in companies committed to talent development, guidance to aspiring executives is often vague and contradictory. This happens, executive coach John Beeson argues, because executive promotions are made based on the decision makers' intuitive sense of whether or not a manager can succeed at higher levels within the organization. Beeson decodes these leadership criteria–the unwritten rules–that companies use to make decisions about who gets promoted and who doesn't, and identifies the six core «selection factors» that are imperative for success at the executive level Demonstrating strategic skills Building a strong management team Managing implementation Exhibiting the capacity for innovation and change Working across organizational boundaries Projecting executive presence Filled with stories of managers who successfully climbed up the executive ladder-and some who struggled-The Unwritten Rules is an invaluable resource for aspiring executives.

The long-awaited sequel to Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, the stunning conclusion to Hilary Mantel’s Man Booker Prize-winning Wolf Hall trilogy.A Guardian Book of the Year • A Times Book of the Year • A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year • A Sunday Times Book of the Year • A New Statesman Book of the Year • A Spectator Book of the Year Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020 Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2020‘Mantel has taken us to the dark heart of history…and what a show’ The Times‘If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?’England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Thomas Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith’s son from Putney emerges from the spring’s bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane Seymour.Cromwell is a man with only his wits to rely on; he has no great family to back him, no private army. Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry’s regime to breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. But can a nation, or a person, shed the past like a skin? Do the dead continually unbury themselves? What will you do, the Spanish ambassador asks Cromwell, when the king turns on you, as sooner or later he turns on everyone close to him?With The Mirror and the Light, Hilary Mantel brings to a triumphant close the trilogy she began with Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She traces the final years of Thomas Cromwell, the boy from nowhere who climbs to the heights of power, offering a defining portrait of predator and prey, of a ferocious contest between present and past, between royal will and a common man’s vision: of a modern nation making itself through conflict, passion and courage.Sunday Times Bestseller (08/03/2020)