Showing results by publisher "Recorded Books" in Management & Leadership

What is your digital business model? While many leaders of companies recognize the threat from digital - and the potential opportunity - they lack a common language or a compelling framework to help them assess it and, more importantly, to direct them. They don't know how to think about their digital business model. In this probing and practical book, Peter Weill and Stephanie Woerner provide much-needed tools, self-assessments, motivating examples, and key financial analyses of where the profits will likely be made.

Drawing on rich and instructive stories of clients, leaders, artists, and athletes, as well as research by experts, the author brings together the best of both Western management thinking and Eastern philosophy to provide a holistic yet hands-on approach. The Leader You Want to Be is the indispensable guide to helping you tap into and expand your leadership capacity so that you can sustain your optimal level of performance and thrive as a leader.

Can you be a leader that people will follow? The most successful leaders and influencers are not only committed to making the world a better place, but they have the character and integrity to lead others to do the same. People Follow People is a practical guide for embracing your true character and values to create an authentic, long-lasting connection with your audience, colleagues, and customers. Best-selling author and international speaker Sam Cawthorn reveals the 12 characteristics you need to become an outstanding leader who attracts a loyal following, attains longevity to achieve objectives, and leaves a revered legacy.  

Leadership isn't easy. It takes grit, courage, and vision, among other things, that can be hard to come by on your toughest days. When leaders and aspiring leaders seek out advice, they're often told to try harder. Dig deeper. Look in the mirror and own your natural-born strengths and fix any real or perceived career-limiting deficiencies. Frances Frei and Anne Morriss offer a different worldview. They argue that this popular leadership advice glosses over the most important thing you do as a leader: build others up. Leadership isn't about you.

Esteemed business school professors and renowned marketing consultants Alex Rovira and Fernando Trías de Bes have advised such multinational corporations as Bayer, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, Pepsi, and Sony. Written to counter the belief in blind chance, this international best seller is a simple yet profound fable that teaches us to stop waiting for good luck but to start cultivating the conditions that make success possible.

Becoming an effective leader who lifts your organization to new heights may seem challenging, but it doesn’t need to be complicated. Strong leadership is rooted in basic principles. Although the specific nature of the organizations you may work for throughout your career will vary on a case-by-case basis, the essential steps you must take to lead with skill will remain constant. The Blueprint explains what those steps are. More importantly, it demonstrates how we can take them in our own careers and lives.

Does your organization manage complexity by making things more complicated? If so, you are not alone. According to The Boston Consulting Group's fascinating Complexity Index, business complexity has increased sixfold during the past 60 years. And, all the while, organizational complicatedness - that is, the number of structures, processes, committees, decision-making forums, and systems - has increased by a whopping factor of 35.

The road to launching a successful business can be long and confusing. Where do you start? Should you rent office space or work out of your garage? Should you register as a for-profit or a nonprofit business? How should you handle legal issues that come up? What does it mean to be a "Christian" entrepreneur anyway? Drawing from his work as a legal expert and business coach, Brock Shinen combines practical wisdom and a biblical worldview to help Christians turn their dreams and passions into viable businesses.

Most companies treat service as a low-priority business operation, keeping it out of the spotlight until a customer complains. Then service gets to make a brief appearance - for as long as it takes to calm the customer down and fix whatever foul-up jeopardized the relationship. In Uncommon Service, Frances Frei and Anne Morriss show how, in a volatile economy where the old rules of strategic advantage no longer hold true, service must become a competitive weapon, not a damage-control function. That means weaving service tightly into every core decision your company makes.  

Harness the power of brain science for greater success Everyone has two remarkable, related capacities: we can aspire to something more and we can envision ways to achieve it. But if we’re capable of aspiring to something better and making plans to achieve it, why is it sometimes so hard to reach that next level of success? It all comes back to our minds. Maybe we’re making off-base assumptions we’re not even aware of. Or maybe we’re operating off partial or outdated information.

Your brand is the stories people share about you when you're not in the room, and it's these brand stories that determine if people buy from you, employ you, work for you, or invest in you. When the stakes are that high, wouldn't you want to take control of it? In Magnetic Stories, business storytelling expert Gabrielle Dolan reveals how you, too, can create and share stories that stick.

Master the power of influence and persuasion to achieve more in work and life. For business leaders and managers, as well as those who work in sales, the power of influence can be a potent advantage. The ability to persuade others based on what you know about them is the first step to convincing someone to buy your product or buy into your business vision.  

Two-thirds of executives say their organizations don't have the capabilities to support their strategy. In Strategy That Works, Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi explain why. They identify conventional business practices that unintentionally create a gap between strategy and execution. And they show how some of the best companies in the world consistently leap ahead of their competitors.

A private consultant who specializes in knowledge management and organizational storytelling, Stephen Denning has a list of clients that includes GE, IBM, Shell, McDonald's, and the US Army. In this witty book, he explains that storytelling can be the key to overcoming obstacles and generating enthusiasm in the workplace. With Denning's guidance, leaders can steer their companies toward new levels of success.

A practical four-step methodology for any leader or manager facing a tough choice, and for creating integrative solutions to big, complex, and pressing problems. Stimulating and practical, Creating Great Choices blends storytelling, theory, and hands-on advice to help any leader or manager facing a tough choice.

There can be no doubt about the credentials of Bill George, former Chairman and CEO of Medtronic, who has been named one of Business Week's "Top 25 Managers". In Authentic Leadership, George lays out his plan for improving corporate America's flaws through responsible leadership.

Leaders already know that innovation calls for a different set of activities, skills, methods, metrics, mind-sets, and leadership approaches. And it is well understood that creating a new business and optimizing an already existing one are two fundamentally different management challenges. The real problem for leaders is doing both simultaneously. How do you meet the performance requirements of the existing business-one that is still thriving-while dramatically reinventing it?

Game-changing disruptions will likely unfold on your watch. Be ready. In Dual Transformation, Scott Anthony, Clark Gilbert, and Mark Johnson propose a practical and sustainable approach to one of the greatest challenges facing leaders today: transforming your business in the face of imminent disruption. Dual Transformation shows you how your company can come out of a market shift stronger and more profitable, because the threat of disruption is also the greatest opportunity a leadership team will ever face.

Becoming an effective IT manager presents a host of challenges - from anticipating emerging technology to managing relationships with vendors, employees, and other managers. A good IT manager must also be a strong business leader. This book invites you to accompany new CIO Jim Barton to better understand the role of IT in your organization. You'll see Jim struggle through a challenging first year, handling (and fumbling) situations that, although fictional, are based on true events.

In Reality-Based Leadership, expert Fast Company blogger Cy Wakeman reveals how to be the kind of leader who changes the way people think about and perceive their circumstances - one who deals with the facts, clarifies roles, gives clear and direct feedback, and insists that everyone do the same - without drama or defensiveness. Filled with dynamic examples and innovative tools, this book shows you how to become a reality-based leader.