Showing results by publisher "Penguin Audio" in Management & Leadership

Few organizations solve as many impossible problems as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and nobody knows more about leading rocket scientists to unlikely breakthroughs than Adam Steltzner. As the phase lead and development manager for EDL (entry, descent, and landing) of the Curiosity rover to Mars, Steltzner spearheaded the creation of one of engineering's wackiest kluges - the sky crane, which allowed the heaviest rover in the history of space exploration to land on Mars unscathed.

In Lessons from a Warzone, Al Roumani shares his very personal account of coping with the day-to-day realities of leading an organisation in dangerous and hostile conditions. His story shows how inspiration can come from the unlikeliest of places - from the timeless wisdom of merchants in ancient souks to the changing patterns of military checkpoints. During that time, not only did the bank remain robust when others faltered - it thrived and became the undisputed leading bank as people's trust in its capability to safeguard their lifelong savings strengthened.

This book explains why top performers inevitably turn into terrible managers when their behaviour, compounded by the power and pressure that come from climbing the corporate ladder, engenders toxic work cultures and saps everyone else's enthusiasm around them. The very traits that they believe have gotten them to top, may that be loose personal boundaries, perfectionism or a bullish communication style, when at the altitude of leadership, self-sabotage their efforts and that of their team.

In 1962, Stephanie 'Steve' Shirley created a software company when the concept of software barely existed. Freelance Programmers employed women to work on complex projects such as Concorde's black box recorder from the comfort of their own homes. Shirley empowered a generation of women in technology, giving them unheard of freedom to choose their own hours and manage their own workloads. The business thrived, and Shirley gradually transferred ownership to her staff, creating 70 millionaires in the process.

Tony Hsieh's first successful venture was in middle school, selling personalized buttons. At Harvard, he made a profit compiling and selling study guides. In 1998, Hsieh sold his first company to Microsoft for $265 million. About a decade later, he sold online shoe empire Zappos to Amazon for $1.2 billion. The secret to his success? Making his employees happy. At its peak, Zappos's employee-friendly culture was so famous across the tech industry that it became one of the hardest companies to get hired at, and CEOs from other companies regularly toured the headquarters.

Too many people focus on their destination—having a perfect, fulfilled life on paper—and not their direction, what they enjoy doing and what makes them feel good. This leaves us feeling frustrated and stuck. Directional Living will help you to find work that doesn't feel like work, to look forward to Monday as much as Friday, and to wake up every morning and think "I am doing exactly what I'm meant to be doing". It's a powerful new philosophy packed with practical tools to help you find meaning in your career and therefore life.

There are enormous differences between managing and coaching. Yet many companies and organizations encourage their leaders to coach teams without ever teaching them how. Nathan Jamail, a leading consultant, professional speaker, and the president of his own group of businesses, trains coaches at several Fortune 500 companies and learned that it takes not only different skills to achieve success, but a truly effective coach needs an organizational culture that creates and multiplies the success of every motivated team member.

The most successful people have always benefitted from professional coaching to help them develop their careers, solve dilemmas and get them through challenging moments. Now, in You Coach You, the UK's leading career experts, Sarah Ellis and Helen Tupper, will give you the knowledge and tools to coach yourself.

In this bold, powerful book, Yancey Strickler - cofounder of Kickstarter - lays out an inspiring vision for a new world we have the power to create and how we can change course. While the pursuit of wealth has produced innovation and prosperity, it's also produced dire consequences: environmental collapse, corruption, exploitation and unhappiness around the world.

The founder of Menlo Innovations and author of the business culture cult classic Joy, Inc. offers an inspirational guide to leaders seeking joy in the challenge of leading others. Filled with colorful anecdotes from Sheridan's personal journey and wisdom from many leadership mentors, Chief Joy Officer offers an approachable, down-to-earth philosophy and practice that will help even the most disillusioned of middle managers bring a renewed sense of purpose to their work building others.

How often do you interrupt? How often do people interrupt you? Can you remember the last time someone listened to you all the way through your thinking? In her new book, Nancy Kline, best-selling author of Time to Think, makes this radical proposal: 'I won't interrupt you' is a promise that changes everything. It deepens relationships, spawns dignity, raises the intelligence of groups and enriches every conversation. It may, in fact, be the most important promise we ever make. And the hardest to keep.

The 25th Secretary of Defense takes listeners behind the scenes to reveal the inner workings of the Pentagon, its vital mission, and what it takes to lead it. The Pentagon is the headquarters of the single largest institution in America: the Department of Defense. The DOD employs millions of Americans. It owns and operates more real estate and spends more money than any other entity. It manages the world’s largest and most complex information network and performs more R&D than Apple, Google, and Microsoft combined.

That's Not How We Do It Here! is a business parable about a clan of meerkats who live in the Kalahari. Well-organised and efficient, the colony enjoys many years of successful growth until it suddenly comes under threat from a new form of predator and is forced to rethink its organizational structure. John Kotter uses this charming parable to explore why organizations often struggle no matter their past success and why they fall.

Enchantment, as defined by bestselling business guru Guy Kawasaki, is not about manipulating people. It transforms situations and relationships. It converts hostility into civility and civility into affinity. It changes the skeptics and cynics into the believers and the undecided into the loyal. Enchantment can happen during a retail transaction, a high-level corporate negotiation, or a Facebook update.

Every day outstanding organizations do things and promote values that ensure they will retain customers, grow revenues, increase market share, and build their reputations. Informed by his own commitment to the concept of personal accountability and enlivened by compelling true stories from exceptional organizations, in this insightful and accessible audiobook John Miller identifies the principles and behaviors that distinguish such organizations from the pack and provides listeners with ways to integrate them into their own work.

HGTV cofounder Susan Packard launches the next chapter in emotional intelligence (EQ) and shows you how to increase your personal satisfaction and productivity - in work and life - via her three-step path toward EQ Fitness.

Under pressure for quick results and facing fierce marketplace competition, too many marketers are boxed into spaghetti-to-the-wall forms of digital marketing that limit the potential of their long hours, countless experiments, and warehouses of data. And in the end, they watch their competition sprint ahead.

In Competition Is Killing Us, top business and competition lawyer Michelle Meagher establishes a new framework to control capitalism from the inside in order to make it work for the many and not just the few. Meagher has spent years campaigning against these multi-billion- and trillion-dollar mammoths that dominate the market and prioritise shareholder profits over all else; leading to extreme wealth inequality, inhumane conditions for workers and relentless pressure on the environment.

Jessica Herrin has cracked the code for how to balance a wildly successful career with a full, rich life. In Find Your Extraordinary, she shows how any woman can create a fulfilling and successful career in a flexible way. This audiobook is #Girlboss for the older set. It will bring Jessica's mission and message beyond her fast-growing network of Stella & Dot stylists and empower any woman who wants to pursue entrepreneurial ambitions.

This myth shattering book reveals the methods Nouriel Roubini used to foretell the current crisis before other economists saw it coming and shows how those methods can help us make sense of the present and prepare for the future. Renowned economist Nouriel Roubini electrified his profession and the larger financial community by predicting the current crisis well in advance of anyone else.