Leadership Psychology

Science confirms the distinction between the biological brain and the conscious mind. Each day, a game of mind versus matter plays out on a field defined by the problems we must solve. Most are routine, and don't demand a more mindful approach. It's when we're faced with more difficult challenges that our thinking becomes vulnerable to brain patterns that can lead us astray.

There used to be two teams in every workplace: management and labor. Now there's a third team: the linchpins. These people invent, lead (regardless of title), connect others, make things happen, and create order out of chaos. They figure out what to do when there's no rule book. They delight and challenge their customers and peers. They love their work, pour their best selves into it, and turn each day into a kind of art. Linchpins are the essential building blocks of great organizations.

Where can you turn when your attempts to resolve conflict fail? Most approaches emphasize collaboration. You are supposed to sit down, calmly talk through your differences, and find a solution. But what if nothing seems to work, no matter what you do? When situations resist resolution, the Optimal Outcomes Method teaches us conflict freedom. Optimal Outcomes reveals eight groundbreaking practices proven to help people everywhere free themselves from conflict.

Leadership coach Susan Drumm unveils a groundbreaking process that outlines how our childhood wounds influence our ability to lead others and how music can heal those wounds. Maybe you’re having a hard time retaining or engaging your people. Or perhaps you’re feeling burnout or that you can’t delegate or trust your team to deliver. These problems and other leadership challenges can be addressed by shifting how you show up as a leader, and music is the catalyst.

From technology to business, two (or more) heads often prove to be better than one - but only if those heads are cognitively diverse. Diverse perspectives are a powerful tool for maximizing productivity and enhancing collective performance. Now, in The Hidden Factor: Why Thinking Differently Is Your Greatest Asset, you can learn the strategies that make you a more diverse thinker and position you to break down institutional silos and build robust, effective teams.

Uproar: Calm Leadership in Anxious Times helps leaders understand the powerful impact that emotional processes have on the people they lead. Peter Steinke, best-selling author of Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times, draws on decades of work on system conflict and personal experiences to share real stories of challenges leaders have faced and how understanding the power of emotions has dramatically influenced their success. In this book, listeners will observe important leadership characteristics.

Carl Jung defined the phenomenon of “synchronicity” as “a collaboration between persons and events that seems to enlist the cooperation of fate.” Joseph Jaworski posits you can take advantage of synchronicity, creating the conditions for “predictable miracles” versus being reactionary and a victim of circumstances. Instead of focusing on numbers, reports, and other inanimate objects, Jaworski encourages leaders and managers to look at the world primarily through relationships.

Leadership isn't something you're born with or gifted as a reward for an abundance of charisma; true leadership stems from core skills that can be learned. Get more of the leadership ideas you want, from the authors you trust, with HBR's 10 Must Reads on Leadership (Vol. 2). We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you maximize your own and your organization's performance.

You're Not Lost is the manifesto for a generation of women who don't have the self-confidence to trust their instincts and go for it. This compelling guide gets to the root of the problem, showing you how to drop the panic-inducing, big-picture obsession over "Where am I going with my life?" and instead shines a spotlight on the small yet impactful decisions that will take you from lost to found. With step-by-step advice, thought-provoking exercises, and real-life stories, this book is an energizing action plan for getting to the amazing career and life you deserve.

Only 10 percent of leaders run their teams at full power. The formula you are about to learn is based on the most extensive research of its kind, spanning more than 15,000 careers with over 9 million data points. The idea has been battle-tested for more than two decades by leaders in every major industry.

In Above the Line, they argue that that the quality of your life flows from the attitudes of your heart. Wise, compassionate, and practical Above the Line explores the deep, fundamental drivers of human behavior that exist within your heart - the seat of your character. It reveals that all of these behaviors can be explained by four heart-based principles - humility, love, pride, and fear - which influence every facet of our life, for better or worse.

In this revelatory book, Stephen Martin and Joseph Marks explain how in our uncertain and ambiguous world, the messenger is the message. We frequently fail to separate the idea being communicated from the person conveying it, they argue: the status or connectedness of the messenger become more important than the message itself.

Are you a good boss - or a great one? Get more of the management ideas you want, from the authors you trust, with HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing People (Vol. 2). We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you master the innumerable challenges of being a manager.

In Friend and Foe, researchers Galinsky and Schweitzer explain why this debate misses the mark. Rather than being hardwired to compete or cooperate, humans have evolved to do both. It is only by learning how to strike the right balance between these two forces that we can improve our long-term relationships and get more of what we want.

We've combed through the ideas, insights, and best practices from the past year of Harvard Business Review to help you get up to speed fast on the relevant concepts driving business today. Discover new ideas and sample the latest thinking of our vast array of management experts. Revisit these topics now to make sure your organization is incorporating the best, most up-to-date practices, or keep this book as a reference so you can turn to these memorable pieces when you need them the most.

What if those we lead found great purpose in what they do and worked at their jobs with all their heart? Ultimately, don't we hope to foster intrinsic motivation so that the individuals we lead become better employees, better students, or better athletes? Recent discoveries of brain science and the wisdom of top CEOs that Dr. Tim Irwin interviewed for this audiobook give us the answers we've long sought. Science in recent years discovered that affirmation sets in motion huge positive changes in the brain. It releases neurochemicals associated with well-being and higher performance.

Since the first edition, NLP at Work has pioneered the use of neurolinguistic programming (NLP) in the business world to improve communication, negotiation, teamwork, and influence. With more 100,000 copies sold and now in its third edition, NLP at Work is a clear and comprehensive introduction to using NLP in the workplace, with a unique personal style and approach.

Michael Brenner’s Mean People Suck uses real-life experience and proven research to show why, instead of blaming others, we can look inside ourselves and learn how to use empathy to defeat “mean” in every situation. This insightful guide shows leaders and employees how improving emotional communication increases profits and enhances lives.

One of the nation's leading psychologists asks why today's corporate leaders desire but reject creative solutions - and finds some surprising conclusions.

CEO, executive wellness coach, and thought leader Naz Beheshti distills the most valuable lessons she learned from her first boss and mentor, Steve Jobs, into a holistic method to live your best life. Presenting the highly effective framework that Beheshti has used with clients for over a decade, this book empowers you to fulfill your highest business, personal, and social potential.