Organizational Leadership

Today, not only is everything digital getting faster, cheaper, and smaller at an exponential rate, we also have the Internet. When these two revolutions - one in technology and the other in communications - joined, an explosive force was unleashed that changed the very nature of innovation. And with any change, we have seen many strategic blunders and extraordinary learning curves along the way.

Often, leaders with solid experience and technical capabilities are promoted into leadership positions. They find themselves leading a team and facing a variety of situations they never encountered previously. In Thriving Leaders: Learn the Skills to Lead Confidently, you will learn to use your authentic leadership style, adapt to each situation and lead effectively.

As Italian political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli implied, you're either predator or prey, and the animal you most resemble determines your position on the food chain. In The Wolf in CIO's Clothing Gartner analyst and author Tina Nunno expands on Machiavelli's metaphor, examining seven animal types and the leadership attributes of each. Nunno posits the wolf - a social animal with strong predatory instincts - as the ideal example of how a leader can adapt and thrive.

We've all been taught that we must suppress or avoid emotions at work, but this inevitably leads to a loss in productivity, diminished creativity, and crushing job dissatisfaction. Research shows 85 percent of us avoid communicating crucial workplace problems upward, and many of us who are employed are actively looking for a different job. What's going on?

Is it possible to create a positive workforce in negative times? Yes, it is, says speaker, strategist and consultant Liz Jazwiec, RN. But first, you have to get real about how tough a job in healthcare really is and also about the negative things you and your staff members do to make it even tougher. In her audiobook, Liz gets real about all that and more. In her darkly humorous, ever-so-slightly sarcastic style - after all she was an ER nurse - she builds a case for the powerful benefits of a positive workplace.

Trust is the basis for all that we do as leaders and as organizations. Employees who trust their employers are more productive and creative. Businesses that earn their customers' trust maintain better relationships and reap better results. Meanwhile, breaches of trust between companies and the public are becoming more frequent—and more costly. If you read (or listen to) nothing else on trust, listen to these ten articles.

It is taken for granted in the knowledge economy that companies must employ the most talented performers to compete and succeed. Many firms try to buy stars by luring them away from competitors. But Boris Groysberg shows what an uncertain and disastrous practice this can be.

Sexism. Self-doubt. Invisibility. When you're one of the only women in your workplace, it can be difficult to gain your footing. Organizations need to change, but in the meantime, women can find success in these settings—and even flourish in them. Thriving in a Male-Dominated Workplace provides the advice you need to ensure your professional growth in roles and industries that have traditionally been filled by and controlled by men.

If you have ever been part of a great team, you will know it is exponentially better than being part of a mediocre team. Teams are at the heart of working in complex domains and are essential to the success of agile approaches yet relatively few teams achieve greatness. Agile and leadership coach Geoff Watts has pulled together his many years of experience with all sorts of teams from software to product development, from medical teams to sports teams and has identified five common characteristics of great teams:

The executive chairman and former CEO of Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin Robbins reflects on the unique, results-oriented discipline he's developed over decades of leadership, which provides a blueprint for any organization to achieve prosperity. We live in an era in which successful organizations can...

We made some incorrect assumptions about work, and those assumptions are killing us. We allowed a narrative that is solely about earnings to replace what we know to be true about human motivation. Human beings are hardwired to seek purpose, but according to data, most people don't feel a sense of purpose in their work. Work has become a grind, an endless series of tasks that lack meaning.

Without trust, people and businesses fail. Trusted Leader provides a framework for building trust so that you and your organizations can perform at your best. “A lack of trust is your biggest expense", says Wall Street Journal best-selling author David Horsager. Without trust, transactions cannot occur. Without trust, influence is destroyed. Without trust, leaders lose their people. Horsager introduces listeners to his eight pillars of trust through the journey of a senior leader who thought success was certain.

In existence for decades, ERGs originated out of affirmative action policies and have evolved into powerful sources of employee activity and engagement. Organizations can leverage ERGs to support business goals, but ERGs can also play a critical role in creating a more inclusive work environment for marginalized individuals.

Kindness and leadership aren't often synonymous. The purpose of this book is to teach leaders how to lead with kindness so they can influence the people they lead to create kinder workplaces, organizations, and the world. This book gives you a deep theoretical understanding of the importance of leading with kindness and also provides practical exercises for you to use. By the time you finish the book, you will feel confident in your ability to lead with kindness and also to address organizational problems at work, at home, and in the community with kindness.

Who changed the rules of business? It's a different game now. In an increasingly globally diverse workforce, it's vitally important that leaders understand their team inside and out. This takes a new toolbox of skills for the 21st century. Today you need winning strategies to avoid the costly pitfalls of high turnover, low morale, and poor collaboration, not to mention the cost of missed deadlines and incomplete projects.

Going well beyond the recycled, superficial tactics in most leadership books, Thrive by Design introduces you to the triggers of exemplary workplace behavior at a neurological level. Tapping into these triggers leads to increased productivity, well-being, accountability, and retention. As you apply the practical approaches and tools outlined in the book, you will see less absenteeism, corrosive gossip, employee drama, accidents, and quality shortfalls.

Being empathetic at work means seeing the situation from another’s perspective, and using that vantage point to shape your leadership style, workplace culture, and branding strategy. Pairing her knowledge as a branding expert with proven research and fascinating stories from executives, change makers, and community leaders, Maria Ross reveals exactly how empathy makes brands and organizations stronger and more successful.

If you’re like most managers and things keep you up at night, now you can turn to an audiobook that’s designed especially for you! The moral here is this: Managers need to leave their castles and find out what’s actually going on in their kingdoms.

In today’s age of Zoom calls and hybrid workplaces, how can leaders foster relationships that allow everyone to succeed? A trio of best friends and leadership consultants at SkyeTeam have the surprising answer: workplace success starts by being a friend. Meet the Ally Mindset, a model for proactive, thoughtful work relationships. As you heal adversarial relationships and strengthen weaker ties, you’ll find that when you have best friends at work—colleagues who have your back—you thrive.

The central problem Hammer saw is that despite good intentions, companies don’t perform at the levels they need to because the way they do things is screwed up. This book is a tool kit for how to do things right, providing its listeners with the skills to make deep and fundamental changes in how companies do their work.