Work Leadership

"Middle manager." The term evokes a bygone industrial era in which managers functioned like cogs in a vast machine and bureaucracy ruled. In recent decades, midlevel managers became a favorite target for the chopping block—underappreciated, often considered a superfluous layer of the organization. Not only does this outdated perspective need to change, the future demands it. In Power to the Middle, McKinsey thought leaders Bill Schaninger, Bryan Hancock, and Emily Field call for a profound reimagining of what middle managers can and must be able to do.

Ken Costa shares his practical insights and experience gained from more than forty years working in finance. This timeless message, that there is space for faith at work, will truly inspire you to live each day with purpose. Does my work matter to God? Is ambition good? How do I deal with...

In a society that pushes conformity, how can you courageously choose to be who you really are – with yourself, in your relationships, and at work – despite the fear of judgment? In The Authenticity Principle, award-winning leadership and diversity expert Ritu Bhasin gives you the tools to...

Most of us have no idea what's really going on inside our heads. Yet brain scientists have uncovered details every business leader, parent, and teacher should know - such as the brain's need for physical activity to work at its best. How do we learn? What exactly do sleep and stress do to our brains? Why is multi-tasking a myth? Why is it so easy to forget - and so important to repeat new information? Is it true that men and women have different brains?

Cathie Black is the wise, funny mentor that every woman dreams of having. She was a pioneer in advertising sales at a time when women didn’t sell; served as president and publisher of the fledgling USA Today; and, in her current position as the president of Hearst Magazines, persuaded Oprah to...

The benefits of mindfulness include better performance, heightened creativity, deeper self-awareness, and increased charisma - not to mention greater peace of mind. This collection of articles from HBR includes "Mindfulness in the Age of Complexity", an interview with Ellen Langer by Alison Beard; "Mindfulness Can Literally Change Your Brain", by Christina Congleton, Britta K. Hölzel, and Sara W. Lazar; "How to Practice Mindfulness Throughout Your Work Day", by Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter; and much more.

Whether setting out on your career or already ensconced in the boardroom, you will not succeed on your own. You need others to choose to listen, buy into and come with you. Global leadership expert Larry Robertson highlights communication as the most critical yet least well practised aspect of leadership, using his 3 Qualities of True Leadership: Authenticity (AQ), Empathy (EQ) and Intent (IQ).

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:

From the creator of AdviceWithErin, the definitive book on how to use the right words at work—so you can build the career you deserve We’ve all been there: you’re sweating, sitting in front of your laptop, and the interviewer on the screen says, “Tell me about yourself.” You freeze. Is...

A practical and hilarious guide to getting difficult people off your back, for anyone pulling their hair out over an irritating colleague who's not technically breaking any rules From open floor plans and Zoom calls to Slack channels, the workplace has changed a lot over the years. But there’s...

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.

The age of the distributed team is upon us. Teams can now operate and collaborate from locations other than a central office, and events surrounding the 2020 COVID pandemic have thrown its practicality into sharp relief. Managing a team whose members are distributed across several locations requires a different mindset and will remain a must-have for all areas of business from this point forward. Building and Managing High-Performance Distributed Teams explains what the distributed teams concept means to the future of your company.

Innovation may be the hottest discipline around today - in business circles and beyond. And for good reason. Innovation transforms companies and markets. It’s the key to solving vexing social problems. And it makes or breaks professional careers. For all the enthusiasm the topic inspires, however, the practice of innovation remains stubbornly impenetrable. No longer. In The Little Black Book of Innovation, long-time innovation expert Scott D.

This book contains some proven techniques for managing yourself, as well as managing difficult people. If you gain a better understanding of yourself, build your confidence, and use these techniques, then you’ll make your life a whole lot easier.

This timely and practical book is for any employee, manager, or leader who wants to understand mental health at a deeper level, and learn how to talk about it really well in the workplace.

Do you want to lead and influence others more effectively? Whether you’re a new or aspiring leader—looking for your first step in building a professional career, or a manager working to recover from corporate setbacks, sluggish direct reports, bad bosses, and economic downturns—you’ll find hope, encouragement, and support to further your leadership career in this allegorical tale. The authors, both business experts, coaches and trainers, tell the story of Sam, who encounters unexpected challenges in her first job as a manager.

Negotiation has always been at the heart of solving problems at work. Yet today, when people in organizations are asked to do more with less, be responsive 24/7, and manage in rapidly changing environments, negotiation is more essential than ever. What has been missed in much of the literature of the past 30 years is that negotiations in organizations always take place within a context - of organizational culture, of prior negotiations, of power relationships - that dictates which issues are negotiable and by whom.

An action-oriented guide to help anyone find their calling and achieve their goals, inspired by the author's popular blog post with the same title The Career Manifesto presents an inspiring and refreshingly simple approach to finding your passion and purpose and then jumpstarting a dream career...

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.

In 1965, John Brink left the Netherlands for Canada equipped with only a single suitcase and $25.47 in cash. He had no connections, he didn’t speak the language, and he’d never finished elementary school, yet he was convinced he could make his dream to build his own sawmill come true. With a tenacity bordering on obsession, John achieved his dreams...and then some. In this lively autobiography, John distills a half-century’s hard work to share 10 simple takeaways.