Workplace Management

People are the problem. They're always the problem. If a business person goes home frustrated, if they talk with their significant other about it, if they lay awake at night stewing about it, inevitably the problem is some person at work - a colleague, subordinate, or boss. Handling people issues is every leader's major headache. It's what takes up the majority of their time and - more important - the bulk of their head space. Every leader can and must develop this most important of all management skills.

Based on research from over 1,200 companies, including WalMart, Google, and JPMorgan Chase, this book follows real-world cases from companies where employees evolved from silent contributors to masterminds steering corporate strategies. These cases are the vanguard of a vibrant era in which workers will be the architects of their destinies, shaping not just their own careers but the entire trajectories of their organizations.

Have you ever wondered what it would take to be a better leader, or achieve your wildest dreams, or make a bigger difference in the world? The answer lies in the choices you make: about everything from how you spend your time to the way you view the world. Smart Leadership is the latest essential business title from internationally best-selling author of Win the Heart and Chess Not Checkers, Mark Miller. In this book, he shares the four research-based "smart choices" the best leaders make to scale their influence and results.

According to time management expert Laura Vanderkam, mornings hold the key to taking control of our schedules. If we use them wisely, we can build habits that will allow us to lead happier, more productive lives. Drawing on real-life anecdotes and scientific research that shows why the early hours of the day are so important, Vanderkam reveals how successful people use mornings to help them accomplish things that are often impossible to take care of later in the day.

The Talent War explores how US Special Operations Forces assess, select, and develop their world-class talent. You'll learn how to adopt a talent mindset, the single greatest weapon you can possess in the war for talent. When your organization reflects this mindset, you will hire, train, and develop the right people and put them in the best positions to make decisions that allow you to retake the advantage and win the war.

"Work-life balance" isn't making anyone happy. The pandemic helped catalyze a cultural shift of workers redefining themselves beyond what they do for a living. Now, it's time for you to rethink your role as a leader in the nexus of work and life. In Work-Life Bloom: How to Nurture a Team That Flourishes, award-winning author Dan Pontefract contends that a thriving workplace isn't about employee engagement levels, nor is it predicated on your team members bringing their "best selves" to work. Instead, it requires you to support the people you manage so they can be their best in work and life.

In a world where women and communities of color were disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, it's more important than ever for leaders to truly understand how to support inclusion in the postpandemic workplace. Drawing on years of work with many leading organizations, Jennifer Brown shows what leaders at any level can do to spark real change and navigate uncharted waters. She guides listeners through anti-racism using the Inclusive Leader Continuum, a set of four developmental stages: unaware, aware, active, and advocate.

Kotter and co-author Dan S. Cohen delve deeper into the subject of change to get to the heart of how change actually happens. Through compelling, real-life stories from people in the trenches, in all kinds of organizations, the authors attack the fundamental problem that underlies every major transformation: How do you go beyond simply getting your message across to truly changing people's behavior?

Most business leaders understand the power of a dynamic, positive culture - but almost every effort to change culture fails. Why? The approach is often all wrong. Rather than attempt to "transform" a new culture from the ground up, leaders need to instead spearhead a culture renovation. In Culture Renovation, Kevin Oakes provides tangible, tactical insights drawn from a robust data set and informed by CEOs and HR leaders at many of the world's top companies.

Through her global consulting projects, keynote speeches, and work with thousands of leaders, Karen has seen first-hand how a pervasive lack of clarity strangles business performance and erodes employee engagement. Ambiguity is the corporate default state, a condition so prevalent that “tolerance for ambiguity” has become a clichéd job requirement. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Unleash Your Leadership Potential: Unlock Unprecedented Success in Just 30 Days, even if you’re a first-time manager or have struggled to lead effectively in the past. Have you recently made the leap from team member to team leader and are grappling with the power shift? Or perhaps you’re already in a leadership role, but feel like you’re balancing targets and team harmony?

Rapid change defines the world around us, requiring a more effective type of organization. New discoveries change our understanding of how the world works, and Margaret J. Wheatley shows us how the “new science” can lead to a powerful new view of the business world. Our world has become nonlinear and filled with constant transition, and this new understanding can be applied to the way we organize work, people, and our lives. Wheatley invites us to transform our way of thinking and adapt ourselves—and our companies—to the 21st century by offering a new way of thinking.

Reward and recognition programs can be costly and inefficient, and they primarily reward employees who are already highly engaged and productive performers. Worse still, these programs actually decrease employee motivation because they can make individual recognition, rather than the overall success of the team, the goal. Yet many businesses turn to these measures first-unaware of a better alternative. So, when it comes to changing your organizational culture, carrots and sticks don't work!

In this bold, enlightening book, social psychologist and professor Daniel M. Cable takes leaders into the minds of workers and reveals the surprising secret to restoring their zest for work. Disengagement isn't a motivational problem, it's a biological one. Humans aren't built for routine and repetition. We're designed to crave exploration, experimentation, and learning - in fact, there's a part of our brains, which scientists have coined "the seeking system", that rewards us for taking part in these activities. But the way organizations are run prevents many of us from following our innate impulses. As a result, we shut down.

Coaching & Mentoring For Dummies is the playbook to help supervisors change their role from doer/manager to coach/mentor. Leadership and coaching expert Leo MacLeod shares the secrets of motivating employees to find purpose in their work and grow as independent problem solvers—without micromanaging them. Written for today's changing workplace, the book provides guidance on leading diverse teams, working with younger generations, and working remotely.

A man finds himself on the top step of a stepladder; a woman removes the guard to her machine; a worker is not wearing her safety glasses in the plant. Why do these folks do these things? One tendency is to blame workers for safety errors and label their personal failings as the cause. Labeling does not solve the problems. These tendencies build dysfunctional management practices that create fear associated with your safety programs. I want to teach you a better way to analyze behaviors to understand why your employees were put in a position to take the risk in the first place.

Researchers now have a clear understanding of the key drivers that make meetings successful. In The Surprising Science of Meetings, Steven G. Rogelberg, researcher and consultant to some of the world's most successful companies, draws from extensive research, analytics and data mining, and survey interviews with over 5,000 employees across a range of industries to share the proven practices and techniques that help managers and employees enhance the quality of their meetings.

As we stand in June 2025, it is our hope that this handbook serves its intended purpose: to empower professionals across diverse fields to engage with AI tools like Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, CoPilot, and Grok with greater skill, confidence, and ethical awareness. May it contribute to a future where human ingenuity is augmented by artificial intelligence, leading to more innovative, efficient, and responsible professional work.

This practical, actionable guide to success at the executive level helps readers understand what they need to pick up and let go of to achieve the results that are expected at the next level. Along with simple and immediately applicable tools and frameworks he's road-tested with thousands of coaching clients, Eblin offers clear, practical advice reinforced by interviews and case studies from executives who know what it takes to succeed.

Every leader will agree that managing people is challenging and growing more complex. Since The Big Book of HR was first published, dramatic changes have taken place in the workplace and the workforce. This tenth anniversary edition incorporates discussions and reflections on these changes which are useful for any business owner, manager, or HR professional.