Category Archives: Leadership

by Mark Lipton “Guiding Growth” argues that vision matters more than strategy in achieving sustained success. Yet few executives understand what vision is and the role it plays in guiding forces for day-to-day behavior and overall company direction. Organizational expert Mark Lipton believes that vision has more importance than leaders think and that it is an essential factor in building scalable organizations that achieve long-term success. Based on extensive research and real-world consulting work with executives implementing the scaling process, “Guiding Growth”

by Sydney Finkelstein “Why Smart Executives Fail,” Sydney Finkelstein, explores corporate mistakes—what they are, why they occur, and what managers, leaders, and investors can do about them. All too often, once successful companies lose their luster and begin to stumble. This has happened at top companies like GM, Motorola, Quaker, and Sony, all of which have very smart, hard-working senior executives. How can you tell if it’s about to happen at your own company? In “Why Smart Executives Fail,” Finkelstein lays out

by Robert Sutton In “Good Boss, Bad Boss,” Bob Sutton takes a common sense approach on what really differentiates the great bosses from the ones who are just good, so-so, or even worse. The main theme that runs throughout the book—which brings together the diverse lessons and is a symbol of great bosses: “They work doggedly to “stay in tune” with how their followers (and superiors, peers, and customers) react to what they say and do.” The best bosses are intensely aware

by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee Great leaders move us. They ignite our passion and inspire the best in us. When we try to explain why they are so effective, we speak of strategy, vision, or powerful ideas. But the reality is much more primal: Great leadership works through the emotions. Drawing from decades of research within world-class organizations, the authors of “Primal Leadership” show that great leaders—whether CEOs or managers, coaches or politicians—excel not just through skill and ability,

by Marshal Goldsmith and Mark Reiter Successful people are the hardest to convince that they need to change because they are already successful. The corporate world is filled with executives, men and women who are intelligent, skilled, and driven. But only a handful of them will ever reach their full potential. In “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There,” Marshall Goldsmith discusses the key beliefs of successful leaders and also the behaviors that hold them back. He addresses the fundamental problems

by Jim Collins In what Collins calls a prequel to the bestseller Built to Last he wrote with Jerry Porras, “Good to Great” explores how good or even mediocre companies can be turned into ones that achieve long-term superior performance. To find the keys to greatness, Collins and his team identified 11 companies that made the leap from Good To Great and discovered the characteristics of greatness—why some companies make the leap and their industry counterparts don’t. Collins introduces concepts such as

by Dr. Henry Cloud One of the most important abilities a leader can have is knowing when and how to let go when something, or someone isn’t working—an employee, a business relationship, a sacred cow, a losing product or service, a set of assumptions, a poor business model, or even an entire business. Letting go is essential for business success. Getting to the next level in business always requires ending something you are doing today, leaving it behind, and moving on. Necessary

by Peter Drucker There are hundreds of books on the topic of executive effectiveness, but there have been very few things said in the interim that Peter Drucker hadn’t already figured out in the 1960s. What makes an effective executive? The measure of the executive, Drucker reminds us, is the ability to “get the right things done.” This usually involves doing what other people have overlooked as well as avoiding what is unproductive. Drucker identifies five practices essential to business effectiveness that

by Max De Pree Leadership is an Art says more about leadership in clearer, more elegant, and more convincing language than many of the much longer books that have been published on the subject. De Pree looks at leadership as a kind of stewardship, stressing the importance of building relationships, initiating ideas, and creating a lasting value system within an organization. Rather than focusing on the “hows” of leadership, he explains the “whys.” He shows that the first responsibility of a leader

by Robert Cialdini, Persuasion is at the heart of business, where leaders must reach customers, clients, employees, and suppliers. Influence is a classic book on the core principals of persuasion and is a great example of how psychological principles apply to the business world. You’ll learn the six universal principles of ethical persuasion: reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity. Cialdini shows how to use the principles to become a skilled persuader—and how to defend yourself against them. Based