Enjoy the Ride!


We all ride the Mood Elevator up and down every day. How well we do it impacts our relationships, our personal effectiveness, our career, and our experience of life. Most people take that ride for granted—but what if we knew the right buttons to push to move to the top?

In this very practical guide, Larry Senn provides an operating manual to keep you out of the emotional basement. He shows how to interrupt negative thought patterns that keep you stuck on a lower floor—depressed, stressed, anxious, judgmental—and move higher by cultivating mental attitudes like curiosity and gratitude. Through Senn's decades of work as a consultant, the Mood Elevator has been enthusiastically embraced by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. By sharing his work with a wider audience, Senn hopes to help all of us live life at our best.

Positive psychology and organizational guru Larry Senn shows readers how allowing room for your mood swings rather than suppressing them can lead you to be more successful and happy.


Mood swings are a common, almost universal experience-especially in a world as full of unpredictable, uncontrollable changes and chances as ours. People know they have good and bad moods, but most have never thought of them as an emotional elevator they ride and can have influence over. Perhaps they've even tried to suppress their moods and refuse to acknowledge the ride at all.

Larry Senn implores us to take our changing moods seriously and ride the mood elevator, which can help us all be more effective leaders and greatly impact our personal lives. At the top floors, we find ourselves to be grateful, wise, creative, resourceful, and hopeful. At the bottom, we can be depressed, angry, stressed, judgmental, and defensive. The Mood Elevator provides a framework and a series of simple pointers and illustrative stories that help us see that without taking the full ride, we can't access the top floor moods without remembering that we have to build up from the bottom.

The Mood Elevator shows us that we create our own moods through our own thinking and, in the end, have control over the direction we head. The book provides simple steps for readers to quickly change their thinking to create better emotional states based on their environments.

Based on interviews with 48 executives in a variety of industries, The Moral Advantage describes the many distinct ways that morality contributes to business success. Some of these ways are familiar (following ethical codes, for example), whereas others, such as unleashing the powers of moral imagination, have received little or no attention. Damon details precisely how these business leaders applied their moral sense to strengthen their businesses. For some, it was a matter of directly extrapolating a new business concept from a moral (and often spiritual) worldview. For others, it was a sensitivity to what consumers needed and a determination to respond effectively to that. For yet others, it was a commitment to a caring and ethical manner of doing business that required inventive approaches to organizing employees. But in every case, Damon shows that it was by adhering firmly to a personal moral code that these men and women ultimately triumphed. All too many people view business as a ruthless, dog-eat-dog world where only the pitiless survive. Recent scandals in the corporate world have reinforced this cynical view. Men and women in business today need a roadmap showing them how to achieve success on the high road. The Moral Advantage provides that roadmap.

All too many people view business as a ruthless, dog-eat-dog world where only the pitiless survive. But here Bill Damon tells the compelling stories of real-life business leaders who have achieved great success by adhering to moral conviction. Based on interviews with 48 executives in a variety of industries, The Moral Advantage illustrates how moral insights can be used to gain competitive advantage. By showing how to employ rather than compromise moral standards, The Moral Advantage provides a roadmap for achieving success by sticking to the high road, and for building a business career that is both personally and materially rewarding.

Based on interviews with 48 executives in a variety of industries, The Moral Advantage describes the many distinct ways that morality contributes to business success. Some of these ways are familiar (following ethical codes, for example), whereas others, such as unleashing the powers of moral imagination, have received little or no attention.

Damon details precisely how these business leaders applied their moral sense to strengthen their businesses.

Globalization has created a superheated competitive business environment that demands innovation to stay ahead. But it's also created a hidden source of innovation right in your midst: the people in your organization who have deep experience in more than one culture—multiculturals. Having to integrate different cultural frameworks has enabled them to develop abilities that can contribute powerfully to building innovative organizations.

David Thomas makes a compelling business case for recognizing and cultivating a new dimension of diversity—the diversity within individuals! He looks at how to establish the organizational conditions under which multiculturals can flourish and shows how even the most monocultural among us can gain the advantages of a multicultural mind.

Globalization has created a superheated competitive business environment that demands innovation to stay ahead. But it's also created a hidden source of innovation right in your midst: the people in your organization who have deep experience in more than one culture—multiculturals. Having to integrate different cultural frameworks has enabled them to develop abilities that can contribute powerfully to building innovative organizations.

David Thomas makes a compelling business case for recognizing and cultivating a new dimension of diversity—the diversity within individuals! He looks at how to establish the organizational conditions under which multiculturals can flourish and shows how even the most monocultural among us can gain the advantages of a multicultural mind.

Organizations need innovation, and there is a source right under their noses. Research has shown that people with multiple cultural experiences have higher levels of creativity-David Thomas shows how to create a workplace in which multiculturals can thrive and everyone can benefit from their insights.

In today's rapidly evolving business world continual innovation is now a must. Scholar and consultant David C. Thomas says the same forces of globalization that have created today's superheated competitive environment have also provided a potential hidden advantage: the multiculturals in your midst.

Thomas cites ample research and examples showing that people who have experienced more than one culture are more creative that those with more limited experience. Multiculturals have a broader worldview. Having to integrate different cultural values forces them to develop more complex ways of thinking and makes them better able to see new patterns and connections. Their heightened empathy, the result of learning to adapt to sometimes wildly different cultures, helps them build support for their ideas and work effectively on the teams that implement them.

This book makes a powerful business case for recognizing and cultivating a new dimension of diversity. Thomas looks at how different people express their multicultural identities and how to establish the organizational conditions under which multiculturals can flourish, And he shows how even the most monocultural among us can develop the characteristics of a multicultural mind.

In a world with a surplus of ideas, what separates a good idea from a bad one? Learn how to cultivate a mindset that produces the kind of ideas people can't turn down.

Most professionals cannot generate a solid idea. They either offer up tired or reused ones, or they generate lots of ideas but none that are worth pursuing.

A great idea presents a well-formulated thought or plan of action that spurs growth, change, advancement, adaptation, or new insight. Worthwhile ideas move the needle; they change the playing field altogether.

The New Art of Ideas is designed to help readers consistently produce worthwhile ideas by becoming nimble and imaginative thinkers better equipped to compete and produce in a global economy. Robin Landa identifies the Three Gs of every good idea:

Goal-Your vision for the end
Gap-The underdeveloped area that your idea fills
Gain-The overall benefits of your goal

With explanations and examples of each component, this book demystifies the process of effective ideation and hands you the key to unlock your creative potential.

In a world with a surplus of ideas, what separates a good idea from a bad one? Learn how to cultivate a mindset that produces the kind of ideas people can't turn down.

Most professionals cannot generate a solid idea. They either offer up tired or reused ones, or they generate lots of ideas but none that are worth pursuing.

A great idea presents a well-formulated thought or plan of action that spurs growth, change, advancement, adaptation, or new insight. Worthwhile ideas move the needle; they change the playing field altogether.

The New Art of Ideas is designed to help readers consistently produce worthwhile ideas by becoming nimble and imaginative thinkers better equipped to compete and produce in a global economy. Robin Landa identifies the Three Gs of every good idea:

Goal-Your vision for the end
Gap-The underdeveloped area that your idea fills
Gain-The overall benefits of your goal

With explanations and examples of each component, this book demystifies the process of effective ideation and hands you the key to unlock your creative potential.

In a world with a surplus of ideas, what separates a good idea from a bad one? Learn how to cultivate a mindset that produces the kind of ideas people can't turn down.

Most professionals cannot generate a solid idea. They either offer up tired or reused ones, or they generate lots of ideas but none that are worth pursuing.

A great idea presents a well-formulated thought or plan of action that spurs growth, change, advancement, adaptation, or new insight. Worthwhile ideas move the needle; they change the playing field altogether.

The New Art of Ideas is designed to help readers consistently produce worthwhile ideas by becoming nimble and imaginative thinkers better equipped to compete and produce in a global economy. Robin Landa identifies the Three Gs of every good idea:

• Goal-Your vision for the end
• Gap-The underdeveloped area that your idea fills
• Gain-The overall benefits of your goal

With explanations and examples of each component, this book demystifies the process of effective ideation and hands you the key to unlock your creative potential.

Featuring 15 explosive new chapters, this new edition of the New York Times bestseller brings the story of Economic Hit Men up-to-date and, chillingly, home to the U.S.―but it also gives us hope and the tools to fight back.

The previous edition of this now-classic book revealed the existence and subversive manipulations of "economic hit men.” John Perkins wrote that they “are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder.” In Perkins's case the tool was debt-convincing strategically important countries to borrow huge amounts of money for enormous, “development “ projects that served the very rich while driving the country deeper into poverty and debt. And once indebted, these countries could be controlled.

In this latest edition, Perkins provides revealing new details about how he and others did their work. But more importantly, in an explosive new section he describes how the EHM tools are being used around the world more widely than ever-even in the U. S. itself. The cancer has metastasized, yet most people still aren't aware of it. Fear and debt drive the EHM system. We are hammered with messages that terrify us into believing that we must pay any price, assume any debt, to stop the enemies who, we are told, lurk at our doorsteps. The EHM system-employing false economics, bribes, surveillance, deception, debt, coups, assassinations, unbridled military power-has become the dominant system of economics, government, and society today. It has created what Perkins calls a “Death Economy.” But Perkins offers hope: he concludes with dozens of specific, concrete suggestions for actions all of us can take to wrest control of our world away from the economic hit men, and help give birth to a Life Economy.

In years past, the keywords for leaders were confidence, single-minded purpose, and strategic planning. But today's vastly complex, globalized, and fast-evolving world requires a different kind of leadership. This game-changing book details a new approach—entrepreneurial leadership—developed at Babson College, the number-one school for entrepreneurship in the world.
Entrepreneurial leadership is inspired by, but is separate from, entrepreneurship. It can be applied in any organizational situation, not just start-ups. Based on two years of extensive research, it embraces three principles that add up to a fundamentally new worldview of business and a new logic of decision making.
First, rapid change and increasing uncertainty require leaders to be “cognitively ambidextrous,” able to shift between traditional “prediction logic” (choosing actions based on analysis) and “creation logic” (taking action despite considerable unknowns). Guiding this different way of thinking and acting is a new view of business, where simultaneous creation of social, environmental, and economic value is the order of the day. Finally, entrepreneurial leaders leverage their understanding of themselves and their social context to guide effective action.
Each chapter offers concrete examples of how educators across all disciplines are integrating these ideas into their courses—and even their entire curricula. The New Entrepreneurial Leader lays out a comprehensive new paradigm for reinventing management education in order to mold leaders who will shape social and economic opportunity.

In years past, the keywords for leaders were confidence, single-minded purpose, and strategic planning. But today’s vastly complex, globalized, and fast-evolving world requires a different kind of leadership. This game-changing book details a new approach—entrepreneurial leadership—developed at Babson College, the number-one school for entrepreneurship in the world. Entrepreneurial leadership is inspired by, but is separate from, entrepreneurship. It can be applied in any organizational situation, not just start-ups. Based on two years of extensive research, it embraces three principles that add up to a fundamentally new worldview of business and a new logic of decision making. First, rapid change and increasing uncertainty require leaders to be “cognitively ambidextrous,” able to shift between traditional “prediction logic” (choosing actions based on analysis) and “creation logic” (taking action despite considerable unknowns). Guiding this different way of thinking and acting is a new view of business, where simultaneous creation of social, environmental, and economic value is the order of the day. Finally, entrepreneurial leaders leverage their understanding of themselves and their social context to guide effective action. Each chapter offers concrete examples of how educators across all disciplines are integrating these ideas into their courses—and even their entire curricula. The New Entrepreneurial Leader lays out a comprehensive new paradigm for reinventing management education in order to mold leaders who will shape social and economic opportunity.

Our economic crisis has shown that we need a fundamentally new kind of business leader-able to make ethical decisions in the face of strategic unknowns, serve the environment and society while also serving the needs of investors and shareholders, and understand how their personality and the social context in which they operate impacts their leadership. This book lays out a compelling model for creating and developing these new entrepreneurial leaders.

Over the next decade, today's connected world will be explosively more connected. Anything that can be distributed will be distributed: workforces, organizations, supply webs, and more. The tired practices of centralized organizations will become brittle in a future where authority is radically decentralized. Rigid hierarchies will give way to liquid structures. Most leaders—and most organizations—aren't ready for this future. Are you?

It's too late to catch up, but it's a great time to leapfrog. Noted futurist Bob Johansen goes beyond skills and competencies to propose five new leadership literacies—combinations of disciplines, practices, and worldviews—that will be needed to thrive in a VUCA world of increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. This book shows how to (1) forecast likely futures so you can “look back” and make sure you're prepared now for the changes to come, (2) use low-risk gaming spaces to work through your concerns about the future and hone your leadership skills, (3) lead shape-shifting organizations where you can't just tell people what to do, (4) be a dynamic presence even when you're not there in person, and (5) keep your personal energy high and transmit that energy throughout your organization.

This visionary book provides a vivid description of the ideal talent profile for future leaders. It is written for current, rising star, and aspiring leaders; talent scouts searching for leaders; and executive coaches seeking a fresh view of how leaders will need to prepare. To get ready for this future, we will all need new leadership literacies.

Over the next decade, today's connected world will be explosively more connected. Anything that can be distributed will be distributed: workforces, organizations, supply webs, and more. The tired practices of centralized organizations will become brittle in a future where authority is radically decentralized. Rigid hierarchies will give way to liquid structures. Most leaders—and most organizations—aren't ready for this future. Are you?

It's too late to catch up, but it's a great time to leapfrog. Noted futurist Bob Johansen goes beyond skills and competencies to propose five new leadership literacies—combinations of disciplines, practices, and worldviews—that will be needed to thrive in a VUCA world of increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. This book shows how to (1) forecast likely futures so you can “look back” and make sure you're prepared now for the changes to come, (2) use low-risk gaming spaces to work through your concerns about the future and hone your leadership skills, (3) lead shape-shifting organizations where you can't just tell people what to do, (4) be a dynamic presence even when you're not there in person, and (5) keep your personal energy high and transmit that energy throughout your organization.

This visionary book provides a vivid description of the ideal talent profile for future leaders. It is written for current, rising star, and aspiring leaders; talent scouts searching for leaders; and executive coaches seeking a fresh view of how leaders will need to prepare. To get ready for this future, we will all need new leadership literacies.