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Conversations about social change devolve quickly into conflict when participants don't agree. Experienced practitioners Jason Jay and Gabriel Grant offer advocates and aspiring change agents six easy steps for opening the lines of communication when conversations get stuck.
The tough problems in the world are made harder when we can't even talk about them. We try to address issues that matter, but conversations break down because they become emotionally charged and we lose sight of our common goals. Scarred from these breakdowns with coworkers, family, and friends, we find it easier and safer to stick with people who already agree with us.
Getting unstuck requires the courage to confront our own inner contradictions and then to re-engage with people in a newly authentic way. This book invites readers to join in a spirit of serious play, laughing at ourselves as we take on the important work of self-reflection and renewing our conversations. Breaking through Gridlock includes six steps and a series of proven exercises to help readers along the way. We encourage readers to invite a friend to join them on the journey.
The tough problems in the world are made harder when we can't even talk about them. We try to address issues that matter, but conversations break down because they become emotionally charged and we lose sight of our common goals. Scarred from these breakdowns with coworkers, family, and friends, we find it easier and safer to stick with people who already agree with us.
Getting unstuck requires the courage to confront our own inner contradictions and then to re-engage with people in a newly authentic way. This book invites readers to join in a spirit of serious play, laughing at ourselves as we take on the important work of self-reflection and renewing our conversations. Breaking through Gridlock includes six steps and a series of proven exercises to help readers along the way. We encourage readers to invite a friend to join them on the journey.
Twenty-nine leading scholars and executives provide a visionary look at the future of business, propelling past damaging industrial-age values to uncover the key ingredients of humanistic, ecologically sustainable, and intergenerational prosperity.
This edited collection, featuring contributions by some of the world's most prominent thinkers on the future of business, is an interdisciplinary and international collaborative project to articulate a new 21st century theory of business. This book will be our greatest aid in meeting the organizational opportunities and ecological challenges of the future.
Through the exploration of robust cases and stories packed with deep insight and vital science, twenty of the world's leading thinkers explore how we can adapt our current notions of value, markets, models of cooperation and collective action, and intergenerational concern to create a world where economies and businesses can excel, all people can thrive, and nature can flourish for future generations.
This book is not dispassionate but rather designed to galvanize change and unite a global community of inquiry. It expounds on the conceptual cornerstones of the new kind of business practice that will enable the ascent to better prosperity.
This edited collection, featuring contributions by some of the world's most prominent thinkers on the future of business, is an interdisciplinary and international collaborative project to articulate a new 21st century theory of business. This book will be our greatest aid in meeting the organizational opportunities and ecological challenges of the future.
Through the exploration of robust cases and stories packed with deep insight and vital science, twenty of the world's leading thinkers explore how we can adapt our current notions of value, markets, models of cooperation and collective action, and intergenerational concern to create a world where economies and businesses can excel, all people can thrive, and nature can flourish for future generations.
This book is not dispassionate but rather designed to galvanize change and unite a global community of inquiry. It expounds on the conceptual cornerstones of the new kind of business practice that will enable the ascent to better prosperity.
The coauthors of the seminal book The Virtual Corporation describe how the rise of artificial intelligence and virtual environments are ushering in an epic cultural transformation-and how we can thrive in this new era.
We are at the dawn of the Autonomous Revolution, a turning point in human history as decisive as the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions. More and more, AI-based machines are replacing human beings, and online environments are gathering our data and using it to manipulate us. This loss of human autonomy amounts to nothing less than a societal phase change, a fundamental paradigm shift. The same institutions will remain-schools, banks, churches, and corporations-but they will radically change form, obey new rules, and use new tools.
William H. Davidow and Michael S. Malone go deeply into the enormous implications of these developments. They show why increases in productivity no longer translate into increases in the GDP and how zero cost, one-to-many communications have been turned into tools for cybercrime and propaganda. Many of the book's recommendations-such as using taxes to control irresponsible internet behavior and enabling people to put their data into what are essentially virtual personal information “safety deposit boxes”-are bold and visionary, but we must figure out how we will deal with these emerging challenges now, before the Autonomous Revolution overcomes us.
We are at the dawn of the Autonomous Revolution, a turning point in human history as decisive as the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions. More and more, AI-based machines are replacing human beings, and online environments are gathering our data and using it to manipulate us. This loss of human autonomy amounts to nothing less than a societal phase change, a fundamental paradigm shift. The same institutions will remain-schools, banks, churches, and corporations-but they will radically change form, obey new rules, and use new tools.
William H. Davidow and Michael S. Malone go deeply into the enormous implications of these developments. They show why increases in productivity no longer translate into increases in the GDP and how zero cost, one-to-many communications have been turned into tools for cybercrime and propaganda. Many of the book's recommendations-such as using taxes to control irresponsible internet behavior and enabling people to put their data into what are essentially virtual personal information “safety deposit boxes”-are bold and visionary, but we must figure out how we will deal with these emerging challenges now, before the Autonomous Revolution overcomes us.
Majora Carter shows how brain drain cripples low-status communities and maps out a development strategy focused on talent retention to help them break out of economic stagnation.
"My musical, In the Heights, explores issues of community, gentrification, identity and home, and the question: Are happy endings only ones that involve getting out of your neighborhood to achieve your dreams? In her refreshing new book, Majora Carter writes about these issues with great insight and clarity, asking us to re-examine our notions of what community development is and how we invest in the futures of our hometowns. This is an exciting conversation worth joining.”
-Lin-Manuel Miranda
How can we make the promise of America more accessible and equitable for everyone? What is a path toward wealth creation, quality of life, and happiness in low-status communities, whether in the inner city, in Rust Belt towns, Native American reservations, or other “marginalized” places?
There is an alternative to programs that simply ameliorate poverty without building wealth or counteracting the effects of displacement and cultural erasure through gentrification. What Majora Carter proposes in this inspiring and eye-opening book is a talent retention community development strategy.
Low-status communities have never had a shortage of successful people emerging from them. What they have had is a shortage of successful people staying. Carter focuses on retaining homegrown talent to create a robust, economically diverse ecosystem. She advocates
• helping property owners resist selling to speculators
• assembling available resources to build local businesses
• creating vibrant third spaces where personal and professional connections can grow
• and much more
Throughout the book, Carter shares key lessons from her personal and professional journey. The result is a powerful, heartfelt rethinking of poverty, inequality, economic development, and individual and family success.
"My musical, In the Heights, explores issues of community, gentrification, identity and home, and the question: Are happy endings only ones that involve getting out of your neighborhood to achieve your dreams? In her refreshing new book, Majora Carter writes about these issues with great insight and clarity, asking us to re-examine our notions of what community development is and how we invest in the futures of our hometowns. This is an exciting conversation worth joining.”
-Lin-Manuel Miranda
How can we make the promise of America more accessible and equitable for everyone? What is a path toward wealth creation, quality of life, and happiness in low-status communities, whether in the inner city, in Rust Belt towns, Native American reservations, or other “marginalized” places?
There is an alternative to programs that simply ameliorate poverty without building wealth or counteracting the effects of displacement and cultural erasure through gentrification. What Majora Carter proposes in this inspiring and eye-opening book is a talent retention community development strategy.
Low-status communities have never had a shortage of successful people emerging from them. What they have had is a shortage of successful people staying. Carter focuses on retaining homegrown talent to create a robust, economically diverse ecosystem. She advocates
• helping property owners resist selling to speculators
• assembling available resources to build local businesses
• creating vibrant third spaces where personal and professional connections can grow
• and much more
Throughout the book, Carter shares key lessons from her personal and professional journey. The result is a powerful, heartfelt rethinking of poverty, inequality, economic development, and individual and family success.
This complete guide to effective, transformative diversity training provides an answer to the superficial, check-the-box DEI efforts that are undermining the entire field.
DEI work is getting a bad reputation. But that's because it's not being done right, say veteran diversity consultants James O. Rodgers and Laura Kangas. Too many organizations are treating diversity training as a quick-hit, low-cost, check-the-box activity.
Effective diversity training involves behavioral change based on adult learning theory. It is rigorous, deeply personal, experience based, and, if done well, life changing. Rodgers and Kangas offer a complete guide, from design to implementation to results. They show how to
• determine what specific, tangible outcomes an organization wants before it starts
• link diversity training to overall organizational strategy
• help all participants forge an individual, emotional connection to the training
• identify what skills a facilitator needs-the right facilitator makes all the difference
• create memorable learning experiences, not simply educational programs
The authors' goal is nothing less than to spark a worldwide revolution of informed practitioners, employees, and business leaders who will demand diversity training be given the same time, resources, and attention as any other critical enterprise initiative.
Reading group discussion guide available in book.
DEI work is getting a bad reputation. But that's because it's not being done right, say veteran diversity consultants James O. Rodgers and Laura Kangas. Too many organizations are treating diversity training as a quick-hit, low-cost, check-the-box activity.
Effective diversity training involves behavioral change based on adult learning theory. It is rigorous, deeply personal, experience based, and, if done well, life changing. Rodgers and Kangas offer a complete guide, from design to implementation to results. They show how to
• determine what specific, tangible outcomes an organization wants before it starts
• link diversity training to overall organizational strategy
• help all participants forge an individual, emotional connection to the training
• identify what skills a facilitator needs-the right facilitator makes all the difference
• create memorable learning experiences, not simply educational programs
The authors' goal is nothing less than to spark a worldwide revolution of informed practitioners, employees, and business leaders who will demand diversity training be given the same time, resources, and attention as any other critical enterprise initiative.
Reading group discussion guide available in book.
Wall Street Journal bestselling author David Horsager provides a selection of incredible new tips and tricks for maintaining your business edge on a daily basis.
How do you get your work done and still maintain relationships and build trust? For most busy executives, it's an either/or choice -- either spend time with your people, or be an effective and productive leader who focuses entirely on the work. But David Horsager says you can do both.
The key is to do lots of little things on a daily basis that make you so effective that you have enough time to interact with your people and honor and build the relationships you have with them. In succinct, quick-read chapters Horsager offers thirty-five high impact productivity practices, each easily implemented and powerful on their own. Taken together, they form a solid wave of efficacy that will enable you to get more done, keep your energy up, and make sure that you're able to put people first-which Horsager insists must be always be one of your top priorities.
How do you get your work done and still maintain relationships and build trust? For most busy executives, it's an either/or choice -- either spend time with your people, or be an effective and productive leader who focuses entirely on the work. But David Horsager says you can do both.
The key is to do lots of little things on a daily basis that make you so effective that you have enough time to interact with your people and honor and build the relationships you have with them. In succinct, quick-read chapters Horsager offers thirty-five high impact productivity practices, each easily implemented and powerful on their own. Taken together, they form a solid wave of efficacy that will enable you to get more done, keep your energy up, and make sure that you're able to put people first-which Horsager insists must be always be one of your top priorities.
From the Center for Creative Leadership, this essential guide is updated with new insights, tips, and tools to help organizations get the most out of 360-degree feedback.
This is a hands-on guide for implementing effective 360-degree feedback systems as part of leadership development initiatives in organizations. Written for professionals who work inside organizations and external consultants working with clients, the book draws on over twenty years of research and practice by the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL). The book provides step-by-step guidelines for successful 360-degree feedback as well as best practices observed and tested with CCL's broad base of clients.
The second edition is updated with advances in the field over the past ten years and features new chapters on ensuring validity, why the process can fail, and the future of leadership development. The book includes worksheets, checklists, and other tools to use or adapt with a 360-degree process in any organization.
Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) is a top-ranked, global provider of programs that develop better leaders through its exclusive focus on leadership education and research.
This is a hands-on guide for implementing effective 360-degree feedback systems as part of leadership development initiatives in organizations. Written for professionals who work inside organizations and external consultants working with clients, the book draws on over twenty years of research and practice by the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL). The book provides step-by-step guidelines for successful 360-degree feedback as well as best practices observed and tested with CCL's broad base of clients.
The second edition is updated with advances in the field over the past ten years and features new chapters on ensuring validity, why the process can fail, and the future of leadership development. The book includes worksheets, checklists, and other tools to use or adapt with a 360-degree process in any organization.
Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) is a top-ranked, global provider of programs that develop better leaders through its exclusive focus on leadership education and research.
Iteration rules product development, but it isn't enough to produce dramatic results. This book champions Radical Product Thinking, a systematic methodology for building visionary, game-changing products.
Iteration is highly overrated. It's driven by the belief that if we iterate long enough, we cannot fail to build products that will truly change the world; in reality, iterations are only as visionary as the underlying solutions being tested and refined. Without a clear vision and strategy to drive the ideas you test and improve, products become bloated, fragmented, directionless, and driven by irrelevant metrics.
In Radial Product Thinking (RPT), product development is led by the vision for the change it's intended to create. It helps leaders reimagine the problems they face and align their team to find creative solutions using five elements: Vision, Strategy, Prioritization, Execution, and Culture. R. Dutt guides readers through these elements so they develop a clear process for achieving their desired change, incorporate it into daily activities, and turn RPT skills into muscle memory. Dutt also clarifies that readers don't have to be natural-born visionaries to produce extraordinary results.
Iteration is highly overrated. It's driven by the belief that if we iterate long enough, we cannot fail to build products that will truly change the world; in reality, iterations are only as visionary as the underlying solutions being tested and refined. Without a clear vision and strategy to drive the ideas you test and improve, products become bloated, fragmented, directionless, and driven by irrelevant metrics.
In Radial Product Thinking (RPT), product development is led by the vision for the change it's intended to create. It helps leaders reimagine the problems they face and align their team to find creative solutions using five elements: Vision, Strategy, Prioritization, Execution, and Culture. R. Dutt guides readers through these elements so they develop a clear process for achieving their desired change, incorporate it into daily activities, and turn RPT skills into muscle memory. Dutt also clarifies that readers don't have to be natural-born visionaries to produce extraordinary results.
This book is the first practical, hands-on guide that shows how leaders can build psychological safety in their organizations, creating an environment where employees feel included, fully engaged, and encouraged to contribute their best efforts and ideas.
Fear has a profoundly negative impact on engagement, learning efficacy, productivity, and innovation, but until now there has been a lack of practical information on how to make employees feel safe about speaking up and contributing. Timothy Clark, a social scientist and an organizational consultant, provides a framework to move people through successive stages of psychological safety. The first stage is member safety-the team accepts you and grants you shared identity. Learner safety, the second stage, indicates that you feel safe to ask questions, experiment, and even make mistakes. Next is the third stage of contributor safety, where you feel comfortable participating as an active and full-fledged member of the team. Finally, the fourth stage of challenger safety allows you to take on the status quo without repercussion, reprisal, or the risk of tarnishing your personal standing and reputation. This is a blueprint for how any leader can build positive, supportive, and encouraging cultures in any setting.
Fear has a profoundly negative impact on engagement, learning efficacy, productivity, and innovation, but until now there has been a lack of practical information on how to make employees feel safe about speaking up and contributing. Timothy Clark, a social scientist and an organizational consultant, provides a framework to move people through successive stages of psychological safety. The first stage is member safety-the team accepts you and grants you shared identity. Learner safety, the second stage, indicates that you feel safe to ask questions, experiment, and even make mistakes. Next is the third stage of contributor safety, where you feel comfortable participating as an active and full-fledged member of the team. Finally, the fourth stage of challenger safety allows you to take on the status quo without repercussion, reprisal, or the risk of tarnishing your personal standing and reputation. This is a blueprint for how any leader can build positive, supportive, and encouraging cultures in any setting.
Using a rigorous, straightforward scorecard as a guide, this book shows business leaders and innovators how to create breakthrough sustainable products and processes that are good for the planet, human health, and profits.
For decades, proponents of sustainability have promised effective ways to save resources and money, but they aren't moving the needle. The problem is that they haven't convinced skeptics that powerful economic incentives will work in their favor.
This book makes a crystal-clear economic argument for sustainable supply chains and provides a practical scorecard for creating one that is understandable to any executive, inside or outside of operations. In the midst of “green fatigue,” many leaders have lost sight of the business costs presented by hidden supply costs and toxic inputs in traditional supply chains. The authors show operations and implementation-focused business leaders how to innovate their supply chains to introduce and scale unexpected, cost-saving sustainable solutions.
Through repeatable, reliable processes that address model design and key performance indicators, this is a practical guide that leaders can rely on to make their existing systems more sustainable and more profitable.
The authors say it best: “To design a better future, you need to be a heretic today.”
For decades, proponents of sustainability have promised effective ways to save resources and money, but they aren't moving the needle. The problem is that they haven't convinced skeptics that powerful economic incentives will work in their favor.
This book makes a crystal-clear economic argument for sustainable supply chains and provides a practical scorecard for creating one that is understandable to any executive, inside or outside of operations. In the midst of “green fatigue,” many leaders have lost sight of the business costs presented by hidden supply costs and toxic inputs in traditional supply chains. The authors show operations and implementation-focused business leaders how to innovate their supply chains to introduce and scale unexpected, cost-saving sustainable solutions.
Through repeatable, reliable processes that address model design and key performance indicators, this is a practical guide that leaders can rely on to make their existing systems more sustainable and more profitable.
The authors say it best: “To design a better future, you need to be a heretic today.”
Now in a second edition, this classic book shows how to make conversations generative and productive rather than critical and destructive so people, organizations, and communities flourish.
We all know that conversations influence us, but we rarely stop to think about how much impact they have on our well-being and our ability to thrive. This book is the first to show how Appreciative Inquiry-a widely used change method that focuses on identifying what's working and building on it rather than just trying to fix what's not-can help us all communicate more effectively and flourish in all areas of our lives.
By focusing on what we want to happen instead of what we want to avoid and asking questions to deepen understanding and increase possibilities, we expand creativity, improve productivity, and unleash potential at work and home. Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres use real-life examples to illustrate these two practices and the principles that underlie them.
The second edition includes a new chapter on establishing the right mindset for appreciative conversations and a free discussion guide download. This book demonstrates how the practices and principles of Appreciative Inquiry strengthen relationships and generate possibilities for a future that works for everyone.
We all know that conversations influence us, but we rarely stop to think about how much impact they have on our well-being and our ability to thrive. This book is the first to show how Appreciative Inquiry-a widely used change method that focuses on identifying what's working and building on it rather than just trying to fix what's not-can help us all communicate more effectively and flourish in all areas of our lives.
By focusing on what we want to happen instead of what we want to avoid and asking questions to deepen understanding and increase possibilities, we expand creativity, improve productivity, and unleash potential at work and home. Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres use real-life examples to illustrate these two practices and the principles that underlie them.
The second edition includes a new chapter on establishing the right mindset for appreciative conversations and a free discussion guide download. This book demonstrates how the practices and principles of Appreciative Inquiry strengthen relationships and generate possibilities for a future that works for everyone.
In a world of increasing polarization, Digital, Diverse & Divided shows us how to use cultural intelligence to bridge our divides and authentically connect with those around us.
Our divides are destroying us: red versus blue, Black versus White, globalists versus nationalists, agnostics versus Christians. Drawing on seminal research on social identity and cultural intelligence, this book explains our impulse to divide people into “us” versus “them” and reveals how we can tackle tribalism, confront racism, and develop a common vision for the future.
In Digital, Diverse & Divided, David Livermore outlines the four competencies of Cultural Intelligence (CQ):
• Motivation (CQ Drive)
• Cognition (CQ Knowledge)
• Metacognition (CQ Strategy)
• Behavior (CQ Action)
He shows how we can apply this foundation to a wide range of intercultural situations. This book includes personal anecdotes, stories from around the world, and references to the work of prominent authors, psychologists, thinkers, and economists.
Livermore examines different factors-place, race, gender, religious beliefs, and politics-that shape how we see the world and offers a way for us to reclaim our shared humanity.
Our divides are destroying us: red versus blue, Black versus White, globalists versus nationalists, agnostics versus Christians. Drawing on seminal research on social identity and cultural intelligence, this book explains our impulse to divide people into “us” versus “them” and reveals how we can tackle tribalism, confront racism, and develop a common vision for the future.
In Digital, Diverse & Divided, David Livermore outlines the four competencies of Cultural Intelligence (CQ):
• Motivation (CQ Drive)
• Cognition (CQ Knowledge)
• Metacognition (CQ Strategy)
• Behavior (CQ Action)
He shows how we can apply this foundation to a wide range of intercultural situations. This book includes personal anecdotes, stories from around the world, and references to the work of prominent authors, psychologists, thinkers, and economists.
Livermore examines different factors-place, race, gender, religious beliefs, and politics-that shape how we see the world and offers a way for us to reclaim our shared humanity.
This is the first book to address the specific needs and challenges faced by high-level consultants, who work on very complex projects and must win the confidence of the most senior leaders in organizations.
Advanced consulting requires both expertise and personal qualifications that are distinct from those needed in everyday consulting. Advanced consultants work with high-level executive teams on complex issues such as strategy, organizational design, merger integration, digital disruption, culture change, and system-wide transformation. While neophyte consultants are often given a playbook to follow, advanced consultants need to invent methods that take full advantage of the opportunities that their work with clients presents.
There is an art to advanced consulting as well as a science; who you are is as important as what you do. Bill Pasmore draws on his four decades of experience as a consultant and teacher of consultants to show readers how to see possibilities that are not evident, conduct analyses that support the value of more comprehensive work, build relationships that engender deeper trust, adapt to changing circumstances, and empower members of their team to take independent actions while maintaining overall control of an engagement. Illustrated with vivid real-world examples and including a self-assessment to measure your progress, this book equips you to advance to more senior positions in your firm or to build a successful independent practice.
Advanced consulting requires both expertise and personal qualifications that are distinct from those needed in everyday consulting. Advanced consultants work with high-level executive teams on complex issues such as strategy, organizational design, merger integration, digital disruption, culture change, and system-wide transformation. While neophyte consultants are often given a playbook to follow, advanced consultants need to invent methods that take full advantage of the opportunities that their work with clients presents.
There is an art to advanced consulting as well as a science; who you are is as important as what you do. Bill Pasmore draws on his four decades of experience as a consultant and teacher of consultants to show readers how to see possibilities that are not evident, conduct analyses that support the value of more comprehensive work, build relationships that engender deeper trust, adapt to changing circumstances, and empower members of their team to take independent actions while maintaining overall control of an engagement. Illustrated with vivid real-world examples and including a self-assessment to measure your progress, this book equips you to advance to more senior positions in your firm or to build a successful independent practice.
Ditch the negative mental habits that derail conversations and destroy projects, and discover a framework for forging authentic, enduring, and productive connections.
All too often, we find our conversations stuck in cyclical patterns of unproductive behavior. We listen half-heartedly, react emotionally, and respond habitually, or what Chuck Wisner calls “sleep talking.”
Conscious Conversations explores the way we can reframe our thoughts, emotions, reactions, and interactions so we form a connection from the very first conversation and keep our discourse positive and productive throughout any endeavor. Wisner identifies four universal types of conversations and offers specific advice on maximizing the effectiveness of each:
• Storytelling-Acknowledging and investigating the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and others
• Collaborating-Exploring the way our stories interact with other people's stories
• Creating-Cocreating possibilities and discovering unforeseen solutions to sticky problems
• Committing-Coordinating our actions with others to get things done
These conversations unfold sequentially: our awareness of our stories transforms our ability to listen and collaborate, which opens our thoughts to creative possibilities, guiding us toward mindful agreements. This framework makes it possible to identify, understand, and deactivate disruptive emotional triggers; listen with empathy to people with opposing perspectives; and forge relationships built on trust.
All too often, we find our conversations stuck in cyclical patterns of unproductive behavior. We listen half-heartedly, react emotionally, and respond habitually, or what Chuck Wisner calls “sleep talking.”
Conscious Conversations explores the way we can reframe our thoughts, emotions, reactions, and interactions so we form a connection from the very first conversation and keep our discourse positive and productive throughout any endeavor. Wisner identifies four universal types of conversations and offers specific advice on maximizing the effectiveness of each:
• Storytelling-Acknowledging and investigating the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and others
• Collaborating-Exploring the way our stories interact with other people's stories
• Creating-Cocreating possibilities and discovering unforeseen solutions to sticky problems
• Committing-Coordinating our actions with others to get things done
These conversations unfold sequentially: our awareness of our stories transforms our ability to listen and collaborate, which opens our thoughts to creative possibilities, guiding us toward mindful agreements. This framework makes it possible to identify, understand, and deactivate disruptive emotional triggers; listen with empathy to people with opposing perspectives; and forge relationships built on trust.
