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“This is a must-read for bosses and subordinates alike, as it exposes our flaws but teaches us how we can work together to achieve our common goals.”
-Ellen Coulter, President, The Advantage Software Company
What do you do when the biggest threat to your project is your boss? It's not that your boss is out to get you. In fact, bosses generally mean well. But clueless leadership from a well-intentioned boss can sometimes cause more damage than a criminal mastermind tying your project to the railroad tracks.
Lucky for you, the best project managers have got "managing up" down to a fine science. The reason is that project managers are often outside consultants with no formal position in the organization they're working for, putting them at a double disadvantage. Learn how tried-and-tested techniques from the discipline of project management can be used to manage five main "types" of difficult bosses. Dana Brownlee, certified Project Management Professional, has repeatable, reliable techniques based on years of project consulting, which apply to each of these difficult boss types. Your boss will be eating right from your hand in no time.
-Ellen Coulter, President, The Advantage Software Company
What do you do when the biggest threat to your project is your boss? It's not that your boss is out to get you. In fact, bosses generally mean well. But clueless leadership from a well-intentioned boss can sometimes cause more damage than a criminal mastermind tying your project to the railroad tracks.
Lucky for you, the best project managers have got "managing up" down to a fine science. The reason is that project managers are often outside consultants with no formal position in the organization they're working for, putting them at a double disadvantage. Learn how tried-and-tested techniques from the discipline of project management can be used to manage five main "types" of difficult bosses. Dana Brownlee, certified Project Management Professional, has repeatable, reliable techniques based on years of project consulting, which apply to each of these difficult boss types. Your boss will be eating right from your hand in no time.
This is the first book to fully adapt the principles of agility for government leaders who want to make their organizations more effective and nimble while better serving their public mission.
This practical resource will equip government leaders with evidence-based, hands-on guidance for transforming their organizations, enabling them to better serve the public and their customers. While many books on organizational agility are available for leaders in for-profit companies, this is the first one tailored to the unique limitations and requirements government leaders face.
Public servants are increasingly asked to do more with less and must also find a way to accomplish their mission while balancing constant change. New laws are passed that impact their agencies, new technologies are introduced, and unexpected events occur. Government leaders at all levels are often in a position for only two to four years, rotating within and across agencies as they gain experience. They have a relatively short amount of time to learn a new role, make changes, and then begin seeking out their next opportunity. This guide will help leaders weather the storm of that constant change so they can help their agencies realize their missions to provide services and be better stewards of taxpayer or donor dollars.
This practical resource will equip government leaders with evidence-based, hands-on guidance for transforming their organizations, enabling them to better serve the public and their customers. While many books on organizational agility are available for leaders in for-profit companies, this is the first one tailored to the unique limitations and requirements government leaders face.
Public servants are increasingly asked to do more with less and must also find a way to accomplish their mission while balancing constant change. New laws are passed that impact their agencies, new technologies are introduced, and unexpected events occur. Government leaders at all levels are often in a position for only two to four years, rotating within and across agencies as they gain experience. They have a relatively short amount of time to learn a new role, make changes, and then begin seeking out their next opportunity. This guide will help leaders weather the storm of that constant change so they can help their agencies realize their missions to provide services and be better stewards of taxpayer or donor dollars.
Leadership legend and bestselling author Ken Blanchard returns with trust expert and thought leader Randy Conley to present a structured playbook based on the bestselling Simple Truths of Leadership.
The companion playbook to Simple Truths of Leadership expands on the book's 52 essential principles of servant leadership and trust building. This structured playbook provides weekly prompts and exercises to help you track your progress toward your leadership goals. It focuses on one Simple Truth per week and includes:
• A summary of each Simple Truth
• A game plan for using each truth in your workplace, including thought-provoking questions and exercises to challenge your thinking and cause you to consider new ideas about leadership
• A Call to Action to “Try It This Week”
With so much of today's workforce feeling disengaged from the work they do, it's critical for leaders to move away from self-serving methods and embrace servant leadership to put their followers' needs before their own. And by journaling alongside servant leadership principles, you will be able to turn the common sense behind these simple truths into common practice for you and your organization.
The companion playbook to Simple Truths of Leadership expands on the book's 52 essential principles of servant leadership and trust building. This structured playbook provides weekly prompts and exercises to help you track your progress toward your leadership goals. It focuses on one Simple Truth per week and includes:
• A summary of each Simple Truth
• A game plan for using each truth in your workplace, including thought-provoking questions and exercises to challenge your thinking and cause you to consider new ideas about leadership
• A Call to Action to “Try It This Week”
With so much of today's workforce feeling disengaged from the work they do, it's critical for leaders to move away from self-serving methods and embrace servant leadership to put their followers' needs before their own. And by journaling alongside servant leadership principles, you will be able to turn the common sense behind these simple truths into common practice for you and your organization.
High-pressure situations can make us panic-but if we can change our perspective, what seemed impossible can suddenly become doable. Legendary pitching coach Rick Peterson is a master at this kind of reframing. He and bestselling author and leadership expert, Judd Hoekstra make this skill available to everyone.
Everybody faces high-pressure situations, and in today's fast-paced, hypercompetitive world it's arguably worse than ever. But ace pitching coach Rick Peterson and organization and leadership expert Judd Hoekstra say our ineffective response to pressure often causes us to perform far below our capabilities.
Peterson has less than a minute to help a struggling athlete performing in front of millions and flip from butterflies to boldness. His breakthrough is to use “reframing” to recast any situation from a perceived threat or crisis to a positive opportunity. Using dozens of stories from his long career, he and Hoekstra offer six different ways anyone can get a new perspective that will keep them from striking out when the heat's on. These techniques are explicitly made applicable far beyond the pitching mound-anyone can learn to outthink their brains with the power of reframing.
Everybody faces high-pressure situations, and in today's fast-paced, hypercompetitive world it's arguably worse than ever. But ace pitching coach Rick Peterson and organization and leadership expert Judd Hoekstra say our ineffective response to pressure often causes us to perform far below our capabilities.
Peterson has less than a minute to help a struggling athlete performing in front of millions and flip from butterflies to boldness. His breakthrough is to use “reframing” to recast any situation from a perceived threat or crisis to a positive opportunity. Using dozens of stories from his long career, he and Hoekstra offer six different ways anyone can get a new perspective that will keep them from striking out when the heat's on. These techniques are explicitly made applicable far beyond the pitching mound-anyone can learn to outthink their brains with the power of reframing.
NASA, Pixar Animation Studios, and BMW all use the Process Communication Model as a way of training leaders to connect effortlessly with anyone. This book simplifies the complex model to make it easy for anyone to use.
Today, more than ever, leaders need a new style of leadership. They are realizing that true transformation happens through meaningful relationships, and discovering that the key to sustainable connections that create possibility and potential is through communication.
In Seeing People Through, we take a deep dive into The Process Communication Model® (PCM), a behavioral communication model that teaches people how to assess, connect, motivate, and resolve conflict by understanding the personality types that make up a person's whole self, which is the key to leveraging personality diversity.
PCM is more than a lens for understanding how people see things differently; it's a deep journey into self-awareness and self-transformation. In this book, new emerging leaders, senior leaders, and seasoned consultants alike will develop a fresh and relevant framework on leadership that is consistent with emerging trends, and they will learn how individual and collective concerns can be reconciled in leadership.
NASA, Pixar Animation Studios, and BMW are just some of the companies who have all used PCM as a way to build better relationships through authenticity, trust, agility, and positive influence-and now you can, too!
Today, more than ever, leaders need a new style of leadership. They are realizing that true transformation happens through meaningful relationships, and discovering that the key to sustainable connections that create possibility and potential is through communication.
In Seeing People Through, we take a deep dive into The Process Communication Model® (PCM), a behavioral communication model that teaches people how to assess, connect, motivate, and resolve conflict by understanding the personality types that make up a person's whole self, which is the key to leveraging personality diversity.
PCM is more than a lens for understanding how people see things differently; it's a deep journey into self-awareness and self-transformation. In this book, new emerging leaders, senior leaders, and seasoned consultants alike will develop a fresh and relevant framework on leadership that is consistent with emerging trends, and they will learn how individual and collective concerns can be reconciled in leadership.
NASA, Pixar Animation Studios, and BMW are just some of the companies who have all used PCM as a way to build better relationships through authenticity, trust, agility, and positive influence-and now you can, too!
This newly updated and revised edition of the classic (60,000 copies sold) celebrates the global growth of the THEORY U phenomenon and its evolution in multiple industries worldwide.
With the release of THEORY U almost ten years ago, Otto Scharmer set in motion a revolution in thought. Scharmer explained that what we pay attention to and how we pay attention is key to what we create. What prevents us from attending to situations more effectively is that we aren't fully aware of and in touch with the inner place from which attention and intention originate. This is what Scharmer calls our blind spot. By moving through Scharmer's U process, we consciously access the blind spot and learn to connect to our authentic Self-the deepest source of knowledge and inspiration-in the realm of “presencing,” a term coined by Scharmer that combines the concepts of presence and sensing.
Now, ten years later, Scharmer revisits the phenomenon THEORY U has become and updates and reports on the progress and evolution since initial release. He includes new materials, updates studies and examples, and includes eight pages of rich new graphics and charts in full color to better visually convey the book's premise.
With the release of THEORY U almost ten years ago, Otto Scharmer set in motion a revolution in thought. Scharmer explained that what we pay attention to and how we pay attention is key to what we create. What prevents us from attending to situations more effectively is that we aren't fully aware of and in touch with the inner place from which attention and intention originate. This is what Scharmer calls our blind spot. By moving through Scharmer's U process, we consciously access the blind spot and learn to connect to our authentic Self-the deepest source of knowledge and inspiration-in the realm of “presencing,” a term coined by Scharmer that combines the concepts of presence and sensing.
Now, ten years later, Scharmer revisits the phenomenon THEORY U has become and updates and reports on the progress and evolution since initial release. He includes new materials, updates studies and examples, and includes eight pages of rich new graphics and charts in full color to better visually convey the book's premise.
“Full of concrete, real-world examples, this guide is written with both understanding and encouragement-'Maybe you're already feeling this. Some days you feel isolated and alone,' they offer. With so many office jobs now being done at home, this couldn't have arrived at a better time.”
-Publishers Weekly
Remote work is growing at nearly 30 percent per year in major economies worldwide, meaning there are millions of people who once worked at a central location every day and are now finding themselves facing an entirely new way of working. This book is the best single resource for remote workers for getting work done effectively, building relationships that are both productive and satisfying, and maintaining a career trajectory when they are not in constant close contact with their employer or the organization.
The Long-Distance Teammate aims to tackle three important issues: the dynamics of remote work, the understanding of virtual strengths and vulnerabilities, and the necessary steps to creating appropriate processes and communication skills. This is a practical guide for both individual workers who want to regain some control over their work and those inside organizations responsible for the ongoing development of their most important resource: people.
-Publishers Weekly
Remote work is growing at nearly 30 percent per year in major economies worldwide, meaning there are millions of people who once worked at a central location every day and are now finding themselves facing an entirely new way of working. This book is the best single resource for remote workers for getting work done effectively, building relationships that are both productive and satisfying, and maintaining a career trajectory when they are not in constant close contact with their employer or the organization.
The Long-Distance Teammate aims to tackle three important issues: the dynamics of remote work, the understanding of virtual strengths and vulnerabilities, and the necessary steps to creating appropriate processes and communication skills. This is a practical guide for both individual workers who want to regain some control over their work and those inside organizations responsible for the ongoing development of their most important resource: people.
Please Do Disturb: How True Leaders Show Up When It Matters Most challenges one of leadership's biggest misconceptions, that great leadership is primarily about strategy, authority, or performance.
Instead, Rachel Alday, Linny Jones, and Harte Logan make the case that exceptional leadership begins with something far more human: presence, connection, and the ability to create belonging.
Drawing from Alday's decades of experience building a luxury hospitality company, and Jones and Logan’s organizational consulting perspective, the authors reveal how the principles behind extraordinary guest experiences can transform the way leaders serve their teams, organizations, and communities. Through engaging stories, practical frameworks, and lessons learned while growing a business to nearly $25 million in annual revenue managing approximately 200 luxury homes, they demonstrate that the leaders people remember aren't necessarily the ones with the best ideas—they're the ones who consistently show up when it matters most.
At its heart, Please Do Disturb is a book about creating environments where people feel seen, heard, valued, and like they truly belong. It explores how intentional moments of connection build trust, strengthen culture, and inspire people to do their best work, not because they have to but because they want to, leading to phenomenal results.
Whether you're leading a company, a team, or a family, or simply striving to become more intentional in your relationships, this book offers practical wisdom for cultivating deeper connection, fostering belonging, and leading with authenticity in a world that increasingly craves both.
Please Do Disturb reminds us that leadership isn't measured by titles or influence alone. It's measured by the people we choose to notice, the connections we create, and the lasting sense of belonging we leave behind.
Instead, Rachel Alday, Linny Jones, and Harte Logan make the case that exceptional leadership begins with something far more human: presence, connection, and the ability to create belonging.
Drawing from Alday's decades of experience building a luxury hospitality company, and Jones and Logan’s organizational consulting perspective, the authors reveal how the principles behind extraordinary guest experiences can transform the way leaders serve their teams, organizations, and communities. Through engaging stories, practical frameworks, and lessons learned while growing a business to nearly $25 million in annual revenue managing approximately 200 luxury homes, they demonstrate that the leaders people remember aren't necessarily the ones with the best ideas—they're the ones who consistently show up when it matters most.
At its heart, Please Do Disturb is a book about creating environments where people feel seen, heard, valued, and like they truly belong. It explores how intentional moments of connection build trust, strengthen culture, and inspire people to do their best work, not because they have to but because they want to, leading to phenomenal results.
Whether you're leading a company, a team, or a family, or simply striving to become more intentional in your relationships, this book offers practical wisdom for cultivating deeper connection, fostering belonging, and leading with authenticity in a world that increasingly craves both.
Please Do Disturb reminds us that leadership isn't measured by titles or influence alone. It's measured by the people we choose to notice, the connections we create, and the lasting sense of belonging we leave behind.
Stop feeling stuck in traditional leadership approaches—master 7 heart-led actions that transform how you lead, connect authentically with your team, and drive business growth.
Leading with only technical skills isn't enough anymore. You need people to build a successful business—and today's workforce demands leaders who see beyond the bottom line. If you're feeling stuck or sensing that traditional leadership advice isn't connecting, this is your roadmap to the modern leadership approach that actually works.
Through 7 practical, heart-led actions, you'll learn to connect authentically with your team, drive engagement, and achieve measurable business results. Being vulnerable takes courage, but when you lead with generosity, you unlock profound benefits:
This proven framework includes the following:
Through unforgettable stories from the author and CEOs of well-recognized companies, you'll see exactly how generous leadership transformed their organizations and careers. Winner of the NYC Big Book Award Distinguished Favorite and Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award finalist, this is the trusted reference for leaders ready to master modern leadership.
Leading with only technical skills isn't enough anymore. You need people to build a successful business—and today's workforce demands leaders who see beyond the bottom line. If you're feeling stuck or sensing that traditional leadership advice isn't connecting, this is your roadmap to the modern leadership approach that actually works.
Through 7 practical, heart-led actions, you'll learn to connect authentically with your team, drive engagement, and achieve measurable business results. Being vulnerable takes courage, but when you lead with generosity, you unlock profound benefits:
- deeper team connections
- stronger organizational performance
- accelerated career growth
- broader societal impact
This proven framework includes the following:
- Generous communication to build trust
- Generous listening to understand perspectives
- Generous inclusion to invite collaboration
- Becoming an ally to create opportunities
- Generous development to validate and expand potential
- Generous moments to acknowledge what matters
- Showing up authentically without masks
Through unforgettable stories from the author and CEOs of well-recognized companies, you'll see exactly how generous leadership transformed their organizations and careers. Winner of the NYC Big Book Award Distinguished Favorite and Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award finalist, this is the trusted reference for leaders ready to master modern leadership.
Five daily habits that reduce burnout, build engagement, and create a stronger organization, with no complex programs or HR mandates required.
Burnout is at record levels, and most leadership advice isn't solving it, because it's too complicated, it lands on HR teams who can't change daily culture, or it simply doesn't stick. This book offers something more useful: 5 simple, repeatable practices that managers, executives, and CEOs can weave into their existing routines right now, across in-person, hybrid, and AI-supported teams.
The 5 practices:
These are daily actions grounded in research and built for how work actually happens today, including distributed teams and AI-integrated workflows. Leaders who adopt them create cultures of support that sustain themselves without top-down mandates or expensive rollouts.
This book is for managers frustrated that engagement programs don't stick and for executives who want tools they can use today, not initiatives that take months.
Supporting your people isn't just the right thing to do; it builds more profitable, resilient organizations. Start here.
Burnout is at record levels, and most leadership advice isn't solving it, because it's too complicated, it lands on HR teams who can't change daily culture, or it simply doesn't stick. This book offers something more useful: 5 simple, repeatable practices that managers, executives, and CEOs can weave into their existing routines right now, across in-person, hybrid, and AI-supported teams.
The 5 practices:
- Celebrate Someone
- Go, See, and Help
- Be Interested
- Cocreate
- Do It First
These are daily actions grounded in research and built for how work actually happens today, including distributed teams and AI-integrated workflows. Leaders who adopt them create cultures of support that sustain themselves without top-down mandates or expensive rollouts.
This book is for managers frustrated that engagement programs don't stick and for executives who want tools they can use today, not initiatives that take months.
Supporting your people isn't just the right thing to do; it builds more profitable, resilient organizations. Start here.
“A new perspective on servant leadership—challenging us to bring both courage and humility to the table—for the sake of the people and the enterprise.” —John C. Maxwell, New York Times-bestselling author
In this updated edition of Dare to Serve, former Popeyes CEO Cheryl Bachelder shows that leading by serving is a rigorous and tough-minded approach that yields the best results.
When she was named CEO of Popeyes in 2007, the stock price had slipped from $34 in 2002 to $13. The brand was stagnant, the team was discouraged, and the franchisees were just plain angry. Nine years later, restaurant sales were up 45 percent, restaurant profits had doubled, and the stock price was over $61. Servant leadership is sometimes derided as soft or ineffective, but this book confirms that challenging people to reach a daring destination, while treating them with dignity, creates the conditions for superior performance.
The second edition of this bestselling book includes Bachelder’s post-Popeyes observations and new examples of how you can switch your leadership from self to serve. Ever engaging and inspirational, Bachelder takes you firsthand through the transformation of Popeyes and shows how anyone, at any level can become a Dare-to-Serve leader.
“Extraordinary! Dare to Serve describes the kind of leadership so desperately needed in the 21st century. A powerful blend of courage and humility, Cheryl Bachelder’s engaging story offers a clear path for leaders to follow, and what makes her message so compelling is the tremendous results she’s produced. I highly recommend this book.” —Stephen M. R. Covey, New York Times-bestselling author of The Speed of Trust
In this updated edition of Dare to Serve, former Popeyes CEO Cheryl Bachelder shows that leading by serving is a rigorous and tough-minded approach that yields the best results.
When she was named CEO of Popeyes in 2007, the stock price had slipped from $34 in 2002 to $13. The brand was stagnant, the team was discouraged, and the franchisees were just plain angry. Nine years later, restaurant sales were up 45 percent, restaurant profits had doubled, and the stock price was over $61. Servant leadership is sometimes derided as soft or ineffective, but this book confirms that challenging people to reach a daring destination, while treating them with dignity, creates the conditions for superior performance.
The second edition of this bestselling book includes Bachelder’s post-Popeyes observations and new examples of how you can switch your leadership from self to serve. Ever engaging and inspirational, Bachelder takes you firsthand through the transformation of Popeyes and shows how anyone, at any level can become a Dare-to-Serve leader.
“Extraordinary! Dare to Serve describes the kind of leadership so desperately needed in the 21st century. A powerful blend of courage and humility, Cheryl Bachelder’s engaging story offers a clear path for leaders to follow, and what makes her message so compelling is the tremendous results she’s produced. I highly recommend this book.” —Stephen M. R. Covey, New York Times-bestselling author of The Speed of Trust
The Essence of Managing
Henry Mintzberg appreciates that managers are busy people. So he has taken his classic book Managing, done some updating, and distilled its essence into a lean 176 pages of text.
The essence of the book remains the same: what Mintzberg learned from observing twenty-nine managers in settings ranging from a refugee camp to a symphony orchestra. Simply Managing considers the intense dynamics of this job as well as its inescapable conundrums, for example:
Henry Mintzberg appreciates that managers are busy people. So he has taken his classic book Managing, done some updating, and distilled its essence into a lean 176 pages of text.
The essence of the book remains the same: what Mintzberg learned from observing twenty-nine managers in settings ranging from a refugee camp to a symphony orchestra. Simply Managing considers the intense dynamics of this job as well as its inescapable conundrums, for example:
- How is anyone supposed to think, let alone think ahead, in this frenetic job?
- Are leaders really more important than managers?
- Where has all the judgment gone?
- Is email destroying management practice?
- How can managers connect when their job disconnects them from what they are managing?
Leaders today—whether in corporations or associations, nonprofits or nations—face massive, messy, multidimensional problems. No one person or group can possibly solve them—they require the broadest possible cooperation.
But, says Harvard scholar Dean Williams, our leadership models are still essentially tribal: individuals with formal authority leading in the interest of their own group. In this deeply needed new book, he outlines an approach that enables leaders to transcend internal and external boundaries and help people to collaborate, even people over whom they technically have no power.
Drawing on what he’s learned from years of working in countries and organizations around the world, Williams shows leaders how to approach the delicate and creative work of boundary spanning, whether those boundaries are cultural, organizational, political, geographic, religious, or structural.
Sometimes leaders themselves have to be the ones who cross the boundaries between groups. Other times, a leader’s job is to build relational bridges between divided groups or even to completely break down the boundaries that block collaborative problem solving. By thinking about power and authority in a different way, leaders will become genuine change agents, able to heal wounds, resolve conflicts, and bring a fractured world together.
But, says Harvard scholar Dean Williams, our leadership models are still essentially tribal: individuals with formal authority leading in the interest of their own group. In this deeply needed new book, he outlines an approach that enables leaders to transcend internal and external boundaries and help people to collaborate, even people over whom they technically have no power.
Drawing on what he’s learned from years of working in countries and organizations around the world, Williams shows leaders how to approach the delicate and creative work of boundary spanning, whether those boundaries are cultural, organizational, political, geographic, religious, or structural.
Sometimes leaders themselves have to be the ones who cross the boundaries between groups. Other times, a leader’s job is to build relational bridges between divided groups or even to completely break down the boundaries that block collaborative problem solving. By thinking about power and authority in a different way, leaders will become genuine change agents, able to heal wounds, resolve conflicts, and bring a fractured world together.
This manager's guide shows how to recognize and eliminate the leadership behaviors that kill morale, crush productivity, and drive top talent away.
The workplace is broken—and managers are the problem. Through coaching hundreds of frustrated employees, Tanya Uyigue has identified the toxic management patterns driving people to quit. Employees are exhausted by leaders who micromanage their every move, disappear for months without check-ins, or create environments where speaking up feels dangerous.
The truth is, your team isn't telling you what's actually wrong because they're afraid of being retaliated against, dismissed, or labeled as “difficult.” But their silence is costing you talent, productivity, and profitability.
What Your Team Won't Tell You exposes the seven destructive manager archetypes that poison workplace culture, and each chapter provides specific, actionable strategies to transform these toxic patterns into leadership strengths. When you create an environment where employees feel heard, valued, and empowered, retention soars, productivity increases, and engagement becomes authentic-not forced.
The workplace is broken—and managers are the problem. Through coaching hundreds of frustrated employees, Tanya Uyigue has identified the toxic management patterns driving people to quit. Employees are exhausted by leaders who micromanage their every move, disappear for months without check-ins, or create environments where speaking up feels dangerous.
The truth is, your team isn't telling you what's actually wrong because they're afraid of being retaliated against, dismissed, or labeled as “difficult.” But their silence is costing you talent, productivity, and profitability.
What Your Team Won't Tell You exposes the seven destructive manager archetypes that poison workplace culture, and each chapter provides specific, actionable strategies to transform these toxic patterns into leadership strengths. When you create an environment where employees feel heard, valued, and empowered, retention soars, productivity increases, and engagement becomes authentic-not forced.
Relentless speed and unconstrained activity are not necessary for growth-you need only look to companies like Enron, Pets.com, and Groupon to see that “fast” does not always mean “good.” Leading growth consultant Alison Eyring provides a different view on growth, preaching restraint, not rushing in.
“It's a marathon, not a sprint.” We hear this truism all the time, but in business there's constant pressure to go all out and never let up. Leaders are driven to set stretch targets, relentlessly reduce costs, launch new initiatives, expand into new markets, hire more people, develop more capabilities, and execute flawlessly. It all sounds great-until the company overextends itself and collapses like a badly trained racehorse in the home stretch.
So what is the right pace for steady, sustainable growth? How do you know when to push yourself and when to back off? Growth consultant Alison Eyring (who also happens to be a distance runner) says the answer is what she calls Intelligent Restraint. Eyring shows precisely how you can evaluate your company's current capacity for growth so you can restrain yourself from exceeding it, no matter how tempting the supposed opportunities seem. Then she offers a set of practices for gradually building that capacity so you can grow steadily but sensibly in a way that strengthens your company instead of stretching it to the breaking point.
“It's a marathon, not a sprint.” We hear this truism all the time, but in business there's constant pressure to go all out and never let up. Leaders are driven to set stretch targets, relentlessly reduce costs, launch new initiatives, expand into new markets, hire more people, develop more capabilities, and execute flawlessly. It all sounds great-until the company overextends itself and collapses like a badly trained racehorse in the home stretch.
So what is the right pace for steady, sustainable growth? How do you know when to push yourself and when to back off? Growth consultant Alison Eyring (who also happens to be a distance runner) says the answer is what she calls Intelligent Restraint. Eyring shows precisely how you can evaluate your company's current capacity for growth so you can restrain yourself from exceeding it, no matter how tempting the supposed opportunities seem. Then she offers a set of practices for gradually building that capacity so you can grow steadily but sensibly in a way that strengthens your company instead of stretching it to the breaking point.
