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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.

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.

In this thoroughly revised and updated edition of one of the most popular change methods in the world, Cooperrider et al. track the recent changes in the field and explain how AI can contribute to sustainability and the triple bottom line.

One of today's most popular change methods, Appreciative Inquiry (AI) has been used to undertake transformational initiatives in dozens of organizations, ranging from McDonalds to the U.S. Navy to Save the Children.

The assumption of AI is simple. Every organization has things that work right-things that give it life when it is vital, effective, and successful. AI begins by identifying this positive core and connecting organizational visions, plans, and structures to it in ways that heighten energy and inspire action for change.

This book presents all of the concepts, examples, and aids necessary to engage groups of all sizes in Appreciative Inquiry. The authors provide background information on what AI is and how it works and offer sample project plans, designs, agendas, course outlines, interview guidelines, participant worksheets, a list of resources, and more.

This second edition has been extensively revised, updated, and expanded, including new case studies, new tools and supplemental articles, an expanded bibliography and resource list, and an entirely new chapter on case applications. And throughout, the authors focus on how AI can support an organizational focus on sustainability and the “triple bottom line” of people, prosperity, and planet.

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!

“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.

By now most authors know they need to market their book online, but many of them have no idea where or how to start. This concise expert's guide to marketing books online-by a woman whose company has been doing it since 1995-helps authors focus their efforts on what really matters.


Authors know they need to market their book online these days, but it can feel overwhelming. Now, on top of your day job, you're supposed to be building a digital empire? Ten minutes into Googling around for tips, and the To-Do List is so long, not even an army could get it all done. Feeling the pressure to do everything, some poor authors end up doing nothing… the pile just looks too big to shovel.

President of one of the first firms to specialize in online book publicity, Fauzia Burke makes the job of online branding not only doable, but fun. She helps authors clarify their goals, sort through the many online options available, and decide what they must do (and what they can let go), when to do it, and how to get it done. By following her advice any author can develop a plan for conquering the Internet.

Burke takes authors by their trembling hands and shows them this journey of a thousand miles can be accomplished step by step. And why is the journey worth it? Fauzia writes, “Once you build your brand, no one can take it away from you. View your digital brand strategy as a continuation of your book. It's a conversation about your book that builds your community one relationship at a time."

Sharing a lifetime's worth of learning and experience by noted peace scholar Michael Nagler, this work distills the practice and theory of nonviolent action into a concise, highly readable manual for thought and action.

A practical guide for knowledge workers ready to move beyond AI dabbling and build a custom AI work partner that improves how they think, write, decide, and lead.

Professionals know AI matters, but many are still stuck in the same frustrating place: They have tried the tools but still don’t know how to make AI part of the work that matters most.

The problem is not lack of interest. It is lack of an operating model. Most people open a generic chatbot, ask a question, get an answer, and return to work the same way they always have. AI stays at the edge of the work, helping with scattered tasks instead of improving the way the work begins.

In this book, Edwin Jansen shows readers how to build a custom AI work partner, a persistent AI system shaped around their real work, goals, standards, voice, and priorities. Using the 4 laws of AI partnership, readers will learn how to do the following:

• Build a custom AI work partner that understands their role, goals, standards, and voice
• Bring AI into the beginning of meaningful work
• Keep context inside the system so intelligence compounds instead of resetting
• Improve the work partner through feedback, correction, and calibration
• Use the OCH prompt to ask for better help, make stronger decisions, and produce better work

For knowledge workers, leaders, consultants, coaches, creators, and teams, this book offers a practical doorway into the next stage of AI adoption: Stop using AI as a disconnected tool and start working with it as a true partner.

Ordinary Ukrainians reveal how courage, community, and civilian resistance are helping their nation survive Russia’s invasion in unforgettable stories of resilience and hope.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the world expected Kyiv to fall within days. The tanks, missiles, and troop counts seemed to tell one story. But the people changed the narrative.

Yuriy Boyechko and Halyna Lubinska tell the true stories of Ukrainians who answered the war not with power or position but with action. A stone craftsman cancels his flight to America and volunteers on the front lines. A grieving pastor makes more than 187 trips to the front after his combat-medic son is killed. A psychologist nearly breaks under the weight of others’ trauma, then finds her way back to healing. Rock musicians and roadies turn their technical skills toward repairing generators, fixing vehicles, and building drones.

Together, their stories reveal how civilian resistance, humanitarian aid, community networks, and ordinary courage are helping Ukraine survive Russia’s invasion, showing readers

• how ordinary citizens organize when institutions cannot move fast enough;
• how humanitarian aid, trust, and local knowledge become tools of resistance;
• how trauma, grief, burnout, and purpose shape life inside a long war;
• how courage spreads through families, communities, churches, charities, and volunteer networks; and
• why Ukraine’s struggle speaks to anyone trying to understand resilience, civil society, and hope under pressure.

This is the story of what ordinary people can do when history leaves them no safe place to stand.

When the plan can’t keep up with changing conditions, strategic judgment must.

Strategic leaders increasingly make consequential decisions in the gap between strategic intent and the plan of action. They need to stay oriented toward what they are trying to create while continually deciding what to hold, what to adapt, and what to let go of to meet rapidly changing conditions.

The challenge is that pressure can begin shaping those decisions before you realize it. Over time, hundreds of reasonable choices can add up to something no one intended.

In this book, strategist and executive coach Karin Blair reveals a hidden lever behind strategic judgment: the inner capacity of the leader making those calls.

Through a framework of interconnected agilities, you’ll learn to

• build emotional agility to recognize when self-protection and reactivity are shaping your judgment,
• develop cognitive agility to widen the perspectives and possibilities you can consider before deciding, and
• strengthen navigational agility to stay oriented and committed as conditions change and results remain uncertain.

With practical insights and real-world examples, Blair helps you recognize when pressure is narrowing your judgment and build the agilities that strengthen your capacity over time, so you can draw on it when the stakes are high.

You can’t change the terrain. But you can expand your inner capacity to navigate it.

When life disrupts work, leaders need to know what to do next. This practical guide shows leaders at organizations of every size, from small businesses to large corporations, how to support employees through hard moments while strengthening trust across the workplace.

This is the book to read before the crisis happens, so you can respond with confidence, care, and clarity when it does.

Life disruptions do not stay outside the workplace. Grief, illness, caregiving, divorce, infertility, and other major life events shape how people show up at work, yet most organizations still do not prepare leaders for these moments. Even caring managers can freeze, unsure what to say, how to help, or how to balance support with team needs.

The challenge is not whether a life disruption will affect your team. It is when. The leaders who build trust in difficult moments are the ones who prepare before those moments arrive.

Drawing on original PhD research, interviews with employees and leaders, and nearly two decades of experience advising employers on benefits and workplace strategy, Dr. Nataliya Boychenko Stone gives leaders a practical guide for responding with confidence and care. She shows readers how to

• understand what support an employee actually needs,
• connect people with the right workplace resources,
• adjust work with clarity and flexibility,
• stay present after the first crisis moment, and
• support employees while maintaining accountability.

This practical framework helps managers, HR professionals, and organizational leaders navigate life's most challenging moments at work while strengthening trust, loyalty, and performance across their teams.

Every leader knows the drain of conflict handled badly: performance conversations that go nowhere, teams that don't trust each other, fires you keep putting out instead of doing the work you want to do. Most leadership advice treats conflict as a threat to manage.

This book makes the opposite case: Conflict is energy, and how you use it determines whether it builds your team or turns your work culture toxic. That choice has never mattered more. Employees now spend over a third of their workday dealing with conflict, and fewer than half trust their leader to navigate it well. Leaders who don't handle conflict skillfully create workplaces with 80 percent more unproductive conflict.

Ninety-four percent of people trained in this framework rate it more effective than anything else they've used. What makes this different from the standard playbook for “difficult conversations”? Most frameworks ask you to choose: kind or direct, relationship or results.

This book rejects that trade-off: Compassion without accountability is ineffective, and accountability without it is unkind. This book shows how to hold both, using the compassion cycle, the drama triangle it replaces, and the ORPO formula, turning principle into a repeatable playbook.

The book moves in three parts: first naming the problem, how good intentions and unmanaged conflict energy spiral into drama; then introducing the antidote, the compassion cycle and the behavioral skills that interrupt drama before it takes hold; and finally handing you the playbook, the ORPO formula and match-and-move method for engaging conflict and coaching others through it in real time.

New to this edition:

• A complete framework outline up front
• Fifteen years of refinement teaching, coaching, and certifying practitioners worldwide
• New research on what skilled conflict leadership is worth
• Reorganized chapters, more-inclusive language, fresh real-life illustrations
• Access to the Compassionate Accountability Assessment and a range of additional resources to extend the book's impact well beyond the page

Written by Nate Regier, PhD, cofounder and CEO of Next Element Consulting, this book distills two decades of applied research into a model any leader can use the next time conflict shows up, which will be soon.

Burnout can’t be solved with just perks or stress-reduction workshops. It's solved by changing how leaders engage their teams—a practical shift that requires no new resources. Grounded in peer-reviewed research, Relational Energy shows leaders how small changes in everyday workplace conversations can spark energy, revive exhausted teams, and build workplaces where people thrive.

Every leader is dealing with burnout and looking for something they can actually do tomorrow morning, and this is it.

In this book, leadership scholar Amy Young, with Kim Cameron, reveals how everyday communication creates relational energy, the powerful force that fuels engagement, creativity, resilience, health and well-being, and performance across teams.

Drawing on interviews with energizing leaders and weaving in supporting peer-reviewed research, Young unlocks the secrets to thriving amid uncertainty and disruption due to AI automation, fragile labor markets, cultural divisiveness, and relentless workplace demands. Through vivid real-world examples, you'll discover how energizing leaders sustain their own vitality while lifting their teams at the same time, simply by rethinking how they approach everyday conversations. You'll learn how to turn those ordinary interactions into extraordinary ones, providing a practical, no-cost antidote to workplace stress and burnout.

In this book, you will learn

• how relational energy promotes workplace well-being and performance, creating the foundation for sustainable organizational success;
• strategies energizing leaders use to maintain their own energy levels while navigating the same modern workplace pressures that impact their teams;
• how to have workplace conversations that generate healthy perceptions of challenge and stress and reduce burnout while building resilience and team solidarity;
• specific language choices (wording, pronoun selection, questions, and declarative statements) that empower employees, elevate teams, and drive productivity; and
• how to acknowledge hard realities while building genuine hope and resilience, avoiding toxic positivity that saps energy.

Practical, research driven, and immediately applicable, Relational Energy shows leaders how small changes in language can create extraordinary impact, recharging people, teams, and entire organizations.

The cross-partisan story of how a constitutional amendment to end money-driven corruption in American politics went from impossible to inevitable.

Money in politics has become the top concern for American voters, outranking the economy, immigration, and crime. Across party lines, Americans agree the system is broken, and most want a constitutional amendment to fix it.

Jeff Clements, founder of American Promise and author of Corporations Are Not People, tells the cross-partisan story of how that effort moved from the political margins to the center of national debate. Drawing on constitutional history, on-the-ground reporting, and his own decade of leadership in the movement, Clements traces the path from Citizens United to the growing push for the For Our Freedom Amendment.

This is a book about what Americans are doing, state by state and community by community, to reclaim self-government and reduce the corrupting power of money in politics.

Inside, readers will discover

• why money in politics now tops voters' concerns across party lines,
• how the Citizens United decision helped spark a powerful grassroots response,
• what states like Montana and Oklahoma reveal about the fight for reform,
• how the constitutional amendment process actually works, and
• why momentum is building as the 2028 election cycle approaches.

This is not a book of cynicism or outrage. It is a practical, hopeful account of a movement that argues American democracy can still be repaired, and that the path forward is already being built.

“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

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:

• 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?

If you read only one book about managing, this should be it!

A Company Discovers Its Soul is the engaging story of a year in the life of a fictional, yet true-to-life company as it undergoes profound transformation. Grounded in the author's own experiences in organizations, it is a tale that probes deeply into the “soul issues” of organizational life and offers an inspiring and realistic portrayal of how new principles and concepts evolve in everyday business reality.

Randall Hawkes was trained in modern business schools and is CEO of a company founded by his grandfather-a traditional, hierarchical organization that is facing decreasing profits, low morale, and competitors that are taking market share. Recognizing that the managerial techniques he learned in school are now producing dis-ease in himself, his family, his staff, and the organization, Randall becomes convinced that some kind of radical change must be made. Exploring the gradual changes in Randall's own thinking and way of leading the company, A Company Discovers Its Soul illustrates how such a process of change might happen. It shows how—through a combination of humility, courage, rigorous self- and mutual appraisal, and practice—Randall and his staff gradually learn to see the Hawkes Company as a living community.

Most important to this change process is Randall's own change in perception and thinking regarding his role in the organization and his notions about control, ownership, information sharing—and the resulting freedom for his staff, and everyone in the organization, to be more powerful and creative. By the end of the first year of this journey, The Hawkes Company staff has become more strongly aligned around their purpose and vision, the management team has truly become a team, relationships with suppliers and customers have been strengthened, and even their work environments have been improved as employees have taken ownership for maintaining their working spaces, and the plant in general.

Author Alan Green examines the changes that take place in the lives of the company's top management as they struggle to achieve greater effectiveness previously prevented by their control-oriented, narrowly functional roles. Readers will learn along with Randall as he combines the roles of servant, steward, partner, and leader in an effort to create an organizational culture that fosters creativity, cooperation, and resiliency.

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.