Professional Development

This is the first book on social laboratories, a new methodology for addressing complex societal challenges. The book includes case examples of how this new methodology has proven successful over the past decade in bringing people together in many nations to make breakthroughs in solving such problems as poverty, ethnic conflict, and environmental issues.

“Fear and doubt are the two greatest enemies of high performance in the workplace. This powerful book shows you how to instill more and more courage and confidence in every person, releasing personal potential you didn't know you had available.”
-Brian Tracy, author of Eat That Frog!


The hardest part of a manager's job isn't staying organized, meeting deliverable dates, or staying on budget. It's dealing with people who are too comfortable doing things the way they've always been done and too afraid to do things differently-workers who are, as Bill Treasurer puts it, too “comfeartable.” They fail to exert themselves any more than they have to and make their businesses dangerously safe.

Treasurer, a courage-building pioneer, proposes a bold antidote: courage. He lays out a step-by-step process that treats courage as a skill that can be developed and strengthened. Treasurer differentiates what he calls the Three Buckets of Courage: TRY Courage, having the guts to take initiative; TRUST Courage, being willing to follow the lead of others; and TELL Courage, being honest and assertive with coworkers and bosses.

Aristotle said that courage is the first virtue because it makes all other virtues possible. It's as true in business as it is in life. With more courage, workers gain the confidence to take on harder projects, embrace company changes with more enthusiasm, and extend themselves in ways that will benefit their careers and their company.

Sam Horn explores in this work what it takes to really connect with others and communicate clearly and compellingly. We're taught how to read and write in school; but we're not taught how to genuinely engage people and create mutually rewarding interactions. We're not taught how to earn people's interest so they voluntarily give us their attention, friendship and business. This work teaches you how.

In an impatient world of INFObesity, people don't want more information; they want to be intrigued and they want to be intrigued fast. They want to know, “How is this relevant and useful to me? Why are you worth my valuable time, mind, and dime?”

Sam Horn has developed a disruptive eight-stage INTRIGUE process that teaches readers how to replace boring, overlong, one-way communications with concise, compelling, mutually rewarding two-way interactions that add value for all involved. Given that goldfish have longer attention spans than humans (nine seconds to our eight), this is a must-read for every executive, entrepreneur, sales and marketing professional, and nonprofit leader who wants to build meaningful relationships with others.

The bottom line? If you can't get people's favorable attention, you'll never get their business. This book has been called an updated version of Dale Carnegie's classic How to Win Friends and Influence People for our digital device era. Readers will appreciate these innovative but proven ways to win respect and motivate people to take action now, whether that's to hire you, refer you, fund you, or say yes to you.

The service sector has grown to become 80% of the US economy, yet it's poised for a revolution in personalization, big data, and complexity. How can companies design a strategy to compete?

The service sector-any company not involved in the production of products-is now 80% of the US economy, and growing part of the world economy. Written by the three leading scholars of service sector management, this book seeks to provide a roadmap for the design and delivery of winning services for leaders and managers entrusted with the task in the years to come.

The authors review their own seminal work on service management, testing the durability of concepts they've helped develop over the past thirty years. Then they move on to look at how better results will be achieved in the future-what needs to be done to create great places to work, design efficient and enjoyable service experiences, use technology to improve service delivery, and engage and retain customers. Using examples of dozens of companies in a wide variety of industries, the authors present a narrative of remarkable successes, unnecessary failures, and future promise.

Coauthored by the legendary, bestselling author Ken Blanchard, Go Team! (over 22,000 copies sold) explains how too many people operate in teams that perform well below their potential. Go Team outlines a 3-step process that can benefit work teams, project teams, problem solving teams, leadership teams, and more.

“Fear and doubt are the two greatest enemies of high performance in the workplace. This powerful book shows you how to instill more and more courage and confidence in every person, releasing personal potential you didn't know you had available.”
-Brian Tracy, author of Eat That Frog!


The hardest part of a manager's job isn't staying organized, meeting deliverable dates, or staying on budget. It's dealing with people who are too comfortable doing things the way they've always been done and too afraid to do things differently-workers who are, as Bill Treasurer puts it, too “comfeartable.” They fail to exert themselves any more than they have to and make their businesses dangerously safe.

Treasurer, a courage-building pioneer, proposes a bold antidote: courage. He lays out a step-by-step process that treats courage as a skill that can be developed and strengthened. Treasurer differentiates what he calls the Three Buckets of Courage: TRY Courage, having the guts to take initiative; TRUST Courage, being willing to follow the lead of others; and TELL Courage, being honest and assertive with coworkers and bosses.

Aristotle said that courage is the first virtue because it makes all other virtues possible. It's as true in business as it is in life. With more courage, workers gain the confidence to take on harder projects, embrace company changes with more enthusiasm, and extend themselves in ways that will benefit their careers and their company.

Management books are traditionally written by industry "experts": scholars, consultants, senior managers. They're writing about how to manage workers, but none of these experts really understands the viewpoint of the average worker, the regular grunt in the trenches-the peon. Peons are the ones affected when a manager decides to manage-in-one-minute, to move somebody's cheese, to try that fifth discipline. Rather than consult some expert, why not go to the source, and ask the peons? Who better to teach you how to train a dog than the dog himself? And who better to tell you how to manage than one of those who are being managed? The Peon Book gives managers the perspective they've been lacking. Author and self-proclaimed Chief Executive Peon Dave Haynes' sole, powerful source of expertise is that he has been managed in different companies and in different industries, and he knows what worked-and what failed catastrophically. In irreverent, straight-talking terms, Haynes tells managers what they really need to do to make their employees motivated, committed, and productive-and it's not memorizing yet another "technique" or "strategy" or "discipline." Haynes writes in a common sense, easy-to-read style that is both witty and wise. Every boss can benefit, and every employee can empathize with the words in The Peon Book. "The inability to empathize can be a real speed bump on the road to a trusting, personal relationship with your employees. So how are you supposed to show more empathy? I take issue with management books that give you a phrase to say to show empathy like 'I understand,' or 'I know what you mean,' or that say that by rephrasing a statement you can show empathy. Don't use some coined phrase to show empathy, just mentally put yourself in our shoes. Sometimes it's just a matter of remembering what it's like to have to get all those reports turned in on a Friday. Or remembering what it's like to have to ask for time off. Or remembering what it's like to be the new guy on the job, and have a hard time remembering everything. Do you see the key concept I'm getting at? Empathy = remembering. Who said you'd never use math in the real world?"

Everything you think you know about presentations is turned on its head in this funny, wise, and immensely useful book. We can't learn to become good presenters if we're terrified of being bad. So, revel in your imperfections and learn what's really important about presenting: being yourself.

Too many organizations today play follow the leader: the commander articulates a "vision" and people uncritically go along with it. But this style of leadership is ultimately ineffective and even dangerous. It hampers people's ability to anticipate and react to changing circumstances. And if the leader's vision is flawed, the entire organization will suffer. In Real Leadership, Dean Williams argues that the true task of the leader is to get people to face the reality of any situation themselves and develop strategies to deal with problems or take advantage of opportunities. Leaders who are responsible with their power and authority don't dictate; they help people determine what shifts in their values, habits, practices and priorities will be needed to accommodate changing conditions and new demands. Williams details how to apply this new approach to six different challenges that every organization faces. Throughout, he uses examples from his own experiences--working with organizations as diverse as the government of Singapore, Aetna Life and Casualty, and the nomadic Penan tribe in Borneo--as well as historical examples and the insights gleaned from his many interviews with presidents, prime ministers, and business leaders to demonstrate the practical application of real leadership in the real world. At a time when so many "visionary" leaders have led their organizations to disaster, Real Leadership offers a needed, proven alternative.

This classic bestseller by Kevin Cashman pioneered a holistic approach to leadership development: grow the whole person to grow the whole leader. The third edition turns leadership development inside out for a new generation of authentic, purpose-inspired leaders.


This book was the first to reveal and build on a foundational insight: we lead by virtue of who we are. Cashman's trademark “whole-person” approach is essential to success in today's talent-starved marketplace and provides a measurable return on investment. Framed in seven simple yet profound personal “mastery areas,” this book serves as an integrated coaching experience that helps leaders understand how to harness their authentic, value-creating influence and elevate their impact as individuals, in teams, and in organizations.

The third edition contains updated content in the first three chapters-“Personal Mastery,” “Purpose Mastery,” and “Interpersonal Mastery” (the most foundational chapters in the book)-and includes a new chapter, “Story Mastery: Leading with Inspiration.” This chapter deepens comprehension of authenticity, provides a more significant sense of meaning and purpose, and inspires more profound interpersonal connection. For everyone from CEOs to emerging leaders, this long-awaited third edition advances the art and science of leadership, which makes the book even more relevant today than when it was first published.

The Change Handbook (over 14,000 copies sold) is the only book that provides a view into a wide variety of change methods from around the world. This new edition is updated with the latest change methods-including cutting-edge technologies that have emerged since the first edition was published.

Everyone is a project manager-projects are what all of us do day in and day out. Skillful project management is fundamental to survival in today's warp-speed world. Yet it is often misunderstood, leading to unrealistic deadlines, poorly defined goals, and wasted time. The secret to successful project management, argues Barry Flicker, is making and keeping clear commitments-far easier said than done in a time of complex, cross-departmental projects and sometimes unclear lines of authority. Through a story about people confronting daily frustrations on the job, Flicker demonstrates how shifting focus from blaming "the idiots out there" to examining one's own behaviors and assumptions helps people to overcome obstacles. Working at Warp Speed shows how following four simple laws can transform workers' most frustrating complaints from persistent barriers into potential breakthrough experiences.

Master the essential actions that create lasting trust in any relationship, from the world's leading experts in workplace trust.

Trust is essential to all relationships, but knowing how to build and maintain it remains elusive. Drawing from three decades of research and consulting, trust experts Dennis and Michelle Reina provide a comprehensive roadmap for creating lasting trust in any relationship.

Through actionable frameworks, tools, and stories, readers will learn:

• Essential behaviors that build trust in character, communication, and capability
• How to foster an environment of openness where people feel heard and valued
• Ways to rebuild trust after breaches or betrayals
• Techniques for strengthening self-trust as the foundation for trusting others
• The role of gratitude in nurturing reciprocal trust

With the groundbreaking Reina Individual Trust Scale Assessment and concrete strategies for implementation, this essential guide equips readers to forge powerful bonds of trust that endure through uncertainty and change.

Ethical scandals are more and more in the public spotlight, and now millions of leaders and employees are required by law to undergo ethics training. In this book, the leading authority in the country on this topic provides practical tools to help readers sharpen their ethical sense, respond more intelligently to ethical issues, avoid ethical quagmires, and make better leadership and management decisions.

We are plagued today by a decline in ethical behavior. Scandals come so thick and fast that any attempt to list them is out of date in weeks if not days. But ethics isn't just a matter of headlines; it's a part of everyone's life. We're called on to make ethical decisions, large and small, all the time. This can be particularly tricky in the workplace, where our decisions can affect not just ourselves but coworkers, clients, customers, and even the entire company.

Existing ethics books are of limited use. They generally feature one author's opinions on very specific situations, which may well have nothing to do with the problems we're facing. And anyway, we don't need expert advice. Mark Pastin insists every one of us is qualified to resolve even the thorniest dilemmas ourselves, and in this profoundly practical book he gives us the tools to do just that.

Pastin argues that we all have an innate ethical--he calls it “the ethics eye.” The problem is, we're not aware we have it or how to develop it. Here he provides practical tools we can use to open up our ethics eye so that we can consistently see what is right and do it.

Make an Ethical Difference shows how to apply these tools using actual ethical dilemmas drawn from Pastin's decades of experience as an advisor to governments, corporations, and NGOs. The point is not to try to wedge your situation into one of the examples-it's to show how a tool that can be applied to any situation is used in one particular instance. And once you've reached a decision, Pastin offers strategies for building consensus with those who might disagree with you.

People often feel hopeless and skeptical that there is anything they as individuals can do to raise society's ethical level or resolve long-standing impasses. By using the unique tools in this book, we will gain confidence in our innate ethical sense and take actions that will elevate the ethical level of the groups and organizations we belong to and society as a whole.

The business world is desperate for leaders. Books and courses on leadership flood the market as companies search in vain for that one person who can make sense of their rapidly changing environment through assertiveness, charisma, and control. According to noted consultant Harrison Owen, our inability to locate such a person isn't the fault of our leaders, it's the fault of our expectations.
In today's world where chaos is "normal" and paradoxes can't be resolved, such old-style leaders no longer offer the solution. Today's world requires inspired leadership from all levels of the organization. "Inspired leadership" literally means in-spirited leadership, and this book explores the intimate connection between spirit and leadership it implies. It presents the radical notion that spirit is the most important ingredient of any organization and that leadership means opening space for that spirit to show up in powerful and productive ways.
The Spirit of Leadership lays out the New Rules of Leadership, rules which surprisingly turnOl organizations have always played by. For the keys to these new rules, the book turns to those who have always successfully operated apart from the levers of formal power and authority-women. Offering lessons from effective female strategies, it reveals the true functions of leadership: to evoke, grow, sustain, comfort, and raise the spirit.
Not to be confused with morale building, motivational techniques, or even the current fad of spirituality in business, The Spirit of Leadership digs deeper to show that, at its essence, leadership is our link to deep inner forces. It provides practical steps readers can use to uncover their own capacity for leadership in whatever position they find themselves, and to exercise that capacity both to enhance the performance of their organizations and to find their own fulfillment as complete human beings.

Bringing out the best in others is good business. When we bring both respect and interpersonal savvy to our work relationships, we do more than make people feel good. We enhance personal and organizational performance. And as the workplace grows more complex and competitive, managing our work relationships becomes even more essential and difficult. Now more than ever we need to work people smart. Working PeopleSmart describes the six core strategies used by people-smart individuals and shows how to apply them in the toughest workplace situations. Individuals who are people smart know how to open others up rather than make them defensive or resistant. They have a knack for diffusing tension rather than creating it. They set a good example through their own behavior on the job and can inspire and influence others with less developed skills. Working PeopleSmart can serve as your virtual coach to guide you through difficult work relationships skillfully. How do you deal with a critical colleague? Make your boss listen to you? React to an offensive joke? Get the resources you need? The authors look at over 50 real-life situations and offer people-smart prescriptions for handling them effectively. They provide coaching tips for each scenario and describe exactly what a people-smart response sounds like. As two psychologists with both organizational and clinical expertise, coauthors Mel Silberman and Freda Hansburg are highly qualified to deliver the message that we can emerge from even the toughest interpersonal moments on the job with dignity and grace. Where other books rely on typologies that categorize people according to their interpersonal styles and then offer advice on how to deal with each type, the strategies described in Working PeopleSmart are straightforward and universal. They can be used immediately to deal with any type of person or any situation, no matter how difficult or sensitive.