Accelerate your career with our comprehensive professional development library. These carefully curated titles provide actionable advice for advancing in your field, mastering new skills, and staying competitive in today's evolving workplace. Covering everything from negotiation tactics and networking strategies to time management and personal branding, our collection helps ambitious professionals at every career stage unlock their potential and achieve their goals.
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Most of us put work first and leave fun for last, as an afterthought. But speaker, trainer, consultant, and bestselling author Dave Crenshaw (The Myth of Multitasking) says we've got it backwards. By putting fun first-working meaningful, enjoyable breaks into each day, week, month, and year-we will not only be happier, we'll be more productive too!
Fun is something you have to earn, right? You work hard, and then maybe once a year you get to enjoy yourself on a vacation. And after a lifetime of this, you retire and finally do what you want. Dynamic speaker and consultant Dave Crenshaw calls this the culture of WISH: you slave away and hope it will be Worth It Someday, Hopefully. And it's all wrong.
Crenshaw shows that by putting fun first-carefully scheduling enjoyable, meaningful, and refreshing breaks throughout your day, week, month, and year-not only will you be happier, you'll be a lot more productive too. Fun has the power to turn your life into a WIN-what you do will feel like it's Worth It Now. Using real-world examples, thought-provoking exercises, and a healthy dose of wit, Crenshaw details a five-stage process that has helped thousands of people discover their personal “oases”-specific actions and activities that they find renewing and energizing-and make them a priority. Readers will be delighted to find a book that lowers their stress, raises their results, and restores recess to their routine.
Fun is something you have to earn, right? You work hard, and then maybe once a year you get to enjoy yourself on a vacation. And after a lifetime of this, you retire and finally do what you want. Dynamic speaker and consultant Dave Crenshaw calls this the culture of WISH: you slave away and hope it will be Worth It Someday, Hopefully. And it's all wrong.
Crenshaw shows that by putting fun first-carefully scheduling enjoyable, meaningful, and refreshing breaks throughout your day, week, month, and year-not only will you be happier, you'll be a lot more productive too. Fun has the power to turn your life into a WIN-what you do will feel like it's Worth It Now. Using real-world examples, thought-provoking exercises, and a healthy dose of wit, Crenshaw details a five-stage process that has helped thousands of people discover their personal “oases”-specific actions and activities that they find renewing and energizing-and make them a priority. Readers will be delighted to find a book that lowers their stress, raises their results, and restores recess to their routine.
Mother Teresa's distinctive leadership style- based in absolute simplicity and practicality-helped her to build one of the word's largest and most successful global organizations. This book- the first to examine Mother Teresa in this context- shows readers how to apply her leadership principles and practices.
This new, data-driven book teaches managers and HR executives how to identify a comprehensive and integrated set of talent practices that fit the evolving workplace and that will dramatically improve the effectiveness of all organizations.
Many talent management principles and practices now being used in organizations are obsolete as a result of the fluid nature of work. Globalization, technological advances, automation, the diversification of the workforce, the push for sustainable practices, and the increasing pace of transformation have wrought dramatic changes in the world of work. And yet a recent study showed that from 1995 to 2013 there was no significant growth in the way HR spends its time.
Based on extensive research by Lawler and his colleagues, this book identifies the new strategies, policies, and practices needed for talent management today.
What used to be good or best practices with respect to how people are recruited, selected, trained, assigned, developed, rewarded, and evaluated no longer fit. Today's hierarchical, bureaucratic talent management needs to become agile, strategic, and performance based. This is the first book to identify a comprehensive integrated set of talent practices that fit the changing workplace and that will dramatically improve the effectiveness of organizations.
Many talent management principles and practices now being used in organizations are obsolete as a result of the fluid nature of work. Globalization, technological advances, automation, the diversification of the workforce, the push for sustainable practices, and the increasing pace of transformation have wrought dramatic changes in the world of work. And yet a recent study showed that from 1995 to 2013 there was no significant growth in the way HR spends its time.
Based on extensive research by Lawler and his colleagues, this book identifies the new strategies, policies, and practices needed for talent management today.
What used to be good or best practices with respect to how people are recruited, selected, trained, assigned, developed, rewarded, and evaluated no longer fit. Today's hierarchical, bureaucratic talent management needs to become agile, strategic, and performance based. This is the first book to identify a comprehensive integrated set of talent practices that fit the changing workplace and that will dramatically improve the effectiveness of organizations.
For some, projecting confidence and credibility is second nature. For others, it seems like a foreign language they'll never learn – until now. Rob Jolles delivers down-to-earth solutions for anyone looking to enhance the most basic need of all; to be believed. He leverages his over 30 years of experience to equip readers with empowering and practical tools for achieving business and social success.
Let's face it – there are some of us who are born with a natural ability to effortlessly communicate with others and be believed. Unfortunately, not everyone possesses this natural talent, and as a result struggle with the simple act of being believed. Frequently, this inability to get others to believe becomes a significant stumbling block affecting those we interact with, and the paths we choose in life. Expert author Rob Jolles has actively mentored and coached thousands who battle with long-term unemployment, and have a particularly acute problem with presenting themselves effectively. The problem, he says, is we rely far too heavily on our words to secure the belief of others, when in reality only seven percent of the emotional impact of our message comes from the words we use. The solution he offers here is building confidence through a series of process behaviors and techniques, and learning how to cope with fear, which can significantly impact how credible others perceive our message to be. Moving past the words, and applying acting and improv skills, along with improving pitch, pace, and tone, his programs have achieved astonishing results.
Let's face it – there are some of us who are born with a natural ability to effortlessly communicate with others and be believed. Unfortunately, not everyone possesses this natural talent, and as a result struggle with the simple act of being believed. Frequently, this inability to get others to believe becomes a significant stumbling block affecting those we interact with, and the paths we choose in life. Expert author Rob Jolles has actively mentored and coached thousands who battle with long-term unemployment, and have a particularly acute problem with presenting themselves effectively. The problem, he says, is we rely far too heavily on our words to secure the belief of others, when in reality only seven percent of the emotional impact of our message comes from the words we use. The solution he offers here is building confidence through a series of process behaviors and techniques, and learning how to cope with fear, which can significantly impact how credible others perceive our message to be. Moving past the words, and applying acting and improv skills, along with improving pitch, pace, and tone, his programs have achieved astonishing results.
Through a beautifully written and engaging story about two people struggling to create visions-both for the company where they work and for their own lives-Ken Blanchard and Jesse Lyn Stoner detail the essential elements of creating a successful vision.
This is the first book on creating and running a social enterprise to combine theoretical discussions with current cases from around the world, filling a huge gap in the literature. It serves as an eminently practical blueprint for those who wish to build, sustain, and grow social ventures.
Social Ventures seek to bring the discipline and energy of private enterprise to the task of solving problems like poverty, lack of clean water, and poor environmental quality. Although several textbooks exist to introduce the concept to students--business schools and universities have scrambled to create social enterprise programs and classes to respond to student interest--most books are cursory and do not dig deeply into every step and process needed. Using famed case studies and examples from their own program at Santa Clara University, this book provides a path for any social entrepreneur to build an idea, get funding, and get going.
Social Ventures seek to bring the discipline and energy of private enterprise to the task of solving problems like poverty, lack of clean water, and poor environmental quality. Although several textbooks exist to introduce the concept to students--business schools and universities have scrambled to create social enterprise programs and classes to respond to student interest--most books are cursory and do not dig deeply into every step and process needed. Using famed case studies and examples from their own program at Santa Clara University, this book provides a path for any social entrepreneur to build an idea, get funding, and get going.
In a wonderfully readable and fun way, SEEING SYSTEMS (over 30,000 copies sold) presents a unique and innovative theory of power dynamics that provides the reader with a new way of looking at, understanding, surviving, and prospering in the many systems of which we are part.
The New Social Learning demonstrates how social media can transform the workplace by harnessing the brainpower and experiences of colleagues working across the globe as easily as if they were side by side. Together these emerging solutions create a new kind of value chain and new kind of knowledge building ecosystem, with people at the center. Co-authors Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner, widely respected leaders in the workplace revolution, have loaded this book with compelling stories from companies using social media to innovate, collaborate, and inform decisions in effective and innovative ways. The New Social Learning is the most authoritative guide available for leveraging these powerful new approaches to increase organizational IQ.
New businesses need money, but entrepreneurs are sometimes anxious about raising capital from traditional sources like venture capitalists, fearing there'll be strings attached. Jenny Kassan's book explains how to raise “grassroots” capital from supporters and allies who believe in mission as much as in returns.
Too many entrepreneurs, particularly mission-driven ones, try to avoid raising capital, assuming that they can't offer the kind of returns they think investors demand. Or they're worried that investors will end up taking control of the business. But an underfinanced business is a nightmare for the entrepreneur and a major reason new businesses fail. Jenny Kassan shows how anyone can build capital without relying on traditional methods.
Based on over ten years working with small businesses, Kassan says the landscape of investment capital is far larger and more diverse than many would have you believe. Venture capitalists looking for a tenfold return on their investment are a tiny minority, and many investors are just as mission-driven as entrepreneurs. Kassan takes readers through a six-step process to create a customized capital-raising plan, one that inspires them, excites them, and is in complete agreement with their business, their values, and their lives. This book will help as many people as possible turn their big, bold, world-changing visions into reality.
Too many entrepreneurs, particularly mission-driven ones, try to avoid raising capital, assuming that they can't offer the kind of returns they think investors demand. Or they're worried that investors will end up taking control of the business. But an underfinanced business is a nightmare for the entrepreneur and a major reason new businesses fail. Jenny Kassan shows how anyone can build capital without relying on traditional methods.
Based on over ten years working with small businesses, Kassan says the landscape of investment capital is far larger and more diverse than many would have you believe. Venture capitalists looking for a tenfold return on their investment are a tiny minority, and many investors are just as mission-driven as entrepreneurs. Kassan takes readers through a six-step process to create a customized capital-raising plan, one that inspires them, excites them, and is in complete agreement with their business, their values, and their lives. This book will help as many people as possible turn their big, bold, world-changing visions into reality.
Seven practical habits for people ready to stop observing broken systems and start changing them, whether at the neighborhood level or the global stage.
Adam Kahane, bestselling author of Collaborating with the Enemy and a veteran facilitator who has worked with presidents, executives, and community organizers across dozens of countries, distills decades of real-world experience into a clear, actionable framework for everyday changemakers.
This book is built for people working on problems that feel too big or too entrenched to move, including climate advocates, healthcare reformers, nonprofit leaders, local activists, and organizational managers who want their work to have lasting impact.
Inside, you will find
Rather than offering inspiration without instruction, Kahane gives readers concrete behaviors they can practice in their existing roles and communities.
If you work within systems that feel resistant to change, this is a grounded, experience-backed guide to making progress anyway.
Adam Kahane, bestselling author of Collaborating with the Enemy and a veteran facilitator who has worked with presidents, executives, and community organizers across dozens of countries, distills decades of real-world experience into a clear, actionable framework for everyday changemakers.
This book is built for people working on problems that feel too big or too entrenched to move, including climate advocates, healthcare reformers, nonprofit leaders, local activists, and organizational managers who want their work to have lasting impact.
Inside, you will find
- the 7 habits that help ordinary people become effective agents of systemic change,
- strategies for collaborating across deep political and organizational divides,
- methods for identifying leverage points that others overlook,
- real examples from peacebuilding and community transformation, and
- guidance for sustaining momentum through setbacks.
Rather than offering inspiration without instruction, Kahane gives readers concrete behaviors they can practice in their existing roles and communities.
If you work within systems that feel resistant to change, this is a grounded, experience-backed guide to making progress anyway.
If you influence change in the lives of those around you, then you are engaged in an act of leadership. Your Leadership Legacy is the sum total of the difference you make in people's lives, directly and indirectly, formally and informally. The challenge is how to live in a way that creates a legacy that will make a positive difference in the lives of those around you. Your Leadership Legacy shows you how to leave a meaningful legacy.
A powerful pocket guide for practitioners that distills all of the research and materials found in Otto Scharmer's seminal texts Theory U and Leading from the Emerging Future.
Theory U has evolved into a movement in both academic and organizational development programs on a global scale, yet all of the available literature on the subject can only be found in pricier and lengthier (400+ pages) works - putting it beyond the reach of many. Here, for the first time, the movement's key founder presents the core premise and application of Theory U in a competitively priced paperback that runs just 168 pages. The new developments into a short handbook that focuses on three essential components; the core principles of Theory U, the give movements that makes the process of Theory U, and social applications. The work presents the basic principles of Theory U and its usage in a compact format to be used as a simple introductory work to the field of presencing.
Theory U has evolved into a movement in both academic and organizational development programs on a global scale, yet all of the available literature on the subject can only be found in pricier and lengthier (400+ pages) works - putting it beyond the reach of many. Here, for the first time, the movement's key founder presents the core premise and application of Theory U in a competitively priced paperback that runs just 168 pages. The new developments into a short handbook that focuses on three essential components; the core principles of Theory U, the give movements that makes the process of Theory U, and social applications. The work presents the basic principles of Theory U and its usage in a compact format to be used as a simple introductory work to the field of presencing.
Business communication expert and bestselling author Dianna Booher shares practical wisdom on how to write effective emails that get results and how to organize documents to gain control and increase your productivity.
The majority of business writing is email writing. Yet many of us still struggle to write effective emails that get results. And we feel overwhelmed by the volume of email we receive to the point where we feel like we are in email jail! In this book, you will learn how to:
•Compose actionable emails quickly by following Booher's philosophy of Think First, Draft Fast, and Edit Last
•Write brief emails so they get read and get a quick response
•Organize a common-sense file storage system that helps you find documents and emails quickly to attach and send
•Present a professional image when you email prospects, customers, and coworkers
•Be aware of legal liabilities and security risks as you send and receive email
The majority of business writing is email writing. Yet many of us still struggle to write effective emails that get results. And we feel overwhelmed by the volume of email we receive to the point where we feel like we are in email jail! In this book, you will learn how to:
•Compose actionable emails quickly by following Booher's philosophy of Think First, Draft Fast, and Edit Last
•Write brief emails so they get read and get a quick response
•Organize a common-sense file storage system that helps you find documents and emails quickly to attach and send
•Present a professional image when you email prospects, customers, and coworkers
•Be aware of legal liabilities and security risks as you send and receive email
The Lean Startup concept has revolutionized the way businesses are developed. Now Michel Gelobter applies this powerful concept to the social sector.
In business, the lean start-up movement is turning the traditional approach to innovation on its head. Rather than developing an elaborate plan, raising money to fund it, and then following it to its uncertain conclusion-a process that can take years-entrepreneurs in companies new and old are launching small inexpensive initiatives to test ideas, quickly learning from failures and successes, and using that data to further refine the ideas and test them again. Social entrepreneur Michel Gelobter says there's no reason the social sector can't do the same.
Gelobter goes through the lean startup process step by step, showing exactly how nonprofits and advocacy organizations can adapt it to increase their impact. He uses dozens of real-world examples: a homelessness group that discovered the one metric they needed to improve to get more people off the streets; a technology-based literacy startup that was able to reach two million children in two years, when it took a more traditionally-oriented program fifteen; and many others. From the glimmer of an idea to make the world a better place to deep reform in the heart of the world's largest government and non-profit bureaucracies, Michel Gelobter shows how the lean start-up can drive a revolution in policy and social change.
In business, the lean start-up movement is turning the traditional approach to innovation on its head. Rather than developing an elaborate plan, raising money to fund it, and then following it to its uncertain conclusion-a process that can take years-entrepreneurs in companies new and old are launching small inexpensive initiatives to test ideas, quickly learning from failures and successes, and using that data to further refine the ideas and test them again. Social entrepreneur Michel Gelobter says there's no reason the social sector can't do the same.
Gelobter goes through the lean startup process step by step, showing exactly how nonprofits and advocacy organizations can adapt it to increase their impact. He uses dozens of real-world examples: a homelessness group that discovered the one metric they needed to improve to get more people off the streets; a technology-based literacy startup that was able to reach two million children in two years, when it took a more traditionally-oriented program fifteen; and many others. From the glimmer of an idea to make the world a better place to deep reform in the heart of the world's largest government and non-profit bureaucracies, Michel Gelobter shows how the lean start-up can drive a revolution in policy and social change.