Workplace Culture

Burnout rising. Systems cracking. Talent leaving.

The solution: design for human dignity and full-person diversity—with this award-winning guide.

The Canary Code reorganizes work for thriving—starting with those first impacted by faulty systems, like canaries first sensing toxic air in coal mines. Neurodivergent talent (members of ADHD, autism, Tourette’s syndrome, and learning-differences communities, and others who think and experience life differently) offer unique skills and exceptional work ethics, yet face employment barriers. Their unique abilities and perspectives are excluded, and their canary warnings about bullying, broken workflows, or ethical drift are ignored.

This practical guide helps CEOs, managers, HR leaders, and changemakers improve work for all. Drawing on science and lived experience, 2025 Thinkers50 Talent Award winner and internationally renowned management expert Ludmila Praslova shows how embracing neurodiversity creates healthier, more innovative systems. A neurodivergent organizational psychologist with over twenty-five years of global practice and research on inclusive organizations, she offers the following:

• A holistic framework of human differences (social, cognitive, emotional, physical)
• An intersectional, whole-person approach to neuroinclusion
• Dignity-based talent practices, from hiring to leadership development
• Global perspectives celebrating diverse neurodivergent voices
• Actionable strategies for change at any organizational level

Blending lived experience, academic rigor, and accessible writing, this groundbreaking work exemplifies neuroinclusion. It clearly indicates academic, applied, and personal content, supporting an individualized reader experience.

In a world of unprecedented disruption, mastering the art of change isn't just an advantage-it's essential for survival.

Drawing from decades of work with global organizations, military commanders, and NASA leaders, Jeff and Staney DeGraff reveal how true transformation emerges not from avoiding contradictions, but from embracing them.

This groundbreaking book, the third installation in their comprehensive innovation series, introduces a revolutionary framework for understanding and leveraging paradox. Through rich storytelling and battle-tested strategies, the DeGraffs unpack seven fundamental contradictions that define transformative growth:

How do we achieve more by doing less? Why does certainty often lead to failure, while embracing uncertainty paves the path to breakthrough? When does resistance become the catalyst for change? The Art of Change demonstrates how these seeming contradictions hold the key to profound transformation-both personally and professionally.

This isn't just another business book-it's a practical philosophy for navigating complexity in dynamic environments. Whether you're leading a Fortune 500 company, steering a non-profit through turbulent times, or seeking personal growth, you'll discover:

• A proven framework for turning obstacles into opportunities
• Practical tools for making better decisions in ambiguous situations
• Strategies for building resilience through embracing paradox
• Methods for driving innovation by challenging conventional wisdom
• Techniques for leading transformational change in any environment

The Art of Change completes a pioneering trilogy that establishes a comprehensive school of thought around innovation and transformation. Building on the foundations laid in their previous works, the DeGraffs provide their most sophisticated and nuanced exploration yet of how to drive meaningful change in complex systems.

Don't just manage change-master it. Learn how to transform paradoxes into breakthroughs and turn uncertainty into your greatest advantage. The Art of Change is your essential guide to navigating the contradictions that define our era and achieving lasting transformation in an increasingly fluid world.

A proven 7-principle framework for building communities where people genuinely belong, used by leaders at Google, Airbnb, the US Army, and beyond.

Now in a fully updated second edition with 25 percent new content, this Nautilus Award–winning guide gives leaders a practical and historically grounded system for creating communities that last, whether they're in person, virtual, or somewhere in between.

Drawing on three thousand years of human tradition and the author's own work across tech, nonprofit, government, and religious organizations, The Art of Community maps the 7 structural principles every thriving community shares:

• Boundary — who belongs and what that means
• Initiation — how new members are welcomed and integrated
• Rituals — the repeated practices that build shared meaning
• Temple — physical or virtual spaces that anchor community identity
• Stories — how shared narratives reinforce values
• Symbols — the objects and images that signal belonging
• Inner Rings — how members grow and deepen their participation over time

This edition includes a brand-new chapter on virtual community building, making it as relevant for remote teams and online groups as for in-person organizations.

Ideal for managers, community builders, HR leaders, pastors, and nonprofit directors who want to move beyond surface-level engagement and create a culture where people genuinely support one another.

Build real trust in the remote workplace by mastering proven strategies for leading employees who work from home, the corner coffee shop, or the downtown office.

The shift to remote work has fundamentally changed how we build and maintain trust in organizations. Drawing on extensive research and experience, trusted leadership expert David Horsager and communication scholar Dr. Peggy Kendall present the seven essential strategies that create strong virtual and hybrid workplace relationships.

Readers will learn to do the following:

• Amplify communication
• Clarify direction
• Build predictability
• Redefine accountability
• Create connections
• Equip their people
• Leverage in-person experiences

Trust at a Distance addresses common remote-work challenges, such as unclear communication, lack of information, and weakened relationships. This guide is perfect for leaders navigating hybrid and remote teams. By the time readers are finished reading, they will be inspired and confident that trust really can be built at a distance!

A practical leadership framework for the era beyond VUCA, built to help organizations build resilience when systems are brittle, anxiety is constant, and complexity defies explanation.

The BANI framework, developed by futurist Jamais Cascio and expanded here with leadership expert Bob Johansen and United Way Worldwide CEO Angela F. Williams, gives leaders a shared language for conditions that traditional strategic tools were never designed to handle. Where VUCA described volatility and uncertainty, BANI goes further, naming the deeper texture of today's disruption.

The book moves in two directions, first diagnosing each BANI condition with real-world examples, then offering a counterpart for each one:

• Brittle systems → build Bendable resilience
• Anxious environments → lead with Attentive empathy
• Nonlinear causality → develop Neuroflexible, improvisational thinking
• Incomprehensible complexity → respond with Interconnected, full-spectrum perspectives

Designed for executives, nonprofit leaders, policymakers, and teams navigating sustained disruption, the book closes with 7 leadership strategies grounded in future scenarios and includes a discussion guide for group use.

If your organization is operating in conditions that no longer respond to standard playbooks, this is a structured starting point.

Most leaders assume they're good communicators. What they're actually doing—most of the time—is telling. And telling, even when well-intentioned, is a subtle power move that shuts people down, withholds critical information, and quietly erodes trust.

Humble Inquiry makes the case for a different approach: asking questions you genuinely don't know the answers to, from a posture of curiosity rather than authority.

What you'll find inside this fully updated third edition:

• The ORJI cycle—why conversations go wrong in a split second, and how to interrupt the pattern
• A levels-of-relationship model to diagnose where your team is—and how to move toward real openness and trust
• Why hierarchy and “tell” culture actively undermine psychological safety—and what to do about it
• A new chapter on humble inquiry in remote and hybrid work (spoiler: it works—and may work better)
• Reader exercises, twelve mini case studies, and a discussion guide for teams

Best for: managers, leaders, coaches, healthcare professionals, and anyone navigating complex, interdependent teams. This is a mindset shift, not a script.

Foreword by Michael Bungay Stanier. Based on Edgar H. Schein's fifty years of research at MIT. Over 300,000 copies sold.

North American Book Awards How-to Gold Medalist. Winner of The BookFest Award for Best Nonfiction Book in Business Leadership – Professional Growth. Longlist selection for the 2025 Non-Obvious Book Awards. Recipient of the 2026 Literary Titan Gold Book Award for Nonfiction.

Break free from perfectionism and finish your creative projects. This unconventional guide shows you how to overcome creative blocks and finally complete your work through strategic imperfection.

The world is full of creative people. So why do some get their ideas out in the world while others don't? Why are some incredibly prolific while others struggle with deadlines or can't complete projects? In this book, Jason F. McLennan-a master in “getting stuff done”-shares secrets to boosting productivity, innovation, and personal success. By adopting his “¾ baked” philosophy and the key lessons that surround it, readers will be able to dramatically increase their output while also keeping their creative juices flowing.

McLennan's recipe for creative success includes the following ideas:

• Look forward to failure
• Discover the power of feedback
• Learn to become a “trim tab”
• Harness the power of momentum to drive creativity

We've all heard the phrase “the perfect is the enemy of the good.” Perfection is often what holds so many people back. Trying to reach it means that nothing much can get completed, and inspiration itself is often blocked as people either procrastinate or endlessly self-edit. By chasing perfection, it remains elusively further away.

The world is full of half-baked ideas-but almost no perfect ones. With The Magic of Imperfection, readers will learn how to seriously amp up what they do, how fast they do it, and simultaneously how well it gets done.

Transform your leadership. Unlock your team's potential.

In today's rapidly evolving workplace, traditional management is no longer enough. Drawing from three decades of global executive coaching expertise, Damian Goldvarg offers a proven approach to leadership that creates trust, engagement, and measurable results.

This valuable guide breaks down essential coaching competencies, inspired by the International Coaching Federation, into actionable frameworks you can implement immediately. Discover how to accomplish the following:

• Create psychological safety that empowers innovation
• Master the art of active listening and powerful questioning
• Transform conflict into productive collaboration
• Lead virtual teams with confidence and clarity
• Develop strategic thinking that prepares your organization for the future

Through real-world examples from global organizations, Goldvarg provides a roadmap for evolving from manager to coach-leader. Whether you're a seasoned executive or emerging leader, these proven techniques will help you build the collaborative, high-performing teams needed to thrive in our complex business landscape.

Don't just manage. Coach. Lead. Transform.

The bestselling guide on empowering introverted leaders to thrive in an extroverted world.

Now updated with 20% new content, including strategies for remote and hybrid workplaces.

In this expanded third edition of the bestselling The Introverted Leader, Jennifer Kahnweiler equips introverted leaders with essential tools for success in an extrovert-centric business world. With over 120,000 copies sold across multiple languages, this timely update addresses the evolving needs of introverted leaders, including in navigating remote and hybrid work environments such as:


• Navigating the challenges of Zoom calls
• Getting noticed when working remotely
• Applying innovative meeting techniques for engaging introverts

Kahnweiler's proven four-step strategy based on lessons from thousands of introverted leaders-Prepare, Presence, Push, and Practice-provides a concrete framework for introverts to leverage their natural strengths and overcome challenges in key areas such as public speaking, project management, and networking. The book includes:


• Practical applications of the 4 Ps approach in six crucial workplace scenarios
• A new chapter on leading effectively in remote and hybrid spaces
• The “Quiet Wrap-Up Journal” An action-oriented study guide for ongoing development
• Customized hiring and coaching strategies for introverts

Drawing from extensive research and over 100 interviews, Kahnweiler demonstrates how introversion can be a leadership asset, particularly in listening and written communication. This essential guide empowers introverted leaders to embrace their authentic selves while advancing their careers and making meaningful contributions to their organizations.

An Instant New York Times Bestseller
Winner, 2025 Good Business Book Awards (Business – Management)
Finalist, 2025 IAN Book Awards (Business/Leadership/Management)

What if the most powerful growth strategy in business today isn’t AI or cost-cutting—but your people?

In an era defined by talent shortages, employee disengagement, DEI backlash, and pressure for measurable ROI, this groundbreaking leadership book delivers a bold answer: share power to unlock performance.

Based on research from more than 1,200 companies—including Walmart, Google, and JPMorgan Chase—this data-driven business book reveals how employee empowerment, inclusive leadership, and human capital strategy drive profitability, retention, and long-term growth. For the first time, the research quantifies the financial impact of investing in people.

Jackson offers 9 proven strategies:

• Centering employee voice
• Building mutualistic, high-trust workplaces
• Advancing intersectional inclusion
• Reimagining employee benefits
• Activating frontline leaders
• Hiring STARs (Skilled Through Alternative Routes)
• Developing deep talent benches
• Using human capital reporting as competitive strategy
• Practicing distributed leadership

For CEOs, CHROs, HR leaders, and managers, this practical guide shows how equity and profits rise together—proving that people-first leadership is a competitive advantage.

The workforce crisis is here-and retaining your best employees is no longer optional.

In Targeting Turnover, Dick Finnegan draws on decades of experience and groundbreaking data to reveal a stark truth: the US is running out of workers. As baby boomers retire and birthrates fall, the only sustainable path forward is to keep the good employees you already have.

This book offers a proven, research-backed strategy for doing just that-by building trust between employees and their immediate supervisors.

Forget one-size-fits-all solutions like pay and perks. The top predictor of retention and engagement is whether employees trust their boss. Yet most first-line leaders have never been trained-or held accountable-for building that trust.

Finnegan delivers a call to action: make employee retention an executive-driven priority and equip your leaders to lead differently.

You will learn how to do the following:

• Use stay interviews and practical tools to reduce turnover
• Hold managers accountable for engagement and retention
• Understand the real costs of attrition-and how to reverse them
• Apply forecasting and metrics to drive leadership behavior

At a time when there are fewer workers and more complex employee needs, Targeting Turnover gives leaders the tools to stabilize teams, improve performance, and face the workforce future with confidence.

Award-winning guide to transitioning leadership and creating lasting business impact.

Winner of the NYC Big Book Award in Business-Entrepreneurship & Small Business and silver winner of the Nonfiction Book Awards, this acclaimed handbook shows you how to transition leadership, implement shared ownership, and preserve your organization's core values—setting the stage for your business to thrive for generations to come.

This visionary but practical guide offers mission-driven business owners a roadmap for ensuring their company's lasting impact, building leadership internally, and fostering participatory management. Through inspiring real-world stories of B Corps, worker co-ops, ESOPs, and employee ownership trusts, this book demonstrates how to create resilient organizations that benefit workers and communities.

Drawing on his 50-year journey with South Mountain Company and extensive research, Abrams outlines five critical transitions for mission-driven businesses to become what he calls a CommonWealth company:

• From founder to next-generation leadership
• From sole ownership to widely shared
• From hierarchical control to democratic management
• From unprotected mission to preserved purpose
• From business-as-usual to B Corp force for good

From Founder to Future is an essential guide for mission-driven leaders seeking to reshape their businesses for inclusivity, longevity, and positive impact. Whether you're a retiring owner planning your exit, a young entrepreneur building for the future, or an employee working in a purpose-driven business, this book offers a blueprint for creating enduring, values-driven enterprises in the emerging regenerative economy.

As 3,000,000 US small business founders over 55 prepare to retire, $10 trillion in assets will change hands over the next two decades. This timely guide shows how to preserve your company's mission and legacy while empowering the next generation.

Most conflict advice focuses on tactics. The Anatomy of Peace goes deeper—revealing why people in conflict unknowingly work against their own goals, and how to change that from the inside out.

Told through a compelling story set at Camp Moriah, this perennial bestseller follows an Arab man and a Jewish man—each having lost his father to the other's people—as they help parents, leaders, and colleagues discover the hidden root cause behind every conflict.

What you'll gain from this book:

• A framework for understanding why conflicts persist even when everyone wants resolution
• Practical tools for healing fractured relationships at home, at work, and in communities
• A proven methodology used by law enforcement, corporations, and nonprofits worldwide
• A self-study and group discussion guide (new to the fifth edition) for teams and book clubs

Who it's for: Leaders navigating workplace friction, parents struggling with family conflict, mediators, educators, and anyone who wants lasting peace—not just temporary ceasefires.

Translated into over thirty languages and a top-selling conflict-resolution book for nearly two decades, this revised fifth edition is the definitive guide to resolving conflict at its source.

Winner of the 2025 North American Book Award Bronze Medal for Leadership and Management, selected by Porchlight Book Company as one of the Best Business Books of 2025, and recipient of the 2026 Literary Titan Gold Book Award for Nonfiction. Winner of the 2026 PenCraft Seasonal Book Award Winter Competition for Nonfiction Business/Finance.

“What’s wrong with nice?!” A simple and powerful question. It demands we interrogate the unspoken rules that shape our lives, often without our realizing it.

“It costs nothing to be nice!” What a travesty of logic. Niceness is not free—it comes at a steep price. It’s a velvet glove over an iron fist, stifling dissent, prioritizing comfort over progress, and conditioning us to accept the status quo. Niceness is one of the most insidious social constructs, keeping us compliant, silent, and complicit in inequity. If we don’t question it, we stay exactly where power wants us—agreeable, easy to manage, and stuck.

The Price of Nice is about breaking free. Amira Barger deconstructs our cultural obsession with niceness, exposes its hidden costs, and offers a practical framework for real change. With sharp analysis and personal insight, she helps readers disrupt the narratives that keep them stuck and reclaim their power.

Guided by four dimensions rooted in social psychology—think, feel, do, revisit—this book offers immediate, adaptable practices for creating change. Because breaking free isn’t only what you know—it’s what you do next.

If you're tired of “good enough,” this book will challenge you, change you, and call you to more.

Most books on listening teach you to nod and repeat back what you heard. Radical Listening teaches you something more foundational: how to set a clear intention before the conversation begins, and how to use that intention to build real connection, not just comprehension.

Written by Christian van Nieuwerburgh and Robert Biswas-Diener, two leading positive psychology researchers and coaches, this practical framework organizes six core competencies into two skill sets that work together:

Internal listening skills — the mental habits that shape how you receive:

• Noticing — tuning into what's said, unsaid, and felt
• Quieting — managing inner noise so you can truly be present
• Accepting — suspending judgment to make space for others

External listening skills — the behaviors that signal deep attention:

• Acknowledging — validating the speaker's experience
• Questioning — asking in ways that open thinking, not close it
• Interjecting — knowing when and how to respond without redirecting

A dedicated chapter on listening across cultures makes this especially valuable for managers of diverse teams, and the research grounding throughout—including data on loneliness and its measurable health consequences—gives the framework real weight.

Ideal for coaches, leaders, therapists, and anyone whose work depends on human connection.

The billion-dollar employee engagement industry has failed workers. This guide shows the data-driven alternative: measuring and improving employee well-being for lasting results.

For years, companies have trumpeted employee engagement as the lifeblood of success, weaving grand promises of thriving workplaces and soaring performance. Yet, Gallup's data shatters this façade: a mere 30 percent of US workers and 21 percent globally are engaged today, dismal figures essentially unchanged for over a decade. This rather damning reality exposes a commitment not just half-hearted but utterly disingenuous. Perfunctory surveys, dusted off once or twice a year, vanish into the void, sparking no meaningful change, while ineffective or toxic managers sidestep accountability with ease. The fallout is a workforce drowning in disillusionment, tethered to a metric that's broken beyond repair. In The Power of Employee Well-Being, Mark C. Crowley unveils a revolutionary vision, proving well-being ignites fierce commitment, unleashes boundless productivity, and forges workplaces where people and profits thrive.

Why Well-Being Matters
Drawing on a University of Oxford study of 17 million workers, Crowley urges leaders to abandon flawed engagement metrics and champion well-being. Far from a soft idea, it drives results. Gallup, Harvard, and London School of Economics studies show organizations prioritizing well-being gain 27 percent higher profitability, lower turnover, and better customer satisfaction. Yet, with three-quarters of US professionals facing burnout and a 74 percent surge in mental health–related leave (2023–2024), the crisis is urgent. Crowley highlights belonging-feeling valued, respected, and connected-as well-being's core, yet 94 percent of leaders overlook this vital driver.

A Practical Roadmap
Building on his trailblazing book Lead from the Heart, Crowley delivers a concise, actionable guide for busy managers to cultivate well-being and unlock team potential. Through practical strategies, he equips leaders to meet workers' core needs: caring leadership, manageable workloads, emotional support, growth opportunities, and fair treatment. Unlike hollow wellness programs, debunked by Oxford research, Crowley's methods reshape daily team experiences. His insights, forged over decades as a leader and researcher, are anchored by formidable data, including a British Telecom study linking well-being to higher sales and customer satisfaction.

A Leadership Revolution
With a foreword by Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, a four-time New York Times bestselling author, The Power of Employee Well-Being is a clarion call to reject superficial fixes and ignite a leadership revolution. Crowley brilliantly distills complex ideas into a vital guide for busy managers. With 52 percent of workers willing to take a 20 percent pay cut for better well-being, stakes are high. This is the essential playbook for leaders to build thriving workplaces where retention soars and teams excel.

A timely sequel with breakthrough strategies from Jane Hyun, the author of Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling, to help Asian Americans build their leadership and influence skills by embracing their cultural strengths and mapping an achievable career path.

How can Asian Americans lead and influence in a way that feels culturally authentic?

19 years after her groundbreaking book, global leadership strategist Jane Hyun unveils Leadership Toolkit for Asians – a guide for Asian Americans to build their capacity to lead and influence with a blueprint that is achievable and culturally relevant.

Asian Americans are the least likely demographic to be promoted or to have a mentor or sponsor– they make up 13% of the professional workforce, but less than 3% of executive positions. This dynamic hurts everyone, and the solution calls us to embrace our unique perspectives while organizations create a more fertile environment for growing Asian talent.

This toolkit-based on Hyun's work with thousands of leaders-is filled with self-assessments, checklists, quizzes, and stories of Asian American leaders to help you put ideas into action. It will show you how to leverage your life experiences to craft a bespoke leadership journey.

• Assess: Identify your goals, cultural values and assets
• Equip: Navigate effectively with people who are different from you, push back against stereotypes, strengthen your networks, apply a developmental model to help you get there
• Transform: Create your own model and engage advocates as you put it into practice

This sixth edition of the number one bestselling employee retention book in the world (over 800,000 copies sold) puts a new emphasis on diversity and inclusion but keeps the same appealing format: twenty-six simple strategies from A to Z.


Retention and engagement are perennial concerns for every business in any economy. For two decades, this Wall Street Journal bestseller has offered twenty-six simple strategies-from A to Z-that managers can use to address their employees' real concerns and keep them engaged.

The revised and updated sixth edition includes a timely focus on diversity and inclusion in every chapter. For example, chapter 6 focuses on family. Different cultures view family responsibilities differently, so the authors address how a manager might take that into consideration when a treasured employee asks for extended leave to care for a grandparent. A new section called Conversation Starters offers discussion questions and ideas for how to spark more conversation around the topics in the book.

This new edition will ensure that Love 'Em or Lose 'Em will continue to help managers all over the world create a supportive workplace culture so they can fight burnout and keep the people they can least afford to lose.