Contrary to popular opinion, the American public corporation is on the decline. Leading scholar Gerald Davis explains the social and economic pressures behind the rise and fall of the American corporation, the surprising negative consequences, and what the post-corporate future may hold.




In an era of Citizens United and 8-figure paychecks for CEOs, most of us imagine that corporations have never been more powerful. Yet public corporations-companies that sell shares to the public, rather than being privately owned-are in retreat in the US, while alternative ways of organizing business, are on the rise.

To many this will sound like good news-but Gerald Davis points out that there's a considerable downside. In their heyday public corporations provided good salaries, benefits, training, lifetime employment, and retirement pensions-features that are conspicuously absent from newer models championed by companies like Uber. The consequences of corporate decline in the US are stark: greater inequality, less mobility, and a frayed social safety net.

This book explains the rise of the large American corporation, it's role in greatly expanding the middle class, and the economic pressures that are making it unsustainable. The future could see either increasing polarization, as careers turn into jobs and jobs turn into tasks, or a more democratic economy built from the grassroots. Davis explains how we got here and lays out the choices ahead of us.

“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.

DEI needs a reset. Discover how to achieve real social change in the workplace that puts everyone ahead through the groundbreaking FAIR framework.

The demand for inclusive workplaces is stronger than ever, with most employees seeking a sense of belonging and fairness at work. Yet traditional diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategies have faced backlash and stagnation, leaving organizations at a crossroads.

Where common DEI initiatives have failed, this book instead offers a results-based, systems-focused, all-inclusive, and universally beneficial framework to help bring about real social change in the workplace. This can be achieved through the FAIR framework:


- Fairness-Promote equitable treatment by addressing systemic barriers and ensuring transparent, just practices for all.
- Access-Expand opportunities by removing obstacles and creating pathways for underserved and underrepresented groups.
- Inclusion-Foster a sense of belonging where diverse voices are valued, heard, and integrated into decision-making.
- Representation-Reflect the diversity of society at all levels, ensuring visibility and participation across demographics.

This book isn't about the next acronym or rebranding; it's a call to action for a more effective and resilient approach to social progress. The DEI industrial complex failed to make real change through unchecked growth and performative practices, and far-right antagonists only offer regressive “solutions.” With clarity, urgency, and practicality, Fixing Fairness offers a third option and charts a path forward for those committed to creating better outcomes for all.

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.

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.

In this book, Lisa Haneberg presents in her trademark breezy style the fundamentals of coaching across generational differences. As multiple generations now work in close quarters to one another, a guide that highlights the skills and techniques needed to coach across generational differences is an invaluable resource.

Innovation within an organization is no longer sufficient; in a growing number of businesses, collaboration between companies and even industries is critical to success. A respected Harvard professor and a journalist team up to show how one creative startup exemplifies this new, intensely interactive form of leadership.


Niccolò Machiavelli famously wrote: “There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”

Constructing a new order of things, which Edmondson and Reynolds call “building the future,” is the focus of this book. It explores how to bring complex new systems into being, particularly systems that transform human experience and make the world more livable and sustainable. Intense collaboration across professions and industries is vital to come up with new ideas and innovative solutions. This requires practicing new forms of leadership that enable complex, team-based, whole-system innovation.

To reveal how pioneers build the future, Edmondson and Reynolds study a startup's long and innovative journey in the smart-city industry, which uses digital, information and communication technologies to enhance the quality and performance of urban services, They follow the leaders in this company, Living PlanIT, through cycles of hope, exhaustion, disillusionment, pragmatism, and renewal in creating the city of the future.

Are you asking for what you want or just taking what you are given? Chances are, it's the latter. Linda Swindling will teach you how to ask outrageously-and get the results you want.


Not getting what you want or living with what someone decides you deserve is exhausting and dispiriting. Linda Swindling provides principles, tactics, and strategies to help you show up powerfully to negotiate for the best deals at work and in life with confidence and integrity.

Asking outrageously does not mean being obnoxious or taking advantage of others. It means making a big ask-if you're going to ask anyway, why not be bold? In her former life as an attorney, Swindling found she was doing this all the time for her clients but was puzzled to realize she rarely did it for herself. She describes a straightforward, three-step process: (1) determine what you want, (2) approach those who have the authority to grant your wish, and (3) feel the fear and ask anyway. With a wealth of practical tools-checklists, suggested questions, case studies, and an online assessment so you can evaluate how well you ask now-this book helps you overcome blockages and inhibitions to reach breakthrough results and ask for more than you believe is possible.