Transform your organization with insights into building thriving workplace cultures. Our collection explores the fundamental elements that create engaged, productive, and satisfied teams. Learn how to foster collaboration, implement effective communication practices, and design environments where both individuals and organizations flourish. These books provide leaders and HR professionals with research-backed strategies for addressing modern workplace challenges and creating cultures that attract and retain top talent.
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The authors of the classic bestseller The Leadership Challenge bring their expertise to higher education, offering five practices that can make any college or university leader into an exemplary leader.
Drawing on the same vital research that formed the foundation of their classic bestseller The Leadership Challenge-more than two million copies sold-Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner offer higher education professionals a set of leadership skills and practices that are available to everyone, not just a charismatic few.
This book is meant for all leaders on campus. Not only academic faculty, but the staff and managers of residential life, career development, student records, admissions, campus safety, information technology, library, counseling and health centers, facilities, alumni relations, and development, and all other organizations on campus. Kouzes and Posner identify Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® and provide case examples of real people who demonstrate each practice:
• model the way
• inspire a shared vision
• challenge the process
• enable others to act
• encourage the heart
Anyone in higher education who wants to transform values into actions, visions into realities, obstacles into innovations, segments into solidarity, and risks into rewards must read this book.
Drawing on the same vital research that formed the foundation of their classic bestseller The Leadership Challenge-more than two million copies sold-Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner offer higher education professionals a set of leadership skills and practices that are available to everyone, not just a charismatic few.
This book is meant for all leaders on campus. Not only academic faculty, but the staff and managers of residential life, career development, student records, admissions, campus safety, information technology, library, counseling and health centers, facilities, alumni relations, and development, and all other organizations on campus. Kouzes and Posner identify Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® and provide case examples of real people who demonstrate each practice:
• model the way
• inspire a shared vision
• challenge the process
• enable others to act
• encourage the heart
Anyone in higher education who wants to transform values into actions, visions into realities, obstacles into innovations, segments into solidarity, and risks into rewards must read this book.
Bestselling author, psychologist, and relationship coach Melanie Joy shares the principles and tools that can make any relationship, from personal to professional, healthier and more resilient.
Relationships are complicated. Yet it's an unfortunate reality that while most of us have to learn complex geometry that we'll probably never use, we don't get a single formal lesson in how to relate to others. In this one-stop guide, psychologist Melanie Joy reveals the common psychological dynamics that underlie all kinds of relationships-with a romantic partner, friends, family members, colleagues-in short, with anyone in any situation. Understanding these dynamics will help you make all your relationships healthier and more resilient.
Relationships are like bodies: they get sick when their immune system is weaker than the germs that stress them. Drawing on the most relevant research as well as on her own extensive experience as a psychologist, Joy explains how to strengthen your relational immune system to resist not only interpersonal stressors but also largely invisible yet potentially devastating societal stressors like racism and sexism. With this understanding, you can cultivate relationships that consistently reflect core moral values and honor the dignity of everyone involved. Resilient relationships are not only a source of joy and fulfillment for those who are in them, they also support the thriving of the organizations and communities of which we all are a part.
Relationships are complicated. Yet it's an unfortunate reality that while most of us have to learn complex geometry that we'll probably never use, we don't get a single formal lesson in how to relate to others. In this one-stop guide, psychologist Melanie Joy reveals the common psychological dynamics that underlie all kinds of relationships-with a romantic partner, friends, family members, colleagues-in short, with anyone in any situation. Understanding these dynamics will help you make all your relationships healthier and more resilient.
Relationships are like bodies: they get sick when their immune system is weaker than the germs that stress them. Drawing on the most relevant research as well as on her own extensive experience as a psychologist, Joy explains how to strengthen your relational immune system to resist not only interpersonal stressors but also largely invisible yet potentially devastating societal stressors like racism and sexism. With this understanding, you can cultivate relationships that consistently reflect core moral values and honor the dignity of everyone involved. Resilient relationships are not only a source of joy and fulfillment for those who are in them, they also support the thriving of the organizations and communities of which we all are a part.
DEI isn't just a box to check.
After being in corporate America for nearly a decade as a triple minority who passes for a straight white woman, Dannie Lynn Fountain knows that corporations' modern plague is the story of its DEI duality. Time and time again, she has witnessed companies pretend to care about DEI for public relations fodder and then discriminate against employees or ignore their identities.
Dannie's solution to this problem? Rage against the system by refusing to accept mediocre-at-best action.
This story isn't just about how messed up corporate DEI currently is; it also takes a hard look at what is necessary to get diversity right in three parts:
● The context of corporate DEI
● Why the change in perspective
● What's not working and how to change
Ending Checkbox Diversity gives readers an understanding of exactly how corporate America is failing underrepresented identities and offers a plan for what to do next, with clear examples and metrics for evaluating DEI in their own careers and aligning themselves with companies that are actually doing the work.
After being in corporate America for nearly a decade as a triple minority who passes for a straight white woman, Dannie Lynn Fountain knows that corporations' modern plague is the story of its DEI duality. Time and time again, she has witnessed companies pretend to care about DEI for public relations fodder and then discriminate against employees or ignore their identities.
Dannie's solution to this problem? Rage against the system by refusing to accept mediocre-at-best action.
This story isn't just about how messed up corporate DEI currently is; it also takes a hard look at what is necessary to get diversity right in three parts:
● The context of corporate DEI
● Why the change in perspective
● What's not working and how to change
Ending Checkbox Diversity gives readers an understanding of exactly how corporate America is failing underrepresented identities and offers a plan for what to do next, with clear examples and metrics for evaluating DEI in their own careers and aligning themselves with companies that are actually doing the work.
"This important book offers organizations the keys to introvert inclusion."
-Susan Cain, New York Times bestselling author of Quiet Influence
The first guide to creating a welcoming culture that maximizes the powerful contributions introverts bring to the workplace.
As the diversity, equity, and inclusion wave widens and deepens its reach, introversion is becoming a natural part of that movement. After all, about half the population identify as introverts, but many organizations are stuck in traditional extrovert-centric workplace cultures that reward people for speaking up publicly, expect them to log face time, and employ hiring and promotion practices rooted in the past. This ultimately discourages introverts from contributing and reaching their full talent potential, which could have a major impact on the bottom line.
"Champion for introverts" Jennifer Kahnweiler offers a road map for everyone in the workplace-including leaders, human resource managers, and team members-to create inclusive, introvert-friendly cultures. Kahnweiler provides an assessment to determine how introvert friendly your organization is and looks at every aspect of organizational life-hiring, training, leading, communicating, meeting, designing workplaces, and more-through an inclusive lens. You'll discover how to make open-space offices introvert friendly, what the best practices are for encouraging introverts to participate on teams, which training techniques work best for introverts, and how to make remote positions work. Kahnweiler gives you the tools to build a culture that embraces all your employees and maximizes the strengths introverts bring to your organization.
-Susan Cain, New York Times bestselling author of Quiet Influence
The first guide to creating a welcoming culture that maximizes the powerful contributions introverts bring to the workplace.
As the diversity, equity, and inclusion wave widens and deepens its reach, introversion is becoming a natural part of that movement. After all, about half the population identify as introverts, but many organizations are stuck in traditional extrovert-centric workplace cultures that reward people for speaking up publicly, expect them to log face time, and employ hiring and promotion practices rooted in the past. This ultimately discourages introverts from contributing and reaching their full talent potential, which could have a major impact on the bottom line.
"Champion for introverts" Jennifer Kahnweiler offers a road map for everyone in the workplace-including leaders, human resource managers, and team members-to create inclusive, introvert-friendly cultures. Kahnweiler provides an assessment to determine how introvert friendly your organization is and looks at every aspect of organizational life-hiring, training, leading, communicating, meeting, designing workplaces, and more-through an inclusive lens. You'll discover how to make open-space offices introvert friendly, what the best practices are for encouraging introverts to participate on teams, which training techniques work best for introverts, and how to make remote positions work. Kahnweiler gives you the tools to build a culture that embraces all your employees and maximizes the strengths introverts bring to your organization.
Sustainable company growth isn't just a pipedream. This 3-part blueprint is your guide to avoiding the traps that cause growth to stall.
As companies mature, their underlying growth naturally slows-this is called the ‘growth curse'. It's a pervasive problem that plagues companies, CEOs, and board members alike. In order to safeguard a company's future, a strategic form of governance in which the board plays a more active role on behalf of all stakeholders, must be activated.
This book is comprised of 3 parts. First it shows companies how to identify the traditional traps that hinder growth. The second part provides companies with a blueprint for building their board, defining long-term strategy, and adjustments necessary to serve continued growth. The final part delves into the specific ways that the board and executives must collaborate in relation to strategic renewal.
Reimagining the limits of growth and how companies are run as a consequence provides an escape from the ‘growth curse' at last.
As companies mature, their underlying growth naturally slows-this is called the ‘growth curse'. It's a pervasive problem that plagues companies, CEOs, and board members alike. In order to safeguard a company's future, a strategic form of governance in which the board plays a more active role on behalf of all stakeholders, must be activated.
This book is comprised of 3 parts. First it shows companies how to identify the traditional traps that hinder growth. The second part provides companies with a blueprint for building their board, defining long-term strategy, and adjustments necessary to serve continued growth. The final part delves into the specific ways that the board and executives must collaborate in relation to strategic renewal.
Reimagining the limits of growth and how companies are run as a consequence provides an escape from the ‘growth curse' at last.
This essential playbook shows how companies can scale success by coupling digital strategies with an investment in the health of their organizations and the people within.
To scale and grow, a company must get the organizational elements right. That begins with having the right strategy, the right leadership to drive it, and the right talent, culture, and organizational design to realize a company's potential. This is especially true in the AI era, where a company's most valuable assets are its people.
To begin with, leaders must rethink their value creation strategies. To hone their organizational edge, leaders must prioritize their organization's health in seven vital areas: strategic direction, culture, leadership, talent, organizational design, EID (equity, inclusion, and diversity), and well-being. No matter what type or size of business, those essential conditions must be leveraged for increased value and growth. Put simply: organizational matters matter. To hone their digital edge, leaders must understand AI, as advances in technology allow leaders to build organizations that can compete and win in the future. Finally, an investor mindset will enable leaders to invest wisely in the technology (and leverage that tech) that sets their organizations apart.
To scale and grow, a company must get the organizational elements right. That begins with having the right strategy, the right leadership to drive it, and the right talent, culture, and organizational design to realize a company's potential. This is especially true in the AI era, where a company's most valuable assets are its people.
To begin with, leaders must rethink their value creation strategies. To hone their organizational edge, leaders must prioritize their organization's health in seven vital areas: strategic direction, culture, leadership, talent, organizational design, EID (equity, inclusion, and diversity), and well-being. No matter what type or size of business, those essential conditions must be leveraged for increased value and growth. Put simply: organizational matters matter. To hone their digital edge, leaders must understand AI, as advances in technology allow leaders to build organizations that can compete and win in the future. Finally, an investor mindset will enable leaders to invest wisely in the technology (and leverage that tech) that sets their organizations apart.
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!
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.
-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.
“Maya Hu-Chan shares a blueprint for becoming a more empathetic, self-aware, and inclusive leader. Saving Face guides us to consider different perspectives, to think first and speak last, and to respect others above all else.”
-Frances Hesselbein, former CEO, Girl Scouts of the USA, and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
Organizations now need to attract, retain, and motivate teams and employees across distance, time zones, and cultural differences. Building authentic and lasting human relations may be the most important calling for leaders in this century. According to management and global leadership specialist Maya Hu-Chan, the concept of “saving face” can help any leader preserve dignity and create more empathetic cross-cultural relationships.
“Face” represents one's self-esteem, self-worth, identity, reputation, status, pride, and dignity. Saving face is often understood as saving someone from embarrassment, but it's also about developing an understanding of the background and motivations of others to discover the unique facets we all possess. Without that understanding, we risk causing others to lose face without even knowing it. Hu-Chan explains saving face through anecdotes and practical tools, such as her BUILD leadership model (Benevolence, Understanding, Interacting, Learning, and Delivery). This book illustrates how we can give face to create positive first impressions, avoid causing others to lose face, and, most importantly, build trust and lasting relationships inside and outside the workplace.
-Frances Hesselbein, former CEO, Girl Scouts of the USA, and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
Organizations now need to attract, retain, and motivate teams and employees across distance, time zones, and cultural differences. Building authentic and lasting human relations may be the most important calling for leaders in this century. According to management and global leadership specialist Maya Hu-Chan, the concept of “saving face” can help any leader preserve dignity and create more empathetic cross-cultural relationships.
“Face” represents one's self-esteem, self-worth, identity, reputation, status, pride, and dignity. Saving face is often understood as saving someone from embarrassment, but it's also about developing an understanding of the background and motivations of others to discover the unique facets we all possess. Without that understanding, we risk causing others to lose face without even knowing it. Hu-Chan explains saving face through anecdotes and practical tools, such as her BUILD leadership model (Benevolence, Understanding, Interacting, Learning, and Delivery). This book illustrates how we can give face to create positive first impressions, avoid causing others to lose face, and, most importantly, build trust and lasting relationships inside and outside the workplace.
Since the 1980s, Appreciative Inquiry has proven to be one of the most powerful and effective methods for organizational change. Now two top consultants show how leaders can adapt its principles to become more personally and professionally resilient.
Appreciative Inquiry is a venerable and widely used organizational change method that emphasizes identifying what's working and building on those strengths. It is the focus on the best of what is and using that to generate the future that makes it so powerful. In answer to numerous requests from their clients, consultants and scholars McArthur-Blair and Cockell show how to apply the lessons of AI to build resilience in leaders. Every leader has moments of despair, that "dark night of the soul" where there seems to be no clear path forward. The authors' ALIVE process (Appreciate, Love and Inquire in order to Venture and Evolve) helps leaders forgive themselves for their own failures and those of others, focus on their strengths in times of despair, and amplify and grow those strengths so that they are better able to build hope in themselves and throughout their organizations. In times of rapid change like ours, building resilience is a vital leadership skill.
Appreciative Inquiry is a venerable and widely used organizational change method that emphasizes identifying what's working and building on those strengths. It is the focus on the best of what is and using that to generate the future that makes it so powerful. In answer to numerous requests from their clients, consultants and scholars McArthur-Blair and Cockell show how to apply the lessons of AI to build resilience in leaders. Every leader has moments of despair, that "dark night of the soul" where there seems to be no clear path forward. The authors' ALIVE process (Appreciate, Love and Inquire in order to Venture and Evolve) helps leaders forgive themselves for their own failures and those of others, focus on their strengths in times of despair, and amplify and grow those strengths so that they are better able to build hope in themselves and throughout their organizations. In times of rapid change like ours, building resilience is a vital leadership skill.
For newcomers and upper management alike, leadership can be overwhelming and overcomplicated. By building core tenets of leadership around two key words for each chapter, Bill Treasurer simplifies the equation.
Congratulations, new leader! You've joined the ranks during an exceptionally complicated time.
Our current workplace climate is fraught with political divisions, economic disparities, and ever-shifting social dynamics. Leaders are managing remote teams across larger geographic distances and facing new roadblocks to onboarding, giving performance feedback, and nurturing healthy relationships.
Leadership Two Words at a Time speaks directly to the plight of the new leader and is divided into three parts: Leading Yourself, Leading People, and Leading Work. Rather than overintellectualize the practice, Bill Treasurer breaks up the concept into essential and understandable learning nuggets-summed up by two-word headers-that provide the practical guidance and support that leaders often don't get. The result is time-tested wisdom that new leaders can grasp immediately and implement easily-and, with a little practice, master completely. Consider it a personal leadership playbook.
This book gives you the basic building blocks to gain both competence and confidence, take on greater responsibility, and learn what it takes to be and stay a leader.
Congratulations, new leader! You've joined the ranks during an exceptionally complicated time.
Our current workplace climate is fraught with political divisions, economic disparities, and ever-shifting social dynamics. Leaders are managing remote teams across larger geographic distances and facing new roadblocks to onboarding, giving performance feedback, and nurturing healthy relationships.
Leadership Two Words at a Time speaks directly to the plight of the new leader and is divided into three parts: Leading Yourself, Leading People, and Leading Work. Rather than overintellectualize the practice, Bill Treasurer breaks up the concept into essential and understandable learning nuggets-summed up by two-word headers-that provide the practical guidance and support that leaders often don't get. The result is time-tested wisdom that new leaders can grasp immediately and implement easily-and, with a little practice, master completely. Consider it a personal leadership playbook.
This book gives you the basic building blocks to gain both competence and confidence, take on greater responsibility, and learn what it takes to be and stay a leader.
In their much-anticipated sequel to the bestseller Ideas Are Free (over 50,000 copies sold), Alan Robinson and Dean Schroeder explain that employee ideas are no longer a “nice-to-have” but rather the very lifeblood of competitiveness, culture, and strategy. Their new book shows how to align every part of the organization around generating and implementing ideas at the front line.
To help large and small businesses repair our broken talent pipeline, Ed Gordon offers counter-intuitive, bottom-up solutions through which corporations partner with NGOs, educational groups, local chambers of commerce and other stakeholders to rebuild the wellspring.
Knowledge Café is a process for creating, exchanging, and optimizing knowledge, whether in-person or virtual. This popular and practical knowledge management tool supports a culture where projects and innovation thrive.
So many project workers are overloaded with useless information and starving for the information they really need. Knowledge Management (KM) is an important and underrated ingredient in successful project management. The Knowledge Café makes KM best practices accessible to project managers everywhere.
Human knowledge is the intellectual capital of organizations, and the consequences for losing it are dire. Knowledge Café is a current, cross-generational, systematic concept designed to retain and manage relevant knowledge--stopping the unchecked "brain drain" that can occur when knowledge is hoarded. This method is as simple to use as a corner café and works in both virtual and real-life settings.
Knowledge Café will help you combine your institutional knowledge from your experienced workers with the fresh ideas bubbling up from the front lines. If our projects (and organizations) are to succeed, we absolutely must make the shift from knowledge hoarding to knowledge sharing. You can't afford to lose the vital institutional wisdom you've built up every time there is turnover in your workforce. Knowledge Café is the solution.
So many project workers are overloaded with useless information and starving for the information they really need. Knowledge Management (KM) is an important and underrated ingredient in successful project management. The Knowledge Café makes KM best practices accessible to project managers everywhere.
Human knowledge is the intellectual capital of organizations, and the consequences for losing it are dire. Knowledge Café is a current, cross-generational, systematic concept designed to retain and manage relevant knowledge--stopping the unchecked "brain drain" that can occur when knowledge is hoarded. This method is as simple to use as a corner café and works in both virtual and real-life settings.
Knowledge Café will help you combine your institutional knowledge from your experienced workers with the fresh ideas bubbling up from the front lines. If our projects (and organizations) are to succeed, we absolutely must make the shift from knowledge hoarding to knowledge sharing. You can't afford to lose the vital institutional wisdom you've built up every time there is turnover in your workforce. Knowledge Café is the solution.