Fusion Leadership describes a new way of leading based on "fusion," a coming together of whole individuals to accomplish mutual goals based on shared vision and values. Fusion leaders are those who engage not only the bodies and minds of their employees, but also their hearts and souls. Unlike the traditional, hierarchical "fission" management style used for centuries in business, fusion leadership supports personal growth and ingenuity, qualities that facilitate change.

Building on the New Science assumptions that organizations can act as living systems and evolve with changing conditions, Fusion Leadership shows, in practical terms, how individuals and organizations can grow together. Fusion, the authors reveal, unleashes subtle forces-mindfulness, vision, heart, courage, communication, and integrity-which can fundamentally transform organizations.

Mindfulness, they say, represents independent thinking, personal creativity, and an open mind. Vision encompasses the higher purpose toward which people work. Heart represents caring and compassion-positive feelings that underlie workplace relationships. Communication influences vision, values, and emotions; it also involves listening and discerning. Courage motivates people to take risks. Integrity involves honesty, trust, and service-going beyond self-interest to give something to the organization. Through stories, parables, and probing questions, the book helps readers begin to revive these qualities within themselves. It also shows the value and applications of social technologies based on conversation-including dialogue, future search, and whole-scale change-which leaders can use to create organizational fusion, unleashing new synergies among people and achieving far-reaching results.

• Richard Daft is the author of two leading management textbooks, each of which has sold over 230,000 copies: Organization Theory and Design, 6th Edition and Management. 4th Edition
• Offers a striking new metaphor for managing and leading organizations-based on the principle of fusion (a joining together) rather than fission (a splitting apart or separation)
• Presents practical applications of fusion technologies-doable solutions to real problems-and inspires leadership and change
• Provides a personal, practical bridge to New Science and Systems Theory ideas

A better way to fight poverty: Ashe and Neilan show that savings groups are simple, extremely low cost, self-managing and spread virally "there are savings groups in 100,000 villages in 65 countries Sponsored by Oxfam America: This book was developed wit

• A better way to fight poverty: Ashe and Neilan show that savings groups are simple, extremely low cost, self-managing and spread virally-there are savings groups in 100,000 villages in 65 countries
• Sponsored by Oxfam America: This book was developed with Oxfam America, part of an international coalition of Oxfams operating in 90 countries-in 2005 Ashe and Oxfam, with their partner Freedom from Hunger, pioneered a program to expand savings groups worldwide.

Two and a half billion people worldwide, too poor and too rural to be served by traditional financial institutions desperately need a better way to save and borrow. Jeffrey Ashe and Kyla Jagger Neilan say the answer is savings groups.

In savings groups, members put what they can in a communal pot and make loans to individual members for needs like buying food to survive the "lean season" before the harvest, building a business, investing in livestock, or paying school fees. Once a year, the entire pot plus interest on loans is divided among the members. Unlike other poverty alleviation options, savings groups are run entirely by their members, and, they spread by word of mouth from village to village, allowing them to reach remote areas with remarkable success. By catalyzing the problem-solving capacity of the poor they avoid subsidies, debt, dependency, and high costs while reducing hunger and building assets and solidarity.

Ashe and Neilan show that applying savings group principles could revolutionize development in areas as diverse as health, agriculture, education and grassroots political empowerment. "Being organized gives us courage," as one woman said. It is their courage translated into action that explains the success of "in their own hands" development.

Shows how strategy and tactics are part of the same overarching process, requiring greater flexibility and more rapid implementation than ever before.

• Shows how strategy and tactics are part of the same overarching process, requiring greater flexibility and more rapid implementation than ever before
• Reveals how to create agile and resilient organizations, where execution continually modifies and adjusts the strategy to fit current realities
• Includes the "Execution Quotient" leadership assessment and access to an online group reading guide and self-development resources

Once upon a time, executives would go to an off-site brainstorming session, come back with a multiyear strategic plan, and hand it off to their employees to dutifully execute. But in today's world of rapid, disruptive change, it's hard enough to come up with a five-month plan, let alone a five-year plan. As one executive interviewed by author Laura Stack put it, "You prepare a strategic plan and then put it on the shelf while the real world passes you by."

Nowadays, strategy can't be separate from execution-it has to emerge from execution. New technologies, sudden changes in global markets, and viral customer reactions to new products require quick, nimble responses-sometimes even a complete strategic 180. But if your organization isn't set up to be fast on its feet, you could easily go the way of Blockbuster or Borders.

Stack shows you how to make sure your organization is ready for on-the-spot strategic execution. Her LEAD formula explains how to Leverage the people and resources you need to create an agile organization, establish an Environment where your employees are confident and capable enough to take the initiative and make on-the-fly changes, ensure that your team is in Alignment with the organization's goals so they'll make the right strategic choices, and remove obstacles so they can Drive the organization forward quickly.

Of course, you'll still need to have a great strategy in place, but your goals must be subject to constant readjustment and revision. You have to work with your team to build effective business strategies in real time, not be bound by a plan that may be out of date as soon as it rolls off the printer. Execution really is the strategy that will propel your organization forward, and Laura Stack can help you build an organization ready to meet the challenge of constant change.

For more than twenty years, major innovations—the kind that transform industries and even societies—seem to have come almost exclusively from startups. Established companies still dominate most markets, but despite massive efforts and millions of dollars, they can't seem to achieve the same kinds of foundational breakthroughs.

The problem, say Tony Davila and Marc Epstein, is that the very processes and structures responsible for established companies' enduring success prevent them from developing breakthroughs. This is the innovation paradox.

Most established companies succeed through incremental innovation—taking a product they're known for and adding a feature here, cutting a cost there. It's a solid recipe for growth, but major breakthroughs are hard to achieve when everything about the way your organization is built and run is designed to reward making what already works work a little better. But incremental innovation can coexist with breakthrough thinking.

Using examples from both scrappy startups and long-term innovators such as IBM, 3M, Apple, and Google, Davila and Epstein explain how corporate culture, leadership style, strategy, incentives, and management systems can be structured to encourage breakthroughs. Then they bring it all together in a new model called the Startup Corporation, which combines the philosophy of the startup with the experience, resources, and network of an established company. Startup corporations encourage visionary thinking at all levels—instead of depending on a single Steve Jobs, they have dozens, even thousands of them.

Breakthrough innovation no longer has to be the nearly exclusive province of the new kids on the block. With Davila and Epstein's assistance, any company can develop paradigm-shifting products and services and maximize the ROI on its R&D.

A worker in one of Europe's largest wireless communication companies stumbled across an error in his company's billing software, fixed it, and saved the company some $26 million per year. A secretary at Grapevine Canyon Ranch proposed a simple change to the company's website that brought the site to the top of search engine listings. A guard at the Massachusetts Department of Correction saved the prison system $56,000 a year by suggesting the use of digital cameras instead of film to process new inmates.

From simple ideas for saving time, effort, and money, to entirely new ways of doing business, front-line employees see a great many opportunities in their day-to-day work that their managers don't. Drawing on extensive research and experience in more than 300 organizations around the world—and including numerous illustrative examples—Alan Robinson and Dean Schroeder show precisely how to take advantage of the virtually free, perpetually renewable resource of employee ideas. Ideas Are Free shows managers how to tap all the ideas their employees have and gain significant advantage over their competitors.

• Outlines how to set up a truly effective system for soliciting, evaluating and implementing employee ideas for improvement --- a proven, low-cost source of potentially millions of dollars worth of added savings and revenue, and improved procedures and processes
• Shows why existing systems, such as the hopelessly antiquated "suggestion box", fall far short of the mark
• By the bestselling author of Corporate Creativity --- more than 40,000 copies sold

It is a common belief that there is an entrepreneurial personality-that a certain type of person is capable of becoming a successful entrepreneur, while others are not. Research supports this view, and yet there are countless stories of people who have failed in one entrepreneurial venture only to succeed in another, and still others who have achieved initial success, yet failed when their company reached a certain size.

John B. Miner, an expert in the fields of entrepreneurship, human resource management, and personality psychology, has spent 20 years researching these and other curiosities about entrepreneurial success. In this groundbreaking book, he details his extensive research that shows that there is not a single entrepreneurial personality type, but rather, there are four distinct personality types that make for successful entrepreneurs.

Based on 20 years of research and a systematic seven-year study of 100 entrepreneurs, The 4 Routes to Entrepreneurial Success details the distinctive characteristics of each of the four types and explains why they succeed or fail. Using Miner's self-assessment questionnaire, you'll discover whether you possess the talents, skills, and characteristics it takes to start and run your own business. The results of the questionnaire will help you determine how you can be successful as an entrepreneur.

The different routes by which each of the four types achieves success are explored in detail, and numerous real-life examples of established entrepreneurs are included throughout. If you're a would-be entrepreneur, this accessible, easy-to-read, and practical book can help you achieve the success you dream of.

Miner explains that, to be successful, entrepreneurs must concentrate on their special talents and strengths, while finding ways to compensate for their weaknesses to accomplish the rest of the business process. For instance, while Supersalespeople are experts at bringing in new customers, they often lack the necessary management skills to run a successful business, and therefore need someone else to oversee the operations. Expert Idea Generators are good at creating new ideas, but need others to develop effective systems to get them to market. The characteristics of each type of entrepreneur are explored in detail, as well as the routes by which each achieves success, and numerous real-life illustrative case studies of established entrepreneurs are included throughout. Most importantly, Miner provides individuals with practical guidelines for mapping out their own routes to success.

The 4 Routes to Entrepreneurial Success can help you assess not only whether your personality is suited to the entrepreneurial lifestyle, but also what type of venture you should consider and what role you should play in your business to guarantee success. In addition to outlining each type's inherently appropriate career route, Miner insightfully addresses gender differences, the value of entrepreneurial development and formal degree programs, and entrepreneurial options for those who do not fit into any of the types described.

The 4 Routes to Entrepreneurial Success will help prospective entrepreneurs assess their own talents and determine what type of venture offers them the greatest chances for success. Established entrepreneurs will gain new perspective on current problems and learn to foresee and avoid potential pitfalls. Senior managers and human resource managers will find valuable tools for staffing corporate ventures, while bankers, venture capitalists, and other investors can better assess the risk and return related to their investment.

• Groundbreaking research reveals the four personality types of successful entrepreneurs and shows how everyone can learn from their winning ways
• An accessible, easy-to-read, and practical book that can help would-be entrepreneurs achieve the success they dream of
• Offers numerous real-life examples of successful entrepreneurs
• Includes a questionnaire to help readers determine what type of entrepreneur they are