John Baldoni, author and leadership consultant, believes that "when organizations succeed, it is because they know what they do and why they do it. We say they have ‘purpose.’" In Lead with Purpose, Baldoni lays out a plan for companies whose goals may have become lost in cultures of bureaucracy, lack of creativity, and icy relations among managers and employees. Purpose is an organization’s big picture. All tasks performed by an organization and its employees should focus on a common purpose, whether it is to become the market leader in manufacturing a particular product of delivering health care that makes people well while treating them with dignity and respect. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The Purpose Linked Organization, Common Purpose, The Why of Work

"Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly." — Stephen R. Covey The death of Stephen R. Covey on Monday was a shock to many. Covey was one of the most influential management gurus of our time, writing best-selling books that include The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The 8th Habit, and First Things First. In addition to his success in teaching and writing, Covey was also a devoted husband and father. His full obituary can be read here.

In Leading with Emotional Intelligence, Reldan S. Nadler presents a handbook filled with real-life examples and step-by-step strategies to raise Emotional Intelligence and help leaders coach their teams to become "Star Performers," or performers with high emotional intelligence. Today, organizations are faced with complex daily dynamics that can result in chaos and low performance, even in the most intelligent workforces. This influences leadership and results in confusion, frustration, defensiveness, and over- or under-managing that affects employee performance. Ultimately, argues Nadler, the way out of this loop is to enhance Emotional Intelligence. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Put Emotional Intelligence to Work, Emotional Intelligence for Managing Results in a Diverse World, The Other Kind of Smart

Research has shown that when employees are focused and fully engaged, they are more productive at work. In Contented Cows Still Give Better Milk, Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden suggest that employees are more likely to happily work to the best of their abilities when their employers adopt leadership habits that make the organization a great place to work. They describe the practices that have helped top companies hire, cultivate, and retain satisfied employees that are dedicated to building wealth. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Happiness at Work, Make Work Great, Love ‘em or Lose ‘em

As we move deeper and deeper into the political season, it has becomes even more apparent that personal image is of utmost importance to candidates. While this is true for politics, it is also something that we should all be aware of as we seek advancement in our own careers, approach job interviews, and present ourselves online. Alan Barnard and Chris Parker recognize the correlation between political campaigns and success in their book Campaign It!. In their book, they explain that a campaign is a process-driven way of thinking and behaving that can produce success in any area of life. They claim that: Campaigns must have a cause, principle, or aim that will improve some aspect of a current situation. The cause provides the motivation—and sometimes, the courage—to campaign. The audience is the person or group that needs to approve or endorse the communication campaign. Campaigners must take the time to discover their values, beliefs, behaviors, and agendas, and then identify potential communication channels to reach each segment. The campaign is brought to life and the narrative is shared through the integration of activities, which must be properly sequenced and fully integrated so that each one lays the foundation for the succeeding one. As the campaign narrative is told through integrated activities, it should change audience question marks of doubt into exclamation marks of commitment. To read more, visit http://www.bizsum.com/summaries/campaign-it.

In China Versus the West, Ivan Tselichtchev describes the Western economic crisis that occurred parallel to unyielding Chinese growth and how this created a global power shift. He explains the genesis of China’s stronghold. It refuses to accelerate the appreciation of its currency, it actively invests in Third World countries to gain access to natural resources and garner political clout, and its national resources companies now compete globally. China is also emerging as a technological innovation and R&D center, and has used its financial strength to acquire many Western companies. China’s economic strength allows it to shape global markets to its advantage. The West requires a comprehensive China policy that increases exports, enhances competitiveness in a global market with China-imposed rules, counterbalances China’s influence in Third World countries, and retaliates against China’s unequal conditions for competition. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The Coming China Wars, Doing Business in China, China’s Megatrends

Today’s fast-paced and high-pressured business environment often requires workers to spend 60, 70, 80, or more hours per week on the job. Unfortunately, productivity tends to decrease as work hours increase, and in this type of business climate, traditional time management techniques may be meaningless and outdated. In What To Do When There’s Too Much To Do, Laura Stack offers a system that allows workers to accomplish more by doing less work. Following her step-by-step Productivity Workflow Formula allows workers to organize their work lives around the tasks that really matter and disregard those that do not. The dozens of strategies that Stack provides help to reduce commitments, distractions, interruptions, and inefficiencies. Stack’s Productivity Workflow Formula is designed to help streamline time management, reduce tasks, and increase results. There are six primary steps: Determine what to do: Triage to-do lists and decide to do only what matters most. Schedule time to do it: Assign time slots and duration for all tasks. Focus attention: Avoid multitasking. Process new information: Research, file information, and handle incoming information. Close the loop: Reduce inefficiencies. Manage capacity: Focus on physical factors affecting energy. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The Time Trap, 10 Steps to Successful Time Management, The Personal Efficiency Program

In Great Leaders Grow, best-selling business author Ken Blanchard teams with Chick-fil-A vice president Mark Miller to guide executives on the path to becoming great leaders. The authors assert that while personal growth is the key to staying on that path, it is also the reason so many leaders fail to be effective in the long term. Great Leaders Grow helps leaders not only understand why they need to grow, but also offers practical advice for making this growth happen. Through the story of Blake Brown, a young man embarking on his first job, Blanchard and Miller illustrate what it takes to grow as a leader and how it affects everyday decisions. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, The Well-Balanced Leader, The Self-Aware Leader

While the U.S.  unemployment rate seems to be on the decline, many people still find themselves out of work or looking for a better job. While most people turn to the Internet as a way of finding and applying to job postings, many individuals do so without having a plan in place, which results is wasted effort and poor results. In his book, The Panic free Job Search, Paul Hill offers some advice to these individuals. Hill states that before searching for a job, it is important for job seekers to understand themselves, their goals, and what kind of job they want. While many job seekers end up applying to jobs they know they won’t enjoy or excel at, Hill believes this is detrimental to the individual and his or her chances of landing a good job. He offers job seekers the following advice: Tame the Inner Beast. Emotions of doubt and rejection must be dealt with before a job search. Find Out Who You Are. Find a job that fits as opposed to trying to fit into the job. Wishes, Dreams, and Goals. People do not obtain what they want because they do not know what they want. Visualization. This involves vividly imagining a positive outcome, which provides the motivation for confidently pursuing it. Search Smartly. Job seekers must understand the importance of Search Engine Optimization. Build the Resume that Gets Picked. While the style of the resume is important, content is king. Network. Continuously network to be known by as many people as possible. Use Direct Marketing. Direct marketing encourages job seekers to aggressively pursue employers. Ace the Interview. Asking how the job could be done better provides clues to what the performance standards are for the position. Close the Deal. Failure to ask questions sends a message that an individual does not comprehend a job well enough to have questions. By understanding oneself, it becomes easier to focus ones job search on only those positions that will fulfill personal or career goals. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The Job Search Solution, The Web 2.0 Job Finder, Get the Job You Want Even When There’s No One Hiring

With the new year right around the corner, it’s the perfect time to rethink one’s personal and career goals. Many of us may have been planning on going back to school, asking for a raise, changing careers, or simply doing better at our current job, and now is the time to solidify those goals and achieve them in the new year. In Earn What You’re Really Worth, Brian Tracy argues that by using care, planning, and written exercises, people can better achieve their goals. He believes people must continually examine their work lives and continually update their skills and knowledge, and insists that people should always aim high and treat life as a continuing process of education and reinvention. Tracy aims to break down some of life’s most formidable goals into a concise, easy-to-understand plan. Tracy shares the following advice with readers: Success is a personal decision that every individual makes, no matter how tough or expansive the job market. People must work harder and smarter today because the age of affluence has ended, replaced by an age of turbulence. Everyone, ultimately, works for themselves, and must continually upgrade their skills and knowledge. A successful career requires frequent reassessment-often, done in writing. Identify the key result areas of every job, and master them all-weakness in even one can sabotage an entire career. Everyone should be prepared to sell themselves. "Live" by lists-because writing down goals focuses on setting priorities, and on planning and scheduling the best ways to achieve them. A person’s character and reputation are among their most crucial assets. Never be afraid to ask at work-for an increase in responsibilities, a higher salary, or another request. People must be in the right job for the right company to earn what they’re really worth. With firm goals in mind and the willpower and tools to achieve them, anyone can become more personally and professionally successful in 2013. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Disaster Proof Your Career, Great Work, Great Career, Career Contentment

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case that the U.S. government could not prevent companies from actively supporting political campaigns through direct advertising, effectively giving corporations protection under free speech, something typically reserved for individual citizens. This has paved the way for the creation of giant Super PACs, or political action committees, that spend millions of dollars campaigning for politicians based on the best interests of corporations. At the same time, we have seen a huge uptick in direct corporate contributions to political campaigns. In the 2012 presidential election, President Obama and Governor Romney raised almost $2 billion combined during their campaigns, a large part of which came from companies and the extremely wealthy. In Corporations Are Not People, Jeffrey Clements details the destructive and far-reaching effects of the Supreme Court’s decision that corporations are people with free speech and other rights. With this decision, the Supreme Court reversed a century of legislative efforts to prevent corporate money from corrupting democracy and upended the notion that the U.S. has a government of the people rather than a government of corporate wealth. Clements contends that unbalanced corporate power has perverted the Bill of Rights and turned it into a charter for corporations. But he claims people can fight back to restore government of the people and save the country. Thousands of people have already started working for the People’s Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. What are your thoughts? To download three free summaries, please visit our site.

If you take a look through any of the top online review sites, such as Yelp, Google Places, Citysearch, or MerchantCircle, it won’t take long to find consumers voicing their (sometimes harsh) opinions of businesses and retailers. Today, consumers have access to more product and company information than ever before. Not only does this help people make better purchasing decisions, but it also allows those same people to sing a company’s praises or air their personal grievances. On top of consumers’ ability to vocalize their love or hate of a company, the Internet has created a system in which consumers regularly compare services of different companies. If they can get superior service from one company, shouldn’t all companies be able to provide that same top-notch service? How should companies go about competing in such an atmosphere, and how can they balance customer needs with profitability? In Wired and Dangerous, Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson attempt to answer these questions. They believe customer service is in a transition phase between the age of technology and the age of the customer. They believe today’s customers are different because they get outstanding service from some providers (like Zappos) and use that as a benchmark; they have more undifferentiated choices, so they are turning to the service experience as a differentiator. The old rules of customer service no longer apply. Service providers today need to deliver fast, easy service, while ensuring that customers are treated like respected partners. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service, @Your Service, The Conversation Company

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has been getting a lot of attention in the news lately after it was announced that the company would no longer allow employees to telecommute from home. The practice of telecommuting has been on the rise in recent years in the United States as more and more jobs are able to be accomplished from the comfort of the home. Telecommuters typically only need access to a computer, Internet connections, and phone to do their jobs. The question Mayer’s announcement raises is whether or not this practice of telecommuting works. Mayer cites decreased engagement, productivity, and innovation as reasons for Yahoo’s new policy against telecommuting, but do these reasons hold water? Many studies indicate that telecommuters are actually more productive than their in-office counterparts, perhaps due to the belief that they need to work harder to prove they can do their jobs at home just as well. As far as engagement and innovation are concerned, it seems that Yahoo is the one lacking the creativity to reach out and engage these employees, many of whom see telecommuting as a solution to busy family schedules and other duties. In the short-term, Mayer’s decision may impact employee morale and productivity. In the long-term Yahoo’s non-friendly stance on telecommuters could cost the company talent as many people seek work flexibility from other companies. Time will tell whether or not Yahoo ultimately benefits from this policy, but in a business world increasingly defined by mobility and flexibility, I think it is more likely to backfire.

Worry can adversely impact people’s daily lives and the lives of those around them. In How Not to Worry, Paul McGee explores why worry is such a significant part of people’s lives. He exposes some of the behavioral traps people fall into when dealing with life’s challenges and seeks to explore the causes as well as the consequences of worry. After defining worry and discussing its causes, McGee offers practical tools and ideas to help people deal with worries and challenges (real or otherwise) in a more constructive way. Despite the fact that people in the developed world live a long, healthier, and safer life than at any other time in human history, worry and stress are on the rise. But there are steps people can take to relieve this stress. Manage mental diet. People should be mindful of watching too much "CNN" — constant negative news. Escape "escalators." People should avoid sharing worries with people who escalate them. Cut the clutter. People should write things down to "declutter" the mind and also declutter their personal space. Clutter creates confusion and counteracts calm. Find the funny. Laughter really is the best medicine. Use music as a muse. Music affects people’s moods, so people should be careful what they listen to. If something cannot be controlled or influenced, people must learn to accept it. To re-tell is to re-live and this is not always helpful. Move on. People cannot start the next chapter of their lives if they keep re-reading the last one. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The Stress Effect, Thrive on Pressure, Choke

Today’s economy, with its insatiable need for great ideas and effective implementation, does not reward stifling environments and underdeveloped staffs. Instead, it demands smart work at full throttle. To unleash productive power, organizations look to their leaders. Global competitors and the advancement of new technologies require leaders to be constantly in motion as they lead their organizations to success by creating cultures of transformation. In Leaders in Motion, Dr. Marta Wilson offers her proven method for unleashing the full potential of every organization by helping leaders tap their potential to create and motivate cultures of transformation and achievement. Wilson offers the following advice to leaders wishing to spur cultural change in their companies: The race to win organizational health, wealth, and creative power begins with personal mastery, and the journey toward personal mastery begins with a commitment to integrity. Organizational transformation is based on personal transformation. The starting point for authentic organizational transformation is the leader, who must be committed to personal transformation. To master their enterprises and the interpersonal connections within them, leaders must first master themselves. Transformation requires personal mastery built on authenticity, integrity, consciousness, and willingness to embrace change. Learning how to practice new reactions is an essential element of transformation. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: People Follow You, Positive Leadership, Corporate Culture

Boring Meetings Suck by Jon Petz is intended for leaders who want to end, or at least minimize, useless time consuming meetings. To be great, a meeting must deliver real value by providing useful information, fostering creativity, supplying motivation, and building unity among participants. Petz offers techniques that seem radical but can make meetings more efficient and effective, including tips on how to recognize what meetings to skip, how to address poor meeting facilitation or bad etiquette, and descriptions of alternative style meeting formats to speed things up. Specific pointers on eye contact, stage presence, and speech patterns show how to make presentations more engaging. Petz also offers innovative ideas for enhancing meetings with technology, along with clever ways to politely wrap up meetings or gracefully get out of them. Petz offers readers the following advice: An established agenda with clearly defined goals and desired outcomes is essential for any meeting. Every meeting attendee has the right and responsibility to make the meeting productive, and when attendees are empowered to diplomatically keep the meeting on track, especially when a facilitator fails to do so, everyone benefits. Technology can greatly enhance meeting communication, build deeper engagement, and increase input, but it must not overshadow the intended meeting objectives. To avoid boring meetings, people must only call meetings when it is absolutely necessary, then use creative ways to move the meeting along quickly — such as holding the meeting in a room without chairs or walking up and down the hallway stairwells. The key to effective meetings is for both the facilitator and the attendees to prepare at least 24 hours in advance to be knowledgeable about the issues and objectives. Limit invitees to those who are true stakeholders directly affected by the meeting’s objectives and desired outcomes. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: 10 Steps to Successful Meetings, No More Pointless Meetings, Standing in the Fire

In StandOut, Marcus Buckingham asserts that everyone has their own particular genius that is innate to their being. Buckingham explains that by understanding their strengths and learning how to apply them, anyone can be consistently outstanding in the workplace. Sounding the all-too-familiar cry for innovation as the only way for the United States to thrive and compete, he offers readers an online assessment tool that will identify their top two strengths and provide an analysis of those strengths. He also offers practical innovations, tips, and techniques for using each strength to help people find an edge and win at work. According to Buckingham: Everyone has their own brand of genius. People may not always be aware of their true strengths, but becoming aware of them can open the door to great personal power. Of the thousands of personal talents that exist, the StandOut assessment distills them into nine main categories: Advisor, Connector, Creator, Equalizer, Influencer, Pioneer, Provider, Stimulator, and Teacher.Individuals top two categories combined can be used to identify their unique strengths and to predict and improve performance. Innovative practices that work in one setting will not always work in another setting unless the person implementing the practices has the same strengths as the one who created the practice. Genius is very precise. When people operate in their "strength zones," they can learn, understand, and act faster and better than most people. However, once they shift out of their genius zones, performance declines quickly. People should consciously apply their particular genius to everyday situations. By doing this, they can operate at peak levels and avoid accepting new roles that are too far outside their comfort zones. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Strengths Finder 2.0, Go Put Your Strengths to Work, Work Your Strengths

In his book When Teams Collide, cross-cultural expert Richard D. Lewis offers pragmatic advice for assembling, blending, and strengthening international teams. An advocate for the frank discussion of the differing attitudes and values of different cultures, Lewis presents a guide to building and caring for these teams. Millions of these international teams will exist in the 21st century, and each of these teams needs to be capable of making decisions quickly while also striving to break new ground. When a team of international minds has a complementary skill set, members of that team can become key figures in the company as a whole. Lewis offers the following advice to readers: There are three main types of cultures: linear-active, multi-active, and reactive. Linear-active cultures are task-oriented and organized. Multi-active cultures tend to be emotional and impulsive. Reactive cultures feature good listeners who rarely initiate action, preferring to listen and then formulate an opinion. Teams must be organized from the outset. National strengths, weaknesses, and taboos must be considered. The team must share a lingua franca, or common language. Each language has its own benefits and limitations, with English, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, and French being common choices. The leader of an international team must be selected carefully. However, in the end, good leaders are defined by personality, not by their passports. Cultural differences and taboos among team members should be acknowledged right away. Openness promotes synergy. Humor is a powerful tool in a manager’s arsenal. When a team develops its own humor style, it signifies that it has "come of age." A decision-making process must be clarified to keep the team running smoothly. There must be a system to break deadlocks. Ethics may vary from culture to culture, but behaving ethically is important in all cultures. Be aware of potential gray areas. Building trust takes time. Trust often has to be earned, though it can occur spontaneously among countrymen. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Team Turnarounds, The Secret of Teams, Collaborate!

It seems that corporate and government secrets are being leaked with more frequency in recent history than ever before. Today, it was revealed that Edward Snowden, a former Booz Allen Hamilton employee, was the source of the leak concerning the NSA’s broad and, some would say, overreaching surveillance program. He is currently residing in Hong Kong in an attempt to escape prosecution by the Justice Department. The uptick in leaks such as these may be due in part to easier access to distribution channels via the Internet and a growing public demand for transparency and accountability in government agencies and companies alike. While the reasons behind such leaks and whistleblowing efforts are often tied to an individual’s personal ethics, it is much harder to understand the conflict involved in the decision to leak information to the public. That decision often has serious and far-flung consequences for the whistleblower and his or her family. For example, Army private Bradley Manning, who leaked hundreds of thousands of pages of classified documents to website WikiLeaks, was arrested and jailed in May of 2010 and is currently in the process of being court-martialed. Edward Snowden could face extradition and be brought back to the U.S. for trial. On the corporate front, whisteblowers such as Mark Whitacre (Archer Daniels Midland, 1992), and Jeffrey Wigand (Brown & Williamson, 1996) face financial and violent threats, the fear of being blacklisted, and, in some cases, prison time. Karen Silkwood, who uncovered health and safety issues surrounding the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site in Oklahoma, was killed in a suspicious car accident on her way to meet with a New York Times reporter about what she had uncovered. Because they face such potentially devastating consequences, corporate whistleblowers must carefully consider their decision to release sensitive information, weighing their moral and ethical obligations against their own personal wellbeing. In their book, The Corporate Whistleblower’s Survival Guide, Tom Devine and Tarek F. Maassarani provide advice for employees considering whistleblowing and how they should handle themselves: Before an employee challenges a company, that employee must understand how large organizations operate and how corporate bureaucracies react to troublemakers. A prospective corporate whistleblower must be certain of what the objective is. Objectives may include being a good citizen, the desire to protect the public from a dangerous hazard, or compensation for damages. When hiring an attorney, the attorney’s motivation for taking the case should be aligned with the whistleblower’s ultimate objective, be it protecting the public from a hazard or winning compensatory damages. It is essential to examine and research the best channels for disclosure of information. Channels may include corporate management, hotlines, advocacy groups, public government agencies, law enforcement, government representatives, or the media. Successful whistleblowing hinges more on relationships than on formal legal rights or resources. Relationships are as significant as the quality of the evidence and the efficacy of the strategy. Advocacy organizations can be vital partners for whistleblowers, since these organizations can provide advice, research, and connections.

When individuals think or do something they would not ordinarily think or do, they have been influenced. Although, the heart of any traditional Marketing and Public Relations (PR) effort is to influence an intended stakeholder, it has always been an imprecise method with nonlinear results. Now, with the advent of innovative and evolving technologies, organizations can center influence at the core of their corporate strategies using an elegant Six Influence Flows framework. As Philip Sheldrake explains in his book The Business of Influence, this framework involves identifying an organization’s stakeholders’ influence with each other with respect to both the organization and its competitors. Applying the Six Influence Flows via the Influence Scorecard, an extension of Kaplan Norton’s business performance management system’s Balanced Scorecard, maps influence objectives throughout an organization’s corporate strategy. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Elements of Influence, Increase Your Influence at Work, The Secret Language of Influence

There’s a lot more to selling — whether it’s oneself, a product, or a service — than most people would imagine, according to Kevin Hogan. Of course, there’s the message, but that is secondary to other factors, including the where, when, and who in any given situation. Each of these elements carries subtle, subliminal clues that can mean the difference between getting a "yes" or a "no." In Invisible Influence, Hogan uses scientific studies to reveal unique approaches to influence, beginning with overcoming "reactance," which he defines as "resistance to influence." From that starting point, Hogan presents 52 techniques for influencing people to sell, market, and communicate more effectively and profitably. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The Business of Influence, The Influence Game, 10 Steps to Successful Sales

Making Extraordinary Things Happen in Asia showcases how The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership formulated from research conducted by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner are being applied by Asian executives to transform how people work to generate great results. Real-life stories are shared about personal leadership practices from senior managers, many enrolled in the Executive MBA program at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The emphasis is on how leaders set inspiring examples through their own behaviors and relationships with colleagues, employees, team members, and other constituents. The five exemplary practices are modeling the way with clear values, inspiring others with a shared vision, continually challenging existing processes to discover new opportunities, empowering others to act, and encouraging the heart through genuine appreciation of the work of others. The authors inform readers that: Each individual can be a leader and make a difference by modeling exemplary behavior based on values and developing strong relationships with constituents within an organization in order to make things happen. Leadership can be learned because it manifests as an observable pattern of practices and behaviors and a definite set of skills and abilities. The five practices of exemplary leadership are modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging existing processes, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart. Lead by the example of exemplary behaviors to show deep commitment to shared values. Commitment from others cannot be forced through command but must come from inspiring others to enlist in a common vision. Exemplary leaders search for opportunities to innovate, grow, and improve; they continually learn from failures and successes. Leaders must foster collaboration and build trust by strengthening others. When people have the information, discretion, and authority to make extraordinary things happen, they will. Exemplary leaders demonstrate genuine appreciation for individual excellence and seek to create a culture that celebrates values and victories. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The New Asian Hemisphere, China’s Management Revolution, China Versus the West

The purpose of Stop Complainers and Energy Drainers is to teach people how to spot a complainer and fix the problem quickly. Complainers and energy drainers in the workplace can have strong negative effects on a company through lost work, loss of good employees due to an unhealthy work environment, and damage to a company’s reputation. Complainers inhibit innovation and growth in companies while negatively affecting daily productivity. Linda Swindling attempts to help readers identify the types of complainers they are dealing with, understand the reasons for their behavior, and learn strategies and solutions to deal with them. The options, strategies, and solutions provided can help turn chronic complainers into chronic contributors and let everyone get back to work. Swindling offers the following advice to readers: Every complainer has their own motivations for behaving the way they do. Understanding their reality versus their outward reactions is key to helping them change their own behavior. Workplace productivity can suffer from energy drains. Energy drains come in many forms including: technology and software that is complicated or not understood by its users; bottlenecks; too much work for a given timeframe; misaligned values between the company and workers; and depressing work environments. Not all complaining is counterproductive. Constructive complaining can be beneficial to a company’s growth. Changing chronic complainers into chronic contributors can go far to improving a company’s morale, promoting effective communication, and increasing productivity. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Make Difficult People Disappear, Three Signs of a Miserable Job, Engagement Is Not Enough

In Reinventing Management, Julian Birkinshaw offers alternative counterpoints to replace the traditional ways people approach management and business. Arguing that management "failed" after years of corruption and employee disenchantment, Birkinshaw presents compelling arguments for how management can be improved and updated for a new era of business. With a fresh perspective on management issues, such as communication, coordination, setting objectives, and motivating employees, Birkinshaw offers decision makers and corporate influencers an actionable guide for reinventing and reinvigorating management at companies both large and small. Birkinshaw offers readers the following advice: Management is defined as the act of getting people together in order to accomplish certain goals and objectives. However, that definition has become corrupted over the years, narrowing the scope of what management should be. An enduring source of competitive advantage for companies is a novel business model. In addition, a novel management model can also keep a company strong. The traditional way for coordinating work in a large company is bureaucracy, which is a more formalized structure. Alternatively, a company can use emergence to coordinate work. Emergence is spontaneous, and work is accomplished by parties working together as a matter of self-interest. The traditional path for making and communicating decisions in a large organization is via hierarchy. The alternative path is collective wisdom, where aggregated expertise is valued more highly than the advice of one leader. The traditional principle for goal setting in large companies is alignment, where all employees work toward a common goal. The alternative is obliquity, the idea that goals are best achieved when worked toward indirectly. Traditionally, extrinsic motivators like money or threat of punishment were used to incentivize workers. The better alternative is intrinsic motivation, by which employers motivate workers with rewards that are inherent to the task itself. There are four main models of management: Discovery, Planning, Quest, and Science. Selecting the right model is important for managers looking to improve their organizations. Management model innovation is usually driven by three sets of people. These are mid-level change agents, top-level executives, and external partners, such as academics or consultants. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Full Engagement!, Bare Knuckle People Management, Managing for People Who Hate Managing