Studies show that the majority of workers to be disengaged from their work and their organizations. To truly engage employees, Dan Pontefract believes companies need to adopt a "Flat Army Philosophy." In his book Flat Army, Pontefract argues that leaders need to surrender command and control in favor of a more open and inclusive style of leadership. When they seek out authentic connections with their teams and come to understand work as an important but not existential endeavor, these leaders become truly connected and therefore profoundly effective. Such connected leaders make ample use of social media and other technologies to deepen connections across their organizations. The result is a self-generating, perpetually learning, dynamically balanced enterprise that is a pleasure both to lead and to work for. According to Pontefract: Employees are generally disengaged from the work they do and the organizations for which they do it. Work disengagement springs from the traditional hierarchical style of management that views workers as the "brawn" to managements "brains." The historical roots of employee disengagement stem from the British charter companies of the 16th century, the European armies of the 18th century, and the Scientific Management ideas that shaped American companies in the late 19th century. "Connected leaders" break down traditional hierarchy in favor of a flat organizational structure. They treat employees as complete human beings and connections are encouraged across all levels and work areas. The connected leader trusts their employees, involves and empowers them, empathizes with them, and helps them develop their careers. A key aspect of all of these traits is consistent and open communications with all team members. The traits of the connected leader begin as behaviors that they must practice and exercise daily until they are habit. Eventually, the connected leader moves beyond merely practicing these attributes to truly living them. Participative leadership requires continual, authentic, and reciprocal interactions with team members and the leader’s wider internal and external network. Education is a key component of the Participative Leader Framework and must be practiced consciously and formally. The "Action Model" for the collaborative, or connected-participative, leader begins with connecting to all stakeholders and weighing their input. Next, the model calls for the leader to communicate a plan of action to all stakeholders, and then become immersed in executing that plan. The leader confirms with stakeholders that they are satisfied with the result and then congratulates all involved by focusing on the behaviors they brought to the project to make it successful. To truly benefit from the Flat Army philosophy, one must embrace Web 2.0 technologies for conversation, education, and network presence. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The Employee Engagement Mindset, The Enemy of Engagement, The Connect Effect

Warren Buffett Invests Like a Girl is a book for investors about investing. It is a book about harnessing emotions and personality to increase investment returns to levels that can lead individuals to financial freedom. Author LouAnn Lofton offers up a case study of investor Warren Buffett that demonstrates how Buffett’s feminine temperament has allowed him to parlay the small investments he made as a teenager into the greatest investment portfolio in human history. In her book, Lofton explains to readers that: What truly defines Warren Buffett, makes him the investor he is today, and separates him from everyone else is his remarkable temperament. Smart investors should embrace feminine influences. Female investors are more willing than men to admit that they do not know everything. They learn from their mistakes, trade less, and take less risk. They are less optimistic and more realistic than their male counterparts and put more time and effort into researching investments. Being a successful investor requires patience and taking the long view. It also helps to remember that investing means buying a piece of an actual business; buy a stock, buy a business. Investors should invest in companies they understand and learn what their own circles of competence are and stick to them: "buy what you know." Smart investors insist on appropriate margins of safety, avoid debt, and when investing overseas, they do their homework. Investors should not get excited by market swings to the upside or devastated by market drops. To become better investors people must do their research, and avoid confirmation bias by actively seeking out information that contradicts their conclusions, not only information that reinforces them. Investors must value people, cultivate relationships, and recognize that a business is only as strong as the people running it. Smart investors look for companies with smart, open, loyal, and fair executives who can be admired and put people before profit. The learning never stops, so investors must keep studying and learn from the masters, but they must not hesitate to question them. Ethics in business is important. People can be good and rich; one does not preclude the other. Compound interest is a miraculous thing; investors can take advantage of its full power by giving their investments time to grow. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The Most Important Thing, Reading Minds and Markets, The Snowball

If finches can adapt to their changing environment, so can workers at all levels, according to Nacie Carson’s The Finch Effect, a career guide that takes its title and premise from Charles Darwin’s work on evolution and his theory of "survival of the fittest." Carson encourages readers to accept the post-recession economic environment and thrive in it rather than wait for a return to "normal" while ignoring the portents of career extinction. Applying Darwin’s theory to the professional world, Carson offers a set of strategies for taking charge of one’s own career design, self-branding, and skills development—the essential elements that propel the Fittest to the top of the work food chain. According to Carson: "The Finch Effect" suggests that people who are willing to adapt to changes in the career marketplace are the "Fittest," and therefore most likely to succeed. The concept is based on the work of Charles Darwin, known for his theory of evolution and book On the Origin of Species. Darwin observed that finches in the Galapagos Islands adapted within only a few generations to changes in their food sources. He credited the finches’ very survival to their ability to change. While it was once expected that employees would spend their entire lives working their way up the nine-to-five corporate ladder, economic forces have forced companies to turn to part-time and contract workers. Rather than wait for the traditional job market to return to "normal" the Fittest are adapting to the new paradigm. This is called "the gig mindset." Individuals should market themselves by creating an "adaptive professional brand" (APB). This is a tool that elucidates people’s skills, expertise, and the other factors that set job candidates apart from their competition. The Fittest are the ones who take charge of their careers and recognize that professional power and stability comes from individuals, not the companies that employ them. Even the very best, highly differentiated candidates do not get noticed without some effort. Each job seeker should create a "tagline" that encapsulates his or her brand in a single, short phrase. Job seekers should create two-minute "elevator" pitches as well as 15-minute versions that answer the questions "What is your story?" and "Why you?" and adapt these messages for use on social media sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. People should be careful to "clean up" personal posts and photographs that may not be appropriate for the eyes of prospective hiring managers and clients. People can — and should — act as entrepreneurs whether they are working for themselves or a company. This means approaching work with a spirit of ownership and taking initiative, rather than simply taking direction from others. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Disaster Proof Your Career, Career Contentment, Change Your Questions, Change Your Life

On September 26th, EBSCO Publishing’s Jerry Eonta will be joining Saul Carliner, author of Informal Learning Basics, to present a webinar on informal learning. The webinar will be hosted by the Human Capital Institute. Informal learning can represent as much as 70 percent of workplace learning. During this webinar, the presenters will seek to answer the following questions: What is informal learning? What forms can it take? When can it make a difference in workplace performance and when might it actually detract from it? Should you divert resources from formal training to facilitate it?  And how do you evaluate it? To participate in the webinar, just click the link below and register. http://www.hci.org/lib/informal-learning-basics

EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) received a prestigious Learning In Practice Award from Chief Learning Officer magazine. The company was awarded the Bronze Excellence in Content Award for its accomplishments in creating superior learning content. This is the second year in a row that EBSCO has received this recognition. The 2013 Learning In Practice Awards were announced at special awards ceremonies during the Fall 2013 Chief Learning Officer Symposium in Palm Springs, Calif., which attracted more than 300 top corporate learning executives from around the world to discuss long-term learning strategies for creating and sustaining high performance. Tad Goltra, vice president of product management, says "We are honored with this recognition as a winner in the Excellence in Content category. EBSCO strives to support organizational effectiveness by providing best practices content from industry thought leaders, including journal articles, eBooks, book summaries, and videos. When mapped to customers’ key competencies, we provide a unique, on-demand solution that supports and sustains formal and informal learning programs." "The Learning In Practice Awards were established to recognize transformational and visionary leaders in enterprise education," said Norm Kamikow, president and editor-in-chief of the Human Capital Media Group. "More than 200 top learning executives and solution providers were nominated by their peers in 15 categories. These finalists are the industry leaders who truly champion innovation and transform it into learning and value for their organizations." To learn more, please visit www.ebscohost.com/newsroom.

In The New Workforce Challenge, Andrés Hatum aims to help companies meet the challenge of absorbing the technologically savvy millennial generation into the workforce at the very time that organizations are changing faster than ever before in response to the turbulence they face worldwide. Hatum examines how firms are organizing for the future, the impact of the new organizational forms on the workplace, and the practices that firms are putting into place to attract, develop, and retain the new generation of workers. Hatum believes that the workplace and workforce need to be analyzed together in order to present the big picture. By shedding light on recent changes that organizations have gone through and likely changes to come in the future, companies can better understand how to manage the new workforce. In his book, Hatum informs readers that: Successful firms are adaptable and innovative; they combine changes in structure, such as decentralization, delayering, and project forms of organizing; processes, such as horizontal communication, investments in information technology, and new human resource (HR) practices; and firm boundaries, such as downscoping, outsourcing, and greater use of strategic alliances. Agile and virtual firms will shape the marketplace and at the same time will influence and be influenced by the new workforce. Heterogeneity and diversity characterize the new workforce and have replaced the previously homogeneous workforce. Millennials, the generation born between 1979 and 1997, value work-life integration and a flexible workplace. There are four main values that drive Millennials: multitasking, desire to integrate work and personal life, concern for society and the environment, and access to technology. Companies’ are relying less on their brands to attract and retain employees and more on their Employee Value Propositions (EVPs), which consist of the features that allow companies to promote themselves outwardly and generate loyalty internally. Millennial learning characteristics can be described with the acronym EPIC, which stands for: Experiential, Participatory, Image-rich, and Connected. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Keeping the Millennials, Managing the Millennials, The Trophy Kids Grow Up

Change is endemic in the modern corporate setting, and employees who are continually learning are better equipped to evolve with this change. In Managers as Mentors, Chip R. Bell and Marshall Goldsmith present a mentoring guide that assists managers in taking on coaching roles to enhance the skills and abilities of associates. The authors emphasize that protégés are meant to develop into confident individuals who assume greater roles, and that the mentor/protégé connection is a partnership in which both parties gain valuable insights throughout the process. Managers as Mentors explores the full range of mentoring, from creating empathy, sharing knowledge, and effective listening to stimulating curiosity, assessing performance, and letting the protégé independently exercise newly-mastered skills. According to the authors: The best mentors recognize that their relationships are based on mutual interests, interdependence, and respect. The communication between mentor and protégé must be honest, straightforward, and open. Protégés learn best when they are tutored in an atmosphere of trust and acceptance. Some may bring anxiety to the relationship, and this is a learning barrier because it suppresses risk taking. The mentor must overcome this by building rapport to a level where the protégé is willing to take rational risks. A motivated protégé is one who will learn. Learners are better prepared psychologically if they accept the "why" of learning before they hear the "what" and the "how." Communication without judgment is essential to mentoring. Mentors should express themselves to protégés in terms of acceptance and affirmation in order to eliminate protégé defensiveness and encourage freer expression. Mentors must remember that discussions are opportunities to augment their learning, not lecture. Good mentors yield the pulpit as much as possible to allow their protégés to think for themselves. Listening is essential to mentoring. Mentors should give undivided attention to their protégés, deny distractions, and make their protégés the absolute focus of their energies. This fosters greater understanding by ensuring that communication between the two parties becomes the foundation of intellectual linkage. A certain level of dependency is unavoidable in the mentor/protégé relationship, but it can be harmful if permitted to become too influential. To avoid hindering growth and development, alternative routes to learning must be explored. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Monday Morning Leadership, Power Mentoring, The Complete Guide to Mentoring  

In an increasingly complex world, decision making has become a Herculean task for today’s leaders. There is a growing tendency for leaders to prolong and even avoid making hard decisions. This lack of decisiveness is problematic because it translates into an absence of action and makes a leader ineffective. In The Proactive Leader, David De Cremer examines this trend from a behavioral perspective. He explains both what spurs people to make decisions and what prevents them from taking action, or procrastinating. This book will assist leaders in understanding their own decision-making processes and help them make decisions that are more in line with their values. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Make Up Your Mind, Think Fast!, The Deciding Factor

Social media has become a mainstream marketing tool must for any business that wants to succeed in today’s competitive environment. Pinterest, a social media tool centered on creating and sharing collections of digital images by "pinning" them to digital bulletin boards, is rapidly joining Facebook and Twitter as an essential avenue for reaching and appealing to customers. In Pinfluence, social media guru, blogger, and Pinterest expert Beth Hayden provides a step-by-step method for business professionals to engage customers and grow their businesses by leveraging the power of Pinterest. According to Hayden: For an ever-increasing group of savvy business owners, Pinterest is a must-have component of their marketing strategies. Pinterest is easy to use, has emotional appeal, and is a great way to drive traffic to a business’s website and increase sales. The number of businesses that are using Pinterest is increasing rapidly. Pinterest should not be used "standalone," without strategic intent. For the best results, Pinterest must be strategically positioned within a broader marketing strategy and work in an integrated way with other social media channels to appeal to defined target audiences. Combining images and words has the most impact. Pinterest provides both. Descriptions that accompany pins can be as important as the images themselves, capturing the viewer’s attention and creating a personal connection. Descriptions provide the opportunity to inject honesty and humor, which can help build trust and deepen relationships. Pinterest is all about creating connections. Growing a following is just as important as choosing what content to pin to the boards. Pinterest has several built-in connection tools for drawing in new followers. All efforts to build a following should be centered on attracting the pre-defined ideal client. Pinterest pins must add value for followers, not sell to them. While Pinterest as a business tool is intended to drive increased profits, it should be implemented in a way that brings value to customers, either in terms of solving a problem or entertaining them. It should not be used to sell them something. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Likeable Social Media, Going Social, Engagement Marketing

Politics exist in organizations of all sizes. This is because people by their very nature are political animals that constantly engage in power-seeking behavior. When not fully understood, the politics at play in professional relationships can prevent a person from achieving success. In The Office Politics Handbook, author and political scientist Jack Godwin, PhD, examines the role power and politics play in all social relationships. Through an exploration of political theory and examples of eight different politically powerful archetypes, Godwin offers readers tools to gain more power in their lives and greater participation in decision making on personal and professional scales. Despite the fact that politics are an intrinsic part of human nature, most people do not know how to navigate the politics of their personal and professional relationships. It is only when people learn the true nature of interpersonal politics, or "micropolitics," that they can acquire more power and success in their lives. Godwin offers the following insights on micropolitics: People are political animals, therefore politics exist anywhere people are present. Politics is about power. Politics exist in any social relationship that facilitates the control of one human over another. Politics is a social affair rooted in human nature. Those who master micropolitics, or politics on the most basic and interpersonal level, do so by pushing their sense of objectivity outward into social space, and downward into their primitive human nature. The "political mystique" is composed of the acquisition of power and the distribution of power. To better understand how power is acquisitioned and distributed, it is necessary to break micropolitics into its most basic components: political structures, power instruments, and complex systems. In order for people to master micropolitics, they must first journey inward. For people to be able to gain more power in their personal and professional relationships, they must first get in touch with their inner political animals. By putting forth a political persona, people protect themselves and make better strategic decisions. Political personas are masks, or the strategic way people present themselves to the world that can be used to conceal a person’s vulnerabilities, such as their motives and interests. By mastering the eight "Gods of micropolitics" a person can learn how to win people over in any personal or professional situation. The "Gods of micropolitics" are archetypes that represent the different ways people can use power and protect themselves against an adversary. Everyone must assign themselves their own roles in life. Many people are assigned roles in life that have little significance. People must act on the foundation of freedom that is accessible to all humans to assign their own roles in life and work humbly toward fulfilling this goal. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The Drama-Free Office, The Blame Game, Outsiders on the Inside

We are proud to announce that Business Book Summaries is now the exclusive provider of Harvard Business School book summaries. The Harvard Business School is one of the most respected business schools in the world, and Harvard Business School Publishing produces some of the most influential business books today. Harvard summaries are now available to full subscribers. Going forward, we will continually add summaries of new and classic Harvard titles to our catalogue. To see our current list of Harvard titles, just click here!

In a recent Harvard Business Review blog post, executive coach Harrison Monarth argues that removing job titles at a company doesn’t really make a difference when it comes to organizational power structures. Monarth points to research that suggests "people naturally strive to attain higher status in the form of admiration and respect from peers and those perceived to be more powerful … because status is as important to us as breathing." For companies striving to eliminate or reduce their organizational hierarchies, this would seem to present a dilemma. On the one hand, employees in a "flat" organizational structure have no real authority over others in the company, which has the benefit of breaking down silos, increasing collaboration, and speeding up decision making. On the other hand, if we are psychologically predisposed to creating hierarchies on our own, it is likely that these benefits may not be realized to the extent hoped for by companies. While there probably isn’t a clear solution to this problem, one way companies can realize more benefits from a "flatter" organization is by teaching employees how to influence and lead without formal authority. Doing so would better prepare employees to work in an environment with less structure and possibly prevent an organic or unofficial hierarchy from forming. Some great books on the subject include Results without Authority, Flat Army, and The Titleless Leader.

In today’s complex, global business landscape, continuous innovation is the key to establishing and maintaining competitive advantage, but it takes more than good ideas to create and win support for meaningful, ongoing change. Madge Meyer explains eight disciplines that are at the heart of effective innovation: Listen, Lead, Position, Promote, Connect, Commit, Execute, and Evolve. In The Innovator’s Path, Meyer provides practical strategies and proven techniques to unlock the power of these disciplines, delivering value to customers while creating a culture that welcomes experimentation and celebrates progress. Meyer’s  eight-discipline framework for facilitating and fueling innovation consists of the following actions: Listen. There is a major difference between simply hearing customers, coworkers, and other stakeholders, and actually listening to them. Individuals and companies have an advantage when they pay careful, respectful attention to what others have to say. Lead. A leader need not be a top executive or manager. Leaders at any level can inspire others to top performance with their vision, passion, personal integrity, and high expectations. Position. Innovation requires a clear vision for the future and a roadmap for achieving it. Developing this future orientation and strategic direction positions the organization to take advantage of new opportunities. Promote. Innovation leaders can never assume that others know or understand the importance of their work. They must continually communicate their ideas and accomplishments in terms of business value, like augmented savings or revenue. Connect. Establishing, nurturing, and maintaining a relationship between individuals and among teams is a key responsibility for every innovation leader. Commit. Individuals, teams, and organizations commit to innovation when they actively encourage new ideas and demonstrate a willingness to take calculated risks. Execute. Innovation teams and organizations should formalize processes, like change management reviews, that maximize value delivery while minimizing risks. Evolve. In innovative cultures, individuals and teams are encouraged to continually reexamine solutions. They are challenged to do better — and rewarded accordingly. Ultimately, this approach instills the idea of "innovation-as-usual." To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The Architecture of Innovation, Innovation Engine, Getting Innovation Right

Today’s business professionals are busier than ever before, and this can lead to a decrease in independent learning and knowledge acquisition. How can companies do a better job at helping their employees access, understand, and apply information? How should they go about designing content to help employees perform better on the job? These questions and more will be answered on Wednesday, February 12th during a free webinar sponsored by EBSCO. In his webinar "Learn Better and Faster: Helping On-Demand Learners in an On-Demand Era," Ray Jimenez, chief learning architect at Vignettes Learning, will present on the topic of on-demand learning and how companies can better help employees with their continuous learning needs. To register, visit: http://www.trainingmagnetwork.com/welcome/ebsco_feb12  

In Becoming a Resonant Leader, Annie McKee, Richard Boyatzis, and Frances Johnston describe how the most capable leaders have resonance, the ability to employ emotions effectively to achieve success while remaining attuned to the feelings and perceptions of others. Intellectual and technical knowledge are critical to effective leadership, but leaders’ abilities to manage themselves and connect with others are even more important. This is why emotional intelligence facilities like self-awareness and empathy are so valuable in relating to and communicating with others. The most effective leaders exude optimism and hope—feelings that are easily transmitted to others. Subordinates are quite aware and receptive to these positive sentiments and respond in kind, becoming more energetic and productive in the process. According to the authors: Resonant leaders have an accurate sense of themselves. This includes clear insights about what they are good at, what is difficult for them, and what they need to learn to achieve their optimum performance. The best leaders possess strong social and emotional intelligence. This means that they are able to manage themselves and connect effectively with others. People are constantly assessing their leaders and trying to understand them. This is why it is important for leaders to be aware of changing emotional realities in their groups and relationships. Good leaders are not necessarily those that appear impervious to stress. Good leaders reevaluate themselves periodically and undergo renewal in order to address their tasks with greater skill and energy. Resonant leadership requires a solid understanding of how social systems and the people who occupy them have to work together to achieve complex objectives. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Put Emotional Intelligence to Work, Leading with Emotional Intelligence, Social Intelligence

Peter Drucker is often considered to be the "father of modern management." For decades, the great business thinker produced dozens of books, articles, and lectures providing groundbreaking insight on leadership and organizational success. In The Practical Drucker, William H. Cohen distills the wisdom from the vast body of Drucker’s work into 40 succinct truths. Cohen provides readers with the necessary guidelines and examples to use these 40 truths to solve people, management, marketing, innovation, and organizational problems. Peter Drucker’s work has played an essential role in shaping modern management. While many leaders wish to integrate more of Drucker’s wisdom into their performances, it is difficult to know where to start. William H. Cohen extracted the following practical touch-points from Drucker’s extensive work: The responsibility of a leader is to protect and inspire others. Drucker believed that it was a leader’s ethical duty to keep others from harm and that an organization’s success comes from a leader’s ability to inspire and encourage employees. People have no limits. Drucker felt that all people have the potential for success as long as they work hard at developing themselves. Avoid doing what generated success in the past to achieve success in the future. When organizations hold on to the old products and business tactics that once made them successful, they are unable to evolve with the changing times, and will eventually fail. Good management requires leaders to take problems head on. Whether it is office politics or a pending organization-wide crisis, Drucker recommended that managers identify every problem they are faced with and take positive action immediately. Only irrational marketers believe there are irrational customers. Drucker argued that marketers who label their customers as "irrational" because of their purchasing decisions do not understand what their customers value. Some of the best innovation comes from "unexpected" circumstances. Drucker believed that strange events and trends were some of the best places for organizations to find innovation opportunities. The purpose of a business is not to make a profit. Too many organizations focus on profit when they should be focusing on the true purpose of the business, which Drucker argued was to create customers. The two most important organizational functions are marketing and innovation. Organizations must always be creating new products that customers actually want to buy. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The Work of Leaders, The Crucibles of Leadership, Why Should Anyone Be Led by You?

In Rapid Realignment, George Labovitz and Victor Rosansky chart the path to optimal organizational performance by integrating key processes, staff, customers, and strategies to serve the primary purpose of an enterprise—increasing stakeholder value. Alignment is the result of this integration, and organizations that achieve it succeed by focusing their people and resources on providing optimal customer satisfaction. In aligned organizations, employees at every level understand the business’s goals and strategies and know how their efforts advance them. Their clear understanding of customer needs enables the constant improvement of products and services that win and maintain customer loyalty. This adjustment, or rapid realignment, is a necessity in a global economy in which swiftly changing conditions and demands can pose serious challenges to an organization’s survival. According to Labovitz and Rosansky: To support an organization’s primary purpose, its staff, strategy, customers, and processes must be aligned. This alignment requires clear communication, complete understanding of its objectives, and the commitment of all involved in the process. When external forces or events cause misalignment and reduces effectiveness, rapid realignment is essential to ensure continued success. The alignment framework is made up of four elements — strategy, people, processes, and customers. Strategies will change as requirements change, and when they do they must be rapidly deployed. Core processes that serve customers must continually undergo improvement. Vertical alignment is achieved when employees can articulate the organization’s strategy and explain how their work supports it. This understanding is what boosts the deployment of new strategies. Horizontal alignment is achieved when the communication barriers that separate employees from customers are removed. This means that employees understand customer needs and are committed to improving service. Every organization must have a Main Thing — a meaningful description of what it wants to accomplish. It must be a common and unifying concept to which every unit can make a contribution. Social media is an excellent means for fostering trust and bringing people together to advance both the Main Thing and management’s plans for achieving it. It facilitates employee communication with management and enables employees to ask questions that get answers. To effectively change their cultures, organizations must determine the behaviors that will best implement their strategies and meet customer needs, as well as ensure that attitudes and values are aligned with their Main Things. To effectively change behaviors, new strategies must be explained repeatedly. Employees must be able to comprehend how their participation will ensure the strategies’ success and how their contributions will be valued. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Wiki Management, HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done, Business at the Speed of Now

In Leadership 2030, Georg Vielmetter and Yvonne Sell provide a road map of the broad trends that are reshaping markets, cultures, and companies. Based on research with the Hay Group, a global management consultancy, they offer insights into six megatrends: the shift of economic power to Asia, the escalating war for talent, environmental crisis, eroding customer and employee loyalty, the melding of private and working lives, and technological convergence. The authors show how these self-reinforcing trends demand enlightened leadership with the skills to engage an ever-widening circle of stakeholders. Gone are the days of the egocentric, alpha-male leadership. To survive the megatrend storm leaders will have to provide workers with greater autonomy while finding ways to respond to the unique needs of every customer. Six big changes are afoot that will reshape the demands of leadership going forward: Globalization in the future will be more about power shifting to Asia than it has been in the past. The growing middle class in many developing nations will create new opportunities, but also challenges as multinationals try to serve highly localized markets. Climate change will drive resource scarcity, forcing leaders to fundamentally rethink their operations. Rising affluence will drive demand for customized products. Just as consumers seek out more individualized experiences, so too will employees whose work need not be restricted by time and place. The digital era will shift power to consumers and workers, away from traditional management structures. Already, the digital world is blurring the line between personal and professional lives, while increasing organizational transparency. The aging population will shrink the workforce and require leaders to cope with intergenerational workplaces. Several cutting-edge technologies will converge to open new markets. Nanotechnology and biotechnology especially will challenge leadership to invest in R&D programs and to respond effectively to societal worries. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Leaders Make the Future, Leading from the Emerging Future, The Work of Leaders  

The process of selling has transformed dramatically with the advent of social media, and customers are abandoning traditional purchasing influences in favor of online digital marketing stimuli. This means that businesses that want new customers will have to devote some skillful efforts to reaching them through social media channels. In The Art of Social Selling, Shannon Belew describes how to use social media to enhance marketing and sales success. She emphasizes that social selling success comes from building relationships via social networking sites, blogs, and online communities, as well as through the professional use of practical sales strategies tailored to the specifics of the different platforms.  Success in social selling will come to those who understand the following: Social sellers need to maintain positive personae online. This means being genuine and sincere, listening carefully, and responding to customer or prospect concerns. Engaging with sales prospects will require increasing levels of mobility. The number of people using mobile devices to view information and interact on social networking sites is growing constantly, providing tremendous marketing and sales opportunities. Social selling is based on relationship building. This means establishing trust and offering value to develop mutually beneficial relationships. A salesperson on a social media site needs to be viewed as a go-to resource. This means that a salesperson who is active in a forum, group, or other community must contribute and engage frequently to become a trusted influencer. Social selling efforts should be targeted carefully. Indiscriminately spreading a message over all the top social networking sites is impractical. It is better to look to those few sites where prospects spend the most time and will be most likely to see the message. Social indicators are highly useful in identifying and reaching potential customers. These indicators are the items of information found on social networking channels, blogs, forums, and groups that give clear signs that a person needs a product or is curious about it. A valuable component of effective social selling strategy is the establishment of a schedule of social media posts that will invite conversations. This is best done by creating a calendar that sets out what, when, and where the user will post content or conversation starters. Social selling requires teamwork. This means that customer service, marketing, and sales teams must fully understand their responsibilities and work together. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: Do It! Marketing, Content to Commerce, The Mobile Marketing Revolution

Great managers are those who first effectively manage themselves. Self-awareness, introspection, and thoughtful planning and action in all aspects of life are what enable a manager to effectively lead others. HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Managing Yourself invites managers to take a "critical look in the mirror" in their quests for professional success and personal fulfillment. Only then can managers take deliberate steps to manage their lives to maximize their talents, make contributions in everything they do, and become inspirational leaders and better human beings. The ultimate goal in managing oneself is to make a valuable contribution to the world while creating a life of purpose and fulfillment. Managers who manage themselves first: Deliberately choose a life path: A purposeful life is created first through introspection and next by using basic business model fundamentals. Know themselves well: Success comes from knowing one’s strengths, personal styles, and values and then applying them where they can make the greatest contribution. Know when to say "yes" and when to say "no:" Managers’ time is often unnecessarily taken up by responsibilities that belong to their subordinates. By knowing how to redirect requests for help back to subordinates, managers can greatly increase their discretionary time. Develop resilience: Resilience is increasingly a core competency in the corporate world. Resilient people accept the realities of life, are driven by meaningfulness, and are great at improvising. Manage their energy: Having consistent energy, rather than more time, is the key to effectiveness. Practice Total Leadership: People are at their best and feel most fulfilled when they are performing well in all aspects of their lives: work, home, community, and self. "Own" their jobs: Owning one’s job comes through effectively managing demands, generating resources, and recognizing and exploiting alternatives. Know how to tap the "fundamental state of leadership:" The "fundamental state of leadership" is a psychological condition in which managers are at their best-drawing on their own capabilities and values to lead in a compelling way. Continually self-assess: Even the best managers make mistakes and lose sight of their paths. Self-assessment and changes in behavior can put an off-track manager back on track. Possess emotional intelligence: Managers who understand and leverage the emotional component in the workplace model the behavior they want to see and treat people as whole beings. To download three free summaries, please visit our site. Related book summaries in the BBS library: The Charge, Reinventing You, All In

With the American economy still recovering from the recent recession, many people feel trapped in unstable employment with shrinking prospects. The search for financial security and deeper meaning has created a rising interest in side-gigging, the practice of developing second ventures in addition to regular employment. With the Internet, social media, and digital solutions creating new and varied opportunities to connect with potential clients around the globe, side-giggers are living in a golden age of low costs, high potential, and incredible impact. In The Economy of You, Kimberly Palmer explores the phenomenon of side-gigging by analyzing its popularity and demonstrating its vast appeal and potential for success. Weaving her own personal story together with the testimonies of other passionate side-giggers, Palmer offers a roadmap to building a successful side venture and taking control of "the economy of you." Palmer presents several tips and tricks to unravel the mystery of a successful side-gig, including: Giving a compelling reason for creating a side-gig. Many successful side-giggers have a single event, experience, or motivation that drives them toward alternate and additional employment. Having an overarching theme creates energy and clarity of focus. Having a plan. As with any major effort, plans are incredibly important for a potential side-gig. Palmer advocates breaking down the processes of creation, formation, and operation into small, manageable steps that follow logically after one another. Taking advantage of the wonders of technology to cut costs and raise funds. The Internet allows potential side-giggers to accomplish a lot for relatively little. Additionally, expanding the reach of an idea and tapping into different forums can create allies and uncover potential funding sources. Connecting with like-minded people. Allies are important, especially in the fluid and often confusing world of the side-gig. Palmer recommends that people establish connections and meaningful relationships with others who are engaged in the same pursuits and passions to channel inspiration and receive helpful advice. Building a brand. A powerful personal brand is a must for successful side-giggers. They must build strong reputations to better promote their side-gigs to wider audiences. Remembering that "time is money." Successful side-giggers balance the demands of multiple jobs and their family and personal lives by actively creating time for each activity. Waking up early, consolidating activities, and creating space in between scheduled events can greatly increase productivity. Keep trying. In a new and uncertain side-gig environment, failure is a rite of passage to greater experience and stability. The key to success in the side-gig economy lies in how proponents respond to failure. Giving back. Many side-giggers derive a great sense of satisfaction from hiring others like themselves or devoting their energies to social causes. Participating in meaningful activities creates a "ripple effect" of positive outcomes. To download three free summaries, please visit our site.

In A Culture of Purpose, Christoph Lueneburger relates how leadership today faces the complex task of building a culture of purpose to power organizations. Pursuing a purpose rooted in commercial success is one of the best ways to plant such a culture in a corporation. A company’s purpose should be bigger than the bottom line. Leadership needs to poses the right combination of competencies, including change leadership, influencing, and commercial drive. Hiring talent that has innate determination, insight, and curiosity will help spread the culture of purpose throughout the organization. Such a winning culture can be cultivated further by imbuing the company with energy, resilience, and openness. Lueneburger provides readers with the following advice: Leaders with a purpose sit at the core of any culture of purpose. They should be adept at change management, especially when first developing the foundation of a culture of purpose. They should also have the ability to influence others when initiatives begin. As purpose reaches all corners of the organization, leaders who have developed a strong commercial drive coupled with the practical skills to achieve measurable results become central. Hiring the right talent is the only way to perpetuate a culture of purpose over the long haul. Although employees can be helped to develop competence over time, they arrive with certain innate traits that are more or less useful in the journey toward a culture of purpose. Fortunately, candidates with the right traits are naturally drawn to companies pursuing cultures of purpose. Everyone in the organization should have innate curiosity, so all new hires should demonstrate this trait. With curiosity can come insight, or gut instincts that go beyond the data. Determined people are more difficult to manage, but determination is the trait that will help a company power through difficult stages in building a culture of purpose. A robust culture of purpose has energy, resilience, and openness. A common purpose provides initial energy while trust developed through honest and abundant communication ensures resilience. Openness to all stakeholder voices, including critics from the outside, will sustain the organization. Sustainability should not be a drag on commercial performance but a positive goal that imbues the culture of a company with energy and purpose. By moving sustainability from a distracting item on the margins to the very center of the corporate culture, leaders can build winning organizations that stand up to challenges and thrive. To download three free summaries, please visit our site.  

While increasing numbers of organizations are investing in social media technology, few are successfully using it to create value through mass collaboration. In The Social Organization, social media experts Anthony Bradley and Mark McDonald explain how firms can leverage these tools to innovate and solve problems faster and better than traditional companies. The authors provide frameworks and proven techniques that any manager can apply to rally people around a collective purpose; launch an effective collaborative environment; guide collaboration toward meaningful goals; and adapt internal culture and systems to support collaboration as it evolves and helps the organization outperform the competition. Social media can be used by any organization to enable mass collaboration. But "social organizations" are ahead of all others in ensuring that collaboration delivers value and creates a competitive edge. Becoming a social organization involves the following actions and priorities: At the heart of a social organization is not social media technology itself but the mass collaboration it enables. Mass collaborative efforts succeed by enlisting the interests, knowledge, talent, and experience of all stakeholders in pursuing shared goals and creating value. Social media efforts rarely succeed without management guidance and support. Too much management involvement can stifle collaboration, but too little creates significant risk that the initiative will lose its focus and its alignment with organizational strategy. Becoming a social organization begins with a vision statement. A vision statement serves two purposes: it articulates leadership’s belief in the value of collaboration, and it identifies specific opportunities where collaboration can add value to the firm. Organizations need a community collaboration strategy to guide their social media priorities and investment decisions. A strategy should identify which collaborative communities the organization sanctions, when and how it will support them, what behaviors will be encouraged, and what benefits the organization expects to receive from the collaboration effort. In addition to planning and supporting collaborative efforts in general, organizations need to cultivate the individual communities that make up their collaboration portfolios. Cultivating a community requires specification of its purpose and a business justification that identifies its benefits and costs. While too much interference from above can stifle collaboration, appropriate management guidance is essential to creating a sustainable social organization. Managers must ensure that collaboration works productively, that participants stay focused on its purpose, and that the organization’s broader systems and functions support the collaborative effort. Effective managers guide the collaborative community based on its purpose, progress, and direction. To provide appropriate guidance, managers should view the community as a group, track progress toward its purpose, continually assess the value of its purpose to the organization, and seek new, high-potential purposes. By adapting processes and power structures to the needs of the collaborative community, managers make the organization safe for mass collaboration. A social organization is safe for collaboration when all stakeholders recognize its value and potential and all functions are aligned to support it. To download three free summaries, please visit our site.

In The Next Gen Leader, Robert C. McMillan argues that everyone is a leader and should be recognized as such if organizations are to succeed and excel in today’s dynamic, competitive marketplace. Acting as a leadership coach, McMillan provides a complete 6G Leadership System to enable emerging, aspiring, and executive leaders to maximize their potential and become transformational leaders. He identifies six generations of leadership and discusses the attitudes and states of mind that are required to operate successfully at each leadership level. McMillan offers readers the following advice: Despite different experiences and different career journeys, everyone can be a leader. The 6G Leadership System provides a tracking system to identify where people are and offers a pathway forward to enable people to become transformational leaders. Leadership is a choice, not a position. Individuals should choose to lead, regardless of their positions in the hierarchy, and organizations should create environments where everyone is encouraged to lead. To truly maximize leadership potential, people must first have universal balance in their lives. They can evaluate this balance and improve it by exploring six life applications, which assess faith, moral purpose, intellect, self-awareness, relationships, and wealth (financial and health). Every aspiring leader needs to understand the Six Senses of Leadership (seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, and kinesthetic) are critical in order to become a leader of significance. These senses yield awareness that one is a leader, regardless of position, pay, or power. To download three free summaries, please visit our site.