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| Managing by Storying Around: A New Method of
Leadership David Armstrong Random House "This book is timeless, because storytelling's power is timeless. But it's timely too, very timely. The marketplace is demanding that we burn the policy manuals and knock off the incessant memo writing: there's just no time. It also demands we empower everyone to constantly take initiatives. It turns out stories are a - if not the - leadership answer to both issues." - Tom Peters Tom Peters has it right. When word began circulating that David Armstrong, the fourth generation of his family to run Armstrong International, had decided to write about his unique management style - David calls it Managing by Storying Around - the phones started ringing at Armstrong International's corporate headquarters, and they haven't stopped since. Executives from across the country, and as far away as Australia, wanted to know if they could get an advance look. Word spread so fast that Armstrong's thoughts about management by storytelling were written up in The New York Times even while David was rushing to finish the manuscript. What has captured everyone's imagination is this: Armstrong has taken one of the oldest forms of communication - storytelling - and turned it into a powerful management tool, one that works in huge companies as well as small ones. It is the best way to communicate simple matters - like the rules everyone avoids reading in the policy manual. But it is essential in imparting the most important and unsayable advice of all: how to stamp out "bozo cancer," promote self-management and kickstart urgency. The reason storytelling is so effective? It is:
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The OZ Principle: - From the Publisher: "I didn't have time." "It's not in my job description." Many people and organizations have recognized the need to move away from this type of "blame game" and toward greater personal accountability at work, but few have known how to foster or maintain it -- until THE OZ PRINCIPLE. Now in paperback, THE OZ PRINCIPLE explores how people in business suffer from the same feelings of anxiety and helplessness that beset the characters in THE WIZARD OF OZ. Through a broad mix of examples and stories, this book examines
how people use their victimization to justify inaction, excuse ineffectiveness,
and rationalize poor performance. It shows how to break through
"above the line" with an attitude of accountability that
empowers employees to overcome problems, excuses, and biases, to
achieve enviable results. Self-assessment charts and quizzes enable
readers to chart their own path to personal empowerment and enhanced
company performance. |
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| First, Break all the Rules: What the World's
Greatest Managers Do Differently By Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman Simon & Schuster - From Inside the Cover: The greatest managers in the world seem to have little in common. They differ in sex, age, and race. They employ vastly different styles and focus on different goals. Yet despite their differences, great managers share one common trait: They do not hesitate to break virtually every rule held sacred by conventional wisdom. They do not believe that, with enough training, a person can achieve anything he sets his mind to. They do not try to help people overcome their weaknesses. They consistently disregard the golden rule. And, yes, they even play favorites. This amazing book explains why. Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization present the remarkable findings of their massive in-depth study of great managers across a wide variety of situations. Some were in leadership positions. Others were front-line supervisors. Some were in Fortune 500 companies; others were key players in small, entrepreneurial companies. Whatever their situations, the managers who ultimately became the focus of Gallup's research were invariably those who excelled at turning each employee's talent into performance. In today's tight labor markets, companies compete to find and keep the best employees, using pay, benefits, promotions, and training. But these well-intentioned efforts often miss the mark. The front-line manager is the key to attracting and retaining talented employees. No matter how generous its pay or how renowned its training, the company that lacks great front-line managers will suffer. Buckingham and Coffman explain how the best managers select an employee for talent rather than for skills or experience; how they set expectations for him or her -- they define the right outcomes rather than the right steps; how they motivate people -- they build on each person's unique strengths rather than trying to fix his weaknesses; and, finally, how great managers develop people -- they find the right fit for each person, not the next rung on the ladder. And perhaps most important, this research -- which initially generated thousands of different survey questions on the subject of employee opinion -- finally produced the twelve simple questions that work to distinguish the strongest departments of a company from all the rest. This book is the first to present this essential measuring stick and to prove the link between employee opinions and productivity, profit, customer satisfaction, and the rate of turnover. There are vital performance and career lessons here for managers at every level, and, best of all, the book shows you how to apply them to your own situation. |
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| Now, Discover Your Strengths By Donald O. Clifton and Marcus Buckingham Simon & Schuster - From Inside the Cover: Unfortunately, most of us have little sense of our talents and strengths, much less the ability to build our lives around them. Instead, guided by our parents, by our teachers, by our managers, and by psychology's fascination with pathology, we become experts in our weaknesses and spend our lives trying to repair these flaws, while our strengths lie dormant and neglected. Marcus Buckingham, coauthor of the national bestseller First, Break All the Rules, and Donald O. Clifton, Chair of the Gallup International Research & Education Center, have created a revolutionary program to help readers identify their talents, build them into strengths, and enjoy consistent, near-perfect performance. At the heart of the book is the Internet-based StrengthsFinder® Profile, the product of a 25-year, multimillion-dollar effort to identify the most prevalent human strengths. The program introduces 34 dominant "themes" with thousands of possible combinations, and reveals how they can best be translated into personal and career success. In developing this program, Gallup has conducted psychological profiles with more than two million individuals to help readers learn how to focus and perfect these themes. So how does it work? This book contains a unique identification number that allows you access to the StrengthsFinder Profile on the Internet. This Web-based interview analyzes your instinctive reactions and immediately presents you with your five most powerful signature themes. Once you know which of the 34 themes -- such as Achiever, Activator, Empathy, Futuristic, or Strategic -- you lead with, the book will show you how to leverage them for powerful results at three levels: for your own development, for your success as a manager, and for the success of your organization. With accessible and profound insights on how to turn talents into strengths, and with the immediate on-line feedback of StrengthsFinder at its core, Now, Discover Your Strengths is one of the most groundbreaking and useful business books ever written.
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