Management Problem Solving

Front-line employees who deal directly with customers are the face of any organization. Not only do they have the most impact on how a brand is perceived, but they are also the most valuable source of insight into what customers want and how to give it to them. Unfortunately, as management experts Chris DeRose and Noel M. Tichy explain, most organizations don't know how to evaluate the risk of giving employees more autonomy. Tichy and DeRose offer powerful examples of front-line leadership.

Inside this ultimate business guide, you’ll join international best-selling author and sought-after leadership consultant Irma Parone as she reveals a proven action plan for leveling up your organization and applying WINX to your business challenges.

Working with difficult people can reduce your morale, threaten your productivity, deplete your energy, and waste your time. But you don't have to be helpless in the face of other people's craziness! Knowing how to handle coworkers' disruptive behavior is one of the most important career skills you can have, allowing you to become a more valuable employee and a more self-reliant person.

When designer and computer scientist John Maeda was tapped to be president of the celebrated Rhode Island School of Design in 2008, he had to learn how to be a leader quickly. He had to transform himself from a tenured professor - with a love of argument for argument’s sake and the freedom to experiment - into the head of a hierarchical organization. The professor is free to speak his mind against “the man.” The college president is “the man.” Maeda has had to teach himself, through trial and error, about leadership.

I spent all my formative years at work, growing up as a farmhand to farmers. It does not matter what age you are, what stage in life you are, what career you are in. These lessons apply. I wish everyone could have worked on the farm for at least one summer. It was life-changing. But since many of you did not, you can get a little taste of the experience, laugh a little, cry a little, but through it all learn the lessons, apply the lessons, and share them with others.

As the chief economist at Spotify, Will Page has had the best seat in the house for witnessing - and harnessing - the power of disruptive change. Music has often been the canary in the coal mine for major technological and societal shifts, and if there’s one thing Page learned from the digital revolution, it’s that businesses must be ready to pivot. Drawing practical lessons from a variety of fresh case studies covering Radiohead, Starbucks, and even Groucho Marx, Page examines the eight principles that disruption has thrown into sharp relief as keys to survival in any sector.

Mental trainer and best-selling author Patrik Edblad has helped tens of thousands of people to think rationally, logically, and effectively. In this audiobook, he lays out a simple, concise, and actionable guide to intelligent decision-making. Make a life-changing decision today, radically improve your thinking, and dramatically increase your success!

Decision-making is a critical part of management, and bad choices can damage careers and the bottom line. This book offers the tools and advice managers need to avoid common biases and arrive at and implement decisions that are both sound and ethical.

Ever notice how no one likes to be sold, but most of us enjoy buying stuff? Where is the disconnect? In a business world that rapidly and exponentially adapts to change, our selling methods fail to keep up with human expectations. The Pirate's Guide to Sales uniquely blends years of selling concepts with real-world experience in a framework anyone can learn. We'd like you to think of it as a "pirate's guide" as it distills all the best research and real-world sales experiences in one easy, "how to" audiobook with lessons from only the best!

Jon Kabat-Zinn, is renowned for his work as a scientist, writer, and teacher bringing mindfulness into everyday life. He has dedicated his career to the fields of mind/body medicine, integrative medicine, and self-healing. Here, in this groundbreaking audiobook, Jon Kabat-Zinn and Daniel Goleman explore ways in which mindfulness can be applied by a variety of institutions and businesses to make better leaders and improve the quality of the workplace.

Decision Making for Dummies is a candid resource that helps leaders understand the impact of their choices, not only on business, but also on their credibility and reputation. Designed for managers, business owners, and anyone else who makes tough decisions on a daily basis, this guide helps you figure out if the decisions you're making are the right ones.

"Radikal führen – das bedeutet Konzentration auf das Wesentliche, Klarheit und Konsequenz. Hier geht es um das Kerngeschäft der Führung, um fünf fundamentale Aufgaben, die eherne Wegweiser im Dickicht der Moden und Aufgeregtheiten sind. Sie sind unabhängig von Unternehmenskulturen und Kompetenzen der Führungskraft. Und sie stehen im provokativen Kontrast zum herkömmlichen Führungsalltag." Reinhard K. Sprenger

What if your customers had a vested interest in guiding your company toward greater success? What if your employees had a personal as well as professional commitment to elevating your organization? Imagine how different your results would be if investors, vendors, and even analysts treasured the relationships they have built with you. Most important...is your company capable of setting aside a bit of its own self-interest to become part of dramatically more rewarding collaborative effort?

It's very likely that best practices - ideas, processes, and strategies that are commonplace in your industry - are actually hurting your business. Although best practices can help businesses operate more competitively and efficiently, they are often outdated, harmful, and a hindrance to innovation. In Breaking Bad Habits, Freek Vermeulen, a strategy professor at London Business School, offers the tools to identify bad practices, eliminate them from your organization, and then move on to create new sources of innovation and growth by outthinking your competitors.

Being a responsive leader means playing to win. Responsive leadership can thrive anywhere, unlike systematic leadership. The latter imposes methods and laws; principles govern action. In contrast, responsive leadership is a living, changing set of traits and skills that adapts to new people and environments. You may have an impressive grasp of how to influence, inspire, and build teams, but you must know how to adapt your abilities to each new organization, or to changes within the organization - new board members, new staff members, new shareholders.

For years, I have been doing turnarounds of distressed companies to make the businesses profitable. I believe that the main reason companies are distressed is that the business owners do not know how to hire and manage a strong management team. Many business owners do not realize how important it is to have and maintain a qualified team of managers to oversee their employees. Most entrepreneurs believe they are doing a decent job of building a quality management team to lead their companies.

In today's fast-changing, hyper-competitive market, developing your ability to creatively solve problems is mission critical. Creativity fuels growth, serves clients, and contributes to mission-based pursuits. Across every industry, organizations have an insatiable appetite to find creative problem-solvers, who can crack the code to unlock innovative outcomes and drive measurable results.

Most leadership books tell you how to set and achieve goals. This one is different. This one is written by a communications leader who's as passionate about riding motorcycles as she is about running her business. Her name is Elise Mitchell, and she wants to tell you about her journey - from starting her own agency to building a world-class brand to enjoying the ride along the way. But mostly, she wants to talk to you about your journey.

The ideas expressed in Emotional Intelligence ten years ago have taken on a life of their own. They spurred a movement, with enthusiastic adherents in the business world, in medicine and healthcare, at home, in the field of education and the world at large. Several million people, including business managers, human resource departments, healthcare workers, teachers, parents and students, have applied the ideas and principles expressed in Emotional Intelligence to their fields with tangible and quantifiable results. Leading with Emotional Intelligence Conversations is an ongoing dialogue series that begins with luminaries in the field of business. In the world of business we have only scratched the surface of how principles of emotional intelligence can increase profitability and efficiency in the workplace.

Everything we know about solving the world’s problems is wrong. Out: Plans, experts and above all, leaders. In: Adapting - improvise rather than plan; fail, learn, and try again. In this groundbreaking new book, Tim Harford shows how the world’s most complex and important problems - including terrorism, climate change, poverty, innovation, and the financial crisis - can only be solved from the bottom up by rapid experimenting and adapting.