Management Problem Solving

Companies stumble when they imagine that innovation is mostly about ideas. The reality is that ideas are only beginnings. Indeed, even a company with the world’s best idea still faces a devilish challenge: it must build the business of tomorrow without endangering the business of today. Beyond the Idea is an essential book for any business that recognizes that innovation always has been, and always will be, the key to long term growth and vitality.

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 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

Based on his experiences running design sprints for top companies, Douglas Ferguson authored Beyond the Prototype to offer practical advice for people shifting from discovery to realization. Full of stories from companies like Google, Liberty Mutual, and Adobe, this guide outlines six steps that every team should take to launch their vision.

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?

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.

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.

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.

In these turbulent times, companies can be forced to pivot on a dime to meet new market challenges. But how do you know which move to make? How do you hit on the solution to what’s threatening your bottom line? Ali Davachi draws from his decades of experience turning around companies to detail his innovative and proven system to creating positive change. In addition, Davachi walks the listener through common obstacles that hold businesses back from effectively confronting new challenges—and shows them how to create meaningful transformation that’s both powerful and profitable.

We can't predict the future, yet we do it all the time. We organize projects, events, days, weeks, and years. We plan to buy a home, build a career, travel, get married, raise children, teach a class, retire, or get in shape. Our ability to model the world as it is and might be is a gift, but mental time travel is also really hard. Fortunately, since planning is a skill, everyone from playful improviser to rigorous planner can greatly improve, if they are ready to learn.

All leaders face defining moments, crises that reveal their true character. Here, Sasha and his father, David, expand on Sasha's defining moment, recounted on The Moth podcast as "An Impossible Choice." Working in the violence-torn Congo, he was charged with evacuating a specific group of refugees. Then he and his colleague discovered a group of widows and orphans not on the rescue list. Leaving them behind would mean their deaths. Attempting to take them would jeopardize the entire mission.

In Truth: How the Many Sides to Every Story Shape Our Reality, Hector Macdonald explores how truth is used and abused in politics, business, the media and everyday life. He shows how a clearer understanding of truth's many faces renders us better able to navigate our world and more influential within it. Combining great storytelling with practical takeaways and a litany of fascinating, funny, and insightful case studies, Truth is a sobering and engaging listen about how profoundly our mindsets and actions are influenced by the truths that those around us choose to tell.

The world's greatest leaders focus on three critical things: They are committed to accomplishing something that matters; they articulate a vision that others embrace; and they demonstrate a series of five commitments that make up the message of this book. In Become, Mark Hannum, a leading executive coach, consultant, practitioner, and researcher in the leadership field, reveals the evidence-based secrets that surfaced from vast data Linkage has collected on leadership effectiveness.