Commonsense Leadership

What does it take to get the job done? How do you get the men in your unit to do what you say? To follow you into battle and shoot to kill? How you build the confidence that spurs men on to do their job, to stand by their leader and each other? Praise for Small Unit Leadership “Identifies in very specific terms what company grade officers and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) must do to ensure winning in land battle.”—Marine Corps Gazette “Colonel Malone tackles the elusive topic of leadership with a real-world, pragmatic approach. This is not a book of intellectual theorization, but of specific techniques for leading soldiers on and off the battlefield.”—U.S.N.I. Proceedings “The author condenses volumes of psychological studies into a readable and exciting book on practical military leadership.”—ARMOR “Colonel Malone not only provides handy guides on what should be done and how it should be done . . . he also aids the reader in how to know that desired results are being achieved.”—Leatherneck

Just as his first book, COMMON SENSE SUPERVISION (now in its fifth printing), helped the new manager to come to grips with new responsibilities, this book will help that manager with the next most important task—leadership. With the same easy manner and reliance on keeping things simple and clear, Roger Fulton prepares the new manager for the first role that leadership plays and explains how to master the principles that can make one effective.

“It’s not the magic that makes it work; it’s the way we work that makes it magic.” The secret for creating “magic” in our careers, our organizations, and our lives is simple: outstanding leadership—the kind that inspires employees, delights customers, and achieves extraordinary business results. No one knows more about this kind of leadership than Lee Cockerell, the man who ran Walt Disney World® Resort operations for over a decade. And in Creating Magic, he shares the leadership principles that not only guided his own journey from a poor farm boy in Oklahoma to the head of operations for a multibillion dollar enterprise, but that also soon came to form the cultural bedrock of the world’s number one vacation destination. But as Lee demonstrates, great leadership isn’t about mastering impossibly complex management theories. We can all become outstanding leaders by following the ten practical, common sense strategies outlined in this remarkable book. As straightforward as they are profound, these leadership lessons include: Everyone is important. Make your people your brand. Burn the free fuel: appreciation, recognition, and encouragement. Give people a purpose, not just a job. Combining surprising business wisdom with insightful and entertaining stories from Lee’s four decades on the front lines of some of the world’s best-run companies, Creating Magic shows all of us – from small business owners to managers at every level – how to become better leaders by infusing quality, character, courage, enthusiasm, and integrity into our workplace and into our lives.

Win the mental game before you ever step out on the field Commonsense Leadership is the playbook for leaders who want to win. From rallying the team to hitting it out of the park, every leader needs to understand the mental game. It's what separates winners from survivors, and champions from second place—it's what gives your team the edge, and the strength to forge ahead through adversity. This book shows you how to boost performance with tips and advice gathered over 45 years of working with major corporations and world-class athletes. Whether your team battles on the field or in the boardroom, the mental component is a critical factor in determining outcomes—and left neglected, can become the number-one driving force behind failure. A winning team must be highly skilled, but they must also be resilient, motivated, attentive, and ready to charge the field. Skills can be taught, but the mental factor comes from the environment and the leadership. This book shows you how to boost performance, with real-world solutions for instilling that razor-sharp mental edge. Emerge from setbacks stronger and more agile Learn to thrive on stress and play on the emotional edge Build a culture and environment that fosters motivation Adopt practical strategies for leading your team to win When equal opponents are matched, winning ultimately comes down to mindset. Although sports analogies are ubiquitous in corporate leadership, the mental development aspect is too often ignored—but those who play the mental game and play it well have an unmistakable edge. Commonsense Leadership reveals the secrets to motivation and performance, with practical techniques for building a winning team.

Building a dynamic and inspirational career against all odds, Herman Cain's sensational rise to an influential black business leader has become an extraordinary American Dream come true. Cain reaches out, engaging, challenging and motivating you with his common sense approach to tackling and conquering leadership challenges. He passionately reveals his philosophy on living your life to live your dreams.

Leadership is so much a part of the conduct of training that at times it is difficult to tell where one stops and the other starts. . . . “The best book on military training from platoon to division level that has been published in any army.”—Army magazine “His message is that whatever works and gets results by the most direct and efficient means is good. All else should be eliminated.”—Air University Review “A utilitarian book that talks intelligently of leadership, management and common sense.”—ARMOR magazine “A hardhitting and unvarnished . . . authoritative work that should be read and reread by everyone who aspires to be a truly professional soldier.”—General Bruce Palmer, U.S. Army (Ret.) “A gem, with few peers, invaluable . . . [Arthur Collins'] advice is always performance oriented. Don't talk so much about it, he says, Don't make so many fancy charts about training. Instead, do it. Teach it. Perform it.”—Parameters

Leaders and aspiring leaders are constantly searching for role models who are successful in placing leadership theory into effective practice. This book identifies ten such role models whose heroic leadership behavior is analyzed in order to reveal what particular abilities and skills made them successful and how those attributes can be applied to one's own leadership practice, whether that be as a classroom teacher, a principal, or a superintendent of schools.

“Has the potential to transform how all companies are run…Nothing could be more valuable!”—Mark Drewell, CEO, Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI) From two of the world’s most successful business leaders comes Common-Sense Business—an accessible, actionable guide to better leadership, increased profits, and a more sustainable economic model predicated on prudence and socially conscious business. Common sense and prudence have long been among the guiding tenets of society, but in today’s economy they have been completely abandoned in the interest of blindly maximizing profits. Common-Sense Business shows that this current economic model is both detrimental and unsustainable, and that we must transform the global economy along the lines of common sense toward the common good. Ted Malloch, a thought leader and policy influencer in global economic strategy, and Whitney MacMillan, the former chairman and CEO of the world’s largest private corporation, draw on recent research, history’s greatest minds, and their own successes to explain that ethically driven business is both a moral and financial necessity. Inspired by Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, this work explains to readers in all walks of life that ethically driven business will lead to better long-term profits, larger customer bases and more positive customer relations, and a holistically improved business. This book is a must-read for business owners, entrepreneurs, students, and businessmen and women in all sectors of the economy.