Cultivating Leaders

PETER J. DEAN, Ph.D. is the head of Leaders By Design, the men’s leadership development and executive coaching division of The Leader’s Edge. With over 40 years of national and international experience, Peter bases his executive coaching and consulting work on current research and best practices in the field of leadership development. Leaders By Design helps executives recognize and understand the intricacies inherent in global leadership and dealing with diverse cultures and sub-cultures. Peter worked in Europe and Asia for 8 years and has lectured, consulted and coached in 14 countries. He is a prolific author whose articles have frequently been published in a variety of news outlets and he has also authored 11 books in his career including: Leadership for Everyone (McGraw-Hill, 2005); and his most recent book, The Bully-Proof Workplace: Essential Strategies, Tips and Scripts for Dealing with the Office Sociopath (McGraw-Hill, 2017), which he co-authored with his partner and spouse Molly Shepard. He was a lecturer in Communication, Ethics and Leadership at The Wharton School and the Fels Center of Government both at The University of Pennsylvania. Peter held the O. Alfred Granum Chair in Management at The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and he has been on the faculty at Fordham University, University of Tennessee, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Iowa. Peter holds his PhD from the University of Iowa and a MS degree from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2018, Peter received an Applied Neuroscience Certificate on the Science of the Art of Coaching endorsed by ION, ICF and the Association for Coaching.

Cultivating Leaders from Within describes the power of respect, communication, listening, and feedback and shows how a powerful and meaningful working relationship can help develop an organizations greatest strengths. New knowledge workers are looking for leaders who can communicate with and listen to them, they want to know that they are not just a number but a partner who can be depended on. Building solid relationships can be a lasting determining factor that can propel the organization to the next level of greatness. Leaders must understand the connection between employee behavior and innovation. Innovation needs a performing culture, a culture that encourages employees to start building diverse and inclusive teams. For innovation to work and be meaningful, the leaders must be a coach and a developer. The leader must be a facilitator and a teacher, recognizing that employees are the most valuable resources. Employees must see themselves as part of the team and that their contributions are meaningful and valued by the leaders. This book looks at factors that can be implemented by the organization to help improve participation, engagement, and healing.

Listen to people in every field and you'll hear a call for more sophisticated leadership—for leaders who can solve more complex problems than the human race has ever faced. But these leaders won't simply come to the fore; we have to develop them, and we must cultivate them as quickly as is humanly possible. Changing on the Job is a means to this end. As opposed to showing readers how to play the role of a leader in a "paint by numbers" fashion, Changing on the Job builds on theories of adult growth and development to help readers become more thoughtful individuals, capable of leading in any scenario. Moving from the theoretical to the practical, and employing real-world examples, author Jennifer Garvey Berger offers a set of building blocks to help cultivate an agile workforce while improving performance. Coaches, HR professionals, thoughtful leaders, and anyone who wants to flourish on the job will find this book a vital resource for developing their own capacities and those of the talent that they support.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Brené Brown has taught us what it means to dare greatly, rise strong, and brave the wilderness. Now, based on new research conducted with leaders, change makers, and culture shifters, she’s showing us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step up and lead. Don’t miss the five-part HBO Max docuseries Brené Brown: Atlas of the Heart! NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BLOOMBERG Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential. When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don’t avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it’s necessary to do good work. But daring leadership in a culture defined by scarcity, fear, and uncertainty requires skill-building around traits that are deeply and uniquely human. The irony is that we’re choosing not to invest in developing the hearts and minds of leaders at the exact same time as we’re scrambling to figure out what we have to offer that machines and AI can’t do better and faster. What can we do better? Empathy, connection, and courage, to start. Four-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Brené Brown has spent the past two decades studying the emotions and experiences that give meaning to our lives, and the past seven years working with transformative leaders and teams spanning the globe. She found that leaders in organizations ranging from small entrepreneurial startups and family-owned businesses to nonprofits, civic organizations, and Fortune 50 companies all ask the same question: How do you cultivate braver, more daring leaders, and how do you embed the value of courage in your culture? In this new book, Brown uses research, stories, and examples to answer these questions in the no-BS style that millions of readers have come to expect and love. Brown writes, “One of the most important findings of my career is that daring leadership is a collection of four skill sets that are 100 percent teachable, observable, and measurable. It’s learning and unlearning that requires brave work, tough conversations, and showing up with your whole heart. Easy? No. Because choosing courage over comfort is not always our default. Worth it? Always. We want to be brave with our lives and our work. It’s why we’re here.” Whether you’ve read Daring Greatly and Rising Strong or you’re new to Brené Brown’s work, this book is for anyone who wants to step up and into brave leadership.

The facilitator's guide brings to life the content of the survey text, Leadership Theory. It offers instructive advice on how to prepare for the use of a critical perspective as well as providing practical resources to translate survey text content to practice. The facilitator's guide consists of: An overview of how to use the guide as well as recommended skills and reflection questions for educators prior to implementing material. Objectives, critical concepts, a chapter overview, and a chapter framework for each chapter from Leadership Theory Lesson plan "walk-throughs" containing 2-3 activities for each chapter of the survey text, with information for learning outcomes, activity setup, and additional notes for facilitation.

Author and consultant Jennifer Garvey Berger has worked with all types of leaders - from top executives at Google to nonprofit directors who are trying to make a dent in social change. She hears a version of the same plea from every client in nearly every sector around the world: "I know that complexity and uncertainty are testing my instincts, but I don't know which to trust. Is there some way to know what to do when I can't know what's next?" Her newest work is an answer to this plea. Using her background in adult development, complexity theories, and leadership consultancy, Garvey Berger discerns five pernicious and pervasive "mind traps" to frame the book. These are: the desire for simple stories, our sense that we are right, our desire to get along with others in our group, our fixation with control, and our constant quest to protect and defend our egos. In addition to understanding why these natural impulses steer us wrong in a fast-moving world, leaders will get powerful questions and approaches that help them escape these patterns.

How Leaders Learn portrays the developmental experiences of educators seeking to become accomplished leaders in their schools. The author presents a new model of leadership knowledge: the Interpersonal-Cognitive-Intrapersonal (I-C-I) model. Through the stories of teacher leaders and administrators in several leadership development programs, the book depicts the evolution of understanding, skill, and self-confidence. These learners grapple with questions essential to all effective leadership: Does my leadership generate improved learning for the students in my school? What are my greatest assets as a leader? What are my greatest liabilities, and what do I do about them? Can I find a leadership role that is both productive and sustainable for me and for the school I serve? This dynamic professional development tool: Introduces a framework for thinking about how school leaders cultivate and support their own learning. Richly describes in leaders’ own words the deepening of interpersonal, cognitive, and intrapersonal leadership knowledge and action. Describes how to structure the Performance Learning cycle to support leadership that benefits students. Links recent literature and research to support new insights into the role of emotion, self-awareness, and interpersonal skills in leader learning.