Demystifying Leadership

Can leadership lessons be learnt from the Mahabharata? Demystifying Leadership positively asserts that we can and probes inquiry in the lives of six characters-Bhishma, Ashvatthama, Karna, Shakuni, Kunti and Krishna. It studies these characters in inescapable situations as they navigate through life by demonstrating values, decision-making ability, integrity and principles. Within the given constraints, some of these characters swim and rise, while others sink in moral turpitude. Extrapolating these successful and not-so-successful character traits to corporate leaders and linking them to scholarship, the authors provide lessons for leaders and managers operating in diverse situations. Borrowing from different disciplines, such as literature, philosophy, politics and psychology, Demystifying Leadership proposes to link essentials of leadership in the form of a Leadership Triangle comprising six levels: positive personality, peace with personal identity, purpose, positive use of power and politics, paradoxical leadership and principled pragmatism. It takes a grounded approach in amalgamating mythology and leadership through scholarship and practice.

This book explores the nature and uniqueness of leadership in Iceland within a business and economic context. Starting with an analysis of Iceland’s geographical location, historical development and societal culture, the authors critically examine the major elements of the Icelandic business environment from an individual to a global level, and from economic prosperity to financial collapse. They particularly focus on leadership and human resource management within this unique societal culture and discuss the specific issues that are unique to Iceland, i.e. entrepreneurship, gender egalitarianism, equality, low power-distance, reflecting on, and orienting within contemporary leadership theories. The book covers a variety of analytical methods and cases, providing a unique introduction to leadership in Iceland, and opening avenues for further research into this relatively new phenomenon.

The purpose of this book is to clearly define an approach to school improvement that uses professional learning community (PLC) practices to achieve school improvement and success for every student. This book offers information, examples and case studies to clarify the concept of a PLC, to respond to critical issues in schools, and to support educational leaders in addressing the important mandates of accountability and school improvement. As school leaders proactively lead efforts to create learning communities, their schools, districts, and staff will incorporate knowledge, skills, and practices that focus on teaching and learning for all. The authors' findings will assist leaders, change agents, policy makers, and university faculty in guiding schools toward creating and maintaining PLCs as they sustain school improvement for student learning.

Everything I Learned About Leadership I Learned From Filmmaking is an exploration of the similarities, overlaps and parallels between the art and craft of making films and the practice of leading people and organizations. At heart, it is about a creative approach to leadership and management.

Great Leader, Dear Leader is an absorbing expose of North Korea under the Kim clan--Great Leader Kim Il Sung and his son, Dear Leader Kim Jong Il. It traces the origin of the regime's ideology and investigates its attempts to fill the empty state coffers through missile technology sales and other unorthodox schemes. It examines the regime's relations with South Korea, the countrywide famine and the juche ideal, the "military first" policy, and the nuclear weapons program. Bertil Lintner, one of the very few Western journalists to visit North Korea in 2004, aims to demystify rather than demonize the least known of the "axis of evil" countries by interviewing Koreans from both sides of the divided peninsula as well as ethnic Koreans in Japan and leading Korea experts outside the country.

"We have far more than we need to succeed on the outside. The question is do we have what we need to succeed on the inside?" Mack Story High Impact leaders align their habits with key values in order to maximize their influence. These 10 values are common sense. However, they are not always common practice. These 10 values will help you build trust and accelerate relationship building. Those mastering these 10 values will be able to lead with speed as they develop 360 of influence from wherever they are. THE VALUE OF VISION Vision is the foundation of hope. THE VALUE OF MODELING Someone is always watching you. THE VALUE OF RESPONSIBILITY When we take responsibility, we take control. THE VALUE OF TIMING It matters when you do what you do. THE VALUE OF RESPECT To be respected, we must be respectful. THE VALUE OF EMPOWERMENT Leaders gain influence by giving it to others. THE VALUE OF DELEGATION We should lead with questions instead of directions. THE VALUE OF MULTIPLICATION None of us is as influential as all of us. THE VALUE OF RESULTS Leaders like to make things happen. THE VALUE OF SIGNIFICANCE Are you going to settle for success? Why we do what we do is about our purpose. How we do what we do is about our performance. What we do will determine our potential. Where these three components overlap, you will achieve a HIGH IMPACT."

Demystifying Talent Management offers practical advice for all managers, HR professionals, senior leaders, and other employees on how to work together to build a talented and motivated workforce. The book addresses performance, development, coaching, feedback, compensation, and other elements of people management. Using simple, straightforward language, Kim Janson tells you how you can avoid confusion and conflicts when engaging in talent management. You'll learn: What performance is needed and expected: how to translate your company's strategy into individual performance; What it means to measure and track progress, simply and clearly; What you can and should do to help an individual's development; How to narrow your focus to improve a skill, knowledge, or experience; How to take both an individual's profile and the direction of the organization into account in career development and succession planning; How to make compensation (cash, public accolades, feedback, etc.) a true driver of results; How coaching and feedback are essential in bringing all the elements of talent management together. This book will guide you to a deeper understanding of the mechanics of talent management and development success so that all the stakeholders can come together in a win-win-win-win scenario.

A direct counterpoint to fear mongering headlines about shariah law—a Muslim American legal expert tells the real story, eliminating stereotypes and assumptions with compassion, irony, and humor Through scare tactics and deliberate misinformation campaigns, anti-Muslim propagandists insist wrongly that shariah is a draconian and oppressive Islamic law that all Muslims must abide by. They circulate horror stories, encouraging Americans to fear the “takeover of shariah” law in America and even mounting “anti-shariah protests” . . . . with zero evidence that shariah has taken over any part of our country. (That’s because it hasn’t.) It would be almost funny if it weren’t so terrifyingly wrong—as puzzling as if Americans suddenly began protesting the Martian occupation of Earth. Demystifying Shariah explains that shariah is not one set of punitive rules or even law the way we think of law—rigid and enforceable—but religious rules and recommendations that provide Muslims with guidance in various aspects of life. Sumbul Ali-Karamali draws on scholarship and her degree in Islamic law to explain shariah in an accessible, engaging narrative style—its various meanings, how it developed, and how the shariah-based legal system operated for over a thousand years. She explains what shariah means not only in the abstract but in the daily lives of Muslims. She discusses modern calls for shariah, what they mean, and whether shariah is the law of the land anywhere in the world. She also describes the key lies and misunderstandings about shariah circulating in our public discourse, and why so many of them are nonsensical. This engaging guide is intended to introduce you to the basic principles, goals, and general development of shariah and to answer questions like: How do Muslims engage with shariah? What does shariah have to do with our Constitution? What does shariah have to do with the way the world looks like today? And why do we all—Muslims or not—need to care?