Herding Professional Cats

Herding Professional Cats offers advice and insights to leaders in the professions who find themselves facing the classic ‘cats’ dilemma – how to manage intelligent, opinionated, independent and frequently difficult people without losing the competitive edge a professionalised workforce can bring.

It is well known that in their professional lives most academics and researchers will - like cats - seek to exercise as much independence as possible.In Herding Cats, Geoff Garrett and Graeme Davies combine their top-level experience of leading/managing international academic and research institutions with wisdom gleaned from 50 senior colleagues around the world. They deal with common leadership and management themes, like making tough strategic choices, leading change effectively, dealing with bureaucracy, allocating resources, managing budgets and ensuring effective implementation.Garrett, Davies and their friends paint a picture of the culture of a typical 'cats' environment - replete with remarkable intellects, passion, arguments, politics and prejudice, and where trying to push people to a destination is usually doomed to failure. Herding Cats guides leaders and aspiring leaders in academic and research institutions through the process of learning to accept and embrace the qualities of their 'cats' so they can tempt them to an outcome with agility and success.

This self-help guide is for programmers who need to improve their management and leadership skills.

In increasingly competitive, 'knowledge worker' environments, people working at all levels prize their freedom and resist direction. The challenging job of leading them can often feel like the business of 'herding cats'.Herding Professional Cats offers advice and insights to leaders in the professions about tackling the classic 'cats' dilemma - how to manage intelligent, opinionated, independent and frequently difficult people without losing the competitive edge a professionalised workforce can bring. Research colleagues around the world with new insights from experienced and perceptive leaders in a variety of professions, from lawyers, accountants and architects to consultants, doctors, journalists, public servants and even politicians.Herding Professional Cats covers key management and leadership themes, including:Governance and ethicsMotivating performanceWork-lifebalance ~ Making tough strategic choices ~ Social Media~ Leading change effectively ~ Communication excellence

". . . author Sarah Andersen uses hilarious (and adorable) comics to illustrate the very specific growing pains that occur on your way to becoming a mature, put-together grownup. Andersen’s spot-on illustrations also show how to navigate this newfound adulthood once you arrive, since maturity is equally as hard to maintain as it is to find … " --The Huffington Post Sarah valiantly struggles with waking up in the morning, being productive, and dealing with social situations. Sarah's Scribbles is the comic strip that follows her life, finding humor in living as an adulting introvert that is at times weird, awkward, and embarrassing. The third collection of Sarah's Scribbles comics includes never-before-published comics and an illustrated essay about struggles with sexism, personal growth, and the rewards and challenges of sharing your creative work with millions of readers online.

Learn to communicate with your dog—using their language “Good reading for dog lovers and an immensely useful manual for dog owners.”—The Washington Post An Applied Animal Behaviorist and dog trainer with more than twenty years’ experience, Dr. Patricia McConnell reveals a revolutionary new perspective on our relationship with dogs—sharing insights on how “man’s best friend” might interpret our behavior, as well as essential advice on how to interact with our four-legged friends in ways that bring out the best in them. After all, humans and dogs are two entirely different species, each shaped by its individual evolutionary heritage. Quite simply, humans are primates and dogs are canids (as are wolves, coyotes, and foxes). Since we each speak a different native tongue, a lot gets lost in the translation. This marvelous guide demonstrates how even the slightest changes in our voices and in the ways we stand can help dogs understand what we want. Inside you will discover: • How you can get your dog to come when called by acting less like a primate and more like a dog • Why the advice to “get dominance” over your dog can cause problems • Why “rough and tumble primate play” can lead to trouble—and how to play with your dog in ways that are fun and keep him out of mischief • How dogs and humans share personality types—and why most dogs want to live with benevolent leaders rather than “alpha wanna-bes!” Fascinating, insightful, and compelling, The Other End of the Leash is a book that strives to help you connect with your dog in a completely new way—so as to enrich that most rewarding of relationships.