Leadership What Really Matters

What does really matter for daily leadership? How would a good and effective manager be characterized? Daniel F. Pinnow describes in a very illustrative way the essentials of collaborating with people in the business environment. This standard reference book exists as a 4th edition in German and is also available in Chinese. It provides a comprehensive and easy-to-understand overview over the most important leadership approaches in theory and practice. The credo of the author is: Leadership is an art of creating a world where others would love to join in.

The fundamental question in business and in personal life is the same: what really matters? In this book, one of America's most widely admired business leaders distills a lifetime of experience, including failures as well as successes, to reveal his answers. John Pepper, president, CEO, and chairman of Proctor & Gamble for a combined 16 years, underscores the importance of continuous change, innovation, and renewal as prerequisites for growth and sound leadership. In "What Really Matters", he suggests that a preparedness to alter perspective, rethink assumptions, or change course is central not only to understanding customer needs and keeping costs under control but also to developing talent, organizing global businesses, and supporting communities. While he discusses specific business tactics, he notes that they all centre on fundamental tenets: listen to and respect the customer, engender personal accountability and passionate ownership, encourage diversity, and create a vibrant, trusting institution that incorporates employees and their families. In his own years as an executive, Pepper has demonstrated that a profitable business can create and sustain a culture that shapes, and is shaped by, ethical behaviour. His profoundly important advice and counsel belong in the lexicon and practice of every leader.

What do the best leaders have in common? As president of MAP, John Manning should know. MAP has helped tens of thousands of top executives accelerate their leadership and management performance. Manning says the answer is one word: discipline. But for Manning, discipline has a very specific meaning. All leaders have scores of things they could do. But a disciplined leader is one who identifies and focuses on the Vital Few: the 20 percent of activities that will drive 80 percent of the results. And the results that are most important are those tied to the organization's most precious asset: its people. The Disciplined Leader offers fifty-two succinct lessons to help you home in on your own Vital Few in three critical areas: leading yourself, leading your team, and leading your organization. Each lesson comes with recommended tactics and practical “Take Action!” tips for implementing it, so there are literally hundreds of pieces of must-know, time-tested advice here. The chapters are self-contained, so you can read them in any order and come back to the ones that resonate with you—your own Vital Few! This is a hands-on, nuts-and-bolts guide to leadership practice that's built to inspire action, drive change, and achieve results.

Good people are your organization’s most critical asset. But what does it really mean to be good? Leaders love to say that any company is only as good as its people, but tend to evaluate candidates and employees more by their measurable accomplishments than by their “softer” qualities, like integrity, compassion, and other values. Bestselling author Anthony Tjan is leading a movement to change the way we think about goodness so that we can become better judges of people and create more goodness in ourselves, in others, and in our organizations. Tjan argues that while competence is necessary, real goodness must also encompass values; a fantastic résumé can never compensate for mediocre character. In Good People, he provides a clear language to discuss goodness, redefining it as a lifelong, proactive commitment that, like any skill, can be exercised, honed, and taught. When leaders prioritize goodness in themselves and in others, they can create lasting cultures and tremendous value. Drawing from his own experiences as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Tjan also taps into the wisdom of his relationships and interviews with extraordinary innovators, executives, artists, academics, teachers, and role models from all disciplines and walks of life who embody his vision. The cases and profiles shared include: Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria, who has called for balancing leadership of competency with leadership of character; Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who has never forgotten her roots and shows profound kindness to her staff and clerks; Hollywood talent manager Shep Gordon, who has counseled his clients on the importance of generosity and gratitude; legendary venture capitalist Henry McCance, whose success proves that humbly ceding the spotlight to others makes room for their greatness; and master jazz musician Clark Terry, who devotedly mentored the young, blind pianist Justin Kauflin. Packed with practical yet often surprising advice, Good People establishes a new language and framework you can use to evaluate, develop, and lead with goodness. Tjan will convince you that there is a hard truth in the “soft stuff” of business, and that choosing and working well with good people is truly the only leadership decision that really matters.

How is Saddam Hussein like Tony Blair? Or Kenneth Lay like Lou Gerstner? Answer: They are, or were, leaders. Many would argue that tyrants, corrupt CEOs, and other abusers of power and authority are not leaders at all--at least not as the word is currently used. But, according to Barbara Kellerman, this assumption is dangerously naive. A provocative departure from conventional thinking, Bad Leadership compels us to see leadership in its entirety. Kellerman argues that the dark side of leadership--from rigidity and callousness to corruption and cruelty--is not an aberration. Rather, bad leadership is as ubiquitous as it is insidious--and so must be more carefully examined and better understood. Drawing on high-profile, contemporary examples--from Mary Meeker to David Koresh, Bill Clinton to Radovan Karadzic, Al Dunlap to Leona Helmsley--Kellerman explores seven primary types of bad leadership and dissects why and how leaders cross the line from good to bad. The book also illuminates the critical role of followers, revealing how they collaborate with, and sometimes even cause, bad leadership. Daring and counterintuitive, Bad Leadership makes clear that we need to face the dark side to become better leaders and followers ourselves. Barbara Kellerman is research director of the Center for Public Leadership and a lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

The author helps readers figure out which leaders matter, why, and when - and what lessons they can learn from those who do matter. Leaders from politics and business are profiled, they include: Abraham Lincoln, Neville Chamberlain, Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Jefferson, Winston Churchill, Jamie Dimon, Al Dunlap, Sir Jacky Fisher, and Judah Folkman.

In Choose to Matter, Julie Foudy, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and former captain of the US National team, takes you on a journey to discover your authentic self. This book is a roadmap to unleash that courageous YOU and have you singing your dreams out loud. Along with sharing stories from her playing days and personal experiences, Julie taps into the wisdom of other incredible female leaders including "Good Morning America" anchor Robin Roberts, soccer stars Mia Hamm and Alex Morgan, and Facebook superwoman and Lean In founder Sheryl Sandberg. In her Leadership Academy, Julie encourages young women to find the leader that exists in all of them, whatever their personality or vocal chord strength might be. Complete with fun exercises and activities, Choose to Matter guides readers in all aspects of their lives. Julie believes every young woman has the power to be a leader who makes a positive impact. And it all starts by choosing to matter. So go ahead, start now. Because you can.

Myatt, a top CEO coach, has filled the pages of this book with a definitive road map which incorporates everything that it takes to become a great CEO.