Leadership Without Ego

If you take a chain, pile it up and then push it, what direction will it go? Nowhere you can predict and not very far. If you take it by the end and pull it, which way will it go? It will follow you. Leadership is not about what sets you apart from those you lead—it’s about what binds you together. It is not about controlling others—it’s about trusting others. It’s not about your achievements—it’s about unleashing your team’s greatness. In short, leadership really isn’t about you—it’s about your people. Take Bob Davids, co-author of this book and successful leader of six businesses in fields as diverse as engineering and winemaking. His achievements often came thanks to being able to refrain from acting when others might have found intervening irresistible. By trusting his employees to be better than him in their area of responsibility and letting them act, Bob unleashed the human greatness that no one else—including employees themselves—suspected. Yet to lead without acting does not mean doing nothing. It means creating conditions in which things happen by themselves. Leadership Without Ego is about a transformation of the concept of leadership in the past two decades: a change of beliefs about how best to lead, along with radically different leadership practices. The ideas in this book have already changed the fortunes of hundreds of businesses and the lives of tens of thousands of employees. They can do the same for your business, your people—and you.

The New York Times bestselling author of Reality-Based Leadership rejects the current fad of "engaging" employees and the emotional drama of "meeting their needs"--returning leadership to leaders and productivity to businesses. For years now, leaders in almost every industry have accepted two completely false assumptions--that change is hard, and that engagement drives results. Those beliefs have inspired expensive attempts to shield employees from change, involve them in high-level decision-making, and keep them happy with endless “satisfaction surveys” and workplace perks. But what these engagement programs actually do, Cy Wakeman says, is inflate expectations and sow unhappiness, leaving employees unprepared to adapt to even minor changes necessary to the organization’s survival. Rather than driving performance and creating efficiencies, these programs fuel entitlement and drama, costing millions in time and profit. It is high time to reinvent leadership thinking. Stop worrying about your employees’ happiness, and start worrying about their accountability. Cy Wakeman teaches you how to hire “emotionally inexpensive” people, solicit only the opinions you need, and promote self-awareness in your whole team. No Ego disposes with unproven HR maxims, and instead offers a complete plan to turn your office from a den of discontent to a happy, productive place.

2017 Silver Nautilus Winner 2018 Indie Book Award Finalist ​ Take your ego out of the equation, and watch your company thrive! “I’ve got a solution,” Encore’s CFO tells Brandon, “but it’s unorthodox.” It’s 2005 and Brandon Black has just been promoted to CEO of Encore Capital, a company struggling to navigate an increasingly difficult business environment. Faced with a rapidly declining stock price and low workplace morale, Brandon knows he needs change—and fast. Following his CFO’s advice, he and his executive team start working with Learning as Leadership (LaL) and its president, Shayne Hughes. Through their partnership, Encore’s executive team learns to root out the unproductive ego habits that undermine collaboration and performance. As they instill these more effective behaviors throughout the organization, Encore begins to solve problems collectively, prioritize resources without infighting, and focus on the initiatives with the greatest strategic value. When the financial crisis of 2008–09 forces 90 percent of its competitors out of business, Encore thrives, with its profits increasing by 300 percent and its stock price by 1200 percent. Told from two lively first-person perspectives, Ego Free Leadership brings readers along for Encore’s incredible success story. They’ll see a CEO overcome his unconscious resistance to modeling the change he wants in his team and discover a time-tested roadmap for eliminating the destructive effects of the ego in teams and organizations.

Leadership strategies grounded in reality and focused on results Recent polls show that 71% of workers think about quitting their jobs every day. That number would be shocking-if people actually were quitting. Worse, they go to work, punching time clocks and collecting pay checks, while completely checked out emotionally. In Reality-Based Leadership, expert Fast Company blogger Cy Wakeman reveals how to be the kind of leader who changes the way people think about and perceive their circumstances-one who deals with the facts, clarifies roles, gives clear and direct feedback, and insists that everyone do the same-without drama or defensiveness. Filled with dynamic examples, innovative tools, and diagnostic tests, this book shows you how to become a Reality-Based Leader, revealing how to: Uncover destructive thought patterns with yourself and others Diffuse drama and lead the person in front of you Stop managing and start leading, empowering others to focus on facts and think for themselves Equipped with a facts-based, confident approach, you will free yourself from the frustrations you face at work and transform yourself into a Reality-Based Leader, with the ability to liberate and inspire others.

The traditional leadership styles of the past are underperforming in a world of continuous transformation. Those that recognise this and learn how to lead beyond their ego will become emotionally intelligent and ethical leaders who are able to build strong, collaborative relationships, and create a caring, sustainable and performance enhancing environment. This new book is rooted in the experience of senior managers and the latest discoveries in neuroscience. It gives you the tools to overcome the challenges faced by new organisational and commercial structures, technological developments, increased diversity and rapid globalisation and succeed. An essential read for current and aspiring organisational leaders, HR professionals, executive coaches and mentors, Leading Beyond the Ego is a vital point of reference for anyone in a leadership position and who wants to embrace this new world and Transpersonal Leadership.

It's hard to get into the boardrooms and offices of some organizations because the egos of the leaders take up way too much space. And some say that's good; it takes big egos to make things happens. Not so, according to Art Horn, an executive coach who leads a sales force development company. Just listen to what the people who work for these big egos have to say: "John is a smart guy and knows what he's doing, but his swollen ego keeps subverting what we're trying to do as a department." Or "Mary needs to stop focusing on her own star qualities and actually help the people who report to her. We're here to drive results, not admire her." In a step-by-step, practical manner, Beyond Ego shows leaders how to move beyond ego in their day-to-day leadership tasks, thereby achieving engaged, inspired, committed, and productive teams and businesses. Horn teaches them to self-manage, by: setting aside personal judgments being sensitive to the cravings and needs of individual employees focusing not on blame but on the actions it will take to produce results Influential leaders at their best, according to Horn, listen for commitment and pull it out of people, as required. And they role-model this level of commitment in their own lives. When ego is taken out of the equation, leaders and employees are focused on their mission -- unencumbered by the politics and fears that rule in most workplaces. Instead, productivity rules the day. This inspiring book will have a powerful impact on organizations as leaders come to see that results truly are all that matter when everyone moves together -- beyond ego.

Although it was first published more than thirty-five years ago, Up the Organization continues to top the lists of best business books by groups as diverse as the American Management Association, Strategy + Business (Booz Allen Hamilton), and The Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management. 1-800-CEO-READ ranks Townsend’s bestseller first among eighty books that “every manager must read.” This commemorative edition offers a new generation the benefit of Robert Townsend’s timeless wisdom as well as reflections on his work and life by those who knew and worked with him. This groundbreaking book continues to remind us not to get mired in all those sacred organizational routines that stifle people and strangle both profits and profitability. He shows a way to humanize business and a way to have fun while making it all work better than it ever worked before.

The case for a new way of leadership is compelling. Traditional models are struggling to deliver the right results for organisations or individuals, and the relationship between organisation and employees is more fragile than ever. Too few employees are fully engaged, empowered or committed to the organisation of which they are part. It is simply not sustainable. Drawing on her exploration the influence of consciousness on leadership and her observations and insights as a coach, Dr. Sarah Morris makes a powerful case for taking ego out of the office. Ego-less leadership, she argues, is truly transformational and creates balanced, sustainable and high performing teams and environments and delivers exceptional results. Drawing upon an original and simple four step model called the Conscious Leadership Model, Egoless: The Final Frontier in Leadership sets out a practical route towards a more fulfilling way of leading, and one which benefits not only leaders themselves but also those they lead. Powerful argument, case histories and practical exercises open up a whole new approach to leadership and to life.