The Crisis Leadership Playbook

A new playbook for effective crisis management in higher education. Unlike other industries, in higher education an institution's most important asset is its reputation. Yet as fundamental as it is, many leaders continue to view managing reputation as dishonest and counterproductive, a suspect process that undermines the very idea of reputation as an organic outcome of reality. When leadership credibility is on the line, though, and an institution's reputation is facing potentially irreparable damage, the concept of reputational risk moves from being nebulous to all too tangible. In Preventing Crises at Your University, Simon Barker demonstrates how critical it is for colleges and universities to align strategy and values with decision-making during times of crisis. Arguing that leaders must stop considering the discussion of reputational risk as unseemly, he demonstrates that this discussion is in fact a strategic imperative for every leader. Significant reputational damage, Barker asserts, is not the inevitable outcome of a crisis but of a poor response. Defining a new crisis leadership playbook to deal with self-inflicted crises, he also • explains what typically goes wrong in a crisis; • describes how to prevent crises from escalating; • demonstrates how a stakeholder-centric model of communications can help mitigate reputational damage; and • introduces a number of original concepts, including a Reputational Risk Management Framework, a Reputational Risk Maturity Model, and a Culture and Capability matrix. Moving beyond the theoretical by presenting case studies of real crises involving sexual assault, freedom of speech, student protests, faculty misconduct, and a broad range of financial, social, and ethical issues, the book highlights and underscore key concepts around effective management of reputational risk. Ultimately, Preventing Crises at Your University serves as a wake-up call for all higher education leaders and board members.

Leverage mindful awareness and intention to achieve better outcomes Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative offers practical insights for the executive, manager or professional who feels like their RPM is maxed out in the red zone. By making the concepts and practices of mindfulness simple, practical and applicable, this book offers actionable hope for today's overworked and overwhelmed professional. New research shows that the smartphone equipped professional is connected to work 72 hours a week. Forty eight percent of Americans report that their stress level is up and that the number one source of stress is the job pressure of a 24/7 world. What's the alternative? Top leadership coach and educator Scott Eblin offers one in Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative. While mindfulness is one of the "Top Ten Trends for 2014 and Beyond," many professionals think it's just too hard to give it a try. In this book, Eblin shows that mindfulness that makes a difference doesn't require meditating like a Buddhist monk. Overworked and Overwhelmed is a handbook for more mindful work and living that offers: "Must know" mindfulness basics that today's professional needs to thrive in a 24/7 world. Inspiring examples of mindfulness in action from dozens of leaders ranging from a U.S. Coast Guard Commandant to the CEO of Hilton Worldwide. A self assessment for readers to understand how they perform at their best. Simple routines to reduce stress and sustain peak performance. A personal planning framework for creating the outcomes that matter most at home, at work and in the community. Even small increases in mindfulness can lead to big changes in productivity and quality of life for the overworked and overwhelmed professional. Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative is a guide for doing just that.

A proven framework for whole-school improvement The School Leadership Playbook is a practical guide for education leaders looking to push their school's and students' achievement to the next level. Developed by renowned leadership preparation program New Leaders, the Transformational Leadership Framework focuses on the five categories that drive a school's success: Learning and Teaching, School Culture, Talent Management, Operations and Systems, and Personal Leadership. This book illustrates how each of these factors contributes to breakthrough gains, and outlines a plan for implementing changes in your own school. You'll learn how to accurately diagnose the current state of your school's academics and culture and create an action plan for the year ahead. The TLF is grounded in the latest research and case studies of the highest-gaining turnaround schools, and shows you the specific actions you can take to attract, retain, and support high-performing teachers; improve school culture; successfully involve parents and the community; and ultimately drive student success. New Leaders developed the UEF to pinpoint what schools achieving significant student academic gains were doing, and how they were doing it. This book provides a practical breakdown of the framework to help you begin leading these changes in your own school. Ensure rigorous goal- and data-driven teaching and learning Build and manage a high-performance faculty aligned to the school's vision Implement effective and efficient operations and systems Model the tone you would like to see from students and teachers school-wide By matching the needs of the school to effective principal actions and school practices, leaders can create a plan for transformational change.

Make your next merger or acquisition one for the ages Meant to create value potentially fueled by synergies, the reality is that most mergers and acquisitions fail. It’s estimated that 83% of mergers and acquisitions do not hit their desired results. The Merger & Acquisition Leader’s Playbook tells you why most mergers fail. More importantly, it tells you how to make your next one a sweeping success. In the book, a team of private equity experts deliver a masterful walkthrough of how to integrate organizations by driving commercial success, instead of focusing purely on cutting costs. Readers will find: Concrete strategies for increasing the odds of success and reducing the risk of failure – of a new merger or acquisition A comprehensive, easily deployed and implemented plan to realize synergies Proven tools, techniques, and tricks of the trade to help leaders stay on top of their latest merger and keep everything on track A must-read resource for business leaders considering a fresh merger or acquisition, The Merger & Acquisition Leader's Playbook: A Practical Guide to Integrating Organizations, Executing Strategy, and Driving New Growth after M&A or Private Equity Deals will also earn a place in the libraries of investors, agents, corporate service providers, and consultants trying to get two or more businesses to pull in the same direction.

In today's business landscape, software engineering teams must deliver innovation faster than ever. However, outdated management approaches centered on tools and metrics rather than people strangle velocity and creativity. Legacy leaders cling to rigid structures mismatched with market dynamics, draining effort and morale from burnt-out teams. The Engineering Leadership Playbook provides a modern framework to unlock your team's potential through empathy, clarity, and empowerment. Unlike traditional leadership books fixated on delivery metrics, Raphael Neves offers a refreshing people-oriented leadership model tailored to nuances of engineering culture. With 15+ years leading high-growth tech teams, Raphael demystifies how to balance autonomy with alignment, reconstruct feedback models on psychological safety, and sustain excellence amidst uncertainty. You'll learn his proven conflict resolution blueprint for defusing clashes through mutual understanding while tangibly tracking progress. Additionally, his continuous feedback system grounded in evidence spotlights gaps early while accelerating strengths. This playbook moves systematically from foundational concepts like emotional intelligence and leading by example into team development frameworks around high-impact coaching, mentorship, and performance reviews. The method is brought full circle through innovation catalysts that maintain creative momentum at scale. Step-by-step, Raphael unpacks human-centered leadership aligned with accelerating market realities. Apply his engineering management playbook, and your teams will thrive fueled by vision, trust, and care. What You'll Learn Study different leadership styles and how to switch their approaches depending on circumstances Review critical communication skills, especially in technical fields Create IDPs for team members, especially senior engineers and leaders Who This Book Is For Current engineering leaders, aspiring engineering leaders, senior engineers, HR professionals and recruiters, and professionals in related fields

Modern organizational life seems dominated by crisis BP and the Gulf Oil spill, TEPCO and the Japanese tsunami, the global financial meltdown. Therefore it is particularly timely to find a collection of articles in this Handbook that provides research guidance and practical insights on how leaders manage or mismanage in crisis situations. The focus on the crisis leader highlights what they do, and how they do it, while at the same time raising important questions to guide subsequent analysis. Sydney Finkelstein, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth, US and author of Why Smart Executives Fail With contributions from many of the leading researchers in the field, the Handbook of Research on Crisis Leadership in Organizations summarizes much of the theory, research, and opinion about various facets of crisis leadership in order to advance this emerging field. It recognizes that crises have become an almost inevitable part of organizational life, and describes how leaders can facilitate people getting through the crisis. The Handbook is divided into four parts: attributes and behaviors of the crisis leader; leadership of subordinates during a crisis; managing the present crisis and prevent future crises; and an integration of approaches to understanding crisis leadership. Enough knowledge has been accumulated about crisis leadership in organizations to serve as guidelines for practice, as well as a research base to build on for the future. Leaders must help others get through crises as well as prevent them. Researchers in the field of crisis leadership and crisis management will find this important resource invaluable. Academics and students of organizational behavior, industrial and organizational psychology, and management will also find much of interest and might also suggest the book as a valuable addition to their library as an important resource in the field of crisis leadership. Human resource professionals in larger organizations as well as management consultants who endeavor to acquire advanced knowledge about this field will find the practical aspects of keen interest as well.

This book examines synchronous and asynchronous teaching in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Within a few weeks, millions of teachers found themselves forced to teach online, often with little systematic preparation and in their own homes. While this mode of teaching was earlier seen to be supplementary to brick-and-mortar classes, online teaching has become pivotal to the classroom experience. The chapter authors write of shared experiences that encapsulate the challenges faced by faculty, students and also higher education institutions. The book covers what worked, what did not work and what had to be changed during the rapid shift to online synchronous and asynchronous teaching during the lockdowns. Comprising both theoretical and practical perspectives, this book provides one of the first authoritative analyses of the field, while gathering lessons to be learned from the pandemic.