Uplifting Leadership

What does it take to do more with less? How can you do better than before, or better than others? How do you turn losses into wins, or near-bankruptcy into strong profitability, or abject failure into stellar success? The power of uplift enables any organization to do more with less, beat the competition, and perform better than ever. Leaders who uplift their employees' passions, intellects, and commitments produce remarkable results. Based on original research from a seven-year global study, Uplifting Leadership reveals how leaders from diverse organizations inspired and uplifted their teams' performance. Distilling the six common characteristics of leaders at high-performing organizations across business, sports, and education, authors Andy Hargreaves, Alan Boyle, and Alma Harris explore the nature of uplift, its impact on performance, and the ways to achieve it within and beyond an organization's walls, revealing how leaders: Identify and articulate an inspiring dream that is coherently connected to the best of what the organization has been before Pursue that dream at a sustainable pace without squandering resources, incurring excessive debt, or burning people out Forge paths of innovation and improvement that others have overlooked or rejected Monitor progress by using metrics and indicators in a mindful and meaningful way Build teams that naturally pull people into change rather than pushing them through it Featuring case studies of organizations as diverse as Shoebuy.com, Fiat, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Marks & Spencer, Cricket Australia, Burnley Football Club, and the Vancouver Giants, as well as world-leading educational systems, Uplifting Leadership provides tools for leaders to incorporate these performance-driving strategies into their own. For leaders who want their people to try harder, transform what they do, reach for a higher purpose, and stay resolute and resilient when opposing forces threaten to defeat them, Uplifting Leadership provides a path to better performance across any organization.

This is a guide to positive climate, positive relationships, positive communication, and positive meaning and how to apply each of them in work.

Have you ever: Reflected back on a conversation you had with a co-worker and thought you could have handled it better? Avoided a hard conversation because you simply didn't know what to say or thought you'd say the wrong thing? Left an employment opportunity because you didn't feel heard even though you avoided those conversations? Held resentment for colleagues, supervisors or employees without having proper communication? Felt like you were misunderstood in your professional setting? If so...this book is for you! In this book, you will learn strategies to: Lead and engage in hard or difficult conversations while managing others Empower others in your communication by learning empathetic and clear dialogue skills Lean into difficult conversations instead of avoiding them Rise to be a better leader by having confidence in your communication skills

The success of school reform measures greatly depends on thesupport and commitment of teachers. This book examines therealities of educational change from the frontline perspective ofreform-minded teachers. It charts the perceptions and experiencesof twenty-nine teachers in grades 7 and 8 from four schooldistricts--showing how they grappled with such initiatives asintegrated curriculum, common learning standards, and alternativemodes of assessment. This book moves beyond the bandwagons of rhetorical change andexamines how these changes work in practice for better and forworse. Authors Andy Hargreaves and Lorna Earl focus on how reformproposals have brought new complexities to teaching practice andwhy major investments of time and support are required if teachinginnovations are to become lasting and effective. Most importantly,they highlight the intense emotional demands that school changeimposes on teachers, and they outline practical strategies forhelping teachers through the difficult transition process--thusensuring that worthwhile reforms flourish and endure.

Presents a comprehensive approach to developing student leadership. It serves as a field guide for conducting leadership classes in schools, camps, and retreats. By participating in group leadership activities and building on their newly learned skills, students gain the confidence needed to become leaders in school activities, athletic programmes, and clubs.

We are not positive because life is easy. We are positive because life can be hard. As a leader, you will face numerous obstacles, negativity, and tests. There will be times when it seems as if everything in the world is conspiring against you and your vision seems more like a fantasy than a reality. That’s why positive leadership is essential! Positive leadership is not about fake positivity. It is the real stuff that makes great leaders great. The research is clear. Being a positive leader is not just a nice way to lead. It's the way to lead if you want to build a great culture, unite your organization in the face of adversity, develop a connected and committed team and achieve excellence and superior results. Since writing the mega best seller The Energy Bus, Jon Gordon has worked and consulted with leaders who have transformed their companies, organizations and schools, won national championships and are currently changing the world. He has also interviewed some of the greatest leaders of our time and researched many positive leaders throughout history and discovered their paths to success. In this pioneering book Jon Gordon shares what he has learned and provides a comprehensive framework on positive leadership filled with proven principles, compelling stories, practical ideas and practices that will help anyone become a positive leader. There is a power associated with positive leadership and you can start benefiting yourself and your team with it today.

Amidst the violent racism prevalent at the turn of the twentieth century, African American cultural elites, struggling to articulate a positive black identity, developed a middle-class ideology of racial uplift. Insisting that they were truly representative of the race's potential, black elites espoused an ethos of self-help and service to the black masses and distinguished themselves from the black majority as agents of civilization; hence the phrase 'uplifting the race.' A central assumption of racial uplift ideology was that African Americans' material and moral progress would diminish white racism. But Kevin Gaines argues that, in its emphasis on class distinctions and patriarchal authority, racial uplift ideology was tied to pejorative notions of racial pathology and thus was limited as a force against white prejudice. Drawing on the work of W. E. B. Du Bois, Anna Julia Cooper, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Hubert H. Harrison, and others, Gaines focuses on the intersections between race and gender in both racial uplift ideology and black nationalist thought, showing that the meaning of uplift was intensely contested even among those who shared its aims. Ultimately, elite conceptions of the ideology retreated from more democratic visions of uplift as social advancement, leaving a legacy that narrows our conceptions of rights, citizenship, and social justice.

NOW AN OWL (Outstanding Work of Literature) Leadership Award Winner! Every great leader is a great storyteller. As a manager, CEO, or team leader, how can you innovatively engage your employees so that they understand where your organization came from, where it's going, and how you're going to get there? How can you connect with your customers in a way that makes them believe in your company as passionately as you do? Paul Smith is one of the world's leading experts in business storytelling. He teaches people how to be more effective leaders by communicating their company's important mission, inspiring creativity, and earning the trust of valued stakeholders. The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell explores the journey behind success, and breaks down not just the importance of your company's story but how to craft compelling ones of your own.