Anyone who thinks skills, education, and experience should be enough to snag a coveted position needs to think again. In This Is How to Get Your Next Job, Andrea Kay informs readers that behavior, attitude, and appearing to be a “good fit” are what tip the scales when an employer selects a new hire. Kay believes job hunters who are having a hard time getting hired need to pay attention to how they “seem” as much as what they have to offer. By paying attention to the “dos and don’ts” of job hunting and presenting a “best self” that matches the wants, needs, and preferences of the employer, any candidate can gain the competitive edge and land his or her dream job.
Project managers require more than knowledge to succeed at their tasks. Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to recognize emotional cues are now essential tools for team leadership. In Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers, Anthony Mersino explains how emotional intelligence, the ability to recognize and understand emotions as well as employ them in the decision-making process, is a crucial asset in successful project management. Effective project managers (PMs) can use emotional intelligence to communicate clearly, set the tone and goals for their projects, engage and motivate team members, foster collaboration, and counter stress and discord. Without these interpersonal competencies PMs risk seeing even the best organized projects fail.
As Alan Gregerman explains in The Necessity of Strangers, strangers rarely figure into one’s thinking about business or personal success. However, the ability to engage, learn from, and collaborate with strangers who are very different is the real key to creating remarkable breakthroughs, growing enterprises, finding and delighting new customers, and making the most of life. Strangers are essential to greater success. They lead people to new ways of doing things, help bring out the very best in others, and influence others’ thinking about how they can grow their enterprises. The ability to engage the right strangers in the right ways can determine whether or not people ever reach their full potential.
In I Hear You, Donny Ebenstein presents a blueprint for business professionals that outlines how they can learn how to communicate in a kind and constructive manner that helps to get things done. By showing people how to alter established mental patterns, Ebenstein sets the stage for business professionals at all stages of their careers to become better at the difficult conversations that can cause conflict in the workplace. He teaches people how to shift perspective, overcome their own defenses, and make important changes happen in the workplace.
In The Face-to-Face Book, Ed Keller and Brad Fay seek to expand the definition of “social marketing” to include websites like Facebook and Twitter along with face-to-face conversations and other forms of word-of-mouth communication. They review topics such as new research and understanding of how social influence helps determine consumers’ responses to advertisements, how to make a brand more “talkworthy,” and how engaging “influencers” can benefit a brand. They also discuss the often under-recognized role that social influence plays in determining the success of marketing and advertising of brands, products, services, and companies.
The HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done brings together more than two dozen articles on personal productivity, including many excerpts from the pages of the Harvard Business Review. The Harvard Business School Publishing collection provides advice on prioritizing work, avoiding distractions and procrastination, managing mental and emotional energy, and developing good work habits. It teaches how to delegate effectively and secure a pay raise by aligning work with corporate objectives. Readers can choose from a number of simple tools, such as to-do lists and e-mail automation, to reduce stress.
The path to success in the corporate world looks very different than in the past. Organizational structures have changed; they have become flatter, resulting in fewer management positions. Employees’ views about work-life balance have also changed, and people need varying degrees of job flexibility at different times of their lives. One potential solution to these challenges is for organizations to shift from a rigid corporate ladder for advancement to a corporate lattice where employees can move laterally and up and down over time. In Mass Career Customization, Cathleen Benko and Anne Weisberg describe why this model is better than traditional approaches, like flexible working arrangements, and discuss what steps companies can take to adopt the Mass Career Customization (MCC) framework.
The main challenge of leadership is that it is poorly understood, and the public associates leadership with scandal and distrust. Also, people in leadership roles often do not understand how to lead. In The Leadership Contract, Vince Molinaro presents a fresh look at leadership, and offers a tangible, concise, and easy-to-understand document that outlines what leadership is: making tough decisions, obligation, hard work, and community. Molinaro explores the risks and rewards of leadership in the context of these concepts. He captures key lessons gleaned from his experiences as a consultant for leaders in a variety of organizations, and reframes leadership as an opportunity to build successful and sustainable organizations.
The Profitable Consultant tells beginning management consultants how and why to get started. Jay Niblick advocates and explains processes called “education-based marketing” and “the diagnostic sales process.” Consultants learn how to generate sales without selling, except for closing. These strategies are unconventional, but becoming widely popular. Consultants can employ many described strategies that will make business come to them. The Profitable Consultant also makes detailed cases against undercharging and accepting undesirable clients and for other practices that increase profitability, how to price consulting, and how to develop materials that provide residual income.
Simply Managing is a shortened and updated version of Henry Mintzberg’s 2009 book Managing, and is based on his observations of 29 managers working in different fields. The book explains what management is and is not; what managers do and do not do; and the craft, science, and art of management. Mintzberg suggests that managers are constantly working amid chaos and that many managers are flawed, but that they can often correct their own shortcomings by focusing on what they do best. Moreover, Mintzberg suggests that instead of focusing on the stories of heroic managers who save their companies, managers ought to strive for the more natural goals of leading people, solving problems, and implementing plans for the future.
According to Peter Semmelhack, by 2020, at least 50 billion products will be sharing information over the Internet. In Social Machines, he argues that the traditional business model of creating a product that does not use digital technology is obsolete, and companies that cling to this business model are doomed to fail. He explains the significance and benefits of designing and building social machines and presents several examples of companies that have already made the leap to integrating technology to improve the social presence of their products. He also provides practical advice for understanding the design requirements for building social machines and implementing digital technology in almost any industry.
In The Collaboration Economy, Eric Lowitt puts forth a call to action for the public, private, and social sectors to work together to improve the environment, the economy, and ultimately, the world. Lowitt believes that this improvement can only come through collaboration. Whether it is the economy, water, energy, food, or the use of resources, each system must be healed in order for future success to occur. Through a global, rather than self-centered, perspective, CEOs and companies can create change. The responsibility falls on everyone. The most serious problems in society cannot be solved by turning inward to isolation, but rather through sharing thoughts and expertise from different areas to find a solution. Moreover, the goal should not be short-term profits, but instead, long-term sustainability.
The workplace has become project-driven to the point that project management is not only a business activity but an academic field and profession unto itself. While many resources exist for improving communication among members of project teams, there is a gap in the project management profession for tools that facilitate communication with other stakeholders. In The New One-Page Project Manager, Clark Campbell and Mick Campbell fill that void by augmenting existing tools and methodologies with the One-Page Project Manager (OPPM), a simple graphic interface that communicates plans and tracks performance relative to them. This updated edition will help project managers take advantage of the new AgileOPPM™ and the MyOPPM™ template as they work to improve their up, down, and out communication.
In Generation Me, Jean M. Twenge, PhD, uses vast research and examples to describe Generation Me, or those born in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, in an effort to make it understandable to others. Twenge uses 12 studies and data from 1.3 million Americans to show that Generation Me is a generation that is self-important, values independence, wants to make a difference, and finds fulfillment in helping others. That being said, Generation Me’ers also want to do things on their own terms and in their own way with the ultimate goal of being able to follow their own dreams. While Generation Me has unprecedented freedoms, they also feel increased competition and tend to blame others for their problems. As a result, Generation Me is a generation that is often anxious and depressed.
Arun Motianey believes that the last 125 years constitute the “age of the SuperCycle,” a period of rolling booms and busts in the global production pipeline. Hopes of price stability spur price movements that begin in the commodity sector, travel through the manufacturing sector, and end up on household balance sheets in consumption economies. In SuperCycles, Motianey delves into the past to examine the workings of the global economy and build a case for his theory. He provides a comprehensive overview of the theory, three possible scenarios for the future (deflation, inflation, and stagflation), and some salient investment tips for a world in which the SuperCycle reigns supreme. He encourages analysis of historical trends and information, detailed investment planning, and smart policy work. However, he warns that the future will not be an easy one and that it is best to start preparing now.
As a renowned communication professional, Dr. Frank I. Luntz often finds himself in conversations with some of America’s greatest businessmen, politicians, entertainers, and athletes. It is through these unique opportunities that Luntz comes to recognize nine discernible personality traits that are common amongst the most successful “winners” and how they are conveyed through language. Drawing from dozens of interviews and recollecting numerous stories, Win is Luntz’ account of these characteristics and the part each plays in building a success story—one in which an individual recognizes a weakness or deficiency in the human experience and then offers a solution to fill the void.
In Healthcare Strategic Planning, Alan M. Zuckerman explores the latest research and step-by-step processes involved in strategic planning. Strategic planning is an invaluable management tool that helps healthcare organizations thrive in an era of uncertainty, dynamic environments, and changing market conditions. The book provides realistic, workable advice and expert insights to aid healthcare institutions in addressing short-term issues, achieving long-term goals, and managing difficulties that arise during the strategic planning process.
The rapid aging of the American workforce, together with other demographic trends, means that the competition to attract and retain top employees is fiercer than ever before. But smart companies recognize that there is vast untapped potential in the talent pool of the special needs population. In Dive In, disability experts and consultants Nadine Vogel and Cindy Brown explain how to recruit, train, accommodate, and support both adults with disabilities and those who have children or family members with special needs—without burdensome expenditures or disruption. Most importantly, the authors reveal the reasons why these employees stand out for their productivity, creativity, and loyalty.
In The Snowball Effect, Andy Bounds describes how important it is to create successful communications that lead to significant time savings, increased productivity, and strengthened relationships. In business, effective communications lead to individuals enjoying work more, writing winning proposals, getting job interviews, persuading others to say “yes” when it matters most, initiating meetings that generate actions, and saving significant time by eliminating or limiting lengthy meetings and decluttering email inboxes. For people to improve communications and make the changes permanent, they need to first build a foundation, like that of a snowball’s core, then add techniques one at a time, as if making a snowball.
In the early pages of inGenius, Tina Seelig explains that the book’s title is derived from the Latin word “ingenium,” meaning “natural capacity” or “innate talent.” This is fitting, as everything Seelig explores strives to show individuals how to harness their own inherent potential for innovation. Unlike physical resources, creativity is always in limitless supply, so long as a person knows how to tap into his or her deep reserves. Seelig draws upon more than a decade’s worth of experience teaching courses on creativity to illustrate the roadblocks and wrong turns commonly found while searching for creative problem solving. Along the way, she provides countless examples of innovative thinking from some of today’s most successful, respected, and influential mavericks in the business world and entertainment industry.
