It is the people who step up to exercise leadership in critical moments that ultimately achieve greater success within their organizations. However, few people are able to recognize the moments that are opportunities to exercise leadership. In Step Up, Henry Evans and Colm Foster identify six common “leadership moments” every professional should recognize along with what actions they must take when they encounter them. By demonstrating leadership in each of the six moments, leaders will be able to improve their overall performances and further their careers.
If there is anyone who knows the secret ingredients to success, it is Betty Liu. As an award-winning financial journalist and Bloomberg Television anchor, she has had the opportunity to interview billionaires, CEOs, politicians, and celebrities about what it is like at the top and how to get there. In her book Work Smarts, Liu shares advice and insights gleaned from these interviews. She offers practical tips on important job skills such as networking, asking for a raise, and negotiating. Also covered are less obvious aspects of getting ahead, such as the importance of being likeable, how to think like an entrepreneur, how to bounce back from a layoff, and how to overcome fear.
Thanks to changing customers and a changing business environment, marketing techniques also need to change in order to be successful. Although it is no longer at the front end of the sales funnel, marketing is increasingly becoming a strategic partner in driving improved business results. In turn, these results are becoming more and more dependent on understanding and serving customers in innovative and thoughtful ways. HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Strategic Marketing provides valuable insights into the changing landscape of the marketing function, as well as practical steps for reinventing their marketing processes to better serve customers and drive profitable growth.
In a business world where restructurings and mergers have become the norm, many business leaders are looking for ways to make cuts that allow them to keep top talent while still running flourishing companies. In The Essential Advantage, Paul Leinwald and Cesare Mainardi offer insight into the secrets of making strategic cuts that not only cause a business to grow in lean times, but also give it an advantage over its competitors. These advantages include strategic coherence, elements of a capabilities-driven strategy, creating value, and living coherence every day.
In Yes to the Mess, Frank J. Barrett presents a new pattern for leading and collaborating in organizations. Like experienced jazz players, leaders need to adopt the art of unlearning rigid, routine-based practices and embrace approaches that encourage simultaneous performance and experimentation. When people within an organization feel comfortable providing novel ideas and supporting each other in the fluid exchange of insights, the result is innovation. Jazz bands are flexible, organized, and combine sufficient constraints and synchronization to foster diversity. Innovative organizations can do the same to inspire exploration and experimentation by allowing their people to respond to intuitive insights.
Project management is a daunting task for both those who are new to the business world and seasoned veterans. Keeping a diverse group of people focused, motivated, on budget, and working together toward a common goal is always a challenging undertaking. In HBR Guide to Project Management, tips, advice, and tools are presented that will help both new and veteran project managers deliver results effectively and efficiently. From planning to build-up, implementation, and closeout, the HBR Guide to Project Management guides project managers through each step of their projects, thereby increasing their chances of delivering quality results on time and on budget.
Strategy forms the foundation of all successful companies, but developing an effective strategy and successfully executing it is a challenge for many. HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Strategy brings together articles written by business thought leaders that focus on key issues related to all aspects of strategy. By reading these pieces, leaders will gain insight into how to deal with the different facets of setting strategies and making them a reality.
