Target Higher Performance and Achieve It!
In the bestselling tradition of The One Minute ManagerR, Zap the Gaps combines a fast–moving business parable with step–by–step instructions for implementing the GAPS approach to problem solving.
What makes an effective executive?
The measure of the executive, Peter F. Drucker reminds us, is the ability to "get the right things done." This usually involves doing what other people have overlooked as well as avoiding what is unproductive. Intelligence, imagination, and knowledge may all be wasted in an executive job without the acquired habits of mind that mold them into results.
Drucker identifies five practices essential to business effectiveness that can, and must, be learned:
Ranging widely through the annals of business and government, Peter F. Drucker demonstrates the distinctive skill of the executive and offers fresh insights into old and seemingly obvious business situations.
The groundbreaking and premier work on nonprofit organizations
The nonprofit sector is growing rapidly, creating a major need for expert advice on how to manage these organizations effectively. Management legend Peter Drucker provides excellent examples and explanations of mission, leadership, resources, marketing, goals, and much more. Interviews with nine experts also address key issues in this booming sector.
In this crowning achievement, one of the greatest minds in management theory reveals how to succeed and wield power in the real world.
Over decades of consulting with corporations and teaching MBA students the nuances of organizational power, Jeffrey Pfeffer has watched numerous people suffer career reversals even as others prevail despite the odds.
Our most common mistake is not having a realistic understanding of what makes some people more successful than others. By believing that life is fair, we tend to subscribe to the “just-world phenomenon,” which leaves us unprepared for the challenges and competition of the real world.
Now Pfeffer brings decades of his incredible insights to a wider audience. Brimming with counterintuitive advice, numerous examples from various countries, and surprising findings based on his research, this groundbreaking guide reveals the strategies and tactics that separate the winners from the losers. Power, he argues, is a force that can be used and harnessed not only for individual gain but also for the benefit of organizations and society. Power, however, is not something that can be learned from those in charge—their advice often puts a rosy spin on their ascent and focuses on what should have worked, rather than what actually did. Instead, Pfeffer reveals the true paths to power and career success. Iconoclastic and grounded in the realpolitik of human interaction, Power is an essential organizational survival manual and a new standard in the field of leadership and management.
An implementation blueprint for SIX SIGMA!
"The Six Sigma Way demystifies Six Sigma with a real-world 'how-to 'guide. A good investment for any business planning to launch Six Sigma."
John Biedry, VP Quality & Compliance, Sears Home Services.
Cost reduction...productivity improvement...customer retention...these are the promises of the Six Sigma quality management system. The Six Sigma Way reveals how GE, Motorola, and numerous other companies are successfully using Six Sigma to fine-tune products and processes, improve performance, and increase profits. Now you can read the roadmap for implementing Six Sigma in your manufacturing or service organization.
The authors who have worked with some of the most visible Six Sigma companies including GE provide step-by-step guidance and practical implementation guidelines. Whether your goal is to fix a process problem or implement Six Sigma company-wide, The Six Sigma Way will help you develop an approach customized for your company's needs and the challenges of the twenty-first century business environment. The Six Sigma Way:
Six Sigma is a system for improving the quality of organizational processes. It was originally developed at Motorola in the 1980's and has become one of the most widely discussed and reported trends in business over the past two years, thanks largely to the phenomenal successes of the Six Sigma program at one of the world's most successful companies, GE.
“What are your assumptions (implicit as well as explicit) about the most effective way to manage people?”
So began Douglas McGregor in this 1960 management classic. It was a seemingly simple question he asked, yet it led to a fundamental revolution in management. Today, with the rise of the global economy, the information revolution, and the growth of knowledge-driven work, McGregor's simple but provocative question continues to resonate-perhaps more powerfully than ever before.
Heralded as one of the most important pieces of management literature ever written, a touchstone for scholars and a handbook for practitioners, The Human Side of Enterprise continues to receive the highest accolades nearly half a century after its initial publication. Influencing such major management gurus such as Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis, McGregor's revolutionary Theory Y-which contends that individuals are self-motivated and self-directed-and Theory X-in which employees must be commanded and controlled-has been widely taught in business schools, industrial relations schools, psychology departments, and professional development seminars for over four decades.
In this special annotated edition of the worldwide management classic, Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Senior Research Scientist in MIT's Sloan School of Management and Engineering Systems Division, shows us how today's leaders have successfully incorporated McGregor's methods into modern management styles and practices. The added quotes and commentary bring the content right into today's debates and business models.
Now more than ever, the timeless wisdom of Douglas McGregor can light the path towards a management style that nurtures leadership capability, creates effective teams, ensures internal alignment, achieves high performance, and cultivates an authentic, value-driven workplace—lessons we all need to learn as we make our way in this brave new world of the 21st century.
Leadership Lessons from the World’s Greatest CEOs
“Fox and Reiss have created a new leadership category—The Transformative CEO.”
—Rafael Pastor, CEO, Vistage International
Bestselling author Jeffrey Fox literally wrote the book on How to Become CEO, and radio talk show host Robert Reiss has explored strategy with some of the world’s biggest business legends.
Now, in The Transformative CEO, they have identified the key traits and characteristics that describe this remarkable type of leader.
Filled with fascinating insights from superstar CEOs, this one-of-a-kind guide puts you right on the front lines with the men and women who have transformed businesses with spectacular success. You’ll learn how to:
(Marvel Entertainment)
(Zappos)
(MTV International)
(UPS)
(ING DIRECT)
(Eggland’s Best)
You’ll learn how CEOs think and act in good times and bad—and you’ll get a front-row seat to some of the most profitable industry game changers of our time, including AT&T Mobility, Danaher Corp. and many others.
The Transformative CEO provides a new definition of leadership. Jeffrey J. Fox and Robert Reiss show how anyone can become a transformative leader.
Find out how:
HOME DEPOT cofounder and CEO Bernie Marcus built a new model of retail culture for customers—from the ground up.
1-800-FLOWERS.COM founder and CEO Jim McCann turned the 800 number into a brand—and delivered record profits and growth.
PAUL MITCHELL SYSTEMS founder John Paul DeJoria higher purposes first—success unshared is failure.
BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION (BET) CEO Robert L. Johnson founded a television network–and tranformed television.
CAMPBELL SOUP CEO Douglas Conant warmed up employee morale—and made its business hot again.
Foreword by Herb Kelleher, Founder of Southwest Airlines
Once, there was a remarkable person who led with love. Her company succeeded where its competitors struggled. Customers were loyal, employees loved to work there, and it was profitable year after year--for decades.
Colleen Barrett began her career as an executive secretary, yet Southwest Airlines’ founder chose her to succeed him as president. When asked why, he said, “Because she knows how to love people to success.”
Lead with LUV is an extraordinary, wide-ranging conversation between Barrett and Ken Blanchard, the legendary author of The One Minute Manager. Together, they reveal why leading with love is the most powerful way to lead, how to make it work, and how it can help you achieve unprecedented business performance.
It’s not about being “soft”!
What leading with love really means in the organizational context
The real meaning of “servant leadership”
Love in action: how to make it work
Handling inappropriate behavior or performance
“Tough love,” redirection, and when to “share” your nonperformers
Sustaining leadership with love
Building the right vision and culture--and keeping them for the long haul
Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work by the bestselling author of The 33 Strategies of War and Mastery distills 3,000 years of the history of power in to 48 well-explicated laws
As attention-grabbing in its design as it is in its content, this bold volume outlines the laws of power in their unvarnished essence, synthesizing the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun-tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, and other great thinkers. Some laws teach the need for prudence ("Law 1: Never Outshine the Master"), the virtue of stealth ("Law 3: Conceal Your Intentions"), and many demand the total absence of mercy ("Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally"), but like it or not, all have applications in real life. Illustrated through the tactics of Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Kissinger, P. T. Barnum, and other famous figures who have wielded—or been victimized by—power, these laws will fascinate any reader interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.
Also look out for Robert Greene's latest book, Mastery, and discover just what it takes to be great.
Brilliant distillations of the strategies of war—and the subtle social game of everyday life—by the bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power and Mastery Robert Greene’s groundbreaking guides, The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, and his latest book, Mastery, espouse profound, timeless lessons from the events of history to help readers vanquish an enemy, ensnare an unsuspecting victim, or become the greatest in your field. In The 33 Strategies of War, Greene has crafted an important addition to this ruthless and unique series. Spanning world civilizations, synthesizing dozens of political, philosophical, and religious texts and thousands of years of violent conflict, The 33 Strategies of War is a comprehensive guide to the subtle social game of everyday life informed by the most ingenious and effective military principles in war. Structured in Greene’s trademark style, The 33 Strategies of War is the I-Ching of conflict, the contemporary companion to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Abundantly illustrated with examples from history, including the folly and genius of everyone from Napoleon to Margaret Thatcher, Shaka the Zulu to Lord Nelson, Hannibal to Ulysses S. Grant, as well as movie moguls, Samurai swordsmen, and diplomats, each of the thirty-three chapters outlines a strategy that will help you win life’s wars. Learn the offensive strategies that require you to maintain the initiative and negotiate from a position of strength, or the defensive strategies designed to help you respond to dangerous situations and avoid unwinnable wars. The great warriors of battlefields and drawing rooms alike demonstrate prudence, agility, balance, and calm, and a keen understanding that the rational, resourceful, and intuitive always defeat the panicked, the uncreative, and the stupid. An indispensable book, The 33 Strategies of War provides all the psychological ammunition you need to overcome patterns of failure and forever gain the upper hand.
This book makes the startling case that North Americans were getting on the "information highway" as early as the 1700's, and have been using it as a critical building block of their social, economic, and political world ever since.
By the time of the founding of the United States, there was a postal system and roads for the distribution of mail, copyright laws to protect intellectual property, and newspapers, books, and broadsides to bring information to a populace that was building a nation on the basis of an informed electorate. In the 19th century, Americans developed the telegraph, telephone, and motion pictures, inventions that further expanded the reach of information. In the 20th century they added television, computers, and the Internet, ultimately connecting themselves to a whole world of information.
From the beginning North Americans were willing to invest in the infrastructure to make such connectivity possible. This book explores what the deployment of these technologies says about American society. The editors assembled a group of contributors who are experts in their particular fields and worked with them to create a book that is fully integrated and cross-referenced.
"Long-term commitment to new learning and new philosophy is required of any management that seeks transformation. The timid and the fainthearted, and the people that expect quick results, are doomed to disappointment."According to W. Edwards Deming, American companies require nothing less than a transformation of management style and of governmental relations with industry. In Out of the Crisis, originally published in 1982, Deming offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. Management's failure to plan for the future, he claims, brings about loss of market, which brings about loss of jobs. Management must be judged not only by the quarterly dividend, but by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment,ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved product and service. In simple,direct language, he explains the principles of management transformation and how to apply them.previously published by MIT-CAES
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