Featuring a new preface, afterword, and Radically Candid performance-review bonus chapter, the fully revised and updated edition of Radical Candor is packed with even more guidance to help you improve your relationships at work. Radical Candor has been embraced around the world by leaders of every stripe at companies of all sizes. Now a cultural touchstone, the concept has come to be applied to a wide range of human relationships.The idea is simple: You don't have to choose between being a pushover and a jerk. Using Radical Candor - avoiding the perils of Obnoxious Aggression, Manipulative Insincerity, and Ruinous Empathy - you can be kind and clear at the same time.Kim Scott was a highly successful leader at Google before decamping to Apple, where she developed and taught a management class. Since the original publication of Radical Candor in 2017, Scott has earned international fame with her vital approach to effective leadership and co-founded the Radical Candor executive education company, which helps companies put the book's philosophy into practice.Radical Candor is about caring personally and challenging directly, about soliciting criticism to improve your leadership and also providing guidance that helps others grow. It focuses on praise but doesn't shy away from criticism - to help you love your work and the people you work with. Radically Candid relationships with team members enable bosses to fulfill their three core responsibilities:Create a culture of Compassionate Candor.Build a cohesive team.Achieve results collaboratively. Required listening for the most successful organizations, Radical Candor has raised the bar for management practices worldwide. Read more

Winner of three Book of the Year awards * 1st Place – 2023 Goody Business Book Awards – Think Differently Category * 1st Place – 2023 NABE Pinnacle Book Awards – Business Category * 1st Place – 2023 IPA Press Awards – Leadership CategoryA Shortcut To Natural, Effective, and Engaging Leadership That Any Leader Can Use To Improve Their Results FastLeadership Mindset 2.0 is the seemingly counterintuitive, yet most effective approach to quickly becoming a top-tier leader.The kind of leader that is truly confident, strategically effective, and creates highly engaged, skilled, and productive teams in any organization lucky enough to have them.Better yet, this leadership “system” empowers leaders to do all of this WITHOUT unsustainable, unhealthy, or unethical bully tactics, micromanaging, or 24/7 work schedules.Yes, this IS possible - and even EASY - when you have Leadership Mindset 2.0.These are the same tools and techniques that organizations like Uber, Microsoft, Stanford University, and PwC have been hiring Michael to teach their top executives for years.It's all been simplified everything into an incredibly affordable, focused, and actionable book any aspiring or current leader can pick up and start using in a single sitting. Read more

Toxic work culture? Ready to be the leader you never had?It’s time to ditch the old leadership playbook and Begin With WE—a groundbreaking guide that redefines what it means to lead with integrity, purpose, and authenticity - penned by a former Fortune 10 executive who led tens of thousands of employees around the globe.Begin With WE introduces the world to McDowell’s principles for leadership and life: The 10 WEs—ten guiding principles that have the power to dismantle toxic workplaces and ignite a Culture of Excellence.Begin With WE goes beyond the clichés of corporate jargon, offering candid insights, vivid storytelling, and actionable strategies drawn from McDowell’s extensive leadership journey. Through relatable examples and hard-earned lessons, this book challenges the "me-first" mindset that plagues modern organizations and replaces it with a "WE-oriented" approach that prioritizes authenticity, relatability, and trust—the cornerstones of exceptional teams.Whether you're an aspiring leader, Supervisor, Manager, or even CEO, McDowell’s inside-out approach has proven to transform bosses into “WE-oriented” leaders who:Foster trust, collaboration, and accountability.Lead by an example actually worth replicating, inspiring others to deliver their best.Build a leadership legacy of excellence that outlasts their tenure.This isn’t just a book—it’s a movement to transform leadership and workplace culture one principle at a time. If you’re ready to lead with authenticity, inspire your team, and make a lasting impact, it all begins here. It all begins with WE.Transform apathy into optimism and fear into fulfillment with this real-world guide for creating authentic leaders and higher-performing teams.Join the movement. Create your legacy. Build your Culture of Excellence. Read more

From the Harvard Negotiation Project—which brought you the megabestseller GETTING TO YES—this practical guide will help you handle your most difficult conversations with confidence and skillWhether dealing with an underperforming employee or a challenging colleague, disagreeing with your spouse about money or child-rearing, negotiating with a client, or simply saying "No," "I'm sorry," or "I love you," we attempt or avoid difficult conversations every day. No matter how competent we are, we all have conversations that cause anxiety and frustration. This book can help. Based on almost thirty years of research, Difficult Conversations walks you through a step-by-step approach for how to have your toughest conversations with less stress and more success. You'll learn how to: • Decipher the underlying structure and challenge of every difficult conversation • Raise tough issues without triggering defensiveness • Manage strong emotions—yours and theirs • Keep your balance no matter how the other person responds • Get to the heart of the matter in ways that promote learning and build relationshipsFilled with examples from everyday life, this third edition is thoroughly updated and addresses issues such as race, culture, gender, power, social media, and communicating via technology as we talk to one another across the world—and across worldviews. With constructive communication an ever more critical need in personal, professional, and public life, Difficult Conversations is a classic you will turn to again and again for powerful, practical advice. Read more

When a person goes to the boss with a problem and the boss agrees to do something about it, the monkey is off his back and onto the boss's. How can managers avoid these leaping monkeys? Here is priceless advice from three famous experts: how managers can meet their own priorities, give back other people's monkeys, and let them solve their own problems. Read more

In this "handbook for disruptors" (Eric Schmidt), The Geek Way reveals a new way to get big things done. It will change the way you think about work, teams, projects, and culture, and give you the insight and tools you need to harness our human superpowers of learning and cooperation.What is “being geeky?” It’s being a perennially curious person, one who's not afraid to tackle hard problems and embrace unconventional solutions. McAfee shows how the geeks have created a new culture based around four norms: science, ownership, speed, and openness. The geek way seems odd at first. It's not deferential to experts, fond of planning and process, afraid of mistakes, or obsessed with "winning." But it explains everything from why Montessori babies turn out to be creative tinkerers to how newcomers are disrupting industry after industry (and still just getting started). When all four norms are in place, a culture emerges that is freewheeling, fast-moving, egalitarian, evidence-driven, argumentative, and autonomous. Why does the geek way work so much better? McAfee provides an original answer: because it taps into humanity's superpower, which is our ability to cooperate intensely and learn rapidly. By providing insights from the young discipline of cultural evolution, McAfee shows that when we come together under the right conditions, we quickly figure out how to build reusable spaceships and self-correcting organizations. Under the wrong conditions, though, we create bureaucracy, chronic delays, cultures of silence, and the other classic dysfunctions of the Industrial Era. Mixing cutting-edge science, history, analysis, and stories that show the geek way in action, McAfee offers a new way to see the world and empowering tools for seizing the big opportunities of today and tomorrow.PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio. Read more

Gapology is the term Mark Thienes and Brian Brockhoff coined to describe what winning leaders do to identify and close performance gaps in their teams. Gapology is their process.For more than a decade, they analyzed the results, leadership behaviors and tactics of winning leaders as compared to those of leaders who were not winning. They wanted to understand how winning leaders win and if winning could be replicated. They were deeply curious about whether winning can be taught to those not winning or if winning leaders are simply born with the skills to win. As they interviewed and documented their conversations with winning leaders they found commonalities. The most amazing was that all performance gaps are either; knowledge gaps, importance gaps, action gaps, or some combination of the three.Gapology provides the keys to unlock these mysteries in the form of nine root solutions that, when applied intentionally, close the performance gaps quickly and permanently. It is for all leaders, regardless of the size of the team or the industry in which they work. As long as people are being led, gapology is needed. These discoveries are now at your fingertips! Achieve your full potential with Gapology! Read more

"A book that opened my eyes and inspired me in every sense." — Leisure Magazine"Recommended book of the month" — Dale Carnegie TrainingThe life-changing story which has sold over a million copies and spent an astounding five hundred and thirty-nine weeks as the #1 Bestselling Personal Development and Leadership book in Europe. When a young protege learns his friend and mentor is dying, he comes back to spend the final months of his life with him. Through their profound and inspiring discussions, we learn the importance of embracing who we really are, and the factors that truly determine a successful life.Told in the context of what it means to be a great leader, this story will forever enhance the way you look at your purpose in life. Because as the protege learns, we’re all leaders. Even if the only person we’re leading, is ourself. The principles in this book, such as The Big Five for Life and Museum Day Morning, have left an indelible impression on the minds of readers around the world.It’s a story which will lift you in countless ways and transform your understanding of what really matters—to you. Read more

"Radical Focus is a must-read for anyone who wants to accomplish out-sized results. Christina does a great job showing both the why and the how of OKRs. Avoid the all-too-common mistakes by reading this book first." (Teresa Torres, author Continuous Discovery Habits)The award-winning author of The Team That Managed Itself and Pencil Me In returns with a new and expanded edition of her landmark book on OKRs. If you’ve ever wanted to know how to use OKRs, or why yours might not be working, Radical Focus teaches you everything you need to achieve your goals. The author pulls from her experience with Silicon Valley’s hottest companies to teach practical insights on OKRs in the form of a fable.When Hanna and Jack receive an ultimatum from the only investor in their struggling tea supply company, they must learn how to employ Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) with radical focus to get the right things done. Using Hanna and Jack’s story, Wodtke walks listeners through how to inspire a diverse team to work together in pursuit of a single, challenging goal, and how to stay motivated despite setbacks and failures.Radical Focus has been translated into six languages and sold more than 50,000 copies. Now, the second edition of her OKR manifesto proves that Wodtke’s business strategies are essential in a world where focus seems to be a more and more unreachable goal. The updated version includes 22,000 words of all-new material designed to help OKR users in larger companies create, grade, and manage OKRs in ways that accelerate success and drive rapid organizational learning.Ready to move your team in the right direction? Listen to this book together, and learn Wodtke’s powerful system for attaining your most important goals with radical focus."This book is useful, actionable, and actually fun to read! If you want to get your team aligned around real, measurable goals, Radical Focus will teach you how to do it quickly and clearly." (Laura Klein, principal, Users Know)Praise for the Second Edition“Everything good I’ve ever learned about OKRs I learned from Christina Wodtke and Radical Focus.” (Jeff Gothelf, author of Lean UX, Sense & Respond, and Forever Employable)“A master at getting things done, Christina offers a radically focused way to achieve one's goals through disciplined use of OKRs.” (Irene Au, design partner at Khosla Ventures)“It has been five years since Christina published the first edition of Radical Focus. The book has gone on to become a favorite for thousands of product people working to learn how to empower their teams, and utilize the OKR technique.... I think you will love [the second edition.] It will inspire you.” (Marty Cagan, author of Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love)"Together with Doerr, Grove, and Drucker, Christina Wodtke is one of the four people who shaped OKR into the powerful tool it is today. With Radical Focus 2.0, she continues to teach us that success is about having an impact, not checking a box." (Felipe Castro, founder, OutcomeEdge)PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio. Read more

Now nearing its sixtieth printing in English and translated into nineteen languages, Michael E. Porter's Competitive Strategy has transformed the theory, practice, and teaching of business strategy throughout the world.Electrifying in its simplicity—like all great breakthroughs—Porter’s analysis of industries captures the complexity of industry competition in five underlying forces. Porter introduces one of the most powerful competitive tools yet developed: his three generic strategies—lowest cost, differentiation, and focus—which bring structure to the task of strategic positioning. He shows how competitive advantage can be defined in terms of relative cost and relative prices, thus linking it directly to profitability, and presents a whole new perspective on how profit is created and divided. In the almost two decades since publication, Porter's framework for predicting competitor behavior has transformed the way in which companies look at their rivals and has given rise to the new discipline of competitor assessment. More than a million managers in both large and small companies, investment analysts, consultants, students, and scholars throughout the world have internalized Porter's ideas and applied them to assess industries, understand competitors, and choose competitive positions. The ideas in the book address the underlying fundamentals of competition in a way that is independent of the specifics of the ways companies go about competing. Competitive Strategy has filled a void in management thinking. It provides an enduring foundation and grounding point on which all subsequent work can be built. By bringing a disciplined structure to the question of how firms achieve superior profitability, Porter’s rich frameworks and deep insights comprise a sophisticated view of competition unsurpassed in the last quarter-century. Read more

Written for leaders of high-growth companies, a framework for predicting and overcoming obstacles to scale successfully. Growth is hard. CEOs must constantly evolve to make it through the gauntlet of never-ending challenges. This book is written for leaders like you who recognize that success depends upon harnessing your people’s strengths to build a high-functioning and resilient organization. A groundbreaking leadership framework. Authors Meg Thomas Crosby and Howard Cleveland have helped CEOs, board chairs, investors, and leadership teams achieve just that. In Running the Gauntlet, the duo of veteran strategic advisors shows you • how to predict and prepare for the challenges you’ll encounter as your company moves through four stages of growth. • how to use key levers to proactively drive organizational growth including sharpening focus, calibrating culture, strengthening leadership, and elevating talent. • how to evolve your role as CEO as the organization becomes larger and more complex. • how to avoid the pitfalls that derail growth. Growing a company is both excruciating and exhilarating. This practical model gives CEOs and leadership teams the tools to build sustainable organizations and survive the ruthless growth gauntlet. Read more

The definitive playbook for driving impact as a middle managerLeading from the Middle: A Playbook for Managers to Influence Up, Down, and Across the Organization delivers an insightful and practical guide for the backbone of an organization: those who have a boss and are a boss and must lead from the messy middle. Accomplished author and former P&G executive Scott Mautz walks readers through the unique challenges facing these managers, and the mindset and skillset necessary for managing up and down and influencing what happens across the organization.You’ll learn the winning mindset of the best middle managers, how to develop the most important skills necessary for managing from the middle, how to create your personal Middle Action Plan (MAP), and effectively influence:Up the chain of command, to your boss and those above themDown, to your direct reports and teams who report to youLaterally, to peers and teams you have no formal authority overAnyone in an organization who reports to someone and has someone reporting to them must lead from the middle. They are the most important group in an organization and have a unique opportunity to drive impact. Leading from the Middle explains how. Read more

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Change is happening faster than ever before, yet most organizations still struggle to manage it effectively. Why? Because they lack a simple, repeatable way to lead people through change.The Change Cheat Code gives you a practical, easy-to-remember framework to navigate any transition—whether you're leading a company-wide transformation or adapting to change in your personal life. Authors Suzanne Rudnitzki and Dr. Liz Lance have led high-stakes transformations across multiple industries, and they know firsthand what works—and what doesn’t. This book introduces a four-stage model that mirrors the natural human response to change:Hear – Recognize the need for change and ensure people understand it.Fear – Address resistance, uncertainty, and emotional reactions.Near – Move from uncertainty to action, ensuring the change gains traction.Cheer – Reinforce and sustain the change so it becomes the new normal.With real-world stories, actionable strategies, and step-by-step guidance, The Change Cheat Code equips leaders, teams, and individuals with the tools to turn resistance into momentum and disruption into innovation.Change doesn’t have to be hard—when you know the cheat code. Read more

Let’s face it: change is hard.And yet, that’s exactly what leaders are called to do—enable positive transformation for their organization, team, and team members. Traditionally, leaders have relied on a command-and-control approach to drive results: they tell people what to do.But there’s just one problem: it doesn’t work. No one likes being told what to do. People want to be engaged, feel empowered to shape their work, and be activated to achieve their best.In Coaching for (a) Change, Dr. Greg Giuliano draws on over two decades of leadership and coaching experience to offer a practical, adaptable path forward. Through the GR8 Coaching Framework—eight questions to quickly coach anyone, anytime—you will learn how to kick the “Expert Problem-Solver” habit, shift from manager to coach, and create the conditions for people to own their situation, own their solution, and increase their impact.Real change is only a few good questions away. Are you ready to try coaching for a change? Read more

Break Free from Micromanagement. Build a Culture Where Accountability Drives Results.What if your team owned the mission like you do?The Accountability Advantage delivers a fresh, empowering blueprint for leaders ready to create a high-performing culture built on trust, clarity, and ownership, not blame. Executive coach and leadership expert Dr. Quendrida Whitmore pulls back the curtain on why most accountability systems fail and shows you how to make it stick.This isn’t theory. It’s a proven, five-step framework used by top-performing teams to get real, measurable results, without micromanaging, burning out, or creating a culture of fear.In This Game-Changing Guide, You'll Discover How To:Eliminate outdated, punitive approaches and replace them with systems that inspire ownershipClarify expectations and roles so your team knows exactly what winning looks likeModel consistent leadership behaviors that drive trust, engagement, and follow-throughLead powerful accountability conversations without awkwardness or defensivenessBuild sustainable routines that lock in high performance, even when you’re not in the roomWhether you're a C-suite executive or department leader, this book gives you the tools to stop over-functioning, reduce turnover, and create a culture where your people rise, own their results, and perform at their best.Perfect For Leaders Who Are:Leading a team with potential but inconsistent resultsStruggling with resistance, misalignment, or team burnoutReady to shift from managing to strategically leadingWith candor, heart, and actionable tools you can implement immediately, Dr. Whitmore helps you transition from reactive leadership to intentional culture-building without sacrificing performance or peace of mind.“Leadership is meeting the team where they are and helping them get to where they, the business, and the team need and want to be.” - Dr. Quendrida WhitmoreTransform your team. Elevate your culture. Own your leadership.Start your Accountability Advantage today. Read more

The Making of a Manager: The Proven Formula for 100% Performance and SuccessMaster the Principles of Effective ManagementIn today’s competitive business landscape, achieving tangible results is crucial for success. However, too many managers and business owners prioritize profits and outcomes while neglecting the well-being and development of their workforce.To make matters worse, many managers are promoted simply because they were excellent at their job—not because they were trained to lead. As a result, they lack the skills, strategies, and tools needed to be truly effective.The Making of a Manager reveals a groundbreaking approach developed through years of research, experimentation, and real-world application. This book provides a proven framework to empower employees, drive results, and create lasting success in any organization.The 100% Success FormulaTo GUARANTEE PERFORMANCE, it all comes down to mastering two critical principles:1. Ensure Your Team Excels at Everything They DoDevelop the necessary skills so employees can perform at the highest level.Identify and eliminate knowledge gaps that limit success.Build a culture of continuous learning and improvement.2. Make Sure They’re Doing Enough of the Right ThingsFocus on high-impact tasks that move the needle.Remove distractions and optimize workflows for maximum efficiency.Implement strategic prioritization to ensure consistent results.What You’ll Learn in The Making of a ManagerA step-by-step system for transforming your team into high performers.How to identify and fix performance bottlenecks before they derail progress.Proven coaching strategies that inspire employees to exceed expectations.The psychology of productivity and how to align work with business goals.How to track, measure, and improve performance without micromanaging.BONUS MATERIALExclusive tools and exercises to help implement key strategies immediately.Real-world case studies from top-performing managers and teams.Templates and action plans to build a results-driven management system.This book is the definitive guide for managers who want to unlock their team’s full potential while delivering exceptional experiences for employees and customers alike.Start reading today and take the first step toward becoming a highly effective leader! Read more

Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Tool Kit for Managers (D4G) showed how organizations can use design thinking to boost innovation and drive growth. This updated and expanded companion guide is a stand-alone project workbook that provides a step-by-step framework for applying the D4G tool kit and process to a particular project, systematically explaining how to address the four key questions of the design thinking approach.In the field book, Jeanne Liedtka, Tim Ogilvie, and Rachel Brozenske guide readers through the design process with reminders of key D4G takeaways as they progress. Readers learn to identify an opportunity, draft a design brief, conduct research, establish design criteria, brainstorm, develop concepts, create napkin pitches, make prototypes, solicit feedback from stakeholders, and run learning launches. This second edition is suitable for projects in business, nonprofit, and government contexts, with all-new tools, practical advice, and facilitation tips. A new introduction discusses the relationship between strategy and design thinking. Read more

An in-depth, research-backed exploration of the answers to worker motivationBased on an extensive global research program conducted in nineteen countries around the world surveying over forty-eight thousand people, The Archetype Effect delivers a new framework to understand and cater to worker motivators across roles, industries, and organizations. This book shows how workers can be classified into six major archetypes based on their motivations, and describes how recent disruptions, such as gig work, remote work and AI-assisted automation, are impacting worker motivators overall.The archetypes discussed in this book include:Givers: Driven by helping others, thrive in collaborative environmentsOperators: Value stability and teamwork, prefer clear instructions and minimal risksExplorers: Seek variety, creativity, and new experiences, prefer flexibility and innovationArtisans: Motivated by mastery and pride in their work, prefer autonomy and focus on qualityStrivers: Ambitious and career-oriented, motivated by recognition and advancementPioneers: Visionary and entrepreneurial, driven by creating and often leading new venturesThe Archetype Effect is an enlightening read for anyone wanting a new way to understand what motivates them at work every day, or looking for a language to talk about current role, future choices, and career options with their firm. It is also for all leaders seeking to apply these insights across an organization to increase employee wellbeing, performance, and retention. Read more

There are a lot of books out there on how to be a creative professional. And a lot of schools where you can learn to be a creative professional. But let’s say you find success on your chosen path, and they put you in charge of other creative professionals. Nobody tells you what to do then.Now they do.This book is a step-by-step guide to leading creative teams. You’ll learn what a creative leader’s job is (helping your team be more successful) and what it’s not (telling people what to change about their work). How to have one-to-ones. What a one-to-one is in the first place. How to build creative culture. How to hire the right people. How to give feedback in a way that teams will listen. How to sell work. How to establish your creative vision. And most importantly, how to say thank you.What You Will LearnKeep the lines of communication open in one to onesCreate opportunities for team members to be successfulIdentify and nurture relationships with potential hiresBuild a diverse teamWho This Book is ForPrimarily written for burgeoning leaders in creative fields such as marketing and advertising Read more