The one primer you need to develop your leadership skills. Put aside all the overhyped new frameworks, the listicles, the "10 best things you need to succeed as a leader today." The critical leadership practices--the ones that will allow a leader to make the biggest impact over time--are well established. They're about how you create a vision and inspire others to follow it. How you make difficult strategic choices. How you lead innovation. How you get results. These fundamental skills are even more important today as organizations and teams become increasingly networked, virtual, agile, fast-moving, and socially conscious. In this comprehensive handbook, strategy and change experts Ron Ashkenas and Brook Manville distill proven ideas and frameworks about leadership from Harvard Business Review, interviews with senior executives, and their own experience in the field--all to help rising leaders stand out and have a big impact. In the HBR Leader's Handbook you'll find: Concise explanations of proven leadership frameworks from Harvard Business Review contributors such as Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Porter In-depth case studies of senior leaders such as Jim Wolfensohn at the World Bank, Paula Kerger at PBS, Darren Walker at the Ford Foundation, and Jim Smith at Thomson Reuters Step-by-step guidance to help you understand and start implementing six core leadership practices: building a unifying vision, developing a strategy, getting great people on board, focusing on results, innovating for the future, and leading yourself

The one primer you need to develop your managerial and leadership skills. Whether you’re a new manager or looking to have more influence in your current management role, the challenges you face come in all shapes and sizes—a direct report’s anxious questions, your boss’s last-minute assignment of an important presentation, or a blank business case staring you in the face. To reach your full potential in these situations, you need to master a new set of business and personal skills. Packed with step-by-step advice and wisdom from Harvard Business Review’s management archive, the HBR Manager’s Handbook provides best practices on topics from understanding key financial statements and the fundamentals of strategy to emotional intelligence and building your employees’ trust. The book’s brief sections allow you to home in quickly on the solutions you need right away—or take a deeper dive if you need more context. Keep this comprehensive guide with you throughout your career and be a more impactful leader in your organization. In the HBR Manager’s Handbook you’ll find: - Step-by-step guidance through common managerial tasks - Short sections and chapters that you can turn to quickly as a need arises - Self-assessments throughout - Exercises and templates to help you practice and apply the concepts in the book - Concise explanations of the latest research and thinking on important management skills from Harvard Business Review experts such as Dan Goleman, Clayton Christensen, John Kotter, and Michael Porter - Real-life stories from working managers - Recaps and action items at the end of each chapter that allow you to reinforce or review the ideas quickly The skills covered in the book include: - Transitioning into a leadership role - Building trust and credibility - Developing emotional intelligence - Becoming a person of influence - Developing yourself as a leader - Giving effective feedback - Leading teams - Fostering creativity - Mastering the basics of strategy - Learning to use financial tools - Developing a business case

The one primer you need to launch, lead, and sponsor successful projects. We're now living in the project economy. The number of projects initiated in all sectors has skyrocketed, and project management skills have become essential for every leader and manager. Still, project failure rates remain extremely high. Why? Leaders oversee too many projects and have too little visibility into them. Project managers struggle to translate their hands-on, technical knowledge up to senior management. The result? Worthy projects are starved of time and resources and fail to deliver benefits, while too much investment goes into the wrong projects. To compete in the project economy, you need to close this gap. The HBR Project Management Handbook shows you how. In this comprehensive guide, project management expert Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez presents a new and simple framework that will increase any project's likelihood of success. Packed with case studies from many industries worldwide, it will teach you how to manage your organization's projects, strategic programs, and agile initiatives more effectively and push the best ones ahead to completion. Timeless yet forward-looking, this book will help you win in the project-driven world. In the HBR Project Management Handbook you'll find: Everything you need to know about project management in practical, nontechnical language A definitive taxonomy of project types, from product launches to digital transformations to megaprojects A road map for becoming an effective project leader and executive sponsor A new, simple, and universal project framework, the Project Canvas, that breaks down any project into essential building blocks that can be easily understood by all project stakeholders Original concepts and exclusive case studies from public- and private-sector organizations worldwide You'll learn: A common language for project managers and executives to run successful projects across your organization When to use agile, traditional, or hybrid methods in your projects The twelve principles of successful projects, including purpose, agility, and a focus on outcomes Techniques for selecting and advancing the best projects and managing a strategic and balanced project portfolio How today's projects will help address some of the most pressing global trends, including automation, sustainability, diversity, and crisis management Why project management needed to be reinvented and what the future holds HBR Handbooks provide ambitious professionals with the frameworks, advice, and tools they need to excel in their careers. With step-by-step guidance, time-honed best practices, and real-life stories, each comprehensive volume helps you to stand out from the pack—whatever your role.

The one primer you need to develop your entrepreneurial skills. Whether you're imagining your new business to be the next big thing in Silicon Valley, a pivotal B2B provider, or an anchor in your local community, the HBR Entrepreneur's Handbook is your essential resource for getting your company off the ground. Starting an independent new business is rife with both opportunity and risk. And as an entrepreneur, you're the one in charge: your actions can make or break your business. You need to know the tried-and-true fundamentals--from writing a business plan to getting your first loan. You also need to know the latest thinking on how to create an irresistible pitch deck, mitigate risk through experimentation, and develop unique opportunities through business model innovation. The HBR Entrepreneur's Handbook addresses these challenges and more with practical advice and wisdom from Harvard Business Review's archive. Keep this comprehensive guide with you throughout your startup's life--and increase your business's odds for success. In the HBR Entrepreneur's Handbook you'll find: Step-by-step guidance through the entrepreneurial process Concise explanations of the latest research and thinking on entrepreneurship from Harvard Business Review contributors such as Marc Andreessen and Reid Hoffman Time-honed best practices Stories of real companies, from Airbnb to eBay You'll learn: Which skills and characteristics make for the best entrepreneurs How to gauge potential opportunities The basics of business models and competitive strategy How to test your assumptions--before you build a whole business How to select the right legal structure for your company How to navigate funding options, from venture capital and angel investors to accelerators and crowdfunding How to develop sales and marketing programs for your venture What entrepreneurial leaders must do to build culture and set direction as the business keeps growing HBR Handbooks provide ambitious professionals with the frameworks, advice, and tools they need to excel in their careers. With step-by-step guidance, time-honed best practices, real-life stories, and concise explanations of research published in Harvard Business Review, each comprehensive volume helps you to stand out from the pack--whatever your role.

Navigate the complex decisions and critical relationships necessary to create and sustain a healthy family business—and business family. Though "family business" may sound like it refers only to mom-and-pop shops, businesses owned by families are among the most significant and numerous in the world. But surprisingly few resources exist to help navigate the unique challenges you face when you share the executive suite, financial statements, and holidays. How do you make the right decisions, critical to the long-term survival of any business, with the added challenge of having to do so within the context of a family? The HBR Family Business Handbook brings you sophisticated guidance and practical advice from family business experts Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer. Drawing on their decades-long experience working closely with a wide range of family businesses of all sizes around the world, the authors present proven methods and approaches for communicating effectively, managing conflict, building the right governance structures, and more. In the HBR Family Business Handbook you'll find: A new perspective on what makes family businesses succeed and fail A framework to help you make good decisions together Step-by-step guidance on managing change within your business family Key questions about wealth, unique to family businesses, that you can't afford to ignore Assessments to help you determine where you are—and where you want to go Stories of real companies, from Marchesi Antinori to Radio Flyer Chapter summaries you can use to reinforce what you've learned Keep this comprehensive guide with you to help you build, grow, and position your family business to thrive across generations. HBR Handbooks provide ambitious professionals with the frameworks, advice, and tools they need to excel in their careers. With step-by-step guidance, time-honed best practices, and real-life stories, each comprehensive volume helps you to stand out from the pack—whatever your role.

Stay on top of your leadership game. Leadership isn't something you're born with or gifted as a reward for an abundance of charisma; true leadership stems from core skills that can be learned. Get more of the leadership ideas you want, from the authors you trust, with HBR's 10 Must Reads on Leadership (Vol. 2). We’ve combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you maximize your own and your organization's performance. With insights from leading experts including Michael D. Watkins, Herminia Ibarra, and Michael E. Porter, this book will inspire you to: Identify areas for personal growth Build trust with and among your employees Develop a more dynamic and sophisticated communication style Try out different leadership styles and behaviors to find the right approach for you--and your organization Transform yourself from a problem solver to an agenda setter Harness the power of connections Become an adaptive and strategic leader This collection of articles includes "Leadership Is a Conversation," by Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind; "How Managers Become Leaders: The Seven Seismic Shifts of Perspective and Responsibility," by Michael D. Watkins; "Strategic Leadership: The Essential Skills," by Paul J.H. Schoemaker, Steve Krupp, and Samantha Howland; "The Authenticity Paradox," by Herminia Ibarra; "'Both/And' Leadership," by Wendy K. Smith, Marianne W. Lewis, and Michael L. Tushman; "Are You a Collaborative Leader?" by Herminia Ibarra and Morten T. Hansen; "Cross-Silo Leadership," by Tiziana Casciaro, Amy C. Edmondson, and Sujin Jang; "How CEOs Manage Time," by Michael E. Porter and Nitin Nohria; "The Best Leaders Are Great Teachers," by Sydney Finkelstein; "Nimble Leadership," by Deborah Ancona, Elaine Backman, and Kate Isaacs; and "The Focused Leader," by Daniel Goleman.

Cybersecurity threats are on the rise. As a leader, you need to be prepared to keep your organization safe. Companies are investing an unprecedented amount of money to keep their data and assets safe, yet cyberattacks are on the rise--and the problem is worsening. No amount of technology, resources, or policies will reverse this trend. Only sound governance, originating with the board, can turn the tide. Protection against cyberattacks can't be treated as a problem solely belonging to an IT or cybersecurity department. It needs to cast a wide and impenetrable net that covers everything an organization does--from its business operations, models, and strategies to its products and intellectual property. And boards are in the best position to oversee the needed changes to strategy and hold their companies accountable. Not surprisingly, many boards aren't prepared to assume this responsibility. In A Leader's Guide to Cybersecurity, Thomas Parenty and Jack Domet, who have spent over three decades in the field, present a timely, clear-eyed, and actionable framework that will empower senior executives and board members to become stewards of their companies' cybersecurity activities. This includes: Understanding cyber risks and how best to control them Planning and preparing for a crisis--and leading in its aftermath Making cybersecurity a companywide initiative and responsibility Drawing attention to the nontechnical dynamics that influence the effectiveness of cybersecurity measures Aligning the board, executive leadership, and cybersecurity teams on priorities Filled with tools, best practices, and strategies, A Leader's Guide to Cybersecurity will help boards navigate this seemingly daunting but extremely necessary transition.