Co-authoring with Peter Stark

While there are thousands of books about leadership, and while most of them are excellent reads, there are very few - if any - that can show you, with real reliability, how to improve your own leadership performance. This is that rare book. We spent years researching leaders around the world to understand why the best are the best. Along the way, we discovered something amazing: why leaders fail. Leaders fail not because they're bad people, or because they lack the personality traits that make for good leadership. They fail because they have a philosophy of leadership that sets them up to fail. If you understand your own philosophy of leadership and make changes where they are needed, you will improve your leadership performance. It's that simple, and the science is right here.

An astute diagnosis of one of the biggest problems in business Denial is the unconscious determination that a certain reality is too terrible to contemplate, so therefore it cannot be true. We see it everywhere, from the alcoholic who swears he's just a social drinker to the president who declares "mission accomplished" when it isn't. In the business world, countless companies get stuck in denial while their challenges escalate into crises. Harvard Business School professor Richard S. Tedlow tackles two essential questions: Why do sane, smart leaders often refuse to accept the facts that threaten their companies and careers? And how do we find the courage to resist denial when facing new trends, changing markets, and tough new competitors? Tedlow looks at numerous examples of organiza­tions crippled by denial, including Ford in the era of the Model T and Coca-Cola with its abortive attempt to change its formula. He also explores other companies, such as Intel, Johnson & Johnson, and DuPont, that avoided catastrophe by dealing with harsh realities head-on. Tedlow identifies the leadership skills that are essential to spotting the early signs of denial and taking the actions required to overcome it.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Mentor Leader and Quiet Strength comes a book sure to transform your team or organization! For most people, succeeding in life requires mastering the art of teamwork. Whether at work, school, church, or home, virtually everyone is part of a team—and when they work well, teams can accomplish more than individuals working by themselves. But not all teams are created equal. When a team isn’t functioning well, individual strengths can be undermined and weaknesses accentuated, making the work environment a terrible place to be. So what does a truly effective team environment look like, and how can you create one within your own organization? As a former Super Bowl–winning coach, Tony Dungy is an expert at building and bringing out the best in a team. Drawing on his experiences from years of coaching and working with other leaders, this football fable lays out four essential principles practiced by truly effective teams. Telling the story of a fictional NFL team looking for a turnaround, The Soul of a Team not only identifies some of the most common issues that hold a team back but also lays out a game plan for winning teamwork. Whether you aspire to be a better leader or a stronger team player, The Soul of a Team will show you how to contribute to a stronger, healthier, more productive team destined for success.

From the ill-fated dot-com bubble to unprecedented merger and acquisition activity to scandal, greed, and, ultimately, recession -- we've learned that widespread and difficult change is no longer the exception. By outlining the process organizations have used to achieve transformational goals and by identifying where and how even top performers derail during the change process, Kotter provides a practical resource for leaders and managers charged with making change initiatives work.

Führungskräfte in Unternehmen wollen erfolgreich sein. Doch nicht selten sabotieren sie ihren Erfolg, weil sie zu bestimmten negativen Verhaltensweisen neigen - den sog. 11 Todsünden. Obwohl dieselben Verhaltensweisen sie in gewissem Maße in diese Führungsposition gebracht haben mögen, können sie ab einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt negativ, ja zerstörerisch werden. "Why CEOs Fail" ist ein praktischer Leitfaden, wie man diese 11 Todsünden vermeidet. Die Autoren - beide Psychologen und erfahrene Coaches mit internationaler Klientel - erläutern hier in kurzen, übersichtlichen Kapiteln die 11 Todsünden am Beispiel von zahlreichen pikanten Geschichten und lehrreichen Anekdoten aus ihrer täglichen Beratungspraxis. Überzeugend, direkt und präzise auf den Punkt gebracht! Mit einem Vorwort von Ram Charan, dem Mitautor des Mega-Bestsellers "Execution". "Why CEOs Fail" - Eine fesselnde und inspirierende Lektüre, wie man die typischen Verhaltensfehler meidet und als Führungskraft erfolgreich ist.

Bob Pittman and AOL Time Warner. Jean Marie Messier and Vivendi. Jill Barad and Mattel. Dennis Kozlowski and Tyco. It's an all too common scenario. A great company breaks from the pack; the analysts are in love; the smiling CEO appears on the cover of Fortune. Two years later, the company is in flames, the pension plan is bleeding, the stock is worthless. What goes wrong in these cases? Usually it seems that top management made some incredibly stupid mistakes. But the people responsible are almost always remarkably intelligent and usually have terrific track records. Just as puzzling as the fact that brilliant managers can make bad mistakes is the way they so often magnify the damage. Once a company has made a serious mis-step, it often seems as though it can't do anything right. How does this happen? Instead of rectifying their mistakes, why do business leaders regularly make them worse? To answer these questions, Sydney Finkelstein has carried out the largest research project ever devoted to corporate mistakes and failures. In WHY SMART EXECUTIVES FAIL, he and his research team uncover-with startling clarity and unassailable documentation-the causes regularly responsible for major business breakdowns. He relates the stories of great business disasters and demonstrates that there are specific, identifiable ways in which many businesses regularly make themselves vulnerable to failure. The result is a truly indispensable, practical, must-read book that explains the mechanics of business failure, how to avoid them, and what to do if they happen.