This book describes what flow is and what flow-based decision making and flow-based leadership look like.

Have you ever arrived on the scene of a house fire to find a frantic woman in the driveway? As a firefighter, you know instinctively what this means: there is a child inside. You immediately enter "the zone," because you know what to do. This is based on your training and experience. The feeling of being "in the zone," is referred to in the field of positive psychology as "the flow." Multiple studies have shown that, if people have the proper training and experience, they will make better decisions in emerging situations while in a flow-state. How can your organization help your people experience flow more often, thereby improving their decision-making? This book describes what flow is and what flow-based decision making and flow-based leadership look like. It also details a flow-based leadership model for implementation, based on an extreme, experiential training program in the fire service called Georgia Smoke Diver (GSD). This model consists of : Leading by example Communicating purpose Committing to a stable infrastructure Binding the group through ritual, knowledge sharing, and collaboration Honoring individual creativity to promote innovation Using positive motivation techniques Facilitating team flow. GSD's success and longevity is a result of rigorous commitment to this model that helps firefighters stay safe, ensure excellence, and live a life of well-being, both personally and professionally. It is a model any organization can adopt to better the lives of the people within the organization and the lives of the people the organization serves. Whether you're in the fire service or not, this book provides incredible and truly unique insights into leadership, decision making, and creating exceptionally effective organizational cultures. A must read for anyone who is in a position where his or her decisions impact the work and the lives of others. Judith's writing ignites the imagination with stories that are inspiring, engaging, and deeply moving. You will walk away with a new appreciation for the importance of being "in the flow" and a simple but powerful framework for creating a meaningful and purpose-driven life. Thomas Koulopoulos Chairman Delphi Group, Author The Gen Z Effect Dr. Judy (as she is fondly known in the fire service) has presented us with a uniquely insightful look at firefighter decision making, going beyond the traditional analytical and weaving the naturalistic with the possible. This is a roadmap for upcoming leaders...

In Leadership Flow: The Unstoppable Power of Connection, author Peri Chickering offers a refreshing approach to leadership development—a philosophy that is bold and current and yet, in many respects, as old as humanity. Peri proposes there is a flow—an underlying rhythm to life—that fuels and evokes effective leadership. We can all lead more productively and sustainably, in or out of the workplace, by learning to access our natural strengths and connect them with the power of the larger order of all things. Written in a clear voice and peppered with practical exercises, thoughtful anecdotes, and personal stories, this guide supports new and experienced leaders alike. Peri Chickering draws on the human relationship to the natural world, spirituality, the traditions of Taoism, and leadership structures of indigenous cultures to form specific tools and practices readers can use daily and invites them to understand where their natural skills fit within the ecosystem of life. At once accessible and eye-opening, Leadership Flow will help readers uncover a pleasant truth: It’s far easier to get things done when we open ourselves to other people and the ever-present invitation and engagement of our connected universe. We are each here for a reason, and we are all needed. In honor of the wisdom traditions of indigenous cultures, which are the foundations of Leadership Flow: The Unstoppable Power of Connection, Peri Chickering has dedicated all proceeds from the sale of this book to First Nations causes.

Since Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi published the groundbreaking Flow more than a decade ago, world leaders such as Tony Blair and former President Clinton, and influential sports figures like Super Bowl champion coach Jimmy Johnson have all been inspired by the book. In today's corporate upheaval, a new business paradigm is evolving. While many CEOs are being exposed for their greed, truly visionary leaders believe in a goal that benefits themselves as well as others. They realize that it is their vision and "soul" that attract loyal employees willing to go above and beyond the call of corporate duty. And their employees are realizing the same thing: while 80 percent of adults claim they'd work even if they didn't have to, the majority of them can hardly wait to leave their jobs and get home. Good Business starts with the premise that this is an age in which business and work have replaced religion and politics as central forces in contemporary life. The book reveals how business leaders, managers, and even employees can find their "flow" and contribute not only to their own happiness, but also to a just and evolving society. It identifies the factors crucial to the operation of a good business: trust, the commitment to fostering the personal growth of employees, and the dedication to creating a product that helps mankind. Good Business is sure to become a must-read text for anyone who values the positive contributions of individuals in the changing world of business.

Leaders in business and art stand to gain a great deal by listening to each other. In this book thirteen research-based cases demonstrate how software programmers and art curators, financial analysts and orchestra conductors, construction engineers and chefs, share aesthetic leadership talents that hold the key to transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. Each chapter explores aesthetic leadership in a different setting and profession illuminating its universal capacity to create an economy mindful of human needs and desires. By focusing passion, playfulness, improvisation, intuitive judgement, beauty, and sensuality beyond deadlocking dualisms, this new type of leadership opens up a third aesthetic way contributing quality, meaning and value to projects and enterprises.

Available for the first time in paperback, Barna unveils the results of years of research and hundreds of interviews, and emerges with a new definition of what leadership is--and isn't.

Silver Medal Winner, Business and Leadership, 2012 Nautilus Book Awards Respected former CEO, professor, and speaker examines what it takes to become a values-based leader In this highly-anticipated book, Harry Kraemer argues that today's business environment demands values-based leaders who, in "doing the right thing," deliver outstanding and lasting results. The journey to becoming a values-based leader starts with self-reflection. He asks, "If you are not self-reflective, how can you know yourself? If you do not know yourself, how can you lead yourself? If you cannot lead yourself, how can you lead others?" Kraemer identifies self-reflection as the first of four principles that guide leaders to make choices that honor their values and candidly recounts how these principles helped him navigate some of the toughest challenges he faced in his career. Offers a framework for adopting the principles of values-based leadership—self-reflection, balance, true self-confidence, and genuine humility—to lead organizations effectively Based on Kraemer's popular Kellogg MBA course on values-based leadership A recognized expert in values-based leadership, Kraemer is a sought after speaker on the subject Lively and engaging, Kraemer's book comes at a critical time when true leadership in every facet of society is desperately needed. All of Harry’s proceeds from the book sales are donated to the One Acre Fund in Africa.