Leadership & Motivation books

Why do we make the decisions we do? And how can we understand what influences our decisions? Non-Corporeal Actant Theory explores decisions and outcomes through the perspective of values, beliefs, ideas, and concepts - all integral parts of our everyday lives and the actor-networks that we take part in as decision-makers.  Connecting Values to Action: Non-Corporeal Actants and Choice brings together a cast of expert contributors to delve into this theory and its ramifications for our lives. With chapters that analyze decisions made by death-defying free climbers, indigenous people facing the loss of their culture, and corporates responding to the #MeToo movement, editor Christopher M. Hartt examines how decisions are affected by the widening range of actor-networks that come with social media and technological development.  For anyone struggling to understand how a decision is made, Connecting Values to Action offers a pathway to finding the causes of that decision. Exploring the role of non-corporeal actants on the very real consequences of decisions, this is an unmissable book for students and researchers of management and decision-making.

As revealed in the most recent global survey of human capital trends conducted by Deloitte University, leadership is rated as the top priority across all organizational levels, geographies, and functional areas in every industry. The evolving shift in leadership from individual leaders at the top to collective leadership throughout organizations requires creating and sustaining the necessary conditions through which leaders and those being led can flourish and positive organizing can thrive. Developing Leaders for Positive Organizing examines this challenge by taking the reader on an investigative journey into everyday leadership as framed in the increasingly interconnected context of human relationships within and across organizations around the globe. This book offers broad appeal for the novice working practitioner; corporate, not-for-profit, or non-profit executive; experienced scholar or academic student.

This volume of Research on Emotion in Organizations contributes to the ongoing research on emotions in the workplace, focusing on organizational leadership and interpersonal relationships within organizational structures. The chapters in this book represent a range of different methodologies that reveal the pervasive role of emotions in leadership and emphasize the need for scholars to address emotions if they are to obtain a more complete understanding of organizational leadership.  Emotions and Leadership is divided into three parts which explore and analyse developments in the following areas: leadership and individual team members, leadership and its effects on the team construct, and leadership in the overall context of organizations and culture. This three-level analysis provides a foundation for future research into emotion in organizations, organizational psychology and leadership.

Imagine a world with great leadership. What would that world be like? Would it be a better world or a worse one? Now ratchet great leadership up to exceptional leadership and suddenly we have cause for optimism. But how do we design exceptional leadership, and would we even know it if we saw it? Traditional paradigms of leadership have celebrated decisive top-down control and analytical decision-making. But times are changing. The world is more connected, complex, fluid and interdependent.  This book debunks the myth that leaders need to be creative like designers to apply Design Thinking. Applying design approaches and practices to organizational leadership is not just about its leaders becoming more creative. It is definitely not about the person at the top coming up with the grand answer. Design thinking starts with the 'pain point' related to the problem you are trying to solve. You get to the heart of the issue. It is a collaborative effort that neatly leads stakeholders and representatives affected by the problem to design novel leadership solutions that actually work.  This collection of stories, examples and narratives about exceptional leadership by design provides readers of all levels of experience with tangible, real, and heartfelt examples of how the design process can be applied to leadership. It will show how we:   Inform great leadership with design Strengthen our own leadership by design Redesign hero leadership for more inclusivity Redesign organizations for Fe+Male leadership synergy Design leadership for a VUCA world Design flow-based leadership Design organizations that build resilient leadership Design leadership for innovation Design culturally intelligent leadership Build leadership into our spaces and places

Today’s global enterprises increasingly involve collaborative work by teams of experts operating across different professions, organizations, and industries. Extreme Teaming provides new insights into the world of complex, cross industry projects and the ways they must be managed.  Leading experts Amy Edmondson and Jean-François Harvey analyze contemporary cases that expose the complex demands of cross-boundary collaboration on management, and inform our understanding of teams. Containing powerful insights and practical guidelines that allow managers to bridge professional divides and organizational boundaries in order to work together effectively, this is a new exploration of the challenges involved in today’s global enterprises.  The authors demonstrate that the work done in the modern organization is less and less about looking inward and creating strong teams inside the company, and more about teaming across boundaries – that often are in flux.  Extreme Teaming is a must-read book for all courses related to leading open innovation; teamwork and collaboration; project management; and cross-boundary work.

Global and Culturally Diverse Leaders and Leadership explores diverse cultural leadership styles and paradigms that are dynamic, complex, globally authentic and culturally competent for the 21st century. An outstanding group of scholars considers how the different worldviews and lived experiences of leaders influence their leadership styles. They discuss several dimensions, models and initiatives for examining leadership in a global and diverse world, ultimately offering ways in which these leadership processes may be assessed and cultivated in a culturally sensitive and ecologically valid manner. Redefining leadership as global and diverse, this book imparts a new understanding of the criteria for selecting, training and evaluating leaders in the 21st century.

Leadership: The Current State of Play defines contemporary thinking in leadership from both academic and practitioner perspectives. It presents an easy-to-read overview of historical and contemporary thought on the roles and functions of leaders and applies these perspectives to problems in the present day.  This book offers insights for professionals in organisational leadership positions in a variety of sectors in the UK and beyond. It is also of great interest to researchers and students in the fields of business and management.  Across the study’s four chapters, there are nine vignettes written by leading practitioners of organisational leadership in various fields, including clinical dentistry, the Ministry of Defence, charities and football management. These vignettes offer a unique opportunity to hear the voices of individuals who are rarely considered in such leadership literature. Their reflections illustrate the benefit of approaching leadership through the eyes of those practicing it.

Since the 1980s, society has undergone enormous change. From an industrialized society, focused on efficiency and productivity, there has been a transformation to a globalized knowledge society that focuses on creativity and innovation. And yet, management styles have stayed the same, not adapting to this crucial change.  Here, leading innovation expert Jon-Arild Johannessen offers a replacement to traditional goal-driven management and New Public Management (NPM). These old styles of management promote efficiency and productivity, but hamper creativity and innovation. To counteract this, Johannessen suggests and outlines a new concept: strategic innovation management. Through a thorough analysis and debate of the demands of the new leadership role, and the demands of both employees and organizations, Johannessen explores the place of this new management style in the 21st century.  For students and researchers of knowledge management, leadership, or innovation, this is an unmissable book exploring a fascinating new proposal.

The rapid advancement of technology has fuelled fast-paced change in business, creating a high-performance culture that requires leaders to be resilient, agile and results-focused. But the increased level of uncertainty and an ever-expanding workload often create stress, overwhelm, fear and polarization, leading to disconnection. The world never stops, and when people get caught in the same trap they risk burning out. In Leading Through Uncertainty, leadership expert Jude Jennison explores the challenges leaders face as human beings in a technological world, the new habits and behaviours they need to adopt to re-connect on a human to human basis, and the leadership qualities they need to lead through uncertainty. This is a call to return to the core of humanity to find the natural human characteristics of communication, connection, compassion and community, drawing on the experience of working with a herd of horses to understand the impact of non-verbal communication on leadership.

Lynne’s Laws have been honed from personal experience of leading a pioneering small law firm.Lynne Burdon shares stories from her own experience as founder and leader of two successful firms to illustrate the principles of leadership that are essential to create a successful business.She reveals the practical steps to success: creating a great place to work which will attract and retain the best staff and thus deliver outstanding service to clients.Work should be meaningful and fun: these principles will show you how to make this true for yourself and your organisation.