Showing results by publisher "Berrett-Koehler Publishers" in All Categories

A few years ago, John Izzo was puzzled that he didn't feel happier. He was a successful consultant, a much-in-demand speaker, and a best-selling author. Sure, he'd had some setbacks and disappointments, but he knew enough to know he had it pretty good. And, as he shows in this book, both ancient wisdom and modern neuroscience say that we're naturally happy - it's our default setting. So why didn't it seem to be his?

Ben Price reveals that our constitution and legal system were intentionally designed to give more rights to the wealthy propertied class than the rest of us, and exposes how this hamstrings our ability to effectively address a host of pressing social and environmental problems - and what we can do about it. Many of today’s most serious issues - homelessness, gun violence, fracking, prison privatization, predatory lending, and many more - resist resolution because the “rights of property” undermine the rights of people.

The Capitalist and the Activist offers an engaging and thoughtful look at the new reality of corporate social activism - its driving forces, promises and perils, and implications for our businesses and personal lives. Weaving deep research and fascinating stories that span business, entertainment, history, science, and politics, Tom Lin provides an insightful road map for how society arrived here and a practical compass for moving forward.

Most problems are fairly easy: they have a few likely potential root causes. The most important problems often have hundreds or thousands of potential root causes within very complex systems. Such problems are hard problems, and are highly resistant to guessing, brainstorming, or problem-solving methodologies that require conjuring a list of possible causes. Great problem-solvers are armed with a set of behaviors that allows them to avoid guessing.

Nearly all of us experience the suffering of overwork, over-stimulation, overachievement and hyper-expectation. We are asked to do more with less, but where is the energy and capacity going to come from? Rather than doing more, we need to learn to do differently in order to achieve. We need to slow down to go fast, step back to energize, take a breath to connect with presence, and look at the same situations with fresh, innovative thinking. Otherwise we will continue to crash economically, personally, and collectively. In today's dynamic world, Pause will become the new transformative principle, the catalyst for purpose-filled innovation and renewal.

Mega-selling author Ken Blanchard teams up again with his Whale Done coauthors to apply to parenting young children the simple principles that have proven so effective in many settings, from training killer whales to improving personal effectiveness to raising business performance.

B Corps are part of a global movement of more than 2,700 companies in 60 countries that are using the power of business as a force for good. B Corps have been certified to have met rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. This audiobook is the authoritative guide to the what, why, and how of B Corp certification.

Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide is just what the name implies: a hands-on, detailed description of facilitating Open Space Technology (OST). OST is an effective, economical, fast, and easily repeatable strategy for organizing meetings of between 5 and 2,000 participants that has been used in thousands of organizations in 134 countries and just keeps growing in popularity. Written by the originator of the method, this is the most authoritative book on the rationale, procedures, and requirements of OST.

Why are wages stagnant and wealth inequality increasing? One factor has inexplicably been left out: who owns the companies that drive the economy. Ownership gives people a claim to the fruits of free enterprise. Employee ownership gives workers—the people who have a stake in the company—a fair chance to benefit from their labors. In three simple parts, Corey Rosen and John Case create a powerful argument for why employee ownership is the answer to capitalism’s crisis and how to implement it.

Over and over, we see big legacy businesses getting beaten to the punch by energetic little start-ups. It seems like innovation can come from only the bottom up or from the outside in. But tech experts Vivek Wadwha and Ismail Amla are here to tell you that “big equals slow and stodgy” is a myth. Based on decades of experience working with both the world’s leading brands and disruptive start-ups, this audiobook explores the opportunity legacy companies have to create new markets, supercharge growth, and remake their businesses.

All leaders have scores of things they could do. But a disciplined leader is one who identifies and focuses on the vital few: the 20 percent of activities that will drive 80 percent of the results. And the results that are most important are those tied to the organization's most precious asset: its people.

In a global survey by the Katzenbach Center, 80 percent of respondents believed that their organization must evolve to succeed. But a full quarter of them reported that a change effort at their organization had resulted in no visible results. Why? The fate of any change effort depends on whether and how leaders engage their culture: the self-sustaining patterns of behaving, feeling, thinking, and believing that determine how things are done in an organization.

Installing agile tools and practices won’t be enough to respond to rapid market change unless you lay the groundwork with six key enabling factors, identified by the United Kingdom’s leading agile consulting firm, Agile Centre. From years of experience certifying people in agile leadership, product ownership, and scrum mastery, Karim Harbott has created a model that will help your organization achieve all six factors required for success. This audiobook will help leaders get realistic about the scope of the changes needed in their organization and show them how to get started.

Part memoir and part career guide, this book gives introverts the tools to understand how they can form relationships, excel in cross-cultural workplaces, and navigate extroverted settings without compromising comfort or personality.

Mindfulness has become a mainstay of modern life. Millions have found it to be a powerful tool for reducing stress, enhancing attention, and instilling tranquility - but Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu insists it can be so much more. There is too much mind in mindfulness today. It shouldn't just be about thinking and relaxing - Murphy-Shigematsu shows us how much more enlightening an experience it can be when we add caring and a concern for our fellow beings to the practice.

The first edition of A Complaint Is a Gift introduced the revolutionary notion that customer complaints are not annoyances to be dodged, denied, or buried but are instead valuable pieces of feedback—not to mention your best bargain in market research. Complaints provide a feedback mechanism that can help organizations rapidly and inexpensively strengthen products, service style, and market focus. Most importantly, complaints that are well received create customer loyalty.

The ugly truth about diversity is that some people worry they must give up their power for others to have a chance. La’Wana Harris’s Inclusion Coaching method helps people realize that sharing power isn’t the same as losing it. The elephant in the room with diversity work is that people with privilege must use it to allow others equal access to power. This is often why diversity efforts falter - people believe in diversity until they feel that they have to give something up.

Recent best-selling books have completely altered the way we understand how humans work and play together. Zina Sutch and Patrick Malone hope to flip a light switch and illuminate, above all else, that leadership begins with heart and soul. In five succinct chapters, they show that we lead best when we tap into our genetically driven human nature to love and nurture, connect and trust. This book seeks to reintroduce the warmth of human interaction and emotion into the leadership tool kit.

Entrepreneurial ventures often fail in the developing world because of the lack of something taken for granted in the developed world: trust. Over centuries the developed world has built up customs and institutions like enforceable contracts. This is not the case in the developing world. Using vivid examples from Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and elsewhere, scholar and entrepreneur Tarun Khanna shows how entrepreneurs can build on existing customs and practices instead of trying to push against them.

In response to educators who are already fans of her best seller Change Your Questions, Change Your Life, Marilee Adams, the originator of Question Thinking, presents a compelling model for creating a classroom environment infused with curiosity, creativity, and caring. Through a moving story of a teacher on the verge of burnout, Adams demonstrates the powerful influence our mind-sets have on how we interact with our students, our colleagues, and ourselves.