Big Shoes

How Successful Leaders Grow into New Roles

By: Sander A. Flaum

Published: October 3, 2009
Format: Paperback, 134 pages
ISBN-10: 1449511775
ISBN-13: 978-1449511777
Publisher: LeaderShape Publishing

Sander Flaum understands that the turmoil of the current uncertain economy places executives under greater scrutiny. As a result, companies are seeking innovative new leaders with vision and integrity. The author serves as a guide and mentor to these new leaders, and shares his wisdom for achieving success, while maintaining a balanced work and home life. For Sander Flaum, the first 100 days in a new leadership role are critical for the success of a rising star executive. The author shares timeless ideas for creating early successes, that create a pattern of success, that helps build a dedicated and engaged staff. At the same time, Sander Flaum recommends changing organizational thinking from the imposing of artificial deadlines to that of creating and delivering the best possible products and services to the marketplace.

Sander A. Flaum (photo left) recognizes that many pitfalls await the unwary new leader, and he provides some sage advice for making those first 100 days stand out within the company. Failure to make a strong and positive first impression on shareholders and company superiors can derail a promising career. Getting to know the staff and developing key personnel, while providing both vision and focus, will establish a strong team for future success. The author suggests branding oneself as an innovator, who achieves results. As a mentor, Sander Flaum reminds the new leader that multi-tasking, failure to maintain focus, and a lack of innovative thinking can harm productivity and the teams. The author also advises the new executive to live a balanced life between work and home as all people need a rest for their mind, body, and spirit.

For me, the power of the book is how Sander Flaum shares timeless wisdom in a new and relevant way for today’s business environment. Sander Flaum shares his lifelong experience in an easy to read format that turns the book from theory to practical guidebook for constant referral. The author takes the unusual, but highly effective approach to mentoring leaders, of placing the material in chronological order. On the surface, it might seem trivial but in fact turns the easy to read book into an even more powerful management tool. Sander Flaum starts by giving advice to the new leader, from the first day of the critical 100 day honeymoon period, in the new role. He continues his advice as the rising star builds a strong team and establishes a track record of innovation and success. The author then continues mentoring and guiding the leader throughout a successful career.

I highly recommend the essential guide for rising stars Big Shoes: How Successful Leaders Grow into New Roles by Sander Flaum, to anyone seeking sage and timeless advice for becoming successful in a new leadership role. As many executives find themselves pushed into new positions, through upheavals in companies, in entire industries, and in the overall economy, the need for innovative leaders with integrity has never been more important. The author shares his experience with these rising company stars when they need it most.

Read the timeless and insightful book Big Shoes: How Successful Leaders Grow into New Roles by Sander Flaum, and turn those first 100 days into a springboard for future success. The reader will learn the crucial steps toward becoming the innovative and change driven leader who will meet the challenges of today and tomorrow with integrity, vision, and a balanced life.

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Your Next Move

The Leader’s Guide to Navigating Major Career Transitions

By: Michael D. Watkins

Published: October 6, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 256pp
ISBN-13: 9781422147634
ISBN-10: 1422147630
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press

Michael Watkins recognizes that every point of career transition represents an opportunity to grow and succeed as a leader, while that same move could result in irreparable career damage. The author provides valuable advice for each core challenge presented by the various career moves that range from promotion and managing former peers, to moving to a new organization or different culture, to being in charge of turnarounds of failing companies or organizations with divisions in many different states of development. Many times in the past, executives found themselves in a new role, with little or no advice or mentoring available to them. This book addresses the shortcomings of the “sink or swim” mode of career transition with actionable ideas for achieving success early and often.

Michael Watkins (photo left) understands that each different career transition contains its own unique problems, career opportunities, and leadership growth potential. The author does point out that all of the various career moves have two major core challenges in common. These are what he calls the personal adaptive challenge and the organizational-change challenge. The personal challenge for any new leader is to recognize what changes need to be made within himself or herself to adapt to the new and often very different career circumstances. The organizational challenge involves knowing what must be accomplished and creating a framework that will describe what is meant by success in that new role. Taken together, these two major core challenges, when taken into account and addressed seriously, will lead to greater success within the new executive role. After these core issues are examined, then the specific challenges of each type of career transition, can be met successfully.

For me, the power of the book is how Michael Watkins creates a powerful set of guidelines for uncovering both the pitfalls and the opportunities that exist within every career transitional move. The author points out that every position held by an executive, at any point in a career, is transitional or even multi-transitional itself. As a result, a leader can develop self awareness and address the core challenge of adapting personally to the new role, while tackling the organizational issues facing the leader in the new job. Michael Watkins goes beyond general personal development and organizational problems, and presents specific techniques for achieving success in many widely diverse career moves. By combining the factors that are common to each new position, with those issues that are unique to each one, the book presents a solid resource for any executive placed in a new and very often unfamiliar leadership role.

I highly recommend the must read career transition guide Your Next Move: The Leader’s Guide to Navigating Major Career Transitions by Michael D. Watkins, to anyone seeking a better understanding of the opportunities for career acceleration, as well as avoiding the fatal missteps, that await an executive in a new position. Every move in a career path offers the chance to create short term wins, enhance long term career goals, and to establish a track record of sustained and ever increasing levels of success. At the same time, the book shares ideas for the avoidance of the pitfalls that can stall a career entirely.

Read the insightful career transformational book Your Next Move: The Leader’s Guide to Navigating Major Career Transitions by Michael D. Watkins, and learn the life wisdom and real world observations shared by the author. At the same time, discover the tools that can be used effectively to become a successful leader in any new executive situation.

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Trust Me

Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma

By: Nick Morgan

Published: December 2008
Format: Hardcover, 224pp
ISBN-13: 9780470404355
ISBN-10: 0470404353
Publisher: Jossey-Bass

Nick Morgan understands that while personal interactions have both a verbal and nonverbal component, the unspoken part of the conversation is the most important. The author also recognizes that the nonverbal body language takes place unconsciously. As a result, any attempts to fit body language and gestures to a speech or presentation, will be slightly out of alignment with the spoken content. That almost imperceptible delay, according to Nick Morgan, is just enough for the listening audience to sense that something is wrong with the speaker. The audience will then consider the speaker inauthentic and even dishonest. The author shows speakers how to make their body language in time with their spoken words through practice and his four step program.

Nick Morgan (photo left) presents a simple four step outline that will not only get the verbal and nonverbal portions of the presentation in harmony, but will enhance the response to the speaker. The four steps are:

1. Being Open
2. Being Connected
3. Being Passionate
4. Listening

The four steps address the two conversations, spoken and nonverbal, in two discrete parts. Being open and being connected address the critical importance of being authentic with the audience. The third and fourth steps, being passionate and listening, develop being charismatic in the eyes of the audience. The four steps join in creating harmony between the content and body language.

For me, the power of the book, is how Nick Morgan combines the theory of effective presentation, with practical steps for achieving authenticity and charisma, through understanding the dual conversational dynamic. The author points out that the four points are simple in concept, but require practice so they become second nature. The steps are both simple and complex, and Nick Morgan does the reader a great service by describing them as taking time to perfect.

While many other authors share principles that are similar, Nick Morgan applies his real world experience with his concepts, perfected at Harvard. The book contains specific lessons for aligning words with body language, but the author doesn’t trick the reader into believing the skills are easy to perfect. That honest approach demonstrates Nick Morgan’s own authenticity as a writer and charismatic speaker.

I highly recommend the must read, presentation transforming book Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma by Nick Morgan, to anyone seeking to enhance their presentation skills, by taking them to a much higher level of connection with the audience. This book will develop the speaker’s own real authenticity, by following the four steps, resulting in more effective and charismatic presentations.

Read the essential speaker improvement book Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma, and get your own two conversations in perfect alignment. The result will be more effective speeches, a more engaged audience, and an enormous boost to your business and career.

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Just Good Business

The Strategic Guide to Aligning Corporate Responsibility and Brand

By: Kellie McElhaney

Published: November 2008
Format: Hardcover, 216pp
ISBN-13: 9781576754412
ISBN-10: 1576754413
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Kellie McElhaney recognizes that many companies are already using a CSR strategy, but at the same time they are failing to communicate that plan both within their organization to their employees, to their shareholders, vendors, and customers. The author stresses the critical importance of companies understanding the growing gap in the general public’s perception of corporate social responsibility, and the reality of increased corporate activity. The public expects companies to behave as good corporate citiens, but at the same time, has diminishing trust in corporations to act in a socially responsible manner. Many companies adopting a CSR strategy do so defensibly, out of fear of public outcry and backlash. While the author has no concerns about why a company establishes a CSR strategy, the key is to develop a plan that includes positive benefits for branding, differentiation, and for stakeholders.

Kellie McElhaney (photo left) describes a process for developing a CSR strategy that includes all stakeholders in the organization that also gets top management commitment. Once senior management makes a public declaration of support for corporate social responsibility, the strategy can be devised that accommodates the company’s core competencies and overall business goals, and aligns their CSR goals with those of their brand. A completed CSR strategy, integrated with their corporate governance, can then have performance metrics and measurements of effectiveness built into the program. A strong, well defined CSR strategy can become part of the corporate culture, and provide a benchmark for all corporate planning.

For me, the power of the book is how Kellie McElhaney combines the theoretical reasons for developing a CSR strategy, with a practical approach to creating and implementing that overall plan. The connection between the CSR strategy and the goals of brand enhancement and differentiation, have a solid bottom line value for the company. At the same time, the author’s emphasis on the importance of communicating the corporate CSR strategy to all company stakeholders, is critical to its success. The book provides an easy to follow road map to developing, implementing, and communicating a CSR strategy. The author also shares ideas for creating performance metrics and benchmarks for assessing the overall success of the CSR initiative.

I highly recommend the important and company transformational book Just Good Business: The Strategic Guide to Aligning Corporate Responsibility and Brand by Kellie McElhaney, to anyone seeking a workable approach to developing a CSR strategy that is aligned with a company’s brand and core competencies. Discover how to create a CSR plan that works for everyone both inside and outside of the company.

Read the essential guide book Just Good Business: The Strategic Guide to Aligning Corporate Responsibility and Brand by Kellie McElhaney, and develop and apply a workable CSR strategy that gains commitment from top management and all company stakeholders, that can be communicated effectively to customers and the general public. The result will be an enhanced corporate reputation and greater profitability.

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Seven

The Number for Happiness, Love, and Success

By: Jacqueline Leo

Published: December 12, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 272
ISBN: 9780446542692
Publisher: Twelve

Jacqueline Leo understands the cultural importance of the number seven. It has held a position of importance in all cultures, and in all historical periods. Whether the field is science, psychology, or religion, the number seven has been significant in all of them. The number seven is fascinating for its ubiquitous sorting function for many people. The author reminds us that most people will select seven when asked to choose a number between one and ten, or use only seven recipes out of an entire cookbook. Whether the area of interest is learning, love, or happiness, Jacqueline Leo has intriguing information on the importance of the number seven in our personal lives as well.

Jacqueline Leo (photo left) combines fun facts surrounding the mystical, and usually considered to be lucky number seven. She describes how regular telephone numbers consist of seven digits because that amount is the limit of most people’s short term memory. Even at the earliest stages of life, and throughout a child’s development and into adulthood, the mind learns in stages of sevens. The number seven, according to the author’s research, can be used effectively to develop a career path, start and operate a successful business, or to achieve success in all areas of life. The book is packed with examples, both whimsical and science based, of the importance of the number seven in all stages of our lives.

For me, the power of the book is how Jacqueline Leo presents the multi-faceted role of the number seven in so many fields. Combining information with lighthearted fun facts about the number and its quirks, the book is a delight to read. It can be opened at any page, and the reader will be rewarded with ideas to ponder and a smile to enjoy. The author includes many personal stories, written by guest authors of renown, on their experiences with the number seven. The book is both practical and a pleasure to read and enjoy.

I highly recommend the fun and fascinating Seven: The Number for Happiness, Love, and Success by Jacqueline Leo, to anyone seeking an enjoyable read about an eternally intriguing number. The book holds riches for readers in search of number based mysticism, hard science, or just some fun facts for sharing with friends and family.

Read the rewarding and smile inducing book Seven: The Number for Happiness, Love, and Success by Jacqueline Leo, and discover the power and constant place of the number seven in your life and that of other people and cultures. Regardless of the time or place, societies have given importance and significance to the number seven. This book will give you a solid primer on that ubiquitous and very lucky integer.

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It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For

Why Every Extraordinary Business Is Driven by Purpose

By: Roy M. Spence, Jr., with Haley Rushing

Published: February 5, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 336pp
ISBN-13: 9781591842415
ISBN-10: 1591842417
Publisher: Portfolio/Penguin Group

Roy Spence understands that a company and its leadership not only must have a purpose, but must establish its values and what it believes in, that truly make a difference in the marketplace. At the same time, the company’s leader must become a purpose of great purpose to fulfill that destiny. The organization must also bring that purpose to life, giving your constituents and stakeholders a clear recognition of exactly the values and purpose, that the company stands for in the world. Roy Spence describes a company with a purpose as great places to work with self assured employees and happier customers. A company with a sense of purpose will survive and profit in any economy, as its reason for existence is essential to the lives of its customers.

Roy M. Spence, Jr. (photo left) has interviewed and worked with hundreds of leading companies and organizations worldwide. The author shares a powerful set of ideas for developing a clarity of purpose within an organization. One concept is revisiting the past of the company, and discover why its founders created the company. Examine all of the things the company or organization does, and find out why it carries out some initiatives, and not others. Learn what you and your employees are truly passionate about, and focus on where your company can be the best in the world. Ask your customers why your organization, products, and services are vitally important in their lives. Communicate the findings and the purpose to everyone both in the organization and on the outside, so the vision and purpose can be shared with everyone.

For me, the power of the book is the passion that Roy Spence shows as he describes an organization with a clear sense of purpose, for making the world a better place. Combining theory with a practical road map for achieving a sense of organizational purpose, the author demonstrates that a company, its leaders, and its employees can have a visionary purpose in the marketplace, and how to find that sense of passion. Roy Spence shares the experiences of many visionary companies, and how their own sense of purpose has turned their organizations into world leaders. Not only is a vision and a passion powerful for changing the world and peoples’ lives, but Roy Brown shows those, companies to be more profitable, with more engaged employees, and more satisfied customers.

I highly recommend the positive book for how a company can indeed change the world It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For: Why Every Extraordinary Business Is Driven by Purpose by Roy M. Spence, Jr., to any leaders, entrepreneurs, managers, or executives of any size of company, who want to discover the visionary passion within their own organizations. When a business develops a clarity of purpose, and has a real desire to change the world in a positive way, that company will succeed in any business environment.

Read the essential and must read book It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For: Why Every Extraordinary Business Is Driven by Purpose by Roy M. Spence, Jr., and bring your company’s true inner purpose to life. Discover the vision and passion that will propel your company, its employees, and its customers into a better world and a happier and richer life.

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The Ethical Executive

Becoming Aware of the Root Causes of Unethical Behavior: 45 Psychological Traps that Every One of Us Falls Prey To

By: Robert Hoyk, Paul Hersey

Published: October 2008
Format: Hardcover, 152 pp
ISBN-10: 0804759650
ISBN-13: 9780804759656
Publisher: Stanford University Press

Robert Hoyk (photo left) and Paul Hersey recognize that even people with a strong moral and ethical sense can fall victim to some very unethical activities in the course of doing their jobs. With the wrong situational dilemma placed before an ethical employee, there are very often powerful reasons for failing to do the right thing. The authors describe in detail how these ethical traps are created and how otherwise upright people can start down a very very wrong path.

Unlike many books on business ethics, this fine book doesn’t focus on ethical failure as being based on profit maximization, market pressure, or failure to comply with various laws and statutes. Instead, the authors believe the are the result of social and psychological influences.

Paul Hersey (photo left) and Robert Hoyk describe these forty-five ethical traps as falling into three major groups:

Primary Traps: The ethical failures are externally driven and involve the employee in taking action that would normally be outside of that person’s ethical range. The employee often feels like there is little option but to follow the unethical path in these situations

Defensive Traps: These failures of ethics are usually attempts to reverse a previous ethical transgression. The action may have been the result of guilt or shame resulting from a personal issue or weakness.

Personality Traps: The ethical breeches result from deep seated personality issues that lead the employee to commit unethical actions. These ethical failures are all the result of internal issues.

For me, the power of the book is how Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey take a practical approach to understanding the various causes of the forty-five ethical traps. The authors also provide experimental results to verify how and why each ethical problem takes place. The three major categories of ethical dilemmas, help the reader to identify the cause and course of each ethical issue, before it happens. Through the identification of the potential problem a company and its employees are able to avoid being ensnared by one or more of the ethical traps. The authors also point out the critical insight that executives who commit unethical actions are not evil people, but are average everyday people who succumbed to the temptation of the ethical traps.

I highly recommend the timeless and thought provoking book The Ethical Executive: Becoming Aware of the Root Causes of Unethical Behavior: 45 Psychological Traps that Every One of Us Falls Prey To by Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey, to anyone seeking to understand why ethical failures occur, how to predict when and how they may arise, and how to prevent ethical dilemmas from happening in an organization. This understanding of the forces that create ethical issues will build mutual trust between employees and all of the stakeholders of the organization.

Read the essential book The Ethical Executive: Becoming Aware of the Root Causes of Unethical Behavior: 45 Psychological Traps that Every One of Us Falls Prey To by Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey, and discover the underlying social and psychological reasons why executives fall into ethical traps. Armed with that knowledge, you can foresee dangerous ethical situations in advance, and prevent them ever taking place. This book will help your company build a solid ethical foundation.

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Greening Your Small Business

How to Improve Your Bottom Line, Grow Your Brand, Satisfy Your Customers – and Save the Planet

By: Jennifer Kaplan

Published: November 3, 2009
Format: Paperback, 320 pages
ISBN 9780735204461
Publisher: Prentice Hall Press

Jennifer Kaplan understands the critical necessity for small business owners to think and behave proactively about the environment. She describes how thinking green is not just some unattainable ideal, but instead is a powerful bottom line profit builder. The author dispels completely the myths that operating a small business in an environmentally friendly manner is expensive and time consuming. Instead, Jennifer Kaplan demonstrates that cost savings from environmental awareness will increase any small business’s profitability. The author knows that many of today’s consumers are seeking products and services that are ecologically friendly, and those customers want to buy from business owners who are committed to the environment. Going green benefits a company through lower costs, and from higher sales to green conscious consumers.

Jennifer Kaplan (photo left) recognizes that not all small business owners know where to begin a eco-conscious action program. As a result, the book contains an important section on creating a green plan suited to the needs of an individual company’s needs and goals. The author provides a very easy to apply outline for creating a green strategy for reducing costs while boosting the bottom line. Through identifying the current environmental strengths and weaknesses of the company, the entrepreneur can discover easy to expand and change activities to a series of workable best practices. As the small business owner begins to think in terms of the environment, expenses like energy use, general office costs, and business travel can be reassessed objectively. At the same time, additional business opportunities for new green oriented products and services can be discovered, by gaining the commitment of the entire staff.

For me, the power of the book is how Jennifer Kaplan guides the small business owner through the entire process of developing a green strategy, and then sharing ideas to put the resulting plan into action. The author does a fine job of demonstrating that becoming a more eco-friendly company is not only the right thing to do, but is also good business. As with so many aspects of ethical business practices, an environmentally ethical business is also good for all stakeholders, including the owner, staff, suppliers, and customers. Jennifer Kaplan shows the entrepreneur how to communicate the green message through improved marketing, reduced packaging and waste, and via more intensive use of the internet. The multitude of tips provided in the book range from small changes to more extensive changes in business practices. The key is that all existing and additional best practices add up to huge savings, and become part of the regular business procedure.

I highly recommend the essential guide book Greening Your Small Business: How to Improve Your Bottom Line, Grow Your Brand, Satisfy Your Customers – and Save the Planet by Jennifer Kaplan, to any small business people seeking to learn how to green their own companies. The book will appeal to both already committed environmentalists, and to business owners seeking to reduce costs and to enhance their company appeal to eco-conscious customers.

Read the business transformational book Greening Your Small Business: How to Improve Your Bottom Line, Grow Your Brand, Satisfy Your Customers – and Save the Planet by Jennifer Kaplan, and turn your independent business into into an eco-friendly company. Not only will you help the environment, but you will reduce your business costs, while reaching more green aware customers. Green business is very good business, in so many ways.

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