<ul><li>Managers must directly feel customers' emotional pain to be inspired to change. </li><li>Abstract data doesn't inspire action. Leaders should spend significant time immersed with customers. </li><li>Only through first-hand experiences of flaws will they understand the need for change. </li><li>Remove management from offices into the field.</li></ul>

Experience Customer Pain 


Learning how to see is a critical skill management need to learn.

Track ability to meet customer demand (capacity) and satisfy customers (capability). Not costs. Define capability through timeliness, right-first-time etc. Optimize the work system around customer purpose using demand, value and flow measures. Abandon productivity and utilization metrics.

Focus on Customer-Driven Measures

Rational change strategies fail. Presentations don't change mental models. Leaders must experience systemic flaws first-hand to be open to new assumptions. This normative learning is emotional and personal. Logic alone causes defense mechanisms. Help leaders feel customer pain directly. This anchors the outside-in perspective.

Change Through Normative Learning

Studying demand patterns reveals treasure - a lever to improve. Gain deep knowledge of how your system attracts and retains customers. Listen, understand and clarify customer priorities. Redesign work by value and flow, not function. Demand holds a mirror to system dysfunction invisible to managers.

Study Demand to Improve

Managing costs drives costs up. Value and failure demand get hidden. Instead, manage value - design services to meet customer needs efficiently. Cost focus causes dysfunction. Value focus aligns work to purpose.

Manage Value, Not Cost

The system beats the individual. Work design limits or enables performance. Improve how work works together through cross-functional coordination guided by demand, value and flow. Don't just develop individual skills. Optimize the environment.

Improve How Work Works

Learning to see system dynamics is critical but lacking in leaders.Leadership expertise required is competence to deeply listen to demand signals. Study end-to-end processes. Diagnose demand, value and flow.

Leaders Must See the System, not Departments

Back office functions often optimize for cost and standardization, not customer value. This damages customer experience. Design all services - front and back office - based on understanding customer demand and their definitions of value. Let customer priorities guide how work is designed and coordinated to deliver maximum value.

The Back Office: Design Services for Customer Value

Beyond Command and Control is a book written by John Seddon. It was published in 2019. The book offers solutions to the UK productivity conundrum and is about business transformation and efficiency. The book received positive reviews and is considered to be one of the first books that can really bring about significant improvement in this field.

entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

books

Books

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

John Seddon

Beyond Command and Control

Being a business owner is not for the faint of heart. <ul><li>At a minimum, it takes a person with a firm resolve, the ability to persevere and pivot during challenging times, the humility to admit mistakes, and empathy for the people around them. </li><li>Self-reflection should come long before setting pen to paper for a business plan. </li><li>Understanding who you are is critical to being a leader who seeks to align purpose with profit.</li></ul>

Broken To Better: The Premise

Having a strong network of advisors, mentors, colleagues, and friends is essential for starting and growing a business. Each relationship offers unique value, whether it's professional expertise, emotional support, or just an outside perspective. Actively build and nurture your connections. Show up authentically, listen closely, communicate clearly, and don't be afraid of failure. Surround yourself with diverse viewpoints.

Expand Your Network

Experienced mentors can help you avoid common pitfalls and fill knowledge gaps as a new entrepreneur. Be open-minded, ask questions, and gather advice from multiple experts. Prioritize and synthesize the information. Find mentors with complementary skills to get guidance on legal, financial, strategic and other key issues. Understand your responsibilities in the mentoring relationship. Expect to continually evolve.

Remain Teachable

It's natural to have fears about taking the leap into entrepreneurship. Fear can motivate preparation, but it can also paralyze action. <ul><li>Be informed so you can make smart decisions.</li><li> Know yourself, your core motivations and vision.</li><li>Identify gaps or needs in the marketplace. </li><li>Develop a sound business plan. </li><li>Secure proper funding for each growth stage. </li><li>Check your ego regularly.</li><li> Continuously examine your relationship with money.</li></ul>

Confront Your Fears 

You have to ensure your team feels valued, that they know their contributions are making a difference and that you care.

<ul><li>Initially hire to fill skill gaps, but prioritize cultural fit to sustain the organization. </li><li>Hire team players who rise to challenges and pitch in where needed. </li><li> As you grow, separate employees into functional areas and teams. Build future leaders by empowering your best team members. </li></ul>

Put People First

Stay strategically future-focused, even before fully staffing your venture. Envision how you will segment your team into functional groups and empower leaders. Continuously evaluate if your structure fosters growth or impedes it.

Adopt a Future Focus 

Engage and retain talent over the long-term by fostering an inclusive, appreciative, flexible, and trusting culture. Clearly define authentic values and guard them religiously. Make your culture more than superficial words on a wall. Enable positive change driven by employees. Ensure everyone feels valued and impactful.

Foster Purpose

Changing habits requires an internal decision and commitment to a new path. Perseverance and focus make new habits stick. Bad habits result when we lose resolve. To change, decisively commit to a plan and mindfully persist despite distractions or resistance.

Change Habits

Sales fundamentally depends on human relationships and social skills. Passion for your product and likeability build connections. Without strong people skills, sales will always struggle. Approach sales through a human lens first. Have convictions about the value to customers. Establish trust and rapport. Sales enables all other functions.

Master Sales

<ul><li>Make customer service a competitive advantage through memorable, personalized experiences. </li><li>Take care of employees first so they can take care of customers. </li><li>Build trusting relationships over time. </li><li>Identify your ideal customer archetype. </li><li>Continuously improve service offerings. </li><li>Remain honest always. </li><li>Integrate simple processes and helpful technology.</li></ul>

Deliver Great Service 

In the 2022 book Broken to Better: 13 Ways Not to Fail at Life and Leadership, CEO of Branded Group Michael Kurland candidly shares every step of his own entrepreneurial odyssey—selling everything he owned, driving across the country to launch his new business, and ultimately building a purpose-driven culture that aligns purpose with profit. Along the way, Kurland distills a lifetime of experience down to its purest essence.  

Being a business owner is not for the faint of heart. It takes a firm resolve, the ability to persevere and pivot during challenging times, the humility to admit mistakes, and empathy for the people around you. Understanding who you are is critical to that journey. In Broken to Better, Michael Kurland candidly shares every step of his own entrepreneurial odyssey-selling everything he owned, driving across the country to launch his new business, and ultimately building a purpose-driven culture that aligns purpose with profit. Along the way, Kurland distills a lifetime of experience down to its purest essence. From key principles of organizational strength to the secrets of profitability and growth, Broken to Better offers up all his triumphs and mistakes in the same spirit of perseverance, fearlessness, empathy, and gratitude. Although Kurland humbly claims he did "whatever it took to avoid failing," the truth shines through on every page-he did whatever it took to Be Better.

Michael Kurland

Broken to Better

If you confuse, you'll lose.

Brand stories should follow 7 classic storytelling elements:<ol><li>The customer as the Hero,</li><li>Your brand as the guide,</li><li>An external villain (the problem),</li><li>The hero's plan to defeat the villain,</li><li>Allies who support the hero,</li><li>A crisis moment where the plan is threatened, and</li><li>The eventual transformation and success due to your brand's solution.</li></ol>

The 7 Story Structure Elements 

<ul><li>Rather than talking about your brand, position the customer as the central Hero of your story.</li><li>Show how you can guide them to solve a problem and achieve the transformation they desire.</li><li>Let them see it as their own personal journey and arc, with them in the starring role.</li></ul>

Positioning the Customer as the Hero


Identify a clear external Villain that your customer is battling against, such as frustration, inconvenience, lack of quality or high prices.Present your brand as offering the solution to help the customer vanquish and overcome this obstacle. The villain shouldn't be your competitor.

Clarifying the External Villain 

Even with an obvious external villain, recognize your customers have an internal anxiety or resistance to change as well.Address their worries openly by illuminating this inner struggle in your story. Overcome objections.

Illuminating the Inner Struggle


Lay out the specific plan of action for how your product or service will empower the customer Hero to defeat the villain. Don't be vague - provide clear, succinct steps they can take.Show don't tell how you facilitate their success.

Presenting a Concrete Plan of Action  

Position your brand as the wise Guide who has walked the customer Hero's journey before. You have insider knowledge to help them overcome obstacles and achieve transformation.Seek to build trust by being a mentor, not just a vendor.

Casting Your Brand as the Guide

Leverage storytelling techniques like narrative arc, emotion and drama rather than just listing product features and benefits.Stir their imagination through well-crafted stories.Build connection and empathy through shared journeys.

Leveraging the Power of Storytelling

Clarify your core brand story and message above all else. Reject tangents and complexity even if they seem impressive. Simplify it down to be extremely clear, focused and concise.If customers are confused, they cannot engage.

Simplifying Your Core Message

There are two kinds of calls to action:<ol><li>Direct calls to action; and</li><li>Transitional calls to action.</li></ol>A direct call to action is something that leads to a sale, or at least is the first step down a path that leads to a sale.Transitional calls to action, however, contain less risk and usually offer the customer something for free.

The Call To Action

People don’t want more information. They are up to their eyeballs in information. They want faith—faith in you, your goals, your success, in the story you tell.

Everything can be a story! Even your brand! The book Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller provides a framework for crafting a compelling brand story that resonates with customers. It applies storytelling techniques to business messaging.

More than half-a-million business leaders have discovered the power of the StoryBrand Framework, created by New York Times best-selling author and marketing expert Donald Miller. And they are making millions.If you use the wrong words to talk about your product, nobody will buy it. Marketers and business owners struggle to effectively connect with their customers, costing them and their companies millions in lost revenue.In a world filled with constant, on-demand distractions, it has become near-impossible for business owners to effectively cut through the noise to reach their customers, something Donald Miller knows first-hand. In this book, he shares the proven system he has created to help you engage and truly influence customers.The StoryBrand process is a proven solution to the struggle business leaders face when talking about their companies. Without a clear, distinct message, customers will not understand what you can do for them and are unwilling to engage, causing you to lose potential sales, opportunities for customer engagement, and much more.In Building a StoryBrand, Donald Miller teaches marketers and business owners to use the seven universal elements of powerful stories to dramatically improve how they connect with customers and grow their businesses.His proven process has helped thousands of companies engage with their existing customers, giving them the ultimate competitive advantage. Building a StoryBrand does this by teaching you:<ul><li>The seven universal story points all humans respond to;</li><li>The real reason customers make purchases;</li><li>How to simplify a brand message so people understand it; and</li><li>How to create the most effective messaging for websites, brochures, and social media.</li></ul>Whether you are the marketing director of a multibillion-dollar company, the owner of a small business, a politician running for office, or the lead singer of a rock band, Building a StoryBrand will forever transform the way you talk about who you are, what you do, and the unique value you bring to your customers.

marketingandsales

Marketing & Sales

Donald "Don" Miller is an American author, public speaker, and business owner. He is the CEO of StoryBrand, a marketing company. He is also an author of personal essays and reflections about faith, God, and self-discovery.

Donald Miller

Building a StoryBrand

Making important positive changes in our lives requires thoughtful, concerted effort over time - along with faith in ourselves

Leaders must clearly frame the specifics of the change and build agreement on the "shape" of it. They should realistically assess both risks and rewards - obstacles as well as benefits.This provides a balanced perspective and compelling rationale to motivate employees through their own change process.

Clarifying the Change Rationale

<ul><li>With the change framed, leaders can describe the future state and scope.</li><li>They paint a realistic but hopeful picture of success to show new possibilities.</li><li>Quantifiable measures also reinforce and track the benefits.</li><li>This envisions where the change can lead.</li></ul>

Envisioning the Future State 

<ul><li>A credible, competent core team is assembled to drive the change.</li><li>They should move through personal change readily and help engage stakeholders.</li><li>Broad input builds an effective plan for communication, new behaviors, systems impacts, and gauging readiness.</li></ul>

Assembling the Change Team

The transition is led by identifying who is most affected and clarifying what exactly will change for them. A focused transition plan then accelerates their adjustment through endings and beginnings.This support is crucial for people to traverse their own change arc.

Supporting People Through Change 

Built on the previous foundation, the change and transition plans are now executed. Change happens through new behaviors and systems while people are supported through the human process.Strong coordination is critical between logistics and emotional elements.

Executing Change and Transition Plans

<ul><li>Simple, regular monitoring and reporting of progress provides visibility into what's working or not.</li><li>This allows quick reinforcement of successes and addressing of issues.</li><li>It builds change-capable habits of tracking data and engagement.</li></ul>

Tracking and Reinforcing Progress

Adjustments are made to cement the change rather than reverting to old ways. Seeing ongoing adaptation as normal embeds change-capability.Reflecting on enhancements to systems and processes facilitates continual improvement.

Institutionalizing Adjustments

<ul><li>Beyond the individual change, the organization's systems, processes, structures and culture are assessed for alignment.</li><li>Improvements here are made to facilitate this change and build general capacity to handle change effectively going forward.</li></ul>

Embedding Change-Capability

"Change from the Inside Out" by Erika Andersen is a book about the importance of building change capability in individuals and organizations. The book offers a straightforward process for overcoming resistance to change and building support for change from the ground up.

Change initiatives fail because humans are hardwired to return to what's worked for us in the past. This book offers a straightforward process for rewiring ourselves and those we lead to be more change-capable. Erika Andersen says avoiding change has been a historical imperative. In this book, she shows how we can overcome that reluctance and get good at making necessary change. Using a fictional story about a jewelry business changing generational hands, Andersen lays out a five-step model for addressing both this human side of change and its practical aspects: Step 1: Clarify the change and why it's needed—Get clear on what the change is and the benefits it will bring. Step 2: Envision the future state—Build a shared picture of the post-change future. Step 3: Build the change—Bring together a change team, engage key stakeholders, and plan the change. Step 4: Lead the transition—Build a transition plan that supports the human side of the change, then engage the whole organization in making the change. Step 5: Keep the change going—Work to make your organization permanently more change-capable. With opportunities to self-reflect and try out the ideas and approaches throughout, this book is a practical guide to thriving in this era of nonstop change.

Erika Andersen

Change from the Inside Out

Leadership is about empowering others to excel. Consciousness gives empathy, compassion, and wisdom to leaders.

Anchor the organization around a purpose and commitment to creating value for society beyond solely maximizing profits. This higher ideal gives meaning, attracts talent who align with the mission, builds customer affinity through shared values, and unlocks deeper motivation to contribute to a greater cause. People desire to express their higher nature through work.

Defining a Higher Purpose Beyond Profits

<ul><li>Handle all organizational affairs, decisions and conduct with ethical behavior guided by moral principles concerning fundamental matters of right and wrong. </li><li>Do what is fair, just and avoids harm according to the highest standards. </li><li>Uphold impeccable integrity to make wise, compassionate choices. </li><li>Conscious leaders self-regulate egos in service of ethics.</li></ul>

Elevating Ethics and Integrity as Top Priorities

Practice conscious empathy, deep listening, and genuine care for others' wellbeing and growth. Take time to understand different human perspectives without judgement. Build trusting relationships through openness, compassion, humility, and service to human needs. Care for the whole person.

Leading with Empathy, Care and Emotional Intelligence

<ul><li>Invest in developing people's full human potential on emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual levels. </li><li>Help them find deeper meaning and purpose in their work.</li><li> Provide enrichment opportunities for creativity, learning, contribution and growth. </li><li>Nurture those you lead.</li></ul>

Promoting Continuous Personal Growth and Development 

<ul><li>Adopt an inclusive, humble servant leadership approach focused on empowering others over ego. </li><li>Value diversity and all voices. Lead collaboratively with an open heart, not from top-down authority. </li><li>Share power and leadership opportunities. Lift others up.</li></ul>

Exemplifying Humility and Inclusion as a Servant Leader

Through meditation, self-reflection and other self-awareness practices, consciously cultivate higher levels of moral wisdom, altruism, inner peace, presence and spiritual purpose within yourself as a leader. Apply this elevated consciousness to leadership.

Cultivating Higher Levels of Consciousness

<ul><li>Promote mindfulness, work-life balance, psychological safety and physical/mental health. </li><li>Foster positive emotions, strong relationships, meaning, accomplishment, engagement and human flourishing. </li><li>Protect staff from chronic stress and burnout. </li><li>Maximize joy and vitality. </li></ul>

Enhancing Wellbeing, Fulfillment and Vitality

Nurture organizational cultures characterized by trust, empowerment, accountability, ethics, caring, inclusiveness, continuous learning, vitality and higher purpose. This kind of elevating culture attracts and retains conscious talent, and elevates customer experiences.

Creating Conscious Cultures of Higher Purpose

In Conscious Leadership, the authors argue that businesses should focus on purpose beyond profits to uplift humanity. They propose integrating higher levels of ethics, empathy and awareness.

A WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER! From Whole Foods CEO John Mackey and his coauthors, a follow-up to groundbreaking bestseller Conscious Capitalism—revealing what it takes to lead a purpose-driven, sustainable business. John Mackey started a movement when he founded Whole Foods, bringing natural, organic food to the masses and not only changing the market, but breaking the mold. Now, for the first time, Conscious Leadership closely explores the vision, virtues, and mindset that have informed Mackey’s own leadership journey, providing a roadmap for innovative, value-based leadership—in business and in society.   Conscious Leadership demystifies strategies that have helped Mackey shepherd Whole Foods through four decades of incredible growth and innovation, including its recent sale to Amazon. Each chapter will challenge you to rethink conventional business wisdom through anecdotes, case studies, profiles of conscious leaders, and innovative techniques for self-development, culminating in an empowering call to action for entrepreneurs and trailblazers—to step up as leaders who see beyond the bottom line.

business

Business

John Mackey

Steve Mcintosh

Carter Phipps

Conscious Leadership

<ul><li>Admitting weaknesses or mistakes first signals courage and humanizes leaders. Share experiences honestly to comfort others in doing the same. </li><li>Disclose trials overcome through resilience. Authenticity fosters empathy and passionate participation. Demonstrate commitment through actions not just policies. </li><li>Follow through on promises. Talk straight but with compassion. Vulnerability is a daring path to wholehearted leadership.</li></ul>

Vulnerability Builds Trust and Engagement

<ul><li>Shame corrodes culture and inhibits experimentation. Normalize stumbles by discussing openly, not hiding. Ask for help vulnerably. </li><li>View failures situational, not identity defining. Separate person from performance. </li><li>Model healthy boundaries; don't take on undue blame. Restore and reintegrate those demoralized. Focus on learning not perfection. Examine shame triggers and power dynamics. </li><li>Lead with empathy, self-awareness transforms shame into fuel for growth.</li></ul>

Develop Shame Resilience

You either walk inside your story and own it, or you stand outside your story and hustle for your worthiness.

Moving from fear to courage requires discomfort. Lead change boldly despite uncertainty, ambiguity and risk of criticism. Flinching from discomfort maintains status quo. Challenge assumptions and rituals. Make improvements before forced to. Risk failure for growth. Difficult conversations produce clarity. Stepping outside comfort zones creates progress. Model your convictions. With purpose as the driver, lean into discomfort. Daring leadership is uncomfortable but transformative.

Embrace Discomfort to Dare Greatly



<ul><li>Seek diversity of thoughts and backgrounds, not just skills. Inclusion sparks originality. Provide psychological safety for all voices. </li><li>Address biases head on, however uncomfortable. Listen first, speak later. Avoid dominating; make space for introverts too.</li><li> Clarify misunderstandings with curiosity over defensiveness. </li></ul>

Cultivate Diverse Collaborative Teams

<ul><li>Espoused values that are incongruent with behaviors breed cynicism. Walk the talk. Make values explicit then live them visibly at all levels, especially under pressure. </li><li>Challenge misalignment respectfully. Be willing to ruffle feathers. Evaluate policies and processes against values. </li><li>Review incentives and behaviors periodically. Adopt practices consciously, not from habit. </li></ul>

Align Values with Behaviour

Self-reflection strengthens emotional intelligence to manage reactions productively. Know your tendencies under stress. Get insights from assessment tools. Act self-aware, with consciousness not impulse. Cultivate mindfulness to witness thoughts non-judgmentally. Own strengths and frailties honestly. Identify triggers and hot buttons. Thank critics; feedback is a gift. Develop humility and avoid defensiveness.

Increase Self-Awareness

Addressing issues openly, however difficult, clears obstacles and builds trust. Avoid leaving elephants unnamed. Frame problems insightfully. Discuss tensions professionally, not personally. Listen generously before responding. Find common purpose. Rumors and whispers waste energy; address problems directly. Tolerate ambiguity until clarity emerges. Reset relationships with humility and openness.

Rumble with Tough Conversations

Dare to Lead by Brené Brown provides research-based advice on developing courageous leadership and having transformational conversations in organizations. It focuses on vulnerability, daring greatly, rumbling with tough issues, and living into our values. The book equips readers to foster trust, connect with others authentically, support diversity and overcome shame. Dare to Lead offers actionable strategies to lead bravely, strengthen teams and create thriving workplace cultures.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Brené Brown has taught us what it means to dare greatly, rise strong, and brave the wilderness. Now, based on new research conducted with leaders, change makers, and culture shifters, she’s showing us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step up and lead. Don’t miss the five-part HBO Max docuseries Brené Brown: Atlas of the Heart! NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BLOOMBERG Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential. When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don’t avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it’s necessary to do good work. But daring leadership in a culture defined by scarcity, fear, and uncertainty requires skill-building around traits that are deeply and uniquely human. The irony is that we’re choosing not to invest in developing the hearts and minds of leaders at the exact same time as we’re scrambling to figure out what we have to offer that machines and AI can’t do better and faster. What can we do better? Empathy, connection, and courage, to start. Four-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Brené Brown has spent the past two decades studying the emotions and experiences that give meaning to our lives, and the past seven years working with transformative leaders and teams spanning the globe. She found that leaders in organizations ranging from small entrepreneurial startups and family-owned businesses to nonprofits, civic organizations, and Fortune 50 companies all ask the same question: How do you cultivate braver, more daring leaders, and how do you embed the value of courage in your culture? In this new book, Brown uses research, stories, and examples to answer these questions in the no-BS style that millions of readers have come to expect and love. Brown writes, “One of the most important findings of my career is that daring leadership is a collection of four skill sets that are 100 percent teachable, observable, and measurable. It’s learning and unlearning that requires brave work, tough conversations, and showing up with your whole heart. Easy? No. Because choosing courage over comfort is not always our default. Worth it? Always. We want to be brave with our lives and our work. It’s why we’re here.” Whether you’ve read Daring Greatly and Rising Strong or you’re new to Brené Brown’s work, this book is for anyone who wants to step up and into brave leadership.

career

Career

Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston where she holds the Huffington Foundation – Brené Brown Endowed Chair at The Graduate College of Social Work. Brené is also a visiting professor in management at The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business. She has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy and is the author of five #1 New York Times bestsellers: The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, Rising Strong, Braving the Wilderness, and her latest book, Dare to Lead.Brené hosts the Unlocking Us Podcast and the Dare to Lead Podcast. Her TED talk – The Power of Vulnerability – is one of the top five most viewed TED talks in the world with over 50 million views.

Brené Brown

Dare to Lead

<ul><li>Appeal to people’s core personal identities and innate human need to be valued members of a group. </li><li>Enable team members to show up authentically as their best selves at work. </li><li>Make them feel recognized, respected and appreciated for their unique abilities and passions. </li><li>Understand their drives and motivations at a deeper level.</li></ul>

Fulfilling Core Identities

An opportunity to do something meaningful together with people who care about you will almost always trump extra pay or prestige

People don't primarily work for financial gain or career advancement. People work to belong and contribute to something beyond themselves.

Connect the day-to-day work directly to a higher, meaningful purpose that helps people and makes a positive difference in the world. Fulfill emotional needs for significance and impact, not just completing tasks. Help people see how their efforts contribute to serving others and align with their values. Inspire through purpose.

Connecting Work to a Higher Purpose

Build an energized community spirit within teams through shared experiences, camaraderie and interpersonal connections that fill people's deep need to belong. Make time for personal interactions, team building activities, and creating bonds between members. Treat people like human beings, not just workers.

Fostering Strong Communities

<ul><li>Allow appropriate autonomy for people to express their unique talents, creativity and personas. </li><li>Avoid rigid conformity. Enable people to customize aspects of their work experience to align with their authentic selves. </li><li>Empower them to have a voice in decisions.</li></ul>

Encouraging Authentic Self-Expression

<ul><li>Emphasize shared values, purpose and principles more than enforcing strict rules. </li><li>Ensure values align to higher purpose. </li><li>Allow flexibility in how people uphold the values day-to-day. </li><li>Nurture personal alignment over blind rule-following.</li></ul>

Aligning Values Over Rules

Lead through empowering others rather than commanding. Serve team needs with compassion. Remain grounded by listening and avoid ego. Guide with humility, wisdom and care, not just authority. Seek to understand and lift others up.

Leading Through Empowering Service

<ul><li>Promote constant learning, development and growth mindsets.</li><li> Help people build new skills, knowledge and competencies.</li><li> Provide challenges, training and mentorship. </li><li>Enable ongoing career progress and transformation vs. status quo. </li><li>Remove obstacles to growth.</li></ul>

Nurturing Continuous Growth 

 The book Exceptional by Daniel Cable discusses ways to inspire teams and transform organizations by appealing to people's sense of identity, purpose and community belonging. It provides evidence-based advice for leaders.

"A bold new approach to improving your performance and deepening your purpose." —DANIEL H. PINK, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Drive, When, and To Sell Is Human A Three-Step Process to Access and Activate Your Full Potential Imagine switching on the television to see a highlight reel of the best moments from your life. Like a professional athlete, with every clip you'd learn how to repeat past successes, pinpoint positive blind spots, and build confidence in your skills. In Exceptional, London Business School professor and expert social scientist Daniel M. Cable reveals how building your own personal highlight reel—a collection of positive memories about yourself from your network—is key to accessing your potential. Using the latest science and proven research behind best-self activation, his three-step process will help you improve your life by: • Focusing on what you do best • Crafting a life around your strengths • Increasing your confidence and resilience Cable has worked with tens of thousands of people to create their highlight reels and make the most of their gifts. The three-step process ultimately reveals how living up to your full potential can improve the relationships you value most and transform your mindset to one of possibility. Each of us can bring forth a version of ourself that is uniquely outstanding. It's a version of ourself that already exists—all we have to do is access it. • A practical book on how to create one's own human highlight reel, and then use that highlight reel to direct one to success, growth, happiness, and fulfillment in work and life based on scientific results • Great for readers interested in achieving self-improvement and a sense of purpose. • You'll love this book if you love books like Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges by Amy Cuddy, and The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg. Digital audio edition read by the author.

teamwork

Teamwork

Daniel M. Cable

Exceptional

The 12 week year system boosts productivity by dividing goals into 12 week "years", treating each 3-month period like a full fiscal year. This compresses goal timelines into manageable sprints. Planning is compressed into specialized 12 week plans built around weekly targets. Execution utilizes weekly review sessions to reforecast based on progress. 12 weeks provides the perfect cycle to maintain urgency and focus.

The 12 Week Year


In a 12 week year, you set quarterly goals then develop a comprehensive 12 week plan to achieve them through weekly actions. <ul><li>Weekly and quarterly reviews reevaluate progress to stay on track or adjust course. </li><li>The compressed timeline encourages focus on highest value activities. </li><li>Clear measurement keeps you accountable week by week.</li></ul>This detailed planning focuses efforts and creates urgency to execute.

Getting More Done in 12 Weeks Than Others Do in 12 Months 

<ul><li>The 12 week system instills focus by working plans down to weekly targets. You know what needs to be accomplished each week. </li><li>It drives urgency through the compressed timeline. You can't put off action when the "year" ends in 12 weeks. </li><li>Accountability results from weekly reviews of defined targets to re-forecast as needed. Progress visibility motivates action.</li></ul>

Creating Focus, Urgency, and Accountability

Not everything fits in a 12 week year. Identify 3 to 7 top annual goals, determine key activities for each, then select the most critical goal with tangible targets for your first 12 week plan. <ul><li>Keep plans simple but thorough. </li><li>Don't overreach beyond capacity. </li><li>Assign metrics for weekly and quarterly reviews. </li><li>Use rock (critical), pebble (nice-to-have) prioritization to focus efforts on your rocks. </li><li>Let urgency and accountability drive achievement.</li></ul>

Finding Your 12 Week Focus



Effective 12 week planning breaks annual goals into 12 week targets then weekly actions. Schedule planning sessions to determine targets and key tactics. Define measurable outcomes. Calculate required activities for each week. Determine priorities and resources needed. Include contingency plans and risk management. Align plans across the organization. Planning rigor drives execution success. Update plans during weekly reviews.

Planning Your 12 Week Year



The physical universe will not respond to your desires, no matter how passionate or intense they are. The one thing that moves the universe is action. An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.

The 12 Week Year offers a proven strategy to increase productivity by treating each 12 week period as its own "year" for goal setting and planning. The authors make the case that stretching goals over 12 months dilutes focus and urgency, while setting 3 month goals creates the optimal timeframe for executional sprint. To leverage the power of the 12 week year, you select your most important annual goals, make them 12 week objectives, and break them down into weekly actions.  

The guide to shortening your execution cycle down from one year to twelve weeks Most organizations and individuals work in the context of annual goals and plans; a twelve-month execution cycle. Instead, The 12 Week Year avoids the pitfalls and low productivity of annualized thinking. This book redefines your "year" to be 12 weeks long. In 12 weeks, there just isn't enough time to get complacent, and urgency increases and intensifies. The 12 Week Year creates focus and clarity on what matters most and a sense of urgency to do it now. In the end more of the important stuff gets done and the impact on results is profound. <ul> <li>Explains how to leverage the power of a 12 week year to drive improved results in any area of your life</li> <li>Offers a how-to book for both individuals and organizations seeking to improve their execution effectiveness</li> <li>Authors are leading experts on execution and implementation</li> </ul> Turn your organization's idea of a year on its head, and speed your journey to success.

timemanagement

Time Management

Brian P. Moran

Michael Lennington

The 12 Week Year

Influence is not something that’s learned overnight. It’s an art that requires many skills and takes practice to master. Influence also is about personal significance and purpose—the impact each of us has or doesn’t have on others and the world around us.

The Power of Influence

Analyze your positive and negative interactions to understand what works and doesn't work. Reflect on why you like or dislike someone to gain emotional intelligence. Leverage personal experiences as opportunities for learning effective influence and communication.

Use Experiences to Learn Influence Skills

When influencing, focus not just logic but emotional appeals like Aristotle's kairos (right timing) and telos (purpose). Align delivery with audience's mindset and values. Emotion moves people more than pure reason. Structure messages to resonate at a deeper level.

Focus on Emotional Appeals

Carefully sequence communications to facilitate acceptance. First ensure psychological safety and care. Then inspire and engage. Align sequence with audience culture. Brains shut down when messages skip steps or threaten people. Methodically build resonance.

Mind the Influence Sequence

Self-awareness is key for aligning messages and behaviors with values. Reflect honestly on how others see you to improve emotional intelligence. Self-coaching, feedback and journaling build consciousness to come across as gracious, confident and approachable.

Cultivate Self-Awareness

Influence by framing issues advantageously using stories and metaphors. Frames shape how people interpret reality. Battle for hearts and minds through credible, meaningful frames. But don't fabricate - authenticity matters.

Control the Narrative with Frames

<ul><li>Body language hugely impacts first impressions and ongoing influence. </li><li>Tone, eye contact, gestures and more convey cues. Examine your digital presence too. </li><li>Develop conscious awareness of the nonverbal messages you send. Presence stems from self-belief.</li></ul>

Master Your Nonverbal Cues  

Ineffective communicators overload people with information. Listen more than talk. Observe reactions. Validate others' perspectives. Ask clarifying questions. Choose words carefully to find common ground. two-way dialogue beats one-sided lecturing.

Listen More Than Talk

In Amplify Your Influence: Transform How You Communicate and Lead, celebrated keynote speaker, trainer and leadership coach Rene Rodriguez delivers an eye-opening roadmap to using applied neuroscience to improve readers’ communication ability, critical thinking, cultural awareness, and leadership skills.The book offers practical tips, useful frameworks, guided practice, and simple application exercises to help readers create new and lasting behaviors that effect change in their life and work.

Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller Apply the latest advances in neuroscience to your real-world persuasion and influence strategies for immediate results In Amplify Your Influence: Transform How You Communicate and Lead, celebrated keynote speaker, trainer and leadership coach Rene Rodriguez delivers an eye-opening roadmap to using applied neuroscience to improve readers’ communication ability, critical thinking, cultural awareness, and leadership skills. Based in the author’s proprietary AMPLIFII system and methodologies he has taught to over 100,000 participants around the world, the book offers practical tips, useful frameworks, guided practice, and simple application exercises to help readers create new and lasting behaviors that effect change in their life and work. Amplify Your Influence shows leaders how to: <ul> <li>Leverage various human motivators for positive outcomes and results </li> <li>Frame and communicate their ideas in a way that encourages engagement and gets an active response </li> <li>Intentionally choose a communication style based on their influence objective </li> </ul> Perfect for executives, managers, sales professionals, and other business leaders, Amplify Your Influence is required reading for anyone seeking to improve their ability to effect change in the people around them, whether they’re in the office, the boardroom, the classroom, or at home.

Beyond Command and Control

Broken to Better

Building a StoryBrand

Change from the Inside Out

Conscious Leadership

Courtney Abbott