Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Ron Friedman ’s new book, Superteams , is the best book about teams and team building that I have ever read and have reviewed on my blog. It’s all about what the best teams do differently.   It’s packed with counterintuitive insights, surprising science, and real-world lessons "from the most comprehensive study of elite groups ever conducted" reports Friedman. Read through it once and then keep it handy to refer to repeatedly. The 50-plus strategies for how a team does its best work are invaluable.   Friedman surveyed thousands of teams and pinpointed the precise habits that separate the best from the rest. He reports that “the results upend everything we think we know about teamwork. It turns out that the most successful teams aren't the ones that collaborate most, get along best, or put in the longest hours.”   What really sets them apart, according to Friedman, is the way they:   Manage their energy and attention. Bring out the best in one another. Keep improving...

“It’s time to get intentional about organizational culture and to make it strong on purpose,” explain James D. White and Krista White , authors of the book Culture Design: How To Build A High-Performing, Resilient Organization With Purpose .   “Strong company cultures, deliberately shaped, are the difference between businesses that are great versus those that are just good enough,” they add.   The authors define organizational culture as a set of actions, habits, rituals, and beliefs that determine how work gets done, how decisions get made, and how people experience their workplaces.   "Strong cultures don't emerge by accident," share the authors. "They're built—with clarity, consistency, and design. This book is your guide to intentionally designing a culture that is resilient, inclusive, powerful, and effective."   Informed by over thirty years of operating experience across sectors and in the boardroom, the authors offer these strategies for designin...

New York Times -bestselling author, chartered psychologist and Professor of Leadership at the University of Exeter Business School, John Amaechi , has released I t’s Not Magic: The Ordinary Skills Of Exceptional Leaders .  It’s an important read for particularly managers, executives, board members, and other business leaders, and anyone else expected to motivate and inspire others to achieve great things.   The book walks you through the seemingly obvious but difficult-to-nail mindsets and intentions you’ll need to adopt to influence and motivate others. You’ll learn strategies and techniques you can apply immediately, including:   Easy-to-follow explanations of the straightforward behaviors you can model to improve your ability to lead others. Habits you can adopt immediately to motivate others in any setting, from the boardroom to the classroom or the battlefield. Data-driven insights into the tiny, little things that great leaders do every day and how to incorporate th...

  Most business leaders think that mergers fail because of bad strategy or overpaying. But according to former senior partner at McKinsey and Harvard Business School’s David Fubini , that’s not where deals break down. They fail in what comes during and after integration.   More specifically, “Integration is what makes or breaks the success of a deal. Not design, not financing, not due diligence, not negotiations of structure,” says Fubini. “Because no matter how expertly you manage these elements, if you can’t bring all the pieces together, all your efforts might as well have been an academic exercise."   Fortunately, in his new book, Post-Merger Integration: Building The Mindset, Skills, And Discipline Needed For Deal Success , Fubini (along with Patrick Sanguineti ) offers a behind-the-scenes look at how deals actually succeed and where they go wrong. And he shows leaders how to develop an Integration Mindset that will enable you to navigate the complex, nuanced reality...

           These quotes truly inspire me and hopefully they will inspire you as well : “The three common characteristics of best companies -- they care, they have fun, they have high performance expectations.” -- Brad Hams “The one thing that's common to all successful people: They make a habit of doing things that unsuccessful people don't like to do.” -- Michael Phelps “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." -- Harry S. Truman “The leader of the past was a person who knew how to tell. The leader of the future will be a person who knows how to ask.” -- Peter Drucker “Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” -- Dwight D. Eisenhower “Good leadership isn't about advancing yourself.  It's about advancing your team.” -- John C. Maxwell "People buy into the leader, then the vision.” -- John C. Maxwell “Great leaders have courage, tenacity and patience.” -- B...

I post this every year on or near Father's Day because the business and life lessons my father taught me stay with me forever. What he taught me has served me well--even lessons I learned when I didn't at the time necessarily realize I was learning from him. So, I thank my dad for teaching me the following business and life lessons : Listen - Growing up, I thought my Dad was perhaps shy or quiet. Really, he was just a great listener. I believe that's what made him so wise. He would listen to anyone. Young or old. New acquaintance or friend. Provide - My Dad provided for me. Music lessons. Vacations. Summer camp. Boy Scouts.  He gave. He put others' needs first. Today, I find in volunteering likely the same satisfaction he felt when he provided for his family. Educate - My Dad's passion was education. He loved to learn. He loved even more to teach. He lived to help other people learn. In the workplace, providing learning opportunities is one of the most powerful ...

Julie Averill , the CIO behind lululemon’s rapid growth from $2 billion to $10 billion shares in her new book, Chief Impact Officer , a roadmap for executives and technology leaders navigating today's AI revolution and reveals why authentic human leadership is your competitive advantage.   Prior to lululemon, she led omni-channel and digital transformations at Nordstrom and REI, navigating system failures, crises, and the complicated work of integrating technology with business strategy at scale.   “Technology doesn’t transform companies. People do,” says Averill. “AI will amplify whatever leadership exists, strong or weak. The goal isn’t to build better workers. It’s to develop better humans who happen to do extraordinary work because you helped them become more capable, more confident, more fully themselves. That’s what this book is about.”   In the highly personal Chief Impact Officer , Averill pulls back the curtain on what happens when you try to transform a compan...

Nearly everyone I know has shared a story about a difficult person they’ve encountered in their workplace. Experiencing difficult individuals in the workplace is common. So common that author Amy Gallo identifies eight archetypes , each representing a common type of “difficult” person likely found in most workplaces.  “We might lie awake at night worrying, withdraw from work, or react in ways we later regret—rolling our eyes in a meeting, snapping at colleagues, or staying silent when we should speak up,” says Gallo.   "Too often we grin and bear it as if we have no choice. Or throw up our hands because one-size-fits-all solutions haven't worked. But you can only endure so much thoughtless, irrational, or malicious behavior—there's your sanity to consider, and your career,” adds Gallo.   Fortunately, Gallo shares in her book, Getting Along , practical insights, tools, and techniques for how to get along with each type of difficult co-worker you’ll likely encounter....

  Today brings the new book, Effective: How To Do Great Work In A Fast-Changing World , by Melissa Swift . “Effectiveness is where employer and employee interests come together—you want to be great at accomplishing the goals of your job, and your employer wants that too,” explains Swift. “It’s also a place where we can bring together different organizational and developmental thinking to help move people to action.”   In the book, Swift, founder of Anthrome Insight , draws on current research and provocative interviews with business and academic leaders to help readers understand how to be amazing in a working world seemingly designed to make us feel incompetent.   Each chapter in Effective delivers actionable approaches, enabling readers to improve their daily work life immediately with a paradigm-shifting framework for thriving rather than merely coping in modern professional environments.   The book serves professionals at every level of seniority, from e...