Workplace Behavior

Ella Bell Smith and Stella Nkomo take an unflinching look at the differences between Black and White women's experiences at work. Based on groundbreaking research, the book compares and contrasts the experiences of 120 first-generation Black and White female managers in the American business area. In-depth histories bring to life the women's powerful and often difficult journeys from childhood to professional success, highlighting the roles that gender, race, and class played in their development.

Carol Dweck’s multi-million-copy bestseller Mindset transformed our view of individual potential, coining the terms “fixed” and “growth” mindset: in a “fixed” mindset, talent and intelligence are viewed as predetermined traits, while in a “growth” mindset, talent and intelligence can be nurtured. In Cultures of Growth, Dweck’s protégé, Mary Murphy, a social psychologist at both Stanford and Indiana University, shows that mindset transcends individuals.

No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller is exactly what the title promises. This is more than another book about the Bernie Madoff scandal, this is a fast-paced, blow-by-blow, true-crime story that you have to hear to believe. In a true David and Goliath tale, the underdog number cruncher uncovers the largest financial fraud in history, and has to fight everything and everyone in the system to bring it down.

In this endlessly fascinating book, New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea that has profound implications: large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant. Groups are better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Insanely Simple, written and read by Ken Segal. Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. Steve Jobs' obsession with simplicity is what separates Apple from other technology companies. It's what helped Apple recover from near death in 1997 to become the most valuable company on Earth in 2011 and guides the way Apple is organized and how it designs products.

In order to create an inclusive working environment, it is important for companies to understand the experiences that diverse employees face in the workplace. Diversity in the Workplace is a guided tour of what it means to be a minority in today's labor force.

In the groundbreaking new book Accelerate (XLR8), leadership, change-management expert, and best-selling author John Kotter provides a fascinating answer - and a powerful new framework for competing and winning in a world of constant turbulence and disruption. Accelerate (XLR8) vividly illustrates the five core principles underlying the new network system, the eight accelerators that drive it, and how leaders must create urgency in others through role modeling.

This book first introduces gentelligence as a powerful business strategy, and shows why it is critical for the future of work. It then presents a practical guide and a call to action for leaders of all ages to unlock the potential strengths of each generation. Listeners will learn how an intergenerational workforce can be reframed as a profound business opportunity, and discover how gentelligence can help them win the talent war, create strong, diverse teams, and build adaptable cultures that will flourish in an era of rapid change.

New York Times tech reporter Kashmir Hill was skeptical when she got a tip about a mysterious app called Clearview AI that claimed it could, with 99 percent accuracy, identify anyone based on just one snapshot of their face. The app could supposedly scan a face and, in just seconds, surface every detail of a person’s online life: their name, social media profiles, friends and family members, home address, and photos that they might not have even known existed.

Working late at night, Lucas, a middle manager in a large organization, meets a custodian named Ted. The two strike up a friendship as Ted teaches Lucas three vital questions with the power to transform the disillusionment he is experiencing at work. Listeners follow Lucas as he learns how to shift from feeling like a victim to acting as a creator in his career. With the wise guidance of Ted and Kasey, a senior manager, Lucas applies the three vital questions and begins transforming his workplace relationships, with exciting results.

Toxic workplaces take all kinds of forms—whether it's a narcissist boss who belittles and bullies, colleagues who backstab and gaslight, "work friends" who drain you with endless complaining, or a culture of overwork and burnout. It can feel impossible to know whether to speak up and when to keep your head down. Do you try to address it head-on, go to HR, or play office politics? The HBR Guide to Navigating the Toxic Workplace will help you set boundaries and change what you can while helping you maintain your mental health and your self-respect in some of the toughest situations at work.

Veteran business leader and growth strategist Jill Popelka delivers a hands-on guide to building a flexible, adaptable, and engaged workforce that can enable your organization to evolve with emerging challenges. You'll find the insights you need to build a company culture that prioritizes your people, resulting in an empowered and future-ready workforce. Filled with stories from the author's extensive experience as the President of SAP SuccessFactors, the book also offers advice from global thought leaders on some of today's most pressing issues.

Nobody wants to fail. But in highly complex organizations, success can happen only when we confront our mistakes, learn from our own version of a black box, and create a climate where it's safe to fail. We all have to endure failure from time to time, whether it's underperforming at a job interview, flunking an exam, or losing a pickup basketball game. But for people working in safety-critical industries, getting it wrong can have deadly consequences.

Difficult people are the worst part of a manager's job. Whether it comes from direct reports or people above, outbursts, irrational demands, griping, and other disruptions need to be dealt with - and it's your responsibility to do it. Leading the Unleadable turns this dreaded chore into a straight forward process that gently, yet effectively, improves behaviors.

One of the hardest things to achieve in business is getting everyone on your team aligned to the same plan. Picture your business as a rowing team. Most have some people casually rowing, others out of sync, and even some rowing in the complete opposite direction. In Relentless Implementation, you will learn a tried and tested system that will get every person on your team vigorously rowing in the same direction.

Helping is a fundamental human activity, but it can also be a frustrating one. All too often, to our bewilderment, our sincere offers of help are resented, resisted, or refused - and we often react the same way when people try to help us. Why is it so difficult to provide or accept help? How can we make the whole process easier?

Black Faces in High Places is the essential guide for Black professionals who are moving up through their organizations or industries but need a roadmap for how to get to the top and stay there. Based on the authors' considerable experiences in business, in the public eye, and as a minority, the book shows how African-American professionals can (and must) think and act both entrepreneurially and "intrapreneurially".

When slighted, misunderstood, cut-in-front-of, annoyed, taken advantage of, or treated rudely, most people avoid their bosses, ignore co-workers, change hairdressers, complain to friends, shout and pound their fists. They often miss the most positive, effective alternative of all: confronting positively. Now, for everyone who was never taught, or never realized, that between "bully" and "wimp" is a range of behavior that is positive, dignified, and effective for dealing with life's bothersome situations.

Let It Go! is a fresh look at delegation that gets to the heart of why we struggle with it. You’ll learn step by step how to shift your mindset and implement proven techniques to create space for more of what you love. Then, you’ll discover how to scale delegation across your organization, giving your team the permission, autonomy, and tools they need to better leverage their time. By making this simple shift, you’ll attract and retain great talent while creating limitless potential for business growth.

Two-time New York Times best-selling authors Roger Connors and Tom Smith show how leaders can achieve record-breaking results by quickly and effectively shaping their organizational culture to capitalize on their greatest asset - their people. Change the Culture, Change the Game joins their classic book The Oz Principle and their recent best seller How Did That Happen? to complete the most comprehensive series ever written on workplace accountability.