"The power not just to persuade, but to inspire. "Anyone interested in influencing fellow human beings can benefit from this book's wise and practical advice. It's a keeper " --William Ury, Harvard Law School, Coauthor of the best-selling Getting to Yes The ability to influence people's thoughts and feelings, to generate their buy-in, has emerged as the paramount leadership skill. The strongest leaders are those who create a positive vision of the future, paint a ""big picture"" that generates action by tapping into people's emotions, ask for a commitment, and inspire their listeners to take steps toward the goal. Generating Buy-In: Mastering the Language of Leadership will help you master the powerful language that breeds such a commitment. Through real-world case studies and exclusive interviews, Generating Buy-In imparts a revolutionary yet practical approach to: * Crafting a strategic story that projects a positive future to your audience * Speaking the language of buy-in with images that mold powerful thoughts and emotions in your listeners * Putting the language to work in service of your goal -- whether the goal is to raise sales, inspire a work force, or win a Presidential election. ""This book unlocks secrets top leaders have applied through the ages. Instinctively you know that Mark Walton has hit the bulls-eye, because it feels right in your heart and your gut. Wonderfully simple and effective "" -- Ron Kirkpatrick, National Manager, Toyota Motor Sales, USA Complete with examples, practical exercises, sample business scenarios, and a foreword by William Ury, coauthor of the best-selling Getting to Yes, Generating Buy-In is an indispensable resource for leading and succeeding in today's fiercely competitive world "

Advance your B2B marketing plans with proven social media strategies Learn social media's specific application to B2B companies and how it can be leveraged to drive leads and revenue. B2B marketers are undervalued and under appreciated in many companies. Social media and online marketing provide the right mix of rich data and reduction in marketing expenses to help transform a marketer into a superstar. The B2B Social Media Book provides B2B marketers with actionable advice on leveraging blogging, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and more, combined with key strategic imperatives that serve as the backbone of effective B2B social media strategies. This book serves as the definitive reference for B2B marketers looking to master social media and take their career to the next level. Describes a methodology for generating leads using social media Details how to create content offers that increase conversion rates and drive leads from social media Offers practical advice for incorporating mobile strategies into the marketing mix Provides a step-by-step process for measuring the return on investment of B2B social media strategies The B2B Social Media Book will help readers establish a strong social media marketing strategy to generate more leads, become a marketing superstar in the eye of company leaders, and most importantly, contribute to business growth.

Real-life examples from the author's experience illuminate a step-by-step plan that can help entrepreneurial leaders achieve their goals. Entrepreneurial leaders are in need of a practical compass, and this book gives them just that. Combining principles of leadership and entrepreneurship, the guide covers basic concepts and pertinent issues for leaders at all levels and does so in a manner that is at once lively, relevant, and entertaining. Drawing on the best thinking from both business and academia, the book irrefutably demonstrates the connection between skilled leadership and organizational effectiveness and performance. Readers are provided with two easy-to-follow models that are applicable to all types of organizations. The Opportunity Model (Part I) shows exactly how to identify business-generating opportunities, while the Enduring Leadership Model (Part II) outlines the author's unique leadership principles, what he calls "Personal" and "Professional" Leadership. Used together, these two models give today's entrepreneurial leaders the real-life tools they need to succeed. To illustrate what works—and what doesn't—the author takes readers inside the highly volatile beverage industry and shares his greatest successes and failures running Adirondack Beverages, a company that still thrives today based on principles instilled more than 20 years ago.

You've got a good idea. You know it could make a crucial difference for you, your organization, your community. You present it to the group, but get confounding questions, inane comments, and verbal bullets in return. Before you know what's happened, your idea is dead, shot down. You're furious. Everyone has lost: Those who would have benefited from your proposal. You. Your company. Perhaps even the country. It doesn't have to be this way, maintain John Kotter and Lorne Whitehead. In Buy-In, they reveal how to win the support your idea needs to deliver valuable results. The key? Understand the generic attack strategies that naysayers and obfuscators deploy time and time again. Then engage these adversaries with tactics tailored to each strategy. By "inviting in the lions" to critique your idea--and being prepared for them--you'll capture busy people's attention, help them grasp your proposal's value, and secure their commitment to implementing the solution. The book presents a fresh and amusing fictional narrative showing attack strategies in action. It then provides several specific counterstrategies for each basic category the authors have defined--including: · Death-by-delay: Your enemies push discussion of your idea so far into the future it's forgotten. · Confusion: They present so much data that confidence in your proposal dies. · Fearmongering: Critics catalyze irrational anxieties about your idea. · Character assassination: They slam your reputation and credibility. Smart, practical, and filled with useful advice, Buy-In equips you to anticipate and combat attacks--so your good idea makes it through to make a positive change.

Business Model Generation is a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers striving to defy outmoded business models and design tomorrow's enterprises. If your organization needs to adapt to harsh new realities, but you don't yet have a strategy that will get you out in front of your competitors, you need Business Model Generation. Co-created by 470 "Business Model Canvas" practitioners from 45 countries, the book features a beautiful, highly visual, 4-color design that takes powerful strategic ideas and tools, and makes them easy to implement in your organization. It explains the most common Business Model patterns, based on concepts from leading business thinkers, and helps you reinterpret them for your own context. You will learn how to systematically understand, design, and implement a game-changing business model--or analyze and renovate an old one. Along the way, you'll understand at a much deeper level your customers, distribution channels, partners, revenue streams, costs, and your core value proposition. Business Model Generation features practical innovation techniques used today by leading consultants and companies worldwide, including 3M, Ericsson, Capgemini, Deloitte, and others. Designed for doers, it is for those ready to abandon outmoded thinking and embrace new models of value creation: for executives, consultants, entrepreneurs, and leaders of all organizations. If you're ready to change the rules, you belong to "the business model generation!"

Have you taken your business from good to great, only to find that “great” still isn’t cutting it? Are you making all the right moves in your career and still not receiving the recognition you have earned? Why do companies like Apple get all the attention, when you have difficulty getting anyone to focus on your efforts? In our homogenized world, companies in every sector—from big-box retail to financial services; from fast food to entrepreneurs—appear more and more alike, as do the tweets and LinkedIn pages of professionals across the country. But if people see you or your company as nothing more than a carbon copy of the competition, how can you expect to attract attention? Scott McKain’s original approach to this problem, first captured in his book Collapse of Distinction, was conceived and written in the direct aftermath of the 2008 financial meltdown. His forceful case for the importance of distinction—finding success by setting yourself apart from the crowd—resonated with thousands of readers. To reflect the changing reality since that book’s publication—and to incorporate new research and up-to-date examples—McKain, an internationally recognized expert on business distinction, has retitled and revised it as Create Distinction. Within these updated pages (including one entirely new chapter) you’ll find a potent cure for similarity and uniformity—the primary killers of businesses and careers. In engaging, story-filled prose, McKain lays out the cornerstones of distinction and equips you with the specific tools and knowledge you need to stand out. Whether you’re in the “C-suite” of a multinational company or just vying for your next promotion, you’ll learn how to rise above the fray and make your work unmistakable. With this practical advice, you’ll feel confident stepping up from the competition—and toward success.

The go-to guide for small-business owners and entrepreneurs to discover exactly what consumers want to buy and how to get it to them. As a small-business owner, entrepreneur, or marketer, are you absolutely certain that you know what your customer wants? And even if you know what your customer wants, are you sure that you are able to clearly communicate that you offer the exact thing that they are seeking? In this best-selling book, Ryan Levesque lays out his proven, repeatable, yet slightly counterintuitive, methodology for understanding the core wants and motivations of your customer. Levesque's Ask Method provides a way to discover what customers want to buy by guiding them through a series of questions and customizing a solution from them so they are more likely to purchase from you. And all through a completely automated process that does not require one-on-one conversations with every single customer. The Ask method has generated over $100 million in online sales across 23 different industries and counting. Now it is your turn to use it to create a funnel, skyrocket your online income, and create a mass of dedicated fans for you and your company in the process.

Are You Scaring Your People into Mediocrity? All leaders want to outperform, outsell, and outin­novate the competition. And most teams are fully capable of doing so. The problem: we consistently say and do things that spark unconscious fears and keep our people stuck in their Critter State. This primitive fight, flight, or freeze mode distills all decision mak­ing to one question: What will keep me safest? Lying low, sucking up, procrastinating, and doing a good enough job may keep employees breathing, but it doesn’t make for vital organizations. Leaders have to get their people unstuck and fully engaged, replacing their old, limiting mental patterns with new patterns that foster optimal performance. New York Times bestselling author and applied neuroscience expert Christine Comaford knows what it takes to move people from the Critter State into the Smart State, where they have full access to their own creativity, innovation, higher consciousness, and emotional engagement. When an entire culture maintains that state, it becomes what she calls a SmartTribe. Focused. Accountable. Collaborative. Imbued with the energy and passion to solve problems and do what needs doing, again and again and again. Comaford brings to this book more than thirty years of company-building experience, combined with her expertise in behavioral modification and organizational development. She has helped hun­dreds of leaders navigate rapid growth, maximize performance, resolve internal conflicts, and execute turnarounds with the full support of their people. Now she shares potent yet easy-to-learn neuro­science techniques that will help you do the same. You’ll learn how to move your team forward and reach your next revenue inflection point using the five key Accelerators of the Smart State—focus, clar­ity, accountability, influence, and sustainability. You’ll get better at anticipating and moving through your own stuck spots and those of your people. Using her proven system, Comaford’s clients have already created hundreds of millions of dollars in new value. They’ve seen their revenues and profits increase by up to 210% annually; individuals become up to 50% more productive and 100% more account­able; marketing demand generation grow by up to 237%; new products and services created up to 48% faster; and sales close up to 50% faster. They spot changes in their markets more quickly, then pounce on them to create the future they want. Ultimately, SmartTribes will help you and your team achieve optimal performance and engagement—brilliance—and leave competitors in the dust.

Companies are experiencing a shortage of game-changing ideas that drive growth. This is a 'how to' book about generating a steady stream of breakthrough new product ideas. Experts, Dr. Cooper and Dr. Edgett, provide an unbiased evaluation of the top 15+ ideation methods used by leading companies. This book explains how to 'feed' your innovation funnel with a steady stream of breakthrough new product ideas. Through numerous examples of the methods, approaches and techniques being used by leading companies such as Motorola and Procter and Gamble, the authors confirm the importance of a robust Discovery Stage and illustrate how to implement such a system. For more information, visit: www.stage-gate.com

Can one idea be worth a million dollars? Of course. But what is a million-dollar idea worth if it is poorly executed? In this ground-breaking, paradigm-shifting book, creative genius Joey Reiman presents a convincing argument for the value of raw ideas.