The project management secrets that experts and top professionals use.

The people management secrets that experts and top professionals use.

The Challenge Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning. But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? The Study For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great? The Standards Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck. The Comparisons The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good? Over five years, the team analyzed the histories of all twenty-eight companies in the study. After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness -- why some companies make the leap and others don't. The Findings The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include: Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness. The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence. A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology. The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap. “Some of the key concepts discerned in the study,” comments Jim Collins, "fly in the face of our modern business culture and will, quite frankly, upset some people.” Perhaps, but who can afford to ignore these findings?

Wall Street Journal Bestseller Make Your Mark in the World with the Five Success Principles of the World-Changing Social Media Site If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world. Facebook accounts for one of every seven minutes spent online. More than one billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook. There’s no doubt about it. Mark Zuckerberg’s creation has changed the world. Literally. Facebook has singlehandedly revolutionized the way more than one-seventh of the world’s population communicates, engages, and consumes information. If you run a business or plan to start one, you’re probably asking yourself the same question organizational leaders worldwide are asking: What did Mark Zuckerberg do right? At long last, the answer is here. Think Like Zuck examines the five principles behind Facebook’s meteoric rise, presented in actionable lessons anyone can apply—in any organization, in any industry. Written by social business trailblazer Ekaterina Walter, this groundbreaking book reveals the five “P”s of Facebook’s success: PASSION—Keep your energy and commitment fully charged at all times by pursuing something you believe in PURPOSE—Don’t just create a great product; drive a meaningful movement PEOPLE—Build powerful teams that can execute your vision PRODUCT—Create a product that is innovative, that breaks all the rules, that changes everything PARTNERSHIPS—Build powerful partnerships with people who fuel imagination and energize execution Packed with examples of Facebook’s success principles in action—as well as those of Zappos, TOMS, Threadless, Dyson, and other companies—Think Like Zuck gives you the inspiration, knowledge, and insight to make your own mark in the world, to build a business that makes a difference, and to lead your organization to long-term profitability and growth. “Think Like Zuck is a fascinating look at how entrepreneurial vision drives success. If you want more out of work than just a job, if you have the burning desire to build something of lasting value, then this is your guide.” —DAVID MEERMAN SCOTT, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR “Whether you’re a seasoned business executive or the next Mark Zuckerberg in your dorm room right now, this book is a must-read! Two likeable thumbs up!” —DAVE KERPEN, New York Times bestselling author of Likeable Social Media and Likeable Business “True success lies at the place where passion and purpose collide—this book will help you uncover yours.” —JOHN JANTSCH, bestselling author of Duct Tape Marketing and The Commitment Engine “Think Like Zuck is a must-read for any innovator, social entrepreneur, or business owner looking to capitalize on the success of Facebook to propel and realize their own vision.” —SIMON MAINWARING, New York Times bestselling author of We First “This book takes you on the ride of a lifetime and shows you how YOU can be successful! The question is: What does it take? Ekaterina gives us the answers!” —JEFFREY HAYZLETT, bestselling author of Running the Gauntlet and global business celebrity “In Think Like Zuck, you will find important principles to infuse meaning into your business strategies and inspire change. Don’t just read this book; use it.” —SHAWN ACHOR, author of the international bestseller The Happiness Advantage

This new classic is an examination of how to refigure project management to be more efficient and effective, particularly in terms of leadership. Using a case study approach, the author, Alex Laufer presents a specific set of guidelines on how to improve the team approach to any project, be it a new airline jet or an IT project.

Modern projects are confronted with complexity and ambiguity. To provide a holistic framework, this book presents a new project management model that is used to identify the nature of a project and develop appropriate project solutions. It also allows a circular planning process, leading to coherence across the project’s elements.

This book is about project success and the secret to achieving this success, effective project leadership. Filled with samples, templates, and guidelines, it covers the five principles of effective project leadership: building vision, nurturing collaboration, promoting performance, cultivating learning, and ensuring results. Using nontechnical language, this practical guide explains how to integrate these principles into daily work to help you effectively set up, manage, and align your projects for success.

Zachary Wong offers practical strategies, skills, and tools to help project managers diagnose and solve their toughest people problems. Based on decades in the trenches, the book shows how to confront and correct bad behavior, increase team performance and inclusion, turn around difficult people and poor performers, get people to do what you want them to do, boost employee motivation and attitude, reduce change resistance and risk aversion, and manage difficult bosses. Wong believes that the best team leaders are problem-solvers and facilitators, so this book provides problem-solving models and tools to diagnose people problems, and facilitative methods, processes, and techniques to correct them. It's an approach that can be personalized to fit any person or situation. Each skill is explained with a well-balanced mix of case stories, examples, strategies, processes, tools, and techniques along with illustrations, graphics, tables, and other visuals to clarify key concepts and their workplace application. To reinforce the most important learnings, Wong includes a “Memory Card” and “Skill Summary” at the end of each chapter. Nothing is harder than leading people and managing project teams. Being successful takes a combination of knowing human psychology, organizational behaviors, and human factors; having supervisory, process, and communication skills; ensuring good teamwork, high integrity, and strong leadership; and having the ability to integrate and apply these skills to a diverse work team. The Eight Essential People Skills for Project Management is designed for individuals, team leaders, and managers who oversee and coordinate the daily performance of others and who are seeking solutions that they can apply immediately.

The Wall Street Journal bestseller—a Financial Times Business Book of the Month and named by The Washington Post as “One of the 11 Leadership Books to Read in 2018”—is “a refreshingly data-based, clearheaded guide” (Publishers Weekly) to individual performance, based on a groundbreaking study. Why do some people perform better at work than others? This deceptively simple question continues to confound professionals in all sectors of the workforce. Now, after a unique, five-year study of more than 5,000 managers and employees, Morten Hansen reveals the answers in his “Seven Work Smarter Practices” that can be applied by anyone looking to maximize their time and performance. Each of Hansen’s seven practices is highlighted by inspiring stories from individuals in his comprehensive study. You’ll meet a high school principal who engineered a dramatic turnaround of his failing high school; a rural Indian farmer determined to establish a better way of life for women in his village; and a sushi chef, whose simple preparation has led to his unassuming restaurant being awarded the maximum of three Michelin stars. Hansen also explains how the way Alfred Hitchcock filmed Psycho and the 1911 race to become the first explorer to reach the South Pole both illustrate the use of his seven practices. Each chapter “is intended to inspire people to be better workers…and improve their own work performance” (Booklist) with questions and key insights to allow you to assess your own performance and figure out your work strengths, as well as your weaknesses. Once you understand your individual style, there are mini-quizzes, questionnaires, and clear tips to assist you focus on a strategy to become a more productive worker. Extensive, accessible, and friendly, Great at Work will help us “reengineer our work lives, reduce burnout, and improve performance and job satisfaction” (Psychology Today).

Project management is an essential life and workplace skill that everyone must develop. Following the popular style and format of other textbooks by Stewart Clegg, this brand new co-authored textbook on project management provides a much needed European perspective to the subject. Drawing on the latest research and practice, the authors guide students on an active learning journey through the project lifespan, promoting a critical and reflexive approach to studying project management, as well as one that creates value for all project stakeholders and emphasizes people and not just process. Case studies and examples discussed in the text cover a wide range of projects from large to smaller across different industries and sectors, both public and private, including: megaprojects (HS2); mega events (Olympics); political projects (Brexit); health-related project implementation (LEAN); tech-related projects (Google); building and restoration projects (housing/Sagrada Familia); and arts and cultural projects (European Capital of Culture). Incorporating a host of learning features both in chapters and via the supporting online resources, this textbook is essential reading for all students/managers completing a course unit in project management at either undergraduate or postgraduate level.