What if everything you know about raw talent, hard work, and great performance is wrong?
Very few people are truly great at what they do. But why aren't they? Why don't we manage businesses like Warren Buffett, play golf like Tiger Woods or play the violin like Itzhak Perlman?
Greatness doesn't come from inborn talent but from 'deliberate practice'. This isn't the kind of hard work that your parents told you about, but more of it equals better performance. Talent is Overrated will change the way you think about your life and work - and will inspire you to achieve more in everything you do. Great performance isn't reserved for a preordained few.
International teams are rapidly becoming the central operating mode for global enterprises. They are often agile and perceptive, know local markets better than HQ does, lead innovation and exploratory ventures, and are more culturally aware than their parent company. But how much autonomy should they be allowed? How can we get things done with colleagues who have different worldviews? How can we strike a balance between core values and the necessary diversity - and is diversity within the team a strength or a hindrance? What is the role of the team leader in all of this? How do you establish team trust? How important is team humor? Who decides the team s ethics? What misunderstandings can arise in a virtual team, lacking face-to-face contact? In answering these and other questions, Richard D. Lewis draws on 30 years experience mediating with hundreds of international teams in two dozen countries. Generously illustrated with explanatory diagrams, When Teams Collide analyses profiles of 24 different nationalities and suggests how they should be led for best results. Commenting on vital considerations of leadership, team trust, ethics and humor, the author also evaluates the relationship between teams and HQ. Applying the cultural concepts in the bestselling When Cultures Collide specifically to team leadership, this is a wide-ranging and compelling account of how to handle what is a difficult and sensitive task.
Born out of a decade of discussion and collaboration between The Monk and the Management Consultant - His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Laurens van den Muyzenberg - The Leader's Way represents the synthesis of East and West and provides an inspiring manifesto for business change. The world today faces many challenges. While our total wealth has increased enormously and we benefit from technological miracles, billions of people are living in abject poverty, we face the threat of environmental disaster, and even those in prosperous nations feel insecure about the future. Addressing these problems requires a different kind of leadership which sees things as they really are and resolves them in a holistic way. That is what The Leader's Way offers - a manifesto for change which can have an impact at every level, from the individual to the global.
Global customers, supply chains and more integrated business functions mean that work now cuts across the traditional vertical silos of country and function. But the 'solution' of the matrix structure also brings multiple bosses, competing goals and higher levels of complexity. Traditional management training prioritizes clarity, predictability and control.
In a matrix we need to be able to balance this with the ability to tolerate ambiguity, manage uncertainty and decentralize control. Managers need an expanded toolkit to help them move from the hard to the soft, from the concrete to the ambiguous and back again depending on the situation. Making the Matrix Work introduces some new ideas and practical tools in 3 key areas.
* Leading people beyond clarity to flexibility A matrix trades clarity for flexibility. We need to create enough clarity on goals and roles and to align with others; but we also need to cope with ambiguity, manage complex trade-offs and dilemmas and deal with higher levels of conflict.
* Being connected and effective We set up a matrix to improve cooperation and communication across the silos but be careful what you wish for! It is easy to become over-connected to poor quality meetings, teams and communication. More teamwork, meetings and emails are not the answer.
* Creating control by giving it away. The complexity and diversity of the matrix can undermine trust and lead to an increase in central control and bureaucracy. We need to prevent this by building trust, empowering and creating commitment. Accountability without control and influence without authority are the norm.
Kevan Hall's new book will help you develop your matrix mindset and will show you how to establish and engage networks that do not depend on role, control or authority to get things done. This book gives individuals working in the matrix the tools to take control of their own goals, role and success and shows matrix managers how to lead others to make their matrix really work.
Steve Tappin and Andrew Cave interview more than two hundred of the world's top CEOs to discover what matters to them, how they run their businesses today, and how they expect their leadership to change in the future. Tappin and Cave offer a glimpse into the business worlds and personal lives of some of the most influential people today.
