For too long, professional services firms have relied on the producer-manager” model, which works well in uncomplicated business environments. However, today’s managing directors must balance often conflicting roles, more demanding clients, tougher competitors, and associates with higher expectations of partners at all levels.When Professionals Have to Lead presents an overarching framework better suited to such complexity. It identifies the four critical activities for effective ...

Named one of 100 Leadership & Success Books to Read in a Lifetime by Amazon EditorsThe world’s most trusted guide for leaders in transitionTransitions are a critical time for leaders. In fact, most agree that moving into a new role is the biggest challenge a manager will face. While transitions offer a chance to start fresh and make needed changes in an organization, they also place leaders in a position of acute vulnerability. Missteps mad...

Competitive advantage. The value chain. Five forces. Industry structure. Differentiation. Relative cost. If you want to understand how companies achieve and sustain competitive success, Michael Porter’s frameworks are the foundation. But while everyone in business may know Porter’s name, many managers misunderstand and misuse his concepts.Understanding Michael Porter sets the record straight, providing the first concise, accessible summary of Porter’s revolutionar...

ARE YOUR WORKING RELATIONSHIPS WORKING AGAINST YOU?To achieve your goals and get ahead, you need to rally people behind you and your ideas. But how do you do that when you lack formal authority? Or when you have a boss who gets in your way? Or when you’re juggling others’ needs at the expense of your own?By managing up, down, and across the organization. Your success depends on it, whether you’re a young professional or an experienced leader.

In 1996, John P. Kotter's Leading Change became a runaway best seller, outlining an eight-step program for organizational change that was embraced by executives around the world. Then, Kotter and co-author Dan Cohen's The Heart of Change introduced the revolutionary "see-feel-change" approach, which helped executives understand the crucial role of emotion in successful change efforts. Now, The Heart of Change Field Guide provides leaders and managers tools, frame...

What makes a great leader?It's a question that has been tackled by thousands. In fact, there are literally tens of thousands of leadership studies, theories, frameworks, models, and recommended best practices. But where are the clear, simple answers we need for our daily work lives? Are there any?Dave Ulrich, Norm Smallwood, and Kate Sweetman set out to answer these questions-to crack the code of leadership. Drawing on decades of research experience, the au...

In their first book, Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators, the authors provided a better model for executing disruptive innovation. They laid out a three-part plan for launching high-risk/high-reward innovation efforts: (1) borrow assets from the existing firms, (2) unlearn and unload certain processes and systems that do not serve the new entity, and (3) learn and build all new capabilities and skills.In their study of the Ten Rules in action, Govindarajan and Trimble observed many ...

Successful leaders know that leadership is less often about having all the answers—and more often about asking the right questions. The challenge lies in being able to step back, reflect, and ask the key questions that are critical to your performance and your organization’s effectiveness.In What to Ask the Person in the Mirror, leadership expert Robert Kaplan presents a process for asking the big questions that will enable you to diagnose problems, change course if necess...

A practical guide to being a trusted advisor for leaders in any industryIn this hands-on successor to the popular book The Trusted Advisor, you'll find answers to pervasive questions about trust and leadership—such as how to develop business with trust, nurture trust-based relationships, build and run a trustworthy organization, and develop your trust skill set. This pragmatic workbook delivers everyday tools, exercises, resources, and actionable to-do lis...

If you need the best practices and ideas for achieving career growth and fulfillment--but don't have time to find them--this book is for you. Here are 9 inspiring and useful perspectives, all in one place.This collection of HBR articles will help you:- Break out of a career rut- Earn a spot on your company's high-potential list- Find out what's really holding you back- Get the kind of mentoring that leads to a promotion- Groom yourself for an...

Innovation is a key source of competitive advantage, but it remains frustratingly elusive for many organizations. This book shows you how to close the innovation gap by making individuals and organizations systematically and sustainably innovative. You will learn how to embrace a culture of innovation and make it permeate every level of the organization. You will find a clear road map and practical tools to redefine your workplace's culture, identify and tap into the existing innovative in...

You've just been promoted to a managerial position for the first time -- congratulations! But beware: the managerial role differs markedly from the individual contributor role. Go into the job with mistaken assumptions about what to expect, and you just may be blindsided by surprising realities.This book helps you lay the foundation for succeeding in your new role, explaining how to:· Discard the "doer" role of the individual contributor for the orchestrating role of the ma...