In this interview,  Allan Cox challenges us to understand the fundamental forces underlying our behavior. These are forces that lead to either success or failure. Since these forces are fundamental, they don’t apply just to business, but to all relationships. Your Inner CEO isn’t a book that you simply read, it’s one you live. Living it will not only maximize your potential for success, it will provide a better life for all those who surround you.” Dr. Robert Genetski, Economist and Publisher, Classical Principles

If you are a board member or report to a board, you need to listen to this interview.  “Allan Cox gets it right on all accounts and gives great advice on how to make potentially difficult relationships both collaborative and productive.” Howard Behar, Board of Directors of Starbucks, Gap, Anna’s Linens

“Allan Cox knows and shows what it takes to become a superior CEO.” William A. Roper, Jr., President & CEO, Verisign Inc.

“Allan Cox helps nurture people and corporations the way perceptive executives treat a great brand.” Wally Olins, Co-Founder & Chairman of London-based Saffron Brand Consultants; author of On Brand

 

 Allan Cox Interview [23:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This groundbreaking volume provides the first sweeping view of followers in relation to their leaders, deliberately departing from the leader-centric approach that dominates our thinking about leadership and management. Barbara Kellerman argues that, over time, followers have played increasingly vital roles. For two key reasons, this trend is now accelerating. Followers are becoming more important, and leaders less. Through gripping stories about a range of people and places–from multinational corporations such as Merck, to Nazi Germany, to the American military after 9/11–Kellerman makes key distinctions among five different types of followers: Isolates, Bystanders, Participants, Activists, and Diehards. And she explains how they relate not only to their leaders but also to each other. Thanks to “Followership,” we can finally appreciate the ways in which those with relatively fewer sources of power, authority, and influence are consequential. Moreover, they are getting bolder and more strategic. As Kellerman makes crystal clear, to fixate on leaders at the expense of followers is to do so at our peril. The latter are every bit as important as the former, which makes this book required reading for superiors and subordinates alike.

 

 Barbara Kellerman Interview [25:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Why do businesses consistently fail to execute their competitive strategies? Because leaders don’t identify and invest in the full range of projects and programs required to align the organization with its strategy. Moreover, even when strategy makers do break their plans down into doable chunks, they seldom work with project leaders to prioritize strategic investments and assure that needed resources are applied in priority order. And they often neglect to revise the strategic portfolio to fit the demands of a dynamic environment, or to stay connected to strategic projects through completion as new products, services, skills, and capabilities are transferred into operations. In “Executing Your Strategy,” Mark Morgan, Raymond Levitt, and William Malek present six imperatives that enable you to do the right strategic projects–and do those projects right. And it is no accident that the six imperatives combine to create the acronym INVEST: Ideation–Clarify and communicate Purpose, Identity, and Long Range Intention; Nature–Develop alignment between Strategy, Structure, and Culture based on Ideation; Vision–Create clear Goals and Metrics aligned to Strategy and guided by Ideation; Engagement–Do the right projects based on the Strategy through Portfolio management; Synthesis–Do Projects and Programs right, in alignment with Portfolio; Transition–Move the Project and Program outputs into Operations where benefit is realized. Full of intriguing company examples and practical advice, this crucial new resource shows you how to make strategy happen in your organization.

 

 Mark Morgan Interview: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

America’s most sought-after executive coach shows how to climb the last few rungs of the ladder…

The corporate world is filled with executives, men and women who have worked hard for years to reach the upper levels of management. They’re intelligent, skilled, and even charismatic. But only a handful of them will ever reach the pinnacle — and as executive coach Marshall Goldsmith shows in this book, subtle nuances make all the difference. These are small “transactional flaws” performed by one person against another (as simple as not saying thank you enough), which lead to negative perceptions that can hold any executive back. Using Goldsmith’s straightforward, jargon-free advice, it’s amazingly easy behavior to change.

Executives who hire Goldsmith for one-on-one coaching pay $250,000 for the privilege. With this book, his help is available for 1/10,000th of the price.

 

 Marshall Goldsmith Interview [23:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’ve never met a CEO who was really happy with the way business development was working. They all end up saying the same thing. “Traditional solutions fail to produce expected results while regularly generating unexpected costs. There needs to be a better way.”

Amazing Pace shows you how to turbo-charge business development. Over decades of experience as a CEO, board member and senior advisor, I have developed a unique approach to turbo-charging business development. It involves: 1) a board of advisors, which is populated by very senior people who are dedicated to driving the top line; 2) a different approach to resourcing and organizing a company’s senior management team; and 3) an approach that focuses on building revenue in large chunks.

This book will show you how it’s done. It will also help you avoid the pitfalls and leverage the strengths of your company. Read on—this really works!

 

 Earl Smith Interview [20:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

100 Ways to Motivate Others is the culmination of many years of successful
leadership coaching and training by best-selling author Steve Chandler and
attorney Scott Richardson, and the natural follow-up to Steve’s two previous
best-sellers—100 Ways to Motivate Yourself and Reinventing Yourself.
Chandler and Richardson have crafted a vital, user-friendly, inspirational
guide for executives, managers, and professionals… and those aspiring to
reach their level.

100 Ways to Motivate Others draws on the success of live workshops,
seminars, and personal coaching programs on communications and
leadership. These seminars, done for such organizations as Banner Health,
General Dynamics, Scripps Hospital, Wells Fargo Banks, Bristol-Myers
Squibb, and M&I Banks, appeal to managers, teachers, parents, CEOs, and
coaches everywhere.

The first step in motivating others is for you, if you’re the leader wanting the
motivation, to realize that “if there’s a problem, I’m the problem.” Once you
truly get that, then you can use these 100 ways. After you’ve learned to
motivate yourself, Steve and Scott will help you learn:

• How to slow down and enjoy a new level of focus
• Why multitasking is a myth, not a strength, and keeping life simple and
straightforward is the goal
• The power of building on your peoples’ strengths
• How to avoid the damaging inclination to obsess about people’s
weaknesses
• A simple and creative way to hold people accountable
• How to enjoy cultivating the art of supportive confrontation.

This book inspires extremely tough-minded leadership that gives the gift of
clarity and vision to every person following the leader.

100 Ways to Motivate Others rides on the crest of the international success
of Steve Chandler’s 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself. Chandler has written
eight books and has been translated into seven languages, including
best-sellers in China and Japan. He graduated from the University of Arizona
with a degree in Creative Writing and Political Science, and spent four years
in the US Army in Psychological Warfare. He and Scott Richardson live in
Phoenix, Ariz., and provide leadership coaching and training throughout the
world.

Click here to receive a free copy of Steve Chandler’s e-book, POWERFUL GRACEFUL SUCCESS - The Secret Key to Mastering Time, Love, and Money:

 

 Steve Chandler Interview [21:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Sooner or later, we are all called to lead in some capacity. Leadership skills are vital in corporate settings, small businesses, church or community organizations, and even within the home. Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward have recognized this need and have jointly created an in-depth, step-by-step guide for developing leadership skills.

Utilizing an abundance of historical examples, the authors have developed a unique 5-step plan that charts a course for creating and maintaining strong leadership in any organization. The plan guides the reader through the “Five Levels of Influence”:

• Learning: a leader must be able to learn from anyone
• Performing: perservere through failure to find success
• Leading: extend your ability by expanding your team
• Developing Leaders: learn to trust your people
• Develop Leaders who Develop Leaders: create a legacy

This book is full of prescriptive advice, quotes and anecdotes that illustrate their principles.

 

 Chris Brady Interview [19:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Jack Stahl became a top executive of two world-famous corporations before the age of 50. Now, Stahl offers the down-to-earth approach to business leadership that fueled his meteoric rise through the corporate ranks. His practical solutions empower leaders to manage the critical issues they encounter every day and develop skills for a business lifetime.

Stahl organizes his leadership guidelines into seven categories, what he calls his “Frameworks for Success”: Leadership and Management, Creating a High-Capability Organization, Developing People, Brand Positioning with Consumers, Customer Relationship Management, Financial Strategy, and Influencing People.

Written in Stahl’s accessible and conversational style, Lessons on Leadership speaks directly to the heart of business leaders bent on improvement and to the mind of the practical executive on the lookout for powerful perspectives.

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In Make the Right Choice, Joel shares his experience and insight on creativity, communication, teamwork, passion, and fun. With wit, a sharp observational eye, and playful irreverence he discusses the choices we all encounter in our careers. We each have the ability to take initiative and make the right choice to live a more creative, passionate, effective, and productive life.

How do you Make the Right Choice? You must take ownership of your work environment and create a foundation of opportunity and positive support. You can choose to be patient, supportive, and more flexible to change. You can choose to have fun in the workplace and still be productive. Joel teaches us just how easy it is to make these choices.

Joel makes readers laugh so hard that they forget about the corporate nonsense of conference calls, “strategic deliverables,” PowerPoint presentations with upside-down triangles, or “paradigm shifts in a cross-functional organization.” Make the Right Choice is conversational, funny, and very informative. Yes, Joel will make you laugh, but he’ll also make you think. This book delivers a combination of inspiration, essential business knowledge, and significant ideas to help readers reconnect with their own passion, creativity, and success. Now, you are invited to Make the Right Choice.

Learn more about Joel’s book at www.maketherightchoicethebook.com.
Learn more about Joel’s presentations at www.joelzeff.com .

 

 Joel Zeff Interview [32:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The vast majority of small businesses stay small—and not by choice. Only the most savvy and persistent—a tiny one tenth of one percent—break through to annual sales above $250 million. In The Breakthrough Company, Keith McFarland pinpoints how everyday companies become extraordinary, showing that luck is a negligible factor. Rather, breakthrough success turns out to be associated with a clearly identifiable set of strategies and skills that anyone in any business can emulate—from small startup to industry leader.

Encouraged by experts such as business legend Peter Drucker and Good to Great author Jim Collins to identify the drivers that enable a company to push past the entrepreneurial phase, McFarland spent five years building and analyzing the world’s largest growth-company performance database and interviewing more than 1,500 growth-company executives on four continents. His goal was simple: to identify the secrets of breakthrough.

The Breakthrough Company is the result. Winnowing a study pool of more than 7,000 companies down to nine that have made the transition to major-player status, McFarland highlights real-world tools and myth-busting insights that can be used by anyone wanting his or her business to join this exclusive circle. Among the book’s takeaways:

• Common wisdom holds that the founders and core entrepreneurial leaders of a company must step aside for the business to reach the next level. Not true—as long as founders “crown the company” instead of themselves.

• It’s not reckless to make ever-escalating bets on your company’s future, even going nose to nose with competitors many times your size. In fact, it turns out that the only safety comes in constantly upping the ante in exactly this way.

• A Business Bermuda Triangle does exist, gobbling up companies on the verge of breakthrough. Presented are three ways to navigate this potentially deadly hazard successfully.

• However good you are—or think you are—you can’t do it alone. Learn how to surround your company with networks of outside resources, aka “scaffolding,” and how to enlist the aid of “insultants”—people who are willing to question a firm’s existing assumptions and ways of doing business.

With powerful and specific action steps concluding each chapter—and invaluable advice on virtually every page from business leaders who’ve taken their companies to extraordinary levels of growth and profitability—The Breakthrough Company is one of the most provocative, inspiring, and instructive business books you’ll ever read.

 

 Keith McFarland Interview [23:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download