The New Manager's Guide and Mentor "The Harvard BusinessEssentials" series is designed to provide comprehensive advice,personal coaching, background information, and guidance on the mostrelevant topics in business. Whether you are a new manager seekingto expand your skills or a seasoned professional looking to broadenyour knowledge base, these solution-oriented books put reliableanswers at your fingertips. Decision making is a critical part ofmanagement, and bad choices can damage careers and the bottom line.This book offers the tools and advice managers need to avoid commonbiases and arrive at and implement decisions that are both soundand ethical.

Get ahead of the competition with some expert planning. As any business manager knows, success doesn't just happen. Ittakes hard work and planning to get the desired results. Strategicplanning is the discipline that helps businesses build on theirpresent success by analyzing all the factors that can impact thefuture and take measures to anticipate them. The Complete Idiot'sGuide(r) to Strategic Planning offers clear and concretediscussions about: ? Defining business goals in mission statements ? Proven methods to gather the information necessary to formulatea strategy ? Anticipating the competition ? Executing a strategic plan

Would your emp;puees-if given the choice-ever want towork for you again？

Companies have long engaged in head-to-head competition insearch of sustained, profitable growth. They have fought forcompetitive advantage, battled over market share, and struggled fordifferentiation. Yet in today’s overcrowded industries, competing head-on resultsin nothing but a bloody “red ocean” of rivals fighting over ashrinking profit pool. In a book that challenges everything youthought you knew about the requirements fro strategic success, W.Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne contend that while most companiescompete within such red oceans, this strategy is increasinglyunlikely to create profitable growth in the future. Based on a study of 150 strategic moves spanning more then ahundred years and thirty industries, Kim and Mauborgne argue thattomorrow’s leading companies will succeed not by battlingcompetitors, but by creating “blue ocean” of uncontested marketspace ripe for growth. Such strategies moves—termed “valueinnovation”-create powerful leaps in value for both th

This title presents a practical approach to fuel game changinggrowth through business model innovation. Transformational newgrowth remains the Holy Grail for many organizations. But a deepunderstanding of how great business models are made can provide thekey to unlocking that growth. This landmark book describes howcompanies can achieve transformational growth in new markets Or,simply put, how they can seize the white space. To step out intothe unknown and seize the white space requires a new language - anda framework with which to understand an existing enterprise and thewhite space it hopes to conquer. This book - from ClayChristensen's firm Innosight - is devoted to making game-changingbusiness model innovation a possibility. Leaving the rhetoric toothers, it provides the building blocks for creating business modelinnovation: first, by showing executives how to discover newbusiness models and then by showing them how to bring theseinnovations to market. With road-tested frameworks, analytics, anddia

“With good judgment, little else matters. Without it, nothingelse matters.” Whether we’re talking about United States presidents, CEOs, MajorLeague coaches, or wartime generals, leaders are remembered fortheir best and worst judgment calls. In the face of ambiguity,uncertainty, and conflicting demands, the quality of a leader’sjudgment determines the fate of the entire organization. That’s whyjudgment is the essence of leadership. Yet despite its importance, judgment has always been a fairlymurky concept. The leadership literature has been conspicuouslyquiet on what, exactly, defines it. Does judgment differ fromcommon sense or gut instinct? Is it a product of luck? Of smarts?Or is there a process for making consistently good calls? Noel Tichy and Warren Bennis have each spent decades studying andteaching leadership and advising top CEOs such as Jack Welch andHoward Schultz. Now, in their first collaboration, they offer apowerful framework for making tough calls when the sta

In 1996, having completed a two-year research study, longtimeEconomist journalists and editors John Micklethwait and AdrianWooldridge published The Witch Doctors, an explosive critique ofmanagement theory and its legions of evangelists and followers. Thebook became a bestseller, widely praised by reviewers and devouredby readers confused by the buzzwords and concepts the management“industry” creates. At the time, ideas about “reengineering,” “thesearch for excellence,” “quality,” and “chaos” both energized andhaunted the world of business, just as “the long tail,” “blackswans,” “the tipping point,” “the war for talent,” and “corporateresponsibility” do today. For decades, since the rise of MBA programs on campuses acrossthe country, the field of management has operated in a dubiousspace. Many of its framers clamor for respect within the academywhile making millions of dollars pedaling ideas, some brilliant andsome nonsensical, in speeches, consulting arrang

take control of their careers ? turn unexpected shakeups andturbulence into positive occasions for growth ? dramaticallyimprove their earning ability ? develop the self-confidence to takethe kind of risks that lead to rapid advancement ? decide on andget the job they really want ? set clear goals for their lives ?write resumes that get results ? determine their own salaryrange

Book De*ion Managing Time delivers proven advice on how to get the right thingsdone - faster, smarter, and more efficiently From setting goals and breaking them down into tasks to creating amanageable schedule and putting it into action, this user-friendlyguide outlines proactive ways to focus on mission-critical tasks,eliminate or delegate non-priority projects, control interruptions,and avoid distractions. It is the essential guide to maximizing every manager's mostvaluable commodity. Key features Instructs readers how to: * Set goals and focus on high-priority tasks * Organize your space and save your time * Use scheduling tools that really work for you * Avoid distractions and control interruptions * Delegate effectively * Get more done in less time About Harvard Business School Press Since 1984, Harvard Business School Press has been dedicated topublishing the most contemporary management thinking, written byauthors and practitioners who are leading the way. Whether readersare seeking big-pict

Now nearing its 60th printing in English and translated into nineteen languages, Michael E. Porter's Competitive Strategy has transformed the theory, practice, and teaching of business strategy throughout the world. Electrifying in its simplicity -- like all great breakthroughs -- Porter's analysis of industries captures the complexity of industry competition in five underlying forces. Porter introduces one of the most powerful competitive tools yet developed: his three generic strategies -- lowest cost, differentiation, and focus -- which bring structure to the task of strategic positioning. He shows how competitive advantage can be defined in terms of relative cost and relative prices, thus linking it directly to profitability, and presents a whole new perspective on how profit is created and divided. In the almost two decades since publication, Porter's framework for predicting competitor behavior has transformed the way in which companies look at their rivals and has given rise to the new discipline of co

What's the quickest way to ruin a friendship? Do greatfriendships have anything in common? Are close friendships in theworkplace such a bad thing?These are just a few of the questionsthat #1 New York Times bestselling author Tom Rath asked when heembarked on a massive study about the impact of friendships. Alongwith several leading researchers, Rath pored through theliterature, conducted several experiments, and analyzed more than 8million interviews from The Gallup Organization's worldwidedatabase.His team's discoveries produced Vital Friends, a book thatchallenges long-held assumptions people have about theirrelationships. And the team's landmark discovery - that people whohave a "best friend at work" are seven times as likely to beengaged in their job - is sure to rattle the structure oforganizations around the world.Drawing on research and case studiesfrom topics as diverse as management, marriage, and architecture,Vital Friends reveals what's common to all truly essentialfriendships: a regular foc

Guidance on how to share information among peers to helpscompanies achieve greater success. Explains the latest managementbuzzwords, offers advice on keeping open communication withcustomers and co-workers, and maintaining a knowledge managementprogram with the future in mind. Softcover.

Manage the risk and maximize the reward! Risk. It's what business is all about. The key to success is toanticipating and managing the risks that can impact business. TheComplete Idiot's Guide(r) to Risk Management provides the keyinformation necessary to manage business risk successfully. ?The basic categories of business risk ?How to indentify the specific factors that affect any particularbusiness ?How to create practical risk models to plan ahead ?How to lessen the impact of risk events should they happen ?How to profit from strategic risk taking

Whether challenged with taking on a startup, turning a business around, or inheriting a high-performing unit, a new leader's success or failure is determined within the first 90 days on the job. In this hands-on guide, Michael Watkins, a noted expert on leadership transitions, offers proven strategies for moving successfully into a new role at any point in one's career. The First 90 Days provides a framework for transition acceleration that will help leaders diagnose their situations, craft winning transition strategies, and take charge quickly. Practical examples illustrate how to learn about new organizations, build teams, create coalitions, secure early wins, and lay the foundation for longer-term success. In addition, Watkins provides strategies for avoiding the most common pitfalls new leaders encounter, and shows how individuals can protect themselves-emotionally as well as professionally-during what is often an intense and vulnerable period. Concise and actionable, this is the surviv

The One–Page Project Manager shows you how to boil down any project into a simple, one–page document that can be used to communicate all essential details to upper management, other departments, suppliers, and audiences. This practical guide will save time and effort, helping you identify the vital parts of a project and communicate those parts and duties to other team members.

Managing your boss: Isn't that merely manipulation? Corporate cozying up? Not according to John Gabarro and John Kotter. In this handy guidebook, the authors contend that you manage your boss for a very good reason: to do your best on the job--and thereby benefit not only yourself but also your supervisor and your entire company. Your boss depends on you for cooperation, reliability, and honesty. And you depend on him or her for links to the rest of the organization, for setting priorities, and for obtaining critical resources. By managing your boss--clarifying your own and your supervisor's strengths, weaknesses, goals, work styles, and needs--you cultivate a relationship based on mutual respect and understanding. The result? A healthy, productive bond that enables you both to excel. Gabarro and Kotter provide valuable guidelines for building this essential relationship--including strategies for determining how your boss prefers to process information and make decisions, tips for communicating mutual expect

This book is important because it is about finding your pathin life. As you know, most people are programmed early in life to"Go to school and get a job."

Innovation may be the hottest discipline around today—inbusiness circles and beyond. And for good reason. Innovationtransforms companies and markets. It’s the key to solving vexingsocial problems. And it makes or breaks professional careers. Forall the enthusiasm the topic inspires, however, the practice ofinnovation remains stubbornly impenetrable. No longer. In The Little Black Book of Innovation, long-timeinnovation expert Scott D. Anthony draws on stories from hisresearch and field work with companies like Procter Gamble todemystify innovation. In his trademark conversational and livelystyle, Anthony presents a simple definition of innovation, breaksdown the essential differences between types of innovation, andilluminates innovation’s vital role in organizational success andpersonal growth. This unique hybrid of professional memoir and business guidebookalso provides a powerful 28-day program for mastering innovation’skey steps: ? Finding insight