Problems remain hidden in organizations for a number of reasons, including fear, organizational complexity, gatekeepers who insulate leaders from problems that are coming up, and finally, an overemphasis on formal analysis in place of intuition and observation. This book lays out the key skills and capabilities required to ensure that problems do not remain hidden in your organization. It explains how leaders can become effective problem finders, unearthing problems before they destroy an organization. The book explains how leaders can become an anthropologist, going out and observe how employees, customers, and suppliers actually behave. It then goes on to present how they can circumvent the gatekeepers, so they can go directly to the source to see and hear the raw data; hunt for patterns, including refining your individual and collective pattern recognition capability; "connect the dots" among issues that may initially seem unrelated, but in fact, have a great deal in common; give front-line employees training in a communication technique; encourage useful mistakes, including create a "Red Pencil Award"; and watch the game film, where leaders reflect systematically on their own organization's conduct and performance, as well as on the behavior and performance of competitors.
Make better decisions! Michael A. Roberto will help you achieve deeper consensus, get past groupthink and "yes men," and achieve superior results in every decision you make -- especially your most complex and highest-stakes decisions! Roberto's Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer, Second Edition gives you a powerful framework for promoting honest, constructive dissent and skepticism; test your assumptions; more thoroughly and fairly considering "best alternatives"; crisply coming to closure; and aligning your entire organization behind the decision you make. In this new edition, Roberto presents new cases from Google, Ford, and Intuit, and expands coverage to more deeply illuminate his decision-making approach. Offering both positive and negative examples, he presents a well rounded view of how to determine when 'yes' means 'yes', when it doesn't, and what to do when it doesn't. Throughout, Roberto demonstrates why "good process entails the astute management of the social, political and emotional aspects of decision making" -- in other words, why effective leaders are well served by carefully "deciding how to decide." You'll learn how to: Test and probe what your team really believes, and get the truth and candor you really need Encourage constructive objections -- and keep them constructive Improve team management, mitigate risk, identify opportunities, and promote integrity Build stronger commitment amongst the people who'll implement your decisions
Tear down the obstacles to creative innovation in your organization Unlocking Creativity is an exploration of the creative process and how organizations can clear the way for innovation. In many organizations, creative individuals face stubborn resistance to new ideas. Managers and executives oftentimes reject innovation and unconventional approaches due to misplaced allegiance to the status quo. Questioning established practices or challenging prevailing sentiments is frequently met with stiff resistance. In this climate of stifled creativity and inflexible adherence to conventional wisdom, potentially game-changing ideas are dismissed outright. Senior leaders claim to value creativity, yet often lack the knowledge to provide a creative framework. Unlocking Creativity offers effective methods and real-world examples of how the most successful organizations create cultures of innovation and experimentation. Best-selling author and scholar Michael Roberto presents a thorough investigation of organizational obstacles to creative thought. Highly relevant to the growth crises many enterprises face in today’s economic landscape, this book examines how to break barriers to spark creativity and foster new ideas. This insightful and informative work allows business executives, senior managers, and organization leaders to: Recognize the six organizational mindsets that impede creativity and innovation Learn how to tear down the barriers that obstruct the creative process Create an environment that allows talented people to thrive Encourage creative collaboration in teams throughout an organization Leaders do not have to conceive innovative ideas, but rather open the path for curious and creative employees within their organization. Unlocking Creativity: How to Solve Any Problem and Make the Best Decisions aids organizations in removing obstacles to the creative process and helps to form an atmosphere of imagination and innovation.
Harvard Business School's Michael Roberto draws on powerful decision-making case studies from every walk of life, showing how to promote honest, constructive dissent and skepticism; use it to improve decisions; and align organizations behind those decisions. Learn from disasters like the Space Shuttle Columbia and JFK's Bay of Pigs Invasion, from successes like Sid Caesar and Bill Parcells, from George W. Bush's decision-making after 9/11. Roberto complements his compelling case studies with extensive new research on executive decisionmaking. Discover how to test and probe a management team; when 'yes' means 'yes' and when it doesn't; and how to build real consensus that leads to action. Gain important new insights into managing teams, mitigating risk, promoting corporate ethics, and much more.
This is the eBook version of the printed book. This Element is an excerpt from Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer: Managing for Conflict and Consensus (9780131454392) by Michael A. Roberto. Available in print and digital formats. Why “take-charge” leadership requires surprising restraint: how to lead when you don’t, won’t, and can’t know everything. Everywhere we turn, we hear people talking about the need for more leaders and more effective leadership. Our institutions need leaders who can motivate people, manage change, and align disparate groups behind a common goal. Now more than ever, leaders must gather and assimilate divergent perspectives, choose based on incomplete information, test assumptions carefully, reach closure quickly, and build strong buy-in….
This is the eBook version of the printed book. This Element is an excerpt from Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer: Managing for Conflict and Consensus (9780131454392) by Michael A. Roberto. Available in print and digital formats. Why so many organizations fall into the trap of “endless talk and no action”–and how to escape that trap, decide, and move forward! In 1996, two large and well-respected Boston health-care institutions merged, bringing together more than 1,000 highly accomplished physicians. The marriage did not go smoothly. Financial losses escalated rapidly. Several CEOs tried and failed to execute a turnaround. Amid turmoil, Paul Levy took over. As he noted, everyone knew what had to be done, yet substantive organizational changes never materialized. The problem: a curious inability to decide.
This Element is an excerpt from Know What You Don't Know: How Great Leaders Prevent Problems Before They Happen (ISBN: 9780131568150) by Michael A. Roberto. Available in print and digital formats. You can’t solve a problem you don’t know exists! Learn how leaders can uncover problems while they’re still small enough to solve easily! Great leaders do not simply know how to solve problems. They know how to find them. They can detect smoke, rather than simply fighting raging fires. Leaders at all levels need to become more effective problem-finders. To discover the small problems and failures that threaten your organization, do the following....
This Element is an excerpt from Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer: Managing for Conflict and Consensus (ISBN: 9780137000630) by Michael A. Roberto. Available in print and digital formats. Use constructive conflict to drive better decision-making, greater innovation, and real competitive advantage. If an organization is saddled with a culture of polite talk, superficial congeniality, and low psychological safety, how can a leader spark greater candor? What tools can leaders employ to ignite a lively, constructive scuffle? Let’s examine how one chief executive created a decision process that was “confrontational by design.”
This is the eBook version of the printed book. This Element is an excerpt from Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer: Managing for Conflict and Consensus (ISBN: 9780137000630) by Michael A. Roberto. Available in print and digital formats. Promoting constructive dialogue--and keeping it from degenerating into destructive, dysfunctional argument. In many organizations, debates become dysfunctional before the leader recognizes the warning signs. Diagnosing these situations as they unfold represents a critical leadership capability. How does a leader discern whether a passionate debate among his advisers and subordinates stands on the verge of becoming dysfunctional? Imagine two scenarios....
Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer, Second Edition offers a powerful framework every leader can use to promote honest, constructive dissent and skepticism; test their assumptions; more thoroughly consider "best alternatives"; make better choices, and align organizations to act on their decisions. In this new edition, Roberto presents new cases from Google, Ford, Intuit, and others, plus expands coverage to more deeply illuminate his decision-making approach. Offering both positive and negative examples, he presents a well rounded view of how to determine when "yes" means "yes," when it doesn't, and what to do when it doesn't. Roberto explains why "good process entails the astute management of the social, political, and emotional aspects of decision making" -- in other words, why effective leaders are well served by carefully "deciding how to decide." ¿ Know What You Don’t Know: How Great Leaders Prevent Problems Before They Happen lays out the key skills and capabilities required to ensure that problems do not remain hidden in your organization. It explains how leaders can become effective problem finders, unearthing problems before they destroy an organization. The book explains how leaders can become an anthropologist, going out and observing how employees, customers, and suppliers actually behave. It then goes on to present how they can circumvent the gatekeepers, so they can go directly to the source to see and hear the raw data; hunt for patterns, including refining your individual and collective pattern recognition capability; "connect the dots" among issues that may initially seem unrelated, but in fact, have a great deal in common; give front-line employees training in a communication technique; encourage useful mistakes, including creating a "Red Pencil Award"; and watch the game film, where leaders reflect systematically on their own organization's conduct and performance, as well as on the behavior and performance of competitors.
Problems remain hidden in organizations for a number of reasons, including fear, organizational complexity, gatekeepers who insulate leaders from problems that are coming up, and finally, an overemphasis on formal analysis in place of intuition and observation. This book lays out the key skills and capabilities required to ensure that problems do not remain hidden in your organization. It explains how leaders can become effective problem finders, unearthing problems before they destroy an organization. The book explains how leaders can become an anthropologist, going out and observe how employees, customers, and suppliers actually behave. It then goes on to present how they can circumvent the gatekeepers, so they can go directly to the source to see and hear the raw data; hunt for patterns, including refining your individual and collective pattern recognition capability; "connect the dots" among issues that may initially seem unrelated, but in fact, have a great deal in common; give front-line employees training in a communication technique; encourage useful mistakes, including create a "Red Pencil Award"; and watch the game film, where leaders reflect systematically on their own organization's conduct and performance, as well as on the behavior and performance of competitors.
Tear down the obstacles to creative innovation in your organization Unlocking Creativity is an exploration of the creative process and how organizations can clear the way for innovation. In many organizations, creative individuals face stubborn resistance to new ideas. Managers and executives oftentimes reject innovation and unconventional approaches due to misplaced allegiance to the status quo. Questioning established practices or challenging prevailing sentiments is frequently met with stiff resistance. In this climate of stifled creativity and inflexible adherence to conventional wisdom, potentially game-changing ideas are dismissed outright. Senior leaders claim to value creativity, yet often lack the knowledge to provide a creative framework. Unlocking Creativity offers effective methods and real-world examples of how the most successful organizations create cultures of innovation and experimentation. Best-selling author and scholar Michael Roberto presents a thorough investigation of organizational obstacles to creative thought. Highly relevant to the growth crises many enterprises face in today’s economic landscape, this book examines how to break barriers to spark creativity and foster new ideas. This insightful and informative work allows business executives, senior managers, and organization leaders to: Recognize the six organizational mindsets that impede creativity and innovation Learn how to tear down the barriers that obstruct the creative process Create an environment that allows talented people to thrive Encourage creative collaboration in teams throughout an organization Leaders do not have to conceive innovative ideas, but rather open the path for curious and creative employees within their organization. Unlocking Creativity: How to Solve Any Problem and Make the Best Decisions aids organizations in removing obstacles to the creative process and helps to form an atmosphere of imagination and innovation.
This is the eBook version of the printed book. This Element is an excerpt from Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer: Managing for Conflict and Consensus (ISBN: 9780137000630) by Michael A. Roberto. Available in print and digital formats. Promoting constructive dialogue--and keeping it from degenerating into destructive, dysfunctional argument. In many organizations, debates become dysfunctional before the leader recognizes the warning signs. Diagnosing these situations as they unfold represents a critical leadership capability. How does a leader discern whether a passionate debate among his advisers and subordinates stands on the verge of becoming dysfunctional? Imagine two scenarios....
Con destino a la comunicación (Authors: Paul Chandler, Rafael Gómez, Constance Kihyet, Michael Sharron) is an innovative intermediate level (2nd or 3rd year) text and accompanying workbook. Throughout its 15 chapters, students work on the development of their conversation and composition skills in Spanish while exploring interesting themes and intriguing questions. An authentic reading in each chapter also helps students to develop reading skills. An audio component is integrated into both the core textbook and the workbook. This text is a collaboration with McGraw-Hill Higher Education, WGBH, and the Annenberg/CPB Project.
The Wherewithal of Life engages with current developments in the anthropology of ethics and migration studies to explore in empirical depth and detail the life experiences of three young men – a Ugandan migrant in Copenhagen, a Burkina Faso migrant in Amsterdam, and a Mexican migrant in Boston – in ways that significantly broaden our understanding of the existential situations and ethical dilemmas of those migrating from the global south. Michael Jackson offers the first biographically based phenomenological account of migration and mobility, providing new insights into the various motives, tactics, dilemmas, dreams, and disappointments that characterize contemporary migration. It is argued that the quandaries of African or Mexican migrants are not unique to people moving between ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ worlds. While more intensely felt by the young, seeking to find a way out of a world of limited opportunity and circumscribed values, the experiences of transition are familiar to us all, whatever our age, gender, ethnicity or social status – namely, the impossibility of calculating what one may lose in leaving a settled life or home place; what one may gain by risking oneself in an alien environment; the difficulty of striking a balance between personal fulfillment and the moral claims of kinship; and the struggle to know the difference between ‘concrete’ and ‘abstract’ utopias (the first reasonable and worth pursuing; the second hopelessly unattainable).
Michael Reid has written a powerful story for our time. Based on the events of Roberto Ramos’s astonishing life in—and eventual escape from—the island of Cuba, The Painting, is a fictionalized account of Roberto Ramos’s life from 1982 until 1992. Growing up under the Castro regime, Ramos learns over time how Fidel has betrayed the rev- olution. This is the story of Ramos’ outrage at this betrayal, and the extreme price he pays for expressing it. The brashness of his defiance is breathtaking and fuels a plot that grips the read- er in continuous suspense. The tension mounts up until the last page, where the suspense finally yields to human triumph over oppression. There is a crucial artistic element to this story as well. Along the way, and through the moment of his escape to the United States, Ramos is drawn to the works of the great Cuban masters— especially the tradition of pre-revolution Cuban painting—as an outlet for his emotions and his growing frustrations with the Castro government, a system he finds increasingly intolerable as the years pass and his distress grows. In a journey that is terrifying, yet also a triumph of the human spirit, Ramos reveals the power of one individual to fight back against an unjust political system. In doing so, he rescues his own identity, and the artistic heritage that defines him. The story of Roberto Ramos is a compelling personal tale, but the power of this book lies just as much in the telling of it. Reid captures the de- tails of a remarkable odyssey and weaves them into an expansive drama, creating a parable for our times. It’s Reid’s keen awareness of detail that shows us how to honestly value the richness of life, even amidst brutal struggles. The result is a story for every person who treasures freedom...and life itself. Book Review: "The Painting by Michael C. Reid is an exquisite non-fiction work that tells the story of the happenings in communist Cuba in a way that only someone who has experienced it can explain. It is insightful, heart-wrenching, and nothing short of thought-provoking. It follows one man's desperate attempt to break the hold of poverty on him and his family. Readers can see how the government plays a huge role in the poverty of its people. We also see political leaders whose only concern is how quickly they can line their pockets with wealth gotten from the sweat of the citizens. The storyline is particularly touching. I am impressed with the way Michael C. Reid fleshes out each of the characters in the book to the smallest detail. The conversations within the book are precisely in tune with the situation in the global scene of the 1980s. This element gives the narrative another credit for accuracy. The mix of Spanish and English is also unique. It adds spice to the conversations and the story. Also, the conversations and character responses to situations were humorous. For instance, here's Roberto's response when he is told his boat, with all its hidden treasures, will have to be scuttled: "I'm not leaving this boat. You need to tow me in or I will die with my collection." Followers of historical events will find the content of this book quite interesting. Not much is known about life within Cuba except what is gotten from state-sponsored newsreels and the odd story from any émigré who has braved the perils of the journey. Also, the information on the Cuban art scene will appeal to art lovers. There are detailed mentions of several artists whose works are worth making out the time to study. Michael C. Reid pens a masterpiece that earns my respect in terms of the presentation of the storyline. The story flows with a certain style that gets your pulse up every time you turn the pages, and the attention to detail is equally impressive." -- Sam Ibeh/Online Book Club
This is the eBook version of the printed book. This Element is an excerpt from Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer: Managing for Conflict and Consensus (9780131454392) by Michael A. Roberto. Available in print and digital formats. Why “take-charge” leadership requires surprising restraint: how to lead when you don’t, won’t, and can’t know everything. Everywhere we turn, we hear people talking about the need for more leaders and more effective leadership. Our institutions need leaders who can motivate people, manage change, and align disparate groups behind a common goal. Now more than ever, leaders must gather and assimilate divergent perspectives, choose based on incomplete information, test assumptions carefully, reach closure quickly, and build strong buy-in….
Designed to give advanced-intermediate and advanced-level students of Spanish a foundation in business vocabular, basic business and cultural concepts, and situational practice that will help prepare for success in today's Spanish-speaking business world. It is assumed that students have already mastered the fundamentals of Spanish grammar and that they control the general vocabulary needed for basic communication.
A true account of the life of a man who lived part of his life in one of the toughest prisons in the country during a difficult time in our nation's history. The main character, "Eddie" spent time in Attica and other prisons. The miracle is Eddie is now living a very productive life as mighty warrior and advocate for Jesus Christ. Although Eddie spent a lot of time in prison, in his latter years he has spent more time serving God as a champion against violence, illegal drugs, and alcohol. This story explores what prison ministry experience is like for both, the prisoners and the people on the mission team. Many miracles are seen during this weekend. Throughout the book Eddie reveals his story and explains what he experienced before, during, and after his time spent at Attica.
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