Berrett-Koehler Business Titles

The Discomfort Zone How Leaders Turn Difficult Conversations into Breakthroughs

By Marcia Reynolds

- Explains how leaders have to shift attitudes, resolve issues, and strengthen the leadership bench—but conversations meant to help people improve are often awkward and trying with slow or no results

- Shows leaders how to open peoples’ eyes to their blinds spots—they see for themselves what they must do to achieve better results

- Describes how to pick the right time and place to enter the discomfort zone and how to create a “safety bubble” so that people will trust your intentions

The Blind Man and The Elephant Mastering Project Work

By David A. Schmaltz

- Presents a set of simple, proven techniques that all can use to increase their projects' coherence and overcome common project difficulties

- Exposes difficulties as poor planning, weak leadership, and fickle customers as poor excuses for project failure

- Shows just how much influence is completely within each individual's control

- Explains how "wickedness" develops when a team over-relies on their leader for guidance rather than tapping their true source of power and authority-the individual

Humble Inquiry The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling

By Edgar H. Schein

- Extremely helpful to anyone who deals with people of different statuses, cultures, ages, and occupations, particularly leaders

- Explains how telling makes people feel inferior and reduces communication and organizational effectiveness suffers

- Shows how to build trust, encourage the free flow of information, and create positive relationships and healthy organizations

- Written by one of the giants in organizational psychology, organization development, career development, and organizational culture

What Your Boss Really Wants From You 15 Insights to Improve Your Relationship

By Steve Arneson

- Offers a concise, practical guide to improving your most important work relationship

- Uses fifteen straightforward questions to help you uncover what drives your boss and use what you’ve learned to take charge of the relationship

- Features real-world examples of people who have used these techniques to improve their relationship with even the most difficult bosses

- Helps you figure out your boss’s leadership style, goals, work relationships, and other factors that drive his or her behavior

Let's Stop Meeting Like This Tools to Save Time and Get More Done

By Dick and Emily Axelrod

- Shows how meetings can become energizing, enjoyable places where concrete plans are made, tasks are accomplished, connections are strengthened, and projects move forward

- Offers a flexible, repeatable process that has already been used to run thousands of productive meetings in all kinds of organizations

- Presents how to design every aspect of a meeting—from the way you greet people at the beginning to how you sum up at the end—so that the experience will be energizing, rather than exhausting

The Female Vision Women's Real Power at Work

By Sally Helgesen, Julie Johnson

- Demonstrates why the female vision constitutes women’s most powerful asset in the workplace and shows how women and organizations can use it as a strong advantage

- Provides a fresh and actionable perspective for organizations seeking to leverage women’s best talents

- Describes the three elements of the female vision and explores the specific benefits that each provides

Networking for People Who Hate Networking A Field Guide for Introverts, the Overwhelmed, and the Underconnected

By Devora Zack

- Written by an avowed introvert and successful consultant who speaks to thousands of people every year

- Explains how the very traits that ordinarily make people networking-averse can be harnessed to forge an approach that is just as effective as more traditional approaches, if not better

- Includes field-tested tips and techniques for virtually any situation

Leadership and Self-Deception Getting Out of the Box

By Arbinger Institute

- Reveals how we unwittingly sabotage relationships, at work and at home, despite our best intentions—and how we can stop

- Discover how to consistently tap into and act on our innate sense of what’s right, dramatically improving all of our relationships

- Exposes the subtle psychological processes that conceal our true motivations and intentions from us and trap us in a “box” of endless self-justification