Book Summaries

Good leaders know when they need to continuously learn. But great leaders know when to unlearn the past to succeed in the future.

The Expertise Economy shows how the most forward-thinking companies, big and small, are transforming their employees into experts and ultimately creating their biggest competitive advantage

Leadership is a set of abilities and like any other skill set it can be learned and improved. Becoming an exemplary leader isn't easy. It takes self-belief, aspiration, grit, support and deliberate practice. But with solid determination and supportive guidance, everyone can learn to become better leaders than they are today.

The authors present an actionable plan for any company that wants the best from its people and isn’t afraid of radical approaches to achieve it. Six proven principles are offered that can be used to decode work and unlock the potential of employees.

Corporate learning expert Jason Wingard proposes that to keep ahead of the competition, organizations should shift to embracing learning across the ranks and become dynamic learning organizations. With a dedication to learning initiatives, a company will be better equipped to make the decisions that will ensure its future.

Leadership expert Liz Wiseman explains how to reclaim and cultivate the curious, flexible, youthful mindset of a rookie in order to keep up with what’s needed from employees in a rapidly changing world. Rookie smarts is a state of mind available to those willing to unlearn and relearn. Learn the four modes of the rookie mindset that lead to success.

Receiving feedback is essential for healthy relationships and professional development, but we dread it and often dismiss it. Stone and Heen explain why getting feedback is so crucial yet so challenging, and they offer a powerful framework for interpreting comments, evaluations, and unsolicited advice in ways that enable effective learning.

Better by Mistake turns our cultural wisdom on its head to illustrate the downside of striving for perfection and the rewards of acknowledging and accepting mistakes and embracing the imperfection in all of us.

In Leadership and Self-Deception The Arbinger Institute exposes the fascinating ways that we can blind ourselves to our true motivations and unwittingly sabotage the effectiveness of our own efforts to achieve success and increase happiness.