Google Ad #1 - desktop - 728x90

Google Ad #3 - desktop - 728x90

Google Ad #1 - mobile - 300x200

Google Ad #3 - mobile - 300x200

ATD_Half_Page

Googel Ad #1 - Side Bar - Content pages

ATD Footer Logo

Mike Stadter

Discusses the change seminar as a participative process for directing an organization's future which includes employees at all levels and deals with both emotional and organizational changes. Need for employees to involve themselves in the change effort; Organization development change process.

The Change Seminar

More than 250 million people attend conferences annually in the US alone, according to the Global Conference Alliance. Industry events are powerful opportunities to build new relationships, learn from industry experts, and elevate your professional presence.Even if you’re a seasoned conference attendee, this three-step guide will help you show up with intention, connect with confidence, and follow up with purpose. Let’s get you ready for conference season!1. PrepareA strong start begins before you arrive. Approaching the days and weeks before the event with intention can turn a routine experience into a career-defining one. How can you prepare? Set goals. Ask yourself, "What do I want to walk away with?” Maybe it’s new industry contacts, potential sales leads, or innovative ideas. Write down a few goals to guide how you spend your time.Do your research. Research the speakers, sessions, and even the attendee list if available. Identify people or companies to connect with, and follow them on LinkedIn before the conference. A conversation starter like “I’ve been following your work and…” sets you apart. Polish your introduction. Your introduction doesn’t have to be scripted, but it should be concise and delivered with confidence. In 30 seconds, you should be able to share who you are and what you do. With any extra time, get creative with what else you decide to include. If you need some ideas, here are a few to consider:What excites you about your work?Your goal or focus for the eventA current priority in your roleEnsure that your LinkedIn profile and any other professional platforms you share are up to date and reflect your current role and interests.2. EngageWhen the conference starts, you’ll be surrounded by activity and information. The goal is to stay intentional, not just busy.Schedule intentionally. Don’t overload your schedule trying to be everywhere at once. Prioritize sessions that align with your goals, and leave room for spontaneous conversations—some of the most valuable moments happen in the hallways, at lunch, or between sessions. Start conversations with impact. Thoughtful questions spark better conversations than a resume rundown. While it’s easy to fall back on “What do you do?”, it’s not always the most engaging conversation starter. Instead, try asking:“What’s been the highlight of your work lately?”“Which session are you looking forward to the most?”“How did you get into this line of work?”Write it down. Many conferences offer handouts and speaker notes, but don’t underestimate the value of taking your own. You probably won’t revisit every deck, so get in the habit of jotting down highlights—key takeaways, ideas for your team, names of people you met, and standout conversations—to make the most of your learning.3. Follow UpThe conference may end, but your impact doesn’t. The post-conference period is when the seeds you planted start to grow.Reach out soon. You’ll meet a lot of people, and so will everyone else. Follow up within 48 to 72 hours while the conversations are still fresh. Send a short, personalized message that reminds them who you are, references your chat, and suggests how you’d like to stay connected.Add value. When you follow up, add a personal touch. Send an article, book, or event recommendation related to your conversation (this is where your notes will come in handy). Small gestures like this show that you were engaged and worth staying connected with.Reflect. Before diving back into work, ask yourself:What did I learn?Who or what stood out?What will I do differently next time?Capture your thoughts to retain the value of this conference and show up even better for the next one!Showing Up Is Just the Start Conferences are what you make them. With the right mindset and a little intention, you can walk away with more than a name tag and swag bag, like valuable takeaways and meaningful connections!For additional preparation before your next event, check out our curated learning path designed to get you conference-ready.

Your 3-Step Guide to Owning Conference Season: Prepare, Engage, and Follow Up

1. Make a list of the top skills or qualifications from the job description.When you’re preparing for your interview, start by looking at the job description. The job description should give you a sense of what’s most important to the hiring manager and company—that is, what interviewers are most likely to ask you about or look for in your answers. Prepare to highlight your most relevant qualities and qualifications. This might include skills or experiences, but it could also be why you want to work for the company or how you represent their values.For example, if the company is looking for a self-starter, you might want to be ready to talk about a time when you took initiative at a past job. Or if the job description mentions data-driven decision making, using data and data analysis, come prepared to speak about how you’ve analyzed data in the past and what results you achieved. Jot down some specific numbers so you’re ready to give the interviewer a full picture of something you’re likely to be asked about.2. Prepare answers to sample behavioral interview questions using the STAR format.After reviewing the job description, brainstorm possible behavioral questions. Then, practice structuring your answers in the STAR format. STAR is an acronym that stands for Situation/Task, Action, Result. The behavioral examples you provide in an interview should have all three elements.Here’s an example of a STAR format response:“I was part of a team working on a complex project. When the project fell behind schedule, everyone started blaming someone else. (Situation/Task)I called a meeting, and by focusing on the facts, I persuaded the team that we needed to stop attacking one another and address the issues that were stalling the project. (Action)When we focused on those issues, we came up with a plan that rescued the project, and we completed it on time.” (Result)Also, remember that a behavioral example in the STAR format should be no more than two to three minutes long (depending on the question). You’ll also want to deliver your example with energy and enthusiasm.3. Practice aloud.To make sure you are fully prepared for behavioral questions, practice your answers in the STAR format out loud. This exercise gives you a chance to time the length of each answer so that it’s not too long or rambling. Practicing out loud also helps you to memorize the example so you can recall all the details during the interview.In addition, memorizing examples should help calm your interview nerves and avoid conversational fillers like “umm” and “err.” If possible, have someone ask the behavioral questions and listen to your responses to check for clarity and ensure you cover each component of the STAR format in your examples.A Few More Behavioral-Based Interview TipsPrepare questions you want to ask the interviewer ahead of time. Sometimes it can be hard to think of questions as soon as the interviewer asks, “What questions do you have for me?” Be sure to prepare in advance a list of questions you might want to ask the interviewer.Also, research your interviewer. If you know the name of the interviewer, look them up on LinkedIn. You might find that you have something in common with them. Maybe you’re from the same hometown, went to the same college, or belong to the same professional association. Bringing this up during the interview can help you establish a connection and show that you are well prepared.For more behavioral interviewing tips, including common questions, read DDI’s blog.

3 Behavioral Interviewing Tips

January 2022 - The Buzz

Companies across all sectors are feeling the pressure caused by a mass exodus. Employees are leaving in droves, and leaders who haven’t yet had high-level employees leave are bracing for the inevitable. But is turnover a foregone conclusion? There are many ways smart organizations are retaining their top talent even through the upheaval of the Great Resignation. For starters, it’s important that all employees feel valued. Salaries are not the main reason people leave their jobs; they leave because they aren’t respected and listened to. Make sure communication is open and horizontal. It’s also important to pay attention to struggling employees and make sure their skills match up with their tasks. Rather than have them quit, ensure they are on the right team doing the right kind of work. Recognition is also crucial in retaining talent. This can be as formal or as informal as you choose; the point is that culture is built around recognizing employees for their great work.

Retaining Talent Through the Great Resignation

Building an inclusive culture is both a mission-focused and business imperative for companies across the globe. Thousands of organizations have made the public CEO pledge as part of PriceWaterhouseCooper’s Chairman Tim Ryan’s CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion. The words are powerful, the intent is sincere, yet there is a tremendous amount of challenging work ahead for the newly minted chief diversity officer or the head of HR who is working to fulfill a dual role.What makes a workplace culture feel inclusive? A straightforward answer is that every person within the organization needs to feel they are treated respectfully and sense they are valued for the skills and lived experience they bring. What makes a culture truly inclusive? When its people feel that inclusion and decisions are made without bias and in the spirit of belonging and diversity.Diversity and inclusion programs can help, but mostly it comes down to what leaders say and do daily. In a knowledge economy, this is important because the more that people feel included, the more they share their ideas, go above and beyond, and collaborate with their colleagues, which drive company success.Leaders do not wake up each morning with ill intent or actively serve as bad actors. So why isn’t inclusive leadership an automatic trait? Here are some reasons:Advantage BlindnessAdvantage blindness is the lack of conscious awareness that one holds advantages in life that are different from those who have different identities. Just because someone doesn’t perceive those advantages doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I recently delivered a keynote address, along with the chief technology officer (CTO) of a Fortune 500 company, on the topic of allyship. The CTO, with good intent, shared that because of the pandemic, he learned that everyone mostly had the same lived experience. He was trying to relate to his people who, like him, were shut in their homes while working, but the backlash was swift in the chatbox. His people shared many challenges that they were facing in 2020 that were quite different than this senior-level executive.How to Help: Seek out a C-suite colleague or operations leader to serve as an ambassador for inclusive leadership across your organization. Invest in multiple conversations with this individual to discuss the impact of advantage blindness and enlist their partnership in holding discussions and learning events with senior-level leaders to help eliminate blind spots on DEI topics.Fear of LossWhen leaders, particularly at the midlevel, first learn about their company’s desire to achieve racial and gender parity at all levels within an organization, many will revert to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs when reacting. The need for safety may be an urgent priority in their minds, and an immediate concern will be, “How does this impact my role and my future at this organization?” Some of these leaders may also worry about losing their membership in their in-group networks if they champion equality for out-group teammates or associates.How to Help: Frame achieving diversity, equity, and inclusion as an essential part of the organization’s strategy. Position it as the competitive advantage it is for the future of your company. According to a new study from the Manifest, about 70 percent of job seekers want to work for a company that demonstrates a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Help leaders understand how they can be a part of the positive changes. Give them a role in broadening the recruiting efforts, enlist their help in delivering a more inclusive onboarding experience, or serving as a sponsor to existing talent.In Need of DirectionYour leaders have listened as you, and your executive leadership have shared the heartfelt commitment to make real changes in the realm of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Many leaders are ready to be a part of the positive momentum you are building. The challenge lies in the fact that they need more direction on how to help. Telling leaders to have conversations about diversity and inclusion is vague and does not provide the structure or support they need to get started. Many leaders may be concerned that they are underqualified to be effective in this role.How to Help: Offer learning opportunities for leaders and provide specific conversation starters to ease those first conversations. Remind leaders that they do not need to be experts in systemic racism or the history of homophobia to share their intent to create a more inclusive team. Offer practical tips to help them build psychological safety on teams and share how to hold meetings that signal inclusion.Empowering and supporting your leaders at all levels with the “why” and “how” of inclusion will help you make 2021 a year of action for your diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. To dive deeper into the subject, check out this e-book Building Inclusive People Leaders: A Guide for Organizations Ready to Take Action.

Three Reasons Leaders Are Not More Inclusive and How to Help

Here’s something that might surprise you: A recent survey of more than 400,000 employees found that the most effective way to increase productivity is to make sure promotions are handled fairly.Here’s something that won’t surprise you: Employees don’t like being passed up for a promotion they believe they deserve. It doesn’t just create resentment, it can create outright anger. That’s why the same survey discovered that when employees believe promotions are managed effectively, they’re not only twice as likely to work harder, but also to plan on a long-term future with their company.Promoting the right person is especially crucial when it comes to management positions, but it can be difficult to discern who that is if your candidates haven’t managed a team before. Here are some tips to ensure you’re assessing leadership skills thoroughly and preparing your new managers for success.Identify Talent and Develop ItIn Dale Carnegie’s best-selling book, How To Win Friends and Influence People, Mr. Carnegie talks about managers at engineering firms. He points out that in these firms, it’s not always the most talented engineer who is put into leadership roles, but rather the engineer with the best people skills.When you make a hire for an entry-level position, chances are you’re not interviewing C-level candidates. That said, you are (hopefully) interviewing motivated, big-thinking employees who one day may be asked to tackle big challenges at your organization. You owe it not only to your entry-level employees, but also to your organization to identify talent and develop leadership.Like Dale Carnegie points out, developing technical skills as well as soft skills is a great way to give employees the tools they need to advance their careers. Providing self-directed microlearning opportunities is a practical way to create a leadership development course where talented and driven employees are given the necessary tools to succeed. In this way, employees are ready to take on promotions, and trust that you're promoting the best employees.Promote DoersWhen employees can participate in elective learning, employee engagement soars. Elective learners are self-starters who seek information about doing better in their jobs. These types of employees drive results and productivity, and the responsible thing for organizations to do is to help these employees by giving them opportunities to lead. Promoting doers shows employees that you value productivity.Promoting only long-tenured employees shows people that they’ll have to wait 10 years to get anywhere in your organization, while promoting friends or family who are low-performers shows employees that productivity doesn’t matter. Promoting employees who live your values shows employees that you're serious about those values and that they really do matter.Develop New ManagersDeveloping your employees' soft skills is a great way to allow the best thinkers to rise to the top.That said, managing people is a skill on its own. Like other skills, management can be learned, but it takes a focused strategy to get your new management hires to full productivity. Teaching management skills with a focused development path empowers managers to earn respect and lead well. That way, when team members see how quickly their new manager can perform their duties, it reinforces their belief that you're handling promotions responsibly.When the data shows that employees want to be challenged, they want to learn, and they want to advance, training offers the tools they need to stay engaged and maintain their belief that they have a future in your organization.

Why New Manager Promotions Set the Stage for Productivity

In my younger days, on a marketability Likert scale (10 being “Makes the Cut” to “We’re Looking in a Different Direction”), I was a solid 8. But the “different direction” response, which I have heard more than once, really rankles my constitution. Now that I have hobbled into my 60s (and apparently descending to a solid 1 on the Likert scale), I endeavored to find incontrovertible evidence to test a hypothesis: age discrimination is alive and well, regardless of EEOC guidelines and much hype from employers. This hypothesis arose from a calculation of an informal personal value ratio: marketability = number of applications per year (countless): invitations to interview (count on one hand): offers (zero).Research limitations disclaimer**:** Any self-respecting researcher is obligated to fully disclose biases, so these factors are fairly relevant:I have earned four degrees.I have moved around quite a bit, in and out of management and job security.I tend to chase challenge, change, and growth.I side with Kris Dunn’s “Fistful of Talent” commentary: Those of us older workers who are more and more frequently ascribed to Tolstoy’s dustbin of history require “minimal ramp up time” and add value by being able to do “more than is expected.”My 40 years of avocational, foundational, and professional experience has included successes, failures, mistakes and plenty of lessons learned, and have produced ample prerequisite skills to remain a viable and valuable human resource. I would gladly return to some of those jobs (hardware store utility player); others not so much (4 a.m. newspaper truck driver). But I am not dead yet and have more to offer.Leadership and Training That Disables Cultural StereotypesHundreds of qualitative, incidental indicators and commentary support the hypothesis that age discrimination is alive and well. These qualitative artifacts immediately drew my attention:Images (on employers’ career pages). Consider the very first of many career pages that I explored for a company that shall remain nameless. In the photo above the subtitle “Growing into Management,” one finds an image of a graying, white male; above “People,” there are bean bag chairs, and no one who appears to be over 30 years of age sitting in them. Examining scores of other businesses’ career webpages, the implied pattern appears to be, “Hey older men and women, take a gander, and self-select out. We seek youthful exuberance.Try browsing for “classroom training” images. Here’s what I mostly found: white males in ties speaking to a mostly white audience. Some exceptions: young white females speaking to mostly white audiences. A few contain more representational populations, yet again, either a younger white male or white female are the instructors. These are interspersed with older manager white guys amiably and supportively lurching over the younger staff, everyone smiling about a work-a-day solution. I did hit on one image where the camera captures a classroom of learners. A young black female sits front and center, eagerly hand up, surrounded by all sorts of “people,” and one lone gray haired white male sitting in the back of the class. He was slightly out of focus. I selected that one for the background in one of the frames of a recent training module. What all of these images have in common, however, is absence of older folks, which implies that older folks either aren’t part of the team, won’t, can’t, or do not want to learn. Aside from being far from Romantic, I don’t think this is what Keats meant by negative capability.A job search for “seniors/older workers” yields next to nothing (well, actually lots of part-time jobs). Even the AARP job search site produces approximately the same results as Indeed or any other job search engine. And clicking on “Jobs for Older Workers” web ads, defaults the user to general search engines (whatever happened to truth in advertising?). Urgent openings: Uber, Lyft, House Sitter, Grocery Store Sales Demonstrators, and Franchise Opportunities: Be your Own Boss.Ideal Versus OlderI have read how much critical thinking and analytical skills are needed in the 21st century workplace. My skills in this arena are very fine tuned. Moreover, I am a lifelong learner. (In fact, when I’m dead, I’d like my ashes ground into pulp, made into paper, and placed in a book). While I may need to be trained up a bit (who doesn’t in one form or another), I am also very adaptable, flexible, have a great sense of humor (as in self-effacing if sometimes morose), and a whole bunch of other leader and follower traits that would make the ambitious blush. Yet the longer I have searched for jobs, the more I have decidedly felt, the shingle handing above the door reads, “Older Workers Need Not Apply.” Nor does the phrase, “70 is the new 65!” instill great confidence since, economically, 65 was the old 62.To the why of new versus old. Do we prefer the facsimile (obsolescence intended) to the archetype? If we’re not shunning competence and originality, why is age a disqualifier? Older workers have too many health problems? Accommodations of all sorts are made for all ages of workers, to which we should conclude health is a moot point, not a disqualifier. Some elders, much to the displeasure of youngsters, are genetically disposed to an old age. (Ironically, youngsters are not genetically disposed to young age, unless you find yourself on Keatsian Grecian Urn).Age aside, “suited” and “ill-suited” permeates every age. Did you know that the average age of Nobel Prize winners is 59, and the most frequent age bracket is 60-64? One might be thinking, but that’s not when they actually conducted the research; that answer is 41, However, while there’s certainly an opportunity for debate about the mental health of older presidents of the United States, in the past 30 years, the average age of biomedical researchers has steadily increased. The average age of an investigator at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) rose from 39 to 51. Or, speaking of context, should we consider the implications of reverse discrimination, when exploring the average ages of CEOS?Of course, a misplaced response to this article is to use it as a tactical guide to be less obvious in discriminating against others. The search results for “valuing/devaluing” older workers, only confirmed the “Past Their Prime” stereotype. Here’s a brief sample of actual articles (followed by my immediate reaction to the article title or information):“The Ideal Worker vs. the Older Worker” (OMG, someone should have massaged that headline; does the article actually convey what the title suggests?).“11 Ways for Older Employees to Stay Relevant at Work” (Still waiting for the companion piece, “11 Ways Workplaces Stay Relevant with Older Employees.”)From the Bureau of Labor Statistics, top of the list for 2016 workers 55 and older: Archivists, curators, and museum technicians (Really? Those are on the top of the list? OMG. This isn’t helping any.)From the National Council on Aging: “As the population ages, older Americans will play an increasingly important role in our economy and America’s leadership in the world marketplace.” (So, the infirmed are valued consumers in the marketplace, just not invited to work in it. Nice.)“Tech Job Market is Hot, but Older Workers Struggle” (Apparently in every industry, but particularly this one, women, too.)“For Older Workers, Getting a New Job is a Crapshoot” (And as everyone knows, the odds in Craps and Roulette favor the house.)“How to Attract and Keep Millennial Workers” speaks to “talent gaps” and cites a Deloitte statistic that 75 percent of Millennials would like the option of working from home (Older workers, too, and for many more reasons than variables such as automation, mobility, and to eliminate unnecessary tasks and maximize productivity.)Leadership Implications and Training ImperativesThe fact is that from advertising, to careers page web presence, to candidate selection, and to job offer, how any worker enters the equation begins (tenor and tone) and ends (last word) with leadership. The foremost responsibility of leaders is to set the tone to eliminate discounting and discrimination against capable older workers, or as the Department of Labor National Technical Assistance Leadership Center states, “Create a work environment that attracts qualified workers of all ages.”Echoing conclusions about internal training needs for workers aged 50+ by the Center on Aging and Work, is a call for solely needed age-diversity training. In understanding diversity, our nation often mistakes tolerance for acceptance. Tolerance, while a noble first step, allows prejudices and biases to remain intact. Only acceptance sheds the veil of stereotyping, discounting, and devaluing the human being.Therefore, the first leadership learning/training question to answer is: What’s in plain sight? This seems deceptively simple. The homework is simple: Take a look at your marketing. The images used are part of your brand and reflect your prejudices. Marshall McLuhan (age showing-off) might say, “So much for subtlety.” Inviting all workers to participate in the workforce, as well as delivering concomitant growth experiences and performance outcomes that live up to ethical expectations, requires a deep dive. The training imperative requires exploration of conceptual principles; for example, what’s your concept/misconception/translation of what “age” means?The second question is more simple: What are our 21st century expectations and values? In other words, we value what, and whom, and why? Are there embedded preconceptions about who we value less? Do our actions truly represent our values and valuing? Particularly, our learning opportunities should regularly insist upon a values check. These should include periodic, substantive conversations about entertaining and appealing to and accepting every applicant.Other relevant first steps for leadership discussions and training focus:Avoid stereotyping of anyone at any time for any reason. Each person is unique. Look beyond the obvious.Avoid stereotypes when training for appreciation of diversity. Think of diversity as a salad bowl, not a melting pot. This way, all of those characteristics we ascribe to diversity (and the one’s we overlook) should be a reflection up and down the chain. If your management is disproportionately aged or your incoming is disproportionately young, there’s something systematically wrong with the program.Analysis of policy and law as it applies to governing instincts, hiring, valuing, and recruiting is not only a good political exercise, but it’s also a great assessment and training/learning opportunity.Of a myriad of opportunities, a few solid training-related suggestions come from SHRM.org. For starters, recruitment training should include attention to partnerships with organizations that focus on helping older workers find jobs. Define and discuss what we mean by “over-qualified.” The EEOC approves targeting of older workers, does your recruitment language? Does career training include transfer and repositioning policies and planning? In succession, are organizations sensitive to knowledge management strategies? For new workers (whether young or old), are one-on-one mentoring and training protocol/checklists fully developed and deployed?Are your internships or apprentice programs open to older workers? If not, why not?The benefits of hiring older workers are well documented, as are the suggestions about how to best stimulate productive interactions within intergenerational workforces. Unfortunately, they still lag behind predictions about the present day outcomes following the halcyon late 1940s and early 1950s. Age does not discriminate against any worker raising one’s hand to lead or participate in a new project. Age does not discriminate against participating in meaningful work, one’s drive, belonging, nor sense of purpose in pursuing excellence and organizational goals or mission. One merely needs to be a part of a fair hiring process, valued, then coached, taught, and led. Greater consciousness and better leadership training with respect to all sorts of discrimination is not only good business sense, the effort appears to be more and more a moral imperative.

Musings of an Ancient Job Seeker: Leadership and Training Needs

The Infoline job aid, Positive Performance Checklist, can be used in several ways: to make changes in how you approach your work space and time, as a conversation starter, or as a gauge of how colleagues feel about the work environment.

Positive Performance Checklist

May 2017 - TD Magazine

Going Online: Perspectives on Digital LearningBooks1By Robert UbellRoutledge, 106 pp., $34.95Ubell considers questions about the quality of online learning settled: "Research tells us that digital instruction is as good as—and often better than—face-to-face learning," he writes. However, the author has yet to come to terms with the fact that "while nearly every other Internet activity is pursued breathlessly with hardly any argument, virtual education remains a question mark." In other words, he remains skeptical of others' doubts about online learning.When readers open this volume, they will find a collection of 10 essays divided into two sections: virtual classes and migrating online. The first section, which contains six essays, focuses on the capabilities and limitations of digital learning. The second, with four essays, emphasizes the process for bringing learning content online.Each essay evaluates online learning from a different perspective, covering everything from its history to the reasons people resist it. The length of the essays makes them accessible—most are short enough to consume in just a few minutes of close reading—but their content also is substantial enough to inspire profound thought. That makes the book convenient for busy professionals who might not have time to comb through an entire volume at once.Consider the third essay, "Action Learning, Interaction, Diversity and Evolution in Online Learning," as an example of the book's accessibility. Although it's only 15 pages in length, which places it among the book's longer sections, the piece stands alone as a valuable text. It introduces readers to the importance of social interaction in digital education, lays out a framework for stimulating that interaction, and offers a detailed explanation of how the framework's three components function in concert with one another. The components—which are interactive adaptive models, advanced discussion boards, and live virtual learning sessions—all come with suggestions for technology that can support them.While other sections of the book may follow slightly different structures, many of them will be valuable reads for learning professionals. In particular, readers might enjoy the second essay, which discusses the importance of online learning for virtual teams; the fourth essay, which examines the capabilities of online learning relative to the constraints of classroom learning; and the ninth essay, which presents differences between digital learning in the academic and professional worlds.This well-structured, well-researched collection gets to the root of the world's skepticism about digital education, and snippets of humor make it a more entertaining volume than readers might initially expect. Collectively, the essays argue that, despite our misgivings, online education is the best tool for advancing, creating, and distributing knowledge in the modern world. Ask More: The Power of Questions to Open Doors, Uncover Solutions, and Spark ChangeBooks2Frank SesnoAmacom, 272 pp., $14.04In Ask More, Sesno's experience as one of the world's premier interviewers is clearly evident. The Emmy Award-winning news anchor, White House correspondent, and talk-show host for CNN draws on his past to explain and explore 11 types of questions, from ones that can help you understand others to those that define common values, and from conversation-starters to confrontation winners. To Sesno, each type of question is a tool, and his well-told stories illustrate just how and when to use every inquisitorial technique at your disposal. Whether that's to effect change in the world, your office, or your personal life is up to you. The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your GreatnessBooks3Lolly DaskalPortfolio, 240 pp., $13.68Apte and Sheth believe that sustainability is the next major competency that businesses will need to remain competitive. This book provides a step-by step road map to achieve long-term prosperity, showing how best-in-class companies work with multiple stakeholders to embrace a triple-bottom-line mindset—taking social, environmental, and financial concerns into account. Each chapter focuses on one of the nine key stakeholder groups, providing guidance on how to make sustainability an integral part of a company's culture and its overall strategy. You've Got 8 Seconds: Communication Secrets for a Distracted WorldBooks4Paul HellmanAmacom, 208 pp., $17.95Hellman speaks the truth when he says everyone in your organization will do one of three things today: talk, listen, or pretend to listen. They're all busy, and most often they're inclined to do either the first or last of those—but life doesn't have to be that way. Written to be read fast by the busy manager or executive, Hellman's book shows readers how to capture an audience's attention, then keep it. Enhanced by actionable techniques and smile-cracking commentary, it's a great field guide for talent development professionals who want to improve their presentations. What's on Travis Bradberry's Bookshelf?The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. When it comes to business books, I don't read many of them. Don't get me wrong, I scan and speed-read almost all of them because I want to know what they're about and what's trending. But I don't read them for pleasure. Lencioni is an exception. What strikes me about Pat and this book is he's incredibly smart and pragmatic. He teaches you critical concepts in a compelling manner, but doesn't waste your time by padding pages to please his publisher.The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I love Steinbeck's ability to take your mind places and leave you fully engrossed in the story. His plot lines aren't too crazy, which shows you how little story you need when an author is that incredibly descriptive.Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry. I understand that it's taboo to list your own book in a list of books that you love. But writers, you see, write to be read. When you write a book that's well read, it feels incredible and makes you fall in love with it. I've written seven books and I don't even think that Emotional Intelligence 2.0 is my best work. It has, however, sold more than 1 million copies, and that's an accomplishment that I will cherish forever.

Search Results For "Mike Stadter"

Compare Courses