Books published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers

In his bestselling book The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die, John Izzo tackled the secrets to lifelong happiness. Now he gives readers the key to a great career, a great workplace, better relationships, and a better world. Stepping Up argues that almost every problem, from personal difficulties and business challenges to social issues, can be solved if all of us look to ourselves to create change rather than looking to others. By seeing ourselves as agents of change we feel happier, less stressed, and more powerful.Izzo offers seven compelling principles that enable anyone, anywhere, anytime to effectively bring about positive change. And the book is filled with stories that will inspire you: a middle-aged Italian shopkeeper who fought back against the Mafia, two teenagers who took a stand and ignited an antibullying movement, an executive who turned a dying division into a profit center, and many more. We all have the power to change the worldJohn Izzo shows us how.

This second edition of the book reflects the authors' work to continually improve upon the model and to apply the methodology to a broader range of issues. The book includes:* An entirely new chapter on managing risk in programs, which is an important dimension in today's world of ever more complex initiatives* Updated material and methodology more closely aligned with relevant international standards* Emphasis on minimizing the threats and maximizing the opportunities to optimize achievement of your project goalsBased on sound principles and best practices, this book guides any member of the project management team in conducting risk management in a real-world environment.

Humility Is the New Smart Your job is at riskif not now, then soon. We are on the leading edge of a Smart Machine Age led by artificial intelligence that will be as transformative for us as the Industrial Revolution was for our ancestors. Smart machines will take over millions of jobs in manufacturing, office work, the service sector, the professions, you name it. Not only can they know more data and analyze it faster than any mere human, say Edward Hess and Katherine Ludwig, but smart machines are free of the emotional, psychological, and cultural baggage that so often mars human thinking. So we can't beat 'em and we can't join 'em. To stay relevant, we have to play a different game. Hess and Ludwig offer us that game plan. We need to excel at critical, creative, and innovative thinking and at genuinely engaging with othersthings machines can't do well. The key is to change our definition of what it means to be smart. Hess and Ludwig call it being NewSmart. In this extraordinarily timely book, they offer detailed guidance for developing NewSmart attitudes and four critical behaviors that will help us adapt to the new reality. The crucial mindset underlying NewSmart is humilitynot self-effacement but an accurate self-appraisal: acknowledging you can't have all the answers, remaining open to new ideas, and committing yourself to lifelong learning. Drawing on extensive multidisciplinary research, Hess and Ludwig emphasize that the key to success in this new era is not to be more like the machines but to excel at the best of what makes us human.

From the Center for Creative Leadership, this essential guide is updated with new insights, tips, and tools to help organizations get the most out of 360-degree feedback.This hands-on guide from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) shows how to implement effective 360-degree feedback systems as part of leadership development initiatives in organizations. Written for professionals who work inside organizations and external consultants working with clients, the book draws on over twenty years of research and practice in organizations both large and small. Expert authors from CCL provide step-by-step guidelines for successful 360-degree feedback as well as best practices observed and tested with CCL's broad base of clients. The second edition is updated with advances in the field over the past ten years and features new chapters on what affects validity, why the process can fail, and the future of leadership. The book includes worksheets, checklists, and other tools to use or adapt with a 360-degree feedback process in any organization.

Win the war for talent! "Champion for introverts" Jennifer Kahnweiler shows how you can create inclusive cultures that attract and retain the 20-40% of the population who identify as introverts.With the rise in awareness about introverts, the value they bring to the workplace has become increasingly clear. But many organizations are stuck in traditional extrovert-centric workplace cultures. They reward people for speaking up, still expect them to log "face time," and have hiring and promotion practices rooted in the past, which ultimately discourages introverts from contributing and reaching their full potential. This book is the first to provide a roadmap for organizations, including leadership, HR, and employees, to create inclusive, introvert-friendly workplace cultures. Kahnweiler includes an assessment to determine how introvert-friendly your organization is, and then looks at every aspect of organizational life--hiring, training, leadership, communication, meetings, workplace design, and more--through an introvert-friendly lens. It will stimulate the next wave of the introvert diversity and inclusion conversation by demonstrating how we can move towards tangible systemic change. This book will give you the tools to build a culture that embraces all of your employees and maximizes the strengths introverts bring to your organization.

In the latest fruit of a brilliant career, Michael Nagler argues that nonviolence--not just as a tactic but as a way of being--is the only way to unite deeply divided people and enable progressive movements and leaders of all stripes to fulfil their promise and potential.So many of the problems that beset us--war, poverty, isolation, and the climate crisis--have their roots in an old story about the universe: we are purposeless matter in a random void, and scarcity, competition, and violence are inevitable. Citing the convergence of modern science and the essence of the world's wisdom traditions, Michael Nagler argues for a new story: the universe is conscious and purposeful, humans are spiritual beings, and cooperation and collaboration are our natural way of interacting. This "new story" has had other champions, but Nagler is the first to realize that a piece is missing. For the new story to take hold, we have to embrace nonviolence, not only as a social change tactic but as a way of life. Nonviolence is the only power strong enough to "move the heart" toward this deep and revolutionary change in worldview. Nagler refers to this as the "third harmony," which is the harmony within and among us to resolve the crisis of the human image. Calling on us to realize the urgency of nonviolence for resolving our personal and collective problems, Nagler focuses on how to shift to our story on a personal, everyday level and then integrate it into the very foundations of our understanding of humanity and community, for our sake, for the sake of future generations, and the sake of nonviolence itself.