The definitive guide to eliminating the forces that make it harder, more complicated, or downright impossible to get things done in organizations. Find out why Adam Grant says "If every leader took the ideas in this book seriously, the world would be a less miserable, more productive place."

Every organization is plagued by destructive friction. Yet some forms of friction are incredibly useful, and leaders who attempt to improve workplace efficiency often make things even worse. Drawing from seven years of hands-on research, The Friction Project by bestselling authors Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao teaches readers how to become “friction fixers.”

Sutton and Rao kick off the book by unpacking how skilled friction fixers think and act like trustees of others’ time. They provide friction forensics to help readers identify where to avert and repair bad organizational friction and where to maintain and inject good friction. Then their help pyramid shows how friction fixers do their work, from reframing friction troubles they can’t fix right now, so they feel less threatening, to designing and repairing organizations. The heart of the book digs into the causes and solutions for five of the most common and damaging friction troubles: oblivious leaders, addition sickness, broken connections, jargon monoxide, and fast and frenzied people and teams.

Sound familiar? Sutton and Rao are here to help. They wrap things up with lessons for leading your own friction project, including linking little things to big things; the power of civility, caring, and love for propelling designs and repairs; and embracing the mess that is an inevitable part of the process (while still trying to clean it up).

Leaves from a President's Notebook shares the wisdom of Thomas K. Hearn Jr., former President of Wake Forest University, and past chairman and board member of the Center for Creative Leadership. These short essays reflect Dr. Hearn's thoughts ranging from growing up in rural Alabama to current topics including leadership development, college athletics, and the role of the modern university. Dr. Hearn graduated summa cum laude from Birmingham-Southern College, earned a divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a PhD in philosophy from Vanderbilt University. After teaching philosophy at the College of William and Mary for ten years, he returned to his home state in 1974 to start the philosophy department at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Dr. Hearn was named Wake Forest University's twelfth president on June 23, 1983, and served until 2005, the second-longest tenure in the University's history. He oversaw the development of Wake Forest from a small, regional liberal arts Baptist institution into one of the nations' premier independent universities. His efforts to raise the University's national profile were recognized in 1994 when U.S. News & World Report moved Wake Forest into the national universities category in its annual college guide. Wake Forest has ranked among the top thirty universities in the country every year since.

With the far-reaching global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand and the necessity for digital enterprise transformation have accelerated exponentially. Management and strategies for the adoption and wider usage of newer digital technologies for the transformation of an enterprise through digital tools such as real-time video communications have shown that people no longer need to be required to be physically present in the same place; rather, they can be geographically dispersed. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, digital banking, and cloud data have taken over tasks that were initially done by human hands and have increased both the automation and efficiency of tasks and the accessibility of information and services. Inclusion of all these newer technologies has shown the fast pace at which the digital enterprise transformation is rapidly evolving and how new ecosystems are reshaping the digital enterprise model. Disruptive Technology and Digital Transformation for Business and Government presents interesting research on digital enterprise transformation at different stages and across different settings within government and industry, along with key issues and deeper insights on the core problems and developing solutions and recommendations for digital enterprise transformation. The chapters examine the three core leaders of transformation: the people such as managers, employees, and customers; the digital technology such as artificial intelligence and robotics; and the digital enterprise, including the products and services being transformed. They unravel the underlying process for management and strategies to fully incorporate new digital tools and technologies across all aspects of an enterprise undergoing transformation. This book is ideally intended for managers, executives, IT consultants, business professionals, government officials, researchers, students, practitioners, stakeholders, academicians, and anyone else looking to learn about new developments in digital enterprise transformation of business systems from a global perspective.

Risks can be identified, evaluated, and mitigated, but the underlying uncertainty remains elusive. Risk is present across all industries and sectors. As a result, organizations and governments worldwide are currently experiencing higher levels of risk and have had to make risky decisions during times of crisis and instability, including the COVID-19 pandemic, economic and climate perils, and global tensions surrounding terrorism. It is essential that new studies are undertaken to understand strategies taken during these times to better equip business leaders to navigate risk management in the future. Global Risk and Contingency Management Research in Times of Crisis examines the impact of crises including the COVID-19 pandemic, which has tested organizational risk and contingency management plans. It provides significant insights that should benefit business leaders on risk and contingency management in times of crisis. It emphasizes strategies that leaders can undertake to identify potential future risks and examines decisions made in past crises that can act as examples of what to do and what not to do during future crisis events. Covering topics such as auditing theories, risk assessment, and educational inequality, this premier reference source is a crucial resource for business leaders, executives, managers, decision makers, policymakers, students, government officials, entrepreneurs, librarians, researchers, and academicians.

What ingredients do you need to brew a successful career in selling and marketing consumer goods? The lessons found in Nick Millers fascinating and motivating story will tell you. Nick Miller sold a lot of beer in his many years in the UK beer industry. Starting in the bingo halls and working mens clubs of East London, he soon moved up to promoting world-class beer brands into nationwide pub chains and supermarkets. Using a powerful blend of creativity, dedication and discipline alongside a smart sales and marketing strategy he and his team turned Peroni from a niche Italian import into the UK's premier lager. Later he took the helm at the craft beer minnow Meantime, where his magic touch led to the brand's turnaround and eventual sale to SABMiller for GBP120 million. In the Meantime distils all the lessons Nick picked up during his impressive career to show any leader how you can: Think strategically about selling and marketingMaximise the strengths of your teamFind the benefits in setbacks and barriersAnalyse your own strengths and weaknessesMotivate your team and enjoy yourself along the way Unlock the confidence to believe in your own abilities and your potential to aim high and succeed as you discover a disciplined way of thinking that can enable you to become as successful in your chosen industry as you want to be. And along the way, lighten the load with some amusing anecdotes and engaging tales from a career well lived. Cheers!