Make Every Business Day a Masterpiece

"This fascinating book is a must-read for every leader or individual that aspires to become one. It eloquently offers tips, examples, and analogies that help the reader focus effort and attention in that noble attempt to become a better leader."
--Eric Weber, Associate Dean IESE, Business School

"Unlike explorations of leadership that too often provide 'more heat than light, ' O'Malley and Baker offer a refreshing and engaging lens that not only illuminates but inspires the reader."
--Mary C. Gentile, Creator and Director of Giving Voice to Values, and Senior Research Scholar, Babson College

"This is not another book on leadership. Its essence is that all great leaders show an intense artistry. O'Malley and Baker give leadership criteria that weave business language with a strong dose of artistic principles. A great read."
--Chuck Royce, Chairman, Royce Funds

"Impressive O'Malley and Baker have written a book that is at once entertaining, intellectually engaging, and practical--a tough combination, rarely achieved."
--Ed Greenberg, University of Colorado, coauthor of "Turbulence"

"O'Malley and Baker thoughtfully illustrate the intersections between leadership and art, explaining the requisite attributes for leadership excellence, such as focus, intellectual challenge, imagination, and authenticity."
--Josh Weston, Honorary Chairman, Automatic Data Processing, Inc.

"O'Malley and Baker have written a wonderful book that illustrates the complexities and necessities of what should be understood as the ultimate qualities of leadership."
--David Finn, Chairman, Ruder Finn, Inc.

About the Book:

Artists put their work on display for everyone to judge, accepting a position of vulnerability for want of something important to say and in the service of contributing to the common good. Artists bring people closer together by providing a forum for shared experiences. Artists challenge, excite, comfort, and motivate people, and they don't learn their craft by reading about it in a book; they practice, push themselves and their means of expression, and execute, execute, execute.

"These are exactly the same things effective business leaders do day in and day out."

In "Every Leader Is an Artist," leadership experts O'Malley and Baker employ the "leadership as an art" metaphor to its conceptual limits: leadership is an art. Literally. And leaders are artists; they just happen to work in a different medium.

This groundbreaking look at leadership offers a completely new perspective on the age-old question: What separates the effective leader from the ineffective leader? O'Malley and Baker reveal 12 key characteristics shared by great artists and leaders, including: Intention: Makes an express commitment to achieve certain exceptional ends Authenticity: Expresses individuality and personal beliefs with honesty and transparency Engagement: Challenges the intellectual capacities of employees and tests their abilities to develop creative solutions to problems Imagination: Makes surprising and unconventional departures from the ordinary that create a new sense of awareness or understanding Form: Diligently combines various communications, structures, and policies into a unified, coherent whole

"Collectively, these attributes make great leadership possible, or, in their absence, difficult," write the authors. "Their presence does not assure leadership excellence, but it does set the range of potential."

Providing the tools and techniques for developing these qualities, the authors provide vignettes that draw parallels between the personal qualities of famous artists and effective leaders.

"Every Leader Is an Artist "will make you see your own leadership characteristics with newfound clarity and help you build upon them to be the best leader you can be. After reading this book, you will never think about leadership and your responsibilities as a leader in quite the same way again.

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!

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.

Have you ever found yourself struggling with information overload? Have you ever felt both overworked and underutilised? Do you ever feel busy but not productive? If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is to become an Essentialist. In Essentialism, Greg McKeown, CEO of a Leadership and Strategy agency in Silicon Valley who has run courses at Apple, Google and Facebook, shows you how to achieve what he calls the disciplined pursuit of less. Being an Essentialist is about a disciplined way of thinking. It means challenging the core assumption of 'We can have it all' and 'I have to do everything' and replacing it with the pursuit of 'the right thing, in the right way, at the right time'. By applying a more selective criteria for what is essential, the pursuit of less allows us to regain control of our own choices so we can channel our time, energy and effort into making the highest possible contribution toward the goals and activities that matter. Using the experience and insight of working with the leaders of the most innovative companies and organisations in the world, McKeown shows you how to put Essentialism into practice in your own life, so you too can achieve something great.