HBR Guide to Leading Through Change
by Harvard Business Review
read by Shannon Condon, Timothy Andrés Pabon
Part of the HBR Guide series
Drive transformation.
Change is now constant. As a leader, you must serve as interpreter, project manager, cheerleader, and conduit. Plans evolve. Contexts shift. Progress happens in fits and starts. Through it all, you must push your team forward even when you encounter pushback. How can you ensure that your team has the information, the mindset, and the resources they need to be successful?
The HBR Guide to Leading Through Change provides the practical tips, research, stories, and advice you need to understand, communicate, and implement change effectively, no matter the size or scale of the challenge you're facing. You'll learn how to improve your odds of success; communicate a shared vision; keep going, even amid lags and setbacks; deal with naysayers and roadblocks; build trust and resilience on your team; and make a lasting impact.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Emotional Intelligence
by Harvard Business Review
read by Keith Sellon-Wright
Part of the HBR Guide series
Managing the human side of work
Research by Daniel Goleman, a psychologist and coauthor of Primal Leadership, has shown that emotional intelligence is a more powerful determinant of good leadership than technical competence, IQ, or vision.
Influencing those around us and supporting our own well-being requires us to be self-aware, know when and how to regulate our emotional reactions, and understand the emotional responses of those around us. No wonder emotional intelligence has become one of the crucial criteria in hiring and promotion.
But luckily, it's not just an innate trait: Emotional intelligence is composed of skills that all of us can learn and improve on. In this guide, you'll learn how to determine your emotional intelligence strengths and weaknesses, understand, and manage your emotional reactions, deal with difficult people, make smarter decisions, bounce back from tough times, and help your team develop emotional intelligence.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case
by Raymond Sheen
read by Jonathan Yen
Part of the HBR Guide series
Get your idea off the ground.
You've got a great idea that will increase revenue or boost productivity-but how do you get the buy-in you need to make it happen? By building a business case that clearly shows your idea's value. That's not always easy: Maybe you're not sure what kind of data your stakeholders will trust. Or perhaps you're intimidated by number crunching.
The HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case, written by project management expert Raymond Sheen, gives you the guidance and tools you need to make a strong case. You'll learn how to: spell out the business need for your idea; align your case with strategic goals; build the right team to shape and test your idea; calculate the return on investment; analyze risks and opportunities; and present your case to stakeholders.
HBR Guide to Managing Stress at Work
by Harvard Business Review
read by Jonathan Yen
Part of the HBR Guide series
Are you suffering from work-related stress?
Feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, and short-tempered at work-and at home? Then you may have too much stress in your life. Stress is a serious problem that impacts not only your mental and physical health, but also your loved ones and your organization. So what can you do to address it?
The HBR Guide to Managing Stress at Work will help you find a sustainable solution. It will help you reach the goal of getting on an even keel-and staying there.
You'll learn how to: harness stress so it spurs, not hinders, productivity; create realistic and manageable routines; aim for progress, not perfection; make the case for a flexible schedule; ease the physical tension of spending too much time at your computer; and renew yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally.
HBR Guide to Executing Your Strategy
by Harvard Business Review
read by Jon Vertullo, Erin deWard
Part of the HBR Guide series
Put your strategy into action.
Even the best competitive strategies mean nothing if they can't be executed. Yet many organizations struggle when they move from defining a strategy to implementing it. Somehow, all the careful planning falls to the side, and leaders are left wondering how to pick up the pieces.
The HBR Guide to Executing Your Strategy is here to help. This book offers leaders and managers tips and advice for how to take even the most detailed strategy and apply it throughout their organizations.
You'll learn how to: get employees on board with a new strategy; communicate plans effectively; identify milestones for progress toward objectives; eliminate initiatives that no longer contribute; overcome naysayers and resistance; avoid execution traps; and adjust course where necessary.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Remote Work
by Harvard Business Review
read by Rachel Perry, Steve Menasche
Part of the HBR Guide series
Connect with your team, even when you're far away.
Virtual meetings. Video calls. Emails and chat messages. These technological conveniences can be helpful when you're working remotely. But the actual experience of getting your work done while remaining an effective part of a far-flung team can be frustrating. How can you make remote work work for you?
The HBR Guide to Remote Work provides practical tips and advice to help you work more productively with your team and colleagues, even though you're not in the same location.
You'll learn to: create a work-from-home routine; run more-effective virtual meetings; overcome "Zoom fatigue"; collaborate with others-despite the distance that separates you; manage remote employees; conduct difficult conversations when you can't meet in person; and arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Unlocking Creativity
by Harvard Business Review
read by Lyle Blaker, Kitty Hendrix
Part of the HBR Guide series
Without creativity, innovation is impossible.
Creativity is the key driver of innovation, but too many teams and projects are organized in ways that stifle new ideas. It's your job as a manager to create the right conditions for creativity to thrive-and to be part of the process yourself.
Fortunately, anyone can use a method-driven approach to teach and learn to be more creative. The HBR Guide to Unlocking Creativity will show you how to design a work environment that allows you and your team to change how you think, reach your creative potential, and achieve groundbreaking results.
This guide will help you:
• Get out of a creativity rut
• Overcome the fear that blocks creativity
• Balance creativity with productivity
• Model a creative mindset for your team
• Encourage curiosity and experimentation
• Avoid breakdowns in creative collaboration
• And bring breakthrough ideas to life.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Motivating People
by Harvard Business Review
read by Lisa Larsen
Part of the HBR Guide series
Help your people reach their potential.
As a manager, it's your responsibility to ensure your team is motivated and performing at a high level. But recent data reveals abysmal engagement levels among workers around the globe. How do you fix the problem-before your most talented people walk out the door?
By understanding what drains your employees, you can increase their job satisfaction and push them toward achieving their goals. The HBR Guide to Motivating People provides practical tips and advice to help your team find meaning in their work, build on their strengths, and produce the best results for the organization.
You'll learn how to pinpoint the root causes of lackluster performance; tailor rewards and recognition to individuals; connect routine work activities to a higher purpose; support your employees' growth and development; prevent burnout-especially in your top performers; and create a culture of engagement.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Project Management
by Harvard Business Review
read by Jonathan Yen
Part of the HBR Guide series
Meet Your Goals-On Time And On Budget.
How do you rein in the scope of your project when you've got a group of demanding stakeholders breathing down your neck? And map out a schedule everyone can stick to? And motivate team members who have competing demands on their time and attention?
Whether you're managing your first project or just tired of improvising, this guide will give you the tools and confidence you need to define smart goals, meet them, and capture lessons learned so future projects go even more smoothly.
The HBR Guide to Project Management will help you: build a strong, focused team; break major objectives into manageable tasks; create a schedule that keeps all the moving parts under control; monitor progress toward your goals; manage stakeholders' expectations; and wrap up your project and gauge its success.
HBR Guide to Your Professional Growth
by Harvard Business Review
read by Randye Kaye
Part of the HBR Guide series
Don't wait for someone else to manage your career.
The days of HR-sponsored development plans are over. Managing your career-and the skills you need to be successful-is your responsibility. If you're looking to push yourself to the next level, it can be hard to determine where to start.
The HBR Guide to Your Professional Growth will be your coach, transforming your abstract hopes and ideas into a concrete action plan. No matter where you are in your career, this guide will help you assess your current skills-and acquire new ones; elicit feedback you can use; set meaningful-and achievable-goals; make time for learning; play to your strengths; and identify your next challenge.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, from a source you trust. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
Hbr Guide to Performance Management
by Harvard Business Review
read by Asa Siegel
Part of the HBR Guide series
Efficiently and effectively assess employees' performance.
Are your employees meeting their goals? Is their work improving over time? Understanding where your employees are succeeding—and falling short—is a pivotal part of ensuring you have the right talent to meet organizational objectives.
In order to work with your people and effectively monitor their progress, you need a system in place. The HBR Guide to Performance Management provides a multi-step, cyclical process to help you keep track of your employees' work, identify where they need to improve, and ensure they're growing with the organization.
You'll learn to set clear employee goals that align with company objectives; monitor progress and check in regularly; close performance gaps; understand when to use performance analytics; create opportunities for growth, tailored to the individual; and overcome and avoid burnout on your team.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Setting Your Strategy
by Harvard Business Review
read by Barry Abrams, Randye Kaye
Part of the HBR Guide series
Set your company up for the long term.
Every company needs a strategy. A focused strategy aligns decision making throughout the organization and helps establish a competitive edge in the marketplace. But with so many options to consider, how do you define a unique strategy that will ensure growth?
Whether you're starting a business from scratch or in an existing company facing new threats, this book offers the direction you need. The HBR Guide to Setting Your Strategy provides practical tips and advice that break down the process of crafting strategy so you can identify the areas your company should build on and help it thrive long into the future.
You'll learn to: understand what strategy is-and what it isn't; define your mission, values, and purpose; recognize your company's distinct capabilities; conduct better strategic discussions with your team; communicate your strategy throughout the company; and make a plan for pushing your strategy forward.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Managing Strategic Initiatives
by Various Authors
read by Jonathan Yen, Randye Kaye
Part of the HBR Guide series
This big initiative could make or break this fiscal year-or your career.
Strategic initiatives are where the rubber meets the road when it comes to putting strategy into action, and leading a critical initiative may be the key to propelling your career forward. Yet managing a cross-functional team on a high-profile project can present a multitude of challenges and risks, causing even the most experienced manager to struggle.
The HBR Guide to Managing Strategic Initiatives provides practical tips and advice to help you manage all the stages of an initiative's life cycle, from buy-in to launch, implementation to scaling up or winding down. You'll learn how to: launch an initiative in a way that maximizes its chance of success, assemble a team that's ready to perform, gather the resources you need, stay on schedule and within budget, avoid losing momentum once the initiative is up and running, maintain the confidence of sponsors and stakeholders, and put strategy into action.
HBR Guide to Being a Great Boss
by Harvard Business Review
read by Carolyn Jania, Steve Menasche
Part of the HBR Guide series
Are you a good boss - or a great one?
We know people don't leave jobs; they leave bosses. How can you be the type of boss that doesn't send employees running? One who makes your people happy to work for you?
You've got the basics covered. But can you raise your leadership level to be a boss who develops trust with their employees? How do you create a culture where learning - and failing - are ok? Can you go beyond evaluating performance and distributing bonuses once a year to finding ways to regularly share productive feedback - and recognize great work - in ways that work for the people who work for you?
You can meet the basic requirements of your job as leader and rise above to motivate the people on your team to do more - and be more - than they thought possible. Whether you're a first-time boss or you've been managing people forever and are looking for some new insights and inspiration, the HBR Guide to Being a Great Boss collects a variety of expert voices to share their advice on being a boss who sparks creativity, engagement, and collaboration. You'll learn how to:
• Magnify your people's strengths
• Communicate effectively - and regularly - with your team
• Cultivate trust
• Help your employees find meaning in their work
• Challenge your people to reach beyond their current limit
• Help struggling employees improve
• And bring out the best in your people - and yourself.
HBR Guide to Crafting Your Purpose
by John Coleman
read by Daniel Henning
Part of the HBR Guide series
Stop searching for purpose. Build it.
We're living through a crisis of purpose. Surveys indicate that people feel less and less connected to the meaning of their work. Individuals everywhere are asking, "How can I find my purpose?"
That's the wrong question. You don't find your purpose - you build it. The HBR Guide to Crafting Your Purpose debunks three misconceptions about purpose at work: that purpose is found that you have only one, and that it remains the same over time. Packed with tips and advice for how you can cultivate more meaning in your life and at work, this book teaches you how to endow everything you do with purpose each day.
You'll learn how to: find the reason behind your work, identify what makes you happy and engaged, use job crafting to transform your role, connect your work to service, build positive, fulfilling relationships, and let go of past purposes - and take steps toward new ones.
HBR Guide to Office Politics
by Karen Dillon
read by Liisa Ivary
Part of the HBR Guide series
Don't let destructive drama sideline your career.
Every organization has its share of political drama: Personalities clash. Agendas compete. Turf wars erupt. But you need to work productively with your colleagues-even difficult ones-for the good of your organization and your career. How can you do that without compromising your personal values? By acknowledging that power dynamics and unwritten rules exist-and navigating them constructively.
The HBR Guide to Office Politics will help you succeed at work without being a power grabber or a corporate climber. Instead you'll cultivate a political strategy that's authentic to you. You'll learn how to: gain influence without losing your integrity; contend with backstabbers and bullies; work through tough conversations; manage tensions when resources are scarce; get your share of choice assignments; and accept that not all conflict is bad.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, from a source you trust. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Your Job Search
by Harvard Business Review
read by Kitty Hendrix, Al Kessel
Part of the HBR Guide series
Finding a new job can be stressful. Assessing positions and employers, meeting the requirements in a job description, competing with other job searchers, and submitting an application that will get noticed-each element comes with its own set of obstacles. And that's all before the nerve-wracking interview.
“The HBR Guide to Your Job Search” is here to help. Whether you're fresh out of school, have been working for decades, or somewhere in between, this book offers you tips and advice for navigating your job hunt. You'll discover how to define what you want in a new role, find the position you want, and pitch yourself as a standout candidate.
You'll learn how to: identify your strengths and create a personal brand; ignite your network to find the best opportunities; write an attention-grabbing resume and cover letter; prepare for and answer common interview questions; negotiate your job offer, from benefits to salary; and start your first day on the right foot.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the “HBR Guides” provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across
by Harvard Business Review
read by Jonathan Yen
Part of the HBR Guide series
Are Your Working Relationships Working Against You?
To achieve your goals and get ahead, you need to rally people behind you and your ideas. But how do you do that when you lack formal authority? Or when you have a boss who gets in your way? Or when you're juggling others' needs at the expense of your own?
By managing up, down, and across the organization. Your success depends on it, whether you're a young professional or an experienced leader.
The HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across will help you: advance your agenda-and your career-with smarter networking; build relationships that bring targets and deadlines within reach; persuade decision makers to champion your initiatives; collaborate more effectively with colleagues; deal with new, challenging, or incompetent bosses; and navigate office politics.
HBR Guide to Better Business Writing
by Bryan A. Garner
read by Jonathan Yen
Part of the HBR Guide series
Don't Let Your Writing Hold You Back.
When you're fumbling for words and pressed for time, you might be tempted to dismiss good business writing as a luxury. But it's a skill you must cultivate to succeed: You'll lose time, money, and influence if your e-mails, proposals, and other important documents fail to win people over.
The HBR Guide to Better Business Writing, by writing expert Bryan A. Garner, gives you the tools you need to express your ideas clearly and persuasively so clients, colleagues, stakeholders, and partners will get behind them. This book will help you: push past writer's block; grab-and keep-readers' attention; earn credibility with tough audiences; trim the fat from your writing; strike the right tone; and brush up on grammar, punctuation, and usage.
HBR Guide to Making Every Meeting Matter
by Harvard Business Review
read by Christopher Walker
Part of the HBR Guide series
Make every minute count.
Your calendar is full, and yet your meetings don't always seem to advance your work. Problems often arise with unrealistic or vague agendas, off-track conversations, tuned-out participants who don't know why they're there, and follow-up notes that no one reads-or acts on. Meetings can feel like a waste of time. But when you invest a little energy in preparing yourself and your participants, you'll stay focused, solve problems, gain consensus, and leave each meeting ready to take action.
With input from over twenty experts combined with useful checklists, sample agendas, and follow-up memos, the HBR Guide to Making Every Meeting Matter will teach you how to set and communicate your meeting's purpose; invite the right people; prepare an achievable agenda; moderate a lively conversation; regain control of a wayward meeting; and ensure follow-through without babysitting or haranguing.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, from a source you trust. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Getting the Mentoring You Need
by Harvard Business Review
read by Jonathan Yen
Part of the HBR Guide series
Find the right person to help supercharge your career.
Whether you're eyeing a specific leadership role, hoping to advance your skills, or simply looking to broaden your professional network, you need to find someone who can help. Wait for a senior manager to come looking for you-and you'll probably be waiting forever.
Instead, you need to find the mentoring that will help you achieve your goals. Managed correctly, mentoring is a powerful and efficient tool for moving up.
The HBR Guide to Getting the Mentoring You Need will help you get it right. You'll learn how to: find new ways to stand out in your organization; set clear and realistic development goals; identify and build relationships with influential sponsors; give back and bring value to mentors and senior advisers; and evaluate your progress in reaching your professional goals.
HBR Guide to Navigating the Toxic Workplace
by Harvard Business Review
read by Siiri Scott, Stephen Graybill
Part of the HBR Guide series
Are you enduring a toxic workplace?
Toxic workplaces take all kinds of forms-whether it's a narcissist boss who belittles and bullies, colleagues who backstab and gaslight, "work friends" who drain you with endless complaining, or a culture of overwork and burnout. It can feel impossible to know whether to speak up and when to keep your head down. Do you try to address it head-on, go to HR, or play office politics? And what can you do if you don't want to leave-or if your situation doesn't allow you to?
“The HBR Guide to Navigating the Toxic Workplace” will help you set boundaries and change what you can while helping you maintain your mental health and your self-respect in some of the toughest situations at work. You'll learn how to: recognize what's fixable; help bring problems to light; protect your reputation and your career; prevent a toxic culture from infecting your team; keep your performance up; and move on if you choose, without burning bridges.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the “HBR Guides” provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Dealing With Conflict
by Amy Gallo
read by Liisa Ivary
Part of the HBR Guide series
While some of us enjoy a lively debate with colleagues and others prefer to suppress our feelings over disagreements, we all struggle with conflict at work. Every day we navigate an office full of competing interests, clashing personalities, limited time and resources, and fragile egos. Sure, we share the same overarching goals as our colleagues, but we don't always agree on how to achieve them. We work differently. We rub each other the wrong way. We jockey for position.
How can you deal with conflict at work in a way that is both professional and productive-where it improves both your work and your relationships? You start by understanding whether you generally seek or avoid conflict, identifying the most frequent reasons for disagreement, and knowing what approaches work for what scenarios. Then, if you decide to address a particular conflict, you use that information to plan and conduct a productive conversation. The HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict will give you the advice you need to understand the most common sources of conflict; explore your options for addressing a disagreement; recognize whether you-and your counterpart-typically seek or avoid conflict; prepare for and engage in a difficult conversation; manage your and your counterpart's emotions; develop a resolution together; and know when to walk away.
HBR Guide to Designing Your Retirement
by Harvard Business Review
read by Christopher Grove, Janet Metzger
Part of the HBR Guide series
Make a retirement plan that includes more than golf, mah-jongg, and grandkids.
When what you do is inextricably tied to who you are for so much of your life, it can be daunting to think of who you'll be if you slow down-or stop working entirely. You've charted your own career journey, made difficult choices, led teams through times of turmoil, celebrated big wins, and moved on from devastating losses. How do you just stop? What do you do without a purpose and a plan-and a crowded calendar? How do you make this next stage of your life fulfilling and satisfying?
While the idea of not working can be simultaneously wonderful and overwhelming, you can figure out what you want the end of your career and your retirement to look like before you submit your resignation. This book won't help you figure out whether or not you can afford to retire, but it will help you figure out what you'd like to do and who you'd like to be. You'll learn how to: assess your readiness to make a transition; make a plan to slow your pace-or stop completely; experiment with possible future selves; find new ways to apply old skills; communicate your plan to key partners; bridge your old identity to the new one you create; and keep connected to the passions and people that matter.
HBR Guide to Better Recruiting and Hiring
by Harvard Business Review
read by Tanya Eby, Tom Parks
Part of the HBR Guide series
Attract, identify, and hire the right people.
When there's an opening on your team, filling it is never a quick or easy process. You're down a person, and yet the work doesn't stop. Managers have varying levels of company support for the recruiting and hiring process. There can be tons of bureaucracy and red tape-or minimal guidance, documentation, and support. How can you make the time to identify and address gaps in the skills and capabilities on your team and do all of the work it takes to ensure a fair and effective process is followed for finding the best person for the job . . . while continuing to meet the regular day-to-day demands of your job?
The HBR Guide to Better Recruiting and Hiring provides the practical tips, research, stories, and advice you need to successfully attract, identify, and hire people whose values, competency, and potential align with your team and your organization. You'll learn how to assess your team's current strengths and weaknesses; identify the attributes and qualifications you need; craft a compelling and accurate job description; increase the size and quality of the candidate pool; conduct productive and informative interviews; assess cultural fit-and future performance; mitigate bias in hiring practices; make a fair and competitive offer; and negotiate with confidence.
HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business
Think Big, Buy Small, Own Your Own Company
by Richard S. Ruback
read by Brian Holsopple
Part of the HBR Guide series
Think big, buy small.
Are you looking for an alternative to a career path at a big firm? Does founding your own start-up seem too risky? There is a radical third path open to you: You can buy a small business and run it as CEO. Purchasing a small company offers significant financial rewards-as well as personal and professional fulfillment. Leading a firm means you can be your own boss, put your executive skills to work, fashion a company environment that meets your own needs, and profit directly from your success.
But finding the right business to buy and closing the deal isn't always easy. In the HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business, Harvard Business School professors Richard Ruback and Royce Yudkoff help you determine if this path is right for you; raise capital for your acquisition; find and evaluate the right prospects; avoid the pitfalls that could derail your search; understand why a "dull" business might be the best investment; negotiate a potential deal with the seller; and avoid deals that fall through at the last minute.
HBR Guide to Coaching Employees
by Harvard Business Review
read by Jonathan Yen
Part of the HBR Guide series
Help your employees help themselves.
As a manager in today's business world, you can't just tell your direct reports what to do: You need to help them make their own decisions, enable them to solve tough problems, and actively develop their skills on the job.
Whether you have a star on your team who's eager to advance, an underperformer who's dragging the group down, or a steady contributor who feels bored and neglected, you need to coach them: Help shape their goals-and support their efforts to achieve them.
In the HBR Guide to Coaching Employees you'll learn how to: create realistic but inspiring plans for growth; ask the right questions to engage your employees in the development process; give them room to grapple with problems and discover solutions; allow them to make the most of their expertise while compelling them to stretch and grow; give them feedback they'll actually apply; and balance coaching with the rest of your workload.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, from a source you trust. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done
by Harvard Business Review
read by Jonathan Yen
Part of the HBR Guide series
Is your workload slowing you-and your career-down?
Your inbox is overflowing. You're paralyzed because you have too much to do but don't know where to start. Your to-do list never seems to get any shorter. You leave work exhausted but have little to show for it.
It's time to learn how to get the right work done.
In the HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done, you'll discover how to focus your time and energy where they will yield the greatest reward. Not only will you end each day knowing you made progress-your improved productivity will also set you apart from the pack.
Whether you're a new professional or an experienced one, this guide will help you: prioritize and stay focused; work less but accomplish more; stop bad habits and develop good ones; break overwhelming projects into manageable pieces; conquer e-mail overload; and write to-do lists that really work.
HBR Guide to Collaborative Teams
by Harvard Business Review
read by Janet Metzger, Michael Lenz
Part of the HBR Guide series
Break down the barriers to effective collaboration.
For cross-functional projects to work, you need to bring together diverse ideas and resources from across your organization. But office politics, conflicting objectives, and lack of clear authority can get in the way.
The HBR Guide to Collaborative Teams provides practical tips and advice to help you collaborate more effectively. Whether you're leading your own direct reports or building a talented group from disparate parts of your organization, you'll discover how to align others' goals and skills so you can solve problems as a team and deliver great results.
You'll learn to: develop a shared purpose, bust departmental silos, lead employees who don't report to you, overcome conflict and turf wars, prevent collaborative overload and fatigue, and use the right tools for virtual information sharing.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Smarter Networking
by Harvard Business Review
read by Tina Wolstencroft, Chris Monteiro
Part of the HBR Guide series
Connect with the right people to do your job better - and advance faster.
We know that the key to getting ahead and launching our ideas is building and sustaining a high-quality and diverse network. But the days of handing out hundreds of business cards at conferences and hoping for the best are over. Our networks need to be both strategic and authentic, made up of real relationships that bring real value. The HBR Guide to Smarter Networking will give you the tools and the confidence you need to make valuable connections, get your ideas off the ground, draw on others' expertise, scope out business opportunities, and land coveted roles.
This guide will help you:
• Connect with connectors
• Nourish relationships through give and take
• Get the most out of conferences-in-person or virtual
• Use your limited networking time wisely
• Maintain loose ties over long periods
• Emphasize quality of contacts over quantity
HBR Guide to Beating Burnout
by Harvard Business Review
read by Tim Paige, Megan Tusing
Part of the HBR Guide series
Burnout is rampant. Recognize the signs and make the right changes now.
The always-on workplace and increasing social pressures are leading to an unprecedented rate of burnout. Unmanaged, chronic work stress doesn't just lead to lower productivity and negative emotions-it can have dire personal and professional consequences. Are you and your team at risk?
The HBR Guide to Beating Burnout provides practical tips and advice to help you and your team navigate the perils of workplace burnout and rediscover healthy engagement at work. You'll learn how to: recognize the risk factors; unravel the difference between being stressed and being burnt out; recognize the symptoms in yourself and others; understand how passion can lead to burnout; make the changes you need to make, now; return to productivity after burnout leads to apathy; and help prevent burnout on your team.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Negotiating
by Jeff Weiss
read by Jonathan Yen
Part of the HBR Guide series
Forget about the hard bargain.
Whether you're discussing the terms of a high-stakes deal, forming a key partnership, asking for a raise, or planning a family event, negotiating can be stressful. One person makes a demand, the other concedes a point. In the end, you settle on a subpar solution in the middle-if you come to any agreement at all.
But these discussions don't need to be win-or-lose situations. Written by negotiation expert Jeff Weiss, the HBR Guide to Negotiating provides a disciplined approach to finding a solution that works for everyone involved. Using a seven-part framework, this book delivers tips and advice to move you from a game of concessions and compromises to one of collaboration and creativity, resulting in better outcomes and better working relationships. You'll learn how to: prepare for your conversation, understand everyone's interests, craft the right message, work with multiple parties, disarm aggressive negotiators, and choose the best solution.
HBR Guide to Finance Basics for Managers
by Harvard Business Review
read by Jonathan Yen
Part of the HBR Guide series
Don't let your fear of finance get in the way of your success.
Can you prepare a breakeven analysis? Do you know the difference between an income statement and a balance sheet? Or understand why a business that's profitable can still go belly-up? Has your grasp of your company's numbers helped-or hurt-your career?
Whether you're new to finance or you just need a refresher, this go-to guide will give you the tools and confidence you need to master the fundamentals, as all good managers must.
The HBR Guide to Finance Basics for Managers will help you: learn the language of finance; compare your firm's financials with rivals'; shift your team's focus from revenues to profits; assess your vulnerability to industry downturns; use financial data to defend budget requests; and invest smartly through cost/benefit analysis.
HBR Guide to AI Basics for Managers
by Harvard Business Review
read by Rich Miller, Cindy Kay
Part of the HBR Guide series
Get up to speed on AI-and start reaping the benefits now.
From product design and financial modeling to performance management and hiring decisions-artificial intelligence and machine learning are becoming everyday tools for managers at businesses of all sizes. But the rewards of every AI system come with risks-and if you don't understand how to make sense of them, you're not going to make the right decisions.
Whether you want to get up to speed quickly, could just use a refresher, or are working with an AI expert for the first time, HBR Guide to AI Basics for Managers will give you the information and skills you need.
You'll learn how to: understand key terms and concepts; identify which of your projects and processes would benefit from an AI approach; deal with ethical issues before they come up; hire the best AI vendors; run small experiments; and work better with your AI experts and data scientists.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations
by Nancy Duarte
read by Liisa Ivary
Part of the HBR Guide series
Take The Pain Out Of Presentations.
Terrified of speaking in front of a group? Or simply looking to polish your skills? No matter where you are on the spectrum, this guide will give you the confidence and the tools you need to get results.
Written by presentation expert Nancy Duarte, the HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations will help you: win over tough crowds; organize a coherent narrative; create powerful messages and visuals; connect with and engage your audience; show people why your ideas matter to them; and strike the right tone, in any situation.
HBR Guide to Critical Thinking
by Harvard Business Review
read by Karen Ruth Johnston, Brandon Pollock
Part of the HBR Guide series
Tackle complex situations with critical thinking.
You're facing a problem at work. There are many ways you can approach the situation, but each comes with its own pros and cons. How do you sort through all the information so that you know you're taking the right path?
The answer is in how you think. The HBR Guide to Critical Thinking will help you navigate your most challenging issues, from difficult problems to tough decisions to complex scenarios. By carefully observing the situation, gathering information, inviting other perspectives, and analyzing what's in front of you, you can move forward with confidence while building this crucial leadership skill. You'll learn how to: question your assumptions; keep an open mind to opposing viewpoints; sidestep cognitive biases; use data-when appropriate; grow comfortable with ambiguity; and find innovative and creative solutions.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Delivering Effective Feedback
by Harvard Business Review
read by Jonathan Yen, Liisa Ivary
Part of the HBR Guide series
Take the stress out of giving feedback.
To help your employees meet their goals and fulfill their potential, you need to provide them with regular feedback. But the prospect of sharing potentially negative news can be overwhelming. How do you construct your message so that it's not only well received but also expressed in a way that encourages change?
Whether you're commending exemplary work or addressing problem behavior, the HBR Guide to Delivering Effective Feedback provides you with practical advice and tips to transform any performance discussion-from weekly check-ins to annual reviews-into an opportunity for growth and development. You'll learn to: establish trust with your direct reports; assess their performance fairly; emphasize improvement, even in criticism; react calmly to a defensive feedback recipient; recognize and motivate star performers; and create individualized development plans.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, from a source you trust. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
HBR Guide to Leading Teams
by Mary Shapiro
read by Jonathan Yen
Part of the HBR Guide series
Great teams don't just happen.
How often have you sat in team meetings complaining to yourself, "Why does it take forever for this group to make a simple decision? What are we even trying to achieve?" As a team leader, you have the power to improve things. It's up to you to get people to work well together and produce results.
Written by team expert Mary Shapiro, the HBR Guide to Leading Teams will help you avoid the pitfalls you've experienced in the past by focusing on the often-neglected people side of teams.
With practical exercises, guidelines for structured team conversations, and step-by-step advice, this guide will help you: pick the right team members; set clear, smart goals; foster camaraderie and cooperation; hold people accountable; address and correct bad behavior; and keep your team focused and motivated.
HBR Guide to Being More Productive
by Harvard Business Review
read by Rick Adamson
Part of the HBR Guide series
Every day begins with the same challenge: too many tasks on your to-do list and not enough time to accomplish them. Perhaps you tell yourself to just buckle down and get it all done-skip lunch, work a longer day. Maybe you throw your hands up, recognize you can't do it all, and just begin fighting the biggest fire or greasing the squeakiest wheel.
And yet you know how good it feels on those days when you're working at peak productivity, taking care of difficult and meaty projects while also knocking off the smaller tasks that have been hanging over your head forever. Those are the times when your day didn't run you-you ran your day. To have more of those days more often, you need to discover what works for you given your strengths, your preferences, and the things you must accomplish.
Whether you're an assistant or the CEO, whether you've been in the workforce for forty years or are just starting out, this guide will help you be more productive. You'll discover different ways to motivate yourself to work when you really don't want to; take on less, but get more done; preserve time for your most important work; improve your focus; make the most of small pockets of time between meetings; set boundaries with colleagues-without alienating them; and take time off without tearing your hair out.
HBR Guide to Data Analytics Basics for Managers
by Harvard Business Review
read by Mike Carnes
Part of the HBR Guide series
Don't let a fear of numbers hold you back.
Today's business environment brings with it an onslaught of data. Now more than ever, managers must know how to tease insight from data—to understand where the numbers come from, make sense of them, and use them to inform tough decisions. How do you get started?
Whether you're working with data experts or running your own tests, you'll find answers in the HBR Guide to Data Analytics Basics for Managers. This book describes three key steps in the data analysis process, so you can get the information you need, study the data, and communicate your findings to others.
You'll learn how to identify the metrics you need to measure; run experiments and A/B tests; ask the right questions of your data experts; understand statistical terms and concepts; create effective charts and visualizations; and avoid common mistakes.
HBR Guide to Thinking Strategically
by Harvard Business Review
read by Daniel Henning
Part of the HBR Guide series
Bring strategy into your daily work.
It's your responsibility as a manager to ensure that your work-and the work of your team-aligns with the overarching objectives of your organization. But when you're faced with competing projects and limited time, it's difficult to keep strategy front of mind. How do you keep your eye on the long term amid a sea of short-term demands?
The HBR Guide to Thinking Strategically provides practical advice and tips to help you see the big-picture perspective in every aspect of your daily work, from making decisions to setting team priorities to attacking your own to-do list. You'll learn how to understand your organization's strategy; align your team around key objectives; focus on the priorities that matter most; spot trends in your company and in your industry; consider future outcomes when making decisions; manage trade-offs; and embrace a leadership mindset.
HBR Guide to Generative AI for Managers
by Harvard Business Review
read by Eleanor McCormick
Part of the HBR Guide series
How to use gen AI to save time, innovate faster, and lead effectively.
You're probably aware that generative AI can output quality text in any style and create stunning images in seconds. But smart managers are using gen AI for much more-business case development, data analysis, strategic exploration, and dozens of other applications. Soon, managers who develop their generative AI capabilities will be leaping ahead of managers who don't. Fortunately, you can start now and see results fast.
The HBR Guide to Generative AI for Managers is packed with practical tips, prompts, case studies, and ideas to apply gen AI to dozens of managerial tasks right away and achieve incredible results. It's time for you to develop your gen AI–enabled mindset. This book will show you how.
You'll learn how to understand key terms and concepts; identify the risks and rewards of generative AI; enhance your productivity; employ gen AI as both a copilot and a co-thinker; use the generative AI platform that best suits your needs; and leverage gen AI for business decisions and leading change.