Businesses face unprecedented challenges with technology, supply chain issues, economic uncertainty, and political instability. To avoid being overwhelmed by the chaos and outmanoeuvred by their competitors, leaders must learn how to turn disruption into opportunity and instil strategic thinking into their teams, cultures, and management styles.

Every leader can learn to be a stronger strategic thinker. From mental agility and pattern recognition to visioning and political savvy, this book digs deep into the six disciplines of strategic thinking that separate good and great leaders, and offers the tools required to build this skill into a competitive edge in a VUCA environment.

A comprehensive, practical, and actionable guide to strategic thinking, this essential new book offers a wealth of insights and tools for leaders at all levels to help them win the game of business – strategically.

Standing still in today's business environment is not an option if you are to survive and thrive. But navigating your way through change can be complex, challenging and daunting. Business Morphology is here to help break down this complexity.

No matter what sector you're in or what challenges your organisation is facing, authors and business transformation experts Julie Nerney and Geoff Robins say there are five fundamental levers that you can apply to effect real change: modifying your operating model, product or service diversification, mergers or acquisitions, people, and culture.

For each of the levers, Nerney and Robins draw on their extensive experience leading major transformation programmes in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors to design Morphology Maps – an easy-to-use, visual planning tool to help leaders contextualise their current situation and reach their transformation goals.

Political unrest, economic instability, rapidly developing technologies and the climate crisis are just some of the unprecedented challenges the world is facing today. Businesses across all sectors face pressures to change, innovate and adapt quickly – and do more with less – yet we all know 70% of all change initiatives fail, so why is nothing actually changing? Why are businesses not only wasting budget, but also missing opportunities to make a positive impact on society.

So, what is the secret behind the few change initiatives that do successfully build and harness a ‘whatever it takes’ culture in a company, and actually do business better?

New book, Every Team Actually Doing Business Better, reveals the inside stories of how organisations around the world have succeeded (and failed) in using purpose to actually make a meaningful difference. Authors Atif Sheikh and Darren Ashby are co-founders of leading purpose, culture and change consultancy, businessfourzero, and have seen and shared the frustrations over the pace and nature of change in businesses. They created a step-by-step guide by drawing upon exclusive real-life case studies of how organisations including Tesco, EA, TSB, IHG and Aviva were able to actually unlock a new level of commercial performance whilst simultaneously delivering massive positive societal impact.

At a time when trust in leaders and big corporations is low, the book provides a blueprint for building human-centred, purpose-driven businesses. It demonstrates how the values of each individual can be harnessed to create organisations where every single team is ready, willing and able to run through any wall to deliver your purpose and strategy.

A business on a mission is a truly remarkable thing, and the commercial and societal gains can be enormous – so why do so few companies get anywhere near that level?

The golden thread between Strategy, Culture and Purpose

From writing the perfect purpose statement to creating a strategy that puts your purpose to action, strengthening your team’s mission-focus to nurturing their collective agency, this book is packed with practical tips, tools and exercises to achieve impactful and sustainable change for success.

Every Team Actually Doing Business Better is a book for C-level leaders who want their businesses to change faster than the world around them. It is an invaluable guide for CEOs, CPOs, entrepreneurs, HR and L&D leaders alike to align their strategy, culture and purpose to create faster, deeper and lasting transformation.

Women navigating a traditionally male-dominated technical sector too frequently feel invisible, frustrated, and undervalued in the workplace. Lauren Neal has been there, and she’s developed tried-and-tested approaches that male-dominated organisations can take to motivate and retain women. Because only a truly empowered, diverse workforce can drive the best business outcomes and innovations.

Inspired by real-life stories, Valued at Work gives you the tools to take control and drive real change without alienating any of the workforce!

Lauren Neal is an award-winning chartered engineer and chartered project professional in the energy industry. Having worked with men and women offshore, onshore and onsite on multimillion-dollar projects across the globe since 2005, she is a sought-after speaker and writer championing gender equity within STEM.

Professional women over 50 are faced with a triple-whammy of discrimination: they are not male, young, or linear in their career paths. As a result, they are leaving corporate life and taking their career into their own hands. And with it, they take their abundant wisdom, energy and ambition.

Drawing on new research by Dr Lucy Ryan that fills a longstanding data gap, this book shows that assumptions about declining midlife motivation and energy just aren’t true for women and reveals how you can retain and develop this invaluable talent pool with a better understanding of their challenges and a few simple changes.

In Revolting Women, Dr Lucy Ryan shows how professional women have transformed our world and how women over 50 are deserving of your attention and ready to step up in your business.

Communication is crucial to success in life and business. However, it is not just big speeches that matter: it is also those critical, spur-of-the-moment situations for which we cannot prepare.

A prospective client asking unexpected questions during a sales pitch, a teacher singling you out for an answer during a class, a high-pressure meeting with senior executives at work, or even a heartwarming toast to deliver on the spot. All are fraught scenarios that might cause you to freeze up. The pandemic has only boosted this fear, by stripping the spontaneity from communication during lockdown, and then changing the communication landscape.

In this invaluable guide, Matt Abrahams – Stanford University lecturer and creator of the hit podcast, Think Fast, Talk Smart – provides a six-point methodology that will enable you to cut through the anxiety arising from these stressful, impromptu circumstances to create and deliver crisp, compelling and calm communication.

The disruptive moment in which we find ourselves living demands that we are our own agents of change. The Seven Games of Leadership is a guide for readers through seven key phases of personal and professional development, with the aim not of climbing a corporate ladder but of finding true and lasting satisfaction in what they do.

It encourages the realization that revolutionary change is not about destroying the current status quo, but about co-designing and rebuilding different paths for individuals to thrive, and go on to have a positive impact on society at large. The objective is to allow people to identify a career that is better aligned not only with their individual values, but with a broader purpose centred on a wider sense of humanity and sustainable prosperity for all.

The Seven Games of Leadership provides the tools and practical advice you need to reassess your priorities and take the steps necessary to refocus your life, your career and the issues of the world around you.

The adoption of remote, hybrid and flexible working is the new normal. But like the old normal, no one seems very happy. The solution requires a different type of leadership – one that unites, transforms and elevates performance. Leadership that creates glue.

With employee engagement, productivity and personal ties on the wane, leaders urgently need to refocus on harnessing relationships, making their organisations more humane, and finding new ways to engage and unleash talent. To do that, the single, most impactful thing leaders can do is to create and nurture an intangible, yet essential, factor called glue.

Glue sets out some ideas about glue: where to look for it, how to use it and, most importantly, how to cultivate glue amongst your most valuable people. It explores the approach of some unusual leaders, and of firms transformed through the ‘organisational advantage’ of smartly configuring and harnessing talent. Using stories from firms such as Alibaba, Apple, Barclays, Sky, Husqvarna Group, HSBC, Space X, Zopa and Richer Sounds, the book shows how leaders can shape the effectiveness of teams, reimagine the workplace, and reinvigorate their business through the talents, ideas and energy of their firm’s best people.

This book is for anyone who has a genuine interest in leading others with impact and wants to better unite, transform and elevate their business. Whatever your role, sector or seniority, this book sets out a distinctive vision for the firm and shows the profound impact you can make through creating and nurturing glue.

In Crazy Busy acclaimed psychologist Thijs Launspach examines why we often work ourselves to the bone and what we can do to prevent this. He explains how to cope with stress and create more peace and calm in your life. He draws on the latest scientific knowledge, the methods used by experts and the stories told by those who have learned the hard way what stress can do to both body and mind. All to provide you with the answer to the question: how can you free yourself from a life of stress?

A full diary and no time to think; the feeling that you are always playing catch-up and never quite hitting the mark: our lives today are almost invariably crazy busy. Being busy is one of the hallmarks of the modern era. But the pressure is taking its toll on us.

The number of burnouts has risen dramatically over the past ten years. In fact, it has now reached epidemic proportions: approximately one in seven of all workers suffers badly from stress or has been forced to take a break from work because of stress-related complaints. And even if you don’t reach the actual burnout stage, stress can still make your life a lot less enjoyable.

Why are our lives so hectic? Have we all become workaholics? Why are we so susceptible to FOMO (the Fear Of Missing Out)? And most importantly, what can you do to cope with the stress in your life and prevent a burnout?

• Do you find yourself rushing to get things finished more than once a week?
• Do others often offer you well-intentioned advice on ‘how to slow things down a little’.
• Do you ever suspect that the stress you feel prevents you from being as happy as you would like to be?
• Are you more addicted to your smartphone than you would care to admit? Is it the first thing you reach for when you wake up in the morning?
• Do you often find yourself longing to stop and take a break from it all?

If your answer to one or more of these questions is ‘Yes’, then this is the book for you.

Most organizations today strive for goals such as employee diversity, inclusive leadership, and younger and fresher ideas. But how do we get there?

In her trailblazing Reverse Mentorship program, world-renowned executive coach and personal development advocate Patrice Gordon creates a safe and engaging culture by having senior leaders learn from junior employees. While typical mentoring programs arrange for a senior manager to teach the more junior employee, Reverse Mentoring is the opposite: it's all about a leader leaning into their vulnerability, forming a relationship with an underrepresented employee, and amplifying the voice of marginalized people within the company.

Reverse Mentoring offers various tips to make reverse mentorship work. Gordon explores the power of uncomfortable and awkward moments becoming key points of transformation when people have to pause, reflect and assess their past behaviors and current assumptions which are at odds with the topic at hand. She ultimately reveals how bringing more humanity into our organizations allows us to see one another and ourselves in a radically new light.

In Tech-Led Culture, Duena Blomstrom highlights how you can discover the new innovations and technologies that can lead to meaningful and lasting change in your business. This book provides you with the insights, knowledge and confidence you need to improve your performance and ensure that your business thrives and grows in the increasingly innovative and competitive landscape.

Employees and teams are more disengaged and fragmented than ever; get ahead of the competition and attract new talent by becoming the exception. Tech-Led Culture is an essential companion for any leader or changemaker looking to implement and sustain change initiatives within their business which will lead to more productivity, greater innovation and better performance.

Many leaders are especially capable ‘left brain’ thinkers, a trait that has served them well in their careers, allowing them to build strong strategic, problem-solving and goal achievement track records. And yet the challenges facing today’s workplace – the rise of remote working, the evolution of AI, the need for more emotional connection, the drive for truly inclusive cultures – increasingly require different thinking using the ‘right brain’.

Executive Coach Yda Bouvier has distilled her 25 years’ experience helping leaders use their right brain into the inspiring new book, Leading with the Right Brain – the ultimate guide to activating right-brain thinking.

She breaks down the neuroscience behind how the left and right brain work, and provides case studies, techniques and tools that leaders, coaches, and employees alike can practice to engage their right brain, in order to see more, think differently and bring new insights, gain a better emotional understanding about ourselves and others and build stronger team connections – especially virtually – making remote working more fulfilling – activating the right brain is critical for our wellbeing.