Audiobooks by Michael Useem

Resolute Japan: The Leaders Forging a Corporate Resurgence

"In Resolute Japan, Waseda University's Jusuke J. J. Ikegami and the Wharton School's Harbir Singh and Michael Useem reveal a new leadership model that has led Japan's corporations to make a stunning comeback. In the process, they share what they have learned from interviews with more than 100 CEOs and top executives of Japan's largest and most influential companies, including Hitachi, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, NTT, and Panasonic. In this book, you will discover how Japan's new leadership model has led to superior performance in the stock market and beyond; the core principles and practices that characterize Japan's new leadership model and how they differ from the old models; how Japan's new leadership model enables companies to balance multiple and often conflicting objectives, such as shareholder value and social responsibility, short-term results and long-term growth, and agility and stability; how Japan's new leadership model fosters innovation, resilience, and competitiveness in a rapidly changing global environment; and more. Resolute Japan offers a rare and insightful perspective on the new corporate fabric of Japan, one that is sure to both challenge and enlighten leaders around the world."

Harbir Singh, Jusuke J. J. Ikegami, Michael Useem (Author), Jonathan Yen (Narrator)

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Boards That Lead: When to Take Charge, When to Partner, and When to Stay Out of the Way

"Is your firm's board creating value—or destroying it? Change is coming. Leadership at the top is being redefined as boards take a more active role in decisions that once belonged solely to the CEO. But for all the advantages of increased board engagement, it can create debilitating questions of authority and dangerous meddling in day-to-day operations. Directors need a new road map—for when to lead, when to partner, and when to stay out of the way. Boardroom veterans Ram Charan, Dennis Carey, and Michael Useem advocate this new governance model—a sharp departure from what has been demanded by governance activists, raters, and regulators—and reveal the emerging practices that are defining shared leadership of directors and executives. Based on personal interviews and the authors' broad and deep experience working with executives and directors from dozens of the world's largest firms, Boards That Lead tells the inside story behind the successes and pitfalls of this new leadership model and explains how to define the central idea of the company; ensure that the right CEO is in place and potential successors are identified; recruit directors who add value; root out board dysfunction; select a board leader who deftly bridges the divide between management and the board; and set a high bar on ethics and risk."

Dennis Carey, Michael Useem, Ram Charan (Author), Todd McLaren (Narrator)

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The Strategic Leader's Roadmap, Revised and Updated Edition: 6 Steps for Integrating Leadership and Strategy

"In The Strategic Leader's Roadmap, Updated and Revised Edition: 6 Steps for Integrating Leadership and Strategy, Wharton management professors Harbir Singh and Michael Useem offer a six-point checklist for today's leaders to follow. They explain how leading strategically will help managers strengthen their capacity to develop strategy and to lead its execution. Drawing on one-on-one interviews with CEOs, in-depth research, and their experience teaching today's executives and tomorrow's leaders, Singh and Useem take listeners into the offices—and mindsets—of some of today's foremost strategic leaders. In this fully updated and revised edition, Singh and Useem explore: How Indra Nooyi rose to become CEO of PepsiCo and led its successful strategic redirection; How Jack Ma consistently pivoted and outflanked competition to position Alibaba to become a global behemoth; How John Chambers, executive chairman of Cisco Systems, changed his and other company leaders' leadership to stay ahead of disruption; How Lawrence Culp Jr., the CEO of General Electric, has increased efficiency by up to 900% by undertaking a thorough examination of process and strategy. The Strategic Leader's Roadmap will enable leaders at all levels to master the abilities necessary to keep their companies ahead of the competition."

Harbir Singh, Michael Useem (Author), Lyle Blaker (Narrator)

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The Leader's Checklist, 10th Anniversary Edition: 16 Mission-Critical Principles

"In The Leader's Checklist, 10th Anniversary Edition: 16 Mission-Critical Principles, world-renowned leadership expert and Wharton professor Michael Useem shows you how to lead through any challenge. In this illuminating guide, Useem offers a Leader's Checklist that will help you develop your ability to make good and timely decisions in unpredictable and stressful environments—for those moments when leadership really matters. To illustrate the principles, Useem examines where leaders go right—and wrong. He looks at: how Ramos, the former CEO of ITT, turned around the once-struggling enterprise; how AIG's tone-deaf response to the tumultuous events of the global financial crisis left the company vulnerable to one of the greatest corporate collapses in business history; and how Virginia Rometty, the former executive chair of IBM, acquired and integrated a cloud-computing company to help turn around IBM's fortunes. Based on Useem's own research experience and an array of leadership investigators, thinkers, and practitioners, The Leader's Checklist offers actionable insights you can put into practice as a leader today."

Michael Useem (Author), Tom Parks (Narrator)

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The Edge: How Ten CEOs Learned to Lead--And the Lessons for Us All

""If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space." -Jim Whittaker, first American to climb Mt. Everest A leader's job-in a radically changing world-is standing on the cliff edge, getting a grip on unfamiliar landscapes, and acquiring the skills for leading the enterprise into new territory. In a world facing the unprecedented challenges of global pandemic and economic distruption, every leader needs to find the edge for leaping across the breach and breaking new ground on the other side. Michael Useem provides rare insight into how ten leaders confronted hard realities. He looked close-in at the lide and work of people such as Bill McNabb of Vanguard, Jeffrey Lurie of the Philadelphia Eagles, Alex Gorsky of Johnson & Johnson, and Tricia Griffith of Progressive Insurance. His "you are there" profiles chronicle fateful decisions such as: - Meeting the concerns of a next-generation workforce that considers inclusiveness an integral part of business - Developing a strategy for growth in a market that is cratering - Escaping the confines of an insane, always-on, 24/7 world to learn about the real, granular changes happening in the marketplace Useem's profiles of leaders on the edge provide the inspiration and the guidance we all need for adapting and thriving in an era of massive disruption and continuous transformation."

Michael Useem (Author), Tom Parks (Narrator)

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Go Long: Why Long-Term Thinking is Your Best Short-Term Strategy

"In Go Long, authors Dennis Carey, Brian Dumaine, Michael Useem, and Rodney Zemmel take you behind-the-scenes to witness the business decisions that are enabling leading organizations to outsmart and outlast the competition. ● Why did CEO Larry Merlo allow CVS to take a 2 billion dollar hit—on purpose? ● How did CEO Alan Mulally maneuver Ford's 48 billion dollar turnaround? ● How did director Maggie Wilderotter and her fellow board members engage top management to embark on an unusual exercise to help Hewlett Packard Enterprise build a long-term strategy? ● Why did CEO Paul Polman's turn back to Unilever's original mission of leading with a purpose to fuel profits? ● How did CEO Ivan Seidenberg convince his investors and board to allow him to make a 150 billion dollar bet? ● How did CEO George Buckley find a way to address investor calls for 3M to spend less on research and development while still finding a way to innovate? These leaders argue that a short-term mindset might satisfy investors for this quarter or next, but there's a heavy price to be paid. Instead, they argue, long-term thinking is your best short-term strategy."

Brian Dumaine, Dennis Carey, Michael Useem, Rodney Zemmel (Author), Daniel Thomas May (Narrator)

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Leading Up: How to Lead Your Boss So You Both Win

"Eight true stories show that Leaders today aren’t just bosses, they’re self-starters who take charge even when they haven’t been given a charge. Upward leaders get results by helping their superiors lead. They make sure that good ideas don’t die on the vine because a boss’s understanding doesn’t reach down deep enough into the organization. Upward leadership assures that advice arrives from all points on the corporate compass, not just from the top down. And it applies at every level: Even CEOs need to learn about leading up because they ultimately answer to their boards. In Leading Up, Michael Useem offers instructive accounts of this vital and unexplored facet of leadership. Drawing on the extraordinary experiences of real people, Useem shows us what happens when those not in charge rise to the challenge, and also what happens when those who should step forward fail to do so: * Civil War generals openly disrespected and frequently misinformed their commanders in chief, with tragic consequences for both sides. * COO David Pottruck learned how to lead with his superiors at Charles Schwab & Co. in order to radically change Schwab’s core business. * Had he been able to convince his superiors of the dire situation in Rwanda, United Nations commander Roméo Dallaire might have prevented the genocide that claimed 800,000 lives. * The CEOs of CBS, Compaq, and British Airways concentrated on leading down when they needed to lead up to their boards, too. The result: All three were fired. * U.S. Marine Corps general Peter Pace reconciled conflicting priorities while reporting to six bosses with varying agendas by keeping all of them informed and challenging them when necessary. * Mount Everest mountaineers admitted they might have protected themselves and others from harm during a fateful ascent if only they had questioned their guides’ flawed instructions and decisions. * Even in government, representatives often need to first strike a deal, then lead their bosses to embrace it, as examples from the United States and Argentina illustrate. * No one ever had a tougher job of leading up than Old Testament prophets Moses, Abraham, and Samuel, who interceded with the ultimate authority. Leading up is not the same as managing up. Managing up is running the office; leading up is taking the reins and exceeding what’s expected. As hierarchies everywhere shed much of their rigidity, upward leadership at all levels becomes more possible—and more necessary. Leading Up is a call to action. It asks us to build on the best in everybody’s nature, and it offers a pragmatic blueprint for doing so."

Michael Useem (Author), James Lurie (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks by Michael Useem

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