There is a competitive advantage out there, arguably more powerful than any other. Is it superior strategy? Faster innovation? Smarter employees? No, New York Times best-selling author, Patrick Lencioni, argues that the seminal difference between successful companies and mediocre ones has little to do with what they know and how smart they are and more to do with how healthy they are. In this book, Lencioni brings together his vast experience and many of the themes cultivated in his other best-selling books and delivers a first: a cohesive and comprehensive exploration of the unique advantage organizational health provides.

Simply put, an organization is healthy when it is whole, consistent and complete, when its management, operations and culture are unified. Healthy organizations outperform their counterparts, are free of politics and confusion and provide an environment where star performers never want to leave. Lencioni's first non-fiction book provides leaders with a groundbreaking, approachable model for achieving organizational health--complete with stories, tips and anecdotes from his experiences consulting to some of the nation's leading organizations. In this age of informational ubiquity and nano-second change, it is no longer enough to build a competitive advantage based on intelligence alone. The Advantage provides a foundational construct for conducting business in a new way--one that maximizes human potential and aligns the organization around a common set of principles.

In 1993, John C. Maxwell's now-classic work revolutionized the way leaders are made. By examining the differences between leadership styles, Maxwell outlines principles for inspiring, motivating, and influencing others from any type of leadership position--including as a business executive, a church leader, a teacher, or even a parent.Now the author has returned to his best seller to include the leadership insights and practices he has learned in the decades since the book first appeared. Thoroughly revised and with two additional chapters, Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 has updated these foundational principles and promises to provide for both new readers as well as longtime fans of the original book the necessary wisdom to help any leader and organization succeed in fostering integrity, self-discipline, and effecting positive change.Develop your vision. Develop your value. Develop the leader within you.

Following the extraordinary international success of Tom Wujec's first book, "Pumping Ions," "Five Star Mind" teaches you to unlock and expand thecreative potential you already possess -- although you might not know it -- anddevelop it to give you confidence and skills that will enhance your work andyour life.

Using puzzles, tips, thought association, relaxation techniques, games of"What If, " and constant questioning, Tom Wujec cajoles you into realizing yourinherent power for creative thought and expression. In addition to helping youdiscover your innate abilities, Wujec shows you innumerable ways to apply yournew ideas and creativity to work, to everyday life, or to just having fun. With "Five Star Mind," you participate in the creative process, develop yourinventiveness and imagination, and enhance skills that will have you cooking upfive-star ideas of your own!

Tom Wujec is creative dirtector of Digital Media Services at the Royal OntarioMuseum in Toronto. He lectures internationally on the subjects of multimediainterface design, computer animation, and developing content for CD-ROM titlesand electronic information networks. Tom has studied psychology andastrophysics at the University of Toronto.

Institutions matter. They give us an opportunity to have an influence for the common good that far outlasts us. But we often assume that institutions are at cross-purposes with dynamic communities, with personal vocational calling, and with core human values. We view them somewhat cynically as, perhaps, a necessary evil. Institutions, far from that, remain essential to human flourishing. They are the very means by which communities thrive, individual vocations are fulfilled, and society is changed for the good. As a result, we all need to learn how to work effectively within institutions. That is just what Gordon Smith provides. He unpacks the core of institutional intelligence--the wisdom of working effectively within an organization. At the same time, he shows how team leaders, directors, executives, board members, key stakeholders, and employees can avoid what is often their greatest source of stress on the job--working with the institutional character of their organizations. Focusing on the nonprofit sector, Smith unlocks the essential elements of how institutions function in a productive, healthy manner. Church staff, educators, and those in service agencies can all thrive by understanding these dynamics instead of fighting against them. By developing this essential vocational capacity, we and those around us can not only fulfill ourselves but also a mission that is larger than we are.