Courage Goes to Work: How to Build Backbones, Boost Performance, and Get Results [Hardcover]

Bill Treasurer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2008

"Courage Goes to Work" is for every manager who has ever struggled with how to get their employees to have more backbone. This book helps managers inspire their workers to move out of their comfort zones and harness their fears so they can step up to challenges more readily and embrace company changes more wholeheartedly. While other books have focused on different realms of courage, "Courage Goes to Work" is the first book to offer a way of breaking down courageous actions into 3 easy to understand groups, show the benefit of courage itself as a skill, and provide tools to embolden a manager's workforce.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Praise for Courage Goes to Work

"Fear and doubt are the two greatest enemies of high performance in the workplace. This powerful book shows you how to instill more and more courage and confidence in every person, releasing personal potential you didn't know you had available."
--Brian Tracy, author of Eat that Frog!

"Bill Treasurer gives any aspiring leader a practical guide on how to develop the courage that is needed to make an organization a winner...Courage Goes to Work gives us the conviction that ordinary individuals can achieve extraordinary results."
--Joe Forehand, retired Chairman and CEO, Accenture

"Great companies have bold strategies. But bold strategies have to be implemented by courageous people. Courage Goes to Work offers valuable ideas for boosting workforce performance by building people's courage. This is top-shelf management reading with bottom-line implications."
--Tom Bell, chief strategy officer, First Data

"I loved Bill's first book, Right Risk, and I love Courage Goes to Work even more. Bill's unique life experiences, along with his gritty business knowledge, make a powerful combination. The result is a book that will transform the way you think about courage, and the way you manage your people, too."
--Sharon Jordan-Evans, executive coach, keynote presenter, coauthor of Love 'Em or Lose 'Em: Getting Good People to Stay

"Finally, a book that helps stiffen people's spine at work! Courage Goes to Work is the solution for any manager who has ever been perplexed with how to motivate their workers, and move them past the debilitating effects of fear and comfort."
--Bill Stroner, president and CEO, DEMCO

From the Back Cover

The hardest part of a manager's job isn't keeping things organized, meeting deliverable dates, or staying on budget. It's dealing with people who are too comfortable doing things the way they've always been done and too afraid to do things differently--workers who are, as author Bill Treasurer puts it, too "comfeartable." Such workers fail to exert themselves any more than they have to, equating "just enough" with good enough. By avoiding even mild challenges, these workers thwart forward progress and make their businesses dangerously safe.

To combat this affliction, Treasurer proposes a bold antidote: courage. In Courage Goes to Work, he lays out a comprehensive, step-by-step process that treats courage as a skill that can be developed and strengthened. Treasurer shows how managers can build workplace courage by modeling courageous behavior themselves, creating an environment where people feel safe taking chances and helping workers deal with fear.

To make the concept of courage more concrete, Treasurer identifies what he calls the Three Buckets of Courage: TRY Courage, having the guts to take initiative; TRUST Courage, being willing to follow the lead of others; and TELL Courage, being honest and assertive with coworkers and bosses. He illustrates each with a variety of vivid real-world examples, and offers proven practices for helping your workers keep each bucket full.

Aristotle said that courage is the first virtue, because it makes all other virtues possible. It's as true in business as it is in life. With more courage, workers gain the necessary confidence to take on harder projects, embrace company changes with more enthusiasm, and extend themselves in ways that will benefit their careers and their company. Courage Goes to Work is the first book to take a systematic approach to developing a vital but overlooked component of business success.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 1 edition (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576755010
• ISBN-13: 978-1576755013
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #354,847 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bill Treasurer is founder and Chief Encouragement Officer at Giant Leap Consulting (GLC), a Courage Building company that exists to help people and organizations live more courageously.

Bill is considered the originator of the new organizational development practice of "courage-building". Bill is the author of Courage Goes to Work, a book about how to inspire more courageous behavior in workplace settings. The book became the 6th bestselling management book...in China!

Bill's newest material is titled Courageous Leadership: Using Courage to Transform the Workplace. As a comprehensive off-the-shelf training program, the material is designed to help leaders inspire more courageous behavior in their organizations.

Bill's first book, Right Risk is about how to take smart risks, and draws on Treasurer's experiences as both an organizational development professional and as a daredevil athlete.

Bill Treasurer also served as the chief editor of POSITIVELY M.A.D. (Making A Difference) (Berrett-Koehler, 2004). The book is a compilation of stories, from world- renowned experts, that inspires readers to make a difference in their organizations. Gannett newspapers calls it "required reading for all employees contemplating putting a co-worker's tie through the shredder -- with the co-worker still attached."

Bill's insights have been featured in over 100 newspapers, including The Washington Post, The NY Daily News, The Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Boston Herald, and Investor's Business Daily. Bill's insights have also appeared in such magazines as Leader-to-Leader, Woman's Day, Parent, Redbook, Fitness, American Way, and The Harvard Management Update.

Since 1991 Bill has conducted nearly 500 corporate workshops designed to strengthen people's leadership skills, improve team performance, accelerate innovation, and help executives behave more courageously. Among his clients are Accenture, PNC Bank, EarthLink, SPANX, Walsh Construction, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Forest Service, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Veteran's Administration.

Bill lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with his wife Shannon and their three children, Bina, Alex, and Ian. To contact Bill, email [e-mail].

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courage Goes To Work, April 17, 2009

By 

R. Pratt "New Beginning" (Lancaster, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Courage Goes to Work: How to Build Backbones, Boost Performance, and Get Results (Hardcover)

Courage Goes To Work is an amazing book. Just by reading it has helped me gain much more confidence in myself. When I was reading the book and trust me I hate to even read but when I started reading this book I couldn't put it down. It was as if the author was talking about me. It tells amazing stories and is a great purchase for someone that wants to make new challenges in their life. You will not regret buying this book. I have read it twice and I know I will read it a 3rd time once I get it back from a friend of mine that barrowed it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courage Goes To Work - Great Interesting Read, January 4, 2010

By 

Meridith E. Powell "M Powell" (Asheville NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Courage Goes to Work: How to Build Backbones, Boost Performance, and Get Results (Hardcover)

Courage Goes To Work - I loved this book! The title is what grabbed me first, as the workplace is one place we definitely need more courage. Bill is a terrific writer. His style is motivational, easy to read and powerful in its simplicity. As well, Bill is humble and approachable in his delivery, and I identified with him through struggles, triumphs and principles throughout this book. I love to learn, read and gain knowledge. I am years behind in the number of books I want to read, and articles I want to research. Choosing what to read next is not often easy for me. I am so glad Bill's book made it to the top of my list, and I think you will be too. I highly recommend this entertaining, motivating and action oriented book. Read it and put the ideas and strategies to work immediately - you will be glad you did!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courage and one simple question..., December 8, 2008

By 

N. Salinas (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Courage Goes to Work: How to Build Backbones, Boost Performance, and Get Results (Hardcover)

Great book. Bill is a motivational writer using real world examples that hit home. Once you answer the holy question "What do you want?" read this book to figure out how to get it. A quick read that empowers you to do the right thing and get what you want. A guide to building your own strength and getting people to follow. A book I will use for reference for a long time.