Amazon.com
In
1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work, Bob Nelson applies the formula behind his two previous books,
1001 Ways to Energize Employees and
1001 Ways to Reward Employees, and shows how any employee can advance his or her career by taking action, questioning authority, and thinking "outside the box." The book is filled with hundreds of stories about how workers, through simple initiatives, have made a difference at their companies--from the familiar story about the origins of Post-Its at 3M to how a Home Depot store manager helped a customer in a wheelchair. These stories are flanked by dozens of sidebars filled with short prescriptions for bettering the workplace and one's career (e.g., "Tactics for Influencing Others," "Don't Settle for Just Good Enough"). For Nelson, the key to fostering initiative is getting past the roadblocks that inhibits creativity. He cites a UCLA study that showed that by the "age five we engage in creative tasks 98 times a day, laugh 113 times, and ask questions 65 times. By the age of 44, however, the numbers shrink to 2 creative tasks a day, 11 laughs, and 6 questions." If your professional aspirations center on just getting by, then take a pass on this one. Those looking for practical career advice, however, would do well to give
1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work a good look.
--Harry C. Edwards
Product Description
1001 WAYS to Take Initiative at Work is about managing up--about employees taking ownership of their jobs, whether it's an assistant working for a manager or a VP working for the CEO. Third in the 1001 Ways series by bestselling business writer Bob Nelson, whose 1001 Ways to Reward Employees and 1001 Ways to Energize Employees have over 900,000 copies in print, TAKE INITIATIVE is the first management book for employees. Weaving together case studies, examples, quotes, research highlights, and the author's own "Tool Box" of management techniques and exercises, this practical handbook will show every reader how to develop self-leadership, set goals, create learning opportunities, take risks, build a team, sell ideas, and work both within and outside the larger organization. Taking initiative is about a former secretary at Johnsonville Foods who originated and now runs the company's thriving mail-order business. It's about a technical writer who created Xerox's popular "webmaster" website. And it's about you. As Bob Nelson proves, employees have much more power than they think--taking initiative is how to harness that power and reap its rewards. By the bestselling author of 1001 Ways to Reward Employees and 1001 Ways to Energize Employees, with over 900,000 copies in print.
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