The Disciplined Leader: Keeping the Focus on What Really Matters

Written by John Manning and Katie Roberts

Narrated by Wayne Shepherd

What do the best leaders have in common? As president of MAP, John Manning should know. MAP has helped tens of thousands of top executives accelerate their leadership and management performance. Manning says the answer is one word: discipline. But for Manning, discipline has a very specific meaning.

All leaders have scores of things they could do. But a disciplined leader is one who identifies and focuses on the Vital Few: the 20 percent of activities that will drive 80 percent of the results. And the results that are most important are those tied to the organization's most precious asset: its people.

The Disciplined Leader offers fifty-two succinct lessons to help you home in on your own Vital Few in three critical areas: leading yourself, leading your team, and leading your organization. Each lesson comes with recommended tactics and practical “Take Action!” tips for implementing it, so there are literally hundreds of pieces of must-know, time-tested advice here. The chapters are self-contained, so you can read them in any order and come back to the ones that resonate with you—your own Vital Few! This is a hands-on, nuts-and-bolts guide to leadership practice that's built to inspire action, drive change, and achieve results.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Release date: Jun 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781626566491

John Manning

Author and editor John Manning was born in the Detroit suburb of Wyandotte, Michigan, on October 31, 1947. Although his early years were spent in the Midwest, he grew up all over the United States. Aside from his military postings (he spent nearly twelve years in the US Army), most of his adult life was in Texas. Although he discovered his love for writing at an early age, it was not until his first novel, Black Stump Ridge (cowritten with his longtime friend Forrest Hedrick), was released in January 2011 that his dream started to bear fruit. It went on to place tenth in the Editors & Preditors Readers’ Poll in the category of Best New Horror Novels for 2011. It was also considered for a Nebula Award but did not make the final ballot. Instead, it was placed on the 2011 Nebula Recommended Reading List. He followed with eight short stories and one poem published in various collections. “Disclaimer” (Lawyers in Hell, released in July 2011), “Showdown at Brimstone Arsenal” (Rogues in Hell, released in June 2012), and “Just Dessert” (Dreamers in Hell, released in July 2013) are part of the Heroes in Hell anthologies edited by Janet and Chris Morris and published by Perseid Press. John’s fourth short story, “Asylum,” appears in the third book of the Michael H. Hanson and Ed McKeown anthology, Sha’Daa: Pawns, released by Perseid Press in November 2012 and rereleased in June 2014 by Moon Dream Press. His fifth story, “Mr. Bass Man” will appear in the fourth book of the Sha’Daa series, Sha’Daa: Facets. “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” appears in What Scares the Boogeyman? released by Perseid Press in February 2013. His last two stories, as well as a poem, are part of Klarissa Dreams, a collection of stories and artwork assembled by Elisha Fraser (artwork by Klarissa Kocsis). As editor-in-chief and owner of Fantom Enterprises, he edited What Scares the Boogeyman?, a collection of horror and dark fantasy. He is also working on nine more anthologies: Heroes All, Dark Corners, Discontinuum, Dark Love, Nightfangs, Shamblers, The Nameless, Unhallowed, and The Uninvited. Terror by Gaslight is his second anthology and the first in his Night Chills series. John now lives near Chattanooga with his wife, De Anna, and their Italian greyhound, Speedy.