The Core Values Compass: Moving From Cynicism to a Core Values Culture
by Dennis F. Haley

Authors: Dennis F. Haley
Length: 183 pages
Publisher: Academy Leadership Publishing (2010)
ISBN-10: 0972732357
ISBN-13: 978-0972732352

Is your organization united by core values...or divided by personal agendas?

Chances are, you have an organizational purpose and perhaps a set of espoused values printed somewhere on official corporate documents. But does everyone in your organization really live these ideals? If your answer is a reluctant "no" (or even a hesitant "I'm not sure"), this book is for you.

Dennis Haley has penned an engaging business fable that illuminates the importance of building a values-driven culture. This is the story of Guy Cedrick, a young executive who finds his priorities put to the test after his company undergoes a difficult merger. In a new environment that only pays lip service to its stated values, he must decide whether to meet short-term deadlines at any cost or to maintain alignment and accountability—even at the risk of his own job.

If you've ever wondered how to get your team working in sync, how to approach an individual with a "my way or the highway" attitude, or how to take corrective action in a dysfunctional office culture, read this book. It's filled with proven tactics to help you and your team create a shared understanding of values and align them with your organization's purpose, policies and practices.

In a turbulent age of corporate fraud, scandal, and economic strife, it's tempting to hide behind a shield of cynicism when core values are mentioned. Yet these are the very conditions that make them more critical than ever. The Core Values Compass proves once and for all that holding fast to what you stand for is the key to navigating any storm—and finding your way to true success.

The Corporate Compass: Providing Focus and Alignment to Stay the Course, 2nd Edition
by Ed Ruggero and Dennis F. Haley

Hardcover: 123 pages
Publisher: Academy Leadership Publishing (November 30, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0972732365
ISBN-13: 978-0972732369

If your people don't know where your company is going, how will they ever take it there?

Introducing a book that will get every employee working toward a clear and common destination.

Success happens on two levels: individual and organizational. As a leader, you must know what you stand for and what you expect from your team. But you must also have a clearly defined destination to lead that team to-a destination that every employee in your company can visualize and embrace. This reflects an important principle of military leadership... and it's a necessity in an increasingly turbulent business world.

The Corporate Compass offers up some hard-hitting truths about organizational focus and alignment. This fresh, engaging story centers on one consultant's efforts to transform an ailing retail chain into a thriving, goal-centered corporation in which "everyone is rowing in the same direction." Along the way you'll learn how to:

• Write a purpose statement that sets the course for your company
• Identify your organizational values and assign behaviors to them
• Create a clear ten-year vision
• Set Key Performance Indicators that let you know whether or not you succeed.

Make no mistake: you must create your own "compass" if you expect to be around a decade from now. Focus and alignment have always mattered, but in today's unforgiving economy, negligence in this area is a fatal mistake. The ideas in this book will help you create a strong, resilient corporation that can beat the competition and find its way in the stormiest marketplace.

Inspiring Leadership: Character and Ethics Matter
By R. Stewart Fisher and Dr. Perry J. Martini

Hardcover: 248 pages
Publisher: Academy Leadership Publishing (February 15, 2005)
ISBN-10: 0972732322
ISBN-13: 978-0972732321

Why another book on leadership, ethics, or character development? Where can leaders turn for guidance on ethical dilemmas? These thought-provoking questions motivated the authors to tackle this project head on. Stew Fisher and Perry Martini, both graduates of Annapolis, have written a timely and inspirational book. Their specific examples of real-life leadership decisions, drawn from the military, business, sports, and other fields are particularly powerful.

This is a book about why character and ethics do matter. While many authors of leadership books attempt to answer tough questions about leadership with sweeping generalizations, the authors chose instead to focus on one simple premise: Doing the right thing and making the right leadership decisions is based on a leader's character.

Experts in the field of leadership and ethics too often preach that no solution is more correct than another, but this politically correct waffling does a great disservice to those seeking real answers. This risk-avoidance approach is dangerous and creates a moral compass spinning aimlessly. Stew and Perry, however, decided to focus on a microcosm of leaders who today influence nearly every aspect of life in our country. They surveyed their fellow Naval Academy classmates, members of a special fraternity who offered their insightful reflections about leadership and their core values. A few of their classmates are currently senior military leaders of "Enduring Freedom," the global War on Terror.

Stew and Perry also draw upon their own thirty-plus years of service and the experiences of recognized world and national leaders, past and present. The result is a rich blend of observations from the worlds of business, sports, politics, and military conflict. It is truly a dynamic and inspirational exploration of leadership at its deepest roots, written by two Americans who have a strong and enduring passion for their country and their faith.

The Leader's Compass, 2nd Edition
by Ed Ruggero and Dennis F. Haley

HARDCOVER OR CD

Bulk discounts available. Call 610.783.0630 for a price quote.

Authors: Ed Ruggero and Dennis F. Haley
Length: 139 pages
Publisher: Academy Leadership Publishing (April 15, 2005)
ISBN-10: 0972732314
ISBN-13: 978-0972732314

Your Team Can't Follow You Until They Know Where You're Going.

Your success as a leader begins with writing your Personal Leadership Philosophy. This powerful book shows you how.

Does your team know what to expect from you? What you value? How you'll act in certain situations? How you'll measure performance? If your answer is no, how can you ever be an effective leader? Quite simply, you can't. You're just floundering blindly in an unforgiving economic sea. That's the central, sobering message of The Leader's Compass, 2nd Edition: A Personal Leadership Philosophy Is Your Key to Success, a book written by Academy Leadership colleagues Ed Ruggero and Dennis F. Haley. This popular book, first published in 2002, is the story of how one ad agency manager developed his Personal Leadership Philosophy (PLP) detailing what he expects from his team and from himself. Written in a fictional format that grabs the reader's attention and brings the ideas brilliantly to life, it shows today's leaders how (and why) to create their own "compass."

As a bonus, this new edition features Bob McDonald's own Personal Leadership Philosophy, which he regularly updates and follows while serving as vice chairman of a multibillion-dollar business, Procter & Gamble. You'll learn how to:

• Identify the values and characteristics that make an effective leader
• Analyze your own leadership style and personality
• Create a PLP that articulates the principles you want to model and inspire in others
• Communicate these principles to the men and women you lead.

Ultimately, say Ruggero and Haley, if you have trained your people to standard, inspired their willingness, and consistently looked after their interests, they will be prepared to accomplish any goal, anytime, anywhere. Publishing a PLP helps create an environment for these things to happen. It helps you become a strong, centered, articulate leader who can keep your team on course in even the roughest waters.

My Father's Compass
By Dr. Perry J. Martini

Hardcover: 125 pages
Publisher: Academy Leadership Publishing (October 2006)
ISBN-10: 0972732349
ISBN-13: 978-0972732345

My Father's Compass is a story about Perry Enio Martini, an immigrant who crossed an ocean come to a new land to find freedom and a better life. It is also a story about his father Vincenzo, whose vision sparked the quest to America, and on the other end of the timeline, his son Perry J. Martini, who shares the lessons he learned from both of them in the pages of this book. But even more important, it is a story about America.

Countless Italian immigrants passed through Ellis Island, known to many as the "Island of Tears", from 1892 to 1934. These peasant farmers abandoned their lifestyle of hardships to follow their dream of prosperity and freedom. The author takes you on a personal journey with his family from the moment they walked down the hills of their Abruzzi village in Italy, to the arduous crossing of the Atlantic, to their first glimpse of the welcoming Statue of Liberty, and finally, to their settling in Northeastern Ohio.

The Martini family made their crossing in 1927 on a passenger liner named after their countryman, the Cristoforo Colombo. On that vessel, 16-year-old Perry searched his soul for his own "compass bearing," a metaphor the author revisits throughout the book. And as he movingly reveals, his own American journey as a successful career naval officer is a result of the course that was set on his father's compass, an Italian immigrant who became an American first and consequently a bonafide member of the Greatest Generation.

My Father's Compass is a book you will not want to put down. Not only does it tell a fascinating story, it reveals the power of faith, family, friends, and country and the lessons of life while serving others above self. It is a dynamic and inspirational exploration of lessons of leadership at its deepest roots, and a glimpse into the soul of an Italian-American who has inherited a strong and enduring passion for both his heritage and the nation that too many of us take for granted.