Conductors: What the heck is going on there?

Classical music is gaining surprising ground with millennials and with Gen Z, who are using social media and streaming apps to tune in to a genre traditionally associated with older audiences.

Peak explores how peak performers in music, athletics, and other fields develop their abilities. Through purposeful practice and the development of effective mental representations, nearly anyone can become an expert in whatever field they choose. The book shatters many illusions about expertise—chiefly, that it comes from genius or “natural” talent. Instead, it comes from rigorous practice and a willingness to improve slowly over time through a series of baby steps. By embracing these principles, you can become whatever it is you wish to be. Your future is entirely in your hands.

What’s the secret to being a great leader? Whether you’re in a warzone or on the front lines of a corporate battle, Extreme Ownership argues that the best leaders take full responsibility for everything in their world: not only their actions, decisions, and failures, but also those of everyone on their team. By practicing Extreme Ownership, great leaders achieve victory by prioritizing the team above all else and focusing on constant improvement—and in this guide, we’ll show how you can, too.

Authors Jocko Willink and Leif Babin are former US Navy SEAL officers who served in one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. They honed the principles of Extreme Ownership on the battlefield, then applied the same tenets to the corporate world as business consultants. In this guide, we’ll add broader context from other leadership books such as Built to Last and Team of Teams to better illustrate how to apply Willink and Babin’s leadership principles to your life.

In The Manager’s Path, engineering executive Camille Fournier introduces the field of engineering management—the management of software engineers, who design and code software systems and programs. This can be a challenging field, as there’s little information available on balancing technical knowledge with management skills. Fournier seeks to close this gap, drawing from her experience as an engineer-turned-manager to identify skills and techniques that can help new engineering managers handle the transition.

In this guide, we’ll explore three main skills that can help you succeed as an engineering manager: clear communication, strategic planning, and adaptability. We’ll discuss each skill’s importance, how they evolve throughout your career, and Fournier’s suggestions for developing them. In our commentary, we’ll compare Fournier’s ideas to those of other software engineers, as well as tech business experts like Marty Cagan.

Stephen R. Covey was a business and leadership consultant and the international bestselling author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness, Covey adds a habit to the original seven: finding your voice and helping others do the same. This is the habit of leadership.

The 8th Habit examines the uniqueness of the contributions we all make as human beings, arguing that the most important job of leaders is to nurture this individuality. Covey explains that most leaders fail to lead well because they’re trapped inside outdated paradigms, and he offers advice for how to escape.

In this guide, we compare Covey’s advice with that of other prominent experts on leadership and organizational structure, discuss research that supports and challenges his views, and add practical suggestions for the implementation of his ideas.

In an increasingly globalized world, we’re more likely to encounter people from other cultures than ever before. This diversity allows for creativity and innovation—but it can also be incredibly confusing. Why doesn't your Japanese colleague ever say what they mean? How come you’re the only person to arrive on time at a meeting in Nigeria?

In The Culture Map, cultural communications expert Erin Meyer presents a framework you can use to analyze how cultures differ from yours as well as practical strategies to mitigate any cultural misunderstandings. She also explains why these cultural differences developed in the first place.

In this guide, we’ll discuss these differences, Meyer’s strategies, and her explanations for how these cultural differences developed. We’ll also supplement Meyer’s ideas with external research—so you can understand exactly how cultural differences affect people and have the studies to back it up.

In Primal Leadership, Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee argue that the most important trait for a leader to have is emotional intelligence. A leader who’s emotionally intelligent will create a positive climate for their group in which productivity, collaboration, and performance will soar. The authors argue that a critical mass of emotionally intelligent leaders and groups is the foundation of a sustainably successful organization. The purpose of Primal Leadership is to teach individuals and organizations how to lead with emotional intelligence so they can achieve long-term success.In this guide, we’ll explain what emotional intelligence is, why emotionally intelligent leadership is critical for group effectiveness, how to lead with emotional intelligence, and how you can boost your own emotional intelligence and the emotional intelligence of your group and organization. Throughout the guide, we’ll connect the author's concepts to theories and recommendations of other experts in cognitive science, behavioral psychology, business, and management.

What’s the secret to being a great leader? Whether you’re in a warzone or on the front lines of a corporate battle, Extreme Ownership argues that the best leaders take full responsibility for everything in their world: not only their actions, decisions, and failures, but also those of everyone on their team. By practicing Extreme Ownership, great leaders achieve victory by prioritizing the team above all else and focusing on constant improvement—and in this guide, we’ll show how you can, too.

Authors Jocko Willink and Leif Babin are former US Navy SEAL officers who served in one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. They honed the principles of Extreme Ownership on the battlefield, then applied the same tenets to the corporate world as business consultants. In this guide, we’ll add broader context from other leadership books such as Built to Last and Team of Teams to better illustrate how to apply Willink and Babin’s leadership principles to your life.

Classical music is gaining surprising ground with millennials and with Gen Z, who are using social media and streaming apps to tune in to a genre traditionally associated with older audiences.

When it comes to training the next generation of leaders, most organizations are fundamentally misguided. They hire and promote people indiscriminately, judging them based on arbitrary personality traits or how well they’ve done an unrelated job in the past. Consequently, most businesses end up full of unqualified managers at every level—managers who bungle their jobs in ways that nobody notices. Luckily, management experts Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, and Jim Noel have a solution: the Leadership Pipeline, a management structure that continuously trains workers for bigger and better leadership roles.

In this guide, you’ll learn about the six different levels of management necessary to run any large organization, as well as the distinct mindset and skills required for each. These requirements indicate which types of unique training each employee needs to prepare them for their next promotion, adding clarity and direction to the leadership development process. In our commentary, we’ll explore some alternative management structures and add relevant management advice from other books like When They Win, You Win and High Output Management.

What’s the secret to being a great leader? Whether you’re in a warzone or on the front lines of a corporate battle, Extreme Ownership argues that the best leaders take full responsibility for everything in their world: not only their actions, decisions, and failures, but also those of everyone on their team. By practicing Extreme Ownership, great leaders achieve victory by prioritizing the team above all else and focusing on constant improvement—and in this guide, we’ll show how you can, too.

Authors Jocko Willink and Leif Babin are former US Navy SEAL officers who served in one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. They honed the principles of Extreme Ownership on the battlefield, then applied the same tenets to the corporate world as business consultants. In this guide, we’ll add broader context from other leadership books such as Built to Last and Team of Teams to better illustrate how to apply Willink and Babin’s leadership principles to your life.