Egonomics

What Makes Ego Our Greatest Asset (Or Most Expensive Liability)

Dave Marcum, Steven Smith

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN:
  9781847391537
• eBook ISBN:
  9781847375049
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Backed by five years of research, David Marcum and Steven Smith's egonomicsinforms readers that the key to great leadership is understanding exactly what ego is - and what it should not be.

With the aid of real-life examples and persuasive writing, egonomics argues that while most people believe ego is negative, it is actually a healthy, necessary element to management effectiveness and business leadership. Marcum and Smith illustrate that the distinction between a good and a great leader is how humility affects their ambition, and egonomics is full of ideas that help both upper and middle management keep their egos in balance. With a compelling combination of business and psychology expertise, these two specialists explain how (a) being too competitive can make you less competitive, (b) seeking respect and recognition dilutes effectiveness and (c) humility, curiosity and veracity are the essential components to outstanding leadership.

Full of the best advice from the experts in the field, egonomics is poised to be the blockbuster business bestseller of the season.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• contents
• 1 ego and the bottom linewhy managing the power of ego is the first priority of business
• 2 the ego balance sheetthe four early warning signs that ego is costing your company, and the three principles of egonomics that turn it around
• 3 early warning sign 1—being comparativehow being too competitive can make us less competitive
• 4 early warning sign 2—being defensivethe difference between defending ideas and being defensive
• 5 early warning sign 3—showcasing brilliancehow intelligence and talent can keep the best ideas from winning
• 6 early warning sign 4—seeking acceptancehow our desire for respect and recognition gets in our way
• 7 humilityopening minds and creating opportunity for change
• 8 humility, part II: intensity and intentusing humility as a bridge to turn silence or argument into vigorous debate
• 9 curiosityhow different types of curiosity unlock our minds and conversations
• 10 veracityhow to make the undiscussables discussable, and closing the gap between what we think is going on and what’s really going on
• appendix
• notes
• acknowledgments
• index
• about marcumsmith, lc