Marlene Chism - No-Drama Leadership: How Enlightened Leaders Transform Culture in the Workplace

If culture is the beliefs and values practiced by an organization, then No-Drama Leadership is the handbook for the leaders of the future, building the enlightened organization of the future.

Frances R. Hesselbein, President and CEO of The Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute 1998 Recipient, The Presidential Medal of Freedom

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With a new leadership book coming out practically every week, how can a reader judge what to go for? Why this particular book, why am I endorsing it? Several reasons, I think the authors values and my own are aligned. Second, the book is addressed to all of us, not just people with position power. Third, the author gives us a process for diagnosing where we lack leadership skills and what to do about it. And, maybe most important, the authors background in the world of manufacturing shows through in her choice of stories, her great skill in communicating to us how bad leadership looks from subordinates point of view, and her skill in giving us practical advice on how to evolve toward being better at managing the complex relationship that leadership involves.

Edgar H. Schein, Professor Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of ManagementAuthor of Humble Inquiry: The gentle art of asking instead of telling. (2013).

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In No-Drama Leadership, Marlene Chism outlines the path to creating enlightened leaders giving us the will and vision, as well as the skills to lead in way where all can work in a culture of success. Leaders at all levels from the shop floor to the executive can benefit from the wisdom and power in these pages.

Kevin Eikenberry, best-selling leadership author and the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group

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Marlene Chism lays out in straightforward terms the issues and traps common in leadership at any level based on her vast experience across many organizations and with many leaders. Her insights about behavior, attitudes, beliefs and misconceptions are universal, whether talking about a company in Tallahassee or Tokyo. Her advice is practical and immediately applicable no matter the country or the cultural context. No Drama Leadership can help deliver results for any leader.

Dr. Steven Bleistein, CEO, Relansa, Inc., Tokyo, Japan

Selected as one of the best business books of 2015 by Soundview Executive Book Summaries.

Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Marlene Chism shows leaders how to redirect negative energy into positive action. The No-Drama leader creates a culture that delivers results, and keeps everyone aligned with noble purpose.

Lisa Earle McLeod, Forbes.com columnist and author of the best-seller, Selling with Noble Purpose

Marlene Chism has a powerful way of communicating with readers. Her insights on what todays leaders need and what is expected of them is conveyed in this book. Instant enlightenment. Guaranteed!

Babitha Balakrishnan, senior editor of Excellence Essentials Publications with HR.Com, the largest global social networking and resource site for HR Professionals

Workplace drama compromises morale, jeopardizes productivity, and encourages turnover because star performers simply wont put up with it. Marlene Chism understands that only leaders can truly stop it and prevent it before it destroys the organizations culture. Leaders who commit to growing profits and playing a bigger game should read and heed Chisms advice.

Linda D. Henman, owner Henman Performance Group and author of Challenge the Ordinary

Marlene knows her stuff! If you are ready to look at your management difficulties as an opportunity to develop and improve, then this book is for you. We think it is very People Centric!

Don Harkey and Randy Mayes, founders of People Centric Consulting Group

Talk to some managers for any length of time, and youll hear them describe a typical day with words like busy, stressed, or even burned out. But when you speak with an enlightened leader, you hear words like aware, aligned, and accountable. How it possible that bosses within the same organization can range from feeling like helpless victims to enlightened, engagedleaders? Marlene Chisms No-Drama Leadership shows leaders how to step out from under the shadow of drama and into enlightenment.

Scott Carbonara, aka The Leadership Therapist, and author of AManagers Guide to Employee Engagement

Marlene Chism has hit the nail on the head. We need to get this book not only into the hands of corporate America but also in public safety and government. No-Drama Leadership will change the way we do business.

Kenny Mountain, president & CEO, Combix 911 Specialists

Marlene Chism demystifies drama like no other. Stop letting your culture fall victim to drama; instead, become an enlightened leader who aligns your team through values-based actions. No-Drama Leadership provides leaders with the most comprehensive and simple approach to deconstruct drama and build a flourishing culturein any industry or situation.

Jocelyn Godfrey, president, Spiritus Communications

Every leader who reads this book will immediately relate to the problems that so often go with leadership. Marlene does a masterful job in No-Drama Leadership of taking the reader from pain and frustration into hope and excitement by understanding and correcting the role that the leader plays in workplace drama.

Bonnie Hagemann, CEO, Executive Development Associates, Inc.

NO-DRAMA LEADERSHIP

How Enlightened Leaders Transform Culture in the Workplace

Marlene Chism

First published 2015 by Bibliomotion, Inc.

Published 2016 by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 USA
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informabusiness

Copyright 2015 by Marlene Chism

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

ISBN-13: 978-1-62956-061-8 (hbk)
ISBN-13: 978-1-31523-009-2 (ebk)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chism, Marlene.
No-drama leadership : how enlightened leaders transform culture in the workplace / Marlene Chism. First Edition.
pages cm
Summary: "No-Drama Leadership aims to influence corporate and organizational leaders to recognize the impact of changing times resulting in the need to place priority on a new type of leadership development that focuses not only on the outer game of results but on the inner game of leadership growth" Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-62956-061-8 (hardback) ISBN 978-1-62956-062-5 (ebook) ISBN 978-1-62956-063-2 (enhanced ebook)
1. Leadership. 2. Communication in organizations. I. Title.
HD57.7.C5163 2015
658.4'092dc23

2015000883

To all who have the courage to lead

In January of 2012 I got a call from Heather, a public safety manager at her wits end. I feel like Im in a black hole and cant get out. The supervisors are not performing well, and I dont know how to help them. They hint instead of giving direction. The employees are confused and frustrated. Theres no accountability, feedback, or discipline, she said. Heathers time was spent listening to gossip and complaints through her open door, which had turned into a revolving door. Morale was low, absenteeism was on the rise, and the budget was taking a nosedive due to employee turnover.