AUTHOR

COMING SOON

SORTED: Taming Wicked Problems with Smart Leadership Thinking

Wicked problems are complex, complicated, obvious or chaotic. They bring disorder. They damage people, property, business and the planet at many different levels. They’re a lot more common than we might think. The wickedest of problems include the climate crisis, war, terrorism, pandemics and mass refugee migrations. In organisations, we see wicked problems like environmental accidents, hostile takeovers, sexual harassment, health and safety failures, product recalls, industrial espionage and reputational damage.

The critical questions for executive leaders are:

1.     How do we spot wicked problems before disorder descends and prevent its worst impacts?

2.     How do we recover when a wicked problem hits?

3.     How do we learn from solving a wicked problem to improve future responses?

In this unique book, Clive Smallman weaves cutting-edge thinking and best practices from leadership, psychology, risk and crisis management, behavioural economics, design thinking, critical thinking, and organisational learning and resilience. Building the idea of ‘wicked’ leadership (virtuous, strong, efficacious and mentally tough), he tackles these critical questions, providing thought-provoking yet pragmatic approaches to solving wicked problems with smart thinking.

Got a wicked problem? Sorted.

Breakthrough: Foundations of a Life Unleashed

For most people in the Western World, life is relatively good but work less so. People fall into one of four work-life styles: surviving, cruising, existing or thriving. Many of those living in the first three aspire to live in the last. They want to thrive and get more out of work and life, living a Life Unleashed. Making the move to a Life Unleashed is what this book, the first of a series of three is about.The foundations of a Life Unleashed start with establishing clarity. Your goals should be wildly important, credible and simply stated. You need to understand your focus around self, family and work. Understanding this will influence your understanding of reward that matter to you.Strengthening the foundations call for action, starting with planning across various timescales. Once you have a plan you need to implement it ruthlessly and consistently, with good habits as the base of your actions. This is all about easing the frictions that constrain work-life enabling acceleration.Breakthrough draws on the author's deep, personal experiences in work and life. Prof. Smallman combines these with cutting edge thinking in leadership, management, business strategy and operations, wellness and psychology, coupled to large doses of common sense and a highly developed sense of the importance of accountability. The work is shot through with examples and poses questions to enable readers to start their journey.

Release: Integrating Personal and Professional Performance in a Life Unleashed

For most people in the Western World life is relatively good but work less so. People fall into one of four work-life styles: surviving, cruising, existing or thriving. Many of those living in the first three aspire to live in the last. They want to thrive and get more out of life. Maing the move to a Life Unleashed is what this book, the second in a series of three, is about. Building on Breakthrough: Foundations of a Life Unleashed, in this book Clive takes a look at people’s physiological performance, psychological performance, relationships and physical environment. He then turns to look at people’s professional positioning, competences and the returns they get on their investment in their positioning and competences. The book finishes with a consideration of how to resolve friction and tension between different spheres of our lives, looking to promote integration between work and wider life. Release draws on Clive's deep personal experiences in work and life. He combines these with cutting edge thinking in leadership, management, business strategy and operations, wellness and psychology, coupled to large doses of common sense and a highly developed sense of the improtance of accountability. The work is shot through with examples and poses questions to enable readers to continue their journey.

Transforming Leaders: Thinking | Designing | Planning | Changing (with Lester Massingham)

This book is designed as a companion to the Certified Transformational Leader (CTL) course, originally developed by Lester Massingham, accredited by the Chartered Management Institute and delivered through CMC Consultants and Masters Pro Management. CTL was further developed by Clive Smallman for online delivery through Clive’s business in Australia and also through the International Institute for MBA Studies.

The book targets leaders and aspiring leaders who wish to:•Improve their transformational leadership skills.•Expand the number of potential job opportunities for which they qualify.•Differentiate themself as a job candidate.•Re-energise and accelerate their career.•Establish or change their own business. Throughout and after the course, we see in our participants:

  • Increased readiness for transformational challenges.

  • Immediate impact in their workplace or business.

  • Heightened confidence and sense of achievement.

  • Increased recognition among peers, mentors, managers and leaders.

  • Improved communication.

  • Expanded (growth) mindset.

Dynamic Perspectives on Sustainable Business: Ecology | Society | Governance | Leading (with Lester Massingham)

The book covers a range of contemporary business issues and concerns and reviews the relationship between business and society. Additionally, readers will appreciate how sustainability promotes a holistic change process and how businesses can act more responsibly towards the community, society and the global environment. Through reading the book, readers will develop their critical analysis skills and will learn how to apply the concepts taught to business management activities to enhance competitive advantage. Emphasis is also given to a critical understanding of the ongoing debate amongst practitioners and academics, noting that 'sustainable business' is evolving, not static.

The learning outcomes of this book are to help the reader further develop the ability to:

  1. Critically evaluate key sustainability concerns and the impact of business activities on these concerns.

  2. Critically evaluate a range of relevant theories and models such as the Triple Bottom Line, corporate social responsibility (CSR), business ethics and the role of the market.

  3. Propose and critically evaluate appropriate sustainable business strategies.

Leading Innovation and Cultural Change: Creating | Innovating | Thinking | Leading (with Lester Massingham)

Innovation and cultural change are significant issues for organisations. In the private sector, innovation is a key factor in competitive success. In the public and not-for-profit sectors, innovation can reconfigure services and processes to meet client needs more effectively and achieve efficiencies. In organisations of all kinds, managers and professionals must be able to lead and manage change.

The objectives of this book are to help the reader further develop their abilities to:

  1. Critically evaluate a range of theories of the processes of innovation and change in organisations.

  2. Review and analyse contemporary theories of managing and leading innovation and change.

Corporate and Workplace Investigations: Crime Investigative and Interviewing Techniques, Methodology and Applications (with Mario Bekes)

For as long as there have been people, there has been crime. And where there is crime, there must be investigation: to establish facts and provide evidence.

In 2015, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the American Association of Certified Fraud Examiners estimated financial losses from white-collar crime in the USA to be between US$300 and $600 billion annually. The Insurance Fraud Bureau of Australia (IFBA) estimates fraudulent claims to cost insurance companies Au$2.2 billion annually.

It increasingly falls to companies and other civil organisations to better manage the considerable risk associated with fraud through its early detection (as it is first actioned) or once the crime is completed.

Corporate and Workplace Investigations is intended to introduce commonly used methods and core principles of investigative technique. The authors begin by placing corporate investigations in the context of competitive intelligence. It outlines the conventional investigative process before turning to detail each of its phases in more detail, looking at process and practice.

Corporate and Workplace Investigations is for corporate executives, HR professionals, claims managers, case managers, and anyone charged with investigating workplace crime or fraud.

Decision-making for New Product Development in Small Businesses (with Mary Haropoulou)

What happens in a small firm that lives or dies by its innovation capacity? How are decisions made on new product development, and how does that feed into the firm's ecological, social and financial sustainability? This book answers the questions by examining a small business that manufactures high-end carpet yarn.