As President of the Giraffe Heroes Project, which since 1982 has been recognizing people who "stick their necks out for the common good," John Graham has seen what hundreds of average citizens around the world have done to bring about constructive change. He's drawn on their experiences, his own as a veteran environmental activist, and that of a hand-picked group of seasoned activists to produce an accessible, eminently practical, inspiring guide on how to work effectively for change in any environment. 

Stick Your Neck Out covers every aspect of working for change, from choosing an issue to mapping out a strategy, getting a team together, building alliances, working with the media, and more. Each chapter contains a series of practical tips as well as inspiring examples of real people--artists, truck drivers, doctors, waitresses, and others--who have made a difference on issues like poverty, racism, gang violence, environmental pollution, and many more. 

Everything in this book has been honed and practiced; nothing is untested theory. This is a comprehensive guide to the skills, qualities, and strategies you need to make a difference on any issue. But it's also about becoming fully alive--about the meaning and passion you can add to your own life by getting involved. Active citizenship and personal growth are linked. The information in this book can change your world--and it can change your life.

Now in a second edition, this classic book shows how to make conversations generative and productive rather than critical and destructive so people, organizations, and communities flourish.

We know that conversations influence us, but we rarely stop to think about how much impact they have on our well-being and ability to thrive. This book is the first to show how Appreciative Inquiry—a widely used change method that focuses on identifying what's working and building on it rather than just trying to fix what's broken—can help us communicate more effectively and flourish in all areas of our lives.

By focusing on what we want to happen instead of what we want to avoid and asking questions to deepen understanding and increase possibilities, we expand creativity, improve productivity, and unleash potential at work and home. Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres use real-life examples to illustrate how these two practices and the principles that underlie them foster connection, innovation, and success.

This edition has been revised throughout with new examples; updates on the latest supporting research in neuroscience, positive science, and positive psychology; and a discussion guide. It also features a new chapter on what the authors call tuning in: cultivating awareness of how our physical and mental state affect our perceptions, emotions, and thoughts as we engage in conversation.

This book teaches you how to use the practices and principles of Appreciative Inquiry to strengthen relationships, build effective teams, and generate possibilities for a future that works for everyone.

DEMOS Senior Fellow and self proclaimed “Tiger Mother of the U.S. economy” Ann Lee has a message for her fellow Americans: stop whining about China and start learning from them instead. She focuses on what Chinese success can teach us in several broad areas: education policy, economic policy and financial markets, foreign policy, strategic planning, and the benefits of a meritocratic political system.While America is still reeling from the 2008 financial crisis, a high unemployment rate, and a surge in government debt, China’s economy is the second largest in the world, and many predict it will surpass the United States’ by 2020. President Obama called China’s rise “a Sputnik moment”—will America seize this moment or continue to treat China as its scapegoat? Mainstream media and the U.S. government regularly target China as a threat. Rather than viewing China’s power, influence, and contributions to the global economy in a negative light, Ann Lee asks, What can America learn from its competition? Why did China recover so quickly after the global economic meltdown? What accounts for China’s extraordinary growth, despite one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world? How does the Chinese political system avoid partisan rancor but achieve genuine public accountability? From education to governance to foreign aid, Lee details the policies and practices that have made China a global power and then isolates the ways the United States can use China’s enduring principles to foster much-needed change at home. This is no whitewash. Lee is fully aware of China’s shortcomings, particularly in the area of human rights. She has relatives who suffered during the Cultural Revolution. But by overemphasizing our differences with China, the United States stands to miss a vital opportunity. Filled with sharp insights and thorough research, What the U.S. Can Learn from China is Lee’s rallying cry for a new approach at a time when learning from one another is the key to surviving and thriving.

The Wisdom of Solomon at Work offers stories about work and relationships that inspire us to look beyond ourselves as we serve and lead. Delving into that deep quarry of ageless truths, the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), the authors open up a rich source of experience, insight, and wisdom that can be used to help us cope with the problems of modern life.

The dramatic stories of Job, Moses, Ruth, David, and Solomon contain universal lessons that everyone-regardless of their faith heritage-can appreciate and use to find wisdom to work and live by. The authors explore the dilemmas faced by these extraordinary figures, discuss how they resolved them, and then apply the same principles to a variety of specific contemporary problems. The authors use examples of people from all walks of life, both well-known and unknown, to show how the virtues taught in the Old Testament can be applied in our lives today.

The Wisdom of Solomon at Work illuminates the abiding virtues-faith, courage, compassion, integrity, and justice-that then and now equip us to meet life's challenges. It illustrates how spiritual wisdom can be woven into the fabric of everyday life, informing and improving everything we do.

• Provides a fresh, contemporary perspective on the timeless wisdom of the Old Testament
• Uses personal stories to show how people today are reconciling spiritual values with the pressures of modern life
• Shows that wisdom is something which can be cultivated by everyone
• By the author of the bestselling Leadership Wisdom of Jesus

Get the Complete Answers to Your Appropriations Law Questions Scrutiny of the use of federal funds—and the people handling those funds—has never been greater. Yet federal personnel often don't know all the rules. What might seem like a logical, efficient action could very well be illegal. Now, there is an easy-to-use, straightforward guide to help everyone involved with appropriated funds. The Appropriations Law Answer Book: A Q&A Guide to Fiscal Law is the “go-to” resource for answers to fiscal law questions that arise in the federal workplace. This book condenses the content of the 2,000+ page Government Accountability Office's Principles of Federal Appropriations Law (the “Redbook”), providing a pertinent and usable resource for everyone who has responsibility for federal funds. Arranged in question-and-answer format, this concise book covers the questions that most often surface in agencies. Subject area groupings make finding the right answer quick and clear. Coverage includes critical information on: • How to prevent violations of the Antideficiency Act • Obligation of appropriations • Intragovernmental transactions, grants and agreements • Nonappropriated fund instruments Even personnel with the purest of intentions can run afoul of the many laws, rules, regulations, and decisions that govern the proper use of government funds. Don't be one of them. Get the resource you can trust: The Appropriations Law Answer Book. Plus! The book also includes a handy glossary. Contents Overview of Appropriations Law • Purpose • Time • Amount (The Antideficiency Act) • Obligation of Appropriations • Intragovernmental Transactions • Continuing Resolutions • Accountability and Liability of Individuals • Grants and Agreements • Nonappropriated Fund Instrumentalities • Can Your Agency Use Appropriated Funds for Meals and Light Refreshments? • Glossary About the Author William G. Arnold, CDFM-A, author of The Antideficiency Act Answer Book, Performance Budgeting—What Works, What Doesn't, and The Prompt Payment Act Answer Book, worked with the Department of Defense for 34 years, over 25 of which he spent in financial management. He has held positions as budget officer, director of resource management, director of disbursing, and entitlements director with the Air Force and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

When physicians and nurses suffer from burnout, patients suffer as well. This book pinpoints the how and why and shows what healthcare providers and their organizations can do.

Burnout is among the most critical topics in healthcare as it deprives us of our most important resource—the talents and passion of those who perform the difficult work of caring for patients and their families. The purpose of this book is to provide not only a taxonomy of burnout within the landscape of healthcare but also to provide pathways for healthcare professionals to guide themselves and their organizations toward changing the culture and systems of their organization.

The work of battling burnout begins from within. Thom Mayer views every healthcare team member as both a leader and performance athlete, engaged in a cycle of performance, training, and recovery. In these roles, they must both lead and protect themselves and their teams.

Battling Healthcare Burnout looks at individuals' role in promoting change within themselves and their organization and addresses solutions to change the culture and systems of work. Both are presented with a pragmatic focusand a liberal use of examples and case studies, including those from several nationally recognized healthcare systems.