Book excerpt: A comprehensive book of “need-to-know” insights for busy leaders Being a great leader means getting the fundamentals right. It also means consistently doing the “little things” that make a positive difference in the lives of employees, customers, and other stakeholders. The Busy Leader’s Handbook: How to Lead People and Places That Thrive is a practical, easy-to-use book filled with gentle reminders of what we should be doing every day—especially when work is at its most intense. The Handbook is packed with proven best practices, tools, tips, and tactics for engaging employees, revitalizing cultures, delighting customers, and building high-performance companies. Short, succinct, and accessible, each chapter is “stand-alone,” offering helpful advice for meeting common business challenges. Plus, the strategies, approaches, and tactics are designed to be put into action immediately. Best-selling author, businessman, visionary, and entrepreneur Quint Studer draws on his 30-plus years of experience in helping organizations of all sizes and leaders at every level reach peak performance. Comprehensive in scope, his book overflows with insights and practical advice to help you make smart leadership decisions. For example: Why putting the right foundational structures in place early on creates clarity and heads off problems that cause businesses to struggle and fail The importance of followership: why being a good leader requires that you first be a good follower Why we tend to run from self-disruption and a sense of being unsettled (and how to learn to embrace them instead) Why leaders should seek consent, not consensus How to engage employees and create a positive workplace culture How to help employees find meaning and purpose in their work How to conduct difficult conversations and resolve conflicts—and why having these skills (or not) can make or break you as a leader Advice for attracting and hiring the best talent, retaining them over time, and dealing with the low performers who drive them away Why mentoring is so powerful and how to encourage it inside your company Tips and tactics for seeing the world through your customer’s eyes How to reduce customer anxiety (and encourage them to buy) with the right words at the right times for the right reasons The Busy Leader’s Handbook functions as a desk reference and pocket guide for anyone in a leadership position. It’s also a great training tool for onboarding new leaders. Whether you work for a start-up, a small or mid-size business, or a large corporation, this book will change how you think, inspire you to do your job better—and help your organization thrive.