Rock has broken the code on how to leverage our most basic human func-tion-thinking? He brings both art and science to the necessary steps for leaders to follow in elevating the thinking of their employees in support of world-class performance. Both practical and profound--a must-read for anyone who wants to unleash the true potential of their team?

You start a conversation with someone you manage, a conversation about a project that could be going better. You want to improve their performance and think you know what they should do. You estimate the conversation should only take a few minutes, yet somehow 45 minutes later you're still going around in circles. Sound familiar?

Unfortunately, improving human perfor- mance involves one of the hardest challenges in the known universe: changing the way people think. In constant demand as a coach, speaker,and consultant to companies around the world,David Rock has proven the secret to leading people (and living and working with them) is found in the space between our ears. "If people are being paid to think," he writes, "isn't it time the business world found out what the thing doing the work, the brain, is all about?"

Supported by the latest groundbreaking re-search, Quiet Leadership provides, for the first time, a brain-based approach that will help busy leaders, executives, and managers improve their own and their colleagues' performance.

Quiet Leadership is for the CEO who wants to be more effective at inspiring his or her leadership team, but has just a few minutes each week to speak to them. It's for the executive who'd like to get a manager to plan more effectively, but can't seem to work out how. It's for the manager who wants to inspire the sales team, but isn't sure how to do it. It's for the human resources professional who is ready to take on changing the culture of a whole organization. It's for the parent or caregiver who wants to reach new levels of communication and understanding with their family members.

  Quiet leaders are masters at bringing out the best performance in others. They improve the thinking of people around them--literally improving the way their brains process informa-tion-without telling anyone what to do. Given how many people in today's companies are be-ing paid to think and analyze, improving our thinking is one of the fastest ways to improve performance.

Quiet Leadership offers a practical, six-step guide to making permanent workplace performance change by unleashing higher productivity, new levels of morale, and greater job satisfaction.Above all, Ouiet Leadership will give you the clarity and strength that comes from mastering and us-ing powerful insights that teach you to perform and succeed, at the highest level.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Why Should Leaders Care About Improving Thinking?

               Part One

Recent Discoveries About the Brain That Change Everything

The Brain Is a Connection Machine

Up Close, No Two Brains Are Alike

The Brain Hardwires Everything It Can

Our Hard Wiring Drives Automatic Perception

It's Practically Impossible to Deconstruct Our Wiring

It's Easy to Create New Wiring

Summarizing the Recent Discoveries About the Brain

              Part Two

     The Six Steps to Transforming Performance

About the Six Steps

STEP 1: Think About Thinking

    Let Them Do All the Thinking

    Focus on Solutions

    Remember to Stretch

    Accentuate the Positive

    Put Process Before Content

STEP 2: Listen for Potential

    A New Way to Listen

    The Clarity of Distance

STEP 3: Speak with Intent

    Be Succinct

    Be Specific

    Be Generous

    A Word on Digital Communications

STEP 4: Dance Toward Insight

    The Four Faces of Insight

    The Dance of Insight

    Permission

    Placement

    Questioning

    Putting Permission, Placement, and Questioning Together

    Clarifying

    Putting the Dance Together

STEP 5: CREATE New Thinking

    Current Reality

    Explore Alternatives

    Tap Their Energy

    Putting the CREATE Model Together

STEP 6: Follow Up

    Facts

    Emotions

    Encourage

    Learning

    Implications

    New Goal

A Summary of the Six Steps

                Part Three

         Putting the Six Steps to Use

Using the Six Steps to Help Someone Solve a Problem

Using the Six Steps to Help Someone Make a Decision

Using the Six Steps to Give Feedback

    Giving Feedback for Great Performance

    Giving Feedback for Below-Par Performance

    Giving Feedback for Poor Performance

Using the Six Steps with Teams

Using the Six Steps with Children

Applying the Six Steps to a Whole Organization

In Conclusion

Glossary of Terms

Resources

Notes

Index

About the Author