Michael Useem has 4 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 6 narrators. The most-rated is The Leadership Moment.

4 audiobooks
Cover art for Harvard Business Review, November 2006

Harvard Business Review, November 2006

Summary

This month's issue includes three complete articles. From "Forethought," Ian Bremmer and Fareed Zakaria explain how to hedge your political risk in China. Then, in "Innovation, The Classic Traps," Rosabeth Moss Kanter offers practical tips on how to keep your creative team from getting bogged down. The third article, by Michael Useem, explores "How Well Run Boards Make Decisions." Plus, you'll hear OnPoint summaries of two other articles: "Breaking the Trade-Off of Efficiency and Services," and "Facing Ambiguous Threats." Finally, you'll get Executive Summaries for the five remaining articles, along with special commentary by Harvard Business Review's Senior Editor Gardiner Morse.

©2006 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, All Rights Reserved (P)2006 Audible Inc.

Available on Audible
Cover art for The Leader's Checklist Expanded Edition

The Leader's Checklist Expanded Edition

Summary

Based on the lessons from astonishing stories, solid research, and years of leadership development work with a wide array of companies and organizations in the United States and abroad, Useem presents today’s leaders with 15 guiding principles that form the core of the Leader’s Checklist, which will help you develop your ability to make good and timely decisions in unpredictable and stressful environments - for those moments when leadership really matters. To illustrate how the Leader’s Checklist can assist leaders, Useem zeroes in on accounts of extraordinary leaders who rose to the challenge, including Laurence Golborne’s role in the triumphant rescue of 33 miners in Chile, Joseph Pfeifer’s remarkable heroism as the first FDNY Fire Chief to take command at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and Union officer Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s transformative actions after the Confederate army’s surrender. He also explores the colossal failure of AIG, one of the greatest corporate collapses in business history. First published exclusively as an ebook - and now also available in print - this updated and expanded edition features a new preface by the author and three new Knowledge@Wharton interviews with Laurence Golborne, Chile’s Minister of Mining, on leading the rescue operation of 33 miners trapped in the San José Mine; Joseph Pfeifer, New York City Fire Department’s Chief of Counterterrorism and Emergency Preparedness, on being the first Battalion Chief to take command at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001; and the author on why he wrote The Leader’s Checklist and what he has learned about the most vital items on the checklist from his recent leadership development work with more than a dozen companies and organizations.

©2011 Michael Useem (P)2014 Gildan Media LLC

Length: 2 hrs and 43 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Leading Up

Leading Up

Summary

Eight true stories show that leaders today aren’t just bosses, they’re self-starters who take charge even when they haven’t been given a charge. Upward leaders get results by helping their superiors lead.  They make sure that good ideas don’t die on the vine because a boss’s understanding doesn’t reach down deep enough into the organization. Upward leadership assures that advice arrives from all points on the corporate compass, not just from the top down. And it applies at every level: Even CEOs need to learn about leading up because they ultimately answer to their boards.  In Leading Up, Michael Useem offers instructive accounts of this vital and unexplored facet of leadership. Drawing on the extraordinary experiences of real people, Useem shows us what happens when those not in charge rise to the challenge, and also what happens when those who should step forward fail to do so: Civil War generals openly disrespected and frequently misinformed their commanders in chief, with tragic consequences for both sides. COO David Pottruck learned how to lead with his superiors at Charles Schwab & Co. in order to radically change Schwab’s core business.  Had he been able to convince his superiors of the dire situation in Rwanda, United Nations commander Roméo Dallaire might have prevented the genocide that claimed 800,000 lives.  The CEOs of CBS, Compaq, and British Airways concentrated on leading down when they needed to lead up to their boards, too. The result: All three were fired. U.S. Marine Corps general Peter Pace reconciled conflicting priorities while reporting to six bosses with varying agendas by keeping all of them informed and challenging them when necessary.  Mount Everest mountaineers admitted they might have protected themselves and others from harm during a fateful ascent if only they had questioned their guides’ flawed instructions and decisions.  Even in government, representatives often need to first strike a deal, then lead their bosses to embrace it, as examples from the United States and Argentina illustrate.  No one ever had a tougher job of leading up than Old Testament prophets Moses, Abraham, and Samuel, who interceded with the ultimate authority.  Leading up is not the same as managing up. Managing up is running the office; leading up is taking the reins and exceeding what’s expected. As hierarchies everywhere shed much of their rigidity, upward leadership at all levels becomes more possible - and more necessary.  Leading Up is a call to action. It asks us to build on the best in everybody’s nature, and it offers a pragmatic blueprint for doing so. 

©2001 Michael Useem (P)2001 Random House, Inc.

Narrator: James Lurie
Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for The Leadership Moment

The Leadership Moment

Summary

Are you ready for the leadership moment? Learn valuable lessons from the stories of: Merck's Roy Vagelos, who commits millions of dollars to develop a drug needed only by people who can't afford it Eugene Kranz, who struggles to bring the Apollo 13 astronauts home after an explosion rips through their spacecraft Arlene Blum, who organizes the first women's ascent of one of the world's most dangerous mountains Nancy Barry, who leads Women's World Banking in the fight against Third World poverty Wagner Dodge, who faces the decision of a lifetime as a fast-moving forest fire overtakes his firefighting crew  And more...

©1998 Michael Useem (P)2020 Tantor

Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
Available on Audible