Leadership and management reference sources and repositories

12manage management encyclopaedia

12manage (‘the executive fast track’) describes itself as an ‘e-learning community on management’. It’s on http://www.12manage.com/. It’s free to register for the standard service (they charge for the Premium service though so avoid this unless you want to pay for it). The standard service still which gives access to 12 management disciplines, a superb comprehensive management encyclopaedia and dictionary with over 2,000 entries, a management newsletter and an international executive network. The management discipline subjects include: change and organisation, communications and skills, decision-making, HRM, knowledge, leadership, programmes and project, strategy and quality.

There is now an app for mobile devices: http://www.12manage.com/mobile_help.html.

Businessballs

Businessballs contains a wealth of management and leadership development information, with ‘free career help, business training, organisational development - inspirational, innovative ideas, materials, exercises, tools, templates’: http://www.businessballs.com/. The comprehensive subject index is at https://www.businessballs.com/about/site-index/. An excellent resource.

Changing Minds

This is a very useful website. This says that it is ‘the largest site in the world on all aspects of how we change what others think, believe, feel and do. There are already around 7,000 pages here, all free and with much more to come!’ The index for this website is at http://changingminds.org/index.htm . The leadership section is at http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/leadership.htm. It includes:

The section on change may also be of particular interest - http://changingminds.org/disciplines/change_management/change_management.htm.

There is also an interesting sister site called Creating Minds (for principles, tools, articles and quotes on creativity and innovation) - http://creatingminds.org/

Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development

There is a very wide range of resources available on the CIPD website on https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge, many of which are available to non-members.

CIPD podcasts are at http://www.cipd.co.uk/podcasts . There are over 130, and subjects include “Leadership and OD” and “Change Management”. Podcasts can be downloaded from the link to SoundCloud via http://www.cipd.co.uk/podcasts or directly at https://soundcloud.com/cipd, and examples include Gary Hamel who speaks eloquently on change and innovation. There are also good podcasts on distributed leadership, learning and development in a socially networked age, the importance of creating and sustaining a sense of shared purpose within organisations, inspiring the future, building the best team and barriers to leadership.

The Free Management Library

This comprehensive site is at http://www.managementhelp.org/. There are plenty of interesting subjects here. For example there is an overview of leadership at http://managementhelp.org/leadership/index.htm, an overview of management at http://managementhelp.org/management/index.htm and a section on leadership development at http://managementhelp.org/leadership/development/index.htm and management development at http://managementhelp.org/management/development/index.htm .

Harvard resources

There is a wide range of very good material available from the Harvard Business School and Harvard Publishing (in addition to the Harvard Business Review which is available via http://journals.nice.org.uk/ or EBSCO Health Business Elite). These include:

Leadership Review

Leadership Review helps leaders and managers across the globe do their jobs better by getting the latest information faster. We cherry-pick the most useful and interesting writing on current business issues to save busy leaders and managers time and effort’ - http://www.leadershipreview.net/leadership (but you may need to subscribe to access some of these resources).

Leader to Leader Institute

Details of the Leader to Leader Institute are at https://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-6361.html with the Leader2Leader website of resources at http://www.leadertoleader.org/ . The institute was established in 1990 as the Peter F Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, and the Leader to Leader Institute, an American organisation, ‘furthers its mission - to strengthen the leadership of the social sector - by providing social sector leaders with essential leadership wisdom, inspiration and resources to lead for innovation and to build vibrant social sector organizations.’ The archive of its journal (Leaders to Leader Journal) is at https://www.hesselbeinforum.org/journal-archive and more resources are at https://www.hesselbeinforum.org/publications.

Leadership Hub

The Leadership Hub is ‘a global Community of Practice, a leadership exchange where the 'goods' we trade are practical, inspiring insights on how to lead. Share insights and practice with members from around the world’. See http://www.theleadershiphub.com/.

Leading Today - weLEAD

‘weLEAD’ says that it has ‘become the most comprehensive leadership, and management development web site on the worldwide web! We offer access to approximately 1000 free leadership articles, monthly tips, book reviews and an academic E-Journal to promote leadership training, and management development. We are committed to the ideal that great leaders are forged by knowledge, opportunity, experience and self-sacrifice. weLEAD is an organization developed by leaders, to promote positive leadership development in individuals, and organizations.’ The website is at http://www.leadingtoday.org/. The resource centre with articles and links to videos, audio, presentations, tips, etc) is at http://www.leadingtoday.org/category/resource_library/articles/. More articles and ejournal archives are at http://www.leadingtoday.org/welead-in-learning/.

ManagementHelp

A free management library from the USA. There are approximately 650 topics in the Library, spanning almost 10,000 links. Each topic has additionally recommended books and related Library topics - http://managementhelp.org/.

Manager Tools

This is a useful site with over 400 podcasts: http://www.manager-tools.com/ . The map of the website is at http://www.manager-tools.com/map-of-the-universe . It includes:

Mindtools

Mindtools says ‘We're here to help you learn the practical, straightforward skills you need to excel in your career. (You can explore the menus on the left hand side to see our core skill areas.). Used together, these skills can help you become exceptionally effective, be a great manager and leader, be more successful in your career – and even become happier at work'. See www.mindtools.com. This organisation also sends out newsletters and has access to lots of very useful resources. You can sign up for a free newsletter and everyone can access some of these resources, but there is a charge for membership to be able to access everything. The current main sections and links to them are:

SelfGrowth.com

This website is known as ‘Self Improvement Online – the online self improvement community’ and it describes itself as ‘the most complete guide to information about Self Improvement, Personal Growth and Self Help on the Network’ – it’s at http://www.selfgrowth.com/ . This American website has over 350,000 self-improvement resources on just about everything and its focus seems to be primarily on lifestyle. An introduction to the website is at http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Getting_Started_with_SelfGrowth_com.html. Its complete list of topics is at http://www.selfgrowth.com/topics.html - and there is a store of videos at http://www.selfgrowth.com/videos.html.

The section on ‘success skills’ may be of particular interest. Articles are at http://www.selfgrowth.com/successskills_articles.html and there is a websites directory at http://www.selfgrowth.com/websites/success_skills.html.

Leadership articles are at http://www.selfgrowth.com/leader_articles.html and leadership websites are at http://www.selfgrowth.com/leader.html.

Other topics include:

The links in this section should still work, but this is a fast-changing world. If you find that any of the links do not work, or if you discover any new ones, or have any suggestions for additional resources, please email john.hunt@gmx.co.uk.