Connect First: 52 Simple Ways to Ignite Success, Meaning, and Joy at Work - Hardcover

Katzman, Melanie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1260457834 ISBN 13: 9781260457834

Publisher: McGraw Hill, 2019

Synopsis

A renowned business psychologist, advisor, and consultant to the world’s leading companies reveals the key to greater success, meaning, and joy at work
 
Technology has enabled us to be more interconnected today than ever before. So why do so many of us feel isolated and undervalued at work? Why does it feel like something is missing? It doesn’t have to be this way. In these rapidly changing, challenging times, how do we―YOU―develop the intuition, self-awareness, and interpersonal agility required to prosper?
 
Here’s what we’ve lost track of: organizations are run by people, and people run on emotions. Strong relationships are the bedrock of lasting success, meaning, and joy at work. In this life-changing guide, Dr. Melanie Katzman shows you an impactful approach to connect first as fellow humans, then as coworkers and colleagues, to forge the deep bonds that make a significant difference. Learn how to:
 
· Establish respect and make others feel valued
· Engage all of your senses to create a truly inclusive culture
· Become popular and be the person everyone wants to work with
· Grow loyalty by making it about them―your coworkers
· Resolve conflicts by remaining curious and open with others
· Fight fear (and prepare for the future) by stepping outside your comfort zone and experimenting with new ideas
· Have a big impact by leveraging your platform, living your values, and leading the change
 
Dr. Katzman presents 52 actions you can take immediately to create a deeply rewarding work life by connecting to yourself, your organization, and the world at large. These are the same powerful techniques she has used with leaders and employees at the world’s top companies to enhance productivity and foster fulfillment and joy at work―the hallmarks of true success.

About this title

From the Back Cover

“Anyone who knows Melanie Katzman has admired her ability to form genuine connections. As a clinical psychologist and corporate consultant, it’s the key to her impact. In this user-friendly, book, she shares practical tips for following in her footsteps to build trusting relationships.”
 ―Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take and host of the TED podcast WorkLife

“People often ask, what’s the appropriate way to show my colleagues that I care about them at a human level? Drawn from Katzman’s extensive expertise as a psychologist and coach, Connect First is a treasure trove of actionable techniques you can use every day to build strong relationships at work. Once you apply them, you'll enjoy your work―and the people you work with―so much more that you’ll do the best work of your life.”
―Kim Scott, New York Times bestselling author of Radical Candor

“Connect First is an eye-opening gift. With every turn of the page, one will instantly feel liberated. This book cures in one quick read what we’ve spent decades foolishly trying to deprogram in the corporate setting. Melanie, in her practical, empirical, and honest approach has offered us the antidote for our time: being human is a workplace superpower.”
―Cory Haik, Chief Digital Officer, Vice Media
 
“Melanie is a great storyteller. And like the storytellers of old who used stories to impart wisdom, Melanie uses them to illustrate very practical tips that enable one to form much more real, deeper connections with colleagues and with people you are meeting for the first time.  Better yet, these lessons will help make for a more productive and fun workplace. I found myself immediately implementing many of her insights. Thank you, Melanie for this gift.”
―Steven Tallman, Partner and Head of Global Operations, Bain & Company
 
 “We are all starving to connect and somehow forgot the basics of how to do it. With Connect First, Melanie cracks the code on how to tap into our humanity in order to influence others, be successful, and live a fuller life. Simple and sophisticated tools we all desperately need and didn’t even know it. Thank you, Melanie.”
―Chris McCarthy, President, MTV, VH1, CMT, and Logo Media

“I found myself mid-chapter, putting this book down and instantly emailing one of my producers to tell her ‘thank you’ for an error she caught on my show yesterday just before I went live! This book is full of brilliant actionable items that we ALL can do to connect, be better employees, be better humans.”
―Brooke Baldwin, Anchor, CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin

“In this dynamic, digitalized, and radically changing world, never before has instilling meaning and purpose in our work and deepening connections with others been more important. Drawing on her extensive experience as trusted advisor to senior executives, Melanie offers a wealth of actionable insights which are grounded in neuroscience and psychology and vividly brought to life through case studies. Connect First is an invaluable resource.”
 ―Nisha Rao-Schiller, Head of Leadership Planning and Development, Deutsche Bank

“Absolutely terrific! In clear prose, Melanie Katzman distills the insights and lessons from over 30 years of studying behavior in the workplace. There is something for everyone: graduates starting their first jobs, newly promoted managers, and veteran CEOs. I only wish I had this wise advice at the beginning of my career.”
―Peter Rose, Senior Advisor, Blackstone and Vice Chairman, Sard Verbinnen

“At a time when we’re more connected to our devices than we are to each other, C-suite whisperer Melanie Katzman reminds us that it’s the strength of our relationships that lay the foundation for greater success and joy at work. Witty and wise, she gifts us with 52 research-based, easy-to-implement tactics that will unlock connection and foster deep bonds in any workplace.”
―Catherine Steiner-Adair, EdD, author of The Big Disconnect

“Melanie is a provocateur of innovation. In Connect First, she holds up a mirror that allows us to laugh, learn, and alter our behavior. She reconnects us to our most human desire―to experience and spread joy.”
―Wellington Nogueira, Founder, Doctors of Joy

“Business psychologist and consultant Katzman contends that connecting emotionally to one's job and coworkers is vital to performing well and finding happiness and meaning in work. This requires managers to see their colleagues as people with whom to foster good relationships. This is the core insight that gives unity to a management book consisting of wide-ranging topics, from smiling and politeness to gathering information and writing clear goals. Informal in style, the work nevertheless follows a consistent pattern of discussion for each topic. For each, the author provides action steps and case studies, which results in concrete suggestions rather than abstract hypotheses. While Katzman doesn't completely avoid theory, she provides authoritative practical advice. For example, ‘The Gift of Time’ chapter suggests rewarding employees for a project well done with time off rather than a company dinner. VERDICT A how-to guide that will appeal to managers and leaders seeking advice for improving and maintaining morale in workplace culture.”
―Library Journal

“Katzman, a clinical psychologist and corporate consultant, explains how to change the way emotions are viewed in the workplace in this helpful primer. Through Katzman’s research, she’s discovered a common theme among employees: namely, the desire for a greater sense of respect, inclusion, and meaning at work. Too often, she finds, management styles and company cultures give rise to hard feelings, misinterpreted motives, and bruised egos, resulting in the loss of skilled and experienced employees and the proliferation of avoidable stress. To combat this problem, Katzman puts forth 52 suggestions, most quick and inexpensive to implement, which are applicable for every level of an organization. Her proposals center on common human values and generating trust, and she offers a step-by-step guide to basic―yet, she asserts, often noticeably absent―ways of eliciting a sense of shared purpose. These include ordinary courtesies, such as saying “please” and “thank you”; using (and, thus, remembering) people’s names; and carefully listening to others, as well as, more broadly, connecting people’s jobs to a larger mission. For those looking to make a positive difference at work, Katzman offers an easy-to-use, encouraging guide that employees at all levels can adopt to instigate change.
―Publishers Weekly

 

About the Author

Melanie Katzman, PhD, is a business psychologist, advisor, and consultant to the world’s top public and private companies, as well as governmental and nonprofit institutions. As the founder of Katzman Consulting, she is a sought-after expert in executive development, group dynamics, and leadership diversity, and has worked with businesses―including Accenture, Bain Consulting, Goldman Sachs, MTV, PwC, and Viacom―in 31 countries. A busy speaker, she is also a founding partner of the global nonprofit Leaders’ Quest. Dr. Katzman has held faculty positions in psychiatry at Weill-Cornell Medical Center and the University of London and was a senior fellow at Wharton Business School’s Center for Leadership and Change Management. She has been featured in the New York Times, Financial Times, South China Morning Post, Vanity Fair, O Magazine, and on ABC, CBS, and Lifetime.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw Hill
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1260457834
• ISBN 13: 9781260457834
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320