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First Nations people of all continents have been refining leadership for millennia.

They've had from the dawn of human history to figure out what works and what doesn't. By comparison, the discipline of workplace leadership emerged only about 100 years ago - just a few generations back. First Leaders is the first book devoted to how the wisdom of First Nations leadership can benefit modern leaders.

Inspired by conversations with several Maasai elders, Andrew O'Keeffe travelled the globe investigating the leadership knowledge of First Nation societies. His search took him to the central desert of Australia to meet Arrernte and Pintupi, through Africa to meet with Kalahari Bushmen, Himba, Maasai and Samburu, to the Amazon to meet Waorani and Kichwa, to New Zealand to meet Maori and North America to meet with Haida and Mohawk.

From his meetings with First Nations people and his focus on the practical application of the wisdom shared with him, Andrew O'Keeffe has identified 11 Principles of First Leadership. The principles provide concrete actions to help both individual leaders and organisations solve their major leadership challenges.

First Nations people of all continents have been refining leadership for millennia.

They've had from the dawn of human history to figure out what works and what doesn't. By comparison, the discipline of workplace leadership emerged only about 100 years ago - just a few generations back. First Leaders is the first book devoted to how the wisdom of First Nations leadership can benefit modern leaders.

Inspired by conversations with several Maasai elders, Andrew O'Keeffe travelled the globe investigating the leadership knowledge of First Nation societies. His search took him to the central desert of Australia to meet Arrernte and Pintupi, through Africa to meet with Kalahari Bushmen, Himba, Maasai and Samburu, to the Amazon to meet Waorani and Kichwa, to New Zealand to meet Maori and North America to meet with Haida and Mohawk.

From his meetings with First Nations people and his focus on the practical application of the wisdom shared with him, Andrew O'Keeffe has identified 11 Principles of First Leadership. The principles provide concrete actions to help both individual leaders and organisations solve their major leadership challenges.

Offices are not our natural habitat. Leadership is easier when we understand the nine instincts that still drive human behaviour.

With the Industrial Revolution only 250 years ago, we left our hunting, gathering and village societies to work in offices and factories. The behaviour that ensured our ancestors' survival on the savannah plains of Africa over the millennia is alive and well in today's workplaces. The nine instincts explain the reasons, and the solutions, to the challenges that leaders commonly face.

Based on the author's wide experience in large organisations combined with witty true stories of chimps from Gombe, Tanzania and Taronga Zoo, Sydney, Hardwired Humans explains the psychology behind the human instincts of social behaviour.

As you read this entertaining book, you will learn how the instincts of clan connections, hierarchy, gossip, politics, snap judgments, status displays and sexual competition continue to drive modern office interactions just as they have driven human interaction for millennia.

The book shares a practical framework that helps makes sense of human behaviour and allows leaders to manage more effectively.

In a note introducing the book, Dr Jane Goodall calls it a 'compelling book'.

The Australian Financial Review Boss magazine highly recommends the book as one 'that will captivate anyone who finds the "people stuff" confounding.'

Got a spirit-crushing boss?

Well so does Lauren Johnson - five of them.

Based on true stories of bosses' political maneuverings and workers under siege, The Boss tells Lauren's story - a talented but naive professional struggling under a self-serving, insensitive boss who undermines her at every turn. And working around her boss doesn't help - most of the company execs are ineffective in their own right. Lauren just wants to get her job done, but every manager throws up one more needless hurdle.

Disturbing, amusing, and wry, the story progresses as Lauren is forced to upwardly manage the brownnoser, the backstabber, the micromanager, the passive-aggressive, the bully, and the idea stealer. Forced into a final decision, Lauren must fight back or have her spirit crushed.