Catalog | Materials

Purchase Materials for the Following Titles on This Website
- Career by Design | WORKBOOK © 2013 | MBTI edition
- Career by Design | EBOOK © 2017 | Abridged Birkman edition
- Career by Design | AUDIO | MP3 | © 2013
- Dance of Leadership | EBOOK
- Dance of Leadership | AUDIO | MP3
- Developmental Networking and Mentoring | WORKBOOK
- Don’t be a J.E.R.K. Manager | AUDIO | MP3
- Empowered Leadership | EBOOK
- Empowered Leadership | AUDIO | MP3
- How You Can Become an Inclusive Leader | WORKBOOK
- Multicultural Teams | eBOOK
- Multicultural Teams | AUDIO | MP3
- Six Secret Soft S.K.I.L.L.S. | WORKBOOK
- Six Secret Soft S.K.I.L.L.S. | AUDIO | MP3
- Transformational Listening | AUDIO | MP3
- Working the Birkman Method | WORKBOOK

Purchase Materials for the Following Titles from Amazon
- Career by Design | BOOK
- Dance of Leadership | BOOK
- Empowered Leadership | BOOK
- Managing and Leading People in Organizations | BOOK
- Multicultural Teams | BOOK
Developing Cultural Competence is a process. It starts with Motivation for intercultural interaction, followed by Knowledge about other cultures, then effective Strategies for intercultural engagement and Behavioral Adaptation during intercultural interactions.
Cultural competence does not require you to know all the detailed content about every aspect of identity and culture. Cultural Competence is your attitude — thoughts, feelings and behaviors — towards cultural similarities and differences. To be culturally-competent, you need only be interested in people from other cultures, be sensitive enough to notice cultural differences, and be willing to modify your thoughts and behaviors as an indication of respect for people from other cultures.
Dr. Robin offers practical ways to discover, develop, and use your unique leadership style. Dance of Leadership explains five styles
— Flowing … Staccato … Chaos … Lyrical … Stillness —
and links them to personality information, leadership research, and multicultural examples to show you how to lead in your unique way.
Purchase Dance of Leadership on Amazon HERE.
The Dance of Leadership book defines leadership, provides an overview of leadership research themes (trait theory, development theory, situational leadership theory, transactional-transformational leadership), differentiates between leading and managing, shares the style assessment and profile, addresses FAQs about leadership styles, and explores each of the five styles in detail.
Dance of Leadership is for you if …
- You aspire to leadership, to making a positive difference, right where you are, in your authentic way.
- You are in a position where you must exercise influence to get things done — you have the position but must get things done with and through people (this applies to middle managers anywhere in the world).
- You appreciate management / leadership as an art, not a lifeless-do-it-by-the-numbers-only activity.
- You are ready for easy-to-relate-to and non-threatening images of effective leaders, making a fearless difference.
- You are ready to see yourself, your style and your interactions as significant, too.
The leaders profiled in the book include a multicultural mix. Each style has examples of leaders who used the style, information about what makes each style work and the situations in which that style is likely to be effective, plus recommended reading / developmental activities. For every style, there are male and female examples. Everyday work leaders round out the role models provided from historical and political areas.
Reference is made to Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi’s research on Flow with geniuses, Aikido Master Thomas Crum’s approach to managing conflict, Margaret Wheatley’s insights from Leadership and the New Science, Dan Goleman’s work on Emotional Intelligence, and Joyce Fletcher’s gender-based research on Invisible Work and Relational Practice.
Profiles include Dona Fela, Michael Jordan, Madame CJ Walker, Sun Tzu, Margaret Cho, Einstein, Hopi Spider Woman, Tony Dungy, Byron Katie, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Cleopatra, Mary Magdalene, Jack Welch, Elizabeth Vargas, Machiavelli’s Prince, Bayard Rustin, Bill Clinton, Alexander the Great, Mary Parker Follett, Princess Diana, Cesar Chavez, Sargent Shriver, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Confucius.
The Dance of Leadership eBook defines leadership, provides an overview of leadership research themes (trait theory, development theory, situational leadership theory, transactional-transformational leadership), differentiates between leading and managing, shares the style assessment and profile, addresses FAQs about leadership styles, and explores each of the five styles in detail.
Dance of Leadership is for you if …
- You aspire to leadership, to making a positive difference, right where you are, in your authentic way.
- You are in a position where you must exercise influence to get things done — you have the position but must get things done with and through people (this applies to middle managers anywhere in the world).
- You appreciate management / leadership as an art, not a lifeless-do-it-by-the-numbers-only activity.
- You are ready for easy-to-relate-to and non-threatening images of effective leaders, making a fearless difference.
- You are ready to see yourself, your style and your interactions as significant, too.
The leaders profiled in the book include a multicultural mix. Each style has examples of leaders who used the style, information about what makes each style work and the situations in which that style is likely to be effective, plus recommended reading / developmental activities. For every style, there are male and female examples. Everyday work leaders round out the role models provided from historical and political areas.
Reference is made to Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi’s research on Flow with geniuses, Aikido Master Thomas Crum’s approach to managing conflict, Margaret Wheatley’s insights from Leadership and the New Science, Dan Goleman’s work on Emotional Intelligence, and Joyce Fletcher’s gender-based research on Invisible Work and Relational Practice.
Profiles include Dona Fela, Michael Jordan, Madame CJ Walker, Sun Tzu, Margaret Cho, Einstein, Hopi Spider Woman, Tony Dungy, Byron Katie, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Cleopatra, Mary Magdalene, Jack Welch, Elizabeth Vargas, Machiavelli’s Prince, Bayard Rustin, Bill Clinton, Alexander the Great, Mary Parker Follett, Princess Diana, Cesar Chavez, Sargent Shriver, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Confucius.
Introduction to Dance of Leadership.
Purchase the audio format of Dance of Leadership (mp3 files; zipped folder). Folder includes a companion workbook in PDF format. Folder includes a companion questionnaire in PDF format.
In this abridged 72-minute summary of the five leadership styles from the Dance of Leadership book, you will review leadership research streams, understand your likely style profile and hear descriptions of the energy and situations appropriate for each of the five Dance of Leadership styles — Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, and Stillness.
Each style also has a short profile of multi-dimensional leaders who demonstrated that style. Leaders profiled on this audio are Dona Fela, Michael Jordan, Madame CJ Walker, Sun Tzu, Margaret Cho, Einstein, Hopi Spider Woman, Sargent Shriver, Byron Katie and Gandhi. The audio is Dr. Robin’s voice.
Audio Tracks:
01 | Introduction | 11 | Lyrical Leaders |
02 | Leadership Research Streams | 12 | Stillness Style |
03 | Style Assessment | 13 | Stillness Leaders |
04 | Flowing Style | 14 | Style Profile |
05 | Flowing Leaders | 15 | Flowing Leadership Situations |
06 | Staccato Style | 16 | Staccato Leadership Situations |
07 | Staccato Leaders | 17 | Chaos Leadership Situations |
08 | Chaos Style | 18 | Lyrical Leadership Situations |
09 | Chaos Leaders | 19 | Stillness Leadership Situations |
10 | Lyrical Style | 20 | Review |
Leadership is a relationship — a relationship between those who choose to lead and those who choose to follow. In her handbook and audio, Dr. Robin talks about some of the ways you can make that leader-follower relationship an empowering one.
Dr. Robin learned through research that empowerment, as defined in practice, includes three relational concepts — Authority | Competence | Trust.
- Authority is the right to make decisions appropriate for your work role.
- Competence is the skills you need to carry out your job tasks, as well as the ability to learn to do your work better.
- Trust includes fairness in a respectful relationship between you, your managers, your co-workers and your company.
Purchase Empowered Leadership in paperback on Amazon HERE.
Chapters
1 | LTQ Intro | 7 | SMARTER Goals |
2 | LTQ Questions | 8 | Scoring Trust |
3 | Scoring Authority | 9 | Betrayal-Violating VABEs |
4 | Decision Making Biases | 10 | Multicultural Trust Issues |
5 | Scoring Competence | 11 | Summary |
6 | Achievement vs. Perfectionism |
Achievement vs. Perfectionism Video
Perfectionism sucks! It sucks the life out of your team. It sucks out your joy and health. How can you shift from deadly perfectionism to effective achievement orientation? Dr. Robin gives you a counter-intuitive tip, the DONE LIST, to help you do just that in this short video.
Chapters
1 | LTQ Intro | 7 | SMARTER Goals |
2 | LTQ Questions | 8 | Scoring Trust |
3 | Scoring Authority | 9 | Betrayal-Violating VABEs |
4 | Decision Making Biases | 10 | Multicultural Trust Issues |
5 | Scoring Competence | 11 | Summary |
6 | Achievement vs. Perfectionism |
The Leadership Trait Questionnaire (LTQ) is also available to take free online HERE.
The online Leadership Trait Questionnaire (LTQ) covers three areas:
SECTION A:
Authority Quotient — your propensity to use your decision-making ability and seek position power.
SECTION C:
Competence Quotient — your propensity to seek out and complete tasks to high standards.
SECTION T:
Trust Quotient — your propensity to relate to others in ways that gain their confidence.
There are 33 questions in this survey. When you finish the survey, the results will be available to you immediately. Be sure to save and print your results. Dr. Robin is no longer doing research with this survey. She does not collect, nor save, any results.
The audio version contains all the information in the Empowered Leadership handbook. Be sure to complete the Leadership Trait Questionnaire (LTQ) included in the zipped folder before listening to Track 3. The audio will also provide scoring instructions and interpretation.
Runtime — 59 minutes
Purchase the audio format of Empowered Leadership (mp3 files; zipped folder). Folder includes a companion questionnaire in PDF format.
Audio Tracks: | |||
1 | LTQ Preface | 8 | SMARTER Goals |
2 | LTQ Introduction | 9 | Scoring Trust |
3 | LTQ Questions | 10 | Betrayal-Violating VABEs |
4 | Scoring Authority | 11 | Multicultural Trust Issues |
5 | Decision Making Biases | 12 | Summary |
6 | Scoring Competence | 13 | Conclusion |
7 | Achievement vs. Perfectionism |
Given all that’s been happening recently, I’ve been asked repeatedly by practicing managers how they can become more Inclusive Leaders? How can they deal with Implicit / Unconscious Bias in their organizations? How can they respond to community and team member expectations regarding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?
In response, I have synthesized research and practice from years as an executive educator into this Inclusive Leader Course. The associated workbook … How You Can Become an Inclusive Leader … shares seven sets of competencies organized using the acronym I.N.C.L.U.D.E.
The Inclusive Leader workbook covers the material used in Dr. Robin’s 10-session course. The tone and style of her workbook is deliberately practical and informal, in keeping with her style. See the Table of Contents below for topics covered.
How to Become an Inclusive Leader Workbook | Table of Contents | ||
WELCOME | 2 | |
INTRODUCTION | 4 | |
Pit Story | Path | Definitions | From Me to We: I.N.C.L.U.D.E. | Reflection | ||
INCLUSION | 12 | |
Six Soft Skills | Kudos | Learning | SMARTER Goals | Inclusion in Action | ||
NERVE | 25 | |
Definition | Intent | Key Points | Courage | R.O.B.I.N. Conversations | ||
CULTURAL COMPETENCE | 31 | |
Definitions | Culture | Categories | Cultural Competence Questionnaire (CCQ) | Motivation | Knowledge | Cultural Communication Styles | Strategies | Takeaways | CCQ Interpretation | ||
LISTENING | 66 | |
Definition | Intent | Key Points | Intro to Skill | Questions = Power Play | Why People Talk | Research: Psychological Safety | Key Takeaways | Listen to Self Small Tweak – Big Impact | ||
{UNCONSCIOUS} BIAS MITIGATION | 77 | |
Goals | Definition |Research | IAT | Micro-Aggressions | Typical Blind Spots | Program Design | Mitigating {Unconscious} Bias | Unhooking | Recovery | ||
DIVERSITY | 97 | |
Definition | Benefits | Dimensions | Social Identity | Target Strategies | Covering | Addressing | D&I Pitfalls | Best Practices re: D&I Management | White Fragility | Key Concepts | ||
EMPOWER | 115 | |
Definition | Authority Questionnaire | Ethical Decision-Making Questions | Competence Questionnaire | Achievement v. Perfectionism | Trust | Multi-Dimensional Trust Questionnaire | Communication-Based Trust | Character-Based Trust | Competence-Based Trust | ||
CONCLUSION | 140 | |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR | 143 |
Contact Dr. Robin HERE for tailoring parameters, pricing and scheduling for an online Zoom course.
Sample Course Design | |||||
Pre-Work | Intro | T-E-A | T-E-A | T-E-A | T-E-A |
Inclusion in Action eLearning | 1. Inclusion in Action Q&A – Conflict 101 – Intent / Impact | 3. Kudos / Feedback | 5. Diversity Strategies / Covering | 7. Cultural Competence | 9. Empower – Engage |
2. IL Model – Soft Skills: Solutions, Listening, Learning / Cycle of Inference | 4. Listening Circle (Micro-Aggressions Video) | 6. Unconscious Bias Mitigation | 8. Cultural Competence (continued) | 10. Trust / Stability / Compassion / Hope | |
T-E-A Session | Discuss and Commit to Trying One of the Nine Techniques or Soft Skills | Discuss and Commit to Kudos Practice / Done List / MA Response | Share SI Info with Group / UB Mitigation Commitment | Share Intercultural Interaction Strategies – CCQ commitment | Closing / Accountability Partner |
Homework | Robin Johnson Videos: Psych Safety, Dweck, Maber | White Fragility / Race in America / Ouch! Silence | Cultural Competence Questionnaire | Authority Q; Competence Questionnaire; Multi-Dimensional Trust Questionnaire |
Detailed Description of the I.N.C.L.U.D.E. Competencies | |
I | Inclusion is about modeling behaviors such as giving effective feedback, creating and sustaining psychological safety, double-loop learning, and S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals. It is also being willing and able to interrupt dissing behaviors that make the work environment toxic. |
N | Nerve is about bracing oneself mentally to face a demanding situation; summoning the courage and making sure you’re in the right frame of mind to deal with the issues at hand. |
C | Cultural Competence is your attitude – behavior, thoughts and feelings – towards cultural similarities and differences. And I define Culture broadly to include all the dimensions of diversity currently relevant in our workplaces today. Developing Cultural Competence is a process. It starts with Motivation for intercultural interaction, followed by Knowledge about other cultures, then effective Strategies for intercultural engagement and Behavioral Adaptation during intercultural interactions. We start the process of becoming more culturally competent by having you assess your cultural competence using a well-established, research-based tool. |
L | Listening – called Transformational Listening in my system, builds trust and creates psychological safety. I teach a number of tweaks to listening that increase your efficacy. |
U | Unconscious Bias Mitigation requires that you know what yours are, that you know your triggers, and you know how to mitigate rather than act from them. We all have biases. Intentional, inclusive leaders learn how to recognize them so they do not hijack interpersonal relationships or have bias in organizational systems / processes that cause unintended consequences. |
D | Diversity and Inclusion go together. I do not go into basic diversity training issues. I do provide insights about diversity-based social identity protection strategies – including White Fragility. |
E | Empowerment is an overlapping construct that includes Authority (delegate it); Competence (develop it); and Trust (give it). The Leadership Trait Questionnaire and Multi-Dimensional Trust Questionnaire provide insight and suggestions for being more empowering and encouraging more engagement from your team members. |
Don’t be a J.E.R.K. Manager, because …
Jamming your ideas down others’ throats,
Embarrassing them,
Retaliating, and
Kissing Up
… might cause your direct reports to consider you a J.E.R.K. Manager.
Dr. Robin’s Reminder
Don’t Be a J.E.R.K. Manager is one of Dr. Robin’s Reminders — short audios tracks that summarize information from longer formats. They provide a convenient way to remember and share core concepts. Purchase the Mp3.
Runtime — 10 minutes
Audio Tracks:
1 | J — Jam Ideas | 3 | R — Retaliate |
2 | E — Embarrass | 4 | K — Kiss Up |
Transformational Listening demonstrates respect behaviorally, helps you collaborate, builds trust, balances extraversion-introversion and direct-indirect communication styles, and is one of the most powerful competencies in the multicultural leader’s toolkit.
Listening
Transformational Listening
The Transformational Listening Mp3 is available for download now. This Mp3 is one of Dr. Robin’s Reminders — short audios tracks that summarize information from longer formats. They provide a convenient way to remember and share core concepts. Purchase the Mp3.
Runtime — 20 minutes
Audio Tracks:
01 | Introduction | 05 | Talker’s Agendas |
02 | Ancient Chinese Character | 06 | Listening Benefits |
03 | Questions? | 07 | Conclusion |
04 | Listener’s Mindsets |
The Developmental Networking and Mentoring workbook shares information about mentoring and developmental relationships that Dr. Robin and her colleagues use in their executive education programs.
Also, there are a number of worksheets and tools included for you to apply the concepts.
Having taught many people how to manage and lead people in organizations for a few decades now, I’ve been asked repeatedly by practicing managers what can they do — that’s practical, doable, and useful — to be more effective? However, over time I’ve looked for ways to synthesize that research into practical actions — tweaks really — that provide a lot of benefit for comparatively small effort. The result is this topic — Six Secret Soft S.K.I.L.L.S..
The tone and style of this workbook is deliberately practical and informal, in keeping with Dr. Robin’s teaching style. She provides resource links, additional reading in the appendices, and some references — including internet videos — for additional learning.
Joel Lesko of Sunshower Learning, and Dr. Robin have partnered to create an eLearning program for her popular Six Secret Soft S.K.I.L.L.S. workshop.
The modular design includes videos introducing each of the six soft skills, interactive tools for exploring each of the skills, links to videos and research providing more learning, check-your-knowledge quizzes for each skill plus an optional final quiz, a downloadable workbook, and answers to frequently-asked questions about the six soft skills.
It can be used as a stand-alone program, as an introduction to this content, or as a reminder after participants have gone through a live Six Secret Soft S.K.I.L.L.S. program. The eLearning workshop takes at least 90 minutes to complete.
Please note: The workbook included with the eLearning program is different from the workbook you can purchase directly from this site.
To review the Six Secret Soft S.K.I.L.L.S. eLearning course, contact Joel Lesko, the producer of the course, HERE or call Joel at (888) 723-8517
Dr. Robin’s Reminder
Dr. Robin’s Reminders are short audios tracks that summarize information from longer formats. They provide a convenient way to remember and share core concepts.
Runtime — 18 minutes
Audio Tracks:
01 | S — Solution Seeking | Value people with answers and a process for finding solutions |
02 | K — Kudos | Motivation research says best Kudos:Constructive Criticism ratio is 3:1 |
03 | I — Inclusion | Using names with contributions is high-leverage inclusive behavior |
04 | L — Listening | Meta-competency to demonstrate respect, balance communication styles, learn fast |
05 | L — Learning | From different perspectives is core benefit of diversity |
06 | S — S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Goals | Specific, Measured, Actionable, Results-Oriented, Timed, Engaging, Reinforced |
07 | Conclusion |
The Gamma Project Team video case is a multicultural team interacting over a 5.5 minute time period. Dr. Robin uses this case to help participants observe effective and ineffective behaviors within a work context. Her debriefs can focus diagnosing which of the soft / relationship skills the characters did not use, and which ones they could use (and why) to be a more effective team. It is a great way to help participants understand the power of the soft-skills.
Please contact Dr. Robin HERE to arrange a private preview of the Gamma Project Team video if your organization is considering a professional development program where observing a multicultural work group followed by soft skill development for participants would add to the learning experience.
Six Soft S.K.I.L.L.S. Overview
Leading a Multicultural Team to high performance requires you to create and sustain an environment that leverages perspective diversity. Dr. Robin uses cutting-edge research to help you design your team for success, practical assessments to help team members know themselves and their teammates better, and skill-building activities to help team members practice feedback, exercise influence, and motivate-engage each other in making the team productive.
Multicultural Teams outperform other teams when you need creativity, commitment and buy in — but only if they are designed and managed well. Dr. Robin has a range of resources to help you maximize effectiveness on your team.
Click HERE to purchase Multicultural Teams on Amazon.
Dr. Robin’s Multicultural Teams eBook and audio programs explain how to design and manage your multicultural team well, and how to create and sustain a learn-from differences environment. The content is the same — only the media differ. They both provide practical suggestions from research on how to design your team for success, and how to leverage diverse perspectives within your team to maximize creative problem-solving.
Specifically …
- A clear, motivating focus that requires team members to engage in conversation about why the mission is important strategically to the organization and personally to them.
- An understanding of how important designing the team well is, while knowing how to make the right intervention into the group process at the right time.
- Metrics that measure output, learning and satisfaction.
- The right degree of empowerment and the right type of team given your task and members’ skills.
- The soft-skills tool kit every manager needs to maximize learning on the team.
- Transformational listening skills (not just active listening)
- Inclusive behaviors, particularly connecting names with ideas to encourage participation
- Giving timely, specific, culturally-competent feedback to motivate progress towards goal achievement
- Minority influence strategies to make all contributions count, avoid dis’ing, and keep groupthink at bay
- Communication skills to move from conflict to collaboration
Click HERE for the Multicultural Teams eBook table of contents. Click HERE to purchase Multicultural Teams on Amazon.
Specifically …
- A clear, motivating focus that requires team members to engage in conversation about why the mission is important strategically to the organization and personally to them.
- An understanding of how important designing the team well is, while knowing how to make the right intervention into the group process at the right time.
- Metrics that measure output, learning and satisfaction.
- The right degree of empowerment and the right type of team given your task and members’ skills.
- The soft-skills tool kit every manager needs to maximize learning on the team.
- Transformational listening skills (not just active listening)
- Inclusive behaviors, particularly connecting names with ideas to encourage participation
- Giving timely, specific, culturally-competent feedback to motivate progress towards goal achievement
- Minority influence strategies to make all contributions count, avoid dis’ing, and keep groupthink at bay
- Communication skills to move from conflict to collaboration
Click HERE for the Multicultural Teams eBook table of contents.
Dr. Robin’s Multicultural Teams handbook and audio programs explain how to design and manage your multicultural team well, and how to create and sustain a learn-from differences environment. The content is the same — only the media differ. They both provide practical suggestions from research on how to design your team for success, and how to leverage diverse perspectives within your team to maximize creative problem-solving.
Specifically …
- A clear, motivating focus that requires team members to engage in conversation about why the mission is important strategically to the organization and personally to them.
- An understanding of how important designing the team well is, while knowing how to make the right intervention into the group process at the right time.
- Metrics that measure output, learning and satisfaction.
- The right degree of empowerment and the right type of team given your task and members’ skills.
- The soft-skills tool kit every manager needs to maximize learning on the team.
- Transformational listening skills (not just active listening)
- Inclusive behaviors, particularly connecting names with ideas to encourage participation
- Giving timely, specific, culturally-competent feedback to motivate progress towards goal achievement
- Minority influence strategies to make all contributions count, avoid dis’ing, and keep groupthink at bay
- Communication skills to move from conflict to collaboration
Audio Tracks:
I | Design For Success In 5 Step | II | Five Skills That Leverage Diversity | |
01 | Introduction | 01 | Five Interlocking Skills — Mission | |
02 | Defining Teams | 02 | Inclusion | |
03 | Multicultural Teams Research | 03 | Minority Influence | |
04 | Maximizing Teams Five Steps | 04 | Accountability — High Expectations | |
05 | Mission | 05 | Feedback | |
06 | Design for Success | 06 | Giving Feedback | |
07 | Understand Group Development | 07 | Giving Feedback Example | |
08 | Consensus Decision Making | 08 | Receiving Feedback | |
09 | Motivating Metrics | 09 | Collaborative Behaviors | |
10 | Mark Progress | 10 | Conflict Behaviors | |
11 | Four Team Types | 11 | Adding Culture | |
12 | Conflict to Collaboration | |||
13 | Conclusion |