By building on her own life and work experience, combined with an extensive survey of real-life practices and studies, Penny will inspire many to wake up their inner virtual leadership skills and engage people from afar to get things done together. * Jean Binder, Author of 'Global Project Management' *
As someone who has spent over twenty years 'living the virtual life', I loved this book! Penny's book has creatively captured the foibles, and tricks and tips for success with Virtual Leadership. * Professor Eddie Obeng, School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Henley Business School *
This book is a comprehensive handbook for anyone who spends time in the virtual world of work. It is indispensable and required reading for leaders in the modern workplace. * Graeme Codrington, TomorrowToday. Futurist and expert on the future of work *
I am so pleased that Penny has written this book and can share her skill and inspiration for really successful virtual working with even more people. When I met Penny I was working with three global companies and was spending half of my days (and lots of early mornings and late nights) on 'calls' with colleagues. Penny taught me so much about how to make these into really successful meetings and reading this book reminded me of all that and more. Penny is also the master of communicating in a clear and simple way, even though the subject matter is complex. I recommend this book to everyone who needs to do business in a 'same time, different place' context - I am confident that practising what Penny recommends will transform the quality of your work. * Dr Ruth Murray-Webster, Director, Change Portfolio, Associated British Ports Ltd., UK *
Penny has done a magnificent job of covering every single element which you need to master. I've been managing virtual teams for over 20 years and thought I knew it all. I didn't. And you won't either until you have read this book. * Pete Bennett, Founder, Buzz Conferencing, UK *
Penny's latest book is your own personal leadership coach. Pragmatic and practical, this book will help you avoid horrible conference calls and quickly boost productivity wherever your team are based. Targeted sections let you dive into solutions for issues you are facing with your virtual teams today. Highly recommended for team leaders, managers and those working virtually - whether in a formal leadership position or not. * Elizabeth Harrin, Business Change Manager and Author of 'Collaboration Tools for Project Managers', UK *
When I first began to think about Virtual Working I didn't predict all the different factors that need to be taken into consideration and learned a lot by trial and error. I would have saved a lot of time and energy by reading this book! Even now, with several years' experience in Virtual Working, I found this book chock full of useful tips and ideas that will help me to be far more effective going forward. I hope that this book will become a classic. It certainly deserves its space on my bookshelf as both a primer that I can lend to 'newbies' and a very useful resource for me to use as I think through and address increasing complexity of virtual working in multiple time zones in the world of work. * Emma Langman, Head of Talent, International Retail sector, Middle East, Kuwait *
In my role within a Global organisation, I see daily the need for better leadership for remote teams working towards a common goal. Dr Penny Pullan offers us all the help that we need in this with insight, practical guidance and a dash of inspiration, which is always welcome. Covering all the aspects of time, language, culture, and generations which make this a complicated leadership task the book shows us all a clear path to success in this virtual world we all work in today. * Peter Taylor, Head of Global PMO at Kronos and 'The Lazy Project Manager' *
Dr. Pullan drills down on the world of virtual work teams to build a baseline for managers in the 21st century. Virtual teams are flexible in place and time, pull from the brightest talent, and offer a 24/7 cycle, and yet have challenges that require knowledge for effective leadership. Pullan puts the benefits of virtual working in a context that managers can trust. Virtual Leadership should be required reading for every leader, project manager, and executive, virtual or traditional. Get this book in the hands of your leadership team. * Tom Wise, Quality Director and University Adjunct Instructor, Author of 'Trust in Virtual Teams', USA *
As someone who has spent over twenty years 'living the virtual life', I loved this book! Penny's book has creatively captured the foibles, and tricks and tips for success with Virtual Leadership. * Professor Eddie Obeng, speaker, innovator and author, Learning Director of Pentacle The Virtual Business School and Professor of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Henley Business School *
This book will guide you to becoming an effective and graceful leader of virtual teams. Penny Pullan hits all the key points around establishing, nurturing, and working with diverse groups, wherever their individual members may be located. Virtual Leadership reveals the importance of a leader mindset, deals with technology and virtual meetings, lays out a path for managing virtual work in between meetings, and addresses the complications and pitfalls that every virtual worker faces. Throughout it all, the author shines a light on the often-overlooked truth about virtual work: that its most important aspect has nothing to do with technology, and everything to do with being human. Stop suffering through virtual work. Instead, transform it through applying the skills and practices in this essential handbook. * Rachel Smith, Director of Digital Facilitation Services, The Grove Consultants International, USA *
Virtual Leadership is a real standout in an increasingly crowded field. Using scores of relevant real-life examples and hundreds of practical tips, Penny is an engaging writer who generously shares her deep wisdom and extensive experience on a complex and often confounding topic. Even those who regard themselves as virtual leadership experts will come away infinitely smarter for having read this terrific book. I highly recommend this for anyone who wants to master the art and science of leading a successful virtual team. You will thank me later! * Nancy Settle-Murphy, Author of 'Leading Effective Virtual Teams', USA *
This is a book for everyone who works in a modern organisation, from a team member approaching their first encounter with virtual working, to an enterprise leader looking to transform to an effective, efficient, distributed organisation. Dr Pullan has provided everything from guidance for organisations looking to deploy communication and collaboration tools, to advice for users on how to maximise their effectiveness whilst avoiding destroying their lives by being 'always on'. * John Greenwood CPhys MInstP PMP, Regional Risk Management Champion, CSC, UK *
In this book, Penny provides a very complete list of virtual teams' pitfalls that allows a better understanding of what is not working today. And before one gets overwhelmed by the sad reality of far flung teams, she provides a 360 view of how we can make it work. By building on her own life and work experience, combined with an extensive survey of real-life practices and underpinned by several books and studies, she will inspire many to wake up their inner virtual leadership skills and engage people from afar to get things done together - and live happily ever after. * Jean Binder, Author of 'Global Project Management', Switzerland *
I have attended a number of Penny's Virtual Summits and spoken at one of them, and am thrilled that she has now put pen to paper on this important issue in modern workplaces. This book is a comprehensive handbook for anyone who spends time in the virtual world of work. A lot more than just insights into the technologies, it is a detailed, practical guide to all aspects of team building, managing meetings, engaging across cultures and styles, and so much more. It is indispensable and required reading for leaders in the modern workplace. * Graeme Codrington, CEO of TomorrowToday, futurist and expert on the future of work, South Africa *
At a time of increasing globalization, virtual working is a very real challenge to organizations and to my own world of project, programme, portfolio and change management. Both the 24x7 global economy and mobile working without a permanent office means we have to find different but effective ways of working. We also need to find successful ways to collaborate and to build strong relationships, confidence and trust with clients and teams when we cannot meet face-to-face. Virtual Leadership helps to address and resolve these issues. Penny has a wonderfully engaging and straightforward way of writing, and her book looks across a range of sectors and situations for virtual working and virtual leadership. I certainly recommend Virtual Leadership to individuals and organizations grappling with the complexity of virtual working. * Sarah Coleman, Project, Programme and Change Consultant and Educator; Author of 'Project Leadership' *
Penny Pullan has written the definitive guidebook for the problem vexing managers, leaders, entrepreneurs and employees all over the globe -- how do we stay connected and on purpose with our team while working virtually? The tools, frameworks and recommendations in this book will make a world of difference to morale, productivity and engagement. * Pamela Slim, Founder of K'e and bestselling author *
