Joe Flower, author of Healthcare beyond Reform: Doing It Right for Half the Cost, introduces a passage describing how automation can improve healthcare outcomes and reduce costs from Automate This: How Algorithms Came to Rule Our World, by Christopher Steiner.

Jim Stengel, author of Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies, introduces an excerpt presenting tactics for protecting your market share from Defending Your Brand: How Smart Companies Use Defensive Strategy to Deal with Competitive Attacks, by Tim Calkins.

Oded Shenkar, author of Copycats: How Smart Companies Use Imitation to Gain a Strategic Edge, introduces an excerpt on the wisdom of entering markets after first movers from The Art of Being Unreasonable: Lessons in Unconventional Thinking, by Eli Broad.

Zachary Tumin and William Bratton, coauthors of Collaborate or Perish! Reaching across Boundaries in a Networked World, introduce an excerpt about how managers can become collaboration catalysts from The Collaboration Imperative: Executive Strategies for Unlocking Your Organization’s True Potential, by Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese.

Stephen M.R. Covey, author of Smart Trust: Creating Prosperity, Energy, and Joy in a Low-Trust World, introduces a lesson in structured listening from Talk, Inc.: How Trusted Leaders Use Conversation to Power Their Organizations, by Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind.

James O’Toole, author of more than a dozen leadership and management books, and coeditor of Good Business: Exercising Effective and Ethical Leadership, introduces an excerpt from The End of Leadership, by Barbara Kellerman, that takes the leadership industry to task.

Justin Pettit, coauthor of Merge Ahead: Mastering the Five Enduring Trends of Artful M&A, introduces a new perspective on decision making from Wait: The Art and Science of Delay, by Frank Partnoy.

Ann Rhoades, author of Built on Values: Creating an Enviable Culture That Outperforms the Competition, introduces a lesson in attaining the full potential of employees from All In: How the Best Managers Create a Culture of Belief and Drive Big Results, by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton.

Chris Trimble, coauthor of Reverse Innovation: Create Far from Home, Win Everywhere, introduces an excerpt from Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure, by Tim Harford, which offers a troubling perspective on the outlook for innovation.

Douglas R. Conant, coauthor of TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments, introduces an excerpt from The 3rd Alternative: Solving Life’s Most Difficult Problems, by Stephen R. Covey, that proposes a more thoughtful approach for problem resolution.

Ronald Heifetz, coauthor, with Marty Linsky and Alexander Grashow, of The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World, introduces a lesson in leadership from Inside Coca-Cola: A CEO’s Life Story of Building the World’s Most Popular Brand, by Neville Isdell with David Beasley.