Fast Forward Leadership - Hardcover

Essex, Dr.Louelle; Kusy, Dr.Mitchel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0273642014 ISBN 13: 9780273642015

Publisher: Pearson Education, 1999

Synopsis

Quick adjustment to a changing world is taught in this unique management guide, which focuses on practices that don't work, showing how to excise them and put more effective techniques in place.

About this title

About the Author

Dr Louellen Essex is President of her own leadership developmentconsulting organization, Louellen Essex and Associates. Serving as an educator and consultant for over 17 years, her clients include a variety of corporations, governmental agencies, health care institutions and non-profit organizations, worldwide. She is an adjunct faculty member, Graduate School of Business, University of St Thomas, Minneapolis.

Dr Mitchell Kusy is Associate Professor and Chair, Graduate Department of Organization Learning & Development, University of St Thomas, Minneapolis. Previously, he directed the leadership and organization development areas in non-profit and Fortune 500 firms for 15 years. Named 1998 Organization Development Practitioner of the Year by the Minnesota Organization Development Network, he consults internationally in leadership development, strategic planning, and organizational change.

From the Back Cover

Leaders at work today have heard plenty about the issues facing them in the 21st century. But many are still in need of practical guidance on how their day-to-day leadership practice needs to change.

Fast Forward Leadership is based on the idea of the Leadership Exchange. This is a concept which offers a compelling new set of innovative practices leaders must quickly adopt.

The concepts developed in this book, enlightened with a wide range of high profile examples, enable readers to eliminate outdated practices and establish a highly effective strategy for the future.

For leadership success, it is imperative to get rid of all the stale practices of the past and embrace an innovative approach every day of the working week.

<>Fast Forward Leadership offers clear step-by-step guidance through practical advice in the key areas of communication, workforce, team, development, structure, performance reward and workplace - theory which is reinforces with a wealth of examples.

Highlighting the crucial need for fundamental change, this book's set of definitive do's and dont's can be immediately implemented when you start work tomorrow.

"Fast Forward Leadership is the most down-to-earth and practical leadership book I've read. It cuts to the heart of the matter and gives the reader a clear road map to follow - very useful."

—Susan Kinder, Senior Vice President, American Express Financial Advisors

"Finally, a common sense approach to leadership. Fast Forward Leadership gives you true take-away value. This is a book for anyone waiting to gain leadership skills for the new millennium."

—Mark Eklund, President, Dayton's Commercial Interiors

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Foreword

Recently I was leading a session with the faculty of a major business school on the topic of leadership. During this session we brainstormed a myriad of qualities and characteristics relating to effective leadership. As expected, the group volunteered a wide range of attributes: vision, creativity, drive, charisma and motivation to mention a few. As we were in the process of finalizing our model of leadership, one of the professors boldly volunteered an interesting and somewhat surprising attribute to the mix: transcendence. I was so intrigued by his suggestion that I probed into what transcendence had to do with leadership. His response was direct and straightforward, "Leaders go beyond what is." The truth of his penetrating statement pierced through all the abstract models we had been creating.

Whether we are leading our lives, leading our work or leading our organizations, we are continually "going beyond what is." If we are not going beyond what is, we may be managing what is but not leading ourselves and others into the future.

What needs to be present at that crucial moment of authentic leadership that allows us to "go beyond what is?" As a result of coaching senior leaders of organizations at LeaderSource for the past 20 years, we have observed two essential qualities which need to be present: trust and knowledge.

At the moment of real leadership - when we are about to leap across a chasm from the known to the unknown - there is no guarantee of a successful landing or precedent to guide our vault. We may succeed; we may fail. What bridges us from the known to the unknown? Trust. Trust in ourselves that regardless of outcome we will endure. Trust that our planning and preparation have been sufficient. Trust in others that they have been prepared to do the right thing. Our ability to trust and let go of our current trapeze far before we have secured our hold on the next bar is deeply rooted in our personal qualities of character and courage. Leaders lead by virtue of who they are. Sometimes we need to deeply work on who we are so we can be more open to letting go of "what is" and trust ourselves to venture into "what could be."

However, trust without sufficient knowledge and competence can lead to foolhardy or even dangerous pursuits. As important as it is to deepen our self-knowledge and trust to enhance our leadership effectiveness, it is equally important to expand our knowledge of the context of leadership.

To "go beyond what is" is a lot easier if we are grounded in a sense of what may be coming. Therefore we need to have a vision which is deeply connected to the knowledge of our current and projected circumstances. What will the world of work look like? What will the workforce be like as less of it is employee based? What will the workplace be like as technology continues to proliferate? In Fast Forward Leadership, Essex and Kusy give us clear insights and tools to understand this context of leadership.

This book represents a real opportunity for you. Use it as a book and you will get some interesting perspectives. However, use it as a navigational guide and you will begin "to go beyond what is" and fast forward your leadership into the future, now.Kevin Cashman
Author, Leadership from the Inside Out CEO,
LeaderSource, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Edition details

• Publisher: Pearson Education
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0273642014
• ISBN 13: 9780273642015
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208