Leader to Leader最新文献

Additional readings and resources on the topics referred to in this issue

Sarah McArthur

Making Waves: A Woman's Rise to the Top Using Heart, Smarts, and Courage (Matt Holt, 2024; 224 pages; $25.00)

Work Is Love Made Visible: A Collection of Essays about the Power of Finding Your Purpose from the World's Greatest Thought Leaders (Wiley, 2018; 300 pages; $28.00)

Peter Drucker's Five Most Important Questions: Enduring Wisdom for Today's Leaders (Jossey-Bass, 2015; 160 pages; $20.00)

Coaching for Leadership: Writings on Leadership from the World's Greatest Coaches (Wiley, 2012; 313 pages; $72.00)

More Hesselbein on Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 2012; 91 pages; $19.95)

My Life in Leadership: The Journey and Lessons Learned Along the Way (Jossey-Bass, 2011; 236 pages; $27.95)

Barry Conchie and Sarah Dalton

The Five Talents That Really Matter: How Great Leaders Drive Extraordinary Performance (Hachette Go, 2024; 320 pages; $32.00)

Andrew C.M. Cooper

The Ethical Imperative: Leading with Conscience to Shape the Future of Business (Wiley, 2024; 256 pages; $28.00)

Dana Maor, Hans-Werner Kaas, Kurt Strovink and Ramesh Srinivasan

The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead from the Inside Out (Portfolio, 2024; 288 pages; $32.00)

Alex Lazarus and Feyzi Fatehi

Democratizing SaaS: Unleashing a Multi-Trillion-Dollar Industry by Empowering a New Generation of SaaS Entrepreneurs (ForbesBooks, 2022; 122 pages; $19.95)

Laura Gassner Otting

Wonderhell: Why Success Doesn't Feel Like It Should … and What to Do About It (Ideapress Publishing, 2023; 224 pages; $26.95)

Steven T. Collis

Habits of a Peacemaker: 10 Habits to Change Our Potentially Toxic Conversations into Healthy Dialogues (Shadow Mountain, 2024; 256 pages; $26.99)

Denis Moriarty

Building Stronger Communities, One Headline at a Time (Institute of Community Directors Australia, 2022; 159 pages, $36.00 AUD)

Cynthia Kane

The Pause Principle: How to Keep Your Cool in Tough Situations (Wiley, 2025; 272 pages; $28.00)

Willie Pietersen

Leadership–The Inside Story: Time-Tested Prescriptions for Those Who Seek To Lead (Rivertowns Books, 2024; 216 pages; $29.95)

Rob Bier

Smooth Scaling: 20 Rituals to Build a Friction-Free Organization (Wonderwell, 2024; 288 pages; $28.99)

Get Pay Right: How to Achieve Pay Equity That Works (Society For Human Resource Management/SHRM, 2024; 186 pages; $24.99)

Triple Fit Strategy: How to Build Lasting Customer Relationships and Boost Growth

(Harvard Business Review Press, 2024; 240 pages; $35.00)

The author built two successful companies of his own, and has many years of experience as an organizational advisor. He says that organizations can “cultivate the most valuable habits” that “drive a sustainable and high-performing culture.” This can be achieved through rituals, described as “specific, repeatable practices that help organizations develop the behaviors and skills needed to sustain high performance without succumbing to friction.” He describes rituals at five key levels, which in his words are: (1) informal interactions among peers, (2) interactions between line managers and their subordinates, (3) team interactions, (4) cross-functional interactions, (5) interactions between company leadership and the staff at large. He particularly recommends “six high-impact rituals that lay the foundation needed for trust, collaboration, and performance across your organization. Prioritizing these rituals can transform your organization into a high-performing powerhouse.” These are, in his words (1) Share Your Personal User Guide (PUG), (2) Turning Tensions into Trust, (3) Deep-Dive Meetings, (4) Set Up Cross-Functional Work for Success, (5) Become a Two-Eyed Leader, (6) Run an Information Marketplace. In addition, he notes that “leaders must regularly assess the effectiveness of their rituals and be willing to make changes as necessary.”

The authors, all senior partners at McKinsey & Company, concluded in working with many leaders that there was a need for greater self-awareness and self-reflection. The article, and a recent book from which it is adapted, is based on “a step-by-step approach for leaders to reinvent themselves both professionally and personally.” The starting point revolves around “three dimensions: leading yourself, leading individuals and teams, and leading organizations.” Each dimension lists and describes various “micro-practices.” Within the first dimension, in their words, are, in their words, put being before doing; pause for productive reflection and solitude; seek and embrace feedback from others; keep learning; and embrace optimism; in dimension two; be attentive; foster learning and growth; give feedback; build confidence and an ownership mindset on your team; and celebrate the big things and little things; in dimension three; reinforce values and purpose; master clear communication; be a role model for the rest of the organization; build capabilities and promote continuous learning; and engage stakeholders. “Leadership is now all about personal change,” they conclude, “about being the change you want to see in the world, and then inspiring others to follow.”

Conchie (founder and president of Conchie Associates) and Dalton (partner, Conchie Associates) explain that they apply science “to the study, application, and development of leadership,” adapted from the research in their book The Five Talents Really Matter. They discuss their criteria for outstanding leadership and point to “over 58,000 top level leaders in our global database.” Their scientific “assessment of The Five Talents That Really Matter carries a disproportionate weight, greater than all the other factors thought to be important in leadership selection, in predicting top leadership performance.” The Talents “capture the broad variability of traits, dispositions, and characteristics the very best leaders possess, and, through the Executive Leadership Assessment built to measure these talents, we are able to use the results to help predict future leadership performance.” In their words, the Talents are Setting Direction (using modern GPS technology as a metaphor), Harnessing Energy, Exerting Pressure (“Debate and dissent, we’ve found, is what many leaders claim to value yet precious few succeed in delivering”), Increasing Connectivity (“The very best leaders…are straight shooters who deliver difficult messages with compassion,”) and Controlling Traffic (“Exceptional leaders responsible for business execution follow rigid rules with maximum flexibility.”)

The author is managing director of Our Community, an Australian social enterprise. He provides context on what it’s like being a leader in that country. He describes Our Community as “basically a support organization for not-for-profit organizations (NFPs) and a software vendor to government.” In relating its origins, he writes that “I wanted to break new ground in this country with a new thing that would reward its employees, that I could make some money from, and that would do good in the world.” He also explains that “without support from investors who are poised precisely between commerce and philanthropy, leadership would simply be beside the point. From the beginning, Our Community was for-profit, but not for-profit only. A lot of our offerings were free, subsidized by our profit centers.” He also points to the pivotal role of ethics for him, and that he was “awarded a Vincent Fairfax Ethics in Leadership scholarship 30 years ago and it was a seminal moment in my career.” A separate sidebar explains, “What We Believe,” “What We Do,” and “How We Work.” For instance, in the latter: “We believe in a work environment that allows for an authentic life balance.”