by Steven J. Stowell (Author), Stephanie S. Mead (Author)
Develop the qualities of strategic leadership and become an active contributor to the short- and long-term success of your organization
Today's organizations face two daunting challenges: 1. How to create new sources of competitive advantage to sustain long-term growth, and 2. How to engage leaders at every level of the organization so that they are more proactive and forward-looking in their area of responsibility. The Art of Strategic Leadership uses a unique approach to examine what it means to be a strategic leader. Instead of focusing on the skills, behaviors, and tools found in typical books on strategic leadership, the authors shed light on the attributes and qualities necessary to lead strategic change and help transform a business. Strategic leadership is what modern leadership is all about. Organizations expect leaders to anticipate and be proactive more than ever before. In this book, the authors draw on their vast experience working directly with leaders at all levels and use an intriguing narrative to explain this inside-out approach to understanding strategic leadership. The narrative follows the journey of how one manager discovered these critically important qualities. You will experience first-hand how these values and attributes manifest in the lives of realistic leaders; how they orchestrate long-term strategic change needed for the organization to compete and survive and actively shape the future while delivering short-term results.
The Art of Strategic Leadership provides the content that will help you informally assess and reflect on your own strategic leadership qualities--those that are strengths and those that indicate areas you need to develop. It will guide you as you incorporate these values and qualities into your own leadership style and become a more effective catalyst for change. This book will help you in the following ways:
- Develop a more proactive, forward-thinking approach to leadership
- Approach strategy from both short- and long-term perspectives
- Adopt the core values and principles of a strategic leader
- Model the qualities exhibited by powerful leaders
Strategic leaders serve as powerful examples to others in the organization. Their qualities and traits spread rapidly to those around them, empowering people at every level to take a more active role in meeting the demands of the future. The Art of Strategic Leadership will help you deepen and broaden your understanding of the core qualities of strategic leadership, leaving you better equipped to lead yourself and your team to a better place and create greater value for customers, owners, and employees.
Front Jacket
Today's leaders are hungry to know the unique leadership qualities necessary to fulfill the expectations their organizations have for them--driving and shaping the future of the company. However, extensive research into many different kinds of businesses in a diverse variety of industries reveals, too often, professionals aren't clear about what successful leadership attributes are and what they look like. The Art of Strategic Leadership uses a distinctive and engaging narrative to explain strategic leadership from the inside out.
Instead of focusing on the skills, behaviors, and tools found in typical books on strategic leadership, this revolutionary guide sheds light on the attributes and qualities necessary to lead strategic change and help transform a business by following one manager on his journey to discovering these critically important qualities for himself. Through Alex's firsthand perspective, you gain insight into how strategic leadership values and attributes manifest in the lives of real leaders, and how these leaders actively shape the future by orchestrating the long-term strategic change needed for the organization to compete and survive while delivering short-term results. Along the way, insightful explanations explore the seven essential qualities of strategic leaders, which are the attributes with the greatest impact on setting a direction and facilitating organizational change.
The illustrative, narrative writing style also gives you practical guidance for assessing your own strategic-leadership strengths as well as skills you want to cultivate. By following the pre-scriptive advice, developing new capabilities, and applying versatile strategic approaches, you can prepare yourself to masterfully re-spond to business challenges, leverage new opportunities, and excel in your role. Complete with such online resources as a self-assessment tool and resources for further developing your strategic leadership skills, this one-stop resource to leadership excellence enables you to:
- Quickly reference conveniently organized segments of real-world direction and action-able steps for developing the qualities of strategic leaders in yourself
- Master and embody the inner characteristics, qualities, and values that enable strategic leaders to look out, look up, and look around
- Use intuitive approaches to practicing what great strategic leaders actually do to take proactive steps toward their goals
The Art of Strategic Leadership gives you the core values and priorities to elevate you into the strategic class of leaders.
Back Jacket
THE FRAMEWORK EVERY LEADER CAN USE TO CREATE GREATER VALUE FOR AN ORGANIZATION
"The Art of Strategic Leadership is a practical look at strategy, which at times can be overcomplicated, or viewed as an abstract concept, by even the best leaders. This book is a highly recommended read for leaders at all levels of an organization. Strategic leadership is everyone's business."
--Tony I. Herrera, EdD, Chief Learning Officer, LPL Financial
"The book reminds us all that 'strategy' is not the sole province of the CEO nor does good strategic thinking and implementation have to mean a revolutionary product or making the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Good strategic thinking is the logical extension of planning your work and working your plan."
--Jim Wilcox, former EVP and COO, Sauer Danfoss
"If you want to know how to be a strategic change agent, you need to read The Art of Strategic Leadership. Until I read this book, I really didn't understand that strategy is fundamentally an inside-out process. In order to succeed with any strategic priority or initiative, you have to look in the mirror and make sure you are equipped for the journey ahead."
--Bill Rupp, President and COO, JBS USA Beef
Author Biography
STEVEN J. STOWELL, PHD, is founder and president of the Center for Management and Organization Effectiveness (CMOE). He has consulted with small and large corporations, government agencies, school systems, and non-profits worldwide and designed and developed instructional course content for dozens of leadership and management topics.
STEPHANIE S. MEAD, MBA, is the senior vice president of CMOE. During her eighteen years at CMOE, she has collaborated on writing and developing numerous leadership- development programs for the world's leading organizations.