Details

What Do Leaders Really Do?

Getting under the skin of what makes a great leader tick
1. Aufl.

von: Jeff Grout, Liz Fisher
13,99 €
Verlag:	Wiley
Format:	EPUB
Veröffentl.:	12.02.2010
ISBN/EAN:	9781907293528
Sprache:	englisch
Anzahl Seiten:	224

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Beschreibungen

Titelbeschreibung

An enormous range of literature on leadership and management theory has been produced over the years, some of it highly academic and much of it contradictory. What Do Leaders Really Do? takes the basis of the best-known management theories to see how they fit with the practical reality of leadership. How do leaders spend their time? Are they really preoccupied with strategy, vision and inspiring people? Do they lead by accident, or design? The book challenges the assumption that leaders are born, not made and explores the theory that female leaders are fundamentally different from their male counterparts. What Do Leaders Really Do? Looks into the everyday working lives of well-known leaders in a variety of fields - business, sport and the armed forces - in order to identify the elements that encourage people to follow where they lead. Drawing on the experiences of a wide range of leaders with varying backgrounds and roles, as well as a range of respected academics and management writers, this book will closely analyze the background, experiences and behavior of a diverse set of leaders. A central part of the analysis will be a detailed examination of what these leaders do on a day-to-day basis. It is not a book about management theory but an accessible, no-nonsense guide to those theories and how they translate to real life. Many people lead effectively without knowing how they do it; this book will isolate and identify the core skills and behavior displayed by effective leaders. What Do Leaders Really Do? is intended to be a refreshing alternative to the hundreds of academically-oriented leadership books that are available. The tone will be straight-forward, accessible and sometimes humorous, rich with first-person evidence and anecdotes. It will dissect popular leadership theory into the easily understandable basics, with reference to the practicalities of real-life leadership situations. After all, what good is theory if it doesn't work in practice?

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword ix Introduction xi Acknowledgements xiv Part One 1 1 Characteristics of Leadership 3 The charisma question 10 A substitute for charisma 12 Leadership by osmosis 14 2 Background 17 The influence of family life 20 Education 22 Learning leadership 26 Career progression 27 3 Influences 31 The influence of parents 32 The influence of teachers 35 The influence of bosses 37 Mentors and mentoring 43 Part Two 45 4 Vision 47 Creating the vision 49 Communicating the vision 54 Long or short term? 59 5 Decision-making and Risk 63 Military mission analysis 68 Risk and the military 70 Risk and business leaders 73 6 Mistakes and Setbacks 79 Learning from experience 85 Analysing failure and success 89 7 Change Management 93 Why do most change initiatives fail? 96 Communicating change 99 Culture change 102 Early days, quick wins 104 Part Three 109 8 Empathetic and Authentic Leadership 111 Empathetic leadership 113 Caring leadership 116 Sensing mood 118 Delivering bad news 121 Authentic leadership 124 The stories people tell 128 Visibility 131 Keep your distance 133 9 Motivation, Inspiration and Morale 135 Celebrating successes 140 Morale 142 Inspirational leadership 144 The role of oration 147 10 Choosing and Building a Team 151 The power of diversity 154 Trust 157 Developing future leaders 159 Preparing for success 160 Teamship rules and professionalism 162 Team spirit 164 11 Communication 167 Too much talk? 168 Authentic communication 171 Honesty and integrity 174 Communicating outside the company 176 Dealing with the media 177 12 Looking After No 1 181 Creating space to think 184 Self-improvement and learning 187 Recommended reading 189 Leadership and lifelong learning 190 Knowing when to quit 192 Final thoughts on leadership 195 Appendix 197 Bibliography and Further Reading 202 Index 204

Rezension

“One of the best new books gathering insights into leadership styles from a range of successful people...” (Financial Director, October 2007) "You will find stories that resonate and "stick" with you." (People Magazine, October 2007)

Autorenportrait

Jeff Grout is a respected adviser, commentator and columnist on the subjects of motivation, recruitment and retention. He is a regular speaker at conferences and events, specialising in topics such as Building high-performance teams and The characteristics of success. He is also business manager to Clive Woodward, the former England Rugby coach. Jeff is an experienced television and radio participant and has collaborated with the BBC in producing an interview training video. He has also run interview technique courses for a number of the UK’s leading companies. Jeff is co-author of Mind Games, The Adventure Capitalists and My Brilliant Career, which insights into the characteristics of career success, based on public interviews with high achievers from the fields of sport, business media and the stage. Liz Fisher is a freelance journalist and writer, contributing regularly to many business and professional magazines. During her twenty years as a business journalist, she has interviewed leaders in a range of fields, from the RAF to the RSC. She is co-author of The Bluffer’s Guide to Accountancy and author of Brand Identity in Retail Financial Services and a careers guide for young accountants.

Back cover copy

"This is a book about experiences. Thankfully, it is not telling us to 'do' anything. It is not a 'must do/should do' tract of management speak. It offers insights and philosophies from people who have been in significant leadership positions. I personally found it helpful to check off some of the strengths and weaknesses I have, and simply reflect on the way others approach similar situations that I face. I spent half the time reading and the other half asking myself challenging questions!" —Adrian Moorhouse - Chief Executive and co-founder of Lane 4 Management Group, The Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies to work for 2007 - 'Best for Leadership' award If 'command an control' leadership is no longer relevant what are the best modern leaders doing and saying that is really working? What do leaders really do? asks the key questions of the best leaders around and comes up with some surprising and insightful answers. Leadership insights are drawn from those in the frontline of business, sport, media and the military, including: <ul> <li> <div>Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games for 2012.</div> </li> <li> <div>Greg Dyke, former Director-General, BBC</div> </li> <li> <div>Charles Dunstone, CEO and co-founder, Carphone Warehouse</div> </li> <li> <div>Kevin Roberts, Worldwide CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi</div> </li> <li> <div>Dame Stella Rimington, former Director-General of MI5</div> </li> <li> <div>Major General Patrick Cordingley, Former Commander of the Desert Rats during first Gulf War</div> </li> <li> <div>Martin Johnson CBE, World cup Winning England Rugby captain</div> </li> <li> <div>Sue Campbell, Chair of UK Sport</div> </li> <li> <div>Martin Glenn, CEO Birds Eye Iglo Group</div> </li> <li> <div>Field Marshal Lord Inge, former Chief of Defence Staff</div> </li> <li> <div>Heather Rabbatts CBE, Executive Deputy Chair, Millwall FC and Chair of Millwall Holdings</div> </li> </ul> What do leaders really do? is leadership straight from those who know first hand what it's all about. This is how it really is.