fail-safe-leadership

by David G. Mutchler and Linda L. Martin

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0971573212
• ISBN13: 9780971573215
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Fisicalbook
• Length: 151 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Leadership From a Different & Doable Perspective

With many excellent leadership books in the marketplace, the obvious question is why buy this book? The answer is it's direct, simple to understand and addresses many of the presumptions that exist in organizations and individuals. Leadership is the focal point of execution. When organizations are moving forward, the presumption is that there exists good leadership because results are happening. Since many companies continue to face challenges in execution and the inability to secure the desired results this book helps the reader to understand why that is so. One of the key takeaways is how problems are in many cases only symptoms in disguised. Another good point is moving away from competencies to defining the results and then growing or developing the people to achieve those results. By taking this approach, far more targets are hit than missed. With questions at the end of each chapter, this book does help those seeking some real answers in how to solve the leadership challenges that they are facing. I provide this book to many of my executive and sales coaching to help them be the Red Jacket (be The Red Jacket in a sea of gray suits) of Leadership.

Fail-safe? No, but the basics are good

I recently read Martin and Mutchler's Fail - Safe Leadership: Straight Talk About Correcting The Leadership Challenges In Your Organization after I won a free copy in a drawing at a recent Buffalo Niagara Partnership event. I figured "you get what you pay for," but wanted to give it a shot. It's actually a decent book, in many ways more practical than most. Many of us get caught up in leadership "traits." When we think about what makes a leader great, we tend to think about leaders we know well. Then we think about how we can train ourselves to strengthen those traits. The authors correctly point out the error in that approach. If you talk to several people about what makes a great leader, you are bound to get a variety of answers. Many times there is commonality, such as "integrity," "decisiveness," and such. But then a strange thing will occur. You will find seemingly contradictory attributes. One may say "detached and unemotional," others may say "passionate and driven." Is one wrong? No, both of those leaders were successful. And that's the revelation. What makes a leader successful isn't their traits, it's their results. The book then gives advice on how you can ensure success via a process, not personality. We should all know this, but it's worth reinforcement. Results start with a vision. That vision is a statement of where you want to be 1-3 years in the future. Then, 1. Determine your Mission - where you are today; your starting point. 2. Identify the Critical Success Factors so you the milestones to achieving the vision. 3. Set your Goals (use SMART). Spell out the rewards or benefits for achieving this goal, followed by the negative consequences if the goal is not met. List every possible obstacle that might be in the way of achieving the goal. List the possible solutions that could be used to achieve the goal. 4. Determine your Action Steps: Who does What by When. And the most important part: follow this process from the top-down in your organization. Every division, department, team, and individual works to achieving the vision by meeting the goals through action steps. That alignment is critical to achieving a results-oriented mentality. And achieving the results is what makes a good leader. Although written for senior leadership and CEO's for organizations, there is good advice for all of us wherever we lead.