BOOK REVIEW: The Extraordinary Leader: Turning Good Managers into Great Leaders (By John H. Zenger & Joseph Folkman, McGraw Hill, 2002 ISBN #0-07-138747-1)
 |
Free Download - How to Build Accountability in Your People By Ian Cook |
“Good leaders...neither they nor their leaders appear to recognize the substantial contribution they could make by moving from being merely good to great”This is just one of the many intriguing new perspectives this book brings to the subject of leadership. Whether you are looking to develop your own leadership capacity or that of your employees, you will find much here to provoke your thinking and guide your actions.
Of course, every author on leadership has a model. Zenger and Folkman present a clean, comprehensive one nested in a terrific metaphor: a tent.
Imagine a standard tent held up by five tent poles (or clusters of leadership competencies and behaviors). The center pole is called Character. It includes integrity, ethics, and humility. The four poles that support the tent sides are Personal Capability (technical/professional expertise and cognitive ability), Focus on Results, Interpersonal Skills (including communicating, inspiring, connecting, developing) and Leading Organizational Change (the highest expression of leadership, contend the authors).
These “poles” are made up of clusters of competencies–sixteen in all–that, according to the authors’ research, differentiate the most effective 20% of leaders from the rest. Extending the metaphor, “leadership effectiveness” equates to the total cubic volume under the tent canvas. So, when you heighten the length of the poles–i.e. enhance competencies–overall effectiveness will increase.
The authors call a competency a “strength” when you are rated at the 90th percentile in it. In other words, when you as a leader are deemed to be stronger in this area than 90% of comparative leaders. Furthermore, an extraordinary leader is one who is deemed to be in the top 20% of leaders (i.e. the 80th percentile)
Their research then shows how:
- Achieving “strength” in only three competencies, if spread around the five “tent pole” clusters, moves you up to 81st percentile in overall effectiveness as a leader and
- Leaders in the top 20%, vs. the middle 60%, in terms of leadership effectiveness, generate significantly greater results in measures such as net profit, customer service and employee commitment.
From the many insights they offer in the book, let me highlight just four, ones that particularly caught my eye:
- No one pattern or configuration of competencies exists that works for all leaders or in all organizations. There is, emphatically, no one way to lead.
- The quality of leadership at lower levels of the organization rarely surpasses the leadership effectiveness demonstrated by the top team. So, sadly, if the senior executives are only mediocre as leaders, extraordinary leadership will not emerge. Senior leaders’ competencies establish the ceiling. Here is a powerful reason to attend to leadership development at the very top.
- Strong leaders aren’t just born; they can be developed. There is a fascinating section on how the US Marine Corps turns many recruits, many who come from dysfunctional homes and a troubled youth, into effective leaders within 2-3 years.
- Focus on strengths, not weaknesses, as you develop leaders. This way you are building on an already solid platform. The chances of improvement are greater. Furthermore, others will be inclined to acknowledge and praise them. And they will build self-confidence as they experience success. This, of course, reinforces further growth. A virtuous circle, no less.
These “Five Fatal Flaws” are readily visible to others, yet the individual is rarely aware that he/she has them. All five stem from deficiencies in emotional intelligence, not from cognitive or technical/professional proficiency. They are:
- Inability to learn from one’s mistakes
- Lack of core interpersonal skills
- Lack of openness to new or different ideas
- Lack of accountability (for performance)
- Lack of initiative
- Adopt one model of leadership and stick with it.
- Set very high expectations for your leaders (e.g. Achieve the 90th percentile in at least one competency from each “tent pole” cluster).
- Continue to develop your leadership capacity at the very senior level.
- Involve executives in leadership development, especially as presenters.
- Include multiple learning vehicles such as 360° feedback, coaches/mentors and “action learning” projects and tasks.
- Focus on enhancing competencies that are already substantial.
Zenger and Folkman also offer advice for individuals who want to move to an extraordinary level of leadership effectiveness. Here is a sampling:
- Develop and demonstrate high personal character (honoring your commitments, owning up to mistakes and infusing your style with an attitude of humility would be great places to start).
- Find and use the support of a coach or mentor.
- Identify 3-5 of your solid leadership competencies, across the five “poles,” and develop them further.
- Identify your weaker competencies and find ways to neutralize them (e.g. delegating or outsourcing related tasks, redesigning your job).
- Connect with and work with/for extraordinary leaders.
- Infuse energy and enthusiasm into all that you do...it ignites others enthusiasm.
BOOK REVIEW The Extraordinary Leader Turning Good Managers into Great Leaders By John H Zenger Joseph Folkman McGraw Hill 2002 ISBN 0071387471 - To learn more about this author, visit Ian Cook's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
| Article Tags: extraordinary leader, john zenger, joseph folkman, leadership, leadership development |
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is a best-selling author, top-rated speaker and thought leader on sales development. He is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
|||
John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
|||
David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
|||
Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is North America's leading authority on team culture. She is an author and professional speaker and president of the leading team culture consultancy, TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Crampton has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down or to subscribe to TIGES Free monthly e-newsleeter go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: Winning Business Team Cultures And Why They Thrive, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
|||
Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
|||
Michiel JonkerAs a Certified Information Systems Auditor, Michiel assists businesses in a professional capacity by evaluating the threats to their businesses. He acquired the necessary knowledge, skills, and techniques to minimize a business owner’s risk of business failure and to maximize his chances of high growth and success. He strongly believes that you CAN maximize your chances of business success, by implementing the business solution he has advocated for more than 12 years in your business plan and planning. Michiel has decided to share his experience with business owners by putting almost everything he knows in a business plan and survival guide (compiled in an e-book format) and written as a high growth SMB coaching course for SMB business owners, directors and managers - titled as the “Survival Kit for Small and Medium Businesses - Profit from your Business Risks!” According to Michiel, his goal was to add new techniques to a business owner’s business planning survival kit and instruct him or her in using these in the future - without any help from a consultant! For more information about the benefits of implementing profit protection planning in your business, please visit: http://www.business-around-the-globe.com - Visit Michiel Jonker's Website |
|||
Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
|||
Kalena JordanKalena Jordan is the search industry’s first agony aunt, here to answer your tricky questions about search engines. Kalena is Co-Founder and Director of Studies at Search Engine College, an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and other Search Engine Marketing subjects. She’s been marketing websites online since 1996 and blogging about search since 2002. For her full bio, view Kalena’s Linked In Profile. When not working, Kalena likes to go geocaching, hiking or fishing. She also plays a mean darabuka. - Visit Kalena Jordan's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Ian's articles
 |
|
Build Best Bosses - Musings about Leadership from Ian Cook.
|
|
 |
 | |
|
| |
Referred by: http://upwardaction.com
 | ||
|
||
|
||
 |
||
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
 |
 Setting Priorities Worksheet Making Life Work Powerful Living How To Get Media Attention Spring Cleaning |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Productivity Blogs
Top Blogs To Watch In 2009 | |
 |
The Top 10 Guy Kawasaki Posts
Best Posts for Entrepreneurs | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
 | ||||
| ||||
|
|
 | ||||
| ||||
|
 | ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
||||||
 |
|
|
|
 | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||