Читать книгу The Art of Strategic Leadership - Mead Stephanie S. - Страница 4

It doesn't matter what position you hold in the organization – senior leader, mid-level manager, front-line manager, or leader of a group – your organization needs and wants you to be a strategic leader. When it comes to excelling as a leader, you cannot afford to stay in a strategic cocoon, insulated from a turbulent business environment, and neglect your responsibilities to think and act ahead of the curve. Markets, rivals, and the business environment all change too fast, are too complex, and are too competitive on a global scale for you not to be looking forward and leading your part of the business in a proactive way. Whether you lead sales, IT, quality, or another function in the business, you need to have a strong sense of direction, be aware of your strategic qualities, and have a deep concern for the future.

Leadership today is about more than just being operationally effective, solving existing problems, and guiding people through the normal work that needs to be done each day. Leadership is all about effectively executing short-term responsibilities while also shaping the future. The promise of a better future is what gets team members engaged and unleashes their motivation. When people are invited to be part of creating the future and can clearly see how they fit and why they matter, it causes them to do their best work. In these challenging and exciting times, organizations desperately need leaders – at all levels – who have a vision and a plan to help move their teams to a better place and contribute value to the organization in new and unexpected ways.

What You'll Find in This Book

In our other books on strategic leadership and applied strategic thinking, we introduced processes, steps, and the how to's of creating strategy for your piece of the business. In this book, we chose to look at another facet of strategic leadership: the personal attributes that strategic leaders possess. We made this choice because our research indicates that leaders are hungry to know the unique leadership qualities that are necessary to be a driver and shaper of the future. Leaders need these qualities to fulfill the expectations that their organizations have of them. We've discovered that too often, people aren't clear on what these leadership attributes are or what they look like. This book responds to that compelling and broad-based need. We will help you look at strategy not from a process-oriented or tool-based perspective, but from the inside out. All leaders must possess and use these core qualities in order to lead and transform their teams and organizations for long-term, sustained growth.

Many works on leadership refer to the need for organizations to build their strategic-leadership bench strength at all levels of the business, but they don't thoroughly investigate and define how strategic leaders think, feel, and act as they set direction and execute on strategic goals and targets. We fill that void in two ways:

1. By exploring the qualities and values that enable strategic leaders to look out, look up, and look around.

2. Getting to the heart of what great strategic leaders actually do and the inner characteristics that drive them to be proactive.

We know that strategy formulation requires a clearly defined vision, long-term goals, useful tools, and a plan to win. But without the guidance of an insightful leader who can drive the process, it is difficult to make any strategy a reality. Ultimately, strategic leadership is what makes the difference between success or failure.

This book doesn't contain everything you need to know about strategy. It isn't intended to provide you with all there is to know about leadership, either. Instead, it provides a clear picture and makes you more conscious of the unique qualities and characteristics that will help you become a better leader and an active contributor to the long-term success of your organization. We've studied strategic thinking and leadership for a long time, and we've put our research and background to work for you. Our experience working closely with many different kinds of companies in a diverse variety of industries has allowed us to observe, study, and collaborate with all types of leaders as they apply strategy principles, build forward-thinking cultures, and execute long-term priorities in their businesses. As a result, we are able to share a framework for understanding the fundamental human qualities and characteristics of leaders who stand apart from the pack because they aren't just leaders – they're strategic leaders.

How to Use This Book

As you explore the ideas and concepts presented in these pages, we challenge you to reflect on your inner leadership core and capacity. See if there are opportunities to nurture the inherent qualities of strategic leadership and further your development in these areas – and then watch as your future unfolds. Taking ownership of the future is exciting work, especially when you start to see real results. We think you will be pleased with the outcomes of your efforts. Our hope is that as you read and study the concepts, you will find a few ideas that you can take away and apply immediately. We truly want you to be able to take advantage of the full spectrum of your potential and growth as a leader.

Choosing to read this book is a great first step down the path of developing greater strategic-leadership talent and capability. Strategic leadership doesn't need to be complicated. Don't think of it as one more thing to do. Instead, think of leading your teams as adding an additional layer of depth to your leadership style. Look for some insights about the qualities that you can develop and simply incorporate them into your current activities, knowledge, and abilities. Just imagine the impact you could have on your career, your organization, and the people around you if you were even the tiniest bit more strategic. If you are tired of being controlled by circumstances and would rather make a difference and actively shape the future, you've come to the right place – just start. The future begins now.