Scott Miller - 18 Jun

Copyright 2019 by FranklinCovey Co.

Published by Mango Publishing Group, a division of Mango Media Inc.

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Management Mess to Leadership Success: 30 Challenges to Become the Leader You Woud Follo w

Library of Congress Cataloging
ISBN:(p) 978-1-64250-088-2 (e) 978-1-64250-089-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019938550

BISAC category code: BUS071000 BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Leadership, BUS041000 BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Management, BUS019000 BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Decision-Making & Problem Solving

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Im proud of you. Youre boldcourageous, even. Youre holding a book with the words Management Mess prominently featured on the cover. Never mind that people nearbyperhaps on a train or plane, standing in line at Starbucks, or your colleagues around the officecould see you holding this book and immediately associate you with the word mess. You could have easily been showing off a different book with a different title: The Burden of Perfection; The Geniuss Guide to Leadership; perhaps even From Great to Greater. People would definitely be impressed seeing you read a book like that. But thats not me, and I suspect thats not you either. I didnt attend an Ivy League school, and I dont peruse the heady academic tomes on the latest management theories. I came up through the leadership trenches. I had no idea what I was doing, but I had enough ambition and drive to keep at it, even when I failedand I failed often.

I wrote this book for those who feel they werent perfectly groomed for leadershipthose with a bit of a mess in them, whether that comes from being an outsider, a lack of experience, a lack of training, or all of the above. There are likely people I know who think Im the last person who should write a book like this, probably a few people reading it right now. So Ill get this next part out of the way:

I have an intense personality thats often turned up to 11. Ive been mean, petty, selfish, and self-absorbed. Ive made genuinely good people cry, no doubt caused talented associates to choose to leave the organization and, regrettably, used my position and temper to sometimes belittle, demean, and stifle the contributions of others. But Im also known as the leader whose division you join if you want your career and skills to blossom. Im a close friend to many, and Im the guy you call at any hour to bail you out of jail, a bind, or any other emergency. Im also the guy who keeps a chilled bottle of champagne ready to pour for impromptu houseguests. I am an honorable husband and a nurturing father; a champion, supporter, and mentor to countless people who have experienced extraordinary success in their careers. I have a handful of God-given abilities I work hard to use and magnify (humility is not one of them). I am, in short, a human being: I have flaws and talents; failures and triumphs.

If youre a fellow traveler along the leadership path, Ive written this book for you. Its a reflection of my experiences, both messes and successes, run through the crucible of the real worldshaped, validated, and often corrected by the deep expertise and thought leadership of many colleagues, friends, and mentors at FranklinCovey. I was lucky to have landed at FranklinCoveya company that provides industrial-strength management and leadership advice to the Fortune 5000 and beyond, throughout the world. So, even as I careened and sometimes crashed through the ranks, I couldnt help but pick up on the principles and practices that the most successful leaders get right. These proven insights (many of which are included in this book) helped an admittedly imperfect leader rise to the C-suite.

Ill be one of the first to admit leadership isnt always rewarding. It can feel like a bottomless pit of problem solving and adult-sitting. Leadership is exhausting, repetitive, and requires a constant stretch of your emotional and intellectual skills. It demands an always on mentality, as youre expected to have all the right answers and make all the right decisions, often on the fly. Most days, candidly, I really dont enjoy it. But it doesnt mean leadership isnt important; on the contrary, often the things we struggle with yield the biggest return (nobody drinks a kale smoothie because it tastes good). Its okay if you admit that leadership can be hard and unenjoyable. Were travelers on this road together. But the benefits of being successful at it can be life-changing.

Maybe youre ambitious and bright, but leadership hasnt exactly felt like a calling from on high. Perhaps youre the first person in your family to attend college, let alone a board meeting. Or maybe you skipped college altogether. Maybe youre a woman rising to the top of a male-dominated industry or a veteran starting to make their way through the business world and drawing from a very different set of leadership styles and experiences. Maybe youre the person asked to lead the same people who, days earlier, were your peers, or perhaps youre the highly regarded MBA who has to lead someone like me . If so, this book is for you and anyone else who approaches leadership with a sense of unease, trepidation, or feeling like an outsider.

Of course, no single person is a complete management mess, nor has anyone Ive known been a total leadership success. We are a bundle of varying talents and fears, expressed through the daily decisions we make. I wrote this book to broaden those talents, set aside limiting fears, and promote better leadership decisions. To accomplish this, youll find 30 challenges, honed by FranklinCovey through years of research and development, tens of thousands of client implementations, and countless coaching engagements. Ive referenced the various thought leaders and experts behind these challenges throughout, representing a collection of wisdom, expertise, and practical advice spanning more than four decades. Ive also highlighted individuals who have impacted me as exemplars of a particular principle, and shared stories of people who fell into a management messaltering names and identities, unless Im referencing myself (which my wife believes is way too often for a book of this size).

The challenges in this book will make you a better leader and are organized into three parts: Lead Yourself (Challenges 18), Lead Others (Challenges 921), and Get Results (Challenges 2230). If youre not put off by examining how principles can collide with the real world, or how Ive had to learn many leadership lessons the hard way, I invite you to take each of them to heart. You can read them from 1 to 30, or skip to topics that resonate the most in the moment. At the end of each challenge, youll find prompts for moving from mess to success. How you choose to implement these is up to youpick one a day if youre feeling up to it, or one a week. Whatever the cadence, do your best to take the challenges off the pages of the book and into your real-world leadership roles.