Ron Price - The Complete Leader

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Getting Started

Ever sinc e childhood, most of us are taught to focus on our weaknesses. It starts with repetitive noes in the toddler years, progresses to red marks and teacher conferences in school, and becomes the focus of training in college and beyond. With all of this focus on negativity, it can be easy to direct effort and energy to improving those weaknesses. Instead of focusing on developing talents, many people become obsessed with fixing the areas they struggle in.

We propose a better way and a more positive approach: focus on your strengths.

That is where The Complete Leader comes in. It contains a toolbox of twenty-five of the most important leadership skills that are needed in todays ever-changing work environment. The approach is to explain each skill, help you assess your current capability, and help you develop the competency, if applicable.

Throughout each of the modules, we acknowledge a simple fact: the world is changing. These changes cause a more opaque, uncertain and variable work environment that makes many classic leadership tools and approaches ineffective. While these new realities are important to understand, we will not dwell on them. Instead, our goal is to equip both established leaders and tomorrows leaders with a new mindset and skill set to leverage and address these changes.

Target Your Training

The Complete Leader approaches leadership development much like an individual coaching session, with a focus on evaluation and then targeted training. The twenty-five skills are divided into four parts, with the full realization that many skills build on, or are related to, others, and that leadership is an integrated whole, not a number of parts.

Part One: Leaders Are Clear Thinkers, deals with thinking skills such as creativity, problem-solving and decision-making. You will find numerous tips and tools to improve your thinking, from futuristic and creative thinking to the more practical areas of planning, decision-making and problem-solving. You will also learn strategies to help you sharpen thinking skills needed by tomorr ows leaders.

Part Two: Leaders Lead Themselves, deals with skills such as self-management and personal accountability and gives you a road map to improve yourself. Self-improvement does not involve or require others. You simply need to make the necessary choices and practice implementing them in your life and work.

Part Three: Leaders Lead Others, explains the skills needed to deal effectively with others, such as diplomacy, persuasion and coaching. Covering twelve of the twenty-five leadership competencies, it is the most extensive section, and for good reason. Leadership involves getting things done through the efforts of others, and we explore working with people in detail. You will develop skills to improve your communication, including listening, talking, presenting and writing. The section also focuses on helping you become better prepared to work through any interpersonal situation, including negotiations, managing conflict, working with teams, developing employees and focusing on customers. The lessons in these modules will help you become a better leader.

Part Four: Leaders Are Authentic, deals with character. Failures as a leader are typically due to one of two issues: problems with competence or problems with character. If tomorrows leaders wish to be long-term managers, they must have both high integrity and competency in their leadership. The module in this section focuses on developing your characterwhich extends beyond the workplace and can enhance your personal life, as well.

Using The Complete Leader Strategically

Few people, if any, have fully developed all twenty-five personal skills outlined in this book. Even the best leaders are not good at everything, but they understand their skill sets and work with their strengths while finding ways to neutralize their weaknesses. This list of competencies can serve as a checklist against your own current abilities, and where you want to improve.

The twenty-five skills are explained as short modules, and the book is flexible. While there are several approaches to learning and utilizing the modules, we recommend that you do a cursory read once. As you learn about each of the twenty-five leadership skills discussed in this book, ask yourself, On a scale of 0-10, 0 being incompetent in a skill and 10 being a role model for this talent, where am I today? Am I happy with this level of competence? If the answer is yes, move on to another skill. If not, and if the skill builds on your talents or the needs of your position, ask yourself, What is my learning strategy? and What is my improvement plan? Keep a list of the competencies you want to work on. We have also provided a self-assessment for each of the twenty-five skills in Appendix 1 to help identify areas of focus. In addition, you will find a description of the leadership profile we use in our work with executive clients in Appendix 2.

After you read the book once, complete the online leadership assessment at the books companion website, www.TheCompleteLeader.org. Why take an assessment? The only way to see yourself clearly is through feedback. You may be using this book because you have already completed a personal assessment, either the companion assessment to The Complete Leader or another, or received feedback from colleagues. If you have not received solicited feedback in a while, we also suggest taking the time to complete an unbiased empirical test and learn from its results. Or, get comments on your current strengths and weaknesses from people who will tell you the truth. Knowing yourself is critical to moving forward in the direction you want to go.

The assessment results and feedback from others will help you identify competencies that you should focus on. Compare that list with the one you made while reading, and select five to seven. It is important to reiterate that no leader can or should focus on developing all twenty-five; trying to focus on too many competencies only draws energy away from the ones that are most important to your leadership. Instead, start with one, and once you have mastered that competency, move to the next.

We also recommend keeping the book on your desk as a necessary reference and resource to help you excel as a leader. One day, if you find you are struggling with organization, for example, you can reference 1.3 Planning and Organization. If you notice that you are consistently not meeting the goals you set, read 2.5 Goal Achievement and the resources available on the companion website. We designed the book so you can dip back into it as often as you need or want to. This unique closed-loop of clear definitions, targeted assessment and a supportive website will give you the best chance of becoming a better leader.

No matter which of the competencies you choose to focus on, Part Four: Leaders Are Authentic may be the most important section. The twenty-five competencies are the threads that form the tapestry of leadership, and every leaders tapestry will look different based on his skills and talents. At the heart of great leadership is authenticity, and Part Four is meant to help you understand how to leverage your uniqueness. We recommend reading that section in depth at some point, whether at the beginning of your leadership journey or midway through developing your target competencies. Reread it from time to time, practice the strategies we offer, and be sure to access the additional resources at www.TheCompleteLeader.org.