Kris Cole - Leadership For Dummies

Leadership For Dummies

by Kris Cole

Wiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd

Leadership For Dummies

Australian & New Zealand Edition published by Wiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd 42 McDougall Street Milton, Qld 4064 www.dummies.com

Copyright 2008 Wiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data

Author: Cole, Kris.

Title: Leadership For Dummies / author, Kris Cole.

Edition: Australian and New Zealand ed.

ISBN: 978 073 140787 3 (pbk.)

Series:For Dummies.

Notes: Includes index.

Subjects: Leadership.

Dewey Number: 658.4092

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About the Author

Kris Cole , industrial psychologist and manufacturing technologist, is one of Australias best-known trainers in the areas of leadership, management, communication and productivity. She has worked with leading organisations around the world helping people lead, communicate and work more effectively with their followers, colleagues and customers, and juggle their priorities to achieve their goals and flourish.

Kris is also Australias No. 1 best-selling business author, with books published in seven languages. Her other books cover topics including making time work for you, workplace relations, business administration and supervision, call centre communication, a survival guide for supervisors and how to succeed at job interviews.

Kris can be contacted through her Web site, www.bax.com.au, where you can find interactive topics on business and management.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my ancient cat, Benya, whose warm, purring body on my lap made writing 20 books (including second and third editions and overseas editions of those books) that little bit more enjoyable.

Authors Acknowledgements

Thank you to the many wonderful leaders with whom Ive worked and from whom Ive learned, and to all the fantastic leaders Ive trained and learned from. Yours is one of the most demanding and essential roles in any organisation, whatever the size, sector or industry, and I take my hat off to you.

The wonderful team at John Wiley has been great to work worth. Thank you for being lots of fun and thoroughly professional. Thank you especially to Acquisitions Editor Charlotte Duff and Editor Carolyn Beaumont for guiding me patiently through the project.

While Im on a roll, I would also like to heap praise upon the head of my fabulous hubby, Don, who puts up with me with grace and good humour. I take my hat off to you, too!

Publishers Acknowledgements

Were proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/ .

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial and Media Development

Project Editor: Carolyn Beaumont

Acquisitions Editor: Charlotte Duff

Technical Reviewer: Jim Hayward

Editorial Manager: Gabrielle Packman

Production

Layout and Graphics: Wiley Composition Services, Wiley Art Studio

Cartoons: Glenn Lumsden

Indexer: Karen Gillen

Introduction

C ongratulations on taking a big step to successful leadership by choosing to read Leadership For Dummies , a guide to everything you need to know to become a successful leader or to become a better leader than you already are.

Whether youre an aspiring leader, a new leader or a seasoned leader, you probably know that quality leadership is critical to an organisations effectiveness and to its success. Without good leaders, no organisation can achieve its objectives or come close to achieving its vision.

Leaders set the pace and build an organisations identity. Leaders show the way. Leaders inspire, energise and make their followers feel valued and appreciated for their contributions. Leaders help people find, develop and refine their talents.

Over the past 30 years, Ive worked with a variety of organisations, large and small, in a variety of sectors and industries, in many parts of the world. What I know for certain is that even when you have the best followers, the best buildings, the best technology, the best equipment and the best procedures, poor leadership can spoil every plan. Nothing is more valuable to an organisation than a successful leader.

But what is a successful leader? Many different types of effective leaders exist and every leader is different from every other leader. Successful leaders perform many of the same tasks and share the same skills and characteristics, but add their own special twists. The best leaders put their own signatures on the qualities of leadership.

About This Book

Leadership is personal. If you want to be a successful leader, you need to build a strong and flexible set of leadership muscles that define you as a leader. Leadership For Dummies helps you to do that.

When you put into practice the principles and techniques I explain in this book, you can earn the title of leader. Your followers can look to you for encouragement and guidance and draw strength from you. Other leaders can respect you and find they can follow your lead as well. By using Leadership For Dummies , you can make a worthwhile and significant contribution to your organisation and to your followers, not just today and tomorrow, but as a contribution that lasts well into the future.