Susan Caba - The Complete Idiots Guide to Leadership Fast-Track

Leadership

by Susan Caba

A member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

ALPHA BOOKS

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ISBN: 978-1-61564-404-9
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2012947177

15 14 13 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Interpretation of the printing code: The rightmost number of the first series of numbers is the year of the books printing; the rightmost number of the second series of numbers is the number of the books printing. For example, a printing code of 13-1 shows that the first printing occurred in 2013.

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To my son, Max Banerjee, who inspires me to have faith in the leaders
of the future.

Introduction

There are literally thousands of books and articles written about leadership. They boil down to about six basic principles. Put them in practice, and youre on your way to becoming a leader. If you continue to study great leaders, youll refine your own leadership style and, possibly, become great yourself.

Regardless of the type of organization they work for, effective leaders follow the same principles and practices. Even the Mafia employs leadership best practicesgreat leaders arent limited to positive organizations.

The basics are as follows:

Know your values and live them every day.

Clearly communicate your goals and standards.

Be aware of your behavior style and how you interact with others.

Hire great people, give them challenging work, and then let them do their jobs.

Manage change, dont force it.

Create opportunities for people to learn and practice leadership skills at every level.

This book helps you develop these principles and put them in practice.

How This Book Is Organized

The most important characteristic of great leaders is integrity. They know their values and demonstrate them daily. As youll read in and throughout The Complete Idiots Guide to Leadership Fast-Track, great leaders build relationships on a level of trust that develops because their actions match their words.

explains the four basic behavior types and how they interact with one another. Knowing your own style, as well as those of your colleagues, helps you achieve mutual goals more effectively.

Communication is the foundation of leadership. You need a communication strategy to help drive your mission, and discusses how to develop and execute that strategy. Your communication strategy should be inclusive (invite everyone to participate), interactive (listen as well as talk), and authentic (develop real relationships).

Leadership is about managing change. covers different strategies to facilitate change, including recruiting allies, focusing resources where they are most needed, and changing behavior to change attitudes.

Great people are vital for leadership success. cover hiring top people, creating an engaged workforce, and managing through positivenot punitivemeasures.

Of course, mistakes will be made and disasters do happen. How you respond as a leader will decide whether your organization learns valuable lessons or suffers irreparable damage. focuses on how to prevail in times of adversity.

In our complex global society, leaders rarely work alone. They create teams. Part of is about finding the right mix for your executive leadership team. The second segment discusses how to build and encourage leadership teams at every level of your organization.

Finally, the greatest leaders are constantly learning. They look inward as well as outward for lessons. And they consider it their responsibility to create future leaders. That philosophy is the subject of