Julie Straw - The Work of Leaders: How Vision, Alignment, and Execution Will Change the Way You Lead

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Straw, Julie

The work of leaders : how vision, alignment, and execution will change the way you lead / Julie Straw, Mark Scullard, Susie Kukkonen, Barry Davis. First edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-118-63653-4 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-118-66351-6 (ebk.); ISBN 978-1-118-66341-7 (ebk.); ISBN 978-1-118-66352-3 (ebk.)

1. Leadership. 2. Management. I. Title.

HD57.7.S78155 2013

658.4092dc23

2013005850

To the 1,800 members of the Inscape Network who give so generously of your time and talents to us and to your clients. Your partnership adds immeasurable value and helps make our work more meaningful.

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, this book exists because of our relationships with a vast network of outstanding professional trainers, coaches, and consultantsthe best of the best in the field of training and development. They have been our mentors and teachers, as well as our customers and business partners. Several Inscape Distributors were particularly generous in reviewing the manuscript for this book under tight timelines. In particular, Sue Hammond went above and beyond by providing us with astute developmental editing. We also want to thank Sue Bowlby, Jean Campana, Steve Dion, Chris Ewing, Sharon Ferraro, Joleen Goronkin, Murray Janewski, Sarah Kalicki-Nakamura, Lynne Kaplan, Janice Maffei, Jill McGillen, Leilani Poland, Cindy Sakai, Joanne Spigner, Rick Stamm, and Sal Silvester for taking the time to read the manuscript and provide helpful feedback. In addition, several of our Distributors shared client stories with us, including Carol Horner, Lisa Satawa, and Deb Terry. Finally, we are grateful to Keith Ayers, Anne Minton, Barb Stennes, and Roger Wenschlag for all the conversations that helped give context to this work.

We are also indebted to the clients of Distributors who used Work of Leaders and shared their experiences with us. Nathaniel Conn and Jeff Dahms were especially generous with their time, and their reflections on the VAE model helped bring our story to life. Indirectly, thousands of classroom learners supported our efforts by choosing to participate in our research after completing one of our assessments. Without them, wed still be collecting data!

The authors are also lucky enough to work in an organization with talented individuals and high-functioning teams, and this project would not have been possible without everyone at Inscape Publishing. Special thanks to Rachel Broviak for facing the perils of putting our early ideas on paper, as well as for her flair with research and finding the right quotes. Jidana James helped us gather compelling stories and insightful feedback from many Inscape Distributors and their clients. Laurie Diethelm, Tracy LaChance, and Jeff Rauchbauer were willing to drop what they were doing to get the pieces that we needed when we needed them. The Inscape IT team, especially Don Hudson and Brad Meyer, made it possible for us to collect and retrieve the invaluable research data we use throughout the book. And our fearless leader, Jeffrey Sugerman, encouraged us to take on this challenge.

Special thanks to John Capecci for lending his expertise in effective storytelling. His thoughtful influence is woven throughout the book. We also are indebted to Emma Wilhelm, who created early drafts of our Work of Leaders story. Her work reviewing and consolidating all of the literature laid the groundwork for this book. And thanks to Aaron Rosell, who tackled the task of sorting and analyzing tens of thousands of comments with courage and humor.

We also want to thank our friends and colleagues at Wiley, especially Lisa Shannon and Cedric Crocker, whose efforts brought Inscape into the Wiley fold and allowed us to benefit from the resources of this well-respected, high-quality publisher. Matt Davis, our editor, has helped us navigate the path from concept to completion, and his flexibility and optimism have been much appreciated.

Finally, each of the authors would like to acknowledge other people in our lives who have made this project possible.

Julie would like to thank Jim Straw for his unwavering love and his support for her career ambitions, and Krystl, Kim, and Andy, for always understanding the balance of career and family. She also recognizes that, without the support of her Inscape team, especially Clare McInerney Stephenson, she would not have been able to pursue her passion for this book project.

Mark would like to thank his loving wife and feisty best friend, both of whom are Jill Scullard. His parents Julie and Mike Scullard also deserve an award for ensuring that he survived his adolescence. Thank you, guys. Finally, he needs to thank his daughter Eowyn, whose smile brings him joy and awe each and every morning.

Susie would like to thank Jukka Kukkonen for his love, encouragement, and good humor, and especially for getting up at 4:30 in the morning to help her draft a particularly difficult paragraph. She also owes a debt of gratitude to Barry Davis and Ruth Walbon for lunchtime runs that helped to keep her on an even keel. Finally, thanks to Sonja and Henri for reminding her to laugh.