Alpha Leadership: Tools for Business Leaders Who Want More from Life [Hardcover]

"..full of useful advice and insights..." (Long Range Planning, No.35, 2002) 

"…this one had me hooked…I stopped reviewing it and started reading it for pleasure…" (EDGE, Autumn 2002)

"…this one provides the means of moving from admiration to emulation without suggesting imitation. The suggestion is that existing and would–be leaders should use the hints and methods contained here to decide on their own approach…" (The Independent, 7 December 2002)

"…This ‘how to’ book has arisen from the authors’ extensive experience of leadership development in the US and Europe…" (Management Abstracts)

"…had me hooked…the lessons of the book are as applicable to team leaders as they are to corporate leaders.…" (Edge, December 2002)

"...full of useful advice and insights..." (Long Range Planning, No.35, 2002) 

"…this one had me hooked…I stopped reviewing it and started reading it for pleasure…" (EDGE, Autumn 2002)

"…this one provides the means of moving from admiration to emulation without suggesting imitation. The suggestion is that existing and would–be leaders should use the hints and methods contained here to decide on their own approach…" (The Independent, 7 December 2002)

"…This ‘how to’ book has arisen from the authors’ extensive experience of leadership development in the US and Europe…" (Management Abstracts)

"…had me hooked…the lessons of the book are as applicable to team leaders as they are to corporate leaders.…" (Edge, December 2002)

"...This 'how to' book has arisen from the authors' extensive experience of leadership development in the US and Europe.."

"...had me hooked..the lessons of the book are as applicable to team leaders as they are to corporate leaders.."

This is a book for 21st Century leaders. The authors are offering approaches to reduce stress and to promote satisfaction at a time when this seems impossible for most people struggling to make sense of the workplace and its demands:

76% of managers want to spend more time with their families
50% say they feel too mentally and physically exhausted to do anything but work or sleep
30% say their lives are out of control
one in five say they are too stressed to enjoy their lives at all

Many of the leadership skills (such as emotional intelligence, weak signal management, mental agility) that are key to success in today′s corporate world are not taught in business schools, are rarely discussed by business academics, nor are they recognised within corporations as they recruit, promote and train their staff. Business conversation is all about the war for talent – and yet the solutions presented are all "outside–in" (i.e. what the corporation needs to do to ensure people stay, to "make" their values align, to retain them) rather than "inside–out" (i.e. alignment of individual′s sense of purpose with how they spend their time, the fit of their skills to the demands of their job, and so on).

Alpha Leadership seeks to redress these imbalances.

The book is constructed around a new and simple model of leadership. The authors call this, ′Alpha leadership′, which consists of three main axes: Anticipate, Align and Act. They have derived this model from their extensive experience of leadership development in the US and Europe, during a period of rapid adaptation to the digital economy. The authors argument is that traditional approaches to leadership, leadership as it is taught in the business schools and the criteria assigned to it by corporate promotion and appraisal systems, focus exclusively on ′action′, and take little or no account of the crucial importance of anticipation and alignment. This is of increased concern since the skills most likely to generate success for leaders in today′s networked, knowledge–based and unpredictable business environment are precisely those most often ignored.

This emphasis on action without its preliminaries of anticipation and alignment is also a paradox, since without effective anticipation and alignment, action is likely to be inefficient, ineffective, and unsustainable. The book is aimed at an "inside–out" view of leadership: starting with the individual and his/her sense of purpose and values, rather than the more typical approach to leadership writing which adopts an "outside–in" view, holding up models and examples of other leaders to emulate with little or no clue of how to go about doing so, or indeed whether or not this would be an appropriate model in the reader′s specific context.

Alpha Leadership is designed as a pragmatic "how to" book, derived from the authors experience of one–to–one executive coaching – with tools, approaches and frameworks to support leaders in progressing in their careers, while also maintaining a sense of balance and purpose in their lives. Each chapter starts with a "parable" or story – a very readable analogy from completely different fields of study that is used to shed light on the issues and problems facing leaders in the business environment. The authors then move to a section on "sense making" (avoiding blue sky theorising in favour of practical, down–to–earth interpretation and real life business examples). Finally the authors include relevant tools/frameworks to help the readers apply what they have read in their every day business lives.

How can you be a successful leader, reduce stress and promote happiness at a time when most people are struggling to make sense of the workplace, the changing economy and a changing world?

This ′how to′ book has arisen from the authors′ extensive experience of leadership development in the US and Europe. Their research shows that the successful leader excels in three separate but related dimensions:
∗ Anticipate: detecting and responding to ′weak signals′ to ′get ahead of the curve′

∗ Align: achieving congruence in your own values and desires and those of others

∗ Act: making things happen
Tools and frameworks are provided so that the reader can apply what they have read to their own business situation.

Each chapter is self–sufficient, with its own set of principles illustrated by stories and anecdotes, and its own set of tools designed to help you implement the principles.

"Alpha Leadership should be read by anyone seriously interested in understanding more about the leadership process. It breaks out of the pack of "me–too" leadership books with intriguing applications from across the spectrum of social and behavioral sciences. The authors provide fresh perspectives and insights into the process of leadership and becoming a more effective leader. Examples are exciting and intriguing and the applications descriptively practical." –– Barry Z. Posner PhD, internationally recognized expert in leadership and leadership development, Dean of the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, USA and author of The Leadership Challenge.

"Walk into the Leadership section of any bookshop and you get bombarded by a whole host of different ideas, strategies, and style manuals; most making academic and unrealistic promises for the "leader in the street". For a budding leader, it′s not only confusing, but frustrating having your skills and aspirations benchmarked against people like Branson and Welch. Alpha Leadership really is different. It′s more of a handbook than a straight read – you get as much from dipping into chapters that take your fancy, as from reading it start to finish. This is stuff you can use – key points are framed in a story that′s easy to relate to; which helps you to see that, actually, some of the mindset and style of being a good leader is already lying dormant within you. All you have to do is give it a bit of thought to set your homegrown leadership potential free." ––David Thompson, Vice President, Equity Learning & Development Manager, Investment Management, Merrill Lynch.

"A wonderful ′guide for the perplexed′. Explains how to persevere in shifting situations and fulfil your original purpose by different means – splendidly anecdotal and down–to–earth." –– Charles Hampden–Turner, The Judge Institute of Management Studies, University of Cambridge. Co–author of Riding the Waves of Culture.

ANNE DEERING has 17 years′ experience as a management consultant with A.T. Kearney, working with senior executives to resolve complex business problems. A.T. Kearney is a global management consultancy with 4,000 employees worldwide. She is co–author of The Difference Engine.

ROBERT DILTS has a global reputation as a leading behavioural skills trainer and business consultant. He has authored several works including Neuro–Linguistic Programming Vol. 1 (with Grinder, Bandler and DeLozier), accepted as the standard text in the field of NLP.

JULIAN RUSSELL is the Managing Director of PPD Consulting, a coaching a development firm for senior executives. He has over 20 years′ experience as a personal development and leadership coach. Julian is the author of Spreading Personal Growth in Society.

Introduction

This book describes a new model of leadership. We call it Alpha Leadership. The approaches and tools we present here offer you ways to be successful as a business leader, ways to reduce stress and to promote happiness, at a time when these goals seem impossible for most people struggling to make sense of the workplace and its demands.

Alpha Leadership is a product of conversations between the three authors about what makes a leader successful - a sharing of case studies and research that has taken place over the last four years, during a period of unprecedented change in the business environment.

Despite our different backgrounds and experience, we were struck by the commonality in our research on successful leaders. It seemed that a new set of basic themes of leadership was emerging, that was consistent on both sides of the Atlantic, across traditional businesses as diverse as manufacturing and financial services, dot.coms through boom and bust, and the emergent dot.corps.

Our work showed that those who have led their organizations to survive and thrive in a turbulent world excelled in three separate but related dimensions that we call Anticipate, Align and Act.

By 'anticipate' we mean the ability and the eagerness to detect and respond to weak signals or trends, in order to 'get ahead of the curve'. Successful leaders have the mental agility to respond appropriately to these signals, and create organizations fluid enough to respond quickly to new circumstances.

By 'align' we mean achieving congruence in your own values and desires, and the values and desires of others, so that you can create coalitions and aligned organizations able to act effectively in pursuit of the business's goals.

Much management effort is being devoted these days to winning hearts and minds, and inducing people to commit to visions and missions, in the belief that belief itself will galvanize effective action. Usually, however, the visions stimulate nothing but apathy. As a senior executive said to us recently, 'I pull every lever available to me in the organization and nothing happens. It's like pushing on Jello, it just springs back.' The Alpha test of effective leadership is the degree to which people's feet are engaged and, more importantly, the direction in which they are walking.

In other words, anticipation and alignment are worth nothing without appropriate and timely action. Ultimately, actions are all that separate business winners from losers. By 'Act' we mean establishing what is important to achieve the business's goals, and doggedly persisting in areas that make a difference.

At the heart of all three dimensions lie clarity and constancy of purpose - the business's and the leader's. Successful leaders focus and stretch the business's goals, are clear about how the business creates value and have a strong sense of connection between their personal mission and their business role.

Alpha Leadership is our attempt to describe and synthesize these themes.

The genesis of an idea

We developed the Alpha Leadership model based on a wide range of research and experience. We have each worked with business leaders for more than 15 years, from Silicon Valley to rust belt industries, in the United States, Europe and Asia, and in contexts as diverse as traditional management consultancy, the development of a psychological discipline (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and its application in business, dot.com venture 'catalysm' and funding, and the modelling of leadership behaviour spanning decades of business performance.

As our conclusions took shape, we became increasingly convinced that traditional approaches to leadership place far too much emphasis on action, and not nearly enough emphasis on anticipation and alignment. It is the volatility of the environments, and the networked, knowledge-based nature of the organizations in which action has to be taken, that make anticipation and alignment so crucial. We observed that leadership skills that are key to success in today's corporate world are not taught in business schools, are rarely discussed by business academics, and are not recognized within corporations as they recruit, promote and train their staff.

We noticed that business conversation was all about the 'war for talent' - and yet the solutions presented were all 'outside-in' (what the corporation needed to do to ensure people stayed, to 'make' their values align, to retain them) rather than 'inside-out' (the alignment of an individual's sense of purpose with how he or she spends time at work, and the fit of an individual's skills to the demands of the job).

In writing this book we sought to fill some of these gaps in the lexicon of leadership.

Work-life balance?

It is impossible to write a book about leadership in the 21st century without making reference to work-life balance. The statistics are daunting: 76% of managers want to spend more time with their families; 50% say they feel too mentally and physically exhausted to do anything but work or sleep; 30% say their lives are out of control; one in five say they are too stressed to enjoy their lives at all.1

And yet we have never been more materially successful: we earn more than ever before, we have more purchasing power, more leisure travel and our children have more material possessions.

So what is going wrong? An extreme imbalance seems to be at work, where success in the workplace spells dismal failure in other parts of our lives. We are all familiar with the symptoms of today's executive malaise - knowing the airport lounge better than your own living room, pushing the 'door close' button on the lift because five seconds is too long a wait, children who are happier being comforted after a nightmare by granny, nanny or the babysitter (just about anyone but you, the parent), the over-whelming sense of overload and the desperate feeling that there is no way out.

There is a way out…