Publisher's Synopsis
This is not your conventional "How to be a successful leader". Who are we to tell you how to be the best leader? We've not met you. We haven't learned anything about your life or current experience, personal or professional. We know nothing of your organization or goals. The stories we tell will ring true, because you or a friend have gone through something similar. We're going to take the mystery out of success and failure. There is not a formula to better recognize when to stick with a team, change the team, or get out. Rather, there is clarity from experience that tells you when to go along to get along, and when to engage to make things better. And for leaders reading this, you'll understand why you've got a loyal team or a crew that's jumping ship.Steve O'Kane and Victor Bloomberg each have over three decades in business leadership. This book is written for leaders in organizational governance, executives, and managers. It is for anyone in a business that has a mission beyond profit. The company cares about its people and the community.How can we tell when our leader is a hard-ass or an asshole? Respect. Respect is seeing a person as a human being rather than as a thing. It is the foundation of empathy, which allows experience and imagination to support understanding another person. Short-term absence of empathy is managed while we "go along to get along". Chronic disrespect in an company leads to collapse of esprit de corps that is essential to sustained success.We present two large, complex organizations. Both faced costly problems that included expansion, one underway and the other planned. The contrast in leadership styles is sharp. A band-aid would not stop the hemorrhage of talent or deflated productivity. Each faced critical threats to their position in the market.Okay, there's not a formula. And we're not promoting a motivational tune-up. Instead, we givie to you stories to begin some fundamental conversations. We are sure that you have important stories to tell, and we'd love to hear from you. In the meantime, we give you incisive questions to consider.
