The Prepared Mind of a Leader: Eight Skills Leaders Use to Innovate, Make Decisions, and Solve Problems

ISBN-13: 9780787976804 / Angielski / Twarda / 2005 / 304 str.

William Welter; Jean Egmon

Opis

Thinking to stay ahead of change In a complex business climate, people need to make informed decisions and learn how to think flexibly. A leader's most important asset is the ability to sense changes in the environment and adapt to them quickly. The Prepared Mind of a Leader presents an original and effective way to think more flexibly about innovation, strategy, change, and problem solving. It helps leaders anticipate challenges and prepare for both the intended and unintended consequences of change by laying out a program for developing, maintaining, and mobilizing eight key skills: Observing, Challenging, Reflecting, Reasoning, Imagining, Deciding, Learning, and Teaching. These skills provide a framework that the thoughtful leader or manager can use to approach issues of strategy, innovation, and more. Chapters feature interactive tools that will help readers develop each of the key skills. Bill Welter (Bartlett, IL) is President of Adaptive Strategies, a consulting firm focused on helping clients in a wide range of industries to deal with change. Jean Egmon (Wilmette, IL) is Director of the Complexity in Action Network and on the faculty at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Spis treści

Introduction: Chance Favors the Prepared Mind.

PART ONE: OUR FOUNDATION AND FRAMEWORKS.

1. The Only Foundation We Have.

2. Frameworks for Intentional Preparation.

PART TWO: THE SKILLS OF PREPARED MIND LEADERSHIP.

3. Observing: Seeing Beyond the Obvious.

4. Reasoning: Moving from the Known to the Undetermined.

5. Imagining: Envisioning the Future Before It Arrives.

6. Challenging: Pushing for Higher and Deeper Thinking.

7. Deciding: Choosing with Consequences in Mind.

8. Learning: Keeping a Developmental Mind–Set.

9. Enabling: Exercising Leadership from the Outside In.

10. Reflecting: Looking Backward, Forward, and Inward.

11. Conclusion: Preparing for Tomorrow.

Notes.

Acknowledgments.

About the Authors.

Index.

O autorze

Bill Welter is the managing director of Adaptive Strategies (MindPrep.com), a firm specializing in business education and consulting. He has more than thirty–five years of varied military, engineering, consulting, and teaching experience.

Jean Egmon is a faculty member in managerial economics and decision sciences at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and director of the Complexity in Action Network at Northwestern. She is also the president of Third Angle, Inc. (Third–Angle.com)

Blurb

Praise for The Prepared Mind of a Leader

"The Prepared Mind of a Leader provided me a road map for thinking more deeply, differently, and effectively across a wide array of issues. It will be impossible to read this book without coming away with several practical concepts and tools that can be applied immediately."
Neal Kulick, vice president, Global Talent Management, McDonald′s Corporation

"Easy to read and understand, this book offers leaders at all levels practical tools and a newway to think about leadership that will help you survive, and even thrive, as a leader."
Jon Peters, president, The Institute for Management Studies

"Anyone running a business, a team, a work group, or simply trying to better manage his or her life will benefit from The Prepared Mind of a Leader. It′s a great model for accelerating leadership readiness in today′s hypercompetitive markets."
Thomas A. Gebhardt, president, Panasonic Factory Solutions Company

"For leaders who need to unleash the human capital locked within their organizations, this insightful and pragmatic read offers realistic solutions to these universal issues."
Jon Atchue, vice president human resources, REXAM Beverage Can North America

"The Prepared Mind of a Leader is the best kind of business book it provides a timely and practical framework for how to think, not what to think. This is a must–read for the next generation of leaders, and those who are preparing them to lead."
Clark Callahan, executive director, Tuck Executive Education, Dartmouth

"Welter and Egmon have identified key skill–building exercises for strengthening your leadership effectiveness. Like athletes who train to build muscle memory, these repetitions build the Prepared Mind muscles. The authors show you how to do it using behavior–based theories that lead to practical workouts."
William J. White, retired chairman and CEO, the Bell and Howell Company, and professor, Northwestern University