Leader Thinking Skills


Book Description

This book examines the various thinking skills that leaders may need to find success in contemporary organizations and institutions, covering a wide array of skills that are held to be important by key leadership scholars. Bridging theory and practice, chapters summarize major findings with respect to a particular ability, knowledge, or skill, providing theoretical frameworks for understanding how these contribute to leader emergence and performance, and considering implications for leader selection, assessment, and development. The text appraises the existing research on the critical cognitive capabilities that underlie leader problem-solving and implications for the assessment and development of leadership potential in real-world settings. The role of creative thinking skills on leader performance is also addressed, bearing on the importance of processes such as problem definition and idea generation, but also using constraints to potentially stimulate creative thought. With contributions from some of the most eminent scholars working in the field of leadership, this book will be in invaluable resource to academics, researchers, graduate students, and professionals interested in leadership and leader skills, I/O psychology, and business management.




The Leader's Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills


Book Description

Poses the question, how can you energize people to see problems not as obstacles to success but as opportunities for innovation? Looks at what makes a lateral leader - the kind of person who can create a climate of creativity by inspiring people to have the confidence to take risks, and who can then develop their skills in creative techniques. Presents practical exercises for implementing the principles of lateral thinking and uses real-life examples to illustrate the rules, principles and processes involved.




The Opposable Mind


Book Description

If you want to be as successful as Jack Welch, Larry Bossidy, or Michael Dell, read their autobiographical advice books, right? Wrong, says Roger Martin in The Opposable Mind. Though following best practice can help in some ways, it also poses a danger. By emulating what a great leader did in a particular situation, you'll likely be terribly disappointed with your own results. Why? Your situation is different. Instead of focusing on what exceptional leaders do, we need to understand and emulate how they think. Successful businesspeople engage in what Martin calls integrative thinking, creatively resolving the tension in opposing models by forming entirely new and superior ones. Drawing on stories of leaders as diverse as AG Lafley of Procter & Gamble, Meg Whitman of eBay, Victoria Hale of the Institute for One World Health, and Nandan Nilekani of Infosys, Martin shows how integrative thinkers are relentlessly diagnosing and synthesizing by asking probing questions including: What are the causal relationships at work here? and What are the implied trade-offs? Martin also presents a model for strengthening your integrative thinking skills by drawing on different kinds of knowledge including conceptual and experiential knowledge. Integrative thinking can be learned, and The Opposable Mind helps you master this vital skill.




Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader, Updated Edition of the Global Bestseller, With a New Preface


Book Description

A new edition of the bestseller that has helped aspiring leaders worldwide advance their careers and step up to larger leadership roles. You aspire to lead with greater impact. The problem is you're busy executing on today's demands. You know you have to carve out time from your "day job" to build your leadership skills, but it’s easy to let immediate problems and old mindsets get in the way. Herminia Ibarra—one of the world's foremost experts on leadership—shows how individuals at all levels can step up to leadership by making small but crucial changes in their jobs, their networks, and themselves. In Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader, Ibarra offers advice to: Redefine your job in order to make more strategic contributions Diversify your network so that you connect to, and learn from, a wider range of stakeholders Become more playful with your self-concept, allowing your familiar—and possibly outdated—leadership style to evolve Ibarra turns the usual leadership advice—generate insight about yourself through reflection and analysis of your strengths and weaknesses—on its head by arguing that you must first act and experiment your way into trying new things. The valuable external perspective you gain from direct experiences and experimentation—which Ibarra calls outsight—provides new and critical information on what kind of work is important to you, how you should invest your time, why and which relationships matter, and, ultimately, who you want to become. Updated with new examples and self-assessments, this book gives you the tools to start acting like a leader and advancing your career to the next level.




Leading with Strategic Thinking


Book Description

Be a more effective leader with strategic thinking Leading with Strategic Thinking reveals what effective leaders do differently. Eschewing the one-size-fits-all leadership model, this helpful guide outlines four general leadership types and demonstrates how each type achieves success – whether through personal vision, structured process, collaboration, or by empowering others. The authors identify the actions and skills that distinguish strategic leadership, drawn from interviews and focus groups with over three hundred leaders from around the world. Examples and case studies illustrate these concepts in action, and the provided reference materials steer readers toward more advanced information on this important topic. The disruptive forces of technology and globalization raise new challenges for leaders. This book is a manual that will help executives and aspiring leaders harness these forces and address the two central questions of strategic leadership: How do the best leaders develop their strategy? How do effective leaders drive strategic change? Becoming a strategic leader isn’t about mimicking an icon. The most effective leaders seize opportunity in a way that consciously integrates environmental requirements, stakeholder expectations, and personal ability. Leading with Strategic Thinking shows what these leaders do, and gives anyone the tools to be a more strategic leader.




Creative Leadership


Book Description

This book demonstrates how creative thinking is an essential element of leadership, especially when bringing about change. It provides a unique combination of conceptual arguments, practical principles, and proven tools to enhance future leaders' effectiveness in creating and managing change.




Radical Product Thinking


Book Description

Iteration rules product development, but it isn't enough to produce dramatic results. This book champions Radical Product Thinking, a systematic methodology for building visionary, game-changing products. In the last decade, we've learned to harness the power of iteration to innovate faster—we've invested in a fast car, but our ability to set a clear destination and navigate to it hasn't kept up. When we iterate without a clear vision or strategy, our products become bloated, fragmented, and driven by irrelevant metrics. They catch “product diseases” that often kill innovation. Radical Product Thinking (RPT) gives organizations a repeatable model for building world-changing products. The key? Being vision-driven instead of iteration-led. R. Dutt guides readers through the five elements of the methodology (vision, strategy, prioritization, execution and measurement, and culture) to develop a clear process for translating vision into reality, and turning RPT skills into muscle memory. This book offers refreshing solutions to the shortcomings of our current model for product development; be prepared to toss out everything you know about a good vision and learn how to measure progress to create revolutionary products. The best part? You don't have to be a natural-born visionary to produce extraordinary results.




Power Thinking


Book Description

Most individuals were never formally taught thinking skills and, as a result, are using processes that were developed during childhood to reach decisions and solve problems. Thus, in an era of knowledge explosion, organizational performance accountability, and rapid change caused by technology, leaders and managers are trying to succeed using thinking patterns developed before they were twelve years old. Power Thinking offers leaders the information they need to evaluate their current thinking proficiencies, determine areas for improvement, and enhance their thinking skills. The book includes the Yale Assessment of Thinking, a standardized assessment measure that enables readers to determine their abilities in the cognitive domains found to be crucial to being an outstanding leader.




Emotional Intelligence and Critical Thinking for Library Leaders


Book Description

As the use of libraries changes, leaders need to improve their emotional intelligence and critical thinking in order to attract and retain users. Focused on practical management advice, this is an engaging discussion of how library leaders can grow in their role.




The Complete Leader


Book Description

Everything You Need to Become a High-Performing Leader Do you crave additional development of your leadership skills—not just another business book or workshop, but something practical, actionable and real-world? Executive coaches Ron Price and Randy Lisk combine experiences and tools gleaned from decades working with leaders from Fortune 100 companies to small businesses to present twenty-five modules in The Complete Leader. Each skill is organized around the four qualities necessary to leadership excellence: • Clear thinking in an increasingly-complex world • Managing yourself to develop strong teams and results without excuses • Leading others through transcending results to achieve lasting impact • Authenticity in who you are and who you want to become Presented in a way that is both customizable and scalable, each leadership competency utilizes practical tools for defining, practicing |and becoming the greatest version of yourself. The companion site, TheCompleteLeader.org, includes individual assessments and furthers the ideas presented in each section, offering additional methods to deepen practice and learning. This combination of book, assessments and website round out a robust program designed for today’s established executives and tomorrow’s emerging leaders. RON PRICE is the president and founder of Price Associates, a global leadership performance firm. He is a noted expert on how human behavior translates to company culture, individual and business performances. RANDY LISK is the founder of Lisk Associates, a business consultancy firm. He is a trusted advisor, consultant and coach. “Leaving nothing out, Ron Price and Randy Lisk reveal everything you need to know to be The Complete Leader.” Marshall Goldsmith, International Bestselling Author “This book can serve as your own leadership curriculum as you work on the competencies you need to be an effective leader.” Marshall Goldsmith, International Bestselling Author