In our most recent leadership discussion, we continue the conversation around the difference between perfectionist leaders and imperfectly excellent leaders through the lens of how they lead their teams. An aspect of leading with imperfect excellence is focusing on both the outcomes and the process by which the outcomes are achieved. A book that we frequently refer to is, What the CEO wants you to know: How your company really works by Ram Charan. All businesses fundamentally work the same, so it is important that leaders truly understand some of the common business principles Ram Charan lays out in this book. Our favorite parts of the book are chapters 4 and 5. Chapter 4 speaks to understanding the whole business and how all the moving parts work together. By including some basic questions to guide the business leader through, the chapter helps the leader understand how well the business is really working. Chapter 5 is a favorite because it addresses that in this new reality, it is about priorities necessary to cut through the complexity to focus on the things that really matter. It means, by definition, that the business leader must say “no” to something in order to say “yes” to the priorities that matter most. Click here to read more. Enjoy the book!
Still More Revelations for Making Leadership a Way of Life Every five years since we started RPC Leadership Associates, Inc, we’ve published a collection of our most popular articles along with several never before published articles. These quick reads are geared towards helping leaders become the most effective leaders they can be through the lens of individual leadership, leader relationships and organizational leadership. Our third installment, “ Here’s What I’m Sayin’: Still More Revelations for Making Leadership a Way of Life” is now available on Amazon here. What makes this edition special is that we had a lot more to choose from because of the pandemic. During that time, we doubled down on our writing to help inspire and support those leaders who were navigating unfamiliar territory. It was actually harder this time to pare down to the most popular articles to make way for four new, never before published articles in support of leaders in their own unique leadership journeys. Order a copy for yourself or maybe you know a leader who may benefit from a gift of leadership insights that can support their success! Lead Well and Enjoy the Book!
This month, we highlight the value of tactical communications in the planning process around goals, metrics and desired results. With the focus on knowledge-based decision-making, we also highlight a book that has helped us become more comfortable with communicating numbers as leaders. In, “ Making Numbers Count ”, Chip Heath and Karla Starr outline a process that helps leaders not only understand the numbers, but more importantly communicate the numbers in a way that resonates with the audience both logically and emotionally! Our favorite section of the book is titled “Use Emotional Numbers ~ Surprising and Meaningful ~ To Move People to Think and Act Differently”. It is a powerful set of ideas in short and easy-to- understand chapters that help the reader quickly understand the authors’ idea. The authors use plenty of examples that also aid in the reader grasping the main idea in a way that also makes it easy to apply to their business. For instance, in the chapter on comparatives, the authors suggest instead of saying “Their center is 7’8” tall”, use the phase, “Their center is 2 inches taller than Yao Ming”. These types of examples are peppered throughout the book to make it easy to understand and apply! Enjoy the Book!