Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #448788 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Review
"..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)

Review
"...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)

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

Customer Reviews

A good model and great tools
This is a book that must become part of the tool kit for any new leader. It would be a great investment for companies to issue the book to all newly promoted leaders. I am sure it will also become part of the resources for most coaches working with leaders.But it is also a book that you will want to recommend to your coaching clients and colleagues in the business world.
For those of you reading this from the NLP community, especially those of you who are Dilts fans, you will find this a very different type of book. It is much more focused on business results and hard realities than many "NLP" books. However it is user friendly,readable and packed with useful tools and material.
The authors have developed a simple, understandable model of leadership.Those of us who work in the field will recognise the elements that make for great leadership and where the absence of an element causes problems.Leaders can rely on this model to improve their effectiveness and also their well being. The writing is clear and the use of non business related examples and stories works well. It also means that you are not re reading the same examples that come up in other leadership books.
The tools are a mixture of NLP technology and more "left brain" consultancy type processes.The guidence makes the tools easy to follow and accessable to non NLP readers.
If the book could be improved I would say it is in the following areas:
I believe that many leaders struggle to get good quality feedback and to develope strong skills in self assesment and self awareness. A section on this area and/or diagnostic tool(s) would be a valuable addition to the material.
At times the stated method of " saying what you are going to say, say it, and then tell them you have said it " can get a bit wearing but it does ensure you have the key messages very firmly fixed once you have completed the book.
Some of the tools would be quite difficult to use on your own. At times this is pointed out but for the leader using this as a "self help" guide - as opposed to the coach or consultant using this book -It would be helpful to give more guidence on how to use a colleague or friend to help them get the most out of the tools.
However i am sure these minor areas can be addresses in the next volume " more tools for Alpha Leaders"!

This should become THE management book of 2002
This book is written around a simple model I really like. It consists of 3 basic dimensions: Anticipate-Align-Act and 9 principles that come with these 3 dimensions of leadership. Anticipation requires that one can detect weak signals, has the agility to understand them and that the organization is flexible enough to respond. Align, the second dimension, is about assuring that the core purpose, values and beliefs of the organization are aligned with the actions of their leaders and their people. People's attitudes, values and the company culture need to be compatible with each other and this book lists attention areas and tools to increase this alignment. Finally, the third dimension has to do with acting fast enough, with attention for the 20% that makes the biggest difference and with the willingness to pursue goals with enough determination and patience. Simple as it seems, one wonders why so few leaders in companies apply this model today. I hope this book will be the stepping-stone some people need to become real "alpha leaders".

...The result is a practical book that fits amongst the top business books, and I hope that Wiley will be able to put the needed marketing efforts behind it to turn this masterwork into a bestseller.

It's fully applicable by anyone leading an organization, so that doesn't leave many excuses for not being a good leader...

practical tools for a chaotic world
This book extends beyond normal leadership books because it starts from a different assumption base. Margaret Wheatley in Leadership and the New Science shows us that chaos theory has lessons for everyday life. In a world of chaos where the future cannot be accurately predicted Leadership becomes increasingly difficult. Alpha Leadership fills the gap by giving us tools and practical techniques for leaders to use in management of their organisation to respond rapidly and effectively to a changing world.

This book interestingly challenges some our assumptions about good and bad leadership. I particularly liked the Ready Fire Aim section which is a complete challenge to the received wisdom on planning. A book you can dip into which features an ecletic mix of guidance drawn from many sources.

I found it very useful
Sean Finnan
Sales Director