The Work of Leaders: How Vision, Alignment, and Execution Will Change the Way You Lead

"...a bright gem of a book." —Jim Kouzes & Barry Posner, authors of the best-selling The Leadership Challenge® "The Work of Leaders is a bright gem of a book. In a crystal clear and to-the-point style, the authors make leadership instantly accessible with a memorable model, rock solid fundamentals, original research, compelling stories, and highly practical tips for putting the principles to immediate use. There are invaluable lessons on every page, and you'll enjoy discovering each one. We highly recommend The Work of Leaders to anyone who aspires to make extraordinary things happen in organizations." —Jim Kouzes & Barry Posner, authors of the bestselling The Leadership Challenge® "Clear, distinctive, intuitive, and deeply researched, The Work of Leaders gives every reader not only several 'a-ha!' moments, but smart, meaningful suggestions for changing the way we all lead." —Elaine Biech, author of The Business of Consulting "The authors have indeed done their homework! Their combined expertise and engaging writing gives their readers a one-stop shop for understanding and improving the way we lead. Bravo!" —Beverly Kaye, coauthor of Love 'Em or Lose 'Em "The Work of Leaders shows you how to create a thriving organization by setting a vision and then collaborating with your people to guide your company to success. It is the strategic tool you need to move your business forward, with imaginative writing and a practical approach you can use right away." —Tom mckee, CEO, The Ken Blanchard Companies "Anyone who is in a leadership position or is responsible for evaluating leaders should make this book a must-read. Collectively, the book's authors are unique in their knowledge, background and ability, which is what distinguishes this great piece of work from others of its kind." —Sidney Feltenstein, former CEO, Yorkshire Global Restaurants "If you are a leader of a company or aspire to be one, I highly recommend reading this book. Using an easy to understand framework, the authors clearly lay out a blueprint for a company's success. This book is well researched, but also practical and fun to read. Pick it up, you won't be disappointed." —Paul F. Murphy, partner, Sentinel Capital Partners

Acknowledgments ix Foreword by Dr. Bernard W. Franklin xiii Introduction xvii 1 Welcome to the Work of Leaders 1 VISION 11 2 Introduction to Crafting a Vision 13 3 Crafting a Vision Through Exploration 23 4 Crafting a Vision Through Boldness 33 5 Crafting a Vision Through Testing Assumptions 43 6 Summary of Crafting a Vision 53 ALIGNMENT 59 7 Introduction to Building Alignment 61 8 Building Alignment Through Clarity 69 9 Building Alignment Through Dialogue 79 10 Building Alignment Through Inspiration 89 11 Summary of Building Alignment 99 EXECUTION 105 12 Introduction to Championing Execution 107 13 Championing Execution Through Momentum 113 14 Championing Execution Through Structure 125 15 Championing Execution Through Feedback 135 16 Summary of Championing Execution 147 Afterword: Using VAE in Your Organization 153 Appendix A: The Development of the Work of Leaders VAE Model 161 Appendix B: Feedback Outtakes 189 References 193 Resources 197 About Inscape Publishing 201 About the Authors 203 Index 207

Julie Straw oversees Inscape's network of more than 1,800 trainers, coaches, and consultants and has guided development of this book from the reader's perspective. Mark Scullard, PhD, leads all aspects of research for Inscape and personally combed through all of the data—hundreds of thousands of item responses—that made this book possible. Susie Kukkonen leads all product development efforts at Inscape and juggled the writing of this book with a full-tilt product development schedule. Barry Davis oversees both marketing and product development for Inscape, and his passion for innovation means that he doesn't understand the phrase, "But that's how we've always done it."