Thoughtfully Ruthless: The Key to Exponential Growth

Praise for THOUGHTFULLY Ruthless

"Val Wright has worked in some of the toughest corporate cultures in business; she′s seen it all. Thoughtfully Ruthless acts as a personal playbook to navigate your career in the most competitive of environments by focusing on your strengths and identifying growth opportunities for your company. Essential reading for executives at every level."
Peter Moore, Chief Operating Officer, Electronic Arts

"As an executive you are expected to be a great decision maker, on 24/7, and able to leap buildings in a single bound and do it in a way that inspires. It requires you to be at your best all the time. Val′s work and book Thoughtfully Ruthless is an amazing tool that every executive or aspiring executive can learn from. Unlocking effectiveness and teaching how to take care of yourself, team, and business through transparency, and not shying away from being thoughtfully ruthless on the things that matter most. In a world filled with leadership models that feel nonauthentic and heavy, this is light and this method delivers."
John Phillips, Vice President, Global Talent Acquisition, Starbucks Corporation

"Val Wright has always provided the frank, honest, insightful feedback I′ve needed to be a better leader. Thoughtfully Ruthless takes that to the next level by focusing on the scarce resources of time and energy that challenge all of us in our professional and personal lives. Val provides the stories and insights necessary to bring her message of empowerment home in an impactful way that should be very valuable for any leader."
Robbie Bach, Former Microsoft President, Chief Xbox Officer, and Author of Xbox Revisited: A Game Plan for Corporate and Civic Renewal

"Val Wright is the real deal, an executive coach who ′gets it.′ She will change the way you think, the way you perceive challenges, and the way you implement personal leadership. Thoughtfully Ruthless is a must for every leader who wants to up his or her game."
Kate Hill, Former executive, Tribune Publishing

"Thoughtfully Ruthless manages to capture the character of the leaders each of us has dealt with, as well as those we try to emulate, in a way that shows the depth and insightfulness of author Val Wright. I have no doubt that her experiences would allow her to determine what is necessary for one who wishes to be an effective leader. Even with this confidence, the valuable information within the book, and the enthralling way in which it is presented, she′s exceeded all of my expectations, leaving me impressed and motivated to improve as a leader."
Ilan Spillinger, CVP, Hololens and Custom Silicon, Microsoft Corporation

Foreword

Preface

Chapter One Thoughtful and Ruthless

The Trigger Points for Thoughtfully Ruthless

Who Is Thoughtful? Who Is Ruthless?

Can You Name One?

Your Time, Energy, and Resources

How Thoughtfully Ruthless Are You?

CHAPTER 2 The Cost of Doing Nothing

The Cost of Delay

The Downward Spiral of Gloom

The Thoughtfully Ruthless Success Loop

CHAPTER 3 Your Selfish Charter

Your Sensibly Selfish Charter

Wishful Thinking Works

CHAPTER FOUR Become Brilliant at Demonstrating Your Brilliance

Why Appearance Trumps Reality Every Time

How to Transform from Being Humble to Shameless

Warning!

Your action

CHAPTER FIVE The Power of No

The Powerful Post–it

The Immediacy Effect

How to Be Productively Unproductive

How to Control Input Overload

Your Lost Discipline List

30 Ways to Say No

CHAPTER SIX SHUSH!: How to Create Silence, Space, and Time

Your Daily Silence

The Gift of Time

Inbox in Control

Calendar Chaos

Meaningful Meetings

The Thoughtfully Ruthless Deadline Tracker

Section Three Thoughtfully Ruthless with Your Energy

CHAPTER SEVEN Becoming Imperturbable

How to Stop the Worry Trifecta

Rapid Thought to Action

How Imperturbable Are You?

Managing the Energy Leaks

Your Accelerators and Decelerators

Accelerating by Improving Your Sleep, Nutrition, and Exercise

CHAPTER EIGHT Divorce Your Friends and Network

The Greenhouse Effect

Put Your Social Life on Autopilot

An Enviable Inner Circle of Advisers

Internal and External Connections

Communities

Perfecting Your Team s Connections

Surrounding Yourself with Believers

CHAPTER NINE Creating a Leapfrog Organization

Your Five–Year Leap

The Intentional Annoyance Phase

Building an Exemplary Board

Leaving Your Legacy

CHAPTER TEN The Thoughtfully Ruthless Team

Steps for Galvanizing Your Team

The Characteristics of a Galvanized Team

Do You Tolerate Mediocrity?

Chapter 11 Amazon versus Microsoft

Assessing Your Culture

Can You Take the Heat?

Reward the Results You Want

Unleashing Innovation

Using the Cultural Continuum

The Express Lane to Culture Change

Chapter 12 Mind the Gap

Evaporating Excuses

Prepare for Abrupt U–turns

Change Your View, Change Your Habits

Practice Altitude Adjustment

Make Unpopular and High–Risk Decisions

Appendix

99 Ways to be Thoughtfully Ruthless with Your Time

99 Ways to be Thoughtfully Ruthless with Your Energy

99 Ways to be Thoughtfully Ruthless with Your Resources

References

About the Author

Index

VAL WRIGHT works with Fortune 500 executives to accelerate growth and innovation, and creates compassionate truth telling, fearlessness, and extensive creative, technical, and leadership gains. Her clients include household names such as Starbucks, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Financial Times, and DreamWorks Animation. She′s an inductee into the Million Dollar Consultant® Hall of Fame and she is a regular contributor on CNBC, Inc., Bloomberg, Reuters, MSN and Today.