The Leadership House E-Book

Patrick Flesner

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 174

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

"A wonderful story about leadership. In this little book, you will find the tools necessary to enhance your leadership journey. Thanks Patrick for giving us such a gift." Howard Behar, former president of Starbucks International Discover how to become a highly effective leader in this inspiring leadership story. Whether you are a startup founder, an entrepreneur, a manager who has just been promoted into a leadership position, or a senior executive, your success will depend on others. If you cannot lead people, groups, and organizations effectively, your teams will fail--and you will fail as a leader. In contrast, if you know how to transform a set of strong individuals into a thriving, cohesive team, the sky is the limit. If you know how to lead effectively, you will achieve the extraordinary. But how do you become an effective leader? If you are anything like the many leaders Patrick Flesner has enjoyed working with, you also look for answers to this question. But the answers you get are often dissatisfying. Because they come pieces at a time. In fact, leadership advice comes in piecemeal fashion. There is no leadership framework you can follow systematically to become an effective leader. Therefore, you end up doing what you've always been doing. You lead using your gut feeling. In The Leadership House, Patrick Flesner provides the answers you've been looking for. In this leadership story about a CEO who walks the challenging path to becoming an effective leader, he shares the long missing framework. He shares a leadership framework that will enable you to systematically develop your leadership skills and become the leader you want to be, a highly effective leader who leads with ease. In The Leadership House, you will learn: * Why trust is the foundation of effective leadership * That a strong team is more than great talent in the right positions * How to ensure your team members collaborate and embrace teamwork * Why the accountability concept is key for leadership success * How to empower your team members * How to execute your plans Wherever you are on your particular walk of life, in your career, and in your organization, you will benefit from and find value in this leadership guide wrapped in an inspiring leadership story. "Great storytelling alongside with the simultaneous communication of facts. In this book, the essentials of leadership are impressively presented in an unusual and memorable setting." Gisbert Rühl, former CEO of Klöckner & Co SE "Most leadership books are either too theoretic, esoteric, or complex--or all of the above. The Leadership House stands out. It conveys how to lead effectively, wrapped in an inspiring story full of leadership wisdom and actionable insights. This book is not only fun to read, but makes you learn how to lead with ease. Highly recommended for any leader and all who wish to become one." Matthias Heutger, Senior Vice President, Global Head of Innovation & Commercial Development at DHL Group

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Praise for The Leadership House

Dedication

Foreword

Introduction

CHAPTER 1: REFUSAL

CHAPTER 2: AN UNEXPECTED MEETING

CHAPTER 3: THE LEADERSHIP DRAMA TRIANGLE

CHAPTER 4: LEADERSHIP DEBT

CHAPTER 5: THE LEADERSHIP HOUSE FOUNDATION

CHAPTER 6: WHAT MAKES A STRONG TEAM

CHAPTER 7: SHARING IS CARING

CHAPTER 8: THE LEADERSHIP SCALE

CHAPTER 9: LOSING CONTROL

CHAPTER 10: THERE IS NO TRYING

CHAPTER 11: HIGH NOON

CHAPTER 12: THREE YEARS LATER

The Leadership House Framework

The Leadership Scale

Leadership Coaching & Online Leadership Courses

Keynotes

More about Leadership and Growth

Acknowledgements

Author Bio

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Praise for The Leadership House

Dedication

Foreword

Introduction

Begin Reading

The Leadership House Framework

The Leadership Scale

Leadership Coaching & Online Leadership Courses

Keynotes

More about Leadership and Growth

Acknowledgements

Author Bio

End User License Agreement

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The Leadership House

A Leadership Tale about the Challenging Path to Becoming an Effective Leader

PATRICK FLESNER

This edition first published 2023

Copyright © 2023 by Patrick Flesner. All rights reserved.

Edition History

Copyright © 2022, Patrick Flesner.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by law. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

The right of Patrick Flesner to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with law.

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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data is Available:

ISBN 9781394191130 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781394207077 (ePDF)

ISBN 9781394207060 (ePUB)

Cover Design: Wiley

Cover Image: © peshkov/Getty Images

Praise for The Leadership House

“A wonderful story about leadership. In this little book you will find the tools necessary to enhance your leadership journey. Thanks, Patrick, for giving us such a gift.”

—Howard Behar, former President of Starbucks International

“Patrick Flesner addresses the dimensions of leadership in a very situational and realistic manner. This book is a powerful guide for becoming aware of your own leadership skills and development potential.”

—Oliver Kaltner, former CEO of Leica Camera AG

“Most leadership books are either too theoretic, esoteric, or complex—or all of the above. The Leadership House stands out. It conveys how to lead effectively, wrapped in an inspiring story full of leadership wisdom and actionable insights. This book is not only fun to read, but makes you learn how to lead with ease. Highly recommended for any leader and all who wish to become one.”

—Matthias Heutger, Senior Vice President, Global Head of Innovation & Commercial Development at DHL Group

“This book provides a great foundation and framework around leadership. It covers all grounds of leadership and is a useful guide to personally develop into an effective leader. Especially startup executives will find valuable leadership insights about how to successfully drive startup companies into scale.”

—Joerg Jung, CEO Cyncly (formerly Compusoft & 2020 Technology Group)

“An extremely realistic story that will capture your attention. It provides actionable experience in a simple format for any leader.”

—Dr. Carsten Voigtländer, former CEO of Vaillant Group

Also from the author:

FASTSCALING: THE SMART PATH TO BUILDING MASSIVELY VALUABLE BUSINESSES

TO MY LONG‐STANDING FRIENDS:

NINA

ARNE

CARSTEN

HENNING

JASPER

JENS‐PETER

JÖRG

JÖRG‐PETER

MARKUS

MATTHIAS

SEBASTIAN

TIM

TOBIAS

LET's STAY YOUNG.

LET's CONTINUE TO HAVE CRAZY IDEAS.

THEY HAVE ALWAYS MADE THE BEST MEMORIES.

I've been working in private equity, venture capital, and mergers & acquisitions for almost two decades. I've been a partner of an investment fund investing into high‐growth businesses. I've been a partner of renowned business law firms. I've worked as a senior executive in a publicly traded company. I've had the pleasure of working for strong and highly effective leaders who've become role models. And I've also worked for weak leaders who taught me how not to lead. I've long been reading leadership books, attending leadership courses, and writing about leadership topics in renowned magazines like MIT Sloan Management Review, I by IMD, and the Inc. magazine. All my leadership experiences—both good and bad—have made me the leader I am today.

Throughout the years, I've translated my leadership learnings into leadership frameworks, which has helped me to lead my teams effectively while becoming a better leader every day. As an investor, startup board member, coach, and mentor, I've been passing on these leadership frameworks to founders, entrepreneurs, managers, and leaders across the globe. The feedback has been overwhelming and has compelled me to share my leadership knowledge within these pages.

While there are many books out there on the same topic, the feedback I've been receiving led me to conclude that a specific kind of leadership handbook was missing: a leadership book that provides actionable insights and frameworks people can systematically follow to develop their leadership skills, climb the leadership ladder, and lead effectively. I've closed this gap by writing this leadership tale.

Wherever you are on your particular walk of life, in your career, and in your organization, I know that you'll benefit from and find value in this leadership story. Whether you want to make the leap from founder to leader, from manager to leader, or from leader to highly effective leader, this book is for you!

Patrick Flesner

Foreword

After 40 years in business—and more than 20 of those years as CEO—I have often asked myself what leadership actually means. What makes a good leader? Is there an ideal role model to follow? Which skills do you need to have, and in what intensity and composition, in order to be successful? Like many others, I've read countless business books on the subject, although to be honest, I'm not sure if they really got me anywhere. While reading them, I often tried to suit the recommendations to myself. Sometimes with success, but most often not; they just didn't align with me. I generally forgot much of the content, usually because I found it to be irrelevant. But this is also because I often had to struggle through all the recommendations, especially when they were written in a lengthy, stodgy format. However, there are some books that stand out, mostly because they were enhanced by little, poignant stories. In one of the most famous management books from 1982, called In Search of Excellence by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr., there was a compelling description of the author's nightly check‐in at one of the most successful worldwide hotel chains. Something like that sticks, but a long, boring series of facts often doesn't. With instructional books, it's the personal touches that make the information stand out, or at least that's been my experience as a reader.

As a CEO, however, you're less of a receiver and more of a sender in terms of information. You give many speeches and you often have to deal with the media and investors. Here's what I know about delivering a message: if you only line up the facts, people will eventually stop listening to you, and they will probably forget a lot of what you are saying (sometimes immediately). But if you throw in a great story here and there, it becomes a different experience. Suddenly, everyone is back in the game. Sometimes, they're even captivated with your message.

But storytelling should also not be too trivial. If you tell one tale after the other, people stop listening after a while. But great storytelling alongside the simultaneous communication of facts is the silver bullet. And this is the case with Patrick's leadership book. The essentials of leadership are impressively presented in an unusual and memorable setting. I don't want to give anything away. All I'll say is that it's the personal touches that matter. It's the personal touches that teach. This book has that personal touch.

Enjoy the ride.

—Gisbert Rühl, former CEO of Klöckner & Co SE

Introduction

Whether you're a CEO, a founder, an entrepreneur, or have just been promoted into a leadership position, your success will always depend on others. If you cannot lead people, groups, and organizations effectively, your teams will fail—and you will fail as a leader. It's as simple as that. In contrast, if you understand how to inspire your teams, how to figure out what intrinsically motivates your team members, and how to transform a set of strong individuals into a thriving, cohesive team, the sky is the limit. If you know how to lead effectively and are at ease with your leadership role, you can achieve the extraordinary.

But if you're like many of the founders, entrepreneurs, and managers I worked with or interviewed for this book, you'll agree that becoming an effective leader is a daunting task. It's difficult because the leadership advice we get is often fragmented. We read that we're supposed to inspire, trust, and empower. We hear that the best leaders show their vulnerability, that they're humble and strong at the same time. We're advised not to micromanage. In doing all of these things, we shall lead our team members and turn our followers into leaders. While all this may be true and is actually great advice, it's not consolidated advice. Leadership advice comes in a piecemeal fashion, which is frustrating. As soon as we're back in the trenches, we feel overwhelmed and don't know which theory to apply. Should we get our hands dirty and show our teams how to do it? Or are we better off assuming a coaching role and guiding our teams by asking great questions to help them find the answers themselves?

If you are even slightly like the leaders I've been working with throughout the last two decades, you want to lead systematically. But eventually, you end up only following your gut feeling. The goal of this book is to provide you with the system you've been searching for.

The Leadership House framework and the additional frameworks I'll be sharing with you throughout this tale have helped many leaders before you. I am convinced that they'll also help you to systematically develop your leadership skills and transform you into a leader who leads with ease.

There is, however, one important caveat. While this book contains many leadership frameworks you can apply in your leadership role, you must never forget that leadership is a privilege.

You are not a leader because of the frameworks you apply. You are not a leader because of your title or role. You are a leader because of the teams who want to be led by you. Leadership roles are something to be earned—they are rarely just given to us. Let's remember this as we continue to lead and inspire our teams into success and greatness.

The Tale

All persons and companies named and depicted within this book are purely fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons and companies is purely coincidental.

CHAPTER 1REFUSAL

“The future rewards those who press on. I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't have time to complain. I am going to press on.”

—Barack Obama

“I'm sorry, Felix, but tomorrow will be your last day as the CEO of our company.”

“But Peter…”

“My apologies—I have to jump on another call. See you tomorrow.” With that, Peter ended the call, leaving a baffled Felix to wonder what on earth had just happened.

Felix set the phone down and slumped into a chair at the conference room table. The room was characterized by a minimalist design style: six designer office chairs upholstered with white leather surrounded a rectangular, bright white, enamel conference table. On the wall, a two‐square‐meter photograph of a calm ocean wave conveyed a sense of mindfulness. Felix liked this minimalist design style; it conveyed to him both luxury and simplicity. Similar high‐end styles could only be found in the startup's other conference rooms and in the two founders’ offices.

Peter Sting, who had just informed Felix that his time as CEO was up, was the founding partner of Sting Investment Partners. The famous American venture capital firm had invested twenty million into the company that Felix and his co‐founder Mark had founded six years ago.

Slowly, Felix put his iPhone back into the pocket of his black G‐Star jeans. He felt cold sweat creeping down his back underneath his white, collared shirt. Paralyzed, he whispered to himself, “This can't be true. This can't be true.”

His co‐founder, who'd been privy to the brief exchange, pressed him to know what had just occurred. “What did he say? Felix, what did he say?”

“He said he'd finally convinced Douglas that I'm a bad leader,” Felix stammered. “That I'm unable to grow the business any further… that I'm the wrong person in the driver's seat and that I have to be removed from office. Then he said he wants us to hold an extraordinary board meeting tomorrow at noon—he and Douglas will come to our office so that all board members can participate in person. They really want to fire me this time, Mark.”

“Really?” Mark asked.

“Yes. This is actually happening.”

“But that's not fair, Felix! This is our company. We founded it. I mean, yes, Douglas is the one who invested five hundred thousand when we'd first started out with just an idea. And Peter wrote a big check three years ago. All that's true. But we're holding the majority of the shares in our company. And those guys are just two out of four members of the board of directors. The board is in charge of supervising and advising the management team, but…”

“And the board can fire us, Mark,” Felix interrupted with a defeated sigh. “That's what we finally agreed on when Peter invested. We agreed that the board could fire us if two out of four board members believed it was the best choice for the company. I never thought they'd make use of that power, but it seems that our business angel and our venture capital investor are doing it. They're doing it right now.”

“What about me? Will I be fired, too?”

“I don't know, Mark. But I don't think so. I mean, Peter only blamed me for the situation we're in. He didn't say anything about you.”

Felix gazed through the glass panes of the conference room and into the open office space. Employees were working and carrying on as if nothing unusual had happened. They certainly didn't know that Felix was about to be fired; the day simply carried on as usual as his career sat on the chopping block. He thoughtfully turned to Mark and said, “Isn't this crazy? Six years ago, we started this company. Since then, we grew sales from nothing to fifteen million, expanded from Germany to Spain, Italy, France, and the UK, gave jobs to more than two hundred people, moved into this fancy office… and now they're firing me.”

“We've fought similar battles before, Felix,” Mark replied. “Let's fight again. Let's roll up our sleeves and find a way out.” As both Felix and Mark used to wear their shirt sleeves rolled up all the time, they usually laughed whenever Mark said this. But Felix was in no mood for jokes.

“I don't know, Mark. Yes, we've fought many battles. But I'm getting tired of these fights with Peter. I'm fed up of hearing that I'm not leading this business effectively, that I'm not growing the business as promised, that the office is too expensive, that I'm generally not frugal enough, that we're burning too much cash, that I'm not transparent with the board, and all the other accusations. Maybe the time has come for me to let go.”

“It's not the first time Peter's questioned your leadership skills and has threatened to fire you,” Mark reminded Felix.

“That's true. But this is the first time he could convince Douglas to join forces with him. It's the first time both Douglas and Peter seem to agree that I'm a bad leader. I'm tired, Mark.”

“Don't give up, Felix! Why don't you give Douglas a call and convince him that you deserve another chance?”

“No—not again. Douglas has helped me so many times when Peter wanted me to leave. If he's switched sides now, so be it.”

“But what are you planning on doing if you're not our CEO anymore? We've invested all our money into this company. Do you want to work in your family's business? Do you want to work for your father?”