We Are All Leaders E-Book

Fredrik Arnander

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

Seitenzahl: 326

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Leadership is not just for the execs in the corner office. It’s time we all stepped up and developed the mind of a leader. In a time of rapid technological change and economic uncertainty, businesses that thrive will do so through empowering employees at all levels to take an active role in leading themselves and their organisations to success. It's time that we all, at every stage of our careers, started to think proactively, take responsibility and excel in work. This is the new face of leadership – consensual and nonhierarchical.

Scandinavian entrepreneur and business guru Fredrik Arnander outlines strategies and tools for transforming anyone into an effective leader. He offers a simple, straightforward, highly-practical approach to developing the leader mindset. And these aren't lessons from on high – they're clear and functional examples drawn from real life experiences. We Are All Leaders is all about empowerment – it will transform you into a confident, focused visionary…and can help you inspire that same passion in others.

• A refreshingly simple and practical guide to leadership for anyone who wants to progress in their work
• Based on the author's experience of running fast technology companies, creating agile and flexible organisations through leadership at all levels
• Lessons are taught via easy to follow dialogue between a mentor and apprentice, exchanges which emphasise teamwork and reciprocal learning

"Everyone should read this book. It provides useful insights and examples that will help you grow as a leader irrespective of whether you are just starting out in your career or if you are a seasoned CEO"
Rikard Steiber, Global Marketing Director, Mobile & Social, Google

"Shows us how real-world leadership succeeds both in daily business as well as in our everyday lives. Well-researched, the book speaks in human terms, with smart examples, and clearly defines the partnership between team leadership and persoanl growth"
Scott Raskin, CEO, Mindjet

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

COVER

TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT PAGE

DEDICATION

ELEVATOR PITCH

LEADERSHIP FOR A NEW ERA

CHAPTER 1 THE MINDSET LEADER

#001 The Mindset Leader (TML)

#002 Your Inner Motivation (YIM)

#003 Spread Good Leadership (SGL)

#004 Learn To Learn (LTL)

#005 All Are Leaders (AAL)

#006 Be In Charge (BIC)

CHAPTER 2 ENTREPRENEURS, MANAGERS & LEADERS

#007 Entrepreneurs, Managers & Leaders (EML)

#008 Results Is Behaviour (RIB)

#009 Your Leadership Profile (YLP)

CHAPTER 3 THE REAL ME

#010 Be World Class (BWC)

#011 Good & Bad Dogs (GBD)

#012 The Real Me (TRM)

#013 Know Your Weaknesses (KYW)

#014 Set Your Virtues (SYV)

#015 Two Leadership Levels (TLL)

#016 Do You Believe (DYB)

#017 Practise Daily Scales (PDS)

#018 I Am Human (IAH)

CHAPTER 4 ALWAYS SHOW UP

#019 Always Show Up (ASU)

#020 Control Upset Emails (CUE)

#021 Interpretations And Responses (IAR)

#022 Keep Head Cool (KHC)

#023 Apologize In Public (AIP)

#024 Tell The Truth (TTT)

#025 Deliver Tough Messages (DTM)

#026 Take The Blame (TTB)

#027 Action Point Magic (APM)

#028 Give Away Pride (GAP)

#029 To Be Nice (TBN)

#030 Listen Without Commenting (LWC)

#031 Maximize Positive Interactions (MPI)

#032 Follow Your Heart (FYH)

#033 Check Before Promise (CBP)

#034 Adapt Beginner’s Mind (ABM)

#035 Stop Doing Things (SDT)

#036 Quantity Time Rules (QTR)

#037 Rest Restore Recharge (RRR)

#038 Change With Facts (CWF)

#039 Never Give Up (NGU)

#040 Be The Diplomat (BTD)

#041 Build Positive Momentum (BPM)

#042 Lead By Questions (LBQ)

#043 Take It On (TIO)

#044 Liked Or Respected (LOR)

#045 Don’t Do Lunch (DDL)

#046 Face To Face (FTF)

CHAPTER 5 LET OTHERS LEAD

#047 Awaken What’s Within (AWW)

#048 The Dolphin School (TDS)

#049 Make People Stars (MPS)

#050 Time For Feedback (TFF)

#051 Compassion Not Co-dependency (CNC)

#052 Motivations Of Others (MOO)

#053 Here To Help (HTH)

#054 Make Yourself Redundant (MYR)

#055 Let Everyone Speak (LES)

#056 Close Down Computer (CDC)

#057 Respect The Role (RTR)

#058 Other People’s Offices (OPO)

#059 Small Personal Things (SPT)

#060 Release The Energy (RTE)

#061 Fifty Percent Ready (FPR)

#062 Not Your Agenda (NYA)

CHAPTER 6 THE OPERATING SYSTEM

#063 The Operating System (TOS)

#064 Sing Same Score (SSS)

#065 Interconnected Sub-Cultures (ICS)

#066 Celebrate The Success (CTS)

#067 Value Based Organization (VBO)

#068 The Main Thing (TMT)

#069 Name The Culture (NTC)

CHAPTER 7 STRUCTURE AND CHAOS

#070 Structure For Leadership (SFL)

#071 Too Many Chefs (TMC)

#072 Avoid Lazy Meetings (ALM)

#073 Clear On Process (COP)

#074 Find The Ratio (FTR)

CHAPTER 8 IDEAS ARE WORTHLESS

#075 Ideas Are Worthless (IAW)

#076 Make A Decision (MAD)

#077 Right Before Compromise (RBC)

#078 Let’s Fail Quickly (LFQ)

#079 Win The Game (WTG)

#080 The Slow Company (TSC)

#081 Remember The Bread (RTB)

#082 Living Parallel Worlds (LPW)

#083 Top Line Orientation (TLO)

#084 Adding Up Numbers (AUN)

#085 Vision, Mission & Goals (VMG)

#086 Here To Stay (HTS)

CHAPTER 9 BUDDIES WITH BRAINS

#087 Love Your Work (LYW)

#088 Roles And Objectives (RAO)

#089 Buddies With Brains (BWB)

#090 Set Clear Expectations (SCE)

#091 Focus On Operations (FOO)

CHAPTER 10 OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS

#092 Outside-In Perspective (OIP)

#093 Reduce The Noise (RTN)

#094 Stick To Three (STT)

#095 Beware Of Sharkfins (BOS)

#096 Over-Communicate & Repeat (OCR)

#097 Show Whole Picture (SWP)

#098 No PowerPoint (NPP)

#099 Things On Wall (TOW)

#100 Omit Needless Words (ONW)

THE LEADERCHART TEST

PLAY LEADERSHIP POKER

MORE RESOURCES YOU WILL LIKE

REFERENCES FOR FURTHER READING

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND THANKS

ABOUT FREDRIK ARNANDER

INDEX

Cover design: Mackerel

This edition first published 2013

© 2013 Fredrik Arnander

Registered office

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Arnander, Fredrik.

 We are all leaders [electronic resource] / Fredrik Arnander.

1 online resource.

 Includes bibliographical references and index.

 Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

 ISBN 978-0-85708-388-3 (pdf) – ISBN 978-0-85708-389-0 (epub) – ISBN 978-0-85708-390-6 (mobi) – ISBN (invalid) 978-0-85708-391-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Leadership. I. Title.

 HD57.7

 658.4'092–dc23

2012039768

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-0-857-08391-3 (paperback) ISBN 978-0-857-08390-6 (ebk)

ISBN 978-0-857-08389-0 (ebk) ISBN 978-0-857-08388-3 (ebk)

For Theodor, Estelle and Nicholas

ELEVATOR PITCH

Like a good business plan, this book has an elevator pitch: a short presentation conveying the essence of the idea in the few seconds it takes to get from one floor to another in an elevator.

1. The vision: We are all leaders. Leadership is not a position, it’s a mindset.

2. The mission: To make you a leader, so that others become leaders, too.

3. How? 100 leadership concepts to put into action today.

4. Your value? Understanding just one of these concepts will improve your leadership.

5. Why should we all be leaders? To build organizations with the agility, and focus to succeed in the modern business world.

LEADERSHIP FOR A NEW ERA

In a time of rapid technological change and economic uncertainty, the successful businesses will thrive through encouraging employees at all levels to take an active role in leading themselves and their organizations. The aim of this book is to help you – whatever stage of career you’re at – to think proactively, take responsibility, and excel in work and life through strong leadership.

The business environment is rapidly becoming more fast-paced and global, and the young talent that companies are competing to recruit is of a new generation that will not accept traditional hierarchies. Consequently, the leadership approach has to change.

Most existing leadership books are still rooted in a pre-digital era. This book will help established managers and entrepreneurs update their approach and stay relevant in a changing environment, as well as giving those at the beginning of their careers a head start.

Building on my experience of start-up companies, and trying to create agile and flexible organizations through leadership at all levels, and encouraging innovation and proactivity, the book outlines concepts and tools to make everybody a leader. This book is a response to a need for a new approach to leadership. It starts with the vision that we can all be leaders – and we must be, to meet the challenges of today’s business world.

Not since the Internet boom of the early 2000s has there been such a strong entrepreneurial movement in the world, driven by the opportunities created by new technology (and the decreasing cost of technology), the global infrastructures for communication and social networks, new consumer behaviour and lifestyles, internationalization of venture capital, and the rise of a new generation of entrepreneurs.

This time it is happening not only in the Western world but also in all of Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and Africa. There is a crisis in the macro economy, but start-ups are soaring in the tech sector. At the same time, business is so fast today that it requires new thinking in management, entrepreneurship and leadership.

There are three main trends underlying the book:

1. From hierarchical to flat organizations. Modern companies have less or no hierarchy.

2. From entrepreneurship and management to leadership. How to build companies by building people.

3. From central to decentralized. The speed of business requires action at the front.

This a leadership book for a new generation of leaders. The success of modern companies does not derive from the authority of a few in formal leadership positions but relies on a flat approach (some would say ‘bottom-up’, but that would imply a traditional hierarchy) where everyone takes responsibility, drives innovation and acts proactively. This approach to leadership is a solution to the challenges many companies are facing in fast-growing markets. It also appeals to the talented people that companies want to recruit.

Hopefully the book will change the way people think of leadership, from the traditional view where a few leaders rule the roost to a modern view where leadership is important at every level of an organization. In a world crowded with business and management books, the contributions this one makes set it apart from the rest in four main ways:

First, leadership books are usually aimed at a target group that can be defined as traditional leaders: the CEOs, the ‘captains’, the heads, leads, directors, managers, bosses, chiefs. The typical leader in literature, both in fiction and non-fiction, is a man with a vision, guiding a large corporation, a war or a grand project to success. This book is not only for Formal Leaders but also for people who work anywhere in an organization, as well as people who want to be better parents, for example, and want to take charge of their lives and relationships in different contexts; the informal leaders, what can be called the Mindset Leaders. Every situation potentially calls for leadership, and everyone can be a leader. Leadership is not a position, it is a state of mind.

Second, this is an attempt to bring the rather pretentious and somewhat abstract subject of leadership down to earth. Many leadership books take a heavy and academic approach that would scare most people away from the topic. Why can’t we make leadership something plain and simple, hands-on and easy to put into action?

Third, most books written on the subject are from the USA, the birthplace of business, self-improvement and inspirational books. This is also where we find the greatest companies, the largest market, the smartest academics from the best universities and the CEOs with the biggest egos. I admire the dynamic US business culture and many of the leading US companies and entrepreneurs that it created. But US organizations can also be quite traditional and hierarchical. I wanted to write a business book from Scandinavia, home of the flat democratic organization, where decisions are made in a culture of equality.

Fourth, this is not a book primarily for big corporations or grand organizations. It is for leadership in the small and growing business, the organization or company that is evolving and where all people at every level play an important part in shaping the outcomes. I don’t claim to have expert knowledge about running big corporations, since I have spent most of my professional life with start-ups, new ventures and small growing businesses. However, this book can also be useful in transforming large and traditional companies, which are facing the same – or even greater – leadership challenges in this era of rapid change.

In short, this book is simple, Scandinavian and for everyone in every situation. Does this sound like a leadership book from IKEA? Well, the book comes in a flat package. But unlike assembling a piece of furniture from a manual, leadership cannot be spelled out in diagrams and instructions. You learn by doing, reflecting on the outcome and following your heart. Leadership is always individual. So maybe this book is more like another Scandinavian company – LEGO. You put together the pieces any way you like. And I hope you have fun doing it.

Finally, I did not write the book because I’m a leadership expert with a mission to share my wisdom, but because I’ve made a lot of mistakes and had to think hard about leadership, and have had to practise to be a better leader. I discovered I was a rather poor leader, and I have had to learn to improve. Maybe I’m just like you. I have gradually and painfully gained insights into what maybe works and what doesn’t.

I have organized the book into 100 leadership concepts, each with its own name and a TLA (three-letter acronym). Using TLAs is a way to learn by summarizing an insight into a meaningful concept. It’s also a bit of a joke: the business world is full of TLAs, and even in my own companies I find a baffling excess of acronyms, such as GMM (group management meeting) and KAM (key account manager). Anyway, by using TLAs I hope I’m not only poking fun at this tendency but also offering a few useful ideas.

My main driver has not only been to make my own leadership better but also to spread good leadership and inspire others in my organizations. I truly think that everybody is, and can be, a leader.

Fredrik Arnander

London, 2012

CHAPTER 1

THE MINDSET LEADER

I was in the middle of a terribly hectic and demanding phase in my company, and it was getting hard to see clearly what was going on. When you are caught in the whirlwind of a fast-growing business with numerous challenges, you sometimes need to stop whatever you are doing, take a step back and get some distance. And I did.

‘Don’t forget to breathe,’ my yoga teacher said to me, and that’s pretty good advice. Without breathing, we will not live. And without ‘taking a breather’, and pausing for reflection, we will not learn. While motivation is the first step on the way to becoming a leader, the crucial next step involves spending time thinking about your actions and learning from the results. Leading starts with learning. That is also why throughout this book you will find reflection points, at the end of each chapter, to help you learn.