Why Should the Boss Listen to You? E-Book

James E. Lukaszewski

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Serie: International Association of Business Communities
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 308

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

This is a book about gaining influence and becoming a key trusted advisor. It is for everyone who advises leaders and senior managers (accounting, finance, human resources, IT, law, marketing, public relations, security, and strategic planning) and for outside consultants in these functional staff areas. It’s also for operations people yearning to finally be heard and heeded by their boss.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Preface

What This Book Offers

Crucial Questions

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Introduction

Professional Potholes

Five Imperatives for the Trusted Strategic Advisor

It Takes a Disciplined Approach

Are You Ready?

Part One - THE REALITIES OF ADVISING TOP EXECUTIVES

Chapter 1 - HOW LEADERS THINK AND OPERATE

Pressures Leaders Are Under

What Leaders Do

Why Leaders Fail

How Leaders Succeed

Study Leadership

An Important Suggestion for You to Consider

Chapter 2 - WHAT LEADERS EXPECT

The Boss’s Special Perspective

The Counselor’s Prime Directive

How the Boss Measures Advice

What Bosses Expect from Strategic Advisors

Talents Advisors Need

Do You Fit in the CEO Environment?

Resources

Chapter 3 - ACHIEVING MAXIMUM IMPACT

Gain and Keep the Confidence of Senior People

Speak Management’s Language

Work Against the Patterns That Bother Bosses

Talk and Write to Time

Give Useful Feedback

What Your Leader Expects

Do You Have the Discipline?

Part Two - THE SEVEN DISCIPLINES

Chapter 4 - BE TRUSTWORTHY

Trust Matters

Trust and Influence

Trust and Loyalty

Loyalty Has Limits

Set Personal Loyalty Limits

Trust-Appreciation Confusion

The Ingredients of Trust

Establishing Trust

Busting Trust

Questions to Consider

Chapter 5 - BECOME A VERBAL VISIONARY

Advice on the Spot

The Advisor’s Verbal Toolbox

Assess Your Verbal Skill

Get Coaching

Being Visionary

What Does a Verbal Visionary Do?

How Do You Become a Verbal Visionary?

How Will You Know If You Have Become a Verbal Visionary?

Chapter 6 - DEVELOP A MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE

Admission to the Inner Circle

Commit Yourself to Management’s Team

Ask Managerially Relevant Questions First

Be Ready with Answers

Why Bosses Sometimes Bypass Staff

Whining Turns Bosses Off

Say Things That Matter

Questions to Consider

Chapter 7 - THINK STRATEGICALLY

The Strategic Perspective

Strategy Is Always Positive

The Virtues of a Strategist

Thinking Strategically

Why Some Strategies Are Flawed from the Start

Can You Develop a Strategic Mind-Set?

Chapter 8 - BE A WINDOW TO TOMORROW

Study the Patterns That Past Scenarios Yield

The Strategic Value of Pattern-Related Thinking

Pattern Examples

Exposure Management and Surveillance

War Stories

The Lessons of Pattern and Scenario Awareness

Can You Recognize What’s Coming Next?

Chapter 9 - ADVISE CONSTRUCTIVELY

The Three-Minute Drill

Learn and Use This Management Decision-Making Structure

More Strategic Advice-Giving Tools

Chapter 10 - SHOW THE BOSS HOW TO USE YOUR ADVICE

Giving Constructive Advice

Giving Advice Effectively

Advice Givers and Advice Takers

Be a Strategic Force

Conclusion

Index

More Praise forWhy Should the Boss Listen to You?

“Jim Lukaszewski has personally helped resolve more corporate crises than anyone I know of. His experience ‘in the trenches’ equals the high quality of his judgment.”

—Chester Burger, American Public Relations Leader Emeritus and PRSA Gold Anvil Winner

“This book is all muscle. It will challenge even the most trusted advisors to improve their skills. Hats off to Jim Lukaszewski for an actionable playbook and a good read.”

—Lynn Casey, chief executive officer, Padilla Speer Beardsley

“I have both worked with Jim and learned from him. With his experience, intelligence, and grit he says what the client needs to hear, in the way it needs to be heard. Reading this book provides valuable insights and guidance to help you navigate the often treacherous waters swirling around management.”

—Douglas Cooper, co-managing partner, Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, P.C.

“Lukaszewski, a brilliant strategic advisor, gives the secrets that can mean success for you.”

—Robert L. Dilenschneider, author, Power and Influence: The Rules Have Changed

“If you want to be in your organization’s inner circle and if you want to stay there, this book is a must-read. Jim Lukaszewski is hands down one of the brightest business strategists on the scene today. This is the handbook to your career success.”

—Bob Frause, chairman and CEO, Frause, Seattle

“Jim Lukaszewski is a master at both giving advice to leaders and coaching others to become trusted advisors. This book provides valuable tools and techniques to help enhance anyone’s advisory skills, and to help earn the trust and confidence of those at the top.”

—Helio Fred Garcia, executive director, Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership, and adjunct professor of management, New York University

“Jim Lukaszewski is widely regarded as one of the country’s preeminent authorities in crisis communications and issues management. What I admire most is Jim’s innate desire to teach others. Through his professional practice and his writings, Jim relentlessly challenges us to elevate our thinking and our skills in order to drive strategic thinking throughout our respective organizations.”

—Karen Muldoon Geus, former vice president, communications, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Primestar Partners

“Jim Lukaszewski is the best strategic thinker I know. But what makes him even more valuable to clients is his ability to sell his recommendations to CEOs and senior management. That combination of talents is exceedingly rare.”

—Robert E. Gorman, Robert E. Gorman Communication

“I’ve been a communication consultant to all types of organizations for more than thirty years, and I thought I knew all there was to know about offering advice to my clients—until I read Jim Lukaszewski’s book. What a treasure trove of insights, experiences, and practical advice on how to become and remain a valued advisor. Read it and learn.”

—Carole M. Gorney, director, Center for Crisis Public Relations and Litigation Studies, Lehigh University

“When your company is faced with a dire situation, there is great comfort in picking up the phone and hearing Jim Lukaszewski’s voice. When we get in a tight spot, we rely on his wisdom and advice.”

—Deborah L. Grant, vice president, university communications, Tulane University

“In Why Should the Boss Listen to You? Jim Lukaszewski draws on his long and successful career as a counselor to senior management in a clear and straightforward way. No matter what your profession, the Disciplines will help you see higher and further.”

—Stephanie Harwood, S. M. Harwood Consulting

“One of the most ‘trusted strategic advisors’ I know is Jim Lukaszewski. If you want your boss to listen to you, read this book—and everything else Jim writes.”

—Richard Jernstedt, chief marketing officer, executive vice president, senior partner, Fleishman-Hillard

“In this book the magician reveals his secrets. Guess what? Some of it is magic, but most of it is integrity in action. You can do it, too.”

—George Kroloff, George Kroloff & Associates

“Jim’s diverse background, depth of experience, and hands-on battle skills in the trenches deliver superior results; his strategic advice and counsel made the difference.”

—Seth Kursman, vice president, government affairs and communications, AbitibiBowater Inc., Montreal

“As the CEO of my own firm today, and as Jim’s mentor and college advisor years ago, I am reminded of the depth of perspective Jim has always displayed in operating as a trusted advisor to so many, even as he completed his education. This book will open up his wise and inventive approaches to guiding and advising to a much wider business audience. I encourage you to read this book and be inspired by it.”

—Judith Pendergrass, chief executive officer, Martin McAllister, Consulting Psychologists, Inc.

“Jim is well known for helping those in the C-suite deal with crises. With his new book, Why Should the Boss Listen to You? he teaches us how to build the kind of trusting relationship needed to be the first person the CEO calls when there’s a situation brewing—or when he or she just wants to hear some straight talk.”

—Mela Sera, account supervisor, IMRE Communications

“Jim’s ability to quickly assess issues and offer pragmatic solutions in a clear, understandable fashion makes him a valuable partner in running a business in these fast and turbulent times. Many of my line managers still comment on how his counsel helped them, and how they use his tenets of communication every day.”

—Robert M. Sherwood, division human resources lead, Flavours, Givaudan Schweiz AG

“Jim Lukaszewski is a premier counselor to CEOs for one simple reason: he knows how they think, what matters to them—and what does not matter to them. Too many who contend for influence in the executive suite attempt to impose their notions of what the boss should know about their functional area. Far better that they put themselves in the boss’s shoes and bring useful insight that helps the leader move the organization forward. Jim’s book shows aspiring counselors exactly how to do this.”

—David J. Therkelsen, executive director, Crisis Connection

“Jim often is at the table with spot-on counsel and laser-focused strategy that CEOs and other experts and advisors can quickly embrace, and an intensity that makes the difference in the final outcome.”

—Marilyn Waters, director of media relations, Fortune 100 Company

“Every senior leader worth his or her salt should listen to what Jim Lukaszewski has to say. Often it has been Jim’s unique experience, insight, and counsel that made the difference between success and failure for leaders facing the most challenging problems and issues of their careers.”

—Richard J. White, vice president, corporate communications, Wisconsin Energy Corporation / We Energies

Copyright © 2008 by James E. Lukaszewski. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lukaszewski, James E.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7879-9618-5 (cloth)

1. Business consultants. 2. Leadership. 3. Decision making. 4. Management. I. Title.

HD69.C6L855 2008

650.1’3—dc22

2007029342

On becoming the number one Number Two:

To all the Number Twos and those who want to be more significant trusted advisors—the disappointed, frustrated, yet eager and persistent staff people in communications, corporate strategy, finance, human resources, law, IT, business continuation and recovery, compliance, and security who know that if only they could get to the inner circle and be heard, their advice could save the day and avoid career-defining moments for their boss.

This book will help you become the number one Number Two you imagine yourself to be, wherever you work, whether you are an internal expert or an outside consultant. The concepts talked about here will make your professional life richer, more professionally rewarding, and exhilarating.

Working at the top is exciting, intense, and often fraught with confrontation and the clash of big egos and ideas. Some days it is like being in intellectual combat. Winston Churchill once remarked that there is absolutely nothing more invigorating than being shot at, and missed.

Welcome to the line of fire.

Preface

Why did you pick up this book? Let me guess: you are in finance, accounting, human resources, law, public relations, marketing, security, IT, compliance, strategic planning, or midlevel operations, and you are not being heard. You want to be, but you cannot be heard. You need to find some way to be noticed, or they hear you but ignore you, or someone is blocking your way to influencing events and individuals. The greatest frustration of all, especially for individuals aspiring to be influential, is not being invited to important meetings or being invited in too late. By the time you do get called in, become aware of what is going on, or are permitted to participate, all the expensive outside consultants, attorneys, and assorted advice givers have staked out the avenues you might have successfully recommended. Employees in every staff function feel this way and suffer from this problem; so do a lot of midlevel operations managers. Individuals from each group feel the strong need to be heard; they are paid to be heard.