Page 11 - Fearless Leadership

vi Introduction

across all industries get to where they wanted to go, fast. From years of
experience, we had gathered irrefutable data and case examples of how
organizational change is unsustainable without behavioral change. The
knowledge and expertise in this book were developed from working with
thousands of executives and leaders in diverse industries—from Fortune
500 to midsize companies in Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, South
Africa, South America, and the United States.
When executives and leaders call on us, they are either frustrated with
the slow pace of change or completely unhinged by the fact that change
isn’t happening at all. They tell us that they have tried everything but still
have unaligned leaders, disengaged employees, silos, and unhealthy com-
petition. These leaders are unwilling to settle for less; they know exactly
what they want: the shortest and most effective route to mobilize people
to deliver unprecedented business results.
Our group identified and documented common blind spots of lead-
ers and teams that derailed major initiatives, process and system changes,
careers, and long-term organizational success. What became evident was
the courage required of leaders to successfully transform their organi-
zations. These fearless leaders confronted their blind spots, turned
values into explicit behavioral standards, provided people with the tools
to learn and apply new behaviors, and integrated them into how busi-
ness was conducted on a daily basis. This is fearless leadership: taking
a bold stand, acting decisively, and engaging with others in an extraor-
dinary way.
This book is for leaders who are unwilling to tolerate anything less than
aligned and highly engaged people. It is for leaders who want to take their
team, group, or organization to the next level of performance. It is for lead-
ers who are frustrated with complacency, the slow rate of change, and
recurring breakdowns between people and groups.
This book will make a difference for you if any (or all) of the following
is true:
• You want to develop your leadership effectiveness to engage
and align people and mobilize them to action.
• You want to successfully navigate your company through
large-scale change.