Page 14 - The extraordinary leader

FOREWORD

Today’s business climate demands leadership throughout the organization.
The Extraordinary Leader draws on data from more than 200,000 individuals
who have rated more than 25,000 leaders to show how leaders can go from
being good to being great, from being average to being extraordinary. The
book focuses on the top 10 percent of leaders, as defined by their stakehold-
ers. These leaders are exemplars and should become the standard to which
others aspire.
The Extraordinary Leader both complements and advances the work we
began in Results-Based Leadership. In that earlier work, we argued that lead-
ership is a combination of attributes and results, but we focused there on the
“results” side of the equation; in this book, the authors emphasize the “attrib-
utes” side of the equation and thus move toward a more complete picture of
leadership. To this end, they are applying the logic from Jim Collins’ excellent
work on how organizations can go from good to great performance on the per-
sonal side of leadership. Rather than seeking quick fixes that don’t last, this
book proposes a leadership science that will offer sustaining and enduring lead-
ership value. The book successfully links these two approaches together, show-
ing how the attributes that make a difference to subordinates and peers are
exactly the ones that produce better results for the shareholders.
Leadership requires both attributes and results. There are two ways to dis-
cover these attributes. First, find those attributes that drive financial and other
results. Second, use “360-degree feedback” to define attributes that are right
“in the eye of the beholder.” Such 360-degree instruments help leaders deter-
mine what is expected from those they lead. They help leaders know the
intended attributes that mean the most to those being led.
This book is informative because of its rich and thorough content, and it
is useful because it contains ideas with impact, which will help leaders
become seen as extraordinary by their associates. It links perceptual data with
hard, quantitative business results, including unit profitability, retention sta-
tistics, customer satisfaction, and employee commitment measures.

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