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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2010
I first began to work with Jack Zenger in 1981 when our company, The Achieve Group, became the Canadian partner for California-based Zenger-Miller's training programs. I have long appreciated his insights and leadership in the field of organization and leadership development. In the early nineties, Jack and I spent a few months researching and writing the first draft of a book on strategic organization change. For a variety of reasons, it was never completed and published. He and I still stay in touch.
As a leadership researcher and author (one of my seven books is The Leader's Digest: Timeless Principles for Team and Organization Success ) the two things I appreciate most about The Extraordinary Leader: Turning Good Managers into Great Leaders are the book's central model or framework, and that it's based on solid research. Jack and co-author, Joseph Folkman exhaustively analyzed 200,000 questionnaires completed by subordinates, peers, and bosses, which collectively described more than 20,000 leaders. From this they identified the top and bottom 10 percent of managers and asked, "what were the competencies or attributes that separated these groups?"
This question led to the development of their conceptual framework with five major clusters. They use the metaphor of tent poles to show the connection between these clusters. The center pole is the leader's "Character" which deals with ethical standards, integrity, and authenticity. "With a strong personal character the leader is never afraid to be open and transparent." One of the four corner tent poles they label, "Personal Capability," "to describe the intellectual, emotional, and skill make up of the individual. It includes the analytical and problem-solving capabilities, along with the technical competence the person possesses."
The next tent pole, "Focusing on Results," "describes the ability to have an impact on the organization." This picks up the key theme of Jack's previous book, Results-Based Leadership, that "leaders may be wonderful human beings, but if they don't produce sustained, balanced results, they simply are not good leaders."
Another corner of the tent is supported by "Interpersonal Skills." Jack and Joseph posit, "There is an enormous body of evidence that says leadership is expressed through the communication process and is the impact one person (the leader) has on a group of other people." Their last tent pole, labeled "Leading Organizational Change," is "the ability to produce change within an organization. The highest expression of leadership involves change."
The Extraordinary Leader builds upon the research and tent model to provide 20 insights throughout the book. A few that really stand out for me are:
- Great leaders make a huge difference, when compared to merely good leaders.
- One organization can have many great leaders.
- We are aiming too low in our leadership development activities.
- Leadership culminates in championing change.
- Leadership competencies are linked closely together.
- Effective leaders have widely differing personal styles. There is no one right way to lead.
- The key to developing great leadership is to build strengths.
- Greatness is not caused by the absence of weakness.
- Leaders are made, not born.
- Leaders can improve their leadership effectiveness through self-development.
This a well written book, based on solid research providing plenty of how-to points and examples for moving from a good manager to a great leader.
As a leadership researcher and author (one of my seven books is The Leader's Digest: Timeless Principles for Team and Organization Success ) the two things I appreciate most about The Extraordinary Leader: Turning Good Managers into Great Leaders are the book's central model or framework, and that it's based on solid research. Jack and co-author, Joseph Folkman exhaustively analyzed 200,000 questionnaires completed by subordinates, peers, and bosses, which collectively described more than 20,000 leaders. From this they identified the top and bottom 10 percent of managers and asked, "what were the competencies or attributes that separated these groups?"
This question led to the development of their conceptual framework with five major clusters. They use the metaphor of tent poles to show the connection between these clusters. The center pole is the leader's "Character" which deals with ethical standards, integrity, and authenticity. "With a strong personal character the leader is never afraid to be open and transparent." One of the four corner tent poles they label, "Personal Capability," "to describe the intellectual, emotional, and skill make up of the individual. It includes the analytical and problem-solving capabilities, along with the technical competence the person possesses."
The next tent pole, "Focusing on Results," "describes the ability to have an impact on the organization." This picks up the key theme of Jack's previous book, Results-Based Leadership, that "leaders may be wonderful human beings, but if they don't produce sustained, balanced results, they simply are not good leaders."
Another corner of the tent is supported by "Interpersonal Skills." Jack and Joseph posit, "There is an enormous body of evidence that says leadership is expressed through the communication process and is the impact one person (the leader) has on a group of other people." Their last tent pole, labeled "Leading Organizational Change," is "the ability to produce change within an organization. The highest expression of leadership involves change."
The Extraordinary Leader builds upon the research and tent model to provide 20 insights throughout the book. A few that really stand out for me are:
- Great leaders make a huge difference, when compared to merely good leaders.
- One organization can have many great leaders.
- We are aiming too low in our leadership development activities.
- Leadership culminates in championing change.
- Leadership competencies are linked closely together.
- Effective leaders have widely differing personal styles. There is no one right way to lead.
- The key to developing great leadership is to build strengths.
- Greatness is not caused by the absence of weakness.
- Leaders are made, not born.
- Leaders can improve their leadership effectiveness through self-development.
This a well written book, based on solid research providing plenty of how-to points and examples for moving from a good manager to a great leader.
