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Leaders Ready Now: Accelerating Growth in a Faster World
Better leaders, ready now. It's what successful businesses need to stay viable and what most are unable to achieve. The problem is not the absence of tools, technology, or processes. The problem is a lack of energy.
Growing leaders at the speed of business should be exhilarating, and even scary at times. Some organizations have figured this out, and are showing how more aggressive approaches rally business performance. It doesn't take slick new technology or a clever tool. It takes boldness.
Leaders Ready Now challenges CEOs and Talent Management leaders to rethink lackluster approaches to accelerating leadership growth and to change the equation so that tools and processes don't rob energy from the organization but, instead, create it. The authors take a fundamentally different angle and clearly illustrate how to transform your existing succession and development systems and grow the leaders your business needs fast and fully enough to gain the advantage in a complex world.
Growing leaders at the speed of business should be exhilarating, and even scary at times. Some organizations have figured this out, and are showing how more aggressive approaches rally business performance. It doesn't take slick new technology or a clever tool. It takes boldness.
Leaders Ready Now challenges CEOs and Talent Management leaders to rethink lackluster approaches to accelerating leadership growth and to change the equation so that tools and processes don't rob energy from the organization but, instead, create it. The authors take a fundamentally different angle and clearly illustrate how to transform your existing succession and development systems and grow the leaders your business needs fast and fully enough to gain the advantage in a complex world.
- GenresBusiness
352 pages, Hardcover
Published June 21, 2016
7 people are currently reading
148 people want to read
About the author
Matthew J. Paese
2 books3 followersMatt Paese is a vice president of succession management and c-suite services for Development Dimensions International, or DDI. He is the co-author of Leaders Ready Now, out in June, and Grow Your Own Leaders. In his work at DDI, Matt consults with senior leaders to design and implement strategic organizational talent initiatives, including succession management, CEO succession, executive assessment, executive coaching, development and team building.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 22, 2016
Effective leadership can be very elusive. True leaders are few and far in between. The world is rapidly changing and not enough organizations can keep up. Even more daunting is the lack of leaders ready to take the helm of departments and companies. In order to react quickly to change and remain viable, companies need to focus on growing leaders internally to lead the organization externally.
Management can’t rely solely on tools, technology, training programs, and set processes to groom leaders. More emphasis needs to be placed on rethinking existing tools so that people aren’t thrown into training programs then into a position they may not be ready for. There needs to be some energy behind approaches to readying leaders. Moreover, organizations have the responsibility to keep the energy and momentum moving. Existing leaders should make succession planning a priority with the goal of acting more quickly and with precision to grow leaders that can easily swing into positions to address the business needs and challenges.
Leaders Ready Now Accelerating Growth in a Faster World by Matthew J. Paese, Audrey B. Smith, and William C. Byham is a very effective tool for CEO’s and talent teams to include in an overall assessment and plan to not only ready leaders, but accelerate the leadership growth of key individuals.
Leaders Ready Now is geared more towards the executive suite and top talent management folks. There are nuggets that small business owners can glean particularly as an organization grows. This book is packed very full of detailed tools, strategies, graphs, and program examples. The appendix is rich with additional tools and suggestions for growing leaders more quickly so that they can transition into leadership positions with barely a ripple. With so many details and rich content, this book is really more of a text book for leadership and will require patient reading to note all of the gems buried in each chapter.
The authors provide valuable details about talent reviews, assessments and the need for growth learning and challenges. Business needs to not just provide leadership development but clear learning assignments supported by coaching and mentoring. Training and throwing people into leadership positions will only weaken the organization over time. We just can’t afford to manage leadership development like so many companies have for years. We need new approaches, more coaching and mentoring while a leader is learning. Success will demand an emphasis and commitment to accelerated growth in bringing on leaders ready to make a difference.
Leaders Ready Now offers 6 “Acceleration Imperatives” supported by key systems associated with each one peppered throughout 12 chapters. Each has an important role in assisting an organization in identifying, developing, and energizing future leaders for the long term. The principles are:
1. Commit: Adopt (leadership) acceleration as a business priority.
2. Aim: Define leadership success for your business context.
3. Identify: Make efficient, accurate decisions about whom to accelerate.
4. Assess: Accurately evaluate readiness gaps and give great feedback.
5. Grow: make the right development happen.
6. Sustain: Aggressively manufacture the energy for growth.
Each of these imperatives is detailed throughout the book. Concrete and detailed information, strategies, plans, and examples are shared to enable senior leadership to move forward in developing leaders that are not only ready to lead, but energized. My favorite aspect of Leaders Ready Now is the authors focus on not only energizing leadership but maintaining the energy long term. The key to growing great leaders is indeed energy. Lacking this, all the tools, processes, and plans will fall by the wayside and an organization will drift back into the “old” methods of preparing leaders to bring companies into the future to compete and grow.
If you have a hand in selecting, growing, and mentoring leaders in your business you will gain insight and an increased appetite for accelerating the growth of upcoming leaders in your business and coaching them to be ready by reading Leaders Ready Now. Again, this book is chocked full of detailed information in a text book type format and may be a bit heavy for the small business owner. Nonetheless, this book is a wealth of knowledge and will appeal to anyone who is passionate about leadership and growing people.
Management can’t rely solely on tools, technology, training programs, and set processes to groom leaders. More emphasis needs to be placed on rethinking existing tools so that people aren’t thrown into training programs then into a position they may not be ready for. There needs to be some energy behind approaches to readying leaders. Moreover, organizations have the responsibility to keep the energy and momentum moving. Existing leaders should make succession planning a priority with the goal of acting more quickly and with precision to grow leaders that can easily swing into positions to address the business needs and challenges.
Leaders Ready Now Accelerating Growth in a Faster World by Matthew J. Paese, Audrey B. Smith, and William C. Byham is a very effective tool for CEO’s and talent teams to include in an overall assessment and plan to not only ready leaders, but accelerate the leadership growth of key individuals.
Leaders Ready Now is geared more towards the executive suite and top talent management folks. There are nuggets that small business owners can glean particularly as an organization grows. This book is packed very full of detailed tools, strategies, graphs, and program examples. The appendix is rich with additional tools and suggestions for growing leaders more quickly so that they can transition into leadership positions with barely a ripple. With so many details and rich content, this book is really more of a text book for leadership and will require patient reading to note all of the gems buried in each chapter.
The authors provide valuable details about talent reviews, assessments and the need for growth learning and challenges. Business needs to not just provide leadership development but clear learning assignments supported by coaching and mentoring. Training and throwing people into leadership positions will only weaken the organization over time. We just can’t afford to manage leadership development like so many companies have for years. We need new approaches, more coaching and mentoring while a leader is learning. Success will demand an emphasis and commitment to accelerated growth in bringing on leaders ready to make a difference.
Leaders Ready Now offers 6 “Acceleration Imperatives” supported by key systems associated with each one peppered throughout 12 chapters. Each has an important role in assisting an organization in identifying, developing, and energizing future leaders for the long term. The principles are:
1. Commit: Adopt (leadership) acceleration as a business priority.
2. Aim: Define leadership success for your business context.
3. Identify: Make efficient, accurate decisions about whom to accelerate.
4. Assess: Accurately evaluate readiness gaps and give great feedback.
5. Grow: make the right development happen.
6. Sustain: Aggressively manufacture the energy for growth.
Each of these imperatives is detailed throughout the book. Concrete and detailed information, strategies, plans, and examples are shared to enable senior leadership to move forward in developing leaders that are not only ready to lead, but energized. My favorite aspect of Leaders Ready Now is the authors focus on not only energizing leadership but maintaining the energy long term. The key to growing great leaders is indeed energy. Lacking this, all the tools, processes, and plans will fall by the wayside and an organization will drift back into the “old” methods of preparing leaders to bring companies into the future to compete and grow.
If you have a hand in selecting, growing, and mentoring leaders in your business you will gain insight and an increased appetite for accelerating the growth of upcoming leaders in your business and coaching them to be ready by reading Leaders Ready Now. Again, this book is chocked full of detailed information in a text book type format and may be a bit heavy for the small business owner. Nonetheless, this book is a wealth of knowledge and will appeal to anyone who is passionate about leadership and growing people.
July 4, 2016
Leadership development is necessary for business growth, evolution, stability and competition. A myriad of training courses without application to your business environment and without opportunity to tackle real business issues, development doesn’t happen. We need to rethink how to create development and energize leaders and future leaders to sustain the hard work required in development. “If you are a CEO or business leader seeking fresh insight on how to fundamentally change your organization’s leadership equation, the quest can be exhausting.” Until now.
Leaders Ready Now Accelerating Growth in a Faster World by Matthew J. Paese, Audrey B. Smith, and William C. Byham is a comprehensive guide for executive leaders and organizational development professionals wanting to accelerate and create the necessary leadership development required to ensure succession occurs when and how its needed. This book is a manual of tools, strategies, graphs and examples to apply to your unique business environment. There are no “best practices” or one size fits all approaches touted here. The authors offer a deep tool kit and suggestions for growing leaders to be ready when you need them and have their transitions into more senior roles happen smoothly.
As another reviewer said, and I concur: “With so many details and rich content, this book is really more of a text book for leadership and will require patient reading to note all of the gems buried in each chapter.” You’ll want to read it again and again and keep it as your comprehensive guide to creating effective succession development at all levels.
Leaders Ready Now Accelerating Growth in a Faster World by Matthew J. Paese, Audrey B. Smith, and William C. Byham is a comprehensive guide for executive leaders and organizational development professionals wanting to accelerate and create the necessary leadership development required to ensure succession occurs when and how its needed. This book is a manual of tools, strategies, graphs and examples to apply to your unique business environment. There are no “best practices” or one size fits all approaches touted here. The authors offer a deep tool kit and suggestions for growing leaders to be ready when you need them and have their transitions into more senior roles happen smoothly.
As another reviewer said, and I concur: “With so many details and rich content, this book is really more of a text book for leadership and will require patient reading to note all of the gems buried in each chapter.” You’ll want to read it again and again and keep it as your comprehensive guide to creating effective succession development at all levels.
June 22, 2016
Are you taking responsibility for your team's leadership development or leaving it to some off the shelf product or leaving it to someone else to do for you? I would suggest to you to take responsibility yourself and get the thrill and inspiration of this important leadership responsibility. Leaders Ready Now will prepare you for this journey with your team. We all know that leaders grow leaders. This why we must make it our personal charge to develop, grow, and improve our leadership pipelines. As Matthew Paese, Audrey Smith, and William Byham stated in this great book, "Everything you need to accelerate the growth of leadership is already inside your organization (2016, p. v). I am such a believer in this statement. I always say that context matters – and it does. This is why I believe organization’s and top leaders need to make this work their personal responsibilities.
Dr. Byron L. Ernest
Dr. Byron L. Ernest
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews