Customer Reviews

The Extraordinary Leader : Turning Good Managers into Great Leaders

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Unlike many studies of leadership and management, this book roots out how human behaviors affect results - with robust research and anecdotal evidence that provides readers with progressive but comprehensible logic. It is the best business book I have encountered, because it balances reality against theory, and effectively reconciles the two. It is a bonus that the authors did not impose academic terminology on those of us in the real business world.

The great thing is that the authors took the time to quantify and then explain how perceptions of leaders translate into actions by those they lead. The best thing about the book is that it lists specific levels of characteristics and competencies that distinguish adequate from excellent. A reader can quickly paint a self portrait (or picture of fellow leaders, for that matter) that reveals strengths and flaws. Then, one can easily identify what is needed to move up the ladder of respect and esteem. The hard part is that many leaders, as they say in the book, "think that being 'good' is good enough". For those who truly have an interest in greatness, this book gives the recipe.

Easy to follow, it thoughtfully breaks down the elements of leadership, starting with broad categories that are boiled down into actionable behaviors and traits. The Extraordinary Leader also gives some surprising insights based on findings that will hopefully change how business leaders establish value systems and shape company culture.

This book has become an extremely valuable tool in my consulting practice!

In practically any athletic endeavor, executing a successful "follow through" is critical in achieving superior results. Now, John H Zenger & Joeseph R Folkman demonstrate that concept applies to developing good leadership skills, as well. Welcome to the world of 21st century leadership; extraordinary leaders are created through extensive research & development along with a willingness to learn.

In this extraordinarily pragmatic study of leadership, Zenger & Folkman shed new light on issues that were previously considered vague and difficult to measure. Their study corroborates Douglas W Hubbard's findings in How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business, as well as Daniel Coyle's conclusions in his groundbreaking book, The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How.. Leadership can certainly be taught, and its effectiveness is tangible; measurable.

The significance of this study is, appropriately, extraordinary. The psychology of leadership is seen in a new light and gives us new insight, from a global leadershp perspective. In short, this could be the most comprehensive study of leadership, ever.

For any organization striving to train & develop a new breed of dynamic leaders, this is the handbook to guide them through that process.

One of the two or three better books on leadership in my opinion. Contemporary, based on recent solid research. As a management consultant, confirmed many of the principles and concepts I embrace while adding several new, valid ones. Very practical, with sound, "I can use now" applications.

. . . to find out the HOW. The authors make great hay of defining the WHAT -- What is a good leader? What characteristics are essential, and which are nice-to-have? What are the fatal flaws that will torpedo a career and a team? But it's short on the Hows -- how can I develop these characteristics. My company has adopted the dimensions of THE EXTRAORDINARY LEADER for our evaluation and appraisal system for managers so I'm working through it with the managers who report to me. We are finding gaps in the text to tell us how to develop ourselves so we are filing in for ourselves -- being the extraordinary leaders we are! <grin>

Incidentally, I've gone through the 360-degree feedback the Zenger company offers. The company is having us do that exercise from the top down. I found it helpful, but it's not for the faint of heart. For a mediocre manager or for a manager with enemies, it can be absolutely devastating.

For the past two years I have been working as a consultant on the creation of an executive service for the UN. More recently I have played a similar role for the US federal government. I have become a student of the thinking and the books on developing leaders. This book is by far the most important book to read. Its based solidly on research findings but more importantly on intuitively valid conclusions. It makes practical sense.

It takes the current state of the art and moves it forward. It also raises important questions about prevailing beliefs and practices. The ideas developed in this book make you realize why most executive development is not productive.

I see this book as a companion piece to another of the great books on the subject, Results-Based Leadership. Jack Zenger is one of the authors of both books.

In this volume, two battle-scarred veterans of what might be called "The Leadership Wars" - that is, the exhaustive effort over several decades to define the elusive nature of leadership and how it can best be nurtured - present insights on leadership that are based on a series of formal surveys conducted with companies nationwide. They also present 16 core competencies that affect the perception of whether you are, or aren't, a great leader. In many ways, they demystify leadership. Being a great leader, they tell us, isn't a matter of genetics or tea leaves: by studying what it takes to be a great leader, you can become one yourself. We strongly recommend this book for followers who want to become leaders, and for leaders who would like to be a little less lonely at the top.

If you want to learn about leadership start here. This book lays a good foundational understanding of what leadership and management look like. Other leadership books focus more narrowly in comparison. The massive amount of research that this book is based on makes it the best leadership book I've read.

I've managed people for 40 years. Despite it's textbook style, this is the most practical and informative book on leadership I've read. Too bad it wasn't available 4 decades ago.

This is one of the best books available on leadership. It's based on extensive facts and data, and reveals a novel approach to becoming an extraordinary leader. We used it extensively in my previous job in a large corporation, and it completely changed the way we looked at performance feedback. You learn to work on your strengths...and not try to improve on areas where you are weaker. This is the complete opposite of how most companies insist you use performance feedback, and yet it yields almost immediate improvements in performance.

Unlike most books in this domain, it doesn't give you a specific model or person to emulate to improve your leadership. By having you focus on developing yourself in areas where you already have skills and passion, it is the most practical guide for becoming a great leader that you can find.

I chose this book as a gift for participants in my leadership development program because I think it is one of the best recent books on leadership. So many books seem to rehash the same ideas. The writing is clear and the ideas are equally applicable whether the person is just beginning on his leadership journey or is trying to refine her leadership skills even further. I especially like how the authors incorporate a lot of research results without being dry.