12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Simple and applicable framework, July 10, 2006
This review is from: The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success (Hardcover)
As an executive coach, I really like Scott's book. I have successfully used it as a reference with clients . Overall it is an easy read with a simple and applicable framework. I think it is one of those books you could give an exec and she/he would actually read it and would be able to apply it. It is tough to find a book that has enough substance but won't overwhelm a casual reader. This one fits the bill.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Practical Guide to Getting it Right, May 25, 2006
This review is from: The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success (Hardcover)
After reading through countless leadership and management books over the years (and trying to get all of this right in my career), it is great to finally see someone release a book that is practical and provides insight into the leadership qualities that are critical, but not so obvious. This book is less theory, and more leadership-action oriented. It is about time someone did this!
This is a very good book that is well written and a joy to read. I like the way the author compares and contrasts what leadership should do and shouldn't do, as well as draw distinctions such as responsibility vs. accountability (a subtle delineation, but very important).
I recommend this book for anyone who has poured through dozens of leadership books and has lost faith that all new leadership books talk about the same thing - this one does not, and will give you new leadership tools for your arsenal. Also, for those just starting their careers, this is a must read.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An operations manual for navigating upward mobility in executive development, June 1, 2008
This review is from: The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success (Hardcover)
Business careers proceed from one level to the next and these levels are frequently identified by titles, with CEO being the highest. What intrigued me about Scott Eblin's book as I began to read it is that he thinks of a career progression in terms of a series of levels of personal as well as professional development. Obviously, he agrees with Marshall Goldsmith (author of What Got You Here Won't Get You There) that new opportunities are accompanied by new challenges. Therefore, the ascending executive must leverage her or his strengths while at the same time abandoning any mindsets, beliefs, and habits that are inadequate, if not self-defeating. According to Eblin, "Through my research, I have defined nine sets of key behaviors and beliefs that executives need to pick up [e.g. `custom-fit' communications] and let go of [e.g. `one-size-fits-all' communications] to succeed. This process of picking up and letting go, I've learned, is central to succeeding at the executive level." He notes that a strength when used to excess can become a weakness. So, the ascending executive must know when and under what conditions she or he is performing best. "Operating from that base of confidence" enables her or him "to have the clarity of thought needed to make smart strategic choices" about what to pick up - and what to leave behind - when advancing into the "unchartered terrain" of the next career level.
In his most recent book, Executive Warfare, David D'Alessandro (former chairman and CEO of John Hancock Financial Services) observes that "the single greatest reason why otherwise talented people get stuck in mid-career is because they believe that the same rules that applied for the first part of their careers still apply. They don't. You have to master a much subtler set of rules. You'll need to learn how to acquire the global perspective your peers lack, when and how to deliver bad news, when to take a shot at your rivals and when to be gracious, and, most important, how to handle the many new influences on your [career] trajectory...Intelligence, imagination, and cunning are all required here - but not underhandedness...I don't believe you need to be devious to succeed. In fact, I think being excessively political is a mistake." The same advice should also be considered by those who aspire to an executive position. For all executives, the rules of engagement change as they proceed into the "unchartered terrain" of the next career level.
The nine sets of key behaviors and beliefs that Eblin examines in his book serve as the framework of what amounts to both a self-assessment and a game plan for executing necessary initiatives. He devotes a separate chapter to each set, providing a checklist ("10 Tips") for consideration and execution at the end of each chapter. Of special interest to me is his discussion of "perspective transference" in Chapter 9, urging his reader to replace an "inside-out" view of her or his current duties and responsibilities with an "outside-in" view of her or his entire organization. "Like so much of the rest of the process of personal development it takes to become an effective executive leader, it can feel strange and uncomfortable to make this shift [as it will with most - if not all - of the others]. As you move from `me' to `us' to `them,' you will find that your comfort level rides as you see the results that come from broadening your field of vision." Many otherwise promising and capable workers suffer from a form of myopia as they impose self-limits on their career opportunities by thinking only in terms of their day-to-day responsibilities. The so-called "picture" is only as large as they can imagine. The idea of proceeding to the next level either never occurs to them or seems highly unlikely, if not impossible. Long ago, Henry Ford responded to such people by suggesting, "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right." Hence the importance of what Eblin calls an Executive Success Plan (ESP)
Presumably the estimate is true that 40% of executives fail within 18 months of their promotion to the next level. The reasons vary, of course, but one of the most common is a failure to leverage the capabilities that led to the promotion while adding other capabilities that include different mindsets as well as new skills (e.g. delegation of authority, performance evaluations). To paraphrase Goldsmith, "What got you here explains why you are here but you need new ways of thinking and acting for your career trajectory to proceed higher." This book will help, as will Goldsmith's and D'Alessandro's. I also highly recommend developing relationships with one or two senior-level executives (preferably not in the same organization) who can serve as a confidante and mentor. Perhaps members of the family, neighbors, other members of a professional association, etc. Hence the importance of formulating what Eblin calls an Executive Success Plan (See pages 195-199 and Appendix A) to maximize the value of obtaining feedback from various sources, including colleagues. Readers are also strongly encouraged to make effective use of the material in Appendix B ("Situation Solutions Guide") in which Eblin identifies some of the most common situations executives find themselves in and matches them with some of the solutions recommended in his book. Well-done!
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