Customer Reviews

The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

I appreciate this book as someone that has excelled at the functional level, but struggled to get to the supervisory level. This book gives concrete suggestions about how to transition from being an employee to being a leader.

It is constuctive in that it points out how stengths at one level can be weaknesses or obstacles at "the Next Level" and then offers a path to "pick up" new behaviors and "let go" others as part of a self-development strategy.

The book also has a handy referenece at the end where you can look up a challenge and it refers you to the pages that address that specific aspect of management.

However, the book is so well-written and readable that you will proabably enjoy reading it in order.

The framework as well as the specific suggestions are original and substantiated with research and great examples. Mr. Eblin is an executive coach and this book has a serier of great "executive coaching" lessons for a fraction of what a personal session might cost. Well worth it!

Scott Eblin's book offers valuable advice to the newly arrived member of the management team about how to navigate in unfamiliar, executive territory. He argues that your success will depend on how you operate at your peak level, and how you reach and maintain that optimal state, rather than on the actual nuts and bolts of getting projects done. He provides transcriptions of coaching sessions with executives in transition and each chapter ends with "ten tips" - a useful summary of the ideas and behavior you'll have to learn to succeed in your new role. We recommend this manual to managers who want to move up in the ranks, and to executives new and old - for whom its tips will still be useful.

This is a superb book - a great gift for anyone who has been promoted into a leadership position and is looking for the tips that no one tells you. Scott Eblin has captured important and easy to apply insights that draw from his rich base of coaching and leadership experience. Scott was my coach for about a year - and reading this book is like having his supportive, practical, and insightful voice present once again! Highly recommended.

Scott Eblin takes a great approach to describing the traits that you need to let go of and those you need to develop in order to make it at the executive level in an organization. Until I read Scott's book I believed that I had already made the adjustment. Scott applies his own experiences and those of corporate leaders to make his points in a clear, concise, and well organized manner. It is an easy read that can serve as a handbook as you move through an organization.

This is a second edition with some updates. I always figure any book on an X edition is likely a good book (My Time Management Book is on the 4th edition and I know for me, I will likely do a 5th edition and update it a lot. The last edition was about 5 years ago and things change)

The Next Level starts with a list of 4 reasons executives fail:

Ineffective Communication
Poor Work Relationships and Interpersonal Skills
Failure to Clarify Direction or Performance Expectations
Failure to Adapt and Break Old Habits.

It attacks these problems with a table which lists things to do and things to drop to move to the next level. Each chapter then elaborates individually on each item on the chart with how to ideas.

One datapoint that I found interesting is high potential leaders "regularly seeks out knowledge and experience to perform at higher levels". This is something I have always practiced. I like to envision what it would be like to sell $X and have Y employees - what would I need to know, how would I need to act. Then I set about to learn and study. I think this has been how I was fortunate enough to scale from running a business from the trunk of my car up to $2 Billion in sales. I study.

I loved that the book even had a section on my favorite topic "what should I repeatedly do".

The book suggests using the GROW method to solve problems:

Goal
Reality
Options
Whats Next

At the end of each chapter was a list of 10 tips. EG 10 tips for Picking Up Defining What to Do and Letting Go of Telling How to Do It.

There is a good appendix on creating your ESP - Executive Success Plan. And another one with a list of situations and where in the book to find details on the situation.

Great insights and coaching tips that one can apply instantly in advancing their career. So obvious at times that you will wonder "why didn't I think of that". No Phd required given the author's real world examples and use of testimonials provided by external executives.

"The Next Level" is one of those rare books that one manages to procure by chance and then keep dipping into, as a constant source of inspiration and reference in the times to come.

The contents are split into the "Next Level Leadership Model of Executive Presence" as the author Scott Eblin calls it, segmented into three categories - Personal Presence and Team Presence followed by Organisational Presence.

This is not an academic discourse type book as such, rather it takes one quickly into the practical mode of executive behaviours and mindsets that one tends to exhibit when making the transition from a manager to a more senior level executive position where in addition to managing the normal team one has to also contend with managing and connecting laterally across the organisation.

Nine "pick up and let go type" behaviours are dealt with amazing clarity in separate chapters further enriched by interviews carried out by the author (specially for the book) with executive mentors from which one gets to derive a lot of insight and some serious food for thought. Also each of the chapters end up with a very useful list of 10 tips which are in themselves excellent pointers to comprehend and practice in the executive work place.

The book concludes with a set of excellent appendices - one an introductory framework for an "executive success plan" and the other a personal coaching primer on a "situational solutions guide." They form in many ways the fulcrum of the book something which one could dip into from time to time for guidance - an essential and valuable resource for the executive community.

This is truly a great read and a must have for all those purposeful managers serious in climbing up the organisational ladder, HODs, senior executives and the like. There are definitely some very useful lessons to be learnt from going through this book!