Senior Leadership Teams: What It Takes to Make Them Great (Center for Public Leadership) [Hardcover]

Ruth Wageman (Author), Debra A. Nunes (Author), James A. Burruss (Author), J. Richard Hackman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 2008

An organization's fate hinges on its CEO--right? Not according to the authors of Senior Leadership Teams. They argue that in today's world of neck-snapping change, demands on leaders in top roles are rapidly outdistancing the capabilities of any one person--no matter how talented. Result? Chief executives are turning to their enterprise's senior leaders for help.

Yet many CEOs stumble when creating a leadership team. One major challenge is that senior executives often focus more on their individual roles than on the top team's shared work. Without the CEO's careful attention to setting the team up correctly, these high-powered managers often have difficulty pulling together to move their organization forward. Sometimes they don't even agree about what constitutes the right path forward.

The authors explain how to determine whether your organization needs a senior leadership team. Then, drawing on their study of 100+ top teams from around the world, they explain how to create a clear and compelling purpose for your team, get the right people on it, provide structure and support, and sharpen team members' competencies--and your own.

Timely and practical, this book enables you to create and sustain a leadership team whose members learn from one another while collaborating to pursue your company's objectives.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ruth Wageman is Visiting Scholar in Psychology at Harvard University and Director of Research for Hay Group. Debra Nunes and James Burruss are Vice Presidents at Hay Group's McClelland Institute for Research and Innovation. J. Richard Hackman is Edgar Pierce Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology at Harvard University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business School Press; First Edition edition (January 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1422103366
• ISBN-13: 978-1422103364
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource for Leading (or Coaching) a Senior Team, July 11, 2008

By 

Carole R. Callahan "Principal, Carole Callaha... (Madison, CT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Senior Leadership Teams: What It Takes to Make Them Great (Center for Public Leadership) (Hardcover)

Written for leaders (and also coaches) of executive level teams, Senior Leadership Teams presents a framework of three essentials (a real team, a compelling purpose, the right people) and three enablers (structure, support, coaching) for developing a great senior team.

Drawing from their research with 120 top teams and their collective consulting experience, the authors present numerous real-life examples and tools (questions and checklists) for developing these key elements and provide practical guidelines for using these elements as the basis for on-going coaching. The suggestions and processes for developing a compelling purpose and senior leadership team norms are especially useful in this regard.

Additionally, the authors provide helpful (and motivating) advice for getting the right people on your team and the wrong people off. They demonstrate the criticality of such team member competencies as empathy and integrity if you are developing a team that is prepared to engage in the candid dialogue and tough debate that is required for enterprise-affecting decision-making. Also helpful are the guidelines for identifying and dealing with team derailers and the suggestions for on-boarding new senior leadership team members.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for Senior Team Building, August 23, 2009

By 

John L. Miller PhD (Thousand Oaks, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Senior Leadership Teams: What It Takes to Make Them Great (Center for Public Leadership) (Hardcover)

I have read many books on building teams. This is one of the most profound. Finding a book that targets senior leadership teams is particularly difficult. This book, however, focuses on the most salient issues that senior teams face. I think the concepts of mutual interdependence and compelling purpose were the most useful. It is often misunderstood - but not all teams need to function as highly integrated units on all issues. Senior leaders do, however, need to understand their reliance on one another for the critical issues that require outstanding teamwork. I think this book crystallizes the distinction for the reader.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Move your leadership teams in the right direction., September 5, 2008

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Senior Leadership Teams: What It Takes to Make Them Great (Center for Public Leadership) (Hardcover)

On the surface, you wouldn't think that assembling a functional senior leadership team would pose a significant problem to the typical CEO. After all, senior leaders are an organization's best and brightest. They've progressed through the ranks, demonstrated their abilities, and proven that they get along well with their colleagues and the people who work for them. So why are so many senior leadership teams unproductive? Why do most executives regard an invitation to join a CEO's lead team as a punishment instead of a great opportunity? You could fill a book with all the reasons, which is exactly what Ruth Wageman, Debra A. Nunes, James A. Burruss and J. Richard Hackman have done. The authors dissect and examine every aspect of this vital issue, and offer sensible advice and answers. Follow their lead and don't squander a golden opportunity to help your organization. getAbstract believes this book is highly useful reading for all CEOs and senior executives.