5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended for community library business collections, June 8, 2008
This review is from: Total Alignment (Paperback)
When something becomes a problem, it has already done an untold amount of damage to one's business. "Total Alignment: Integrating Vision, Strategy, and Execution for Organizational Success" is a guide for business managers to transform their companies into tip top machines, solve problems before they become serious problems, encourage employee responsibility on all levels, and point the company as a whole in the right direction. Written in a fast paced style that avoids the droning style of most business books, "Total Alignment: Integrating Vision, Strategy, and Execution for Organizational Success" is highly recommended for community library business collections and for any manager wanting the best approach possible.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
How dysfunctional leadership creates and then sustains a dysfunctional organization, May 30, 2008
This review is from: Total Alignment (Paperback)
With Linda Khadem, Riaz Khadem offers in this "business novel" (actually a novella) a wealth of practical advice on how to "integrate vision, strategy, and execution for organizational success." Here's the fictional situation: Brian Scott is the CEO of the XCorp Group and encounters a number of serious challenges after the acquisition of TechCorp, especially after its CEO, Peter Bergman (once a friend of Brian's) becomes very unhappy about the acquisition and resigns. "As he left the company, he vowed to take revenge on Brian and to regain the control he felt had been taken from him." In weeks and months to come, pressures increase on Brian to deliver the results he had promised to his board when recommending the acquisition of TechCorp. All manner of problems worsen. Eventually....
Of special interest to me is how effectively Khadem uses The Infoman, a mysterious character who, "several years earlier, had introduced [Brian] to concepts that were key to XCorp's turnaround." He seems to reappear at opportune moments and does so again. Obviously, his relationship with Brian is comparable with Khadem's relationship with his reader: a means by which to provide observations and recommendations concerning various business issues, especially problems. Brian certainly has more than his fair share and must assume at least some of the blame because there are lessons he needs to learn if he is to salvage his career. With due respect to the value of The Infoman'sinsights, as well as Khadem's for that matter, Brian personifies the executive who must proceed through a process of self-discovery, what Warren Bennis and Bill George (among others) characterize as a "crucible" of personal experience, before he can adjust his thinking and modify his behavior. Only then can his values, ambitions, and initiatives be in "total" (or at least close) alignment with his obligations to others with whom he is involved.
The material is carefully organized within three Parts: In Chapters 1-4, the focus is on the need for alignment, measuring the vision, what a "strategy tree" is how best to use one, and inclusion of accountability in any plan for action; in Chapters 5-11, the focus shifts to a system for alignment, effective use of information, metrics for competency, the complexities of culture, evaluating team performance, use of a "vertical review," and guidelines for compensation; then in Chapters 12 and 13, narrative concludes with Brian's return to the XCorp Group.
My guess (only a guess) is that the material in this book will be of greatest value to those who have only recently been promoted to what Scott Eblin describes as "the next level" for executives, one that requires courage and confidence to let go of some of the beliefs that brought them there. Peak performance at that level demands that they identify and rely on the characteristics that describe them at their best. "Knowing what to do is important, but knowing how you are at your best and creating the conditions to perform from that state are more important...Operating from that base of confidence in yourself will enable you to have the clarity of thought needed to make smart strategic choices about what you need to pick up - and what you must let go - as you advance into the unchartered terrain of the next level of your career." That is precisely the process of self-discovery to which I referred earlier.
Those who share my regard for this book are urged to check out Khadem's previously published One Page Management. Also Patrick Lencioni's three "leadership fables" (i.e. The Five Temptations of a CEO, Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars, and The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive) as well as James O'Toole's The Executive's Compass, Ram Charan's Know-How, Noel Tichy and Warren Bennis' Judgment, Bill George's Authentic Leadership, Scott Eblin's The Next Level, and Ron Heifetz's Leadership Without Easy Answers and Leadership on the Line co-authored with Martin Linsky.
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