Named to the longlist for the 2021 Outstanding Works of Literature (OWL) Award in the Leadership category Are you ready to lead? Will you pass the test? Despite all the effort through the years to understand what it takes to be an effective leader, the challenges of leadership remain enormously difficult and elusive; even today, most CEOs don't last five years in the job. The demands to deliver at a consistently high level can be unforgiving. The loneliness. The weight of responsibility. The relentless second-guessing and criticism. The pressure to build all-star teams. The 24/7 schedule that requires superhuman stamina. The tough decisions that often leave no one happy. The expectation to always have the right answer when it can be hard just to know the right question. These challenges are brought into their highest and sharpest relief in the corner office, but they are hardly unique to chief executives. All leaders face their own version of these tests, and the authors draw on the distilled wisdom, stories, and lessons from hundreds of chief executives to show how every aspiring leader can master these challenges and lead like a CEO. These foundational leadership skills will make all aspiring executives more effective in their roles today and lift the trajectory of their careers. The CEO Test is the authoritative, no-nonsense insider's guide to navigating leadership's toughest challenges, brought to you by authors uniquely qualified to tell the stories. Adam Bryant has conducted in-depth interviews with more than 600 CEOs. Kevin Sharer spent more than two decades as president and then CEO of Amgen, where he led its expansion from $1 billion in annual revenues to nearly $16 billion. He has served on many boards and is a sought-after mentor for CEOs of global companies. Leadership is getting harder as the speed of disruption across all industries accelerates. The CEO Test will better prepare you to succeed, whether you're a CEO or just setting out to become one.

Anyone with executive responsibilities entrepreneurs, business managers, directors of large organizations, even parents needs to be focused, in command, and able to make wise decisions at any moment. Psychologist Michael Kahn interviewed 62 successful executives to understand how they think, react, plan, and even relax. These are not corporate secrets. The key is getting in better touch with your personal operating system and developing strategies to coordinate your mind, body, and emotions to produce an ideal, efficient, executive-performance state. Anyone can learn and implement their methods. They are applicable to: companies wanting to increase staff productivity and creativity, and decrease stress related work problems, businesses committed to the success of newly placed executives, ambitious people determined to succeed in career and business and devoted to staying healthy, to have satisfying relationships, and to enjoy life. If youve had this gnawing feeling that youre capable of more, that life shouldnt be this stressful, then this practical and compelling guide will empower you to realize your full potential. This should be mandatory reading for all C-Suite aspirants. Exceptional DIY manual for survival and success. Clinton Wingrove, EVP & Principal Consultant at Pilat HR Solutions and co-CEO of CKT Solutions Dr. Kahn has identified the key challenges every CEO must deal with at a very personal level. He has given us powerful insights and practical solutions. Patricia H. Troy, IOM, CAE, President/CEO of Next Wave Group, LLC Michael has written a very useful and practical book that contains wisdom and advice from dozens of leaders in a a variety of fields. It includes ideas and strategies that can enrich both your personal and professional life. This book is the next best thing to having your own personal leadership coach. Dr. Alan Leis, Former Superintendent, Naperville School District 203 .for anyone who aspires to both live and lead successfully. He gives people an on-going procedure for establishing and sustaining harmony between how they live and how they lead. Paul A. Riecks, co-Founder and Principal of INSIGHT

Momentum is your greatest ally – with it you can do anything, without it you will stall. As CEO you hate surprises, especially the kind that undermines momentum - yours or the organization you lead. Every CEO's journey is unique. However, there exists a very predictable, but previously unknown pattern: the CEO life cycle. The Four Dilemmas of the CEO outlines the common challenges that every CEO will face during their tenure, irrespective of geography or industry. Once understood, action can be taken to break through these glass ceilings that cause CEOs to get stuck in the business, while their mandate for working on the business is continually diverted. Framed within the life cycle of a CEO, the Four Dilemmas are: 1. You're in charge of everything, but cannot completely trust anything. 2. You know that today's executive cannot deliver tomorrow's results. 3. How do you engage the full capability of your executive on the business when their reputations were earned working in the business? 4. At what point does the price of remaining personally relevant outweigh your other options? In the first book to focus on the life cycle of a CEO, the authors draw on decades of international experience, both as former CEOs and trusted advisers, to show every executive how to recognize and anticipate the individual dilemmas, master them, and accelerate through them.

How does a good CEO deliver value? An ideal resource for all aspiring executives, this book provides a comprehensive portrait of the CEO's role and a clearly defined roadmap for acquiring the skill set of a successful CEO. There is a critical and growing need for effective and enlightened leadership in the private sector. The corporate world needs CEOs who can build companies, exceed customer expectations, address the needs of the world's growing population, and deliver superior value to investors. CEOs must balance on an incredibly difficult and challenging tightrope and apply a daunting range of skills and experience at the highest levels to do so. Over one third of all new CEOs are out within three years and many companies don't achieve their full potential due to lack of leadership talent. CEO: Mastering the Corporate Pyramid shines a spotlight on what CEOs actually do, identifies the skills necessary to do the job, and explains how to develop these skills for anyone aspiring to the executive suite as well as those considering starting or buying a business. It supplies a unique and powerful roadmap for career success and increases the chances for an aspiring CEO to make it to the top and survive and thrive in the position.

New Tools for Challengng the Status Quo Immensely readable, this work bolts together the image or theory and the reality of what is required to change the performance of an enterprise. Whether the challenge is renewal or fundamental change, this book delivers real-life depictions that will help all who invest the time. --Richard A. McGinn, president and COO, Lucent Technologies, Inc. Stand on the front lines of innovation with today's top business leaders. Throughout this page-turner, archconsultant David Nadler leverages twenty years of work with many of the world's most acclaimed CEOs to provide a detailed, inside account of how they've led the most difficult and significant change efforts of our times. Case examples include initiatives undertaken at Sun Microsystems, Lucent Technologies, Xerox, Corning, AT&T and Kaiser Permanente. Engaging and inspiring, it offers leaders and managers at every level a new, field-tested repertoire of concepts, tools and techniques for understanding the dynamics of change and managing it effectively.

Dozens of top CEOs reveal their candid insights on the keys to effective leadership, and the qualities that set high performers apart. "The Corner Office" draws together lessons from chief executives like Steve Ballmer (Microsoft) and Jeffrey Katzenberg (DreamWorks).

Filled with insights from leading Australian CEOs, Master CEOs taps into the thoughts of Australia's leading chief executive officers or managing directors in an effort to understand why they are such outstanding leaders, and why the companies they run have delivered above-average results. Master CEOs is not only about management — it also delivers a very strong message on leadership. To be interviewed for the book, the CEO had to be in charge of their company for at least 10 years and delivered shareholders a return greater than the share market in that period. CEOs covered include: Gerry Harvey from Harvey Norman, Paul Little from Toll Holdings, Graham Turner from Flight Centre, David Simmons from Hills Industries and many more. All new interviews, never before published.