Typical leadership development focuses on a single direction: downstream in the organizational hierarchy. Leadership that is mission critical requires that you lead well in all directions: up, across, down, and inward. Mission-Critical Leadership is the book for you if you have ever: Felt stuck in your job Been frustrated with your boss Experienced a lack of cooperation from peers at your same leadership level Wondered why the team you supervise fails to perform to your expectations This guide will show you how to build influence and relationships that deliver impactful results. With these strategies your organization will have more engaged employees, better talent retention, and a plan for developing the next generation of leaders. When the stakes are high, smart leaders focus on what's mission critical to cut through the clutter, clear away distractions, and ensure their teams are devoted to what's truly essential.

This concise, practical book helps managers in traditional economy companies adapt and thrive in the new economy.

Gregg Sturdevant knows what it's like to lead under pressure. As a Major General in the United States Marines Corps, he deployed ten times over the course of his career, including multiple combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. With each tour, Sturdevant honed his leadership skills, allowing him to build a formidable repertoire of success strategies that served his troops and country exceedingly well. When he transitioned to civilian management roles, Gregg implemented the same leadership strategies that worked so well for him in the military with equally effective results. Since then, he has gone on to teach others-from small business owners and entrepreneurs, to those leading corporations-how to apply these principles. And now, Gregg is ready to share those powerful leadership secrets with you. In Mission Critical Leadership, you will learn how to: - Leverage individual strengths, to get the most out of each team member - Inspire your team to not only follow the rules, but also to do their absolute best - Set your team up for success - Enhance your communication skills for improved relationships - Cultivate continual improvement cycles - Discover solutions more quickly and efficiently - Improve your decision-making skills Timeless and transformative, Sturdevant arms you with tactical strategies and solutions that will help you build teams that perform better and set your organization up for success. Whether your business employs ten people or ten thousand, Mission Critical Leadership is your essential guide for reaching your full potential-and leading your organization to excellence.

What are the critical practices of leaders in high-performing schools? Based on extensive observations, interviews, and in-depth case studies of principals and superintendents who significantly increase student learning and achievement, this exciting new book provides novice and veteran school leaders with the five critical steps for effective school leadership: Focus on Direction Build a Powerful Organization Ensure Student-Focused Vision and Action Give Life to Data Lead Learning Rich with voices from highly effective leaders, this book provides an accessible, research-based framework for school improvement that is correlated with the field’s standards. The engaging case studies in this vital resource show the power of these five key critical practices to make a difference in the lives of students and transform schools to support learning for all.

PRAISE FOR BOUNDARY SPANNING LEADERSHIP "Fostering a culture of teamwork among business units and partners is crucial for bottom-line success. This groundbreaking book, packed with practical examples and based on solid research, shows us how to get started." -- Marc Noel, Chairman, Noël Group LLC "In this deeply insightful look at the demands on 21st-century leaders, Ernst and Chrobot-Mason outline six boundary spanning leadership practices derived from case studies and research with thousands of participating managers. This work is bound to be one of the mostimportant management books of the decade." -- David A. Thomas, Ph.D., H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor ofBusiness Administration at Harvard Business School "Few books capture the needs and narrative of today's business and so elegantly lay out a plan to address its challenges. Boundary Spanning Leadership nails this . . . Consume it and play your role!" -- Andy Stefanovich, Chief Curator and Provocateur, Prophet "Boundary Spanning Leadership draws on rigorous global research and real-world experience to help leaders move into new frontiers where they can find answers and practices for creating success." -- Jack Stahl, former CEO, Revlon, and President /COO, Coca-Cola "The future will be punctuated by new spans across old boundaries. This book shows you how to improve your span ability." -- Bob Johansen, Ph.D., Distinguished Fellow, Institute for the Future, and bestselling author ofGet There Early and Leaders Make the Future Catalyze collaboration, drive innovation, transform your organization--with Boundary Spanning Leadership you can put it ALL together! We live in a world of vast collaborative potential. Yet all too often, powerful boundaries create barriers that can splinter groups. And this can lead to uninspiring results. To transform borders into frontiers in today's global, multistakeholder organizations, you needBoundary Spanning Leadership. Powered by a decade of global research and practice by the top-ranked Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), this book takes you from rural towns in the United States to Hong Kong's skyline and from a modernizing South Africa to the bustling streets of India, showing you how to build bridges across boundaries. Through compelling stories and practical tools and tactics, you’ll learn how to apply the six boundary spanning practices that occur at the nexus where groups collide, intersect, and link: Buffering defines boundaries to create safety Reflecting creates understanding of boundaries to foster respect Connecting suspends boundaries to build trust Mobilizing reframes boundaries to develop community Weaving interlaces boundaries to advance interdependence Transforming cross-cuts boundaries to enable reinvention Together, these practices combine to create what authors Chris Ernst and Donna Chrobot-Mason call the Nexus Effect. The Nexus Effect allows groups to be more agile in response to changing markets; be more flexible in devising and deploying cross-functional learning and problem-solvingcapabilities; work with partners in deeper, more open relationships; empower virtual teams; and create a welcoming, diverse, and inclusive organization that brings out everybody's best. Boundaries exist. What matters most is how you work to bridge these divides and transform your organization's wide-ranging talents and knowledge to deliver value. With Boundary Spanning Leadership, the possibilities are limitless. For more about the book and free resources, visit www.spanboundaries.com.

Building any organization to be successful today is a tough job. For organizations operating in critical environments, however, the task is even more difficult. When you truly understand the significant consequences of failure in these environments, you're forced to the realization that failure is not an option. These consequences drive the successful mission critical facilities organization to focus on risk mitigation. It permeates their culture, their perspective on operations, and challenges them to constantly improve.Building Mission Critical Facilities Organizations was written with the hope that by identifying and explaining the attributes or DNA, if you will, of successful mission critical organizations, leaders and stakeholders would be able to replicate that DNA in their own facilities. Delving below the surface, Building Mission Critical Facilities Organizations explores the fundamental building blocks of people, culture, and process and then provides a path to success.

This book explores the critical role of acquisition, application, enhancement, and management of knowledge and human competence in the context of the largely digital and data/information dominated modern world. Whilst humanity owes much of its achievements to the distinct capability to learn from observation, analyse data, gain insights, and perceive beyond original realities, the systematic treatment of knowledge as a core capability and driver of success has largely remained the forte of pedagogy. In an increasingly intertwined global community faced with existential challenges and risks, the significance of knowledge creation, innovation, and systematic understanding and treatment of human competence is likely to be humanity's greatest weapon against adversity. This book was conceived to inform the decision makers and practitioners about the best practice pertinent to many disciplines and sectors. The chapters fall into three broad categories to guide the readers to gain insight from generic fundamentals to discipline-specific case studies and of the latest practice in knowledge and competence management.