In this book, McKnight, Kaney, and Breuer provide a highly useful, if not the antidote for today’s unacceptable failure rate of leaders. The primary culprit is insufficient engagement of followers in strategy development and execution.
—Warner Burke, PhD, Chair, Department of Organization & Leadership, Teachers College, Columbia University
This valuable book reminds us that one’s approach to change is a choice. It contains practical tools to help identify where we are, where we need to be, and how to get there. I highly recommend it.
—Katy Theroux
SVP, Human Resources, GS1 US
Leading Strategy Execution
How to Align the Senior Team, Design a Strategy-Capable Organization, and Get All Employees On-board
By Richard McKnight, with Tom Kaney and Shannon Breuer
Published by TrueNorth Press
ISBN: 978-0-9824683-1-9. 300 pages.
$34.95 Paper
This richly illustrated book is for anyone who has a dream and wishes to fulfill it, but whose aspirations require the support of others. If you find traditional command-control management appealing or if you find the idea of involving lower-level employees in creating parts of the strategy offensive, this probably isn’t the book for you. On the other hand, if you’re a manager who believes there is usually entirely too much CYA behavior in organizations, or you’re a new CEO who really wants to cultivate widespread responsibility among employees and increasing the fun, energy, and passion at work, you’ve come to the right place.
Contents
1 Execution is Everything
2 Change or Die
3 The Human Side of Strategy
4 Winning Minds (Job One)
5 Winning Hearts (Job Two)
6 Aligning Local Effort (Job Three)
7 Designing Your Organization (Job Four)
8 Strategy Maps
9 Right People, Right Place, Doing the Right Things
10 Aligning the Senior Team
11 HR’s Role in Strategy Execution
12 Leading Strategy Execution
Victim, Survivor, or Navigator?
Choosing a Response to Workplace Change
By Richard McKnight, Ph.D.
Published by TrueNorth Press
ISBN: 978-15659-21-979
$12.95 Paper
This concise, practical book is written for anyone whose workplace or career is in the throes of change. Written in simple language, it spells out a philosophy that is applicable in all aspects of one’s life. The essence is this: at work—or anywhere else—you can be a Victim, a Survivor, or what the author calls a Navigator. Dealing with workplace change as a Victim means some form of fight or flight. Being a Survivor is better, but tends to lead to burnout. It’s the stance and behaviors of the Navigator that enable one to make the best of change. The book is filled with many examples, worksheets, exercises, and an accompanying web site provides short essays, podcasts, and other resources.
Contents
1 Stress in the Workplace
2 Perception and Reality
3 The Victim Response
4 The Survivor Response
5 The Navigator Response
6 Strategies for Navigating Organizational Change
7 Worksheets and Exercises
How to Charter an Executive Team
By Richard McKnight, Ph.D.
Published by TrueNorth Press
ISBN: 978-15659-21-xxx
$17.95 Paper
December, 2013
Written for CEOs, presidents, division heads, and others whose direct reports have key responsibilities for strategy execution in their organizations, this book can also be exceedingly useful for those who report to them, i.e., those who make up the team at the top. This publication is one of a series for business leaders on formulating and executing strategy. Titles in the series address methods of strategy formulation, forming and aligning leadership teams, and the discipline of strategic leadership.
Standing on Marbles
Three Leader Types in Verse and Imagery
By Karol M. Wasylyshyn, PsyD
Illustrated by Richard McKnight
Published by TrueNorth Press
ISBN: 978-09824683-3-3. 120 pages.
$34.95 Cloth
From the Author's Introduction
Standing on Marbles provides an uncommon look into the psyches of some of the most extraordinary business leaders in America. These leaders represent every global sector and a broad array of industries. They also represent a wide spectrum of leadership behavior that I have identified and verified through research as three distinct leadership types: Remarkable, Perilous, and Toxic.
The names of these three leader types matter less than this: running a business is hard and messy and it is often very unsteady—like standing on marbles. Some business executives can do this well; some can learn to do it better; and some will never lead well. Standing on Marbles is a psychologically-informed attempt to help you understand—in a way that is distinct from most books on leaders— the differences among leaders most everyone knows.
Peering through the lens of poetry and verse, Wasylyshyn provides an imaginative opportunity for reflection.
—Monica McGrath, Ph.D., Adjunct Associate Professor,
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Escaping the Corner
With Other Tales of Learning, Livin and Loving
By Karol M. Wasylyshyn, PsyD
Illustrated by Richard McKnight
Published by TrueNorth Press
ISBN: 978-09824683-3-3. 120 pages.
$34.95 Cloth
In this book, Dr. Karol M. Wasylyshyn-clinical psychologist, pioneer of executive coaching, and exceptionally insightful poet-uses free verse and allegories to reveal the habits and relationships of business leaders. The corner office is where these leaders often live out their days and where many are trapped-cornered-by the role itself and/or their own patterns of thought and conduct. Others, however, have found the pathway to wholeness. Wasylyshyn describes both here. In these lines, Wasylyshyn grants us the opportunity to be an unseen witness to the triumphs and turmoil in the experience of these leaders. Whether you are a leader or not, or even if you don't aspire to lead, Escaping the Corner can provoke a heroic look into your own corners and the habits and relationships that may have led you there. Perhaps you will ask yourself which of your inner corners warrant a longer stay-and which you ought to escape. The arresting, often eerie imagery of artist and organizational consultant Richard McKnight compliments the verse, providing yet another view into the challenges and opportunities of power and leadership.
