University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Rising to Power
Book

Rising to Power

The Journey of Exceptional Executives

Ron A. Carucci and Eric C. Hansen
Greenleaf Book Group, 2014
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

After interviewing 2,600 high-performing senior executives, veteran executive consultants Ron A. Carucci and Eric C. Hansen offer an excellent manifesto for new leaders. They used IBM’s Watson, one of the world’s most powerful analytical tools, to dissect their findings about leadership. They learned what traits, behaviors and actions make good leaders great – regardless of their organization or industry. The result is an up-to-date, indispensable guide to becoming a senior leader and succeeding at the top. The authors’ detailed advice – exactly what to do and what not to do as a new high-ranking leader – springs from the aggregation and correlation of thousands of lessons senior executives learned the hard way. Carucci and Hansen pull no punches in this smart set of instructions for new bosses. getAbstract recommends their findings as essential reading for executives moving up.

Summary

Too Fast, Too Soon

Today, executives rise to power more quickly than ever. Younger bosses, including youthful CEOs, dominate the business landscape, and their lack of experience shows. Underperforming leaders affect each rung of leadership below them, resulting in widespread poor performance, low engagement and high attrition. A study of 2,600 managers and top-level executives reveals why so many new leaders falter: Their failure to understand the complex and difficult assignment of executive leadership stands out as a common downfall. New executives arrive with overly high expectations and underestimate the effects of organizational politics and professional isolation.

Today’s younger, less-experienced, higher-paid executives often gain rapid promotion moving upward through a succession of more-senior and more-responsible positions – a model that fails to develop the exceptional leaders organizations need. Executive development should produce leaders who possess the ability and desire to learn, who grasp and integrate the entirety of the business rather than only their own division or specialty, who develop the soft skills to form relationships of care and trust, ...

About the Authors

Ron A. Carucci and Eric C. Hansen are veteran consultants to CEOs and business leaders worldwide.

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