University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Leading at a Higher Level
Book

Leading at a Higher Level

Blanchard on Leadership and Creating High Performing Organizations

Ken Blanchard
FT Prentice Hall, 2006
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Dramatic changes have altered the workplace over the course of the past 25 years, but many executives stick to outdated scripts even as corporate directions shift. Fortunately, The One Minute Manager guru Ken Blanchard offers insightful coaching exercises that give leaders new ways to proceed. Using straightforward language, Blanchard provides templates, examples and guidelines for employee education, performance reviews and promotions. The reader may become impatient with the repetition of key points and with Blanchard's slightly jarring habit of referring to himself in the third person, but despite these minor annoyances, this book is an excellent primer about modern leadership roles. In fact, Blanchard says that it "pulls together the thinking from the Ken Blanchard Companies for the past 25 years." getAbstract recommends this leadership overview to managers, board members, team leaders and every employee in a cubicle who aspires to reach higher levels.

Summary

Tri-Level Target

Most corporations have only one target: Bottom-line profitability. But companies that want to move beyond mediocrity shoot for three layers of success, instead. They believe that real excellence means becoming the "provider of choice" for customers, the "employer of choice" for workers, and "the investment of choice" for stakeholders. Now, set these goals for your company.

To make your company the provider of choice in the marketplace, you need to develop a "fan customer" base. Imagine a football stadium in which the hometown crowd is on your side and cheering loudly. Create that level of enthusiasm among your customers. Your clients could become an unpaid salesforce that willingly spreads news of your excellent service to others.

The same wisdom applies to your workforce, if you want to become the employer of choice. You have to treat your employees fairly or they won't treat your customers fairly. You set the model. Picture this scene in a large department store. A customer urgently needs to call his wife and asks to use one of the store's phones. A sales worker hotly refuses the request. "Look buddy," the clerk argues, "They don't let me use...

About the Author

Dr. Ken Blanchard, a popular motivational speaker and consultant, co-founded an international management training company and consulting firm with his wife, Dr. Marjorie Blanchard. He is the author or co-author of several bestsellers, including The One Minute Manager, Managing Values, The Heart of a Leader and Lead Like Jesus.

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