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The Art of Strategic Leadership: How Leaders at All Levels Prepare Themselves, Their Teams, and Organizations for the Future
Develop the qualities of strategic leadership and become an active contributor to the short- and long-term success of your organization
Today's organizations face two daunting challenges: 1. How to create new sources of competitive advantage to sustain long-term growth, and 2. How to engage leaders at every level of the organization so that they are more proactive and forward-looking in their area of responsibility. The Art of Strategic Leadership uses a unique approach to examine what it means to be a strategic leader. Instead of focusing on the skills, behaviors, and tools found in typical books on strategic leadership, the authors shed light on the attributes and qualities necessary to lead strategic change and help transform a business.
Strategic leadership is what modern leadership is all about. Organizations expect leaders to anticipate and be proactive more than ever before. In this book, the authors draw on their vast experience working directly with leaders at all levels and use an intriguing narrative to explain this inside-out approach to understanding strategic leadership. The narrative follows the journey of how one manager discovered these critically important qualities. You will experience first-hand how these values and attributes manifest in the lives of realistic leaders; how they orchestrate long-term strategic change needed for the organization to compete and survive and actively shape the future while delivering short-term results.
The Art of Strategic Leadership provides the content that will help you informally assess and reflect on your own strategic leadership qualities—those that are strengths and those that indicate areas you need to develop. It will guide you as you incorporate these values and qualities into your own leadership style and become a more effective catalyst for change. This book will help you in the following ways:
-Develop a more proactive, forward-thinking approach to leadership
-Approach strategy from both short- and long-term perspectives
-Adopt the core values and principles of a strategic leader
-Model the qualities exhibited by powerful leaders
Strategic leaders serve as powerful examples to others in the organization. Their qualities and traits spread rapidly to those around them, empowering people at every level to take a more active role in meeting the demands of the future. The Art of Strategic Leadership will help you deepen and broaden your understanding of the core qualities of strategic leadership, leaving you better equipped to lead yourself and your team to a better place and create greater value for customers, owners, and employees.
Today's organizations face two daunting challenges: 1. How to create new sources of competitive advantage to sustain long-term growth, and 2. How to engage leaders at every level of the organization so that they are more proactive and forward-looking in their area of responsibility. The Art of Strategic Leadership uses a unique approach to examine what it means to be a strategic leader. Instead of focusing on the skills, behaviors, and tools found in typical books on strategic leadership, the authors shed light on the attributes and qualities necessary to lead strategic change and help transform a business.
Strategic leadership is what modern leadership is all about. Organizations expect leaders to anticipate and be proactive more than ever before. In this book, the authors draw on their vast experience working directly with leaders at all levels and use an intriguing narrative to explain this inside-out approach to understanding strategic leadership. The narrative follows the journey of how one manager discovered these critically important qualities. You will experience first-hand how these values and attributes manifest in the lives of realistic leaders; how they orchestrate long-term strategic change needed for the organization to compete and survive and actively shape the future while delivering short-term results.
The Art of Strategic Leadership provides the content that will help you informally assess and reflect on your own strategic leadership qualities—those that are strengths and those that indicate areas you need to develop. It will guide you as you incorporate these values and qualities into your own leadership style and become a more effective catalyst for change. This book will help you in the following ways:
-Develop a more proactive, forward-thinking approach to leadership
-Approach strategy from both short- and long-term perspectives
-Adopt the core values and principles of a strategic leader
-Model the qualities exhibited by powerful leaders
Strategic leaders serve as powerful examples to others in the organization. Their qualities and traits spread rapidly to those around them, empowering people at every level to take a more active role in meeting the demands of the future. The Art of Strategic Leadership will help you deepen and broaden your understanding of the core qualities of strategic leadership, leaving you better equipped to lead yourself and your team to a better place and create greater value for customers, owners, and employees.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published March 7, 2016
50 people are currently reading
380 people want to read
About the author
Steven J. Stowell
14 books5 followersSteven J. Stowell, Ph.D. is the Founder and President of the Center for Management and Organization Effectiveness (CMOE) and holds a doctorate in Organization Behavior from the University of Utah. Dr. Stowell founded CMOE in 1978 for the purpose of helping individuals and teams maximize their effectiveness and create strategic competitiveness.
During the past 30-plus years, Steve has consulted with both small and large corporations, government agencies, school systems, and non-profit organizations in 35 different countries and has designed and developed instructional course content covering over 30 leadership and management topics. Dr. Stowell is widely recognized as a subject-matter expert in strategy, leadership, and coaching.
During the past 30-plus years, Steve has consulted with both small and large corporations, government agencies, school systems, and non-profit organizations in 35 different countries and has designed and developed instructional course content covering over 30 leadership and management topics. Dr. Stowell is widely recognized as a subject-matter expert in strategy, leadership, and coaching.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 24, 2019
Fair business book about the traits of strategic leadership. It comes complete with a hokey story to use as an example of the traits, but the part about traits and application are good.
August 16, 2019
Good contents but...
This book is a great source of information about leadership but, to my personal taste, I would have stripped the "story mode" part (the first part of each chapter). Maybe it's because I am an academic type of reader but it did not help me understand the leadership concepts that were explained in the second part of each chapter.
This book is a great source of information about leadership but, to my personal taste, I would have stripped the "story mode" part (the first part of each chapter). Maybe it's because I am an academic type of reader but it did not help me understand the leadership concepts that were explained in the second part of each chapter.
June 20, 2024
If you remove a weirdly detailed story (I don’t know why readers of a book about leadership should know that somebody haven’t packed enought of clothes for a trip or what football club he likes) that accompanies the whole book, you end up with 5 pages of useful information. I read it for free on Audible and still feel like I should file a refund.
June 20, 2022
Practical application of strategic leadership principles to business. Folks in business and practical leadership will find this more useful (I stand corrected) than academics who have never had the chance to take serious businesslike risks.
December 7, 2022
Get read for any leader
This book is great at offering examples that reinforce the overall idea, It's one that'll need to be reviewed to keep the newly learned skills sharp, and it's truly inspiring.
This book is great at offering examples that reinforce the overall idea, It's one that'll need to be reviewed to keep the newly learned skills sharp, and it's truly inspiring.
July 19, 2020
Easy engaging read. Title is a little misleading, takes you through key competencies of strategic readers rather than really a how to be a strategic leader.
March 27, 2025
I have now read the majority of books authored by Steven Stowell and his team at CMOE. Similar to other CMOE publications, The Art of Strategic Leadership is very action-able. Every reader doing business for themselves or as an employee faces internal and external opposition to strategic thinking. The advise in this book enables C level execs and mid-level managers/supervisors to re-access how they view and use strategy to navigate change. There is also value to be found for individual contributors who want to grow and act more strategically in their everyday work as well as their career path.
This book takes the reader through exercises that highlight the readers' strengths and how to leverage those to improve strategic thinking. Furthermore, great ideas on how to quickly course-correct those areas of weakness.
I am reading Chapter 10, The Art of Awareness, again to better understand how I can become more focused on what is 'important' strategically. How do I get my head (time) out of the everyday minutiae of tasks and compliance to see opportunities? Where do my product, company, staff and I, fit in the strategic landscape.
This book is furthering my belief that, although we must manage things and people, we not are merely managers. If we don't embrace that concept, we're missing the bigger opportunity of driving change and being a leader.
Enjoy! I look forward to your review.
This book takes the reader through exercises that highlight the readers' strengths and how to leverage those to improve strategic thinking. Furthermore, great ideas on how to quickly course-correct those areas of weakness.
I am reading Chapter 10, The Art of Awareness, again to better understand how I can become more focused on what is 'important' strategically. How do I get my head (time) out of the everyday minutiae of tasks and compliance to see opportunities? Where do my product, company, staff and I, fit in the strategic landscape.
This book is furthering my belief that, although we must manage things and people, we not are merely managers. If we don't embrace that concept, we're missing the bigger opportunity of driving change and being a leader.
Enjoy! I look forward to your review.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews