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Thoughtfully Ruthless: The Key to Exponential Growth
Unlock explosive growth potential with the true model of modern leadership Thoughtfully Ruthless lays out the secret to rapid business growth by showing you how to magically invent more time, catapult your energy, and boost the productivity of your resources. Author Val Wright has worked with leaders of all stripes―from doctors to musicians to Fortune 50 C-suite executives―to help them unlock their potential and achieve the next level of success. Her experiences have shown time and time again that it's not the economy, or the market conditions, or the competition that's holding your business back. The secret to exponential growth lies within how leaders ruthlessly manage their time, energy, and resources in parallel. Everyone is on a virtual center stage with the whole world watching and reporting every move, leaders need to know how to be ruthless in a thoughtful way. This book shows you how to become that kind of leader, and how to adopt the habits, skills, and practices of some of the most successful business leaders of our time. You'll learn how to become sensibly selfish, how to spend your time and energy, and what issues to delegate or ignore so you can clear your slate to focus on what really matters to you. In a world where rapid growth is the new norm, we have input overload. Leadership is much-lauded but commonly under-practiced in business today. This book is designed to help you shape your leadership to drive business growth, get you promoted faster, and create a life that you love. With all the boardroom handwringing about products, the new consumer, and financial results, it's easy to get sucked into issues that ultimately have only a granular effect on real growth. Thoughtfully Ruthless leadership differentiates remarkable leaders and companies. This book provides a model for growth-oriented leadership, and lays out the essential practices you should start today.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published April 25, 2016
About the author
Val Wright
6 booksVal is a recognized global leadership and innovation expert who is known as growth accelerator by top executives at Fortune 1000 companies including Microsoft, Amazon, LinkedIn, The Financial Times and PopCap Games.
Val’s books include: Thoughtfully Ruthless: The Key to Exponential Growth, Wiley, and Rapid Growth, Done Right. Lead, Influence and Innovate for Success, Kogan Page and Words That Work: Communicate Your Purpose, Your Performance, and Your Profit, Kogan Page January 2022.
She is a regular contributor on CNBC, BBC News, Fox Business News, Inc. Magazine, Business Insider, Fast Company, Bloomberg, Reuters, LA Times, MSN, and Today.
Val’s books include: Thoughtfully Ruthless: The Key to Exponential Growth, Wiley, and Rapid Growth, Done Right. Lead, Influence and Innovate for Success, Kogan Page and Words That Work: Communicate Your Purpose, Your Performance, and Your Profit, Kogan Page January 2022.
She is a regular contributor on CNBC, BBC News, Fox Business News, Inc. Magazine, Business Insider, Fast Company, Bloomberg, Reuters, LA Times, MSN, and Today.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 24, 2018
I found a lot of value in this book, even though I was already on the thoughtfully ruthless path.
Quick story: a couple decades ago when I first became a sales manager at IBM, I returned from a joint sales call with one of the sales people working for me and was giving her private coaching along the lines of "never let the client see you sweat, you have to keep your composure, speak resolutely and with confidence," when she stopped me and said, "you don't really care if people like you, right?"
I looked at her astonished, "why on earth would that matter to me?!"
To me, my reason to be at work is to do a job, my reason to be here is to be effective and produce high performance results. I don't go out of my way to be a jerk and I enjoy being liked - but I'm not RUN by a need to be liked.
In fact, nothing against "People Pleasers" but for myself, I can't do that behavior because it's more about the ego of wanting to be liked and not having people disapprove of you and fundamentally lacks a bit of courage and can sometimes even be cowardly.
So reading "Thoughtfully Ruthless" was a validation of the beautiful paradox of being effective, employing radical candor and transparency, being intentional about time, resources, and energy, and at the end of the day, being responsible and cause in the matter of your life, versus being at the effect of circumstances, like a leaf in the wind.
I was lucky to see Val deliver a keynote speech at an event last October and found value in her short talk so was very excited to read her book. She worked at Microsoft, Amazon, Rolls Royce and other high end companies so her examples have a ton of credibility. "Thoughtfully Ruthless" is absolutely CHOCK-FULL of practical tips, questionnaires, and exercises to impact your ability to cause your exponential growth as a leader.
Read it and then take action!
(This book is #8 in my “52 non-fiction books in 2018 Reading Challenge,” I’m 1 book ahead of schedule!) 😊
Quick story: a couple decades ago when I first became a sales manager at IBM, I returned from a joint sales call with one of the sales people working for me and was giving her private coaching along the lines of "never let the client see you sweat, you have to keep your composure, speak resolutely and with confidence," when she stopped me and said, "you don't really care if people like you, right?"
I looked at her astonished, "why on earth would that matter to me?!"
To me, my reason to be at work is to do a job, my reason to be here is to be effective and produce high performance results. I don't go out of my way to be a jerk and I enjoy being liked - but I'm not RUN by a need to be liked.
In fact, nothing against "People Pleasers" but for myself, I can't do that behavior because it's more about the ego of wanting to be liked and not having people disapprove of you and fundamentally lacks a bit of courage and can sometimes even be cowardly.
So reading "Thoughtfully Ruthless" was a validation of the beautiful paradox of being effective, employing radical candor and transparency, being intentional about time, resources, and energy, and at the end of the day, being responsible and cause in the matter of your life, versus being at the effect of circumstances, like a leaf in the wind.
I was lucky to see Val deliver a keynote speech at an event last October and found value in her short talk so was very excited to read her book. She worked at Microsoft, Amazon, Rolls Royce and other high end companies so her examples have a ton of credibility. "Thoughtfully Ruthless" is absolutely CHOCK-FULL of practical tips, questionnaires, and exercises to impact your ability to cause your exponential growth as a leader.
Read it and then take action!
(This book is #8 in my “52 non-fiction books in 2018 Reading Challenge,” I’m 1 book ahead of schedule!) 😊
May 19, 2020
Besides the innovative title which the author backsup with good examples, the book has a useful checklist at the end which itself makes up a good value. Points like 'avoid issuing ego invites to meetings'
94, Promote failed projects and share lessons in a nonjudgmental way.
95.Teach everyone ROE, return on effort. Investments and energy need
business impact.
Teaching is the fastest way to learn something new; create teaching op-
portunities for your team.
Power wriitng: examples, metaphors, stories
94, Promote failed projects and share lessons in a nonjudgmental way.
95.Teach everyone ROE, return on effort. Investments and energy need
business impact.
Teaching is the fastest way to learn something new; create teaching op-
portunities for your team.
Power wriitng: examples, metaphors, stories
July 16, 2020
Very corporate/executive focused; information isn't bad and some is useful but its much more for CEO types. Main points: respect your own time, know when to be direct, but don't be a dick if it alienates people.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews