An Executive's Sphere of Influence
The Good News is that the Sphere of Influence of executive leadership runs both deep and wide:
- Up the Chain
- with the boss
- with the board
- with key stakeholder
- Employees
- with direct reports
- with their direct reports
- with other personnel
- External Contacts
- with customers
- with vendors
- with partner
- Co-Workers
- with peers
- with team members
- with other internal contacts
But the Bad News is that the Sphere of Influence of executive leadership can run both deep and wide:
- Up the Chain
- by creating unnecessary conflict
- by diluting organizational focus
- by poor decision-making
- Employees
- by increasing their stress
- by obstructing their productivity
- by eroding their trust/loyalty
- External Contacts
- by irritating customers
- by alienating vendors
- by undermining partnerships
- by irritating customers
- Co-Workers
- by weakening camaraderie
- by playing bad politics
- by derailing others' initiatives
The relevant question to consider then is this: How are you mitigating the potential that you may be becoming an increasing organizational risk?
http://www.ggci.com/executive-coaching/executive-impact.htm
Labels: Leadership Development
posted by Barry Zweibel at 4:45 PM
3 Comments:
You will find an excellent treatise on this subject in Jerome Alexander's thin volume of management sense, "160 Degrees of Deviation: The Case for the Corporate Cynic." Alexander points out many flaws of the current leadership culture and gives good tips on improving management
Thanks for the tip, Anonymous. I've ordered myself a copy.
So I read the book that Anonymous recommended and no disrespect, but it is anything but an 'excellent treatise.' Rather, it is 109 pages of sour grapes about how the author's bosses done him wrong.
Mr. Alexander clearly fancies himself as a 'rock solid, dependable and highly qualified observant skeptic.' Perhaps. But executive material? You decide.
Through his own telling of the story, this career-long middle manager blatantly insists he knows more than every executive he's ever worked for, but could never figure out how to work well with any of them. He showed very little capacity to affect change in the workplace in any meaningful way and seemed far more interested in holding grudges and getting even than in furthering - or taking responsibility for furthering - his own professional growth and development.
That all sounds an awful lot like the very bosses he was grousing about in his book. Hmmm. Food for thought, perhaps.
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