Practical Lessons in Leadership

About the Book

Practical Lessons in Leadership offers career and start-up guidance for aspiring or new leaders, and pragmatic recommendations for leaders who want to develop strong teams and drive outstanding results.

Practical Lessons is geared for leaders at all stages of the leadership lifecycle (new, early career or experienced) struggling to cope with a hypercompetitive global environment and a rapidly changing, inexperienced and highly mobile workforce. These visible and predictable macro trends require that the need to identify and develop leadership talent is at the top of every organization's strategy plan. Tomorrow's knowledge worker will face pressure to lead teams, projects and companies, but will lack the experience and guidance for management that the boomers take with them into retirement.

Practical Lessons fills a critical gap in existing leadership content, by posing leadership as a conscious choice and then providing the tools and approaches necessary for professionals at all stages of the leadership lifecycle to understand their role, establish fundamental practices, integrate their actions with the organization's strategy, motivate and inspire their teams, and drive great results.

In the opening portion of Practical Lessons, the aspiring professional gains a clear vision of the role and responsibilities of a leader, as well as helpful tools to assess whether this difficult role fits with their interests and skills. The remainder and majority of the book arms the new or experienced leader with practical approaches for important topics, including building credibility, starting with a new team, integrating activities with organizational strategy, identifying and developing talent, and creating a culture of innovation and operational excellence.

For the early career professional, aspiring leader or experienced manager, Practical Lessons offers a wealth of insight and direction for succeeding in this most challenging of professions during a period in time when leadership talent is increasingly viewed as a strategic asset.

About the Author

Arthur Petty, founder and principal of Strategy & Management Innovations, LLC, is a marketing and sales leader, strategist and team-builder with over twenty two years of experience directing the growth, global expansion and rise to market leadership of large and small organizations in a variety of industries. Arthur's employer and client list includes firms in the software, business intelligence, professional services, electronics, life safety, building automation, retail automation, direct marketing and mailing automation markets in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Arthur is an accomplished speaker and published writer on leadership, sales and marketing. Professionally, he is unabashedly proud of the many successful teams he has created and the many people that have grown their careers under his leadership. His consulting focus emphasizes the integration of pragmatic strategy development, disciplined execution of the strategy plan and constant cultivation of leadership talent. Arthur, his wife and two sons live in Crystal Lake, IL. You can reach him at art.petty@management-innovations.com.

Rich Petro is an accomplished executive leader with nearly twenty five years of human resources experience in settings varying from manufacturing to services to software, large and small organizations, and both private and public entities. Rich blends a comprehensive understanding of all facets of human resources with solid business acumen to develop unique, forward-thinking solutions to the most challenging problems. He has particularly strong skills in assessment, leadership development and succession planning and he sees these key areas as inextricably linked not only to each other, but also to overall organizational success.

Rich is an accomplished speaker and presenter, and has personally developed many programs and seminars on topics that included compliance, leadership philosophy and applied skills. Rich is the father of two daughters and a son, and lives with his wife in Onalaska WI. You can reach Rich at rich.petro@management-innovations.com