You aspire to lead with greater impact. The problem is you're busy
executing on today's demands. You know you have to carve out time from
your day job to build your leadership skills, but it's easy to let
immediate problems and old mind-sets get in the way. Herminia Ibarra--an
expert on professional leadership and development and a renowned
professor at INSEAD, a leading international business school--shows how
managers and executives at all levels can step up to leadership by
making small but crucial changes in their jobs, their networks, and
themselves. In Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader, she offers
advice to help you:
- Redefine your job in order to make more strategic contributions
- Diversify your network so that you connect to, and learn from, a
bigger range of stakeholders
- Become more playful with your self-concept, allowing your
familiar--and possibly outdated--leadership style to evolve
Ibarra turns the usual "think first and then act" philosophy on its
head by arguing that doing these three things will help you learn
through action and will increase what she calls your outsight--the
valuable external perspective you gain from direct experiences and
experimentation. As opposed to insight, outsight will then help change
the way you think as a leader: about what kind of work is important; how
you should invest your time; why and which relationships matter in
informing and supporting your leadership; and, ultimately, who you want
to become.
Packed with self-assessments and practical advice to help define your
most pressing leadership challenges, this book will help you devise a
plan of action to become a better leader and move your career to the
next level. It's time to learn by doing.
