Elegant Leadership: Simple Strategies, Remarkable Results seeks to raise the bar for what it means to lead -- and help leaders improve performance in ways that are simple, practical, powerful, and even graceful. Unlike most leadership books, Elegant Leadership does not provide a pat set of answers. Rather, it provides frameworks, tools, worksheets, and guidance -- along with a structured set of powerful questions -- to enable readers to come up with their own answers and action steps. It combines the best practices of leadership development with a simple, efficient process for leaders to look in the mirror and take their performance to the next level. Topics covered include: getting grounded, eliminating disagreeable behaviors, strengthening professional relationships, developing a compelling strategy, influencing others, collaborating, building for the future, and moving things forward. The content is concentrated, so that readers can reflect and improve their leadership capabilities rapidly and practically. This book will become a lasting reference for executives, entrepreneurs, consultants, and executive educators. "Andrew Neitlich has produced a user's guide to outstanding performance...a must read and more importantly, a must do!" -- Len Schlesinger, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, The Limited, Inc. "Elegant Leadership is a leader's companion -- practical advice presented in an actionable form for people who rarely get either." -- James Heskett, Co-author, The Service Profit Chain "Elegant Leadership provides one of the most practical guidleines for leaders that I have ever read." -- Marhsall Goldsmith, One of Forbes' five top executive coaches and a Wall Street Journal "Top 10" executive educator I wrote this book after a decade as a management consultant and executive coach to executives, entrepreneurs, and trustees in a wide range of organizations and industries. The insights in the book represent the most common and challenging issues that my clients raise during engagements. The primary intention of this book is to provide readers with a unique, efficient, and powerful format to find their own answers about how to improve their leadership. Why not lead elegantly? Leading elegantly means getting results in ways that are simple, powerful, practical, and graceful. Wouldn't you rather be an elegant leader? This book is an indispensable guide for leaders who want to make a lasting, positive difference in their organizations. Whether you lead a start-up or major corporation, whether your organization is in the for-profit or non-profit sector, Elegant Leadership will become a lasting reference. You will learn how to take your career and your organization to the next level: - Develop a compelling strategy that beats the competition. - Build a nimble, high-performance organization that will endure. - Engage and mobilize your team to achieve amazing results. - Strengthen the professional relationships that determine your success. - Communicate simply, powerfully, and authentically. - Be resilient and resourceful when others are ready to give up. This cutting-edge guide will accelerate your career. Why wait? Entrepreneurs and executives come to him to clarify their strategy and goals, develop new skills, engage and mobilize colleagues, and strengthen their organizations. He has worked with executives in a wide variety of industries and sectors: healthcare, technology, government, foundations, consumer goods, professional services, and education. He speaks nationally about leadership, and produced a television series that explored leadership. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School. Introduction (Excerpted) The purpose of this book is to significantly raise the standards by which we judge and measure leaders. Today, the word "leadership" is almost meaningless. We tell workers to display leadership by having a good attitude and showing up on time. We call training in basic supervisory skills "leadership." And when people do exert leadership, they are often sloppy about it. Many sacrifice relationships. Some compromise ethics. Others exhibit all sorts of disagreeable behaviors. Still others fail to think rigorously about the right strategy or course of action. We excuse this sloppiness by arguing that results justify the means. "Elegant leadership" tolerates neither watered-down definitions of leadership, nor sloppiness. In this book, leadership means creating a significantly better future than would have been possible without a leader. A good leader creates something out of nothing, and the results are significant. And the leader matters: without his or her contribution, results would not have been nearly as impressive. There are four essential ways in which an elegant leader creates the future: 1. Simply. Elegant leaders distill infinite information and possibilities into the one or two essential elements that will make the largest difference. Their speech