THE RIGHT LEADER: Selecting Executives Who Fit

By Nat Stoddard with Claire Wyckoff

"I wish that all the interviews I did where ascomfortable and professional as yours, and that the interviewers came as well-prepared with relevant questions as you did. You really made the entire experience a pleasure." -----Nat Stoddard

As I read the author's credentials, "Chairman of Crenshaw Associates, former CEO of a leading kitchen products manufacturer and a former president, and CEO of GE's Canadian appliance affiliate, Camco, Inc.," I was very impressed. There is no doubt that Stoddard knows what it looks like from the top. My initial question was "What does this book have to do with someone like me? I am just a regular employee. I have always looked up at the top executives in the organization from somewhere in the middle."

As I read the book, I began to understand the importance it has for me and for anyone else involved in an organization.

The book is well-researched, interesting and thought provoking. The statistics about the failure rate for top executives in corporate America are staggering. The amount of money wasted would sustain a small country for at least a year. Why do organizations give top executives such "golden parachutes" when they do a bad job and are replaced? Why can't Boards and Teams select the right person for the job in the first place? They seem to be looking at the wrong things and not asking the right questions.

Stoddard and Wyckoff present a Match-Fit Model that makes a lot of sense. There is also information about how to put together the selection team. There are recommendations for questions that should be asked as well as a discussion of the organization's culture. Doesn't it make sense that if there is success at the top there will be success at the bottom of the organization? Don't we all want to be part of a successful and stable organization with solid leadership?

I believe this book contains ideas that are useful to any group choosing new leadership, whether it's a church group, a non-profit organization or a major corporation. The idea of actually choosing the right person the first time just seems like common sense. but I read a quote the other day that says, "Common sense isn't so common any more." What do you think?


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THE INTEGRITY DIVIDEND:Leading By The Power Of Your Word

By Tony Simons

Trust in government and corporate leadership at an all time low.  Most of us don't believe what politicians say, we don't believe what the CEO of the company we work for says and we don't believe what our bosses say.  If credibility is considered the foundation of effective leadership, it seems to be in short supply.

You may look at the title of this book and think "Oh!  Another ethics book."  However, that's not the case.  The author actually has research data that puts a bottom-line dollar value on business leaders who live by their word and actually do what they say.  The book shows how the personal integrity of it's leaders drives the profitability and overall success of organizations.

Why doesn't everyone just "do the right thing?"  Simons points out that although that idea sounds simple enough, it's just not as easy as it sounds.

Fascination and thought provoking, this is a must-read business book.  The reader will come away with new insights and a greater understanding of just how important it is to do what you said you would do.  What do you think?

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HIGH ALTITUDE LEADERSHIP:  What The World's Most Forbidding Peaks Teach Us About Success

By Chris Warner and Don Schmincke

The timing for this book couldn't be better.  The economy is in the disposal, jobs are being lost at an alarming rate, and we're all learning to do "more with less."  

 Lack of leadership and/or vision or perhaps just plain greed  at major financial institutions and the automobile industry required that we, the taxpayer, bail these organizations out.  I think someone needs to take a hard look at who is leading major organizations and how they are doing it.   Who doesn't remember Enron!

Chris and Don are unlikely co-authors.  As I read their impressive backgrounds, it struck me that Don is the science guy.  He graduated from MIT and Johns Hopkins University with research ranging from simulating timing systems for the navy's nuclear missile systems at Draper Labs, to studying atmospheric effects on satellite frequencies at the Applied Physics Laboratory to automating the Harvard/MIT biomedical laboratory.  He also is head of the SAGA Leadership Institute and he uses anthropology and evolutionary genetics to dispel management myths.  

Chris is the adventurer and mountain climber.  He founded Earth Treks back in 1990.  Earth Treks operates three of the nation's indoor climbing gyms, a rock and ice climbing school and an international mountaineering guide service.  Does it strike anyone else that together these two guys are McGuyver?

I think taking some time to give the background of the two authors is important because of the nature of the mountain climbing analogy used in this fascinating book.  The book shares first-person examples from major mountain climbing expeditions, interspersed with scenarios from boardrooms and business.  There are eight "dangers" that prevent individuals from reaching the highest levels of performance.  

Readers will find this book thrilling because of the illustrated log entries from Chris's most exhilarating expeditions (K2, Everest, and Mount Shivling, to name a few).  The application of these life-and-death situations  to business is well thought out and compelling.

I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it, not as the "next thing" in leadership because that would be buying into "tool seduction" as discussed in the book.  I think the ideas are excellent and food-for-thought for anyone in any kind of leadership position.  What do you think?

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