How to Be ExceptionalI’ve just read an advance copy of Zenger Folkman’s new book, How to Be Exceptional: Drive Leadership Success by Magnifying Your Strengths. It’s an outstanding — it really is exceptional — leadership book co-authored by four of Zenger Folkman’s top executives.

In upcoming blogs I’ll review and draw from How to Be Exceptional. Next week Scott Schweyer and I are attending Zenger Folkman’s Leadership Summit at Robert Redford’s Sundance Resort in Utah. During this very busy week we’ll finalize our certification for delivering Zenger Folkman’s highly acclaimed Extraordinary Leadership strength-based leadership development system, learn about related Zenger Folkman leadership programs and services, and learn from Clients presenting their case studies.

Next week I’ll also be working with Jack Zenger to prepare for a September 20 webcast introducing The CLEMMER Group and Zenger Folkman’s new partnership (see A New Era Begins: Our Strategic Partnership with Zenger Folkman), overview Zenger Folkman‘s Extraordinary Strength-Based Leadership Development System, and explain what makes it so unique and effective.

You can now download and read Chapter 1: Organizations Flourish with Strong Leaders of How to Be Exceptional. Click here to access it. Here’s what’s covered in this introductory chapter that’s also embedded with brief video clips of Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman explaining key concepts:

  • Organizations need strong leaders at all levels.
  • Great leaders attract and weak leaders repel talented people.
  • Top leaders pull out the best in people while poor leaders stifle and constrain commitment and performance.
  • The key determinate of employee engagement is the leadership skills of his or her immediate boss.
  • Senior executives set the high or low ceiling for leadership effectiveness that cascades through middle managers to frontline supervisors.
  • The four key factors that reduce the leadership effectiveness gap between organizational levels.
  • How strong leaders build highly committed teams.
  • The measureable and dramatic impact of leadership effectiveness on sales, employee engagement/satisfaction/commitment, customer satisfaction, and the bottom line.

How to Be Exceptional goes on to document a revolutionary approach to leadership development. Instead of focusing on weaknesses and how to overcome them, it focuses on strengths — and how to build them.

Drawing from their extensive research, the award-winning authors prove that for every leadership competency developed, there are several significant related behaviors that enhance leadership effectiveness.

This very practical book helps readers learn how to pinpoint their leadership strengths and choose the right development target. They’ll learn how to apply Zenger Folkman’s revolutionary “cross-training” method to grow their leadership competencies into the top 90th percentile.