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by Ron Ashkenas
Premium summary · Opens in the app · 30 min read
Every year, thousands of people are promoted into leadership positions. They are celebrated, given new titles, larger offices, and greater compensation. And then something strange happens. Many of them fail. Not because they lack intelligence or work ethic. Not because they do not understand their industry. They fail because they continue doing what made them successful as individual contributors and managers, unaware that leadership demands something fundamentally different.
**Author:** Ron Ashkenas
**Estimated Reading Time:** 45 minutes
**What You'll Learn:**
- The six essential practices that distinguish impactful leaders from competent managers - How to build a unifying vision that inspires collective action - The art of translating vision into strategy and strategy into results - Why getting great people on board matters more than any individual brilliance - How to balance present performance with future innovation - The discipline of leading yourself before you can lead others
**Who This Book Is For:**
This book is for anyone who has discovered that technical competence and management skills are not enough. It is for the newly promoted executive who suddenly realizes that her success now depends entirely on other people's performance. It is for the entrepreneur who has built a product but now must build an organization. It is for the nonprofit director who must inspire volunteers who could walk away at any moment. It is for the seasoned leader who wants to sharpen capabilities that have grown dull through routine.
Every year, thousands of people are promoted into leadership positions. They are celebrated, given new titles, larger offices, and greater compensation. And then something strange happens. Many of them fail. Not because they lack intelligence or work ethic. Not because they do not understand their industry. They fail because they continue doing what made them successful as individual contributors and managers, unaware that leadership demands something fundamentally different. Ron Ashkenas has spent decades working with executives across industries, geographies, and organizational types. He has observed a consistent pattern. The people who thrive in leadership roles are not necessarily the smartest or the most charismatic. They are the ones who understand a simple but profound truth: leadership is about achieving significant positive impact through other people. This sounds obvious. It is not. The transition from doing work yourself to enabling others to do great work is one of the hardest shifts in professional life. It requires giving up the satisfaction of personal accomplishment. It requires trusting others with outcomes that affect your reputation. It requires developing skills that feel abstract and difficult to measure. It requires patience when you could do the task faster yourself. The problem is compounded by the way most organizations develop leaders. Companies promote their best performers and then leave them to figure out leadership on their own. They provide occasional training programs that inspire for a few days but fade within weeks. They offer mentors who are themselves too busy to provide meaningful guidance. The result is a leadership gap that threatens organizational performance at every level. Ashkenas wrote this book to close that gap. Drawing on his consulting experience with companies like GE, where…
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Get the complete summary in the appLeadership is about achieving significant positive impact through other people, not through your own efforts alone.
Build a unifying vision that is aspirational, simple, emotionally compelling, and bold.
Strategy means making choices about what to do and what not to do.
Spend significant time on getting great people on board, developing talent, and building culture.
Set stretch goals that force innovation and hold people accountable for results.
Balance present performance with future innovation through a portfolio approach.
"Harvard Business Review Leader's Handbook" is a strong fit if you want practical ideas around leadership, business, management, especially themes like leadership is about achieving significant positive impact through other people, not through your own efforts alone; build a unifying vision that is aspirational, simple, emotionally compelling, and bold. The MinuteRead summary distills these concepts into a focused read, whether you're deciding whether to buy the book or applying its lessons at work.
Motivated to help readers with leadership is not about making this kind of impact alone; it depends on doing so through others, Ron Ashkenas wrote “Harvard Business Review Leader's Handbook” to package those ideas for a fast, focused read. In “Harvard Business Review Leader's Handbook”, Ron Ashkenas focuses on leadership is not about making this kind of impact alone; it depends on doing so through others. Through “Harvard Business Review Leader's Handbook”, Ron Ashkenas distills the core ideas o…
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