Join getAbstract to access the summary!

Why Should the Boss Listen to You?

Join getAbstract to access the summary!

Why Should the Boss Listen to You?

The Seven Disciplines of the Trusted Strategic Advisor

Jossey-Bass,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Text available

What's inside?

Follow this advice to get CEOs and executives to listen to you...in fact, to invite you in and seek your counsel.

Editorial Rating

5

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Well Structured
  • Overview

Recommendation

Crisis management and PR consultant James E. Lukaszewski offers some guidance to people who want to make a career out of advising CEOs and other key executive managers. The author practices what he preaches by keeping the book focused, positive and concise. In the first part, he teaches you what matters to CEOs, why and how they think, and how to become an asset to their work. In the second part of the book, Lukaszewski devotes a chapter to each of the seven traits a successful CEO adviser needs. The list covers a combination of personal traits, patterns of thought, and skill at communicating with executives. This book will be most useful in helping you break away from a staff view of your company, so you can learn to evaluate situations from a CEO’s perspective. getAbstract thinks this outlook will be useful to anyone who wants to be an effective adviser.

Summary

How CEOs Succeed or Fail

If you want CEOs and other top executives to listen to your advice, start by understanding their needs. They don’t require advice from a staff perspective. You must develop expertise far beyond that and come to understand the issues the entire company faces. CEOs need advisers to help with the dynamics of dealing with a board of directors. And CEOs have to be comfortable with ambiguity. Chief executives can change the direction of their companies only incrementally. Most CEOs have to deal with corporate inertia and must settle for changing things an inch at a time.

CEOs focus on tomorrow and the day after rather than on yesterday or what might happen in the distant future. They state the corporate vision, and then encourage, cheerlead, direct and organize the company to work toward it. If they do not deliver, overstate their accomplishments, don’t get people behind them, get caught up in minutiae or mired down in one issue, they fail. To succeed, CEOs must focus their people on fulfilling a clear vision laid out as a limited number of significant but achievable objectives. CEOs must accomplish immediate goals before they can move on to longer...

About the Author

James E. Lukaszewski is a strategic adviser and head of The Lukaszewski Group. He consults with companies on crisis management and PR issues.

Comment on this summary

  • Avatar
    Sign in to share your opinion
  • Avatar
    J. S. 1 decade ago
    the section on the final page - section 6 Advise Constructively and the 3 minute drill make this abstract worth reading. In a world of soundbites and limited time to get your point across this is really helpful. I will update further when I have 'given it a go'