Discover
the secrets to becoming a modern leader by reading these books.
By Gene HammettSpeaker, strategic advisor for growth and host
of the Growth Think Tank podcast@genehammett
Many
think businesses are created simply with a great idea. The reality? Growth is more
about leadership than ideas. This is one reason why people in the world of
venture capital say, "Bet on the jockey, not the horse." A great founder can turn a mediocre company
or product around. Vice versa? Doesn't happen.
When we
talk about modern leadership, I go beyond the founder to look at
all the people in the organization as the most essential aspects of the
business. These people execute on the ideas that drive the business forward.
Steve Jobs said, "To me, ideas
are worth nothing unless executed. Execution is worth millions." To
execute, companies must get three components right: strategy, team and
leadership.
I work
with the founders of fast-growth companies to help get the team and leadership
side of their work aligned for growth. These leaders need the right strategies.
I love being a leader's guide behind the scenes. My book, The Trap of Success,
gives mindset shifts through practical tools.
The
strategies of scaling to become a category leader vary significantly from
creating a company with incremental growth. These books offer different
strategies for growth:
1. Trillion
Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle
Often,
people only see companies' visionary leaders on stages and in the media as they
launch life-changing products. The reality: For all the success you see, there
are many people behind the scenes guiding those in leadership to hold it
together.
In
Silicon Valley, the man behind the leaders was Bill Campbell. A former college
football coach, he had a knack for business leadership. Campbell coached Steve
Jobs, Jeff Bezos and leaders at Google, among others. Co-author Schmidt, the
former CEO and chairman of Google, set the foundation for the leader of online
search. Johnathan Rosenberg, former VP of product management at Google, and
Alan Eagle, former director of communications, partnered with Schmidt to share
stories of Campbell's coaching.
One
huge insight in Trillion Dollar Coach:
No matter how successful you are, you'll grow faster by having a coach --
outside your daily work -- support you. Campbell believed that people don't
need coaches, but companies need them to align the work. Based on the results
achieved with my clients, I agree.
2. Blitzscaling by
Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh
Speed
is everything to some companies. Leading hypergrowth takes a different mindset
and set of strategies than simply creating a viable company. Reid Hoffman
co-founded LinkedIn and is now a partner in Greylock Ventures, a Silicon Valley
venture capital firm. Chris Yeh has helped accelerate both garage-dwelling
startups and Fortune 50s.
The
authors offer a new approach to leading growth in Blitzscaling. You get to peek into the
mind of a business builder who values speed over efficiency. The authors give
you a playbook to follow that requires massive courage as it's contrary to how
most companies are built.
3. Traction by
Gino Wickman
The
strategies defining your business are essential to your success. Gino Wickman's Traction is
one of the most discussed books in business growth. It includes frameworks for
success that often go overlooked, but getting them right will give you a
competitive advantage.
This
book contains practical tools for company leaders to align and grow together.
When you combine the book's growth strategies with coaching, you get a
tremendous boost in focus. I recommend this book to founders I coach on the
internal aspects of modern leadership.
4. The
Leader's Greatest Return by John C. Maxwell
The
leadership journey starts with the development of the leader. As you progress,
the aim of leaders is to develop other leaders. Since the 1970s, John Maxwell
has been a leader of leaders and demonstrated this notion.
His
latest book, The Leader's
Greatest Return, is a guide to developing the leaders around
you. In reading this book, it became clear that the more leaders an
organization has and the higher their capacity to lead is, the more successful
the organization will be.
5. Built Not
Born by Tom Golisano with Mike Wicks
The
strategy for leading a growing company is rarely doing what everyone else is
doing. In my experience, you create growth by going against the grain and
questioning conventional wisdom. Tom Golisano is a self-made billionaire,
including founding and leading Paychex to be a category leader.
His
book, Built Not Born,
provides lessons from building a $28 billion company with $3,000 and a credit
card. I love how this book provides actionable intelligence about company
growth.
A
leader's top responsibility is to create a vision of growth and success that
aligns a team to execute. After years of working with leaders, I know that they
must expand their own capacity to lead to engage others on the journey.
PUBLISHED
ON: JAN 28, 2020
The opinions expressed
here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
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