Please prepare for takeoff: fasten your seat belts, turn
off
all pagers and cell phones, and place your mind in an open, upright position.
GENERAL PURPOSE:
The general thesis of the business leadership book Face
the Challenge is the belief that every leader's motivational impact is determined by his or her behavior;
and that productive leadership behaviors and skills can be learned or improved through further knowledge, training, and development and
thereby enhance his or her effectiveness. Thus its ultimate purpose is to teach would-be world-beaters how to think
and subsequently act like leaders, and for them to acquire a greater understanding of the affect that their decisions or actions
have on their followers both intellectually and emotionally. Consequently, Face the Challenge
delves deeply into the interactive exchanges between a leader and his or her subordinates and analyzes their most likely motivational
affect. Face the Challenge also gives the struggling leadership neophyte or senior business
executive a comprehensive structure to make greater sense of the mass of leadership knowledge that has evolved over the last
100 centuries, and to personally direct his or her further training and skill development.
ANALYZES CURRENT PROBLEMS:
The book Face the Challenge uncovers the
mystery as to why so many organizations do not seem to function as well as they might; why conventional leadership wisdom
has repeatedly failed to produce sustainable long-term solutions to many chronic leadership problems, and why both the leadership
dinosaurs and whiz kids of the late twentieth century were unable to resolve their apparent operational deficiencies—let
alone training themselves or their organizations to take on the anticipated greater leadership skill challenges and development
problems of the third millennium.
EMPHASIS:
Although Face the Challenge emphasizes
business leadership training and skill development, the principles and ideas discussed are applicable to a broad range of
leadership situations including those found in government, community, religious, benevolent, or military organizations.
And whether leaders can ultimately count their followers on their fingers or by the tens of thousands, it is the depth of
experience and knowledge that they acquire at the lower and middle leadership echelons that ultimately determines their caliber
at the executive level; and if they are denied sufficient growth at these more elementary levels it is highly doubtful that
they will ever emerge as big motivational guns. As it is at the lower supervisory rungs where the distinguished service
medals of leadership are earned, where those who hanker to fill senior management positions must concentrate their motivational
aptitude to best achieve superior operational performance, and where a Leader's understanding and application of his or her
own leadership dynamic initially evolves.
WHO WILL BENEFIT?:
CEOs, managers, and supervisors at all levels across a broad spectrum
of leadership situations can reap substantial benefit from reading the book Face the Challenge;
as the fundamental elements of motivational behavior that impact a leader's subordinates remain surprisingly constant irrespective
of his or her place on the supervisory ladder or his or her objective. Though it is expected that leaders who are already
experiencing satisfactory results or who have reasonable motivational skills are the ones most likely to benefit; as they
are also more likely to be receptive to new ideas and better able to examine old behavioral patterns from a new perspective.
CURRENT FOCUS:
The current world focus on increasing worker productivity closely
approximates similar production challenges confronted during World War II. In the United States alone there are
between 18 and 20 million supervisors, managers, and executives at all levels who are concerned with maximizing their workers'
productivity in order to maintain their edge in an ever more competitive global economy. Central to achieving this desired
improvement in productivity is a highly motivated work force energized by leaders and managers who possess the requisite leadership
and motivational skills to move their supervisory unit forward. And while many volumes have skimmed the surface of worker
motivation in less pages, few have offered adequate depth to substantially improve leadership practices and overall performance;
if judged by the number of such volumes produced over the last half-century and the current level of leadership proficiency.
The leadership skill development book Face the Challenge offers that depth.
EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE - IMPROVING PROFICIENCY:
Face the Challenge greatly expands
the readers' understanding of leadership and motivation, broadens their supervisory perspective, and enhances their interactive
outlook; enabling them to develop more productive subordinate relationships and thereby improve their motivational proficiency.
The business leadership book Face the Challenge also provides Leaders with greater awareness and
knowledge to monitor their own interactive behavior in relation to its motivational impact on their Subordinates, and the
additional skills necessary to make such modifications as may be deemed appropriate to advance their own career prospects.
GOALS:
The goal of leadership book Face the Challenge
is to provide the reader with a comprehensive understanding of how the pieces of the leadership-motivational puzzle fit together;
and to reduce the anxiety often experienced when reading more narrowly defined or limited texts that typically raise more
questions than they answer. Face the Challenge is about how Leaders should think and act to
maximize their motivational impact with their Subordinates; rather than what they should do technically to better administer
their responsibilities. This goal is accomplished through a comprehensive discussion of prevalent leadership attitudes,
a thorough analysis of past and current leadership theories, a discussion of the thoughts of the foremost leadership
thinkers of the twentieth century, and the author's experience and examination of the subject matter.
CHANGING PERSPECTIVES:
Face The Challenge constructively redirects
the Leader's perception of leadership; concentrating almost exclusively on the motivational aspects of his or her behavior.
And is essentially an informative, as well as a practical, "do-and-don't" guide to improving one's leadership proficiency.
To this end, Face the Challenge offers concrete advice on how to improve a Leader's interactive
skills and motivational impact on a daily basis under a wide range of supervisory circumstances by focusing on the interactive
factors of the Leader-Subordinate relationship as they affect morale and productivity. It is this in-depth analysis
that separates Face the Challenge from other leadership texts.
PRACTICAL APPLICATION:
Finally, the underlying premise of Face the Challenge
is that effective leadership is not a mysterious, seemingly obtuse, difficult-to-assimilate body of knowledge; but that it
is readily evident in current leadership practices and well documented throughout history. And that the leadership and
behavioral science gurus of the 20th century have in combination formulated a reasonably effective model on which to base
one's leadership behavior, even though only a relatively small handful of Leaders have actually heeded their combined
wisdom. Face the Challenge's contribution to improved leadership proficiency is in synthesizing
the thoughts of both well-known and somewhat obscure leadership theorists, historical example, and the behavioral sciences;
with the author's personal experience, analysis, and perspective into a practical, day-to-day, motivational guidance system.
Readers are encouraged to learn more about the business leadership
book Face The Challenge by reading Chapter One, Section 1.1.
"In the interest of conquering more distant horizons ©."
H. Garrett Hayward
Contact Mr. Hayward.
