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Book Details
Abstract
Athletic CEOs: Leadership in Turbulent Times is a book about high-performing transformational leaders operating in turbulent environments. These CEOs do not lead by the book: they may not praise their subordinates, provide positive feedback or regularly celebrate small wins. Yet they have created formidable enterprises that deliver sustainable growth, have elevated their companies’ employees to new levels, have set new standards for their industries and have advanced their regions. Most remarkably, in spite of their prominence, these leaders continue to reinvent themselves.
Having studied them for a decade, Stanislav Shekshnia, Veronika Zagieva and Alexey Ulanovsky developed a model of athletic leadership which describes the leadership agendas, practices, outcomes and outputs of these leaders as well as unique attributes that make them effective.
‘Athletic CEOs is […] a must-read for every leader who’s facing a challenging transformation in today’s chaotic business world.’
—Morten T. Hansen, Professor, University of California Berkeley, USA; coauthor of Great by Choice; author of Great at Work
‘Athletic CEOs does not describe a leadership model that we most champion these days. […] It puts a different array of leadership tools at our fingertips and even on an ordinary workday, there may be a tool in this kit that meets a need.’
—Whitney Johnson, Thinkers50 Management Thinkers; author of Disrupt Yourself
‘Athletic CEOs: Leadership in Turbulent Times’ is about leaders who do not lead by the book: people who score low on emotional intelligence, do not praise their subordinates, and rarely provide constructive feedback or celebrate small wins. Yet it is also a book about high-performing transformational leaders – Alexander Dyukov (Gazprom Neft), German Gref (Sberbank), Eugene Kaspersky (Kaspersky Lab) and Vitaly Saveliev (Aeroflot). Each of them has created a formidable enterprise that is delivering sustainable growth in profits and shareholder value; setting new standards for the industry; leaving a positive impact on its employees and on the country and the regions it operates in; and – most remarkably – continuing to reinvent itself.
Stanislav Shekshnia, Alexey Ulanovsky and Veronika Zagieva have studied the work of these leaders for a decade and developed a model of leadership that delivers superior results in a specific context, that is, one of fast obsolescence, high turbulence, intense government interference, mediocre levels of human capital development and traditionally high levels of managerial control. The model is called Athletic Leadership because of the strong parallels between the protagonists’ attitudes and behaviors and those of top sportspeople. Athletic Leaders share a formative experience of practising competitive sports in their youth, facing early adversity as leaders of important projects, and changing companies and industries along the way. They possess two traits that define their leadership personality: mental toughness and adaptability. Athletic CEOs also use specific iterative behavioral and mental strategies at work – ‘meta-practices’ of Athletic Leadership. They deliver superior operational and financial results (leadership outputs) and transform their followers, companies, industries and communities (leadership outcomes).
Written for people who are interested in the subject of leadership in business, ‘Athletic CEOs: Leadership in Turbulent Times’ offers interesting ideas and practical insights for people from other walks of life such as politics, government and education.
Stanislav Shekshnia is a professor at INSEAD and senior partner at Ward Howell International. His research concentrates on leadership and governance in emerging markets and organizations.
Veronika Zagieva is a director at Ward Howell Talent Equity Institute. Her research focuses on leadership and corporate governance.
Alexey Ulanovsky is an associate professor at National Research University – Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, and a consultant at Ward Howell International. He specializes in leadership development and organizational behaviour.
‘INSEAD Professor Stanislav Shekshnia and colleagues capture the essence of the leadership challenge in turbulent times. Leaders today feel like athletes – learning and working 24/7 – and pushing to get better every day.’
—Mark C. Thompson, New York Times Bestselling Leadership Author and #1 Growth Coach
Table of Contents
Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
---|---|---|---|
Cover | Cover 1 | ||
Front Matter | iii | ||
Half title | i | ||
Title page | iii | ||
Copyright information | iv | ||
Tables of Contents | v | ||
list of illustrations | vii | ||
Figures | vii | ||
Tables | vii | ||
Chapter Int-9 | 1 | ||
Introduction | 1 | ||
1 Athletic Leadership Explained | 9 | ||
Why Athletic Leadership? | 9 | ||
Environment | 10 | ||
Practices | 11 | ||
Personality | 12 | ||
Model of Athletic Leadership | 13 | ||
Formative Experience | 13 | ||
Mental Toughness | 15 | ||
Super-sized Ambition | 16 | ||
Passion | 16 | ||
Focus | 17 | ||
Cool-headedness | 17 | ||
Mercilessness | 18 | ||
Mental Adaptability | 19 | ||
Proactive Curiosity | 19 | ||
Rapid Knowledge Reinvigoration | 22 | ||
Flexible Mental Models | 23 | ||
Context and Leadership Challenges | 24 | ||
What Athletic Leaders Are Not | 34 | ||
Further Reading | 37 | ||
2 The Agenda and Practices of Athletic Leaders | 39 | ||
Leadership Agenda | 39 | ||
Metapractices of Athletic Leaders | 45 | ||
Pragmatic Exploration | 47 | ||
Navigating towards a Moving Target | 51 | ||
Evolving – Yet Crystal Clear – Vision | 51 | ||
Making Clothes with Room for Growth | 52 | ||
‘Both Ends’ Leadership | 52 | ||
Reinventing the Magic Solution | 53 | ||
Slack Rope | 53 | ||
Do As I Do | 54 | ||
Dynamic Autonomy | 54 | ||
Encouraging Internal Competition | 55 | ||
Rewarding Loyalty and Performance | 55 | ||
Quiet Recognition. Tough Love | 56 | ||
Hogging the Limelight | 56 | ||
Scoring Key Goals | 57 | ||
Evangelism | 57 | ||
Faces of the Industry | 57 | ||
Media Stars | 58 | ||
Chief Defenders | 58 | ||
Feeding and Milking | 59 | ||
Working for the Country and for Their Communities | 60 | ||
Displaying Loyalty Publicly, Challenging Privately | 60 | ||
Proactive Contribution | 61 | ||
Comprehensive Collaboration Rather Than Deal Making | 61 | ||
Shielding the Company | 62 | ||
Building and Maintaining Informal Networks | 62 | ||
Further Reading | 63 | ||
3 Effectiveness of Athletic Leadership: Outputs and Outcomes | 65 | ||
Outputs of Athletic Leadership | 66 | ||
Outcomes of Athletic Leadership | 68 | ||
Reformed Followers | 68 | ||
Athletic Companies | 71 | ||
Wide-reaching Impact | 76 | ||
The Reverse Side of the Medal | 77 | ||
Risks and Limitations of Athletic Leadership | 78 | ||
Further Reading | 80 | ||
4 Vitaly Saveliev: Passion and Innovation at the Old Airline | 83 | ||
Humble Beginnings and Ambitious Goals | 84 | ||
Vitaly Saveliev: Profile of a Leader | 86 | ||
Ambition | 87 | ||
Passion | 87 | ||
Developmental Focus | 88 | ||
Leading Turnaround | 89 | ||
Building the Foundations of a Global Champion | 94 | ||
Saveliev’s Leadership, Culture and Legacy | 98 | ||
5 Eugene Kaspersky: Saving the World | 103 | ||
History | 104 | ||
Innovations and Threats | 108 | ||
International Expansion | 110 | ||
Organizational Structure | 113 | ||
Corporate Culture | 114 | ||
Kaspersky’s Leadership | 115 | ||
6 Alexander Dyukov: Quiet Transformation of Gazprom Neft | 119 | ||
Building a Foundation | 122 | ||
Growth | 125 | ||
Organic Growth | 126 | ||
Non-organic Growth | 127 | ||
First Oil from the Arctic | 128 | ||
Development of the Organization | 129 | ||
Technology and Beyond | 131 | ||
Never Satisfied with Results | 133 | ||
7 Herman Gref at Sberbank: Entrepreneurship in the Least Likely Place | 139 | ||
Herman Gref: Profile of a Leader | 139 | ||
Teaching Sberbank to Rock and Roll | 141 | ||
Building World-Class Human Capital: Competencies and Values | 146 | ||
Teaching Sberbank to Fly | 149 | ||
8 Athletic Leadership in Other Regions: Roger Agnelli, Dong Mingzhu and Jeff Bezos | 159 | ||
Brazil: Roger Agnelli | 160 | ||
China: Dong Mingzhu | 165 | ||
United States: Jeff Bezos | 171 | ||
9 Athletic Leadership for Non-Athletes | 179 | ||
Lessons for Business Leaders | 180 | ||
Borrowing Some Elements and Instruments of Athletic Leadership to Complement Current Leadership Practice | 180 | ||
Using Athletic Leadership for a Specific Project or Task | 181 | ||
Aspiring Business Leaders | 182 | ||
Politicians | 185 | ||
Transformational Ambition | 185 | ||
Pragmatic Exploration | 185 | ||
General Public | 186 | ||
Leadership Development Professionals | 187 | ||
Attention to All Aspects That Define Leadership | 188 | ||
Defining the Leadership Agenda | 188 | ||
Leadership Practices | 189 | ||
Scholars of Leadership | 189 | ||
Further Reading | 192 | ||
Films and Television Series | 193 | ||
End Matter | 195 | ||
Appendix: Research Methodology | 195 | ||
Methods | 196 | ||
In- depth Interviews | 196 | ||
Observation of Participants | 197 | ||
Action Research | 197 | ||
Qualitative Media Analysis | 197 | ||
Quantitative Data Analysis | 197 | ||
Secondary Sources | 198 | ||
Index | 199 |