Leadership, yes, but what for?
- publish258
- Feb 7, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: May 22
New book from Patrick Faniel, chief executive of Management Centre Europe, about how leaders can choose the right three drivers to outperform
What now determines stand-out performance and a clear sense of identity in organizations? Beyond the essentials of profit and impact, leaders have as many twelve drivers to pursue, says Patrick Faniel in his new book, What Leadership is For.
Too often, leaders choose to give equal weight to them all. However, their organizations are likely to end up being lost in the middle and suffering from a lack of identity, he says.
‘Their intentions as leaders fail to cascade. Everyone’s sense of direction varies. Customers aren’t sure what to expect.’
‘Instead, the best performers in today’s complex and volatile conditions commit to three drivers at most. Everyone then knows what the organization is about, whether it is digital, efficiency or inclusivity.’
In the book, he discusses how leaders can align their organizations around each of these twelve drivers. In a series of clear, easy-to-implement models, he highlights the potential for those who focus to create a distinctive sense of purpose and to inspire stand-out performance.
For him, there is no right way to lead. No judgments are being made. Instead, his book takes on the challenge of moving beyond leadership as standard and choosing the right model for the organization that you want to become.
‘It’s an inspiring and modern way to see leadership’, says Jaime de Pinies, former lead economist, World Bank and former head of research, Santander Investment. For a former deputy director of the Global Health Initiative, Constance Kramer, it gives ‘a clear and insightful perspective on what leadership should be today’.
In conditions as volatile and complex as they are today for leaders, ‘Faniel’s model shares some great insights and and keys to unlock performance’, says the founder of the East Africa HR Symposium, Emily Kamunde-Osaro.
• ‘What Leadership is For: Identifying the three drivers for stand-out performance’, Patrick Faniel, Novaro Publishing, 8th February 2024, ISBN: 978-1-7398640-6-4. See here for more details.
