The Prepared Mind of a Leader: Eight Skills Leaders Use to Innovate, Make Decisions, and Solve Problems - Hardcover

by Bill Welter (Author), Jean Egmon (Author)

Thinking to stay ahead of change

In a complex business climate, people need to make informed decisions and learn how to think flexibly. A leader's most important asset is the ability to sense changes in the environment and adapt to them quickly. The Prepared Mind of a Leader presents an original and effective way to think more flexibly about innovation, strategy, change, and problem solving. It helps leaders anticipate challenges and prepare for both the intended and unintended consequences of change by laying out a program for developing, maintaining, and mobilizing eight key skills: Observing, Challenging, Reflecting, Reasoning, Imagining, Deciding, Learning, and Teaching. These skills provide a framework that the thoughtful leader or manager can use to approach issues of strategy, innovation, and more. Chapters feature interactive tools that will help readers develop each of the key skills.

Bill Welter (Bartlett, IL) is President of Adaptive Strategies, a consulting firm focused on helping clients in a wide range of industries to deal with change. Jean Egmon (Wilmette, IL) is Director of the Complexity in Action Network and on the faculty at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Front Jacket

In today's complex business climate, people--no matter what their role in the organization--need to make informed decisions and learn how to think flexibly.

A leader's most important asset is the ability to anticipate changes in the environment and adapt to them quickly. The Prepared Mind of a Leader presents an original and effective way to think more flexibly about innovation, strategy, change, and problem solving. Throughout the book, the authors include triggers for exploring how these ideas apply to an organization's unique circumstances. The Prepared Mind of a Leader helps readers prepare for the future by laying out a program for developing, maintaining, and mobilizing the key mental skills that define Prepared Mind leadership. These eight skills can be applied in a wide range of settings, from large-scale organizations to small entrepreneurial firms:

Observing--search out confirming and non-confirming information about your world view

Reasoning--clearly explain why you are following a course of action

Imagining--visualize new ideas for your company's policies and practices

Challenging--question your organization's assumptions and test their validity

Deciding--make or influence decisions that will propel action to progress

Learning--master the information you need to keep you moving forward

Enabling--offer the people around you the knowledge, means, and opportunities to progress

Reflecting--invest time thinking abouttrade-offs and the consequences of those trade-offs that result from our decisions

These skills provide a framework that the thoughtful leader or manager can use to approach issues of strategy and innovation. The authors also show how to develop the skills further and apply them in everyday life.

Back Jacket

Praise for The Prepared Mind of a Leader

"The Prepared Mind of a Leader provided me a road map for thinking more deeply, differently, and effectively across a wide array of issues. It will be impossible to read this book without coming away with several practical concepts and tools that can be applied immediately."
--Neal Kulick, vice president, Global Talent Management, McDonald's Corporation

"Easy to read and understand, this book offers leaders at all levels practical tools and a newway to think about leadership that will help you survive, and even thrive, as a leader."
--Jon Peters, president, The Institute for Management Studies

"Anyone running a business, a team, a work group, or simply trying to better manage his or her life will benefit from The Prepared Mind of a Leader. It's a great model for accelerating leadership readiness in today's hypercompetitive markets."
--Thomas A. Gebhardt, president, Panasonic Factory Solutions Company

"For leaders who need to unleash the human capital locked within their organizations, this insightful and pragmatic read offers realistic solutions to these universal issues."
--Jon Atchue, vice president human resources, REXAM Beverage Can North America

"The Prepared Mind of a Leader is the best kind of business book--it provides a timely and practical framework for how to think, not what to think. This is a must-read for the next generation of leaders, and those who are preparing them to lead."
--Clark Callahan, executive director, Tuck Executive Education, Dartmouth

"Welter and Egmon have identified key skill-building exercises for strengthening your leadership effectiveness. Like athletes who train to build muscle memory, these repetitions build the Prepared Mind muscles. The authors show you how to do it using behavior-based theories that lead to practical workouts."
--William J. White, retired chairman and CEO, the Bell and Howell Company, and professor, Northwestern University

Author Biography

Bill Welter is the managing director of Adaptive Strategies (MindPrep.com), a firm specializing in business education and consulting. He has more than thirty-five years of varied military, engineering, consulting, and teaching experience.

Jean Egmon is a faculty member in managerial economics and decision sciences at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and director of the Complexity in Action Network at Northwestern. She is also the president of Third Angle, Inc. (Third-Angle.com)