Products>The Four Dilemmas of the CEO: Mastering the make-or-break moments in every executive’s career

The Four Dilemmas of the CEO: Mastering the make-or-break moments in every executive’s career

Publisher:
, 2017
ISBN: 9781472946867
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Overview

Momentum is your greatest ally – with it you can do anything, without it you will stall. As CEO you hate surprises, especially the kind that undermines momentum - yours or the organization you lead.

Every CEO's journey is unique. However, there exists a very predictable, but previously unknown pattern: the CEO life cycle. The Four Dilemmas of the CEO outlines the common challenges that every CEO will face during their tenure, irrespective of geography or industry. Once understood, action can be taken to break through these glass ceilings that cause CEOs to get stuck in the business, while their mandate for working on the business is continually diverted.

Framed within the life cycle of a CEO, the Four Dilemmas are:

1. You're in charge of everything, but cannot completely trust anything.
2. You know that today's executive cannot deliver tomorrow's results.
3. How do you engage the full capability of your executive on the business when their reputations were earned working in the business?
4. At what point does the price of remaining personally relevant outweigh your other options?

In the first book to focus on the life cycle of a CEO, the authors draw on decades of international experience, both as former CEOs and trusted advisers, to show every executive how to recognize and anticipate the individual dilemmas, master them, and accelerate through them.

The book outlines the common challenges that every CEO will face during their tenure and when to expect them.

Author networks – 20+ years of working with CEOs and major businesses means there is a network of engaged endorsers and supporters (globally). Although both authors are American, Tom Biesinger has lived in the UK for over 25 years, and the clients they've worked with have been global. Case studies and interviews will be tailored to ensure appeal across borders – including US, European and Asian examples.
Potential media campaign driven by Stern in the US
Web presence for the book – organized by the authors, and featuring a 360-degree assessment tool for executives (based on their consulting and coaching work), branded in conjunction with the book.
Includes a foreword by Clayton Christensen

1. Introducing the CEO life cycle
2. The First Dilemma
3. The Second Dilemma
4. The Third Dilemma
5. The Fourth Dilemma
6. It's your call

Notes
Glossary of Terms
Index

If you insist on remaining a CEO, then do yourself a favor and read this book. It will reveal the dilemmas you will face during your tenure, provide you sage advice on how to overcome them, and help you achieve sustainable success.

The authors' breadth of experience in both consulting and operations make them uniquely qualified to discuss the many challenges that the CEOs of today face. This will be an enlightening read for current CEOs and anyone who will someday have the challenging opportunity of leading a business or charitable organization.

I think every CEO and aspiring CEO should read this book. They will learn from it and be challenged. It presents an insightful and compelling framework on how to be a CEO from day one to retirement.

If only I could have read this book years ago, I could avoided many of the mistakes I made in my years as a CEO. Even when I eventually got things to the right place, I could have reached the destination much sooner and on a straighter path.

First and foremost, a CEO must be a leader. The definition of a leader is one who changes the status quo. The writings contained herein relate to the fundamental missions of a CEO regarding leadership qualities and ethics. A great read indeed.

Pocket genie, private playbook, counsellors on call. These guys get it! Don't let the title throw you, The Four Dilemmas of the CEO's reach and relevance extends to all - from captains of industry to every level of leader rising through the ranks of every organisation. This book will change your perspective toward every day interactions - contextualising work, informing strategy and enabling momentum. The Four Dilemmas of the CEO speaks with a reassuring and selfless authenticity, something sorely lacking in this genre.

Don't be put off by the title, this book is for everyone interested in leadership and the noble pursuit of growing a successful business. This book will grip, challenge and enlighten you in equal measure. Understanding these four dilemmas will help business leaders everywhere in building great places to work.

This is not your normal business book as the authors take the reader on a journey of relevance – with an unusual degree of hard-hitting clarity and honesty rarely found elsewhere. Nothing is held back and it is truly a gift for anyone who aspires to lead and create extraordinary teams – and accelerate the very personal journey along the way!

This book offers a thought-provoking structure for my challenge of succeeding a retiring CEO. I believe its easy-to-access content will help to ensure that my future as a CEO, and the future of our company, is the best it can be. The power of this book is not solely in the identification of the four dilemmas, but in the practical way that it helps you to identify and relate to these dilemmas and ultimately give you the confidence to plan a path to success. As I read I felt that the authors did more than understand the dilemmas, they understood me.

Whether you are the CEO, aspire to be a CEO, or work for the guy who works for the CEO, the content of this book is as insightful as it is practical. It has definitely informed the way I look at delivering "The Agenda” for the business and I know it will shape the way I work for leaders and as a leader.

The Four Dilemmas of the CEO is a captivating read. The authors are clearly seasoned consultants, and have successfully consolidated decades of experience into a concise book that articulates the key inflection points in the life of a CEO, and then set about to provide the tools required to navigate and master these opportunities.

Throughout the book there are frameworks (organizational quotient's, breakthrough readiness indicators, talent magnets, momentum mirror – to name a few) along with critical questions that help the reader to understand where they are within the CEO life-cycle.

Whether you are a seasoned CEO, an aspiring CEO, or just someone that wants to gain in-depth insight into the world of a CEO – The Four Dilemmas of the CEO is a must read.

A fascinating read. The book takes a new, sometimes challenging but always thoughtful perspective on the key issues facing any leader of an organisation. And the solutions offered feel direct, honest and real. It made me think about decisions I had made in the past, and re-think a few I will have to make in the future too.

As a young Managing Director of a large organization, this book felt like it was written just for me. It is the ideal handbook for every aspiring leader as it addresses the key issues executives face in today's ever changing work environment. Reading the book was not just an enlightening experience but immediately applicable. I highly recommend it.

The lessons inside are not only important for the CEOs of mature companies, but are crucial for startup CEOs. This book outlines the predictable challenges that all CEOs will face during their careers, and will help startup CEOs establish a powerful framework for building their companies and careers upon a foundation rooted in true leadership and innovation. I have already begun using the authors' experiences and deep insights to help our portfolio company CEOs properly assemble their teams and rapidly scale their models to tackle some of the world's most difficult problems.

I read this book while on a career break from a 25 year career in the energy industry. As I read through The Four Dilemmas of the CEO I kept getting flashbacks to various situations I have faced on boards and in leadership teams over the years. I revisited successes and failures and saw them in a new light, realising how perhaps some of those mistakes could have been avoided. For instance, focussing on loyalty and only then competence in building a core team is great advice.
I found this book a very easy read and one I would dip into again and again going forward. I believe this book is relevant not just to CEOs but to all leaders or aspiring leaders of business units large and small.

As a private equity investor who has worked with numerous CEOs, I found myself applying the lessons of The Four Dilemmas to various leaders I've known. This book contains powerful insights concerning the CEO life cycle that will be an important navigational guide for CEOs, board members and investors. In particular, I recommend this book for all PE investors to help you be a more effective partner to the CEOs in whom you invest.

Having been a CFO working with CEOs and then Chairman and CEO of my own Public firm, I really see each of the four dilemmas at work. The authors capture each one in a clear, concise manner and provide practical tests to recognise where you are and where you are going. If the advice herein is followed, the results will be dramatic! Gaining genuine alignment, focusing the organization on building top line momentum and learning to focus on the critical business levers are all transformational lessons!

Management fads come and go. Many writers of management literature are eager to present the latest and greatest theory that will transform your business. I find The Four Dilemmas of the CEO refreshingly different in that we hear from seasoned professionals sharing their wisdom and insights based on years of experience summarised through a simple model highlighting the typical dilemmas a CEO faces at various stages of his/her tenure, and how to deal with them. I really enjoyed the very personal yet no-nonsense style. Short on theory, but packed with practical advice and easily applicable models it is a valuable and quick read. This book is not just for present and future CEOs but also for other leaders who must establish an agenda, assemble a team, deliver breakthrough results - and renew and reinvent themselves.

The Four Dilemmas of the CEO provides a critical roadmap for any CEO looking to prove their worth, establishing best practice from experienced professionals on the timing of priorities to ensure that they focus on the right things at the right time. It also delivers an innovative model of when to focus 'in' the business versus when to focus 'on' the business. Supported by good examples, I found this to be highly engaging and definitely one that I will be recommending to current and future CEOs in my network.

Tom Biesinger, Ross Wall and Clifford Herbertson are founding partners of Teallach, an exclusive consulting firm that works with mid-large cap CEOs, their boards and executive committees. They specialize in shaping executives and creating breakthrough organizations through the application of their specialized and experience-based skill set to help unlock the true 'human capital' potential of an organization.

Tom, Ross and Clifford have each lived and worked extensively in the Americas, Australasia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East; developed their own business portfolios; and been intimately involved, as peers and advisors, at the senior-most levels of industry. Using their 'human capital' predictive analytics, they have brought disruption, transparency and breakthrough to the areas of retail, technology, communications, healthcare and financial services, to name just a few. As seasoned professionals, whose knowledge has been forged in the crucible of experience, they offer decades of learned, refined, practised and proven methodologies, tools and insights, applicable to executives everywhere.

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