Elephant in the Room: How Relationships Make or Break the Success of Leaders and Organizations How Relationships Make or Break the Success of Leaders and Organizations

A systematic look at how relationships determine the success of leaders and their enterprises, along with tools to help strengthen and change them

Since time immemorial, relationships have determined the fate of leaders. But today they are more critical to success than ever. No longer can leaders count on long time horizons or sloppy competition to make up for the inefficiencies that poor relationships create. Leaders must make decisions and take actions quickly and well with others, even those with whom they share very little-perhaps not even a time zone. This new world puts relationships at the center of what leaders must understand and master to succeed.
* Uses in-depth observational studies and clinical research to explore how relationships at the top of organizations work, develop, and change
* Shows how to understand, strengthen, and transform these relationships, so they can withstand the most intense pressures and conflicts

This important book features a Foreword by Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline.

Over two decades worth of clinical research on relationships among leaders at the top of organizations across sectors and geographies reveals that relationships may be the single most underutilized lever for accelerating the growth of leaders and their organizations. The purpose of this book is to give leaders and those charged with helping leadersconsultants, coaches, HR folks, academics, and interventioniststhe tools they need to build (or to help build) relationships that accelerate and sustain the growth of leaders and their firms. By focusing on how relationships work, develop, and change, Relationships at the Top gives leaders and those charged with helping them a navigational system with which to see and traversewith far greater intelligencethat often unpredictable and sometimes even treacherous terrain called relationships.

A systematic look at how relationships determine the success of leaders and their enterprises, along with tools to help strengthen and change them Since time immemorial, relationships have determined the fate of leaders. But today they are more critical to success than ever. No longer can leaders count on long time horizons or sloppy competition to make up for the inefficiencies that poor relationships create. Leaders must make decisions and take actions quickly and well with others, even those with whom they share very little?perhaps not even a time zone. This new world puts relationships at the center of what leaders must understand and master to succeed. Uses in-depth observational studies and clinical research to explore how relationships at the top of organizations work, develop, and change Shows how to understand, strengthen, and transform these relationships, so they can withstand the most intense pressures and conflicts This important book features a Foreword by Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline.