Unnatural Leadership: Going Against Intuition and Experience to Develop Ten New Leadership Instincts

Foreword ix
Stephen H. Rhinesmith

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction 1

Part One: The Importance of Unnatural Leadership

1 Ten Unnatural Acts 11

Exercise: Assessing Your Unnatural Leadership 29

2 Adapting to an Increasingly Unnatural Environment 31

Exercise: Breaking the Rules of Natural Leadership 46

3 Resistance Factors 47

Exercise: Assessing Your Resistance to Unnatural Leadership 66

Part Two: Personal Challenges for the Unnatural Leader

4 Refuse to Be a Prisoner of Experience 71

Exercise: Refusing to Be a Prisoner of Experience 86

5 Expose Your Vulnerabilities 89

Exercise: Exposing Your Vulnerabilities 102

6 Acknowledge Your Shadow Side 107

Exercise: Acknowledging Your Shadow Side 122

7 Develop a Right-Versus-Right Decision-Making Mentality 125

Exercise: A Tool for Developing an Unnatural Decision-Making Mentality 137

Part Three: Leading Teams as an Unnatural Leader

8 Create Teams That Create Discomfort 141

Exercise: Creating Teams That Create Discomfort 158

9 Trust Others Before They Earn It 161

Exercise: Trusting Others Before They Earn It 174

10 Coach and Teach Rather Than Lead and Inspire 177

Exercise: Coaching and Teaching Rather Than Leading and Inspiring 188

Part Four: Leading the Organization as an Unnatural Leader

11 Connect Instead of Create 193

Exercise: Connecting Instead of Creating 206

12 Give Up Some Control 209

Exercise: Giving Up Some Control 221

13 Challenge the Conventional Wisdom 225

Exercise: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom 239

14 Giving Yourself Unnatural Options 243

Bibliography 251

Index 257

About the Authors 267