When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven’t.

—THOMAS EDISON

The next step in your journey to great leadership will take place after reading this chapter, when you take the leadership assessment and develop your personal action plan online. Up to this point, we have discussed management and leadership as they apply to high potentials in general. Some concepts aligned with your specific needs, some you had already mastered, and some were not relevant to your current situation. Some concepts may have resonated with you more than others because, consciously or unconsciously, you know which parts of your leadership and management mindsets you would like to enhance and which are serving you well.

The four types of leadership conversations may have felt familiar because you participate in them regularly—or hear them happening at levels above you. You may feel effective in holding some of the four conversations and uncomfortable with others. The intent of the assessment is to measure your management and leadership aptitude in each of the four conversations as the basis for preparing a personal action plan—your personal strategic plan as a high potential.

One common business maxim is, “If it’s not in writing, it doesn’t exist.” So we ask that you capture your thoughts, strategies, actions, and measures of success in writing. We understand that you are busy, so we designed the Internet-based leadership assessment and online tools to help you build your personal action plan efficiently. Your plan will contain actions that are unique to your industry, your position, and your concerns. and will include possibilities that you ordinarily would not have considered. Based on results of the assessment, your plan will be tailored to the leadership and management requirements of your current position and the next higher position.

In general, the assessment applies the following guidelines:

• First-line manager: shows basic understanding of effective management practices and awareness of the need for leadership competencies
• Manager of managers: is proficient in using best management practices to improve performance; consciously uses leadership conversations to motivate people to high performance; coaches and mentors high potentials effectively
• Executive leader: is results driven—management effectiveness is an unconscious competency; is proficient at visioning to create the future and inspiring people to achieve it; consistently demonstrates emotional intelligence
• CXO leader: has established effective management practices and leadership standards across the enterprise in his or her area of responsibility; holds effective leadership conversations across all levels and all topics
• CEO: has a clear vision for the future and a strategy for getting there, and articulates both to stakeholders; consciously builds an organizational culture that embraces high performance standards, ethics, and a leadership mindset

Your leadership assessment will provide guidance on where to focus to become great in your current position and to prepare for the next level. You have a responsibility to everyone in your organization to be the best leader you can be—and should expect the same from others. If you are reading this book with your colleagues or an external group, consider sharing your action plans and mentoring each other. Whom would you trust to mentor or coach you?

Guide to Taking the Leadership Assessment

The leadership assessment will evaluate the degree to which you possess the management and leadership mindsets and skills discussed in this book as appropriate to your current position. In areas where you have mastered the skills needed for your current level, your personal action plan will guide you to develop proficiencies for the next level. If you are not yet fully competent in your current role, we suggest you focus on the skills to reach competence there first. After a few months, retake the assessment and refine the plan for earning your next promotion. Your personal action plan will point you toward areas that will provide high value for you.

Your personal action plan will have two distinct yet interrelated sections that are designed to be developed and implemented concurrently. After you have taken the assessment, the online plan development tool will guide you through preparation of

• Your personal management plan. This is the “doing” plan—what you will do to fulfill your high potential. It focuses on actions you will complete during the next six months or so to leverage your strengths, make improvements in shadow areas, and mitigate your weaknesses. The plan will help you develop the skills, competencies, and techniques you need to be effective as a manager and leader.
• Your personal leadership plan. This is the “being” plan—who you will be in order to fulfill your high potential. It focuses on who you are as a person, a manager, and a leader, and builds your personal brand based on your strengths. In building your brand, you will become clear about yourself, your stakeholders, and the unique value you deliver. This plan zeroes in on what you can do to show up as a powerful leader who connects with, aligns, and inspires followers.

Now that you have a feeling for the value your personal action plan will provide, take the assessment and develop your action plan by following these four steps:

We invite you to communicate with leadership experts, other readers, and us on the website. When you interact with others who face similar leadership challenges, you will be working toward common goals using the same methodology and tools on your quest to become a great leader.

What Comes Next?

You can take your next steps in the journey to becoming a great leader on an individual basis, as part of a group in your organization, in a public forum at myleadershipconversations.com, or in a combination of all three. As you climb the leadership ladder and lead larger and more complex groups of people, you will benefit from these additional resources.

This book enables you to participate in Internet-based leadership conversations with your peers, leadership experts, and us about the challenges and opportunities you face. These conversations will be enhanced because everyone shares a common language. New features, content, and digital tools will be added regularly. As of this writing, the following resources are available on the website:

• Keep the conversations going (public forum). Participation in this forum is structured by topic under the four types of leadership conversation. You can initiate a conversation by asking a question or submitting an article on a topic. You are also encouraged to contribute your knowledge and viewpoints about ongoing topics. Both of these are powerful ways to continue to learn, because people learn by teaching and being open to new ideas. We encourage you to apply the three perspectives of conversation (what matters to you, asking questions of others, and what else is possible) as you participate in the forum.
• Special-interest conversations. Access to the special-interest forum is open to any reader who shares the challenges of the following groups (other groups can be created upon request):
  • Being the chief executive officer (CEO)
  • Leading a government agency
  • Leading a military unit
  • Leading a nonprofit organization
  • Leading an educational institution
• Conversations with experts. In this forum, readers may submit a question to engage a top business strategist, coach, or author. If the expert or other author has not yet participated in a previous strategic question, we will do our best to entice him or her into joining the conversation and discussing his or her views.
• Peer coaching and cross-mentoring (private forum). This forum is a community of high performers working together to ensure that everyone realizes his or her potential. At the time of this writing, this feature is a unique resource. There is a tutorial on how to peer-coach and cross-mentor, and a mechanism to find those who are willing to cross-mentor and peer-coach you on a no-fee basis in a private conversation. You may convene a group of like-minded people or limit the conversation to two people—entry into each group is permission based. You also can offer your expertise to peer-coach or cross-mentor other high potentials.
• Supplemental information. The supplemental information, which is open to all readers, is organized by subtopic within each of the four leadership conversations. It contains materials that augment discussions in the book and enables you to push learning to deeper levels.

We are always open to recommendations to expand the value of the website by adding content or starting new forums. Let us know via email or the website how we can make this resource more valuable and user-friendly for you.

Leadership Coaches and Survey Instruments

In addition to forums, peer coaching, and supplementary materials, the website also identifies professional coaches—many of whom we have worked with personally—who have experience working with the methodologies and concepts in this book. They all have appropriate certifications and first-rate professional reputations. You may want to engage a coach for individual coaching or to facilitate a workshop based on Leadership Conversations.

The website also catalogs leadership survey instruments, 360-degree assessments, and other tools from world-class training organizations. One of the most valuable services that a coach can offer to you and your organization is to conduct a leadership survey or a 360-degree assessment. The results will fuel conversations that are critical to your future. Four words of advice: listen, reflect, learn, and act. Be open to feedback because this openness indicates that you are a learner and have high potential for growth.

A professional coach can assist you in performing better in the short term and reaching your high potential faster than you would otherwise. A coach does not need to know the fine points of your industry—that is the role of a mentor. Instead, a coach’s job is to assist you in becoming aware of your shadows, defining your leadership brand, and acquiring the competencies required to become a great leader.