Winning the Long Game: How Strategic Leaders Shape the Future

by Steve Krupp Narrated by Walter Dixon

Overview

Are you winning the battle but losing the war? Every leader has to deliver the goods-make budget, meet deadlines, and deftly manage people-to provide the inspirational fuel that keeps their business running day-in and day-out. But therein lies the danger of winning today's battle and losing the war-that is the long game of creating sustainable value in a volatile, uncertain world that is becoming ever-more complex and ambiguous. The number one business challenge-is winning the long game by being more strategic; developing the skills to look outside the four walls of the organization and see the world from the future back. Steven Krupp and Paul J. H. Schoemaker bridge the gap between what many see as the separate domains of strategy and leadership to show how to develop the discipline of strategic leadership in a world of growing uncertainty. Pragmatic to the core, Winning the Long Game creates vivid insights into the discipline of strategic leadership by applying it systemically through personal portraits of successful business leaders. The book profiles Elon Musk, Richard Branson, and Sara Blakely, as well as world-renowned figures like Pope Francis, Oprah Winfrey, and Nelson Mandela. What makes these strategic leaders successful is highlighted by contrasting them with others who are either mediocre or outright failures. Winning the Long Game is the must-have playbook for every leader and for any manager seeking to be become more strategic in today's topsy-turvy world.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

09/29/2014
Krupp and Schoemaker, CEO and founder of the consulting firm Decision Strategies International, respectively, have assembled a cogent, inspiring guide to what constitutes a strategic leader—and how readers can be strategic in their own lives. The narrative centers on a hypothetical employee, Jane, who suffers through an all-too-familiar performance review, as she is encouraged to “be more strategic” with no guidance as to what that means or how she should accomplish it. Having established the problem of vague, ambiguous guidance, the authors come to the rescue with a clear, executable breakdown of the disciplines of leadership. These include anticipating change through understanding your market, challenging assumptions, interpreting data, making tough decisions, aligning the interests and incentives of stakeholders, and learning from both success and failure. Krupp and Schoemaker provide plenty of case studies, from Elon Musk to Pope Francis. Most valuably, this highly readable book focuses on the nuts and bolts of each discipline, guiding readers on how to import the lessons learned into their own lives. (Dec.)

From the Publisher

"Krupp and Schoemaker...have assembled a cogent, inspiring guide to what constitutes a strategic leader—and how readers can be strategic in their own lives... this highly readable book focuses on the nuts and bolts of each discipline, guiding readers on how to import the lessons learned into their own lives."—Publishers Weekly

"This painstakingly researched and thoroughly enjoyable book offers lessons and insight that today's leaders would be wise to apply in their pursuit of future success." —Thomas J. Ridge, former Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

"Compelling and useful...This important book combining strategy and leadership makes it one of a kind."—Raghu Krishnamoorthy, vice president, executive development, and chief learning officer, General Electric

“I am inspired by this book to rethink my own approach both to strategy and to leadership. It combines the two in a most convincing way. The six basic disciplines of strategic leadership is exactly the framework I need to challenge my board to think and act strategically”—Lars Kolind, Chairman of the Board of Jacob Jensen Design and DeTao Master of Leadership and Strategy in China

“I loved the anecdotes, from so many angles. Finally a book on strategic leadership that is grounded in real word situations!”—Jean Pierre Garnier, Chairman of the Board, Actelion; Operating Partner, Advent International; Retired Chief Executive Officer, GlaxoSmithKline

“A captivating case for strategic leadership, thinking broadly and acting decisively.”—Michael Useem, Professor of Management and Director of the Center for Leadership and Change at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

“Highly engaging...a must read for any strategic leader and those aspiring to be one.”—Gerard van Grinsven, CEO of Cancer Treatment Centers of America

“Masterful...we learn why—and learn how to cope more effectively with a Black-Swan/Gray-Swan world."—Philip E. Tetlock, Annenberg University Professor, Psychology Deptartment and Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

"A practical playbook for senior and high potential leaders to increase their strategic aptitude and business impact."—William Strahan: EVP Human Resources, Comcast Cable

“Weaves keen insights about strategic leadership, fun stories, and very practical tips into a power packed narrative sure to raise any leaders game."—Fred Krupp, President, Environmental Defense Fund

Kirkus Reviews

2014-10-09
A nondescript business book advocating strategic thinking in a time of VUCA, militarese for "an environment of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity," coined to describe a post-Cold War world of known knowns, known unknowns and so forth.For Krupp and Schoemaker (Brilliant Mistakes: Finding Success on the Far Side of Failure, 2011, etc.), executives in Decision Strategies International—for which this book is a transparent calling card—that describes the world of business as well. Much of the authors' advice is obvious: A strategic leader hires people who "think outside the box," looks at a variety of data in a variety of ways and then interprets those data rather than selects them to fit pre-existing theories or policies, and learns from failure. The book is most useful in its choices of examples: Donald Trump and Lee Iacocca may wait in the wings, but Oprah Winfrey and Nelson Mandela are on center stage, while the authors' case studies include everything from George Bush's misguided "mission accomplished" meshugas to Microsoft's near-catastrophic failure to divine the advent of the online world. On the latter score, the authors wisely observe, "[o]nce a company becomes the master of its own universe, as Microsoft was with respect to operating-system software, seeing new developments in adjacent markets becomes harder." More useful, but not plentiful enough, are more extensive discussions on failures and successes. Regarding the former, a solid example was the dismal rollout of the Obama administration's healthcare.gov, which serves as a textbook example of "dysfunctional dynamics….lack of teamwork at the beginning undermined the healthcare reform that the Obama administration considers one of its seminal achievements." For the CEO, actual or aspiring, who hasn't yet lived and thought through strategic forecasting and problem-solving—no worse than most business books but nothing outside the box, either.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171474959
Publisher:	Ascent Audio
Publication date:	01/01/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged

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