Hacking Leadership The 11 Gaps Every Business Needs to Close and the Secrets to Closing Them Quickly

Hacking Leadership is Mike Myatt's latest leadership book written for leaders at every level. Leadership isn't broken, but how it's currently being practiced certainly is. Everyone has blind spots. The purpose of Hacking Leadership is to equip leaders at every level with an actionable framework to identify blind spots and close leadership gaps. The bulk of the book is based on actionable, topical leadership and management hacks to bridge eleven gaps every business needs to cross in order to create a culture of leadership: leadership, purpose, future, mediocrity, culture, talent, knowledge, innovation, expectation, complexity, and failure. Each chapter: 

• Gives readers specific techniques to identify, understand, and most importantly, implement individual, team and organizational leadership hacks.
• Addresses blind spots and leverage points most leaders and managers haven?t thought about, which left unaddressed, will adversely impact growth, development, and performance. All leaders have blind-spots (gaps), which often go undetected for years or decades, and sadly, even when identified the methods for dealing with them are outdated and ineffective ? they need to be hacked.
• Showcases case studies from the author?s consulting practice, serving as a confidant with more than 150 public company CEOs. Some of those corporate clients include: AT&T, Bank of America, Deloitte, EMC, Humana, IBM, JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, PepsiCo, and other leading global brands.  

Hacking Leadership offers a fresh perspective that makes it easy for leaders to create a roadmap to identify, refine, develop, and achieve their leadership potential--and to create a more effective business that is financially solvent and professionally desirable. 

Prologue xi

Chapter 1: Hacking the Leadership Gap 1

Overview—The Commoditization of Leadership 1

The Leadership Gap Defined 3

Hacking the Control Gap 5

The Awareness Gap—Finding the Blind Spots 7

The Key to Clarity—White Space 8

Hacking the Status Quo 11

Hacking the Preparation Gap 13

Chapter 2 Hacking the Purpose Gap 17

Following in the Footsteps of Greatness—The Movement Hack 20

Individual Purpose—Hacking the Purpose Continuum 21

Hacking the Pursuit Gap 24

Hacking the Passion Gap 26

Finding Organizational Purpose Begins with Hacking Why 28

Hacking the Profit Gap 28

Chapter 3 Hacking the Future Gap 33

How to See around Corners—Hacking the Vision Gap 35

To Hack the Future You Must Have Clear Perspective on the Past 36

To Hack the Future You Must Understand How to Navigate the Present 37

Hacking the New Normal 38

Great Leaders Hack the Future by Pulling it Forward 40

Hacking Generational Complexity 42

Chapter 4 Hacking the Mediocrity Gap 45

Hacking the Impulsivity Gap 48

Hacking the Impossibility Gap 50

Hacking the Safety Gap 52

Hacking Political Correctness 54

Chapter 5 Hacking the Culture Gap 57

Hacking the Gap between Strategy and Culture 58

The Right Foundation—Hacking the Culture Construct 60

Hacking the Management Construct 61

Hacking the Scarcity Gap 62

Hacking the Courage Gap 64

Hacking the Arrogance Gap 65

Hacking the Rumor Mill 67

Hacking Diversity 70

Hacking Scalability 73

Hacking the Me Too Gap—Don’t Copy, Create 75

Chapter 6 Hacking the Talent Gap 79

Hacking the Trust Gap 79

Hacking the Loyalty Gap 83

Hacking the Four Dimensions of Talent 86

Hacking the Hiring Gap 89

Hacking the Definition Gap 93

Hacking the Quality Gap—Supply versus Demand 96

Hacking the Consensus Gap 97

Hacking the One-Size-Doesn’t-Fit-All Gap 103

Hacking the Pressure Gap 104

Hacking the Turnover Gap 106

Chapter 7 Hacking the Knowledge Gap 111

Hacking Static Thinking 112

Hacking the Decision Gap 115

Hacking the Competency Gap 119

Hacking the Learning Gap 121

Hacking the Reading Gap 123

Hacking the Communication Gap 126

Hacking the Sensitivity Gap 131

Hacking the Story 134

Hacking Verbosity 136

Chapter 8 Hacking the Innovation Gap 139

Hacking the Idea Trap—What Innovation is Not 140

Hacking the Change Gap 142

Hacking the Gap between Incremental and Disruptive 145

Hacking the Next Level 148

Hacking the Competition 150

Hacking the Flexibility Gap 153

Chapter 9 Hacking the Expectation Gap 155

Hacking the Alignment Gap 156

Hacking the Discipline Gap 158

Chapter 10 Hacking the Complexity Gap 161

Hacking Complexity 162

Hacking Smart 163

Chapter 11 Hacking the Failure Gap 167

Hacking Perfection 168

Hacking a Defensive Mind-set 170

Hacking Succession 172

Final Thoughts 177

Hacking Your Family Life 178

Hacking Apathy 180

Hacking the Excuse Gap 180

About the Author 183

Index 185

MIKE MYATT is the CEO of N2growth, a global leader in providing leadership development services to Fortune 500 companies. He is widely regarded as America's Top CEO Coach, the author of Leadership Matters, and a Forbes Leadership Columnist. Mike Myatt is one of the world's most respected authorities on leadership, having been recognized by Thinkers50 and other organizations as one of today's preeminent leadership thinkers, and his theories and practices have been taught at many of the nation's top business schools. Mr. Myatt has worked directly with more than 150 public company CEOs and his representative corporate clients include: AT&T, Bank of America, Deloitte, EMC, Humana, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, McGraw-Hill, Merrill Lynch, PepsiCo, and other leading global brands. Mr. Myatt also frequently lectures and keynotes on the topic of leadership. If you're interested in contacting him, you can email him at info@n2growth.com, follow him on Twitter @MikeMyatt, or find more information on his company website at www.n2growth.com.