 | The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success, 2nd Edition |
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Product Description
After the thrill of promotion to an executive position comes the sobering reality of just how difficult it is to succeed at this level-and how hard it can be to find help. Some 40 percent of new executives don't last 18 months. Why do so many employees with strong track records derail when promoted to the executive suite? In The Next Level, Scott Eblin draws on 20 years of experience as a leader and executive coach to identify why new executives fail, and offers a practical program for achieving success. Rising executives must understand that the strengths and actions that drove their career progress at lower levels-such as technical prowess-will not necessarily sustain their success as executives. They need to pick up new behaviors and beliefs, and, more important, let go of old ones.
- Amazon Sales Rank: #4382 in Books
- Published on: 2010-10-19
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 240 pages
Review
There are a lot of books out there on leadership but what sets this one apart is the approach. Scott Eblin isn't just talking fluff, he's sharing real-world advice from his experience and the experience of those who've been there in order to help you learn from their combined wisdom. Don't pass it by. The Next Level is a vital resource for you and your team. (Keith Ferrazzi, #1 NY Times bestselling author of Who's Got Your Back and Never Eat Alone )
Marshall Goldsmith, world-renowned executive coach and author of the New York Times bestsellers, MOJO and What Got You Here Won't Get You There (Marshall Goldsmith, world-renowned executive coach and author of the New York Times bestsellers, MOJO and What Got You Here Won )
Scott Eblin's book crystallizes the crucial challenges and opportunities leaders face as they advance in an organization. More importantly, Scott provides an outstanding roadmap for navigating specifically what rising leaders need to add to their repertoire, and what they need to let go of as they progress. Scott uses his extensive coaching experience and the experience of successful leaders to show clearly what it takes to get to The Next Level. (Kerry Bessey, Executive Vice President of Human Resources, Time Inc. )
The principles, values, and advice presented in The Next Level have been totally integrated into our company's approach to leadership development. The book is full of practical, simple, and immediately applicable concepts, tools, and frameworks that address the real-world opportunities and challenges facing our executive leaders. (Donna Morea, President, U.S., Europe, and Asia, CGI )
Scott Eblin delivers clear, precise, and practical advice to senior leaders across industries who want to be on top of their game. His deep experience and long time coaching practice enable insights that will resonate and recommendations that can be put into practice immediately! (Beverly Kaye, founder/CEO of Career Systems International, co-editor of Learn Like a Leader and co-author of Love 'Em or Lose 'Em: Getting Good People to Stay )
From the Publisher
After the thrill of promotion to an executive position comes the sobering reality of just how difficult it is to succeed at this level--and how hard it can be to find help. Some 40 percent of new executives don't last 18 months. A failed senior-level hire can cost a company up to $2.7 million. Why do so many employees with strong track records derail when promoted to the executive suite? In THE NEXT LEVEL, Scott Eblin draws on 20 years of experience as a leader and executive coach to identify why new executives fail and offers a practical program for achieving success.
Eblin sat down for one-on-one interviews with some thirty executives from many of America's leading organizations, including Avon, Capital One, Clear Channel, Northrop Grumman, and Sprint. In his book, he shares these insiders' personal stories, including how they stumbled--then succeeded--in their transition to the next level of leadership.
Rising executives must understand that the strengths and actions that drove their career progress at lower levels, such as technical prowess, will not necessarily sustain their success as executives. Eblin's bottom-line message to new leaders: What got you there won't keep you there. You must learn new beliefs and behaviors and, more importantly, let go of old ones--even though they've driven your success up until now.
Beyond Eblin's tactical advice, he provides a framework for transformational behavior and thinking--for creating executive presence, the confidence that is critical for success. THE NEXT LEVEL is essential for corporate leaders who have just been promoted to or are on track for the executive level, as well as any executive who needs a refresher.
From the Inside Flap
Some 40 percent of new executives fail within eighteen months of their promotion. What goes wrong, and how can you ensure that you succeed in the executive ranks?
To be an effective executive, you need to know that what drove your progress at lower levels will not necessarily sustain your future success. You must adopt new ways of thinking and acting, and, more important, let go of old ways. Succeeding as an executive requires undergoing a transformational experience unlike any other in one's career. THE NEXT LEVEL provides the framework for achieving this transformation.
Author Scott Eblin, a former Fortune 500 HR executive turned executive coach, identifies what separates success from failure for new executives as well as for more experienced professionals who could be even better. Drawing on more than twenty years of experience working with new and seasoned executives, he identifies nine key sets of behaviors and beliefs that rising executives must pick up and let go of to succeed at the next level. To illustrate these, he provides eye-opening interviews with thirty accomplished senior executives, who candidly discuss expectations at the executive level and how they handled their transition. Eblin also provides an effective tool called the Executive Success Plan to get you started and keep you on the right track.
Like having your own personal coach, THE NEXT LEVEL helps you gain the courage and confidence to let go of behaviors that no longer serve you while picking up new ones that will. Eblin's clear, practical advice--reinforced by counsel from executives who have made it--will help you achieve a successful transition to the executive level.
Most helpful customer reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
By D. B. Crawford
As an executive coach, I really like Scott's book. I have successfully used it as a reference with clients . Overall it is an easy read with a simple and applicable framework. I think it is one of those books you could give an exec and she/he would actually read it and would be able to apply it. It is tough to find a book that has enough substance but won't overwhelm a casual reader. This one fits the bill.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
By NoVa Exec
After reading through countless leadership and management books over the years (and trying to get all of this right in my career), it is great to finally see someone release a book that is practical and provides insight into the leadership qualities that are critical, but not so obvious. This book is less theory, and more leadership-action oriented. It is about time someone did this!
This is a very good book that is well written and a joy to read. I like the way the author compares and contrasts what leadership should do and shouldn't do, as well as draw distinctions such as responsibility vs. accountability (a subtle delineation, but very important).
I recommend this book for anyone who has poured through dozens of leadership books and has lost faith that all new leadership books talk about the same thing - this one does not, and will give you new leadership tools for your arsenal. Also, for those just starting their careers, this is a must read.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
By Robert Morris
Business careers proceed from one level to the next and these levels are frequently identified by titles, with CEO being the highest. What intrigued me about Scott Eblin's book as I began to read it is that he thinks of a career progression in terms of a series of levels of personal as well as professional development. Obviously, he agrees with Marshall Goldsmith (author of What Got You Here Won't Get You There) that new opportunities are accompanied by new challenges. Therefore, the ascending executive must leverage her or his strengths while at the same time abandoning any mindsets, beliefs, and habits that are inadequate, if not self-defeating. According to Eblin, "Through my research, I have defined nine sets of key behaviors and beliefs that executives need to pick up [e.g. `custom-fit' communications] and let go of [e.g. `one-size-fits-all' communications] to succeed. This process of picking up and letting go, I've learned, is central to succeeding at the executive level." He notes that a strength when used to excess can become a weakness. So, the ascending executive must know when and under what conditions she or he is performing best. "Operating from that base of confidence" enables her or him "to have the clarity of thought needed to make smart strategic choices" about what to pick up - and what to leave behind - when advancing into the "unchartered terrain" of the next career level.
In his most recent book, Executive Warfare, David D'Alessandro (former chairman and CEO of John Hancock Financial Services) observes that "the single greatest reason why otherwise talented people get stuck in mid-career is because they believe that the same rules that applied for the first part of their careers still apply. They don't. You have to master a much subtler set of rules. You'll need to learn how to acquire the global perspective your peers lack, when and how to deliver bad news, when to take a shot at your rivals and when to be gracious, and, most important, how to handle the many new influences on your [career] trajectory...Intelligence, imagination, and cunning are all required here - but not underhandedness...I don't believe you need to be devious to succeed. In fact, I think being excessively political is a mistake." The same advice should also be considered by those who aspire to an executive position. For all executives, the rules of engagement change as they proceed into the "unchartered terrain" of the next career level.
The nine sets of key behaviors and beliefs that Eblin examines in his book serve as the framework of what amounts to both a self-assessment and a game plan for executing necessary initiatives. He devotes a separate chapter to each set, providing a checklist ("10 Tips") for consideration and execution at the end of each chapter. Of special interest to me is his discussion of "perspective transference" in Chapter 9, urging his reader to replace an "inside-out" view of her or his current duties and responsibilities with an "outside-in" view of her or his entire organization. "Like so much of the rest of the process of personal development it takes to become an effective executive leader, it can feel strange and uncomfortable to make this shift [as it will with most - if not all - of the others]. As you move from `me' to `us' to `them,' you will find that your comfort level rides as you see the results that come from broadening your field of vision." Many otherwise promising and capable workers suffer from a form of myopia as they impose self-limits on their career opportunities by thinking only in terms of their day-to-day responsibilities. The so-called "picture" is only as large as they can imagine. The idea of proceeding to the next level either never occurs to them or seems highly unlikely, if not impossible. Long ago, Henry Ford responded to such people by suggesting, "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right." Hence the importance of what Eblin calls an Executive Success Plan (ESP)
Presumably the estimate is true that 40% of executives fail within 18 months of their promotion to the next level. The reasons vary, of course, but one of the most common is a failure to leverage the capabilities that led to the promotion while adding other capabilities that include different mindsets as well as new skills (e.g. delegation of authority, performance evaluations). To paraphrase Goldsmith, "What got you here explains why you are here but you need new ways of thinking and acting for your career trajectory to proceed higher." This book will help, as will Goldsmith's and D'Alessandro's. I also highly recommend developing relationships with one or two senior-level executives (preferably not in the same organization) who can serve as a confidante and mentor. Perhaps members of the family, neighbors, other members of a professional association, etc. Hence the importance of formulating what Eblin calls an Executive Success Plan (See pages 195-199 and Appendix A) to maximize the value of obtaining feedback from various sources, including colleagues. Readers are also strongly encouraged to make effective use of the material in Appendix B ("Situation Solutions Guide") in which Eblin identifies some of the most common situations executives find themselves in and matches them with some of the solutions recommended in his book. Well-done!
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