Leaders Talk Leadership: Top Executives Speak Their Minds - Hardcover

Meredith D. Ashby; Stephen A. Miles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195152832 ISBN 13: 9780195152838

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2002

Synopsis

Leaders Talk Leadership is an impressive collection of interviews with some of the world's most respected corporate leaders and management scholars. Edited by Ashby and Miles of the preeminent executive search firm Heidrick and Struggles, this compilation of thought leadership spanning industries and geographies addresses the key issues facing executives today such as governance, leadership and strategy, how to lead in volatile times or through a corporate transformation, how to best leverage human capital and how to achieve competitive advantage in today's environment. Some of the CEO's featured in the book include Ken Chenault, of American Express, Steve Reinemund of PepsiCo, Heinrich von Pierer of Siemens, Ken Lewis of Bank of America, Edward Tian of China Netcom, Fred Smith of FedEx, Hank McKinnell of Pfizer, A.G. Lafley of Proctor and Gamble, Klaus Zumwinkel of Deutsche Post World Net, William Haseltine of Human Genome Sciences, Linda Sanford of IBM, Larry Weinbach of Unisys and Michael Dell of Dell Computer. Framing these cutting-edge concepts are interviews and written essays by preeminent academics, including Jay Conger from London Business School, Jim Collins of Good to Great, Mohanbir Sawhney of Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford University. Serving as the line executive's roadmap to recruiting, retaining and developing talent and an encyclopedia of MBA students worldwide, this book represents path-breaking leadership perspectives from path-breaking leaders.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

How do leaders lead in times of crisis or instability? What gives companies competitive advantage? How do companies identify, attract, develop, and retain the best and brightest? These are some of the questions that Heidrick & Struggles’ Business Analysts Meredith D. Ashby and Stephen A. Miles sought to answer as they conducted interviews with hundreds of CEOs, senior managers, corporate leaders, financiers, academics, and management and leadership experts.

A who’s who of the global economy, Leaders Talk Leadership is the result of their unprecedented efforts. This compendium of leadership perspectives, the first-ever to be in first-person, profiles the strategies of the men and women who have proven their credentials as leaders time and again.

In these pages, such business luminaries as A.G. Lafley of Procter & Gamble, Steven Kerr of Goldman Sachs, Michael Dell of Dell Computer, Ken Chenault of American Express, Steve Reinemund of PepsiCo, Ken Lewis of Bank of America, Fred Smith of FedEx, Hank McKinnell of Pfizer, David S. Pottruck of Charles Schwab, and Heinrich von Pierer of Siemens discuss how companies can best transform themselves and keep their edge in an ever-shifting marketplace.

As these corporate leaders make clear, the world’s most respected, value-driven companies derive an ever-increasing part of their valuations from the collective power of their intangible assets: brands, partners, intellectual property, and people. An overarching theme that emerges again and again is that the greatest single asset of any organization is its human capital, the people with a vested interest in the business, to whom the business must in turn show a similar commitment in order to remain competitive.

In boom times or busts, in calm or calamity, creative leadership is the foundation of all great companies. Tapping into the collective wisdom of an unparalleled group of highly accomplished leaders, and distilling this wisdom into succinct essays, Leaders Talk Leadership should be required reading for managers at every level.

About the Author:

Meredith D. Ashby and Stephen A. Miles are business analysts at the preeminent executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles. Together they work with the firm’s Board Services group to identify, create, and deliver cutting-edge thought leadership on topics such as governance and human capital to clients worldwide. They have had various articles in BusinessWeek magazine on leadership and created a centerpiece journal on human capital issues for the World Economic Forum’s 31st annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. In addition, Ashby is a business development specialist supporting the Board Services group, and Miles is involved in the firm’s Executive Assessment practice.

Heidrick & Struggles’ Board Services serves as the focal point for its Board Director, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and President assignments worldwide. The charter of the global consultancy’s Board Services group is to provide the most qualified resources possible to affect outstanding results for search execution at the board of directors and chief executive level. Vice Chairman John T. Gardner leads the Board Services group, which includes 12 Senior and Vice Chairman worldwide.

To contact the Editors, please email CEO@Heidrick.com or call 800-444-6192.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0195152832
• ISBN 13: 9780195152838
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288