Your Inner CEO: Unleash the Executive Within by Allan Cox Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Your Inner CEO: Unleash the Executive Within
Book Review: Awareness, Wholeness, and Your Destiny
Summary: 5 Stars
I began today watching an interview with Alicia Keys (CBS Sunday Morning), American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, pianist, actress, and author. Keys has sold over twenty million albums worldwide and has won numerous awards including nine Grammy Awards, eleven Billboard Music Awards, and three American Music Awards. Keys's success story is relevant to Allan Cox's "Your Inner CEO" and why it is an important read.
Keys signed a contract with Columbia records at age 16. Within a short period of time, she realized she had made a mistake. Columbia did not understand her or her music so they pushed her "to change" her style and be more like a young Madonna or Brittany Spears. This did not fit with Alicia's vision, mission, or "Style-of-Life" as her primary interest was to bring her unique brand of music to the public, not fame and fortune. She got out of her contract and was quickly picked up by recording wizard Clive Davis. Davis told her to be herself. The rest is history.
There is no faster way to create enduring unhappiness than to act against your beliefs, your desired "Style-of-Life," your personal vision, and your mission. When we act against ourselves, we betray our soul and our destiny.
Unfortunately, today's reality is that most of us today live in a world where people seem to be acting contrary to their beliefs with an ever-increasing frequency, living divided lives. The divided life has its attraction or we would not be drawn to it but it comes at a very real cost to ourselves and to the people around us. It is manifested in restlessness, disease, a reduced ability to contribute positively to society, and an inability to experience joy to the denial of selfhood, a general discontentedness, and the inability to engage in meaningful relationships.
Author Cox explores the "divided life" and provides a way to determine what goals are really guiding our life, if we are on the path that is our true destiny, and how to fix them if we are not. He then extrapolates this to teams and organizations.
Cox is a keen observer of performance, happiness, and the "fulfilled destiny." Like Ram Charan, Pat Lencioni, and others, he has worked with and observed hundreds of senior executives and leaders over the span of three plus decades.
Cox, a disciple of psychiatrist Alfred Adler, builds on Adler's concept of "Indivisible Psychology" which is committed to the flowering of the person based on discovery and expression of our unique wholeness-- our true indivisibility. The book begins with an exercise to discover hidden goals. The central goal that governs your life for better or worse, and the same for such a goal for your organization itself is an expression of purpose--for good or ill. Goals are engines of attraction, pulling you into the future in a way that either enhances your life or derails it. With guided self-examination you can ferret out these goals and rid yourself of them if they threaten you or nurture them if they support you.
"Your Inner CEO" begins with exploring existing and desired "Style-of-Life", vision, and mission. "Style-of-Life" centers on our organized convictions about life, which, at best, we are only dimly aware of. It has three elements: self-image - who am I?; worldview - what life do I lead?; and, a central Goal - what pulls me forward (the attractor which is either a looming threat or guardian presence). These three elements shape our actions and reactions.
Cox guides us in recognizing lost dreams and values, and the boundaries that keep us unaware and inept. Cox then provides exercises for developing "boundary competence" - the ability to cross a boundary that separates a dull life from an extraordinary life of a destiny fulfilled.
Success in the long run has less to do with finding the best idea or business model than it does with discovering what matters to us as individuals. Extraordinary people, teams, and organizations are simply ordinary people doing extraordinary things that truly matter to them and overcoming boundaries that limit awareness and performance. Extraordinary requires self-awareness and courage.
So as you lay plans for your career, your team, or your company, implement the steps necessary to excel. "Inner CEO" provides the framework and the necessary steps. "Inner CEO" requires time and attention to reap its rewards, but the rewards are great - wholeness and a compass that will point you to your destiny.
Book Review: David Krueger, business ethicist
Summary: 5 Stars
I have known Allan for years, as a trusted advisor and friend. In this book, he shares many rich insights and wisdom developed over years of successful coaching of senior executives and their teams. Successful leadership is never the result of following the latest training fads and pop psychologies, and Allan knows it. He weaves together a rich appreciation for the potentialities of the inner self, showing how these can be effectively directed toward successful leadership of organizations Book Review: Are You a CEO Wannabe?
Summary: 5 Stars
The Right CEO: Straight Talk About Making Tough CEO Selection Decisions
Look in the mirror: are you comfortable in your own skin, effective in your relationships with others, a "best in class" CEO or CEO wannabe? Allan Cox's "Your Inner CEO' is a must read for anyone seeking to unleash one's personal capabilities to become an effective and sought-after leader. The Author is a highly regarded executive coach, selector, management team facilitator and CEO confidant. While his writings espouse a more behavioral bent (Cox is a disciple of Alfred Adler), it is his applicztion of the Adlerian principles in a highly practical interpretation that makes for an easy read. Most CEO candidates possess the "tool kit" of experiential knowledge, but so many fail to be selected by discerning boards because they lack the behavioral traits that make for excellent leadership. "Your Inner CEO" has several straight talk chapters that contain self-administered assessment tools designed to help the reader get real with their values, or as Allan writes: "living to one's essences...mastering boundaries...unleashing the CEO you want to become...facing the unanticipated." This book also contains the revelation of Allan's early personal epiphany that shaped his consultancy plus several real-world client CEO cases, and a stream of pithy parables. It will be a companion, a management tool which you will want to have at easy reach for reference, as opposed to the too many other management books that we find resting on the shelf. Frederick Wackerle, Author, "The Right CEO," (Jossey-Bass)
Book Review: It's about life!
Summary: 5 Stars
Alan Cox has done it again. In this book he continually asks you to get real! He asks you to discover your, or your organization's, true essence with a series of exercises.
Whether it is business or personal, his ideas will help you better understand what's driving your decisions.
Once you discover these hidden strengths you can elevate your performance making a greater contribution to your company.
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As a retired Chairman/CEO, and now Professor and Author his many examples, insights and leading questions will make me a better mentor, board member and overall a better manager.
Book Review: Finding better answers ....
Summary: 4 Stars
Whether we like it or not, we are often driven by hidden goals and occasionally make decisions either prematurely or with incomplete intent. Allan Cox's new book, YOUR INNER CEO, excells at asking those leadership and personal questions which lead the reader to deeper and better decisions. In today's fast paced business arena, where there is no longer the concept of 'down-time', it is critical to know what drives us personally so that success is both intrinsic and sustainable. The author does an excellent job of sharing the wisdom of experience. He even tackles the thorny area of 'letting it happen' versus control! A worthwile read!