This book shows senior leaders how to leverage their unique personalities as an essential resource to help guide their organizations. 

Conventional leadership coaching approaches focus primarily on personal change, exploring the qualities that define successful leaders. But to truly play transformative and visionary roles within their organizations, C-suite and other senior leaders must accurately gauge their own strengths and weaknesses, and learn to identify and address the "shadow side" of their personality traits.

This book offers a unique model for strategic leadership by encouraging leaders to think carefully about their personal leadership styles. The authors show readers how to use their Big Five personality profiles to identify their unique personality strengths, how to understand the personality styles of others they encounter in professional scenarios, and how to use this knowledge to steer their organizations to greater success.

Becoming a Strategic Leader also provides guidelines for coaching staff, managing performance, creating an optimal work culture, and establishing best practices for planning and leadership in the workplace.

This book shows C-suite and senior leaders how to leverage their unique personalities as an essential resource to help guide their organizations. 

Part I. Your Personality
Introduction. The “Aha” Moment
Chapter 1. Leadership Development Flaws
Chapter 2. Self-Reflection and Assessment
Chapter 3. Personality Traits
Chapter 4. Your Top Two Traits
Chapter 5. More on the Big Five
Chapter 6. Head Versus Heart
Chapter 7. Career Branding
Chapter 8. Beware of the Shadow
Chapter 9. Accurate Self-Knowledge
Chapter 10. The Big Five – Recap
Part II. Strategic Leadership
Chapter 11. The Strategic Transacting Model
Chapter 12. Your Platform
Part III. Building Blocks of Strategic Leadership
Chapter 13. Linguistics and Emotional Resonance
Chapter 14. Emotional Intelligence
Chapter 15. Interdependent Resonance
Chapter 16. Listening
Chapter 17. Improv and Body Language Exercises
Chapter 18. How to Influence Behavior
Chapter 19. Presentation Pointers
Chapter 20. Call to Action Emails
Part IV. Strategic Coaching
Chapter 21. Your Leadership Style
Chapter 22. Performance Management
Chapter 23. Creating a Winning Culture
Chapter 24. Coaching Habits and Practices
Chapter 25. Team Building
Conclusion
Supportive References

Becoming a Strategic Leader provides a clear invitation for leaders to do something powerful with the insights from their personality as it drives value. This book will empower leaders to make the best choices for their lives and careers as they grow as leaders.

The authors combine deep expertise in psychology and business to provide a practical, easy-to-digest framework for understanding and celebrating your unique personality strengths and applying them to add strategic value to people and organizations.

Becoming a Strategic Leader is a brilliant intersection of proven science and astute observation. The authors’ program has the potential to radically transform leadership training and development. This will be must-have reading for my team.

Combining Big 5 personality research with Carl Jung’s insights and the organizational transaction cycle, George Watts and Laurie Blazek have crafted a sturdy foundation for leadership growth. While targeted at business leaders, this book will resonate with nonprofit and public sector leaders dealing with diverse personalities daily. It’s a budget friendly, accessible alternative to executive coaching, offering a quick path to both personal growth and enhanced people development skills.

Becoming a Strategic Leader is one of those rare books that is both fascinating and practical. Watts and Blazek brilliantly blend personality theory with real-world strategy, giving leaders the tools they need to understand themselves, supercharge their teams, and win over key stakeholders. A must-read for every aspiring leader!

Becoming a Strategic Leader goes beyond offering a leadership model that others should imitate. It also offers insights and tools to help leaders recognize when they are at their best, and leverage those strengths to add strategic value to their teams and organizations. This strengths-based approach is the key to developing authentic leadership skills that last!

This book is filled with tools, including simple yet thorough self-assessments, an understandable and usable model for strategic leadership, and practical, implementable actions readers can take to be better individuals and leaders.