Georg Kapeller: Success Factors of Leadership

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Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.1 My relationship with leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.2 Recognising leadership as a profession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3 Structure of the book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Chapter 2 Aspects of Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.1 Leadership today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.2 Objectives and purpose of leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.3 Assuming responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.4 Why – What – How . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.5 Importance of a meaningful task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.6 Leadership in context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.7 Leadership culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.8 Leadership styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.9 When is someone a good leader? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.10 Born a leader or become a leader? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Chapter 3 Basic Attitude of a Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.1 Being authentic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.2 Thinking positively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.3 Being a role model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.4 Liking people . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.5 Being modest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
3.6 Knowing one’s values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.7 Doing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.8 Summary of the basic attitude of a leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Chapter 4 Leadership Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.1 Teamwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.2 Responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.3 Solution orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.4 Simplicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.5 Excellence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
4.6 Determination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
4.7 Discipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
4.8 Summary of the leadership principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
5

Chapter 5 Leadership Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.1 Building and developing a team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.2 Creating organisational clarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5.3 Setting and achieving goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
5.4 Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
5.5 Decision-making and implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
5.6 Maintaining relationships, communicating and negotiating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
5.7 Further development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
5.8 Summary of leadership tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Chapter 6 Contradictions of Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
6.1 Achievability of goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
6.2 Proximity to employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
6.3 Being able to detach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
6.4 Being able to lead and follow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
6.5 Speed of a decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
6.6 Planning accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
6.7 Level of detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
6.8 Key leadership indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
6.9 Summary of the contradictions of leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Chapter 7 The Power of Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
7.1 Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
7.2 How habits work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
7.3 Excellence through good habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Chapter 8 Challenges of Team Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
8.1 Team organisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
8.2 Taking over a team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
8.3 Potential dangers in the team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Chapter 9 Self-leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
9.1 Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
9.2 Resilience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
9.3 Spirit/psyche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
9.4 Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
9.5 Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Chapter 10 Success Factors of Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
10.1 Taking responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
10.2 Enabling teamwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
10.3 Excellent execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
10.4 Thinking positively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
10.5 Being authentic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
10.6 Conveying meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
10.7 Developing resilience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Closing words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
6 Contents

List of examples
1 Unexpected short-term event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2 What does agility mean in relation to organisations? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3 Identifying critical risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4 Assuming social responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5 Explaining why something is important . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
6 Communicating the meaning of a task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
7 Critical decision by a leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
8 Ensure that described and lived values match . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
9 Different leadership styles within an organisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
10 Authoritarian leadership style for crisis management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
11 Costs of unwanted fluctuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
12 Leader with professional deficits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
13 Leader who is irreplaceable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
14 Compensate for own weaknesses using the team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
15 Own values do not match company values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
16 Discovering the opportunity in the problem and using it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
17 Internship at grassroots level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
18 Voluntary overtime after currency turbulence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
19 Maintaining friendly relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
20 Putting one’s own needs aside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
21 Personal values align with corporate values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
22 Defining one’s own values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
23 Having the courage to engage with new things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
24 Cohesion of the leadership team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
25 Meeting each other eye-to-eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
26 Breach of trust with consequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
27 Institutionalised feedback rounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
28 Understanding the bigger picture motivates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
29 Pride through shared experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
30 Celebrating a sense of achievement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
31 A leader must take responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
32 Top-down decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
33 Unpopular decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
34 Decision based on gut feeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
35 Escalation of a decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
List of examples 7

36 Contingency planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
37 Misunderstanding due to complicated formulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
38 Making goals and status of achievement understandable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
39 Use of uniform terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
40 Uniform project management processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
41 Training as a basis for quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
42 Innovation zone in practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
43 Determined belief in ambitious goal achievement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
44 Extra mile to reach the goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
45 Self-discipline in the team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
46 Consequences of accepting underperformance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
47 Mini assessment as part of the recruitment process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
48 Squad discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
49 Internal leadership appointments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
50 Personality types according to the colour model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
51 Structured leadership rhythm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
52 Cost awareness in management tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
53 Contradictory objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
54 Creating the wrong incentive for a goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
55 Advantage of simple planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
56 Applying realistic learning curve and tension factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
57 Interim decision until necessary information is available . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
58 Recognising and exploiting opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
59 Demonstrating unity with peers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
60 Enabling the boss to have an informed advantage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
61 Internal and external stakeholder analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
62 Classification of information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
63 Systematic dissemination of information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
64 Misuse of e-mails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
65 A position is not the same as an interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
66 Too demanding an objective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
67 Addressing a serious topic in a humorous way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
68 Business-critical situations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
69 Advantage of waiting for a decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
70 Planning optimal capacity utilisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
71 Determine and understand key performance indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
72 Behaviour change through good habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
73 Creating an obvious cue for a good habit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
74 Making a bad habit unattractive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
75 Making the working environment simple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
76 Compliance with occupational safety measures as a habit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
77 Improving good habits with technical aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
78 Positive emotions motivate action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
79 Teams with different interests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
80 Systematic problem assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
81 Team-building event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
82 Assigning responsibility to critical employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
83 Creating internal competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
84 Imagining a goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
85 Anchoring the feeling of joy as a lasting experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
86 From comfort zone to panic zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
87 Imagining a challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
8 List of examples

Chapter 1
Introduction
“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to
do something that you want done because he wants to do it.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1890–1969, 34 th President of the USA
Leadership is the most important factor for the success of any organisation, and thus
for the development of our society. Leadership will always be needed, especially in
today’s world and in the future, which will be characterised by uncertainty, high
dynamics, exponential technological progress and strong competitive pressure.
Leading primarily means taking responsibility and focusing on setting the right
goals and achieving them. Those who lead must be able to react quickly and effectively
to change, which requires agility and innovation.
Good leaders are not omniscient, infallible and all-powerful bosses. But they do
know how to create clarity, empower a team and convey strong values and meaning.
The 3 questions of understanding – why, what and how – play a significant role in the
basic understanding of leadership. The “why” explains the meaning, the “what” the
goal and the “how” the execution. The basic attitude of a good leader is characterised
by a positive mindset and authentic behaviour. Leaders manage to build good relationships
quickly and inspire people.
Leadership is not an exact science like mathematics, for example. In leadership
there is usually no right or wrong, no black or white. It is about finding and implementing
the best solution for a unique situation. The context, i.e. the setting in which
leadership takes place, plays an important role. In leadership, there are many contradictions
that need to be balanced, because extreme positions are rarely effective.
9

As in all areas of life, the right habits are also of great importance in leadership in
order to be successful in the long term. The foundation, however, and thus the most
important factor in leadership is self-leadership, because only those who can lead
themselves are able to lead other people effectively.
In the following chapters, you will learn what I consider to be the relevant success
factors of leadership. Successful leaders share one characteristic. They have the tenacity
to stick with something and see it through. Stay tuned, read this book and
learn more about the fascinating topic of leadership, and about how you can
strengthen your personal leadership success and gain more satisfaction at the same
time.
Over the past few years, I have read countless books on leadership, habits, resilience
etc. Afterwards, I always face the same challenge: how can I remember the important
content and thereby sustainably improve my behaviour? For this purpose, I
have created a presentation on the contents of this book that can be used as a summary
or for training purposes. I have also created relevant templates, such as for decision-making
and a “mini-assessment” for personnel selection purposes. The links
to the documents are shown in the final chapter.
This book is not a scientific treatise, but a practical guide, supplemented with
many examples from everyday life that I have experienced myself or observed in
other leaders. It is not about describing the ideal leader, but about empowering and
supporting leaders to achieve the best results with a team. I recommend keeping the
book close at hand in your office for reference when you are confronted with a specific
situation in your everyday leadership.
The book is aimed at everyone who is attracted to the fascinating topic of leadership,
be it people who would like to become a leader or inexperienced leaders who
want to prove themselves in a leadership position for the first time. But it is also intended
to appeal to long-standing and experienced leaders who want to reflect on
their own leadership behaviour from a different perspective, and thus develop themselves
further.
10 Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 My relationship with leadership
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”
Henry Ford, 1863–1947, US automobile pioneer
I have always found it a privilege to lead, because taking responsibility and leading
people to achieve challenging goals together with a team is, in my view, the most exciting
and rewarding of all tasks in the business world.
Leadership is an incredibly diverse task, because it confronts you with unknown
situations every day in which you can gain new experiences and expand your leadership
repertoire. The fascination for leadership lies in the fact that you have a lot to do
with people and it is always about weighing up different variants and finding and implementing
the best variant for a specific situation. As already mentioned, there is
usually no right or wrong, which is why it is rarely advisable in leadership to take an
extreme position.
As a leader, it gives me a sense of purpose and satisfaction to make an important
contribution and to enable something big to emerge from the contributions of many
individuals, something that benefits other people and is needed. What also motivates
me in leadership is to give employees security and perspectives, to develop an organisation
further in order to remain competitive and to contribute to the positive development
of a workplace and thus society with the success of the organisation.
When those around me have asked me why I put myself through the stress of leadership
responsibility, I have always answered that I don’t see leadership as a burden,
but am grateful to have a meaningful task. I have also often said that CEO is the best
job in the world – because who else gets to spend the majority of their time solving
problems?
For me, leadership also means passion. Both “suffering” and “creating” are part of
the art of leadership. As a leader, you have to be willing to endure a lot and be able
to withstand pressure, i.e. “suffer” and never lose your positive way of thinking and
acting. The “creating” is central, because in the end it is about achieving results and
doing one’s job.
What qualifies me to write a book about leadership? What is the reason, the
“why”, that I am writing a book about leadership?
Leadership has fascinated me since I was young. I was able to take on leadership
responsibility early in my professional career. In industry, I was able to build up a department
in vehicle development, then led an area with several specialist departments,
later moving to the field of production, where I was responsible for a sub-division
and then a whole division with over 1,000 staff. Then I took over the overall
responsibility for a vehicle manufacturing plant with over 2,000 employees as CEO.
Parallel to my professional leadership career, I was also able to complete various
1.1 My relationship with leadership 11

hierarchical levels and leadership training courses in the army, which left its mark on
me. Unlike in any other institution, in the military you are comprehensively trained
in leadership and at the age of 20 you are given the opportunity to lead people and
also to make mistakes in training camps without this having far-reaching consequences
in terms of a company’s results. Making mistakes is part of everyday leadership.
It is crucial to derive the right insights and consequences from these mistakes.
During my more than 25 years of leadership experience, I was able to get to know
all levels of leadership and hierarchy myself. I consider this gradual development as
a leader to be an advantage and recommend that aspiring leaders do the same. The
awareness of the concerns and challenges of one’s employees can be better understood
if one has been in the same situation oneself. If leaders skip leadership levels
or go straight to the top, there is a risk that they will lack an understanding of the context
and concerns of their subordinates and thus achieve a low level of acceptance.
On the other hand, if a leader develops in too many stages, there is a risk that he will
not be able to break away from his previous hierarchical level and will be unwilling
to adapt to the changed conditions of the new level.
Early in my leadership career I started to write down observations, my own experiences
and insights from many books on leadership, habits, resilience etc. in a “little
grey book”.
I have gained countless insights from this. My most important insight is that leadership
is the decisive factor for the success of any organisation. I will explain why
this is so in the following chapters. The importance of leadership is underestimated
in many organisations. In day-to-day business, leaders often do not have time to take
care of their staff because other issues are prioritised. Leadership is often seen as
something less important that must be taken care of. The lack of awareness of the importance
of leadership often leads to too little investment in leadership training. Yet
the most frequent causes of mismanagement and undesirable developments in organisations
can be traced back to leadership mistakes. Another central leadership issue
that often receives too little attention is (unwanted) staff fluctuation in organisations,
which can have fatal consequences.
I have derived my own mission statement from these insights. I want to raise
awareness that leadership is understood as the central factor for the success of an organisation
or a team and that leadership is recognised as a profession that needs to be
professionalised on an ongoing basis.
This is what led me to write this book. For a long time, I have wanted to write a
book about the success factors of leadership. So that it does not remain just an aspiration
which I put off until after my retirement in maybe 20 years’ time, I have decided
to do it now.
Writing a book is a new experience that is very different from the daily routine of
leadership, in which you are confronted with a wide variety of topics and problems
12 Chapter 1: Introduction

from early in the morning until late in the evening. You have to deal with yourself,
sit down alone, concentrate on this one thing and put your thoughts down on paper.
In the process, I have realised that the dynamic of everyday leadership suits me much
better, but that writing is a valuable experience and I hope that I manage to formulate
and pass on my experiences and insights in such a way that they are of use to other
people.
1.2 Recognising leadership as a profession
“Knowledge is the only currency that increases when it is shared.”
Anon.
In order to learn a profession, one goes to school for years, completes vocational
training and/or studies and then continues to educate oneself on the job. In order to
learn a profession, one must first acquire the basic facts and contexts of a field of expertise.
By solving concrete tasks and using tools, you then develop further until you
are recognised as a specialist and qualified to work in a team and achieve results. My
first job was as a calculation engineer in vehicle development. Before that, I studied
mechanical engineering, where I learned the mathematical and physical basics for
my job. Then I had to familiarise myself with the specific tasks of a calculation engineer
and learn how to use the tools, such as strength calculation programmes, and interpret
the results. You start as a beginner and then develop into an expert over the
years. Not having learned a profession properly and then practising it also means taking
a safety risk in many cases. If I as a calculation engineer had not understood the
correlations and had interpreted the results incorrectly, design errors would have occurred
that in practice would have led to mechanical failure and, depending on the
event, to personal and/or commercial damage.
What is the situation in the profession of leadership? What principles must be followed
in order to be able to exercise the profession of leadership in practice and, if
possible, without taking unnecessary risks? What tasks does a leader have to accomplish
in his daily work and what tools does he use?
There are fewer clear answers to these questions than if the question were: “which
principles, tasks and tools must a calculation engineer apply in order to perform his
function professionally.”
At the same time, leadership is the most important factor for the success of a company,
and in many organisations leadership leaves room for improvement.
1.2 Recognising leadership as a profession 13

So why is there not more clarity about the profession of leadership, when it is so
fundamentally important? Why is it not clearly defined what the principles of leadership
are and what leadership tasks need to be performed?
The reason is probably that leadership is not a first profession that one can learn.
There is no basic training to become a leader. In most cases, one enters professional
life with the learned profession. After a while in the acquired profession, one stands
out positively in an organisation because one delivers good results in one’s field, i.e.
works effectively and efficiently. The consequence is often that one is rewarded for
one’s good work and given additional responsibility for other employees without
having prepared oneself in detail for this new task. In addition to the profession one
has learnt, one is then simultaneously practising a second profession, namely the
profession of leadership. The described process of becoming a leader does not apply
everywhere. There are organisations that systematically prepare future leaders for
their leadership tasks or develop them accordingly. The best examples are the armed
forces, where leaders receive very comprehensive leadership training. The reason for
this is that leaders in the armed forces have to be prepared for situations in which
they have to make decisions that can have serious consequences under high pressure
within a very short time.
Therefore, it is important not to consider leadership as an incidental activity, but
as a profession characterised by following principles, carrying out tasks professionally
and applying tools.
In order to be able to carry out the profession of leadership with virtuosity, one
should also demonstrate some personal qualities. To illustrate this, the comparison
with the profession of a calculation engineer can be used again. As a calculation engineer,
one should have an affinity for physical systems and a penchant for calculations.
For the profession of leadership, there are also some personal requirements
that one should bring to the table. These are described in section 2.10 and chapter 3.
What I want to show in this book is what it takes to put the profession of leadership
successfully into practice.
Summary Introduction: Recognising leadership as a profession
Leadership is often seen as a secondary activity alongside a learned profession.
In many organisations, leaders are not adequately prepared for their leadership
role.
Leadership should be recognised as a profession characterised by following principles,
performing tasks professionally and applying tools.
In order to be able to exercise the profession of leadership with virtuosity, some
personal qualities, such as a positive mindset, should be brought along too.
14 Chapter 1: Introduction

1.3 Structure of the book
“The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to
look at the men he has around him.”
Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469–1527, Italian philosopher
The book deals with the most important aspects and factors of successful leadership
at the present time. In addition to the classic topics of leadership such as the principles
that a leader should apply in everyday life, other topics that are important for
leadership such as the importance of habits and self-leadership are also examined.
The aim is to create a comprehensive picture of leadership that enables the reader to
gain the insights that are relevant to him and to derive consequences for his own leadership
behaviour.
The frequently made distinction between leadership and management is deliberately
dispensed with. Why? A successful leader must set a direction or a goal and enable
and inspire people to achieve this goal, which is understood as leadership. However,
leaders must also understand how to enable the team and themselves to complete
the tasks efficiently, which is understood as management. A good leader is
therefore a leader and a manager at the same time. How much of both parts is irrelevant,
and depends heavily on the function and the environment in which a leader
finds himself.
The book is intended to appeal to all leaders, so no distinction is made between
strategic and operational leadership or between upper, middle and lower management
levels. It is about how to become and remain a good leader, regardless of hierarchical
level. The basic attitude and the principles to be followed are the same for
every leader. The tasks depend on the leadership position, for example a CEO has
more strategic tasks to deal with than a team leader who is exclusively concerned
with operational issues.
The ten chapters ( Figure 1) will focus on the following main points:
Chapter 1 “Introduction”: In the introduction I explain my relationship with leadership,
my personal motivation to pass on the insights gained over the years from
everyday leadership in the form of this book, and the importance of recognising leadership
as a profession and professionalising it on an ongoing basis.
Chapter 2 “Aspects of leadership” deals with and explains the central aspects of
leadership. What recipes can leaders use to effectively meet the challenges of today’s
dynamic time characterised by uncertainty and complexity? What are the goals of
leadership and what is its purpose? The central theme of leadership is responsibility,
but what does it mean to carry this responsibility in everyday life? What is the meaning
of the 3 questions of understanding (why – what – how) and meaningful work?
What does it mean to lead contextually, and why is a shared awareness based on cor-
1.3 Structure of the book 15

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Aspects of leadership
Chapters 3, 4 and 5: Effective leadership
Chapter 9: Self-leadership
Chapter 6: Contradictions of leadership
Chapter 7: The power of habits
Chapter 8: Challenges of team leadership
Chapter 10: Success factors of leadership
Figure 1
Chapter structure as a guide
porate values of central importance? What characterises the theoretical leadership
styles and what should one pay attention to in one’s own leadership style? What does
it take to be a good leader? And finally, I will discuss the frequently asked question
of whether one is born to be a leader or whether one can develop into a leader.
Chapter 3 “Basic attitude of a leader” describes the seven characteristics of the underlying
attitude of a good leader. The basic attitude corresponds to our inner compass,
which guides our daily thoughts and actions and is shaped by our character.
Chapter 4 “Leadership principles”: The seven leadership principles are the cornerstones
of a common understanding of leadership. Together with the corporate values,
they form the core of an organisation’s leadership culture. The leadership principles
are easy to understand and learn.
Chapter 5 “Leadership tasks” deals with the seven concrete tasks that a leader
must deal with in his everyday life. The leadership tasks are described as generally
as possible, as they differ in their characteristics depending on the leadership position
and the environment.
Chapter 6 “Contradictions of leadership”: Leadership consists of countless opposites
that need to be carefully balanced. A common reason for difficulties in leader-
16 Chapter 1: Introduction

ship is that a leader leans too much in one direction. The most common contradictions
are described in chapter 6.
Chapter 7 “The power of habits”: Habits shape our behaviour and character. How
can we use the power of habits to our advantage and acquire the right ones?
Chapter 8 “Challenges of team leadership”: The greatest competitive advantage
can be achieved with well-functioning teamwork. In team leadership, however, some
challenges exist that one must be aware of in order to meet them effectively.
Chapter 9 “Self-leadership” is the most important chapter from my point of view,
because the importance of self-leadership is often underestimated. A good leader
first and foremost ensures that he has the energy to master the challenges of day-today
leadership successfully. Only those who can lead themselves can lead others.
Chapter 10 “Success factors of leadership”: The seven success factors of leadership
form the essence of all chapters. If the success factors are internalised and followed
by a leader, he creates the foundation to be successful, i.e. to achieve results.
The seven success factors are depicted as a staircase. With each step, more results are
achieved and the sustainability of leadership is increased, whereas the different steps
can be reached independently of each other. The foundation, i.e. the lowest level, is
responsibility, because leadership cannot exist without responsibility. Before you
look at chapter 10, I suggest you note down the next six steps or success factors of
leadership that are relevant from your point of view and your experience.
1.3 Structure of the book 17

18 Chapter 1: Introduction

Closing words
In December 2020, during the Christmas holidays, I looked at what is important to
me professionally and what goals I want to achieve going forward. I made a note in
my little grey book that I want to lead and develop an organisation and that I want to
write a book about leadership. I have now written that book. I hope that I have been
able to present my insights from my experiences and observations about leadership
in a way that is useful to others and that I have been able to contribute to the professionalisation
of leadership.
I will continue to pursue my first goal of leading and developing an organisation
in the future with full creative energy and “heart and soul”, and I will take great
pleasure in applying the methods for effective leadership described in this book in
everyday life.
The following link contains a presentation on the contents of this book:
www.georgkapeller.com
The presentation can be used for training purposes. It is available in an editable
format so that it can be easily adapted to individual needs.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to the team that supported me in writing
this book. For the exchange of experiences and the valuable feedback, I thank my
long-time friends and comrades Felix Hauri, Urs Alig, Rolf Schweizer and Simon
Hardegger. I would like to thank Marina Winder very much for her input with the
publication. Most of all, as with all my projects over the past 20 years, I thank my
dear wife Simone for her support. For every person, but especially for a leader who
is exposed to a high level of stress in everyday work, it is invaluable to have a partner
at one’s side whom one trusts 100%, with whom one can exchange ideas, which enables
one to take a different perspective, and with whom one can develop together.
217

Index
A
Ability to act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201–202
Ability to relate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Achieving goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104–106, 152
Agility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Anonymity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Anticipating problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Anticipation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Appreciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33, 79
Approval competencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Assigning responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Authoritarian leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45–46
Averting risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
B
Bad habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Basic attitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Be able to follow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Be able to lead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Behaviour change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169, 171
Being authentic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61–62, 214
Being in the flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Belief in numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Best practice processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Bigger picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Bird’s eye view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Bite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Breach of trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Breathing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Business-critical situations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
C
Can do culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Capacity utilisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Change process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Changing one’s mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Clarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Cleanliness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Clear communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Coaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99, 117
Cohesion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69, 83
Comfort zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Common awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94, 140
Competencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Competitiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Complexity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Complicated formulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Concentrated work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Concentration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Contingency planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Contradictions of leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Contradictory objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Cooperative leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Corporate culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Corporate values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38, 41
Cost awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Courage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Courage to leave gaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
221

Crisis management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Critical risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Criticality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38, 156
Criticise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Cultural differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Cultural fit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Currency turbulence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
D
Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127, 163
Day-to-day business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88, 90
Decision vacuum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Decision-making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Decision-making process . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87, 132–133
Democratic leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Determination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99–100, 148
Different interests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Discipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Dissemination of information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Distance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Doers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Dynamism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
E
Effectiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24, 124
Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
E-mails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Emotions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108, 142, 176
Enterprise resource planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Error culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Euphemisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Excellence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98, 175–176, 213
Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Extra mile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Eye-to-eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
F
Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115, 142
Feedback culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Fluctuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Formulating goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Friendships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
G
Good habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172, 175
Gratitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Gut feeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89, 163
H
Habit loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Habits . . . . . . . . . . . 98, 167–168, 170, 172–175, 194
Harvard concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Hierarchical level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Human fit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Humour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69, 154
I
Imagination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131, 133
Implementing a decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Improvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Incentives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126–127
Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132, 134, 142
Informed advantage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Inner strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100–101
Innovation workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Interim decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Internal competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Internship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
IT security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
J
Joy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198, 202
K
Key leadership indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Key parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Key performance indicator dashboard . . . . . . . . . . 163
Key performance indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
L
Laissez-faire style of leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51–53, 55, 76
Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 19, 46
Leadership appointments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Leadership as a profession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Leadership culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Leadership opposites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Leadership principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41, 77, 110
Leadership rhythm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120–121
Leadership style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Leadership tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111, 150
Leadership team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Leadership today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Leadership tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Lean management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Learning curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Level of detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
222 Index

Liking people . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Lived values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Loneliness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
M
Magic triangle of leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Magic triangle of self-leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Maintaining relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Maslow’s pyramid of needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Maturity level of an organisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Meaningful task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33, 35, 215
Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Micromanagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Middle path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Military leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Mindfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Mistake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Misunderstandings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Modesty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
N
Negotiating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Negotiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
O
Obfuscation tactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Occupational safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Occupational safety measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Optimising processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Organisation chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Organising a team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
P
Panic zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Peers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Perfectionism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Performance standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Perseverance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Persistence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Personality profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Personality traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Personality types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Personnel selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Physical strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Place of retreat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Planning accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Planning principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Planning tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Positive emotions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Positive way of thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63, 214
Problem assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Problem identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132, 183
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Process landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Product development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Project management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Project management processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Project management tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Proximity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Psyche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Pyramid of needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Q
Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99, 109
3 questions of understanding
(why, what and how) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30–31, 168
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Quick-shot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134, 159
R
RACI matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Recruitment process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Reducing interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Relationship of trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153, 155
Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Relaxation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Resilience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194, 215
Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27–28, 114
Revising a decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Role model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Rope teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Rumours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
S
Safety measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Safety regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Salami tactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Seizing opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Self-assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Self-discipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Self-leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Sense of achievement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Sense of responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Setting priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92, 130
Signature competencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Simple communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Simple planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Situational leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Sleep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
SMART . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Index 223

Social responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Speed of a decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Squad discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Staff appraisal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Staff assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Staff departures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Staff development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Stakeholder analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Strategy process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Success factors of leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Surroundings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
T
Taking over a team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Taking responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85, 212
Target process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124–125
Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57, 106
Team building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Team wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Team-building event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Teamwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78, 112, 213
Technological progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Tension factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Thinking in variants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Top-down decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99, 205
Transactional leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Transformational leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80, 155, 185
Tunnel vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
W
Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Wheel of consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Why – What – How . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30–31, 168
Willingness to change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Willingness to learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Working environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Work-life balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Workplace organisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Wrong incentive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Y
Yes-men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Z
Zone model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
U
Underperformance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Uniform terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Uniformity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Unpopular decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
V
Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42, 61, 72–73
VUCA world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
224 Index