Intro -- Why Should the Boss Listen to You? -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- About the Author -- Introduction Leaders and Their Advisors -- Professional Potholes -- Five Imperatives for the Trusted Strategic Advisor -- It Takes a Disciplined Approach -- Are You Ready? -- Part One THE REALITIES OF ADVISING TOP EXECUTIVES -- Chapter 1 HOW LEADERS THINK AND OPERATE -- Pressures Leaders Are Under -- What Leaders Do -- Why Leaders Fail -- How Leaders Succeed -- Study Leadership -- Chapter 2 WHAT LEADERS EXPECT -- The Boss's Special Perspective -- The Counselor's Prime Directive -- How the Boss Measures Advice -- What Bosses Expect from Strategic Advisors -- Talents Advisors Need -- Do You Fit in the CEO Environment? -- Resources -- Chapter 3 ACHIEVING MAXIMUM IMPACT -- Gain and Keep the Confidence of Senior People -- Speak Management's Language -- Work Against the Patterns That Bother Bosses -- Talk and Write to Time -- Give Useful Feedback -- What Your Leader Expects -- Do You Have the Discipline? -- Part Two THE SEVEN DISCIPLINES -- Chapter 4 BE TRUSTWORTHY -- Trust Matters -- Trust and Influence -- Trust and Loyalty -- Loyalty Has Limits -- Set Personal Loyalty Limits -- Trust-Appreciation Confusion -- The Ingredients of Trust -- Establishing Trust -- Busting Trust -- Questions to Consider -- Chapter 5 BECOME A VERBAL VISIONARY -- Advice on the Spot -- The Advisor's Verbal Toolbox -- Assess Your Verbal Skill -- Get Coaching -- Being Visionary -- What Does a Verbal Visionary Do? -- How Do You Become a Verbal Visionary? -- How Will You Know If You Have Become a Verbal Visionary? -- Chapter 6 DEVELOP A MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE -- Admission to the Inner Circle -- Commit Yourself to Management's Team -- Ask Managerially Relevant Questions First -- Be Ready with Answers -- Why Bosses Sometimes Bypass Staff -- Whining Turns Bosses Off.

Say Things That Matter -- Questions to Consider -- Chapter 7 THINK STRATEGICALLY -- The Strategic Perspective -- Strategy Is Always Positive -- The Virtues of a Strategist -- Thinking Strategically -- Why Some Strategies Are Flawed from the Start -- Can You Develop a Strategic Mind-Set? -- Chapter 8 BE A WINDOW TO TOMORROW -- Study the Patterns That Past Scenarios Yield -- The Strategic Value of Pattern-Related Thinking -- Pattern Examples -- Exposure Management and Surveillance -- War Stories -- The Lessons of Pattern and Scenario Awareness -- Can You Recognize What's Coming Next? -- Chapter 9 ADVISE CONSTRUCTIVELY -- The Three-Minute Drill -- Learn and Use This Management Decision-Making Structure -- More Strategic Advice-Giving Tools -- Chapter 10 SHOW THE BOSS HOW TO USE YOUR ADVICE -- Giving Constructive Advice -- Giving Advice Effectively -- Advice Givers and Advice Takers -- Be a Strategic Force -- Conclusion -- Index.

This is a book about gaining influence and becoming a key trusted advisor. It is for everyone who advises leaders and senior managers (accounting, finance, human resources, IT, law, marketing, public relations, security, and strategic planning) and for outside consultants in these functional staff areas. It's also for operations people yearning to finally be heard and heeded by their boss.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.