Great Business Success Is Not a Fluke: Aligning People and Strategy Through Intentional Leadership

A Book Review by Dr. Benjamin Ola. Akande, Dean, Webster University School of Business & Technology

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Leaders don't say "if" or "when." More than anything else, these conjunctions can kill a business' acceleration before it even leaves the gate. "When we get the next hot item to sell" or "If we have a strong quarter" puts the power to succeed in the hands of fate. And as authors Chuck Feltz, Joe Calloway and Kris Young contend in their best-seller Never By Chance, great business performance isn't a fluke. To succeed, everything from upgrades to employees must be deliberately aligned with a vision and never left to chance.

Never By Chance: Aligning People and Strategy Through Intentional Leadership outlines why deliberate guidance matters. By making your moves intentional and adopting the mindset that "every resource that can be valuable, will be valuable," leaders can get the results they need in a time when everyone is doing more with less. By demanding this return on resources (in spite of today's economic drains), businesses can accelerate their strategy, turn intangible assets into measurable success and turn their culture into a spirited benefit.

It all starts with vision, an entity the authors call one of the "most powerful and underutilized resources" at any company's disposal. Vision describes what a business will look like when it succeeds. It hits an emotional chord in employees and can align thousands in a workforce directly with the value they are charged with producing. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't inspire anyone by saying, "I have a strategic plan with the following bulleted points," Calloway writes. Instead, MLK inspired millions with a vision that evoked power and emotion.

By crafting a vision with all stakeholders in mind, leaders can engage and enlighten them as well as keep their company grounded. A business' culture must then be placed by its vision's side to see what in that culture helps make its vision valid. How is the culture supporting those ideas and is that culture giving the business an edge over its competitors?

Feltz, Calloway and Young believe leaders are obligated to intentionally lead if they want to succeed. It isn't something that can be spurred by a grassroots movement at the lower level of an organization. And it isn't necessarily easy. Hard questions about relevance and customer experience must be asked. Do those served think the business is as important as its executives do? Is their experience just random, or is it orchestrated to strengthen business strategy? The authors outline the importance of addressing each and then analyzing the answers to better control a business' destiny.

Few businesses these days find themselves lucky enough to be juggling unlimited resources. The status quo is now "less," but, those who know how to use their assets to their fullest potential to generate new growth and worth are those who will thrive, taking their companies with them. Making sure nothing is left to chance will leave managers in the lead.

With its home campus in St. Louis, Webster University (www.webster.edu) is a worldwide institution committed to delivering high-quality learning experiences that transform students for global citizenship and individual excellence. Founded in 1915, Webster offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs through five schools and colleges, and a global network of more than 100 campuses. Its 20,000-plus student population represents almost 150 nationalities. The University's core values include excellence in teaching, joining theory and practice, small class sizes, and educating students to be lifelong independent learners, fully prepared to participate in an increasingly international society.

Since opening its first campus overseas in Geneva in 1978, Webster has become a recognized leader and innovator in global education, with an international presence that now includes campuses in London; Vienna; Amsterdam and Leiden, the Netherlands; Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu, China; and Bangkok and Cha-am, Thailand. Webster also has educational partnerships with universities in Mexico and Japan.

To listen to Dean Akande's interview with the author, please visit http://www.webster.edu/sbt/never_by_chance.

Visit the School of Business & Technology at http://www.webster.edu/sbt. Follow us on Twitter @WebsterU_Biz

SOURCE Webster University

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