Exceptional Leadership

In Exceptional Leadership, authors Carson F. Dye and Andrew N. Garman identify the 16 characteristics of outstanding healthcare leaders. Drawing on decades of healthcare experience and research, the authors identify the patterns of behavior that drive success as well as failure. The book outlines the skills necessary to build healthy relationships, achieve an organizational vision, and ultimately save lives. The authors’ Leadership Competency Model consists of 16 competencies, or skills, that must be mastered in order to become an exceptional leader. These competencies fall under four “cornerstones,” which include: * Cornerstone 1: Well-cultivated self-awareness * Cornerstone 2: Compelling vision * Cornerstone 3: Real way with people * Cornerstone 4: Masterful style of execution Well-cultivated self-awareness includes the competencies necessary to understand oneself as a leader, including strengths, limitations, hot buttons, and blind spots. Compelling vision involves being visionary, communicating vision, and earning loyalty and trust among employees. Having a real way with people requires competencies in the areas of interpersonal communication and relationship-building. A masterful style of execution requires competencies related to decision-making and appropriate uses of power in the workplace. These four cornerstones rest on a single foundation: a healthy self-concept. Leaders with a healthy self-concept are satisfied with their place in the world, have a positive self-image, are confident in their ability to achieve greatness, and feel comfortable with how they relate to others. While it is possible for leaders to go far without a healthy self-concept, their achievements often come at the expense of others. These leaders tend to use fear, intimidation, and political manipulation to push their agendas, which can do enormous damage to positive organizational culture. Leaders with a low self-concept should enlist the help of others to build on their strengths and iron out some of their weaknesses.