Leadership When the Heat's On

Rating:
Summary: Soon-to-be classic!
Review: "Leadership When the Heat's On" is a soon-to-be classic that truly has it's finger on the pulse of business in the 21st century. Mr. Cox accurately delivers a powerful curriculum that not only creates a road map for new leaders but allows veteran leaders to expand and extrapolate on their own time-tested techniques. Not only has my company used this book to address immediate, critical needs but instituted many of Mr. Cox's principles into the bedrock of our strategic planning foundation. I look forward to future publications as I am sure the "sonic boom" will ripple through the business landscape.

Rating:
Summary: Revised and Updated - Great to Reread
Review: Our company has used Danny Cox as a leadership example for years. We enjoy Danny as a speaker (one of the top speakers in the country) and we use Danny's books for training our senior management team. This book is meant for LEADERS in the organization - self-directed individuals that have the toughness to lead when the heat is on. Danny lived leadership through the heat and shares his experiences. If you are looking to add energy to your organization and your senior management team, this book is for you. Surviving an economic downturn has turned up the heat on most businesses - this book supplies a common sense road map to leadership under pressure. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Revised, Updated, and Even More Valuable
Review: This is a substantially revised and updated second edition of a book which, since first published in 1992, became and remains a bestseller. (My rough guess is that about 60% of the material this edition is new. Perhaps more.) In my Five Star review of the previous edition, I began by noting that the word "crucible" refers to a container within which tremendous pressure exists and the word is also used to describe experiencing such pressure. While writing this book with Hoover's assistance, I think Cox had this in mind when using the term "heat" in relation to leadership. Throughout history, the greatest religious, military, social, political, and business leaders have flourished under tremendous pressure.

According to Cox, "heat" is created at the point at which the manager finds himself or herself under the greatest pressure, emanating both from outside (e.g. others' expectations) and inside (i.e. self-imposed forces). In fact, almost anyone within any organization finds herself or himself feeling such pressure while attempting to produce desirable results. Cox fully understands that there are many different kinds of pressure which generally fall within two categories: positive pressure which increases and improves performance without a loss of dignity, and, negative pressure which undermines performance and frequently results in anger, resentment, discouragement, and even despair.

Years ago when meeting with a CEO who took great pride in his "command and control" management style, I read a framed aphorism to which he directed my attention: "Flogging will continue until employee morale improves." Cox did not write this book for such a manager; rather, for those who care deeply about their associates and are struggling to provide effective leadership and management -- or supporting their leaders and managers -- while experiencing tremendous pressure themselves from various sources (e.g. supervisors, associates, customers, and competitors). In this volume, Cox recommends the same seven strategies introduced in the previous edition. They are arranged in a sequence of "Steps" to follow when "the heat's on": Team Building, Goal Setting, Time Planning for Higher Productivity, Keeping Morale High, Creativity, Problem Solving, and finally, Mounting [or Initiating] Change. It would be a disservice both to him and to those who read this review for me to discuss the seven "Steps." Each must be carefully considered (a) within the context in which Cox presents it, and (b) in relation to the others which precede or follow it. Cox correctly views and explains each of them within a cohesive process. They are interdependent. He also offers an abundance of examples and illustrations of real-world situations, dos and don'ts, action steps, mental activities, checklists, etc.

For me, one of the most important sections is "Introduction: Andrews Air Force Base, July 21, 2001." For ten years, Cox flew supersonic fighter planes in the United States Air Force (the F-86 Sabre, the F-102 Delta Dagger, and then the F-101 Voodoo) before embarking on his business career. In the "Introduction," he first describes what happened last summer when he accompanied a brigadier general during the flight of an F-16 Fighting Falcon over the Atlantic Ocean. Later, he and wife Tedi celebrated his "supersonic day" by dining in the "Old Town" area of Alexandria, VA. It would be inappropriate to reveal what occurred after they were seated in an historic restaurant. Suffice to say, Cox's juxtaposition of the two situations serves to illustrate several of his most important ideas which he then develops brilliantly in the ten chapters. In fact, I think the "Introduction" all by itself is worth the price of the book.

Those who share my high regard for this revised and updated edition are urged to check out Bossidy and Charan's Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, Hammer's The Agenda: What Every Business Must Do to Dominate the Decade, Maister's Practice What You Preach: What Managers Must Do to Create a High-Performance Culture, and Gilbert's Success Bound: Breaking Free of Mediocrity.