Steve JOBS -risktaking innovative strategic leader of our time.

Steve Jobs is one of the best examples of a strategic leader who is willing to invest in new innovative products and services, that are built on the concept of using existing technologies to create "customer and market" based businesses. The interesting thing is that even when he fails he admits his mistakes and tries again.

He is clearly the Thomas Edison of our time, since Edison always built on existing technologies and has his share of failures, along with major successes.

We need more innovative executives who practice the art and science of market based strategic leadership.

Bill Rothschild, author of RISKTAKER, CARETAKER, SURGEON, UNDERTAKER..the four faces of strategic leadership, which highlighted Jobs as an example of an innovative risktaker in 1993.

"No One Leader for all seasons" Part I

In 1993, John Wiley, published my book: "Risktaker, Caretaker, Surgeon, Undertaker- four faces of Strategic Leadership" to highlight that there is no leader for all situations and organizations. It has sold well and though there are still some copies that can be purchased from my site, for all practical purposes it is out of print. Rather that re-publish the book, I plan to highlight some of the major points and illustrations on this blog. It will be presented in a series. If you wish to purchase the book visit http://www.strategyleader.com/ to order it. If you wish a collection of these highlights let us know and we can print them on demand for you.

Let's begin with the "Introduction":
"There is a leadership crisis in the world today (1992)." " Many would like to have a perfect leader, who can deal with all situations". "Unfortunately, no one person can do it all. There is no leader for all seasons who can do it everything and do it all equally well."
This book, which is about the reality of leadership, has two fundamental premises:

• First, the type of leader must change to reflect the maturity of the business or organizations;
• Second, the leader's abilities and talents will be the key to how the institution differentiates itself from its competitors.

In simple terms, some leaders excel at invention, others at selling, still others at problem solving, and some in just being able to make things better than anyone else. The key is to understand what the situation demands and then match those requirements to the strategic leader possessing the necessary unique talents."

Next issue: Chapter One highlights.."managing by slogan is not leadership".

Bill Rothschild.

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What it takes to be a STRATEGIC LEADER.

A strategic leader has seven vital characteristics:

1. Consistency, Credibility and Predictability.
2. They are believers in their organization and have the missionary zeal to succeed.
3. They have unique talents and use them to implement differentiated strategies that permit them to gain and maintain a competitive advantage.
4. They have a blend of insight, intuition and analysis and don't lose sight of reality and what is viable.
5. They are able to attract, motivate, retain the right team players that complement and don't compete against each others.
6. They have the ability to select viable situations and take the time to get there, even it takes years to succeed.
7. Finally they know when it is time to move on, get out and stay out of their successors.

Bill Rothschild, author of RISKTAKER, CARETAKER, SURGEON, UNDERTAKER.

Strategic Leadership

This site is dedicated to integrating strategy and leadership and highlighting both the successes and failures of leaders, past and present. It is built on my over 40 years as a practitioner, consultant, author and teacher both in major global companies, small businesses, new ventures, non-profit, government and educational organizations.

My other sites deal with other aspects of strategic leadership. GEWatcher focuses on General Electric and its 128 years of successes and failures. Strategy Review focuses exclusively on strategies, their development and what works and doesn't work.

For more information visit our site: www.strategyleader.com

Bill Rothschild, author of THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS; RISKTAKER,CARETAKER, SURGEON AND UNDERTAKER and a new edition of the classic PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER.