Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal. -Vince Lombardi As Generation X managers and executives are now tasked with running companies, there is a fundamental and critical component of business that they cannot push off or delegate and expect that someone else will have it covered-LEADERSHIP. And at its core, leadership is about one thing and one thing only-connecting with people. In corporate America, executives often forget that their objective is not only to manage the company processes, or to supervise the production of widgets or services. Equally important (if not more so), they must lead, hire and retain the people all organizations need to become or remain a successful enterprise. Another challenge for emerging Generation X leaders is to do more with less, which often means developing a more productive workforce. Complicating this is that as leaders they must direct and inspire people that have different generational values. A successful 21st century leader must be able to guide not only their Generation X peers but also the newly emerging Generation Y employees through difficult business challenges. All while mitigating the loss of the technical knowledge and skills of the retiring Baby Boomer workforce. To do this, they must have the leadership ability to align their generational peers, inspire Generation Y and set a clear direction, to maintain productivity, and motivate and influence a workforce that has fewer skills but more expectations. Years ago, there was a study done in the world of education that looked at teacher perceptions and student performance. At a high level, the report showed a strong correlation between perception and performance. When teachers believed their students would perform and the students themselves believed in that perception-even the lower performing students tended to meet the higher expectations. So, what does this have to do with leadership? It's about perceptions and performance. Imagine if we believed in our employees to do exceptional work. Imagine if we stopped hearing about the talent shortage and stopped saying how unprepared the next generation is to work in this environment. Imagine if we actually believed that they could live up to the hype. If we tamped down the anxiety about not being prepared for the next phase of business we may actually see a world where people step up and outperform our expectations. That is what good leaders accomplish-they unlock the potential of the people they lead. This book gives you twenty specific keys to help you become the type of leader that your company or organization needs today and in the future. Keys that will help perception and performance merge for you into the reality of successful leadership.

Leaders aren't born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal. -Vince Lombardi As Generation X managers and executives are now tasked with running companies, there is a fundamental and critical component of business that they cannot push off or delegate and expect that someone else will have it covered-LEADERSHIP. And at its core, leadership is about one thing and one thing only-connecting with people. In corporate America, executives often forget that their objective is not only to manage the company processes, or to supervise the production of widgets or services. Equally important (if not more so), they must lead, hire and retain the people all organizations need to become or remain a successful enterprise. Another challenge for emerging Generation X leaders is to do more with less, which often means developing a more productive workforce. Complicating this is that as leaders they must direct and inspire people that have different generational values. A successful 21st century leader must be able to guide not only their Generation X peers but also the newly emerging Generation Y employees through difficult business challenges. All while mitigating the loss of the technical knowledge and skills of the retiring Baby Boomer workforce. To do this, they must have the leadership ability to align their generational peers, inspire Generation Y and set a clear direction, to maintain productivity, and motivate and influence a workforce that has fewer skills but more expectations. Years ago, there was a study done in the world of education that looked at teacher perceptions and student performance. At a high level, the report showed a strong correlation between perception and performance. When teachers believed their students would perform and the students themselves believed in that perception-even the lower performing students tended to meet the higher expectations. So, what does this have to do with leadership? It's about perceptions and performance. Imagine if we believed in our employees to do exceptional work. Imagine if we stopped hearing about the talent shortage and stopped saying how unprepared the next generation is to work in this environment. Imagine if we actually believed that they could live up to the hype. If we tamped down the anxiety about not being prepared for the next phase of business we may actually see a world where people step up and outperform our expectations. That is what good leaders accomplish-they unlock the potential of the people they lead. This book gives you twenty specific keys to help you become the type of leader that your company or organization needs today and in the future. Keys that will help perception and performance merge for you into the reality of effective leadership.

Part of making things happen in your career, as a company or as an individual, is taking a hard look at things and saying, "These are my flaws. These are my shortcomings. These are my self-defeating actions where I've shot my success in the foot." Any person or company who says they've never done those things is hindering their success, ruining their achievement, and unwittingly keeping themselves stuck in the middle. The unwillingness to do a hard current state assessment is a barrier between getting what you want and continuing to lack what you need. Finding that progress gap is the secret ingredient in the magic formula for understanding what it is that you need (not necessarily what you want) and then taking the steps to get that result (which leads to what you want). Talent management is indeed a business imperative to build and grow a successful organization ... but more importantly it is also a personal imperative for professionals to build successful careers. When people don't employ personal talent management in the way of owning their own succession plan; when companies and organizations don't build and sustain an integrated talent management strategy; they remain stuck in the middle; somewhere between who they are and who they want to be. How to get unstuck, how to break free from the middle is what individuals and organizations often don't understand. That critical understanding (and ability to take action on it to improve your situation) is what you'll find in this book as told through the eyes of a member of Generation X. About the Author: Dr. Curtis L. Odom is Principal and Managing Partner of Prescient Talent Strategists. He has over 15 years of experience in talent development, performance consulting, training, and instructional design as a practitioner, researcher, author and speaker. Curtis has an earned doctorate of education from Pepperdine University and has been industry certified as both a Human Capital Strategist (HCS) and Strategic Workforce Planner (SWP) from the Human Capital Institute. His 10 years of military service in the United States Navy serve as a solid foundation of his practical expertise in organizational development, change management, and integrated talent management strategies to maximize organizational investments in human capital. Dr. Odom is a member of the Human Capital Institute (HCI), International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI), the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), Phi Delta Kappa International Honor Society, and American Mensa. Curtis was honored with the distinction of being selected as a member of the Boston Business Journal Top 40 Under 40 Class for 2010.