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Executive Intelligence: What All Great Leaders Have (平装)
by Justin Menkes
| Category:
Executive skills, Leadership |
| Market price: ¥ 168.00
MSL price:
¥ 138.00
[ Shop incentives ]
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| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
An absorbing business read with great mix of research and anecdotal evidence. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 9 items |
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Kevin Sharer (Chairman, President & CEO of Amgen, Inc.) (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-02 00:00>
Executive Intelligence offers real insights into what differentiates the great leaders from the pack. |
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Noel M. Tichy (Professor, The Ross School, University of Michigan and author of Cycle of Leadership), USA
<2007-01-02 00:00>
Executive Intelligence is a breakthrough. |
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James M. Citrin (coauthor of the national bestsellers The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers), USA
<2007-01-02 00:00>
This will transform the way companies hire, promote and evaluate senior-level employees. It is nothing less than a revolution. |
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Peter Han (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-02 00:00>
The basic premise of Justin Menkes's book is simple: just as math problems require a certain kind of quantitative intelligence, or relationships require the delicacy of emotional intelligence, strong business leadership rests on executive intelligence. Menkes has worked as an organizational consultant for an impressive roster of blue-chip companies - the CEOs of Gillette, Amgen, and Tyco offer their praise on the back cover of Executive Intelligence - and his experience shows in this thought-provoking volume. Clearly patterned after Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence, the seminal book that explained a theory of multiple intelligences which might leave a person highly expert in one area but surprisingly deficient in others, Executive Intelligence provides a helpful analysis of the cognitive abilities which define strong leaders.
Menkes starts his book by breaking down the different components of executive intelligence. He argues that conventional behavioral frameworks which try to prescribe rote behaviors fail for leadership coaching, due to the need for customized solutions based on the specific circumstances of each business and leader. Instead, the best executives benefit from critical thinking, which helps them gather, process, and apply information to reach goals and navigate complex situations.
Three key areas of this executive intelligence receive significant attention through the book's 17 chapters. The first centers on tasks, and executives' ability to identify problems, devise solutions, and exercise good judgment in pursuing those solutions. The second area of intelligence is social, and revolves around executives' management of relationships with others. Intriguingly, Menkes does not view the social component of executive intelligence as "charisma", or a "good personality", per se; more important than those qualities, he argues, is the ability to see others' viewpoints, to be able to balance among competing views, and to communicate effectively. The third area of executive intelligence is more inwardly focused on leaders themselves, on their abilities to learn from their mistakes, and to adjust behavior to avoid repeating them. In each of these sections, readers will find a mix of real-world examples from the experiences of Fortune 500 leaders like Gillette's Jim Kilts or AOL's Jon Miller, and more theoretical arguments grounded in review of other management books and business-review articles.
The potential audience for Executive Intelligence is large: it includes executives and aspiring executives, of course, but also those who must coach or evaluate leaders, and scholars focused on leadership development. As an addition to the literature on leadership development, following classics like On Becoming a Leader and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, this book will find its way onto many managers' shelves.
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Clifford Jo (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-02 00:00>
The gist of this book is about how to gauge, and thus reasonably predict, success of executives. The author explains the various measurements, such as IQ and EQ, and their correlation to executive success. Eventually, the author shows the reader that two forms of measurement combined are powerful indicators: knowledge-based and intelligence-based tests. The former is well practiced by applying past behavior interview techniques. The latter is what the author focuses on. For all intents and purposes, the author's version of intelligence-based tests are situational tests that measure executive reasoning. Ask questions that require analysis of situation and grade to the extent that a candidate reasons through the assumptions and the broader context of a good answer.
These knowledge- and intelligence-based tests focus on three areas: tasks, people, and self. There are elements of Drucker and Welch in this aspect, so rightfully pointed out by the author. When questions hone in these areas, a complete measurement of an executive candidate is produced. As well, that person knows strengths and weaknesses.
The combined accuracy of this approach is between 47% and 60%, which according to the author is excellent. No attempt was made to explain the remaining error, between 40% and 53%. While his approach has strength in simplicity for achieving around 50% accuracy, the real challenge--maybe the gold mine--lies in improving accuracy to 70% or 80%. Should the author so choose, follow-up work to discover that additional 10% to 20% would seem valuable and worth the effort.
The book is not particularly the best written, not in an elegant sense. For style, it has the feel of a weekend management book so it doesn't really distinguish itself from that crowd. The author does seem to self-promote at the end. Quoting from the same sources repeatedly got tiring. Further, it didn't have to be this long and as a result, there's a lot of over-explaining.
That said, content is qualitatively good, factually supported, and sound. Although a catchy book title, the ideas aren't exclusive to executives; they apply to good hiring practices as well. A good read. |
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John Musero (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-02 00:00>
This is the book my Wharton alma mater should assign its students. Why? Because it sheds new and significant light upon something which has been too much of a mystery for far too long and the understanding of which is highly relevant to anyone involved in management - what makes a star executive a star? Menkes answers this question with a welcome clarity and directness that is far removed from the unnecessarily dense prose and jargon which obscures so many business school articles and tomes. Indeed, Executive Intelligence crackles along with entertaining and enlightening insight and example. But don't let the accessibility of this book fool you because it is obviously a work of academic rigor. Those of us who could do without wasting our time on another business self-help book filled with platitudes and exhortations will find themselves deeply satisfied and educated. |
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Andrew Milkes (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-02 00:00>
As an executive for a large company responsible for a lot of our new hires, I try to stay current with new employee hiring and assessment best practices. I was reading the November issue of Harvard Business Review and there was an interesting article by Menkes about his theory, so I decided to buy his book.
I was prepared to hear all about how Menkes was going to expand the concept of intelligence beyond what it means to be smart like Goleman (emotional intelligence) or Zohar (spiritual intelligence). I was shocked and pleasantly surprised to learn that Menkes actually believes that intelligence is how skillfully someone thinks, not how emotionally attuned or spiritually grounded they are.
Menkes premise is that IQ tests were originally designed to predict school success and that they do so very effectively. So, he reasons, just like we can identify the subjects of academics and assess an individual's likely success in school, we can also identify the subjects of business and the skills needed to perform well in that setting. By doing so he created an intelligence measure that should predict business success. He divides work into three subjects: accomplishing tasks, working with other people, and adapting oneself.
He offers a very convincing argument for what I've observed for a long time; that is, the interviewing methods we currently use only tell us about a person's experience, not about how smart they are or how well they will do in a new position (which is why many people who have done great at their job interviews have turned out to be such disappointments once they are hired).
Menkes boils down very complex research into understandable explanations and provides a lot of scientific and empirical support for his argument, as well as interviews with top executives that show what this intelligence looks like in real life. The book wasn't overly complicated, confusing or esoteric, and I was able to read it in two evenings. |
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Liz Dashwood (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-02 00:00>
Not just a business book.
I would compare this work by Justin Menkes to the creativity and Flow discourses Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has presented and to Howard Gardner's invaluable Frames of Mind educational theory... as well, obviously, as to Goleman's landmark contribution of "Emotional Intelligence".
It takes years for ideas like this to become accepted, let alone adopted into the lexicon, let alone woven into the fabric of the culture, let ALONE integrated into policy. But here's hoping that not just CEOs and middle managers but school teachers, soccer coaches, ministers and leaders from all corners are screened for Exective Intelligence...
Furthermore, as I see this as a new conception of Intelligence, I certainly hope members of the Intelligence communtiy, police force, and other law enforcement agencies will read and consider the ideas Menkin offers. |
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John Jones (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-02 00:00>
I read Executive Intelligence and have a few comments. First, as an industrial-organizational psychologist with 25 years of experience in the test-publishing industry, and as a journal editor who has published many articles on executive assessment, I would like to address the two basic premises of his article; namely, (1) that the best predictor of executive performance is intelligence, and (2) no credible intelligence test exists that is relevant to leadership assessment.
There are many types of intelligence, ranging from traditional academic measures of IQ to job-related measures of intelligence to measures of practical or streetwise intelligence. Intelligence is a strong predictor of leadership performance, but the collective psychological research does not suggest that intelligence is a stronger predictor than relevant personality traits on all measures of performance. For example, my research indicates that intelligence really does not predict ethics, while personality variables do predict ethics. I recently analyzed over 20 cases of senior-level executives who were either fired or arrested for ethical and even legal violations, and they were all brilliant people, they just had a wayward personality when it came to integrity! Also, intelligence does not identify if an executive has a tendency to avoid his/her employees and customers, while a personality test can predict this type of costly avoidance behavior. Therefore both types of measurement systems - intelligence testing and personality assessment - typically are needed to ensure the hiring and retention of a successful and not just an intellectually competent leader.
Despite Menkes' position that no relevant measure of intelligence exists for the selection of business leaders, many members of the Association of Test Publishers already offer a wide variety of intelligence tests that are being successfully applied in work settings. At IPAT, we have combined job-related measures of personality with a measure of intelligence to assess a leader's "intellectual efficiency." Many of the most successful leaders not only have higher levels of intelligence, on average, but they also are able to think quickly and accurately under pressure. If a leader is extremely intelligent but is not resilient, then the benefits of having a high IQ can be compromised. Additionally, some people with high IQs lack leadership traits such as self-confidence and assertiveness and aren't effective in getting their intelligent positions implemented. Finally, many intelligent leaders often derail because of personality flaws and blind-spots.
Psychological testing assesses executive potential best when measures of both mental ability and work-related personality are used. By focusing on a test battery that includes both assessment strategies, stronger, more successful leaders can be hired, developed, and retained. |
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1 Total 1 pages 9 items |
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