Driving Leaders: Lessons In Highperformance Leadership Drawn From Endurance Racing,Used

The world of business makes generous use of metaphors drawn from the auto industryas in driving for results, leading in the fast lane, looking under the organizations hood, and leaving the competition in the dust. But this timely, highly readable handbook goes a big step further. Author Chris Cappy, a veteran management consultant and selfprofessed car guy, along with Scott Good, a serial entrepreneur and national championshipwinning racing driver, contend that driving is much more than just a metaphor. Together, they demonstrate that the principles of toplevel automobile racing can teach us a great deal not only about leadership, but also about life. In this book, they literally put us in the drivers seat and show us how its done.Endurance racing at the highest levels is a sophisticated team sport, not just an isolated act of derringdo. It takes vision, planning, training, and exquisite execution by many people over a long period of time. Sound familiar? If youre a business executive, it should. Highperformance leading, like racing, is emphatically a team endeavor.The authors passion for their subject leaps out from every page, and its catching. So are the keen insights derived from the racetrackinsights used to demonstrate how to leverage and apply important skills and principles in our professional and personal lives. After all, todays business environment is nothing if not fast and furious. Theres danger around every curve; if we cant learn how to see around that curve before we get there, to anticipate quickly how to respond, and then to guide ourselves and our organizations around them safely, well spin out of control. Isnt that what todays leadership is all aboutrecognizing with a clear eye the uncertainty and volatility all around us, and then coaching teams of highlytrained people to navigate through successfully? Yes, but howhow do leaders teach, align and motivate their employees to maximize business results?To answer those questions, The Driving Leaders Handbook escorts us into the highpressure world of motorsports and then deftly pulls back to offer cogent advice. It guides us stepbystep through the process that leads a professional driveror an executiveto a level of performance not previously thought possible. Its a feeling (yes, feelings and instinct in this realm trump pure knowledge) of calm focusthat relaxed state amidst chaos and confusion that nimbly guides a sports car, or an executive team, through extreme adversity.The Driving Leaders Handbook blends the lessons learned from the racetrack with vast experience gained while working with senior executives of some of the worlds largest corporations around organizational change. Leading change is the most daunting challenge todays leaders face, but face it they must: Theres no alternative. Leadership and change have become synonymous. Drawing from the example of legendary racing team owners like Roger Penske, Chris and Scott show how to build a business case for change by involving employees and wider stakeholders in the process at every level. For the leader, it requires a level of passion, commitment and relentless focus on results.