Leadership, regardless of what many leaders believe, means a lot more than just technical proficiency and formal authority asserted by the title on one’s business card. Then, what makes leaders great? This book explains how leaders can create successful organizations by following the 7 golden rules: Define your leadership style, summon the right people, build up the trust, ensure the clarity of direction, create support and motivation, get feedback and monitor the results, and be alert for changes.

This book is available for purchase at "Amazon.com" and many other selected bookstores around the world. Google books website offers a free preview of the book.

Editorial Reviews:
This book is not just another “How to” guide, but is a highly readable and penetrating must-read guide for all leaders who aspire to lead high-performing organizations.
Richard Lee, Senior Solutions Director, LG

An outstanding contribution to the leadership literature and a must-have addition to your library of management know-how.
Scott Bennett, VP of Marketing, AT&T

Insightful, educational and practical. An excellent blend of theory and practise.
Takahiro Yamato, Member of the Advisory Board, Toyota Motor Corporation

Ilker Cingillioglu introduced brand-new concepts combining a wide range of leadership literature with his personal experience, and came up with a top-notch business book.
Glen Johnson, Risk Talent Project Leader, Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Traditional Styles of Leadership

Figure 1.1 illustrates that the more control and decision-making power leaders exhibit, the less competent and empowered their followers are expected to be. Employee competence may include various related attributes from technical skills to experience to creativity. Empowerment, on the other hand, mainly demonstrates to what extent people are ready or fit to assume responsibility and feel determined and motivated to carry out the tasks assigned to them. The figure also suggests that as the employee competence and empowerment levels gradually increase in an organization, a systemic shift is observed in the strength of the leader’s influence from coercion to persuasion.

5C's of Successful Organizations

5C's of Successful Organizations
(Designed and developed by Ilker Cingillioglu, 2010)

Clear Communication and Authority Distribution: Plans, strategies, vision, goals, and other critical information are communicated clearly throughout the organization. People are empowered, ownership is created, authority and decision making are distributed and everyone shares the responsibility and is valued as partners.

Customer Focus and Flexibility: Understanding the needs and wants of the customers has the utmost importance and highest priority. Shifting consumer trends and choices are closely followed and necessary adjustments are made accordingly with the product range and the marketing mix. When economic and market conditions abruptly change, the organization uses its flexibility to quickly respond to these changes through decisive, timely and improvised actions, and knows how to stay ahead of the competition.

Contribution, Collaboration and Involvement: People feel valued and proud to be able to make contributions to the success of the organization. People trust each other and overcome obstacles through collaboration and teamwork. Everyone develops the sense of “We’re all on the same boat. Let’s go full steam and warp speed ahead!” So, the energy of the entire organizational workforce is combined in cooperative effort. High involvement with a collective power allows the organization to utilize the best of what everyone has to offer for the common end.

Creativity and Innovation: New ideas are constantly encouraged, appreciated and explored. All feasible assumptions and alternatives are given serious attention without prejudice or judgment. People strive for improving what worked in the past and never hesitate to contemplate what will work better in the future. Continuous innovation is the core strength of the organization’s culture. People are encouraged to think “outside the box,” and their dedication for producing innovative and creative ideas is fairly rewarded.

Continuous Learning: People are supported and provided with ongoing technical, motivational, team-building and field-specific training programs and learning opportunities. Every day is a new learning experience for everybody. Knowledge is regarded to be the most precious asset of the organization and people are continuously inspired and encouraged to build up their knowledge capital, keep up-to-date with the latest developments, eliminate their weaknesses and acquire the capabilities to be more confident and adept at what they do.