Leadership System 2.0: A book review by Bob Morris

Leadership System: Implementing Integrated Enterprise Excellence
Forrest W. Breyfogle III
Citius Publishing, Inc. (August 2020)

Vision without execution is hallucination.” Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison’s observation offers a valuable reminder to executives who become wholly preoccupied with WHERE,  while neglecting HOW. Simon Sinek is convinced that “everything begins with WHY.” Forrest Breyfogle agrees that all three are very important. In fact, he is the architect of a system — Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) — that can accommodate each of them. The system is comprehensive, cohesive, and cost-effective.  The material he provides in Leadership System 2.0 is introduced within the framework of a business narrative: setting, main characters, key issues, major conflicts, and ultimately resolution or climax.

I prefer to say nothing about the details of the narrative, except to suggest that the plot developments as well as the interaction between and among the characters create a context, a frame of reference, within which to introduce information, insights, and counsel that are anchored in human experience…experience with which most readers can easily identify.

These are among the enterprise issues that Breyfogle addresses:

o Goals (e.g. deadlines) are not being met
o Scorecards (i.e. analytics) are inaccurate, insufficient, and/or inappropriate
o Ineffective fire prevention
o Strategies are misunderstood and/or ignored
o Project initiatives (e.g. Lean) are wasteful and incomplete
o Tendency to respond to symptoms rather than to root causes
o Communication breakdowns
o Silos disguised as human beings
o “Whac-a-Mole” problem solving

Whatever their size and nature may be, all organizations need effective leadership at the C-level, of course, but also at all the other levels and in all the other areas of the give enterprise. Without sufficient leadership, no organization can achieve integrated enterprise excellence no matter what system it adopts. That is why Breyfogle wrote both Management 2.0 and Leadership System 2.0.

Those who have developed leadership capabilities — with or without the authority of a formal title — must understand IEE thoroughly before they attempt to integrate its principles. Hence the compelling importance of Management 2.0. That is why I strongly recommend that — if possible — both books be read, with  Management 2.0 first, before reading Leadership System 2.0.

* * *

Forrest Breyfogle III is a management consultant, as well as the CEO of consultant and training company Smarter Solutions, Inc. He was the developer of the Integrated Enterprise Excellence system.

For Amazon: I urge you to learn more about him and his brilliant work.

For Blogging on Business: To learn more about his life and work, please click here.

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