Leadership Lifecycle

Whether you are just starting out in your career, or are the CEO of a major corporation, The Leadership Lifecycle provides important lessons for navigating your career and optimizing leadership in your organization. Organizations evolve through identifiable lifestages, and each lifestage requires a very different leadership role if the organization is to be and remain successful. The Leadership Lifecycle presents a framework that enables you to diagnose the lifestage of the organization and know the appropriate leadership role for the organization. As organizations evolve from one lifestage to the next, often the leader is reluctant or unable to shift roles to match the new lifestage. This causes decline or failure as the foundations of past success are no longer appropriate for the present and often results in a search for new leadership. In detailing the lifecycle that an organization goes through, Ward identifies five lifestages and the corresponding leadership roles necessary to successfully sustain the organization. In the earliest lifestage, the entrepreneurial Creator must bring a vision to the organization and a focus on speed to market. In a fast growth mode, the Accelerator's role is to bring structure to the organization to facilitate controlled growth. Once the organization matures, the Sustainer seeks to position the organization for the long haul, focus on market share and avoid the hubris that can precede a downfall. When the organization is in crisis, the Transformer endeavors to cauterize the broken systems and refocus the vision of the organization. Finally, when an organization can no longer stand alone as an independent entity, the Terminator seeks to restore and realize value for the organization. Brought alive with compelling illustrations from corporations and non-profit organizations of all sizes, and in-depth analyses of two iconic organizations, The Walt Disney Company and Marks & Spencer, The Leadership Lifecycle describes in rich detail how organizations evolve and their leadership needs change as the organization changes. For organizations and leaders alike, it is essential that they be able to identify the lifestage the organization is in and when it is undergoing a transition to a new lifestage in order to change the leadership role and avoid decline. As such, The Leadership Lifecycle provides an essential roadmap for all those in leadership roles at all levels of their organizations.