IT Leadership Manual: Roadmap to Becoming a Trusted Business Partner

CHAPTER 1

The Journey

Today’s Leadership Challenges

This book presents insights I have gained as a business professional for over 35 years and from my experiences as a racecar driver. The lessons I have learned in the boardroom and in the driver's seat have been the key to my personal leadership growth. Being a leader is about more than your experience in the workplace—it is about the way you conduct your life and the lessons you learn from your life experiences.

In racing, driving the car is the smallest part of the effort required to compete successfully. By far the largest part of that effort is your preparation for a race and your ability to collaborate with your crew and your team. Leadership is about building a team that you can work with, developing trust among the members of your team, and sharing your successes. It is about knowing how to get the most out of every personal relationship and developing the interpersonal skills necessary to address any situation you encounter. Becoming a trusted leader is about developing the self-knowledge, experience, and skills that serve as a foundation of your personal leadership style. This foundation provides you with the comfort and confidence others seek in a leader. The social, economic, and corporate climates have changed dramatically over the last few decades. Leaders today need to develop an entirely new set of skills to effectively perform in all three of those arenas. Leadership today is more about personal relationships and ...