IT Leadership Alchemy

• Transform yourself into a great technical leader!
• Make a plan for leadership—and execute on it
• Strengthen all your key relationships: with technical staff, management, and your customer
• Contains easy-to-use templates, checklists, assessments, and group facilitation techniques
• Includes real-life scenarios and solutions from the world's leading IT organizations

The practical, hands-on guide to winning IT leadership.

• Make a plan for becoming a great leader—and execute on it
• Build win-win relationships with clients, managers, technical professionals, and other key stakeholders
• Beyond getting to market fast—how to get it right
• Includes easy-to-use tools proven in the world's leading organizations

Today's IT leaders must manage unprecedented rates of change and growth in a radically new and extraordinarily complex environment. Drawing on the insights of a world-class panel of IT and business leaders, IT Leadership Alchemy identifies the core relationship management skills that underlie every facet of successful IT leadership. Then, through practical templates, checklists, assessment tools, and real-life scenarios, this book shows IT managers exactly how to strengthen, deepen, and leverage those skills.

• Covers all three key building blocks of IT management success: self assessment, work with others, and alignment
• Addresses every aspect of technical leadership, from staff development to strategy
• Offers expert, hands-on techniques for improving your communication skills
• Covers recruitment, retention, and team leadership
• Includes practical techniques for sharpening your customer/client focus

IT Leadership Alchemy is the first book that precisely targets the crucial human and business skills you need to succeed in IT management—and gives you a detailed program for developing all of them. From motivating brilliant people to managing brutal schedules, this book will be by your side—all the way to the top.

Table of Contents

Foreword.
Preface.
1. The Value of Technical Leadership.
2. Leader Self-Alignment.
3. Resiliency.
4. Interpersonal and Team Skills.
5. Communication Skills.
6. Coaching.
7. Customer Orientation.
8. Strategic Business Acumen.
9. Project Leadership.
10. Creating and Actualizing Vision.
11. The Journey to Change.
12. A Plan for Action.
Bibliography.
Index.