Chess Not Checkers: Elevate Your Leadership Game [Hardcover]

As organizations grow in volume and complexity, the demands on leadership change. The same old moves won’t cut it any more. InChess Not Checkers, Mark Miller tells the story of Blake Brown, newly appointed CEO of a company troubled by poor performance and low morale. Nothing Blake learned from his previous roles seems to help him deal with the issues he now faces. The problem, his new mentor points out, is Blake is playing the wrong game.

The early days of an organization are like checkers: a quickly played game with mostly interchangeable pieces. Everybody, the leader included, does a little bit of everything; the pace is frenetic. But as the organization expands, you can’t just keep jumping from activity to activity. You have to think strategically, plan ahead, and leverage every employee’s specific talents—that’s chess. Leaders who continue to play checkers when the name of the game is chess lose.

On his journey, Blake learns four essential strategies from the game of chess that transform his leadership and his organization. The result: unprecedented performance!Introduction
The Decision
Harder Than It Looks
Something Has to Change
A Different Game
Game On!
Start Here
Place Your Bet
What’s Important?
Who Cares?
It’s Your Move
Game Plan
What’s Next?
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author“Don’t let the highly absorbing story here fool you –Chess not Checkersis a truly fascinating and eminently practical guide to improving your organization’s functionality and performance at all levels. Any leader looking to effect critical change will come away with a new understanding of what changes to make and how to make them!”
—Marshall Goldsmith, New York Times and global bestselling author ofWhat Got You Here Won’t Get You There

“As our opportunities and challenges grow ever more cls(