Zenger | Folkman

In the bestselling book, The Extraordinary Leader, thought leaders Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman reveal 16 key competencies that separate the top 10% of leaders from the rest. Expanding on their research from that book, the authors, along with Scott Edinger, answer the question, “Which of the 16 competencies is the most important?”

Through an extensive study with over 20,000 managers, they discovered that leaders who possess the ability to “Inspire and Motivate Others to High Performance” outperform all others. It is the single most powerful separator of the most effective leaders from both average and the poor performers. It is the quality most sought after by subordinates. It is also the quality that is most closely correlated with the highest levels of employee engagement. The mystery then is: “Is this a skill that people can learn or are a chosen few just born with it?”

By analyzing results from thousands of leaders the authors conclude that nearly every leader can learn to be inspirational. Readers will learn how to inspire teams to greatness. They’ll learn the nine behaviors exhibited by the most successful leaders and how to implement them. All leaders will be able to find straightforward actions that will fit into their current activities. Understanding this mystery is the key to unlocking workforce potential and inspiring associates to even higher levels of performance.