The Accidental CEO: A Leader's Journey from Ego to Purpose by Thomas A. Voccola
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(Paperback)
- Pub. Date: April 2006
- 267pp
- Sales Rank: 288,545
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Product Details
- Pub. Date: April 2006
- Publisher: Lulu.com
- Format: Paperback, 267pp
- Sales Rank: 288,545
- ISBN-13: 9781411688575
- ISBN: 1411688570
Synopsis
After an intense year of damage-control duty in Europe, former Marine lieutenant, Bob Harris, is suddenly summoned back to Chicago for an emergency Board meeting. Catching the red-eye from London to New York then on to Chicago, he relaxes in the early morning meeting, his fatigued mind drifting back over the tumultuous events of recent months, when he’s jolted out of his reverie.
“Bob, the Board wants you to take over as interim CEO while we conduct a formal search. In the meantime you need to stop the bleeding and get us on solid footing with the PDQ acquisition.” In this engaging business fiction debut, Tom Voccola convincingly takes us into the pressured, reactionary world of the Accidental CEO, and delivers a powerful new message for all who aspire to lead. As he’s propelled into the spotlight as the company’s rising young executive star, Bob decides to keep his strategy and anxieties close to the vest—until he realizes what got him to the seat won’t ensure his success as CEO. Seeing his struggle, an enlightened Board member compels Bob to see a former CEO turned consultant who reveals three secrets of leadership wisdom unknown to most of today’s new CEOs, yet critical to leading today’s free-agent, distributed organizations. In an intense often combative exchange, the two debate fundamental issues faced by all leaders – issues involving self knowledge, choice and the stunning transformation that can come from unleashing the exponential power of Purpose and Passion in oneself and others.More Reviews and RecommendationsBiography
Tom Voccola is President of CEO2, a Los Angeles based Chief Executive Consulting firm specializing in Executive Team Alignment and Rapid Cultural Transformation. Over the past fifteen years, Tom and his team have utilized the very secrets revealed in this book to assist hundreds of CEOs and executives in transforming their lives and the lives of the people they lead. An Accidental CEO of three companies himself; Tom is an accomplished public speaker, NLP Master and co-founder and former Chairman of the Los Angeles area CEO Roundtable for the American Electronics Association. An avid sailor, Tom sails his Classic 44 Mercer sloop Sea Fever out of Ventura harbor and lives with his wife, best friend and CEO2 co-creator, Frances Fujii, in Thousand Oaks, California.
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Accidental CEO: A Leader's Journey from Ego to Purposeby Anonymous
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February 25, 2008: I am an adjunct professor with the MBA program at Maastricht School of Management in Maastricht, Holland. My primary teaching responsibilities include courses for MBA and DBA students focused on Executive Leadership, Advanced Business Strategy, Strategic Alliances, Mergers and Acquisitions and International Business. These students are located on the main campuses and 36 auxiliary campuses around the world. I have used the book, The Accidental CEO, as one of the primary resources for my students to get inside the head of what it feels like to be a CEO and to confront the real leadership issues that CEOs have to resolve in their everyday work life. Both the students and I have found Mr. Voccola?s book to be an invaluable source of stimulating class discussion. It offers the students a realistic portrayal of the daily dynamic of corporate leadership. It maps out what it means to gain the loyalty of your core leadership team through the means of an inner conversation about who you are as a CEO. It links the performance of the CEO to his understanding of himself and ultimately how important it is for the CEO to get clear about his or her real purpose and unique contribution. Mr. Voccola?s book is the perfect segue into the discussion of self knowledge as the key to leadership performance breakthroughs. After reading this book, the students quit speaking in the abstract and begin to really grasp the concrete realities of the leadership journey. It has sparked numerous highly motivated classroom discussions and has caused several of my students to focus on various aspects of successful leadership as their research topic for their MBA theses. I highly recommend this book without reservation for any reader who wants to gain deep insight to the real dynamics of leadership and personal success both in business and in life. Professor Dr. Stephen L. Gomes
Accidental CEO: A Leader's Journey from Ego to Purposeby Anonymous
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January 17, 2008: This book uses a story format to describe a process for deepening leaders? self-awareness and to provide a framework for ?creating a game worth playing.? The book is well-organized, engaging, and the content is extremely valuable. By following the framework, leaders can develop clarity around their personal vision and then translate it to their organization?s purpose. The second section of the book focuses on formulating a strategy to engage employees in the organization?s vision and purpose. Voccola provides points to consider at the end of each chapter. As a leader of a large division of 800 people, I found the book practical and effective in providing me tools to lead my organization to success. I?ve always had the belief that growing into leadership is an ?inside job? but have not found many books to help me expand my self-awareness as it relates to being a leader. It was easy for me to translate the story to my own situation and then apply the framework with my leadership team. I highly recommend this book to anyone who either accidentally or intentionally finds themselves in a leader role.
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