Executive Leadership

This book explains how we should work within organizations : any executive, at any management level (Jaques thinks there are just nine complexity levels), should be coached by someone who has been successful at that level and who is allowed to speak rather freely with the people under the executive and his colleagues. The coach is not a judge and his opinions will be used only to help the executive better and quicker solve the problems he discovers at that level of management complexity. The coach job is very difficult and that explains why the Elliott Jaques method is not often implemented. But it should, and companies who could do it would outperform competitors, just because executives will understand and solve problems quicker-better and learn to understand quicker at a given complexity level. Well coached executives will progress quicker up to their personal limit, but also will blunder less often... There are many others counsels in the book which help apply the main element of the method. Must be read.

Elliott Jaques is Canada's Peter Drucker but as a psychologist gets stuck in creating nomenclature that is difficult to follow. This work has the benefit of wordsmithing by a coauthor (S. Clement)which releases the valuable content to us in clear discussion. And what insight there is when viewing organization and management from this different point of view. Whatever your beliefs are of management and leadership this book will sharpen and deepen your understanding. At the heart of Jaques discovery is that just as we say some people "run deep" he believes they also have differing time horizons in their operating mode. It follows that higher management positions must be able to "see" further ahead if they are to contribute value to their direct reports. Read this book for its uniqueness and intriguing insight.

Elliott Jaques devised a system for analyzing executive ability based upon an individual's time horizon--the maximum period of time in the future toward which his/her work activities were aimed in their performance. He reached this conclusion during extensive, longitudinal, empirical studies in England. His series of books reflect his elaboration and extension of this finding. He worked, for a time, with Dr. Owen Jacobs of the U.S. Army (and then the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, ICAF). Jaques prior, groundbreaking book, "Requisite Organization" is more pictorial than this volume. The present work is oriented more towards practicing executives. After reading it, I bought a copy and loaned it to my boss! I wish more bosses would read it--and carefully at that. The charts provided are engaging and thought-provoking. A less extensive volume, "Human Capability" follows in sequence. Jaques wrote it with is wife and publisher: Kathryn Cason. It is a fine sequel, adding some additional perspectives and completing the charts that Jaques developed over time. These books are most strongly recommended for serious students and practitioners of management. They go far in attempting to move management into management science.