Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader

By: Herminia Ibarra

Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck

You aspire to lead with greater impact. The problem is you're busy executing on today's demands. You know you have to carve out time from your day job to build your leadership skills, but it's easy to let immediate problems and old mindsets get in the way. Leadership and development expert Herminia Ibarra shows how managers and executives at all levels can step up to leadership by making small but crucial changes in their jobs, their networks, and themselves. In Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader, she offers advice to help you redefine your job in order to make more strategic contributions; diversify your network so that you connect to, and learn from, a bigger range of stakeholders; and become more playful with your self-concept, allowing your familiar—and possibly outdated—leadership style to evolve.

Ibarra turns the usual "think first and then act" philosophy on its head by arguing that doing these three things will help you learn through action and will increase what she calls your outsight—the valuable external perspective you gain from direct experiences and experimentation. As opposed to insight, outsight will then help change the way you think as a leader: about what kind of work is important; how you should invest your time; why relationships matter in informing and supporting your leadership; and, ultimately, who you want to become.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2015 Herminia Ibarra (P)2023 Ascent Audio

Brilliant Commonsense Scholarly Insights

In this book Dr. Ibarra shares her deep expertise and insights based on her exceptional scholarship and real life practice. This is one of the six books I will be sharing and reading with my team in 2024. This is great book for students, scholars, and practitioners.

FRESH MBA GRAD

I’ve been working through Ibarra’s content at the recommendation of my MBA mentor. Currently I’m a creative solopreneur and have been building my craft/business for 20+ years - these concepts still apply! This book and (Working Identity) have been helpful in understanding the process that was already taking place in my life that I didn’t understand when I went to college in my mid-30s! I’m also thankful for the highlight to “midlife moments as career/midlife are intricately intertwined. I think there needs to be more content out there on navigating “midlife!”

Wish I found this book at my career start!

While university education often molds individuals into "technical experts," this book illustrates that the skills required for technical expertise are not necessarily those needed for effective leadership. "Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader" offers practical guidance on transcending technical proficiency to embrace leadership roles more fully. I wish I had discovered this insightful book when I first started my career; it would have been incredibly beneficial.

Actions spur reflection, insight, and learning

One point that really hit home for me was one of Ibarra's citations: “…a classic study [by Fred Luthans, Academy of Management Executive 2, no. 2 (1988)] [that] compared managers who were rated highly effective by their own teams with managers who were successful in moving up to higher positions…The effective managers spent most of their time working with their direct reports inside their teams. The successful managers spent much more time on networking activities with peers in other units and higher-ups throughout the organization.”

Many leaders fall into the trap of thinking in the operational sense and neglecting the strategic. Ibarra highlights that “we have difficulty making the transition from work firmly rooted in our own functional knowledge or expertise to work that depends on guiding diverse parties, many outside of our direct control, to a shared goal”. Ibarra points to MIT studies that have shown how the most effective leaders are not those who follow conventional wisdom on leading a team (managing internal dynamics, setting clear goals etc) but those who act as a bridge to the team’s external environment. Aligning your team’s goals with the wider organization, enabling information streams, and gleaning best practices from other teams saw the leader and the team work far more effectively in the strategic context.

Key Takeaways:
- To transition from effective manager to successful leader, you must develop outsight, which involves seeking external knowledge, new experiences, and taking action. You can then gain and apply new insights from these new knowledge sources, experiences, and actions.
- Redefine your job: Take a strategic approach by prioritizing tasks, understanding their importance, and networking with peers. See you job as the next level up, impacting much more of your company than your current role. Delegate whatever you can so you can focus on greater company impact.
- Expand your network: Build strong relationships with diverse contacts to gain valuable insights and opportunities.
- Embrace a playful leadership identity: Challenge your preconceived notions of yourself and explore new leadership styles.
- Embrace the stepping-up process: Understand the stages of leadership transition and persist through challenges.
- We should be setting learning goals, not performance goals. Choose tasks that will help you learn and not those that will make you look good. This will see you develop and extend the possibilities for yourself.

Ibarra's Framework for Leadership Development:
- Disconfirmation: Increase your sense of urgency for change.
- Simple Addition: Add new experiences and activities to your routine.
- Complication: Persist through challenges and setbacks.
- Course Correction: Revise your goals and strategies as needed.
- Internalization: Integrate new insights and behaviors into your leadership identity.

Practical Action Steps:
- Create slack in your schedule: TIme is the most valuable thing for a leader - you need time to reflect, strategize, learn, brainstorm, and plan. Use time tracking apps to identify time-wasting activities and optimize your schedule.
- Strengthen your network: Actively seek out new connections and deepen existing relationships.
- Be more playful with your self-identity: Experiment with different leadership styles and behaviors.
-Reflect on your leadership transition: Identify the stage you're in and take steps to move forward.

Overall, Ibarra's book provides a valuable roadmap for leaders who want to develop and grow in their roles. By applying her insights and taking proactive steps, you can effectively navigate the challenges and opportunities of leadership.

Simplifying complexity

This book is a great companion to The author’s other work Working Identity providing relatable useful advice with excellent examples. Her final example of her own transition brings additional credibility to the work. Highly recommended!

Weird

Completely failed to catch my focus. Tried to listen to it through so I could catch any tidbits that might grasp my attention, but gave up. Reader refers frequently to sidebars and pictographs, which is a fail for an Audible audience. Hopefully, others will find it useful and helpful.