The Systems Leader

Mastering the Cross-Pressures That Make or Break Today's Companies

By: Robert E. Siegel

Narrated by: Joshua Kachnycz

A groundbreaking blueprint for mastering “cross-pressures” in a rapidly changing world, teaching leaders to execute and innovate, think locally and globally, and project ambition and statesmanship alike—from a Stanford Business School lecturer and consultant to some of the biggest and most innovative CEOs

Since the start of this century, businesses have confronted a series of extreme and constant disruptions, including technological upheavals, a pandemic, and a global financial crisis. As a result, today’s leaders, from startup founders to the managers of global giants, face unprecedented pressures from their bosses, investors, customers, peers, suppliers, and employees. For many, it’s a recipe for disaster.

Part of the problem is that these challenges, while acutely felt, are rarely articulated in a way that makes them graspable and actionable. Robert E. Siegel has witnessed the impact of these cross-pressures from different perspectives. As a lecturer in management at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, an operator, a venture capitalist, and a consultant, he sees countless teams of managers, at all sorts of companies, struggling to lead their companies into the future.

Featuring exclusive lessons drawn from inside the business world, including from the CEOs of Accenture, Mubadala, Kering, Wells Fargo, and Box, this essential guidebook teaches readers “systems leadership,” Siegel’s holistic framework that helps leaders understand and master five key dimensions where they are likely to feel contradictory pressures:

• Priorities: The need to succeed at both execution and innovation
• People: The need to project both strength and empathy
• Sphere of influence: The need to focus both internally and externally
• Geography: The need to think both locally and globally
• Purpose: The need to pursue both ambition and statesmanship

“A compelling exploration of the challenges facing today's business leaders.”—François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO, Kering

“The Systems Leader is Robert Siegel at his best. . . . Wise, perceptive, and always practical.”—Julie Sweet, chair and CEO, Accenture


* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF of key visual aids from the book.

Outdid your last book

Your last book was good but with such high profile executive interviews and learnings this book is a real gem in the world of business books.

Predictable and not useful

It follows the same sort of unhelpful formula that many other books if this genre cling to; the writer has a solid background, some stories to share, but relies on examples that are nothing but stories about something a high powered CEO of a large company did. That's fine, except the analogies fall flat for a couple of reasons. First, they are typically the decision maker. They usually have room to do something different. Even as a C level myself, you'd be shocked to know how little room I often have to move. Second, the examples are usually lacking in tangible detail that helps to understand implementation.

As someone who already thinks Luke this, I was looking for more tangible examples. Something with actionable ideas. I found none of that in this book.