The Leadership Star: A Practical Guide to Building Engagement - Paperback

by Brian Hartzer (Author)

Discover how to unlock the potential contained within your teams with this insightful resource

The Leadership Star: A Practitioner's Guide to Building Staff Engagement provides readers with a step-by-step guide to developing engagement within their professional teams in for-profit, non-profit, academic, and governmental organizations. Experienced executive, management consultant, and author Brian Hartzer walks readers through the foundational and advanced techniques required to develop high performing professional teams. He shows readers how to:

• Care about individuals as human beings, rather than as means to an end
• Provide context to people to help them understand the company and why what they do matters
• Give clarity by telling people what outcomes and behaviors are expected of them
• Help clear the barriers that stand in the way of people doing a great job
• Recognize individual contributions and success

Perfect for current and aspiring senior managers and executives who need to know exactly what they should personally do to draw out the best from their teams and build the highest levels of engagement, the book also belongs on the shelves of anyone with direct reports and anyone who hopes to enhance their own performance in the professional sphere.

Front Jacket

'Leadership is a journey of continuous learning and self-development, and The Leadership Star provides many invaluable insights. Any leader, aspiring or accomplished, will find this book valuable. I thoroughly recommend it.'
-- Ryan Stokes, Managing Director and CEO of Seven Group Holdings Limited (SGH)

'Staff engagement is central to leadership effectiveness. Brian Hartzer's Leadership Star framework offers a practical and powerful guide to achieving that necessary engagement. Whether you are a new leader or an experienced CEO, this book belongs on your desk.'
-- Bob Joss, Dean, Emeritus Stanford Graduate School of Business

'A bible for all start-up founders. This book offers a refreshing approach to leadership that shows you it's possible to be caring and human at an individual level, while still moving the collective towards bigger goals as you build your business.'
-- Sarah Neill, founder and CEO, Mys Tyler

'Does the world really need another business book on leadership and management? I didn't think so until I picked up this book.'
-- Carl Sparks, former CEO of Travelocity Global and Managing Partner, Interlock Partners

'As a CEO you need clarity and courage of your convictions, but you also need someone else's guidance and counselling to help you along the way. Brian Hartzer is that sounding board, sharing his knowledge through the pages of this useful and practical leadership book.'
-- Kim McKay AO, Director and CEO, Australian Museum

'In the age where it's talent that creates value and drives the standards of society higher, the leadership imperative has changed from commanding to engagement. This book is practical, and based on the school of hard knocks, it's real. It's a jewel of a book. It's new and it's fresh.'
-- Ram Charan, best-selling author of The Amazon Management System and CEO advisor

'In writing this excellent book on leadership and people engagement, Brian draws on over twenty five years of experience in consulting and banking across three continents. In that time he has had periods of great success as well as times where he has faced significant challenges. These experiences have shaped him and his approach to leadership, resulting in a book which is both insightful and educational for all of those who aspire to be leaders rather than just managers.'
-- Sir Ralph Norris, former CEO, The Commonwealth Bank of Australia; Air New Zealand; ASB Bank

'Brian has taken the age-old idea of leadership and modernized it for the new abnormal we are navigating together. The ability to connect the leader through Caring, Context, Clarity, Clearing the Way, and Celebrating, are the fundamentals of creating a CULTURE of creativity, alignment, and playing together as one team. These operating principles are valuable for every leader at every level to connect with teammates and co-workers to ensure mutual success. We should all embrace the Leadership Star and make it our own.'
-- Carl Liebert, CEO, KWX; former CEO, autoNation; senior executive at USAA

'I greatly appreciated the chance to work with Brian, and a huge part of that is in the values he sets out in this book. He believes them and lives them, to great effect. The book reads exactly like an expert practitioner passing on good advice. Clear, practical, well paced, The Leadership Star brings across well his passion for the subject. People are your most important ingredient in business and how to get the best from them is an ever-present priority.'
-- Stephen Hester, CEO, RSA Insurance Group

Back Jacket

BRING OUT THE BEST IN YOUR TEAM

A good leader manages, but a great leader builds a culture that engages people emotionally--helping both individuals and teams to achieve more than they ever thought possible.

High levels of employee engagement have been shown to lead to increased customer satisfaction, employee productivity, and profitability while also reducing staff turnover and absenteeism. But what can an individual leader do to drive consistently high engagement?

In The Leadership Star, author and former CEO Brian Hartzer shares the five-point framework that has lifted engagement and improved the performance of thousands of people around the world. Based on current management theory, science and leadership data--as well as the author's own experience over his 30-year professional career-- this must-read book will help you clarify your own motivations, values and goals, to inspire your people with authenticity and empathy across commercial, government, academic and not-for-profit organisations alike.

The Leadership Star is the ultimate practical guide for current and aspiring leaders to improve engagement in teams and organisations and create real value for customers, shareholders and employees.

Author Biography

BRIAN HARTZER is an experienced financial services professional and a former CEO of Westpac. He is a veteran of New York-based banking strategy firm, First Manhattan Consulting Group, and has held senior roles at ANZ and the Royal Bank of Scotland.