Influencing Leaders: The Seven Disciplines of the Trusted Strategic Advisor

Summary

Executives face relentless pressure, ambiguity, and isolation, requiring advisors who deliver actionable counsel. In Influencing Leaders, James E. Lukaszewski and Helio Fred Garcia provide the proven framework for becoming a trusted strategic influencer partner that leaders turn to when facing critical decisions.

The book presents seven essential disciplines: establishing trustworthiness, mastering verbal influence, developing management perspective, thinking strategically, recognizing patterns, structuring constructive advice, and teaching leaders to apply counsel effectively. Practical tools include the Three-Minute Drill, Five Imperatives for Advisors/Influencers, and assessments for developing capabilities. Listeners will also find:

• The five components of trust and ten ways advisors commonly lose it, providing a clear roadmap for building and maintaining credibility with executives
• Frameworks for structuring advice that's clear, actionable, and strategically relevant
• Pattern recognition techniques that enable advisors and influencers to forecast future challenges
• Methods for developing a management perspective that allows advisors and influencers to see the world through the leader's eyes and understand executive priorities
• Communication strategies for delivering counsel with the clarity, brevity, and impact that time-pressured executives require