We live in a world where the ordinary, ho-hum, average leadership we have to tolerate every day is no longer cutting it. Our teams, organisations and communities need a more remarkable version of leadership, one that can engage, influence and mobilise us to make progress with the important goals, opportunities and challenges we all face. The bottom line is that we need less ordinary and more extraordinary leadership. Xtraordinary reveal and teaches the key beliefs, skills and techniques that extraordinary leaders use in their everyday interactions with those they seek to lead. Supported by contemporary scientific research, these techniques are explained using practical examples and real-life stories that have been drawn from the author’s unique experience of advising and coaching leaders at all levels, many within the biggest, most successful and respected companies in the world. Using a lifetime of experience teaching leadership, author Gerard Penna takes often inaccessible and complex ideas and makes them approachable and available to the average leader. Whether the reader is a new, emerging or experienced leader, the powerful frameworks and tools shared in the book have been proven to provide a practical pathway to becoming more extraordinary. Xtraordinary introduces the “X model”, a simple, yet powerful model that reflects the dynamics of human interactions. This “X Model” is especially valuable to the reader in making better sense of their own leadership ‘dance’ and identifying what may help or hinder their own growth towards “Xtraordinary” leadership. Xtraordinary is written in three parts:* The first, Hidden in Plain Sight, examines what extraordinary leadership looks like by revealing two hidden dynamics present in all human interactions, which have especially profound effects on how a leader is experienced.* The second part of the book The Leadership Dance answers the question why Xtraordinary leadership matters, by bringing the reader up onto the balcony to reveal how the leadership dance they are doing affects their ability to engage, influence and mobilise team members and others.* The third part of the book Habits of Xtraordinary reveals the how of remarkable leadership, through the exploration of eight habits of Xtraordinary leaders. Packed with familiar situations, practical examples and real-life stories, Xtraordinary guides the reader along the path from concept to application helping them to apply these ideas in their own life and in doing so move their leadership from ordinary towards Xtraordinary.
