RAM CHARAN is an advisor to many of the world's top CEOs and corporate boards. He is author or coauthor of twenty books, including The New York Times bestseller Execution. He has taught at Harvard Business School and GE's John F. Welch Learning Center, and is a member of six corporate boards.

1 High-Potential Leaders Are Crucial to Helping Businesses Adapt and Thrive in the Digital Age 1

The Urgent Need for High-Potential Leaders 1

What "High Potential" Means Now 2

An Important Distinction 7

Getting Hipos There Faster 8

How Hipos Can Use This Book 11

How Leadership Developers Should Use This Book 13

A Final Word 14

Tips for Hipos-How to Use This Book 18

Tips for HR and Leadership Developers-How to Use This Book 20

Part I Five Essential Skills for High-Potential Leaders 23

2 Increase the Return on Your Time (ROYT) 25

Get Comfortable with People Better Than You 25

Set and Reset Your Priorities 28

Customize Your Information Flow 31

Delegate and Follow Through 33

Trust But Verify 34

Decide How to Leverage Yourself 35

Create Repeatable Processes 37

Be Decisive 38

Additional Resources 43

3 Multiply the Energy and Skills of Those Around You 45

Identify a Person's God-Given Talent 46

Build Other People's Strengths 50

Make Necessary Changes Quickly 52

Manage the Intersections 53

Lead the Dialogue 56

Be a Social Architect 58

How Tony Palmer Became a Talent Magnet 60

Additional Resources 68

4 Be a Master of Big Ideas and Execution 71

Make Your Big Ideas Better 71

How to Assess Your Good Ideas 72

Getting Big Ideas Executed 76

Execution Basics 78

The Art of Asking Incisive Questions 80

A Hipo's Vision and Execution at Fingerhut 81

Additional Resources 90

5 Get to Know Customers, Competitors, and the Macro Environment 91

Observe the End-to-End Consumer Experience 92

Know the Competition 94

Dissect Ecosystems 98

See Your Business from the Outside In 100

Keep Up with Technology 103

Additional Resources 108

6 Build Your Mental Capacity 109

Widen Your Lens 109

Keep Learning 111

Build Diverse Networks 114

Seek Information from Everywhere 116

Stay Mentally Flexible 120

Additional Resources 129

Part II Taking Charge of Your Growth and Choosing Your Next Big Career Move 131

7 How, When, and Why to Make a Leap 133

The Virtue of Leaps 134

Making Leaps Without Leaving Your Company 139

Build Your Own Support System 141

Bonnie Hill's Multiple Leaps 143

Leaps Outside the Company 146

Weighing a Job Change 148

Your Exit Plan 150

Your Entrance Plan 151

Additional Resources 159

8 Track Your Mental Health and Work/Life Balance 161

Business Achievement 162

Life Satisfaction 163

Find a Meaningful Focus 168

Protect Your Mental Health 172

How Aaron Greenblatt Found His Focus 173

Additional Resources 181

Part III The Care and Feeding of High Potentials-Every Organization's Precious Resource 183

9 Identifying, Recruiting, and Retaining Hipos 185

Redefine and Find High-Potential Leaders 186

Create Opportunities for Growth 189

Clear the Path for Hipos 192

Improve Feedback Loops 193

Refresh the Leadership Pool 196

How to Use This Book to Develop Your Organization's Hipos 197

Key Points for Talent Management Leaders 197

Additional Resources 209

Acknowledgments 211

Index 213