Strategic Leadership- Dan Attella

Strategic Management is something that is generally implemented prior to the company going into business, embedded into their mission statement, or something that needs to be implemented slowly. In the article "Building a leadership Brand" Ulrich mentions a few different companies, in different industries, with similar goals. It is obvious that from the beginning, these companies have embraced the ideas of strategic management, where managing is not just the allocation of a companies resources, but also the effective and intelligent use of HUMAN resources. To be able to offer the best services and products for people (customers) one has to recognize the fact that the business itself is run by people (customers). Everyone is a customer in one way or another and for a company to embrace strategic management it effectively recognizes that people need to be treated like people, not machines.
He also goes on to mention that a leadership brand is what a customer can come to expect from all facets of a company. It is the production of not only a product or service, but also exceptional leaders to accompany the process. A process is only as good as the minds behind it. The authors in the article, and the book seem to agree with each other in terms of strategic leadership. They both seem to be saying that strategic management is about managing everything, including what isn’t on the surface. Ulrich says, "Leadership brand is a reputation for developing exceptional managers with a distinct set of talents that are uniquely geared to fulfill customers’ and investors’ expectations." I believe that this unique set of talents is listed in our text on pages 19-21. Vision Eloquence, and Consistency, Commitment, Being Well Informed, Willingness to Delegate and Empower, The Astute Use of Power, and last but not least, Emotional Intelligence. My thoughts on strategic leadership have been affected, but not changed. I respect Welch for who he is and what he has done, however I think the reason why he was and is so succesful is becuase he did it his way. Conforming to someone elses leadership style is not the way to go if your planning on being the next Jack Welch. There is no "Next Jack Welch" However there will be the new leaders of tomorrow, and one day they will be up on stage being grilled by an audience of potential MBA recipients, all becuase they were inovative and creative when it came to managing their company. So my mind will forever be open to new ideas when it comes to managing and running a business.