What Does It Really Mean to Win?
There are plenty of books about leadership, but Executive Abundance: Leading Through Cycles of Scarcity and Success asks a more interesting question: What happens when you've achieved success and realize that success alone isn't enough?
Mitchell Levy's answer is both challenging and refreshing.
The central idea is that leadership shouldn't be measured solely by what you accomplish, but by the experience and success of the people affected by your decisions. Levy looks at five stakeholder groups: family and self, employees, customers, investors, and community. That immediately expands the leadership conversation beyond the usual quarterly numbers and performance metrics.
One of the ideas I found particularly compelling is the distinction between what a leader intends and what people actually experience. We can have the best intentions in the world, but leadership happens in the gap between what we think we're communicating and what other people actually receive.
That is a powerful concept for anyone who leads, sells, builds a company, or simply wants to have greater influence.
Levy also challenges the scarcity-driven mindset that can quietly take over successful organizations. More growth. More productivity. More revenue. More efficiency. More everything.
But at what cost?
Executive Abundance argues for a different way of thinking about success, one that incorporates clarity, credibility, purpose, and the long-term impact of our decisions.
I particularly appreciate that this isn't presented as some fluffy "just think abundantly" philosophy. Levy builds a framework around leadership decisions and relationships, giving readers something much more useful than motivational slogans.
This book made me stop and think about how often we evaluate a decision by asking, "Will this work?" when perhaps the better question is, "Who experiences this decision?"
That is a question worth carrying into the boardroom, the business meeting, the sales conversation, and even home.
If you're a CEO, entrepreneur, executive, or leader who has reached the point where you're thinking beyond simply winning and starting to think about what kind of legacy you're creating, Executive Abundance deserves a place on your reading list.
I'm looking forward to talking with Mitchell on Your Partner In Success Radio about that very subject and getting into the ideas behind the book. I suspect our conversation will raise at least as many questions as it answers, and honestly, that's usually where the best conversations begin.
You can find this book on Amazon.