Influencing Leaders

Every organization depends on advisors who can earn the confidence of senior leaders and deliver counsel that shapes decisions. James E. Lukaszewski and Helio Fred Garcia bring a combined century of experience coaching executives through crises, guiding reputation strategy, and building trust at the highest levels of global organizations. Influencing Leaders codifies their approach into seven distinct disciplines that transform consultants into the kind of trusted strategic advisors leaders rely on most. The seven disciplines provide a structured path to advisory effectiveness. You learn to be constructive by keeping counsel goal-focused, long-term, and strategically relevant. You practice intentional inconsistency--bringing deliberately different perspectives that challenge leadership assumptions. You develop a management perspective that aligns your advice with operational realities, and you cultivate pattern intuition to recognize that all incidents and circumstances carry prior history informing present decisions and future strategy. The remaining disciplines round out the advisor's toolkit: pragmatism, strategic thinking that enables you to recommend in an operational context, and verbal skill that ensures your counsel lands with clarity and impact. Each chapter includes assessments and questionnaires designed for self-evaluation, allowing you to measure your development across all seven disciplines. Influencing Leaders reflects insights from the authors' continued work with leaders in finance, law, HR, security, public affairs, and shareholder relations. Written for internal staff professionals and external consultants at any level who aspire to influence organizational leaders, Influencing Leaders serves anyone whose effectiveness depends on earning and keeping executive trust. Whether you advise on strategy, communications, legal matters, or operations, this book provides the disciplined framework and practical self-assessment tools to become the selfless, client-focused advisor that leaders turn to when the stakes are highest.