The Front Line Leader

Real leadership that leads to high engagement, higher performance, and a culture of accountability As president and CEO of Scripps Health, one of America's most prestigious health systems, Chris Van Gorder presided over a dramatic turnaround, catapulting Scripps from near bankruptcy to a dominant market position. While hospitals and health systems nationwide have laid people off or are closing their doors, Scripps is financially healthy, has added thousands of employees (even with a no-layoff philosophy), and has developed a reputation as a top employer. What are the secrets to this remarkable story? In The Front-Line Leader, Chris Van Gorder candidly shares his own incredible story, from police officer to CEO, and the leadership philosophy that drives all of his decisions and actions: people come first. Van Gorder began his unlikely career as a California police officer, which deeply instilled in him a sense of social responsibility, honesty, and public service. After being injured on the job and taking an early retirement, Van Gorder had to reinvent himself, taking a job as a hospital security director, a job that would change his life. Through hard work and determination, he rose to executive ranks, eventually becoming CEO of Scripps. But he never forgot his own roots and powerful work ethic, or the time when he was a security officer and a CEO would not make eye contact with him. Van Gorder leads from the front lines, making it a priority to know his employees and customers at every level. His values learned on the force—protecting the community, educating citizens, developing caring relationships, and ultimately doing the right thing—shape his approach to business. As much as companies talk about accountability, managers seldom understand what practical steps to take to achieve an ethic of service that makes accountability meaningful. The Front-Line Leader outlines specific tactics and steps anyone can use starting today to take responsibility, inspire others, and achieve breakout results for their organizations. Van Gorder reveals how a no-layoff philosophy led to higher accountability, how his own attention to seemingly minor details spurred larger change, and how his own high standards for himself and his team improved morale and productivity. From general strategy to the tiny, everyday steps leaders can take to create the kind of culture and accountability that translates into major competitive advantage, The Front-Line Leader charts a path to better leadership and a more engaged, higher-performing organization.

"Resumes don't tell employers everything they need to know about prospective leadership hires. That is never truer than with our veterans. A better approach would be to ask, 'What have you learned, and how will you apply it?'" Nick Ripplinger Through honest, compelling storytelling, Nick Ripplinger takes the reader through various scenarios and illustrates how leadership decisions, both good and bad, impact a situation and the lives of those involved. By pinpointing specific lessons he learned through these experiences, Nick offers his insights and discusses how these lessons apply not only to the military but to the business world as well. In this book Nick shares lessons such as: The danger of using fear as a leadership style The significance of documenting goals The importance of taking care of yourself The value of collaboration The consequences of not having a plan Nick offers the reader a glimpse into his head and his heart as he shares his oftentimes grueling experiences. In an honest, authentic way, Nick uses these stories to illustrate what works and what doesn't with regard to effective leadership, and further explains the results and repercussions of key decisions. The stories are entertaining, but the lessons learned at the end of each chapter are invaluable for anyone wanting to grow as a leader."

The definitive leadership guide on safe practices The release of chemicals and other hazardous materials pose significant, potentially catastrophic threats worldwide. An alarming number of such events, all of which are preventable, occur too often. Reducing the frequency of serious incidents is a fundamental responsibility of leadership at all levels, from frontline managers and supervisors to C-suite executives and the board of directors as well. Process Safety Leadership from the Boardroom to the Frontline is a practical, authoritative guide that clearly demonstrates how to create a viable culture of safety within an organization, implement and maintain disciplined management systems, and address the risks of process safety deficiencies. The most important factor in any management system is leadership. For chemical process safety management, effective and informed leadership provides direction, reinforces commitment, and drives responsibility. Written by experts from the Center for Chemical Process Safety, the world's largest provider of engineering curriculum materials for process safety, this pragmatic book contains the critical information and guidelines required to lead and manage process safety. Detailed yet accessible chapters examine topics such as strengthening management system accountability, driving operation within constraints, ensuring corporate memory, verifying execution, and more. Designed to be frequently used, shared, and discussed by leadership teams throughout an organization, this indispensable resource: Demonstrates the many ways process safety benefits an organization, based on benchmarking and broad industrial experience Develops skills and expands knowledge needed to drive consistent, reliable process safety performance Describes essential behaviors and actions for leaders to drive excellence in process safety cultures and disciplined management systems Helps establish risk criteria and safeguards for companies Presents new and previously unpublished experiences, approaches, and thinking Written for executives, plant leaders, functional managers, frontline supervisors and also individual contributors, Process Safety Leadership from the Boardroom to the Frontline provides a much-needed guide for instituting safe practices within a company. The Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) has been the world leader in developing and disseminating information on process safety management and technology since 1985. The CCPS, an industry technology alliance of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), has published over 100 books in its process safety guidelines and process safety concepts series, and over 10 training modules through its Safety in Chemical Engineering Education (SAChE) series.

Drive long-term business results by empowering every employee at every level to become a skilled and effective frontline decision maker Today, the pace of change is so great that no company can afford to wait to respond to new developments. You need nimble and creative problem solving, and the most intelligent and efficient decision-making doesn’t come from the top—it comes from your employees on the front lines who interact with customers and can see and respond to the shifting landscape before anyone else. The leaders whose organizations are best able to innovate solutions, win customers, and boost profits during this era of rapid change are the ones who realize that everyone—from the CEO down to the frontline employee—is a leader, capitalize on that knowledge, and use it to grow. In this book, Eric Strafel draws on 20 years of experience as a top executive at Fortune 500 companies to show you how to decentralize and democratize decision-making through every level of the workforce, while ensuring that the company stays aligned, that each employee understands the company’s underlying purpose, and that everyone works toward the same goal. Learn how to: leverage frontline leadership to improve corporate agility partner with customers and with frontline employees to maximize internal innovation and deliver solutions cultivate a diverse, inclusive, and equitable culture that values each employee create a highly engaged, empowered, and energized workforce in every department equip the company to break through barriers, overcome plateaus, and scale Effective leadership isn’t about what you can achieve—it’s about what you can help others achieve. Make the switch from an antiquated top-down leadership style to a flatter, more nimble system in which every employee behaves and is treated like a leader. The Frontline CEO delivers the knowledge, strategies, and tactics you need to drive sustainable growth while creating a positive impact in the lives of your employees and community.

Transform your leadership with powerful lessons from the frontline Leading on the Frontline brings humanitarian leadership into the boardroom, giving business leaders a powerful lesson in engagement, motivation, inspiration and innovation. Drawing upon a lifetime of humanitarian work in some of the world’s most difficult places, author Linda Cruse shares stories from the frontline that illustrate how to dig deep, inspire, thrive and more. Business leaders work on a different type of frontline — one that is no less volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous — and the ability to deal effectively with the unexpected sets great leaders apart from the herd. Tap into your own intuition, compassion and courage; keep composure under pressure; align vision with strategic goals; exercise mental toughness — these skills are required in the aftermath of a tsunami in Thailand or a landslide in Nepal, and in business, they propel good people to great feats of leadership. This book presents extraordinary stories of extraordinary people who confront the best and worst of humanity every day. These people accomplish big things with few resources, prioritise progress over personal comfort and prevail over seemingly impossible odds. Their lessons contain multitudes for those who aspire to be great leaders — and the very best version of themselves. Learn the secrets of effective leadership through the frontline humanitarian lens Master the art of storytelling to build morale, strengthen teamwork and define problem solving paradigms See everyday situations in a new way, discover new possibilities and unearth new solutions Learn how extraordinary people confront fear, face death and find joy in the most difficult circumstances Whether on the frontline or in the boardroom, the objective is the same: to achieve goals and exceed expectations. Leading on the Frontline equips leaders with the skills and perspective they need to emerge victorious in a relentlessly volatile, constantly changing world.

This book is classified and organised into three major headings: personal effectiveness, leadership, and communication. It focuses on interpersonal management skills and explains what it takes to improve how frontline managers and supervisors communicate and relate to their employees and customers.

Over 80 Contributors, 56 Chapters - This is the most comprehensive leadership book.

Leaders are committed to improving and growing their businesses, but all too often they find themselves mired in operational details and daily issues, leaving no time to pursue bold visions. "The Fearless Front Line "is a call to action for these leaders: to set a standard of fearlessness where front line workers have an "I run this place!" mindset that reflects pride and ownership of their critical role. This, in turn, liberates leadership to focus on the big-picture, bold strategies to improve and grow the business. Featuring Ray Attiyah's Run-Improve-Grow (RIG) model, "The Fearless Front Line "provides readers with critical processes and tools, including the RIG Roadmap, World Class Time Allocation standards, and What Went Well Daily Huddle scripts to create responsive, innovative, and nimble organizations and inspired, accountable, and confident teams. With "The Fearless Front Line," leaders can benefit from a proven program to drive perpetual and transformational improvement and growth.