The Intelligent Leader

Grow Your Leadership. Enrich Your Life. Leave a Lasting Legacy.

What is great leadership? What separates the merely competent leaders from those rare individuals who leave a lasting impression on everyone around them?

As one of the world’s most in-demand CEO coaches and top leadership gurus, John Mattone has worked with some of our brightest business minds—Apple’s Steve Jobs, Pepsi’s Roger Enrico, and Nielsen’s Armando Uriegas—and he’s identified the key qualities that, together, make up the mindset of great leadership.

In The Intelligent Leader, Mattone lays out an accessible, practical, and compelling path that anyone can take to become the kind of leader that brings enrichment to the lives of others, enjoys a more fulfilling life, and leaves a lasting legacy. Each chapter uses a variety of real-world examples, tools, and assessments to explore one of Mattone’s 7 dimensions of Intelligent Leadership, including:

• Thinking differently, thinking big
• Having a mindset of duty vs. a mindset of entitlement
• Leveraging your gifts and addressing your gaps
• Having the courage to execute with pride, passion, and precision

Readers will have complimentary online access to the Mattone Leadership Enneagram Inventory ($110 value), which offers a personalized assessment of your leadership style and maturity.

Foreword xv

Preface: A Demand for Depth xvii

Acknowledgments xxi

Introduction: Do You Have What it Takes to Inspire Others to Follow? xxv

1 Getting to Know Thyself 1

Getting to the Why of Things 2

How Strong is Your Character? 4

Values: Your Criteria for Life 7

Mind the Gaps 10

Who Do You Think You Are? 11

Believe It or Not … 12

The Bridge to the Outer Core 14

Putting It All Together: The Spectrum of Intelligent Leadership 16

Fake It ’til You Make It 18

2 Thinking Differently, Thinking Big 21

Being a Trendsetter 24

Holding a Massive Vision 26

How Big Do You Think? 28

Beginning with the End in Mind 32

Don’t Let Your Big Thinking Give You a Big Head 34

Exercise: Developing Your Core Purpose Statement 36

3 The Vulnerability Decision 39

Making the Choice to Be Vulnerable 41

The Gateway to Change 42

Vulnerability and the Bottom Line 45

Admitting Your Flaws Builds Trust 46

Creating a Culture of Vulnerability 48

Can You Be Too Humble? 51

Practicing Vulnerability 52

4 Having a Mindset of Entitlement versus a Mindset of Duty 55

Seeing Through Your Entitlement 59

The Duty Mindset: Context is Everything 62

From Setback to Opportunity: Overcoming the Victim Mentality 63

The First Three Dimensions: A Package Deal 66

Don’t Forget to Put on Your Own Oxygen Mask First 66

Cultivating a Duty Mindset 68

5 Leveraging Your Gifts and Addressing Your Gaps 71

Mindset Applied 74

The Negativity Bias 75

Mind the Gap 80

Going on to Perfection 82

Striking the Right Balance 83

Zeroing in, Moving Forward 84

6 Having the Courage to Execute with Pride, Passion, and Precision 89

Moving out of Your Comfort Zone 91

Cultivating Courage, in Spite of Resistance 91

The Three Qualities of Courageous Action 92

Change Takes Courage 97

The Ultimate Catalyst 99

Don’t Just Act; Act Intelligently 101

Becoming Courageous 102

7 Staying Present and Being Vigilant 107

Moving Slow to Move Fast 109

Being Awake to Your Footprint 112

Being Present for People 113

Being Present Takes Courage 115

Think, Don’t Overthink 116

The Matrix of Intelligent Leadership 117

Practicing Presence 118

8 Course Correction 123

The Psychology of Adjustment 125

A Culture of Innovation 132

Don’t Overcorrect 134

The Ultimate Dimension 134

Correcting Your Course 135

9 It’s Not About You: The Inseparable Relationship Between Leadership and Culture 139

It Starts at the Top 141

Encouraging Innovation 144

Vulnerability is Contagious 145

A Culture of Duty 146

A Culture that Amplifies 148

Creating a Culture of Courageous Action 149

Working as One 151

Correcting Your Collective Course 152

As You Go, So Go We All 154

10 Conclusion: The Paradox of Change 155

Bringing the New into Being 156

The Intelligent Leader: A Guided Visualization 158

What Will Be Your Legacy? 161

About the Author 163

Index 167

JOHN MATTONE is the creator of the unique, powerful, and game-changing Intelligent Leadership (IL) Executive Coaching philosophy and process. Since 2012, John has used his proprietary process to personally coach over 50 global CEO's, top government leaders, and professional athletes to help them become stronger, more effective, and vibrant leaders and people. Since 2017, he has personally coached and certified over 450 global executive coaches from 52 countries in the IL coaching methodology. John served as the executive coach to the late Steve Jobs as well as to the former legendary CEO of PepsiCo, Roger Enrico. John is widely regarded as the world's #1 coaching authority and top executive coach.

True leaders are those who view leadership not as a benefit to themselves, but as an obligation to others. To overcome the "leadership gap" that exists in so many of today's organizations, acclaimed leadership guru John Mattone identifies the key qualities that, combined, make up the mindset of great leadership. The Intelligent Leader shows how anyone who decides that they want to become an example for others can develop the skills to become exceptional leaders.

This book offers an accessible guide for discovering how to embody the qualities, characteristics, and capacities of great leadership. Firmly grounded in the author's research as an industrial psychologist and the world's top-ranked executive coach, The Intelligent Leader describes an approach to leadership anyone can adopt to become a truly great leader and human being. The author explores the mysterious and often elusive qualities of great leadership and offers a practical roadmap for improving these qualities in your own mind, heart, and soul.

The Intelligent Leadership process has proven to drive real, measurable results. Throughout the book, Mattone shows how to get (and stay) in touch with your "inner core," which is the source of your capacity to become a better example to others. Once you hone this ability, you will become adept at accessing your inner core, changing it, and using it to guide and shape your actions in your organization and the wider world.

The book is filled with illustrative, real-world examples (from famous and not-so-famous leaders), proven tools, and practical assessments that explore each of Mattone's seven dimensions of Intelligent Leadership. Step-by-step, you will discover what it takes to: think differently and think big; develop a mindset of duty vs. a mentality of entitlement; leverage your gifts and address your gaps; and have the courage to execute leadership skills with pride, passion, and precision.

With The Intelligent Leader, you will have access to a powerful leadership approach that can help you go deep to develop the inner qualities that define truly excellent leaders.

Readers get free access to the Mattone Leadership Enneagram Inventory ($110 value), which offers a personalized assessment of your leadership style and maturity at johnmattone.com/booktools

Grow Your Leadership Skills. Enrich Your Life. Leave a Lasting Legacy.

Acclaimed leadership coach John Mattone has worked with many of our brightest business minds, including Apple's Steve Jobs, Pepsi's Roger Enrico, and Nielsen's Armando Uriegas. In this book, he draws on his research and experience to identify the seven key qualities that comprise the mindset of great leadership, providing practical advice for leaders at all levels to achieve their potential.

"John understands that truly great leadership always starts on the inside. More than that, he is a master of helping people discover and cultivate their innate leadership potential through advice that is both practical and profound. His new book beautifully illuminates the heart of great leadership through seven secrets that can have the biggest and brightest impact on the world." —DEEPAK CHOPRA, author, You Are the Universe

"Mattone shares wisdom from his years of executive coaching in a practical and thought-provoking guide for leaders at all levels. His framework is both elegant in its simplicity and profound in its depth. If you have a genuine desire to dive deep, ask hard questions, and do what it takes to achieve your potential as a leader, the insights in this book will equip you for the journey." —KATHY MAZZARELLA, chairman, President and CEO, Graybar

"Great leadership is rare. The reason is simple—most people don't have a methodology for developing their leadership skills. John Mattone skillfully and succinctly fills that void. It is a must-read for those in any walk of life who want to enhance their leadership skills and have fun doing so." —HAP KLOPP, founder, The North Face; author, Almost: 12 Electric Months Chasing A Silicon Valley Dream

"John has composed the go-to guide for leaders, new and experienced. His wisdom is distilled into easy-to-follow modules, covering everything from influencing others to daily skills development. This book should sit on every leader's desk." —DR. MARCIA REYNOLDS, author, The Discomfort Zone

"It's rare to come across wisdom so clear that it shocks you out of your day-to-day mindset and shows you the possibility of doing something truly remarkable with your life. John Mattone does just that with his new book, which stands out among the many leadership titles as a rare gem of deep and practical??guidance on the path to becoming a better leader—and human being." —RAÜL IBAÑEZ, ESPN analyst and former MLB All-Star