Influencing Leaders

Transform yourself from a trusted strategic advisor to a trusted strategic influencer. Become the advisor/influencer leaders rely on for strategic clarity and trusted counsel.

Executives face relentless pressure, ambiguity, and isolation, requiring advisors who deliver actionable counsel. In Influencing Leaders, James E. Lukaszewski and Helio Fred Garcia provide the proven framework for becoming a trusted strategic influencer partner that leaders turn to when facing critical decisions.

The book presents seven essential disciplines: establishing trustworthiness, mastering verbal influence, developing management perspective, thinking strategically, recognizing patterns, structuring constructive advice, and teaching leaders to apply counsel effectively. Practical tools include the Three-Minute Drill, Five Imperatives for Advisors/Influencers, Pattern Recognition techniques, and assessments for developing capabilities.

Readers will also find:

• The five components of trust and ten ways advisors commonly lose it, providing a clear roadmap for building and maintaining credibility with executives
• Frameworks for structuring advice that's clear, actionable, and strategically relevant
• Pattern recognition techniques that enable advisors and influencers to forecast future challenges by identifying recurring organizational and market dynamics
• Methods for developing a management perspective that allows advisors and influencers to see the world through the leader's eyes and understand executive priorities
• Communication strategies for delivering counsel with the clarity, brevity, and impact that time-pressured executives require

Influencing Leaders: The Seven Disciplines of the Trusted Strategic Advisor is perfect for mid-career professionals, external consultants, and anyone aspiring to influence organizational leaders. Influencing Leaders demonstrates that true influence is about mastering the disciplines of foresight, strategic thinking, and trust that make trusted strategic advisors and influencers essential to leaders making their most challenging decisions.

Becoming a trusted strategic advisor and influencer is a personal journey that requires discipline, self-reflection, and a commitment to serving leaders effectively. By mastering the seven disciplines and adopting a strategic mindset, advisors and influencers can achieve the six aspirations common among all trusted strategic advisors and influencers: acceptance, access, impact, inclusion, influence, and respect, all crucial to the leaders they serve.

Ultimately, the strategic influencer brings integrity based on truth and trust to everything they do.

JAMES E. LUKASZEWSKI is the founder and president of The Lukaszewski Group. Named by PRWeek as one of 22 “crunch-time counselors who should be on the speed dial in a crisis”, he has personally counseled thousands of executives across organizations large and small. A Fellow of both the Public Relations Society of America and the International Association of Business Communicators, he served 22 years on the New York University faculty and has advised more than 300 clients.

HELIO FRED GARCIA is president of the crisis management firm Logos Consulting Group and executive director of the Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership. With over 45 years helping leaders build trust across six continents, he teaches at NYU’s Stern School of Business, the TRIUM Global Executive MBA program, and Columbia University. He is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council and recipient of the PRSA-New York John W. Hill Award for lifetime achievement.