Unlock explosive growth potential with the true model of modern leadership Thoughtfully Ruthless lays out the secret to rapid business growth by showing you how to magically invent more time, catapult your energy, and boost the productivity of your resources. Author Val Wright has worked with leaders of all stripes from doctors to musicians to Fortune 50 C-suite executives to help them unlock their potential and achieve the next level of success. Her experiences have shown time and time again that it's not the economy, or the market conditions, or the competition that's holding your business back. The secret to exponential growth lies within how leaders ruthlessly manage their time, energy, and resources in parallel. Everyone is on a virtual center stage with the whole world watching and reporting every move, leaders need to know how to be ruthless in a thoughtful way. This book shows you how to become that kind of leader, and how to adopt the habits, skills, and practices of some of the most successful business leaders of our time. You'll learn how to become sensibly selfish, how to spend your time and energy, and what issues to delegate or ignore so you can clear your slate to focus on what really matters to you. In a world where rapid growth is the new norm, we have input overload. Leadership is much-lauded but commonly under-practiced in business today. This book is designed to help you shape your leadership to drive business growth, get you promoted faster, and create a life that you love. Recover your time and energy away from black holes Focus on the factors that really impact your business Identify and build the all-star team you need tomorrow today Create magnetic support and followership Learn the secret to pulling ahead of the competition With all the boardroom handwringing about products, the new consumer, and financial results, it's easy to get sucked into issues that ultimately have only a granular effect on real growth. Thoughtfully Ruthless leadership differentiates remarkable leaders and companies. This book provides a model for growth-oriented leadership, and lays out the essential practices you should start today.

Unlock explosive growth potential with the true model of modern leadershipThoughtfully Ruthless lays out the secret to rapid business growth by showing you how to magically invent more time, catapult your energy, and boost the productivity of your resources. Author Val Wright has worked with leaders of all stripes--from doctors to musicians to Fortune 50 C-suite executives--to help them unlock their potential and achieve the next level of success. Her experiences have shown time and time again that it's not the economy, or the market conditions, or the competition that's holding your business back.The secret to exponential growth lies within how leaders ruthlessly manage their time, energy, and resources in parallel. Everyone is on a virtual center stage with the whole world watching and reporting every move, leaders need to know how to be ruthless in a thoughtful way. This book shows you how to become that kind of leader, and how to adopt the habits, skills, and practices of some of the most successful business leaders of our time. You'll learn how to become sensibly selfish, how to spend your time and energy, and what issues to delegate or ignore so you can clear your slate to focus on what really matters to you.In a world where rapid growth is the new norm, we have input overload. Leadership is much-lauded but commonly under-practiced in business today. This book is designed to help you shape your leadership to drive business growth, get you promoted faster, and create a life that you love.* Recover your time and energy away from black holes* Focus on the factors that really impact your business* Identify and build the all-star team you need tomorrow--today* Create magnetic support and followership* Learn the secret to pulling ahead of the competitionWith all the boardroom handwringing about products, the new consumer, and financial results, it's easy to get sucked into issues that ultimately have only a granular effect on real growth. Thoughtfully Ruthless leadership differentiates remarkable leaders and companies. This book provides a model for growth-oriented leadership, and lays out the essential practices you should start today.

Foreword xiPreface xiiiAcknowledgments xvPart I Why You Need to Be Thoughtfully Ruthless 1Chapter 1 Thoughtful and Ruthless 3The Trigger Points for Thoughtfully Ruthless 3Who Is Thoughtful? Who Is Ruthless? 5Can You Name One? 6Your Time, Energy, and Resources 7How Thoughtfully Ruthless Are You? 15Chapter 2 The Cost of Doing Nothing 19The Cost of Delay 20The Downward Spiral of Gloom 21The Thoughtfully Ruthless Success Loop 25Chapter 3 Your Selfish Charter 29Your Sensibly Selfish Charter 32Wishful Thinking Works 35Chapter 4 Become Brilliant at Demonstrating Your Brilliance 39Assessing Your Brilliance and How Brilliantly You Demonstrate It 40Why Appearance Trumps Reality Every Time 42How to Transform from Being Humble to Shameless 48Your Action 50Part II Thoughtfully Ruthless with Your Time 53Chapter 5 The Power of No 55The Powerful Post-It 56The Immediacy Effect 57How to Be Productively Unproductive 60How to Control Input Overload 61Your Lost Discipline List 63Thirty Ways to Say No 64Chapter 6 SHUSH!: How to Create Silence, Space, and Time 67Your Daily Silence 67The Gift of Time 70In-box in Control 73Calendar Chaos 77Meaningful Meetings 79The Thoughtfully Ruthless Deadline Tracker 84Part III Thoughtfully Ruthless with Your Energy 89Chapter 7 Becoming Imperturbable 91How to Stop the Worry Trifecta 91Rapid Thought to Action 95How Imperturbable Are You? 96Managing the Energy Leaks 98Your Accelerators and Decelerators 100Accelerating by Improving Your Sleep, Nutrition, and Exercise 100Chapter 8 Divorce Your Friends and Network 109The Greenhouse Effect 110Put Your Social Life on Autopilot 113An Enviable Inner Circle of Advisors 115Internal and External Connections 116Communities 116Perfecting Your Team's Connections 117Surrounding Yourself with Believers 117Chapter 9 Creating a Leapfrog Organization 119Your Five-Year Leap 119The Intentional Annoyance Phase 124Building an Exemplary Board 127Leaving Your Legacy 132Chapter 10 The Thoughtfully Ruthless Team 135Steps for Galvanizing Your Team 138The Characteristics of a Galvanized Team 142Do You Tolerate Mediocrity? 149Chapter 11 Amazon versus Microsoft 155Assessing Your Culture 160Can You Take the Heat? 167Reward the Results You Want 169Unleashing Innovation 170Using the Cultural Continuum 171The Express Lane to Culture Change 172Chapter 12 Mind the Gap 173Evaporating Excuses 173Prepare for Abrupt U-turns 175Change Your View, Change Your Habits 176Listen to Who You Listen to 177Evidence, Patterns, and Observed Behavior 177Practice Altitude Adjustment 179Make Unpopular and High-Risk Decisions 179Appendix 185Ninety-Nine Ways to Be Thoughtfully Ruthless with Your Time 185Ninety-Nine Ways to Be Thoughtfully Ruthless with Your Energy 190Ninety-Nine Ways to Be Thoughtfully Ruthless with Your Resources 194About the Author 201Index 203