Praise for Influencing Leaders
Sarah Vander Zanden
Senior Executive Coach
“Jim had already been in the trenches. I needed him to help our executive team deftly address the growing controversies that challenge emerging technologies. Jim opened their eyes. He has a rare gift for helping leaders see around corners. His counsel then – and his books now – blend thought leadership, strategic clarity, and practical, real-world guidance leaders can use immediately.”
David Lapan
Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
“Jim and Fred are leaders in leadership development, executive communication, and crisis management. For decades, the U.S. Marine Corps has trusted them to train generations of senior Marine leaders in effective communication. Jim and Fred taught successive groups of leaders over the course of 22 and 34 years, respectively. That tenure demonstrates the value placed on the unique expertise Lukaszewski and Garcia brought.”
Sandy Dean
Founder, Sansome Partners
“In the middle of a complicated public relations and crisis management project, from the first day we started talking, Jim told us how our critics would think and react to our every move. He gave us powerful, novel advice and strategies. Jim offered us practical, consistent (and sometimes hard) advice on how to regain and recover the trust needed to run our business for the long term.”
Stanley Raggio
Former EVP, Global Supply Chain, Gap Inc.
“Influencing Leaders should be required reading in any business school curriculum. Its lessons are indispensable for the executive who seeks to address complex challenges from a pragmatic, principled foundation.”
MJ Waters
APR, CPRC
“I was consistently struck by Jim’s ability to quickly grasp the complex issues of reputation risk and crisis management facing leaders. I witnessed his mastery in guiding CEOs through crises – helping them craft and execute thoughtful, effective strategies under intense pressure. Jim taught me what it means to be a trusted counselor to executives navigating their most challenging moments.”
Time Magazine
“Most business books counsel leaders on how to get a corner office. Here comes a book for the aspiring second banana. The authors set forth 7 disciplines of the trusted advisor. ‘The payoff for being influential,’ says Lukaszewski, ‘is having power.’ ‘Actually seeing your recommendations become marching orders is something amazing to behold and achieve.’ ‘Don’t forget: the boss always gets the credit.’”
Time Magazine
“Most business books counsel leaders on how to get a corner office. Here comes a book for the aspiring second banana. The authors set forth 7 disciplines of the trusted advisor. ‘The payoff for being influential,’ says Lukaszewski, ‘is having power.’ ‘Actually seeing your recommendations become marching orders is something amazing to behold and achieve.’ ‘Don’t forget: the boss always gets the credit.’”
MJ Waters
APR, CPRC
“I was consistently struck by Jim’s ability to quickly grasp the complex issues of reputation risk and crisis management facing leaders. I witnessed his mastery in guiding CEOs through crises – helping them craft and execute thoughtful, effective strategies under intense pressure. Jim taught me what it means to be a trusted counselor to executives navigating their most challenging moments.”
Sandy Dean
Founder, Sansome Partners
“In the middle of a complicated public relations and crisis management project, from the first day we started talking, Jim told us how our critics would think and react to our every move. He gave us powerful, novel advice and strategies. Jim offered us practical, consistent (and sometimes hard) advice on how to regain and recover the trust needed to run our business for the long term.”
David Lapan
Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
“Jim and Fred are leaders in leadership development, executive communication, and crisis management. For decades, the U.S. Marine Corps has trusted them to train generations of senior Marine leaders in effective communication. Jim and Fred taught successive groups of leaders over the course of 22 and 34 years, respectively. That tenure demonstrates the value placed on the unique expertise Lukaszewski and Garcia brought.”
Sarah Vander Zanden
Senior Executive Coach
“Jim had already been in the trenches. I needed him to help our executive team deftly address the growing controversies that challenge emerging technologies. Jim opened their eyes. He has a rare gift for helping leaders see around corners. His counsel then – and his books now – blend thought leadership, strategic clarity, and practical, real-world guidance leaders can use immediately.”
Praise for Influencing Leaders
The Seven Disciplines
The Seven Disciplines
Time Magazine
“Most business books counsel leaders on how to get a corner office. Here comes a book for the aspiring second banana. The authors set forth 7 disciplines of the trusted advisor. ‘The payoff for being influential,’ says Lukaszewski, ‘is having power.’ ‘Actually seeing your recommendations become marching orders is something amazing to behold and achieve.’ ‘Don’t forget: the boss always gets the credit.’”
_______________________________________________________________
MJ Waters
APR, CPRC
“I was consistently struck by Jim’s ability to quickly grasp the complex issues of reputation risk and crisis management facing leaders. I witnessed his mastery in guiding CEOs through crises – helping them craft and execute thoughtful, effective strategies under intense pressure. Jim taught me what it means to be a trusted counselor to executives navigating their most challenging moments.”
_______________________________________________________________
Stanley Raggio
Former EVP, Global Supply Chain, Gap Inc.
“Influencing Leaders should be required reading in any business school curriculum. Its lessons are indispensable for the executive who seeks to address complex challenges from a pragmatic, principled foundation.”
_______________________________________________________________
Sandy Dean
Founder, Sansome Partners
“In the middle of a complicated public relations and crisis management project, from the first day we started talking, Jim told us how our critics would think and react to our every move. He gave us powerful, novel advice and strategies. Jim offered us practical, consistent (and sometimes hard) advice on how to regain and recover the trust needed to run our business for the long term.”
_______________________________________________________________
David Lapan
Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
“Jim and Fred are leaders in leadership development, executive communication, and crisis management. For decades, the U.S. Marine Corps has trusted them to train generations of senior Marine leaders in effective communication. Jim and Fred taught successive groups of leaders over the course of 22 and 34 years, respectively. That tenure demonstrates the value placed on the unique expertise Lukaszewski and Garcia brought.”
_______________________________________________________________
Sarah Vander Zanden
Senior Executive Coach
“Jim had already been in the trenches. I needed him to help our executive team deftly address the growing controversies that challenge emerging technologies. Jim opened their eyes. He has a rare gift for helping leaders see around corners. His counsel then – and his books now – blend thought leadership, strategic clarity, and practical, real-world guidance leaders can use immediately.”
_______________________________________________________________
Praise for Influencing Leaders
Influencing Leaders, authored by James E. Lukaszewski and Helio Fred Garcia, serves as a guide for professionals aspiring to become Trusted Strategic Advisors and Influencers to senior leaders. It provides insights into the mindset, skills, and disciplines required to effectively influence and support leaders in achieving their goals.
The Seven Disciplines
01
Be Trustworthy
Build unbreakable advisor-leader relationships. Master the 5 essential components and 5 crucial behaviors to establish bulletproof trust, while avoiding the 10 critical pitfalls that can instantly destroy it.
02
Become a Verbal Visionary
Unlock powerful verbal skills to command influence. Pinpoint 6 distinct opportunities to deliver advice, evaluate your current abilities, and adopt the 6 core behaviors defining high-impact verbal visionaries.
03
Develop a Management Perspective
Align your counsel with leadership goals. Learn to view your organization directly through the boss’s eyes, speaking their language to address the exact business objectives that matter most.
04
Think Strategically
Elevate your long-term impact. Evaluate your strategic abilities, absorb the 7 virtues of a master strategist, navigate the 4 phases of thinking, and crush the 5 barriers holding you back.
05
Understand the Power of Patterns
Become a powerful forecaster by unlocking history. Master the 5 essential lessons for analyzing past experiences, recognizing emerging threats early, and turning historical data into future-proof business insights.
06
Advise Constructively
Deliver advice that drives immediate action. Discover proven strategies, avoid common consultation pitfalls, utilize three powerful strategic tools, and structure your insights so leadership understands and executes them flawlessly.
07
Show the Boss How to Use Your Advice
Empower your leader to execute your ideas. Master four constructive approaches, embed the 7 elements of effective advice, and utilize daily performance assessments to maximize your organizational value.
Get Your Copy of Influencing Leaders
More About the Book
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:
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The five components of trust and ten ways advisors commonly lose it, providing a clear roadmap for building and maintaining credibility with executives
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Frameworks for structuring advice that's clear, actionable, and strategically relevant.
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Pattern recognition techniques that enable advisors and influencers to forecast future challenges by identifying recurring organizational and market dynamics
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Methods for developing a management perspective that allows advisors and influencers to see the world through the leader's eyes and understand executive priorities
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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.
Meet James E. Lukaszewski
James E. Lukaszewski (Loo-kah-SHEV-skee) — America's Crisis Guru® — is the founder and CEO of The Lukaszewski Group and a bestselling author, national speaker, and trusted strategic advisor to business leaders navigating crises, disasters, reputation attacks, and contentiousness. Since 1974, Jim has confidentially guided hundreds of U.S. and international leaders through tough, touchy, sensitive, high-stakes situations. He is among America’s most prolific public relations teachers and writers, having published 2.5 million words. He holds a B.A. in Political Public Relations from Minnesota Metropolitan State University and is a Fellow of both PRSA and IABC. A 35-year Emeritus member of PRSA's Board of Ethics and Professional Standards, he is most known for his constant focus on ethical responses to adverse behaviors and situations.
Meet Helio Fred Garcia
Helio Fred Garcia is president of Logos Consulting Group and executive director of the Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership. As a leadership and crisis professor, he has spent 45 years helping leaders build trust, inspire loyalty, and lead effectively at some of the world's largest and most recognized organizations. A long-tenured academic, Fred has been on the New York University faculty since 1988, teaching crisis management, communication strategy, and ethics at both the Stern School of Business and the School of Professional Studies, where he has earned multiple teaching excellence awards. He also teaches ethics, leadership, and communication to graduate students at Columbia University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He has written several acclaimed books, and has been awarded by NYU multiple times for his outstanding service in teaching.
Meet the Authors
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