Visual Leaders

Leaders and managers are immersed in new, dynamic media that need to be shaped and guided. Building on the bestsellers Visual Meetings and Visual Teams, Visual Leaders show how leaders can take full advantage of the visualization revolution. It introduces the Sibbet/Le Saget Sustainable Organizations Model for thinking about the kind of organization you need to lead or change. Seven essential tools will help you raise your organizations visual IQ and vastly improve understanding and engagement across your organization. Case studies show how visual leaders work with visual practitioners to align entire organizations on new plans. The book is full of examples of visual communications and formats. It includes overviews and insights about how to use new digital media and shows the direct links between metaphors and, mental models, and the new strategies used to communicate across whole organizations.

• Introduction: Tracking a Visual Revolution
• Part One: The Visual Leadership Advantage
1. Seven Essential Tools / Metaphors & Models, Visual Meetings, Graphic Templates, Decision Rooms, Roadmaps, Storymaps, & Video
2. Seeing Results in Action / Why Leaders Get Visual
3. How to Run Visual Meetings / What Every Manager Should Know
   
• Part Two: Looking At Your Own Leadership
4. What Is Your "Operating System"? / The Power (& Peril) of Mental Models
5. What Kind of Organization Do You Lead? / Linking Tools to Stages of Development
6. Developing Your Visual IQ / How Visualizing Makes You Smarter
   
• Part Three: Power Tools for Visual Leaders
7. Metaphors & Models / Helping People See What You Mean
8. Visual Meetings / Stimulating Engagement & Creative Contribution
9. Graphic Templates / Visuals for Any Kind of Planning
10. Decision Rooms / Making Choices in a Big Picture Context
11. Roadmaps & Visual Plans / Managing Milestones & Swim Lanes
12. Graphic Storymaps / Connecting Plans with Culture
13. Video & Virtual Visuals / Mobile Video Tablets, Animation & Panoramic Display
    
• Part Four: Managing the New Media
14. Technology & Visualization / Enabling the Right Tools
15. Virtual Leadership / Communicating with Intention & Impact
    
• Part Five: Leading Organization Change
16. Anticipating the Need to Change / Putting Visual Tools to Work
17. The Chrysalis Effect / Creating the Conditions for Transformation
    
• Part Six: Links, Books & Other Resources
18. Websites & Bibliography
• Appendix / About Arthur M. Young
  

This book doesn't live up to the standards of the authors other books. In fact, it feels a bit infantile, in its approach to strategy and its quest for "new thinking".

With that said, it is not bad, but it doesn't supply you with very much that hasn't been said earlier and in many cases better, elsewhere.

It is a good read if you're a converted "visualizer" or one of Seth Godin's fanboys, otherwise, I would recommend to read something more useful.