This book’s basic principles apply to leaders across a wide variety of organization types and sizes. Silicon Valley Bank was a startup when I joined it in 1990. It had about 1,200 people in total when I passed my CEO baton on to my successor Greg Becker ten years later; under Greg’s leadership, it became one of the largest banks in the US and one of only a handful with a global orientation. Even after its unfortunate demise, the bank’s culture was a major reason why its employees were eagerly recruited by other institutions. I believe that the stories and principles elucidated in the book apply to every part of this journey from startup to global bank.
How About You?
A Self-Reflection Guide to Accompany Leading Through Culture
This manual is intended to help the reader better understand the concepts and ideas described in the book Leading Through Culture. Its exercises allow the respondent to reflect on their own personality and experience in relation to the following questions:
1) am I suited to lead?
2) do I really want to lead? and
3) how can I do the best job possible?
Reviews for “Leading Through Culture”
A former bank CEO offers forthright advice in this debut business book, “an illuminating bird’s-eye view of leadership.”
As CEO of Silicon Valley Bank for a decade, Wilcox faced a series of daunting challenges. He writes in this candid work that “tech was in the doldrums and interest rates were among the lowest in the history of the Fed.” The author had no choice but to lead through tough times, and his experience led him to craft a practical “field manual” to guide other executives. In three succinct but informative parts, Wilcox expounds on leadership principles and qualities, building teams and managing during change, all anchored by a strong emphasis on corporate culture….
What is so refreshing about Ken Wilcox’s book is the open manner in which he writes – that there is never a hint of the typical superficiality that bogs down similar books. His well-defined humor and compassion are on full display and the images he conjures up are simply compelling. This is clearly not a vanity project or a cunningly constructed monument to his past. Wilcox is merely having a lively and earnest conversation with the reader. Kindly offering up pearls and challenging his audience to dig deeper.
This excellent, insightful book examines the relationship between organizational culture and leadership. It’s superbly written and reflects a lifetime of executive accomplishments as well as keen insight into human nature. Ken Wilcox offers readers a rare treat: experience as a CEO combined with a scholarly grasp of the subject matter. He is both a practitioner and a theorist, and the book reflects these two attributes. My undergraduate, graduate, and executive students have found it extremely valuable, as have I.
