1st Edition
Second-in-Command (2iC), First in Excellence An Organization's Secret to Achieving Phenomenal Success
Why do some departments, divisions, and organizations soar while others struggle? Watching another team achieve the success you feel yours more rightfully deserves can be incredibly frustrating. However, they might have something you don’t: Seconds-in-Command.
Given how many Seconds-in-Command exist in the workforce, it is stunning that there are so few books about them. Organizations can and often do have more than one 2iC; large ones may have hundreds. KP Powers focuses on essential skills that individuals in these positions already possess and can enhance to become an organization’s key to achieving phenomenal success.
This book introduces the groundbreaking concept of linking multiple 2iCs to form a Second-in-Command chain. This game-changing technique increases the positive impact that 2iCs can have on organizational and leader success.
In today’s world, leaders no longer have the luxury of hiring more people to keep up with a growing workload. The labor shortage and the need to cut costs because of looming economic issues make that impractical. It makes more sense to consider a new organizational framework that includes 2iCs, thus multiplying existing team members’ contributions. This is especially critical in highly regulated fields such as higher education, finance, and health care, where the stakes and penalties are high and unforgiving.
Second-in-Command, First in Excellence invites readers to think differently about this critical role. Geared toward leaders who have or want a 2iC as well as 2iCs themselves, this book both demonstrates the value of the 2iC position and serves as a tool for professional development.
List of Figures
Preface
Foreword
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Why This Book?
Phase A: Preparation
Stage 1: Seeing a Few Steps Ahead
Stage 2: Planning Obsessively
Stage 3: Efficient Financial Strategy
Phase B: Communication
Stage 4: Obvious and Hidden Information Gathering
Stage 5: Overcommunicating
Stage 6: Managing Cross-Functional Teams
Phase C: Empathy
Stage 7: Compassionate Ambition
Stage 8: Nothing Good Came from Being Too Nice
Stage 9: Leveraging Curmudgeons
Phase D: Quality
Stage 10: Trust but Verify
Stage 11: Crosschecking
Stage 12: Protecting Your #1
Blazing New Trails
Emergency Planning
Forming Second-in-Command (2iC) Chains
References
Let's Connect
Index
Biography
KP Powers, PhD, is an international author, trainer, and mentor. As a data expert, KP helps leaders combine and leverage their greatest assets—people and data—for success.
Throughout her career and consulting engagements, KP has held positions that combined the duties of Second-in-Command and Chief Data Officer. In these roles, Dr. Powers brings together people, data, and information to help leaders deliver value to their customers, clients, and students through her strategic thinking and implementation expertise.
She uses her experience as a 2iC and her knowledge of data to help ambitious leaders build healthy data cultures, deliver value, and navigate disruption. KP’s contributions on several boards have recognized her as a strategic thinker and leader. Learn more at KPPowers.com
Dr. Powers also is the President of the Institute for Effectiveness in Higher Education (IEHE)—an organization that elevates forward thinking to accelerate colleges and universities. In this role, she founded and launched the Accreditation Liaison Collaborative. Created by accreditation liaisons for accreditation liaisons, the Accreditation Liaison Collaborative provides a national resource to support Accreditation Liaisons throughout the country with professional development, access to materials that improve the quality of an institution’s accreditation materials, and networks with other Accreditation Liaisons who have blazed trails. Learn more about IEHE at InstituteForEffectiveness.org
Originally from Buffalo, New York, KP has lived in five states (New York, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and California) and Washington, DC. She currently resides in San Diego, CA, with her husband, Tim, enjoying the warm weather, organic and gluten-free food, and as much travel as her schedule will allow.
You can connect with KP on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube. If you would like to talk to KP about any advisory work, training, or mentoring, then you can contact her at [email protected]
"Kristina Powers has produced another set of outstanding insights. If you’re looking for practical, proven ways to improve your organization’s performance, this is the book for you."
Michael Conlin
Former Chief Data Officer of the US Department of Defense
CEO and Founder Conlin Group LLC
"As a U.S. Army veteran, I learned early in my career the importance of having a Second-in-Command who can share leadership responsibilities. Unfortunately, higher education leaders and institutions need to fully grasp the importance of creating a management or leadership team model that prepares and allows multiple people to share responsibility. In Second-in-Command, First in Excellence (2iC), Dr. Powers provides secrets to achieving a team approach to organizational success that every leader or organization should know and practice. 2iC should be required reading for presidents, chief executive officers, and their direct reports as part of their institutional sustainability strategy."
Dr. Thomas Stewart, Executive Vice President for Social Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (S-JEDI) at National University
"I've clearly seen the power of what we call a "Visionary/integrator Duo" at the helm of an entrepreneurial company - given the right structure of "rules & tools" to blend their natural friction into a powerful, positive force. I'm excited to see KP leveraging a form of this combination within much larger organizations that traditionally struggle with much more bureaucracy than our otherwise nimble entrepreneurs."
Mark C. Winters, Co-Author, Rocket Fuel
"So much is written about leadership that it is rare to get a new perspective that is game changing. This book contains that new perspective. If you want to leverage untapped potential in your organization and successfully navigate uncertainty, take the time to read this book. It will give you an advantage others aren’t even aware of."
Danette Fenton-Menzies -- Director of Learning, Magical Learning Pty Ltd
"Second-in-Command, First in Excellence is a remarkable study in leadership for current leaders and a primer for those on the leadership track. Dr. Kristina Powers demonstrates her years as an effective higher education leader by eloquently expressing her expertise gleaned through trial and practice at the highest levels of leadership. I highly recommend this book and predict that those serious about honing their leadership skills will keep a copy close at hand."
John Crawford – Principal, Coleman Talley Strategies
"Kristina 'KP' Powers has written an important book at a time of increasing volatility and complexity in the world. Second-in-Command, First in Excellence details a practical and actionable framework for organizations to establish a chain of high performing 2iCs. This chain acts as a safety net, delivering multiple benefits organization-wide within a short space of time. It drives autonomy and faster decision-making. It de-risks the organization against external pressures, as executives and senior leaders can maintain focus on strategic priorities. And, it diversifies the experience and development pathways of key talent, promoting employee retention. It is required reading for those looking to introduce 2iCs in their organization, or budding-2iCs seeking to take on the next, fulfilling professional challenge."
Sophie Krantz, Global Strategist and Exponential Organizational Practitioner
"Although the reasons for this have been taking shape for decades, recent years have seen the U.S. experience a crippling labor shortage. This crisis is part of a seismic and historically unprecedented shift in labor demographic dynamics. As America, and the world, move forward in their intensifying competition for talent, several themes will continue to emerge; how do you keep your best people, how do you develop those people to be your next generation of leaders, and how do you limit disruptions when those people leave? In Kristina "KP" Powers' new book, she delves deep into one of these ways, namely, spreading the leadership qualities and expectations to multiple people called Seconds-in-Command or 2iCs. Recent research shows that increasingly people want jobs that a company and society values and that they will trade salary for that perceived value. By instilling leadership traits and responsibilities, companies can address all concerns at once. It is important to listen to the messages KP is discussing. Our future will require new solutions that our past could live without."Ron Hetrick, Sr. Labor Economist and lead author of Demographic Drought, Lightcast
