Alignment Strong: A Strategic and Human-Centric Handbook for Competitive Leadership

by John Quinlan

Overview

In our modern unforgiving and complex global market environment, this groundbreaking organizational change framework will allow you and your company to sustainably compete and thrive  

In this inspirational guide, ex-CEO and road-tested executive leadership coach John E. Quinlan takes you as a leader on a journey of self-discovery. 

     Years ago, deep in the Utah desert near the end of a long motorcycle trek, Quinlan had a vision of perfect organizational alignment—with da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man at the core. This concept became Alignment Strong.

     Concise yet impassioned, this essential handbook clarifies the ten components of Quinlan’s proven competitive leadership model by overlaying them on a depiction of da Vinci’s ideal human form. As a result, the perfect organizational alignment converges with the ultimate individual alignment. 

     By following the Alignment Strong framework, you will learn the importance of

• articulating your own change philosophy and applying a shared formula with deftness;

• finding vulnerability and courage by understanding your own personal power, blind spots (CEO disease), career derailers, and resistance to change; 

• integrating strategic and human-centric systems within your enterprise to increase organizational health, financial results, and competitive posture; 

• aligning espoused core values with strategic vision, mission, leadership/team, strategy, goals, and a performance management system, while culturally imbedding an appetite for change.

     Utilizing research and advice from top business and thought leaders, as well as self, organizational, and team assessments, Quinlan enables you to transform not only yourself, but your company. 

     Quinlan is recognized as an entrepreneurial polymath by Inc. magazine.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781733478175
Publisher:	An Inc. Original
Publication date:	10/13/2020
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

John E. Quinlan has been up, down, and all around. He co-founded and ran a publicly traded financial services holding company, building it to 330 employees in 14 states and $430 million in assets. Quinlan ended up losing it all. His failure became his competitive advantage and ultimately the genesis for this book. After co-establishing a consulting and investment banking firm in Detroit, he left America for the other side of the world, where he and his wife founded, in remote Papua New Guinea, a certified-organic and Rain Forest Alliance coffee growing, collection, and exporting business. It grew and prospered until local greed and vengeance, culminating in an assassination attempt, forced the Quinlans to abandon their company. (At least he still had his motorcycle stored back in Michigan.) Quinlan is now an author, speaker, organization development specialist, and executive leadership coach. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Albion College in Michigan, and a Master of Science in Organizational Development (MSOD) from the American University, Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

Foreword xi

Preface xv

Introduction 1

1 Becoming Alignment Strong 7

2 Embracing Change 15

3 The Ten Components of the Da Vinci Organizational Code 33

Core Values 34

Strategic Vision 41

Mission/Competitive Advantage 45

Leadership/Team 49

Strategy 61

Goals/Objectives 64

Organization Structure 68

Departmental Mission Statements/Value Chain 72

Individual Objectives/Management Performance System 76

Integrated Culture 80

4 A Case Study-Without and With Alignment Strong 85

5 Building Effective Relationships 93

6 Symphony of the Synthesist 107

7 The Internal Change Agent/The Aspiring Leader 125

Final Thoughts 133

Wisdom's Invitation 135

Acknowledgments 143

Appendix 145

Alignment Strong Assessment 147

Mission Statement Development Procedure and Evaluation 157

Leadership Development Questionnaire 163

Essential Team Factors and Team Assessment 173

Role Definition Development 184

Team Development Exercise Module 197

Strategic Issue Definition, Goal Statement, and Objectives/Action Steps 201

Goal/Action Plan Team Ratification Session 203

Notes 205

Index 211

About the Author 218

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This is a vital handbook for any company CEO, president, owner, business leader, or employee wishing to grow. It is down to earth and personal and possesses some amazing tools for assessing one’s self or an organization. Alignment Strong is a valuable resource for our worldwide 26,000 Vistage members. The application of this book will increase the effectiveness of their roles and enhance their lives.”

—Richard Beadle, founder, Vistage Michigan

“Our closely held international freight forwarding/logistics company engaged John while he was in graduate school. While the performance of our company was acceptable, we needed help in order to survive in an increasingly competitive global industry. A fifteen-year engagement (three successive

five-year strategic visions) resulted. The Alignment Strong model shaped our company to strategically “out-compete” our much larger global rivals. Values, culture, strategic vision, and employee engagement were foundational. A “talking stick” was carved out of a tree branch and frequently used at our team retreats to reinforce a culture of openness and trust between our American, European, Asia/Australia, and Latin American operation teams, using the Alignment Strong framework. We achieved significant growth in revenue and profitability, while developing long-term employee satisfaction. The Alignment Strong model helped us to re-vision, further build, and sustain our company’s competitive posture.”

—Joe Coughlin, CEO, F.X. Coughlin Company

“Almost twenty years ago, we were a $5 million company. Things were going well, but we weren’t growing to the next level. I met John and he began introducing me to some of the components that now fill the pages of this book.

Our culture changed, our team began to get real with each other, and we pushed beyond the plateau. Challenged and encouraged by John’s coaching, we more than tripled the size of our business.”

—Mike Mancinelli, founder and CEO, Great Lakes Woodworking

“Our firm has worked with John for over half a decade. The guidance and facilitation he has provided to us are key factors in our success. His knowledge and study of organizational design and dynamics are based on empirical research; his ability to facilitate and bridge understandings is possible only due to the massive amount of work he has dedicated to himself and his clients. This book gives readers a glimpse into the process he facilitates with his

clients. If your organization is seeking a model to align the team and build trust, look no further.”

—Todd Hohauser, CEO, FEA, Harvey Hohauser & Associates, and Global Chair, IIC Partners

“In today’s business world, change is not only a constant—it’s an accelerating challenge that requires leaders’ attention and requires all employees’ skills to be sharpened and attention focused. Alignment Strong is a must-read for all

middle market business owners/managers that seek to recognize and harness their organization’s competitive advantage. My president went through the Alignment Strong coaching curriculum. She describes it as receiving an MBA on steroids!”

—Dan Ponder, CEO, FRANCO

“Douglas Electric was founded in 1975 by my father. I took over the company in the late ’90s. We did not have a complete change framework for the trajectory we desired for growth in people, revenue, and profit. Now we have

grown the company to $10 million. John has worked with us, through the COVID-19 pandemic, using Alignment Strong as our cornerstone. I can build from what my father left me, yet have my own imprint in the company

culture, what I believe is both strong yet nurturing and yes, more balanced. As a female CEO in a predominantly male industry, I feel a stronger resolve, more self-respect, and quiet determination.”

—Paige Levy, owner and CEO, Douglas Electric

“My family was steeped in concrete construction industry knowledge since 1946, yet we never fully understood what it took to step back as owners and realize that we have been toiling with success at growing our enterprise for

decades, yet were unprepared for sustainable leadership posture. John introduced my brother, Ray, and me to the ten components of Alignment Strong. I explained to him what a plumb line is and how it is used in the construction business. It is now foundational to Alignment Strong’s Da Vinci Organizational Code. Alignment Strong has aligned our company for leadership posture in our industry. We helped each other.”

—Perry Merlo, a founder and owner, Merlo Construction

“Alignment Strong captures John Quinlan’s lifelong professional experiences of demonstrating the coordination of an organization’s strategic move forward

and robustly involving the management team. Alignment Strong is not so much a ‘how-to’ book, but a ‘what-to-expect’ book when moving to a higher level of performance, both internally and externally. From my background in public accounting, and as CFO for both private and public companies, I have seen the results of Alignment Strong companies versus companies that have not adopted these ten vital components—the evidence is startling. The research that supports the link between Alignment Strong companies and financial results is significant.”

—Philip Rice, president, Legacy Results, Inc.

“John Quinlan has distilled his experiences and given us this guide to maintain our own business organization. I connected to the core of what Quinlan has provided us with: a road map to success in building your organization. He breaks it down to ten strategic components and fully takes you through the understandings of what they mean and how to apply them to your organization and to yourself. Integrating his experiences as well as incorporating deep thought leadership research into this book, he gives us our own tool, our own plumb line, to build what we want in our business and be competitive in our leadership and in our business.”

—Joe McMillan, CEO, McMillan Business Interiors