The Art of Alignment

"The key to great interviewing is listening-concentrating solely on the answer to be sure you're aligned with your guest. The same is true for great business leaders. Art's guide for gaining greater alignment can help any team or organization achieve top performance."-Larry King, the world's most recognized interviewer

Leading organizations worldwide are evolving from the idea of employee engagement to that of organizational alignment. More important in today's virtual work environment, The Art of Alignment provides a roadmap to creating alignment to your mission and vision to distributed teams. Readers will discover the answers to:

• How bought in to the mission and vision are your employees?
• Are leaders across your organization aligned?
• How are your KPIs integrated into the organizational alignment?

The Art of Alignment takes a data-driven approach to organizational alignment. When executives add PURPOSE to engagement, coupled with measurement, your organization will experience market-leading performance. By following the 9-Pillars approach to leadership, your organization can increase key metrics by as much as 28% with each percentage point improvement in alignment.

The approach to organizational alignment is organized into four parts; how it can be measured, practiced and analyzed:

Part 1 - Alignment is the Responsibility of Leadership
Part 2 - The Nine Pillars of Alignment
Part 3 - The Data-Driven Leadership Playbook
Part 4 - The Scientific Leader - Where Data Science Meets Leadership Decisions

By adopting a scientific approach to your leadership style, leaders are able to visualize how to improve employee engagement and performance.

Art realized the importance of alignment as his career job responsibilities have spanned multiple disciplines and industries. His competitive spirit, highlighted in collegiate athletics, inspired him to leverage his experience, knowledge and network to form ISI. Art developed a reputation for strong team leadership, cost savings and revenue generation. The creation of Orgametrics(TM) has given Art the platform to share his successes on a broader scale.

Throughout his career, Art has had an impressive background in both sales and marketing. A strategic thinker and leader, he has an established record of driving revenue and growth through direct and indirect sales organizations. Art is known for delivering a mix of strategy, innovation, and process excellence that expand corporate capability and market leadership, strengthen competitive positions, and increase profitability in highly competitive industries. This dynamic leader is adept at driving alignment, developing executive-level relationships and fostering collaboration among diverse teams to consistently exceed expectations, increase productivity, and optimize performance.

In 1989, Art began his career in Information Technology with International Business Machines (IBM). He moved up in the ranks quickly and obtained a Master's degree from the University of St. Thomas, while working as a branch manager. US West (Qwest Communications) recruited Art for vice president of internet services in telecommunications. Soon after, he was promoted to corporate officer when he accepted the position of vice president and general manager of large business sales. In 2008, Art joined Medtronic Incorporated. Until 2013, he was vice president of sales in the Cardio Vascular Group. His successes in medical device, telecommunications and information technology are evident by his President Club participation in every industry.

Art holds a Bachelor's degree from Drake University, Des Moines, IA, an MBA from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN and he participated in the Executive Development Program at The Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Harvey Mackay is the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive and Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt, both books are among the top 15 inspirational business books of all time, according to the New York Times. His books have sold more than ten million copies worldwide.