Recommended Readings December 19, 2006
Geery's Reviews and Summary
- Hesselbein, Frances and Marshall Goldsmith, Editors. The Leader of the Future 2: Visions, Strategies, and Practices For The New Era, Jossey-Bass, 2006.
- Blanchard, Ken. Leading At a Higher Level: Blanchard on Leadership and Creating High Performing Organizations, Prentice Hall, 2006.
Tuesday morning: December 19, 2006
Dear Friends,
A spectacular number of excellent books have been published this fall and I want
to share my thoughts on two of them today with you.
First is The Leader of the Future 2 which follows in the footsteps of the international
best seller, The Leader of the Future, which was translated into 28
languages and published in 1996. Now, with twenty-seven new and insightful
essays, The Leader of the Future 2 gathers the top names in the
leadership thinking and research from the private, public and social sectors to
explore what they have figured out and their visions of leadership in the
future. From Ken Blanchard to Stephen Covey, Marshall Goldsmith to Rosabeth Moss
Kanter, the book is a treasure trove of wisdom, inspiration and new
insights.
In particular, the book has five sections, opening with A
Vision of Leadership which summaries Peter Druckers thoughts on executive
leadership and effectiveness. Part Two covers Leading in a Diverse World with
such superb essays as Diversity Management: An Essential Craft for Future
Leaders by R. Roosevelt Thomas Jr., and How Cosmopolitan Leaders Inspire
Confidence: A Profile of the Future by Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Part Three focuses
on Leading In a Time of Crisis and Complexity with a fantastic essay called
Anchoring Leadership in the Work of Adaptive Progress by Ron Heifietz, a
perennial, From Vision to Action favorite author. Part Four centers on Leading
Organizations into the Future and includes great essays by Marshall Goldsmith,
Noel Tichy and a wonderful one called Its Not Just the Leaders Vision by Jim
Kouzes and Barry Posner. The final section Part Five, which is called The
Quality and Character of the Leader of the Future opens with a great essay
called Leading in the Knowledge Worker Age by Stephen Covey.
In their introduction of this book, the editors quote Abraham Lincoln: The dogmas of the
quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with
difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion. As our case is new, so we must
think and act anew. If you are wanting to think and act anew in the coming
year, this collection of essays was good ten years ago and, in my opinion, the
twenty-seven new ones are even better now. The Leader of the Future 2 is
a great place for fresh understanding and new perspectives.
Second is the book Leading At A Higher Level by Ken Blanchard and the founding
associates and consulting partners of The Ken Blanchard Companies. I have been
waiting a long time for such a book by Ken Blanchard and I am delighted that it
has finally arrived. Rather than his shorter books, this one has depth and
substance. While I like his shorter story based books, I have been wondering
when he would look the entire scope of his work and finally here it
is.
Reading very much like The Leader of the Future 2, this new
book is a collection of essays by Ken and his founding associates and consulting
partners. There are four sections to the book, Section I: Set Your Sights on the
Right People and Vision, Section II: Treat Your Customer Right, Section III:
Treat Your People Right, and Section IV: Have the Right Kind of
Leadership.
What excites me the most about this book is some of the key
chapters. Here are some of the best:
- Chapter 1: Is your Organization High
Performing? includes a great model for measuring whether or not you are working
within a High Performing Organization (HPO).
- Chapter 4: Empowerment Is the
Key. Finally, someone has a written a good essay on the topic which is realistic
and applicable. I am all smiles!
- Chapter 5: Situational Leadership II: The
Integrating Concept. For all of us who have studied the Change Map from our From
Vision to Action Leadership Training, here is a great chapter from the Founding
Associates which is not only a good review but also includes some great new
perspectives.
- Chapter 9: Situational Team Leadership. Finally, the original
authors of The One Minute Manager Builds High Performance Teams come
together again to write some more on this topic. I am sure I will read this
chapter three to four more times before the Spring 2007 From Vision to Action
Roundtable.
Of course, other chapters are great in Leading At A Higher
Level, and the entire package of the book is excellent. Given Blanchard and
his colleagues have spent 25 years helping leaders and their organization become
great and stay great, this is a wonderful book for the new year.
So happy reading this holiday season.
Geery