Book description
A great leader is a truly unique animal, possessing both the warmth of a mammal and the cold-blooded toughness of a reptile
Enlightening, encouraging, and filled with incredible anecdotes from the author's own experience, The Nature of Leadership explores these characteristics, with examples of leaders ranging from tough-minded Lou Gerstner at IBM to mammalian leaders like Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines and Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America.
Key features
Contains anecdotes from the author's own experiences, including his participation in the landmark University of Michigan affirmative action Supreme Court case, as well as lessons he learned from meeting world-famous figures like former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Bishop Desmond Tutu
Unique, approachable metaphor to describe different kinds of leadership styles. The author points to both successes and failures (his own as well as those of his subjects) and describes eloquently how mammalian, reptilian, and other attributes contributed to those outcomes
Uncommon in leadership books is the idea of visionary succession planning being a hallmark of a great leader. White illustrates how the best succession planning recognises the importance of both mammalian and reptilian characteristics
Table of contents
- Copyright
- Foreword
- 1. Become a Leader, a Better Leader, a Great Leader
- 2. The Reptiles versus the Mammals
- 3. The Leadership Pyramid
- 4. Reptilian Excellence
- 5. Mammalian Excellence
-
6. The Secret of Becoming a Great Leader
- Abraham Lincoln and the Leadership Pyramid
-
Lincoln and the Five Qualities of Great Leaders
- Innovation: Great Leaders Are Original Thinkers
- Risk Taking: Great Leaders Are Informed Risk Takers with a Track Record (but Never a Perfect Record) of Success
- Spotting Talent: Great Leaders Have an Insatiable Appetite for Outstanding Talent
- Helicopter View: Great Leaders Have an Extraordinary Sense of Perspective
- The Sparkle Factor: Great Leaders Have Presence
- Great Leaders Today
- Leading for Innovation
- Situations Matter and Results Count
- 7. Challenge Yourself: Become a Great Leader
- The “Nature of Your Leadership” Survey
- Notes
- Acknowledgments
- About the Authors
Product information
- Title: The Nature of Leadership: Reptiles, Mammals, and the Challenge of Becoming a Great Leader
- Author(s):
- Release date: September 2006
- Publisher(s): AMACOM
- ISBN: 9780814408940
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