True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership

True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership

by Bill George, Peter Sims, David Gergen
Released March 2007
Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
ISBN: 9780787987510

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Book description

True North shows how anyone who follows their internal compass can become an authentic leader. This leadership tour de force is based on research and first-person interviews with 125 of today's top leaders—with some surprising results. In this important book, acclaimed former Medtronic CEO Bill George and coauthor Peter Sims share the wisdom of these outstanding leaders and describe how you can develop as an authentic leader. True North presents a concrete and comprehensive program for leadership success and shows how to create your own Personal Leadership Development Plan centered on five key areas:

  • Knowing your authentic self

  • Defining your values and leadership principles

  • Understanding your motivations

  • Building your support team

  • Staying grounded by integrating all aspects of your life

    • True North offers an opportunity for anyone to transform their leadership path and become the authentic leader they were born to be.

    Personal, original, and illuminating stories from Warren Bennis, Sir Adrian Cadbury, George Shultz (former U.S. secretary of state), Charles Schwab, John Whitehead (Cochairman, Goldman Sachs), Anne Mulcahy (CEO, Xerox), Howard Schultz (CEO, Starbucks), Dan Vasella (CEO, Novartis), John Brennan (Chairman, Vanguard), Carol Tome (CFO, Home Depot), Donna Dubinsky (CEO/cofounder, Palm), Alan Horn (President, Warner Brothers), Ann Moore (CEO, Time, Inc.) and many others illustrate the transitions that shape the type of leaders who will thrive in the 21st century.

    Bill George (Cambridge, MA) has spent over 30 years in executive leadership positions at Litton, Honeywell, and Medtronic. As CEO of Medtronic, he built the company into the world's leading medical technology company as its market capitalization increased from $1.1 billion to $60 billion. Since 2004, he has been a professor at the Harvard Business School. His 2004 book Authentic Leadership (0-7879-7528-1) was a BusinessWeek bestseller. Peter Sims (San Francisco, CA) established "Leadership Perspectives," a course on leadership development at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and cofounded the London office of Summit Partners, a leading investment firm.

    Their Web site is www.truenorthleaders.com.

    Table of contents

    1. A WARREN BENNIS BOOK
    2. BOOKS IN THE WARREN BENNIS SIGNATURE SERIES
    3. Title Page
    4. Copyright Page
    5. Acknowledgements
    6. The Authors
    7. Editor’s Note
    8. Dedication
    9. Foreword
    10. Introduction
      1. The Leadership Crisis
      2. Learning from Authentic Leaders
      3. The Authentic Leader
      4. Discovering Your Authentic Leadership
    11. Part One - Leadership Is a Journey
      1. Chapter 1 - THE JOURNEY TO AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP
        1. Your Life Story Defines Your Leadership
        2. The Journey to Authentic Leadership
        3. Exploring Leadership After CEO: My Story
      2. Chapter 2 - WHY LEADERS LOSE THEIR WAY
        1. What Causes Leaders to Lose Their Way?
        2. Derailment: Losing Sight of Your True North
      3. Chapter 3 - TRANSFORMATION FROM “I” TO “WE”
        1. Transformation: The Vital Step on Your Journey
    12. Part Two - Discover Your Authentic Leadership
      1. Chapter 4 - KNOWING YOUR AUTHENTIC SELF
        1. Your Emotional Intelligence
        2. Why Knowing Yourself Is So Important
        3. Becoming Self-Aware
        4. Accepting Yourself
      2. Chapter 5 - PRACTICING YOUR VALUES AND PRINCIPLES
        1. Values, Leadership Principles, and Ethical Boundaries
        2. Setting Ethical Boundaries
        3. Leading by Values
      3. Chapter 6 - WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO BE A LEADER?
        1. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations
        2. Discovering Your Intrinsic Motivations
        3. Avoiding Traps
        4. Balancing Your Motivations
        5. Finding Your Motivated Capabilities
      4. Chapter 7 - BUILDING YOUR SUPPORT TEAM
        1. The Most Important Person to Your Leadership
        2. Families
        3. Mentors
        4. Close Friends: Growing Redwood Trees
        5. Your Personal Support Group
      5. Chapter 8 - STAYING GROUNDED: INTEGRATING YOUR LIFE
        1. Making Choices and Trade-Offs
        2. The Buckets of Your Life
        3. Staying Grounded by Integrating Your Life
    13. Part Three - Empowering People to Lead
      1. Chapter 9 - LEADERSHIP WITH PURPOSE AND PASSION
        1. Discerning Your Passions
        2. What’s the Purpose of Your Leadership?
        3. Aligning Your Purpose
        4. What Is the Purpose of Business?
      2. Chapter 10 - EMPOWERING PEOPLE TO LEAD
        1. Mutual Respect: The Basis for Empowerment
        2. Empowering People to Lead
      3. Chapter 11 - HONING YOUR LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS
        1. Optimizing Your Leadership Effectiveness
        2. Optimizing Effectiveness to Achieve Superior Results
    14. Epilogue
    15. Appendix A - RESEARCH STUDY ON DEVELOPMENT OF AUTHENTIC LEADERS
    16. Appendix B - AUTHENTIC LEADERS INTERVIEWED FOR TRUE NORTH
    17. Appendix C - LEADERSHIP EXERCISES FOR EACH CHAPTER
    18. References
    19. Index

    Product information

    • Title: True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership
    • Author(s): Bill George, Peter Sims, David Gergen
    • Release date: March 2007
    • Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
    • ISBN: 9780787987510