Team Bush : Leadership Lessons from the Bush White House - Hardcover

Kettl, Donald F.; Kettl, Donald

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0071416331 ISBN 13: 9780071416337

Publisher: McGraw-Hill, 2003

Synopsis

LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES BEHIND ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR PRESIDENTS IN HISTORY

How the Commander-in-Chief commands

George W. Bush has surprised even his harshest critics with his leadership talents and discipline. As this country's first MBA president, Bush formed his unique leadership style managing businesses, not government offices. Team Bush is the first book to explore these unique methods and tactics he has employed to become one of the nation's most popular commanders in chief in recent history.

From "hiring" the most diverse and effective cabinets in history, to dealing with the crisis and war sparked by the events of September 11th, this compelling leadership book takes readers into the mind and methods of America's 43rd president, and shows managers how these methods can be used to boost productivity in their own organizations.

This fast-paced book pulls no punches as it showcases President Bush's successes and strengths while detailing his mistakes and weaknesses. Focusing on the actual events and outcomes of Bush's first two years in office, it discusses:

• The strategy behind Bush's coup in the mid-term election
• Lessons learned from his managing of the September 11th crisis
• How Bush recognizes and learns from his very public mistakes

About this title

From the Back Cover:

The Team-Based Leadership Model of America's First MBA President

Team Bush is a gripping portrait of George W. Bush at the helm, one that transcends politics to provide an inside look at the hands-on specifics of Bush's aggressive yet pragmatic leadership style. This fast-paced yet powerful book explains how the Bush model can be used by any executive to streamline management and decision processes--and establishes a new standard for results-oriented leadership in the 21st century.

Get the inside story on George W. Bush's leadership techniques and tactics, and how they can be used to drive performance in virtually any setting, in Team Bush.

Praise for Team Bush:

"This short book is long on insight, both for government leaders seeking to learn leadership lessons from effective CEOs and for business leaders seeking to learn the same lessons from effective leaders in government."--Steven Kelman, Weatherhead Professor of Public Management, The John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

"Kettl provides a lively, insightful and sympathetic distillation of the surprisingly effective leadership style of President George W. Bush."--Thomas E. Mann, W. Averell Harriman Chair in Governance Studies, The Brookings Institution

"Management matters, in politics and government as much as in business and commerce. In clear language and with a slew of examples, Team Bush concisely dissects the management style that has helped President George W. Bush to sustain his public approval and achieve both political and policy success."--Norman J. Ornstein, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute

"If I have any genius or smarts, it's the ability to recognize talent, ask them to serve, and work with them as a team."--George W. Bush

President George W. Bush forged his team-based leadership style in the world of private enterprise. Before becoming our nation's first MBA president (Harvard, 1975), "W" had developed his own style of talking with and listening to team members, making decisions based on their input, and then relying on his team to carry out those decisions. It was a style tailor-made for the presidency.

Team Bush explores the mind and methods of America's 43rd president. Bypassing theory and jargon to focus on Bush's hands-on decision making standards and practices, this compelling leadership resource reveals:

• The President's decide-and-delegate style of leadership, adapted from the pages of Harvard MBA textbooks
• Techniques Bush used to build one of history's most talented cabinets, and how he tailors his communication style to fit that of each member
• How Bush helped his party retain the House and recapture the Senate in his first mid-term election--a feat almost unheard of by a sitting president

Beyond the conference rooms of the White House, however, Team Bush explains how executives can use Bush's model to streamline decision-making and boost productivity in virtually any arena. This fast-moving leadership manual discusses the value of receiving accurate, unfiltered information from close advisors, and how to establish a chain of communication for receiving that information. It explains the value of limiting goals to those that are essential, and devising methods to make them achievable. It explores the importance of developing a meaningful plan and sticking with that plan, regardless of distractions and delays.

Team Bush is, first and foremost, a portrait of the stunning successes--and occasional setbacks--of George W. Bush during his first two years as president of the United States. More than that, however, it is an examination of a new style of leadership, based as much on the knowledge and performance of one's team as it is on the knowledge and performance of oneself. George W. Bush has come as near as anyone to perfecting that style. Discover what he has done, and how you can use his model in your own leadership pursuits, in Team Bush.

About the Author:

Donald F. Kettl, Ph.D. is professor of political science and public affairs at the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The executive director and co-chair (along with former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean and former Ohio governor Richard Celeste) of The Century Foundation Project on Homeland Security, Dr. Kettl is also a nonresident senior fellow in governmental studies at the Brookings Institution and former director of the institution's Center for Public Management. He has written, cowritten, or edited over a dozen books, including The Transformation of Governance and The Global Public Management Revolution.

About this edition

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0071416331
• ISBN 13: 9780071416337
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224