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The Soul of A Leader: Finding Your Path to Success and Fulfillment - Softcover

Benefiel, Margaret

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9780824524807: The Soul of A Leader: Finding Your Path to Success and Fulfillment

Synopsis

Demonstrating the principle that soulfulness at work is a way of being and doing, this guide provides new perspectives on the qualities of leadership. Three main sections elaborate on the themes of choosing the path, staying on track, and persevering to the end. Drawing from interviews with outstanding leaders—including Tom and Kate Chappell, the founders of Tom’s of Maine; Bob Glassman, co-chairman of Wainwright Bank & Trust; Desmond Tutu; and The Edge of rock band U2—and supported with guided questions in each section, this book is an essential addition to the bookshelf of anyone who wants to lead with soul. In an environment where leaders are rewarded for their drive, decisiveness, productivity, and long work hours, the spiritual well-being of a leader may get short shrift, and harm can come to both the leader and the organization this individual serves. Challenging the assumptions that effective leaders must sell their souls, cut corners, cook the books, and let go of their vision, a new model of spiritual leadership is offered. Teachers, parents, committee chair leaders, and other individuals in organizations of any size are exhorted to aim higher and lead with soul in any sphere, large or small.

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About the Author

Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., author of Soul at Work (Seabury Books, 2005), The Soul of a Leader (Crossroad, 2008), and Crisis Leadership (Morehouse, 2021), and co-editor of The Soul of Supervision (Morehouse, 2010), The Soul of Higher Education (Information Age Publishing, 2019), and Soul Food (2023), serves as CEO of Executive Soul.

Reviews

According to Benefiel, theology teacher and CEO of ExecutiveSoul.com, the Western ideal of leadership demands that modern leaders adopt a Lone Ranger mentality; emphasizes the bottom line; and rewards drive, decisiveness, productivity and long work hours—while paying scant attention to inner and spiritual development. Benefiel outlines her principles of soul formation for leaders through true-life stories, such as those of Tom and Kate Chappell of Tom's of Maine, and the U2 guitarist The Edge, who worked with musicians in post-Katrina New Orleans. Benefiel also writes about lesser-known leaders who have concentrated in the development of their moral grounding as well as their account books. Speaking both to individual and organizational spiritual transformation, she highlights the importance of following one's heart and daring to dream through a program of practicing gratitude, perseverance and seeking out spiritual guidance. The author's inspiring message and endorsement from Desmond Tutu will likely earn her book a receptive audience, but the repetitive, sometimes saccharine execution may deter all but the choir to whom she is already preaching. (Sept.)
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