How We Lead Matters: Reflections on a Life of Leadership

From the woman named one of “America's Best Leaders” by U.S. News & Report
Powerful insights into the practice of motivation

Marilyn Carlson Nelson has achieved global recognition for the Carlson brands of hotels, restaurants, cruise, travel, and marketing services.

But that's only part of the story.

As a daughter, wife, mother, and grandmother, Marilyn has always put people first. When her grandson asked a simple question about her life, she decided to write it all down-her fondest memories and deepest insights-in How We Lead Matters: Reflections on a Life of Leadership.

This thoughtful book offers a surprisingly personal glimpse into a multi-faceted woman who happens to be one of the most successful CEOs in the world. She describes the thrill of flying in an F16 over Death Valley (without getting sick), and throwing a barbeque for the KGB (who preferred vodka to the traditional beer). She shares the difficulty of making choices and sacrifices to run her family's business, and the heartbreak of losing a child.

Her insights are sprinkled with the timeless words of Mahatma Gandhi, Anne Frank, Oscar Wilde, Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, and others, as she talks about what it's like to be a woman in today's business world, while reflecting on an engaging array of subjects-from equal rights to corporate wrongs to motherhood. Most compelling of all, she reveals how a meaningful legacy is built one day at a time.

Marilyn Carlson Nelson is chairman and CEO of Carlson, a global group of companies providing travel, hotel, cruise, restaurant, and marketing services, including such brands as Radisson® and Regent® hotels and resorts, Country Inns and Suites By CarlsonSM, Park Inn® and Park Plaza® hotels, Regent Seven Seas Cruises®, Carlson Wagonlit Travel®, Carlson Marketing®, and T.G.I. Friday's® restaurants.

Deborah Cundy, an assistant dean at the Carlson School of Management, has worked with Marilyn Carlson Nelson for nearly 20 years as a former vice president at Carlson and speech writer. She assisted Ms. Carlson Nelson in the founding of the Center for Integrative Leadership at the University of Minnesota.