Synopsis
Complete the following sentences: “I am most energized when . . .” “I have always dreamed of . . .” “I derive joy from . . .” If there is a disconnect between how you completed these statements and the reality of your present situation, then something is getting in the way of you and the future you desire. Most of us actually spend a great deal of time thinking about our future, yet it is something we rarely address in a formal way. Why is it that the very thing we think about so often is something for which we rarely receive guidance? Leader of One: Shaping Your Future through Imagination and Design changes that reality, helping us to envision our future and to take action to make it happen. We have all experienced the widening gap between where we are and where we wish to be. Life, we find, gets in the way. It becomes too easy in this hyper-dynamic world to confuse means with ends, busyness with importance, and activity with progress. We have a living to make after all, or, if we’re students, we must prepare to do so. For those of us in mid-career, there appear to be even more obstacles. In time, we discover we have drifted away from whatever it was we were passionate about, unaware that we were forfeiting a future that was ours to claim if only we had known how to unleash the “leader” within. Leader of One tells us how. Through Gerald Suarez’s engaging voice, we learn about a process called idealized design, a method first applied in corporations by the renowned Wharton Emeritus Professor Russell Ackoff and his team. Ackoff and Suarez worked together to apply the same methodology in the White House where Suarez served two presidents for over a decade. As an internationally recognized authority on leadership and organizational redesign, Professor Suarez found the process worked as easily in the classroom as it did in the boardroom. What works for large organizations works for individuals as well. The methodology is simple, but the implications are profound. Suarez describes a cycle of activities that begins with the mental creation of an idealized future and ends with its realization. He teaches us how to begin in the future and work backwards to the present, from B to A, so to speak. He has us examine assumptions about who we are and asks us to explore what we value, to “dig deep” for answers. He does not allow us to be passive observers. He requires we learn by doing. It is not enough to dream, we must have the courage to take action. Leader of One is a book to guide us as we move through our days. In one sense it is timeless. Readers will find it invaluable now, but worth revisiting in the years ahead as circumstances change and as new passions take hold.
About the Author
Dr. Suarez served with distinction for over 11 years in the White House during the Clinton and Bush administrations. He was selected to lead the first Presidential Quality office in the institution's history. Suarez led efforts to introduce systems thinking and organizational redesign into the White House Communications Agency, the White House Military Office and the Management and Administration of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. He also served as Director of Customer Support and Organizational Development for the White House Military Office. Suarez traveled aboard Air Force One and Presidential helicopters in numerous missions worldwide. He received many Presidential awards and commendations for his work including the White House Distinguished Service Award and the Commander-in-Chief coin. He is an internationally recognized authority on leadership, systems thinking and design, strategy formulation, innovation, and management of fear in the workplace. Through his career he collaborated with Dr. W. Edwards Deming, Dr. Russell L. Ackoff, and Stephen R. Covey. Suarez is an award-winning faculty at the University of Maryland in College Park where he holds the rank of Professor of the Practice in Systems Thinking and Design. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Faculty member in the Honors College. In his leadership roles at the Smith School of Business he served as Associate Dean of External Strategy, Executive Director of the multidisciplinary Quality Enhancement Systems and Teams Honors program, Fellow of the Center for Innovation Leadership and Change as well as Executive Education Senior Fellow. He teaches at the corporate, executive MBA, international and undergraduate programs. Dr. Suarez coaches executive leaders and is a leading adviser to government agencies and Fortune 500 companies. He lectures extensively throughout South America, Asia, Europe, the Caribbean, and North America.
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