Art of Winning Commitment, The: 10 Ways Leaders Can Engage Minds, Hearts, and Spirits - Hardcover

Richards, Dick

9780814407851: Art of Winning Commitment, The: 10 Ways Leaders Can Engage Minds, Hearts, and Spirits

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0814407854 ISBN 13: 9780814407851

Publisher: Amacom Books, 2004

Leadership books most often cite interviews with high-profile business executives while offering do-and-don’t case studies of different corporate initiatives in action. But some of the world’s most extraordinary leaders work their magic outside the world of business. Their ability to gain the enthusiastic commitment of their people -- when something other, and perhaps greater, than profit is at stake -- demonstrates a fundamental human connection that their counterparts in the corporate sector would do well to emulate.The Art of Winning Commitment presents the unique perspectives of a diverse group of leaders that includes:* educators* religious and spiritual leaders* heads of not-for-profit social services* an orchestra conductor* a professional storytellerReaders will also learn leadership secrets from former Philadelphia 76ers’ executive Pat Croce, former Chief of the Cherokee Nation Wilma Mankiller, and politician and retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, and others.In the search for commitment, loyalty, and business excellence, leaders can learn a lot from those outside of the business definition of leadership.

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About the Author:

Dick Richards (Phoenix, AZ) is the author of Artful Work. He has consulted for business, social service, health care, and educational organizations worldwide.

From Publishers Weekly:

In this New Agey leadership primer, consultant Richards (Artful Work) notes that authoritarian leadership no longer jives with the democratic spirit of the age. Instead of barking orders at underlings, the business leader’s tasks are now the far more exalted, if far less definable, ones of "helping people come to full human maturity," being "a medium for the emotional energy that is moving within the group" and "rendering the current world spiritually significant." Richards culls such insights from interviews with 20 contemporary leaders as well as a variety of other sources, including Zen Buddhism on the need to live in the moment, mythologist Joseph Campbell on a leader’s duty to endure "the annihilation of the human ego," and Prudential founder John Dryden on insurance salesmen’s role as "Missionaries of Love." Leaders, he says, must be able to inspire intellectual, emotional and spiritual commitment; dividing his book into three main sections, Richards reveals how they can "win" each kind. He explains how enlightened leaders can foster commitment in followers based on 10 leadership "competencies" and 43 "development strategies" ranging from the practical ("hanging out with optimists" and "getting a good night’s sleep") to the mystical ("following your bliss" and "creating a sacred autobiography"). Further guidance is provided by a case-study chapter in which a model executive leader at a corporate gathering delivers a "heart-to-heart" talk in which "his voice was both more thoughtful and more passionate, resonating from who he was as a person." Managers seeking a more emotional way to connect with and lead their troops may find this book a gratifying voyage of self-discovery, but those favoring traditional approaches would be better served elsewhere.
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