Synopses & Reviews
You've probably already guessed that this is no typical book on how to become a leader. There's the square shape, for one thing. Then there's the alphabetized format to consider. But the main thing that sets this book apart is its content: Instead of focusing on who leaders are-their character, style, charisma, et cetera-its focus is on what leaders do. Why? Because it is highly unlikely that you can become someone you aren't, yet it's quite likely that you can learn from what others have already done.As the title implies, Leadership A to Z covers all the basics. It captures the essence of what anyone in a leadership position needs to know in order to create a high-performing, self-renewing organization. And it does so in a rather unique way. Want to learn about delegation? Vision? When and how to make and break rules? Strategy? Well, just turn to the table of contents and find the subject in which you're interested. Ninety-one essential topics are arranged alphabetically for ease of reference. What's more, each is covered in pithy, one- to two-page sections you can digest over coffee, between meetings, whenever you have a few moments to spare.Author James O'Toole invests each topic with humor and insight. His approach is light-hearted, his style wonderfully readable. But the lessons he delivers cut to the quick of effective leadership. A master of leadership education and coaching for nearly thirty years, O'Toole's advice stems from his own professional experiences, the experiences of the many outstanding leaders he has known, and upon research conducted by the world's top business scholars.Primer, reference, and handbook all in one, Leadership A to Z is the ideal guide for individuals looking to quickly build or improve their leadership skills and for organizations looking to increase leadership capacity throughout their ranks. Think of it as a leadership coach in book form whose only learning prerequisite, as author O'Toole points out, is a disposition tow
Review
"In the last quarter of this century, America has produced no more perceptive or broad-gauged student of leadership than James O'Toole. Now he brings all of his scholarly thoughtfulness and practical experience to bear in a masterful book for all of us. It is brilliantly grounded in theory, but stunningly usable. It is, as O'Toole claims, about what leaders actually do."(Tom Peters)
"You don't have to shout to convince. Jim O'Toole talks softly, yet convincingly, about what leaders do, or can do. The moral and the pragmatic aspects of leadership come together nicely and are served up in small, bite-sized pieces of wise, well-written text."(Sumantra Ghoshal, Robert P. Bauman Professor of Strategic Leadership, London Business School)
"Most of us will be familiar with the successful, less successful, and unsuccessful characters found in this book, but I have never been as thoroughly absorbed by a style of storytelling that brings human behavior so much to life."(David Law-Smith, chairman of the board and CEO, Caltex Corporation)
Synopsis
A leadership coach in a book, this essential reference guide features over 90 lessons covering an alphabet of leadership topics. O'Toole challenges readers to learn what leaders do on a case-by-case basis, and to incorporate their styles into their own day-to-day leadership practices.
Synopsis
Pragmatically focused on the actions that one can take, this unique work delivers ninety-one pithy lessons in the fine art of leadership. Author James O'Toole packs thirty years of leadership coaching experience into a one-of-a-kind guide you can reference for expert advice on how to become a superior leader. The one- to two-page sections are alphabetically arranged for easy reference and address such topics as getting started, communication, delegation, trust, and vision. Throughout, O'Toole invests his lessons with examples of great leaders in action to show readers precisely what to do to accomplish the same goals. It's like having your own personal leadership coach in book form.
Synopsis
Pragmatically focused on the actions you can take as opposed to the character you might develop, this unique work delivers ninety-one pithy lessons in the fine art of leadership. Author James O'Toole, a thirty-year veteran of leadership education and coaching, approaches his subject in a light-hearted, wonderfully readable style. But the insights he shares always cut to the quick of effective leadership in a meaningful, memorable way. Alphabetically arranged, each concise section addresses a different topic and can be read over coffee, between meetings, whenever one gets the chance.
About the Author
JAMES O'TOOLE is a research professor in the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of California and chairman of the Board of Academic Advisors to Booz-Allen & Hamilton's Strategic Leadership Center.
Table of Contents
ABB's Benchstrength.
ABC's of Business Success.
Apologia.
Behavior (the Measure of Leadership).
Brownian Motivation (Challenging, Stretching, and Other Nonviolent Ways to Overcome Resistance to Change).
Cascading Leadership.
Change: No Task of Leadership (Or Is It?).
Changing Oneself.
Coherence.
Commitment.
Communication.
Comparative Advantage (Why Leadership Is Needed "Now" in Silicon Valley).
Contradictions, Anyone?
Controls.
Conviction.
Coolidge Syndrome.
Definition of Leadership.
Delegation.
Denial ("What Hump").
Details.
Differences.
Dunlap, "Chainsaw" Al (the Real Lesson).
Early Wins.
Effectiveness.
Ego.
Energy.
Engaging the Middle.
Expectations, Management of.
Fear and Failure.
Focus.
Followership.
Generosity.
Getting Started.
Globalism.
Grandstanding.
Guvmint Work.
Hangings, Public.
Hierarchy.
Hope.
How "Not" to Create Followers.
Inequality.
Intelligence.
Iteration and Institutionalization.
Joint Leadership.
KISS.
Knowing When to Leave.
Leaders (Who's Who in the Twentieth Century).
Lenin, Hitler, et alia.
Listening.
Management of Change (vs. Strategic Leadership).
Metrics I (Evaluating Individual Leadership).
Metrics II (Assessing an Organization's Strategic Leadership Quotient).
Muddled Teams (The Hewlett-Packard Way).
Needs of Followers.
Obsession.
Paradoxes.
PeopleSoft?
Perfection.
Performance (Hard-Edged).
Perks.
Perspectives.
Power!
Purpose.
Questions (Asking of).
R&R.
Reframing.
Repitition, Repitition, Repitition....
Resilience.
Resources.
Second Acts.
SHITMs.
Sound Bites.
Symbolism.
Teaching.
Team (Selection of the).
Theories of Leadership (Top Ten List).
Tomorrow's Leaders?
Tough Guys.
Townsend, Robert.
Training (Why It Isn't a Useful Part of Leadership Development).
Transforming Leadership.
Transformations, Continued (and Continual).
Trust.
Up and Out (and Sideways).
Vision.
What Leaders Do, a Checklist (and an Index).
Why Leaders Won't Lead.
X-Factor.
You, The Leader.
Zenith.
Memorandum from Warren Bennis.