Authors: Robert J. Anderson and William A. Adams
Publisher: Wiley – 342 pages
Book Review by: Sonu Chandiram
The authors of this book state at the outset that good leaders must have these pairs of qualities: effectiveness and integrity, courage and compassion, competence and character, and consciousness and wisdom.
Why in pairs? Think about it for a moment: you can be effective yet be evil (do no good). How many well-known national leaders can you name from current events and history who have effectively done harm? You also very likely know leaders who have the courage to mislead and cheat, and yet have no compassion for people, both in the political and business arenas.
Likewise, there are many leaders who are competent yet lack character, or conscious of short-term political or business gains but lacking the wisdom to realize that these gains may not be sustainable on a long-term basis.
In the business world we live in today, there is not only growing complexity, but increasing global competition. More than ever before, there is a great need for talent (productive, bottom-line oriented employees) and profits (derived from b-to-b or b-to-c customers).
In order to tap into talent and profits, effective business leaders with integrity are needed, and this need is greater than ever before. These leaders must be capable enough to compete on the global stage. The unpleasant alternative to this: more loss of jobs.
The authors point out: “Not only is complexity outpacing the development of effective and consciously competent leaders, but the world is facing a leadership crisis. Our collective welfare, organizationally and globally, depends on our ability to develop leaders that are up to the challenge of creating a thriving future for everyone.”
These remarks provide the framework of the content of this book which deals with many associated issues covered within the 13 chapters of this bestselling book on leadership:
Introduction: A Universal Model of Leadership and the Leadership Circle Profile Assessment
- The Promise of Leadership: Meeting the High Bar of Expectations
- Leadership Effectiveness and Business Performance: The Primary Competitive Advantage
- Mastery and Maturity, Consciousness and Complexity: The Leadership Development Agenda
- Stages of Development: The Backbone of the Universal Model of Leadership
- Five Levels of Leadership: Structures of Mind and Performance
- The Universal Model and Metrics: Global Leadership, Cross-Cultural and Gender Application
- The Leadership System: The Central Organizing System
- Reactive Leadership: An Insufficient Triumph of Development
- Reactive Leadership at Work: From Patriarchy to Partnership
- Creative Leadership: Fulfilling the Promise of Leadership
- Six Leadership Practices: Spiritual Boot Camp for Leaders
- Integral Leadership: Built for Complexity, Designed for Transformation
- Unity: Journey’s End, Development Turned Upside Down
There are thousands of books on leadership, particularly on leading and guiding corporations to achieve collective goals, but this one stands out among the top. While it discusses many leadership models and provides numerous charts, the bottom-line is that it is practical, straight-forward, well-organized, clearly written and easy to understand. The authors Robert Anderson and William Adams deserve an A+ for it.
Authors:
Robert J. Anderson is the Founder and Chairman of The Leadership Circle and the Full Circle Group. He has been a pacesetter and visionary in the leadership field for about 30 years.
William A. Adams is the CEO of The Leadership Circle and the Full Circle Group. He has been a practice leader for about 30 years. His clients include the CEOs and teams of major Fortune 500 corporations (public and private) and private-equity startup businesses.
