Description
Here is a book on leadership like no other. It begins by announcing that: “You can’t learn to be a ‘leader.’ … All you can do is be prepared if you are ‘called’ to provide leadership.” So begins Lee Thayer’s relentless assault on conventional thinking … which, he tells us, will “always and inevitably lead to conventional results.” From his initial “stretching exercises” for your mind, he offers a detailed guidebook for making sure you’re prepared when your leadership opportunity arrives.
The underpinning of his method boils down to this statement: “As you think, so will you be. And as you are, so will you do.” He warns at the outset that much of what he’s learned over four-plus decades of working with CEOs to build high-performance organizations may seem counter-intuitive and that the journey is “more difficult than you can imagine.” But he also notes, “If your learning journey is not fun and exciting, it will not bear fruit.” So along the way you’ll learn how to “slay dragons” (Ch. 5) and “overcome perversity” — especially your own (Ch. 11). And in the process, you’ll acquire the habits of thinking, being, and doing that prepare you perform the leadership roles that come your way.
“Thayer’s book is refreshing, authentic, and has a penetrating integrity. Don t take it lightly.” –Max De Pree, Chairman Emeritus, Herman Miller, Inc., Author of Leadership is an Art
“If you can t learn how by applying the leadership lessons here, you probably can t learn how. It s superb!” –James O’Toole, Author of Leading Change
“If you truly want to reinvent yourself … and have a deep passion to change and improve, read Lee Thayer s book.” –Larry Bull, Executive Vice President, Bergstrom, Inc.
