Gurus on Leadership

Overview

A one-stop guide to the world’s most important writers on leadership

This book expertly summarises all the key strategic concepts and describes the work and contribution of each of the leading thinkers in the field of leadership. Aswell as providing an incisive overview of the work of the world's major thought-leaders it give a clear assessment of the pros and cons of the theories in practice.

The book includes:

• An update of the recent themes and issues that dominate the leadership agenda
• A listing of the main gurus from Adair to Sun Tzu, their main concepts and approaches
• A quick guide to some of the world’s current and recent business leaders
• A compendium of leadership checklists for developing skills and competencies.

It will provide you with:

• A means for developing your own understanding, awareness and skills as a leader
• A stimulus for tackling challenges in a more imaginative way
• A source of new ideas for consulting and training development
• A concise survey of the most important thinkers for both executives and students.
  

Content

Introduction

ONE: A taster of leadership – Where have all the leaders gone?

• A cautionary tale for today’s times
• The Enron fallout
  
• Scandals everywhere!
  
• And so to Europe
  
• Positions of excellence diminish very rapidly
  
• A leadership crisis?
  
• But what about public sector values?
  
• A legitimate right to lead versus the ‘I/me’ agenda
  
• Private, public and political – The problem’s everywhere
  
• Tools and techniques versus character
  

TWO: The Leadership Gurus

• John Adair – Action Centred Leadership (ACL)
• Warren Bennis – ‘The Dean of leadership gurus’
• Robert Blake and Jane Mouton – The grid people
• Ken Blanchard – The one minute manager
• David Brent – aka Rickie Gervais – A modern leadership icon
• Peter Drucker – Management by objectives
• Fred Fiedler – The contingency theory man
• Daniel Goleman – The emotional intelligence (EQ) man
• Paul Hersey – Situational leadership
• Manfred Kets de Vries – The psychology of leadership
• John Kotter – The leader and change
• James M Kouzes and Barry Posner – Leadership and followership
• Nicolo Machiavelli – The Prince
• Abraham Maslow – The motivation man
• Douglas McGregor – The theory X and theory Y man (or carrot and stick approach)
• David McClelland – Achievement, affiliation and power motivation
• Tom Peters – The revolutionary leadership guru
• WJ Reddin – Three Dimensional Leadership Grid
• Tannenbaum and Schmidt – The leadership continuum
• Abraham Zaleznik – Leadership versus management
  

THREE: The leadership tool box

• Some thoughts on leadership and managing
  
• The American Management Association’s (AMA) core competencies of effective executive leaders
  
• Leadership skills and personal characteristics – A useful checklist
  

FOUR: Leadership quotes

Author

Mark Thomas

Mark Thomas is a successful international business consultant who has worked with some of the world’s major businesses in the fields of strategy, change management, human resources and individual executive development. He is a highly experienced speaker and business presenter who has worked in over 40 different countries around the world. As a consultant he has successfully sold major consulting projects and development initiatives. In addition to his consulting work Mark has authored several books on his key specialist people skills areas.