Learning To Lead

This is a book about leadership for college and university administrators, written by a professor of higher education who has also had a long administrative career.

This master class on leadership, written by one of America’s most prominent and successful executives, will help you develop the professional leadership qualities that deliver personal, interpersonal, and organizational success. ​In Learning to Lead: The Journey to Leading Yourself, Leading Others, and Leading an Organization, Ron Williams provides you with practical, tested leadership advice, whether you’re searching for a new career, looking for proven management solutions, or seeking to transform your organization. Developed from Williams’s own personal and professional journey, as well as the experiences of America’s leading CEOs, these strategies emerge boldly from engaging stories, outlined with practical steps for you to accomplish goals such as— • Launching your career quest • Avoiding professional pitfalls, wrong turns, and wasted effort • Overcoming interpersonal challenges and conflicts • Building and leading an effective, high-performance team • Prioritizing and solving problems from multiple perspectives • Developing your leadership style and mastering communication • Casting a vision and changing the culture of your organization After finishing Learning to Lead, you will be well equipped to take the next step to success in your personal and professional leadership journey. Williams’s book has the potential to join other leadership development classics on your shelf—to be read repeatedly and consulted throughout the span of your career.

SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICING: Enjoy first-week pricing of $18.95 on paperback books! Regular retail pricing of $23.95 becomes effective on July 22nd. It all began with the initial chance meeting of this book's author, Katie Anderson, and the book's subject, Isao Yoshino. She was an American leadership coach and consultant in her mid-career, with a newfound love of Japanese culture. He was an accomplished Japanese people-centered leader at the end of his corporate career, with a lifelong love for American culture and 40 years of inside experience with the Toyota Way. During the next five years, Anderson and Yoshino spent countless hours learning from each other, reflecting on the past, and envisioning the future. The resulting book - written by Anderson and focused on the profound lessons offered by her mentor Yoshino -- is a beautiful, one-of-a-kind tapestry. Much like the weaving of fabric -- where the beginning work is but a glimpse of the final pattern -- this book was created from many layers of intertwined conversations and reflections. If you've ever been mentored -- in business or in life -- by someone whose words, experiences, and perspectives changed you for the better, you know that an entire book of such selfless generosity and deep wisdom could change the world. For today's business professionals -- dedicated to continuous learning and people-centered leadership -- this is that book. Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn is a leadership book that defies generational or cultural divides, offering a refreshing, proven perspective for all those who dare to lead. The Best Leaders Never Lose the Humility for Learning Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn is much more than a collection of Isao Yoshino's personal stories and insights. It's a memorable, entertaining, and poignant way to highlight important leadership lessons, to record pivotal moments in Toyota's history, and to create something to help veteran and aspiring leaders reflect and learn about themselves. Yoshino's experiences help us understand how Toyota intentionally developed the culture of excellence for which it is renowned today, and how one person "learned to lead" so that he could lead with an intention to learn ... every day and in every way. "The only secret to Toyota is its attitude toward learning." -- Isao Yoshino Let the Past Inform the Future: The Role of Reflection in Leadership By looking back at the past, we can learn and therefore shape our future. Through each story in this unique and inspiring book, Anderson shares Yoshino's experiences with leadership and learning, and his efforts at self-improvement while empowering others. Through those stories, you'll hear his reflections on what he learned then ... and what he is re-learning now with a different perspective as he looks back at the totality of his career. A must-read for those who: -- Want to become more people-centered leaders -- Currently practice lean or continuous improvement methods -- Serve in leadership, coaching, or operational management roles -- Want to learn more about Toyota's history and culture -- Are inspired by heartwarming stories of personal discovery and leadership With a foreword by John Shook, Chairman of the Lean Global Network.

Over his distinguished career Warren Bennis has shown that leaders are made, not born. In Learning to Lead, written in partnership with management development expert Joan Goldsmith, Bennis provides a program that will help managers transform themselves into leaders. Using wise insights from the world's best leaders, helpful self-assessments, and dozens of one-day skill-building exercises, Bennis and Goldsmith show in Learning to Lead how to see beyond leadership myths and communicate vision to others. With updates throughout, Learning to Lead is both a workbook and a deeply considered treatise on the nature of leadership by two of its finest and most experienced practitioners - and teachers.

Learning to Lead combines theory and practice with important topics such as human development, diversity, anti-bias, and social change. New to this edition is information on leadership connections in school-age care and nurturing leadership in children. Each chapter is designed to prompt self-evaluation and personal leadership development.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Brené Brown has taught us what it means to dare greatly, rise strong, and brave the wilderness. Now, based on new research conducted with leaders, change makers, and culture shifters, she’s showing us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step up and lead. Don’t miss the five-part HBO Max docuseries Brené Brown: Atlas of the Heart! NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BLOOMBERG Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential. When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don’t avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it’s necessary to do good work. But daring leadership in a culture defined by scarcity, fear, and uncertainty requires skill-building around traits that are deeply and uniquely human. The irony is that we’re choosing not to invest in developing the hearts and minds of leaders at the exact same time as we’re scrambling to figure out what we have to offer that machines and AI can’t do better and faster. What can we do better? Empathy, connection, and courage, to start. Four-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Brené Brown has spent the past two decades studying the emotions and experiences that give meaning to our lives, and the past seven years working with transformative leaders and teams spanning the globe. She found that leaders in organizations ranging from small entrepreneurial startups and family-owned businesses to nonprofits, civic organizations, and Fortune 50 companies all ask the same question: How do you cultivate braver, more daring leaders, and how do you embed the value of courage in your culture? In this new book, Brown uses research, stories, and examples to answer these questions in the no-BS style that millions of readers have come to expect and love. Brown writes, “One of the most important findings of my career is that daring leadership is a collection of four skill sets that are 100 percent teachable, observable, and measurable. It’s learning and unlearning that requires brave work, tough conversations, and showing up with your whole heart. Easy? No. Because choosing courage over comfort is not always our default. Worth it? Always. We want to be brave with our lives and our work. It’s why we’re here.” Whether you’ve read Daring Greatly and Rising Strong or you’re new to Brené Brown’s work, this book is for anyone who wants to step up and into brave leadership.

Have You Ever Met a Great Leader? It's incredible when someone uses their gifts to make you feel valued and inspire you to greatness. What does it take to develop that kind of heart and influence? How can you become a leader like Jesus? Join Boyd Bailey as he shows you how to mirror Jesus's heart and make a positive difference in those around you. Explore 11 common traits that mark successful leaders, and learn the keys to growth in wisdom and humility. Through practical teaching, you will find that great leadership begins when you turn your focus to God and model Him in your attitude, conversations, and actions. A faithful life and humble spirit make you a leader worth following. When you lean into the Lord and learn from His example of perfect leadership, you will see lives transformed—beginning with your own!