The Heart Of Leadership

Are you the type of leader people want to follow? You can be—but first, you've got to understand what sets great leaders apart from all the rest. Certainly, leaders need people skills, execution skills, a deep knowledge of industry trends, the ability to articulate a vision, and more—they must be competent—but that's just the tip of the iceberg. What's below the waterline? What's deep inside the best leaders that makes them different? Mark Miller contends it is their leadership character. In his latest enlightening and entertaining business fable, he describes the five unique character traits exhibited by exceptional leaders and how to cultivate them. The Heart of Leadership begins with young and ambitious Blake Brown being passed over for a desperately wanted promotion, despite an outstanding individual performance. Confused and frustrated, he turns to his former mentor, Debbie Brewster. Rather than attempting to solve Blake's problem for him, she sends him on a quest to meet with five of his late father's colleagues, each of whom holds a piece of the puzzle he's trying to solve. As Blake puts the pieces together, he discovers that in the final analysis, a lack of skills isn't what holds most leaders back; skills are too easy to learn. Without demonstrated leadership character, however, a skill set will never be enough. Most often, when leaders fail to reach their full potential, it is an issue of the heart. This is Blake's ultimate revelation. This book shows us that leadership needn't be the purview of the few—it is within reach for millions around the world. The Heart of Leadership is a road map for every person who desires to make a difference in the lives of others and become a leader people want to follow.

Where other books tell you about emotional intelligence, this book provides the roadmap to put it in action. Includes case for EQ, background, and detailed explanation of the Six Seconds EQ Model and how to use it to improve leadership -- and a free code to test your EQ strengths online.There are a handful of people in the world who have proven experience raising organizational performance with emotional intelligence. Freedman is one of the leaders.Using stories and data from his work around the world with organizations such as the US Marine Corps, Schlumberger, and FedEx, Freedman provides a practical guide to this critical topic.At the Heart of Leadership delivers a compelling case for leaders to attend to their own and their people's emotions as a critical asset for optimal performance. Then it shows you how.You'll learn the Six Seconds EQ Model, a practical three-step process to become more effective with emotions -- plus use the code in the back of the book for a free assessment of your EQ strengths.This book will show you how to lead more effectively by engaging your own and your people's emotions.

Ken Blanchard, a highly respected figure in the fields of leadership and business, invites you into the world of influence through his extensive career insights in this inspirational leadership book. In The Heart of a Leader, you’ll learn about: Uncover the significance of making value-based decisions; Learn how to pursue excellence in every aspect of your life; Explore the vital role of integrity in leadership and personal growth; Embrace change as a source of growth and development; Empower those around you to achieve their full potential. Get ready to go on a journey toward effective leadership and personal growth. Bound to become a timeless classic on Christian inspirational leadership, this book offers teachings on values, excellence, integrity, change, and empowerment that will equip you with the essential tools to not only lead effectively but also inspire those around you.

The H.E.A.R.T. of Leadership: Understanding Key Characteristics Which Strengthen Organizational Capacity examines characteristics of leadership that helps to motivate employees’ efforts toward organizational goals. It further highlights the impact that Humility, Empathy, Agility, Responsibility, and Transparency (H.E.A.R.T.) has on the leader-follower relationship, affecting organizational productivity. While successful leaders are capable of motivating others toward common goals, extraordinary leaders can create social order, change organizational culture, and complete the mission of an organization. For this to occur, leaders must consider the organization’s most viable resources; its workers. Additionally, leaders should ensure that workers share the same espoused values as the leaders. This book explicates the critical nature of leadership characteristics on the overall effectiveness of organizations led by those with the H.E.A.R.T. to lead. “I particularly appreciated Carla’s insights in two areas; the sociological perspective and the leadership calling. A key thought from the Sociological perspective is ‘From a sociological perspective, leaders are viewed by what they represent. As Carla addresses leadership calling, she notes ‘Those who are called into leadership are given capabilities that must be sustained to fulfill their God-given purpose’ and ‘While many challenges exist for leaders when considering whether to make organizational changes, today’s Christian leaders can transform their organizations when using Scripture as a guide.’ This was insightful throughout. Congratulations Dr. Brown!” Dr. Diane Wiater, Regent University

′This book makes an important contribution to the literature on educational leadership and should help to shift the emphasis from rational and accountability-related models to an explicit recognition of the importance of emotions to effective leadership′ - Educational Management Administration and Leadership ′[This book] contains a wealth of case studies and vignettes to help leaders be more aware of the ways in which emotion impacts on their practice, and to develop a productive and sustainable set of emotional responses, experiences and leadership tools′ - Headteacher Update ′This is a highly readable and engaging introduction to both the importance and power of emotions in the life and work of headteachers. While leaders′ emotions have been badly neglected in the literature, the rich body of evidence the author shares with readers indicates how central such emotions are to sustaining improvement efforts in schools.′ - Professor Ken Leithwood, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto, Canada ′The affective side of leadership is often forgotten as school heads and leaders strive for excellence and accountability. This extremely important book brings to the forefront the emotional attachments of leadership, the interpersonal relationships, and self-awareness that are at the core of leadership action and decision making. The case stories and reviews of multiple perspectives and theories provide the reader with a rich and essential resource′ - Ellen B. Goldring, Professor of Education Policy and Leadership, Vanderbilt University ′...The book is framed to illuminate how headteachers experience, and talk about, emotion and meaning in their daily interactions, and sets out to understand how emotion impacts on their leadership.′ (author′s introduction) Understanding the close relationship between leadership and emotion is essential for school leaders in creating, modifying and sustaining the emotional coherence of the whole school. Megan Crawford aims to help school leaders understand why emotion is such a powerful component of leadership. The author examines how school leaders experience emotion and meaning in their daily interactions, and presents a reflective journey, concentrating on the personal side of school leadership. The author shows how school climate depends on the personal emotional quality of the leader and his/her interface with other social relationships in the school, covering areas such as difficult people and situations, shame, loss and drawing on primary and secondary case studies, school leaders′ reflections and the influence of their life history, school context and emotional epiphanies. This book is for practising educational leaders and managers, tutors and students on Masters courses, EdD courses, and on programmes such as the National Professional Qualification for Headship, its equivalent for Children′s centres, and other national programmes in educational leadership and management

The Heart of Leadership challenges the view that new tools, processes, and knowledge are enough to deliver the highest levels of safety, quality performance, employee engagement, and financial health. The book examines the leadership characteristics of ten transformational leaders from a variety of work environments who have had signficantly more success than many of their peers in similar circumstances. It is an inspirational, optimistic, and practical guide to leading transformational change. The Heart of Leadership illustrates the important point that it is not what these leaders do as much as it is who they are. It looks at the common themes, values and work environments these ten transformational leaders have fostered. Interviews with each leader reveal their personal backgrounds, character-building experiences and individual beliefs. The interviews are interspersed with quotes from those with whom the leaders work, and include reflection points from the authors along with a model for transformational leadership, developed from a synthesis of the interviews. The book provides useful insights by covering the most advanced and progressive health care leadership practices - where many leaders struggle. The book s examples can help readers strengthen their own leadership capabilities.

Top academic scholars ponder the question of ethics as it pertains to all aspects of leadership in business, government, and nonprofit organizations. If leaders were defined by their influence on history, Hitler would be on par with Gandhi, Lincoln, and Mother Theresa. Yet most of us believe that our superiors have a responsibility to exercise power with a purpose far greater than any political agenda and a motive more noble than personal gain. This thought-provoking collection of essays explores the ethical challenges that leaders face in their relationships with followers, the choices they make, and the ways in which they influence others. Joanne Ciulla and her contributors examine the traits and characteristics of top-tier leaders. She questions the assumption that moral fortitude is an inherent part of being in charge; analyzes the roles that charisma, morality, and delegation play in the leadership paradigm; and considers whether individuals who want to lead with integrity but are sometimes forced to get their hands dirty for their constituents can be called "moral leaders." Readers will gain an appreciation for how ethics is not an add-on to the practice of leadership but rather an integral part of it—an element that informs the very idea of what it means to lead and to lead well.

A Wall Street Journal Bestseller Named a Financial Times top title How to unleash "human magic" and achieve improbable results. Hubert Joly, former CEO of Best Buy and orchestrator of the retailer's spectacular turnaround, unveils his personal playbook for achieving extraordinary outcomes by putting people and purpose at the heart of business. Back in 2012, "Everyone thought we were going to die," says Joly. Eight years later, Best Buy was transformed as Joly and his team rebuilt the company into one of the nation's favorite employers, vastly increased customer satisfaction, and dramatically grew Best Buy's stock price. Joly and his team also succeeded in making Best Buy a leader in sustainability and innovation. In The Heart of Business, Joly shares the philosophy behind the resurgence of Best Buy: pursue a noble purpose, put people at the center of the business, create an environment where every employee can blossom, and treat profit as an outcome, not the goal. This approach is easy to understand, but putting it into practice is not so easy. It requires radically rethinking how we view work, how we define companies, how we motivate, and how we lead. In this book Joly shares memorable stories, lessons, and practical advice, all drawn from his own personal transformation from a hard-charging McKinsey consultant to a leader who believes in human magic. The Heart of Business is a timely guide for leaders ready to abandon old paradigms and lead with purpose and humanity. It shows how we can reinvent capitalism so that it contributes to a sustainable future.