Description
Book SynopsisAn enormous range of literature on leadership and management theory has been produced over the years, some of it highly academic and much of it contradictory. What Do Leaders Really Do? takes the basis of the best-known management theories to see how they fit with the practical reality of leadership. How do leaders spend their time? Are they really preoccupied with strategy, vision and inspiring people? Do they lead by accident, or design? The book challenges the assumption that leaders are born, not made and explores the theory that female leaders are fundamentally different from their male counterparts.
What Do Leaders Really Do? Looks into the everyday working lives of well-known leaders in a variety of fields - business, sport and the armed forces - in order to identify the elements that encourage people to follow where they lead. Drawing on the experiences of a wide range of leaders with varying backgrounds and roles, as well as a range of respected academics and management writers, this book will closely analyze the background, experiences and behavior of a diverse set of leaders. A central part of the analysis will be a detailed examination of what these leaders do on a day-to-day basis.
It is not a book about management theory but an accessible, no-nonsense guide to those theories and how they translate to real life. Many people lead effectively without knowing how they do it; this book will isolate and identify the core skills and behavior displayed by effective leaders.
What Do Leaders Really Do? is intended to be a refreshing alternative to the hundreds of academically-oriented leadership books that are available. The tone will be straight-forward, accessible and sometimes humorous, rich with first-person evidence and anecdotes. It will dissect popular leadership theory into the easily understandable basics, with reference to the practicalities of real-life leadership situations. After all, what good is theory if it doesn't work in practice?
Trade Review“One of the best new books gathering insights into leadership styles from a range of successful people...” (
Financial Director, October 2007)
"You will find stories that resonate and "stick" with you." (People Magazine, October 2007)
Table of ContentsForeword ix
Introduction xi
Acknowledgements xiv
Part One 1
1 Characteristics of Leadership 3
The charisma question 10
A substitute for charisma 12
Leadership by osmosis 14
2 Background 17
The influence of family life 20
Education 22
Learning leadership 26
Career progression 27
3 Influences 31
The influence of parents 32
The influence of teachers 35
The influence of bosses 37
Mentors and mentoring 43
Part Two 45
4 Vision 47
Creating the vision 49
Communicating the vision 54
Long or short term? 59
5 Decision-making and Risk 63
Military mission analysis 68
Risk and the military 70
Risk and business leaders 73
6 Mistakes and Setbacks 79
Learning from experience 85
Analysing failure and success 89
7 Change Management 93
Why do most change initiatives fail? 96
Communicating change 99
Culture change 102
Early days, quick wins 104
Part Three 109
8 Empathetic and Authentic Leadership 111
Empathetic leadership 113
Caring leadership 116
Sensing mood 118
Delivering bad news 121
Authentic leadership 124
The stories people tell 128
Visibility 131
Keep your distance 133
9 Motivation, Inspiration and Morale 135
Celebrating successes 140
Morale 142
Inspirational leadership 144
The role of oration 147
10 Choosing and Building a Team 151
The power of diversity 154
Trust 157
Developing future leaders 159
Preparing for success 160
Teamship rules and professionalism 162
Team spirit 164
11 Communication 167
Too much talk? 168
Authentic communication 171
Honesty and integrity 174
Communicating outside the company 176
Dealing with the media 177
12 Looking After No 1 181
Creating space to think 184
Self-improvement and learning 187
Recommended reading 189
Leadership and lifelong learning 190
Knowing when to quit 192
Final thoughts on leadership 195
Appendix 197
Bibliography and Further Reading 202
Index 204
