Good Leaders Learn: Lessons from Lifetimes of Leadership

Description

How do leaders learn to lead? How do leaders set themselves up for success? This book explores the real-life experiences of a wide variety of leaders from different industries, sectors, and countries to bring to light new lessons on the importance of life-long learning. Consisting primarily of a series of probing interviews, Good Leaders Learn presents the challenges, triumphs, and reflections of  31 senior and high-profile leaders, offering insight into how they learned to lead during their careers. The book pulls important and useful perspectives into a robust theoretical framework that includes the importance of innate curiosity, challenging oneself, risk-taking, and other key elements of good leadership. With practical insights complemented by the latest leadership research and theory, this book will help current and potential leaders to build a solid foundation of the leadership qualities vital to their continuing success.   Cover good leaders learn Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents About the Author Leader Biographies Preface Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. Leadership Character 3. Learning to Lead 4. The Interviews 5. You Have to Be Able to Communicate and Then Be an Example 6. No Task Is Insignificant for Making a Family, a Community, or a Corporation Better 7. I Am a Better Leader When I Can Represent That in Which I Believe, and for Which My Passion Is Sincere, My Understanding Is Complete, and My Commitment Is Personal 8. It Is Critical That Leaders Understand the Concepts of Duty and Obligation 9. I’m a Big Believer That If You Don’t Want to Be Criticized, Then Say Nothing, Do Nothing, and Be Nothing 10. Roll up Your Sleeves and Work Shoulder to Shoulder with Others 11. There Are Very Few Things in Life That You Can Control, but the One Thing That You Have Absolute Control Over Is the Quality of Your Own Effort 12. Knowing When to Leave and Do Something Different Is One of the Hardest Things for a Leader to Do 13. I Learned It’s Not Good Enough to Be Right—People Have to Buy Into Your Vision 14. Life Is a Blackboard That You Cannot Erase 15. I Didn’t Have Time to Think About Courage or Where to Find Courage—You Just Have It 16. Don’t Underestimate the Value of Your Early Career Moves—You Can’t Make up Lost Time 17. Care With Your Heart, Concentrate Your Heart, Relax Your Heart, and Open Your Heart 18. Learn to Accept Accountability and the Consequences of Failure: Leadership and Accountability Are Inseparable 19. People That Mind Don’t Matter and People That Matter Don’t Mind 20. I Always Felt That My Strongest Role Was as the Voice Whispering in Somebody’s Ear 21. If You Have the Illusion That You Can Do Everything Well, God Help You—It Is Going to Be a Disaster 22. There’s Credit in Mission Accomplishment—Don’t Bring Back Excuses 23. I Constantly Learn Lessons About Letting Go 24. I Like to Think People Think I Stand for Something 25. Leaders Tend to Be People of Broad Interests and Knowledge 26. Trust Is Built on Behavior, Not on What We Say the Values Are 27. You Have to Create Not Only a Network, but Also a System Through Which Information Can Flow 28. Coming From a Long Line of Leaders, I Was Raised to Be a Leader 29. Reach for the Stars—But Keep Your Feet Firmly Planted on the Ground 30. There Are Two Things in Life You Should Not Let Go—Your Values and Your Family 31. If You Are Not Creative in Getting Solutions and You Limit Your Expectations and Outcomes, You Are Not Going to Change the World 32. If You Are Not Working for People Who Inspire You, Who Are You Working for? 33. The More I Learn, the More Exciting My Life Is and the More Opportunities That I See 34. There Is No Individual Who Is Ever Bigger Than the Team 35. I Went Into Public Life Because I Felt That Was the Place That I Could Make the Biggest Contribution 36. Reflections on the Interviews 37. Conclusions on Learning to Lead 38. Leadership Insights for the Next Generation of Leaders Index