10 Virtues of Outstanding Leaders: Leadership and Character

ISBN-13: 9780470672303 / Angielski / Twarda / 2013 / 232 str.

Al Gini; Ronald M. Green

Opis

What makes a good leader? Ten leaders, ten key virtues This readable distillation of the core common features of successful leaders shows how an individual's character, and especially their virtue, is the defining factor. Without these ten vital virtues, leadership becomes "misleadership." The authors, both renowned business ethicists, combine theory with fascinating biographical detail on exemplary leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and Oprah Winfrey. The result is an accessible text on the ethics of leadership which, unlike many publications that claim to reveal the secrets of success as a leader, is informed by a wealth of exceptional academic experience.

Ten leaders, ten key virtues: this philosophical work distils the characteristics of leadership and shows how anything less is ‘misleadership’. Written by two renowned business ethicists, the book includes biographical details on such exemplaryfigures as Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and Oprah Winfrey.

Recenzje

If this was, indeed, their intention, I believe they have been entirely successful.  Also, as I said earlier, it′s a very good read.  And, if that phrase seems to trivialise it, let me add that it includes an abundance of references and signposts to sources of further study, which gives it undoubted academic cachet.   (New Nurturing Potential, 1 July 2013)

Spis treści

About the Authors x

Prologue xi

Part I Character Leadership 1

1 What Is Leadership? 3

A Reflection 4

Ethics, Virtue, and Character 9

2 Misleadership 13

What Is Bad Leadership? 14

Misleaders 15

Bad Followers 17

A Few Examples 18

3 Character and Leadership 22

Character and Integrity 24

The Dark Side of Character 28

Character as Goodwill 35

4 Leadership and Business Excellence 38

Ethics in Business 39

Workplace Ethics 41

Leaders as Role Models 42

A Culture of Narcissism 44

5 The Ten Virtues 47

Deep Honesty 51

Moral Courage 53

Moral Vision 54

Compassion and Care 55

Fairness 58

Intellectual Excellence 60

Creative Thinking 62

Aesthetic Sensitivity 63

Good Timing 64

Deep Selfl essness 65

Part II Leadership in Action 71

6 James Burke and the Tylenol Poisoning Episodes: Deep Honesty 73

Burke s Rise to Leadership 74

Response to Crisis 75

A Further Challenge 78

7 Abraham Lincoln/Rosa Parks: Moral Courage 81

Courage: Physical and Moral 82

Team of Rivals 84

An Important Bus Ride 86

Shared Convictions 87

8 Winston Churchill: Moral Judgment and Moral Vision 90

Churchill versus Halifax 91

The War Cabinet Meets 94

Churchill s Judgment 99

The Hinge of Fate 103

9 Oprah Winfrey: Compassion and Care 106

Star Status and More 107

Her Fan Base 109

The Book Club 111

Leadership Is a Relationship 113

10 Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Sicilian Slapping Incidents: Fairness 117

The Slapping Incidents 118

The Challenges Ike Faced 120

Ike s Response 122

11 FDR and the A–Bomb: Intellectual Excellence 127

The Scientifi c Background 128

Roosevelt s Preparation for Leadership 129

Hitler s Ascent to Leadership 133

The A–Bomb Decision: The United States 136

The A–Bomb Decision: Germany 139

12 Herb Kelleher and the People of Southwest Airlines:

Creative Thinking 145

Southwest s Start 146

Southwest s Service Innovations 147

Southwest and Its People 150

13 Steve Jobs and Apple: Aesthetic Sensitivity 158

Beginnings 158

The Macintosh 160

The Whole Widget 162

Learning from Failure 164

Apple Reborn 167

The Centrality of Design 170

14 Charles de Gaulle and Exiting Algeria: Good Timing 173

Youth and the First World War 174

Up to the Battle of France 175

Postwar Retreat amidst Political and Military Turmoil 177

Taking Command 179

Aftermath 183

15 Martin Luther King, Jr.: Deep Selflessness 185

His Calling 187

His Gift 189

His Legacy 193

16 Conclusion 195

Index 203

O autorze

Al Gini is Professor of Business Ethics at Loyola University Chicago, USA, where he is also Chair of the Department of Management in the Quinlan School of Business. A co–founder and long–time associate editor of Business Ethics Quarterly, the journal of the Society for Business Ethics, Professor Gini has for 25 years been the resident philosopher on the NPR affiliate in Chicago, WBEZ–FM, and is a regular speaker on the public lecture circuit. His books include The Ethics of Business (2012), which he co–authored with Alexei Marcoux; Seeking The Truth of Things (2010); Why It s Hard to Be Good (2006); and The Importance of Being Lazy: In Praise of Play, Leisure and Vacations (2003).

Ronald M. Green is Eunice & Julian Cohen Professor for the Study of Ethics and Human Values at Dartmouth College, USA. He served as the director of Dartmouth s Ethics Institute from 1992 until 2011. Professor Green is actively involved in numerous fields of applied ethics, particularly bioethics and business ethics, and is a consultant to a number of leading corporations including Ogilvy & Mather. A former director of the National Institutes of Health s National Human Genome Research Institute, Professor Green has also been a member of the NIH s Human Embryo Research Panel. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005. Professor Green s many publications include The Ethical Manager (1993) and Babies by Design (2007).

Blurb

Arguing that an individual s character particularly as constituted by ten particular virtues is the core factor in determining leadership ability, this book offers a fresh perspective on a subject which has spawned hundreds of books claiming to share the secret ingredients of a leader s success. Here, exemplars as varied as Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Steve Jobs, and Oprah Winfrey provide the evidence for ten core leadership virtues that combined to make them figures of inspiration and influence.

The authors bring their decades of scholarship in business, ethics, philosophy, and leadership to bear on a topic which could scarcely be more timely and resonant. They show how leadership is a lived process that involves more than facts and theories,and that missing key characteristics lends itself all too easily to the conduct of ′misleadership′. Time, place, issues, and circumstances may shape the outcomes of those aspiring to govern the actions of their fellows, but true leadership flows from an individual s character, ethical principles, and desire to be of service to others.