Bill George, Author: True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership

Bill George, Author: True  North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership

Book Synopsis:

An enormous leadership vacuum exists today - in business, politics, government, education, religion, and nonprofit organizations. Yet there is no shortage of people with the capacity for leadership. The problem is that we have a wrongheaded notion of what constitutes a leader, driven by an obsession with leaders at the top. That misguided standard often results in the wrong people attaining critical leadership roles.
 
Given the growing leadership crisis, it has become increasingly evident that a new kind of business leader is needed in the 21st century. In 2003, Bill George's bestselling book, Authentic Leadership, challenged the new generation of leaders to lead authentically. The feedback from readers, including many CEOs, was that they had a tremendous desire to be authentic leaders and many of them asked how they could become such a leader.  Jim Collins raised a similar question in Good to Great, "Can you learn to become Level 5 [leader]?" His reply: "I still do not know the answer." 
 
True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership uses face-to-face research on the lives of 125 authentic leaders to demonstrate conclusively how readers can become authentic leaders. These interviews constitute the largest in-depth study of leadership development ever undertaken. The interviewees discussed openly and honestly how they developed their leadership, and candidly shared their life stories, personal struggles, failures, and triumphs. The book will be published by Jossey-Bass in March 2007.

 
Part One of True North examines the journey to authentic leadership. It begins with the leaders' life stories, which is unique to them and more powerful than any set of characteristics or leadership skills they possess. Next, the three phases of the leader's journey are dissected, looking at the key steps in each phase of the journey. During their journeys, many leaders lose their way and end up being derailed. To understand how this happens, we describe five types of leaders who see themselves as heroes of their own journeys. By exploring the life-changing experiences leaders have had, we see how they made the transformation from "I" to "We" and learned the importance of empowering others to lead.
 
Part Two provides the compass and the development plan to stay true to who you are while you confront the challenges in the world around you. It includes five key areas of your development as a leader: self-awareness at the center of your compass, and at the four points: your values and principles, your motivations, your support team, and integration of your life.
 
Part Three describes how you can follow your passions to discover the purpose of your leadership. It illustrates how to empower other people to step up and lead by inspiring them around a shared purpose. Finally, it addresses how you can achieve superior results through your organization by optimizing your leadership effectiveness.