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Title: Leading Minds: An Anatomy Of Leadership by Howard Gardner, Emma Laskin ISBN: 0-465-08280-7 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Pub. Date: 01 August, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.64 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Brilliant Look at Need to Link Direct and Indirect Leaders
Comment: I bought this book sometime after concluding that national intelligence leadership needed to inspire and appeal to the citizens of the USA at large, rather than being so narrowly focused on staying out of trouble with Congress while collecting secrets. This book reviews leadership of both domains and nations, with case studies on Margaret Mead (Culture), J. Robert Oppenheimer (Physics), Robert Maynard Hutchins (Education), Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. (Business), George C. Marshall (Military), Pope John XXII (Religion), Eleanor Roosevelt (Ordinariness and Extraordinariness), Martin Luther King (Minority) and Margaret Thatcher (National). The best leaders that emerge are those who are willing to confront authority and take risk, while also creating networks of contacts that number in the hundreds or thousands rather than tens. Most tellingly, aleader in a discipline (e.g. intelligence) only emerges as a long-term leader if he finally realizes that "he is more likely to achieve his personal goals or to satisfy his community if he addresses a wider audience than if he remains completely within a specific domain." The six constants of leadership are the story, the audience (beginning with a message for the unschooled mind), the organization, the embodiment, a choice between direct (more practical) and indirect (more reflective and often more enduring) leadership, and a paradox-the direct leaders often lack knowledge while the indirect leaders often have greater knowledge, and transferring knowledge from the indirect leader to the direct leader may be one of the central challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century.
Rating: 5
Summary: Treat yourself and explore this fascinating topic!
Comment: Brilliant! Howard Gardner and Emma Laskins' LEADING MINDS : AN ANATOMY OF LEADERSHIP is simply Brilliant! Their rigorous analysis of Leadership and wonderful case studies of several contemporary leaders is enthralling. One, if not the, most interesting and insightful investigations into the topic of Leadership.
Howard Gardner, himself a leader in the area of Multiple Intelligences, brings his profound insight on the human mind to a much written about but poorly understood topic of Leadership. Gardner and Laskins' identify six key constants of Leadership including:
1. A Story - Leaders must have a central message or story that speaks directly to the "unschooled mind."
2. An Audience - There must be an audience to act upon the message.
3. An Organization - To endure, leaders must have some type of organizational basis.
4. The Embodiment - To be effective, a leader must be able to "walk the talk."
5. Direct and Indirect Leadership - Leaders have options to exert their influence either indirectly or directly.
6. Expertise - In order for leaders to obtain any credibility, they must be experts within their domain.
Their case studies excellently illustrate and humanize their theory on Leadership. I, as one of the multitude of "unschooled minds", found the stories of contemporary leaders deeply compelling. I have gained a new and deeper appreciation for Margaret Mead, Pope John XXIII, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I now have an intense desire to learn as much as possible regarding the lives and tremendous contributions of all three of these Leaders.
The case studies provide a much needed, if unintended, comical relief to this serious topic. The authors, while strongly emphasizing the benefits of inclusionary leadership and the perils of good vs evil stories that appeal to the "unschooled mind", themselves engage in exclusionary stories of good vs evil by lionizing those of the same political ideology as themselves and demonize those of differing political viewpoints. It delightfully humanizes the authors and candidly displays that even the "schooled mind" may, on occasion, fall prey to the biases of the "unschooled mind."
Buy this Book! Treat yourself and explore this fascinating topic of Leadership. I would also strongly recommend two other books by Howard Gardner, FRAMES OF MIND: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences and CREATING MINDS : An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi. On the topic of Leadership, I highly recommend John Kotter's LEADING CHANGE and WHAT LEADERS REALLY DO.
Thomas I. Amadio
Rating: 5
Summary: Intelligence: Not Beyond Good and Evil
Comment: This time in collaboration with Emma Laskin, Gardner has again produced a remarkably entertaining as well as informative book, one in which he takes a cognitive approach when examining eleven great leaders: Margaret Mead, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Robert Maynard Hutchins, Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., George C. Marshall, Pope John XXIII, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., Margaret Thatcher, Jean Monnet, and Mahatma Gandhi.
As Gardner observes in his Introduction: "Our understanding of the nature and processes of leadership is most likely to be enhanced as we come to understand better the arena in which leadership necessarily occurs -- namely, the [in italics] human mind. Perhaps this characterization should be pluralized as [in italics] human minds, since I am concerned equally with the mind of the leader and the minds of the followers (whom I sometimes refer to as [in italics] audience members or [in italics] collaborators). Accordingly, this book is a sustained examination, first, of the ways in which leaders of different types achieve varying degrees of success in characterizing and resolving important life issues in their own minds and, second, of how, in parallel or in turn, they attempt to alter the minds of their various audiences to effect desired changes."
What we have here is a sequence of absolutely brilliant analyses of 11 exceptional leaders in quite diverse fields of engagement. As he did in Creating Minds (when analyzing the lives and achievements of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi), Gardner somehow maintains a delicate balance when respecting (indeed celebrating) the unique genius of leadership of Mead, Oppenheimer, Hutchins, Sloan, Marshall, Pope John XXIII, Roosevelt, King, Thatcher, Monnet, and Gandhi while at the same time explaining how each used the linguistic as well as non-linguistic resources at her or his disposal when attempting to communicate with and thereby convince others of "a particular view, a clear vision of life. The term story [in italics] is the best way to convey this point."
For Gardner, the story is "a basic cognitive form; the artful creation and articulation of stories [or messages] constitutes a fundamental part of the leader's vocation. Stories speak to both parts of the human mind -- its reason and emotion. And I suggest, further, that it is [in italics] stories of identity -- narratives that help individuals think about and feel who they are, where they come from, and where they are headed -- that constitute the single most powerful weapon in the leader's literary arsenal."
It is worth noting that, since the publication of this book, Gardner has become increasingly aware of the importance of understanding and grappling with the "counter-stories" that often loom so large in the minds of the audience. The most effective leaders understand the counter-story and address effectively the questions it raises. As indicated to those who visit Gardner's GoodWork Web site, his on-going studies of intelligence, creativity, and leadership are all conducted in an amoral way-- that is, human capacities can be used for good or ill. For example, Mandela vs Milosevic. Gardner is now trying to understand how human intelligence(s) and creativity can be yoked to serve the wider good.
In Part I of this book, Gardner establishes a framework for leadership, then (in Part II) shifts his attention to case studies which focus on nine of the eleven leaders; In Part III, he focuses on Monnet and Gandhi who illustrate "leadership that looks forward." In the final chapter, Gardner reviews "lessons from the past" and then suggests "implications for the future." I am grateful for the two appendices which follow: a chart which presents "The Eleven Leaders Viewed along Principal Dimensions of Leadership" and another chart on which Gardner records brief comments on ten "Leaders of the Second World War." Those in need of recommended sources for further study are provided with an extensive Bibliography.
The eleven men and women whom Gardner discusses in this book do indeed comprise an unusual combination. Although each is uniquely different from the other ten, all (in Gardner's words) by word and/or personal example, markedly influence the behaviors, thoughts, and/or significant feelings of a significant number of their fellow human beings. The leaders' voices affected their worlds, and, ultimately, our world." For me, it is essentially irrelevant how many persons comprise such a group nor do I have a quarrel with any of those whom Gardner selected. All are eminently worthy. Gardner has his own thoughts as to what lessons can be learned from their lives, of course, but it remains for each reader to make her or his own determination of that. Thanks to Gardner, there is a wealth of information to consider when doing so. He is indeed a brilliant teller of "stories."
Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to read Gardner's earlier work, the aforementioned Creating Minds. Moreover, because they are not included among the works listed in the Bibliography, I presume to recommend, also, Albert Borgmann's Holding On to Reality and Gerald M. Edelman's Bright Air, Brilliant Fire.
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Title: Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi by Howard Gardner ISBN: 0465014542 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1994 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
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Title: Extraordinary Minds (Masterminds Series) by Howard Gardner ISBN: 0465021255 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: ON LEADERSHIP by John W. Gardner ISBN: 0029113121 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1993 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Leading Change: The Argument for Values-Based Leadership by James O'Toole ISBN: 0345402545 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Leadership Without Easy Answers by Ronald A. Heifetz ISBN: 0674518586 Publisher: Belknap Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1994 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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