The "I" of Leadership

This is the leadership book you have to read: a barn-storming new take on what makes a versatile, integrated, and effective leader Using stories and examples from the lives of leaders, from the sports stadium to the White House to the office of the CEO, Nicholson shows vividly how the capacity of leaders to see what others do not see frames their actions and allows them to transform, build, destroy, or stabilize. Leaders fail through lack of insight—into themselves and into the worlds they inhabit. The strategic challenge of leadership is to find the right balance between impact and versatility and the successful crafting of an identity that merges the leader and the surrounding culture or 'zeitgeist.' Leaders covered in the book include: George Bush, Tony Blair, George S Patton, Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, Josef Stalin, Hannibal, Elizabeth I, Nelson Mandela, Edith Cowan, Abraham Lincoln, Mohandas Gandhi, Henry Ford, Ernest Shackleton, Barack Obama, Robert Maxwell, JFK, Pope John XXIII, Margaret Thatcher, and Samuel Pepys. This book resonates with insights and searching questions on the nature of human leadership. It will be an invaluable guide to managers, consultants, and people everywhere.

Acknowledgements xi 1 It Goes with the Territory – Leadership Moments 1 2 Leadership in the Wild – The Evolution of Power 19 3 A Very Short History of Leadership 35 4 Leadership as Strategy – Situations, Processes and Qualities (SPQ) 57 5 Who am I? Leadership Qualities and the Compass Question 69 6 The “Eye” of Leadership – The Law of the Situation 87 7 The Adaptive Leader – Leadership Processes 109 8 Dynamic Leadership – Shaping and Discovery 125 9 Reading the World – A Leadership Conundrum 139 10 Born to Lead? Leaders Lost and Found 151 11 Who’s Your Buddy? Critical Leader Relationships 165 12 Destiny, Drama and Deliberation – The Lives of Leaders 183 13 The “I” of Leadership – Inside the Mind of the Leader 199 14 Games Leaders Play – Finding the Narrative 225 15 The Self-Management of Leadership – You, Others and Organization 241 16 Can Leaders Save the World? Vision, Identity and Passion 259 Endnotes 271 Index 299