Rating: 
Summary: Personal leadership first
Review: Authentic Leadership emphasizes personal leadership as a prerequisite to leading others. Personal leadership as I understand it, is the ability to crystallize your thinking to estabish and commit to a meaningful direction in life. I agree with the contents of this book and recommend it for the aspiring leader. I also strongly recommed Optimal Thinking-How To Be Your Best Self to OPTIMIZE your personal leadership, bring out the best in others and create the best outcomes.
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Summary: weLEAD Book Review by the Editor of leadingtoday.org
Review: Authentic Leadership is a book written by a man who is genuine and highly credible. Bill George is the former Chairman and CEO of Medtronic, a leading medical technology company. He also serves on a number of corporate boards and has demonstrated a career of successful achievement. This is a book you will enjoy reading. First of all it is written from his heart. He confides late in the book that he wrote it himself and did not use a ghost writer. This is a refreshing confession because far too many executives who agree to commit their ideas to publishing ventures use ghost writers. It is an easy read and you get the "feel" from Bill George that you are casually enjoying a meal with him, as he discusses his personal reflections and ideas on leadership. The core of the book is outlined in the first chapter. George writes, "I believe that leadership begins and ends with authenticity. It's being yourself; the person you were created to be. That is not what most of the literature on leadership says, nor is it what the experts in corporate America teach. Instead they develop lists of leadership characteristics one is supposed to emulate. They describe the styles of leaders and suggest you adopt them. This is the opposite of authenticity. It is about developing the image or persona of a leader." Bill George goes on to explain that authentic leaders "genuinely desire to serve others through their leadership". This includes truly understanding yourself and your own strengths and weaknesses. Authentic Leadership boldly discusses the moral aspects needed to demonstrate effective modern leadership in a complex world. It is not afraid to discuss the crucial need to practice solid values, possessing a caring heart, establishing enduring relationships and demonstrating self-discipline. What also makes this book worth reading is that it has heart! The author discusses his personal journey to become an Authentic Leader that brings the subject to life. In the final chapter he briefly discusses what he considers to be "the greatest failure in his career". Though the circumstances occurred many years before this book was written, you can still sense the pain he feels from this unfortunate event. Authentic Leadership is organized into 17 chapters which are divided into 4 parts. Part one discusses becoming an Authentic Leader. Part two describes how to build an Authentic Company. Part three analyzes corporate survival in the marketplace, including pitfalls, overcoming obstacles, innovation and the role of shareholders. Part four contemplates the needs of sound governance, and provides a long-term succession strategy. A powerful epilogue pulls the ideas of the book together and encourages the reader to accept the call of leadership where they are right now. This is one of those rare books where you feel you get to really know the author, and you like what you discover. If you want to read a book that embodies the practical side of servant-leadership and a man who has discovered it, Authentic Leadership should be on your shopping list!
Rating:
Summary: Exceptional book by a man to be admired
Review: Authentic Leadership, in a word, is inspirational - to anyone who wants to lead or who wants to learn what a great leader is capable of accomplishing. As a current MBA student, I found that Bill George brings much needed perspective, and generously uses very personal stories to do so. I thoroughly enjoyed each section of this book. I will always have it as a reference and will continue to re-read the section on becoming an authentic leader to remind myself of what is truly important and what it really means to realize one's full potential as a leader. I admire Bill and thank him for brilliantly sharing the wisdom he has gained as a husband, father and executive.
Rating:
Summary: Necessary Book for Leaderhip Development
Review: Bill George has distilled his long and succesful business experience into a very helpful book that can be used by anyone who is trying to move an organization forward. He has the knack of providing practical and easy to understand methodologies to motivate employees. It is also very apparent from the book that Bill genuinely enjoys people and is completely trustworthy. You really want to find out more what Bill thinks and what he would do to improve an organization. We really need more business leaders like Bill and this book certainly provides sound advice for managers in all stages of development.
Rating:
Summary: Authentic Leadership
Review: Bill George is the perfect CEO for every board of directors wishing to engage in governing a successful business enterprise. Bill is also a perfect CEO for employees and customers who desire a worthwhile career, and a high-value product experience. To have successfully led a company that saves lives is a capstone on a great business career. He proves that "character counts!" I recommend this book to every CEO wannabee, chief human resources officer, and board member who wants to learn from a great leader.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful!
Review: Few companies got more marketing mileage out of their culture than Medtronic. Its former CEO, author Bill George, is proud of his company's squeaky clean corporate record. Despite all the clichés he may muster, despite his occasional preachiness, perhaps no CEO has written a more lucid or insightful series of reflections on the challenge of managing a corporation in twentieth century America. Read this book and you will learn some obvious lessons and some new ones: that leaders should be honest, that they will be tempted to cut corners in pursuit of short term profits but really ought to resist that temptation, that devotion to customers is at least as important as devotion to shareholders (provided you make your numbers every quarter) and that managers at Enron and WorldCom did the wrong thing, but we can learn a lesson from them. We acknowledge that Bill George may be as close as American executive ranks have come to producing a moral philosopher.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful!
Review: Few companies got more marketing mileage out of their culture than Medtronic. Its former CEO, author Bill George, is proud of his company's squeaky clean corporate record. Despite all the clichés he may muster, despite his occasional preachiness, perhaps no CEO has written a more lucid or insightful series of reflections on the challenge of managing a corporation in twentieth century America. Read this book and you will learn some obvious lessons and some new ones: that leaders should be honest, that they will be tempted to cut corners in pursuit of short term profits but really ought to resist that temptation, that devotion to customers is at least as important as devotion to shareholders (provided you make your numbers every quarter) and that managers at Enron and WorldCom did the wrong thing, but we can learn a lesson from them. We acknowledge that Bill George may be as close as American executive ranks have come to producing a moral philosopher.
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Summary: It's About the Heart
Review: George's thinking and language resonates deeply with me. A focus on purpose, values, relationships and heart is what our culture needs just now. To see him weave those notions into the real world of work and life is so very stimulating. Too many people in the leadership realm want to go directly to skills. I heard him writing as much about "how to be" as "how to do." This is a book for leaders of the future !
Rating:
Summary: A refreshing book on leadership
Review: I have just read Authentic Leadership, by Bill George, former Chairman and CEO of Medtronic, the World's largest medical device company. In the book, Bill shares his concept of leading with values and integrity in a compelling, instructive and encouraging style. I highly recommend it to all aspiring business leaders, as well as those of us shareholders who seek honest, credible, mission-driven executives in Corporate America.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the read
Review: I listened to Bill George on NPR today -- I had bought his book and read it. He is just as inspiring in his book as he was on the radio. Its rare that one who has really been through it all -- as George describes in his book -- tells the truth. This is a great read for anyone in business, especially young and rising leaders.
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