The Spirit of Leadership: Optimizing Creativity and Change in Organizations

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Summary: It just made sense to me!
Review: I enjoyed his books. Father Spitzer does not seek to gain millions by publishing his books. He broadcasts his ideas in the books on EWTN for free. Thank you and God bless you Father Spitzer!

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Summary: something to forget
Review: I have often heard people refer to this author as a "Genius", a "Great Administrator", a "Superb and inspirational teacher", - but I have found him to be heretical and discriminatory. His recent actions as Gonzaga University's president, permitting the School of Law's Student Bar Association (SBA) to refuse to recognize a Christian student organization, a Pro-Life Law Caucus's, is "discriminatory", cowardly and anti-Catholic/Christian - cowardly for cowering to the ABA.

Unlike the tradition of Ricci, Verbeist, and other great Jesuits, Father Spitzer has doned the garb of contemporary culture for, to him, one very simple, but incredibly important reason-he's a heretic who is sponging off the Catholic Church - remember that when you write that check...

Given the "S.J." which follow his name, we consider a person who has taken a vow of poverty and yet has probably generated millions, given his recent actions one can only conclude - it stands for Society of Judas.

Makes one wonder how a holy man reconciles his actions with his theology .. could be a fruitful source of neurosis if allowed to coexist indefinitely ..

Rating:
Summary: something to forget
Review: I highly recommend this book...especially for the business professional who is interested in "leading" versus "managing" and who desires to learn more about "collaborating" rather than "comparing". Truly a worthwhile investment of your time.

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Summary: weLEAD Book Review by the Editor of leadingtoday.org
Review: Robert Spitzer has been the President and CEO of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. He also has extensive experience as an organizational consultant. It is from this experience he has written The Spirit of Leadership. The main point of the book is valid and clearly expressed. Far too many individuals in leadership positions spend a large amount of energy and resources to improve the products or processes of their organizations with mediocre results. As Spitzer comments in the introduction of this book, "Joe had blinded himself consistently to one of the three Ps of leadership. By concentrating on product and process, he had altogether ignored people".

The Spirit of Leadership correctly emphasizes that when people are ignored; their essential spirit is stifled resulting in a lack of trust, common cause, participation, teamwork and creativity. The purpose of the book is to show the reader how to create a espirit de corps within the heart of an organization. Spitzer defines this as the ability to transcend the material world to "gain energy when doing something creative". He continues to define espirit de corps in terms of the capacity to go beyond the self, or beyond known paradigms, or to become more alive. He believes this is fostered by three elements: vision, rational communication and four sets of commitments discussed in the book. This allows for an environment of inspired and motivated workers as well as high performing teams.

The Spirit of Leadership is composed of eighteen chapters within five well organized sections. The sections are entitled, The Mind and Vision of the Inspired Leader, The Heart of the Inspired Leader, People Commitments, Ethical Commitments and Leadership Commitments. As you can tell by these titles, Spitzer believes a great leader must have a consistent and heartfelt commitment toward growing people, sound moral behavior, and the responsibility that comes with being a leader! He begins the book by making a compelling case for the need of Inspired Leadership, in contrast to the traditional Driven Leadership we see so often in organizations today. He concludes the book with how to create a espirit de corps in your organization. Many chapters are featured with numerous steps, stages or points to clarify the author's main ideas.

The Spirit of Leadership does not break new ground, but it is a good read. Some of the strengths of the book are its readability, ethical foundation and it's many charts that condense larger ideas into visual snapshots. If you believe and understand the importance of building people in your organization, this may be a good book for your library.