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This new leadership must focus on the people who help generate the profits in addition to the profits themselves. In our hyper-connected world of instant information and democratic openness, the importance of a strong community only grows, and companies that continue to neglect their community are poised for failure. Hope for a healthy economy can be found in the untapped talent of our people--and in a commitment to excellence as the means for awakening that talent.
In The Best in Us, leadership expert and social ethicist Dr. Cleve Stevens, offers a daring and radical new take on leading that emphasizes the rigorous development of leaders and followers. It's the people-centric organizations, the ones fueled by a drive for excellence, that will be the most profitable in the coming decades.
The new approach, called transforming integrative leadership, or simply transformative leadership, is a compelling, highly effective step-by-step process. Dr. Stevens shows what the transformative organization looks like and precisely how the intended growth for the individual, the organization, and the bottom line is achieved.
The transforming integrative approach outlined in The Best in Us is our best way forward. It's the first brave but necessary step toward a healthy business climate and a reinvigorated global economy.
A Note to the Reader ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: The Modern Mess and Why It Calls for The Best in Us xv
Part I When Nothing Less Will Do: Transformation, Leadership, and Achieving the Extraordinary 1
Chapter 1 Why Transformation Matters and a Big Distinction 3
Chapter 2 An Entirely Different Game: The Emergence (and Basics) of Transformative Leadership 15
Chapter 3 Dispatches from the Gates of Hell: Disclosing New Worlds (and Upending Old Ones) 27
Part II A Leader's Transformative Quest: Summoning the Best We Have Within 45
Chapter 4 Getting the Picture: A View from the Top 47
Chapter 5 The Transforming Triad: A Metaphor with Three Legs 60
LEG 1 Responsibility and Changing Our Minds 66
Chapter 6 Acknowledgment: Facing Up to Our Unconscious Condition 68
Chapter 7 Responsibility: Embracing Our Causality 82
Chapter 8 Responsibility in Action: The Case of Charlie Costas 94
Chapter 9 Recognition: Seeing Our Personal Paradigms 103
Chapter 10 Recognition: Nailing Our Limiting Beliefs 113
Chapter 11 Changing Our Minds to Change Our Brains: The Beginnings of a Practice 132
Chapter 12 Changing Our Brains to Change Our Minds: Rewiring Our Circuits 145
LEG 2 Intention and Possibility 161
Chapter 13 Intention: The Heart of Power 163
Chapter 14 Possibility: The Mind of Power 180
LEG 3 Contribution 192
Chapter 15 Contribution: The Soul of Power 194
Chapter 16 In Search of Adulthood: Fear and Loathing in Guestville and Playing to Win 210
Chapter 17 Transformation in Action: Power in Five Acts 224
Part III Convention Turned on Its Ear: Transformative Leadership and the Organization 231
Chapter 18 Experiments in Radical Honesty: The World has Forever Changed-So Must How We Lead 233
Chapter 19 The Transformative Leader in Profile 240
Chapter 20 Adventures in Audacity I: A Transformative, Visionary Organization-Cox Arizona 251
Chapter 21 Adventures in Audacity II: The Nature of the Transformative Vision 263
Chapter 22 The Transformative Team and the End of a Myth: Beyond Laziness and Fear 273
Chapter 23 A Leadership Team That Actually Leads: Rising Above the Reasonable 283
Chapter 24 The Transformative Organization: Playing the Big Game 302
Chapter 25 Taking Yourself On as a Leader: The Only Way Out Is Through the Middle 316
Epilogue: Is It Too Much to Ask? 328
Appendix: From Transactional to Transformative: Getting It All Started 333
Notes 347
Annotated Bibliography 354
Index 365
List of Boxes, Exercises, Figures, and Tables 373
About the Author 374
Overview
We have lost sight of the big picture, forgetting that success cannot be measured in profit alone. This narrow focus, particularly from our political and corporate leaders, is one of the primary reasons for our continuing economic crisis. We need a fresh approach to leadership to turn things around.
This new leadership must focus on the people who help generate the profits in addition to the profits themselves. In our hyper-connected world of instant information and democratic ...