My writing of this book has evolved over the past thirty-six years of professional nursing practice. These were my first efforts as an author, which were published in 2013: Promoting a Culture of Safety: Preventing Central Line Infections in Weill Cornell Medical Center, which used a performance improvement process to lower the rate at which critically ill patients in cardiac care developed central line infections, and Factors Influencing Critical Nurses' Perception of their Overall Job Satisfaction: An Empirical Study, which used a correctional approach and was statistically analyzed to determine the perception of critical-care nurses of their manager's leadership style and its effect on their job satisfaction. Having been on the receiving end of leadership behaviors gave me a firsthand opportunity to observe these diverse nurse leaders at both extremes of the spectrum-from laissez-faire leadership style to dictatorial leadership style and everything in between. Each encounter has enriched my life immeasurably. My personal and professional experiences, as well as the knowledge I gained from completing my dissertation, all compelled me to write this book-to share with novice managers and those aspiring for a leadership role an awareness and provide them with some valuable information needed as they forge their career paths into a leadership role, knowing that one of the keys to effective leadership is the ability to stay intellectually curious and committed to learning with the understanding that new knowledge can come from variety of sources and to make it a point of duty to be always on a lookout for new knowledge.
