Leading with Honor: Leadership Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton

by Lee Ellis, John McCain (Foreword by)

Overview

Make Every Step Count on Your Leadership Journey

How did American Military leaders in the brutal POW camps of North Vietnam inspire their followers for six, seven, or eight years to remain committed to the mission, resist a cruel enemy, and return home with honor? What leadership principles engendered such extreme devotion, perseverance, and teamwork?

In this powerful and practical book, Lee Ellis, a former Air Force pilot, candidly talks about his five and a half years of captivity and the fourteen key leadership principles behind this amazing story. As a successful executive coach and corporate consultant, he helps leaders of Fortune 500 companies, healthcare executives, small business owners, and entrepreneurs utilize these same pressure-tested principles to increase their personal and organizational success.

In Leading with Honor: Leadership Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton, you will learn:

-Courageous lessons from POW leaders facing torture in the crucible of captivity.
-How successful teams are applying these same lessons and principles.
-How to implement these lessons using the Coaching sessions provided in each chapter.

In the book’s Foreword, Senator John McCain states, “In Leading with Honor, Lee draws from the POW experience, including some of his own personal story, to illustrate the crucial impact of leadership on the success of any organization. He highlights lessons and principles that can be applied to every leadership situation.”

This book is ideal for individual or group study as a personal development, coaching, human resource development, or executive training resource.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780983879329
Publisher:	FreedomStar Media
Publication date:	01/07/2014
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Lee Ellis is founder and president of Leadership Freedom® LLC, a leadership and team development consulting and coaching company, where he has consulted small businesses to Fortune 500 companies in the areas of hiring, teambuilding, human performance, and succession planning. As a frequent media guest, his media appearances include interviews on networks such as CNN, C-Span, ABC World News, and Fox News Channel. His interest in leadership development was piqued early in his career during his five-year experience as a Vietnam POW. Lee’s combat decorations include two Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with Valor device, the Purple Heart, and the POW medal.

Table of Contents

Foreword Senator John McCain xi

Introduction xiii

Leading Yourself

1 Know Yourself 3

2 Guard Your Character 15

3 Stay Positive 33

4 Confront Your Doubts and Fears 47

5 Fight to Win 61

6 Bounce Back 73

Leading Others

7 Clarify and Build Your Culture 91

8 Over-Communicate the Message 103

9 Develop Your People 117

10 Balance Mission and People 131

11 Build Cohesive Teams 147

12 Exploit Creativity 161

13 Treasure Your Trials and Celebrate Your Successes 175

14 Free the Captives 189

Epilogue 207

Summary of Lessons: Foot Stompers 213

Appendix 216

Acknowledgements 223

Index 227

About the Author 233

Interviews

Atlanta, GA

Editorial Reviews

Rarely can a leadership book—usually stark and cold in tone, written with business school savvy—be called moving, but former Air Force pilot and leadership consultant Ellis culls lessons from his experiences as a POW in the infamous Hoa Loa Prison (the “Hanoi Hilton”) in North Vietnam and juxtaposes them with suggested strategies. Two books in one, Ellis shares his recollections from this harrowing time, and at the end of each chapter, presents the lessons he’s learned —often extensive, but never trite. Detailed descriptions of the personalities that make and destroy leaders (including fellow POW John McCain), as well as the physical and emotional torture he endured, give the book much added depth and show leadership as a quality of character. Though many of the leadership lessons are interpersonal, dominant among them is the idea of self-reflection. As Ellis writes: “Authentic leaders consistently live in harmony with their values, even when no one is looking. Their walk matches their talk.” Much more than a leadership text, Ellis offers an inspiring story that will engage readers. (May)

Publishers Weekly