Appreciative Leaders: In the Eye of the Beholder
Marge Schiller , Bea Mah Holland , Deanna Riley
Taos Institute Publications
Lima, OH
2001
Annotation: This book is one of the first three books available in the Taos Institute's Focus Book Series.
What are the first-person stories that noteworthy leaders can tell us about their challenges, their winning strategies, their beliefs, their accumulated wisdom? Who are these appreciative leaders that we usually only get to know in a cursory way in our business magazines? When did this all start for them and what is it that they wished they would have learned earlier, if they perhaps could have read stories such as the ones they are now sharing with us? Why is it that they chose to lead in this manner? In essence, what has contributed to their being the appreciative leaders who are making such a significant difference in their organizations, and now with increasing visibility, in our larger society?
Appreciative Leaders: In the Eye of the Beholder is a compilation of intimate stories captured by seasoned practitioners who were invited to identify someone who particularly exemplified appreciative leadership. Using an interview guide and "the Eye of the Beholder", each writer captures the thoughts, actions, and emotions of their identified leader. Of the 15 stories covering business, health, education, government, and not-for-profit organizations, almost all storytellers have known their subject over time. Some have worked with them in the same organization, while others have been active witnesses from a distance. The writers have been privy to the satisfactions, the failures, and the accompanying learnings that life has provided the leaders, and are now sharing that wisdom with us. The practitioners have used their verbal artistry to create images that range from brief, intriguing pencil sketches to colorful, developed etchings.
The book is divided into six chapters, with the stories of the leaders captured in four central chapters. The titles reflect the particular sectors: Taking Care of Business, Supporting Wellness, Serving the Community, and Reflections of a Lifetime. The wide range of leaders include Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at the University of Southern California; Bob Stiller, president and CEO of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters; Thomas Innui, President and CEO of the Fetzer Institute; Chief of Police Peter Carnes in Yarmouth, Massachusetts; Annette Griffin, Superintendent of the Year in Dallas Texas; and other leaders from organizations including British Petroleum, Harley-Davidson, and Concord Hospital in New Hampshire.
The book's introductory chapter presents the purpose of the book--given how the work of organizations is changing, a new kind of leadership is necessary and is, indeed, emerging. The final chapter offers a synopsis of the perception of the interviewers regarding the leaders they interviewed, focusing on the particular attributes and qualities that characterized the leaders. Through gathering questionnaire responses from the interviewers, the editors analyze the qualities of appreciative leaders that are important and that are manifested. The editors then identify and illustrate the themes that emerged across the interviews. The book concludes with a competency-based model of Appreciative Leadership and the editor's summary comments.
Reviewer: Jack Buechner, McLean, VA
A Changed world demands a change in how leadership works, October 22, 2001
I read this book prior to Sept. 11th. At the time I thought that much of it was usable in some of the lecturing I do and in my work with democracy related NGO's. I even made a note to have one of the authors come to speak to Presidential Classroom one week in Washington (leadership is a huge component). But after the terrorists changed the way Americans view their lives I decided I needed to change my life too. One thing I did was to reread the book. I found it illustrative of what I thought was happening in the circles of my life. People were cooperating more. Leadership was coming from people that heretofore were "observers". New ideas were not only encouraged but accepted. Most of all I saw in Appreciative Leadership a tonic for the fear and isolationism that started to crop into the lives of people at work and home. I have given copies to some friends in Congress and the NGO community. I am referring to it in as many conversations as I can. It is well worth reading. More importantly it is just what we now need!!!!
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