Leading by Example

By Fifty Lessons

Book Overview

Wondering how the most accomplished leaders from around the globe have tackled their toughest challenges? Now you can find out--with Lessons Learned. Concise and engaging, each volume in this new series offers 12-14 insightful essays by top leaders in business, the public sector, and academia on the most pressing issues they've faced. The contributors share surprisingly personal anecdotes and offer authoritative and practical advice drawn from their years of hard-earned experience. The series launches with three volumes, each of which centers on a timely topic: - Leading by Example: Discover the secrets to leading effectively--from top executives at KPMG Worldwide, Quest Diagnostics, Virgin Galactic, and other giants. - Managing Your Career: Find out how to identify and achieve the career you want--from exceptional leaders at McKinsey & Company, Lloyds TSB Group, Heidrick & Struggles, among others. - Managing Change: Learn how to lead major transformation efforts--from successful change champions at Philips Lighting, JPMorgan Chase, Coca Cola Company, and other top firms. A crucial resource for today's busy executive, Lessons Learned gives you instant access to the wisdom and expertise of the world's most talented leaders.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1422118592
• ISBN13: 9781422118597
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
• Length: 100 Pages
• Weight: 0.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.3" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

Well written and indispensable!

Here's something novel: a book on business leadership by real business leaders. This is no B-school case-study exercise. Here are the lived experiences of battle-hardened executives reporting from the trenches, in their own words, about their wins and losses, triumphs and disasters. There are no charts, graphs or numbers in "Leading by Example". Just stories. Stories about how exceptional men and women deal with the challenges of running successful businesses and the lessons they've learnt in doing so. And how they use these hard-won lessons to shape their business philosophy and practice. Like Sanjay Ahuja, chief executive of the Orange Group, who learnt, in the course of turning around a failing business which employees and customers thought was beyond rescue, that a business is not a democracy, that leaders must take decisions in the best interest of the company, not their popularity. Or Amelia Fawcett, former Chief Operating Officer of Morgan Stanley International, who maintained her company's presence in the Russian natural gas services market when competitors were bailing out in the face of the financial meltdown in that country in the late 1990s. She believed that the company's strategic decision was correct. Events proved her right and taught her that a leader must have the courage of her conviction and stay the course, no matter how unpopular her decisions are. Or Ken Freeman, MD of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, who tells the story of how his efforts to effect a turnaround at Quest Diagnostics were aided by a chance encounter with a junior employee at Orlando airport whilst he was on vacation with his family. A friendly, informal chat with the man and his family convinced the man that Freeman had the right leadership skills for the job and this quickly spread throughout the company. Leaders must pay attention to informal communication, says Freeman. It allows leadership skills--both good and bad--to show through. "Leading by Example" contains many such lessons learnt from the real-life experiences of successful business men and women. It is one of three titles in the series, "Lessons Learned: Straight Talk from the World's Top Business Leaders", developed by Fifty Lessons ( www.fiftylessons.com) and published by Harvard Business School Press.