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Exceptional leaders can guide us through bursts of energy and activity that fundamentally alter the status quo. But other leaders guide us quietly, and still others lead as followers or as students, citizens, and foot soldiers from every walk of life. Most leadership books emphasize specific rules of the road or characteristics and signposts. Tom Cronin and Michael Genovese see leadership as more nuanced and filled with paradox--a realm in which rules only occasionally apply and how to do it prescriptions obscure more than they enlighten. "Leadership Matters" offers a different view of leadership one that builds community, motivates self as well as others, and one that is creatively adaptive and synthesizing.Leaders are people with strong egos who are constantly learning and teaching. It is the leadership of teams, groups, and ideas that more often count than that from charismatic figureheads. Leadership is often a bottom-up rather than top-down phenomenon. Both context and agency matter. The best of leaders learn to read contexts, anticipate challenges and disruptions, and employ smart power. This book sets leaders on that path to unleash the power of paradox.
Exceptional leaders can guide us through bursts of energy and activity that fundamentally alter the status quo. But other leaders guide us quietly, and still others lead as followers or as students, citizens, and foot soldiers from every walk of life. Most leadership books emphasize specific rules of the road or characteristics and signposts. Tom Cronin and Michael Genovese see leadership as more nuanced and filled with paradox--a realm in which rules only occasionally apply and how to do it prescriptions obscure more than they enlighten. "Leadership Matters" offers a different view of leadership one that builds community, motivates self as well as others, and one that is creatively adaptive and synthesizing.Leaders are people with strong egos who are constantly learning and teaching. It is the leadership of teams, groups, and ideas that more often count than that from charismatic figureheads. Leadership is often a bottom-up rather than top-down phenomenon. Both context and agency matter. The best of leaders learn to read contexts, anticipate challenges and disruptions, and employ smart power. This book sets leaders on that path to unleash the power of paradox.
Preface
1. The Paradoxes of Leadership
2. Defining Leadership
3. Leadership Realities
4. What the Classics Teach Us about Leadership: From Gilgamesh to
the Bible
5. What the Classics Teach Us: Machiavelli to Shakespeare
6. What the Classics Teach Us: The Rise of the Constitutional
Democracy
7. What Business Teaches Us about Leadership
8. What Politics Teaches Us about Leadership
9. What the Military Teaches Us about Leadership
10. What Hollywood Teaches Us about Leadership
11. The Darker Side of Leadership
12. The Creative Side of Leadership
13. Leadership as a Performing Art
Acknowledgements
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the Authors
Thomas E. Cronin is the McHugh Professor of American Institutions and Leadership at Colorado College. He is president emeritus of Whitman College (1993-2005) and a former acting president of Colorado College (1991). He earned a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University, and is author, coauthor, or editor of a dozen books on politics and government. Cronin is a past president of both the Western Political Science Association and the Presidency Research Group and was honored by the American Political Science Association with the Charles E. Merriam Award recognizing outstanding contributions to the art of government.
Michael A. Genovese is Director of the Institute for Leadership Studies and holds the Loyola Chair of Leadership as Professor of Political Science at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He received his PhD in political science from the University of Southern California and has authored over 30 books and edits a series on the presidency. Genovese has won numerous awards for outstanding teaching and scholarship.
"Cronin and Genovese have written a compelling and original book.
It is terrific -- a real addition to the leadership canon."
-- Warren Bennis, Marshall School of Business, University of
Southern California
"A superb book -- it will have an important place in the literature
and in the classroom."
-- J. Thomas Wren, Jepson School of Leadership, University of
Richmond
"This is a terrific book... destined to become a classic."
-- James O'Toole, former Executive Vice President, Aspen
Institute
"Leadership Matters is a highly sophisticated, deeply probing, and
remarkably comprehensive treatment of this dynamic and crucial
subject."
-- James MacGregor Burns, Williams College (Emeritus), Pulitzer
Prize-winning political scientist, historian, and biographer
"This book offers unique insights into the field of leadership with
stunning examples about what historical and popular leaders can
teach us. Cronin and Genovese give us an entirely different
perspective on the field. This is a must-read for anyone interested
in leadership!"
-- Nicole Cundiff, Director of the Northern Leadership Center,
University of Alaska-Fairbanks
"This book is an absolute tour-de-force -- one of the most
wide-ranging, fascinating, intricate studies of leadership I have
ever read."
-- Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and
presidential historian
"Cronin and Genovese present leadership as 'the most baffling of
the performing arts.' They unpack the paradoxes of leadership,
provide memorable illustrations, and include nuggets of wisdom for
anyone interested in learning more about this complex human
activity."
-- Nannerl O. Keohane, President Emeritus of Wellesley College and
Duke University and Lawrence S. Rockefeller Distinguished Visiting
Professor of Public Affairs and the University Center for Human
Values at Princeton University
"Leadership Matters is the book my course on leadership has been
waiting for -- a volume that intelligently embraces, rather than
avoids, the paradoxes inherent in the subject."
-- Norman W. Provizer, Leadership Scholar, Director of the Golda
Meir Center, Metropolitan State University-Denver
"A unique, well-researched, and well-written book on leadership
that has been needed for a long time. This book is the one I have
been thinking about writing. Now I won't have to, because Cronin
and Genovese have already done it very well."
-- William E. Rosenbach, former Chair of Leadership Programs, U.S.
Air Force Academy, and Gettysburg College
"The authors cover a remarkable amount of ground... it is a spur to
closer examination of areas it touches on... Recommended."
-- Choice, December 2012 issue
“Cronin and Genovese have written a compelling and original book.
It is terrific—a real addition to the leadership canon.”
—Warren Bennis, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern
California
“A superb book—It will have an important place in the literature
and in the classroom.”
—J. Thomas Wren, Jepson School of Leadership, University of
Richmond
“This is a terrific book…destined to become a classic.”
—James O’Toole, former Executive Vice President, Aspen
Institute
“Leadership Matters is a highly sophisticated, deeply probing, and
remarkably comprehensive treatment of this dynamic and crucial
subject.”
—James MacGregor Burns, Williams College (Emeritus), Pulitzer
Prize–winning political scientist, historian, and biographer
“This book offers unique insights into the field of leadership with
stunning examples about what historical and popular leaders can
teach us. Cronin and Genovese give us an entirely different
perspective on the field. This is a must-read for anyone interested
in leadership!”
—Nicole Cundiff, Director of the Northern Leadership Center,
University of Alaska–Fairbanks
“This book is an absolute tour-de-force—one of the most
wide-ranging, fascinating, intricate studies of leadership I have
ever read.”
—Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize–winning author and
presidential historian
“Cronin and Genovese present leadership as ‘the most baffling of
the performing arts.’ They unpack the paradoxes of leadership,
provide memorable illustrations, and include nuggets of wisdom for
anyone interested in learning more about this complex human
activity.”
—Nannerl O. Keohane, President Emeritus of Wellesley College and
Duke University and Lawrence S. Rockefeller Distinguished Visiting
Professor of Public Affairs and the University Center for Human
Values at Princeton University
“Leadership Matters is the book my course on leadership has been
waiting for—a volume that intelligently embraces, rather than
avoids, the paradoxes inherent in the subject.”
—Norman W. Provizer, Leadership Scholar, Director of the Golda Meir
Center, Metropolitan State University–Denver
“A unique, well-researched, and well-written book on leadership
that has been needed for a long time. This book is the one I have
been thinking about writing. Now I won’t have to, because Cronin
and Genovese have already done it very well.”
—William E. Rosenbach, former Chair of Leadership Programs, U.S.
Air Force Academy, and Gettysburg College
"The authors cover a remarkable amount of ground... it is a spur to
closer examination of areas it touches on... Recommended."
—Choice December 2012 issue
Other Work by Contributors:
Obama’s Nightmare: Reelected in 2012 but Republicans Take the
Senate
by Thomas E. Cronin
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