Ngày đăng : 30/10/2008

On Leadership: Essential Priciples for Success (Sources: Booklist and Publishers Weekly)


Palmisano, Donald (author).

Sept. 2008. 244p. Skyhorse, hardcover, $16.95 (9781602393219).

 

A distinguished career in medicine and citizen service do not, unfortunately, a management guru–author make. Palmisano, former president of the American Medical Association, selects as content for his first book the principles for successful leadership, a topic many other C-suite executives and consultants (like Jim Collins, Jack Welch, Peter Drucker) have tackled. When compared to those leaders, Palmisano falls short; he focuses on well-accepted leadership qualities such as courage, persistence, decisiveness, and communications (among others) and either identifies historical examples (such as John F. Kennedy’s moon mission) or local case histories (e.g., Hurricane Katrina). Yet measurements aside, his voice rings with sincerity, with concern (similar to Iacocca’s Where Have All the Leaders Gone? 2007), and with personal experience; it’s also instructive to read his last chapter listing those leaders he admires—and why—including Rudy Giuliani and Senator John McCain. A corroboration of what leadership should be.

— Barbara Jacobs

 

(Source: Booklist)

Palmisano, an attorney and physician, uses historical and modern-day leadership examples-both good and bad-to show that effective leadership can be taught. He focuses on characteristics he believes to be the essential elements of true leadership-persistence, creativity, decisiveness, skillful utilization of information technology-and he offers a set of easy-to-follow steps to becoming a successful leader based on principles gleaned from personal experiences and the leadership failures and successes of prominent individuals (Rudy Giuliani) and events (Hurricane Katrina). Particularly helpful are the chapters on various forms of communication-written, with media, in meetings and public speaking-and interpersonal relationships, the latter centered on learning to listen, dealing with people in top positions and selecting members of a team. Each chapter includes a "Lessons Learned" section in which key points are distilled for easy reference. Additional topics include using the past as a foundation for success, courage and truth. Informative and well-written, this book will appeal to managers at all levels looking to become effective leaders and will be especially helpful to those just entering the management arena.

(Source: Publishers Weekly)