Book Review- In Search Of Leaders- Hilarie Owen
Essay by 24 • December 30, 2010 • 3,397 Words (14 Pages) • 1,585 Views
Why this book?
The selection of this book was a personal choice. The reason why I chose ÐŽ§in search of leadersÐŽÐ over any other book is that I was extremely intrigued by the subject. During my tenure at work, I was always enamoured by the way some particular mentors from the industry conducted themselves and the organisation lending a cohesive spirit to their teams and consummating their personal and professional goals. Such mettle was something that I wished to incorporate and internalise over a period of time. I supposed thatÐŽ¦s just what leaders are made of! ThatÐŽ¦s the reason why I chose the subject to read on.
The reason why I chose this book in particular is that I was intrigued by the way the book targeted its subject. The cover page also revealed to some degree the focus of the book. What is essentially portrays is that introspection will convey that leadership is prevalent within. So the search of leaders begins by looking within oneself.
About the Author-
Hilarie Owen, a political scientist by profession, has an undergraduate degree in political science with philosophy and psychology as a part of her course of study. She concluded her inchoative stint in the corporate world in the capacity of a Vice President for Individual Development with British Junior Chamber (BJC) in 1990. Thereafter she enlisted herself on the rolls of a Management Consultancy and subsequently in 1991, started her own embryonic management consultancy. She undertook a study on RAF Red Arrows.
Owen also authored the highly successful, ÐŽ§Creating Top Flight TeamsÐŽÐ
What the book is about?
Chapter Summary
The book unfolds with an inchoative chapter on the stories of two individuals working for RAF, Steve and Andy and their approaches to management. The first of these people believed in the fact that you must never stop learning. He believed in tolerance and delegation. Andy however, was a person who had learned from experiences. He learned better from one such bitter experience, and thus culminated his leadership style. He was intolerant of mistakes. But the common thread between the two was that both of them internalised the concept of leadership from learning, experience and self introspection.
1. The Story of Leadership
Each person has their own individuality, and therefore their own story. What is central is that each individual possesses the gift of leadership. These skills can be honed through learning but each personÐŽ¦s methodology of expressing leadership is unique. Contemporary work culture, however, propagates leadership as a medium for individuals to ÐŽ§take chargeÐŽÐ while escalating work hours, anxiety and stress are prompting us to rethink about balancing the trade-off between work and leisure.
The barriers posed in organisations are those created by rigid and predefined organisation structures that constrain freedom and individuality. Culture of an organisation, which implies the routines, habits and procedures that people are compelled to ensue, often breeds resistance to change and curbs creativity. Organisations propose to perpetrate this culture through setting of certain organisational values. However, these values lose significance as they arenÐŽ¦t set in conjunction with the people who abide by them. Human resource departments are gunning to address these issues. The debate lies in whether to prioritise organisations over people.
There lies a fundamental aberration as far as idealism vs pragmatism is concerned. Hence, management is often unequipped to garner the trust of its employees. This factor has perpetrated high stress levels culminating from long hours spent at work. A notable insight in this regard is that stress breeds most amongst the junior managers ie satisfaction reduces as we move from the top towards the bottom of the ladder. This deprivation has led to attrition as well. Although some organisations such as PWC have tried to deal with the situation perspicaciously, yet many such instances such as verbal abuse by managers persist. Why is this so? This is because of their own past experiences. Mindset flexibility is the quintessential attribute to follow to deal with performance vs time linked promotions, and making employees responsible for self development by treating themselves as self employed personnelÐŽ¦s would.
People on the other hand are increasingly realising the need to relish the fruits of their labour. ÐŽ§Generation XÐŽÐ have certain needs. Need to spend some quality family hours, need to move towards challenging opportunities, need for a conducive work culture, and need for computers. Bosses on the other hand are driven by conflicting needs. Therefore, the need to balance work and home life is driving the need to ÐŽ§changeÐŽÐ and express each individuals need for leadership.
The drivers that are guiding this change are threefold. The first of these is the role of information technology in organisations. The second is globalisation and the concept of unconstrained boundaries that are making market and organisations extremely competitive. The third is the realisation amongst the current workforce and their knowledge and need for self actualisation. These drivers are responsible for creating the inherent need for expressing oneÐŽ¦s leadership.
2. The Seven Essences of leadership
Leadership is defined in numerous ways-
ÐŽ§Leadership is all about the release of human possibilitiesÐŽÐ
ÐŽ§Leadership is not domination, but the art of persuading people to work towards a common goal.ÐŽÐ
None of these definitions can be all encompassing and pervasive. Therefore a surrogate approach is to define the essence(s) of leadership. Essence is defined as ÐŽ§the most important feature of something which determines its identityÐŽÐ Therefore, the seven essences/features of management are as follows:
Essence 1- There s a clear distinction between leadership and management. Managers are perpetually concerned with goal actualisation. It is thus of no surprise that the present day managers are more concerned with goal actualisation as compared to people management. Performance is all that matters. This attitude is a serious impediment to change. Management was conceptualized during the Industrial Revolution and people were conditioned to work according to a predefined
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