PART II

PORTRAIT OF A LEADER

What do leaders look like? What do they do? What is expected of a leader of the future? The articles in Part II, Portrait of a Leader, answer these questions as well as some that in the days of management past were not even a consideration. Laurence S. Lyons opens this section with his piece, “The Accomplished Leader.” An important work, this article not only gives invaluable insight into executive coaching and its value in organizations, it is also the precursor in content and style to the “management novelette,” which is Dr. Fink’s Leadership Casebook. In Chapter Seven, “Writing for Leadership: Penning Your Leadership Voice,” Sarah McArthur takes a complex and vast subject and distills it down to its very essence. In her article, Sarah provides a road map for both novice and experienced writers on how to start (or continue) their respective treatises on leadership. Nathan Lyons, a young high-potential leader himself, has written a description of what it is to be a high-potential forging a path to “success” in today’s trying times in Chapter Eight, “Seeking Value in a Shattered World of Work.” John Baldoni believes that leaders have “earned authority” and that they also possess qualities that allow them to empathize and relate to their employees. Read John’s article “The Right Stuff of Leadership” and find out where you stand. Richard J. Leider, a huge proponent of what he calls “the power of purpose,” both in leadership and in life, makes the case that purpose is “connected to caring, and caring is essential to engagement.” Providing a relatively unusual checkup list for readers of his chapter, “The Purposeful Leader,” Richard’s expressed view on the pursuit and accomplishment is refreshing and profound. Rounding out this section on the portrayal of leaders and leadership today is the classic article, “When Leaders Are Coaches,” by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner. In this foundational article, Jim and Barry define leadership as a relationship.