Heroic Leadership: Leading with Integrity and Honor
Peter F. Drucker, the "father of modern management," promoted the concept of Heroic Leadership throughout his long career, saying, "The Army trains and develops more leaders than do all other institutions together—and with a lower casualty rate." In Heroic Leadership, leadership expert and retired general William Cohen, a former student and personal friend of Drucker, reveals what Heroic Leadership entails—leading a group with absolute integrity while raising individual performance to a personal best, and building a team spirit of sacrifice for the common good. It requires tough standards, but as Cohen shows you, achieving those standards is not impossible.Heroic Leadership examines military leadership principles as they apply to business and life, and draws on Cohen's research with more than two hundred leaders from the military, who after leaving the military went on to very successful careers in civilian life. In this book, Cohen maps out the eight universal laws of leadership, and explains why Heroic Leadership has worked so successfully and ethically for thousands of years despite severe conditions of risk, uncertainty, and hardship. He also shows how to implement Heroic Leadership to attract fellowship; use influence tactics; develop self-confidence; build, coach, and motivate a team; take charge in crisis situations; and take action.Throughout the book you will find:Real-world examples from business as well as battle, chosen to give you the knowledge and confidence to lead in any situation you may confrontProven strategies and results-oriented techniques to apply the principles of Heroic Leadership and multiply the productivity of any group or organizationNew ideas for motivating people and helping them achieve new heights of personal and group performanceLittle-known but highly effective methods for building teamwork and esprit de corpsMethods for developing yourself as a leader and reaching your full potentialBased on Cohen's early best-selling books on leadership, now out of print—The Art of the Leader, The Stuff of Heroes, and The New Art of the Leader—Heroic Leadership is a timeless guide on what it takes to be an authentic, high-performing leader. This book will challenge you to apply the principles of Heroic Leadership, and in turn enable your organization to dare the impossible and achieve the extraordinary.