Courageous Visions: How to Unleash Passionate Energy in Your Life and Your Organization [Paperback]

Martha Lasley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2004

We’ve been conditioned to think that the CEO is the visionary who provides clear direction, but hero-leaders who make the headlines and become celebrities don’t always have the skills to awaken the passion of those they lead. Attacking the myth that visions should come from the lone leader, Courageous Visions provides tools and resources that inspire employees at all levels to contribute and expand on the vision. The author, Martha Lasley, bases her book on the premise that personal visions are the spark for larger organizational visions.

From her experience with executive coaching, leadership development and team building, she shares anecdotes and practical activities for awakening passionate energy in the work place. Since all change begins with the individual, she offers unconventional ways to explore personal visions and turn them into reality.

Lasley envisions a "world full of people who love their work, love the people in their lives, and passionately work to create a better future." Her personal philosophy is that people who support each other’s hopes and dreams create synergy and unleash the power of an organization.

Although full of anecdotes about famous leaders, Lasley also shares inspirational stories about ordinary people with colorful visions, from ten-year-old Caylin who sells sunflowers to help the homeless, to Dominick, a plant manager whose team surprises him with gag gifts. She’s at her best when she’s telling personal stories about leaders who’ve stepped out of their comfort zone and experimented with new ways to build high-functioning teams of visionaries.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A practical guide to realizing full potential. She coaxes the vision using a step-by-step coaching process. -- Sushma Sharma, Resonate Consulting April, 2004

A rich blueprint of ideas, theories, techniques and tools which challenge individuals and organizations to forge courageous visions. -- Ken Hultman, author of Making Change Irresistible

An outstanding book. Courageous Visions is a rare and valuable combination of practical advice, entertaining and easy reading, and inspiration. -- Jim Clemmer, author of The Leaders Digest

Engaging and practical, demonstrates how to engage people in creating powerful visions, and realize those visions at home and work. -- Filomena Warihay, PhD, President, Take Charge Consultants

Inspired work! For me it was like coming home. The most important thing is helping to bring change into reality. -- Diane Dawson, Cornell University

Thoroughly researched and documented material has depth as well as inspiration. Courageous Visions is a winner. -- Tony Alessandra, PhD, author of The Platinum Rule

From the Publisher

Book Synopsis: The premise of Courageous Visions will surprise many readers, that encouraging individuals to follow their dreams doesn’t mean everyone is pulling in opposite directions. The book reveals many best practices for leading in a tumultuous environment. The "Tell Your Vision" process is based on appreciating what’s most alive and envisioning a more powerful future. By choosing to honor values, and envision who you want to be, what you want to do and what you want to have, your team can work together to create your desired identity, clarify your greatest contribution and paint your ideal picture of the future. In addition to creating the vision, Lasley offers tested tools for realizing the vision:

• Storytelling and metaphors for deepening emotional connection and inspiring the team
• Developing support systems that get people excited about each individual’s contribution to the vision
• Building community to release the talents of high-functioning teams
• Setting stretch goals that inspire commitment and action
• Developing courage and embracing fear as fuel for growth
• Using the Fired Up process to dialogue and manage conflict
• Seven steps for leading the people side of change

Based on her work with leaders and visionaries, Martha Lasley offers practical tips for developing the courage to move beyond dreams into action. The courage to lead comes from the heart, and Courageous Visions shows us how to explore the inner landscape to widen our impact and co-create an ideal future.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Discover Press (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974200018
• ISBN-13: 978-0974200019
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #744,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spirited Visions Made Real, July 16, 2004

By 

Nancy "Life Coach" (Bay Area, Ca United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Courageous Visions: How to Unleash Passionate Energy in Your Life and Your Organization (Paperback)

I've had many visions that never make their way to reality. They get stuck between passionate ideas that resonate with my values and the practical daily actions that make them real. Martha Lasley includes both sides in her book. With provocative questions and exercises she leads an individual or organization through a visioning process. Then Martha bridges that gap between idea and reality in her chapters on communicating the vision, team work, leadership, actions and obstacles. This is valuable information for visionary leaders! Also, I used a form of "appreciative inquiry" (chapter 3) during a serious family breakdown with my teenagers - as a result we had solutions that were energizing, creative and positive. Read Martha's book if you have a dream for yourself and/or your small or big organization that you want to make real.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Passion Runs Deep, May 16, 2004

By 

G. Levens (Oracle, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Courageous Visions: How to Unleash Passionate Energy in Your Life and Your Organization (Paperback)

I have read many books on visioning, and after a brief spurt of renewed energy I find myself back at square one. In this book, Creating Vision, Ms Lasley has hit on something that runs deep and true, that is both spiritual and practical, and that will carry through all the ups and downs of truly living vision. She also did a great job relating the applicability of her ideas to both individuals and organizations. As a leader within an organization, I now have many new tools and inspirations for living and working from a deeper sense of purpose and integrity. What a marvelous hands-on guide to creating fulfillment in all aspects of one's life!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courageous Visions, October 18, 2004

By 

Thomas Peter von Bahr (Lopez Island, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Courageous Visions: How to Unleash Passionate Energy in Your Life and Your Organization (Paperback)

This is a book which should be read, digested, and incorporated into the conciousness of just about every entrepreneur. If this was simply a motivational work it would still excel its peers. What makes Lasley's tome exceptional are the steps leading from one's passion to the execution of actually living one's vision.

Unlike many self-help books this is a work for people who envision going well beyond inner changes and wish to extend their world through organizational superiority and leadership characteristics. A mature person can use this book with greater effectiveness than many Business School texts.

The chapter on "Turning Vision Into Action" was perhaps the most critically valuable as it integrated much of the book around principles such as planning and goal-setting, providing methodologies to bring everyone on-board and to get from "A" to "G", altering attitudes, delegating, and inviting everyone to embrace risk, newness, and calculated changes for growing an organizaiton with is stable and dynamic simultaneously.

The author attaches a short 3-page bibliography and a 6-page index, but her 87 chapter sections are easy to use if the reader looks to the table of contents for guideance. This is a valuable addition to a select short-list of humanistic organizational development books. Its utilization of self-awareness themes of our times coupled with highly specialized and knowledgeable experiences of an executive coach makes this appropriate for stocking in our Business as well as Personal Growth sections.