Customer Reviews

Enlightened Power: How Women are Transforming the Practice of Leadership

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From David Gergen's foreward through Pat Mitchell's afterward, Enlightened Power forces us to contemplate the many traits that women bring to leadership positions and how they relate to our own roles as leaders. Whether you're working in corporate America or as an entrepreneur, you'll find guidance, insight and inspiration from the many contributers to this tome on women and leadership. Of particular interest to me were Kira Hower's chapter on "Influencing for Impact," and Karen Stephenson's chapter on "The Art and Science of Human Knowledge Networks." But, with such a wide variety of voices, I'm sure no matter where you are in your career, you will find articles that address your issues - that's the beauty of pulling together a number of different voices and viewpoints.

This book is a wonderful addition to anyone's personal or professional library, advancing the timely discussion on women, leadership and achievement with essays from David Gergen, Pat Mitchell, Peggy Klaus, Karen Stephenson, Pat Schaffer, Eileen Fisher...all with kernels of wisdom on women, leadership, and the effects that women have had on leaders.

Take a look at the introduction by Lin Coughlin, Chief Administrative Office at Cendant, and the essay by Ellen Winguard, Executive Coach...for a good overview of the messages in the book.

But the most wonderful thing about Enlightened Power is its very personalized stories and words of wisdom from each contributor. This is the perfect gift, and an inspiration to all.

Anyone who lives or works with high functioning, hard working women (which I do) will recognize them and the anecdotes offered in Englightened Power. They are spirited, highly committed to their causes, and passionate about making a difference in their worlds-- academic, corporate and public service. And these organizations are lucky to have them.

With so many books on leadership, it's rare that one stands out as both comprehensive and new. I was skeptical that a book on "women's leadership" could effectively speak to both genders. I was surprised. While, I don't necessarily agree with all of the authors, I do appreciate the common theme that the best leaders do more listening, collaborating, and coalition-building. We can all get in that boat!

Enlightened Power feels like the most comprehensive book ever written on women and leadership. It provides perspective on leadership from over 40 successful women, allowing the reader to find infinite ways to reinforce their leadership behaviors or learn new ways to accelerate their skill level. Each of the chapters is unique, so as to allow for multiple learnings and reference points.

I was actually interested in this book until I got to the 'Carly Fiorina' part. It was stated that she was successful at HP and the merger exceeded critics' expectations. As an HP (female) employee, I have lived through the Platt, Fiorina and now Hurd years. And, believe me Fiorina was the worst kind (and most HP'ers will agree with me). She ruined this company!! She was visionary alright --- only about making millions for herself!! Please do some REAL research before making any assumptions on the successes of any CEOs (especially Carly).

I have been looking for an answer to the question of how women have influenced leadership for such a long time and this book is it! You learn how to lead without power and control, dominance, and just to be a more effective, and influential leader...from people like David Gergen, Peggy Klaus, Rayona Sharpnack, Barbara Corcoran, Eileen Fisher (the designer).

This book contains fascinating conceptual articles on the changing nature of leadership and inspiring stories illustrating how women have created successful careers for themselves. I was particularly impressed by chapters that showed how the masculine traits of domination and control need to be replaced by organizational models based on collaboration and facilitation. Convincing evidence is cited for the value of feminine traits and the need to promote more women to senior executive roles. One writer discusses how feminine traits foster collaboration within organizations and between them and their strategic partners. I think these domains are ideally suited to feminine traits. But, there was no mention of the traits required for successful competition in aggressive markets. Here, I think, we still need masculine traits, whether in men or women. More generally, I don't think promoting more women to senior executive positions goes far enough. Organizational cultures need to change to foster a better balance of masculine and feminine traits, one to facilitate internal collaboration and the other for aggressive competitiveness externally. Books like this are great for stimulating our thinking about these vital issues.

What a wonderful addition to anyone's library. Through the inspirational stories told by these women, the book gave me good insight on life. That leadership in the corporate world is not just about statistics and the "bottom line" but also about learning what works and doesn't work. As in Chapter 3, Deeper Power, the chapter makes one ask questions internally on how to "do it differently". "To acknowledge and embrace individuals and their authentic selves-not jobs or titles." Very well written and I would highly recommend this book not only to improve job performance but how to improve one personally.

This book is an inspirational volume you should buy for yourself and all of your friends! In it you finally learn why women are so good at leadership--because we have a different relationship to power...so therefore, we can lead without dominance and control. We can lead with Enlightened Power.