The Language of Leadership [Hardcover]

Roger Soder (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787943606 | ISBN-13: 978-0787943608 | Publication Date: August 9, 2001 | Edition: 1

"When we all think we understand leadership, Soder, with quotations from the ages, shows us new, fascinating, and immensely important elements. A stimulating adventure."--Fisher Howe, author, The Board Member's Guide to Strategic Planning and Welcome to the Board

With The Language of Leadership you'll explore the powerful role that language plays in helping leaders, no matter what their field, support their position and create a climate of credibility and legitimacy.

Written for leaders in the education, business, and nonprofit sectors, The Language of Leadership offers you the information and practical guidance you need to understand the crucial impact of words on the ability to lead, heal, motivate, and chart a path to the future.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Soder's timely contribution to this body of knowledge will inspire reflection and serious thought." (Planning for Higher Education, 12/02-2/03)

"...beautifully written.... The author is well positioned to write this book." (Planning for Higher Education, 3/4/03)

Review

"[T]his book is not an angel food cake recipe for effective leadership. Business executives should expect no lists of things to do in order to keep clients from leaving by the back door while they are ushering new ones through the front. School principals will look in vain for five easy steps to good relationships with parents. Yet, this is an eminently practical book, a handbook for survival as well as excellence in leadership and sleeping with a clear conscience." — From the Foreword by John I. Goodlad

"When we all think we understand leadership, Soder, with quotations from the ages, shows us new, fascinating, and immensely important elements. A stimulating adventure." — Fisher Howe, author, The Board Member's Guide to Strategic Planning and Welcome to the Board

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (August 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787943606
• ISBN-13: 978-0787943608
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #925,616 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "Must Read" for Leaders, September 26, 2001

By 

Pam Campbell (Henderson, NV United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Language of Leadership (Hardcover)

In these present and certainly confusing times, I've hesitated to review this most important book and talk about how we, as a democratic populace, might come together to consider notions of leadership. However, I've also come to realize how exclusionary our collective (aka..seemingly innocent) language can be, when those in postitions of leadership speak, be it gender or nationality or religiously, or etc. -based.....Examples: our "brother firefighters" ...certainly there were female firefighters lost and/or also engaged in the rescue effort; Words from the President and others that excluded other than-"Christian" engagement in participation. These are times that require most careful attention to our language and our resulting dialogue in order to engage others in our potential cause.

Thus, we must be so very careful to monitor our language and use it most carefully and wisely. Soder directs us toward inclusive and productive leadership language grounded in our predecessors from whom we have much to learn. This is a wise and most careful author calling our attention issues with immense significance.

Soder's book is a resource that needs and deserves the attention of all those attending to the competence of present and future leaders...regardless of areas of expert*ise.and particularly in light of the issues tht David Imig (AACTE) has raised regarding perceptions of leadership among practitioners.

While Soder has given us an exceptionally important and valuable resource, I view it a a rich dessert...to be absorbed most slowly and carefully in order to appreciate its full texture, nuances, subtleties, and meanings....A must read for all those invested in future leaders...regardless of context...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thought-provoking and practical book, August 24, 2002

By 

Chris Jenkins (Winchester, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Language of Leadership (Hardcover)

I like this book because it puts leadership in the context of a democracy rather than arguing that leadership is the same no matter what political system you are living in. I like it, too, because of the focus on not only how to persuade the people one is leading, but how to create a better, more thoughtful, public. Soder discusses leadership problems not only in creating and sustaining work, but, just as important, in reconciling and reconstituting when things go wrong between people. This is a reasonable and sensitive book, with many original insights (not all of which are apparent at first glance: this one is worth re-reading.) This book makes one think, and at the same time, offers practical advice for leaders in business or educational settings. I only wish I had read it sooner.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An accessible, unremarkable monograph, January 12, 2002

By 

M. Pardee "Lifelong-Learner" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Language of Leadership (Hardcover)

"The Language of Leadership" is a fairly quick and easy read. Soder seasons his account w/ many illustrative anecdotes from classical literary sources. He is very well-read, of course, so his excerpts are aptly chosen. Yet I often found myself skimming ahead through his text in search of "more matter, less art" (to invoke the Bard of Avon!).

Readers seeking more substance on this score would do better to consult another Jossey-Bass title instead: "The Art of Framing: Managing the Language of Leadership" (by Fairhurst & Sarr, 1996). Otherwise, Soder's book has a few new and suggestive insights to offer. Granted, it may be fine--at least as far as it goes. It just doesn't go very far or break much original ground on the subject.