Customer Reviews

Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis (J-B Warren Bennis Series)

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Bill George is one of Harvard Business School students' favorite professors. Why? He has led real people in the real world and produced real results. In 7 Lessons For Leading In Crisis he shares the lessons of principled, effective leadership. 7 Lessons is an entertaining, efficient guide for how leaders should react when crisis strikes, margins grow thin, and board members become restless. Bringing seasoned business acumen and analysis to the page, Bill also includes firsthand accounts of his career and others to provide the best and worst examples of leadership in adverse conditions. Highlighting such successful leaders as Anne Mulcahy at Xerox and Greg Steinhafel at Target, while also profiling the downfalls of Lehman Brothers' Dick Fuld and AIG's Martin Sullivan, he offers advice with an energetic writing style.

There are lots of books about the current crisis by reporters. There are lots of books prescribing formulas for leading by professional authors. This book is entirely different. It's a thought-provoking guide to leading in crisis by someone who is on the inside who has actually led. By illuminating the "dos" and "don'ts" of crisis-time leadership through case-study analysis, he sidesteps the ambiguity that so often plagues business "how-to" books and strikes at the heart of the issues that are particularly pertinent in today's for today's recession-stricken leaders. I highly recommend it.

... is what Bill George has created in 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis. I read this book last night on my flight from LA to Minneapolis and it was informative, engaging and filled with great insight. Most leaders have more questions than answers these days in the turbulent world we live and lead in. Being a leader in tough times is not for the faint of heart. Bill doesn't give "vanilla" how-to answers, but he does cause the reader to reflect, think for himself and operate in a high integrity, authentic way. Bill candidly shared examples of leadership meltdowns and shortfalls that have been part of the fabric of the recession we've experienced since 2007. He is courageous in naming names and pulls no punches. He also gives credit to a number of leaders who follow their True North and lead by their values. While this is Bill's shortest book (160 pages), I think it might be his best. I give two thumbs up. Invest a couple of hours reading this book and you'll learn something, I promise. It's the right book for the right time. I'll be purchasing copies for my CEO executive coaching clients. Thanks, Bill.

In two of his previous books, Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value and True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership co-authored with Peter Sims, Bill George urges his reader to discover or rediscover what he characterizes as "the internal compass that guides you as a human being at your deepest level. It is your orienting point - your fixed point in a spinning world - that helps you stay on track as a leader. Your True North is based on what is most important to you, your most cherished values, your passions and motivations, the sources of satisfaction in your life. Just as a compass points toward a magnetic field, your True North pulls you toward the purpose of your leadership." George as well as Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas (among others who also include playwrights Arthur Miller and Robert Bolt) have also written about "crucibles" of severe pressure from which some people emerge stronger while many others don't. Given the current and imminent economy, there seems to be no shortage of crises, of "crucibles," that test one's character as well as one's resources.

What George offers in this slender but deceptively profound book is "a practical guide to leaders about navigating through a crisis." Actually, that is somewhat misleading. If I understand the thrust of his thinking, he is talking about the initiatives that almost anyone must take (regardless of rank or status) to get through whatever dire circumstances they may have now. Ever the pragmatic idealist, he identifies and then discusses seven "lessons" he has learned throughout his own life thus far. None is a head-snapping revelation, nor does George make any such claim. All are easy to provide as guidelines for positive thought and productive behavior but none is easy to follow consistently. For example, "Face reality, starting with yourself." Nonetheless, especially during a crisis, many people find it difficult (if not impossible) to face the painful realities of their circumstances, much less respond effectively to them. Lesson #4 urges us to "get ready for the long haul." OK, but most people have the interest span of a finger snap and little (if any) patience, especially during an extended period of fear, anxiety, confusion, and discomfort. Throughout history, the human race has been provided with various commandments, laws, rules, etc. that, more often than not, have been ignored. What George recommends may suffer the same fate as "Don't eat that apple" and "Don't kill anyone" but he cannot be blamed for trying to help his reader "navigate" the perilous journey ahead.

There are more than 70 leaders featured in this book who serve as exemplars of George's key points, for better or worse. A few are admirable or contemptible but most are ranged somewhere in between. While reading this book, it is important to keep in mind that he is examining human behavior in extreme circumstances. He duly acknowledges his deficiencies. At one point in his narrative, he confides that his own defining moment occurred in 1988 when he realized that, for reasons best revealed in context, he "was in the midst of a crisis and drifting away from his True North." While driving near his home, he looked into the rearview of his car and saw "a person striving so hard to become CEO of a large company like Honeywell that he was rapidly abandoning his True North," his internal compass, his personal GPS to remain on as proper course.

Decades ago, my grandmother explained to me that "character" is who we are and what we do "when no one's looking." There are also times, such as the situation George describes, when we aren't "looking" either and lose our way. Crises have a way of attracting, often commanding our attention but, when doing so, they can also bring out the best or worst in us. In this context, I am reminded of a U.S. Open golf championship years ago (perhaps at Shinnecock or Oakmont) when many of the players angrily complained about the severe conditions (the fairways were too narrow, the greens too fast, the pin placements "impossible," etc.). In response, the U.S.G.A. official who supervised the course conditions replied, "We're not trying the embarrass the world's best golfers, we're trying to identify them." I think this is one of George's key points in this book. Those in leadership positions who possess and rely upon their True North are more likely to "stay on track" and make the right decisions when under severe stress. The importance of those decisions is compounded by the fact that others trust and depend upon these leaders to do what is difficult but necessary (e.g. Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill) rather than what is easy or at least expedient.

Although presumably written primarily for adults and especially for those entrusted with leadership responsibilities, I think this primer will also be of substantial value to school and college students who will soon - too soon - be facing even greater challenges to their judgment and character. Bill George makes no claim that he is providing all the "right answers" but in this volume, I think he is raising many of the right questions that can help his readers locate their own right answers.

I don't think that Bill George is a bad man. However, it is anything but clear if George consistently practices what he preaches and therefore the value of this book suffers. While "Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis" contains valuable insight into how to face crisis, a reader can't help but be distracted by the fact that George is on the board of Goldman Sachs and as such the perspectives he describes ring hollow in the face of the institution's crisis of confidence, crisis of morality and crisis of authenticity. Goldman Sachs is not, as George's book suggests, facing reality. As one of the leaders of Goldman Sachs, George appears to fail to follow his book's advice on many fronts. This is not intended to be a personal attack but rather an unavoidable subtext when reading this work. While George's book details the importance of being yourself in the face of crisis and being "good," in practice there is little evidence that such traits exist within the very walls that his book was written. The fundamental failing of this book, therefore, is the overwhelming sense that the emperor has no clothes. If the reader can just ignore the disconnect between the good, sensible advice presented in the book from the actual practices of the Goldman Sachs' money machine of which the author has a leadership role then this book may be valuable. If, on the other hand, you are about to lose your home to Goldman Sachs and their CDO's then this book borders on being repugnant.

Bill George once again provides timely practical advice to any one in a leadership role. In this gem of a book, he highlights how to manage oneself and an organization through a crisis. Whether it is your own life situation or an institution in business, academia or not-for-profit, this book offers insights and strategies for taking advantage of a crisis that will lead to sustainable growth of the leader and the organization.

Leaders young and seasoned will benefit from real life examples analyzed in this book. Bill George's gift is to sift through the facts, identify the heart of the issue and apply his own wisdom and expertise to help leaders make a contribution to address the problems our country faces.

7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis is not only a beacon of hope for the current economic crisis, but is chalk full of inspiring stories that anyone can immediately apply to achieve positive results for a lifetime.

In this short and very readable book Bill George provides seven valuable lessons for leading, not just in times of crisis, but in good times as well.

The seven lessons are:

1. Face reality, starting with yourself;
2. Don't be Atlas; Get the world off your shoulders;
3. Dig deep for root causes;
4. Get ready for the long haul;
5. Never waste a good crisis;
6. You're in the spotlight: Follow True North, and
7. Go on offense, focus on winning now.

George draws not only on his own considerable experience but on the experiences of numerous other high profile successful, and some unsuccessful, leaders. As is his usual style, he is especially candid about his own learnings and failings which make the book all the more credible.

The book is a quick read but is filled with valuable insights, informative stories, and plenty of good advice.

The book of the week was 7 Lessons For Leading in a Crisis by Bill George. I have a lot of appreciation for this book. I feel that a 'crisis' is a relative term. A lot of young professionals have 'crises' early in their career and what they consider a crisis early in their career is nothing more than a hiccup later on. And the way young professionals handle crises early in their career set the stage for the rest of their life.

Since the book was broken into different lessons I will share each lesson the author uses and tell you why it's so important:

#1 Face Reality, Starting with Yourself: This is all about realizing what is going on within the organization around you. Actually seeing the crisis is step one. It is too easy to ignore a serious issue or just gloss over it. Once you recognize that there is a crisis, you then need to establish your responsibility within it. Too few leaders are capable of accepting responsibility for their actions.

#2 Don't Be Atlas, Get the World Off Your Shoulders: Great leaders surround themselves with the "right" people. Assuming that you have an amazing team of skilled leaders around you, use them. There is no reason to do everything yourself. You will bury yourself instead of solving the problem. Target's current CEO, Gregg Steinhafel, turned inward shortly after succeeding Bob Ulrich in 2008. Steinhafel was seeing increasing losses in the Target portfolio after Ulrich had multiplied the stock price 10 times, from [...] to [...] and bested Wal-mart for forty-four months straight. Steinhafel was tired of the pressures put on him by activist investor William Ackerman and turned inward for support. Ackerman started a proxy fight trying to replace the board with his own slate and because of Stienhafel's turning inward, Ackerman lost the proxy contest, with Stienhafel garnering over 70% of shareholder's votes. Since the feud, Target has been back on top.

#3 Dig Deep for the Root Cause: When someone is handling a crisis it's easy to find a temporary fix. A leaky boat's patch will only hold for so long and the leak will be back and worse than before. People have to make hard choices in crisis, but upon making them you can take the reigns of the organization and come back stronger than ever.

#4 Get Ready for the Long Haul: Often leaders will be short-sighted and think the problem is smaller than it is. Analyze the situation and determine the length you will be dealing with. A perfect example of this done wrong is when President George W. Bush declared victory with the war in Iraq in 2003 on the aircraft carrier Lincoln with a giant sign that read "Mission Accomplished." When a leader declares victory too soon in a crisis, it destroys credibility and makes it very difficult to foster good relations and rally support to solve the problem effectively.

#5 Never Waste a Good Crisis: A crisis is your opportunity to change an organization, top to bottom. Use the opportunity to get transformative affect. This can be seen in the current economic climate. When the nation is in a time of progress, it will grows rapidly, spending and staffing expand very rapidly within organizations. Then when a down-turn hits, the organization moves into a time of slow growth or decline. This is seen as a crisis to most organizations and gives time to reflect tightening spending policies and lay-off the least-performing individuals. If companies waste a crisis,and doesn't do a complete spending and staffing over-haul they will sink their organization or worst yet, fail.

#6 You're in the Spotlight: Follow True North: As a leader in a crisis, everyone will be looking at you for direction. Integrity counts for a lot in these crises. People will be watching everything you do and emulate it because, after all, you are their leader. Be cautious of what you do and what you say because regardless of whether you think someone is watching or listening, they are. Being truthful and honest in every approach will trickle down the organization.

#7 Go on the Offense, Focus on Winning Now: A crisis is a wonderful time to gain a competitive edge. Again with the example of the current recession, while most companies are in hibernation, there are a select few that saved for this day and have expanded. Everything is at a discount. You can acquire your competition for pennies on the dollar. Reshaping of markets always happens in economic downturn and you can either hunker down and hope for the best or maintain a laser-like focus to lead the reshaping according to your terms. I prefer the latter.

A crisis has a silver lining, as I hope I have shown you. I want to bring very close attention to this subject for all the young professionals out there. When you are establishing yourself within an organization you will encounter many "crises" early in you career. You have choices with each one of these crises. I prefer you choose to use the choice that encompasses your integrity. If you truly want to get ahead within an organization you will need to be ethical in everything you do. It is very easy to cut corners in a crisis, but doing this will only create a short-term fix and you will not do what is right for the organization or for your professional career. You will be evaluated in everything you do early in your career, by your team and by your leaders, if you want to stand out do it with integrity.

This book is interesting, it uses several cases from top organizations and leaders. I picked it up randomly and I am very glad I did. It gave me a lot to reflect on that I plan to use in my personal life. I don't doubt that it would be beneficial to you too. If you have any questions on the book don't hesitate to ask. I would be more than happy to help anyone that wants it.

Seeing through a crisis isn't easy, but it doesn't have to be difficult and Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis is a book that is ready to help leaders through the uncertain times. This book is very timely because, although it is true that a crisis situation can arise at any time, there have been a much larger than average number of organizational crises in the past year The subprime crisis and the recession it spawned have had far- reaching effects that continue to be felt in most parts of the United States and around the world. Leaders at varying levels have witnessed some of the most critical tests of their careers and Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis is aimed at these individuals who could use some simple, direct advice on ways to handle a crisis and its advice is solid and, fortunately, not always obvious or predictable. Yes, some of the advice offered here is obvious, such as the book's advice to search root causes of a crisis and then formulate a plan. But some of the other words of wisdom in Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis are not as obvious. For example, how many people would even think to consider their own role in the creation or worsening of the crisis at hand? Most people want to point the finger at others, but like the book states, often it is the leaders themselves who created the problem and it is the leaders who, therefore, must solve the problem.

Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis offers some sound advice, but readers should not come here looking for in- depth coverage and hand- holding. This book is only about one- hundred, thirty- nine pages in length and even though it includes only seven lessons, this is still not enough time to cover every pro and con and every angle from which the lessons can be approached. This isn't that type of management guide. It is designed as a book with some quick words of wisdom; some sensible and direct words of advice on ways to get the ball rolling and lead your team out of the wilderness. Other than that, this book leaves the rest up to you.

This book offers some good examples from actual managerial situations over the years, and this is one of the book's many strengths. Not only does the book include examples from successful managers, it also includes examples of leaders who took the easy way out rather than make the difficult decision that the situation called for and how this oversight came back to bite the leader in the end. These success and failure stories are good because they help to illustrate the book's advice with real life examples.

Leaders constantly have to step up to the plate, put their skills to use, and solve a problem. This is even truer during a time of crisis and Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis offers some useful tips on ways to get to the bottom of a crisis and recover fully. A crisis situation isn't easy to deal with, but it also presents a golden opportunity to management: A test of leadership skills that will prove one worthy of his/her position and status. Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis wants you to end up on the winning side and while the book could stand to be a little longer, it does offer some direct and useful advice for solving difficult problems and leading an organization to new heights.

Bill George has a well-deserved reputation as being a remarkably pragmatic and effective leader. His accomplishments in the business world are well documented. It's not surprising that he would compile this wonderful guide for helping anyone make it through the tough times; not just surving, but thriving.

The seven lessons George has laid out at first seem too simple to be true. That's the beauty of it; keeping things simple is the best way to make things work, for the long haul. In fact, getting ready for the "long haul" is one of George's lessons. I think the most valuable lesson George lays out for us is, quite simply, "face reality; starting with yourself". I can think of a lot of people who would benefit greatly from that piece of advice; myself included!

Another great piece of advice is a whimsical suggestion to "never waste a good crisis". I love it. George is telling us to embrace the wild and tumultuous times (like the present); have some fun. So often, some of the greatest opportunities in the world come along at times of total chaos; those who remain cool often stand to reap the rewards, as George suggests.

His advice comes from years of experience. Certainly, he's made some mistakes, but not many. His honest appraisal of his own actions make for a very compelling narrative. Additionally, he presents us with over 70 examples of real life leaders & how they've dealt with tough situations. Not every one of those leaders were entirely successful in their endeavors 100% of the time. Many are to be praised; some are contemptable.

In the final analysis, George presents us with a very human & wonderfully engaging handbook for dealing with any crisis situation. He reassures us to stay true to our moral compass. As long as we live our lives with honesty & integrity, we'll get through the tough times, stronger than ever. What more could you ask for?

Bill George is the quintessential leader you hope runs the company you join. He's pragmatic and inspirational, humble and confident, tough and kind-hearted, focused and flexible. Those traits helped him forge an impressive career and learn how not to waste a good crisis! It'a a privelege to be able to learn from a leader who's done it! Bill is a teacher and this book is him at his best - there are references to and case studies of multiple leaders peppered with his own insights from his career. He argues for self-responsibility, teamwork, thoughtful analysis, perserverance, transformative action, authenticity and boldness in the 7 lessons he shares. I highly recommend this book.