Customer Reviews

The Nature of Leadership: Reptiles, Mammals, and the Challenge of Becoming a Great Leader

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Eleven months into this once new year, I have finally made sense of my last New Year's resolution, thanks to the thoughtful lessons and keen insights that abound within Joseph White and Yaron Prywes' wonderful new book, The Nature of Leadership. "This year," I recall telling my wife, "I resolve to be more...mean." To which she replied with a puzzled look on her face, "Did you say 'mean' - as in cruel, hard, cold-blooded kind of mean?" To which I replied forcefully, in my best approximation of the spirit, "Yes, that's exactly what I mean...mean!"

To my own consternation and my wife's puzzlement at the time, I couldn't quite explain my seemingly strange resolution. Though I didn't realize it then, I lacked the conceptual framework for understanding the urge I felt to be more, so I thought, mean. That is, until I discovered White and Prywes' "reptilian-mammalian" model of human nature and that most elusive of concepts: leadership.

White and Prywes posit that personal tendencies and behaviors may be classified as being either mammalian or reptilian. As the monikers suggest, people with mammalian traits are, on the whole, "warm-blooded": nurturing, engaged, emotional, cooperative, and independent. Reptiles, on the other hand, are those "cold-blooded" people among us: detached, analytical, adversarial, and independent. Each of us has a "natural bias" toward one or the other, and truly great leadership requires balance - mammalian qualities under some circumstances and reptilian at others.

As a self-confessed mammal, I now see that what I was struggling to express in my odd New Year's resolution is the essential insight that superlative leadership demands both the heart and the mind, both emotional warmth and cool calculation. I used the word 'mean' to express my desire to become more reptilian and, in retrospect, having read the book I understand that in fact I was not striving to be cruel or hard but rather more analytical and independent, more detached from the distorting effects of excess passion. As a side note, it has been a relief to realize that my longing for a mean streak was not so aberrant after all!

The book's organization and style are, as the authors' thesis calls for, well balanced. White and Prywes skillfully blend the practical and the inspirational, nimbly merging the nuts-and-bolts how-to of a user's manual with the inspiration and emotional quality of anecdotal case studies. Consequently, the experience of reading the book is rich with moments of both professional development enlightenment as well as deeper insights into one's own emotional composition. This is perhaps the book's most impressive accomplishment: that it practices what it preaches and strikes that difficult balance between hard-headed advice and soft-hearted wisdom. Indeed, it is exactly this balance - just the right proportions of rose-colored optimism and tell-it-like-it-is realism - that elevates The Nature of Leadership above the countless other leadership/self-help works that line bookshelves across the land.

To bring their model to life, the authors provide a veritable arsenal of visual representations, assessment tools, and original vocabulary. Their proposed "Leadership Pyramid" presents the mammal-reptile dichotomy clearly and persuasively, but also goes a step further to depict a requisite "Foundation" of but-for leadership traits (indeed, the foundation metaphor works well within this cumulative developmental context). To put meat on the bones of the Pyramid's skeleton, White and Prywes coin several catchy, user-friendly phrases that aptly convey their thesis, such as the importance of acquiring a "helicopter view" perspective and exuding the "sparkle factor" of charisma. The book culminates with a "Nature of Leadership Survey," a self-assessment tool that neatly ties together the book's lessons and ushers the reader to that most gratifying of destinations: better self-understanding.

Having reached this destination so swiftly, I was left longing for more upon turning the book's final page - in the best of ways, as a film buff is sad to reach the conclusion of her favorite director's latest opus. Alas, in the future I hope White and Prywes will see fit to build further upon their model and bestow yet more pearls of wisdom upon their would-be readers. In the meantime, as I await The Nature of Leadership (Part II), I shall take solace in having had the good fortune of appreciating their work in the moment, indeed, of having missed it before it had even drawn to a close. Toward the end of their book, White and Prywes share a pearl of Buddhist wisdom that perfectly describes such unadulterated appreciation:

The master held up a glass and said, 'Someone gave me this glass, and I really like this glass. It holds my water admirably and it glistens in the sunlight. I touch it and it rings! One day the wind may blow it off the shelf, or my elbow may knock it from the table. I know this glass is already broken, so I enjoy it incredibly.'

Having a professional background in dealing with people in a wide variety of leadership positions and an early educational background in studying animal behavior I looked forward to reading a book subtitled Reptiles, Mammals and the Challenge of Becoming a Great Leader. The premise of the book is that there are two sides of leadership, a hard and cold reptilian side and a soft and warm mammalian side. This dichotomy is pretty much the same as the numbers versus people sides of leadership or management.

White, who is the President of the University of Illinois, spends a brief chapter on various leadership theories. These include a bit on McGregor's Theory X and Y, Blake and Mouton's Leadership Grid, a little Herzberg and McClelland. He writes about the theory that leaders are born and not made, but then goes on to talk about a "leaders can be made" (hence his book.)

Using his reptilian/mammalian analogy, White puts his model of leadership together as a pyramid. The base of the pyramid consists of four characteristics. First is a desire to be in charge, followed by ability, strength and character. Without these you have no hope of being a leader. The implication is this is what you are born with.

The second component of his pyramid is the reptilian and mammalian traits. The reptilian side is described as "cold-blooded", disciplined, economic sense, financial management, attention to detail, detached and analytical, among others. The mammalian side is "warm-blooded", nurturing, people sense, attention to context, communication ability, delegate, empower, and others.

He then spends a couple of chapters describing the characteristics of these two sides. He warns us not to make value judgments about the "reptilian" traits being bad or the "mammalian" traits being good. He argues that both sets of traits are necessary for great leaders to have. The problem with this however, is that people do make judgments on labels and my guess is that not too many potential leaders would be thrilled as being described as having a reptilian style. Not many people want to be known as a "snake."

The apex of White's pyramid of leadership consists of the qualities he associates with being a great leader. According to White to be a good leader you must have both the reptile side and mammalian side capped with innovation, risk-taking, an appetite for talent, and what he calls the "helicopter view" and the "sparkle factor." The "helicopter view" is perspective, looking ahead, back and sideways. The "sparkle factor" is charisma, presence and magnetism.

The book is an easy read that mixes in his personal leadership "journey" along with his observations about his leadership "heroes". I think his reptilian/mammalian analogy is somewhat flawed (some reptiles can show great tenderness and some mammals can be very hard and cruel). However, it is somewhat of a novel way to discuss the "hard" and "soft" sides of management and leadership. I was left with a mixed message about the ability to become a great leader. He tells you what it takes to become a great leader but also leaves you with the message "if you ain't got it, you ain't gonna get it." But, that said it is an easy introductory book on the concepts of leadership and is good for people who have not read a lot on the subject.

This book is a wonderfully creative spin on what it takes to be a leader in the workplace although the principles could be applied to any group, including a family. White boils successful leadership down into a three-tiered pyramid, the core of which is the requirement of having attributes of reptiles and mammals: you've got to be both tough and nurturing.

White's down-to-earth and enthusiastic approach includes inspiring personal stories about both famous and little-known leaders who exemplify either strong reptilian, or mammalian characteristics, or both. And he certainly knows his subject, with a career spanning the highest-level positions in academia and the business world.

The Nature of Leadership will help you become aware of your strengths as a leader, and your Achilles heel. It also provides a lens through which to view any that you are led by, be that your supervisor, or a world leader.

*This book would be a great required or supplemental reading for college-level courses in sociology, human behavior or related subjects.

The Nature of Leadership by B. Joseph White is a phenomenal book. Through his interesting take on leadership, vast experience in the public and private sector, and well-written delivery, White provides the best leadership advice I have ever received.

As a undergraduate student only a month away graduation, I am currently in the tough position of considering different job opportunities, career paths, and altering my long-term goals. For years, I have known exactly what I want to do in life and have had a firm grasp on understanding what it will take to accomplish my dreams. Now, just before I end one chapter in my life and start another, I no longer have all the answers. I am sure that everyone has faced this often difficult, confusing, and immensely stressful time, in which you are excited to go on to the next phase of life but hesitant and a bit scared.

I will be honest, I picked up this book because I know B. Joseph White and have found him to be a wonderful man and a great leader. I hesitated to post a review of the book - since I may be inherently biased through my knowing him - but eventually decided to write a note anyway because of the inspiration the book has provided me in my stressful time. I was amazed by the great advice and useful insight that White provides in this book. As a soon-to-be graduate who must make some tough career and life choices, I can testify that this would be a wonderful gift for anyone who is facing an important life decision.

As a political science student who will be starting graduate school in the spring, I will testify that this is the best book on leadership that I have ever read. I have studied numerous works on the great political theorists and experts on leadership, especially political leadership, but have found none to be as useful as The Nature of Leadership. They are all useful in their own right, but this book provides something different. White gives useful, easy to understand advice from his research and experience. His down-to-earth nature comes across brilliantly in his writing style and really inspires readers to achieve their potential.

In particular, the final chapter of the book that comments on disappointment is essential reading for all leaders. White emphasizes that leaders can make the best of all situations and have the power to shape their own lives. For any leader who will ever face a decision in which the best path is unclear, a failure of immense proportions that may seem too daunting to cope with, or a mere situation in which you are just down on your luck, The Nature of Leadership will give you the common sense advice and inspiration to shape your own future.

The one downfall of leadership theory is that it is often very 'touchy-feely' and puts far too much emphasis on the humanistic theories of psychology that reptilian (scientific, critical, analytical, hard-nosed) leaders like me do not understand. Thankfully, this book is not one of the more typical leadership guides. It is for the leaders in the public and private sector who want a real, common sense perspective on leadership.

This book truly is essential reading for all leaders.

There seems to be little in this book for anyone who has read even one randomly-selected "Leadership 101" book in the past 20 years. The analytic formula has ossified in this book genre: you come up with your own dumbed-down, cutesy, colorful, easy-to-remember labels for the well-worn "left brain vs. right brain" approaches to management (or, to doing ANYTHING we humans do) and then you apply it to Jack Welch et al.

The paradigm is so well-worn. We need some fresh perspectives out there who can re-vision leadership. Or examine it from a more global perspective. Or, for God's sake, generate some new ideas about it. And then generate some original examples to which they can apply the paradigm. Jack Welch is so early '90s.

I was very satisfied with this purchase. It arrived quickly and was in the condition that the seller said it was.

Author B. Joseph White writes about the nature of leadership with authority. As the president of the University of Illinois, professor, corporate executive and a director of both public and private organizations, he has earned his stripes. He has also had the good fortune to associate with a number of remarkable leaders including Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, Steve Jobs of Apple computer, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The Nature of Leadership is White's primer on what it takes to be a great leader with a special emphasis on making the right career and lifestyle choices to guide your destiny.

The Nature of Leadership is a short book with large print and is easy to read. White's writing style is as clear and lucid as one would expect from a polished college professor. The book has seven chapters that are intended to help the reader analyze and guide their own path to leadership development. White begins by using an interesting metaphor to discuss the traditional leadership traits of head verses heart. He refers to the "Reptile side" of leadership (cold-blooded, rational and decisive) and the "Mammal side" (warm-blooded, participative and nurturing). He believes developing both sides is necessary. However, he believes that great leaders must be successful at achieving change to produce excellent results. This in White's view is most important and is the underlying theme of the book.

The Nature of Leadership offers three important steps to achieving leadership excellence. One is to remember the difference between management and leadership. The second step involves two questions to ask yourself, and the third step is to climb the Leadership Pyramid. This pyramid is introduced and discussed in the third chapter. The author presents the pyramid as a way to add personal organization to your journey toward possessing the qualities of a great leader. Starting at the foundation of the pyramid one begins to identify their natural strengths and weaknesses. As one moves up the pyramid they focus on improving their strengths and weaknesses. It is a building block that also focuses on the need for possessing character and high integrity.

This is a book that engages the reader because it is written from the perspective of an experienced teacher, doer and observer. The Nature of Leadership doesn't revolutionize the study of leadership but it does show how any person with the right desire and motives can make a difference and lead. White believes that great leadership qualities are not limited to our DNA but can be developed by choice and training. The end of the book offers a survey on the Nature of Your Leadership in the appendix. I found this survey to be an excellent resource and it cements his main points within the book. Finally, you will find that White's effective blending of the examples of numerous historical, business and religious leaders highlights his philosophy in a powerful way.

The Nature of Leadership is a book by a person who's been around the block. The author's rich background in both business and academics allows him to draw upon interesting, and, often poignant, vignettes to illustrate his belief that leaders should be able,strong,compassionate and trustworthy. The advice in the portion of the book dealing with disappointment and the resiliency necesary to move beyond that emotion, can be helpful to anyone who must work in an organization. Charts, graphs and a personal leadership survey, all add clarity and accessability to the ideas and values addressed in the book,allowing me to reccommend it to high school seniors investigating the concepts behind leadership as they move on to college and career choices.

Those who practice "tough love" in personal relationships (especially by parents in relationships with their children) constantly find themselves in situations that force a question to be answered: "How much do I [begin italics] really care [end italics] about this person?" Supervisors must also answer the same question each day in the business world. If I correctly understand the concept of tough love (and I may not), it requires those who practice it to make sometimes very difficult decisions which are nonetheless in the best interests of the other person involved. For example, refusing to enable behavior which - over time - could be especially harmful to that person as well as to others.

In this volume, B. Joseph White shares his own thoughts about effective, indeed "great" leadership. More specifically, as C.K. Prahalad so succinctly explains in the Foreword, White's core message is profound and clear: "The capacity to be focused on the critical economic and performance issues and at the same time be sensitive to the social dimensions of leadership - the reptilian `coldblooded and the mammalian `warm and caring' - is at the core of leadership." White asserts (and I wholly agree) that a great leader must be successful at achieving change - "important, consequential change in the results for which [she or he is] responsible. Making change successfully is a leader's greatest challenge."

Frankly, I was initially skeptical of White's use of the reptile and mammal metaphors but as I began to read this book, I soon realized that they are eminently appropriate and White reveals their relevance with admirable skill. Moreover, he includes a number of real-world exemplars such as Mannie Jackson whose name is probably unfamiliar to most of those who read the book. A former player for the Harlem Globetrotters, he later purchased the team and "brought a dying brand back to life." He saw both a need and an opportunity, he took a great risk because he had the vision to see what the once-successful organization could eventually become again, made necessary changes in how it was managed, recruited competent and principled people to help make his turnaround plan work, and eventually produced and continues to sustain strong results.

In my opinion, some of White's most valuable material is provided in Chapters 4 and 5 as he examines in detail the qualities of "reptilian excellence" and then "mammalian excellence." I commend White on his effective use of a pyramid metaphor to illustrate a three-phase process. First, having a foundation which requires a desire to be in charge in combination with ability, strength, and character. During the next phase, to maintain an appropriate balance of quite different but not mutually exclusive qualities (i.e. reptilian and mammalian) as the leadership development process continues. All great leaders know when to discipline and when to nurture...when to focus on details and when to focus on context...when to verify and control, when to trust and delegate. The material in Chapters 4 and 5 suggest the relevance of the term "tough love" to the business world. Those who complete the second phase, who aspire to become great leaders, care enough about their direct reports to hold them fully accountable for their performance and behavior. They realize that great leaders are not always popular but they are respected by everyone with whom they are associated. Their constructive criticism as well as praise is credible because those who receive either believe that it is always honest, sincere, and (yes) deserved.

Many readers will especially appreciate the Appendix which enables them to complete a self-diagnostic exercise. The results offer insights as to how each respondent likes to look at things and how she or he goes about making decisions. White: "As a current or aspiring leader, knowing your own preferences can help you identify your strengths, undersdtand what kinds of work you naturally gravitate toward, and spot the next step of your leadership development quest." White also includes an explanation of what the given scores mean. This helps each reader to determine (a) current leadership strengths and (b) other areas in which there is an apparent need for improvement.

Those who share my high regard for this volume are urged to check out Bill George's Authentic Leadership and True North, Ram Charan's Know-How, and Tom Rath's Strengths Finder 2.0.

The Nature of Leadership by B. Joseph White is a must read for all future leaders and it belongs on your bookshelf right next to Good to Great.

White distinguishes between two kinds of leaders: analytical and quantitative "reptiles" and emotional and qualitative "mammals." Great leaders are separated from good ones by their ability leverage both reptilian and mammalian skills.

"Reptilian leadership improves the odds that an organization will survive. Mammalian leadership improves the odds that an organization will thrive"- B. Joseph White.

The exercise in the back of the book is worth its weight in gold. Studies have shown positive links between leaders self awareness and their actual performance. This exercise will make you more aware of your strengths and give you the tools to develop opportunities for growth.

As an educator and President of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, I have lent this book to promising young entrepreneurs as a text-book in leadership development.